if it had beene already gotten A victory or defeate of the enemy without the active endeavours of men fully parallell to this we have in the 2. of Kings c. 19. v. 15. to wit the great discomfiture of Senacheribs army which had for a long time besieged Hierusalem Such was the successe of Hezekiahs prayers which were conceived in that forme which Solomon here prescribes and uttered in this house which he now consecrates And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said O Lord God of Israel which dwellest betweene the Cherubins thou art the God even thou alone of all the kingdomes of the earth thou hast made heaven and earth Lord bow downe thine eare and heare Open Lord thine eyes and see and heare the words of Senacherib which hath sent him to reproach the living God v. 15. 16 To this petition he receives this answere v. 32. Thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria he shall not come into this city nor shoot an Arrow there nor come before it with shield nor cast a banke against it By the way that he came the same shall he returne and shall not come into this city saith the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it for mine owne sake and for my servant Davids sake The like joyfull deliverance was obtained by the prayers of Elisha in that streight siege of Samaria and the famine wherewith the city was so grievously pinched was suddainly turned into such plenty that whereas an Asses head had beene fold one day for 40 peeces of silver the morrow after two measures of Barley and a measure of wheate flowre was sold for a shekell 2. Kings 6. 25. 7. 18. Heaven we reade was shut up for three yeares in Elisas's time the earth was chapped and the land of Israel wounded with famine for want of raine Heaven is opened againe by Elias his prayer and the land refreshed 1. Kings 17. 1. 18. 45. So that there is not one branch of Solomons petition which the Lord did not really accomplish when this people prayed unto him as Solomon prescribes them Through want of such prayers as Solomon here makes or at least for want of that faith by which the prayers of Iehosaphat Hezekias and the Prophets were conceived Iehoiakim Zedekiah c. found no such successe or deliverance in their distresse as these two godly Princes had done But some men the better they believe these sacred stories concerning the infallible successe of the Kings of Iudah's godly prayers The more prone they will be to question in what cases how farre or whether at all the undoubted grant of Solomons petition may any way concerne us or the times wherein we live The question may seeme more pertinent or rather the second generall point proposed by us may seeme more questionable or more then questionable altogether impertinent because most of these victories or deliverances which Iudah or Israel obtained by prayers were miraculous such as farre exceed the force of naturall causes or meanes ordinary and which are without the reach or contrivance of policy And what assurance then can wee have that our prayers shall bee answered with like successe unlesse we may believe or hope that even our prayers or supplications may procure true miracles but miracles have altogether or for the most part ceased for these later times in which for this reason that song of the Psalmist might be more fitly taken up than the practise of Solomon or the Kings of Iudah We have heard with our eares our fathers have declared unto us the noble workes which thou didst in their daies in the old time before thē Thus to complaine of the times wherein wee live in respect of former all of us are by nature too prone and this pronenesse is one speciall meanes by which the fervency of better spirits devotion is so much dampned yet Solomon hath told us that we are but foolish inquisitors And if but foolish inquisitors then certainly no competent judges in this case To say that these times are not more corrupt then former were to flatter them enough to convince us of being time-servers yet to complaine of them or to lament them as men doe which have no hope or assurance in Gods promises were to accuse God a spice of infidelity Certainly there is no fault in the times or in the places wherein we live but such as we our selves respectively infuse into them some by wickednesse of life others by impious or ungodly opinions Let us then so use our freedome in speaking the truth of the times wherein we live that we doe not slander the eternall dispenser of times and seasons that we cast no aspersions upon his fatherly care and providence God hath not forgotten to be as good and gracious unto our times as he hath beene unto former ages but we have forgotten to bee thankfull unto him we either are distrustfull of our selves or for the most part teach others to distrust the extent of his goodnesse whose certaine beliefe must bee the roote of prayers as well for blessings spirituall as temporall There is no speedier way or shorter cut unto Gods curse or vengeance then by distrusting his goodnesse towards our selves or by denying the fruites of it unto others