ENGLANDS Looking-Glasse PRESENTED IN A Sermon Preached before the Honorable House of COMMONS At their late solemne FAST December 22. 1641. By Edmund Calamy B.D. And Preacher at Aldermanbury LONDON EZEK. 18.31 Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new Spirit Why will yee die O house of Israel Published by Order of the House LONDON Printed by I. Raworth for Chr. Meredith and are to be sold at the Crane in Pauls Churchyard 1642. To the Honourable House of COMMONS Assembled in PARLIAMENT OBedience is a virtue of such great worth that Luther did rather desire to have grace to be obedient than power to work miracles Out of this very Principle it was that I first adventured to preach before such a grave and judicious Senate coram tam multis viris tam paucis hominibus And from the same Principle it is that I now present the Sermon to a more publike view The time allotted for the making of it was so short by reason of your more serious affairs that it might have been a sufficient Apology to excuse both the preaching and printing of it had not pure Obedience justly silenced all such Apologies And now it is printed the Sermon it self is so poor and mean that it may fitly be answered to me what Apelles once did to a Painter who having drawn many Lines in a little space of time and boasting to Apelles that he had done so much in so short a time it was replyed That he wondered that he had drawn no more But yet howsoever my humble request is That you would accept of this poor Mite this little Goats-haire which your commands like a Mid-wife have brought into the world And indeed the kinde entertainment it found in the hearing and the great acknowledgement of your Thanks farre above all expectation or desert afterwards is an abundantly sufficient incitement against all discouragement whatsoever The subject of the Sermon is of great concernment It is about the ruine and repair of Kingdoms and Nations a matter sutable for you that are the representative Body of the Kingdom Sin ruines Kingdoms When Nicephorus Phocas had built a mighty Wall about his Palace for his defense he heard a voyce in the night crying {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Though thou build'st thy walls as high as Heaven sin is within and this will easily batter down thy walls Sin is like a Traytor in our own bosomes that will open the gates to the enimy Sin weakens our hands and makes them unapt to fight Sin taketh away the courage of our hearts It was not the strength of Ai that overcame the Israelites but Achans sin Sinne causeth a great Army to be overcome by a little one The Army of the Syrians came with a small company of men and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand because they had forsaken the Lord God of their Fathers The sins of England are the enimies of England These beleaguer our Walls and are as so many Canaanites alwayes rising up in rebellion against us But now on the contrary Repentance and Reformation repairs and upholds Kingdoms and Nations this is their Fortresse and Tower of defense their Munition Armour and Wall of Brasse to defend them Righteousnesse exalteth a Nation but sinne is a reproach to any People The Lord in mercy ruinate our sinnes and not the Nation the same Lord worke a Nationall Reformation and make you his Instruments in this great work Much hath been done by you this way already which is acknowledged in this ensuing discourse with great thankfulnesse The Lord enable you to perfect what you have begun He that is the Finisher of our faith finish this much-desired Reformation It is very observable that when God raised up Magistrates such as Nehemiah Zerubbabel and others to pity Sion that lay in the dust and to repair her breaches at the same time he raised up Prophets also such as Haggai Zechariah and others to strengthen the hands of the Magistrates and to encourage them in so noble a service and therefore it is expresly said Then the Prophets Haggai and Zechariah prophesied unto the Iews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the Name of the God of Israel even unto them Then and not before rose up Zerubbabel and Jeshua and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem and with them were the Prophets of God helping them And Ezra 6.14 The Elders of the Iews builded and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the Prophet and Zechariah the sonne of Iddo and they builded and finished it according to the Commandment of the God of Israel c. By both these Texts it appears that the Magistrates began and finished the reparations of Gods House by the help of the Prophets of God Suffer me therefore as divers others have done before the unworthiest of all Gods Ministers according to my duty and place to beseech and exhort you to the consummation of those blessed good things which you have begun to do for the Church of God in England And the God of all blessings blesse you and yours So prayeth Your much obliged Spirituall Servant EDMVND CALAMY A Sermon Preached at a Fast before the Honourable House of COMMONS Jerem. 18.7 8 9 10. