and guarded against all inward or outward aduersarie power of our saluation This is that approching with confidence to the throne of grace this is that freedom of spirit which calls God father whether the resistance be made by some lust or some diuels instruments or the diuel himselfe what libertie is this that a Christian may with hope which will not make him ashamed pray against it with assurance of being heard euen as Christ himselfe was in that which he besought his father for And why Because he is within the couenant and therefore warreth against all euill therefore hee may boldly pray for grace against it that he be not foiled for he is about Gods worke and the Lord is a louing Master he will not see his seruant frustrated of his hope in his seruice Thirdly these words note out this That it is wisedome for a man to bestow his chiefe cost there whence hee lookes for best recompence and acknowledgement in the time of most need The steward in his kinde is commended for this policie who would shew curtesie to such as he knew in a day of hardnesse and want would be readiest to remember it with thankes and requitall The contrary folly the Apostle to the Romanes taxeth what fruite had ye of those things whereof yee are now ashamed A man is not ashamed of that labour which hath brought him in plentifull gaine but of that which answers not his cost and hope Men that haue runne themselues out of breath all their life groping after a blind happinesse in their vnprofitable superstitious prophane course at length seeing themselues deceiued wish they had serued a Master who might haue saued them and receiued them into euerlasting habitations But he answers them bidding them go see if their money will saue them their god or their lusts their masters as for me I had none of their seruice neither shal they haue any wages frō me Thus the Lord is faine to vpbraid men though not by word saying Go to your Idols yet in effect in that he leaueth them shiftlesse or else who should perswade one of an hundred that he soweth among thornes or loseth his labour and cost when he casteth it and himselfe away vpon one Idoll a broken staffe or other And the truth is such a bewitching nature these Idols are of not Popish onely but spirituall also set vp in the loue of the heart that they possesse their seruants with an opinion of fruite which is to be obtained if they could hit vpon it till at length with other like themselues when time and strength thrift and cost is all spent and wasted they crye out miserably like theeues at gallowes they were deceiued leauing an example for others if they bee wise to profit by as for themselues neither rule nor example could doe them good as wofull experience witnesseth in too many other Vers 15. And the children of Israel said vnto the Lord Wee haue sinned doe thou vnto vs whatsoeuer please thee onely we pray thee to deliuer vs this day 16. Then they put away the strange gods from among them and serued the Lord and his soule was grieued for the miserie of Israel THe people hauing receiued an hard and sharpe answere of the Lord to them to wit that hee would not heare them laid it neere to heart and cried againe to the Lord how soone after it is not here expressed confessing their sinnes casting away their Idols which at their first suing to God they did not now in stead thereof they serued the Lord whom they had forsaken and beside all this they submitted themselues to him to doe what he would to them resting confidently perswaded of his mercie and so obtained deliuerance which they had earnestly sued for and sought out of that present calamitie for the Lord was intreated of them and granted their desire Now if it seeme strange to any that in their first crying to God their sute was reiected wee must know that they sought not to him for it in the vprightnesse of their hearts as is said before and therfore God meant to hold them on the racke as it were and not onely to keepe them in suspence but also to hold them in a deepe feare by denying helpe to them Secondly to bring them to a through repentance as indeed now they did shew signes of it and those also effectuall which they did not before and for this purpose he draue them more throughly to examination of them themselues then they had done before So that we see at first they gladly would haue been deliuered but in the meane while they would not cast away their Idols and other sinnes but would still walke in the waies of their owne hearts Which setteth before vs a common disease that is too oft euen in Gods deare children that in our afflictions we crie to God for mercy and helpe and faine would haue the punishment taken away but so that we would haue libertie to liue as we did before and hold fast our sinnes still and abide in them for they are dearer to vs then our owne flesh Euen after this manner many of vs too oft and boldly deale with the Lord so that repentance is hardly attained vnto no not euen then when we are to sue to the Lord for ease in our trouble As may bee seene in Dauid himselfe in the 32. Psalme that it was painefull to him to confesse against himselfe we need not the speech of the people of Anothoth to Ieremie to preach vnto vs pleasant things and againe that we will not heare the law of this thy Lord neither to follow Demetrius the siluer Smith in the booke of the Actes for these were wicked both of them And how did they foile themselues they of Anathoth to retaine their pleasures