But to the Quaere proposed How farre the grant of Solomons petition may concerne our selves or the times wherein we live the answere is ready Our present interest in that grant our assurance in Gods promises for blessings temporall to that people may be as great our deliverance from dangers imminent and unavoidable to the apprehension of man may be as certaine and infallible as theirs was albeit God doth not in particular promise succour or worke our safety by the same and like meanes as he did theirs Admit then it were an Article of our Creed as it is not that miracles in these later times haue ceased may not upon any exigence be expected that to seeke after such signes and wonders as were given then were a tempting of God as intruth it is no better yet all this ought not to weaken our assurance that the issue of our prayers so they be as faithfull as theirs were shal be as ioyfull to our selves as beneficiall to the state and kingdome as Iehosaphats and Hezekiahs prayers were Gods goodnesse towards us his providence over us is still the same and our beleife of this his goodnesse if in us it be true and sound 't is the same it was in them so will the issue be the same either in kinde or by equivalency Whether the like issue or successe be wrought by meanes ordinary or extraordinary is meerly accidentall to the certaine of it Not to embrace the workes of his wisdome with as thankfull hearts as Israel did the workes of his power would be childish and pettish Hopes of successe whether by meanes ordinary or miraculous must in all ages be grounded upon the same article of faith but not at all times upon
beware of them or unlesse hee had instructed them that the victory which God had promised to give his people at this time over their enemies was not to bee purchased by strength of sword but by patient possessing of their owne soules in time of warres and persecutions And of these times wherein false Prophets or false Christs did so prevaile with this people was that saying of our Saviour Iohn 5. 43. remarkably fulfilled I am come in my fathers name and yee receive me not If another shall come in his owne name him you will receiue The wisest amongst the Romans and amongst the rest Tacitus that great states-man or polititian observing the Iewes to have failed so fouly in their hopes of becoming Lords over the Nations by their expected King or Messias turn'd greater fooles than the Iewes had beene for having acknowledged the truth of the former prophecy which was so famous and so constantly received throughout the East He would have it fufilled in Vespatian in that hee was called out of Iudea unto the empire of Rome that is as they interpretit to be Lord of the whole world And which is most strange Iosephus himselfe a Iew by birth and education and therefore acquainted with the prophecies or prenotions concerning their Messias was either the Author of this foolish interpretation or the first Author now extant that did publish it Tacitus addes some credit to Iosephus his report of the constant fame throughout the East that Iudea should at that time bring forth the Lord of the whole world but hee makes no addition to Iosephus his folly in misapplying that which the Prophets had said and the esterne Nation had received concerning the King that was to arise out of Iudea unto Vespatian making him and his sonnes of true and lawfull Emperours false Christs Now to a-awake the Romans out of this proud fantastique dreame the true Christ the Lord of heaven and earth and judge of quicke and dead did exhibit these signes here mentioned in my text before the Romans had fully digested their triumphant feast and joy for the victory which they had gotten over the Iewish Nation Italy and Rome it selfe became the stage whereon these fearefull spectacles were acted and the whole Roman Empire were more then spectators if no Actors yet patients in this dolefull tragedy Besides the destruction of the old world by water and of Sodome and other foure cities by fire and brimstone no history of the world doth mention any such strange calamities as issued from the burning of the mount Vesuevius in Campania which first hapened in the first or second yeare of Titus although it hath oftentimes since procured great annoyance to neighbour provinces But that it begun first to burne in the dayes of Titus is cleere from the untimely death of Plyny the elder that great Naturalist Who out of curiosity going to search the cause of it was choaked to death with the smoake I have often put you in mind heretofore that many historians which either never read the sacred prophecies or did not minde them when they wrotte their histories are usually the best interpreters as well of the prophecies in the old as new testament Nor is the fulfilling of any prophecy in the old testament more litterally or more punctually related either in the old or new testament then the fulfilling of this prophecy in my text is by Dio Cassius a most judicious and ingenious heathen writer in the raigne of Titus The suddaine earthquakes were so grievous that all