is it to be like Jesus for he is the brightness of the Father's Glory and the express Image of his Person so that to be like him is to be like God By the Imitation of Jesus we recover what our First Parents lost and forfeited to themselves and us even the Image of God Therefore the Imitation of Jesus brings more Honour and Glory than any or all earthly Dignities Likeness to God is the highest degree a Creature is capable of therefore if we understood our selves and our interest we should be more ambitious of this than of all the Titles and Dignities which either Kings or People can bestow If the Imitation of Christ were impossible it would not have been enjoined us but neither is it so difficult as some at first may imagine besides that the Difficulties may be surmounted through the Grace of God the thing will become both easie and pleasant if we will but converse with Christ contemplate and meditate on him frequently They who converse much together we see use to slide insensibly into the Manners Fashion and Behaviour of one another Even so if we take this Method we shall soon find our selves changed into a resemblance with Jesus Christ. But we all saith the Apostle with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. iij. 18. But now as it is our Duty our Honour our Interest to follow Christ and to labour to be like him So it is fit to consider wherein we should follow him Some Imitations are indiscreet unreasonable and so far from obliging that they provoke A King loves to be imitated by his Subjects because it is a Testimony of their Love and Respect and the greatest Honour they can put upon him But he would not have them to imitate the Peculiarities of Royalty and Sovereignty Imitation should not be in things peculiar but in these things which are common which may agree to and suit with both So we must not attempt to follow Christ in what was peculiar to him as the Son of God and the Saviour of the World we must not imitate the Acts of his Almighty Power or what was proper to his Mediatory Office It is no part of our Duty to imitate him in his Miracles in his walking on the Water commanding the Winds and Seas casting out Devils fasting Forty Days and the like What we ought to imitate is the Divine Vertues which shined forth in his holy Life and which appeared in all his Actions Wherefore he saith learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart These Words may also be considered as an Encouragement for coming to Christ taking up his Yoke and learning of him because he is a meek and lowly Person gentle and easy no wise rigid and severe therefore Men may come to him readily and ought to come willingly for they need not fear hard Usage he will not treat them roughly nor impose grievous Tasks upon them He is a kind and loving Master who consults the Good and Ease of his Disciples and who will not exact any Service which is not both reasonable and also for their Interest as is clearly insinuated in the last Words my yoke is easy and my burden is light But seeing Jesus requires us to imitate him and is frequently proposed as an Example to us and seeing in this very place in which he bids us come and learn of him he recommends himself as a meek and lowly Person therefore we ought to consider those Vertues of Humility and Meekness as particularly proposed for our Imitation Jesus Christ had all other Vertues as well as these he was a true Pattern of Love to God of Zeal Submission Obedience and heavenly Mindedness of Charity Mercifulness and good Will towards Men of Chastity Purity Sobriety Patience and Contentment and in a Word of every thing which is Praise worthy in the Sight of God or good Men. By his Life as well as Doctrine we may learn how to behave our selves in all Circumstances and Conditions in Poverty and Affliction under Contempt and Disgrace when we are hated and persecuted And though he possessed not outward Plenty and Grandeur yet several of his Actions shew the true end and use of these and do teach those who possess them to imploy them more for the Glory of God and the Good and Comfort of others than for their own private Satisfaction From his Practice and Example we may learn our Duty to Superiours Inferiours and Equals But tho' he be a Pattern of all Vertue and Goodness yet he instanceth only in Meekness and Humility either because these comprehend all other or are the chief and first to be learned and which if they be learned will draw all other after them All Vertue and Religion either respects Man or God and without Meekness and Humility it is impossible to carry our selves aright towards either of them But he that is truly humble and meek will certainly endeavour to please both Nay the very Exercise of these two comprehends all our Duty to God and Man as we may learn from Micah vi He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but that thou shouldest do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with thy God Meekness cannot be either better or more briefly described than in the Characters of Charity given by St. Paul It suffereth long is kind envieth not vaunteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things For these Characters belong to Charity because it softneth our Natures and rendreth us meek Meekness is a Branch of Charity and naturally flows from it These two are inseparable and we may certainly conclude the one is not where the other is wanting Love smooths our Natures and carries off all Ruggedness of Temper it disposeth us both to please others and also to be well pleased with what they do it maketh the Persons and Actions of others acceptable and even when any thing is amiss in either it excuseth or censureth gently If Christian Love did abound more there would be more of Meekness and good Nature in common Conversation But because that is very much wanting therefore there is so little generous Complaisance to be seen The most are very selfish and have but very little Concernment for others and this is the Cause why they are so surly and morose so peevish and wrathful why their Temper is so stiff and uneasie and their Behaviour so rough and blustering they love themselves too much and others too little and therefore they can hardly condescend to gratify others and are but seldom satisfied with what is done to themselves As Meekness proceeds from Love so from Humility and therefore they are
good will and only holds off because he wants sufficient Instruction or that the Truth appears not to him with clearness and evidence there is place for Charity for in that case the defect is in the Judgment and not in the Will the Head and not the Heart is to blame But there is no place for Charity it self when one will not lay aside his Prejudices against the Truth when he employs his Wit to raise Objections and to find Shifts when the plainest Assertions will not prevail but rather than yield will do violence to his own reason and other Mens Such were the Scribes and Pharisees of old they would not receive Jesus as the Messias tho' he came at the time appointed and with all the Evidence that could be desired The Socinians now are rather more guilty they also wilfully resist the Truth and the holy Spirit of God who is the Author of it and therefore deserve to be abhorred they are among the Number of those false Teachers who privily bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and therefore bring upon themselves swift destruction as St. Peter speaks I wish what he subjoins there may not hold true of these times we live in especially amongst our selves viz. That many shall follow their pernicious ways There is a time of which it is said that every Man doth whatsoever is right in his own Eyes and there is a time not much unlike the other in which Men take liberty to speak what they please to teach and vent whatever Fancies come in their Head When the Order and Unity of the Church is broken when its Pastors and Governours cannot exert their Authority then the Enemy steps in and sowes his Tares then false Teachers arise and diffuse their Poisonous Doctrines We have not only reason to fear this but cause enough already to bewail and lament it for it is actually done This and other Damnable Errors came in with the late Troubles and they spread and grew up mightily under Cromwell his Usurpation which made Maresius utter these remarkable words O deplorandam conditionem Anglioe quoe post Reges exactos ipsi Christo Regi Regum mandat exilium nec videtur majorem libertatem magno cruore redemptam anhelasse quam ut Licentiam consequeretur faceret quidlibet audendi quidlibet scribendi quidlibet credendi O the deplorable Condition of England which having driven out their Kings now constrains the King of Kings to be Banished and it seems that they have panted after a Liberty even at the expence of much Blood only to obtain a Licence of Hearing Writing and Believing what they please I would not make this Remark if it was not necessary if these Errors were not Dangerous and Damnable if they did not strike at the root of our holy Religion and did not overturn all the hopes which the Catholick Church have been Building for near these Seventeen Hundred