you and have caused it to rain upon one City and not upon another Here was distinction of Judgments according to their several sins And so at the 11. verse I have overthrown you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and you were as firebrands pluckt out of the burning c. God exercised them with several Afflictions and they were distinguishing afflictions too and yet they were incorrigable God tells them that he had afflicted them with cleaness of teeth and want of rain and yet have they not returned unto me saith the Lord therefore thus will I do unto thee c. Thus you see what distinguishing afflictions they were exercised with I have sent the Pestilence among you yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord and yet after all these sore strokes they still remained incorrigable and therefore God was resolved to go forth against them in his wrath and so I have done with the second General Thirdly It is the duty of a people or Nation to prepare to meet the Lord when he is coming out against them Therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel and because I will do thus prepare to meet thy God O Israel For the cleering of this I shall endeavour to shew you First That it is a dreadful thing to meet with God in the way of his anger and Justice Secondly That though it be dreadful yet it is not so dreadful to the people of God as to others Thirdly That though it be not so dreadful to the people of God as to others yet it is very uncomfortable for them too to meet with God in his wrath Fourthly That when God is gone forth against a people in his anger and in the way of his wrath it is their duty to prepare to meet with God First It is a very dreadful thing to meet with God in the way of his anger who may abide the day of his wrath It is a fearful thing saith the Apostle to fall into the hand of the living God Heb. 10.31 For our God is a consumming fire Heb. 12.29 not a warming fire There is a warming fire in your houses and that is very comfortable in cold weather but there is a consuming fire also a fire that burns down houses and Cities and that fire is very terrible and dreadful why our God is a consuming fire your fire consumes your wood and coal but it doth not consume your house it doth not remove the Rocks but the fire of Gods anger doth so as you may see Nahum 1.5 6. verses The mountains quake at him the hills melt and the earth is burnt at his presence yea the world and all that dwell therein who can stand before his indignation and who can abide the fierceness of his anger his fury is poured out like fire and the rocks are thrown down by him Thus you see it is a very dreadful thing to meet with God in the way of his anger But Secondly Though it be dreadful and terrible yet it is not so dreadful to the people of God as to others First Though God be angry with his own people yet it is but little in comparison to what he is with others As in Zach. 1.2 The Lord was sore displeased with your Fathers and at the 12. verse there it is said God had indignation against them threescore and ten years and then at the 15. verse And I am very sore displeased with the Heathen that are at ease for I was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction Here you see God was greatly displeased with the Heathen and but little displeased against his people his displeasure is but little to them in comparison with what it is to others Secondly Though God be angry with his own people yet his anger is their friend If a man be my friend not only his purse is my friend but his sword also if I have occasion so if God be my friend not only his love is my friend but his anger too but it is not so with the wicked Thirdly Though God be angry with his own people yet they have alwayes free grace to fly unto and to be their friend but it is not thus with the wicked Fourthly Though God be angry with his own people yet they know or may know that God is in Covenant with them and that they have some sweet and precious promises which belong to them Nahum 1.5 6. Who can abide the fierceness of his wrath c. But look at the 7. verse The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him in the worst times the people of God have promises to run unto for shelter mark how the promise comes in here Having shewed the fierceness of Gods wrath in the 5. and 6. verses who can stand before his presence c. He comes in with this promise at the 7. verse The Lord is good and a strong hold in the day of trouble he knoweth them that trust in him Fifthly Though God be angry with and afflict his own people yet they know or may know that God is afflicted with them Christ partakes in their Afflictions with them Sixthly Though God do afflict his own people for their sins yet they know or may know that God alwayes gives a due allowance in reference to their sins and Infirmities the best Gold must have an allowance of some dross and the best Saint must have an allowance upon the Account of his Infirmities saies the Lord Hosea 11.8 How shall I make thee as Admah and set thee as Zeboim why did not the Lord say How shall I make thee as Sodom or Gomorrah sayes Jerom It was because Admah and Zeboim were lesser Cities and were drawn into sin by the example of