that valley was sultring hot and the tops of the mountaines sunke downe under the grouud were noyses like thunder answered with like bellowings above the searoared and the heavens resounded like noyse huge and great crashings were heard as if the mountaines had fallen together great stones leaped out of their places as high as tops of hils and after them issued abundance of fire and smoake in so much that it darkned the ayre and obscured the sunne as if it had beene ecclipsed so that night was turned into day and day into night many were perswaded that the Gyants had raised some civill broyles amongst themselves because they did see their shapes in smoak and heard a noyse of trumpets others thought the world should bee resolved into old Caos or consumed with fire some ranne out of their houses into the streets others from the streets or high-wayes into their houses otherer from sea to land some againe from the land to the sea Dio Cassius inhistoria Titi. Besides the large extent of this calamity through Aegypt Syria and Greece and great part of Africa related by this Author and toucht upon in the first booke of Comments upon the Creed page 49. c. The latine reader may finde many other circumstances in other good writers as in Procopius Zonaras c. faithfully collected by Maiolus tractatu de montibus pag. 520. 521. Though Cedrenus were a Christian yet I thinke when he wrote the history of Phocas he had as little minde or thought of the fulfilling of S. Iohn's prophecy Revelation the 8. Chap. v. 8. c. As Dio Cassius had of the accomplishment of our Saviour in my text And the second Angell sounded and as it were a great mountaine burning with fire was cast into the sea and the third part of the sea became bloud And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died and the third part of the ships were destroyed Cednenus after a breife character of Phocas his ill favoured body and conditions in which latter his consort did too well agree with him tels us that in his time there was an inundation of all manner of mischiefes upon mankind an infinite number of men and beasts died and the earth denying her increase the famine and grievous pestilences arose and the winters were so sharpe and cruell that the sea freez'd and the fishes in it perished These were strange signes of the time and did portend the greatest alteration that ever befell Christian Churches by the erection of the two grand antichristian tyrannies the one in the East the other in the west Cedrenus in compendio historiae pag. 332. All that I have for this present to adde unto my former observations concerning the burning of Vesuvius is the admirable disposition of Gods providence in that he would not have the fulfilling of this prophecy in my text to be recorded by any Evangelist or other sacred writers but by this heathen historian A bright ray or beame of divine providence you may observe in so disposing the testimonies of these times as that the Evangelist S. Iohn who usually relates our Saviour's speeches more distinctly and more at large then the other three Evangelists doth not so much as mention our Saviour's prophecies either concerning the signes preceeding the destruction of Ierusalem or these signes in my text which were signes of his comming to judge the Nations The reason I
joynt or member of the body wherein the Gangrene or other deadly spreading sore hath got possession or roote From this internall imbred corruption he proceeds unto more publique and grievous wounds or diseases usually made by causes externall as when Israel shal be overthrowne before their enemies v. 25. When the heavens shall be shut up and the earth be without raine v. 26. When there shal be Famine Pestilence mildew Grashoppers or Caterpillers When the enemy shall besiege thee in the Cities When they shal be afflicted by any Plague or sicknesse v. 28. The soveraigne remedy for all and every one of these and the like is the very same and it is this v. 20. 21. Then heare thou from heaven from thy dwelling place their prayer and their supplications and maintaine their cause and forgive thy people which haue sinned against thee v. 29. But what if this people should be led captive into a foraigne land not permitted to repaire unto this house where the Lord had placed his name This Solomon foresaw as a matter not impossible how ample soever his promises unto his father David and his seed might in ordinary construction seeme to be is there any possible salve for this possible fore or can this house which he had consecrated to be an house of prayer afford them in this case any remedy when they could not come to pray in it yes the remedy is prescrib'd v. 38. 