his bosome He guideth the hearts of all men like rivers of waters which way he pleaseth It is a doctrine which I lately taught out of Obadiah Though the Church of God do live under the Crosse for a time it shall not be always so for as here it is declared Their mind shall change that afflict her 1. Because Gods quarrel is not against the Persons of men but against their sins therefore he punisheth non ad vindictam but ad emendationem vitae and it is no pleasure to God to punish his children therefore he will not always punish because afflictions are of excellent force to bring forth in his children 1. Contrition 2. Supplication 2. He will not always punish least the extream passions of his servants should breed in them a doubt of his love and so weaken their faith 3 Least the righteous should put forth his hand unto sinne 4. Least the enemies of his Church should grow too insolent Further we are taught 2 Doct. that those whom God useth as his rods are limited when they have executed his will they shall then change their minds the mind of the Chaldaean was cruelty and oppression and covetousnesse and ambition this victory shall change their mind into pride and insolencie so that as the wise man saith The prosperity of fools shall destroy them It is a true laying for the most part that as the good so the blood riseth men of low degree when they rise to high places men of poor estate when they grow to plenty even nations when they overflow their own banks and over-run others do change their minds they have not the same hearts and affections that they had It is a singular wisedome to use the fulnesse of prosperity well The Paradise of God did not content our first Parents the forbidden fruit seemed to Evah the fairest fruit of the garden that changed her mind from the obedience of the law of God to be both a Praevaricatour and a tempter The sonnes of God living in prosperity in the favour of God set their eyes on the daughters of men and because they looked fair like Eves apple they changed their mind from living under the religious awe of God to take them wives by whom the service of God was corrupted for they that marry with tempters and take them into their bosomes either presume too much on their own strength and they tempt God therein or else they change their minds and religions with them Can a man carry fire in his bosome and not be burnt or walke upon burning coals and not be scorched The Author of the book of Wisedome saith well of the righteous That he is speedily taken away least wickednesse should alter his understanding Wisd 4.11 or deceit beguile his soule There is a great measure of grace needful to him that would use prosperity well he must not be wicked for where the good spirit of God is wanting there is nothing but unstayednesse and inconstancy but David prayeth Establish thou me with thy free spirit Davids victories and peace and prosperity did change his mind he grew wanton and to hide that cruel and to live in that sinne of uncleannesse irreligious till God sent Nathan to him Ezekiah having rest changed his mind and proud of his treasures shewed them to his own disadvantage and provoked Gods anger against him Experience shows us how the world and the wealth and honours thereof do corrupt men of good minds before and changeth their understandings that Demas will forsake Paul whom he hath long served and some disciples will no longer walk with Christ The cause hereof is because outward things unsanctified to the owner and user thereof Reason 1 have no power to establish the heart for the heart is established by grace and not with meats nor with any outward things Because there is no peace with the wicked man Reason 2 he must be as violent and as unconstant as the sea casting up also foame and filth Because iniquity knoweth no measure Reason 3 but runneth into all extremes Virtutisque viam deserit arduae Their mirth is madnesse their musick vanity so their sorrow is sullennesse and discontent Conquered they are base and lick the dust from the enemies foot Conquering they are proud and tyrannize over them whom they have subdued Thus the mind of the wicked changeth in them The profit that we may make of this point is great Vse 1. It discourageth us from greedy seeking of temporal prosperity because it hath this danger in it to change our minds and to shift us from vice to vice wherefore it is a good petition in our holy Letany Prov. 30.9 In all time of our wealth good Lord deliver us and that of Agur Give me not riches least I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord 2. It comforteth the oppressed that their oppressors are not always of the same mind but they may have hope of fairer weather in the greatest stormes that do arise because the minds of their enemies shall change as David saith He made them that led them away captive to pity them for God hath a power in this change which is mutatio dextrae excelsi 2. They shall passe over them Either to some further quest of glory or they shall exceed their Commission and go beyond the bounds appointed them either in punishing whom God would have to be spared or in time continuing the punishment beyond the time designed God only knoweth how far he would have his judgment to passe the Chaldaeans do transgresse and passe over this measure whereby they grow intolerable and their malice punishable Or pertransibunt may be referred to their own short domination for the Chaldaeans were a few years after conquered by the Medes and Persians as the learned Jesuite Ribera observeth And we find that Nebuchadnezzar the King of the Chaldaeans felt the smart of this prophecie in his own Person For he changed his mind and passed over when he became as a brute beast and was driven from men Dan. 4.33 and did eat grasse as oxen and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hairs were grown like Eagles feathers and his nails like birds claws Thus he that passed the bounds of Justice in the oppression of the Jews and the bounds of modesty in the pride of his victories is changed in his understanding and passeth the bounds of common humanity All this proves that Gods employing the wicked to punish others doth not move them nor derive the favours of God upon them they cannot keep within any compasse 1. If pertransibit passe over do signifie a further quest of glory we are taught hence that the ungodly are insatiable in their desires nothing will content them every victory encourageth to a new warre as we find in all examples of the greatest monarchies of the world till their own weight ruine them 2. As this passing over doth signifie their going beyond their
bounds we are taught that they whom God employeth without their knowledge and Privity do only seek their own ends neither is God in all their ways 3. As this passing over signifieth the short joy of their victory so it teacheth that an ungodly man can never be an happy man nor a sinful man a wise man for in short time he will lose that what he hath unjustly gotten for though God intended the taking away of the Iews land from them he intended it but for a time he meant the Jews a sharp chastisement not an eradication I understand those words of a cessation from any further prosecution of this warre against the Jews for he shall carry away some captive into his own land and the meaner sort he shall leave behind to husband Judaea and so shall cease And this doth strengthen our former doctrine that those whom God useth as instruments of his Justice shall at length desist God will not suffer them beyond his decreed time 3. They shall offend Let no man mistake this place as if God did lay upon them a necessity of offence but he doth out of his Prescience foretell that they will offend God as with all their other sinnes so particularly with this their service done to him They are stirred up to this warre by God Doctr. and it is his just will to punish the Iews yet the Chaldaeans that execute this will do offend which was before proved by their evil intention and will after more appear in the close of this text wherein we have charged the action upon God and the evill of the action upon the Chaldaeans Doct. 2 2. God foreknoweth the sins of men He foreknew the fall of Adam and provided a remedy for it in his eternal counsel He foreknew the sins of the old world and provided a judgment to punish them He foreknew the sinnes of his Israel and therefore he made all his promises conditional and referred them to their obedience He foreknew the trespasse of Judas the cruelty of the Iews the injustice of the Romanes against his sonne and he made his death medicinal and cordial for his Church and a ruine to the enemies thereof the same stone which was the corner stone of the Church was a rock of offence to her enemies This is the ground of Gods Justice against the Chaldaeans in the next section of this chapter for fore-seeing how they would offend He did also fore-decree how he would punish them He is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a seer for all things are manifest in his sight the eye of the Lord is over all the world he seeth both the good and the bad God foreseeth offences before they be come into the hearts of men as Christ knew Judas would be a â—raitour before Judas knew it himself 2 Reg. 13.8 and God by his Prophet told Hazael how cruel he should be before Hazael was King and when Hazael though such wickednesse could not have bred in him Am I a dog that I should do this great thing And Christ told Peter that he would deny him when Peter protested against it very strongly 1. Because he knoweth the heart in which sinne breedeth and knows how apt it is to conceive sinne He knoweth whereof we be made 2. He foreseeth the temptations wherewith man shall be tempted 3. He knoweth what measure of strength and vertue is gone out from him to man to enable him against these temptations Vse 1. Let no man therfore flatter himself that he can commit any sinne so secretly that the eye of God shall escape it he knoweth our thoughts long before there can no darknesse hide us from this eye but the darknesse is as light as the day to him darknesse and light are both alike And if God foresee offences to come much more doth he remember sins past and observe sins present 2. Let this stirre us up to the feare of the Lord which is a continual putting of us into the presence of God and filleth us with fervent prayers to God to keep us from sinne either from the desire of it or from the committing of it or from the punishment of it by giving us strength to resist sinne tempting us or at least to hate the evil which we do against the law of our mind transported by the law of our members or to give us the grace of repentance that we may turn to him and break off our sins by righteousnesse and godly life This is that petition in our Lords Prayer Lead us not into temptation Which petition followeth that former forgive us our trespasses for whom God pardoneth them Satan tempteth most both because he despighteth God and because relapse into sins once pardoned is a double danger And he prayeth God not to lead him into the temptation because we must not only remember with grief the sins we have committed but we must consider with feare what sins our infirmities may fall into Into which God leadeth us by withdrawing his grace from us or from which he keepeth and preserveth us by his assisting grace The foresight of God is in respect of himself and his own perfect knowledge infallible and certain that will come to passe which he foreseeth and this is his wisedome though man have a free will to do evil yet he knoweth how far this his free will shall mislead him And for that cause he hath set such a guard of Angels about the just to keep them in all their ways that they fall not to take them up again when they fall and he hath given his word and lanthorn to their feet to guide and direct their paths Yet we may say that this foresight of God may be in respect of the means conditional and so God may foresee such an event upon some secret condition which yet by means may be prevented and not succeed A great example hereof in Davids story He heareth that the Philistims do rob Keilah David goeth against the Philistims 1 Sam. 23. and overcometh and saveth the men of Keilah Saul hearing of it armes his forces to surprize Keilah secretly David asketh of God Vers 12. Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul The Lord said They will deliver thee up Here God foresaw a sinne in the men of Keilah which was never committed but Saul had sent and God knew the corruption of the heart of those men and gave warning Here his foresight in respect of himself was certain which was that David should take this warning to escape But in respect of the successe it was conditional because it hath reference to the means of evasion So God foresaw the death of Ezechiah by his conditional will deferred but by his revealed will present and his revealed will doth not always make necessity of event but sometimes it is a warning to escape it Thus God foreseeth the spawning of sinne in mans life in the seed or root thereof which is
day and night and thou shalt have none assurance of thy life In the morning thou shalt say would God it were even and at even thou shalt say would God it were morning for the fear of thine heart which thou shalt fear and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see Here is unquietnesse even upon the bed of rest the reason is given Isa 28.20 For the bed is shorter then a man can stretch himself on it and the Covering narrower then he can wrap himself in it For there is no Peace to the wicked man It is one of Satans suggestions that the way of righteousnesse is painful and denieth a man the content of his heart And from hence arise these flattering temptations Shall I labour and travel all my days to sustain my life with mine own pains when a little violence will strip my neighbour out of all that he hath gotten together and make it mine own Shall I make conscience of an oath or a lye when it may get me more wealth in an houre then my labour shall earne in a year Shall I work my self when I may make prize of the labours of other men and drink down merrily the sweat of others brows Shall I sit low and be despised in the world when I may lay my neighbours on heaps under me and raise up my self upon their ruines Shall I undergo the charge of a family and the care of posterity when rich gifts and fair words may subdue change of beauties to my welcome desires and lusts of the flesh Shall I expect a slow and lingring advancement by the worth of vertue in the service of God when I see the servants of Mammon carry all honours and preferments before them Shall I be humble when I see the proud happy Mal. 3.15 shall I live a godly life when they that work wickednesse are built Let us here observe how these wicked ones do work to compasse their ends they labour in the very fire the fire of hell The Way of Peace they have not known 2. The next point casteth up the account of their gettings and it is anoughts a meer Cypher in Arithmetick Vanity very Vanity Is it riches then is it a thing corruptible it is a thing uncertain and little of it is for use and what profit hath the Possessor thereof in the surplusage but the beholding thereof with his eye When a man considers his wealth gotten by oppression and injury how can he but think it may be so lost as it was gotten Is it the favour of Princes and great men True they be gods upon earth but they die like men at last and they change their minds often before they die One day Haman rides about in Pompe he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Mordecay waiteth at the lane gate another day Mordecay is set upon the Kings beast and Haman leadeth the horse and proclaimeth him honourable and the next day Haman is hanged and Mordecai rules all under the King Is it honour that thou labourest for that also is vanity Honour is in honorante as Aristotle saith it is very unhappy for a man to have his honour without himself his pride within him and his happinesse without him Wise Salomon that had all temporal felicitie in the fullest measure and all of the gift of God yet called all those things Vanity of Vanities I will shut up this point in the words of David Doubtlesse man walketh in a shadow and disquieteth himself in vain Ps 39.6 3. Is it not of the Lord Many crosse betydings befall the ungodly and they never observe who opposeth them It is the Lord that bringeth all the labours of the ungodly to losse and vanity that when they come to thrash their crop of travel in the world they find nothing but strawe and chaffe To expresse his power to do this he is here called the God of Hosts for all things serve him and he resisteth the proud he and his Hosts He layeth their honours in the dust he disperseth their riches and giveth them to the poor he spoiled them of all their treasures he that exalted them made them low he that gave to them taketh away They had need be made to see this therefore he saith Nonne ecce à Domino hoc is it not of the Lord In the time of the Persecutions under the bloody Emperours if at any time they succeeded not in their wars they cried Christiani ad furcas ad leones Christians to the gallows to the lyons they saw not the hand of God against them this makes Balaam smite his Asse he seeth not Gods Angel In the processe of humane affairs they that go on in these sins which God himself threatneth with woe though they find these sins profitable and to afford them large revenews that they live plentifully upon the wages of unrighteousnesse yet have they many crosses in their ways many great losses they sustain these they impute to second causes and lay great blame upon those whom they do oppresse because they stand not to it whilst oppression grindeth them they observe not the hand of God against them yet saith God Is it not of the Lord of Hosts that they weary themselves for very vanity It is a great matter to know who it is that protecteth his servants that crosseth the designes of their enemies David prayeth for Gods saving help to them and That they may know that this is thy hand Ps 109 27 that thou Lord hast done it For let all offenders in this kind of oppression and indeed in all kinds of bold and presumptuous sins know that they sin with an high hand They are a People that provoke God to anger continually to his face Isa 65.3 if you observe the text well you will find two things in it and they are two great judgments and both of the Lord. 1. Is it not of the Lord of Hostes that the People shall labour in the very fire and shall weary themselves 2. Is it not of the Lord of Hosts that the People shall labour for very vanity For the hand of God is in both for their punishment both in putting them to extreme labour and in turning all their labour into vanity He asketh the question as if he should say Come now and let us reason together to what do you impute it that this People take such pains and prosper so ill do you not perceive that Gods hand is in it and that I the Lord do undo all that they do 1. It is of the Lord that they labour in the fire For God saith Ego creo malum labour and travel is the curse of man the wages of sin In labore vesceris in sudore vultus Here is fire that melteth and dissolveth us into water All the pains that is taken here on earth to do evil is of the Lord. 1. In respect of the strength and wit used therein for in him we live and move he planted
