away our leprosies yet abide upon us there is yet as much swearing and lying deceiving and dissembling as much pride and covetousnesse self-seeking and self-confidence discord and dissention among Brethren as there was before the warre began so that God may justly and angrily speak to England as he doth to Jerusalem in the Text Wilt thou not be made clean when will it once be Yea the Lord may justly take up that complaint of us which he doth of the Jewes in Jeremiah's time a Ier. 6.28.30 They are Brasse and Iron base and drossie mettall good for nothing the bellowes are burnt the lungs of my messengers are spent with speaking to them the Lead is consumed of the fire the Founder melteth in vain for their wickednesses are not plucked away all the paines and labour that hath been spent about refining of them is lost Therefore reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them Blush O Heavens and stand amazed O Earth that a people should have so many instructions corrections warnings and awakenings woundings and breaking blowes yet should remaine so unreformed God speaks in anger yet we heare not roares from Heaven yet we feare not smites us with his rod yet we feele not yea stroke upon stroke yet we lay it not to heart For this should our eyes drop downe teares and we should in the bitternesse of our spirits cry out with Ezra b Ezra 9.15 Behold O Lord we are before thee this day in our trespasses for we cannot stand before thee because of this Vse 2 Exhortation In the second place let a word of Exhortation take hold on your hearts and what I preach to others the Lord grant I may practice in my owne soule Let us study a particular Reformation in our hearts and houses let us doe as God adviseth Jerusalem c Jer. 4.14 O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickednesse that thou mayest be saved Let every one of us doe as Jacob did when God called upon him to pay his vowes which he made in the dayes of his distresse Gen. 35.2 Then Jacob said unto his houshold and to all that were with him Put away the strange Gods that are among you and be cleane and change your garments Oh that Joshuah's resolution were fixed and fastned on the hearts of all that heare me this day d Josh 24.15 As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. The City would soone be cleane if every man would sweep at his own doore Motives Thinke with your selves therefore that ye see God waiting that he may be gracious to you e Isa 30.18 He waits till ye meet him with repentance that he may meet you with deliverance If ye were but fitted for mercy he would bestow a full mercy on you Thinke that ye heare him this day wooing intreating inviting beseeching you to come in and stand out no longer We are Ambassadours for Christ as if God did beseech you by us c f 2 Cor. 5.20 O admirable and unheard of condescention that the Ceator should beseech the creature that the King of eternity whose glory is lifted up above the heavens g Psal 8.1 should intreat wormes and dust to be reconciled Nay yet more Looke on God not onely intreating but expostulating or reasoning the case with you as he doth with Ephraim h Hos 6.4 O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee O England how shall I deale with thee Have ye beene uncleane and will ye be so still Are your former iniquities and provocations before the warre began too little for you but that you will adde iniquity to iniquity and rebellion to rebellion As the tribes of Israel reasoned in the like case i Josh 22.17 18. Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us from which we are not clensed untill this day but that ye must turne away from following the Lord and make him wroth with the whole Congregation Lastly looke upon God not onely expostulating with you but also lamenting your folly and losse k Isa 48.18 O that thou hadst barkned to my Commandements then had thy peace beene as a river and thy righteousnesse as the waves of the Sea It is Chrysostoms observation upon my Text that when God was now about to punish them he do's pitty them l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chryso in locum he do's as it were weep over them and compassionately mourne for them When O when will it once be just as a tender-hearted father that ha's but one Sonne and that Sonne untoward and untractable he takes the Rod into his hand but withall he ha's teares in his eyes saying How shall I scourge thee my Son How shall I give thee up to Ruine O Ephraim How shall I deliver thee into the hand of thine enemies O Israel How shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned within me and my repentings are kindled together * Hos 11.8 Doth all this nothing move us nothing melt us Are we in love with wrath and death and danger Are we willing to perish to be made a hissing a reproach and an astonishment to all other Nations