the great Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and so the ten Tribes were drawn into sin by the great Cities of Judah and by Jerusalem and therefore God saies how shall I make thee as Admah c. So I say God doth alwayes give an allowance to his own people even in the day of his wrath Seventhly Though God be angry with his own people yet they may see God smile sometimes even through his frowns faith doth many times pull the vizard from the face of Christ as I may say that when he seems to be their enemy yet still they know that all things shall work together for their good Eighthly Though God be angry with his own people yet they know or may know that God will alwayes have a hiding place for them and so he will never provide for others It may be observed that when Gods people in former Times were persecuted in one part of the world they had alwayes acceptance and entertaintment in some other part of the world and when they were persecuted from thence they had still acceptance elswhere according to that of Christ If they persecute you in one City flee unto another until the Son
great Cities and to the great Towns of a Nation or people Fifthly when God smites his own people with the rod it is their best wisdom and their duty to hear the rod and who hath appointed it First Though God consumes a Nation at once and destroys a Nation at once at last Yet he still doth and will warn a people before he destroys them God will not steal upon a people with his Judgments but he first warns them before he consumes them he hath his murdering peices which he will discharg in due time but he will first discharg his warning peices And God doth sometimes warn people by his word and sometime by his works and dispensations Ezek. 33.2 Son of man speak unto the Children of thy people and say unto them if I bring a sword upon the Land c. And at the 7. verse he applies it So saith he Thou O Son of man I have set thee for a watchman unto the house of Israel therefore thou shall hear the word from my mouth and warn them from me would you know what this warning is why it is a warning by the word Sometimes God warns his people by his works and dispensations by his Judgements upon others and by his Afflictions upon themselves he brings a lesser Judgement to prevent a greater it is with the works of God as it with his word Now God doth sometimes hew down men by the word yea he hews them down by the Ministry of the word there is a time when God will hew down sinners by the Ministry of the word and lays them upon the ground a drying as I may say for Hell before they come there Matt. 3. The tree that bringeth not forth fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire Hosea 6.5 Therefore I have hewed them by the Prophets I have slain them by the words of my mouth c. There is a time of hewing down a time when God will hew men down by the ministry of the word and as he doth thus by his word so he doth the same also by his works and dispensations and though God may and can destroy a people at once yet he will not siese upon them before he warn them that is the first proprosition Secondly When God smites his own people he deals with them in the way of the Rod though he punish others with Scorpious yet saith he for you that are in Covenant with me if you sin I will visit your trangressions with a Rod look what worldly Afflictions come upon the Saints they are struck with the Rod what greater afflictions do you read of than what fell upon Job why yet it was the stroke of the Rod Job 9.34 Let him take away his Rod from me when God deals with his people I say he deals with them in the way of the Rod and if you ask the reason why God uses the rod with his own people I answer First Because they are his own Children Heb. 12.7 8. If you indure chastisement God deals with you as with children if you be without chastisement you are bastards and not Sons I know no better Argument against the Church of Rome saith Luther than this that she reigns without the Cross If two children are fighting together and a man comes and parts them and strikes one of them and not the other you will presently imagine that the Child which he strikes is his own and so if you ask why God useth the rod to his people I answer because they are his own Children And Secondly As they are Children so he loves them and he that spareth the Rod hateth the Child Now God doth not hate his Children for every son that he loveth he chastiseth God loves his children and therefore he deals with them in the way of the Rod. Thirdly There is much folly bound up in the heart of a child but the rod of Correction bringeth it out saith Solomon and therefore God doth sometimes correct his people because of their folly Why do School-Masters use the Rod but only to make children learn their lessons if they would learn without he would not use the Rod and why doth God use the Rod with his people but to learn them their lessons for these reasons therefore doth God use the rod with his people But you will say doth not God use the Rod with the wicked too do not they come under the rod as well as the righteous I answer Solomon saith the Rod is for the back of the fool and wicked men are called sools in Scripture God doth