to girding with Sack-cloath and behold joy and gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine saying with the Epicurean Drolls of all Ages Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die And it was revealed in my ears by the Lord of Hosts saith the Prophet surely this Iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die saith the Lord God of Hosts Nor do I aggravate the matter here by this Comparison beyond what is Just and Right For whensoever our Governors both in Church and State do by their Laws and Orders call us to Mourning and Fasting and Humiliation we are to look upon it and interpret it as if God himself call'd us by them thereunto See 2 Cor. 5.20 1 Thes 4.8 c. and he expects we should take the warning which they as his Deputies give us and construes our despising of them as a contempt to himself by whose Authority they Act And so also of old he gave the warning to his People according to that of the Prophet Joel ch 2. Blow the Trumpet Sanctifie a Fast Call a Solemn Assembly Gather the People Sanctifie the Congregation Assemble the Elders gather the Children and those that suck the Breasts Let the Bride-groom go forth of his Chamber and the Bride out of her Closet Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say spare thy People O Lord This you see is the Truth of the Case we are all herein Transgressors though it may be aggravated in some by their Contumacy and mitigated in others by their Seduction and Inadvertency Beseech we God of his infinite mercy therefore that he lay not this great Iniquity to the Charge of this sinful Kingdom Pray we as Moses did for the Israelites Deut. 9.27 Look not O Lord unto the stubbornness of this People nor to their wickedness nor to their sin Or as we have it our Letany From hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and Commandment Good Lord deliver us However upon all these Considerations laid together I have purposely diverted unto the Text even now Read that I might meet with those who will not so much as afford their presence at such a Solemnity and give them that account of this part of our Service which may by Gods Grace engage them hereafter to a conscionable frequenting of it And that I may do this with the better success I will First set before you the Law and Practise as it stood among the Israelites what was the Divine institution and Ordinance among them in this matter and then Secondly shew you how far we are still concerned in it or what this observance among them suggests to invite and justifie or vindicate our imitation First It is good to consider the Order which the Lord kept with his People in times pasts T. 6. L. 1. p. 196. as the Nonconformists themselves have sometimes worded it upon other Occasions The First provision about this we Read of Deuter. 11.26 c. Behold saith Moses Augmentatio Boni Diminutio Boni Aben-Ezra I set before you this day a Blessing and a Curse that is Good and Evil Happyness and Misery A Blessing if ye obey the Commandment of the Lord your God which I Command you this day and a Curse if ye will not obey And it shall come to pass saith he when the Lord thy God hath brought thee into the Land whither thou goest to Possess it that thou shalt put the Blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the Curse upon Mount Ebel Are they not on the other side Jordan c Ainsworth in Loc. Thou shalt put or give the Blessing Upon or Towards Mount Gerizim for so the Hebrew Preposition Gnal sometimes signifies that is cause it to be pronounced there and so the Curse in like manner Upon or Towards Mount Ebel Thou shalt see or take care that the Blessing and Curse be given forth by the Priests Dandam curabis operâ scil Levitarum Vatablus the Levites towards these Mountains respectively by the Levites I say whose Office it was to teach Jacob Gods Judgments Deut. 33.10 and Israel his Law by whom God had before ordered the Solemn Blessing ch 10. and the Curses too as afterwards we find it But of this same matter he speaks more particularly and distinctly in This 27th Chapter Psal 12. c. These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the People when ye are come over Jordan Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Joseph under which Ephraim and Manasseh and Benjamin These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to Bless the People Vatablus ad audiendam benedictionem to hear the Blessing pronounced on the People for Obedience And these shall stand upon Mount Ebel to Curse Reuben Gad and Asher and Zebulun Dan and Naphtali These on Mount Ebel to Curse or for the Cursing that is in like manner to hear the Curse denounced for Disobedience For the People were not on either Mountain to pronounce the Blessing or the Curse but to hear and witness unto both proclaimed by the Levites as it follows And the Levites shall speak and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice Cursed be or is the man that maketh any Graven or Molten Image an abomination to the Lord the work of the hands of the Craftsman and putteth it in a secret place And all the People shall answer and say Amen Cursed is he that setteth light by his Father or his Mother And all the People shall say Amen c. Munster is mistaken who reckon'd but 11. in Twelve particulars in the end of each of which it is prescribed still in words at length And all the People shall say Amen And as this Office was twice prescribed by Moses in the name of God unto them as we have seen so afterwards we find it put in practice under Joshua when he had Conducted them over Jordan to this place Josh 8.33 c. And all Israel and their Elders and Officers and their Judges stood on this side the Ark and on that side before the Priests the Levites which bare the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord as well the stranger that is the Proselite as he that was born among them Half of them over against Mount Gerizim and half of them over against Mount Ebel as Moses the Servant of the Lord had Commanded before that they should Bless the People of Israel And afterwards he Read all the words of the Law the Blessings and Cursings according to all that is written in the Book of the Law there was not a word of all that Moses Commanded which Joshua read not before all the Congregation of Israel with the Women and the little ones and the Strangers that were Conversant among them An august and full assembly we see here of the Rulers and all the People Women and Children too and Strangers who had embraced their Religion
