the edification of his Church and Kingdome Roote out good Lord we beseech thee all Iewish affections and Iewish opinions out of the hearts of thy people that so our prayers and supplications for the prosperity of thine inheritance and thine Anointed may be ever acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength and our Redeemer AMEN THE SECOND SERMON VPON 2. CHRON. 6. 39. 40. COncerning the second generall proposed two points there be which require discussion or declaration The first whether this petition which Solomon here preferreth to the King of Kings were granted according to his desires The second how farre the grant made to him or how farre the practices or experiments answerable to his petition during the time that this temple stood may concerne us or the times wherein we live That Solomons petition was fully granted first the equity of the matter contained in it may perswade us for hee requests nothing at Gods hands which is for substance altogether new nothing but that which out of his free mercy and bounty he had granted unto his people before though not supplicated unto in such a solemne manner as Solomon now useth and prescribes as a patterne for others to use When Israel was in his infancy not able to speake the language of Canaan much lesse to frame his petitions according to the stile and forme of the Sanctuary the God of his father did understand his cry and was alwaies ready to give him a better answere then he could desire The cry of the children of Israel saith God is come unto me and I have also seene the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppresse them Exod. 3. 9. Might they have spoken for themselves the utmost of their request had beene only for some ease or mitigation of their present servitude and grievance but God so gracious is he sends them full deliverance and of slaves makes them a free state a royall nation Vpon the sight of Pharaohs hoste pursuing them after they had been set free the extremity of feare makes them desirous rather to returne unto their wonted thraldome then to hazard their lives for attaining that liberty whereunto God by Moses had called them Whilst thus affected they cry unto the Lord and he heares their cry although it were mingled with murmurings against Moses Exod. 14. v. 10. 11. True it is that Moses prayed whilst they murmured but God was more ready to heare then Moses to pray and therefore he saith v. 15. wherefore cryest thou unto me speak unto the children of Israel that they goe forward But for a master to redeeme his owne servants from foraigne oppression is not so strange or out of course Did God then at the prayer or instance of his servants heale his people whom he himselfe had wounded When the people complained it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt amongst them and consumed them that were in the utmost parts of the campe Numb 11. 1. The disease was acute and made quicke dispatch the medicine was as swift and speedy Then the people cried unto Moses and when Moses prayed unto the Lord the fire was quenched v. 2. One branch of Solomons petition is that when Israel should goe forth to battaile against their enemies by the way which he should send them that he would then heare their prayers and supplications and iudge their cause A lively pledge of Gods favour answerable to this branch of the petition and of the immediate dependance which successe in battaile hath on faithfull prayers we have in that story Exod. 17. v. 9. 10. when Iosuah was sent by Moses appointment to fight with Amalek It came to passe when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed and when he let downe his hand Amalek prevailed Another branch of Solomons petition in this place is v. 24. That when Israel should be put to the worst before their enemies that God would be mercifull unto their sinne when they should turne againe and confesse his name and pray This was Israels case in the siege of Ai Iosuah 17. v. 7. 8. Iosuah upon the sight of this wound flies for succour to that medicine which Solomon happly from his practice prescribes For he rent his clothes and fell on his face to the earth before the Arke of the Lord and cried alas O Lord what shall I say when Israel turneth their backe before their enemies God heares his prayer before he was willing to make an end of praying Get thee up wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face and instructs him for restoring Israel to his wonted estate and condition by recompencing the way of the wicked upon his owne head First he makes Achan confesse his sinne and give glory unto God and so removes the sinne from Israel by execution of iustice which in like case is equivalent to prayer at least a necessary condition of successefull prayers for the publique weale and safety of kingdomes 2 If after Iosuahs death we were to give a generall title to the sacred history of ensuing times for almost foure hundred yeares or make an Epitome of the booke of Iudges it could not be more briefe then this Israel sinnes and is given up into the hands of the oppressor Israel cries unto the Lord and he sends him a Iudge and a deliverer And yet as the sacred pen-man of that story observes Israels repentance alwaies died with the Iudge which God did send them and could not be revived