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it If that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evill I will repent of the evill that I thought to do unto them And at what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to build and to plant it If it do evill in my sight that it obey not my voyce then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them THis Text may fitly be called a Looking glasse for England and Ireland or for any other Kingdom whatsoever wherein God Almighty declares what he can do with Nations and Kingdoms and what he will do 1. What he can do He can build and plant a Nation and he can pluck up pull down and destroy a Nation And when a Kingdom is in the depth of misery he can in an instant if he but speake the word raise it up to the top of happinesse and when it is in the heigth and Zenith of happinesse he can in another instant speake a word and throw it downe againe into an Abysse of misery 2. What he will do God will not alwayes use his Prerogative but he will first speake before he strikes he will first pronounce judgement before he executeth judgement And if that Nation against which he hath pronounced the evill of punishment turn from their evill of sin then will God repent of the evill he intended to do unto them And not only so but he will build and plant that Nation and of a barren
the Looking-glasse of the Countrey where they live according to which most men dresse themselves If they be wicked the whole Countrey is much the worser by them The vices of Rulers are rules of Vices Quicquid faciunt praecipere videntur If the head be giddy the members reel If the liver be tainted the body is dropsie Ieroboam made all Israel to sin But when great men prove good men it is not to be expressed what good they do When Crispus the chief Ruler of the Synagogue beleeved on the Lord many of the Corinthians hearing beleeved also When the Master of the family was converted his whole family were also baptized The Lord make all great men good men and good men of parts and abilities great men 2 As this Reformation must be personall so also it must be nationall For so saith the Text If that Nation against which c. A particular man by turning unto God may turn away a particular judgement But when the sins of a Nation are generall and the judgements upon a Nation generall the turning must be generall If the Sea hath broken the banks and overflown the Countrey it is not the care of one or two men by repairing their banks that can prevent the inundation Even so when God is overflowing a Land with a generall destruction there must be a generall endeavour to make up the whole breach There must be a Court-Reformation a Countrey-Reformation a City-Reformation Church and State-Reformation a Generall-Reformation But how shall we do to obtain this generall Reformation Two wayes If you that are the representative Body of this Nation as you stand under this relation be reformed the Nation it self may be said to be reformed For you are the Nation representatively virtually and eminently you stand in the place of the whole Nation and if you stand for Gods cause the whole Nation doth it in you Oh let it not be said that the Reformers of others need Reformation themselves If the eye be dark how great is that darknesse c. If the Salt that seasoneth other things be unsavoury wherewithall shall it be seasoned This is the first way The second way to reform a Nation is when you that are the representative Body of the Nation do as much as in you lyeth to reform the Nation you represent This is a duty that God requires and expects from your hands It was the complaint of Nehemiah that the Nobles of Tekoah did not put their necks to the yoak of the Lord this was a great blemish to them Let not I beseech you the like brand of infamy be cast upon any of you It cannot be denied but that this Nation needs Reformation not onely in reference to the Common-wealth but also to the Church The Prophet in the ninth verse compares a Nation to a House that needs building and to an Orchard that needs planting And sure it is that the House of this Nation is much out of repair the House of the Lord lieth waste and there is much rubbish in it Many pollutions have crept into our Doctrine much defilement into our Worship many illegall innovations have been obtruded upon us the very posts and pillars of this House many of them are rotten the stones are loose and uncemented the House exceedingly divided and distracted with diversity of opinions the very foundation is ready to shake and the House to fall down about our ears The Garden of this Nation is over grown with weeds and there are many not onely unprofitable but hurtfull trees planted in this Garden Now this is the great work that the Lord requireth at your hands Oh ye Worthies of Israel To stub up all these unprofitable Trees and to repair the breaches of Gods House to build it up in its beauty according to the pattern in the Mount and to bring us back not onely to our first Reformation in King Edwards dayes but to reform the Reformation it self For we were then newly crept out of Popery and like unto men