39. If they returne to thee with all their heart and with all their soule in the land of their captivity whither they haue caryed them captives and pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers and towards the city which thou hast chosen and towards the house which I have built for thy name Then heare thou from heaven c. Soe then both Prince and people were to pray in this house whilst they possest this land and city wherein it stood to pray towards it when they soiourned in forraigne Coasts or were detained in the land of their captivity to pray towards the place wherein it had stood in case it should be demolished So did Daniel after this house which Solomon built was burnt to the ground 3 The prerogatives which he petitions might be bestowed upon this house of prayer were you see exceeding great Was it then any part of his intention in the suite or of Gods purpose in the grant to have this house endowed with such ample priviledges for the use or benefit of Israel only or of Abrahams seede according to the flesh surely Solomon did conceive his prayers out of a perfect and speciall faith yet the specialty of his faith in Gods promises made unto Israell or to Abrahams seede did no way extinguish his charity or abate his good affectiō towards others for he expressely consecrates his house to be an house of prayer for the use benefit of all the nations under heaven though in the first place for Israel Moreover as touching the stranger which is not of thy people Israel but is come from a farre country for thy great names sake and thy mighty hand and thy streched out arme if they come and pray in this house then heare thou from heaven even from thy dwelling place and doe according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for that all people of the earth may know thy name and feare thee as doth thy people Israell and may know that this house which I haue built is called by thy name 32. 33. He knew the gracious goodnesse of his God to be in it selfe so great so truly infinite that it could not be a whit lessoned towards Israell how farre soever it were extended towards others as it is extended to all men without exception insensu divise though not in sensu composito it is thus far extended unto all to the end that they might come to the knowledge of the truth but not extended not communicated to such as love darknesse better then light and falshood then truth It was then well with Israell when their charity towards others was like their heavenly fathers love without factious partiality or respect of persons It was their seeking to ingrosse Gods promised blessings unto mankind which twice brought that greivous curse upon them under which at this day they sigh and groane Now if all the nations on earth had this interest in Solomons Temple shall we deny any one of what Nation soever the like interest in Abrahams seed concerning whom the Lord had sworne that in him should all the nations of the earth be blessed Thus much of the generall scope or view of this Chap to retire my selfe unto my text which is as the center or fittest Angle for taking the exact survey of this long and fruitfull field 4 To give you then a briefe comprehension of the principallest and most fundamentall truths either directly incident into or naturall emergent out of it First it is taken as granted by Solomon and it is to us a point of faith that as well the Calamities as the Prosperities of states and kingdomes are from the Lord It is he that giveth life as well to bodyes politique as to naturall It is he that woundeth and it is he that maketh whole Secondly no Calamity or wounds of state are in their nature incurable if this remedy be sought in time they grow incurable only by neglect of the medicines in Gods word prescribed Thirdly the only Soveraigne remedy for restoring states and kingdomes diseased and wounded by the hand of God unto their perfect health is prayer and Supplications to the King of Kings The last must be the conditions of the prayers or qualification of the Supplicants by whom such prayers as may prevaile with God must be made Vpon this point Solomon often toucheth in severall passages of this Chapter Such of the heathens as were alwayes ready to sacrifice unto their owne right armes for victory inbattle and unto their owne wit in policy for the sweet fruits of peace did often observe certaine surplusses of successe good or bad which they could not account to be the naturall issue either of their industry or contrivance and whatsoever fell without the mould of their hopes or feares was attributed to fates if it were disastrous to fortune or chance if it were good now whatsoever the heathens did ascribe to fortune to chance or fate or to any other supposed guide of nature or intermedling power in humane affaires all these the wise king ascribes wholy unto his God he is the God of peace and yet the God that maketh warre the Lord of hostes the God of plenty and yet the God that sendeth scarcity The God of our health and life and yet it is he which punisheth with plague and sicknesses Nor are we bound only to derive all extraordinary successe which the heathen gave to fortune and fate but ever even the usuall successe of ordinary endeavours be it good or bad from his providence That the
