Church Psal 44 All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy Covenant our heart is not turned back neither have our steps or goings declined from thy way 3. Be we then exhorted 3 use Exhortation to renew Covenant with God as others have done upon like grounds if not to enter yet to keep or renew our Covenants made with God and with one another in the presence and sight of God We have as good cause thus to do as ever nation had and the same or like occasions What moved King Asa with Iudah and many of Israel solemnly to Covenant with God and one with another and that upon the forfeiture of life if any kept it not 1. Was it not a mercy and a great deliverance 2 Chron. 15. 2 Chron. 15.10 11 12. for which thus they would shew their thankfulness bind themselves to a through Reformation 1. By occasion of mercies and great deliverances Now comes England behind in mercies of this nature or doth it not go before all other Nations in remarkable deliverances Asa was delivered from a mighty Army of the Ethiopians and Israel from Aegypt for which he renews and they are called to enter into Covenant with the Lord and urged to keep it and that because of such deliverance and mercies as Exod. 19.1 2. c. 5. c. 20.2 Already received I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt Thou shalt have no other Gods before me c. The remembrance of which mercy is urged by Ioshuah to make them renew and firmly to keep Covenant with God Iosh 24.2 3 -6.7 c. 14 15.-25.26 Now our deliverances have been from spiritual enemies also as from spiritual Aegypt as from the tyranny of Antichrist that spiritual Pharaoh and from spiritual Babylon and from Popery by a child King Edward and a woman Queen Elizabeth which when Iudah was delivered temporally made them resolve saying Come let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetuall Covenant c. Isai 50.5 Since we have been miraculously delivered both from spiritual and bodily bondage as from the Popish Spanish Navy in 1588. from the Popish powder plot Anno 1605 and especially from late designs of the Popish and Malignant party and for the discovery and prevention of plots against Parliament and City tending to the utter subversion of Religion and of our Liberties which occasioned the National Covenant between England and Scotland and their joyning in Arms for the Vindication and Defence of their Religion Liberties and Laws against the Popish Prelatical and Malignant party as in their Declaration they have published Besides many no less then an hundred successes deliverances or victories obtained one after another without interruption till the power of the Adversary was wholly broken in remembrance whereof have we not as much cause as ever any had to make keep and renew Covenant with God and among our selves Especially if withall we consider other hoped mercies and the benefits of keeping our Covenant firm with God and with our neighbour-Kingdoms for thus we become strong yea invincible God and good men being in league with us we shal in the end at least be the more prevalent party such a cord is not easily broken Otherwise being divided from God by breach of Covenant made with him or in his name Other good redounding hence by unbelief and impenitency and among our selves by Faction Schisms c. we shall surely in the end fall Thus also the unsound are discovered and we know our enemies at least whom to suspect and to put no trust in Otherwise invisible enemies are most dangerous When once the Lord causeth us to pass under the Rod and brings us into the bond of the Covenant then saith he Ezâ—k 20 37 38. I will purge out from among you the Rebels them that transgress against me Yea the best come thus to be more purged at least to walk more closely with God in all good conscience of our duty whereas till we bind or take our selves bound fast to God by Covenant whether made directly with him as a party or with others in him as a witness or both we walk more loosly and carelesly ready to break with God and man upon small occasions As one being with a Master upon tryal and before he be bound to his Trade by Indenture is reâ—dy to break away without fear of any penalty I wish these our loose times made not this good we should not then play fast and loose as we do both with God and man 2. Another ground or cause of covenanting with God 2 Former corruptions to be covenanted against and of keeping it we find to be when a land or people hath been polluted with Idolatry and Superstition and hath been kept in ignorance of the true God his pure Worship his Laws and Word in a lawless liberty of sinning transgressing his Sabbaths c. For which see 2 Chron. 15 3.-8.-16 Nehem. 9.34 35 -38 with cap. 10.29 30 31. c. Ezra 10.2 3. c. 2 Chron. 23 3.-16 with 17. 29 5 6 -10. 