and Posterity if Religion should not be setled and the house of God ordered with all speed and diligence in every thing as God himselfe had commanded If we will looke more distinctly upon the Order not of the words but of the matter we shall meet with three particulars fitting the present condition of affaires and very worthy our gravest consideration The first is the great evill to be avoyded even the greatest of all evils The wrath of God against the Realme of the King and his Sonnes The second is the meane which is the chiefest of all meanes and without which no other meane can be effectuall for averting or preventing of wrath Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven The third is the connexion of the one and the other or the inference of the effect from the cause For why should there be wrath c. When that is not diligently done for the house of the God of Heaven which the God of Heaven commandeth then is there wrath against the Realme of the King and his Sonnes Would the Lord who is so rich in wisdome and can use so many powerfull wayes of dealing with the heart of man be pleased to put it in the Kings heart to write such a letter and send forth such an Edict as this is it would be the opening of a doore of hope or as good Schechaniah saith l there would be now hope in Israel concerning this thing That the horrible deluge of wrath which now overrunneth this Land should be aswaged the Fountains also of the depth and the windowes of Heaven would be stopped the Arke would rest the Dove would come with an Olive-leafe in her mouth we would all joyn in offering a Sacrifice of thanksgiving the Lord would smell a savour of rest and we should see a new world wherin should dwel righteousnesse and peace Amongst all the great things which the honourable Houses of Parliament have done there is none more acceptable to God or more promiseth peace and happinesse to this Land then that a Church-assembly is called for searching into the will of the God of Heaven that whatsoever is commanded by him may be diligently done The wrath of the Lord hath raged for many yeeres in Germany and is not yet abated because nothing is done there for Reformation of Religion and building of the house of God But there be three things in England which give us hope and promise deliverance First Your frequent and continued fasting and humiliation Secondly Your entring into a solemne Covenant with God for obtaining mercy Thirdly Your begun Reformation and the course You have taken for perfecting the same That whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven may be diligently done for the house of the God of Heaven If these three be performed in truth You may expect a blessing True humiliation Covenanting with God and Reformation are the Harbingers of peace and happinesse But when they are not in truth the hypocrisie threatneth more then the performance promiseth Concerning the great evill to be avoyded which is the wrath of the God of Heaven although it be infinit and above all dimenâ—ion unmeasurable as it is in the infinit and incomprehensible God yet according to our capacity and the matter in hand it is expressed and set before our eyes in the dimensions thereof In the m Psalme 103. we have the dimensions of the infinite mercy of God the height and the depth thereof according to the height of heaven or as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that feare him and like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that feare him the breadth as farre as the East is from the West so farre hath he removed our transgressions from us and the length The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to them that feare him and his righteousnesse unto his Childrens Children In this place We have the like dimensions of his anger against them that use noâ— the power which God hath given them for setling his feare and worship according to his owne will The height and depth thereof is in the word Wrath which is a boyling and burning anger and this is the wrath of God revealed from heaven and burning to the lowest hell The bredth is where it is not said against the King but the kingdom of the King and the length of it is the Sons Posterity of the King to al generations To speake a word of these three severally First we know that the words used in Scripture to denote the wrath of God against his Enemies doe expresse humane affections and bodily passions which are not in him who is not like unto man But the thing intended is the Lord his most holy dislike and serious detestation of sinne with his most just and constant will and decree to punish the same His Comminations and threats declaring his dislike and decree and his judgements and vengeance which are the executing of his threatnings This execution of wrath is principally meant in this place and yet it is not called the wrath of God but simply Wrath thereby shewing the greatnesse and immensity of the wrath of God that there is no wrath comparable with his wrath and therefore no wrath so formidable as his wrath For first all other wrath of Man or Angell is but the limited wrath of the creature but his wrath is infinite like himself as the man is so is his wrath and as God is so is his wrath The wrath of a King is like the roaring of a young Lyon but the roaring of the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah is more terrible look how much the Wisdome the Power the Justice the Mercy of God are