spake on the Crosse Sitio I thirst do not thou make thy self drunk with that which should quench his thirst lest thy last draught be like his vinegar mingled with gall 6. Remedy is a consideration that we are required to pray continually and in all things to give thanks which holy duty we cannot performe so long as we are in our cups these duties require a sound judgment a cleare understanding an heart established with grace as the Apostle saith Not in gluttony and drunkennesse not in chambering and wantonnesse but put ye on the Lord Jesus and have no care to the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof We were created to glorifie God in our bodies and in our souls for they are God's and therefore whether you eate or drinke or whatsoever you do do all to the glory of God 7. Remedy consider that we are bidden guests to the Supper of the Lamb and the Spirit and the Bride saith come and let whosoever heareth say come Rev. 22.17 and take of the waters of life freely we cannot tell when this supper time is till Gods messenger death cometh and telleth us all things are prepared come now let not us over-charge our hearts with surfetting and drunkennesse least that day come upon us unawares they that are drunk already and full gorged with wine and strong drink Luc. 21 34. have left no roome for the waters of life vas plenum plus non recipit It is a work for our life on earth to travel and take paines and to exercise our souls to godlinesse and all to get us a stomach to this Supper of the Lamb here is meate enough the fatnesse of Gods house we shall be fed as it were with marrow here is the hidden Manna for bread here is Calix inebrians we shall be made to drink of the rivers of Gods pleasures for at his right hand are pleasures for evermore Here are good guests for many shall come from the East and West Mat. 8.11 and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven They that come there let them drink and spare not but let them keep their stomachs till then I conclude this point in the words of our Saviour If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them 2. They give their neighbour drink Joh. 13.17 and put their bottle to him adding heat to heat Drunkennesse as you have heard is a grievous sin but this is a degree of fuller unrighteousnesse to make others drunk Amongst all the sins that David did commit nothing sate so close to him nor left so foul a staine upon the honour of his memory as did his carriage toward the Hittite Vriah David did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and turned from nothing that he commanded him all the dayes of his life save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite 1 Reg. 15.5 This excuse of David in all other things wherein through humane frailty he failed often doth shew how God passeth over the sins of the elect as the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which through infirmity they do commit but this special notice taken of the matter of Vriah the Hittite declareth it to have been peccatum primae magnitudinis a sin of the first magnitude in a vessel of glory because so many sins met together in it to name the most eminent First adultery then the making of Vriah drunk then the murthering of Vriah Wherein you see that this foul sin doth make weight in the burthen of David The Holy Ghost to declare how foul and hideous a sin drunkennesse is hath not spared to leave the dishonour of Gods good servants upon record offending therein as of Noah who is much to be excused because having planted a Vine and out of the grapes having pressed the first liquor that we read made of grapes and not knowing the strength thereof being also old he was overtaken with it once and no more Surely it was the will of God so early to let the danger of wine appeare even at the first drinking thereof that all succeeding times might beware So the example of David who made Vriah drunk against whom the matter of Vriah is upon record for terrour that men should feare this great sin of making their neighbours drunk for that is part of the matter of Vriah the Hittite Will you hear the decision of the canon law in their cases of conscience concerning this sin Ille qui procurat ut quis inebrietur Summa Anglica ebrietaâ—e mortaliter peccat quia consentit in damnum notabile proximi This is now the crying sin of our Land Court City Country all defiled with it and I must confesse a truth which the Sunne seeth not all innocent of it who should by authority from God reprove it by the word and punish it by the sword it is a sin in fashion Yet at the great feast which Assuerus made to his Princes it is specially noted And the drinking was by an order Hest 1.8 none might compel for so the King had appointed to all the officers of his house that they should do according to every mans pleasure Lyran his note is Nolebat Rex ut in aula sua aliquis uteretur modo incomposito irrationabili more barbarorum qui nimis importune inducebant homines ad bibendum 1. It is our duty to stir up one another Reaf 1. and to provoke one another to all Christian duties of these to act sobriety in the moderate using of meat and drink and fasting in the abstinence from them for a season St. Paul whether ye eate or drink do all to the glory of God Christ quando jejunatis To omit this duty is a great sin to commit the contrary evill is most abominable This the Prophet sheweth In that day did the Lord God of Hosts call unto weeping and mourning Isa 22 12 Vers 13. c. And behold joy and gladnesse slaying oxen and killing sheep eating flesh and drinking wine eating and drinking Cras moriemur And it was declared in the eares of the Lord of Hosts Surely this iniquity shall not be purged till ye die How then shall they appeare before God who insteed of calling to fasting call to drinking and presse the drinking even to the making of their neighbour drunk 2. If we contrive against our neighbours life to take it from him Reas 2 we are murtherers if against his wife to defile her we are adulterers if against his goods to rob him of them we are theeves if against his good name we are false witnesses consider then what thou dost when thou attemptest thy neighbour to make him drunk for thou seekest to perish his understanding to rob him of the use of reason which should distinguish him from a brute beast to expose him a spectacle of shame and filthinesse to all beholders and to make him a transgressor of the law of God
knovvn he re-inforceth his former petition novv desiring that God vvould reveale his gracious purpose of succouring his Church and triumphing over the enemies thereof In the mean time vvhile thy Church is groaning under the burthen of their exile make thy vvill knovvn to them This favour of God vvil svveeten the adversity of their banishment vuhen they shall knovv the loving purpose of God tovvard them In wrath remember mercy They confesse that they have given God cause of displeasure and have provoked him to vvrath they feel the smart thereof in a strange land and they have no plea but mercy they dare not make so bold vvith him as to entreat him to turn avvay all his vvrath from them because they are so guilty to themselves that they have provoked him and deserved his indignation Onely they desire that in the midst of his vvrath he vvould remember mercy By vvrath in this place is not meant any such affection in God vvhereof his unchangeable and constant nature is not capable for God is semper idem ever the same vvhom hee loveth he loveth vvith an everlasting love and he cannot at any time be angry vvith them But vvhom he loveth upon occasion he rebuketh and chasteneth every son vvhom he receiveth and this love sometimes bringing forth the effects of that vvhich in man is called vvrath vve speak after the manner of men and avouch it of God Thus then the text is literally to be understood O Lord I have heard vvhat thou hast spoken in the defence of thy upright justice I have heard vvhat thou purposest in the punishing and in the avenging of thy Church in the mean time preserve it and make it knovv thy love tovvards it and vvhilst thou art punishing of it remember mercy The parts of this are tvvo 1 The preparation to prayer 2 The prayer it self 1 In the preparation I observe Motum the motive Metum fear 2 In the prayer I observe 1 Subjectum the subject 2 Petitiones the petitions The petitions are three 1 O Lord revive thy Work in the middle of the years 2 O Lord in the middle of the years make knovvn 3 In wrath remember mercy First of the preparation 1 of the Motus O Lord I have heard thy Speech The Word of God is vvell bestovved on them that vvill hear it vvith reverence and receive it vvith humility here vvas a maze the Prophet and the Faithfull of the land had lost themselves they knevv not vvhat to think till they had put the matter to God himself Cap. 1. and God having made a ful ansvver novv the Prophet saith in his ovvn name and in the name for whom he consulted God I have heard thy speech All the Scripture is full of examples of the Children of God hearkening to his word of precepts and admonitions to us to hearken of promises to them that do hearken The reason is because it is a speciall note of Gods children to heare his Word even as our Saviour himself saith He that is of God heareth Gods Word ye therefore hear them not Joh. 8.47 because ye are not of God And now seeing God hath given over speaking by miracles extraordinarily to his Church St. John saith We are of God 1 Joh. 4. he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us hereby we know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of errour The Spirit of truth is left in the Church by our Saviour and he speaketh in such who by the Ordinance of Christ are the Priests of the new Testament of whom Christ saith Qui vos recipit me recipit qui recipit me recipit eum qui misit me he that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me we must hear him before he hear us for St. Paul telleth us true Rom. 8.26 We know not what we should pray for as we ought The art of prayer is not so quickly learned as some forward proofessours make themselves believe John besides his continuall preaching to his Disciples taught them also to pray And never had any Disciples a better Master then the Disciples of Jesus Christ yet they living in the eare of his Doctrine and in the eye of his holy example were glad to come to him to be taught to pray he taught them the Lords prayer privately which after he taught the whole multitude in a Sermon openly My observation is that his Word must minister matter to our prayers Doct. and all our petitions must be grounded thereupon The reason is because God heareth not sinners John 9.31 and David saith If I regard wickednesse in my heart the Lord will not hear me But the prayer of a righteous man prevaileth much Jam. 5.16 if it be fervent Against sin we have no such remedy as the word So David Thy word have I hid in my heart Psal 119.11 that I might not sin against thee Our Lessons from hence are 1 We must take it for a great favour of God to us that he giveth us his word for that is a lanthorne to our feet that is our counsalor as David calleth it This word is given us to profit withall and it is deposited 1 In the Books of the Canonical Scripture which we have not as the Church of Rome shut up in an unknown language but translated faithfully into our own tongue that all of us may be partakers of it 2 As in the time of the law the Priests lips did preserve knowledge and men were to require the law at their lips so in the time of the Gospel St. Paul saith of the Apostles and of all the Ministers that should succeed them in their office in the Church 1 Cor. 5.19 God hath committed to us the word of reconciliation he hath so committed it to his Son first as he gave him power to transmit it in the Priesthood of the New Testament to all ages of the Church till his second coming The spirit which Christ left to comfort and instruct his Church was not given at large to all men but in perticular ordinance to them whom he sent to teach all Nations as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 3.6 Our sufficiency is of God who hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life So we are the Ministers of the word that giveth life and there is no life to be had but by our Ministry This gives us interest in your affections in your understandings in your goods in your prayers 2 Now we know where we may hear God we are taught also not to neglect him speaking to us for as the Author to the Hebrews saith Heb. 12.25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven
and was afraid In thy word I see how corrupt I am for that sheweth me what thou requirest my conscience feareth those sins of which it is guilty for which I come to thee for mercy O give me through Iesus Christ our Lord that which my prayer without him dare not presume to ask Here is spirituall boldness through Iesus Christ our Lord here is fear in respect of our selves for we must serve the Lord in fear and rejoyce in trembling it is vvell that that is not branded vvith a mark of contradiction We have to do vvith three sorts of persons 1 The prophane and carnall 2 The generation the Wise man nameth of such as are wise in their own eyes yet want washing 3 The truly zealous faithfull ones that do worship God with fear and trembling First concerning the prophane and carnall These do not pray at all the reason is because they do not fear Psa 9.20 of such David saith Put them in fear O Lord that they may know they are but men for when they know that they will see and confesse that they have need of help Thus was Saul converted there suddenly shoon a light from heaven upon him a voyce spake to him he was cast down to the earth Then trembling and astonished he said Lord Act. 9.6 what wilt thou have mee do then was hee fit to be wrought To such wee must preach as Paul did to Felix of righteousnesse Act. 24.25 temperance and the judgment to come to put them into trembling better to put them between the two mil-stones of the law of Moses and the lavv vvritten in their hearts and to grind them as small as the dust of the earth then to let them make sinne out of measure sinfull by holding out to be abominable and to every good vvork reprobate We cannot open the gates of hell too vvide for such to shevv them the anger to come a fit text for a generation of Vipers vve cannot lift up our voyces too loud in the deaf ears of such to tell them their transgressions and to put them in fear David vvept rivers of vvaters for such and that is a good remedie let the faithfull vveep for them for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vvhich signifieth to vveep comes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frango So vvhen the man of God looked on Hazael 2 Reg. 8.11 and fore-savv the cruell butcheries vvhich his bloody hand should perform he vvept this vveeping of the Prophet brake the heart of Hazael for the time and he said Is thy Servant a dog that he should do these things So St. Paul putteth them together What mean you to weep and to break my heart Act. 21.13 their vveping brake his heart The hearts of the prophane are hardened with the custome of sinning St. Bernard Aperiatur vena ferro compunctionis vve must dravv bloud of them by the preaching of the terrour of the Lord to them This bloud is the tears of compunction of vvhich David My soul melteth or drippeth for heaviness St. Augustine saith that Lachrymae compunctionis be sanguis vulnerati cordis Epist 199. vvhen the remembrance and consideration of their sins hath vvounded them and left them half dead then the good Samaritan vvill come vvith his Wine and Oile even the Oile of gladnesse and the poor patient vvill say Thou hast put gladnesse into my heart This was Sauls hard heart broken in pieces first and he that before did carry the crosse of Christ to torment others now rejoyced in nothing but the crosse of Christ himself whereby the world was crucified to him and he to the world Thus vvhen the lavv hath humbled the prophane under the mighty hand of God he turneth all into tears full of the fear of God and vovveth vvith himselfe as he did in the Poet In fontem frontem atque in flumina lumina vertam then is he fit to pray and to call upon the name of the Lord saying Sana animan mean quia peccavi contrate heal my soul O Lord for I have sinned against thee 2 Wee have to doe vvith that generation vvho are vvise in their ovvn eyes these have a good opinion of themselves that they knovv more then others and they are not in conversation like to the Publican and therefore they look God in the face they dravv neer to him they stand and pray these are so ful of the spirit that they need no help in their prayers they can pen their ovvn petitions their hearts endite good matters their tongues are the pens of ready vvriters they can talk vvith God Almighty ex tempore Dabitur illa hora. Self-opinion is a kind of spirituall drunkenesse and therein of like effect it maketh men daring and fool-hardy the prophane care not for God there is no fear of God before their eyes these make tvvo bold vvith him they also must take a little physick to purge the exuberancy of their presumption vve must give them a doze of fear and teach them to drink of the cup of trembling next their hearts there is no such antidote against tumor as timor swelling as fear It is the Wise mans counsell Be not rash with thy mouth Eccle. 5.2 and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before the Lord for God is in heaven and thou upon earth therefore let thy words be few He addeth Vers 3. a fools voice is known by multitude of words that is further urged In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin Prov. 10.19 For this Christ teaching us to pray beginneth at Our Father which art in heaven that we upon earth might consider that he to whom we pray is in Heaven that we might compose our selves with fear and reverence to come before him and to present him with our prayers And again he comprehendeth all that we may aske of God in a very short prayer to teach us that our words must be few And to that purpose in his Sermon he taught Mat. 6 7. But when ye pray use not vain repititions as the heathen do for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking They that come in presence of great persons speak their words by number and by weight the very presence doth stamp in them an impression of reverence and fear now seeing God to whom we pray is invisible our faith must behold him before us in glorious majesty as hee saith I have set God always before mee and like Abraham the neerer we come to his presence and the more that we solicite him the more shall vve be shaken vvith this holy fear considering him vvho dwelleth in the light that no man can attein unto and considering our selves that we are but dust and ashes the heathen could teach deos caste adeunto let men go reverently and inwardly cleave before their gods 3 There are yet another sort of them vvhom their sins do oppress as a burthen too heavie for them to bear