Years The Deity of Jesus Christ is not an idle Speculation which one may be safely ignorant of and which no body is obliged to know believe or profess as an insolent Unworthy Author in a late Blasphemous Pamphlet is pleased to talk No certainly it is a Truth of the highest Importance which shines in the Scriptures with all clearness and evident Splendor and where every one that reads may see the express Belief and Acknowledgment of it required as absolutely necessary to Salvation Wherefore let us take care to build our selves up in this Faith and to do it this Day is not improper nay it is very proper for we cannot commemorate his Birth with sufficient Admiration and Thankfulness if we do not believe the Dignity of his Person our Joy and Gladness will fall low and vanish into nothing if we be not perswaded that the Child which was this Day Born and given unto us was truly Immanuel or God with us And what small hopes can we raise to our selves from the Sacrament which is to be Administred if we be not assured that by it is communicated and applied unto us the Merits of one who is God as well as Man and so both able and willing to save to the uttermost such as come unto him For evincing of this Important Useful and Comfortable Truth I need not go beyond the Text for there it is plainly and fully asserted For 1. You see that here the Apostle declares Jesus Christ to have pre-existed or to have had a Being before he was Man for unless he had subsisted before it could not have been said that he took upon himself the form of a Servant and that in so doing he made himself of no reputation for what is not in being cannot assume to it self an Existence nor make choice of the manner and condition of its Existence 2. It is clear by what the Apostle saith that the state in which he pre-existed was preferable to and more glorious than that in which he was made or found in the likeness of Men otherwise it could not be true that he made himself of no reputation when he became Man By which expression also it appears that the Apostle evidently referrs to some pre-existent state for unless he debased himself by submitting to be Born he cannot be said to debase himself by any after Act for neither his Birth nor first Years were so glorious as his last in which he appeared as a Prophet at least and a very eminent one too full of Power and Authority 3. We see clearly here his Divinity and Godhead in that it is said expresly he was or subsisted in the form of God and in that state thought it not Robbery to be equal with God By subsisting in the form of God there must be understood 1. A real participation of the Divine Nature and all its essential Attributes as Wisdom Power Goodness Eternity c. for the form of a thing is its Essence and to partake of the form of any thing is to have the Essence of that thing 2. This comprehends the Majesty Glory Authority Splendor and Dignity which agrees to the infinite and incomprehensible Nature of God and all those Acts Signs and Tokens by which the great God manifests himself to the heavenly Inhabitants for the form of a King is not the Name or Simple Right to hold that Name but it comprehends the Marks Badges and Emblems of Royal Dignity as the Purple the Scepter and Diadem the Throne and Guards and what else the Laws of Nations or the particular Custom of Kingdoms make declarative of Majesty and Kingly Power This is the form of a King and he who doth not possess this cannot be said to be in the form of a King So the form of God is the Glory Dignity Majesty and Greatness which is due to so high a Name And by ascribing to Jesus Christ the form of God is declared that he not only in himself did partake of the Divine Nature but also that
affront and do violence to his Priesthood They who dispute the Justice Reasonableness and Necessity of his Laws they who refuse to walk by them and who resist the Motions of his Spirit even they do violence to him as King All of this Spirit and Temper would have concurred with the Iews in crucifying him they are Enemies to our Lord and as the Apostle saith crucifie him afresh and put him to open shame And who do thus crucifie him their Sin is rather more grievous and more provoking than that of the Iews before For St. Peter saith that through ignorance they did it And St. Paul that if they had known they would not have crucified the Lord of life and glory But now he has appeared with such Light and Evidence that he cannot but be made known to all who have Eyes to see or Hearts to understand or a desire to be informed And therefore great is the guilt now of crucifying him and putting him again to shame He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace Heb. x. 28. What then shall we think of these Nations and of our selves who are Chargeable with this very great Sin What cause of Mourning and what cause of Fear have we upon this very account I may say where has there been more clear and more frequent Instruction And where has it been less observed What contempt of God and Religion What open Profanity and avowed breach of the Laws of God have been among us How often and how horridly has the Sacred Name of God been Blasphemed both Publickly and Privately How little regard has been shewed to Jesus Christ or to any thing he did or suffered for us To what purpose has his Blood and Wounds his Agony and Passion been declared and set forth to us Whose hearts have they touched How few have been prevailed upon by these to forsake Sin but on the contrary even in spite of them they go on and continue in it And all the use which some make of them is to take occasion from them to forge New and Different Oaths for setting off their Prophane and Idle Discourse Have not some run up to that height of Impiety as not only in common Conversation to mock the Doctrine and Institutions of Jesus Christ to droll upon his Person and Actions but also deliberately in Writing to publish Blasphemies that could not be tolerated amongst Mahumetans How many Scandalous Pamphlets have been written of late which either by plain Assertions or clear Innuendo's divest him of his Godhead spoil him of the Merits of his Death represent him as an Impostor and all the System of his Gospel as a Cheat tho' the whole contrivance is not only highly worthy of God but doth as fully and as evidently set forth his infinite Wisdom and Power as the Universal Frame of this Material World But tho' all have not been so grosly wicked yet all Ranks and Orders of Men Rulers Pastors and People have one way or other less or more been guilty of grieving the Holy Spirit of God and the Righteous Spirit of Jesus Christ And therefore we have reason to fear that his Anger will break forth and fall down in some heavy Judgment upon these Nations as it happened to the Iews I do not pretend to any peculiar Privacy into the Secret Councils of God nor to be acquainted with his Purposes towards the publick state of these Kingdoms wherefore I shall not denounce any particular Judgments in the Name of God having no special Warrant for it but I must say that if his Word and the Methods of his Providence be a Rule if we may take any measures of Conjecture either from his Nature or his Threatnings or the Example of others there is too much reason to look for some grievous Calamities to these Lands unless a speedy and Universal Repentance prevent it We are not the safer that we are secure Nay our Security is a sign that our Ruin and Calamity are not far off At this time when our Lord gave this Warning the Iews were very secure they thought of nothing less than the utter destruction of their Nation and State When God has been provoked to determine the Ruin of a People he useth to possess them first with a Drowsiness and to cast them into a Slumber that they may be incapable to prevent it Make the heart of this people fat make their ears heavy and shut their eyes least they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed said the Lord to Isaiah Isa. vi 10. God hath been of a long time punishing Nations and Kingdoms about us but the voice of the Rod upon others hath not awakened us for all this we have slept on in our Sins Wherefore he hath drawn a little nearer and he hath laid his Judgments at our own Door he hath shaken the Foundation of our State and with that shake tumbled many Persons from their Honours their Preferments their places of Ease Comfort and Subsistence and yet still there is little or no awakening As with Men who are suddenly interrupted in their rest and whose Sleep is hastily broken there is so much sense as to fret repine and complain of Uneasiness and to be angry with those who disturb us But there is no awakening to true Repentance no Rouzing up to Provide for our Safety and to prevent the Danger threatned He that mocked God and laughed at Religion before doth so still He that uttered Oaths and Blasphemies continues to do so the Drunkard continues his Drinking he that was Filthy Unjust or Unholy is so still every one continues his former wicked course and few break off their Sins by Righteousness or their Iniquities by shewing mercy to the Poor Surely it is meet to say unto God I have born Chastisement I will not offend any more that which I see not teach thou me If I have done iniquity I will do no more But who saith this Alas there be Few to stand in the gap to deprecate God's Wrath but too too many who by their hardness and impenitent heart treasure up to themselves and to the Nations Wrath even in this day of Wrath. If I had time I could draw a Parallel betwixt our selves and the Iews our Temper and Behaviour and theirs before all those Evils came upon them But God forbid that our End be as theirs or as some other Churches of the East who as they followed them in their Sins so they were Partakers of their Judgments But whatever be the Publick Fate of these Nations and tho' all may escape Temporal Judgments in this Life yet how do Impenitent and
