he there gives directions how it should be built and orders how it should be furnished with a Table and Dishes and Spoons and Candlestick and Snuffers and abundance of other houshold-stuff Whereof no reason can be given but this that it might represent in the most familiar manner to the grossest souls in the Nation that God dwelt and as it were kept house among them 5. And that it might be more apparent this was his House and that herein he dwelt among them this House was seated in the midst of their Camp Numb XI 17. v. 3. and there was also a glorious cloud covered it whereby it was sanctified to be his habitation Exod. XXIX 43. The pillar of the cloud and fire that is which had led them out of Egypt and was the special token of his presence with them he there promises should rest upon this House and consecrate it to himself And accordingly you find that as soon as Moses had finished this habitation and set it up A cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle So that Moses was not able to enter into the place because the cloud abode thereon and the glory of the LORD filled it Exod. XL. 34 37. On the outside of the house that is there was a smoak but within there was a most glorious brightness which sometime broke forth in an amazing splendor as a visible token of his presence in the midst of them So you read in many places which I cannot stand now to mention that the Glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud and stood in the door of the Tabernacle and appeared to all the congregation dazling their eyes and frighting them when they were in the greatest tumults and rebellions against Moses and Aaron For it lookt then like a consuming fire which they thought would presently devour them Lastly Gods dwelling among them was so clearly demonstrated he was so nigh to them and made himself so familiar with them that he is said to be seen face to face among them So you read Numb XIV 14. Where the people being in a mutiny against the only good men amongst them The Glory of the Lord appeared in the Tabernacle and the Lord threatned to disinherit them and had then done execution upon them had not Moses interposed for them by this argument that the people of Canaan would make an ill construction of it For they have heard that thou LORD art among this people that thou LORD art seen face to face and thy cloud standeth over them c. Read also Deut. V. 4. And when you have considered all this seriously you will see there was reason to say that the LORD was in the midst of them and in an extraordinaary mnner sensibly present to this people They were above all others dear to him and had the highest marks of his favour and love None could more presume of his indulgent kindness to them or be more assured of his tender and affectionate care watching over them to preserve them Unless it be our selves who have a greater grace vouchsafed to us and more illustrious demonstrations of his powerful presence with us to bless protect and defend us than the Israelites though so much in his favour could boast of We whom he hath Elected to be his peculiar people called to be Saints and sanctified excell them as much as they did other Nations He hath exalted our praise far above theirs who were heretofore so much renowned and hath approached so nigh to us and made us so near to himself that we may glory in his holy Name and say in a far more noble sence than they could that he hath spoken to us face to face For no man hath seen God at any time but the only begotten Son who is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him And the Word was made flesh say the Apostles of our Religion and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father Joh. I. 14.18 God shone into the very hearts of these holy men to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. IV. 6. And what they saw and heard they have declared to us that we might also have fellowship with them and they protest that truly their fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. I. 3. Who is the image of the invisible God and the brightness of his glory By whom God looks upon us and speaks to us through our own flesh for he dwells not now as he did among them in a Tabernacle made of Curtains and beasts Skins or in a house of stone but hath made our Nature his dwelling-place The flesh of man is become the Sanctuary of God wherein he will dwell for ever As our Lord hath assured us by sending down from his holy place the HOLY GHOST the Spirit of glory upon us whereby all Christians are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit Ephes II. 22. Who hath delivered to us his Oracles in the holy Gospel where such things are revealed unto us as the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. I. 12. For the New Jerusalem of which we are Citizens came down from God out of Heaven and when it descended S. John heard a great voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God Rev. XXI 2 3. Nor was all this proper only to those times when Christianity was first planted in the world but we have still visible assurances of his gracious presence among us and of his dear love to us And that is in the holy Sacrament of our Lords Body and Blood where he really and indeed makes himself present to all the faithful and is in the midst of them There he calls unto us and says See the love I bear to you Behold the tokens of my everlasting remembrance of you Believe it I am with you always to the end of the world I assure you hereby that my Body and Blood shall preserve you to eternal life Because I live ye shall live also And though you may imagine this to be a priviledge common to all Christians yet if the matter be well considered it will appear that we have a peculiar Claim to this honour of being a people nigh unto him or may at least in a double regard challenge a special interest in his favour above all those who endeavour wholly to ingross and limit it to themselves First In that we have the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood more entirely and purely administred unto us Whereby we are assured he is there present among us when-as they that depend upon the intention of their Priests can have no certainty of so great a blessing We have him presented to us