judgments they are For Reas 2 1 he is so quick sighted to discerne our sins that he seeth all nothing can be hidden from him but all lyeth open and naked to his sight 2 Hee is so wise to weigh the sins that we commit putting into the scales the incitements and temptations the circumstances of time person place number even the very affection wherewith sin is committed 3 He is so just as not to impute more sin to us then we have committed not to abate any of that we have mis-done 4 He is so holy as not to abide or appear the least evill for he is a God that hateth iniquity 5 He is so powerfull as to avenge it with his judgment and he hath all sorts of instruments of vengeance to punish sinne 6 He is Ubiquitarie as that no remove can avoyd him his presence filleth all places 7 He is so true of his word that heaven and earth shall passe but no part of his Word shall fail till all be fulfilled 8 He is one that cannot repent of any thing that he peremptorily decreeth All these things do declare that there is great cause to fear when he threatneth The Apostle teacheth us the use of this point Vse Româ— 3.3 wilt thou not then be afraid of the power do that which is good then shall thou have praise of the same This is the way to make us seek the face of God the first sinners fled from the presence of God behind the trees in the garden Adam confessed to God Gen. 3.10 I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid A good life is a good fence against fear Solomon saith the righhteous is bold as a lyon Perfect love casteth out fear for perfect love is â—â—e fâ—â—filling of the law where our love falleth short there fear filleth the empty and void room The voyce of the Lord is comfortable and his words are sweet to those that fear him he will speak peace unto his people and to his Saints Psal 85.8 But let them not turn again to folly So David resolves there I will hear what the Lord will speak It is a plain sign that all is not well with us when the voyce of God doth cast us into fear when we are afraid to hear the Word preached when just reproofs of our sins are unwelcome to us and anger us and make us think the worse of our Minister that chideth and threatneth us A good life and a well governed conversation doth not fear the voyce of God the Word of God is the light which God hath set up in his Church to guide her feet in the wayes of peace they that do evill hate the light and will not come neer it lest their-works should be reproved the children of the light resort to it and call upon God search my reins and my heart and see if there be any way of wickednesse in me This fear of the Church is not joyned either with obstinacy against God or murmuring at his judgments or despair of his mercy it is that fear which is one of the effects of a godly sorrow and it is one of the documents to true repentance it is the hammer and mallet of God wherewith he bruiseth us and breaketh us that we may be truly humbled under his almighty hand it is that fear which the spirit of bondage suggesteth which is not a grace of God in us Rom. 8.15 but a punishment of God upon us and we would fain be without it it is the fear of servants and not of sons yet God useth it as a means to bring us home to him again when we like sheep have gone astray and therefore the prodigall to re-enter himself into his fathers house prayed fac me unum ex mercenariis make me as one of thy hired servants it may be that fear which in the school is called Initialis which re-entreth us into the service of God and keepeth us in awe it is ut ilis but not sufficiens and we would be glad to be delivered out of it that we might serve God without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse For so the Apostle doth recompt it a favour to the Romans Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but the spirit of adoption 2 The fear it self This fear was great both in the inward man and in the outward it was that fear of which David spake to God saying of the heathen put them in fear O Lord that they may know themselves to be but men And David himself was soundly shaken with it as his complaint sheweth My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgments Psal 119.120 And we finde the best of the faithfull servants of God subject to this fear and it is cleer in my text that it may be joyned with faith For after this cold fit of fear you shall see the faith of the Church to quicken it again The elect of God are shaken with fear 1 Because they are great Students in the Law of God Doct. Reas 1 for that is a speciall mark of a righteous man he doth exercise himself in the Law of God day and night And wheresoever the law is wisely understood and applyed rightly there fear doth arise for so long as we are under the Law we are under a School-master and as the Apostle doth say a child differeth very little from a servant you know when a young man came to Christ to ask him the way to heaven Christ referred him to the Law and the keeping thereof That is our first lesson it follows so in the mission of our Redeemer he was made of a woman made subject to the Law The law sheweth us how much we are in Gods debt and you may note it in the parable of the good Mr. in the gospel 1 He called his servant to accompt and cast up the debt 2 Then he put him to it to pay it 3 When he saw him willing but unable then he forgave it God calleth us by the light of the Law by the sight of our sins our sins are debts when we see them how can we choose but together vvith them behold the danger of them and the vvrath due to them this cannot be done vvithout fear even great horrour and dejection The thief that vvas converted upon the crosse when he had but a little time he made an example of great mercy the onely example in all the Book of God of so late a conversion yet in that short time he began at the Lavv of God and said to his fellovv We indeed are justly punished for we receive the due rewards of our deeds Lu. 2341. And after that he sought grace this Lavv vvas the Schoolmaster that brought him to Christ saying Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome for Until we compare our selves with the law of righteousness we cannot know how unjust wee are and what need we
Prophet of the tribe of Iudah and another of the tribe of Levi that heard the cause of Susanna and Ribera a Iesuite two Habakkuks But we lose time in this question for they that have not the light in the word do go in the dark and they that go in the dark know not whither they go The best use of this is to limit our search to the holy Canonical Scripture and to take all our light from thence so shall we not go astray 2. The function of this man is set down in the name Of a Prophet that is a man enlightned by divine Revelation to understand the will of God in some things and appointed to declare the same Secondly the manner how he came to it Vision that is divine Revelation assuring him of the truth of Gods will so fully as if he had seen the same with his eyes accomplished De his consule conciones super Obadiam Thirdly the matter of the Prophecie the Burden In which two questions are moved 1. Why this Prophecy is called a Burthen 2. Whose burthen this is To the first it is called a burthen in respect 1. Of the sin here punished which is onus a burthen 2. Of the punishment here threatned that is onus 3. Of the Word of God threatning that is onus 1. Peccatum onus Sina burthen 1 Deo to God 2. Hominibus to men 1. Onus deo A burthen to God God complaineth of the sins of his People that they are a burthen to him Behold I am prest under you as a cart is prest that is full of sheavs The very service that these sinners do seem to perform to God is a burthen to him as he complaineth Your new Moons your appointed feasts my soule hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to beare them Hierom. Laboravi sustinens So the Prophet Malachie complaineth Ye have wearied the Lord with your words Mal. 3. â—7 yet ye say wherein have we wearied him When yee say every one that doth evill is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them or where is the God of judgement Three things weary God 1. When we multiply our own sins 2. When we tender God service continuing in sin 3. When we justifie sinners and flatter them in their sins as though God had accepted them 2. Peccatum onus est hominibus Sin is a burthen to men Christ calleth none to him but such as are weary of this our-then of sinne to such he promiseth refreshing Ask the first sinners if they found not their sin their burthen when they hid themselves from the presence of God Ask the first murtherer if any place were safe for him who thought and said that whosoever met him would kill him They that think that Lamech kild Cain read the text occidi hominem in vulnus meum Ask Iosephs brethren when they saw their sad constraint in Aegypt both at their first coming to buy corne and after the death of their father if the trespasse against their brother Ioseph did not lie heavy upon them Ask the tender conscience of any of Gods children if any weight or burthen be like unto that of the body of sinne and if he do not cry with Paul Quis liberabit me Who shall deliver me Till we come to this to feele the burthen of sinne and to be weary of it we are the sons of wrath and every man may call himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A wretched man Here is pride and vanity cloathing of us here is gluttony and drunkennesse feeding of us here is the mouth full of evil words the hands of violence or bribes giving or taking the day the night the yeare spent in pleasure and recreations Gods Sabbath is neglected Gods Word not regarded he time served the humours of sinful men observed and when these thingâ— are no burthen to the bearers thereof there is wrath gone forth from the Lord against them and if timely repentance do not stand in the gap it will break in upon them that do such things like a flood and no man shall escape that is pursued by this judgement Let me therefore entreat you to hear a word of exhortation Give not the members of your bodyes servants to sinne Give not for indeed what have you to give seeing you brought nothing with you into the world and what have yee that you have not received or if you will needs be giving hands off give not the members of your body for your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost or should be if you would give so comfortable a guest welcome or if you will give your bodies away do them not the wrong to put them out to service for they are bought with a price the dearest pennyworth that was ever bought their liberty cost the binding their sanitie the breaking their ease the smart and aking their life the death of the holiest body that ever lived upon earth Or if you will needs give your body a servant let it not be to sin for that is ponderous in the weight noysom in the stinch bitter in the smart the burthen of sinne is the wrath of God Here let me awake your thankful hearts to an acknowledging consideration of that great redemption performed by Jesus Christ to his Church who came to take this burthen upon him and to ease us of it Agnus qui tollit peccata the Lamb that taketh away sins from us that he might wash us in his bloud upon himself he bore our infirmities and God made the iniquitie of us all to meet on him He did not rob us as Israel did the Egyptians of our jewels of silver and jewels of gold he only took our infirmities and our sins from us and whereas once we might have said with Cassiodore Quantitas delicti mensura est repudii the quantity of the fault is the measure of the judgment for by our sins we might have taken measure of the wrath and judgment of God now there is an unsâ—aled height an unsounded depth and unbounded bredth of love which hath said to the Church of the whole burthen of sin Cantantes ut eamus ego hoc te fasce levabo let us sing as we go I will ease thee of this burthen 2 The punishment here threatned is a burthen to man 1. Homini Issacher under his double burthen saith that rest is good he found rest amongst his burthens But there is no peace to the wicked man a sinner that hath any sense of sin will say as David Non est pax ossibus meis propter peccatum There is no rest in my bones because of my sinne he was so overcharged with the fear of Gods judgments that sometimes he doubted that God had forgotten to be mercifull and that he would be no more intreated Who can stand in thy sight when thou art angry I can tell you who could not stand not the Angels that kept not their first estate heaven was
with fear and tembling Sometimes greif is mingled with faith as in the poor man in the Gospel of whom Christ said Doest thou beleeve he answered first with his tears then with his words saying Lord I beleeve help thou my unbeleefe So in the Publicane beating his breast and saying Lord be mercifull to me a sinner Sometimes indignation is mingled with faith as in all the imprecations of the Prophet which as they are Prophecies and so proceed from the Spirit of God so are they passions in these holy men and are vented with that indignation of which the Prophet saith Be angry and sin not and which the same Prophet justifieth Shall not I hate them O Lord which hate thee And this holy indignation you see in the very separate soules They cry with a loud voice how long Lord dost thou not judg and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth Rev. 6.10 Tantaen animis caelestibus ira To come now to the point in question This zeal of the Prophet is not a dislike of or an opposition to the will of God by way of contradiction but a dislike of the thing done according to the expresse will of God wherein the Prophet doth not offend The example of our Saviour Christ is full and giveth testimony to this truth for coming of purpose to lay down his life for his Church and knowing it to be his Fathers will that he should so do yet in the garden he three times prayed that if it were possible that cup might passe from him he did not resist the Will of God for to that he submitted himself but he distiked that which he was to suffer according to that Will The reason is because it was evil and a punishment and he who taught us to pray libera nos a malo Deliver us from evil did so himself So though he knew the Will of God to be peremptorie for the destruction of Jerusalem and the rejection of the Jewes he sorrowed and wept for the same which shewed his dislike of the thing decreed though he approved the decree it self and resisted it not Sorrow is a griefe taken by a naturall dislike of that for which we greive When our parents wives children or freinds die we greive the Apostle doth not forbid that affection he limiteth and regulateth it he would not have us sorrow as men without hope And when he took on him our naturall infirmities and affections he did not so undertake them to remove them from us or to extinguish them in us but to correct and temper them As St. Cyrill saith ut sic natura nostra reformaretur ad melius that so our nature might be bettered In this very example in my Text of the Prophets dislike that God should shew him this iniquity and violence of the Jews which was a greif and a burthen to him to see remember what is said of Lot by St Peter For that righteous man dwelling among them 2 Pet. 2.8 vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawfull deeds Here was not only an holy greif for but an holy indignation against the sight of these things which God shewed him and that in the righteous soul of a righteous man I conclude this point as before with Davids words I deny not that this was the Prophets infirmitie I deny it to be his iniquity it was no sin in him And I again urge my former point of Doctrine it is lawfull for the holy servants of God to expostulate and contest with God in their prayers 1. Because hereby we declare our dislike of those things against which we contest Reas 1 as here the Prophet sheweth that it is to him very hateful and offensive to behold the sins of the people which both corrupt and end anger the state of the Commonwealth So when the Prophet complaineth often of Gods long-suffering toward the wicked he sheweth it to be an offence to the children of God that the enemies of God should be so long forborne And when he awaketh God up Lord why sleepest thou and stireth him to revenge of his own cause therein he declareth his zeal of the glory of God of which he must be careful especially 2. This publique expostulation used in this case to awake the justice of God against the wicked Reas 2 doth seem to terrifie the ungodly from their wicked wayes for when they see that they that fear God and walk before him and with him are up in armes against them and bandie their imprecations against them they cannot but see their estates in great danger 3. This expostulation of the just doth declare that their yeilding to the Will of God in these things which they do without offence to Gods dislike 3 Reas is not out of naturall principles and reasons incident to humanity but from a supernaturall dedition and yeelding of themselves to the transcendent Will of God whereby they do approve even what they do dislike because they find the Will of God that way The profit which we may make of this point is 1. To teach us zeal in the cause of God for there is no life in the service that we performe to God without zeal there is not only the Spirit of God required in us but fervency of the Spirit by the Apostle and that the same Apostle calleth the Spirit dwelling in us plentifully and in another place The Spirit sanctifying us throughout This giving our bow the full bent that it may have the full strength and this to be drawn home when we send our prayers up to heaven that they may reach the mark this is So run that ye may obtaine It is called striving to the mark Zeal only used in matters of forme and ceremonie and in outward things makes us like Agrippa almost Christians but zeal against the evil life and crying sins of the time is discreet and necessary for these do hack and hew the bough we stand upon these under-dig the ground we walk upon These put it to an if Si filius dei es if thou be the Son of God Let them that love righteousnesse and peace be troubled at these things and quench this common fire first that is the Apostles method For having taught the doctrine of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and of holy preparation to the communicants he concludeth And the rest will I set in order when I come 1 Cor. 11.34 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First he directed them in the prayers of piety he reserveth the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the order till his coming to them shewing that he had Apostolicall power for that but that must be done after this In Religion that is now the double complaint 1. Of want of zeal where it most should be 2. Of inordinate zeal in other things The want of zeal in many Professours of Religion is such as that both Poperie and Anabaptistrie and other schismaticall and sectarious professors are suffered to grow
