away our leprosies yet abide upon us there is yet as much swearing and lying deceiving and dissembling as much pride and covetousnesse self-seeking and self-confidence discord and dissention among Brethren as there was before the warre began so that God may justly and angrily speak to England as he doth to Jerusalem in the Text Wilt thou not be made clean when will it once be Yea the Lord may justly take up that complaint of us which he doth of the Jewes in Jeremiah's time a Ier. 6.28.30 They are Brasse and Iron base and drossie mettall good for nothing the bellowes are burnt the lungs of my messengers are spent with speaking to them the Lead is consumed of the fire the Founder melteth in vain for their wickednesses are not plucked away all the paines and labour that hath been spent about refining of them is lost Therefore reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them Blush O Heavens and stand amazed O Earth that a people should have so many instructions corrections warnings and awakenings woundings and breaking blowes yet should remaine so unreformed God speaks in anger yet we heare not roares from Heaven yet we feare not smites us with his rod yet we feele not yea stroke upon stroke yet we lay it not to heart For this should our eyes drop downe teares and we should in the bitternesse of our spirits cry out with Ezra b Ezra 9.15 Behold O Lord we are before thee this day in our trespasses for we cannot stand before thee because of this Vse 2 Exhortation In the second place let a word of Exhortation take hold on your hearts and what I preach to others the Lord grant I may practice in my owne soule Let us study a particular Reformation in our hearts and houses let us doe as God adviseth Jerusalem c Jer. 4.14 O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickednesse that thou mayest be saved Let every one of us doe as Jacob did when God called upon him to pay his vowes which he made in the dayes of his distresse Gen. 35.2 Then Jacob said unto his houshold and to all that were with him Put away the strange Gods that are among you and be cleane and change your garments Oh that Joshuah's resolution were fixed and fastned on the hearts of all that heare me this day d Josh 24.15 As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. The City would soone be cleane if every man would sweep at his own doore Motives Thinke with your selves therefore that ye see God waiting that he may be gracious to you e Isa 30.18 He waits till ye meet him with repentance that he may meet you with deliverance If ye were but fitted for mercy he would bestow a full mercy on you Thinke that ye heare him this day wooing intreating inviting beseeching you to come in and stand out no longer We are Ambassadours for Christ as if God did beseech you by us c f 2 Cor. 5.20 O admirable and unheard of condescention that the Ceator should beseech the creature that the King of eternity whose glory is lifted up above the heavens g Psal 8.1 should intreat wormes and dust to be reconciled Nay yet more Looke on God not onely intreating but expostulating or reasoning the case with you as he doth with Ephraim h Hos 6.4 O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee O England how shall I deale with thee Have ye beene uncleane and will ye be so still Are your former iniquities and provocations before the warre began too little for you but that you will adde iniquity to iniquity and rebellion to rebellion As the tribes of Israel reasoned in the like case i Josh 22.17 18. Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us from which we are not clensed untill this day but that ye must turne away from following the Lord and make him wroth with the whole Congregation Lastly looke upon God not onely expostulating with you but also lamenting your folly and losse k Isa 48.18 O that thou hadst barkned to my Commandements then had thy peace beene as a river and thy righteousnesse as the waves of the Sea It is Chrysostoms observation upon my Text that when God was now about to punish them he do's pitty them l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chryso in locum he do's as it were weep over them and compassionately mourne for them When O when will it once be just as a tender-hearted father that ha's but one Sonne and that Sonne untoward and untractable he takes the Rod into his hand but withall he ha's teares in his eyes saying How shall I scourge thee my Son How shall I give thee up to Ruine O Ephraim How shall I deliver thee into the hand of thine enemies O Israel How shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned within me and my repentings are kindled together * Hos 11.8 Doth all this nothing move us nothing melt us Are we in love with wrath and death and danger Are we willing to perish to be made a hissing a