that Gods vengeance should doe I say zeale in its place and for its part doth that which Gods vengeance came to doe What need God come in vengeance to cut off sinners Zeale is doing it to his hand Phinehas is slaying of them Moses is thrusting them through zealous men are endeavouring to exterminate all things that are evill and when the Lord seeth some pleading his cause and doing his worke hee will gratifie them to spare the rest for their sake As when David thought all of Nabals family against him hee would cut them all off and not a man of them should live but when hee findeth there was an Abigail that was of his side and pleaded his cause this cooleth Davids heate So is it with the Lord Jer. 4. 5. Run saith he finde out a man who executeth justice and judgement and I will spare it finde mee a man who is doing the worke my justice and vengeance comes to doe and I will forbeare doing it my selfe and else-where I looked for a man to have stood in the breach to have saved mee a labour and when I could finde none I did it my selfe I then poured out my wrath upon them Give mee leave to make two or three uses of this lesson and I shall dismisse you First then if this bee so what wonderfull cause have wee to mourne and tremble before God to thinke how few are to bee found in any place or any ranke or societie of men who are to bee numbred among them whom God will make saviours unto a people who else are like to bee destroyed Verily it is a sad thing to thinke how few can anywhere bee found in whose hearts there is this grace of zeale kindled of whom the Lord may Say such and such are zealous for my sake In your owne thoughts survey almost all publike places or orders of men and think among the Nobles or the Commons in the Citie among the Aldermen among the Common Councell men among the severall Wards goe into the Ministrie the severall degrees of men and doe but thinke how few there are whose hearts are truely zealous for the Lord if this bee zeale that I have opened unto you truely if I should enter or put my finger into this Ulcer I might make your hearts sad and tremble have wee not abundance that live this day in London and about London if not in the Parliament not onely those that are at Oxford that turne Cavaliers who pretend to bee our friends who have a zeale against zeale who are with all the heat that can be kindled in them set on fire against zealous men casting all the opprobrious nicknames on them that can be branding zeale for God with madnesse with turbulencie with indiscretion with haire-braindnesse who with Festus thinke men beside themselves Act. 26. 24. who with Ahab count every zealous Eliah a troubler of Israel and esteeme of them as they did of the Apostles Act. 17. 6. to bee men who turn the world upside downward who brand them to bee Puritans Precisians factious any thing which a vile heart can thinke and foule mouth utter Yea how many are sad to see men lay out their strength and state for a good cause and with Tobia and Sanballat are grieved to thinke that any goe about to build up the walls of Gods house or any Moses or Elijah take vengeance on Gods enemies A sad thing there should bee any such among us but more sad that any among us should bee like Catiline who was all fire perdere rempublicam to undoe the Commonwealth where hee lived drive designes make factions doe any thing in the earth that Religion might not thrive These are miserable and accursed men these men are factors for hell Satans Boutefeus and as the true zealots are set on fire from heaven so these mens fire is kindled from hell whither also it carries them What abundance are there that are wholly lukewarm if not key-cold that have no mettle no heate in the world for God Ah deare friends how many others are there that are ingaged in Gods cause who make Religion a and the publike cause a meere vizard to serve their owne ends who lay out the heat of their zeale all their strength to feather their owne nests by getting some imployment in an Army in a Navie in a Commitree in such a place in the Citie And the thing they drive at is to advance themselves or their friends to provide for this child to stop such a gap c. And so out of the publike pressure of Gods people draw out that which may inrich themselves and further then that let become of Gods cause what will how little such mens zeale is like to helpe us yea how abominable they and their zeale is to God you heard before And how many are there among our selves that protest they owne this great cause that is now in hand will vow and take the Covenant and sweare too if you will give it them an hundred times over that they will adhere to this cause with all their might and yet doe no more for it then honest men may doe with a good conscience who live under the enemies quarters that is let their goods bee taken from them because it is in vaine for them to make an head if an officer come hee must have it c. part with what is laid upon them and there 's an end But to bee willing to say Let me go let my child goe here is my money my spirit my life let all goe rather then this cause sinke you had as good wring water out of a Pumice stone you may as soone wring water out of a Flint stone as bring men to that as if they were yet to seek where the truth lay or which the true cause were that God would own God knoweth there are abundance of such that with the Samaritanes if the cause thrive well on the Parliaments side they are cordiall for them but if it goe on the other side then they are casting about how they may save themselves especially if they could but settle their owne estates whether Religion should be setled whether Idolatry shall bee extirpated whether there should be any reliques of them left whether any of them should bee punished whom if wee punish not God will punish us for them and our life shall go for theirs whether justice should be executed upon any Achans or Zimries or any such should be made examples these are things they never trouble their thoughts about all matters wherin the glory of God is concerned are to them as indifferent as that Controversie Acts 18. whether Pauls Doctrine or the Jewes blasphemy prevailed whether the Greeks beat Sosthenes or Sosthenes beat the Greeks whether as the Proverbe is the Dog catch the Hare or the Hare the Dog he was indifferent Gallio cared for none of these things and so verily is it with most men so their owne houses bee furnished it matters