stormy winde and the tempest as David saith the flood of many waters shall not come neare them This faith he builds upon a good foundation For 1. From the eternity of God he may conclude that the love wherewith he loveth his Church is an eternal love and therfore not to be subject to the power of time 2. From the holinesse of God he may conclude that all the faithful Jews being an holy seed shall have his favour Against this it may be objected that God hath revealed himself to the contrary for he hath before threatned to raise up the Chaldaeans a fierce and terrible nation that shall go through the bredth of the land and shall run like an Eagle and an evening wolfe only for prey What hope then can there be against these The Prophet answereth that objection Thou hast ordained them for judgement and mighty God thou hast established them for correction That is God by his might hath armed them against the Jews to execute his judgement on them and for castigation and correction of them Vers 13. not for eradication He proceedeth then to expostulate and dispute with God concerning this judgement to be executed upon the Jews by the Chaldaeans Thou art of purer eyes then to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity This is a further Confession of the holinesse of God to whom he attributeth pure eyes such as cannot behold evil and look upon iniquity because that holinesse cannot approve ill and that justice cannot wink at it and leave it unpunished Otherwise videre malum non est malum to see evil is not evil Gods general view of all things doth set his eye upon the good and evil So the Sun shineth upon the just and the unjust but God is a God that loveth not iniquity neither shall evil dwel with him he abhorreth all them that work wickednesse David saith His soule abhorreth them So that the Prophet here acquitteth God from any hand in the evil of these Chaldaeans although he stirreth them up against the Jews he is wise to use them as instruments of correction but he is too pure and holy to be Partaker in their sins From hence groweth the Expostulation following Seeing thou art so pure and holy that thou abhorrest evil and hatest all the workers of iniquity Why dost thou look upon them that deale treacherously Why dost thou O holy and just God look on whilst the Chadaean betrayeth thy People Mr. Calvin reads Transgressores Montanus Praevaricatores Jun. Perfidos whom the Kings Bible followeth This the Prophet Isaiah calleth a grievous vision The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously Isa 21.2 and the spoiler spoileth For the Chaldaean did invade the Jew both cunningly by treason and violently by force He urgeth God further Why holdest thou thy tongue when the wicked man that is the Chaldaean an idolater and a bloody man devoureth the man that is more righteous then he that is devoureth the Jew who as bad as he is is a better man and more righteous then the Chaldaean He wondreth at the softnesse and forbearance of God that can see and be silent to behold so much iniquity He proceedeth in his complaint Vers 14. Thou makest man as the fishes in the sea where the great ones do prey upon the small ones and as the creeping things that have no ruler over them and therefore feed upon one another who have no law to awe them but quo quis est valentior eo violentior so the Jews are to the Chaldaeans a prey But the words following do shew another thing intended not a reference of these creatures one to another but all of them to the fisherman so the sense is thou seemest to esteem the Jew no more then thou dost the fishes on the sea or the creeping things on the earth For it followeth They take up all of them with the angle Vers 15. they catch them in their net and gather them in their dragge The Chaldaeans are the Fishermen the Jews the fishes and for these they have 1 The Angle whereby is meant their fishing for a single Person 2. Their net let fall to catch more 3. Their dragge for whole sholes of fish so that here is no evasion he that escapeth the angle shall fall into the net or if he escape the net the drag shall sweep him away and bring him to the shore So that he reby all way of evasion seemeth stopped against the Jew he is put into the hand and power of the Chaldaean as a draught of fish into the hand of the Fisherman And all this while the Fisherman thinketh he doth no man wrong as the Poet saith Nec patitur Tyrrhenum crescere piscem For the fish of the sea is esteemed his that can catch him so shall the Chaldaean fish Judâ—a as if the Jews were fishes not men and as if there were no Providence to take care of them no owner to call them his Therefore they rejoyce and are glad There is no compassion in them of chaldaea toward the Jew but as the Fisherman rejoyceth in his draught of fishes and never looketh upon them with any pity of their lives but is glad that he hath gotten them So shall the Chaldaean be glad when the Jews are in his net that he may carry them into captivity This victory doth not only make the Chaldaean glad but he is proud too and boasteth in his own strength and attributeth his prevailings to his own power as it followeth Therefore they sacrifice unto their net Vers 16. and burn incense unto their dragge that is they do thank their own arme and armies for their victories and as Iob saith They kisse their own hands because thereby they come to have a fat portion and plenty of meat so that they give no glory to God yea before the Prophet saith from the mouth of God that they would ascribe the prosperity of their warres to their god i.e. to their idol now they will grow so proud that they will thank their own wit and power for all The Prophet concludeth with a passionate expostulation Shall they therefore empty their net and not spare continually to slay the Nations Vers 17. Seeing they are a People so lawlesse so mercilesse so proud O Lord wilt thou give way to them still and shall they possesse all that they catch which he calleth emptying of their net and shall they not spare continually to slay the nations Shall they passe thus from nation to nation and shall they still conquer is all fish that comes into their net De verborum interpretatione bactenus In the further handling of this section I observe as in the former two things 1. The summe and contents of the whole section 2. The parts thereof 1. The summe hereof is this whereas the Prophet at first beholding the sins of the Jews was moved with an holy indignation against them and with zeal of Gods glory which turned him into a chiding
punishment God himself assumeth it to himself Shall there be evil in a city Amos. 3.6 and the Lord hath not done it Malum poenae the evil of punishment So Moses Ps 90.7 For we are consumed by thine anger and by thy wrath are we troubled So David Ps 39.11 When thou with rebuke dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth 1. Because every sinne is a trespasse against God as David Tibi Reas 1 tibi soli peccavi Against thee only have I sinned for every sin is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transgression of the Law and therein God is offended and he is a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children The trespasses against our brethren in the breach of the second Table be immediate sins against God For as when the plate is not cut for the mint to clippe it is no breach of the law but when it hath the stamp impressed and is coine then to clippe or wash it is treason not for the matter but because of the stampe So the matter of our brethren is but earth and the violation of it is but the defacing of earth but bearing the image of God in it it is a trespasse against him whose image is therein insculped to wrong it 2. Because every punishment as it is poena a punishment Reason 2 so it is vindicta a revenge and God layeth claim to that by Prerogative vindicta mea my revenge no man can take the sword out of his hand it is virga tua saith David thy rod. 3. Because none but God can search the heart where sinne breedeth Reas 3 and knoweth how to proportion punishment to the sinne Punishment is the Physick of the Church as Augustine Quod pateris medicina est non paena that thou sufferest is thy medicine not thy punishment He only knoweth how to temper the medicine for the health of the Patient for he knoweth wherof we be made he only can work good out of evil 4. Because there is none but God that doth whatsoever he will none but he can ordain or establish judgement Reas 4 the judgements are called Iudicia dei the Judgements of God in that cruel execution done upon Christ in our flesh Acts 2.23 as there were the wicked hands of the Jews and the Romanes so there was the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God 1. Let us not therefore sinne against God Vse 1 and make an idol of him by making him all mercy for though we call him father doubtlesse there is a God that judgeth the world who upon the wicked will rain snares stormes and tempest this shall be their portion to drink rather meet a temptation with Ioseph and say How then shall I do this great wickednesse and so sin against God For our God is a consuming fire And It is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God 2. Let us not fret at the means ordained by God for our correction Vse 2 remembring that God hath established them for our chastisement Psal 39 9. but let us rather say with David obmutui non aperii os meum quia tu domine fecisti I was dumb c. because thou Lord hast done it let us know and confesse who it is that smiteth us and say Thou hast smitten me and thou wilt heale me 3. Let us remember when God taketh off his hand and restoreth us again to the chearful light of his countenance Vse 3 to acknowledge his mercy to us and as Christ saith to sinne no more least some more heavy judgement fall upon us Let us with David remember the vows which we made to God in our affliction and spend the time of our so journing here in feare 4. Lastly Vse 4 Seeing God hath comforted us let us also comfort our brethren 2 Cor. 1.9 as the Apostle saith for God comforteth us in all our tribulations that we may be able to comfort them which be in any trouble by the comfort wherewith our selves are comforted of God so as Christ said to Peter when we our selves are converted we shall strengthen the brethren and the God of Peace and all Consolation shall give unto us the blessing of his Peace 2. The Prophets dispute with God The Prophet seemeth amazed at the course of Gods proceeding against the Jews by the Chaldaeans And the remain of this chapter doth contain his expostulation with God wherein 1. He layeth a ground of this Argument The eyes of God are pure 2. He questioneth God how these inconveniences following are born withal by him which are these Grievances 1. How God should look on whilst men deal treacherously v. 13. 2. How God should hold his tongue whilst the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous then he vers 13. 3. How God can expose the Jews his People as a prey to the Chaldaeans ver 14. And thou makest men as the fishes of the sea and as the creeping things that have no Ruler From which liberty given to them They break forth into all extremes of cruelty ver 15. They take up all with their Angle they catch them in their net and gather them in their dragge 4. They insult over the conquered ver 15. They rejoyce and are glad They commit self-idolatry ver 16. Therefore they sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their dragge because by them their portion is made fat and their meat plenteous 5. How God can so long dispense with the enemies of his Church and whether he will so forsake them ver 17. Shall they therefore empty their net and not spare continually to slay the nations 1. Of the ground of his contestation Thou art of pure eyes This phrase is according to the capacity of humane understanding and it is doubly figurative 1. In that eyes are attributed to God 2. In that they are said to be pure 1. It is a thing frequent in Scripture to give the parts of a mans body to God the eye the eare the hand the heart the foot the bowels the arme the face the back-parts whereupon certain hereticks literally understanding those phrases have believed and taught that God is like to man in shape of bodie and that the image wherein God made man was corporeal These hereticks are called Anthropomorphites because they ascribed to God the image and corporeal likenesse of man Whom some ignorant Persons have used to point in the representation of a grave old man against the clear text of Scripture and warrant of truth Of this I will only tell you what Saint Augustine writing to Fortunatianus a bishop concerning the judgment of another Bishop Epl. 1.11 who maintained this heresie saith The text of Scripture attributing the parts of humane bodies to God must not be literally understood for then we must allow God also to have bodily wings for we read also often of the wings and feathers of God But saith he as
to some persons left behind to the wo she was made an example of present calamity and turned into a pillar of salt Therefore remember Lots wife for terrour to strike fear in thee that thou sin not least thou be smitten so soon as thou hast offended this to prevent sin 2. That such as sin and find not the present wrath of God avenging sin may make use of that patience of God to repent least a lingring judgment be but the whetting of a sword to a sharper cutting when it cometh For the remissenesse of God doth not proceed from any respect of Persons nor from a liking of any kind of sin but out of free and undeserved favour and for the glory of his own mercy that he may be feared Who knoweth the mind of the Lord Vse or who hath been of his Counsel who can tell when he is tempted to any sin and embraceth the temptation and committeth the sin whether God will make him an example of his patience and mercy long-suffering by giving him both the time and grace of repentance and open to him the fountain for sin and for uncleannesse to wash him and cleanse himself from his sin or whether he will make him an example of his severe justice in chastening his trespasse with some speedy vengeance as he did the rebellion of Corah or the lying of Ananias and Saphirah Therfore our care must be to keep our heart with all diligence from conceiving sin to take heed to our ways that we offend not in our tongue to take heed to our foot to our hand that they act not sin ever remembring that God is a jealous God and that loveth not iniquity and that he hath pure eyes which cannot behold evil to allow thereof Herein the example of Christ is good Ps 16 8s I have set the Lord always before me for godly feare doth put God always in sight of us and of all our ways Let us set our selves always in the sight of God and answer every temptation to sin with this answer Thou O Lord art of purer eyes then to behold evil For therefore hath God so clearly revealed his Majesty Power and Justice to the sons of men Ex. 20.20 That his feare may be before your eyes that you sin not The King on earth chaseth away all evil with his eye because men feare the wrath of a King as the roaring of a lion and shall the pure eyes of God seeing all our ways being about our path and about our bed understanding our thoughts long before nothing awe us Christ saith Fear not them that can kill the body and can do nothing more but feare him that can cast both body and soul into hell fire This God that hath this power over the work of his own hands as he hath pure eyes from whose sight nothing can hide or conceal it self so he hath a right hand inveniet dextra ejus inimicos ejus his right hand will find out his enemies yea strong is his arme and the sword that he wieldeth is sharp for David saith he hath whetted it of purpose to cut off from the earth the ungodly thereof he hath also a bowe and that is bent he hath a quiver and that is full of deadly arrows and howsoever we shall slight him our God is a consuming fire to the Elect he is ignis in rubo a fire in the bush burning but not consuming but to the ungodly that make no conscience of sin he is ignis devorans a fire devouring as David saith The flame shall burn up the ungodly The crying sins of our times injustice in the Courts of judgement contempt of Religion oppression of the poore breach of the Sabbath profane swearing beastly drunkennesse abomâ—nable wantonnesse contentions and such like do give evidence against us that there is no fear of God before our eyes that we fear not the Presence of God we regard not his pure eyes We would have cured Babel of those diseases and she is not healed the Word which is the proper Physick for these maladies is either not heard with attention or not kept with retention we mingle it not with faith when we hear it so that we heap up wrath against the day of wrath my brethren do not so wickedly sin not against God sin not against your own souls for so Moses cals Korah his company Num. 16.38 he cals them sinners against their own souls that are ensamples recorded for the perpetual use of the Church even for them upon whom the ends of the world shall come When the judgement of Korah and his company was in sight it is said All Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them Num. 16.34 for they said least the earth swallow us up also These Records of former times are kept for us that we might always have them in sight that we might make it our own case and feare before the Lord and fly from the tents of such wicked persons who make no conscience of the pure eyes of God beholding all their ways least we perish with them 2. Upon this ground he doth dispute for seeing he resolveth that God is most just and there can be no shadow of changing in him he enquireth of him how it comes to passe that so many evils be suffered in the world in the eye and sight of God From whence we are taught that in all our considerations of the carriage of things under the government of Gods Providence Doct. howsoever strange the effects may seem to us yet we must take heed that we never question either the Wisedome Justice or Goodnesse of God Let us resolve on that and we may safely sit down and wonder at the effects of his will for David saith Tu facis mirabilia solus Thou alone dost wonders And Augustine saith that God doth manage things Judicio saepe arcano sed semper justo often by secret but always by just judgment And upon this holy resolution of the Prophet which giveth God his due and no way doth tax him but pronounceth him to be himself I dare not receive the judgment of Mr. Calvin upon this passage because I am perswaded that he is too harsh in his censure of this Prophet and yet I find it so much against his will to find fault that he doth what he can again when he hath wounded him to heal him again I honour the memory of Mr. Calvin as of a clear light set up in the Church of God and am as unwilling to tax him as I find him unwilling to tax the Prophet and therefore I wish his Reader to read him out upon this place and he shall find that it is not motus violentus but trepidationis not a violent but a trembling motion that carries him For 1. He saith descendit ad humanos affect us he descendeth to humane affections so he may do and yet not offend 2. He addeth ostendit se