the other to vphold his wicked gaine But that it should be so with vs in any manner who are of the better sort how can it be borne And yet it may iustly be complained of Oh euen the better sort of men will not be reformed Insomuch that when affliction is vpon them of which they would most willinglie bee eased yet they cannot be brought to see or amend any thing that is amisse because they flatter themselues are great in their owne eies while their iniquitie is found worthy to be hated And yet there are worse then these who murmur vnder their affliction and doe what they can to hide their sinnes And here more particularly as it is cleare that this people saw they did euil in worshipping strange Gods but would not acknowledge it til God draue them to it by his sore iudgements So when we see and will not see how we prouoke him by any of our speciall sinnes let vs feare that he will if wee will not abhorre and be weary of them by his instructions and warnings which he giueth vs that he will I say bring vs thereto by sharpe correction So
teachers that be of that religion it is no way fit nor lawfull seeing by their gifts of learning they may so draw an high conceite of them from the children that they may the easier distill and drop poyson into them by their corrupt religion And this for answere to the question and withall an end of the whole chapter THE SECOND CHAPTER VERS 1. And an Angell of the Lord came vp from Gilgal to Bochim and said I made you goe vp out of Egypt and haue brought you vnto the land which I had sworne vnto your fathers and said I will neuer breake my couenant with you 2. Ye also shall make no couenant with the inhabitants of this land but shall breake downe their altars but yee haue not obeyed my voice Why haue yee done this 3. Wherefore I said also I will not cast them out before you but they shall bee as thornes vnto your sides and their gods shall be your destruction 4. And when the Angell of the Lord spake these words vnto all the children of Israel the people lift vp their voice and wept 5. Therefore they called that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there vnto the Lord. WE haue heard in the first chapter the notable victories of Israel ouer the nations while they obeyed the word of God and also the sin of many of them in suffering the Canaanites to liue Now it followeth how the Lord of his goodnesse reproued them for the same by the messenger that preached to them and the fruit that followed thereof And afterward vnto the end of this chapter the holy Story setteth downe the summe of almost the whole booke namely to the 17. chapter taking occasion to doe this from the acts of former times beginning at the things which were done before Ioshuas death The summe of all the rest of this chapter from verse 6. is thus much I shua a little before his death hauing called the people together and giuen them their charge as appeareth in chapter 23. and 24. of that booke that they should beware of Idolatry and feare the Lord after that he sent the people away and died in whose daies and in the daies of the elders that liued after him the people obeyed his charge as it is to bee seene in this chapter from the 6. to the 11. verse But after that it is shewed how the next generation that arose after them declined from that good course and so did the ages that followed them one was like another throughout this booke vnto the 17. chap. and here with it is declared how God dealt with them And that in few words was thus they fell to prouoke God by Idolatrie and other sins then the Lord was displeased with them for it and deliuered them into their enemies hands after that they cryed to the Lord and he raised them vp Iudges or deliuerers of them yet they obeyed not euen them which caused him to be againe offended with them and to threaten them as is to be seene to the end of this chapter And this is declared and laid out by the diuers examples of the people throughout all this booke vnto the 17. chapter according to the generall diuision made of the whole booke in the beginning According to the meaning now set downe the parts of this chapter follow which are two The first is a calling of the tribes that had offended to repentance to vers 6. The other is the setting downe of the estate of the people after Ioshuas death and Gods dealing with them vnder the Iudges throughout these 15. next chapters vnto the 17. and this is to the end of this chapter I will leaue the last part to the due place wherein it is to bee considered and examine the first as order requireth And heere in this first part we may see these two things A reproofe of the people by the Angell to verse 4. and the effect that followed thereon that is the peoples repentance to the sixth verse so that in the first part of this chapter is shewed how the people had prouoked God already by not driuing the nations out after their first entrance and the death of Ioshua as wee haue heard in the former chapter and that they were brought to repentance In the second part is declared how another generation that knew not the Lord did much worse for they not onely made couenants with the Canaanites as the other did who were brought to repentance but also serued all manner of Idols and prouoked the Lord thereby To begin therefore with the former branch of the first part that is their reproofe the messenger that was sent to them to make it more forcible to pricke their consciences first