not what becomes of Gods house So that Reuben may heare his owne flocks bleat and Asher keepe his owne Coasts safe let Deborah and Barack shift for themselves private interests and selfe-respects care of themselves and family have the whole of their soules and in these things they are in good earnest but no heart no spirit appeares in them for any cause of God they are like David in his old age no cloathes can warme them no motives worke upon them they drive like Jehu furiously in their owne businesse but in Gods like the Egyptians in the red Sea when their Chariot Wheeles were broken Ah beloved search and enquire whether there be not such among your selves such lukewarme Laodiceans such cold professors and if any of you be such give mee leave to tell you that your condition is wofull you not onely will be no Saviours to us in our distresses but for you and such as you are doth the Lord thus bitterly contend against us and be you assured that what ever he meane to doe with this sinfull Nation without speedy awaking and warming your hearts he will spue you out of his mouth Rev. 3. 15. The other use and so I will have done is for exhortation where I would provoke this City this Honourable City of London the Lord Maior Court of Aldermen Common Councell the residue that are here gathered together by your zeale for God to quench Gods wrath against us I confesse we have great cause to praise God for your zeale though I thinke you and others have had cause to bemoane the want of it for surely your zeale hath provoked many in the Kingdome and you have in great measure saved the Kingdome hitherto and it shall be a glory and a Crowne to you while this world standeth That in all this deplorable and forlorne condition we have beene in the zeale of the City of London for the more considerable part of it hath held up when others hearts have fallen and have stood for the Lord and his cause and we humbly blesse the Lord for it Let God have the glory It is Honour enough for you that God will accept any service frō you or kindle anything good in your hearts but I beseech you that you would abound more and more you who have done thus much already I hope are willing to save us if it lye in your power Now you heare what may save the Kingdome what may extinguish the fire of Gods wrath Zeale will doe it the laying out and drawing out the heart and affections to the uttermost for God will doe it O then lay out all your hearts and strength and affections for the Lord goe on with all your might with all your estates with all your treasure with what ever you have let God have it all in his cause if he need it and be you sorry that you have no more to part with doe it to the utmost shew your selves zealous in it and extend your zeale more against evill so farre as you can reach And you my Lord and Honourable Court and Gentlemen of the Common Councell may reach a great way this day your prayers your Counsels your Petitions and your purses may under God have any good thing done that you will put your hands to I say any thing that is good And therefore put to all your strength that Achans may be removed that all Idolatry may be rooted out that those delinquents upon whom God would have justice executed may be proceeded against doe you it upon such as are under your owne jurisdiction And by your humble Petitions if need be intreat justice may be done wherever God will have it done I am a Minister of Gods mercy and take no pleasure in pressing to such a worke as judgement and severity were it not that I am assured that if we should not doe justice where God requireth it to be done he will doe it without us and he will doe it upon us when Saul executed not Gods fierce wrath upon the Amalekltes 1 Sam. 15. he brought Gods fierce wrath upon himself when the King of Israel let goe a man whom God had appointed to dye his life went for the others life 1 King 20. 42. And certainly the Idolatry and blood and other crying abominations that some are guilty of in this Land I meane some of the chief Ringleaders in these evills who have made these wofull breaches be tween our Soveraigne and his people and thus violently promoted Idolatry and spoyle the Lord will have them reckoned with and let your zeale be laid out that way Doe it cordially and so as God may see it And to stirre you in all these things to be zealous for the Lord take these few Motives Bee you so against their sinnes I pray you though not against their persons First let me tell you That it is for a God that hath been very zealous for you So zealous that when he had but one onely sonne hee did not spare him but sent him purposely to be hanged upon a Crosse to save you it is for a Saviour who zealously redeemed you how zealously he prayed preached lived died for you to purchase you to be a people for himselfe zealous of good workes and his zeale hath preserved you and all yours all this while and all the good you have or hope for the zeale of God hath holpen you to it Secondly the cause you contend for is such a cause that lose this cause and you shall never have such another as long as you live lose your estate lose your wives lose your children lose your lives God can give you as good and better but lose this cause and never shall you bee tryed in such a cause againe while this world standeth Thirdly let me assure you your enemies want no zeale against you they have followed it what all the Popish party in Christendome could do against you hath bin done to destroy you and they want no ill wil at this day and I beleeve should the Lord for our sins but deliver London up to their hands since England was a Kingdome never was so sad a day knowne as they would make London to know such is their zeale against you Fourthly Consider as this doctrine makes it plaine this is the most certaine way to save this famous City this will preserve London this will keepe it as a Citie of God yea a few zealous men may doe it Oh that you could all be as Phinehas zealous for the Lord but if all should not the zeale of a few may doe it some Aldermen if all will not some Common Councell men if all will not a considerable number will prevaile with God yea who knowes how far the zeale of one man may prevaile therefore goe on in it to the utmost without any self-seeking Let offices goe let wife and children goe let estate goe be wholly for the Lord and say What may I doe wherein