reproach and an astonishment to all other Nations Know ye not that one sin unrepented unreformed will doe us more mischiefe then all our enraged Enemies can doe us One sinne in forcing the Levites Concubine to death it is one of the saddest Stories that ye meet with in all the Scriptures occasioned the slaughter of LXV THOUSAND MEN m Judges 20. and that is more I beleeve then the sword hath devoured in this Kingdome these three yeeres Know ye not that without Reformation there will be no Pacification Ye read in Isa 9.12 that though the Syrians before and the Philistines behinde had devoured Israel with open mouth yet Gods anger was not turned away but his hand was stretched out still But why would not God be pacified after all that calamity which fell upon them the reason followes verse 13. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them neither doe they seeke the Lord of hosts So long as we have a rebellious hand to stretch out against God so long will God have a revenging hand to stretch out against us If he doe not bend us he will breake us Nay yet more without Reformation we can expect nothing but a desolation Be thou instructed O Ierusalem saith God n Ier. 6.8 lest my soule depart from thee or be difioynted from thee as the Hebrew phrase emphatically expresseth it o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest I make thee desolate a Land not inhabited Observe here though a people be as neere to God as the Arme is to the shoulder-blade yet if they doe not heare the rod and learne instruction and be reformed Hee will be loosed or disioynted from them cut them off from his hand and make them desolate And tell me Sirs are ye willing to tyre out Gods patience that do's
anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Instruction 2 For the second our presumption in sinning against him is intollerable because all our sinnes admit of this aggravation that they are committed full in the face of God r Isa 65.3 It is a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face This is that which may prick our hearts and wound our soules in all our confessions and humiliations when we can say with David Å¿ Psal 51.4 Against thee thee have I offended and done this evill in thy sight Thou hast been an eye-witnesse of all my stubbornnesse and undutifulnesse of all my trechery and hypocrisie of all my wandrings and backslidings This was one thing that let the Prodigall blood in the heart-veyne and stroke him with penitentiall remorse viz. That in his wandring from his Father he went into a farre Country t Luke 15.13 v 18. as thinking to be out of the reach of his Fathers eye but when he returnes he bewailes this ver 18. I have sinned against Heaven and before thee Mark the phrase Before thee he looks on his sinne as committed in his Fathers eye all the time It were an intollerable impudency for a wife to dally with a stranger in the presence of her husband or for a villaine to offer violence to a Queen while the King looks on Will he force the Queen also before me in the house saith Abasierus concerning Haman v Ester 7.8 Or a Theefe to cut a purse in the Face of the Judge sitting on the Bench or for a Subject to set the Crowne on anothers head when the King himselfe is standing by Yet thus deale presumptuous sinners with the Lord every day and is not this a provocation intollerable What an aggravation was that of Nimrods sin x Gen. 10.9 he was a mighty Hunter before the Lord so desperately bold was he in his boystrous tyranny that he was not afraid to act it before the Lord And are there not some that dare call Heaven to record for ther fidelity in the publick cause of Religion when God and their owne conscience know the contrary Are there not some like Ephraim of whom God saith y Hos 12.7 8. He is a cunning Merchant the ballances of deceit are in his hand and he loves to oppresse yet as if he would mock the God of Heaven to his face he saith I am become rich I have found me out substance in all my labours they shall find no iniquity in me that were sin As if he should say God makes me prosper though it be in a way of injustice and oppression therefore he hath no quarrell with me at all Oh the horrible hellish Atheisme that doth possesse our hearts Are ye offended at the harshnesse of the expression Ye must know there is an Atheist in affection as well as in opinion z Job 21.14 They say to the Almighty Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes There is an Atheist in practice as well as in profession a Tit. 1.16 They professe they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate Are there not many of us that professe we know God and in our tongues dare not deny him yet in our life and conversation carry our selves as if God had but the eye of a picture without life or motion in it