is of fear Sol. To this I answer let not us dispute the Will of God or search beyond that which is revealed if God have revealed his Will to us that must be our guide That revealed will hath threatned nothing in us but sin and sin carrieth two rods about it shame and feare There be two things in a regenerate Elect man 1. A Conscience of his sin 2. Faith in the promises of God through Christ So long as we do live we do carry about us Corpus peccati the body of sin and as that doth shake and weaken faith so doth it confirme and strengthen fear 1. We are taught from hence to believe the Word of God Vse 1 the Apostle saith He is faithful that hath promised The faithful servants of God have this promise I will not leave thee nor forsake thee David believes him in convalle umbr aemortis non timebo in the valley of the shadow of death I will not fear Job believes him Though he kill me I will trust in him David believes verily when he smarts I shall see the goodnesse of God in the land of the living It is a sweet content of the inward man when the conscience pleads not guilty to the love of sin though our infirmities miscarry us often that we may say with Nehemiah Remember me O Lord concerning this and blot not out the loving kindnesse that I shewed to thy house and to the officers thereof Neh. 13.14 and with Ezekiah Remember Lord now I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth Is 38.3 and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight But it followeth And Hezekiah wept sore If he were so good a man why did he weep if not so good why did he boast Surely we carry all our good amongst a multitude of infirmities and therefore we cannot rejoyce in our own integrity with a perfect and full joy yet is it a sweet repose to the heart when God giveth us peace of conscience from the dominion of sin So on the other side believe God threatning impenitent sinners with his judgments for he is wise to see the sins of the ungodly he is holy to hate them he is just to judge them and he is Omnipotent to punish them Let me give one instance The third Commandment in the first Table of the law saith Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain what needs any more 1. Put these two one against another Thou The Lord thy God 2. Consider what the law concerns Gods name wherein standeth His glory Our help 3. What is forbidden taking it in vaine and we pray Sanctificetur let it be hallowed But where all this will not serve yet this is murus ahenus a brazen wall one would think God doth make yet another fence about his name an hedge of thornes The Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vaine The Lawes of God be unreversible decrees heaven and earth shall passe ere one of these words shall sink or lose strength Yet the blasphemer feareth nothing that is a crying sinne in this land not the houses only the streets and high wayes resound the dishonour of Gods name this sin is grown incorrigible The Land mourneth because of oaths Hoc dicunt omnes ante Alpha Beta puellae And beleeve God who cannot lye He will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vain Thus we may make use of this doctrine to restraine if not overcome and to destroy the dominion if not the being of sinne in us 2. For the better rectifying of our judgments and reformation of our lives Vse 2 let us observe the consonancy of Gods practice in the world with the truth of his word he hath declared himself an hater of evill and do we not see daily examples of his judgements upon wicked men how ill they prosper in their estates what shame and disgrace and losse of all that they have unrighteously gotten cometh upon them how their posterity smarteth according to that threatning in the second Commandment God bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and visiting it to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him that we may say Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall Whence cometh all this but from the constant truth of Gods unreversible decrees because the word is gone out of his mouth and though the ungodly do not beleeve it though it be told them Verily there is a reward for the righteous doubtlesse there is a God that judgeth in the earth We may say of our times as Hecuba did of hers Non unquam tulit documenta fo rs majora quà m fragili loco starent superbi for We live in the schoole of discipline and the rod of correction is not only shewed but used with a strong hand that all men may fear to be unrighteous we have not only Vigorem verborum the vigor of words chiding sin in our ministry of the word but rigorem verberum the rigor of stripes in the administration of justice never did any age bring both fuller examples of terror then we have heard with our ears and seen with our eyes for the wisdome of Gods decrees and the word of Gods truth is justified in our sight therefore seeing sentence executed upon evil works let the hearts of the sons of men be wholly set in them to do evil 3. Let us consider the vaine confidence of the ungodly Vse 3 and compare it with the constant truth of the decrees and word of God Isay expresseth it fully Ye have said we have made a Covenant with death Isa 28.15 and with hell are we at agreement when the over-flowing scourge shall passe through it shall not come to us for we have made lyes our refuge and under falsehood have we hid our selves They are answered and confounded The bed is shorter then a man can stretch himself on it Vers 20. and the covering narrower then he can wrap himself in it He that is to lodge so uneasily cannot say I will lay me downe in peace and take my rest The Chaldeans invade the Church they kill and take possession and divide the prey they oppose better and more righteous men then themselves their trust is in their strength and riches and power Nec leves metuunt Deos. What care they who weeps so they laugh or who bleeds so they sleep in a whole skin who dies so they live They trust in lying vanities Solomon saith Eccl. 8.12 Though a sinner do evill an hundred times and his dayes his prolonged yet surely I know it shall be well with them that feare God Vers 13. which feare before him But it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his dayes which are a shadow because he feareth not before God God hath made an Act against them their judgment is sealed they
then should keep thee from this remedy 1. Consider that there is no man in better case then thou by nature for all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God 2. Confider that this remedy is without thy self if it were of thy self thou hadst cause to distaste it but it is the free offer of Gods grace to thee 3. Consider that the giver of the Remedy is the giver of faith also by which the remedy is apprehended and applyed and if thou do not feel this faith in thy self do not judge thy self void of it for there may be and is faith often where is no feeling thereof 4. Tarry the Lords leasure as before wait for the vision will not lye How long lay the poore man at the Poole of Bethesda and though still hindered yet was he not without hope We must not part the truth of God and his justice and mercy for the truth of God bindeth both the threatnings of his judgement and the truth of his mercy Thus is the faith of the Elect given and nourished in us 2. How our faith may be proved Because there may be a shew and seeming of faith where the true substance thereof is wanting the best way to try our faith is by the true touchstone for as gold is tried by the touch so faith which is much more precious then gold that perisheth hath a proper touchstone to try it 1 Pet. 1.7 1. That is the conscience of man within for that doth declare to himself his faith 2. That is good conversation and godly life for that doth declare our faith to men 1. A good Conscience For being justified by faith we have peace toward God Rom. 5. This peace a wicked man cannot have Non est pax impio saith God No peace to the wicked Against this is a double objection 1. Many wicked men have quiet hearts and aile nothing Object they are not humbled like other men they are not poured from vessel to vessel therefore their sent remaineth in them The effect of true peace is joy in the Holy Ghost Sol. The wicked mans joy is not such it is but a flash it is neitâ—â—â—â—ound for when any tryal cometh it faileth neither is â—t 〈…〉 for it perisheth in time neither is it growing and increâ—â—â—â—g neither is it excusing 2. Many of the best of Gods servants have their minds troubled and suffer great distresses in their conscience for sinne Object 2 yea such a winter there is upon their souls that they feel not any life of grace at all in them True but observe from whence this ariseth Sol. even from the warre of the spirit against the flesh the world and the devil in which conflict often times the spirit is daunted and dismayed for a season but there is ever joy in tribulations and joy arising and growing out of sorrowes whereas the hearts of them that have not Faith dye in them And this fire is from heaven the covering of it with oppressions doth make it burn so much the hotter and the strring of it up with temptations doth make it shine the clearer so that peace of conscience is a sure signe of a good Faith 2. Another touch-stone for this gold this Faith is an evidence of godly conversation to approve our selves to God and man both by doing all the duties of a godly life and avoyding the contrary This is the only work of Faith in us 1. The pit whence we draw this water of life is deep the bucket by which we fetch it up is Faith for whatsoever desire or strength we have or endeavour to live godly it is an extraction drawn by our Faith from Jesus Christ I live by Faith in the same God 2. Faith only doth assure to us the loving kindnesse of God God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son c. Ecce quantam charitatem what eye shall behold this but the eye of Faith 3. Faith worketh love that is it breedeth a correspondence between Christ and us for the beleeving soul assured of Christs love to it doth cast about within it self quid rependam and finding nothing to recompence that love it seeketh how God may be pleased and walketh in that way so neer as he can So it is said of the faithful that they walk with God and they answer every temptation to evill as Joseph did How shall I do this and sin agaâ—â—â—â—â—â—d Or if by infiâ—â—â— â—hey fall they cry God mercy and they groan and grieâ—â—â—â—hin themselves that they cannot performe better service to God Thus we love God 1 Joh. 4.19 Luk. 7 47. because he loved us first And Christ said Many sins are forgiven her quia dilexit multum This is a fruit of the Holy Ghost shed abroad in our hearts by faith Observe it when faith doth lie concealed in us that our selves cannot discern it yet may we discern in our selves our love of God and of such as love God and this proves Gods love to us for we could not love him except he loved us first 4. Faith maketh us sincere for it is the notation of our faith it is called faith unfained and Christ saith Blessed be the pure in heart faith purifieth the heart as the Apostle saith These are not the generation of them that are pure in their own eyes of which Solomon spake but the other of which David his father spake Haec est generatio quaerentium faciem tuam Seeing there cannot be perfectio operis the perfection of works God is pleased if there be puritas cordis purity of heart 2 Cor. 1.12 which the Apostle calleth Simplicitie and godly purenesse And that is known by these signes 1. If a man be humbled in true contrition for sins which he knoweth himself guilty of and hath no peace in his heart till he hath comfort in his conscience that God hath forgiven them 2. If he consider his own weaknesse so farre as to acknowledge that he committeth many sins that he knoweth not and prayeth earnestly and often with David à secretis meis munda me cleanse me from my secret sins 3. If he finde in his heart a present strife of his spirit against the flesh wrastling with his own corruptions and not suffering sin to reign in his mortal body leading him captive to the Law of sinne 4. If he finde him watchful to prayer and fasting and watching and all exercises of mortification striving to bring his body in subjection to the law of God 5. If he be willing to hide the word of God in his heart to arme him against Satans temptations as Christ did with scriptum est it is written 6. If he finde a desire of perseverance therein to the end which is discerned by his spiritual growth from grace to grace bringing forth more fruit even in age as Christ testifieth of the Church of Thyatira more at the last then at the first Rev. 2.19 For he that beleeveth in
shedding of blood to make their own portion fat and whereas they have studied honour and greatnesse all turns to shame abroad in the world and to the burthen of a guilty conscience within them Thou hast sinned against thy soul For the stone shall cry out of the wall Vers 11. the beame out of the timber shall answer it Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood Vers 12. and stablisheth a city by iniquity Here God bringeth in inanimate and senselesse things accusing and upbraiding them they cannot look upon either the stone-work of the wals or the timber-work on the floors and roofs of their buildings but they shall hear the voice of their upbraidings speaking to their consciences that these are ill gotten rapine and cruelty put them together and married them in that frame without a license The voyce of their clamour is woe to him that hath done so Behold Vers 13. is it not of the Lord of Hosts that the People shall labour in the very fire and the People shall weary themselves for very vanity I understand him thus it is Gods own hand against them that they shall endure hard and extreme labour as it were in the fire to compasse their own ends and when they have crowned themselves they shall reap a crop of vanity as David Man disquieteth himself in vain For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord Vers 14. as the Waters cover the sea That is God who by his long forbearance and remissenesse is forgotten in the world shall now declare himself in the execution of justice that he shall be known as David saith God is known by executing judgement ut aquae as the waters i. e. sine mensura that is without measure The Summe of this section is the denunciation of that judgment of God against the Chaldeans wherein we consider 1. Peccatum the Sinne. 2. Poenam the Punishment 3. Effectum the Effect 1. Peccatum here is a Chaine For. 1. Here is Infidelity he would be delivered from the power of evil but he will not trust God with protecting him from it 2. Here is Ambition desire of high place to build his nest on high for more security 3. Here is Covetousnesse to get the means of this high rising 4. Here is cruelty to break through all impediments that stand in the way 2. Poena 1. Shame to his house 2. Sin against his soul 3. Losse of labour 3. Effectus The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord c. 1. De peccato One observation I gather from this whole point concerning the sin of the Chaldeans it is St. Augustines Peccatum nunquam est solitarium sins grow in clusters it is a stream that runneth in the channel of nature and the further it runnes the more corruptions send in their currents into it and as rivers the further they runne the wider they grow so doth sin viresque acquirit eundo When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and lust may say of that birth as Leah did when Zilpah also bare Jacob a son A troop cometh Gen. 30.11 and she called his name Gad. For sinne is sociable In the temptation which corrupted Evah 1. Satan suggested infidelity shaking her faith in the truth of Gods word 2. He gave a touch upon the Iustice of God that it was scarce equal that God should except any tree and not give Adam unlimited power 3. He suggested a titillation of pride making her believe that they might be like God 4. Wherewith is joyned a suggestion of discontent with their present state 5. There went with this a tang of gluttonous desire So in Gehezies sinne 2 Reg. 5.20 who was Elisha's servant 1. He grudged that Naaman the Syrian should go away with such a favour done him and carry away the whole present that he rendred to his Master 2. He had a covetous desire to have some of it 3. He went after and told Naaman a lye my Master hath sent me 4. Another lye followed There be two young men of the Sons of the Prophets 5. He was sent to demand a talent of silver and two changes of raiment for them 6. He dissembled He must be urged to take two talents 7. He made a cunning conveyance He bestowed them in the house and let the young men go secretly 8. He shut up all with another lie Thy servant went no Whether Davids sin had many sins in it 1. A sin against God in the disobedience of his law 2. Sin against his own body in defiling it 3. A sin against the body of his neighbours wife 4. A sin against the Religion which was so scandalized 5. A sin against his neighbours life 1. Inebriavit eum 2. Jussit occidi 6. Which followed all these a neglect of Gods service for ten moneths together in which he continued impenitent St. James saith Whosoever shall keep the whole law Jam. 2.10 and yet offend in one point is guilty of all How can a man keep the whole and yet break the whole Law of God Sol. He is called here a keeper of the whole Law Quest either 1. By supposition and so it is but a case put thus Put the case a man could keep the whole law save only in some one thing 2. Or by his own opinion of himself 3. Or by his indeavour to keep all Yet this man offending in one breaketh the whole law 1. Because there is such a concatenation of the Duties of Religion and Justice that he which offendeth in one breaketh the chaine 2. Because any one sinne unrepented violateth love and obedience which if it be not full it is no love no obedience at all For the breach of one Commandment doth distaste all the rest of our obedience as a little leaven sowreth the whole lump therefore though we cannot say that he which breaketh the Sabbath committeth adultery or that he that stealeth is a murtherer yet we may say that he that doth break the least Commandment of the law is guilty of the breach of the whole law in omission though not in Commission seeing the obedience that the law requireth failing in one duty corrupteth all that we do say or think Let us now behold the concurrence of sins in the Chaldaean and begin 1. At his incredulity for he would be delivered from evil but he trusteth not God with it but goeth his own way to it This is the mother sinne of all evil ways and means unlawfully used to accomplish mens ends here on earth distrust in God For when we use fraud and lying and dissembling and concealing of the truth and bind untruths with oaths to gain credit to what we say untruly when we make no conscience of injury which may be hidden with cunning or born out with violence all this proceeds from distrust in God And so we grow guilty of the two great evils of which God himself complaineth For