unto him in better words We acknowledge O Lord our wickedness and the iniquity of our Fathers for we have finned against thee The remembrance of these ought to be very grievous to us and the burden of them intolerable VVhich if we feel sensibly it will dispose us to cry to God with the greater fervency and frequency and to beseech him the more earnestly to spare us saying as Baruch a great Friend of Jeremiah teaches us III. 1 2. O Almighty Lord the soul in anguish the troubled spirit cryeth to thee Hear O Lord and have mercy for thou art merciful have pity upon us for we have sinned against thee And if he do condescend to our request we shall the more magnifie his mercy and his clemency will be the more admirable in our eyes when we have been made thoroughly sensible how little we deserved it nay how justly we had incurred his severest displeasure 3. The sense also of our ill deservings will help another way to make our Prayers effectual because it will move us wholly to depend upon God for our deliverance That 's a third thing necessary to make our supplications prevalent We must in this humble manner apply our selves to God and quitting all confidence in any thing that we can do even in our Prayers desire him to save us merely for his own sake there being nothing in our selves to move him to any thing but only displeasure against us This Jeremiah also teaches us in the next words to those now mentioned v. 21. Do not abhor us though we and our Fathers have been great sinners yet do not abhor us for thy Names sake do not disgrace the Throne of thy glory Which argument he uses also a little before my Text v. 7. O Lord though our iniquities testifie against us do thou it for thy Names sake A most excellent Form for us to imitate who may and ought to say as it there follows Our backslidings have been many we have sinned against thee O thou hope of Israel the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble we have provoked thee to resolve that thou wilt save and deliver us no more but do it for thy Names sake do it for thy Truths sake disgrace not thy holy Religion here established among us though we be wicked that is pure though we deserve to be deserted that is worthy of thy defence and protection And may we take the boldness to add as thy Servants heretofore have done thou hast many holy devout Worshippers among us for whose sake we beseech thee to do it O look not upon the sinners of thy people but on them which serve thee in truth 2 Esdras III. 28.31.34 and VIII 26. Are their deeds any better who inhabit Babylon that they should therefore have the dominion over Sion Weigh thou our wickedness now in the ballance and theirs also that dwell in the world and so shall thy Name be found no where as it is in our Israel Psal CXV 1. Not unto us therefore O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give glory for thy mercy and thy truth sake Remember not the iniquities of our Forefathers but think upon thy Power and thy Name now at this time For thou art the Lord our God and thee O Lord will we praise and for this cause hast thou put thy fear in our hearts to the intent that we should call upon thee These last are the words of Baruch III. 5 6. who imitates you see his Friend Jeremiah as they all do the Psalmist with whose words I shall conclude this particular LXXIX 8 c. O remember not against us former iniquities let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low Help us O God of our salvation for the glory of thy Name and deliver us and purge away our sins for thy Names sake Wherefore should they say where is now their God Let him be known among them in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy Servants which hath been shed That 's the third thing Let us profess our sole dependence on him and expectation meerly from his goodness and for his glory disclaiming all confidence in our selves and let me add in man too that is in all humane help and Counsels For which end let me recommend that Form of Prayer to you for perpetual use Psal LX. 11. Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man I say perpetually 4. For we must pray to God in this manner with perseverance continuing instant in Prayer as the Apostle speaks Rom. XII 12. praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance Ephes VI. 18. That is we must not be discouraged if we obtain not our suits presently but pray still with all prayer secret private publick and in the Spirit with earnestness and fervour watching thereunto i. e. borrowing some time from our sleep or our business rather than neglect this Duty of fervent prayer resolving not to be weary but with all perseverance to cry mightily to him till he have mercy upon us This is our Saviours Doctrine Luke XVIII 1. where he spake a Parable to this end that men ought always to pray and not faint or grow weary For if as he shews an unjust and impious Judge may be moved by importunity to do a poor Widow right shall we think that God will not avenge his Elect which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them I tell you that he will avenge them speedily v. 7 8. And this was the course that Jeremy here resolved to take in their great distress for want of Rain ver last of this Chapter Can any of the vanities of the Gentiles give Rain or the Heaven give showers Art not thou he O Lord our God therefore will we wait upon thee And so truly must we praying in the Psalmists words Psal CXXIII 2 3 4. Behold as the Eyes of Servants look unto the hand of their Masters and as the Eyes of a Maiden unto the hand of her Mistress So our Eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy upon us Have mercy upon us O Lord have mercy upon us for we are exceedingly filled with contempt Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease and with the contempt of the proud Let every soul here present put up at least this short petition to God day by day for this Church and Kingdom besides those he makes for himself and Family And as often as you can set apart some time for more solemn importuning of his mercy towards us 5. And let us be sure to take care of one thing more without which all this labour will be lost viz. to make all our supplications with hearty resolutions to reform every thing that we know to be amiss in our hearts and lives This was the course to which the King of Nineveh directed his People by