Are there not many of us who make of the great God of Heaven with reverence be it spoken no better then a Baal a sleepy senslesse carelesse God that neither regarded iniquity nor rewarded duty Are there not many who as much as in them lyes put out the al-seeing al-searching eye of his omniscience and cut off the arme of his revenging justice as if he would neither see nor censure any of their transgressions If pilfring Achan had thought that the eye of the Lord had followed him as Elisha told Gehazi that his heart went along with him when he received the present at Naamans hand b 2 King 5.26 durst he have stollen the wedge of gold and Babylonish garment and so have transgressed in the cursed thing If those two loose professors Ananias and Sapphira could have reasoned as holy Job did c Job 31.4 Doth not the Lord see my wayes and count all my steps durst they have lyed unto the holy Ghost If traiterous Judas had thought the eye of his Master had watched him durst he have nibled money out of his Masters bag If we in our actings for God our seekings and services did but really think that the frame and temper of our spirits our very ends and aimes are as obvious to the eyes of God as our actions are to the eyes of men were we but fully perswaded of this that he observes whether we be sound at heart or rotten at core durst we lye unto the Lord and cozen the world and in the end cozen our own soules But we think it not I say it againe to our shame we think it not We have poore low thoughts of God and of his greatnesse majesty power and glory we are ready to think wickedly of God That he is such a one as our selves d Psal 50.22 In stead of raising up our thoughts to God we pull downe God unto our thoughts This is our Atheisme this is our Presumption let us see it and bewaile it and be humbled for it Vse 2 exanation Let the second Use be for Examination Take occasion to enter into the Closet of our owne hearts to see how the case stands between God and us This should be a day of self-scrutiny and self-reflection wherein we should smite upon e Ier 31.19 our thigh with Ephraim and be ashamed yea even confounded before our God It should be a day wherein we should plough up our fallow ground f Ier. 4 3â— ransack every corner of our soules and turne the inside of our hearts out unto the Lord. Let us therefore search our hearts and sift our lives whether there be not those sinnes and abominations among us which the Lord beholds with an eye of jealousie True it is that Kingdome killing sin of Idolatry which God so deeply chargeth on them in the Text is in a great measure suppressed among us and blessed be the Lord who hath put it into the heart of this honourable Parliament to purge out the dregs of that leaven which the Lord hates in his very soul and to pull down that proud oppressing PRELACY and those prelatical popish Innovations which were the props and pillars of Idolatry But are there not other God-provoking Heaven-daring wrath-procuring sins yet unpurged out which in the sight of God are very odious and abominable May not God speak to his Ministers concerning England as he does to Ezekiel g Ezek 16.2 Son of man cause Jerusalem to know her abominations Let me instance in some particulars Abomination 1 First is there
Nation He hath frowned on us in his anger yea he ha's so roared that he ha's made the whole Land to tremble He ha's shewed his people heavy things he ha's made us drink the Wine of astonishment l Psal 60.3 But in the midst of all these sad signes and symptomes of God's displeasure the Lord may say to us as he said to Jerusalem m Jer. 4.18 thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee and we may say to God as Ezra doth in his penitentiall Lamentation n Ezra 9.10 Now O our God what shall we say after all this for we have forsaken thy Commandements As if he should say We can neither accuse thy severity nor excuse our owne iniquity God delights not in thundering threats nor breaking blowes nor severe proceedings against his people He doth not afflict willingly o Lâ—m. 3.33 or from his heart as the Hebrew phrase carries it shewing mercy is his proper work Judgement is his strange work p Isa 28 21. therefore when he comes in a way of judgement he is said to come forth out of his place q Micah 1.3 implying thus much That then he is in the place that he delights in when he sits in the Mercy-seat r Micah 7.18 Ye read of a shaving Razor where with God threatens his people Isa 7.20 but the Prophet tels ye it is a Razor that is hired as if God had no Razor of his owne he delights not to have it or to use it It is Bernards observation that God is called Pater misericordiarum the Father of mercies because mercy naturally proceeds from him and is willingly bestowed but he is never called Pater vindictae the Father