deserve at Gods hands and most justly expose us to and admire the patience and forbearance of God towards us and they are to be as a School-master to lead us unto Christ for deliverance from them and as a Tutor and Monitor of the great obligation we have to him our Redeemer They are also to bring us to a true and serious Humiliation for all our Transgressions and to warn us against them for the time to come For notwithstanding the Blessing of the Gospel we are yet if we take not heed †If any man love not the Lord Jesus Let him be Anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 liable to a Curse also if we are wilfully Disobedient to it nay and a greater and sadder Curse and Condemnation than the Law ever pronounced because the Blessing to us is by many degrees greater than what was set before them As we have better promises so we have also a sorer Judgment held forth unto us as the Apostle to the Hebrews more than once intimateth How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation ch 2. And of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Blood of the Son of God c ch 10. The Gospel is not made up altogether of comforts and promises as some mistake it but hath its Threats and Terrors also knowing therefore the Terror of the Lord we perswade men 2 Cor. 5.11 Both the Baptist Christs fore-runner and our Blessed Saviour himself too call upon us to Repent that we may flie from wrath and tell us that the Axe is now laid to the root of the Trees so that every Tree which bringeth not forth good Fruit is to be hewen down and cast into the Fire and that unless we Repent we shall all perish In that famous Sermon of our Lords upon the Mount we have him not only as it were upon Mount Gerizim uttering the Beatitudes or Blessings to his Disciples St. Matt. 5. Blessed are the poor in Spirit Blessed are they that mourn Blessed are the meek Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness Blessed are the merciful Blessed are the pure in heart Blessed are the Peace-makers Blessed are they that are persecuted for Righteousness-sake But if we compare St. Luke ch 6. We find him also as it were upon Mount Ebal to denounce unto others a contrary Wo and Curse But Wo unto you that are Rich. Wo unto you that are full Wo unto you that Laugh now Wo unto you when all men speak well of you As elsewhere we find him uttering many Woes against the Hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees St. Matth. 23. St. Luke 11. St. Matth. 11. St. Luke 10. and those that Repented not at the sight of his mighty works among them And when he vouchsafes to give us an account of the Judgment of the Last day he lets us understand how all men then shall be divided and separated as the Children of Israel now were the Righteous that is the Sons of the Free-Woman the Faithful Disciples of Christ as it were on Gerizim at the Right hand to receive a Blessing but the unrighteous that is the Bond-Slaves of Sin and Satan as it were on Ebal at the Left hand to receive the Curse St. Matth. 25. Then shall the King say unto them on his Right hand Come ye Blessed of my Father ver 34. Then shall he say also unto them on the Left-hand Depart from me ye Cursed ver 41. So that you see the Gospel it self hath its Sentences both of Blessing and Cursing And there is an Amen too St. Mat. 28.20 St. Mark 16.20 St. Luke 24.53 St. John 21.25 you may observe at the end of all the Four Evangelists which relates to all things Contained in them Woes and Curses as well as Blessings to testifie the Certainty of both and the Belief of both in the Church of Christ Amen that is This is the Gospel of Truth We say commonly as True as Gospel And both of them shall be made good to the full at the Day of the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God when all Nations shall be gather'd before the Great Judge and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his Sheep from the Goats and set the Sheep on his Right hand that is as hath been said on Gerizim and the Goats on the Left that is on Ebal When our Lord shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ but to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe 2 Thes 1. This Institution therefore among the Jews which gives us a Remembrance and Representation of these things is not any more unsuitable to the times of the Gospel than to those of the Law For we are all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Law to Christ †1 Cor. 9.21 Gal. 6.2 St. Jam. 2.12 It is as fit now as then that we should attend to the whole will of God his Curses no less than Blessings 'T is as fit now as then that we should set the Amen of our Faith to each of them answering unto every Sentence in the Holy word of God Amen and so confessing with our mouths that we believe it unfeignedly in our hearts To the intent as it follows in our Church Service that being admonished of the great indignation of God against sinners we may the rather be moved unto earnest and true Repentance and may walk more warily in these dangerous dayes fleeing from such vices for which we affirm with our own mouths the Curse of God to be due Mark here I beseech you the plain Resolution of our Amen to Gods several Curses It is not uncharitably to Curse our selves or others No all is in order to a