they had foisted in many things of their own invention and so became guilty of Will-worship yea and of cursed Idolatry Neither lastly did they frequent the publique place viz. the Temple at Jerusalem which the Lord had then chosen to himself for an house of Sacrifice partly to shadow forth the great mystery of their Salvation by Christ and partly to preserve the whole body of the Jews in unity of Faith and Religion and that there might be no rents and divisions among them But they like men transgressed the Covenant and Commandments of their God and worshipped the golden Calves which Jerohoam that none-such for impiety had set up at Dan and Bethel Thus did they provoke the Lord to anger with their High places and moved him to jealousie with their graven Images Now when God heard this he was wrath and greatly abhorred Israel But then Positively their Sacrifices and Songs were rejected First Because they put so much confidence in them as to think to set off with God and to expiate for their sins by their outward Forms and Ceremonies though they neglected the substantials and vitals of Religion the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weightier matters of the Law viz. judgment Mercy and Faith Hence it was that their Oblations became vain their Incense an abomination to the Lord and their solemn meetings which they themselves were very highly conceited of he could not away with Sordet in conspectu judicis quod fulget in conspectu operantis That which was fair in their eyes was filthy in the sight of God 2dly Because they were a wicked people which even hated to be reformed and to such God saith What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldst take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee The Sacrifice of the wicked is abomination how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind Prov. 21. 27. The sweetest melody hath but an harsh sound in the ears of God when wicked men make it Singing must be with grace in the heart And the Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise This for the Answer of the Quaery The Note from the words take thus Meer outside formal performances are so far from procuring the Lords acceptation that they provoke him to indignation against all Hypocrites in Religion To offer many Sacrifices with the Papists without obedience is no better in their own Tostatus phrase than studium nequitiae a kind of devotion by which a man takes much pains to offend his Maker And however men cry up their own way yet they will find that want of a divine approbation will undo all If we search the Scriptures we shall find several Instances which may sufficiently serve for the proof of this startling Inference of so great an heap I shall gather sparingly We read Gen. 4. 4 5. how that God had respect to Abels offering and not to Cains the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives the reason hereof Heb 11. 4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more acceptable Sacrifice than Cain Abel offered by faith and Cain without faith and therefore God accepted Abels Sacrifice and rejected Cains Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire and by fire from heaven they were consumed Levit. 10. 1. 2. Forasmuch as the Lord was not sanctified by them in their approaches to him therefore he would be sanctified upon them in their destruction Mal. 1. 14. There 's a curse upon the deceiver which hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing And how many dreadfull woes no fewer then seven in one Chapter doth our blessed Saviour thunder out against the hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees who did all their works Theatrico more that they might be seen of men and have a plaudite Many more proofs might be added but these may suffice And if it was seasonable to enlarge here I might give some Reasons of the Point taken from the greatness holiness and justice of God who will not hold them guiltless that take his name in vain But I cannot stay upon these briefly to apply First This reproves our Adversaries the Papists and overthrows their rotten doctrine of resting in opere operato of ascribing merit to their own works to their Fastings Prayers Penance Pilgrimages Almsdeeds and the like neither will their quaint distinctions of first and second justification and of works before and after conversion make a sufficient prop to shore up their doctrine of merit and to keep it from falling to the ground forasmuch as the sacred Scriptures fully inform us that there is no other name or merit whereby we can be saved then by Jesus Christ. Hence the great Apostle counted all things loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord Phil. 3. 8. When we have done all we can we are to acknowledge our selves to be unprofitable Servants The bloud of Christ and that alone is remedy for the killing of sin so said Mr. Bradford that holy man of God And it was a pious expression of devout Bernard Lavat nos lachrymarum imber magis autem lavat aqua illa preciosa quae de fonte pietatis i. e. latere Christi emanavit We are not saved then for our good works and yet God will not save us without them they are via ad regnum non causa regnandi as the same Father observes Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour This reproves all Formalists and hypocritical Professors who draw nigh to God with their mouth and honour him with their lips but their heart is far from him Now the heart is that which God chiefly requires and looks for in duty Prov. 23. 26. My Son give me thine heart q. d. Let thy mind be wholly intent and applyed to me renounce thy self and set thy love only and wholly upon the Lord. The heart of man is Gods best Temple where he dwels with delight if it be beautified and adorned with humility charity and righteousness It is the heart that makes every Religious performance medullatum Sacrificium a marrowy Sacrifice well-pleasing and acceptable unto the Lord. Among the Heathens it was a Custom when the Beast was cut up for Sacrifice the first thing which the Priest look'd upon was the heart and if the heart was naught the Sacrifice was rejected So 't will be here in the worship of the true God Heart service is the best service Lastly Let us all hence be exhorted to be sincere in the service of our God to adorn our Profession by an Holy
