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 Seraiah 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 siake 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 Oiyes 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
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 out of all the Land of Iudah and Benjamin and out of the Cities which he had taken from Mount Ephraim and renewed 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 unto the Lord a great sacrifice and both himselfe and his people entred into a Covenant to seeke the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soule that whosoever would is not seeke the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great whether man or woman and they sware unto the Lord with a loud voyce and with shouting and with trumpets and with Cornets 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 spoile which they had brought 700. Oxen and 7000. Sheepe 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 Covenant entred into not by Asa alone but by all the people of God a Covenant solemnized in publique by Sacrifice by Oath 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 this Covenant the Queene his Mother Maacha would needs retaine her puppet Gods still and amongst the rest one abominable Idol in a grove so obscene as it is not fit to be named Abulensis a observeth that it was Priapus and conjectureth thence that she was not only a grosse Idolatresse but an abominable strumpet b for ordinarily Idolatry and adultery spirituall and bodily fornication goe together c It is said that he removed her from being Queene because she had made an Idol in a grove and Asa cut down her Idol and stampt it and burnt it at the brooke Kidron vers. 16. Which passage is exprest with an emphasis in 1 King 15. 11. Also Maacha his Mother even Her he removed from being Queene Although a Queene although a Mother * yet even 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 bosome 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 as that one 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 â—ord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Iudah not 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 saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward 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 work 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. 32. 37. there is a promise that God would gather his
intention of a mans Spirit in any worke that his heart is most set upon and that he would lay out his life and all he hath upon for the accomplishment of it that was the resolution care of these people must be ours this is to aske the way to Zion with Our faces thitherward And without this no entring into Covenant with God This is for substance no other though otherwise expressed than that of the people in Asa his time when they sware the Covenant before mentioned 2 Chron. 15. where it is said they did it with all their heart and with all their soule and exprest it by the loudnesse of their voyces and with shoutings c rejoycing at the Oath because they had sworne with all their hearts and sought him with their whole desire vers. 15. Men that will stand disputing consulting with flesh and bloud and casting about how the entring into such a Covenant may consist with their profits honours lusts designes relations c. are no fit Covenanters for God His people shall be willing Psal. 110 3. their heart minde spirit body countenance all shall professe and proclaime this to the whole world that they are for God for a Covenant for putting themselves into the strongest bonds that can possibly be thought on to bind them hand and foot soule and body to the Lord for ever 2. Nor is this all For the men in my Text content not themselves to be thus earnestly addicted to the worke in their own particulars but as one stick kindles another they desire to kindle the same flame of affection in others also and mutually to blow up the coales in one another saying Come This notes the fervency of their Charitie towards others also For 't is not here brought in as a formalitie or complement but as the evidence of a strong desire to draw as many others as they can to the same journey and if it be possible to keep the same pace with them as being most unwilling to leave any behind them This indeed is true Love unfained Charitie to draw all we can along with us unto God True Converts when once they returne themselves they cause others to returne also And this was often prophecyed as a thing which should certainly be Witnesse all those places in Isay 2. Mic. 4. and Zach. 8. before quoted So then all these things are requisite and previous to the Act of Covenanting with God There must be a seeking to God with true humiliation a seeking of him with all intention of spirit and with all manifestations of a resolution not to be terrified from daunted at or ashamed of the worke yea with fervent Charitie to draw others into the same Covenant also Thus much for the disposition previous to the Covenant 2. The next thing considerable in the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is the Substance of the Covenant it self Let us joyne our selves to the Lord in a Covenant Two things here must be opened the matter and the forme of this solemne action 1. The matter of this Act is set forth under this expression Let us joyne our selves to the Lord The original word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} from {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is very emphatical so as that word being explained will sufficiently set out before you the nature of the Covenant here intended Some Translators render it Let us glue our selves unto the Lord which imports a conjuction so neere as nothing can come between and so firme as nothing can dissolve But more particularly the verb here used is in Scripture applyed to a double sense or to denote two things both of which being set together will fully discover what it is to be joyned to the Lord in Covenant First it signifyeth the binding of a mans self to the Usurer of whom he hath borrowed money to pay backe both principall and interest So it is used in Nehem. 