in a meer Historical Faith and speculative Knowledge of Christ without offering to bring forth the Fruits of Obedience and Holiness Now taking the words thus as it indeed appears they ought to be taken so they may be thus Paraphrased Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not those things which I say That is Why should you take my Name in your Mouth seeing you hate Instruction and cast my Words behind you How dare you be so bold as to call me your Lord seeing you refuse to obey me Do you not know what a Presumption this is And how highly it displeaseth me I had far rather you 'd disown me And it would please me much better that you forsake my Service altogether than to say and not to do What do you fancy I am ignorant of your ways Or do you think I am altogether such an one as your selves one who doth secretly countenance and approve of Vice and Sin Do you think I will sit down with such an Affront No certainly I will not pass it I will both reprove you and punish you either therefore do those things which I say unto you or else cease to call me Lord Lord. This is the sence and meaning of the words and we need not think it very strange that Christ should so passionately reprove and expostulate with such Disciples as are unobservant of his Will and negligent to keep his Commandments For their carriage and behaviour is very provoking it throweth a great deal of dishonour and reproach upon our Lord and is very prejudicial to his Interest because it doth very much obstruct the Advancement of his Kingdom First I say the Disobedience and the naughty Lives of those who call themselves Christians cannot but very much provoke the Lord Iesus Christ For he being really a Man as well as God therefore we must think he hath all the Passions which are natural unto Men and which are not the effects of the present Corruption and Disorder of our Nature by Sin and it 's not only natural even to the best to be grieved and irritated when they consider how unworthily they are dealt with by those who are strictly obliged unto them But also to be so provoked and grieved upon such a just occasion is consistent with the most perfect vertue Unless therefore we make a Stoical Apathy to be true Perfection it is impossible but that Jesus Christ must be displeased and troubled when his own Disciples slight and neglect him No Man can take it well to be slighted and abused by any But the ungratitude and undutifulness of Servants and Children is an insolency which none can patiently bear with The wickedness of the rest of the World is indeed grievous but that the Disciples of Jesus Christ should commit Sin and prove Ungodly cannot but be thought highly offensive The Heathen know not what they do and therefore they deserve Pity and Compassion Our Lord doth not expect Obedience from them or any regard to his Will and Pleasure because he is not yet made known unto them which doth somewhat excuse them But I pray what excuse can be pretended for those to whom he hath manifested himself and to whom his Majesty Power and Glory have been revealed That they should resist the Power of his Doctrine despise his Laws and work Wickedness and run into all Excess and Riot is a most irritating insolent and inexcusable thing This cannot but stir up his Anger vex and grieve his Spirit Especially considering in the next place what reproach and dishonour he receives thereby It 's well known how much the carriage of Servants and Friends tends either to a Man's Credit or Disgrace He hath honour whose Family is kept in good order whose Servants and Children behave themselves vertuously and discreetly but when they are vicious and unruly he is put to shame affronted Thus the Patriarch Iacob said to his Sons Simeon and Levi because of their Cruelty committed upon the Shechemites Ye have troubled me to make me stink among the Inhabitants of the Land And certainly corrupt and bad Christians do the same dis-service unto Christ their Lord they occasion him to be dishonoured and lightly esteemed by such as are Strangers unto him God told David That the Murther and Adultery he had committed had given great occasion to the Enemies of the Lord to blaspheme And the same Enemies I mean the Heathens do still Blaspheme our God and the Lord Jesus Christ upon the account of those and the like Enormities and Abominations which abound among us who call our selves his Servants and do profess to worship him For by these things they cannot be perswaded that he is the true God more than those they serve and are tempted to think as well of their false Gods and petty Deities Some tell us that in some places it is ordinary for People when their Honesty and Integrity is called in question to vindicate themselves by Swearing and Professing they are no Christians which is a most horrid shame and disgrace to us and our holy Profession It is well known what a contempt and reproach the Spaniards brought upon the Christian Religion when they first discovered America the poor Indians saw their Covetousness so exorbitant their Cruelty so horrid and all their Practices so filthy and abominable that they could not but loath and disgust them and upon that account they abhorred the God whom they adored and the Religion which they professed and one of them peremptorily refused to go to Heaven because the Spaniards said they were to be there For he could not think that a good place into which such bad persons were admitted And now tell me I pray you what can be imagined more offensive and displeasing unto God than the making him liable to be thus blasphem'd and evil thought of That he should be thought a Friend to and favourer of the most wicked and wretchedly debauch'd Persons Sure the Wounds which our Saviour receiv'd upon the Cross were neither so deep nor so sore as those which such Reproaches give him and we may be sure he will resent them The Wounds he received upon the Cross he suffered willingly but these are against his Will The first he forgave freely for they made for his Honour and Glory But we cannot think he will forgive the other which cast such a stain upon his Holiness and Purity He that despised Moses Law died without Mercy under three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God who hath crucified him afresh and put him to open shame who hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and doth despite unto the Spirit of Grace Know ye not that Vengeance belongeth unto the Lord and that he hath said he will recompence it Heb. x. 28. But Thirdly and Lastly when these who call themselves Christians deny Obedience
cannot agree with and with whose will and pleasure you can never comply You who are covetous and wedded to the World why come you to him who teacheth and commands to undervalue and trample upon all Sublunary Enjoyments You Proud and Vain-glorious why do you engage with a Master who is humble and lowly and who requires all his Servants to be so You who are Malicious and Disdainful and ready upon every occasion to slight and contemn others how can you take upon you to be the Servants of him who is Meek and Affable and who will have all his Servants to be kindly affectioned one towards another You who are easily blown up to Wrath and who cannot sit down with any injury without revenging it what a Presumption is it for you to become his Disciples who strictly Commands the loving of Enemies the blessing them that curse us the doing good to them that hate us and the praying for them that persecute and spitefully use us What reason have you who wrong cheat and defraud your Brethren to engage with Jesus Christ who hath established this as a certain Law amongst his Disciples that every one do as they would be done to Finally you who cannot be weaned from excess in Eating and Drinking and voluptuous Pleasures from Prophane Jesting and filthy Communication from licentious and ungodly Practices I say why do you call Christ your Lord Why pretend you to his Service seeing you know that he hates and hath discharged all these things and has enjoin'd that we be holy in all manner of conversation even as he himself who hath called us is holy What think you Doth Christ only require a large Muster-roll Doth he ask only that Men list themselves under him is he content they serve him by halfs only or think you he will be pleased that instead of doing his own Will they do the quite contrary If therefore you have no Mind