faithfully admonished and not in the least bolstered up in our wickedness if when we see ruine just before our eyes we will not go out of our way to avoid it You cannot name any one of this Church that hath confidently prophesied of glorious times Nor above one impious Writer of any note and he not pretending to the Ministry that hath laid down Principles to incourage men in wickedness and irreligion And therefore if we will notwithstanding run on in our evil courses it is a sign we have no heart to any thing else but that this is our inclination nay our resolution and that we being unreformable must perish because we have no mind to be saved in Gods way but to hurry on to destruction in our own Never any Nation perhaps perished if we must be undone against so much Reason against such plain warnings against so many mercies to invite us to do better and so many judgments to deter us from our evil ways against so many convincing instructions clear and rational arguments solid confutations not only of all leud and atheistical Principles but of Popery and of all Fanatical Doctrines There can be nothing therefore pleaded in our behalf but we must be left as the man without a Wedding Garment perfectly speechless A sad and most wretched condition Sad because we shall be extremely miserable and sad because we shall not be able to say why we were so frantick as against so many restraints to cast our selves into such miseries Which I beseech you let every one of us for our parts endeavour to prevent by timely repentance never to be repented of For that 's the thing I have shewn you still wanting for our preservation And I must tell you further in the last place 6. That as the case now stands it is not an ordinary Repentance and Reformation that will serve the turn We are gone too far I doubt towards ruine to be delivered without some extraordinary endeavours to put a stop to it and therefore I must say to you for a conclusion of all as our Lord Christ doth to the luke warm Church of Laodicea Rev. III. 19. Be zealous therefore and repent Repentance is not sufficient for the recovery of a Church when there is a great Apostacy and defection in Faith and in Manners but we must join zeal with it which is a pious warmth in our affections for all that is good and vertuous and that will certainly do the business We need not fear then the most desperate Enemies no not our sins but look upon all the Judgments God hath sent upon us as tokens of his love to us if they awaken us to zealous repentance For so our Saviour there incourages us to hope in the words foregoing As many as I love I rebuke chasten be zealous therefore and repent There would be some hope of us if we could but see that indifferency that chilness nay deadness which is in too many spirits turn'd into a warm nay burning zeal both in the Service of God and for his Service I. Be zealous therefore first in your Devotions of which I have spoken something already But let me again beseech you to stir up your selves to make your supplications to God with more inflamed affection for the King for the Parliament for the Bishops and Pastors of the Flock of Christ for the Magistrates for one another that all and every of these in their several places may attend their duty and perform it faithfully and zealously Instead of finding fault as the manner is with this and the other person whose actions do not please us let us fall upon our Knees and with fervent prayers intreat the Divine Majesty that he will bend their hearts to study to do those things which are pleasing and acceptable in his sight and to do them with all their might remembring there is no work nor device in the Grave whither they are going We tell God every day in the Collect for our Soveraign Lord the King that we most heartily beseech him he may alway incline to Gods will and walk in his way O that there were indeed such a heart in us as Moses speaks and that we would constantly with more fervour than ever put up that Petition for his Majesty Beseeching him also by whom Kings reign to be his defender and keeper and not to suffer any of the Sons of violence to approach to do him hurt With the like ardent zeal should we daily say the following Prayer for the Queen his Royal Highness and all the Royal Family that he would endue them with his holy Spirit and enrich them with his heavenly grace Of which things did we make a greater conscience and were not careless and frozen in our Devotions we might hope to obtain that which we so much desire a clearer discovery of the snares our Enemies have laid for us For which I beseech you to pray with all the ardour that you are able to raise up in your hearts that God would bring to light still more and more the hidden works of darkness Be importunate with him who sees into the greatest secrets to lay bare to the very bottom all the wicked contrivances that are against us Call upon him likewise with the same fervour that he would endue his Ministers with righteousness and inspire them with such courage that they may behave themselves like men who have not received the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind Pray also that he would raise up the Spirits of those who are assembled in the High Court of Parliament to consult for our good unto the loftiest pitch of Christian resolution wisdom and integrity Beseech him to send among them a Spirit of might and power whereby they may act so resolutely and worthily that if any be false they may be daunted if any be faint-hearted they may be incouraged Finally pray that all the Lords people may Watch and stand fast in the faith quit themselves like men be strong and do all their things in charity loving one another with a pure heart fervently 1 Cor. XVI 13 14. 1 Pet. I. 22. II. But we must not content our selves meerly with this zeal in our devotions we must be zealous also of good works Tit. II. ult In order to this which is all the time will now give me leave to mention every soul of us must bestir himself to give a severe check to all vitious affections and actions and to root them out of himself and his family and wheresoever he hath any power looking upon these as the greatest Traitors in the Nation And since true zeal will always begin at home where we have most power to reform let every man search out with great care and cast out with great indignation whatsoever he finds in himself that is contrary to his Religion having a holy jealousie over himself lest any thing should escape his strictest examination For why should