Know ye not that one sin unrepented unreformed will doe us more mischiefe then all our enraged Enemies can doe us One sinne in forcing the Levites Concubine to death it is one of the saddest Stories that ye meet with in all the Scriptures occasioned the slaughter of LXV THOUSAND MEN m Judges 20. and that is more I beleeve then the sword hath devoured in this Kingdome these three yeeres Know ye not that without Reformation there will be no Pacification Ye read in Isa 9.12 that though the Syrians before and the Philistines behinde had devoured Israel with open mouth yet Gods anger was not turned away but his hand was stretched out still But why would not God be pacified after all that calamity which fell upon them the reason followes verse 13. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them neither doe they seeke the Lord of hosts So long as we have a rebellious hand to stretch out against God so long will God have a revenging hand to stretch out against us If he doe not bend us he will breake us Nay yet more without Reformation we can expect nothing but a desolation Be thou instructed O Ierusalem saith God n Ier. 6.8 lest my soule depart from thee or be difioynted from thee as the Hebrew phrase emphatically expresseth it o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest I make thee desolate a Land not inhabited Observe here though a people be as neere to God as the Arme is to the shoulder-blade yet if they doe not heare the rod and learne instruction and be reformed Hee will be loosed or disioynted from them cut them off from his hand and make them desolate And tell me Sirs are ye willing to tyre out Gods patience that do's
to fight against Amurath He for a while prevailed and had like to have got the victory but Amurath seeing the great slaughter of his men plucked the writing out of his bosome wherein the League was contained and holding it in his hand with his eyes lift up to heaven said Behold thou crucified Christ This is the League that thy Christians in thy Name made with me and now have violated If thou be God as they say thou art Avenge the wrong done to thy Name and unto me Instantly after in the very same Battell was Vladislaus that had broke the League slaine and his Head carried on the poynt of a Launce through their Cities as a token of the Turkes Trophee Now is it so dreadfull a sinne to breake Covenant with men What is it to breake Covenant with that God who can cast Soule and Body into hell fire Certainly if we breake our Covenant our Covenant will breake us Helpe 3 Thirdly Let us get more publicknesse of spirit to say with the Psalmist e Psal 137.5 If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning Let all private interests be drowned in publick concernments looke as when publicke men have a private spirit it is a great curse unto a Kingdome so when private men have a publick spirit it is a great blessing let that be our honour which was Davids f Acts 13.36 to serve our generation to be be usefull in the times and places whereinto God ha's cast us Helpe 4 Fourthly study unity and unanimity that in the cause of God and Gospell ye may all have one heart and one hand and one minde and one mouth Doe as the Tribes of Israel did in a publicke cause g Judg. 20 8. They all arose as one man Sure it is there is not one plot or project wherein the Devill more labours or bestirs himselfe then this How he may cast in a bone of Division blow the coles of contention and breake the band of unity among Brethren Therefore looke how farre any man nourisheth the spirit of discord and dissention in his brest so farre I dare tell him from the Lord he is Instrumentall to the Devill Boards joyned together make a Ship disioyned they cause Shipwracke Agreement among Christians builds up Jerusalem disagreement puls it downe In the building of Solomons Temple there was no noyse neither hammer nor axe nor any toole of iron was heard while it was in building h 1 Kings 6.7 O that in setting up the building of Reformation for which we have lift up our hands to the most high God there might be no noyse of jars or janglings crossings or thwartings envyings or hart-burnings Helpe 5 Lastly Get your hearts fired with a burning love to Christ and an enflamed zeale for his honour and advancement of the worke of Reformation that ye may be fervent in spirit i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seething hot Rom. 12.11 a peculiar people zealous of good workes k Tit. 2.14 and remember this for your encouragement If every thought of your hearts were a rapture and every word an extasie and every action a sacrifice If ye had a thousand lives to spend for Christ and ten thousand estats to lay down at his feet If ye did spend and were spent in his service He is able abundantly to recompence you both here and hereafter Your labour shall not be in vaine