soul hath no peace till it hath wrought a revenge upon it self and upon the body too in which it committed sin Davids Humiliavi animam meam and St. Pauls Castigo corpus meum Ps 35.13 1 Cor. 9.27 Isa 38.17 There must be afflictio and amaritudo animae we carry rods about us for the nonce even our own hearts will smite us as Davids did this brings God home to us again For I dwell with the humble and contrite and then salvation is come home to our house once again Isa 57.15 2. Impii autem non sic Not so with the wicked They sin against their souls because all the evils of their whole life are written in the book of Gods remembrance and foulded up in the rowle of their own conscience which shall be opened against them in the last day and they shall be judged according to all that is writen in those books and there shall be judgment without mercy to them that shewed no mercy Jam. 2.13 This doth not exclude temporall punishments for so shall they smart also they shall have no peace in this life for ever and anon as Job sa it their candle shall be put out and God shall distribute his sorrows amongst them They shall have many great shames many great fears many sad affronts of care and discontent though commedled with some faire weather good chear ease delights and such sweetnings as the flattery of the world and the favour of the times shall yeeld them Yet in the end all the evil that they have studyed and intended against others shall fall upon their own heads But still the worst is behind their souls and bodyes shall smart for it in the last day and the hand of God shall then pay home For them I take no care be it unto them as they have deserved and the Lord requite it at their hands and requite it upon them But for so many as follow righteonsnesse and fear God and would walk in his ways let us stirre up one another in the fear of God to seek the Lord whilst he may be found and to tender our souls The sins that we commit with such delight will cost us many an heart-breaking sigh many floods of salt water tears of bitternesse which are sanguis animae the blood of the soul hanging down of the head beating of the brest fasting from our full fare and stripping our bodies out of their soft raiment into sackcloth and changing our sweet powders into ashes There is no such disease incident to man as this Tremor cordis the trembling of the heart for sinne this Anima dolet the learning of the Physitian the art of the Apothecary have no receipt for it As Saint Paul saith of the law that is the strength of sinne so I may say that at first in the beginning of the cure the very remedy is the strength of the disease and makes the disease double the distresse thereof as in David 1. The Pophet came to heal him and he saith I said in my haste all men are lyars Prophets and all if they speak of any comfort to me Ps 116.21 2. God himself presented himself to his thought and that would not do I thought upon God and I was troubled my fear came and ceased not my soul refused comfort Yea there is such a sweetnesse in revenge that a penitent man doth take upon himself that he hath a kind of delight in his own self-punishment as in Jeremiahs example Look away from me Isa 22.4 I will weepe bitterly labour not to comfort me There is nothing that makes us sinne with so much appetite and so little feare as this we have banished Confession which bringeth shame upon us and penance which bringeth smart we have taken the matter into our own hands and no man hateth his own flesh Repentance is rather matter of discourse and contemplation then of practice and passion and so we sin and our souls are not much troubled at it But whosoever is toucht in conscience throughly with the remorse of sin will say there is no disease to a wounded Spirit and the costliest sacrifice that a man can offer to God is a contrite spirit and a broken heart 3. Punishment labour in vain Is it not of the Lord of Hosts that this People shall labour in the very fire and weary themselves with very vanity 1. Here is labour it is labor improbus that useth to carry all before it it is amplified For here is labour in the fire Multa tulit fecit que puer sudavit alsit labour even to wearines 2. Here is much ado about nothing For all this is for vanity very vanity 3. Who crosses them Is it not of the Lord of Hosts Annon ecce à Jehova exercituum Calv. Nonne ecce à cum Domino Interlin From the first here is labour This sinne is very painful Covetousnesse to gather wealth together Doct. and cruelty to destroy so many to strip them and ambition to purchase high place hereby we may truly say Hic labor hoc opus est Is it not strange the way to hell is all down the hill yet it is very uneasie and very weary travelling thither Christ calleth to him all that are weary and heavy laden Mat. 11.28 and promiseth to refresh them And God sheweth his People a rest saying This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest and this is the refreshing Isa 28.12 But this rest is not promised to them that weary themselves and work in the fire rising early and going late to bed to work shame for their own houses and to sin against their own souls such shall one day complain We have wearied our selves in the ways of wickednesse and destruction Wisdom 5 yea we have gone through deserts where there was no way but as for the way of the Lord we have not known it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a wicked man cometh of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth labour for it is a great deal of labour that they take that live in pursuit of honour in the oppression and molestation of their brethren in the racking vexation of covetous congestions of wealth Cain vexeth himself Nimrod must be a mighty hunter before the Lord Lamech must kill a man the earth must be full of cruelty to have their own will this is labour in the very fire to do mischief The head of wickednesse must be always plotting and projecting they imagine wickednesse upon their bed it will not suffer them to sleep The hand of wickednesse must be always working The foot of Pride must be always climbing The eye of envy is ever waking Shall I give you a full description of the labour of the unrighteous Deut. 28.65 drawn to the life The Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of mind And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee and thou shalt feare
drunkennesse call it good fellowship or making merry or keeping good company or whatsoever faire colours you will lay upon it it is drunkennesse It turns grace into wantonnesse and medicine into disease it maketh the body which should be the Temple of the Holy Ghost the very Cellar of Bacchus The evils that grow out of this sinne are many 1. The great Commandement is broken which biddeth us to love God above all things for the drunkard makes his belly his god and delâ—ghteth in his shame neither is God in all his ways of whom doth the name of God more suffer then of the drunkard and who do make lesse conscience of the Sabbath then such do who make that day of all other the most licentious the most lascivious despising the Commandment of God 2. It is a sin against himself who committeth it for he shameth himself to beholders he wasteth his estate hurteth his own body drowneth his understanding judgment memory and depriveth himself of the use of reason as Solomon saith Pro. 23.29 Who hath woe who hath sorrow who hath contentions who hath babling who hath wounds without cause who hath rednesse of eyes They that tarry long at the wine At the last it biteth like a serpent Vers 32. Vers 33. and stingeth like an adder It corrupteth the affections and inflameth lust Thine eyes shall behold strange women It corrupteth the speech thine heart shall utter perverse things It maketh a man insensible of his punishment They have stricken me and I was not sick they have beaten me Vers 35. and I felt it not It groweth into an habite and cannot be easily given over drunkennesse is like a quartane the dishonour of Physitians so it is the dishonour of Preachers they cannot cure it we would have cured the drunkard and he would not be healed When shall I awake I will yet seek it again as Saint Gregory saith qui hoc facit non facit peccatum sed totus est peccatum 3. It is a sin against our neighbour for it is a waster and consumer of the provisions which God hath given to nourish and sustain many and so he becomes a thief robbing the hungry and thirsty for it is panis pauperis vinum dolentis the bread of the poor and the wine of the sorrowful that is thus swilled and swallowed It toucheth upon the Commandment of murther for to take away life and to take away the means that should support life are so set that we can hardly draw a line between them It inflameth lust as Ambrose Pascitur libido conviviis vino accenditur ebrietate inflammatur it filleth the tongue with allkind of evil words which corrupt good manners turpiloquium multiloquium vaniloquium falsiloquium and where be the good names of men more foully handled then upon the ale-bench when a drunken Senate meeteth And to conclude it dishonoureth Parents for the laws of the Church and the laws of the Common wealth do forbid it and designe punishment for it Yet this sin is the Diana of our Ephesus and if all the Preachers of England do cry it down in Pulpits the Court of good fellowship will cry it up again though we shew you the serowl of God and open all the folds of it and read it to you written within and without with nothing but lamentations mourning and wo against this sin though we bind the sinners in this kind by the power given to us by Christ saying Whosoever sins yee retain they are retained yet do men run headlong into this sin without fear or wit But when sin is once grown into fashion we may stretch out our hands all the day long against it and spend our strength in vain yet I will not despair of a blessing upon our faithful labours against it and thus much I will undertake to do as the Apostle saith I will yet shew you a more excellent way I will yet shew you approved remedies against this sinne and there is no time of the year unseasonable for the soul to take Physick Remedia 1. Take Davids Physick I have kept thy word in my heart that I might not sinne against thee Remed 1 for that word will answer the temptation as Ioseph did How then shall I do this great wickednesse and so sin against my God Remember the fearful threatnings of wo and judgement against this sinne Remember the day of judgment wherein every man must give account to God of himself and of all his ways remember the bitternesse of the latter end thereof all this is clearly denounced in the word of God Remember that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God for our God is even a consuming fire 2. Remedy is a constant Practise of mortification for they that humble their souls with fasting and chasten their bodies and bring them in subjection that watch and pray and call their sins every day to account and examine their consciences by the law of God he that doth these things well shall soon come to their diet of whom the Psalmist speaketh Thou feedest them with the bread of tears and givest them tears to drink in great measure Psâ—l 80.5 Then thou wilt go mourning all the day long 3. Remedy is withdrawing thy self from such company as use drunkennesse from such places wherein it is used as Solomon adviseth Be not amongst wine-bibbers amongst riotous eaters of flesh for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty Prov. 23.20.21 and drowsinesse shall cloath a man with rags So Saint Paul chargeth the Corinthians But now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater 1 Cor. 5.11 or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such a one no not to eat It is company that corrupts many there are few that love drunkennesse so well 1 Reg. 16.9 that they will sit down and drink themselves drunk as Elah king of Israel did but good fellowship spoils all and one pot draweth on another 4. Remedy is Let every man abide in the calling wherein he was called 1 Cor. 7.20 God hath given his Angels charge of thee to keep thee in all thy ways so it is said of a drunkard that he is out of the way for did he exercise himself in his calling within his way he could not miscarry The desire of the slothful killeth him for his hands refuse to labour Pro. 21.25.26 he coveteth greedily all the day long 5. Remedy is a consideration of the hunger and thirst which Christ sustained on earth for thee and of the hunger and thirst which Christ yet in the members doth suffer Remember what he hath done for thee do not waste that unthriftily which would serve to relieve Jesus Christ he hungred to satisfie thee do not thou surfet to make him hungry he thirsted it was one of the last words that he
the Sunne shined on those that have made sport to behold men drunk or otherwise have made the most of it to their shame and disgrace amongst men who in the just punishment of their uncharitablenesse have themselves fallen into the same sin of drunkennesse and thereby have borne a shame and scandal to their profession this is Gods justice upon them they did not consider themselves they knew not the strength of the temptation they knew not their own weaknesse The greatest Professors of Religion are commonly the severest judges of their brethren for their zeale against sin and for the glory of God doth fill them with hatred of evill Yet let such consider themselves for if God see that their zeal begin once to burne up their charity he will leave them to themselves awhile and they shall see quo semine nati what they are For let all men know that the evill Angels are as much at Gods commandment as the good for omnia illi serviunt all things serve him and as it is said He will give his angels charge over thee so it is said likewise He cast upon them the fiercenesse of his anger Ps 78.49 wrath and indignation and terriblenes by sending evil Angels among them As we have the ministry of good Angels sent unto them that shall be heirs of salvation So God sendeth evill Angels also not only to Saul and to the false Prophets of Ahab but even to Adam in Paradise God sent him and to St. Paul the Angel of Satan These evill Angels sometimes come with suggestions to sin to try our strength that we may know how weak we are and somtimes they prevaile with Gods children that they may stand upon their guard and keep better watch But for the ungodly of the earth they emplunge them in the same sin that they do cause others to commit that the same disgrace and shame which they have done to their neighbour may reflect upon themselves Some have been so afraid of making God the author of evill because it is said Tradidit eos Deus God hath delivered them up that they have understood the Apostle to speak of that God who is called deus saeculi hujus the god of this world as the Manichees saw so much evill done and knew not how to free God from guiltinesse of it they therefore made duo principia two beginnings But that needs not It is likely that such a Father as is personated in the parable of the Prodigal could not but observe in the education of his son how thrifty he was like to prove yet such a father giving the portion of his goods which is a childs part to such a son and letting him take his journey into a far country is not accessary to his riotous living Augustine saith that the heart of man is harned by God Non impartiendo malitiam sed non largiendo gratiam not by instilling any malice but not giving grace He seeth the Chaldeans take delight in making men drunk ut nuditatem videant he letteth go the hold he hath of them for a time and leaveth them to themselves and that which was their sport is now their fault and their shame I say therefore againe consider your selves When thou seest a drunkard shaming himself as these here did consider whose light shineth in thy understanding to shew thee how foul a sinne that is consider that that is not enough for all drunkards know that drunkennesse is a sin consider whose grace it is that establisheth thy heart and keepeth thee from committing the same sin Insult not over thy brother deride him not discover him not to increase his shame rejoyce not against him rather bewaile his sin with the tears of thy soul seek by the spirit of meeknesse to restore him advise him friendly chide him lovingly For if thou who professest a severe life and to make conscience of thy wayes shouldest fall into this sin thy selfe thou wouldest not only shame thy person but thy profession also And indeed thou carriest about thee corpus peccati a body of sin thou hast the matter and stuffe of all sins within thee if grace do not aide and assist thee Lastly let me admonish you if any of you by occasion are over-taken at any time with this fault be of Davids mind Let the righteous smite me suffer a gentle chiding from your friends that love you and hate that evill in you Take it for a favour of God and think that it is he that speaketh to you in that reprehension Hearken not to those that flatter you in your sins Alexander in a drunken fit slew Clitus his beloved friend and faithful Counsellor Insteed of reproving his fault even then when he was fit to be wrought upon being sensible of it he had three flatterers Anaxarchus Aristander Calisthenes Anaxarchus an Epicurean Philosopher he told him that it was no matter he was a King and he might do what he list Aristander a Stoick Philosopher told him that it was not fault but fate that killed Clitus Calisthenes a Courtier sought to heale the soare with sweet words That is not the way to bring us to amendment of our evils a gentle discreet reprehension well taken will pierce the heart and fill it with comfort John the Baptist quis praenunciavit vobis ut fugeritis ab ira ventura who hath done you such a favour to prevent such a danger 3. Why doth God inflict punishment God giveth a reason of his severe proceeding against the Babylonians the violence of Lebanon and the spoyle of beasts which made them afraid and for the violence of the land c. Shewing that their cruelty to man and beast had provoked God against them to punish all their sins their pride covertousnes and drunkennesse You have heard of their cruelty at large before to men their very Cities were built with blood The Apostle saith Hath God care of oxen Here you see that God used the beasts of Lebanon for a terror to the enemy and now he declareth himself an avenger also of their quarrel because of the cruell spoyle that the Chaldeans did make amongst the beasts of Gods people God gave man Lordship over the beasts of the field he made him a lord to rule them not a tyrant to destroy them One saith upon those words of Solomon Pro. 12.10 a just man regardeth the life of his beast that seeing God hath put the beasts of the field in subjection to man that he must shew himself a lord 1. In pascendo providing necessary food for them 2. In parcendo using them favourably 3. In patiendo bearing with them in their kind 4. In compatiendo relieving them in their griefs 5. In compescendo restreining them from hurt 6. In conservando preserving them all we can This was the sinne of the Chaldeans they were destroyers and sought not only the ruine of the people of the land but the destruction also of their cattel that the meanes of living