you have heard what was the cure hee pacisied Gods wrath now wee are to inquire what was the balme which recovered their hurt the medicine which cured their sicknesse it was Zeale hee was zealous among them for the Lords sake wherein although time will allow me to handle but onel lesson I shall briefly inquire into two things First what the thing was that Phinehas did as a meanes to pacific Gods wrath Secondly the manner how hee did it The thing that hee did was the execution of justice and judgement taking away some grand delinquents whom God would not have to live so the Psalmist saith whereas God saith here Phinehas the sonne of Eleazar pacifieth his wrath the Psalmist saith then stood up Phinehas and executed judgement and that stayed the plague hee did an act of justice in cutting off some notorious Delinquents 2. And the manner how hee did it zealously hee did it fervently And both these together doe afford this lesson viz. That zeale for God against sinne is the greatest meanes to pacific Gods anger against sinners I say our zeale for God against sinne is the greatest meanes to pacific the fire of Gods wrath against sinners as one fire will draw out another so the fire of our zeale may extinguish the fire of Gods wrath And for the clearing of it I shall indeavour these three things First I will shew you plainely out of the Scripture that so it is That zeale against sinne will extinguish Gods wrath against sinners Secondly I will indeavour to open what I meane by this What this zeale against sinne is and how it will appeare Thirdly I will shew you whence it commeth or what reason there is that mans zeale should have such an influence upon the extinguishing of Gods wrath And then make some application of it For the first The Lord saith it here in expresse words Phinehas the sonne of Eleazar hath pacified my wrath how while he was zealous for my sake among them Phinehas being zealous in this act of his God protesteth it pacifyed his wrath I will name you but three or foure examples more at the utmost Moses for one you shall find In the 32. of Exodus you shall there find three fires successively kindled three sorts of fire all of them very hot There you first have the people inflamed with their lusts with the lust of Idolatry so on fire that Aaron saith they were mad upon it they would have a golden calfe They gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him Up make us Gods which may go before us and all the people brake off the golden ear-rings which were in their eares and brought them to Aaron to make a Calfe And when it was made They rose up early on the morning and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings and rose up to play and they were set upon this mischiefe there the people were on fire inflamed with their lust And in the next place you have God all on a flame too hee saith to Moses Let mee alone I will destroy every man of them and spake it very bitterly against them They have corrupted themselves they have made them a golden Calfe it is a stiff-necked people let mee alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them there is the second fire And thirdly you have Moses on a fire too and hee commeth downe and there hee sheweth his zeale in two things First in being Gods Champion against sinne for when he saw the Golden Calfe hee stampeth it to powder made the Israelites drinke of it calleth the Tribe of Levi to him biddeth every one goe and sheath his Sword in the bowels of his nearest kinsman that had a hand in this sin as if hee had beene distracted and when hee had plaid Gods Champion against these their sins and the ring-leaders of the sinners hee then playeth their advocate to God and prayeth him to blot his name out of the booke of life rather then to destroy them And this heate cooled both the other heates this heate brought them to repentance and pacified the Lords wrath that hee would not cut them off as hee did otherwise protest hee would have done There you see zeale for God against sinne will pacifie God against sinners though hee bee never so angry The like you find in Eliah though it did not take so well because they were past cure Eliah hee riseth in an Apostaticall time when the people had desperately forsaken God and hee doth all that hee could and was like a man on fire when hee came to God hee saith I have beene very zealous for thy sake and so hee had for hee had slaine I know not how many hundreds of Baals Prophets and had pulled downe Baals house and had made the people in a manner enter into Covenant with God O Lord saith hee I have beene very zealous for thy sake though I have beene left all alone as if hee had said Lord I have done what I could to save them I confesse my great Sheat Anchor is come home I now despaire of it but my zeale if it could have had any effect at all would have done it yea the Lord professeth it so Bee pleased also to note these two places I told you of in the beginning in the fift of Jeremiah Runne saith the Lord through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seeke in the broad place thereof if you can find a man c. What meaneth hee by a man First hee meaneth a good man that no man doubteth of But every good man would not serve the turne find mee a man that executeth judgement and justice In a word hee describeth a Phinehas find mee but that man and I will spare all the Citie for his sake So in the 22. of Ezekiel at the latter end when the Lord had spoke of all the villany that the people had lived in their blood their Idolatry uncleannesse a conspiracie of the Prophets Priests and Princes in all kind of ungodlinesse so that the fire of his wrath was kindled against them then saith hee I doe looke for a man what man A man that might have stood in the gap to have made it up alluding to Moses another Moses If I could have found but a Moses or a Samuel I would have spared them all Thus you see God professeth when hee can but finde zealous men that shall burne against sinne it shall quench Gods wrath that it shall no longer burne against the sinners But beloved I must in the second place a little come and discover to you what this grace is It is a thing of mighty consequence that I have undertooke to make good That this grace of zeale may save a Kingdome that it may reach to heaven and extinguish the fire that is kindled in Gods brest wee had need therefore know what it is and have it rightly discovered To this end