Blessing that we may every one carry a share of the Blessing home with us It is only to affirm with our mouths the Truth of the Divine Curses That the Curse is due to such and such Transgressors by Gods appointment That it is most certain all such Sinners are really accursed by God under his Curse while they continue such and have no possibility of removing that Curse but by a speedy Repentance and Return to God for pardon and forgiveness through Jesus Christ that by and in him they may be Blessed for ever Blessed by being first saved from their Sins and turn'd from their iniquities God of old declared his great Indignation against those who hearing the words of his Curses should yet bless themselves in their hearts saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of mine heart to add drunkenness to thirst The Lord saith Moses will not spare such a man but all the Curses in this book shall lie upon him Deuter. 29.18.19 The Prophet Isaiah proclaims it once and again There is no peace saith the Lord
THE COMMINATION Prescribed in the LITURGY OF THE Church of England VINDICATED AND Recommended to the Consideration of all Pious Christians IN A SERMON Preached to a Countrey Audience on the First Sunday in Lent 1679 80. By Benjamin Camfeild Rector of Aylston near Leicester Cursed is he that maketh the Blind to wander out of the way And all the people shall fay Amen Deut. 27.18 LONDON Printed for H. Brome at the Gun and R. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1680. TO THE COURTEOUS READER HOw this honest Discourse may rellish with thee I know not Yet if it prove Medicinal the season I am sure is good and proper enough for it and it matters not much though it should be less palatable Two desperately-malignant humors it hath to encounter and work upon Faction and Profaneness both of them now almost grown Epidemical God Almighty send it a Success answerable to the sincere intentions of him that tenders it But if thou art Friend to an Orderly Piety and Christian Life He may promise himself moreover thy acceptance and Prayers And that is all which I have to desire of Thee on his behalf Vnless it be this point of common Justice that thou Read it over without prejudice and consider of it before thou pass censure But This too I should rather commend unto thee for thy own Benefit because Spiritual Physick Operates not like to Bodily whether we think on it or no. Farewell A Lent Sermon Deuteron XXVII XV. And all the people shall answer and say Amen IT is a most excellent Devotional Service Cum primis salutaris est ceremonia sed non video our debeat exhiberi solùm nno die non saepiùs Bucer for so in the Liturgie of Edward 6. it was determined to Ashwednesday but after enlarged to divers time of the year with an â—â—â—alty only to the First day of Lent See Mr. Ham. L'Estrange's Alliance of Divine Offices ch 11. p. 318. which our Church hath charitably provided for the Beginning of Lent in the Commination prescribed to be used on Ashwedensday and at other times * of Solemn Humiliation when the Ordinary shall appoint as one of the most proper Helps and Expedients she could furnish Penitents with in that loose and degenerate Age wherein our Lot is fallen which is impatient of a severer Discipline namely That according to the Pattern set us in this Chapter principally the General Sentences of Gods Curses against impenitent sinners be distinctly pronounced in the presence of all the People and that every one that hears them should answer as distinctly unto each Sentence Amen But such is the Licentiousness and Profaneness of our Generation that instead of desiring and promoting the Restoration of Primitive Discipline we will not vouchsafe to come up so much as Thus far We make light of sin and slight the Calls of God and his Church unto Repentance and live as if we thought that the happiness and Salvation of the World to come were worthy but of very little Care and Labour and Pains in our striving to secure it here We have found out new and easie wayes and methods to Heaven which the Primitive Christians the Church of Christ from the Beginning were never acquainted with wayes to Heaven without Repentance without confessing and forsaking our sins and bringing forth Fruits meet for Repentance We are not for going so far about but a nearer Cut a directer Passage of our own devising a Leap as it were from Hell to Heaven or hugging our sins all the dayes of our Life at Death and the Grave to part and shake hands with them We have time enough to spare for Worldly pleasures and divertisements but when Religion challengeth our attendance we have no leisure at all for it We can spend hours and days freely enough in Visits in Sports in Drinking and 't is well sometimes if not in worse imployments But Oh! how Scrupulous do we seem in Conscience of taking any part from our six working dayes and Devoting it unto God! Pardon me Beloved if upon this occasion I speak somewhat plainly and freely to you A Pan-Cake Bell as we call it upon Shrove-Tuesday though no Authority injoyn it will easily draw men from the works of their Callings and every one is free and forward enough in hearkning to the Summons of it What a General Rendesvouz and Croud of People is there every where usually upon it But the Bells may Call loud enough and Chime long enough upon the Ash-Wedensday after it and that by Authority too both of Church and State yet few or none will take the warning given them to lay aside their Worldly business for a while to resort to the Congregation there to Confess their Sins and give proof of their Repentance and Humble themselves together before Almighty God in order to the procuring of his Forgiveness and Blessing Nor is this all I would it were Too many there are that are gone a degree farther in their Impiety They content not themselves with abstaining from the Churches Service but they sit down also in the Chair of