rehearseth the benefits which God had bestowed vpon them which ought rather to haue drawne them to obedience And this he doth in the first verse as ye may see then he setteth downe the faults for which hee reproueth them One that they made leagues with the Canaanites contrary to Gods commandement the other that they had not cast downe their Alters and he expostulateth with them for the same saying why haue ye done this contrary to the charge which the Lord gaue you in the 2. vers And lastly he threateneth them that their disobedience should be to their great punishment saying I will not driue them out but they shall bee prickes in your sides and their gods shall bee a snare vnto you and this in the 3. verse Now it remaineth to speake more particularly of these in order But before I come to speake of the message I will say a little of the messenger The word Messenger or Angel signifieth sometime a created nature without a body as Hebr. 1. Angels are called ministring spirits and these assumed some forme at Gods commandement for the time then being the better to accomplish their office as Genes 18. Sometime this word signifieth any other messenger that God sendeth to execute his will as Reuel 2. and 3. where by the Angell is ment the minister that was sent to them a messenger from God And whether of these soeuer is ment heere it maketh no matter and it being not particularly expressed in the text it is sufficient for vs that wee know it was a missenger sent of God and therefore sufficiently authorized and of those to whom he was sent one who ought to be reuerently receiued and beleeued And let it teach vs that God alwaies vsed the ministry of his seruants to reueale as it hath seemed good vnto him and to declare his will vnto men either about the generall couenant of grace and promise of saluation or about any other particular thing as hee saw cause and this he did whether they were Patriarkes Angels Prophets or Apostles by whom he did it in ages past or as he doth now other ministers of the Gospell as Pastours and Teachers whom he vseth at this day to reueale his will vnto the people
they wept the third they offered sacrifice By the lifting vp of their voice wee can conceiue no other thing but that they heartily confessed their sinnes and cried out of them which they heard to haue been reproued by Gods messenger and craued pardon of them accusing themselues They being guided therein by God as the Prophet Hosea in his time taught the people that in repenting they should take to them words as well as to haue a good heart By their weeping they signified deepe griefe conceiued for displeasing God and prouoking his wrath against them And their weeping was so great that the place took the name thereof and was called Bochim that is a place of weepers and by their sacrifice they declared their faith that their sinne was pardoned For the sacrifices were shadowes of Christs death and they in offering them beleeued as the fathers of those times did they constantly beleeued I say that all their sinnes were forgiuen by the death of Christ resembled by the offering of them To the which also there is no doubt but that they added thankes as the Lord directed the people in Hosea to doe in the repentance which hee required of them which also was resembled by their peace offerings Now to examine these things more perticularly this doctrine of repentance which heere occasion is offered to speake of I will the brieflier passe ouer seeing I haue spoken largely of it in other Sermons though not in this booke saue onely so farre as the words require somewhat to bee said And first seeing the hearing of that sermon did worke so good things in the people I meane many of them and bring forth such fruit wee are taught not onely to pray the Lord of the haruest to send such labourers into the haruest as may bee able and fit to bring home the Lords haruest but also what we should doe when wee heare such diuine sermons and doctrine as this was which the messenger of God heere preached vnto them which do vrge our consciences by laying out our sinnes for all doctrine is not of that argument I grant we ought by all doctrine to be moued according to that which wee heare and as occasion is offered either to griefe or to comfort but when wee are more specially taught the doctrine of repentance wee should follow the example of these heere mentioned who cried out of their sinnes and mourned deepely and craued pardon And likewise of other that did the same as the people that came after these when they heard Samuel reprouing them lamented after God and they who are mentioned in the booke of the Acts at Peters sermon were pricked in their hearts and sought comfort So I say should wee doe I meane both such as haue repented already to renue it and such also as are yet to enter vpon it And it is fearefull when these fruits may be seene in them and others that so many among vs hearing the like sermons can goe vntouched in their consciences and with drie eyes or harts for though these be not sufficient yet with faith they are commendable Secondly and more principally heere as this people lifted vp their voice and wept when they were reproued for the abse of Gods benefits and for breaking of their couenant by Gods messenger so among all other good instructions which are infinite we should be greatly moued and sore grieued when wee shall heare that wee are iustly charged by preaching for the like faults as for the