that it is the most devillish villany and double iniquity With Jesabel to proclaime a Fast to get a Vineyard to strike in zealously with the right side that wee might crush some enemy of ours which appeares on the other side is a zeale which the Lord abhorreth But if it be be true zeale for God that zeale whereof the Lord saith He was zealous for my sake the heart must be upright toward him There must be sincerity within the coale of sincerity must glow within before ever the flame of it will shine abroad in zeale That is the first thing That true zeale is alway the edge of a gracious spirit of a man who is upright to God in the truth and sincerity of whose heart the Lord and his wayes are set us as their greatest good Another thing which you shall alwaies find in true zeale is this it 's prodigall of doing good for any cause of God it 's I say a prodigall grace it spares for no cost to their strength and above their strength any thing shall goe every thing shal go if God Christ Jesus or his cause have need of it You never knew a zealous man a good husband in all your life time Jesabel in her zeale for Baal will maintaine 400. of his Prophets at her Table I mean that whatsoever a mans heart is zealous for hee ever doth his utmost in the prosecution of it never commeth to say I hope here is enough done for my share if he can doe any more Let a voluptuous man have his heart set on his pleasure let an earthly man have his heart set upon Mammon Let an ambitious man have his heart set upon preferment or honor he never saith I have done enough for it if he can doe any more If David have 1300. Cart load of silver gold he can joyfully part with every penny of it toward the building of Gods house and blesseth God that hee had it to give if Gods Tabernacle be to be built The women bring their Jewels their Lawnes and Looking-glasses and all other materials so willingly that Moses was faine to make a Proclamation that they should bring no more Exod. 36. 6. 38. 8. And in the Primitive Church when the exigents of Gods people required it they who had houses lands or other possessions sold them all and put them in the common Treasury This is a second property of zeale it is liberall bountifull for God You all know that if a man have the vanity of his heart let out about any thing Take a Gentleman that is otherwise a good husband and a provident man I meane penurious if his heart be set on the building of an house if he resolve upon two thousand pound it is ten to one if he grutch the laying out three or foure or five thousand pound to make it fit to his minde or if a mans heart be set upon his garden and flowers it is little question but hee will bee wastfull upon it the like may be said of Hawkes and Dogs and so is the zealous man for God whatsoever cost it puts him to he doth not sticke at Thirdly Zeale where ever it is true for God it appeareth most of all in greatest dissiculties It cannot be taken off with There is a Lyon in the way and I shall be kil'd if I goe out into the streets goe you first and I will see how safely you speed and I shall come in my due time after you neither doe you heare a zealous man talke so alwayes Cravens and Cowards hang backe but the best horse ever leads the way You shall have a very Samaritan if there be no danger in it if Authority be on their side he will be a Jew and be a kin to him and come and build with him but if there be danger in it Jew stand on your legs for all the Samaritan Just so now in the cause of God if there be ease and profit by it if it goeth well and no displeasure incurred many well appear as forward and frolike for a good cause as the forwardest but if any danger appeare a base heart presently tackes about or draws backe I promise you I have a great charge I have somewhat to lose I shall incurre such a great mans displeasure I know not in what blacke booke I may be written but a zealous man disdains difficulties answers with Nehemiah when they would have him flie into the Temple Shall such a man as I flie into the Temple no not I I professe if I might save my life by it So when they would have Luther goe Thinke any thing of Luther said he but running from Gods cause or recanting but never imagin if they were all devils as many devils as Tyles on the house I will refuse to goe when God bids me goe That is a third difficulty and danger and opposition taketh not off the spirit of a man that is zealous for God Fourthly another companion of true zeale is this Zeale for God alwayes maketh a man coole for himselfe a zealous man cannot trade in both Indies to any purpose he doth not trade for God himselfe too because there can be but one chiefe one that is most highly regarded in his bed in his closet in his family in all his relation in his office where ever hee hath any thing to doe hee hath but one that is his chiefe and that is God and because the whole of his heart is given to God hee must by consequence be a man that doth not greatly prosecute his owne businesse You shall find this old observation to bee a very true one that in all the world there cannot bee found a man that is eager truely eager in Gods cause and in his owne cause too indeed cholerick and hot spirited men whatsoever they doe velle they doe valde velle they are very eager upon it from the temper of their nature But if it be a gracious frame where the grace of God hath the predominancie it layeth out all the strength and mettle so for God that there is little left for themselves thus Moses that is starke mad almost in Gods cause is the mildest man in his owne cause Nehemiah hee that can teare the haire of his head and professeth he will lay hands on any man that will prophane the Sabbath hee can be contented any man shall jeere and scorne him if it be his owne cause I would have you remember that Gods fire doth rost or boyle or bake a sacrifice but never doth hee allow it to rost our meate in our owne Kitchin no that cannot bee find me the man that drives any self end in any high degree of his owne and I will shew you the man that hath no true zeale for God It is an observation that one hath of Solomon That Solomon built an house for God the stateliest house that ever was thought to bee in the world the Temple and hee was seven yeares