greater then the Wisdome the Power the Justice the mercy of man so much is the wrath of God greater then the wrath of man Secondly the wrath of God reacheth to the soule as well as to the body to Kingdomes as well as to particular persons or Families to the posterity as well as to the present generation it being accompanied with omnipotency to which all things are alike easie and faisible Thirdly the greatnesse of his anger appeareth in this that he is the Lord of Hosts when the Heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them n Gen. 2.1 then and not before did God the maker of all things take upon him the name of the Lord o verse 4. After he had made all things by his word and set them in order he commandeth and ruleth all by his authority he hath them all ready to execute his will they are all his Host and Souldiers from the Angels Sunne Moone and Starres unto the smallest Flies and Wormes and when he giveth the alarme to the least of them the greatest on earth are not able to resist The
as are faithfull in their places are upon the right way to save the Kingdome the King and the Kings Sonnes from wrath Now there is nothing more necessary nothing we should desire more earnestly to know then by what means this great wrath of the great God may be prevented where it is iminent feared or averted wher it is incumbent felt to what end doth the Lord threaten his wrath to what purpose doth he make it smoke and in part to break forth in a flame but that the means may be used to turn it away that the fulnesse thereof come not upon us We will find three sorts of means practised in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah and of the Prophets their contemporaries The first was publick fasting and solemne humiliation joyned with Confession of sin justifying of God in all the evils he had brought upon them earnest deprecation of wrath and supplications for a blessing that God would accept of their endeavours and prosper his work against so many professed and secret Enemies The second was a solemne Covenant For the Princes and Rulers first and then the people entred into a curse and an oath to walk in Gods Law and to observe and do all his commandments judgements and statutes Here there was swearing subscribing sealing and all means used which could bind their inconstant and fugitive hearts unto God The third was the doing of the work of God the building of the Temple the reformation of Religion the ordring of the worship service of God and the reedising of the wals which were ruined lying in heaps Their fasting and praying was not sufficient they behoved to enter into Covenant Their praying and Covenanting was not enough nor were they to rest there They behoved to build and reforme It hath pleased God to putt in your hearts to give your selves to frequent fasting and humiliation onely consider whether with the acknowledgment of your particular Sins and personall transgressions yee have beene humbled for publike and Nationall Sinnes and especially such as have beene committed about the worship of God and the Government of the house of God The Lord hath been much dishonoured this way for this hath he entred in a controversie with the Land this therefore would be confessed that God may be restoâ—â—d to his honour by your confession It feareth me that a great part of the people of the Land are not yet brought to this Confession but are still fond of a formall Service and a proud Prelacie and therefore as ye are your selves in humilitie to acknowledge this sin as a high provocation so would all good meanes be used for bringing the people to the sight and sense of it It is true there is a secret and reall acknowledgement in the Covenant but the Lord requireth a more direct open and plain confession nor can he be pleased or his wrath turned away till that which hath been called and esteemed for so many yeers the glory and the beautie of the Church of England be thus brought low and cast into the dust It hath pleased the Lord also to bring you a degree farder That both the honourable Houses of Parliament and many others whose hearts the Lord hath toucht have entred into a solemne League and Covenant for performing such duties as are judged necessarie at this time for the honour of God and for the deliverance and preservation of the Church and Kingdom which no doubt will prove a pretious and powerfull mean of good if the Name of the most high God be not by it taken in vain But take heed that it be not forgotten by them that have taken it before it be taken by others And therefore two things would be looked unto 1. That although it should never be taken by others yet it obleigeth such as have entred in Covenant and although the whole Nation be bound to the same duties which ye are bound unto ye have entred into a new Obligation which if you shall forget or violate will certainly be laid to your charge Jeremiah reproveth Israel not for the transgression of the Law which yet commanded the same duties but for violation of the Covenant 2. That others be instructed and moved to enter into the same Covenant for if they who have entred in Covenant shall not consider that it is a perpetuall Covenant never to be forgotten or which God forbid shall forget their supervenient obligation and others shall refuse to enter in Covenant it will not onely make a division in the Church and Kingdom but shall be a ready way to bring on a greater wrath then yet hath been seen or