of revenge because that is unwillingly inflicted Look as Bees give honey naturally and sting onely when they are provoked so it is with God sweetnesse flowes from his inward disposition harshnesse onely from outward provocation therefore complaine not of God or his indignation let us complaine of our selves and of our own provocations Duty 2 Secondly we may by this Doctrine learne this duty viz To tremble at Gods direfull denunciations If the Lyon roar all the Beasts of the Forrest tremble Shall God be angry and shall not we feare and fall downe before him Shall God threaten both by his Word and by his Works His Word specifying what judgements we have deserved his works of severity on others telling us what we may justly expect for our miscarriages and shall not this threatning awake us shall his Rods be not onely shaken over us but wasted on us and yet we stiffen our necks and harden our hearts against his feare God forbid Feare ye not me saith the Lord will ye not tremble at my presence that have placed the Sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetuall decree that it cannot passe it s Jer. 5.22 Feare ye not my Word Feare ye not my Rod This is certaine the more we triumph in prosperity the more we shall tremble in adversity the lesse we feare Gods Rod the more we shall feel it either here or hereafter Vse 3 for Imitation Thirdly this Doctrine may be improved for imitation both to Ministers and Magistrates First Ministers by Gods own example may threaten impenitent sinners They may come with a rod as well as in love and in the spirit of meeknesse t 1 Cor. 4.21 they may be sharp in reproving sin foretelling danger and denouncing judgements When the wicked are brazen fac'd in sinning Ministers may be as brazen sac'd in reproving Behold saith God to Ezekiel v Ezek. 3.8 I have made thy face strong against their faces and thy forehead strong against their foreheads feare them not neither be dismayed at their looks We may spit fire and vengeance in the faces of obstinate and unreformed sinners Let no man slight this way as too legall crying out These are legall Preachers c. For our Saviour himselfe trod in the same path denouncing dreadfull woes against impenitent sinners x Mat. 11.21 Woe unto thee Chorazin woe unto thee Bethsaida woe unto you Scribes and Pharises Hypocrites which is seven times repeated in one chapter y Mat. 23.13 c. And where doe you meet with a more terrible soule-shaking Commination then that of our Saviour in the same Chapter ver 33. Yee Serpents ye generation of Vipers How can yee escape the damnation of hell Look upon Saint Paul's manner of preaching though there was never any Minister of Christ more Evangelicall then he yet he could speak to sinners as a Son of thunder as well as in a still voice Did he not thunder and lighten when he made Felix tremble z Acts 24.25 Does he not tell sinners of the terrour of the Lord * 2 Cor. 5.11 and the dreadfulnesse of his wrath That he shall come in flaming fire to take vengeance on all them that know not God and obey not the Gospell of our Lord Jesus Christ And that such shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power a 2 Thes 1.8.19 Can Ministers have a better pattern for their Preaching and practice then holy Paul and the Lord Jesus Christ himselfe Secondly for Magistrates Gods Vice-gerents here on earth they may and must shew their just indignation against offenders and offences When God hath put authority into your hands First ye must threaten offenders thus did Nehemiah he b Neh. 13.21 testified against Sabbath-breakers and said unto them Why lodge ye about the wall If ye doe so againe I will lay hands on you It may please God your threatning may prevaile to prevent much sin as Nehemiah's did But if threatning will doe no good then ye must proceed to Act what ye speak thus did he to obstinate and unreformed sinners I contended with them saith he c Neh. 13.25 and cursed them that is pronounced a curse against them that had taken strange Wives yea I pluckt off their haire and made them sweare by God to reforme what was amisse Nay for your encouragement ye have a greater then Nehemiah to be a pattern to you in the execution of Justice upon Delinquents ye have God himselfe for your example for see what God speaks by the Prophet Zacharie d Zech. 1.6 My words and my Statutes which I commanded my servants the Prophets did they not take hold of your Fathers What he pronounced in a way of commination he made good in a way of execution The Lord is knowne by the judgement that he executeth * Psal 9.16 It is true He threatens before he strikes but he will strike as wel as threaten so must ye do likewise The Magistrates sword must not be like a George on Horsebacke alwayes threatning never striking for he is the Minister of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evill therefore he must not beare the