in the Lord l 1 Cor. 15.38 To draw to a conclusion Let me winde up the three Doctrins on one Bottome Particular Application to the Members of the Honourable House and so addresse my speech to you Noble SENATORS whom God ha's honoured and betrusted with so great a Worke as the steering of our Ship in a storme and the setling of a poore tottering trembling Kingdome Ye have heard That God See's all our Provocations a 1 Point That God Breath's out against us his comminations b 2 Point That God Cal's aloud for speedy Reformation c 3 Point I beseech you as a poore Messenger of Jesus Christ lay these things to heart and apply them to your owne Soules For example First Do's God see all your wayes with an impartiall eye for he accepts not the persons of Princes nor regardeth the rich more then the poore m Job 34.19 Then give me leave to propound that question to you which the Prophet Oded did to the men of Israel 2 Cro. 28.10 Are there not with you even with you sinnes against the Lord your God I come not hither either to accuse or to censure any of you There is a witnesse within you will doe the one there is a Judge above you will doe the other But ye will suffer me to intreat you to Beseech you by the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering to him at that great day To be true to your owne spirits to look into your owne hearts and to watch over your own wayes that ye give no occasion to the Lord to say I have seene the provocations of these or these Parliament men Take heed therefore lest by the dignity of your places your hearts be lifted up above your Brethren and remember the greater your places are the greater must your reckoning be Be carefull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the Apostles phrase n Gal. 2.14 to tread with a straight foot to walke uprightly according to the truth of the Gospell Remember that speech of Job o Job 13.27 Thou lookest narrowlly to all my paths thou fettest a print upon the beeles of my feet If ye doe but tread awry or step out of that way that God hath appointed you to walke in Shall not God search this out for he knowes the secrets of the heart p Psal 44.21 Let there be none among you that drive on your owne particular designes and serve God and his cause no further then they serve your owne ends and interests Do not spare those whom God would not have spared It cost Ahab dear when he spared Benhadad q 1 Kings 20.42 God tels him Thy life shall goe for his life and thy people for his people Doe not discourage those whom God would not have discouraged Beware lest out of Cowardize or carnall feares out of sinfull complyance and conformity to the wils of men ye TOLERATE what God would not have TOLERATED for I conceive it worthy the consideration of the wisest whether the Devill would not thinke he had made a good bargaine and gained well by the Reformation if he could exchange the Prelacie for an Vniversall Liberty Take heed lest there be any found among you that are zealous for vindicating Civill Liberties but when Church-government comes to be setled ye shrinke and start and withdraw the shoulder as being afraid of a Reformation that will be too strict Ye have of late caused the Scriptures to be searched desiring that the minde of Christ in point of government and
preserve you when ye stand but upon one bough of a tree Gods forbearance or long-suffering which bough if it were broken or cut downe ye should fall into all woe and misery both here and hereafter Are ye willing to cut down that bough Will ye observe lying vanities and forsake your owne mercy p Ionah 2.8 Will ye provoke God to say in his displeasure I will stretch out my hand against thee and destroy thee I am weary with repenting q Ier. 15.6 Oh give God leave to glorifie his name in your Reformation rather then in your ruine and desolation Quest It may be you will say unto me What is that Reformation that is required and so earnestly pressed upon us this day Answ I answer briefly It is the purging away of whatsoever doth defile the Soule As Errour in opinion Inordinacy of Affection Sinfulnesse in Conversation For the first Doe ye thinke Errours in judgement small matters or trifles not to be regarded Know ye not that they are exceeding Dangerous in their Nature Damnable in their Effects First they are dangerous because they bewitch the Soule O foolish Galatians who ha's bewitched you that you should not obey the truth r Gal. 3.1 yea they corrupt and defile the soule I feare saith the Apostle s 2 Cor. 11.3 least your mindes should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Errours and Idolatries agree in this they are both of them the defilements of the conjugall Bed they make professors turne Strumpets and cease to be loyall Spouses of Jesus Christ Yea moreover they hinder the growth of grace in the soule as the worme at the root of the