felt Upon one sort for their perfidy and upon the other for their neglect or obstinacy There is yet a third mean without which the former two are not sufficient And this is Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven A dutie which in it self is necessary and which to us who live under the Gospel is no other thing but the reformation and setling of Religion Wherein we are to consider 1. the Rule of reformation which is the Commandment Decree or revealed will of God 2. The extent of this reformation whatsoever 3. How or after what manner we should go about the work diligently 4. The reasons which should induce us to this duty one is from the greatnesse and soveraignty of God He is the God of heaven The other from common equity It is the house of the God of heaven and it is equitable that every man bear rule in his own house The rule of building the house of God and of the reformation of Religion is the same and perpetuall the commandment of God and not the commandment of man one or moe whether they be Civill or Ecclesiasticall persons It is their part to provide according to their places and callings to command and direct that the Commandment of God be obeyed This King commandeth not that his will be done but what God hath commanded Neither King nor Parliament can command otherwise Civill powers have great authoritie not onely in things civill but in matters of Religion and they sin against God if they use not the authority which God hath put in their hands for the good of Religion To them belongeth Inspection and watching over not onely Ecclesiasticâ—s but Ecclesiastica Ecclesiasticall persons are subject to Civill authoritie no lesse then others and in respect of things Ecclesiasticall or matters of Religion Eusebius brings in Constantine the great saying Vos Episcopi in Ecclesia ego extra Ecclesiam seu templum Episcopus a Deo constitutus sum Not that any mortall man whether Pope or Prince can be properly Head of the Church or Vice-gerent unto Christ the Mediator in his speciall and oeconomicall Kingdom of Grace for Princes are Vice-gerents to God and to his Son Jesus Christ as he is God in his
time especially that you have not called and endeavoured so earnestly as yee ought for Reformation of Religion that every thing might have beene done in the house of God according to his own wil but have pleased your selves with and have rested in the beginnings of a Reformation yee have been for the greater part more pleased with things which were not reformed then the things which were reformed in the worship of God and this sinne hath beene the cause of many other sinnes for where God is not served aright all other duties are but neglected or performed without sincerity Secondly for the present this is the sinne of the Land that the people have not according to their power stayed the King from shedding of blood but many have joyned their Counsels and endeavours to begin and encrease the common misery and others have not resisted the evill but suffered the sword to rage which may make the people justly to say We have sinned and done wickedly The third is the length of this wrath for it reaches to the Kings Sonnes and so to the Posterity The wrath of God endeth not at the persons that have sinned but is extended to others that descend of them without respect of persons and especially for sinnes about the house and worship of God For the horrid and blasphemous murmuring of Israel when they repented themselves of their comming out of Egypt and said one to another let us make a Captaine and let us returne into Egypt not onely their own carkasses fel in the Wildernes but their Children which had not murmered yea which were not yet born must wander in the Wildernesse forty yeers and beare their whoredomes g In like manner in the seventy yeeres of the captivity of Babylon the Children that were borne in Babylon or were carried from their owne Land suffered in that captivity a world of miseries for the sinnes of their Parents The examples of the Children of Dathan and Abiram of the first borne of Egypt of the young ones in Sodome that had not sinned after the similitude of the transgression of Adam and many other judgements of God plucking up root and branch prove this to be the manner of the Lords proceeding against sinners and that without respect of persons The greater the persons be the more grievous in the justice of God is the punishment because the sinnes of great ones are not onely sinnes but examples of sinning and proclamations of liberty to inferiours and therefore I will be glorified in Pharoah and in his servants h saith the Lord For the sinne of Saul in slaying the Gibeonites there was not onely a famine in the dayes of David three yeers yeere after yeere but seven of his sonnes also were hanged up in Gibea David himselfe was not spâ—red but because he had slaine Vriah the Hittite with the sword of the Children of Ammon Nathan said the sword shall not depart from thine house because thou hast despised me i And afterward when his sinne was pardoned because he had given great occasion to the Enemies of God to blaspheme the Child also that is borne unto him shall surely dye This course the Lord doth after a speciall manner follow in sinnes about his house and worship and therefore in the second command and no other doth the Lord threaten to visit the sinnes of the Fathers upon the Children The reasons why the Lord doth so are first that all the world