sometimes chastise the Godly by the wicked the wicked are the rod in Gods hand and sometimes again God doth punish wicked men by the Saints the Saints being the rod in Gods hand Sometimes I say wicked men are the rod for the Godly Isaiah 10.5 O Assyrian the rod of mine anger and the staff of their hand is mine indignation And sometimes the Godly are the Rod of God in the hand of God for punishing the wicked Jer. 51.19 20. The portion of Jacob is not like them for he is the former of all things and Israel is the rod of his inheritance the Lord of Hosts is his name Thou art my battle Axe and weapons of War for with thee will I break in peices the Nations and with thee will I destroy Kingdoms So I say as the Lord whips the saints by the wicked so he also lashes the wicked by the Godly they being the rod in the hand of the Lord. But you will say is there no difference between these two I answer yes for 1. There is a whipping rod a rod of correction and there is also a breaking rod a whipping rod for the Saints and a breaking rod for the wicked In the 2. Psalm it is said Thou will rule them with a rod of Iron and break them in pieces like a potters vessel Secondly Though God doth Afflict his own people with the rod the wicked being the rod in Gods hand yet he will cast that rod into the sire when he hath done with it but though he doth also punish the transgressions of the wicked by the righteous they being the rod in Gods hand yet will he not cast that rod also into the fire upon that Account the Saints may rejoyce when they see the wicked punshed because they know that themselves shall not be thrown into the fire but the wicked have no cause to rejoyce when they see the Godly afflicted because they may be sure they themselves shall be thrown into the fire when they have done their work The Child may laugh when he sees the rod thrown into the fire because he knows he shall not be thrown in himself Thirdly Though God doth visit the transgressions of his people with a Rod yet it is a Rod that Chastizeth in measure as you may find Isaiah 27.7 8. Hath he smitten him as he smote those that smote him or is he slain according to the slaughter of
a sight of sin is the first step to Conversion Secondly By the Rod you are humbled and broken and made more fit and capable to receive instruction when the young Horse is once well broke then he is afterwards fit for the saddle now afflictions break men and fit them for Gods service and for Gods work If a narrow mouthed vessel be in continual motion and unfixed you cannot pour any liquor into it you must first fix the vessel and then you may put what you will into it so afflictions will fix you and settle you you have many a poor man that no ground will hold him as we use to say till afflictions come and then they settle him If you sow seed you must first plow the ground and then you sow the seed now what soul is there which doth not need Gods plow why Gods Rod is his plow and when this Rod comes and breaks and humbles the heart then it will receive the good seed of Gods word into the furrows of the heart And further Thirdly By the Rod a man will be forced to lay hold of and stick to those promises which he could not lay hold on before for when the Rod comes and brings him low the man is glad to run to the promise and truly it is a very great comfort to us that we have a promise to run unto when we are brought low with the Rod and thus you see what lessons the Rod teacheth and also how the Rod teacheth it is a teaching Rod And so I have done with the third proposition the next follows Fourthly As the Rod is teaching and doth bring a message with it so this message is sent especially to the great Cities and Towns of a Nation or people The Lords voice cryeth unto the City here in the Text why what City or Cities It was Jerusalem and Samariah but did not Gods voice cry unto the lesser Towns and Villages Yes but when a national Rod comes the message is especially sent to the great Towns and Cities of a Nation For First The Rod comes to avenge the Quarrel of the word look therefore on that place or people that have had the greatest opportunities as to hearing of the word and having the means of grace and yet have abused them the greater controversie hath the Rod with that place or people Now great Towns and Cities have commonly the greatest opportunities as to the word and ordinances and many times they are most abused in and by these and therefore the voice of the Rod is especially to great Towns and Cities Wo unto thee Capernaum and why unto Capernaum and not to the Towns and Villages Why Woe unto thee Capurnaum for thou hast been exalted unto Heaven in regard of the means and yet hast not repented Mat. 11.23 therefore woe unto thee above all the rest of the Towns about thee And so O Jerusalem Jerusalem saith Christ I cannot but weep over thee I would have gathered you but you would not c. Therefore I cannot but weep over you though the lesser Towns and villages shall be destroyed as well as the great ones yet I weep not over them but over Jerusalem for she hath had the means of grace more abundantly and yet hath not repented and therefore I cannot but weep over it When the Rod comes I say it comes more directly to the