the Scorner They Scoff at and Deride Revile and Blaspheme that most excellent Service which we then perform as a Superstitious Foolish or Wicked thing an uncharitable Cursing of our selves and others c. Of whom I must say as St. Jude in another Case These speak evil of those things which they know not Psal 10. but what they know Naturally as Brute Beasts in those things they corrupt themselves Alas None of those Persons consider what a provocation it is unto God Almighty in the dayes and seasons of his Grace to harden their Hearts against him How dear it cost his People of old in the Wilderness unto whom therefore he sware in his wrath Psal 99. that they should not enter into his Rest How dismal a Requital he hath threatned unto such Prov. 1. ch Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my Counsel and would none of my Reproof I also will Laugh at your Calamity and Mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as Desolation and your destruction cometh as a Whirlewind when distress and anguish cometh upon you Then shall they call upon me saith He but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated Knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord they would none of my Counsel they despised all my reproof Therefore shall they eat of the Fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices These Persons think not how implacable God hath declared himself upon such a like miscarriage as this of theirs is You have a full and lively Picture of it drawn for your view Jsa 22.12 c. In that day did the Lord of Hosts call to weeping and mourning and to baldness and
unto the wicked ch 48.22 and ch 57.21 Let no man deceive you with vain words saith the Apostle for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of Disobedience Ephes 5.6 And when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as Travel upon a Woman with Child and they shall not escape 1 Thes 5.3 It is of great concernment to us therefore in time to see and understand and believe and be sensible of the Cursed State which our sins necessarily and unavoidably involve us in and to judge and condemn our selves 1 Cor. 11.31 that we may anticipate the judgment of the Lord that we may not be then condemned by him and that we may be moved effectually to humble our selves in this day of grace and season lent us for Repentance to deprecate all his displeasure against us and obtain acceptance and favour with him through his Beloved It is not we alas that make Obedience a Blessed thing or Disobedience a Cursed thing 'T is all one for that whether we Believe it or not Whether we say and own it or not The Blessing and Curse are both of them already pronounced from God They are the Sentences of his Curse contained in the Holy Scriptures the Infallible word of him that cannot lye and gather'd out thence only for our caution and warning Our Amen added to them is but a fitting declaration that those whom God hath Blessed are certainly Blessed and those whom he hath Cursed are as certainly Cursed saying with our Lips that we believe this in our hearts which we are Damned infidels if we believe not And this way of owning and confessing it is a very probable and likely means to prevent the danger by shewing of it to us to bring us as hath been said to an hearty Repentance for all that is past and a through amendment for the time to come that so we may avoid the Curse and inherit the Blessing that taking this leisurely admonition of Gods fierce displeasure against such and such Sinners viz. Idolaters Disobedient to Parents and Governors Vnjust Cruel Malicious Vnclean Vncharitable Covetous and such-like who do err and go astray from the Commands of God the paths of piety Righteousness and Sobriety and walk in the High-Road to destruction we may the rather be moved to an earnest and true Repentance in all these particulars for the gross miscarriages we have been guilty of and for the future awakened and stir'd up to take greater heed unto our selves and walk circumspectly especially in these dangerous dayes wherein there are so many bad examples in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation fleeing from those several Vices Ex ore tuo for which we have affirmed with our own mouths and therefore affirmed with our mouths because we believe in our hearts the Curse of God is due as it is clearly and plainly legible in his Holy word There can be nothing of impiety or folly nothing of antiquated Judaism or innovating Popery and Superstition certainly in all this Nay I must pronounce upon the whole that there is nothing which keeps persons from an hearty Compliance with so wholsome a Service but either First the not understanding of it aright Or Secondly some secret love reserved to their own Sins which makes them backward and unwilling thus to enter into a sacred vow and covenant with God under a Curse against them For otherwise the Benefit of this Devotion is most Conspicuous What more prevailing motive can there possibly be both to Repentance and Reformation than this Remembrance of the dreadful Judgment of God hanging over our heads whilst we continue in Sin and alwayes ready to fall upon us prompting of us therefore as the only remedy and way to escape forthwith to return unto God with all contrition and meekness of heart bewailing and lamenting our wicked life acknowledging and confessing our aggravated offences to him and seeking to bring forth Fruits becoming penitents And Thus if we do as the excellent Homily of the Church assures us in the Close Christ will deliver us from the Curse of the Law and from the extreme malediction which will light upon them that shall be set on the Left hand and he will set us at his Right hand and give us the gracious benediction of his Father commanding us to take possession of his most glorious Kingdom Unto which he vouchsafe to bring us all for his Infinite mercy Amen FINIS