whole land of Egygt fared the better for Josephs sake for when there was a Famine over all the face of the earth there was bread enough and plenty of corn in Egypt which by Josephs wise forecast was laid up in Store-houses against that time Fourthly Victory over Enemies is another great mercy which the Lord of Hosts often giveth for his servants sake and by their means What a great conquest did the Heathen Emperour obtain through the means of the thundring Legion of Christians who by their fervent prayers prevailed with God to discomfit an huge army with thundring and lightning And Aurelius by experience found that Christians prevailed more with their prayers then others could do with their arms for the good of the Empire and therefore he desired the Senate to cease the Persecution lest the Christians should turn those spiritual weapons against the Empire So then the Race is not to the Swift nor the Battle to the Strong But thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all thy people as David acknowledgeth 1 Chron. 29. 11 12. Lastly Preservation from ruine and destruction have the Righteous obtained for a disobedient and stif-necked people A clear proof we have of this Job 22. 30. He shall deliver the Island of the Innocent or according to the margent the Innocent shall deliver the Island and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands He shall deliver the Island of the Innocent in the Hebrew it is non innocentem he shall deliver the Island of the guilty q. d. a Righteous man that truly fears God shall be instrumental for the delivering of those at least from present ruine who are yet in their sins and have therefore no such interest with God to prevail with him to be thus gracious and merciful unto them Therefore he said he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath left he should destroy them Psal. 106. 23. And Isa. 65. 8. Thus saith the Lord as the new wine is found in the cluster and one saith destroy it not for a blessing is in it so will I do for my servants sake that I may not destroy them all For his Elects sake the Lord in judgement thinks thoughts of mercy towards a very vile and sinful people who cease not to go on in wayes of rebellion against him and herein he deals with wicked men that do but cumber the ground as if one had resolved to pull up a barren Vineyard and quite lay it waste yet should nevertheless refrain in part because of some choice fruitful Plants that are sound in it If there had but been ten Righteous Persons in Sodom the Lord promised his servant Abraham that he would not destroy it for tens sake And it is worth our observation that the Lord never left off granting till Abraham left off asking mercy for that people This may encourage the righteous among us to continue in prayer and not to cease pleading with God for mercy to this sinful land of our nativity Ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence And give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem till he make England a praise in the earth I have done with the two first Heads for confirmation In the next place If we consider those wasting judgments which after the removal of the righteous like a swift torrent have broken in upon the ungodly the truth of the Proposition will yet be more fully manifested No sooner was Noah got into the Ark but God sent such a deluge of water as swept away the wicked Inhabitants of the earth The flood-gates of heaven are set open and the fountain of the great depths broken up and unavoidable destruction rusheth in upon the sinners of the old world In the very same day that Lot set soot out of Sodom came such a storm of fire and brimstone upon those Cities that in a few hours entomb'd them in their own ashes and left them as standing monuments of the Lords wrathful indignation upon ungodly wretches to the end of the world Not long after good King Josiah was taken away the Kingdom of Judah tumbled down apace the people of the Land was carried into captivity and all went to wrack with them thus the Lord in mercy many times takes away the righteous from the evil to come he doth with them as men are wont to do with their corn in the field when it is catching weather they are careful to get it into their barns before the rain fall so God took away Josiah before the dismal destruction of that people as he had promised 2 King 22. 19 20. When the Righteous had left Jerusalem and were gone to Pella as they had been warned of God the City is presently taken and as great wrath is poured sorth upon that people as ever was upon any Nation in the world besides nay none like unto it according to the prognostick of our blessed Saviour Mat. 24. 21. So that they might justly take up the like complaint with their forefathers in their Babylonish captivity and a more bitter lamentation if they could find words to expressâ— it then that we read of Lam. 1. 12. Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger Methuselah the longest-liv'd Patriarch dyed the year before the Flood St. Austin was taken away by death immediately before Hippo was sacked by the Vandals and the death of St. Ambrose was the fore-runner of the ruine of Italy I have somewhere read an observation of Luther that all the Apostles died before the destruction of Jerusalem except John and Luther himself died a little before the wars began in Germany It bodes no good to a State when God picks such choice principal Plants out of it Surely this speaks the Lords intention to take away the hedge of his Vineyard and to lay it waste It was a sign that Sampson meant to pull down the house on the Philistins heads when he attempted to stir the Pillars and when God takes away the Pillars and Supporters of a Nation certainly he intends it no good 't is greatly to be feared that he is already come out of his place to punish the Inhabitants of the Earth for their Iniquity Thus I have given in the proof of the Proposition by some argumentative considerations which being twisted together will make a strong cord sufficient to draw any that have staggered in the belief of this particular to a firm perswasion of the great use and furtherance of Righteousness for the exaltation of a Nation But it may