great Towns and Cities of a Nation Secondly God will be sure to punish those that are the Ringleaders of Rebellion in a Nation Now great Cities and Towns if they are not good are ringleaders to other Towns to do evil Even as a great Oke which drops upon the lesser trees under him spoils their growth and corrupts them And so if a man be rich and not good he drops upon others and spoiles others So I say great Towns if not good spoyl and corrupt the lesser Towns and Villages as if they be good they are an help and an encouragement to others in goodness therefore the Lords voice cryeth unto the Cities and they should all hear the rod and who hath appointed it that is the fourth proposition The fifth and main followeth that Fifthly When the Lord doth visit the transgressions of his people with a Rod it is their true interest and best wisdom to hear the Rod and who hath appointed it There are three things in this proposition First When God doth visit the transgressions of his people with a Rod it is their duty to hear what the Rod saith And Secondly Not only to hear what the rod saith but also to consider who hath appointed it And Thirdly It is their true interest and best wisdom so to do I shall not much insist upon these But for the first First When the Lord doth visit the transgressions of his people with a Rod it is their duty to hear what the Rod saith for as you hear Gods Rod is a teaching Rod and therefore when the Rod comes it is your duty to lay your car close to the rod to hear what it says for otherwise you will be found despisers of its message If a King send his Ambassadour to speak and treat with another and he turns his ear from him and will not hear him why will not he be found a despiser of the message Now the Rod is a Messenger an Ambassadour and it comes from Heaven if you will not hear it you despise the message of the Rod not hearing is despising therefore when the Rod comes hear the message of it my son despise not the chastening of the Almighty saith Solomon Prov. 3.11 Secondly It is your duty to hear the Rod and also to consider who hath appointed it not only to hear the Instrument but the Author also whereby the Rod is acted and guided For First Thereby you will honour God in his dispensations It was the speech of Mr. Dod when the Souldiers broke into his house and plundred him saith he it is the Lord that hath taken them away he did not say this thing they have taken away and they have taken away such and such things no he would not give them that honour but as Job said when the Sabeans took away his goods the Lord gives and the Lord takes away so said he I will not honour them so much as to say that they have taken away any thing from me but the Lord hath done it and thereby he gives God the honour of his dispensations and so must you if you will hear the Rod and who hath appointed it Secondly By hearing the Rod and who hath appointed it you will much strengthen your faith Thirdly By hearing the Rod and who hath appointed it you will be inabled to submit sweetly to the sharp anger of Gods dispensations I was dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst it saith David Psalm 39.9 So when Shimei cursed David his servants would have taken off his head no saith David Let him alone it is the Lord that hath bidden him
willingly give up your right and render up your own right to preserve peace and Unity one with another O friends love one another that you may declare your selves to be heavenly children to be children of your heavenly Father consider Phil. 1.27 Only let your Conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ that whether I come or be absent I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one Spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel O friends let me beseech you to love one another and to take all advantages that may increase your love how can you shew your face before the free love and grace of God if you do not love one another with what face can you go to God for free grace and love when you your selves have no love for your brethren If a poor man should do a rich man a great deal of prejudice and if this rich man should nevertheless invite this poor man to a feast and welcome him and do him abundance of good would you not say that this is wonderful love and kindness because the poor man is no way able to gratify him or to make any requital for what he receives but only by thankfulness it may be he may be thankful to him why thus it is with us now this is our own case for we have done great injury to God and yet God hath loved us and hath given us blessings and riches and what doth he expect for it all surely no reward from us for he knows we are poor and not able to gratify him no he expects nothing but only that we should love one another saies God you can do nothing for me all that I desire is that you would love one another in Truth How then I say will you be able to shew your faces before the God of heaven if you love not one Another O look after this love which is so much commended in this little Psalm O how sweet and perfuming it is it is as sweet as honey is is like unto the Oyl that ran down Aarons beard like the dew upon Hermon and as the dew that fell down upon