that come newly out of prison where they have been long detained it was impossible but our garments should smell a little of the Dungeon from whence we came It is said of Lazarus that when he came first out of the Grave He came forth bound hand and foot with Grave-clothes and his face was bound about with a Napkin So it was with us in our first Reformation it was a most blessed and glorious work like the resurrection from the Grave but yet notwithstanding we came out of this Grave bound hands and feet with our Grave clothes and eyes-blinding Napkins we brought many things out with us which should have been left behinde Our Saviour Christ rose from the dead and left all his linnen clothes behinde him So must we bury all superstitious Ceremonies in the grave of oblivion and perfect a Reformation according to the Word of God And as our Saviour Christ in the place forementioned commanded his Disciples to unbinde Lazarus and to take away his Grave-clothes Oh that you also would command the Apostles of Christ the faithfull and learned Ministers of this Kingdome to meet in a free Nationall Synod for to inform you about the taking away of these grave clothes and eiesblinding Napkins or whatsoever else shall appear to be prejudiciall to the piety and purity of of Gods Worship But then I do most earnestly beseech you to take heed that those whom you call to this Synod be not like unto the Cardinalls and Prelates who met at Rome to consult about Reformation of the Church of whom Luther speaks That they were like unto Foxes that came to sweep a house full of dust with their tails and instead of sweeping out the dust they swept it all about the house and made a great smoke for the while but when they were gone the dust fell all down again I doubt not but if this motion which I offer in all humility succeed your Wisedoms will be carefull to make such qualifications both of the Persons that are to chuse and to be chosen that no Minister lyable to any just exception shall have a voice in this Synod for fear lest our greatest remedy prove to be our greatest ruine But this by the way Oh that the Lord would make me an instrument this day to encourage you to go on in the work of Reformation For Sions sake I will not hold my peace and for Ierusalems sake I will not rest untill the righteousnesse thereof go forth as brightnesse and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth Arise arise have mercy upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come Let it pitty you to see Sion in the dust Let this be the product of this solemn Fast to quicken you to a Nationall Reformation When Moses had been conversing with God his face shone when he came down You are now conversing with God in the Mount
licence you to make your wills your laws and your lusts your gods and to commit not onely peccata but monstra that are Pessimi maximi not Optimi maximi The great Jehovah against whom you sin is greater than the greatest he bindeth Kings in chains and Nobles in lincks of iron He hath provided Tophet of old yea for the King it is provided Hell was made for great men as well as poore Observe how resolutely and emphatically the Prophet speaks yea for the King it is prepared Potentes potenter torquebuntur Ingentia beneficia ingentia vitia ingentia supplicia To whom God hath given great mercies if they abound with great vices God will inflict great punishments upon them Think of this you that trample the bloud of Christ under your feet by your prodigious oathes and by the contempt of the day worship and servants of Christ The bloud which you contemne is nobler than the noblest bloud that runs in your veins It is the bloud of the eternall God of that God before whom the great as well as the small must appear at the great day of Judgment in which terrible day the Kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men vnd the chiefe Captains and the mighty men will hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains And say to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb c. They that are here cloath'd in silk and velvet shall wish for the mountains to cover them which yet shall be but a poor shelter For the mountains melt at the presence of the Lord and the rocks rend asunder when he is angry They that made others to flye away from them as innocent Lambs from devouring Wolves shall be afraid of the wrath of the Lamb that sitteth on the Throne Great men must dye as well as others and when they are dead there is no difference between the dead bones of Philip of Macedon and other men as Diogenes told Alexander Remember the wofull Catrastophe of Herod the great Agrippa the great Pompey the great Oh let all men fear to sin against that God that removed the Assyrian Monarchy to the Persian and the Persian to the Graecian and the Graecian to the Roman That toucheth the mountains and they smoak before whom the Devils feare and tremble Oh let not our hearts be harder than the rocks worser than Devils Oh England feare the God of Heaven and earth Oh you House of Commons tremble and sin not most in the World sin and tremble not Do you tremble