to comply with the Will of Christ that is to be truly Just and Honest Sober and Temperate Good and Merciful Holy and Upright before God and Man You had better not own Christ not pretend to have any thing to do with him otherwise you shall draw greater Guilt and Punishment upon your selves for you have seen how much this doth provoke him and what dishonour and prejudice it doth to him It is our proper business and the proper business of this place to perswade Men to embrace Christ and to be reconciled unto God we are sent out upon this very Errand but if Men will not be perswaded to leave their Sins nor to turn Holy and Righteous we must intreat them not to embrace Christ we must desire them to profess Atheism Infidelity any thing they please except the Christian Religion And sure next to a hearty and real Compliance with the Laws of the Gospel this is the best Service can be done unto God For so long as Men deny Christ and will not own themselves to be his Disciples their fruitfulness in Sin and their barrenness in Good Works disappoint neither God nor Man nor is the occasion of any reproach unto the Christian Religion But when Men call themselves Christians it is still expected they will walk as such while they call unto Christ Lord Lord it 's hoped and believed they will do what he saith Even as Christ looked to have found Figs upon the Tree which brought forth Leaves and therefore if this Fruit be wanting in them they both mock God and delude Men. And will ye thus requite the Lord ye foolish people and unwise Will ye mock and deal deceitfully with him who hath done so many and so great things for you If ye do him no good I pray you do him no wrong If you will not glorifie him by your good Works I pray you do not dishonour him by your evil Deeds If ye will not serve him your selves do not hinder others that would His Love the laying down of his Life for you ought to melt you into Love and to engage you to Obedience but if you think him not worthy of such a Return I hope you will not think it just to render him Evil for Good Hatred for Love He deserves better usage at your hands than to have his Spirit wounded and grieved by you his Name reproached and calumniated and his Interest weakned and prejudged And yet all these things ye do unto him when ye call him Lord and do not those things which he saith Oh far be it from us to be guilty of such monstrous Ingratitude and to deal so inhumanely with the Lord Jesus Christ who hath shewed us such astonishing Love and Kindness and who is most desirous of our good and happiness Wherefore let us sit down and deliberate what we will do whether we will adhere to the Profession of Christ and join thereto Obedience to his Laws or if we shall renounce both together The First certainly would please him best but the Second would please him better than a bare barren Profession of his Name with the practice of Sin and Wickedness Chuse you then this day whom ye will serve whether Christ the Lord or the Devil the World and the Flesh Ye cannot serve him and them too No man can serve two Masters If you cleave to him you must forsake them If you will adhere to them let him go I know you will answer as the people did Ioshua when he put the like question unto them God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods But remember and consider what Ioshua said again unto them Ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God he is a jealous God he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins That is he will not connive at them or bear with them he will by no means be induced to indulge you the practice of them If ye forsake the Lord and serve strange gods that is if while you profess your selves his Servants you obey any other and do any thing which is evil in his sight then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you after that he hath done you good Lay your hand therefore on your heart and resolve either to part with your Sins or with him whom you call your Lord. But what shall sin separate us from God Shall any thing be dearer to us than the Lord Jesus Christ Have we greater ties to the Devil the World and the Flesh than to him Shall we think our selves happier in their Service than in his God forbid Was it not by these that we were brought into misery and thraldom Shall we deliberate then to whom we shall yield our selves Servants whether of sin unto sin or of obedience unto righteousness Is the balance equal Is there not more weight on the one side than the other Why then do we not chuse why do we not preferr that which Reason Interest and Duty perswade to What fruit have ye in these things whereof you
into shame how long will ye love vanity and seek after leesing Do ye slight God set at nought your Maker and court the World Are ye taken up with Toys and Trifles and will ye despise Life and cast behind you eternal Bliss Be astonished O ye Heavens at this And be horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord for my People have committed two great evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hew'd them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no water O! that Men were wise O! that they did understand O! that they would but seriously consider this Come I pray you let us reason together call in your Thoughts consult your Knowledge advise with your Experience and then tell me what you have ever found preferable to God Is there any thing more worthy your Thoughts or Care What is it that doth equal his Favour and Love Or what can compensate the Loss thereof Will Riches will Honours will Pleasures or will any thing else be profitable as God Can we expect to draw from them either separately or jointly as much Comfort and Satisfaction as from him Behold every Day lets us see that all these things are frail brittle and uncertain and that there can be no fast hold of them But though they were more certain and stable yet being unsuitable to the Nature of our Souls 't is impossible to draw from them alone that good which our Souls crave It is indeed somewhat hard to convince Men but though they should act over all the Experiments of Solomon and prove what good is under the Sun they could not draw another Conclusion than what he has left us viz. That all things are vanity and vexation of Spirit and that Mans chief and only good is to seek God and to delight themselves in him The Lord is my portion saith my soul therefore will I hope in him O consider what an Honour it is to be admitted into Favour and Fellowship with God The Psalmist falls into Admiration when he beheld Man but a little lower than the Angels and invested with Dominion over the Fowls of the Air the Beasts of the Field and the Fish of the Sea And whatever Reason there be for Praise and Admiration in that Case yet Angels being but Fellow-Creatures and the other destitute of Reason and Understanding and so far below us this is nothing so considerable as to be advanc'd into Communion with God himself this is indeed a Heighth and Dignity which may both amaze the Beholders and those on whom it is conferred To be made the Friends of God is truly an Honour to our Nature nothing else can give any Lustre or Glory to us but this is the highest can be aspir'd to either by Angels or Men and therefore we have great Reason to cry out Lord what is Man that thou shouldest be so kind to him And so kind too after he had turn'd Rebel and Traytor is indeed beyond Expression Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God Constantine had good Reason to say that he gloried more in being a Member of the Church than in being Head of the Empire for to be a true lively Member of the Church doth unite us to God and so is more to be desired than the greatest Dominion or an universal Monarchy For hereby we are not only highly honoured but greatly enriched we have not only an honourable Title and Relation conferred on us but also the largest Emolument Eliphaz advised Iob to seek unto God that he might be relieved out of all his Trouble and if he got him his Friend he told him he should be in League with the stones of the Field and the beasts of the Field should be at peace with him for God will certainly oblige all his Creatures to keep Peace with those with whom he is at Peace as a King maketh Peace not only for himself but for all his People or if he let any of them break Peace it is that he may make those his beloved and peculiar Friends to be the more glorious by gaining a Victory over them He that draws near to God is sure of his Hearts wish Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart What can any wish for more than what an infinite Wisdom can contrive an infinite Power act and an infinite Bounty bestow Now he who hath God his Friend is allied to infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness which will ever interess themselves in all his Concerns Happy are the People whose God is the Lord blessed is the Man who chuses God for his Inheritance for he will give grace and glory and will with-hold no good thing from him All things shall work together to the good of them that love God Trouble as well as Prosperity and the saddest Affliction as well