ill vsing of the blessings which God hath bestowed vpon vs and for breaking the couenant which wee haue made with him because these two ought to be so thorowly minded of vs daily that wee should giue no iust cause to be rebuked for the neglecting of either of them For what doe we in our liues commendably if these two bee wanting and neglected of vs I meane if we doe not bind our selues by couenant to bee more fruitfull in dutie and more cheerefully to go about the same while we see Gods benefits continued to vs whereby he doth as it were hire vs thereunto And secondly if we make not new couenants with him from time to time to walke constantly in our vprightnesse rather then to deserue iust rebuke for breaking and looking loosely to the old But if wee haue due regard of both these from time to time wee shall both keepe all other parts of our liues within compasse the better and also we shall not need to feare that we can sustaine any sharpe reproofe iustly which is euer vnwelcome to flesh for the same But yet further to say somewhat more perticularly of these three signes of their repentance we must know that the inward graces which are testified by the outward signes thereof heere set downe are rather to be sought of vs in our repentance as relenting and melting of the heart for offending God humiliation faith and the like then the outward signes themselues the last especially as the offering of sacrifice both expiatorie to seeke forgiuenesse of sinnes and eucharisticall representing their thankes which were meerely ceremoniall and proper to the Iewes therefore not now to be vsed of vs and yet in them laudable this ceremony being then in vse to expresse their faith and beleeuing in Christ and their thankesgiuing as we doe simply offer to God both and without them This be said of their offering sacrifice first though mentioned last The other two of lifting vp their voice and weeping are alwaies to bee aimed at in our repentance but cannot alwaies be attained neither are therefore of necessity to bee vrged neither to be rested in if we haue them For the first of them namely the lifting vp the voice in prayer and confession of sin and accusing of our selues it is required by the Prophet Osea of such as could shew it for in vrging the people at that time to repent saying O Israel returne to the Lord thy God hee addeth take vnto you words and say vnto him take away all iniquity and receiue vs graciously and we will offer the calues of our lips c. But all cannot expresse their minds in words as namely the ignorant especially some of them and some in the bitternes of their hearts powre out their prayers without words at some time as Anna did Therefore if it may be and that also it be most expedient as if it may be an helpe to quicken vs in feruency the voice is to be lifted vp but not alwaies of necessity to be inioyned Now concerning weeping which they also heere are said to haue adioyned it being a further degree of sorrow then many can attaine vnto it is not of necessity to bee imposed vpon vs as I haue said as though repentance could not be without it though where it can be and accompanieth repentance it doth more deepely search into the heart satisfie the party so moued and quiet the mind which was before troubled
verse I hauing spoken of the reuolt of this people in the former verse beside the direction which by occasion I set downe there the holy story goeth on heere to shew what the Lord did to this people thus turning from their good beginnings after the death of the Iudge He was sore displeased with them and his anger was kindled against them Here to say the same that I did there of Gods anger were but a needlesse thing That which I note of it heere is this that as before hath been seene so through the whole book it appeareth that it is vsuall with the Lord to doe thus namely when men sinne to be angry that is to do as men will when they be angry for otherwise wee haue heard that neither anger repenting nor any such affection or change is in the Lord. And is it not meet that God should thus deale with vs thinke we when we are so ready by euery occasion to prouoke him For if this held vs not in awe we should euen we who are his owne oft times breake out as the common sort do the flesh being wearie of penting in whereas the loue of God I grant should bee sufficient to constraine vs to our duties And what a thing were it that God should alwaies bee angry with a man doubtlesse if any one could bee perswaded that he were so affected to him not onely his whole life should bee in daily and deadly vnquietnesse but he should also be ouerwhelmed with the thought of it and driuen to desperation And yet we may know by that which hath been said that God hath iust cause to doe no lesse but to let his anger burne as fire against such as prouoke him But indeed hee oft deferres the declaration of his wrath giuing men time and liberty thereby to repent and doth not once shew it many times when hee is often prouoked Hereof it is that when God being iustly displeased and yet men doe not in in the meane while repent and turne to him humbly seeking mercy that hee doth afterward declare by his manifold or sorereuenges that hee was long before prouoked to anger and iustly offended with them But this is wisely to bee marked of vs that though his owne people sinne as there is none that sinneth not to wit by ouersight infirmity vnauoidable ignorance and such like whereas hee doth