A DIVINE PROIECT TO SAVE A KINGDOME Opened In a Sermon to the Right Honorable the Lord Maior and Court of Aldermen of the Citie of London at their Anniversary meeting on Easter Munday Apr. 22. 1644. at Christ-Church By STEPHEN MARSHALL B. D. Minister of Gods Word at Finchingfield in Essex JER. 5. 1. Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seeke in the broad places thereof if yee can find a man if there bee any that executeth judgement that seeketh the truth and I will pardon it REV. 3. 19. Bee zealous therefore and repent Imprimatur Charles Herle London Printed by Richard Cotes for Stephen Bowtell and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Bible in Popes-head-Alley 1644. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE The Lord Maior Court of Aldermen of the famous Citie of London LUke-warme Laodicea by some hath beene made Englands Embleme and sutably enough not so much to the cold climate and this coole evening of the world we live in as to the tepid spring of our reformation at first especially to the decaying Autumne which of late yeares wee were come to But as cold oft breeds an inflammation so this hath inkindled Gods wrath and it these sad combustions which we are already well-nigh consumed with what remaines now therefore but that fire should take out fire the kindly warmth of holy zeale the wofull heate of this devouring fire that it may not come to everlasting burnings Great is the honour that God in this kind hath conferred upon you and great the blessings which hee hath to this whole land conveyed by you Your Engines not more admirable to quench fire in your Citie then your care cost and blood freely usefull to the extinguishing of the generall scare-fire of this whole kingdome your zeale herein hath saved many provoked more hath under God beene as a wall of fire about us and will bee for ever a more sparkling Diamond in your Crowne then those stones of fire in the King of Tyres Diadem The Ministers Lungs some make the Prophets Bellowes to blow up a dying fire I desired that mine in preaching this Sermon might helpe to blow up yours to a yet brighter flame and if this further publishing of it at your request may any whit serve to keep still alive this holy fire on the Altar of your hearts whilst Incendiaries set on fire from hell are every where shooting fiery bullets to set all into a further combustion I am but subservient to my great Master in his present work who is now purging the blood of our Jerusalem out of the midst of it by the spirit of judgement and burning Fervet opus and then I know you will not coole It s reformation worke and the examples of Phinehas Elias John Baptist Luther Knox and those other great reformers tell us it requires zeale Baruch was a great repairer of Jerusalems walls but it is said of him that flagrante animo instauravit hee repaired fast but it was when hee was hot upon it It is Gods worke and they must be fervent in spirit that would serve the Lord who had rather wee should let his worke alone then see us freeze at it it is his zeale that must now doe all for us and therefore hee expects that our zeale should doe what wee can for him It is Christs worke and cause who is willing to redeeme us but that wee might bee a people zealous of good workes hee did not sweat that wee should freeze nor shed his blood out of his owne veines that it might congeale in ours It is finally a great worke and the oppositions against it are greater but as they said to Joshua Onely be couragious so I to you Onely bee zealous and then bee not discouraged Hannibal by fire made his way over the Alpes and you by zeale may make yours over greatest mountaines of opposition which without running up with full strength and speed will not bee gotten up to Palmes are the Embleme of victory but they love to grow in a hot soyle be warme and promise your selves the Palme nay God promiseth it and that not onely to Smyrna whose name smells sweet of warme incense that if shee will be faithfull to the death he will give her a Crowne of life but even to our cooler Laodicea that her whom hee was ready to spew out of his mouth whilst she was lukewarme hee will be ready to come into and sup with when she shall once be zealous and repent which is the humble and hearty prayer of your Servant for Christ STEPHEN MARSHALL A DIVINE PROIECT TO SAVE A KINGDOME Numb. 25. 10 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying Phinehas the Sonne of Eleazar the sonne of Aaron the Priest hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel while hee was zealous for my sake among them that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousie IF you view this Portion of Scripture seriously you will find Right Honorable and Beloved that the businesse contained in it doth very nigh concern our selves In a few words The condition of the Israelites at the present time which this Text speaketh of was this They had indured a long peregrination in the wildernesse for forty yeares together God had visited former rebellions upon them and now their wandrings were well-nigh accomplished they were come almost to the skirt of the Land of Canaan God had begun to deliver the promised inheritance unto them by overthrowing and rooting out Sihon King of the Amorites and Og the King of Bashan and had given their Country into the hand of Israel and had told them hee would goe on and root out all the rest of the Canaanites before them that there should not a man be able to stand in their way As the Lord your God hath done unto these two Kings so shall hee do unto the other Kingdoms whither they passed they need not feare them the Lord their God would fight for them and would very shortly place them in that land which hee had long before promised to their fore-fathers And now when they were just upon entring into the Land they had like to have made ship wrack in the very Harbour and had brought down such a new Plague upon them that if there had not been a timely remedy put in they had perished every Mothers childe of them without any forain enemy striking a stroake at them And thus it was when Balaam could not obtaine leave from God to curse the Israelites hee taught Balak the King of Moab a trick how hee might make God himselfe curse them viz. If hee could by any wayes draw them to rebell against God Hee had told him plainly that while they kept close to God all the world would bee too weak for them but could hee but devise any way to make them fall out with God God would