on high made honourable and happy This this is the way and means to make that people the Head which were formerly the Tail to make them stronger than their enemies and more excellent than their neighbours Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life saith the merciful God to a repentant resorming people Isa. 43. 4. And Ezek. 16. 14. Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty for it was perfect through my comliness which I had put upon thee saith the Lord God Thus you see what is that righteousness that exalteth a nation and what is meant by the exaltation of a nation I am now to confirm the Assertion which indeed stands not in so much need of proving as of improving however I shall omit neither Righteousness exalteth a Nation or a Nation is greatly blessed by the means and for the sakes of Righteous ones who diligently perform the duties of their places to the glory of God and in the right of those with whom they have to do Righteousness is not to be taken here only in the abstract but with relation to the subject in which it is inherent the concrete is included in the abstract as it is often to be found in holy Writ where the names of Virtues and Vices are put for the persons to which they are adjoyned as wickedness for the wicked Job 5. 16. St. Paul was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Pest for a pestilent plaguy fellow thus pride is put for the proud Jer. 50. 31. Behold I am against thee O thou most proud or O pride as it is in the margent of your Bibles which is to be understood of the lofty and proud City of Babylon So here Righteousness being inclusive of Righteous ones the Inference is clear that it is for the sake and by the means of such who endeavour to walk in all the Commandments and Ordinances of God blameless that a Nation comes to be exalted and blessed of the Lord. Consonant hereunto is that saying of an ancient Author whatever good thing is bestowed upon the sons of men it is given on the account of the righteous for the sake of those that faithfully preach and diligently hear the Gospel and call upon God the unrighteous do not believe this neither do they acknowledge it therefore they evilly requite the people of God If any shall be offended with this doctrine we need not much wonder at it for they who have no love for Gods people will not acknowledge that they are beholden to them The poor wise man that delivered the City by his wisdom how quickly was he forgotten the Text saith that no man remembred that poor wise man This is merces mundi the worlds wages as one loves to phrase it to be so blind as not to see or so ungratefull as not to own their best friends I mean sincere Christians upon whose account and for whose sake the Lord is pleased to conferr many great and endearing mercies upon an undeserving yea upon an ill-deserving people The truth of this Proposition will be sufficiently evidenced 1. By the Examination of those allusive metaphorical expressions which are aptly applied to righteousness or to righteous ones 2. By an Induction and Enumeration of particular blessings which the men of the world have enjoyed for their sake and upon their account 3. By the Consideration of those wasting Judgments which have presently taken place after their Removal By these steps we shall proceed to bring in such clear proofs of the Wise mans Assertion as may procure at least the assent of unprejudiced Readers and will be deny'd by none besides inconsiderate or resolved sinners I must not be long in my passage through these particulars To begin with the first we shall find upon enquiry Gods people to be compared First To the Bulwarks of a City which keeps off the Enemy and will not suffer desolation to enter Thus Nazianzen calls Athanasius the Bulwark of Truth When Sin hath made a breach for the Divine vengeance to take place God presently seeks for these to stand in the gap to prevent an Inundation of misery from rushing in upon unarmed naked sinners as you may read Jer. 5. 17. Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof if ye can find a man if there be any that executeth judgment that seeketh the truth and I will pardon it You see here what great account the Lord makes of his Servants when as he will pardon a whole Nation for one righteous mans sake So in Ezek. 22. 30. And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the Land that I should not destroy it but I found none And because he could find none behold how suddenly winged destruction overtakes them in the following verse Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath their own wayes have I recompenced upon their heads saith the Lord God 2dly The Righteous are the Chariots and Horsmen of a State thus Elisha cried after Elijah when he was taken from him by the spirit and mighty power of God My father my father the Chariot of Israel and the Horsmen thereof They are the very strength of a Nation where they live and have prevailed more with their prayers and tears then a thousand times as many could do with their weapons of War One of these have chased a thousand and two have put ten thousand to flight Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake saith God to his Church Isa. 54. 15. and in the 17. verse No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord. 3dly They are as Stakes to an hedge or Trees to a Cawsey that keep it from falling down and from being broken up thus we read Isa. 6. 13. In it shall be a tenth and it shall return and shall be eaten as a Teil tree and as an Oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof or the substance of the people as some have rendred the Text. The Prophet here alludeth to a long Cawsey or Terrass supported on either side with great Trees strongly rooted which reached from the Kings Palace to the Gate Shallecheth on the West-side of the Temple which Gate you find mentioned 1 Chron. 26. 16. Now the Righteous are these Trees on either side the Cawsey which have life and substance in them and though sometimes the Trees may cast their