may know how much the Lord abhorreth sinne especially in matters of his worship To this purpose it is observable what he saith Exod. 32.34 In the day when I visit I will visit their sinne upon them So often as he punished the people and their posterity for other sinnes he remembred their sinne of Idolatry which gave occasion to the saying That in every plague of Israel there was one ounce of the golden Calfe Secondly that men may abstaine from sinnes of this sort not onely for respect to themselves but to their posterity whom they love so â—enderly and of whom they are often more carefull then of themselves And this he doth to the third and fourth generation that both the Parents themselves and others who are witnesses to the sinnes of the Parents may be sensible of Gods dealing and know that the Lord is just and the avenger of sinne I leave the theologicall discourse in vindicating the justice of God onely I say first that the Lord punisheth no man with eternall wrath for his fathers sinnes but the soule that sinneth suffereth in that kind Secondly that the ungodly and wicked posterity cannot open their mouth against the justice of God since they continue in the iniquity of their fathers Thirdly that the Godly when they are visited in their bodies goods or estates which they have from their Fathers will find these visitations to be indeed indicia peccati non judicia propter peccatum and rather medicines and preservatives for their eternall happinesse then wrath for their destruction And I come to the use that in this nicke of time and joynture of affaires the great wisdome which God hath given you in your publike places be stirred up and exercised in taking heed that all the former sinnes of this Land committed by so many Progenitors be not brought upon this Generation according to that sore and sad sentence pronounced by the Sonne of God against Jerusalem Matth. 23.35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias Sonne of Barachias whom yee slew between the Temple the Altar and verse 36. Verily I say unto you all these things shall come upon this Generation Yee cannot preserve all particular persons from the judgements due unto them for their own and for their fathers sinnes nor can yee preserve every Family from the wrath which the present and preceding generations have been treasuring up It appeareth that the Lord hath decreed the destruction of some persons and the eâ—tirpation of some Families But it is in your hands to prevent the desolation of the Church and Kingdome The Jewes filled up the measure of their Fathers by crucifying the Sonne of God when he came amongst them and would have wrought a Reformation and therefore their habitation was left desolate and they are no more a Nation nor a Kingdome unto this day It is true the people were executioners but the Rulers were the prime Agents Doe therefore the worke unto which the Lord hath called You and Yee shall save the Kingdome from this wrath It is in Your hands as Instruments to make the posterity blessed and to blesse You for your faithfulnesse Woe to them that leave their Station in such an exigence they doe what they can to bring all the blood and all the sinnes of former times upon this Generation and to make the Posterity miserable Let others professe or pretend what they will I am assured that such
it then before either now endeavour to carry it through to every point of known perfection doing whatsoever the God of heaven hath commanded or look for nothing but that Superstition and Idolatry and with it ruine and desolation shall come upon you as a flood And therefore which is the third go about the work after the manner here prescribed that is diligently which implyeth very much 1 Sincerely ayming at the right end without simulation This is to do the work of God for the honour of God and good of Religion And not for our glory or benefit or for civill ends were they never so publick And therefore it calleth not onely for publick but for pious Spirits Where this sinceritie is wanting there may be a businesse and counterfeiting of diligence but no true diligence or faithfulnesse 2 Zealously for true zeal is active like fire or like mettall in a horse or like winde to the sails of a ship it carrieth us on and maketh us diligent 3. Prudently Prudence considereth both the opportunities and impediments of working where Prudence is wanting there may be precipitation but no true diligence 4. Speedily without delay or procrastination Aâ— vineger to the teeth and a smoke to the eyes so is the sluggard to them that send him * The slouthing and slipping of occasions bringeth despair of doing good in the end and then our own consciences chide and others to whom we should have done good do curse us Solomons house was not built in lesse then thirteen yeers but the Temple was built in seven yeers because beside the preparation of materials both the King and the people were more earnest about the one then the other There is no want of materials at this time onely speed is required and without speed no diâ—igence 5. Constantly that no calumny or contradiction no hope or fear no trouble or example of others prevail with you to leave your station or desert the work unto the which the Lord hath called you but that you resolve still to do and if the Lord will to die Let no man think by deserting the work and forsaking his station that the work shall cease and he shall prosper No thou shalt find thy soul