as the greatest outward Plenty Many say who will shew us any good But saith David Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their Corn and Wine increased They who draw near to God have Joy which the World cannot rob them of the Ground of their Happiness and Comfort is not liable to Rapine or Violence nor doth it ever decay Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you saith Christ but not as the World giveth give I unto you that is he gives neither so inconsiderable nor yet so brittle and uncertain a Peace as what the World gives but what is more solid and substantial wherefore he adds let not your hearts be troubled neither be afraid If we have Peace with God through Christ we need not startle at any thing neither at private Personal Disasters nor at publick Calamities Because God is our refuge and present help The Children of God cannot be without Crosses and Afflictions but God will not suffer these to marr either their present inward Comfort or after Happiness their Joy cannot be taken from them He will let them be tossed up and down with the Waves of Trouble but they shall not be swallowed up they shall have a joyful exit Mark the perfect and behold the upright for the latter end of that Man is Peace Psal. xxxvii When Men draw near the end of their Life when their Days are near a Period whether through Age or by any Accident they have need of some comforting Cordial to keep them from fainting and nothing is possible to administer this but the Hopes of Peace with God The Sense of God's Favour and Love will make Death appear without a frightful Visage though generally it is esteemed the King of Terrours this will make one to be so far from abhorring Death as in many Cases to be even glad of it because it opens a Door to eternal Rest unspeakable Joy and Fullness of Glory Is it not then good for
not be able to escape and though they shall cry I will not hearken unto them They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord but they shall not find him he hath withdrawn himself from them Wherefore as the Apostle enjoins Let us exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardned with the deceitfulness of sin You that are stricken in Age will I hope readily acknowledge That it is time if ever for you to seek the Lord and mind the business of your Salvation for your time is near spent your Sun is ready to set and your Day is almost at an end The Husband-man useth to be busie when the Season is almost at a close especially if at first he has loitered and been idle And you that are young have no less Reason to fall to work quickly for though by the Course of Nature you may live a considerable time yet you know that Course may and has been often interrupted and none knows how soon this may befall him Wherefore let neither young nor old give Sleep to their Eyes or Slumber to their Eye-lids but let both young and old seek and labour with all Diligence To day saith the Holy Ghost if ye will hear harden not your hearts But to go on In the last place we have here an Encouragement to what is called for proposed from the Certainty of the Success He will come and rain Righteousness upon you In worldly things Men often seek and labour but do not obtain what they would be at But saith the Lord I said not unto the house of Iacob seek ye me in vain He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him He is sometime found of them that seek him not and therefore it is not to be doubted but he will be found of those who seek him aright and in due time It is true he is not always presently found but though he hide himself for a while he will not do it for ever and therefore we ought not to be weary but to wait patiently till we find him whom our Soul loveth Seek saith the Text till he come which requires Constancy in seeking There is need of patience to them that have done the will of God that they may receive the promise It is childish and unreasonable Peevishness to fret because we are not presently answered to desist from our Work because we do not instantly reap the Fruit thereof They make too great haste to their Doom who conclude themselves forsaken and reprobate because presently they find not God's Presence and the gracious Tokens thereof What is delayed is not denied God knoweth his Hour and waiteth till it come and so should we he putteth off to try our Faith and Constancy to exercise our Patience to quicken our Desires Be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the Husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain Be ye also patient stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh Jam. v. 7. Now what is the Lord to do when he comes He will saith the Text rain Righteousness upon you The Allusion to Husbandry is still continued all know how necessary Rain is to the Husbandman without it he labours and sows to no Purpose But if the Heavens rain upon him his Labours prosper he sees the Fruit thereof eats and is satisfied The Dew of Heaven is no less necessary to our spiritual Husbandry it also depends entirely on the Blessing of God without that all our labour is in vain Without me saith Christ ye can do nothing But as God giveth Rain and Snow from Heaven to water the Earth to make it bring forth and bud that it may give Seed to the Sower and Bread to the Eater so in spiritual Blessings he will not be wanting to those who are not wanting to themselves To those who would sow in Righteousness and labour to break up their fallow Ground and seek him to bless their Labours he will come and rain down Righteousness upon them that is his Grace and Spirit shall fall down like the Rain upon them whereby they may encrease and abound in all Truth and Righteousness Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be satisfied This is the heritage of the Servants of the Lord and their Righteousness is of me saith the Lord. But tho' our Righteousness be of God it should not make us supersede our Labours and Endeavours We must not as one saith lie loitering in the Ditch waiting till Omnipotence pull us out It 's God who causeth the Grass to grow and Herb for the Service of Man are therefore the Labours of the Husband-man useless Put thy self in the way of Grace and Grace shall be given thee Up and bestirr thy self commit thy way unto the Lord trust in him and he shall bring forth thy Righteousness as the Light and thy Iudgment as the Noon day Psal. xxxvii 56. But secondly Some understand these Words of Christ and not without Reason for he that cometh or is to come and will come are his frequent Titles in the Scripture St. Iohn the Baptist asked if he was the Christ under this Designation Mat. xi 3. And the main end of his coming was to teach and give Righteousness He is called the Lord our Righteousness Who sheweth the way of Righteousness who worketh it in us and who by the Merits of his own Righteousness hath obtained for all true Believers that their honest and sincere tho' imperfect Righteousness should be accepted of God as perfect and that they should be dealt with by him as if they were perfectly and compleatly righteous As it is written in the Old and applied by the Apostle in the New Testament Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness and he was made sin or a Sin offering for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him that is that we heartily believing in him and as Believers heartily and sincerely obeying of him might be reputed as perfectly righteous in the Eyes of God through the Merits of his Blood who was perfectly and compleatly righteous without spot or blemish Here then is a Promise of Christ and the Benefits of him as a Saviour that they who are truly sanctified with inherent Righteousness have it imputed to them through the Merits of Christ for perfect and compleat Righteousness tho' it is not so but defective and short of that absolute Perfection which the Law requires as it is written Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Fear not little flock