againe but by renewing of affliction One and the same affliction was commonly the effect of Israels sinne and the meanes of Israels repentance his sinne was the efficient and repentance the finall cause of their oppression And so gratious was God towards them so ready alwaies to heare their prayers that he seemed not to punish them so much for sins past as to continue his punishment untill they repented Among other calamities of estate whose cure or remedy Solomon here seekes the plague of pestilence is one v. 28. with this the land was grievously smitten even from Dan to Beersheba in his Father Davids daies by the immediate hand of God and in particular for his Fathers sinne in numbring the people Yet when David confessed his sinne and thus prayed Behold I have sinned yea I have done wickedly but these sheepe what have they done Let thine hand I pray thee be against mee and against my Fathers house v. 17. the Lord was appeased towards the land and the Plague ceased from Israel So ready was God alwaies to heare the prayers of this people when they turned unto him before this Temple was built The sumâ—â—hen of Solomons petition is that rhe Lord would be pleased to give his people some particular or new assurance for continuing his wonted mercies or blessings unto them that this house which he had built might be as a publique Court of audience a place wherein it might be free for every man and for all
manifest himselfe in his works so faire that they are without excuse And though the speech be for its forme indifferent or aequipendent yet the matter doth necessarily sway it from the former to this latter sense For if God had manifested himselfe unto them them to no other intent that they might be without excuse they had a better excuse in readinesse then any of the reprobate or damned shall finde at the day of Iudgement None of them shall be then able to deny either the receipt of a talent or the receipt of it to some better intent or end then to leave them without excuse They are therefore without excuse because they have hid their talents and doe not employ them to the use or end intended by their master But more particularly the calamities or plagues which befell the Iewish nation may seeme incurable from the words of our Saviour Mat. 23. 34. 35. Behold I send unto you Prophets and wise men and scribes and some of them ye shall kill and crucify and some of them ye shall scourgein the Synagogues and persecute from City to City That upon you may come all the righteous bloud shed upon the earth from the bloud of righteous Abell unto the bloud of Zacharias sonne of Barachias whom yee slew betweene the Temple and the Altar Did the wisdome of God then send Prophets and wisemen unto their forefathers or did he come to this generation in person himselfe to this intent or end that all the righteous bloud which had beene shed upon the earth might be required of them For thus interpreting this place the originall phrase affords a pretence somewhat fayrer then can be brought for the former Interpretation of S. Paul Vt super vos veniat yet every novice in Grammar knowes that the preposition ut or Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not alwaies denote the Finall cause it ofttimes imports the Course or issue not the end or intent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so saith our Saviour Ioh. 17. 3. This is life eternall that they might know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Vt te cognoscant this is no more then if he had said te cognoscere to know thee to be the only God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent is life eternall Give these words of our Saviour in the 7th of S. Iohn leave to interpret his forecited words Mat. 23. and their meaning will be in plaine English thus much and no more some of them you will crucify and some of them you will scourge and persecute so long untill the bloud of all the righteous shed upon the earth will come upon you The true reason why the bloud of Gods Prophets was to be required of this generation was because God had continually sent them unto them from time to time out of his mercy and compassion that they might be healed So saith the Scripture 2. Chron. 36. 15. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his word and misused his Prophets untill the wrath of the Lord rose against his people untill there was no remedy That which made their calamities remediles or as the originall hath it incurable was their continuall mocking or despising the messengers of their peace which God from time to time had sent to heale them So that all the calamity which ensued was not the end intended by God in sending his messengers unto them but the issue of their mocking despising both Physitions and Medicines They are the cause of their incurable wounds yet was it God that did inflict them for so it followeth v. 17. 