wind from the Wilderness that smites the four corners of the house and makes it to tumble upon the heads of those that are within it The house of the wicked shall be overthrown but the tabernacle of the righteous shall flourish Prov. 14. 11. Again for the sake of righteous ones the Lord bestows as you have already heard those great blessings of Truth Peace Plenty Victory over enemies and preservation from ruine and destruction upon a Nation these and many more are the sweet fruits of righteousness But now all manner of destructive evils as famine of Bread and famine of the Word Wars cruel bondage Pestilence Fire dishonour and reproach are the cursed products of sin the bitter effects of those works of the flesh which the Apostle speaks of Gal. 5. 19 20 21. Thus is sin a reproach to any people Sin is that which makes Kingdoms desolate and bereaves them of all their power greatness and renown When Ephraim spake trembling he exalted himself in Israel but when he offended in Baal he died Hos. 13. 1. It is sin that hath divested and disrobed many flourishing Nations of their excellency and glory that hath made them become a curse and an astonishment an hissing and perpetual desolation sin hath unjoynted and broken asunder the confederacies and societies of all creatures It is the great make-bate in the world the cause of all that Ataxie and Disorder of that Stubborness and Rebellion of those Errors and Divisions of those Fightings Brawlings and Vexatious Law-sutes which are to be found in Church and State all these Evils and abundance more which I cannot now stand to mention are the mischievous consequences of sin I have done with the Illustration of the Text let us now see what Use is to be made of it and having endeavoured to give a light to the Text by Explication I shall now proceed to the life of a Sermon which is the Application First then Hence we may be Informed who are the best and who are the worst Members of a State who are the most profitable and who are the most injurious to the Nation in which they live Unrighteous ones cry out against the Righteous when as they themselves do the most mischief as the good Prophet justly retorted the crimination upon Ahab himself 1 Kings 18. 17 18. One Sinner saith Solomon destroyeth much good how much more then a rabble of Rebellious Sinners who are continually provoking the great God to anger with their crying sins and with their cursed abominations They and they only that fear God will honour the King in a Scripture sence The Righteous man is the best Instrument for the 〈◊〉 of a Nation however he is spoken against by the ungodly for as one saith truly of him Christianys inimicus nemini multo minus Imperatori A true Christian is an enemy to no man such less to the King He obeys for Conscience sake and from a principle of the fear of God who requires a subjection to the higher powers he is subject and obedient He submits to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well for so is the will of God that with well doing he may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men They whose hearts the Lord had touched joyned themselves with Saul when he was anointed King but the children of Belial despised him 1 Sam. 10. 26 27. It is no wonder said our late great and gracious King if men not fearing God should not honour their King they will easily contemn such shadows of God who reverence not that supreme and adorable Majesty in comparison of whom all the glory of men and Angels is but obscurity An unrighteous man can never be a good Subject and profitable member for promoting the Weal publique For 1. If he be prophane he will do the King more disservice by his lawless practices then ever he can do him service from those loyal principles which he is a great pretender to Or 2ly If he be Factious he will strike at Magistracy under the cloak of Piety and that Rebellion may not appear bare-fac'd he will mask it with Religion Or 3ly If he be covetous and in some publique imployment and Office of Trust he will be sure to drive on his own Interest without any regard to the honour of the King or profit of the Kingdom Covetousness which is the root of all evil makes the Courts of Judicature magna latrocinia places of great Robbery as St. Austin speaks The next Use is for Exhortation and here let us all be exhorted and perswaded and O! that God himself would effectually perswade us by the power of his blessed Spirit to love righteousness and to hate all manner of unrighteousness to have no fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darkness but rather to reprove them To follow that which is good and nor that which is evil He that doth good is of God but he that doth evil hath not seen God This is a duty that nearly concerns all men both high and low rich and poor There 's none so poor but he may contribute something toward the welfare and happiness of the Kingdom he is to lift and list again by his prayers and tears for the Exaltation of it and these are powerfull means which will wonderfully prevail with God for the obtaining of mercy and finding grace to help in time of need This poor sinfull Nation through the goodness of God for his Servants sake hath for many years past been miraculously preserved as the Bush in the midst of burnings After many wasting Judgments inflicted on us by Sword Pestilence and Burnings the Lord hath not blessed be his great name broken us from being a people for he yet waits to be gracious to us But when we consider the result of former deliverances is to commit greater abominations still may we not justly fear that God hath a farther controversie with this Land even such an one as shall make it to mourn once more and lay us lower then ever we have been cast down under former pressures We may be secure but we can never be safe while we go on in our sins neglecting to offer the sacrifices of righteousness and to put our trust in the Lord. What though Judgments have left us in a great measure if we have not left our sins these will cause us to pass under the rod again and will certainly make us more miserable For the hand of the Lord shall find out all his enemies his right hand shall find out those that hate him Come forth then ye righteous ones and with one shoulder endeavour the supportation of a tottering Nation Oh! labour to heal the breaches thereof for it