34.21 -25 31. And have not we then like cause Have we not declined and been corrupted in doctrine worship and manners Gods Sabbath turned to play-day Masks and Plays instead of afternoon Sermons and that even at Court And were we not almost quite grown not only slavish but prophane Popish and Superstitious And was not this one ground at least of our covenanting namely to restore Religion to her purity Preface to the Covenant and to preserve her in it and keep it fromâ—â—tter ruin How can we else be thankful for our freedom from such corruptions but by keeping firmly our Covenant with God of a more pure and holy worship and walking with him Lastly Evils inflicted and evils feared or threatned 3 Evils 1. Felâ— have occasioned a new covenanting with God 1. Inflicted as we have seen Nehem. 9.36 37 with 38. So in King Hezekiah 2 Chron. 29.8 9 with 10. He exhorting the Levites and recounting the evils which for sin befel Judah and Ierusalem for Loe our Fathers have faln by the sword c Now saith he it is in mine heart to make a Covenant with the Lord God of Israel that his sierce wrath may turn away from us 2. So for feared wrath 2 Feared King Iosiah having read in the book of the Covenant what wrath was due to such sins as his people were guilty of and Huldah having Prophesied the Destruction of Jerusalem 2 Chron. 34 29 30 31. though respited in his days he gathered together all the Elders of Jerusalem and Judah Priests Levites and people and read in their ears all the words of that book and made a Covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his Commandments with all his heart c. This turned away wrath
captivity to Edom and remembred not the brotherly Covenant or the Covenant of brethren But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus which shall devour the pallaces thereof Amos 1.9 10. I would conclude this reason by remembring you of that notable and famous instance of latter times mentioned by so many yet minded by a few only in that famous battel of Varna fought Novemb. 10.1444 between Amurath the sixth and Vladislaus King of Hungary who having made a League or Covenant of peace with the Emperor of the Turks was afterwards perswaded by Iulian the Popes Legat to violate the League and to make war upon the Turk who fared accordingly in the end When Amurath was almost put to the worst he plucks out of his bosom the writing which contained the late League and holding it aloft in his hand his eyes lift up to heaven he utters these words Behold thou crucified Christ this is the League thy people in thy name made with me and now have violated without a cause If thou be a God as they say thou art shew thy power and pour out thy wrath upon this perjured people Hereupon though this Turk in thus speaking blasphemed the name of Christ yet Christ to vindicate his own honor will do a Turk right and justice the battel turns the perfidious Christian King and many of his chief Commanders slain the whole Army routed great part of that Country lost Lo the fruit of the violation of Faith and Covenant for politick advantage c. and lo how zealous Christ is of his name that it be not blasphemed by the Heathen or any other The third and last Reason 3 Thereby moe bonds are broken is because the breach or not observing the Covenant of our God is a sin against moe bonds not only against the bond of nature of Gods mercies and benefits and of preservation and redemption both temporal and spiritual which tye and bind more naturally by a natural kind of obligation but against a more voluntary and deliberate Act of a mans own doing and yeilding to so that though God seem to pass by other sins for a long while And therfore though he pass by other sinns yet he wil not pass by this yet he wil not pass by this Thus God did bear with many provocations and murmurings of his people coming out of Aegypt five at least or six But when once they but so much as yeilded to the terms of the Covenant they were then A large instance and ever after sensibly punished till at length when in all they had provoked him ten times their judgement became irrevocable so that he sware in his wrath they should never enter into his rest Exod. 14.11 12 13. Numb 14.21 22 23. They murmured 1. At the red sea yet not a word of reproof only Moses comforted them saying fear not stand stil see the salvation of the Lord c. 2. At Marah 15.24 25 26. where the waters were bitter but so was not God The Lord shewed Moses a tree which cast in made the waters sweet 3. At Sin where they wanted bread c. would God we had dyed in Aegypt c. But the Lord said I will rain bread from heaven for you 16.2 3 4 5 c. 4. They tempted God twice about Manna 1. In reserving it till the morning contrary to Gods command vers 19 20 only Moses was wroth with them 2. In seeking it on the Sabbath v. 26 27 28 29. when God told them there should be none where they escaped only with a gentle chiding from the Lord. 6. At Rephidim for want of water where as they chide Moses Moses also chides them Exod. 17.1 2 3 c. But when once the Law was propounded to them and they had yeelded to the terms of the Covenant saying Exod. 19. 