conversation of his Wife or a Father of his Children Behold thou art called a Jew instructed in the Law makest thy boast of God c. Dost thou commit Sacriledge Dost thou steale Dost thou commit aduitery What then The Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you as it is written This serves first to acquit God in these his severe judgements against us in England he hath called an assembly of violent men against us he hath given us to drink the cup of astonishment a cup of deadly Wine but in truth when we consider things sadly and seriously we may wonder we remain a Nation that we are not utterly consumed God hath made us the wonder of the World for mercy hath done mighty things for this Nation hath heaped deliverance upon deliverance no Nation like us for mercy but alas I must also say no Nation like us for unkindnesse and Rebellion against him we who should have made all his Mercies motives and incentives to further obedience service and thankfulnesse have not only sinned under them and against them but with them fought against him with his own weapons and been worse and worse the more he hath done for us the more his Sun hath shined upon us the more like a filthy dunghill have we putrifyed and stunke in his nostrils Let us therefore humbly acquit him and say with Daniel The Lord our God is righteous in all his judgements for we obeyed not his voyce And with Ezra What shall we say after this O our God for we have forsaken thy Commandements Secondly Yea let us tremble and be deeply abased before him for our great rebellions lest he proceed and make us drink the very dregges of his cup of indignations He was pleased publickly in calling his people out from spirituall Babylon to take Germany the first of all the Nations and now in his day of visitation he hath first begun with them and these six and twenty yeares he hath most heavily afflicted them and still his hand is stretched out against them long time hath he spared us and seemed to say of us as once he did of Judah and Jerusalem I have cut off other Nations and destroyed their Cities I said surely England will receive instruction that their dwelling should not bee cut off but they rose early and corrupted all their doings And now the cup is come over unto us we are last taken in hand Oh let us timely meet him lest he proceed to make our plagues proportionable to his former mercies and our wickednesse Thirdly And for time to come let us beware that with Jesurun we kick not at him when he hath fatted us the usuall course of the world is this the more mercies God gives them the more liberty they take to sin against him the more learned the more honored the more rich men are the more bold they make with Gods Law to break it and cast it out and the more spirituall helps we have and furtherances many injoy the more secure proud and wanton they are before him but know for certain he keeps a Register of all his Mercies and thy account must be answerable he remembers how long thou hast lived upon him how neare he hath taken thee unto himselfe how oft he hath spared thee how accommodated thee with wealth yokefellow children credit friends but above all how long thou hast sate under his heavenly droppings what variety of Ministers c. Hee furnisheth thee with all let thy care be to bethink thy self how thou mayest lift up thy head when he will come to reckon for all thy Talents and when at any time the flesh begins to take liberty because he inlargeth thee check it thus and say Many a mercy hath the Lord given me for which of them do I thus abuse him Shall I thus requite the Lord O foolish creature and unwise is not hee thy Father that brought thee c. Thirdly that this betided them just when God was giving them possession of the promised Land when hee was marching in the greatnesse of his strength to destroy all their enemies that not a man might bee able to resist them yet then hee himselfe with his owne hands for their sinnes turneth upon them ready to destroy them all Learne this lesson from it That when the Lord is bestowing the greatest mercy working the greatest deliverance destroying the potentest enemies carrying himselfe so that all the world shall not bee able to hinder a people from receiving the greatest and most desirable mercy yet their owne wickednesse breaking out may deprive them of all and utterly undoe them when they are nearest the injoying of their happinesse Now the 40. yeares were ended and Og and Sihon both kild and God ingaged by Covenant that no enemie should stand before them had renewed his Covenant againe with them put them into a way that there needeth no more but meerely to enter in the Land a new rebellion breaketh out on their part which bringeth in a Plague that kild more of them then they had lost in all the warres that ever they had had This is just like that which the Lord spake by the Prophet Jeremie That at what time hee speaketh concerning a nation to build it and to plant it if that nation doe evill in his sight hee will repent him of all the good that hee promised and hee will roote them up and breake them downe not that God changeth his mind but that these wickednesses did change the state and condition of this people and put them out of a capacitie of receiving what God else would bee willing to conferre upon them Beloved I dare not stay you on this neither durst I passe it over without mentioning and I mention it to this end that wee may not bee too forward to promise our selves too much of our present prosperous condition which we seeme to bee in I confesse the Lord hath not onely by a mightie hand upheld us in the midst of all our tryalls these two or three last yeares but hath of late since wee have owned him in a Covenant and sworne for reformation of Religion and the Councells of such as seeke our ruine have more apparently owned Idolatry by joyning with the bloody Rebels of Ireland that are setting up popery and rooting out our Religion in Ireland and indeavouring the like against us since that day I say the Lord hath most admirably gone on and owned us and beene with our Armies and hardly unlesse it were once given us any check but all hath gone on very prosperously and through the goodnesse of God to mans eye wee are in a better posture now then ever wee were since the beginning of our publike troubles But for all that doe not promise your selves too much out of the present condition of things they may bee all well to mans eye but I tell you brethren there are such things found in every