the same branch of the same article It is he that made us which only can preserve us and whiles we professe that it is hee that made us and not wee our selves that he is the maker of all things visible invisible we include as much as the Apostle saith somewhat more then he expresseth in these words In him we move live and have our being which containe the three speciall branches of Gods power Miracles properly so called consist in some extraordinary manifestation of Gods power either adding somewhat unto or subtracting somewhat from the ordinary efficacy of instrumentall causes or observable course of nature All miracles may be reduced to such manifestation either of Gods creative or his conservative or cooperative power Sampsons strength or archievements were truely miraculous and did suppose an addition of force supernaturall to his native activity or extraordinary measure of Gods coworking power The victory which Iosuah got over the Amorites was after this manner miraculous There was a power more than naturall as well in the motion as in the making of those great stones wherewith the Amorites were beaten downe The three Children againe were preserved untoucht in the midst of the flaming furnace by true miracle or extraordinary manifestation of Gods power But this consisted not in the addition of any supernaturall forces unto it but in the meere subtraction of Gods co-working power without subtraction of his creative or conserving power for so it had ceased not only to burne but to be fire The suddaine withering of Ieroboams hand was a true miracle but did consist in the subtraction of Gods preserving power that is that branch of his power in which as the Apostle speakes all things live that are endowed with life That God hath thus wrought the safety of his servants and yet is able to worke by these or the like more miraculous meanes wee doe believe in that we believe he is the Almighty maker of heaven and earth But besides that absolute dependance which every particular creature hath on these branches of his power by which their severall efficacies may be extraordinarily increased or diminished there is an essentiall subordination of all the severall rankes of his creatures with whatsoever strength or efficacy they be endowed unto his providence as in wisdome he made them all so in wisdome he marshalleth and ordereth them all Now the contrivance of meanes or agents for their nature or kinde but ordinary may be more admirable than miracles properly so called that is than his particular workes of wonder Miracles are in their nature more apt to affect the sence but the sweet contrivances of Gods wisdome and providence doe more affect the understanding The one workes astonishment the other admiration For this reason were miracles more frequent in the infancy of the Church as an awfull kinde of discipline to inforce unbeleevers to give audience unto the word of life and to take Gods promises which would otherwise be sleighted into serious consideration But the wayes of Gods wisdome or sweet disposition of his providence are more apt to cherish the seed of life being sowen in mens hearts Miracles by continuall frequency would cease to be miracles would not be wondred at whereas the unsearchable wayes of Gods wisdome or his indissoluble contrivances of extraordinary successe by meanes ordinary will uncessantly breed in us matter of admiration His wayes and contrivances are still in one kinde or other most admirable but we want eyes or will to contemplate or observe them Yet let us see whether the greatest deliuerances which God wrought for his children of Israel besides that one in bringing them out of the land of Egypt were not wrought by meanes ordinary and usuall if we respect their particular or severall agencies and admirable and extraordinary only for their combination and contrivance When the Lord turned againe the captivity of Sion we were like them that dreame Then was our mouth fill'd with laughter and our tongues with singing Then said they among the heathen the Lord hath done great things for them yea the Lord hath done great things for us already whereof wee reioyce Psal. 120. v. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. This was indeed a great deliverance and so to be acknowledged by all posterity For so the Prophet had foretold Ier. 23. 7. Behold the day is come saith the Lord that they shall no more sya the Lord liveth which brought forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt But the Lord liveth which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the North country and from all countryes whether I had driven them and they shall dwell in their owne land Not to make comparison betwixt the mighty workes of God or not to question whether according to the literall meaning of this Prophecy the fame or fresh memory of this second deliverance out of Chaldey should eclipse the fame of the former out of Egypt This is certaine aud unquestionable that this latter deliverance was a most exact parallell to the former And yet if we could exactly calculate all the particular meanes which did concurre to the surprisall of Babylon by Cyrus or to Cyrus his setting this people free we should not finde one miraculous effect among them And yet if wee