against a people call for a speedy Repentance and Reformation I shall begin with the first point as it lyes in order Doctr. God takes precise and speciall notice c. For the proofe of this the Scripture is abundantly plain and pregnant I have seen this people saith God r Deut. 9.13 and behold it is a stiffe necked people Stubbornnesse of heart is not obvious to mans eye for God and onely God knowes the hearts of all the children of men saith Solomon 1 Kings 8.39 yet God takes notice of it The Lord tels this Prophet Ieremy speaking of the dissembling Jewes ſ Jer. 16.17 Mine eyes are upon all their wayes they are not hid from my face neither is their iniquities hid from mine eyes We may think to thrust God out of our sight When God is not in all our thoughts t Psal 10.4 but we cannot thrust our selves out of Gods sight v Te mihi latere possum non me tibi The Elders of Israel because they committed wickednesse in the dark every man in the chambers of his Imagery therefore they said w Ezek. 8.12 The Lord seeth us not But Gods takes away this Covershame Jer. 23.24 Can any man hide himselfe in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord Doe not I fill Heaven and earth saith the Lord Darknesse hideth not from him but the night shineth as the day x Psal 39.12 Reas 1 For first God hath an eye of omniscience he knowes not only our works and ways but the inward frame temper of our hearts y Prov. 15.11 Hell and destruction are before the Lord how much more then the hearts of the Sons of men And if the very windings and shufflings of our trecherous hearts are obvious to his eye then certainly our outward actions and enormities are much more conspicuous and apparent Doth not the Apostle say All things are naked z Heb. 4.13 and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to doe Mark the expression a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it is fuller then one word can render it it is a metaphor frō a Beast whose skin is flay'd off and cut up by the chine bone that you may see all his entrals which the Heathenish Priests in their Sacrifices were wont to doe when they did to use Lucian's words b Lucian de Sacrif 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. exactly view and take notice of them the Lord sees our very reynes as if the thoughts and secret workings of our hearts were unbowelled before him Object But doth not our Saviour say concerning wicked men Depart from me I never knew you c Matth. 7.23 It seems then that God doth not know all men and all things upon the earth Ans God knows not the wicked with a knowledge of approbation for so he knows the righteous only d Psal 1.6 but he knows them and all their actions with a knowledge of observation The whole frame of their hearts and all that their heart frameth e Gen. 6.5 all their desires and designes intentions and inventions plots and practises are observed by his alsearching eye and shall be accounted for before the Tribunall of Christ at the great day Reas 2 2ly The Lord takes notice because he hath an eye of jealousie He is a jealous God f Exod. 20.5 very apprehensive of any conjugall unfaithfulnesse and ready to revenge it As a tender husband the more dearly he loves his wife while shee is loyal to him the more grievously he is offended if she prove trecherous This is that which God complaines of by his Prophet g Ier. 3.20 Surely as a wife trecherously departeth from her husband so have you dealt trecherously wiih me O House of Israel And God makes this an aggravation of their offence h Ier. 31.33 They brake my Covenant though I was a husband to them saith the Lord. Reas 3 3ly As he has an eye of jealousie so he has also an eye of justice having appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousnesse i Acts 17.31 and bring every work into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or evill k Eccl. 12.14 And the Prophet makes this one reason why he observes and takes notice of all the ways and works of the Sons of men l Ier. 32.19 Thine eyes are upon all the ways of the sons of men to give every one according to his wayes and according to the fruit of his doings But this point will not need so much confirmation as application Vse 1 For instruction there are two lessons hence arising by way of inference which may much conduce to our Humiliation in the presence of God this day The first is this Gods patience towards us is infinite The second this Our presumption in sinning against him is intolerable Instruction 1 For the first see and admire at that Patience and long-suffering which Heaven and earth men and Angels may stand amazed at that the Lord of glory whose power and purity omniscience and omnipresence justice and jealousie doe dazle