thing I would have you beleeve from this first branch of my proofe is this That as things that are seeming mercies are in truth reall plagues when they come from wrath So things that are seeming plagues are reall mercies when they doe not come from wrath I say seeming mercies are plagues if they come from wrath Let God spread a table in the Wildernesse to a people and feed them with Quailes and Manna from heaven let it bee in wrath let the Israelites come and beg a King and let him give them the properest man in all the land and give him in wrath hee doth undoe them in giving them a King But on the other side let it seeme never such a crosse if there bee no wrath in it there is no plague in it therefore whatsoever plague any lie under doe but pacifie Gods wrath and you end the plague And that is the first ground that I gave you of it The second is that all plagues the things themselves that are plagues all of them come and goe at the commandement and word of God onely That as they can come from none but him so with the infinitest ease that can bee imagined doth God as send so remove any of them how heavy or strange soever it bee Therefore pacifie but his Spirit and you end the plague immediatly As for example Suppose a Citie brought to that passe by famine and povertie that they are faine to eate one another that there is nothing to keepe them one day longer from starving and that to all humane imagination it must bee a long time before ever the Citie can recover the blow againe God with speaking one word in an houre or two maketh it all up as you shall have one example of it in Samaria when they were brought to that passe that over night an Asses head that hath but little meat on it at the best and poore meat it is an Asses head shall bee a Kings dish that hee shall give fourescore peeces of silver for it and a Kab of Doves dung shall bee worth a sufficient quantitie of money to bee eaten if God speake but the Word the next day a Bushell of fine flowre shall bee sold for a shekell though no man could imagine how yet God made it good you know the storie Let a plague come to bee so hot that in a matter of two dayes or little more three or fourescore thousand men are cut off with it if God speake but one word the Angell puts up his Sword and there is not a man dieth more I will restore to you saith God all the yeares that the Caterpillers have taken from you all the Caterpillers that have beene devouring England thus long and all that they have plundred and spoiled attend to this any of you that are here who are daily plundered in many parts of the kingdome in your lands in your wares and in your states If God speak but the word it is all made up in the twinckling of an eye If you will therefore pacifie God you end the plague Beloved this is not the maine lesson I would stay upon yet give me leave to make some application of it and it shall bee but one onely use And that is a direction from Heaven of the readiest way the shortest cut to obtain an establishment for this poore distressed Land at this day I dare say all you who are Publique-spirited men are very thoughtfull to thinke how and which way it might be brought about that if God see it fit this Summer at the furthest might end these bloody warres these uncomfortable divisions that are amongst us And he that could suddainlyest procure it would be one of the blessed'st men that ever trod on English ground Now shall I from Almighty God give you a little information about it Know then for certaine That there is never any sword drawn on earth till it bee first drawn in heaven You shall read Esay 34. 5. My sword shall bee bathed in Heaven it shall come downe upon Idumea and upon the people of my curse to judgement A sword was to come upon Idumea to drinke their blood to be made fat with their flesh but first this sword was bathed in heaven Never doth warre come in any Country till God bathes his sword in Heaven draweth it out and brandisheth it in heaven and then saith Sword Goe into such a Land And if once God hath given the Sword a Commission all the world can never quiet it againe till God speake to it Oh thou Sword of the Lord saith the Prophet in the 47 Chapter of the Prophesie of Jeremiah at the 6 Verse when wilt thou bee quiet put up thy selse againe into thy scabbard rest and bee still But there is an Answer made How can it bee quiet when God hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the Sea shore there hath he appointed it Can all the world quiet that that God giveth a charge to It is God who strengtheneth one part and weakneth the other part and seemeth to make one victorious and then when he hath a mind to bring it down againe he will down with that part and strengthen the other part and till the Lord please to say Sword be thou quiet all the world cannot pacifie it And therefore Brethren were we never so successefull as through Gods mercy we seeme now to be in a prosperous way But had we all the Lord Hoptons Army in the West wholly broken the Earle of Newcastles in the North though all the Cavaliers about Oxford were they all of them broke all in pieces had you a blanke paper for Propositions sent you A blank paper that the Parliament and City write what they would have let his Majesty signe all let him sweare to all let him and the rest cordially intend to performe all if the God of Heaven say My quarrell with England is not ended all the world shall not make peace for you Consider what the Prophet told them when they saw the King of Babylon was risen from the siege of Hierusalem upon Pharaohs comming to help them they were jocund But the Prophet commeth tels them a sad story to this effect flatter not your selves with it Had you destroyed all the Armies of the Chaldeans that there were none left but a few wounded men those few wounded men shall return and burn your City when God will have the City burnt it shall be burnt Therefore till God be pacified England shall never be quiet but tranquillus Deut tranquillat omnia pacifie God and you end all Oh! could this enter into your hearts Right Honourable and beloved could you all beleeve this really and could wee bring it about that the Lord might once be pacified there were an end of our troubles and never till then There is a case in Isay 22. 5. c. very like to ours Jerusalem saw ae day of trouble and perplexity their