filled with grief and vexation upon two contrary grounds One is Thou shalt with a grieved and envious heart behold with thy eyes the work to prosper and thou not honoured to have a hand in it The other is Thou thy self shall perish in the end For as a bird that wandreth from her nest so is a man that wandreth from his place Mark and consider what comfort they have found who have deserted this work of Reformation whether in the one Kingdom or in the other Thou thinkest that thou will not hazard thy self for the honour of God but God saith he will not honour thee to have heart or hand in his work and thou shall run a greater hazard There be two reasons secretly couched in the words to perswade and provoke unto this duty The one is from the knowledge of the greatnesse and majestie of God the other from the conscience of common equitie amongst men Concerning the first Artaxerxes was a great King for in the beginning of his letter he is honored with the title of King of Kings as having many mightie Princes under his power And in the end of the letter he hath power of confiscation of goods imprisonment banishment and death Yet he acknowledgeth one greater then the greatest whom he calleth the God of heaven thereby to expresse his greatnesse majestie and glory which made him to give forth this Decree and by which he would move all men to do diligently what he commandeth For the knowledge and apprehension of the greatnesse and Majestie of God especially compared with our basenesse is a powerfull mean to move us to obey his Commandments and to go diligently about the affairs of his House The Lord is great eminently and infinitely above the creature he is the originall of all created greatnesse and nothing can be conceived in him which may be the least diminution of his greatnesse and Majestie It is not so with men When he is to give his Law to his people he first manifesteth his greatnesse by his wonders in Aegypt by bringing them miraculously through the Red sea and by the Terrors of Mount Sinai and then he beginneth I am the Lord thy God that brought thee c. When he speaketh to his Prophets to make them diligent and faithfull he useth this Preface Thus saith the Lord When he sendeth Isaiah with his message he beginneth with a vision of his glory I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his traine filled the Temple c. When he will have men to tremble at his word Thus saith the Lord the heavens is my Throne and the earth is my footstool When he revealed himself to John his servant he sheweth his greatnesse Revel. 4. and 7. If the greatest of the children of men did consider that he is higher then the highest Eccles. 5.8 that in his hand is there breath and all their wayes as Daniel telleth a great King that went before Artaxerxes Dan. 5.23 That in his fight when once he is angrie no creature can stand Psal. 76.7 They would not by any sin and least of all by dealing deceitfully in the matters of his House provoke him to anger Wo unto him that striveth with his Maker Let the potsheard strive with the potsheards of the earth Isa. 45.9 If either King or Parliament or Assembly could really in their hearts apprehend this uncreated and infinite greatnesse and could look upon God as he is described Dan. 7.9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down and the Antient of dayes did sit whose garment was white as snow and the hair of his head as pure wooll his Throne was like the fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire A fiery streame issued and came forth from before him thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him They would choose rather to offend all the world then to offend him in the smallest matter of his House but the truth is we put the Lord farre from us and we see not him that is invisible Unlesse by the goodnesse of God a timeous and powerfull remedie be provided the multitude of Sects and Sectaries will become ere it be long the reproach of this Nation yet it fears me that Atheisme and Atheists be more common and abound more then any Sect or sort of Sectaries For did men know or beleeve that there is a God in heaven who is God of heaven and earth were it possible for them to live as they live and to do what they do Men become first Atheists in their life and conversation living as a worme in a mans bellie thinking no other wayes of man but as ordained to be a place for it to
live in and of no other world but that wherein it lives So do the Atheists of the world wallow in their sins and sensualitie never thinking of the Author or end of their life that there is any other world or that this world serveth for any other end but for their life After they have lived as Atheists when they are constrained sometimes to think that there is a God they become Atheists in their desire and affection wishing that there were not a God to be avenged upon them for their wickednesse and in end the Lord giveth them up to Atheisme in their judgement and opinion As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate mind Rom. 1.28 Being stricken with his judgement they have no serious thought of the House of God or his glory but all their care is about their own houses and honour And ordinarily the Lord befools them in their deepest Policies sweeping down their cob-webs which they have been for a long time twisting making their own wits a snare unto them and turning the means which they did use for their standing and rising to