the eyes of the very Angels should see all the abominations committed under the Sun heare all the execrable oaths and blasphemies that are belched out against him observe the insolency scorne and rage of presumptuous sinners that set their mouths against the Heavens and their tongue walks through the earth m Psal 73 90 yet doth not all this while set the world on fire about our ears or thunderbolt us from Heaven or take us away with the stroke of his hand n Job 36.18 Doe but consider these 〈◊〉 remarkable things in God A piercing eye and A powerfull hand The one to spye the other to punish and withall seriously weigh that infinite and unconceivable holinesse and purity of his nature that he cannot endure iniquity o Hab. 1.13 and then break out into admiration and say O infinite patience and long-suffering that thou O God shouldest support us in our being at that very time when we are fighting against thee by our provocations and rebellions whereas didst thou withdraw thy hand but one moment we should drop downe to hell Would any King endure to see a Traytor abuse his Titles villifie his person revile his children contemne his lawes and doe as much as in him lyes to cast his Crowne downe to the ground yet this our God endures with unwearied patience May not we say with the Prophet p Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed Oh that we could now begin to admire the boundlesse bottomlesse Ocean of that mercy and loving kindnesse which swallowes up all our thoughts and will be matter of gratulation and admiration to all eternity saying q Micah 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his
not abundance of swelling pride and that is one abomination for every one that is proud in heart is abomination to the Lord saith Solomon h Prov. 16.5 We have yet as lofty looks and scornfull carriages and ambitious aspirements pussing at Superiours trampling on Inferiours high conceits of our selves low conceits of others as we had before this bloody war began God hath pul'd us downe in our estates but he hath not pul'd downe our pride we are brought upon our knees but our hearts are not humbled Abomination 2 Secondly is there not abundance of Hypocrisie among us which is another provokefull abomination for the Hypocrites in heart heap up wrath saith the Scripture i Iob 36.36.3.13 Now we are for the generalla hypocriticall Nation and therefore a people of Gods wrath as God spake of the Jews Isa 10.6 We are a Nation full of wit and therfore full of craft and guile God may say of us as he did of Ephraim k Hos 11.12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lyes and the house of Israel with deceit We can give good words they cost us nothing just as the Israelites did whom the Psalmist mentions l Psal 78.34 37. When he slew them then they sought him they returned early enquired after God c. But they did but flatter him with their mouth and lyed unto him with their tongues for their heart was not upright with him neither remained they stedfast in his Covenant Here is a lively Image or representation of our double-dealing with our God in the time of our straights We doe not seek God for God but for our selves we doe not so much serve him as serve our own turns of him we pretend a willingnesse to be reformed but when it comes to the quick to take Christs Yoake on our neck to have purity of Ordinances and power of godlinesse meet together to have strictnesse of Sabbaths and strictnesse of conversation kisse each other to have plain powerfull convincing heart-humbling soul-healing preaching now we shrink and draw back and are afraid of a refining Reformation this argues the dishonesty of the heart The truth is we would faine have Religion and our lusts together we would have a Reformation that might suit with our owne humours ends and interests and make Religion a shooe fitted to our owne last is not this to be hypocriticall in our ends and aimes We come to heare Sermons just as they did in Ezekiel's time m Ezek. 33.31 Son of man this people sit before thee as my people they heare thy words but they will not doe them for with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousnesse So at this day many of you will give us the hearing but ye will doe what ye list Ye come to judge the Sermon not to be judged by the Sermon as the Apostle speaks in the like case Jam. 4.11 If thou judge the Law thou art not a doer of the Law but a Judge Ye would have witty Sermons and reproofe at a distance and love not the jewell of plain-dealing Look as men commend the sweetnesse of Rosewater but start and turne away if they be bespinkled with it so ye love to heare the truth and commend it but like not that it should touch ye or come too close unto you Ye come on such days as these to hear your ways reproved but have no serious