5.8 All that the Lord hath spoken we wil do though alas they wanted power an heart so to do and when once at the Mount they in Moses absence who was to bring them the Covenant in writing had made the golden calf the Lord takes special notice of it owns them not for his people saying to Moses Thy people have corrupted themselves they so uncovenanted themselves Exod. 32.7 8 10 11 14. v. 27 28 35 and God takes notice how quickly they had turned aside out of the way which he commanded Hereupon threatens to consume them And though seemed to spare them a while at Moses request yet Moses at Gods command causeth the idolaters about three thousand men to be slain and the Lord plagued the people This was their seventh provocation This and their after sins brought all their former provocations into remembrance being looked on as breaches also of Covenant so that eighthly when at Taberah they complained upon weariness Numb 11.1 The Lords anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt among them in the uttermost parts of the camp v. 4 5 6 33. and when ninthly they fell a lusting for flesh and loathed Manna at Kibroth-hattaavah Psa 1â—6 15. quails were given them in wrath leanness was sent into their souls and while the flesh was yet between their teeth ere it was chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people Psa 78.30 31 and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague Lastly when in Pharan they murmured upon the news of the spies and beleeved not God but rebelled and would needs return to Aegypt distrusting both his power and promise which made the tenth provocation and was an high breach of their Covenant with God being disobedience contrary to their promise and distrust Deut. 1 26-32 for in that thing they did not beleeve their God The Lord came to a peremptory resolution even to swear that because they had now tempted him these ten times surely saith he they shall not see the Land neither shall any of them that provoked me see it save Caleb and Joshua Numb 14.1 2 c 21 23. Where we see that when men in special Covenant with God persist to provoke him every new sin is thence aggravated and old sins called to remembrance Vse fourfold 1. To justifie God in his judgments Psa 145 17. Lev. 26 25. Aâ—pâ—â—câ—tion to us of this Nation and so at length sooner or later certain and irrevocable sentence passeth Vse 1. This may serve to justifie God in all that hath befaln us or which may or shall befal us hereafter teaching us to say The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works Seeing he doth but thus avenge the quarrel of his Covenant broken by all sorts 1. Our general Covenant made with God in Baptism requires of us all true faith and the obedience of faith repentance mortification a forsaking of the devil and all his works the world in the pomp and glory and covetous desires of it
the flesh in all the carnal desires of it Who keep not Covenant with him And men generally would needs be admitted Christians under the signal of the Cross binding themselves manfully to â—ight under Christs banner against all these Enemies and to continue Christs faithful soldiers and servants Fâ—ther General Now how we have kept this Covenant in this our nation generally whether better then those hypocritical and carnal worshippers who had made a Covenant with God by sacrifice against whom God himself became judg testifying against them for their hypocrisie in worship for their disobedience in practise and for prophaning his Covenant and casting his words behind them the whole world that knoweth how it hath been with us especially of latter years and our own consciences can easily witness and judg How light have we made of Christ the Lord who was given us by a Covenant of his faithful Ministers the messengers of his Covenant and of their mâ—ssage and ministry whom we silenced As doing contrary to the practise of the good 〈◊〉 of Israel 2 Chro. â— 4.2 3 5 chap. 15.8 16. molested banished what some godly Kings of Judah did by way of Reformation when in thankfulness for great mercies they renewed their Covenant with him and with one another we were such as did the quite contrary King Asa with his covenanting demolished Idolatry as formerly in Judah so also in Israel yea deposed his own mother because she had made an Idol We have sought to bring Idolatry and Popish superstition into the Land again and have given way too far to the practise of it by Papists and such as were Popishly affected King Asa restored Gods true worship in both Kingdoms Chap. 14.4 15.8 Israel and Judah renewing the altar of the Lord We sought to pull down and corrupt Gods true Worship in both Kingdoms England and Scotland and to rear and set up Idolatrous altars to a breaden God Ch. 15.3 with vers 8 9. He set up in Israel a teaching ministry as other good Kings and Governors did 2 Chron. 