enemies brake in upon them their choycest vallies were full of enemies full of chariots and horsemen which set themselves in array at their very gates now what course tooke they for their safety why They locked to the armour of the House of the Forest they repaired the breaches of the Citie of David gathered the waters of the lower poole they made a ditch between the two walls they pulled down some houses to fortifie the wall made all warlike preparation and this God chid them for what was their errour I pray you why they begun at the wrong end their maine worke lay with God against whom they had sinned and hee expected weeping and mourning before him to regaine his favour and that they neglected and for that hee was more incensed against them and truely thus deale many of us our worke lieth with God and we looke to men wee looke to Armies and associations and in the meane time let the wrath of God kindled by our sinnes grow more hot against us but Oh that wee could now set upon this which is our most needfull and safest worke to pacifie his indignation and prevaile with him to cause his face to shine upon us and wee should soone bee safe But you will say How shall wee doe that The third lesson I chiefely reserve for that to shew you what Phinehas did But in the meane time let mee mention but three things to you and so I will passe on to the next The one is this there is a great deale of evidence in the Scripture That when God once findeth his people mournfully lying downe under his hand accepting the punishments of their sinnes taking shame to themselves and acquiting him and accounting him righteous in all his severitie this hath a marvellous influence upon the cooling and quenching of Gods wrath The Lord hath promised that if hee had scattered them into the severall parts of the world yet if their uncircumcised hearts bee but humbled and if they doe but accept of the punishment of their sinnes If they shall in the land of their captivitie confesse their sinnes and the iniquitie of their fathers with their trespasse which they have committed against me and that also they have walked contrary to me and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into their enemies land if then their uncircumcised heart bee humbled and they then accept of the punishment of their sinnes then saith hee will I turne my favour toward them hee saith it expressely so then would you all helpe to pacifie God I beseech you often study how righteous the Lord is in al his severitie toward England that wee may stand amazed and say Lord in stead of quarrelling with thee and saying why is it thus severe why is thy indignation thus hot wee confesse thou hast punished us lesse then our iniquities have deserved it is thy mercy wee are not utterly consumed This is a marvellous meanes to pacifie God Secondly another is the Lord loveth to have his people seeke him by prayer in the midst of all his wrath and indignation against them hee loveth to heare their mournefull Prayers as hee would have their humble acknowledgements of his justice so hee loveth their mournefull suites for his compassion Thus Solomon ingaged God and this God promised him to grant That if they were smitten with pestilence famine sword of the enemy carried into captivitie in what kind soever his anger were kindled against them when they should mourne and pray unto him that hee would forgive their sinnes and give them compassion Thus Daniel sought God in captivitie O Lord I beseech thee let thine anger and thy fury bee turned away from thy City Ierusalem c. and such prayers have prevailed with him There are no such Orators in all the world next to the blood of Christ in heaven or earth there is not the like of a mournefull heart wrestling with God by prayers and teares And goe on with it you beloved in the Lord that use frequently to lie in the dust before God and to bee humbled before him goe on and let him fill his bottle if hee will fill one vessell with our bloods let him fill a great many bottles with our teares let us incessantly strive with him and intreat him to bee propitious and gratious his promise is then when you call upon mee I will answer you when you seeke mee with your whole heart you shall finde me But thirdly and that will indeed make way for the next part The great means of all that which one saith truly hath the key of all the bowels of mercy and that can let out all the floodgates of Gods mercie to quench the heate of his wrath is unfeigned repentance That I say hath the key of all the bowels of God and nothing but repentance will doe it All acknowledgements of Gods justice all our mournefull callings upon him for compassion if it bee accompanied with a stubborne going on in a wicked way the Lord may preserve them from one judgement but hee will reserve them to another there will never bee a pacifying of Gods wrath to the purpose unlesse there bee a laying downe the armes of Rebellion that are taken up against him And therefore brethren let me commend this to you Labour every soule of you first for your owne parts to inquire what the sinnes are that you are guiltie of and find out what the sinnes are that England is guiltie of I meane especially in relation to this judgement that lieth upon us what the sword-procuring sinnes are what the sinnes are for which God doth use to send a sword to avenge his quarrell labour to find them out to reforme them labour that repentance may doe his worke on them and then the Lords wrath will cease quickly But unlesse wee obtaine grace to doe this although all other things were granted to us the end of all would prove nothing but ruine and misery The blood the Idolatry the whoredome the contemning of the Gospell the prophaning of the Sabboth the scorning of Gods Ministers the hating of Gods children these are all of them sinnes that God useth to visit with the Sword And untill the land bee humbled for these sinnes and doe repent of them there is no expectation that it can long bee free from one devouring plague or another strike in with all your might and not onely to doe it your selves but every one in your places labour to expiate that in others roote them out punish them weed them out pluck them up by the rootes what ever lieth in your power And how that shall be done and the way of it will best of all appeare in the example and instance that you have in the Text Hee did it while hee was zealous among them for the Lords sake And so I passe unto the third and last part of my Text You have heard who was the Physitian Phinehas secondly