purpose to have your wayes reformed we may preach what we will ye wil practise what ye please Is not this a piece of hypocrisie which the Lord abhorreth Abomination 3 Thirdly is there not a great deale of impenitency and stubbornnesse under Gods corrections Me thinks I heare the Prophet Jeremy complaining of us as he did of the Jewes in his time * Ier. 5.3 O Lord thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction they have made their faces harder the a rock they have refused to return There is a spirit of insensiblenesse * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 11.8 seized upon us that we do not lay to heart one of the sorest of Gods plagues one of the sharpest of his arrowes this man-devouring land-destroying sword that hath eaten so much flesh and drunk so much blood and is not yet put up into the scabberd We are like the Drunkard that Solomon speaks of n Prov. 23.34 35. that sleeps on the top of a mast and lyeth downe in the midst of the Sea they have stricken me saith he and I was not sicke they have beaten me and I felt it not Oh how provokefull is this to our God and to the eyes of his glory to see us a people so stupid so senslesse so lockt up in our owne hearts that neither sins nor miseries nor meanes nor mercies nor word nor sword can work upon us Ye shall read of some of Gods servants recorded in Scripture that have been more affected with an evill threatned then we are with a judgement inflicted Look on godly Josiah he hath his heart tender and melting when he heard the words of the Book of the Law o 2 Kin. 22.11 Look on Habakuk he hath his belly trembling and lips quivering and rottennesse entring into his bones p Hab. 3.16 Look on Isaiah his loynes are filled with paines pangs took hold on him as the pangs of a woman that travelleth he was bowed downe at the hearing of a hard vision he was dismayed at the seeing of it q Isa 21.3 These holy men were deeply affected with a calamity that was but like to come upon them but we are not sensible of a dreadfull judgement that is already come upon us I pray God a deep fleep from the Lord be not fallen on us such a one as fell on Saul and his Army r 1 Sam 26.12 when the Lord purposed to deliver Saul into Davids hand r 1 Sam. 26.12 for we bear off all Gods blows with head and shoulders as Jerusalem did when she said s Ier. 10.19 Woe is me for my hurt my wound is grievous but I said Truly this is a griefe and I must beare it as if shee should say It is a burden and I must beare it as well as I can Doe but examine our thoughts consider our speeches look into our houses observe the generall deportment and carriage of men under this heavy judgement of a Land-wasting war and you may see that literally fulfilled in our times which the Prophet speaks of concerning Israel t Isa 42.25 He hath powred upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of Battell and it hath set him on fire round about yet he knew it not and it burned him yet he laid it not to heart Abomina ∣ tion 4 Fourthly is there not a great deale of injustice and oppression yet among us And this is a crying abomination v Iames 5.4 The cryes
to fight against Amurath He for a while prevailed and had like to have got the victory but Amurath seeing the great slaughter of his men plucked the writing out of his bosome wherein the League was contained and holding it in his hand with his eyes lift up to heaven said Behold thou crucified Christ This is the League that thy Christians in thy Name made with me and now have violated If thou be God as they say thou art Avenge the wrong done to thy Name and unto me Instantly after in the very same Battell was Vladislaus that had broke the League slaine and his Head carried on the poynt of a Launce through their Cities as a token of the Turkes Trophee Now is it so dreadfull a sinne to breake Covenant with men What is it to breake Covenant with that God who can cast Soule and Body into hell fire Certainly if we breake our Covenant our Covenant will breake us Helpe 3 Thirdly Let us get more publicknesse of spirit to say with the Psalmist e Psal 137.5 If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning Let all private interests be drowned in publick concernments looke as when publicke men have a private spirit it is a great curse unto a Kingdome so when private men have a publick spirit it is a great blessing let that be our honour which was Davids f Acts 13.36 to serve our generation to be be usefull in the times and places whereinto God ha's cast us Helpe 4 Fourthly study unity and unanimity that in the cause of God and Gospell ye may all have one heart and one hand and one minde and one mouth Doe as the Tribes of Israel did in a publicke cause g Judg. 20 8. They all arose as one man Sure it is there is not one plot or project