art about Confesse your sins together pray together give thanks together confesse your faith the common faith together hear the Word together both read distinctly and preached profitably Remember that God speaketh in the Ministry of his Word and say with David I will heare what the Lord God will say Gather Manna whilst you may for you and your houses Take heed that Satan coole not your zeale of Gods glory by suggesting irreverent opinions of the Prayers and forme of service of the Minister of the Ceremonies of the Church or uncharitable opinions of the Congregation For all these be whips of Satans twisting to whip thee out of Gods Temple and to make the ordinances of God ineffectual Bring with thee an humble and contrite heart and say within thy self as St. Paul did I am the worst of sinners I am the worst Person in all this Congregation for I know mine own wickednesse and my sinne is ever against me Bring faith with thee that will shew thee the glorious and gracious face of God by that eye thou shalt see the sonne of God making intercession for thee and thou shalt feele the spirit of God helping their infirmities mingle faith with thy hearing and the word shall profit thee Hide the word in thy heart be not like a leaking vessel to let it out as fast as it is poured in Take heed of the cares of this life and voluptuous living least they choak the good seed of the Word when it cometh up In thy whole carriage at Church consider that the service is publick hoc age do all thou dost at Church according to the occasion separate not thy self from the body of which thou art apart by reading praying or any other meditation which may divide thee from the Congregation Tarry it out to the end and depart not without Gods blessing pronounced by his Minister to whom he hath given power from above to blesse in his name 2. God is in his holy Temple Let all the earth be silent before him This serveth for the direction of our whole life for 1. This dwelling of God declareth his Omnipotency The Lord is in heaven he doth whatsoever he will The earth is but as the drop of a bucket compared to the unbounded unsounded ocean of his fulnes of power and strength 2. This dwelling declareth the graciousnesse of God for every good and perfect gift cometh from above and unlesse the heavens heare the earth the earth perisheth utterly 3. This dwelling declareth the Omniscience of God there God standeth in the Congregation of God as upon a watch-tower and from the heaven the Lord beholdeth the earth the eye of the Lord is over all the world 4. This declareth the eternity of God so he saith The high and lofty that inhabiteth eternity which makes his purpose established with stedfast decree Isa 57.15 without variablenes or shadow of change a God that repenteth not his gifts and calling are without repentance 5. This declareth the wisedome of God for the Master of that house is the wisest as the Prophet saith of him He that ruleth that house well where the Angels dwell that excel in strength Isa 31.2 The Lord of Hoasts is his name and they are his ministring spirits how can it be but his wisedome is incomprehensible and his ways past finding out 6. This declareth his justice for there is the throne of judgement heaven is his Throne and all the holy ones give him that glory Even so Lord God Almighty Rev. 16.7 true and righteous are thy judgements To conclude 1. Tremble O earth at the presence of God who hath such power tempt not provoke not this power against thee he can rain snares but if he be thy father fear not there are more with thee then against thee 2. Love the Lord who is so rich in goodnesse and mercy who dwelleth in the storehouse of blessings and who giveth liberally with an open hand and filleth c. 3. Be jealous of thy words works and thoughts before the eye of jealousie which seeth all things 4. Be strong and God shall establish thy heart for he is unchangable whom he once loveth he loveth to the end that is finis sine fine 5. Let his wisedome guide thee and seek that wisedom which is from above ask it of him for he giveth it liberally and never upbraideth thee He upbraideth many with his gifts never did he any with the gift of his wisedome for that cannot be abused his grace may 6. Remember that for all that thou hast done in this life God shall bring thee to judgment every man shall give an account unto God of himself Felix trembled to hear this Let all the earth keep silence before this God A COMMENTARY OR EXPOSITION UPON HABAKKUK HABAK. 3.1 A Prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet upon Sigionoth THese wordes are the title of this Chapter shewing the contents thereof It is called a prayer and it is a Psalme or Hymne such as Davids Psalms the Heathen Poets call them Odes or Songs It is called the prayer or song of Habakkuk both as composed by him used by himself and addressed to the use of the people of God in their captivity in Babylon It is a song upon Sigionoth The Hebrews affirm this song to be one of the hardest places to interpret in all the old Testament because it is full of dark Parables such as could not be well understood till he came Who hath the key of David who openeth and no man shutteth Our former Translation readeth a Prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet for the ignorances and it is expounded diversly Some understanding it a prayer to God for the pardon of all those sins which the people of God have committed ignorantly Others conceive thus that seeing the Prophet in the behalf of the Church in the first Chapter had taxed God of too much remisness toward his people in bearing with their sins and forbearing to punish them and then again fore-seeing how God in time would awake and punish them by the furious Chaldaeans hee doth as much tax the severity of God towards his Church Now that God in the second Chapter hath declared his justice in punishing his people and reveiled the decree of his vengeance against his and their enemies now the Prophet maketh this recantation and prayer for the ignorances because they not knowing the secret purposes of God have been so forward to judg his ways But we must admit this confirmation and the learned translators of the Kings Bible finding this to have been an errour in the former translations have followed the Originall more faithfully and call it The Prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet upon Sigionoth Some say this Sigionoth was some speciall instrument of Musick upon which this song was sung in the Church of God and the last verse of this Chapter saith To the chief singer on my stringed instruments For as Titleman saith in this Psal the Prophet Canendo orat orando
mercies Psal 5.7 The Church knoweth that God is more glorious in his mercy 3 Reas then in all his other attributes for his mercy is above all his works the justice of God is against us because we are unrighteous the wisedom of God is against us because we have walked as fools and not as wise men The holiness of God is against us because we are unclean conceived in sin and born in iniquity The truth of God is against us for omnis homo mendax every man is a lyer The power of God is against us because we have forsaken him the fountain of living water c. The Patience of God is against us because he is a God that loveth not iniquity neither shall evill dwell vvith him he hateth all those that work wickedness Onely Mercy is our friend that maketh Christ our justice our wisedom our sanctification and redemption that maketh truth perform gratious promises and his power becometh our protection his patience our peace Divitiae misericordiae riches of mercy This seemeth to excellent use 1 To assure to us the favour of God 1 Vse because it is built upon the foundation of Gods mercies of which Dauid saith The mercy of God endureth for ever his mercy is euerlasting The knowledge of salvation given by the remission of our sins is Through the tender mercy of our God Luk. 1.77 78. whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us So that if God be angry with us for our sin yet his vvrath doth not burn like fire but as he sayd of Solomon I will chasten him with the rods of men but my mercy will I not take utterly from him 2 It seemeth to rebuke those that put their trust in humane merits or works of the Law they that come to God for wages forsake their own mercy nothing so contrary to Divine mercy as humane condignity 3 Because here is anger and mercy together 2 Cor. 1.3 Naâ—u 1 2. this killeth all presumption for he that is called The God of mercies is called a jealous God and a furious Avenger And the rods of men well laid on will smart and draw bloud 4 This inviteth to new life because The goodness and mercy of God leadeth to repentance and the Crown of it Rom. 2.6 5 Seing we have so much need of mercy our selvs let us shew mercy unto others Estote misericordes ut pater vester coelestis be ye mercifull as your heavenly father for there shall be judgement vvithout mercy to him that sheweth no mercy Christ abideth yet naked and sick and imprisoned and hungry and thirsty in our poor brethren as his mercy embraceth us so let our mercy embrace him that he may say esurivi pavistis I was hungry and ye fed me Ver. 3. God came from Teman and the holy one from mount Paran Selah His glorie covered the Heavens and the Earth was full of his praise 4 And his brightness was as the light he had horus coming out of his hand and there was the hiding of his power 5 Before him went the pestilence and burning coals went forth at his feet THe second part of this Psalm doth contein a celebration of the prayses of God Vid. divis p. 23. which also doth declare upon what grounds the Church in affliction and captivity doth put trust in God The whole Section is a commemoration of the great power and glory and power and mercy of God shewed in behalf of his own people v. 3 4 5. ad finem v. 15. 1 In his coming to them from Paran and Teman 2 Of the same power and glory declared in giving of the possession of the land of Canaan to Israel 3 In the dismay of the Nations v. 7. 4 In the marvellous Water-works 8 9 10. 5 In their great victories within the Land I begin at the first God came from Teman and the holy one from Mount Paran The best exposition that I do finde amongst many of these words is that here is remembred the coming of God to Israel when he gave them the Law written in two Tables of stone with his own hand For God came then from Teman and Paran Paran was a great mountain neer to mount Sinai but Teman signified the South so God came from the South thence came God to give Israel his Law wherein he did express himself the King of this people by coming so neer to them by shewing himself so openly and by revealing his wil to them so plainly This was so great a favour done to them that he addeth Selah which word is onely used in Davids Psalmes and in this Psalme and the word in the judgments of the learned is sometime vox optantis the voice of one that wisheth aequivalent to Amen or vox admirantis the voice of one admiring shewing some speciall matter or vox affirmantis of one affirming avouching what is said or vox meditantis of one meditating requiring consideration of what is said But withall it is a rest in Musique Jerome saith it is commutatio metri or vicissitudo canendi his glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise And His Brightnesse was as the Light he meaneth the brightnesse of that glory wherein he appeared when he gave the Law set forth Exod. 19.16 For there were Thunders and Lightnings He had Horns comming out of his hands by Horns in Scripture strength is signified the horne of salvation is the strength of salvation the exalting of the horne is the advancing of power and these are said to be in his hands because the hands and arms are called the strong men in the body they are the instruments of power And there was the hiding of his power there in that apparition God did hide his power from the rest of the world and declared it perticularly to his Church as David saith He hath not dealt so with any nation and as for his judgments Psal 147.20 they have not known them Before him went the Pestilence and burning coals went forth at his feet His meaning is that God then declared himself mighty in the punishment of his enemies and the enemies of his Church for under these tvvo kinds of punishments by pestilence and fire he shevveth that God hath the command of all the instruments of vvrath of vvhich these tvvo by plague and fire are the most licking and devouring putting no difference where they go And this hath reference to the many plagues wherevvith he punished the Aegyptians vvhen he brought his people from the land of Aegypt from the house of bondage The summe of all is this that God hath declared himself glorious 1 In his speciall favour to his people 2 In his just vengeance From vvhence these points of doctrine issue 1 That the consideration of Gods former mercies doth strengthen faith in present tribulations 2 That the Church of God hath a speciall interest in the povver and protection of God 3 That
fear of them upon them all This is a great advantage in all wars to have God on their sides for as David saith If the Lord had not been on our side when men rose up against us they had swallowed us up c. Then is God a speciall protectour when he directeth his war to the good of them whom he protecteth and marcheth in fury against their enemies And thus it was with Israel when they took possession of Canaan as you have heard For they gate not the Land in possession by their own arm neither did their own arm save them Psal 44. but thy right hand and thine arme c. The distressed have a speciall warrant to call upon God and it was the voice of the Church when the Arke removed to say Exurgat Deus dissipentur inimici ejus let God arise and let his enemies be scattered God is mercifull to our land and Church that we yet live in peace it is full of comfort when God marcheth before his Church in their wars but it is much more happinesse when he biddeth us go to our chambers and shut the door after us and tarry a while till the storm of troubles over-blow But then it is most joyous hen he giveth peace within our walls and plenty within our palaces Thus have we lived hitherto by the favour of the God of peace and it shal do well that we do lay this example to heart For the same God that marched before Israel to plant them in doth now march before the Chaldâ—ans to cast them out he that fought for them to give them their land now fighteth against them to carry them captives out of the Land It is the indigâ—ation of God that maketh this change and it is their sin that thus provoketh him Yet they look back in their captivity and comfort themselves with the remembrance of Gods former protection Sin hath made this change are we more in the favour of God then Israel was or have we sinned lesse then they did that their evils should not come on us Surely the sins of our land are both many and hainous the double edge of the word which is drawn and used against them doth not draw bloud Nullus sequitur de vulnere sanguis The course that is taken for reformation is preposterous for men look without themselves and complaine of the faults of others and would faine amend their brethren but the right way is Let every one strive and labouâ— to amend one And all that say Let not this evill come upon us not the sword not the pestilence not famine let them be tender that no evill come out of them for our sins are they which part God and us which maketh him that set us up cast us down 2 His conquest This is exprest in divers phrases to declare it fierce and violent 1 Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger 2 Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked 3 Discovering the foundation to the neck All look one way to describe God in his indignation how he layes about him and they teach us that It is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God for he is known by executing judgement and the heathen are punished in his sight True that he is patient and long-suffering even toward the heathen that know not God long did the cursed seed of Cham possest the land of Canaan and God deferred their punishment to the fourth generation himself giveth the reason of it For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full There be six signs of ensuing judgment Gâ— 15.16 and where they are found what remaineth but a fearfull expectation of the fierce wrath of God 1 The qualitie of the sins committed if they be of those crying sinnes which do immediately impeach the glorious Majesty of God such as are superstition and Idolatry which do give the glory of God to creatures Blasphemy breach of Gods Sabbath Or such as violate humane society sins against nature as in the Sodomites sins of bloud as in the old world sins of oppression bribery extortion corruption of justice and such like These things do put Almighty God so to it that he saith How shal I pardon thee for these things Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord Jer. 5.7 Ver. 9. shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this The fields look yellow as Christ saith for the harvest and call for the sickle of Gods vengeance to cut them down 2 The spreading and extent of sins when it hath corrupted the most as in the old world God said to Noah Thee onely have I found righteous before me in this age And in Sodome not ten righteous to be found and in Jerusalem God said Run too and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof if ye can find a man if there be any that executeth judgement that seeketh truth and I will pardon it The Prophet did go the circuit He searched amongst mean men and he found them foolish and ignorant he gate him amongst the great ones and he found them such as had broken the yoak When sin once covereth the face of the earth and is grown like a generall pestilence infecting the greatest part Moses Job Samuel and Daniel may pray and have no audience 3 The impudencie and boldnesse of sin when men are not ashamed of their evils that they commit to cover and conceal them to do them in the dark but brave the Sun with them as Absolon defiled the Concubines of David in the sight of the Sun and before all Israel It is Gods complaint of his people The shew of of their countenance doth witnesse against them Jer. 3 9. and they declare their sin as Sodome and they hide it not And again Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination nay Jer. 6.15 they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush Thou hast an Harlots forehead thou refusest to be ashamed 4 Ostentation of sin â—er 3.3 when men do make their boast thereof Why boastest thou thy self in mischief Upon which words Saint Augustine saith Gloria malignitatis gloria est malorum He saith it is a foolish boast to glory in evill for evill is easily done He gives many instances the care of preparing the seed and of the ground the sowing the weeding the attending how many hands it asketh and Absolon can set it all on fire in a moment So Samsons Foxes did the fields of the Philistines The Wiseman setteth it down as a fault Most men will proclaim every man his own goodnesse Prov. 20.6 how much more to boast of evil As wantons boast how many they have defiled and drunkards how many they have out-drunk 5 Making a mock at sin so the Wiseman saith there be that tosse fire-brands and say Am not I in sport All our sins are fire-brands we