and do justice on those who had been the Instruments of their Misery he would set them at Liberty and restore them to their Prosperity and Glory which is meant by bringing them to the Light And then to their great comfort and joy they should behold and understand his righteousness that is That he is just and righteous in all his ways true and faithful in his promises and wonderful in all he doth as David said I know O Lord that all thy judgments are right and that out of faithfulness thou hast afflicted me Psal. cxix 75. Thus I have explained and cleared the Text and shewn you the Occasion Sense and Scope thereof I proceed next to draw such Observations and Instructions as the words afford and as are useful and proper for our consideration And First To rejoice at the Calamities and Afflictions of others and to insult over them who are in Misery is a sign of a Prophane and Ungodly Spirit They who rejoiced at the Calamities of the Israelites were the Idumeans Chaldeans and Babylonians who were no greater Enemies to them than they were to God and the true Religion And Psal. lxix 26. among other Characters of the Wicked this is one That they persecute him whom thou hast smitten and talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded When Iob declareth his Integrity he giveth this as one proof thereof That he rejoiced not at the destruction of him that hated him nor lift up his soul when evil found him Neither saith he have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. To make God's Judgments on others tho' Enemies a matter of Laughter doth very much bewray a want of the Spirit of God and is inconsistent both with the true Fear of God and that Love and Concernedness for others which Religion requires and inspireth They who truly fear God will tremble to see him Angry tho' it be not against themselves but others When the Destruction of the Wicked is foretold it is said That the righteous shall see and fear And accordingly the Prophet Habakkuk foreseeing the Evils and Calamities that were to light upon the Tents of Cusham and the Land of Midian was so far from rejoicing and insulting thereat that he tells us when I heard my belly trembled my lips quivered at the voice rottenness entred into my bones and I trembled in my flesh Indeed it is added in the forecited place That the righteous shall also laugh And Psal. lviii 10. it is said the righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance But hereby is meant that as the righteous is careful to remark all the Acts of the Divine Providence and in particular his exemplary Punishments on notoriously wicked Persons so he will Applaud the Justice and Equity of them and he will be glad to see such evident and convincing proofs of a Deity and Providence for silencing the Atheist and restraining the wickedness of men though still his joy is mixed with a secret regret at the occasion and such an aweful apprehension of the Power and Justice of God as forbids him to mock at the Effects and Expressions of his Displeasure Even as a wise and good Citizen rejoiceth at the good Government of his City and finds a satisfaction in the procedure and execution of Justice which are too grave and important to be mocked at Again the rejoicing at the Calamities of others is inconsistent with the Spirit of Religion which is a Spirit of Love and Humility and which requireth the greatest Love and Sympathy that can be among Men its Precepts are love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that persecute you and despitefully use you Rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them that weep If thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink Now how little do they observe these Precepts and how little have they of that Spirit which enjoins them who can contrive and work Mischief to their Brethren and when it falls on them behold it with Pleasure We may say to such what our Saviour said to his Disciples who would have been calling for Fire from Heaven on those who would not receive them you know not what manner of Spirit you are of The Miseries and Distresses of others call for Pity and Compassion and one must have put off very much of the Man who draweth Pleasure from the Miseries and Afflictions of other Men tho' they be Enemies Our Saviour knew the Wickedness of Ierusalem and that he was to be crucified therein yet as he drew nigh to it he wept over it by Reason of those sad Calamities which were coming upon it It was David's Interest that Saul was dead yet he did not rejoice at his Death but because the manner thereof was deplorable he mourned for him As it makes Herodias infamous that she rejoiced to see the Head of Iohn Baptist in a Charger so it is recorded to the Commendation of Alexander and Iulius Coesar that neither of them insulted over the Defeat and Distress of their Enemies the first was touched with Compassion when Darius his Mother Wife and Children were taken Prisoners and brought to him and afterwards when Darius himself was killed And the other wept when Pompey's Head was brought to him I know some charge these Tears of Coesar with Hypocrisie seeing he was the Man who pursued Pompey to Death but who knows but the Bowels of Nature at that time overcame his Ambition and other Passions Thirdly They who insult and rejoice in this wise are ignorant of themselves and also of the End of these Divine Judgments they cannot know they are Sinners and that others are so and so punished in their sight to fill them with Fear and to lead them to Repentance otherwise they would make other Uses thereof and would behave themselves otherwise When a Father chastises a Child is it to give Mirth to the rest Or is it not that they may stand in Awe of him and forbear those things which may bring the Rod on their own Back When any Criminal is laid hold on and brought to publick Punishment should they who are equally guilty stand by and laugh either at the Misfortune of their Fellow or the Execution of Justice What Stupidity were this Should they not take Warning and Fear and forsake those Ways which are attended with such Shame and Pain When some told our Saviour of those Galileans whose Blood Pilate mingled with there Sacrifices he answered them Suppose ye these Galileans were Sinners above all others because they suffered such things I tell you nay but except ye Repent ye shall all likewise perish And in Truth they who set light of the Afflictions of others and entertain the Rods on other Mens Backs with Scorn and Derision shall hardly escape themselves Laugh no Man to scorn in the bitterness of his Soul for there is one
Omnipotent in Power and Infinite in Goodness and can do for us above what we either can ask or think When all Humane help faileth there is help in God and then he useth to help and deliver when relief can be expected no where else that we may know it his doing and that he only may have the Praise and Glory Thus he delivered Ioseph when all the World had forgotten him He saved Moses when his Parents could hide him no longer He redeemed his People when Pharaoh exercised the greatest cruelty towards them and always when they were lowest and most oppressed by their Enemies he raised up Deliverers for them and he returned this Captivity when there was least appearance of it and when it was not so much as thought upon except by some few who remembred and believed the Promise by the Mouth of Ieremiah Chap. xxv 12. So likewise when the Persecutions against the Christians came to be bitterest he always brought about a mitigation and relentment And when that most severe one under Dioclesian and his Colleagues had proceeded so far that 't was thought the Name of Christianity was quite extinct and accordingly Trophies were erected for it he first turned the Heart of Constantius Chlorus to protect Christians and thereafter raised up Constantine the Great who not only gave them full liberty but made the Christian Religion the professed Religion of the Empire Fourthly We learn hence how to receive how to entertain and how to improve all those Calamities and Afflictions which befall us so that they may turn to our good and become means of reconciling us to God The Prophet teacheth us this by his own example when he saith I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him Which teacheth us first to receive all our Evils and Troubles as from the hand of God And indeed there is no evil in the city which the Lord hath not done Amos iii. 6. Who ever or what ever be the Instrument he is the Author He cannot indeed be the Author of the Evil of Sin but he is always that of Punishment He orders disposeth and determines all that falleth out in the World What ever disposition there be in Men Devils or any Creature to Mischief yet they cannot stir or move but when they are allowed and as they are directed As in a well-disciplined Army the Soldiers go not out on any Expedition but when they are commanded So Ioseph ascribed to God his being sold into Aegypt though it was through the Malice and Envy of his Brethren And Iob acknowledged God the Author of all his Disasters though some were committed by the Sabeans and Chaldeans The Lord saith he gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. Secondly As we are here taught to acknowledge God the Author of our Afflictions and Calamities so our Sin 's the cause and occasion of them When God corrects man it is always for iniquity For he is more righteous than to punish when there is no fault He doth not grieve the Children of men willingly nor afflict them and therefore when he doth it it is because they have sinned against him and consequently they who are afflicted should acknowledge their Sins which have kindled the indignation of the Lord against them So doth Daniel Ch. ix 5 6 7 8. Thirdly To bear the Indignation of the Lord is to fuffer patiently without murmuring A thing may be imposed on a Man but he cannot be said to bear it who doth it not willingly and he doth not bear it willingly who frets murmurs and complains And why should a living Man complain a Man for the Punishment of his Sins Would it be reasonable in a Criminal to accuse or murmur against the Judge for giving out Sentence when it was yet less than his Crimes deserve Now certainly no Man suffers or can suffer in this life so much as his Sins merit Furthermore saith the Apostle