would but seriously compare all the circumstances and concurrences of second causes which Herodotus and Xenophon relate with the sacred predictions concerning Cyrus his good successe against Babylon the intire contrivance of them is most admirable and such as would give us a more pleasant view or modell of Gods infinite wisdome then miracles can doe of his infinite power Againe in that deliverance of the Iewes from Hamans conspiracy there is no extraordinary manifestation of Gods power no particular cause or agent was in it's working advanced above the ordinary pitch of nature and yet the contrivance or suiting of these ordinary agents appointed by God is more admirable then if the same end had beene effected by meanes truly miraculous For a King not to take kindly rest by night though in a bed of ease is not unusuall For a King againe to seeke to solace his waking thoughts by hearing the Annalls of his kingdome or the journalls of his owne reigne read unto him is more commendable then rare But that King Assuerus should lye awake at that time specially when Haman did watch and plot the destruction of the Iewes that causing the Chronicles of his Kingdome to be read the reader should light on the place wherein Mordecai his unrewarded good service in discovering the treason intended against the Kings person was recorded this was from the keeper of Israel who neither slumbereth nor sleepeth and who was marveilous in his peoples sight It was his doing likewise that Hester though by Mordecai's advice should conceale her nation and parentage untill she came in such high favour with the King That Queene Vashti should be displaced and she preferred
was a iust God to inflict upon them what they deserved but they believed withall that he was a God of mercy and forgivenesse and out of this feare thus tempered with hope they addresse themselves to become as capable of his mercy as they had beene of his iustice For so it followes that the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloath from the greatest of them even unto the least of them and thus they did both by the Kings royall command and example an admirable resolution in a heathen King a practise more Orthodoxall then was the doctrine of the Priests or Prophets which questioned Ieremiah for saying the Lord would make his Temple like Shilo unlesse they did speedily repent But what was the issue of the Ninevites repentance God saith the text saw their workes that they turned from their evill way and God repented of the evill that he had said that he would doe unto them and he did it not v. 10. Did he then but say that he would doe this evill unto them without any thought or purpose to doe it if hee had but only said it and not meant it hee could not be truely said to repent him of it his saying supposeth his intent or thought for he said it solemnely and publiquely not tentatively or by way of triall only But if God had a serious will or purpose to destroy Nineveh at this time and destroyed it not how is it true which the Psalmist saith that hee doth whatsoever he will in heaven and in earth So that if it be true what we have before delivered wee shall be thought by some to admit either some defect in his power or some alteration in his will Thus litle children by turning long round imagine that the Globe of heauen and earth runnes round with them untill their braines be setled And men of riper yeares unlesse their vnderstandings correct their fancy conceipt that towers and steeples with the shoares whereon these or other edifices stand doe move from vs whil'st we swiftly passe by them or from them But to thinke there should be any change in Gods will because many things which he seriously willeth are not effected is an errour a great deale more grosse then either of the former For all the change is in the object of his will that is in the things willed or nilled by him The answere to this obiection or discovery of this fallacies originall was most acutely made and punctually delivered by the schoole-men long agoe aliud est mutare voluntatem aliud est velle mutationem It is not all one for God to change his will and to will a change in things created by him God never changeth his will it alwaies is as his nature is absolutely immutable or as our Apostle speakes without shadow of change yet by one and the same unchangeable will hee may and doth will variety of changes diversity of alterations in the things willed by him or in the sentences denounced by his Prophets in his name He worketh all things by the councell of his will and as Saint Gregory saith nunquam mutat consilium his counsell doth never change or alter saepius tamen mutat sententiam his unchangeable unalterable counsell may worke a change in all things besides it selfe It was his iust will seriously at this time to destroy the Ninevites and this his will or purpose we will conceive to be more unchangeable more immoveable then a rocke of Adamant and Nineveh whilst she continued her wonted course in sinne was like a ship before a full winde which had outsailed her watch whilst