tree hinders the growth of the tree or weeds sprouting up with the corne hinder the growth of the corne Hence is errour compared to a Canker or Gangrene t 2 Tim. 2.17 which consumes the flesh so doth errour consume or eat out the heart of grace Oh that sad experience did not set seale to this truth but we see it daily and may grieve for what we see That many Christians who formerly have bin forward professors haue seen some beauty in spirituall things and tasted of the heavenly gift yet when once they are caught in this snare of errour they lose the savour of grace and fearfully fall either from the profession or from the power of godlinesse Secondly they are damnable in their effects For it is well observed by Divines u Master Hildersam on Ps 51. p. 704. and others That corruption in judgement is as bad nay worse then corruption in manners especially where the mind ha's been enlightned with the knowledge of the truth Leprosie in the head was of all other Leprosies the most dangerous and destructive w Lev. 13.44 The Priest shall pronounce him utterly uncleane saith the Lord his plague is in his head He was uncleane if he had the Leprosie in his hand or feet but if it were in his head then he was utterly unclean Looke as the Soule is the excellency of man so the intellectuall part is the excellency of the Soule It is the Candle of the Lord as Solomon cals it ſ Pro. 20.27 a light set up to direct the whole man in the way that he should walke in Now as our Saviour reasons in the like case If the light that is in thee be darknesse how great is that darknesse t Mat. 6.23 So here if the minde and judgement be corrupted how great is that corruption In God's feare therefore let all errours be avoyded as Satans snares for so the Apostle cals them v 2 Tim. 2.26 wherein he entangles the understandings of seduced men For the second viz. Inordinacy of Affection such as sinfull feares sensuall delights carnall contentment creature-confidence selfe-love and selfe-seeking earthly mindednesse and the like they must all be renounced if we our selves would be reformed It is a golden Rule of the Apostle the Lord give us hearts to walke by it in 1 Cor. 7.30 31. Let them that weepe be as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not over-using it w 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rerum fluxarum immoderatum usum damnat Beza in locum When a Picture is pasted to a wall if you offer to plucke it away you teare it in peeces but if you set it in a frame you may remove it as you please So when our hearts are glewed to creature-comforts we lose our hearts in the use of them and teare our hearts in parting with them But if our hearts be set in a holy frame of spirituall Moderation we shall neither over-joy them while we have them nor over-grieve when we come to want them For the third viz. Sinfulnesse of conversation This must be abandoned It is not enough to bewaile the Sinnes that ye have committed but ye must also forsake the sinnes that ye have bewayled Hee that confesseth and forsaketh his sinnes shall finde mercy x Pro. 28.13 All Grosse sinnes must be forsaken in practice Let them not be once named among ye as becommeth Saints y Ephes 5.3 See Isa 30.22 The least sinnes even sinnes of thought must be forsaken both in Affection by loathing of them and in Resolution by striving against them cleaving unto God with full purpose of heart z Acts 11.23 and hating every false way a Ps 119.128 Quest But how or by what Meanes may the worke of Reformation be carried on both in publick and private in Church and State in our hearts and houses Answ Let us carefully and conscienciously make use of these Meanes Helpe 1 First let us be humbled to the dust for our former failings and particularly that our Spirits have not been upright or stedfast with our God that we have not payd the Vowes which we made unto him in the day of trouble Like little children while we were under the rod we made faire promises but the rod in a great measure is removed and yet we are not reformed Helpe 2 Secondly Looke often on our Covenant and take heed of breaking with that God who keepes Covenant with us b Neh. 1.5 and accurately eyeth and observeth al the juglings of our hearts Who among us doe not tremble at the story of Zedekiah of whom God speakes thus after he had broke his Covenant which he had made with Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon c Ezek. 7.15.16 shall Zedekiah prosper shall he escape that doth such things or shall he breake the Covenant and be delivered No even in the midst of Babilon shall he dye Memorable is the story of Vladislaus King of Hungary d Turkish History p. 297. who having made a League with Amurath the Turkish Emperour for ten yeeres upon the perswasion of a Cardinall called Julian who absolved him from his Oath he brake his League Hereupon comming