we had fathers of our flesh who corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live Heb. xii 9. Fourthly To bear the Indignation of the Lord because of Sin implies a hearty grief for it and a real turning from it He that is sensible that the Evils he suffers are the Effects of God's displeasure for his Sins cannot but have a remorse for them and if he have a true remorse for them he will also abandon them and shew all care to serve God better Until we do so we never accept the Punishment of our Sins They despise the Rod who do not amend neither become more dutiful by it And such shall bring greater Punishment upon themselves But they who thus receive and use their Chastisement shall be eased and delivered He will plead their cause and execute Iudgment for them and bring them forth to the light Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time 1 Pet. v. 6. The last Observation I shall draw from the words is That when these Divine Dispensations I mean the Afflictions and Calamities which befall his People are well considered and rightly understood there will be found much Righteousness in them There is too much proneness in Men to censure the Actions of Providence which speaks out the greatest rashness and presumption imaginable For what are we Where is either our Authority or Capacity that we should take upon us to canvass the Actions of the Almighty or to rectifie the Contrivances and Determinations of Infinite Wisdom A Child is fitter to pass Judgment on the actings of a wise understanding Man and a dull Country Clown may with less arrogance examine the Maxims of a Matchiavel and other famous Politicians Shall not the Iudge of all the Earth do right said Abraham Certainly he cannot but do it he can do nothing amiss But indeed to illustrate this and to make out the Righteousness of his particular Providences is for the most part above Human reach For as the Psalmist saith Thy way is in the Sea and thy path in the great Waters and thy footsteps are not known O the depths saith the Apostle of the riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Iudgments and his Ways past finding out But when they are found and discovered they will appear most Righteous He hath made every thing beautiful in his time saith Solomon also he hath set the world in their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end Eccl. iii. 11. Look the best piece of Arras on the backside and its handsomness will not appear Nor will the beauty of the finest Picture be known unless it be set in a due light So we cannot understand the Righteousness of God's Providence without knowing the reason and ends thereof And these are often
as they wish their own well to search freely their ways and to labour to find out that accursed thing which they are guilty of and which provokes God's Anger against them And when they have found their guilt let me also beseech them not to hide the same by excusing and extenuating it but to make an humble and ingenuous Confession unto God and to testifie an unfeigned Repentance by a sincere care to bring forth the fruits meet for Repentance Let them rectifie what they have done amiss and make an amends for their past Negligence by an exact Diligence hereafter to keep all the Commandments of God Which if they do I may assure them that God will no longer hide his Face and Favour from them he will no more frown but smile and give them comfortable words that they may be made to rejoice for the days wherein they have seen Affliction In the next place I would make Application to the publick State of this Nation and Kingdom whereof we are Members and in whose welfare Religion and Interest oblige us to be concerned I think it needs surprize none if I say That God is angry with us and that his judgments are hanging over these Lands for who is so blind as not to see it The present bad Harvest is one instance the Evil threatned in the Tenth Verse we may say is literally like to be inflicted upon us He is pouring down his wrath upon us by water which threatens to wash away the Food both of Man and Beast What other Calamities are impending either on Church or State I leave to the Consideration of wise Persons But without danger or the imputation of indiscretion I may bid you read the Sins of the Land and by that foresee what is to be feared It would be no great stretch tho' I should offer to draw a Parallel betwixt the Sins that abound amongst us and those of Iudah and Israel complained of in this Prophecy and would one charge the several Ranks and Orders amongst us with the same Faults our Prophet lays upon the Priests the Rulers and Princes and People of his time no great Injury would be done to Truth But such an unusual freedom perhaps would not be well taken especially from a Stranger But certainly it is a Kindness to give warning of a common Danger and it 's the Duty of all to provide for our common Safety Tho' we would flatter our selves it would not go better with us Was Iudah and Israel punished because they would not frame their doings to turn unto the Lord and do we think to Escape If we imitate their Sins is there not reason to fear a being made to share in the like Judgments Is God arisen to Judgment Is he going through the World with the Rod of his Wrath in his hand visiting Nations for their Iniquities and do we think that we shall not have our turn That he will pass by us when we are as guilty as any other No so long as Sin thus continues and increases amongst us it will never be well with us our state shall still move from evil to worse If then we would either prevent the Evils which are yet a coming or heal the Wounds already received let us join our Endeavours to stop the Current of Sin and Iniquity and to cleanse the Land of the Abominations that are amongst us It avails little to apply external Plaisters while the Arrow's Head sticks in the Wound In this and the former Ages the People of these Lands have been ever crying out of Grievances but they have had little of the Spirit of Discerning to find out the great Cause and Ground of them viz. Their Sins and Transgressions against God For which if they had heartily grieved they had never had so much matter of making other Complaints In our Fathers days all the Fault was laid upon the Government and Governours in Church and State which through the instigation of Factious and Seditious Men made People restless until they had overturned the Government and thrust the chief Ruler and perhaps the best of Men not only from his Throne but out of the World in a most barbarous manner But as this increased their Guilt so it did not heal their Sores nor ease their Pain they rather felt more smart and grief which disposed them to seek again unto David their King And if together with that the People had seriously sought the Lord also all had been well But alas that is yet to do whatever Change and Revolution we have suffered there has never been cordial Endeavours to introduce that best and most desirable Change from Vice to Vertue from Sin to Holiness and Godliness Blessed be God there has been a Reformation in our Doctrine and our Worship has been rectified and purged from the Superstition and Idolatry which had crept into it through the Ignorance and unwariness of Men But to our shame it must be said that our Practice and Conversation is not Reformed but continues much the same and perhaps in some things worse than what was before that other happy Reformation of Doctrine and Worship came in There was certainly reason to descry and run down the Hypocrisie and forms of Godliness fashionable in the late times but it had been more commendable to have endeavoured with greater Vigour to set up the Life and Power thereof And would to God we were at last sensible of our Errour and Omission and convinced that hitherto we have very unskilfully set about the curing our Maladies O that all who profess the same Truth would be perswaded to lay aside all other Contests and to contend together for maintaining the Purity of the Faith and joyning therewith the Purity of Life and Practice If we would thus by true Piety and sincere Obedience return unto the Lord he would return unto us and put us in a happy and glorious state as he hath torn so he would heal us as he hath smitten so he will bind us up that we might live joyfully in his sight But if this be neglected or delayed and if instead of this we take Methods and Devices of our own for saving our selves I dare not say what is to be feared Judgments of all sorts we may expect to be visited in our worldly Concerns and those two sadder Calamities which are mentioned Amos viii 11. 2 Thess. ii 11 12. may be looked for which God avert Plead with your mother plead saith God by this Prophet for she is not my wife neither am I her husband let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight and her adulteries from between her breasts lest I strip her naked and set her as in the day she was born and make her as a wilderness and set her like a dry land and slay her with thirst He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches Amen SERMON XIV Preach'd at St. Giles Church in EDINBURGH April 13.