the Marriners slept by this error ready to dash against the immoveable rock of Divine iustice had not her Pilots governors awaked out of their sleep upon the Prophet Ionas summons tackt about and directed their course another way If whilst we acknowledge Gods will to be most unchangeable we consider it withall to bee a most compleat and most constant rule of equity and goodnesse qua talis it will most necessarily follow that even in this respect it is a rule most compleat and most unchangeable it must have one award for Nineveh raging with cruelty and oppression another for Nineveh turning from the violence that was in their hands one doome for Nineveh wallowing in drunkennesse riotousnesse and uncleanenesse another for Nineveh watching washing her selfe with teares fasting and sitting in ashes covered with sack-cloath One sentence for Nineveh polluting her selfe with pride of heart with periury and blasphemy another for Nineveh humbling her selfe under the mighty hand of God with fasting devoutly calling upon his name with teares and supplications For albeit God knoweth all things as well things to come as present and doth nothing otherwise than from eternity it was determined to be done yet even this wee know was determined from eternity that every man in every nation should be rewarded not according to the identity of their persons or place but according to the diversity of their wayes to the variety of their workes Though Rockes in the sea be immoveable yet we easily conceive how the distance or aspect betwixt them and ships which saile to and fro doth vary every moment whilst the ships are in motion Conceive then Christ Iesus to bee as hee truly is the immovable Rocke of our salvation but withall a living Rocke and an allseing rule and it will be easier to conceive how the doome or sentence from eternity awarded to every mans actions doth hourely change either for quality or degree as men doe change their course of life whether from good to evill or from evill to good from good to better or from evill to worse So then Repentance in these Ninevites did import not only a will of change but a true change in their wils and affections They turned their delight in sinne into sorrow for sinnes past and good resolutions not to transgresse so againe Repentance in God importeth only a will of change nor is it the will of every change but a change of the doome or sentence denounced which the Scripture calls repentance in God And here I should have set a period to the first point proposed did not some men question whether that beliefe wherewith the Ninevites are said to have beleeved God were a true beliefe or an act of saving faith however such it was as did save them from present destruction but so it might be in some mens judgements and yet be but a temporary historicall faith For how could they pray in faith according to the Apostles rule seeing they doubted whether God would shew mercy upon them or noe For so much seemes to be included in the resolution v. 9. Who can tell if God will returne and repent and turne away from his fierce anger and we perish not Now thus to doubt may seeme to argue that their prayers were not of true faith But these two sacred maximes whatsoever is not of faith is sinne
grievous punishment than wee or others are but before this day it is not Christian-like it is not safe to say or thinke that this man is a more grievous sinner than wee our selves are for than this man deserves to be more grievously plagued than wee our selves or others whom wee thinke well of so long as either they or wee have one houres space left for repentance To judge of the measure of any mans sinnes by the manner of his punishments here on earth or to determine of his future estate by his present death or disaster is to usurpe or trench upon Christ Iesus his royall prerogative which to prejudice by word or sentence interlocutory which to preoccupate by any peremptory or censorious thought is more than a praemunire a branch of high treason or rebellion against him Besides this exception which cleerely infringes the former allegations for judging of the cause by the effect or measuring mens sinnes by the manner of their visible punishments many positive reasons there be which might perswade us that our most good and gracious God without impeachment unto his unchangeable mercy and justice may and often doth in this life shew extraordinary mercy to extraordinary sinners and recompence ordinary sinners men not so sinfull as the best of us account our selves to be with extraordinary punishments in this life Both parts of this allegation may bee proved by instance and by rule by examples of Scripture and by reason grounded on Scripture First because such as have beene extraordinary sinners have obtained extraordinary mercy There was not an honest matron or unmarried woman in in the land of Iudea or Galilee but would have taken it for a defamation to have beene compared to Mary Magdalen Shee was a notorious sinner in that notorious sinne of wantonnesse and uncleanenesse and yet obtained greater