18. Therefore he brought upon them the King of the Caldeans who slew their young men in the house of their Sanctuary and had no compassion upon young man maiden or old man or him that stooped for age He gave them all into his hand and all the vessels of the house of God great and small and the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the King and his Princes All these he brought to Babilon and they burnt the house of the Lord and brake downe the wals of Ierusalem and burnt all the pallaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof All this masse of misery fell upon the people of God for whose prosperity Solomon here prayes all the desolation here mentioned light on this house which he now consecrates to be the house of prayer All this and more became inevitable in the issue but so it was not from the time that Ieremy began to prophecy to foretell and forethreaten it by expresse revelation from the Lord of heaven One speciall meanes by which this misery became inevitable was that erroneous opinion or conceit wherewith most of this people were possessed to wit that their calamity or prosperity was fatall that all things were so predeterminated by God that nothing could fall out otherwise then it did that every thing was absolutely necessary in respect of Gods decree This was the symptome of their incurable disease for whose cure Ieremy was sent to the potters house there to receive that instruction from the Lord of which we read Chap. 18. The exact point of time wherein their disease whether in whole or part became incurable wee leave with all reverence unto him who hath reserv'd the knowledge of times and seasons as a speciall prerogative of his power unto himselfe Act. 1. 7. Yet thus much he hath revealed unto us that every part of this calamity did not become inevitable at one and the same time the state of prince and people became more dangerous then it had beene as it were a disease recovering strength from a relapse by their shuffling with God after they had made a covenant with him for freeing their servants according to the tenour of his law in that case provided This breach of covenant Ieremy foretels in thundring tearmes would prove the cause of greater calamity then he before had threatned And yee were now turned and had done right in my sight in proclaming liberty every one to his neighbour But yee turned and polluted my name and caused every man his servant and his handmaid whom yee had set at liberty at their pleasures to returne and brought them into subiection to be unto them for servants and handmaids Therefore saith the Lord because yee have not hearkned unto me in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother and to neighbour behold I proclaime a liberty to you saith the Lord to the sword pestilence and famine and I will make you to be removed unto all the kingdomes of the earth Ierem. 34. v. 15. 16. 17. and v. 21. 22. And Zedechiah King of Iudah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies and
might have seed time and harvest as seasonable their fields as fruitfull the Sea as open as their hearts could desire yet the very freedome of commerce and traffique whether with foraine Nations or with other members of the same Nation may bring in a greater inconvenience which no plenty can hold out then the enemy then unseasonable winde or weather could threaten Want of trade and want of victuals are plagues or punishments sent by God but the plague of pestilence which is oft times the companion of peace and plenty the usuall effect of free trading or traffique is more terrible then either of the former wants And thus may every part of the reasonlesse host accomplish what another had omitted Now with turbulent spirits or unruly men good lawes duely executed may take some order but against unseasonable weather against unruly or incommodious windes no law of man no act of Parliament can provide Against the plague or pestilence no councell of state or warre no host or army can secure themselves much lesse others Though they that besiege and are besieged doe keepe watch and sentinell day and night yet the arrowes of this dreadfull messenger flye more certainly to the marke whereto they are directed though at mid-night then their bullets doe at mid-day As there is no counsell against the Lord so there is no policy that can prevent the execution of Gods judgements upon mightiest kingdomes by the meanest of his creatures besides that policy which his lawes given to Israel did prescribe One speciall branch of that wisdome which Moses ascribes unto these lawes was they taught their observers not to trust in bow or shield not to put any part of their confidence in the strength or wit of man no not in their owne observation of these very lawes or reformation wrought by their rules as it was theirs but only in the Lord of hosts Hee was their wisdome and he was their strength whensoever any danger did approach whether from men or from other creatures their lawes did teach them that he was absolute Lord over all that the hearts of Kings and Governours were under his governance that he could dispose turne them as it seemed best to his heavenly wisdome And that alwaies seemes best to him which is for the good of such as repose their whole trust and confidence in him When Israels enemies displeased him more then Israel did he made them stronger then their enemies and when their waies did please him he made their enemies as Solomon speakes to be at peace with them Whilst they faithfully served this Lord of hosts they knew hee could command the whole host of the reasonlesse or livelesse creatures to doe them service From this knowledge of God and his lawes did Solomon gather these unerring rules of sacred policy whose observation at this time did and might for ever have preserved this kingdome There is no inconvenience of peace no mischeife of warre no kind of calamity which can befall any state or kingdome against which the fundamentall lawes of this Nation and the rules of policy gathered from them by Solomon did not sufficiently provide The soveraigne remedies for every particular disease or kind of calamity are set downe at large 2. Chron. 