17.4 6 7 8 9. We have endeavored yea actually have pulled down and taken away many Lectures and afternoon Sermons and silenced or driven away such Ministers as were most faithful painful and constant in preaching yea even in that regard And was it not time for God by sending the sword to avenge the quarrel of his Covenant Not to speak of the prophaness of most mens lives contrary to their Covenant in Baptism as if indeed they had made a covenant with the devil to do all his works instead of forsaking them with the world to follow the vain pomp and glory and covetous desires of it and with the flesh to be led by the carnal desires of it And the sword being come how have men sided not only Papists but others in forsaking the banner of Christ and fighting for Antichrist and under colour of fighting for Queen Elizabeths Religion have fought for Queen Maries Religion and against the true orthodox and sound Religion and Worship Was this that which their Baptism under the sign of the Cross bound them too Oh! It s a dangerous thing either to forsake the Covenant of God Ier. 22.7 8 9. or to oppose it by fighting or being against it as was Antiochus Epiphanes Dan. 11 28-30 And howsoever our Parliament hath given us and doth stil give us good hopes of a Reformation according to Gods Word and a bringing us back to the Covenant of our God both in matter of doctrine discipline and a more holy life yet whilest this main work of God goeth so slowly forward whilest discipline is not yet settled or so bounded as it should be and whilest such connivence if not in effect a toleration is suffered for men to speak hold write and do what they list that men may make themselves vile and yet at least as yet by no law established or executed be restrained or frowned upon by such as should restrain them we have no cause to be secure but to fear the return of the sword out of some quarter of the world or other or from within our selves as formerly God will not be dallyed withal And if God so judg us as he did old Eli and his house 1 Sam. 3 13 14 and that our sins be not purged with sacrifice or offering and that our monethly Humiliations prove rather as they are kept provocations we have none to blame but our selves Gods ways and judgments will ever appear to be righteous 2. And if we look to particular Vows and Covenants dayly broken by all sorts must not all justifie God 2. Particular as holy and righteous in such evils as have befaln them or may yet befal them Oh what vows and promises do men make to God in time of their troubles fears and dangers and yet how soon broken and forgotten when these are over What protestations imprecations taking heaven and earth to witness our sincere intentions and yet how little conscience made of performance Are not men yet sensible of these things If God make such men yet to smart must he not be acknowledged just What cause even the better party in the Land have to be humbled and to fear sharper rods upon this ground of careless keeping our late Covenant and national League we shal enquire into and examine anon 2. In the mean time 2. To be excited and incouraged to keep Covenant with God 2 Châ—â— 13 9 10 11 12. it would be much to the abatement of our fears and to our incouragement and hopes of good success in all our undertakings especially when we have to deal with a Malignant party and these are such as we have most cause to fear if we could truly reason as King Abijah against King Ieroboam making War with him have not ye cast out the Priests of the Lord the sons of Aaron and the Levites and have made you Priests after the manner of the Nations of other Lands But as for us the Lord is our God and we have not forsaken him and the Priests Which minister unto the Lord are the sons of Aaron neither Baals Priests nor Priests of their own making We keep the charge of the Lord our God but ye have forsaken him And behold God himself is with us for our Captain ver 17 18. â—ight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers for you shall not prosper Neither did they prosper there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men The blessings hereof c. and the children of Iudah prevailed because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers and kept the Covenant made with their fathers Howsoever God would be some way or other with us if we were with him 2 Chron. 15.2 At least whatsoever our case should be we might hence be comforted in our troubles and in like integrity say and appeal to God Psa 44 17 18 as the