mercy than any woman of her time besides the blessed Virgin Mary for shee was endowed with an extraordinary measure of that excellent gift of love and charity Our Saviour gives her this testimony that shee loved much And the reason why shee loved much was because many sinnes and those of the worst kind of sinnes were forgiven her Here was mercy two wayes extraordinary First in that shee had many such sinnes foregiven her Secondly in that shee loved much For this extraordinary measure of love through the same goodnesse of God by which it was given her was to have an extraordinary reward Againe what disciple or Apostle of our Saviour was there which might not have upbraided Peter with extraordinary ingratitude which is the height of sinne for denying his Lord and master three severall times expressely and in a manner judicially And yet for all this Gods mercy and gratious favour towards him was extraordinary even in respect of other disciples and Apostles the disciple whom Iesus loved only excepted Paul for a long time was a blaspheamer of the evangelicall truth a more furious persecutor of such as followed the waies of life then the Prince of his tribe King Saul had beene of righteous David And yet this man from a notorious sinner from a persecuting Saul was changed into a zealous Paul became a valiant champion for the faith more zealous in maintaining it than hee had beene furious in persecuting such as professed it And this suddaine and extraordinary change was wrought by the extraordinary mercy of God But doe not these and the like instances or examples of Gods extraordinary mercy favour and bounty towards extraordinary and notorious sinners no way prejudice or impeach the unchangeable mercy of God or his impartiall dealing with men No for the extraordinary mercy which hee shewed did not extend to them only but to all extraordinary sinners in the like kind unto the worlds end His extraordinary mercy and favour unto Mary Magdalen was as a pledge of his mercy and favour to all like sinners of her sexe so they would by true repentance accept and embrace his mercy and favour manifested unto her If any which heare or read of his mercy exhibited to her doe finally perish their perdition is from themselues If any truely repent their salvation and repentance by which they become immediatly capable of salvation is from the Lord. Gods extraordinary mercy unro Peter who had in a manner made shipwrack of his faith was as secunda tabula post naufragium as a planck or mast cast out after shipwrack not only for his succour but for the succour of all the Iewish nation which had denied the Lord that bought them As many of this nation as after Peters conversion were converted and saved their conversion and salvation was meerely from the Lord as many of them as perished did therefore perish because they did not repent as Peter did and they did therefore not repent because they did not lay Gods mercies towards him and to their country-men converted by him to their hearts That extraordinary mercy againe which God exhibited unto Paul yeelds the assurance of faith a sure anchor of hope to all persecutors of the Church whether Heathens Turkes or Infidels that there is plenteous redemption with God in Christ mercy plenteous to worke repentance in them and by repentance compleat redemption of body and soule As many of Turkes or other infidels as doe not repent and by their not repentance perish their perdition or not repentance is from themselues Not the saluation only but the repentance of such as doe repent is meerely from God and this God our Lord who is rich in mercy towards all did worke repentance in Mary Magdalene in Saint Peter and Saint Paul by meanes and motiues extraordinary that all such sinners as they were might belieue and knowe that no sinners are excluded from possibility of repentance in this life but that the mercy which he shewed to them by meanes extraordinary is daily exhibited by meanes ordinary that is by the administration of the word and sacraments vnto all that doe not wilfully exclude themselues The second point proposed was that God doth award extraordinary visible punishments vnto ordinary sinners without impeachment to his vnchangeable justice or to that ingraffed notion which all Christians haue of his unpartiall dealing with the sonnes of men It was an extraordinary visitation wherewith he visited the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and their territories 1. Sam. 6. 19. for he smote of the people fiftie thousand threescore and tenne men because they had looked into the Arke of the Lord. It was likewise an extraordinary punishment upon Vzzah who being but a Leuite did touch the Arke of the Lord. 2. Sam. 6. 6. For he was smitten with suddaine death from which kinde of punishment all of us doe pray or ought to pray that the Lord would deliuer us But may wee therefore conclude that these men of Bethshemesh were sinners above all the men of Iudah or that Vzzah was a more grievous sinner than any Levite of his age on whom the Lord did not shew like punishments God