the mountains of Zion yea this is that which is sweet and profitable that which will perfume you now if you do desire that Gods perfumes may come upon you and that the dew of Gods blessings may fall upon you labour more and more to love one another and let not love be wanting I cannot tell how it may be with you yet let me desire you as you would honour your selves now and as you desire happiness in this life and also to be blessed hereafter to all Eternity observe this new Commandment to love one another and as you do desire to declare that you have received free grace and that you have that seal with which God seals the soul for his own to live with him for ever be exhorted to be of one mind and love one another Rejoyce in the Lord and be of one mind be united one to another and let your hearts abound in love more and more one toward another SERMON VI. MICAH 6.9 The Lords voice cryeth unto the City and the man of Wisdom shall see thy name hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it MEthinks I see a great rod ready to be layd upon the back of this Nation and I would therefore at this time endeavour to inform you what the voice of this Rod is and have to that end chosen this Scripture to speak unto In this Chapter then you have Gods controversy with his own people set down at the end of the 2. verse For the Lord hath a controversy with his people and he will plead with Israel And then he chargeth them with First Unthankfulness for many years in the 3.4 5. verses O my people what have I done unto thee and wherewith have have I done unto thee and wherewith have I wearied thee testifie against me for I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt c. Secondly He Chargeth them with formality and shews them the evill of it in the 6. and 7. verses Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams c. And then Thirthly He pleades against them in the 8. verse He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And then Fourthly He seals up the Sentence in this verse of my Text. The Lords voice cryeth unto the City and the man of Wisdom shall see thy name hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it Wherein you have three things especially remarkable First The people the Lords voice cryeth unto and that is unto the City the Lords voice cryeth unto the City Secondly You have en exhortation to hear the voice of the Rod. Hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it Thirdly You have an Argument to press you so to do It is your wisdom the man of wisdom shall see thy name The Lords voice cryeth unto the City that is unto Samaria and Jerusalem the Chief Cities And the man of wisdom shall see thy name The dispensations of God in the way of his mercy or Justice are his name As a man is known by his name so God is known by his dispensations which though they be dark to the world yet the man of wisdom shall see them and discern them Therefore hear ye the Rod and who hath appointed it the Rod that is the Rod of Correction Now there is First The Rod of power and dignity He shall send his rod out of Zion Secondly There is a rod of Discrimination Ezek. 20.37 I will cause you to pass under the Rod and I will bring you under the bond of the Covenant Thirdly There is the rod of direction Thy rod and thy staff they shall comfort me Fourthly There is a rod of Government both Ecclesiastical and civil As for Ecclesiastical saith Paul shall I come unto you with a rod and as for civil he that spareth the rod hateth the Child Fifthly There is a rod of Destruction thou shalt break them with a Rod of Iron and dash them to peices like a potters vessel Psalm 2.9 Now it is a rod of Correction that we are to understand here from whence I take up this Observation That when God visits the transgressions of his people with a rod it is their best wisdom to hear the rod and who hath appointed it It is their true Interest and best wisdom so to do For the opening and cleering hereof I shall speak to these 4. or 5. Propositions First That God doth not steal upon a people with his Judgements but he first warns them before he smites them Secondly When God smites his own people he deals with them in the way of rod. Thirdly That Gods Rod is a teaching Rod. Fourthly That the message of the Rod is commonly sent to the
of Man come Matt. 10.23 Why what is the meaning of this but that God will alwayes have some hiding place for his people until Christ come again Ninthly Though God be angry with his own people yet they know or may know that they are delivered from wrath to come and they may comfort themselves thus T is true that this dispensation of God towards me is in anger but yet I am delivered from wrath to come but now it is not so with others the present dispensations of Gods wrath upon the wicked are but fore-runners of his eternal wrath which shall come upon them but it is not so with the Saints And so I conclude this second particular That though it be very dreadful when God goes forth against a people in his wrath yet it is not so dreadful to the people of God as it is to others But Thirdly Though it be not so terrible for the people of God to meet with God in his anger and as it is for others yet it is a very hard and uncomfortable thing