and sin not We are all in Gods hand as a flye in the paw of a roaring Lion as the clay in the hand of the Potter Do we provoke the Lord to jealousie are we stronger than he Consider the advantages God hath us at and our dependencies upon him and let us not dare to sin against him A Sanctuary in all distresses and dangers Let us flye to this God of power who giveth Kingdoms and taketh away kingdoms as he pleaseth The great superintendent Fly to him as to thy Ark thy Pella thy City of refuge And in our deepest miseries let us sing cheerfully the 46. Psalm as Luther was wont to do God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble I will not feare though the earth be moved and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea c. A divine project to secure a Nation from ruine to make this great Jehovah our friend for if God be on our side we need not feare those that are against us Deus meus omnia Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia And for this very purpose we are here met this day in Gods Sanctuary flying to the horns of the Altar to beseech that God who is the only Potentate King of kings and Lord of lords that only doth wonderfull things that he would be reconciled unto us that he would quiet the commotions that are in Ireland reduce the Rebels into order sheath up the sword that is there drawn and quench the flames that are there kindled That the Lord would knit the heart of our Soveraign to his people more and more and of his people to him That he would unite both Houses of Parliament that they may joyn together with one heart as one man to relieve poor Ireland and reforme England Athanasius tells us that Anthony the Monk fought against the Divell with that Text Psalm 68.1 Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered let them also that hate him flee before him The Divell is more afraid of this Text then any other for he knows he is Gods greatest enemy and if God arise he must needes be scattered Oh let us set God on work this day to destroy the implacable enemies of his Church arise oh Lord and scatter the Irish rebells arise oh Lord and confound Antichrist and build up the walls of Ierusalem The Romans in a great distresse were driven to take the weapons out of the Temples of their Gods and to fight with them and so they overcome This is our course this day wee fight with the weapons of the Church Prayers and Teares The Spartans walls were their speares Our walls are our prayers our helpe standeth in the Name of the Lord who hath made Heaven and earth Lord speake a word and Iericho shall fall be favourable to England and Ireland Lord take away our tinne and purely purge our drosse Our trust is not in our bow nor speare Let us labour to become Gods favourites and then we have all happinesse concentred in two words The second Doctrinall conclusion Though God hath this absolute power over Kingdomes and Nations yet he seldome useth this power but first he gives warning I say he seldome useth it for I do not lay it downe as a generall rule Deus non alligat suas manus God may and doth sometimes destroy at once and give no warning Thus he dealt with the Heathen Ammonites and Idumaeans as Calvin observes but he seldome or never sends any great judgement upon his own people but first he speaks before he strikes First Verba then Verbera as it is in the Text At what instant I shall speak c. If that Nation concerning which I have pronounced c. First God pronounceth a judgement before he executeth a judgment he lightneth before he thundreth he hangs out his white Flag of mercy before his red Flag of utter defiance first he shoots off his warning Peeces before his murdering Peeces And the Reasons are 1. That all the World may take notice that all punishments and afflictions come not by chance or fortune but from the immediate hand of the great God It is he that forms the light and creates darknesse it is he that makes peace and creates evill I the Lord
little crevise of light let in by your means We have lien among the pots inter ollas fuliginosas sullied with filth and there is a crevise of hope in the Valley of Achor that we shall be as the wings of a Dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold And though this childe of hope be but yet an Embrio We will not despise the day of little things When Ezra had laid the foundation of the Temple there was great joy and rejoycing We doubt not but there is a foundation laid of better times and such a foundation which shall never be taken away The Lord recompence all the pains you have taken upon you and yours And yet let me adde one word as a parenthesis that Nehemiah after all his good services he had done for the Church sub-joyns these words Remember me O my God concerning this and spare me he begs pardon for his noble work of Reformation Blessed be God here is hope of a faire building and of a most beautifull Paradise if things succeed as they have begun But now marke the Doctrine When God begins to build and plant if that Nation do evill God will un-build what he hath built pluck up what he hath planted He will repent of the