5. 4. where the people complaine We have borrowed money * for the Kings tribute and that upon our Lands and Vineyards That is they had engaged both Lands and Vineyards for securitie of the money borrowed that the Usurer should enter upon all in case they failed of payment at the day So that as men to make sure will have a Statute Staple or recognisance in the nature of a Statute Staple acknowledged whereby a mans person goods lands and all are bound for the securitie of the Creditor that he shall have both principall and interest at the day agreed upon and here that of Solomon proves too true The borrower is servant to the lender for he hath nothing left to his own dispose if he would sell any Land settle any joyncture there is a Statute upon it he can dispose of nothing till that be taken off so it is in the case of any man joyning himself to the Lord by Covenant he must even bind himself to God as firmely as fully as the poore borrower who for his necessitie takes up money binds himself to the Usurer If God lend him any mercy any blessing he binds himself to restore not only the principall the blessing it self when God shall call for it but even the interest too I meane all possible homage service and honour which becomes those who have received so great a benefit This is more than implyed in that parable of our Saviour touching the talents dispensed Matth. 25. 27. for even to him who had received but one talent was it said Thou oughtest to have put my money to the Exchangers that at my coming I might have received mine own with usury God will have his returne some interest for every mercy and expects a Statute Staple that is a Covenant for his better securitie God will have him bound soul body estate life and all so as all he is and hath shall be forfeited if he do not keep touch and make payment according to agreement and Covenant made between them This is the first use of the word nilvu Secondly there is yet more in it For though it be true that the obligation of a borrower to the usurer be as strong as bonds and Statutes can make it yet there is not such an entire neere firme and lasting tye of the borrower to the Lender nor such a thorough interest in the whole estate of the Usurer as there is of him that is in Covenant with God The Usurer though he bind the poor borrower fast to him yet he keeps him at distance not giving him interest in or use of any other part of his estate but only of the summe borrowed But now this joyning of our selves to the Lord is such as is made by marriage and gives interest in all that the Lord is and hath and admits us to the participation of all the most intimate neerest choysest expressions of the deerest Love of God which is or can be found between the husband and the wife
who are joyned together by the bond of marriage and made one flesh So the word is used Gen. 29. 34 where Leah being 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 in 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 juris to depart away from the Living God but not so much as to sit loose from God or to stand in any termes 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
of the Serpents root shall come forth a Cockatrice and his fruit shall be a fiery 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 yourselves 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 sit 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 inquities 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 fit 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 to morrow 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 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 imagination of mine heart and adde drunkennes to thirst See and tremble at what God hath resolved to doe with that man Deut. 29. 20 21. The Lord will not spare him but the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoake against that man and all the Curses that are written in Gods Booke shall ly upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under Heaven Here is nothing but fury powred out upon such a wretch not a blessing shall descend upon him not a curse shall escape and go by him not onely himselfe and posterity but his very name so farre as it is an honour shall all be cast out of the world as out of the midst of a sling If he please himselfe with this Yet I shall live as long as some others if they have any happinesse I resolve to share with them he will find that God will not leave him so but the Lord will separate him unto evill out of all the the Tribes of Israel so as though all others be safe yet as a strucken Deere is unhearded from all the rest and followed by the dogs till he be pull'd downe and kill'd so shall it be with this man according to all the curses of the the Covenant that are written in the Booke of the Law Although the whole Kingdome be safe and all others in it be in peace yet he and his house shall perish the line of