we think that God will preserve our Religion and maintain it against those that seek to destroy it if we make no other use of it but only to fill us with vain confidences of his love and favour while we continue in our impurities If we have any love to it any value for it let it have its due effect upon us by purging us from those things which disparage it That we may be vessels of honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work 2 Tim. II. 21. And in what work can they that have authority better imploy themselves than in setting themselves to chastise evil doers to reform all abuses in the places where they live to discover all workers of iniquity and to pursue them when they are discovered with a just indignation and bring them to condign punishment They are very useless if they neglect this and have little love to their Master and his Religion which had such power over mens hearts heretofore that even after they had left their first love and declined in their affection to Christianity they had so much zeal remaining as not to be able to bear them which were evil It is our Saviours Character of the Church of Ephesus Rev. II. 2 4. among whose works though short of what they did at first v. 5. he reckons this for one and commends them for trying them which said they were Apostles and were not and for finding them to be liars III. Which will lead me to the last thing I am to press upon you and that is to be zealous for the defence of our Religion Godly zeal I suppose you all know is nothing else but the affection of love to God raised to the pitch of fervency which will not let us endure any hurt or contempt should be offer'd to that which he loves if we can remedy it Now what doth he love more than true Religion which the purer it is the dearer without all doubt it is to him that hates all iniquity And where I beseech you can you find any Religion which in this regard may be compared with that which is by Law here established Which deserves therefore all the zeal you can express for its preservation and at this time calls for all the zeal that it deserves For it is lost in all likelihood without every mans zeal in his place to save it We are undone if we have not a heat activity and courage proportionable to theirs that seek to destroy it And is it not a shame that false Religion should make men more busie and active more bold and undaunted than true Religion doth those who have so long professed it and been instructed in the worth and excellency of it Or do we expect to have it preserved without so much ado Are we such Fools as to imagine that if we defend our selves weakly faintly and timorously when they assault us not only resolutely but boldly and furiously we shall get the Victory No the Magistrates must do all that is in their power to execute his Majesties Command for the finding out and expelling those that oppose it And they that are not Magistrates must give them their assistance and quicken those that are Call upon all your Acquaintance who have any power or interest to be honest and upright to preserve their integrity and not be tempted by any thing in this world to betray their Religion And tell them it is not enough to be upright but they must be diligent and zealous because now is the time for every man to shew himself and to do all that lawfully he may for the honour and safety of his Religion There are no other bounds that I know of which we are to set to our zeal for our Religion but only this that we do nothing contrary to it Whatsoever it allows it now requires that we may not lose it We must not suffer our zeal to be damped by politick considerations respect to our private interest and desire to please Men but waving all these take care only that others be not wronged by it while we suffer perhaps very much in our own concerns For he knows nothing of the nature of holy zeal who doth not feel it transport him to act beyond himself and to make him quite forget his own private concerns which he thinks of no further than as they are included in the publique good There can be no other meaning of that which the Apostles apply to our Saviour The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up Joh. II. 17. than this that he regarded not his own particular interest nor minded what he was likely to suffer but all thoughts of it were swallowed up in his zeal to serve God Who will not be served indeed by our private passions and evil affections but doth expect that we should not consult with the wisdom of this World which is for suffering nothing but avoiding all that may hurt and prejudice us though God may be thereby very much honoured And therefore his wisdom of which we ought to take counsel bids us forget the damage we may suffer and lay aside all thoughts of our selves so we may but promote his glory When we have any hope of that we must hearken to no other advice but that of the Apostle Rom. XII 11. Not slothful in business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord. We would be glad perhaps to follow the other reading of the last part of that Verse serving the time but not in the right sense serving the time by serving the Lord faithfully in our several stations This he expects from us this our Religion and all good men expect from us that at this time when the Zealots of the Romish Church are so outragiously set to destroy us we should pluck up our spirits as the phrase is and imitate or rather excel them not in that cut-throat zeal God forbid which made the Jewish Nation as it doth them so infamous but in a just indignation against such barbarous persons and practises and in a zealous resolution always burning in our breasts to defend our Religion the best we can against their attempts I am bold to speak in this manner without any undue transport because I find God himself expressing his zealous affection for the defence of his Church in far higher terms than these Zach. VIII 2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts I was jealous for Zion with great jealousie and I was jealous for her with great fury Do not you then listen to any motion which may be made to you I will not say to leave your Religion but to be remiss and not so zealous for it Think what a dishonour it will be to you and how it will endanger it if when so many bend their tongues like their bow for lies you should not be valiant for the truth Which was the charge that Jeremy ch IX 3. brought against Jerusalem but I hope will never be your