be the meanes of their fall and ruine The other Reason is from common equity amongst men which was the ground of that Decree Esth. 1.22 That everie man should beare rule in his own house The Temple of Jerusalem was the House of God and now under the Gospel the Church of Christ is the House of the living God where he hath promised his presence his face is seen and he is found of them that seek him which therefore may be called Surely God is in thee Isa. 45.14 And Jehovah Shammah The Lord is there Ezek. 48.35 And therefore the Lord should beare rule in his Church and his Commandment ought to be obeyed According to this ground hath the Lord given the precepts of his holy just and good Law For if he be our God what more equitable then that we have him and no other for our God that he direct his own service and worship that his Name be reverently used by us that we observe the times wherein he will have us to appeare before him and that we do duty to every one with whom we live under him This consideration may be very usefull For it may first serve to be a Cure of two great ills in this Land One is of such as conceive that the Law of God belongeth not to Christians They may as well say that Common and Naturall Equitie belongeth not to Christians Is it not written in the heart of man by nature Is it not confirmed by Jesus Christ Is it not recommended to Christians by the Apostles Is it not established by faith Is not the observing of it a testimonie of our communion with God Is not the end of it love from a pure heart a good conscience and faith unfained Is it thankfulnesse to God because we are delivered from the condemnation coaction and rigour of the Law not to acknowledge the obligation of the Law Shall not the domesticks of the house of God observe the Commandments of God or shall they not be grieved when they transgresse and observe them not It is too common an errour to turn the grace of God into wantonnesse The other evill is on the other hand when men give themselves to will-worship the one sort neglects the Commandments of God the other addeth the commandments of men to the Commandments of God which is that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that Epiphanius speaketh of a superfluous will-worship of which there is too palpable an example and practise in this Kingdom at this time in the observation of dayes No Church or Kingdome on earth hath greater reason to take heed to it then the Church and Kingdome of England 1. Because the house and service of God hath been pestered beside a multitude of superstitious observations and Ceremonies with a greater number of dayes then the Church of the Jews had in the time of their Ceremoniall worship 2. Because the Christian Sabbath or Lords day hath been profaned and what hath been added to other dayes hath been added with derogation to the Lords day They have forsaken the fountain of living waters and have digged unto themselves cisterns which hold no water 3. Because God hath called this Land to mourning and fasting as we professe this day and I pray God that the unseasonable keeping of this festivitie which God hath not commanded be not more prevalent for evil then the humiliation of this day for good and yet the keeping of this day of humiliation in such a time of festivitie is a presage that by the blessing of God upon the proceedings of the Honourable Houses of Parliament and Assembly this superstition shall shortly expire and that it is now at the last gaspe Secondly It may teach us what reason the Lord of heaven hath to be angry when his Commandment is not obeyed in his own house Kings will be obeyed in their kingdoms Majors Magistrates in their Cities every man in his own house The Church of God is the Kingdom the City the House of God which we must either deny or resolve to have his will done There is yet a third point to be considered the conjunction of these two or the inference of the effect from the cause For why should there be wrath c. It is expressed in an interrogatory way to shew the necessitie of the consequence and that the wrath is certain and inevitable unlesse what is commanded be done and to shew the foolishnesse and wickednesse of man in bringing upon himself this wrath which by his obedience he might prevent like unto that in the Prophet Why will ye die O house of Israel The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple passe on and are punished Whence we learn that it is a speciall wisdom in these that have place and power to prevent or turn away the wrath of God from the present and future generation by establishing true Religion and ordering the house of God aright I confesse it is a higher point of wisdom to have a care of Religion that thereby ourselves and others may be brought to spirituall and eternall happinesse and thereby to prevent everlasting wrath yet even in relation to the blessings and miseries of this present life this kind of piety is the best policy I will honour them that honour me saith the Lord and those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Men may expect honour by dishonouring of God and despising of Religion but the Word of the Lord abideth sure and their honour shall be turned into shame More particularly to this purpose and text the Prophet Haggai speaketh A heavie judgement was upon the people for the neglect of the worship and service of God Why saith the Lord of hosts because of mine House that is waste and ye run every