for them to meet with God in this way for they are used to have other kind of meetings with God they use to meet him in the Assemblies to meet him in love there the Saints desire to meet with God But Fourthly If God do go forth against a people in his wrath it is their duty the duty of them all and of Gods own people also to go forth to meet God It is here commanded in the Text by way of reason It is the duty of Gods people and of others also to honour God when they are under his dispensations now when men go forth to meet God then they honour him Abraham and Lot intended to honour the Angel and therefore they went forth to meet him Joseph would honour his Father Jacob and therefore he went forth to meet him Moses would honour his Father Jethro and therefore he went forth to meet him Abigail would honour David and therefore she went forth to meet him Martha would honour Christ and therefore went forth to meet him Cornelius and the believing Romans would honour Paul and therefore they went forth to meet him And so if a man be coming to your house if you would honour him you go forth to meet him Why now it is our duty to honour God and therefore it is our duty also to prepare to meet with God that we may thereby honour him And further It is the duty of all Gods people to hold a compliance with his dispensations now if you do not go to meet with God you do not comply with his dispensations So that I say when God comes forth against a people it is their duty to go forth and to prepare to meet him And so I come to the fourth General which was proposed Fourthly If it be the duty of a people when God goes forth against them in his anger to prepare to meet him Why then what shall we do to prepare our selves to meet with God for sometimes God seems to be at a stand and to be unresolved what to do and sometimes he is resolved to go forth against a people now what shall we do that we may prepare to meet God in both these Cases I shall answer these two Questions and speak to them distinctly and so conclude without any further Application First If you would meet with God in this case then break off from your uncertainties and leave them do not stand shall I shall I as we say in reference to your repentance and newness of life be not uncertain in your Judgments and practices As in Hosea 6.4 O Ephraim saith God what shall I do unto thee why Lord might they say Why art thou at an uncertainty with us why saith God because you are at an uncertainty with me your goodness is as the morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away Sometimes you take up good resolutions but they fade away again presently Sometimes you are grieved and troubled for sin but your repentance fades way as the morning dew sometimes you will perform duties but your goodness fades away quickly and therefore I am at this uncertainty with you because you are at such uncertainty with me would you then meet with God in this case why then break off from your uncertainties that is the first Secondly If God seem to be at a stand then do you repent and turn to God for this is that which God expects and looks for yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord The Lord repeats it again and again in the close of several verses though I have been at a stand yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord. Therefore I say when God seems to be at a stand be sure that you return unto God and what I say unto one I say unto all and to my own soul also Doth the Lord seem to be at a stand with us then let us all return to the Lord by repentance it may be he staies his hand to see what we will do Thirdly If God seem to be at a stand and if you would meet with him then go and make your choice Chuse rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Fourthly If the Lord seem to be at an uncertainty in point of his dispensations and if you would meet with God then take heed that you do not desire the wofull day take heed that there be none among you who do desire the wofull day to come A day of confusion in a Nation is a wofull day a day of civil War is a wofull day civil War begins with uncivil sins and ends in uncivil Butcheries Again Fifthly If God seem to be at a stand in point of his dispensations and if Temptations do then come to draw you off from God why do you answer all with this How shall I do this thing and yet not sin against God how shall I do this thing and yet not sin against my own conscience shall the Lord have his How 's for you as I may say and will you have none for him shall the Lord say How shall I give thee up O England How shall I give thee up O London How shall I give thee up O Yarmouth and will not you say How shall I sin against the Lord shall the Lords bowels yearn and turn within him for you and shall not you turn to God shall the Lord say O Drunkard How shall I give thee up O Swearer How shall I give thee up O Sabbath-breaker how shall I give thee up O unclean Person or the like how shall I give thee up And shall not you say how shall I do this thing and yet not sin against God Therefore do thus and then you will be able to meet with God in this case But 2. As for the second part of this Question Suppose the Lord be resolved as I hope he is not