6. v. 22. to the 40. The remedy against the calamity of war v. 24. 25. against the calamity that may come by drought v. 26. 27. against famine pestilence and blasting of corne or other inconvenience from the host of reasonlesse creatures you have the remedy v. 29. 30. against captivity in a foraigne land v. 37. 38. The soveraigne remedy against all these and other like inconveniences and calamities is for substance one and the same with that which good King Hezekiah here used to feare the Lord and pray unto the Lord either in the Temple when they had opportunity to resort unto it or towards the Temple or the place wherein it stood when they soiourned 〈◊〉 were detained Captives in a foraigne land And who so would diligently peruse the sacred story from Solomons time untill this peoples returne from captivity and the building up of the second Temple shall finde a probatum of this Catholique and soveraigne medicine in respect of every branch of calamity mentioned by Solomon at the consecration of the first Temple I must hold to the instance of my Text. Another branch of that which was contained in the fundamentall lawes of this kingdome and which goes a great deale deeper than the fundamentall rules of any other policy was this that of all calamities which did or could befall them their sinnes and transgressions were the prime causes and whatsoever afflictions were laid upon them for their sinnes could not bee taken off without the humble supplication of the sinners Vnto a lower ebbe then King Ahaz did leave it at the kingdome of Iudah had not beene brought by any of his Predecessors or by any other in their dayes Now of all the miseries which at any time befell it by the famine by the enemies sword or by the pestilence the only cause which the rule of faith assignes was their forsaking of the Lord their God and the transgressing of his lawes But to prevent the perpetuity and continuance of such calamities as king Ahaz and his Adherents had by their foule transgressions involved this kingdome in no attempt or practice of Prince or people whether joyntly or severally did ever finde successe untill they put Solomons rules of sacred policy in practice as good king Hezekiah did Did hee not feare the Lord and prayed before the Lord c. The fruits of his prayer and the reformation of those corrupt times by giving life unto their fundamentall lawes were two First his prayers procured an healing of the wounds which by negligence of his Predecessors had beene given to the State Secondly he prevented the execution of those terrible Iudgments which in his owne dayes did hang over this land and people specially over their Heads and Rulers The kingdome of David had sometimes exceeded the most flourishing neighbour kingdomes as farre as the Cedars of Libanus did the ordinary trees of the forrest but was now brought low That height which was left her but as a decayed tree markt to the fall Hezekiah by zealous prayers removes the axe from the roote after it had made such deepe incision that it was scarce able to beare its stemme though dispoiled of his top or principall branches it nearely concerned every one which hoped for shelter under its shade to pray for gentle winds and comfortable weather that shee might recover root and branch againe But so Hezekiah's and his peoples Successors did not Manasses his sonne found a people not untoward as being in some tolerable sort reformed by Hezekiah but he himselfe a most untoward King able by his authority and bad example to undoe what his good father had well done to spoile and marre a greater people than he was Lord of though better reformed in Iosiah
many amongst us place a great part of religion in being as extreamly contrary to the Romish Church as these latter Iewes were to the idolatry or superstition of the heathen or of their forefathers Now if this zeale of contrariety to Romish superstition be but equall to the like zeale in the Iewes the hypocrisy which is the resultance of such misguided zeale must needs bee more malignant And easy it were if place and time did permit to demonstrate how these men condemne themselves by judging the Romish doctrine and discipline in her grossest errors practises Anâ—articks they are thinke they can never be farre enough from the North-pole untill they runne from it unto the South-pole and pitch their habitation in terrâ incongnitâ in a world and Church unknowne to the ancients and I feare unto themselves But to let this errour passe if it were a grievous sinne in this last generation of the Iewes to prohibite the offring of legall sacrifices for the peace and security for the weale and prosperity of the Roman emperours whilst the partition wall betwixt the Iew and the Gentile was yet for the most part standing it cannot be a lesse sinne in such Christians as forebid us