1690. MICAH VII 8 9. Rejoice not against me O mine enemy when I fall I shall arise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me He will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his righteousness THE Prophet speaks here in the Name of the Church and with respect to her present Circumstances and what was shortly to befall her Her present Condition was very sad and lamentable if you consider her inward State there was no Health nor Soundness in her but much Disorder Confusion and Corruption as is complained of throughout the whole Book but which is expresly declared and set forth in this Chapter from the First to the Sixth Verse This Sickness and inward Distemper could not be without grievous Pangs and Convulsive Fits But besides they were lying under sad pressures from without the Assyrians oppressed them and by frequent inroads wasted their Wealth and made great Devastations of their Country The Ten Tribes were already carried Captive and the Captivity of the other Two together with the destruction of the glorious Temple of Solomon were approaching The Prophet being sensible of what had already happened and foreseeing by the Spirit what was to come he doth here in the Name of the Church obviate those Misconstructions Men would be ready to put on this her deplorable Condition and also instruct us how it was to be received and entertained The Idumeans Chaldeans and Babylonians and other Enemies without who envied the former Prosperity of Israel were glad at these Disasters and Calamities which befell them they rejoiced at their Misery they took occasion to mock them saying Where is now the God in whom they trusted who had saved them heretofore and done so many great things for them in Egypt Thus in stead of fearing God and trembling at his Iudgments he had inflicted on his own People for their Sins they made them matter of prophane Mirth and Laughter and not understanding the Wisdom and Justice of his Dispensations they even accused God himself and darted up Blasphemous Speeches towards Heaven But the Prophet bids them here be sober and adviseth them to moderate their mirth and to lay aside their prophane and insulting humour for things would not always be at this pass God would not always deal so roughly and harshly with them Experience taught them not to despair but to hope for the recovery of a better state Rejoice not against me O mine enemy as if he had said Make not our Calamities and Disasters the subject of your Mirth and Laughter which should rather strike you with Dread and Fear for if we the peculiar People of God whom he had chosen for himself have suffered such things because we sinned against him what may ye expect who were never in Covenant with him and who have always provoked him Neither insult over us as if we were utterly and eternally ruined and that it were impossible for us ever to recover so as to deserve any regard from you Common Humanity should teach People to pity one another and to have Compassion on the Miserable And if ye consult Experience it will shew that all Persons and all things under the Sun are liable to changes that there is none so exalted but he may be abased nor any so low but he may be exalted Nemo confidat nimium secundis Nemo desperet meliora lapsus None can secure his State and therefore the most Happy and prosperous ought not to brag nor should the most abject and miserable despond and give over hope None stands so secure but he may catch a fall nor is any fallen so low but God by his Providence is able to raise him up again And as for me to go on with the Prophets words when I fall I shall rise or as it may be rendred though I fall I shall arise As if he had said Think not my case desperate or that I have so fallen that I cannot recover I am not destitute of Hope for as low and miserable as I am at present my God abideth still who is Almighty to save whose Hand is strong and always ready to relieve the distressed 'T is true he is at present angry with me but his anger will not last always he doth not cast off for ever His Mercy is everlasting and I know his Promise cannot fail which is If they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments then will I visit their Transgression with the Rod and their Iniquity with Stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail I have had often experience of this kind dealing of his I have fallen and I have risen again 'T is so in the Original and though there be nothing more ordinary than the promiscuous using the Preterite and Future Tenses so that our Translators might very well render it here in the Future yet some render it I have fallen I have risen as if the Iewish Church or the Prophet in her Name had gathered Hope from Experience and said to her insulting Enemy Conclude not me utterly lost and irrecoverable because God hath brought me low look back to the times past and consider that God never left me to perish that as he visited me with his Rod so he always shewed me his Salvation I trust he will do so now and in the mean time when or while I sit in Darkness the Lord will be a Light unto me Darkness in Scripture language signifies Trouble and Affliction and Light is put for Joy and Comfort And so the Prophet by this Expression declares his assurance that God would afford his people seasonable tokens of his favour even in the midst of their Tribulations for the comfort of their Hearts and the support of their Minds until the time of their Deliverance come Now the Prophet having thus answered the prophane Scoffs and Mockings of the Heathens about them In the next place he draweth his Peoples thoughts more home and requireth them to look into themselves and to consider their own hearts and ways instead of these mis-constructions of the Divine Judgments by Men unacquainted with the ways of God And whatever their Enemies said he himself resolves and teacheth the rest of his People to take all these Calamities and Afflictions from God as the Effects of his Displeasure and the Punishment of their Sins to which they should submit and which they ought to bear patiently I will saith he bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him And as their Calamities were thus to be received and entertained so he encourageth to it by a Promise that they should be but for a time and that thereafter God would plead their cause and execute judgment for them that is Defend and vindicate them right their wrongs repay their injuries