not by and by suffer his anger to breake forth the reason is this he hath said himselfe that he wil not looke straightly what is done amisse of them and beside when they see that they haue fallen so they rise againe and this they do daily and ordinarily returning to him againe cast themselues down in true humiliation before him in the meditation application of the work of their redeemer Christ and so the Lord is pacified with them againe Therefore such as are wise will bee most carefull to keepe away occasions of Gods displeasure seeing the Lords anger is a consuming fire and while that is prouided against men may possesse their soules with peace and may goe out and in with him daily with good liking and comfort thus much of Gods being angry againe now of the punishment that followed vpon it God being thus displeased with them seeing they had so shamefully transgressed and broken the couenant that he made with their fathers therefore hee will no more hee said cast out any of the nations that Ioshua left behinde For although Israel was oft deliuered out of the hands of sundry of them by their Iudges by whom also many of them were slaine yet they were not vtterly rooted out but their posterity sprung vp againe afterward and multiplied in the land to the great disquieting vexing and annoying of his people This I say was the punishment And how sore it was may bee thought by this that these nations were left among them to their destruction as in verse 3. we haue seene where wee heard the same punishment threatened by the Angell to them at Bochim But then they repented and there is no doubt but God accepted it as hee promised But this was more grieuous that afterwards their posterity did worse then they For they there were reproued and threatened for making couenants with the Canaanites these for falling flatly to Idolatry with them Heere besides that wee may see that for the most part men waxe worse and worse and the good decline and the bad decay and wanze away in their sinnes as may bee seene by the example of these compared with that we reade in the second verse wee may further learne againe as in verse 3. we heard that God will be discharged of his couenant towards men in and concerning the outward benefits of this life if they stand not to their couenants which they haue made with him And if they bee his owne people hee will punish their offences with the rod and their iniquitie with strokes though hee take not his mercy vtterly from them and if they be other he will much more leaue them helpelesse and to shift for themselues so as they fal into depth of euill who might haue thriued and prospered through his blessings Yea and they might haue bin in good hope to haue embraced his couenant of grace and mercy also as many are brought by Gods temporary benefits to seeke after spirituall so might these haue done also Therefore little doe men know what vexation they they bring vpon themselues when they waxe carelesse in their couenants keeping which they haue entred into with God as the leauing of some grosse sinne or the forsaking of ill company worldlinesse or such like offences and so forgetting themselues fall to them againe afterward They shall surely runne on from euill to worse that deale so with God and from smaller punishments to greater iudgements so little cause they shall haue to reioyce for glory of their winnings thereby So that beside other manifold punishments which cannot bee reckoned vp they that breake couenant with the Lord shall alwaies haue some speciall eye sores left to vexe them as these nations were to Israel And as this worthily layeth forth the forementioned punishment in vers 15. that the hand of the Lord was sore vpon this people of his euen so wee shall finde it who are vnfaithfull to him in our couenants as that either stubborne and disobedient children none of the least plagues shall rise vp to make our liues wearisome to vs which as Salomon saith shall be as corruption to our bones and that many waies as in wasting our goods riotously and with harlots and vnthriftinesse or by imbracing popery and otherwise by waxing prophane Or we shall be crossed by vnkinde spitefull and vnquiet neighbours who with sutes brawlings and sundry disagreements shall make our best pleasures to be turned into bitternesse and wormewood or we shall be plagued with seruants who shall consume vs and bring reproch and vexation vnto vs by
comming to betray him and so did he as Matth. chap. 26. reports looke vpon Peter hauing denied him These lookes were frowning lookes both of them but the worke of them was diuers Peter by that looke was touched with compunction and went out a repentant person the other an harned and wretched person not mollified by the same aspect because there was no bountie in it Lastly by this point let Gods children learne a double dutie as well as take occasion of thanksgiuing I say such of them as haue declined and gone out of compasse let them wisely obserue what Gods meaning is toward them in his word or workes of affliction Let them first take heed lest they giue eare to his subtiltie who would prompt them with this suggestion Thou art alreadie gone from God and behold now he seekes to be rid of thee altogether and to feare thee quite from him Auoid Satan let them say this were to renounce my right in God by faith and his right in me which is his free loue this were to put no difference betweene the beleeuers priuilege and the vnbeleeuer