Confusion shall be stretched out over him hell and damnation shall be his portion how high soever he now beares his head and how much so ever he suffer his heart to swell against the truth supposing all that he likes not to be nothing but a spice of indiscretion yea of faction and it may be of Sedition when yet nothing is offered but what is I trust pregly proved out of Holy Scripture So farre the first Vse 2. This may informe us touching the true cause which most neerely concernes our selves of the slow proceedings of Reformation of things amisse among us both in the Church and Common-wealth Why God hath not yet given us so full a deliverance from Babylon why there have been so many ebbings and flowings in matters of Religion yea more ebbings than flowings Why generall grievances swell to such an height and that all the opportunities of cure have vanished so soone as appeared how it comes to passe that albeit God hath moved the heart of the King to call Parliament after Parliament yet by and by one spirit of division or another sometimes from one quarter sometimes from another like the evill spirit which God sent between Abimelech and the men of Shechem to the ruine of both still comes between blasteth all our hopes leaving us in worse case than we were in before whence it is in regard of our selves that in stead of setting up the Kingdome and Ordinances of Christ in more purity there is such a contrary mixture and such a corrupting of all things in Doctrine in worship in every thing Arminianisme Socinianisme and Popish Idolatry breaking in againe over all the Kingdome like a floud What is a chiefe cause of all this Have we not prayed have we not fasted Have we not had more Fasts at Parliaments of late than in many yeares before Yea hath not there been generally among Gods people more frequent humiliations more frequent seeking of God notwithstanding the malice and rage of some men to discountenance and suppresse it than in former times Why then is Deliverance and Reformation so slow in comming Surely Beloved we have all this while mistaken the maine businesse and neglected the principall part of a Religious Fast You come Fast after Fast to seek God in his House You forbeare your victuals afflict your soules endure it out a long time you pray heare confesse your sins and freely acknowledge that all is just that God hath brought upon us and that we suffer lesse than we deserve All this is well But here is the error and the true Cause of the continuance of all our evils and of their growing greater namely that all this while we have never in any Fast or at any other time entred into such a solemne and publique Covenant with God as his people of old have often done upon like occasions and exigents That I may yet more effectually bring home this to all our hearts give me leave briefly to parallel the slow pace of our deliverance out of Mysticall Babylon with that of Iudah and some of the remnant of Israel out of old Babylon which for a long time had held them Captives And here first be pleased to call to minde that as touching the Captive Iewes God failed not on his part of his promise At the end of 70 yeeres libertie of returne from Babylon to Hierusalem was proclaimed in the first yeere of Cyrus the Persian Monarch whereupon many did returne under the conduct of Zorobbabel Being come home to Hierusalem we may not conceive that they wer not at all touched with sense of their deliverance or of the sinnes which had formerly provoked the Lord to cast them into that great bondage out of which they were delivered Well on they go first to offer sacrifices in the right place Although the foundation of the Temple of the Lord was not yet laid In the second yeere of their coming Zorobbabel began to set forward the work of the house of the Lord and the foundation was laid But the adversaries of Iudah the Great Officers of the Kingdome under the King of Persia apprehending or rather pretending the going on of this building to be matter of prejudice and danger to that Monarchy they procure a stay of it upon reason of State so as it was well nigh an hundred yeers ere they got libertie to go on again and it was above an 100 yeeres before the Temple could be finished For as many exact Chronologers observe the Temple was not perfected in the reigne of Darius Hystaspis as some have thought but in the sixth yeere of Darius Nothus between whom and the former Darius both Xerxes the husband of Esther and called in Scripture Ahashuerus and Artaxerxes Longimanus successively swayed the Persian Scepter In all which time many things were amisse Crueltie Oppression Adultery Mixture with strange wives and other great deformations remained Then comes Ezra after the Temple was finished and somewhat he did to set forward the work of Reformation in the seventh yeere of Artaxerxes Mnemon successor to Darius Nothus And yet there was much more to do After him therefore comes Nehemiah in the twentieth yeere of the same Artaxerxes Mnemon and after all the former endeavours he findes the Church still weltring in her bloud and even wallowing in her owne gore I meane in most of her old and long continued sins although cured of Idolatry so that still there was great corruption in
saith the Lord have they loved to wander 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 Therfore 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 faction 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 in being to have sate there now but had long since been covered and buryed under the ashes of confusion Thinke now