to offer up the calfes or fruits of our lips to wit the sacrifice of prayer for all men for all people in the world since this partition wall was taken away If thus to pray for all men were indeed an errour yet it were alas but error amoris a charitable errour an errour which deserved pitty rather then contempt and hatred of those who thinke themselves wiser in Gods waies than their fathers in Christ yet pitty it they doe not but rather scorne and contemne it or persecute such as practise it so farre as they are able that is with bitter and slanderous words And why doe they so Not out of hatred unto mens persons if we may believe them but out of zeale unto Gods word which forbids the practice of it and must be obeyed before any injunctions of the Church which in their construction are but Lawes of men But where doth Gods word so expressely forbid it Our Saviours practice as they alleage which ought to bee to us a rule more Saveraigne then any rubrickes in our Church booke doth in their opinion by consequence condemne it as Iohn Chap. 17. v. 9. I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine This for ought I know is the only place that can bee pretended against the practice of our Church But the question is not whether our Saviour in this place or at this time did pray for his Apostles alone or for such as should believe through their report but what it was which hee prayed for them only If our Saviour in this very place did pray his father not only to bestowe some extraordinary gifts upon his Apostles and such as they taught vivâ voce but withall for some visible manifestation of these extraordinary gifts bestowed upon them this will no way exclude the world as it then stood in opposition to true believers in sensu diviso from being partaker of his prayers for gifts ordinary Now that our Saviour did thus pray for his Apostles and the first converts to this end and purpose that these extraordinary gifts bestowed on them alone might bee an inducement to bring the world and all future generations to bee partakers of ordinary gifts is evident from the 20. and 21. v. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on mee through their word that they may all be one as thou father art in me and I in thee that they also may bee one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent mee Our Saviour in this prayer for the world praies not only that it might bee partaker of the outward meanes but of the internall meanes of salvation yea of salvation its selfe for so hee had premised v. 3. This is life eternall that they may know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent So farre then is our Church or the ancient Church whom shee followes from contradicting our Saviours meaning in this place that they tooke his prayer and practice for their patterne For as wee are taught in our Liturgy to pray for all men without exception we are taught withall nor to pray for all things for all men promiscuosly but respectively for such things for every man as his estate condition is immediatly capable of All men of what Nation or condition soever as well Singula generum as genera singulorum are either in the way of truth or out of it This division admits no medium or third member Now wee are taught to pray for all men for every man that are comprehended in this division but not to pray for the same blessings for all In the first place wee are taught to pray that God would bring all those into the wayes of truth as have erred and are deceived we doe not pray to God to confirme them in the way of truth untill they bee in it of such as are in the way of truth which is the second member of the universall division some doe stand that is walke in it without stumbling others fall others walke in it yet but weakely and droopingly and according to their severall estates and conditions wee pray first that God would strengthen such as doe stand Secondly that hee would raise up such as doe fall Thirdly that hee would helpe and comfort the weake-hearted or fainting travellers in the wayes of truth finally not at our first conversion to tread downe Sathan under our feet For we must resist we must encounter him before he will flee from us and after his flight we must pursue the victory or advantage gotten before we can hope to trample upon him But what successe hath our Church found by continuing this forme of prayer more than other Churches which contemne or deride it The successe we leave to God yet this comfort we have that albeit many or most of them for whom wee thus daily pray may dye in their sinnes their bloud shall not bee required at our hands As for such as maligne or mock us for thus praying let us continue our prayers for them also Father forgive us and forgive them all our sinnes negligences and ignorances and endue us with the grace of thy holy spirit to amend our lives according to thy holy word A SERMON OR POSTILL PREACHED IN NEWE-CASTLE VPON TINE The second Sunday in Advent 1630. OXFORD Printed by LEONARD LICHFIELD An. Dom. 1637. LVK. 21. V. 25. And there shall be signes in the sunne and in the moone and in the starres and upon the earth distresse of Nations with perplexity the sea and the waves roaring THIS day being the second Sunday in Advent drawes mee as yee see unto a new text being part