No no this dealing of God I see is as it was to his people of Israel and the Niniuites it hath a condition annexed to it which argueth God is more desirous to forgiue me restore me heale and settle me in good estate againe then to forsake me If hee had meant so what needed he to haue redeemed me at all or now to haue spoken conditionally Therfore I will euer hereafter highlier esteeme of that life which hath the promise of Gods fauour annexed thereto and whereas I see my selfe now frowned vpon by the Lord for my boldnes wilfulnes in stolne liberties taking and the pleasures of sinne my peace wasted my spirit abated my faith weakned my ioy willingnes to pray c. appalled I will therfore now giue my selfe no peace till I haue searched out my sinnes repented of my houerly confessing them and my drowsie sottish lying in them I wil not cease powring out my soule to the Lord that his terrors may astonish me and driue me to lay my sinne to heart and to bee so ashamed of them that God may accept my humiliation and sorrow and giue me faith to rest in his promise of pardoning and restoring me againe Secondly let this also teach Gods people to indent seriously with the Lord to vse his former blessing and old deliuerances past thankfully if they desire to obtaine new remembring how God here vpbraides these Israelites saying How dare ye come to demaund deliuerance at my hand hauing so shamefully abused the former In these words goe crie to your gods c. Doth God thinke we bid them goe and sinne No in no wise but he speaketh as he doth oft times in the Scriptures in another manner then the words seeme to meane which if we marke not wee shall easily fall into great errors and absurditie It is a most grieuous casting them in the teeth by an ironicall mocking of them with their Idolatrie as if he should say Now yee proue and see what your gods can doe As Elias did the like to the prophets of Baal when he bad them cry aloud to their god Baal perhaps he is asleepe saith he c. he did not all may so meane that they should crie to him but to vrge to marke well what a god they worshipped Therefore by thus speaking and bidding them goe seeke helpe at their Idols hands they hauing shaken off the Lord he teacheth vs as it standeth with good reason that they whom wee haue serued and committed our selues to must pay vs our wages and to them the Lord iustly doth and will send vs to their patronage in our greatest need euen to our conuiction and horror yea destruction if he take vs not as he did these here to his mercie Contrariwise but yet according to the same equitie our Sauiour answered Peter when he said that he and his fellowes had forsaken all and followed him and therfore asked him what they should haue he said an hundred fold here and after eternall life They therfore that haue trusted and still doe in man and haue made flesh their arme shall know by experience one day that they haue trusted to a bruised reede So God will answere the workers of iniquitie that serue Satan Depart from me I know you not So let them know whose portion is in stolne pleasures of sinne that there will come a time when they shall be infinitly more better then euer they were sweete and that thereafter they shall feele smart and sorrow in full measure when there shall be no remedie nor redresse So Papists shall be sent for helpe to their Pope Saints Pardons Pilgrimages For God doth threaten all such impenitent ones who haue cast him off by their dead workes that as he neuer did so hee neuer will acknowledge them for his And such patrons they shall then finde to bee cold comforters in those torments which they shall feele as for their other sinnes so by the remembring how they sought shelter by and from them vnto whose seruice in their life time they addicted themselues Thus a wise parent guide or superiour is taught to answere a scape-thrift and lewd wretch that hath brought himselfe into need prison and miserie by idlenesse gaming prophanenes bad companionship and such like doings when hee seekes to them for helpe thus I say hee is to answere him Get you to them to whom and whose counsell ye haue hearkened and followed who it may be are in the same miserie or worse then themselues are in and therefore vnfit enough to succour or helpe them And if God manifest his nature here that this shall be his answere to such as liue after this manner then let vs learne and conclude that no man shall end well an euill life this being added vnlessed it be changed before by repentance and therefore that it had been good for such that they had neuer been borne Briefly to conclude this doctrine with some other vses thereof wee see secondly by this that God doth import no lesse then that by the law of like equitie and by vertue of a farre stronger couenant if this people had persisted faithfull in his seruice he could not haue denied their suite for help and defence against their enemies Otherwise by what reason doth he now shake them off and send them to their Idols whom they had serued except he had meant that himselfe would haue besteadded them if they had cleaued to him for succour by faith attended him by bringing forth the fruit of their confidence I meane obedience And what a sweet prerogatiue is this for which wee haue the expresse grant of the King of heauen that so long as we keep a couenant with God so oft we may also claime from him in reuerence be it spoken the libertie of sonnes and seruants to bee defended