I have waited for thy salvation for thy Jesus 2 This repetition of salvation Doct. 2 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people even for salvation teacheth us That God hath taken upon himself the care of the preservation of his Church Therefore he goeth before them for salvation and he doth never leave them nor forsake them 1 God hath many gratious titles Reas 1 which do assure his love and favour to us He is cal'd Jehovah so we live move have our being in him He is callrd by Job The preserver of men Saint Paul addeth especially of the elect for their salvation is a peculiar grace no common favour And so his right hand both supporteth and guideth us that vve neither stray out of the vvay nor fall in the vvay He is called our Shepherd and so we come to want nothing for he leadeth us both to the green pastures and to the waters of comfort He is called the husband of the Church and Christ preserveth her to him sine macula ruga without spot or wrinckle and Christ teacheth us to call him our father so as a father hath compassion c. The Lord is our King of old he maketh salvation in the middest of the earth All these titles declare him no Non-residont from his charge he is always Incumbent For ipse est qui dat salutem 2 Because the Church committeth it self to him Reas 2 and casteth her care upon him and he never failed them that trust in him Saint Paul I know whom I have trusted Commit thy ways to the Lord and trust in him and hee shall bring it to pass 3 The Church of God giveth him no rest Reas 3 but by continual supplications importuneth his saving protection saying O Lord I pray thee save now O Lord I pray thee now give prosperity he hath commanded her so to do To seek to aske to knock and invocation is one of the marks of Gods children He that calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved They are called the assembly of Gods armies and their prayers be their weapons Heaven is their abiding City which they besiege and Christ saith the violent take it by force For multorum preces impossibile est contemni 4 Christ himself always prayeth the Father for his Church Reas 4 that God would keep it and he saith to his Father I know that thou hearest me always This comfortable Doctrine serveth to refresh the grieved soul in time of affliction Vse the smart of Gods rod doth many times puts us into fits of impatience and murmuring and the delay of Gods saving help doth often stagger our weak faith that the man after Gods one heart doth sometimes feare that God hath given him over In great losses as of our honours and preferments of our libertie of our wealth of our dear friends it is some time before wee can recover from this shaking fit of feare that God hath forsaken us and we say Why standest thou so far off O Lord and hidest thee in due time Psal 1◠1 in time of affliction But when we remember thou art with me it establisheth our footsteps it strengtheneth our weak knees and comforteth our sorrowfull hearts and biddeth us Rejoyce in the Lord again it saith Rejoyce so David I waited patiently for God and so he comforteth his soul Psal 43.5 Wait on God for I will yet give him thanks for the help of his presence he is my present help and my God So then if present issue appear not out of affliction let us not faint in our troubles but perswade us that God is with us and the rock of our salvation will not fail us 2 This sheweth that we need not seek further for salvation Vse 2 then to God himself and his anointed seeing they are always with us It is a foolish and idle superstition and idolatry to seek our salvation from or by the means of Angels or Saints or the mother of our Lord when we have both him and his anointed Messiah that is both the giver and the mediatour of salvation with us This foolish devotion of the Roman Church of making way by Angels and Saints hath three great defects which all the wit of Rome and hell could never cover or conceal 1 It hath no Commandement to require it 2 It hath no example to lead us to it 3 It hath no promise in Scripture to reward it Whom have I in heaven but thee and I have none upon earth Psal 73.25 that I desire besides thee They be our glorious fellow creatures we honour God for the good that they have done in his Church We believe that they pray for our happy deliverance from all miseries of life and the society of their lives We imitate their holy examples and do strive to follow them in their vertues and pray for the graces of God that sanctified them on earth But for our salvation we know that he is always with us that saveth us and his anointed doth never forsake us that keepeth us from evill We hear him saying Come unto me and he calleth us not to heaven to him but Lo I am with you to the end of the World he is neer unto all that call upon him and he is easily found of them that seek him 3 This doth give us fair warning to take heed that we do not leave our God and live in sin Vse 3 for he is not so neer us but that our selves may separate between him and us for it is also true that God putteth a great deal of difference between an ungodly and godly man as Solomon saith The Lord is far from the wicked Pro. 15.29 but he heareth the prayer of the righteous And as God is far from them so is salvation as David saith Psal 119. Salvation is far from the wicked Verse 155. As we tender the favourable protection and love of God let us take heed of sin Behold Isay 59.1 the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear But your iniquities have separated between you and your God Verse 2. and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear 4 Seeing our salvation is of him Vse 4 onely by his anointed let us remember that we are called Christians after his name not onely Christum Lo I am with you and Spiritum Christi whom I will send you from the father but we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very anointing it self left and deposited in the Church as S. John saith But ye have an Vnction from the holy one 1 Joh. 2.2 If we keep this Unction we are sure of this salvation therefore grieve not the spirit of God resist not the holy ghost receive not the grace of God in vain And so let the enemy of mankind and his agents do their worst to annoy us our salvation is bound up in the bundle of life with
have of a Saviour We may see it in our first parents vvho no sooner had sinned but they hid themselves from God because they savv their fault by the light of the Lavv vvhich they had transgressed This fear bringeth us to repentance Reas 2 it putteth our sins in our sight and setteth before our eys the vvrath to come so the generation of vipers vvere first put in fear by vvarning given them of the anger to come and upon that foundation he buildeth his doctrine of repentance ferte ergò fructus dignos poenitentia bring forth therefore fruits vvorthy of repentance it is time to amend vvhen sin standeth at the door that is the vvages of sin to punish all or some nevv temptation to sin to make it more fear vvill tell us that time is pretious vve must lose none of it from our true repentance and conversion to God 3 This fear serveth for caution against the time to come Reas 3 for piscis ictus sapit one that hath been once soundly shaken with a strong fit of this fear will be the more weary to declâ—ne and avoid it another time For there is nothing that so much agonizeth the soul and body of man as the sense and conscience of the wrath of God 4 It is one of the arguments as you have heard Reas 4 by which we do prove certain great Articles of faith as 1 It proveth that there is a God for that power which the conscience of man doth fear as an avenger of evill is God 2 It proveth the resurrection of the body for as the Apostle saith if in this life onely we have hope so we may say if for this life onely we have fear it can be no great matter for the judgments of God cannot take sufficient vengeance of sin here 3 It proveth the finall judgment for all the afflictions of a temporall life are but the fore-unner of the last judgment But here it is objected that this may wel hold in the reprobate Quaest but to see this earth-quake of trembling in the Church and amongst the holy ones of God as it is here described this seemeth too hard a portion for Gods beloved chosen ones To this I answer that judgment beginneth at the house of God and the righteous are hardly saved Sol. they that have no other hell but in this terrour of the Lord here do most smart in this world and there is great reason for it 1 In respect of God to shew him no accepter of the persons of men but an equall hater of evill in all that commit it as David saith If I regard wickednesse in my heart God will not hear me 2 In respect of the sin committed by his chosen that God may declare the danger of it for terrour to others and his justice in avenging it that men may fear and do no more so 3 In respect of the wicked that they may have example of fear in the smart of others to bring them to the obedience and service of God This doth serve Vse 1 first for exhortation to stir us up to consider our God in the way of his judgments and to bethink us what evill may hang over our heads for sin the Church hath ever found this a profitable course In the way of thy judgments Isai 26 8. ô Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee The profit that groweth hence is there confest by the Church When thy judgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousnesse This doth serve to put difference Vse 2 between the children of God and the children of this world for the ungodly are not afraid of the hand of God but the sinner contemneth but the righteous layeth it to his heart so saith the Church Lord when thy hand is lifted up they wil not see Verse II. Vse 3. but they shall see and be ashamed This also serveth for consolation of the Church for let them not be too much dejected with consideration either of Gods revealed wrath or their own just fear no though their fear do shake and stagger their very faith for a time for God will not forsake them unto despair but will let some of the beams of grace shine even through the clouds of fear to comfort them David felt it Psal 56.3 and confest it saying What time I am afraid I will trust in thee See how they grow together fear and faith But this is objected as an argument against that doctrine of the assurance of salvation Ob. that a child of God may have in this life for it is urged Can a man that standeth assured of the favour of God to him in Christ Jesus be so shaken with fear as the Church here confesseth We answer 1 That fear of temporall smart in this life is naturall Sol. and may be in the sons of God it was in the Sonne of God Jesus Christ and it may be without sin and the elect although they fear the judgments of God on earth yet they doubt not but that their names are written in heaven 2 That fear is not against faith which is quick and sensible of the wrath and judgments of God it is Cos fidei the Whetstone of faith it puts a better edg upon it and serves to teach us to lay so much the faster hold upon Jesus Christ Courage either to resist an evill ingruent without a right knowledg of it or to bear an evill incumbent without a right understanding both of the Authour of it the cause of it or the end of it or the measure of it is not courage but stupidity But when we do rightly know God to lay his hand on us for sin or hear him threaten us with the rod is it not time to fear and to pray with Jeremie Be not a terrour to me Jer. 17.17 for thou art my hope in the day of evill 3 Fear and faith go together in respect of the temporall judgments of God because the threatnings of temporall judgments are not always peremptory but oft-times conditionall therefore the King of Niniveh proclaiming a generall Fast and repentance in Niniveh had this encouragement Jonah 3.9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not God himself hath put us into this comfort At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation Jer. 18.7 and concerning a Kingdome 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 So that this fear of the temporall judgments of God doth no way weaken the faithfull assurance that we have conceived of eternall salvation rather it strengtheneth it yea the more that we either tast or fear the punishing hand of God here the more do we
Church of God that when Christ left his sheep among Wolves saying In the world you shall have affliction He left the Holy Ghost in his Church in the office and under the name and title of a comforter to assure this David gives a good reason hereof Reas 1 for he knoweth whereof we be made he remembreth we are but dust Indeed we are made of such stuffe and by our sin we have so marred our own first making that if God did not support us in afflictions with a strong supply of faith wee should soon sink under the burthen of our own infirmities David confesseth as much I have fainted unlesse I had believed to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living Psal 27.13 Blessed be God that ministreth ever some comfort to sweeten the calamities of life and to keep the soul from fainting to keep the head above water that the deep waters swallow us not up The true Church of God when the ambition of the Bishop of Rome to be universall Bishop began to sway Religion to the service of humane policy then began to lose of her full numbers many of them most of them defecting to popery and superstition the true professors of the Gospel were pursued with all kinds of bloudy persecution and in many years the true Church of God lived in concealment yet God did never suffer this little remaining spark to be quite put out and when the Pope thought himself absolute Lord of all then arose Martin Luther an arrow out of their own quiver and in the low ebbe of the true Church he opposed the Pope and put a new life into the true Christian Church which ever since his time hath grown to a cleerer light and the man of sin is more and more revealed and the mystery of ungodlinesse detected and in many parts of Christendome the Pope ejected as an usurper both in Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy and temporall Sovereignty At this time this poor Church doth suffer persecution in France and is threatned with utter extirpation In Bohemia the Protestants feel the uttermost of extremity the Prince Palatine and the Kings Children remain under proscription and in exile from their inheritance and their country invaded and depopulated doth groan under the fury of war Religion is oppressed the fig-tree and the vine and olive fail the earth is not husbanded to profit to feed the inhabitants In this extremity what comfort surviveth but this that our God the husband of his Church will not chide continually nor reserve his anger from generation to generation but even in this extremity of distresse we have joy in his favour and love to his Church This holy care of Religion now assaulted and the naturall care that our loyall allegiance to our Sovereign and his children doth lay upon us inciteth us to joyn as one man with united strength to work for God and his truth to the uttermost of our best abilities and who knoweth whether God having crowned our land so many years with peace and truth doth now try us what we will do for Religion and peace and how forward we will be in his cause and how charitably compassionate of the afflictions of our brethren abroad wherein if we shall acquite our selves like the children of light and the sons of peace we may prevent a further tryall of us neerer hand in our own land Blessed be the God of mercy and of all consolation who hath revealed to us this comfort and joy in him in all our afflictions that we may be able to comfort the distresses of our brethren as we our selves are comforted of our God His Majesty by his letters gratiously inviteth all his loyall subjects to this commiseration of his children to this religious compassion of Gods afflicted Church he requireth us your Ministers to lay this as neer as we can to your hearts to stir up your willing and forward affections to a tendernesse and encrease of zealous love of this cause and he believeth that our labour in the Lord will not be in vain If it be heavy to us to part with some small portion of our estates to this assistance what is it to his children to lose all Impius haec tam culta novalia miles habebit Barbarus has segetes shall we look on whilst Papists possesse the inheritance of Protestants while superstition and Idolatry usurpeth the temples where the holy worship of God and the gospell of truth and peace have been so many years gloriously mainteined Hia Majestie hath well acquited himself to us to be a Prince of peace who hath with unmeasurable expence assaid by mediation and treaties to compose the bloudy wars in Christendome with fair conditions of peace he hath shewed himself tender in the case of Christian bloud and he would have all the Christian world bear him witnesse that if he could recover the inheritance of his children in peace he would not draw a sword nor hazard a life in that cause He is now put to it to seek peace by the way of wars and his children being shut out of their own in the way of inheritance must wade in again by way of conquest or sit out altogether If that part of the afflicted Church have hope in this disconsolate extremity and trust in God for deliverance and restitution they shal sing Carmen in nocte and let God strengthen their faith and trust in him and let them not think it long to await his leasure till he have mercy upon them Worse was the condition of Jerusalem and the people of Judah Gods own inheritance yet when they had summed up their miseries and cast them into one totall of full calamity they have both faith to assure both deliverance and restitution and hope to expect it and joy to recreate and refresh their present droopings And truly to our understanding it is time for the Lord to put to his hand for the cause is his The strife was for a kingdome but Religion is such a party in the quarrell that it cannot but share in the sufferings of those who fare the worse for Religions sake Be we comforted in the Lord. Rome and Roman Idolatry can neither spread further nor gather more strength then her elder sister Babylon did her armies are called here the troops of God God employed them and God prospered thē they prevail'd against Gods inheritance But the same Prophets who are sent to tell Judah of their deportation into Babylon do also foretell the ruine of Babylon for this read at your leasure Isaiah 46.47 Chap. Jerem. 50 51. and when you have read them compare them with Revel 17.18 Chap. and you shall see that Babylon in Chaldaea was but a type of the present Babylon in Rome a double type of sin and punishment Therefore comfort your selves in the Lord God worketh as we see against the usurper of Rome by his own domestiques and they tell tales of him and discover the nakednesse of that