wherein the Devill more labours or bestirs himselfe then this How he may cast in a bone of Division blow the coles of contention and breake the band of unity among Brethren Therefore looke how farre any man nourisheth the spirit of discord and dissention in his brest so farre I dare tell him from the Lord he is Instrumentall to the Devill Boards joyned together make a Ship disioyned they cause Shipwracke Agreement among Christians builds up Jerusalem disagreement puls it downe In the building of Solomons Temple there was no noyse neither hammer nor axe nor any toole of iron was heard while it was in building h 1 Kings 6.7 O that in setting up the building of Reformation for which we have lift up our hands to the most high God there might be no noyse of jars or janglings crossings or thwartings envyings or hart-burnings Helpe 5 Lastly Get your hearts fired with a burning love to Christ and an enflamed zeale for his honour and advancement of the worke of Reformation that ye may be fervent in spirit i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seething hot Rom. 12.11 a peculiar people zealous of good workes k Tit. 2.14 and remember this for your encouragement If every thought of your hearts were a rapture and every word an extasie and every action a sacrifice If ye had a thousand lives to spend for Christ and ten thousand estats to lay down at his feet If ye did spend and were spent in his service He is able abundantly to recompence you both here and hereafter Your labour shall not be in vaine in the Lord l 1 Cor. 15.38 To draw to a conclusion Let me winde up the three Doctrins on one Bottome Particular Application to the Members of the Honourable House and so addresse my speech to you Noble SENATORS whom God ha's honoured and betrusted with so great a Worke as the steering of our Ship in a storme and the setling of a poore tottering trembling Kingdome Ye have heard That God See's all our Provocations a 1 Point That God Breath's out against us his comminations b 2 Point That God Cal's aloud for speedy Reformation c 3 Point I beseech you as a poore Messenger of Jesus Christ lay these things to heart and apply them to your owne Soules For example First Do's God see all your wayes with an impartiall eye for he accepts not the persons of Princes nor regardeth the rich more then the poore m Job 34.19 Then give me leave to propound that question to you which the Prophet Oded did to the men of Israel 2 Cro. 28.10 Are there not with you even with you sinnes against the Lord your God I come not hither either to accuse or to censure any of you There is a witnesse within you will doe the one there is a Judge above you will doe the other But ye will suffer me to intreat you to Beseech you by the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering to him at that great day To be true to your owne spirits to look into your owne hearts and to watch over your own wayes that ye give no occasion to the Lord to say I have seene the provocations of these or these Parliament men Take heed therefore lest by the dignity of your places your hearts be lifted up above your Brethren and remember the greater your places are the greater must your reckoning be Be carefull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the Apostles phrase n Gal. 2.14 to tread with a straight foot to walke uprightly according to the truth of the Gospell Remember that speech of Job o Job 13.27 Thou lookest narrowlly to all my paths thou fettest a print upon the beeles of my feet If ye doe but tread awry or step out of that way that God hath appointed you to walke in Shall not God search this out for he knowes the secrets of the heart p Psal 44.21 Let there be none among you that drive on your owne particular designes and serve God and his cause no further then they serve your owne ends and interests Do not spare those whom God would not have spared It cost Ahab dear when he spared Benhadad q 1 Kings 20.42 God tels him Thy life shall goe for his life and thy people for his people Doe not discourage those whom God would not have discouraged Beware lest out of Cowardize or carnall feares out of sinfull complyance and conformity to the wils of men ye TOLERATE what God would not have TOLERATED for I conceive it worthy the consideration of the wisest whether the Devill would not thinke he had made a good bargaine and gained well by the Reformation if he could exchange the Prelacie for an Vniversall Liberty Take heed lest there be any found among you that are zealous for vindicating Civill Liberties but when Church-government comes to be setled ye shrinke and start and withdraw the shoulder as being afraid of a Reformation that will be too strict Ye have of late caused the Scriptures to be searched desiring that the minde of Christ in point of government and