good c. For you must know that God repents as well of his mercies as of his judgements When God had made Saul King and he proved stubborne and disobedient God repented that ever he made him King When God saw that the wickednesse of the old World was great upon earth He was grieved at the very heart and repented that ever he made man When David was bringing home the Arke with great pompe because it was not brought home in due order and because of Vzzah's sin God repented of what he was doing and the Arke stayed in the middle way When the people of Israel were come out of Egypt and very neere Canaan because they brought an evill report upon the Land of Canaan and murmured The Lord repents of what he had done and carries them backe againe forty years journey through the vast howling Wildernesse Reason 1. Because Gods Covenant with a nation is conditionall It is quamdiu se benè gesserit If that Nation obey my voice then wil I build it and plant it but if it disobey my voice then will I pluck it up pull it down and destroy it The Lord is with you while ye be with him and if ye seek him he will be found of you but if you forsake him he will forsake you If you do wickedly you shall perish both you and your King 2. Because that sinne is so pernicious to a that where sinne rules there God and his mercy will not abide Sinne takes away the favour of God by which all Nations subsist And if Gods favour be gone all is gone Sinne dissolves the very Joynts and Sinews of a Nation Religion maintains and upholds Kingdoms The Trojans had their Palladium as long as that was safe they were safe The Romans had their Ancile as long as that was kept they were secure The Israelites had their Ark as long as that was sure there was a defense upon Mount Zion Pure and undefiled Religion is the Palladium the Ancile the Ark to preserve Kingdoms But sinne betrayeth Religion into the hands of superstition and idolatry Sinne is a Serpent in the bosome a thief in the house poyson at the stomack a sword at the very heart of a Nation If the Serpent be in the bosome it will bite if a thief in the house he will steal if poyson in the stomack it will pain us if a sword at the heart it will kill us Use Hence we may learn what the reason is of the great delay in the Reformation of the Church why the childe of Reformation sticks in the Birth why the hand of mercy begins to be pulled in and why many observers of the times begin to fear that this is not as yet the appointed time wherein God will have mercy upon Sion I am very confident that the fault is not in you to whom I speak but it is laid down 2 Chron. 20. 33. Howbeit the high places were not taken away for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their Fathers The people of the Land would not bear a thorow Reformation I deny not but that the Land in which we live is a Land of uprightnesse As many amongst us truely religious as in any place in the world of the like bignesse But yet the Bulk of our people are wicked and their hearts are not as yet prepared to the yoke of the Lord Oderunt vincula pietatis They are unreformed themselves and it is no wonder they are so opposite to a thorow Reformation It may be said of many amongst us as Ieremy did once say of his people The Prophets prophesie falsly and the Priests bear rule by their means and my people love to have it so and what will ye do in the end thereof Now it is this sin of the Land that weakens your hands and divides you sometimes one from another and keeps you from perfecting this great work of Reformation And I conceive no way better to remedy this than by sending a faithfull and painfull Ministery thorowout the Kingdom For if you will be pleased to observe you will finde that those places which are rud'st and most ignorant most irregular and where the least Preaching hath been are the greatest enemies to Reformation This is a work worth of serious consideration The Lord stir up your hearts to consider it and open your eyes also clearly to perceive that there are more with you then against you and that when God reformes a Nation he doth not finde us prepared but he makes us prepared When God sheweth mercy to a Nation there goeth power with the mercy to heal the Nation Ezek. 36. 24 25 26 27 28. If when a Nation doth evill in Gods sight God will repent of the good he intended c. Let us repent of our evils committed against God that he may not repent of the good he intends to do unto us Chuse which you will If we repent God will repent of the evill c. If we repent not God will repent of the good c. And suffer me to tell you That when God begins to draw back his mercies from a Nation that Nation is in a wofull plight God repented that he made the old World And what followed The next news you hear is they were all drowned He repented that he had made Saul King and the next news we hear is That he was rejected from being King He repented that he had brought the Israelites out of Egypt and thereupon he carries them back again and swears that not one of them should enter into Canaan but that all their carkases should perish in the Wildernesse It is