every day is not a Market day nor every wéek in the yeare a faire week nor every season in ye year a time of Spring or harvest so every day of a mans life may not claime to be ye day of grace Therefore if a man fore-slow it now he foresloweth his own happinesse and putteth off his own peace for ever Excelent is that annotation of Gregory on Job 27. 9. will God heare his cry when trouâ—le commeth upon him Beloved now Gods patience is troubled wilt not yu repent Now Gâ—ds Spirit is troubled wilt not thou obey Now Gods justice is troubled wilt not thou relent Now Gods word is troubled wilt thou â—efuse to harken will God heare his cry He speaketh interrogatively as if he should say Art thou so mad so vaine so foolish to promise to thy selfe being an hypocrite that God will heare thy prayer Oh no then justice commeth to take place Thirdly it is Gods use to do so in other things even upon the contempt of temporall blessings and therefore much more in matters of grace salvation Thus God promised to give Israel the land of Canaan Numb. 12. 22. but the text saith they tempted God ten times that is as some Expositors expound many times or as others ten severall times But whatever the meaning of the text be certainly it was very many times so long till at last he sware in his wrath that they should never enter into his rest Beloved though there be many a hot swearer yt regards not an oath yet certainly if the Lord swear we may beléeve him the word of God is as strong as oaths if he say iâ— upon his word we are bound to beléeve it how much more then when he confirmes it with an oath Therefore if the Lord swear thou shalâ— not how darest thou how canst thou hope oâ— think ever to enter into his rest This was almost fourtie yéeres before he died that ye Lord made this oath against them and God knowâ— how many thousands of them fell short noâ— only of the Land of Canaan but also of the Kingdome of heaven So God tooke Ismael an hundred and seventéene yéers before he died twenty years God offered him grace and repentance but he would not take warning a mocker he was and a mocker he would be for he mocked Isaac when he was a child six yeares old and no meanes would reclaim him before he heard the voice Cast out the bond woman and her sonne Out with him saith God for he shall never be heire with my sonne this was an hundred and seventéen years before Ismaels death And so God took Saul five and thirty or six and thirty yeares before he died according to Iosephus Chronology if it be true nowsoever he tooke him divers yeares before his death for so the Scripture makes it plaine 1 Sam. 15. 29. The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent for he is not a man that he should repent Therefore because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord the Lord also hath rejected thee from being a King And doe not think that thou by thy prayers and crying God mercy canst ever alter him for his counsell is immutable and he is strong in his decrée and cannot change Hetherto Orace and Mercy have béen offered thée which if thou hadst imbraced thou mightest have found Mercy from the Lord and the Kingdome should have béen established and confirmed unto thée but now it is too late for the strength of Israel cannot lie God tooke Esau fiftie years before his death for so long he lived after he sought the blessing with teares but he was a hunting when God was a calling he was following his prophainenesse when God was wooing him to Repentance At last when he called for Repentance and sought it earnestly yea his Soule was carefull for to get it yet he could never obtaine it though he sought it earnestly with teares of fiftie yeares before he died Now if the Lord so severely punish contempt of temporall blessings O how will hâ— punish the contempt of proffers of Grace and Salvation I tell you God will be more strict in revenging of this sinne then of any other sinne he will come with Martiall law against all those that contemne his Gospell Ioh. 3. 18. He that beleeveth not is condemned already Doth Christ preach repentance and salvation and the Kingdome of God and wilt thou not repent and beléeve Martiall Law beloved martiall Law hang him up for he is condemned already Even like a Souldier that revels against his Generall and forsake his Colours they doe not cast him into prison and stay for the Assizes or Sessions but give him Mattiall Law even hang him up So if the Lord sound his Gospell in thine ears and offers thée conditions of peace knocking at the doore of thy heart by his Spirit and thou refuse to open to him thou art condemned already for the strength of Israel cannot lie nor repent Oh therefore take héed now whiles his word sounds in thine ears While his Spirit secretly whispers in thy heart to thée open to him for else thou art condemned for ever Take notice then that God doth commonly give men a day and no man or Angel doth know how long this day lasteth To some it lasteth to their lash gasp to some to their old age and to some it is cut off in their childhood God gave the Angels a day the which because they neglected they are reserved in chains of darknesse untill the great iudgement day God gave Cain a day Gen. 4. During all the time of this day though Cain sinned againe and againe and went on in his sinnes a great while yet heard nothing but a still voice If thou doe well Cain shalt thou not be accepted but if thou dost ill sinne lieth at the dore But when no means will prevaile but Cain will go on adding sin to sin and murder unto all the rest of his sinnes and so let go the season of mercy the Lord tells him from heaven that the day of grace is past the gate of mercy is shut against thée for thou art now accursed from the earth As if the Lord should say Before I gave thée a day of salvation and offered thée mercie but thou wouldst not accept of it but now I have clapt a curse upon thy soule that thou shalt never claw it off So God gave Niniveh a day to repent Ionnah 3. Yet fourty dayes and Niniveh shall be destroyed God gave the Fig-trée a day even three years before he would have it cut down God gave the old world a day of an hundred and twenty years during this time God sent unto them Noah a Preacher of Righteousnesse to call upon them to repent and so set it down also that his Spirit shall not alwaies strive with man but his time shall be an hundred and twenty yeares yet one writs that the Lord cut off twenty of the hundred and twenty yeares because of
which ye Lord said to the prisoners Come foorth and to those that lie in their sins repent and beleeve Now if any man will come foorth and humble his soule before ye Lord let him come welcome for it is a day of salvation But there is another day of damnation which is a darke day a black a duskie day wherein ye Lord wil visite the sins of the world and revenge the quarrell of this Covenant Hos. 9. 7. The day of visitation is come yea the day of recompence the people shall know it the Prophet is a foole and the spirituall man is mad Beloved we are fooles and all ye spirituall men under heaven are mad that lay not this day to heart For the day of the Lord is a day of visitation all the world shall rue it though now men sléepe in security If once mercy be rejected and God turn away his eare from a man then grace shal be no more the doore of life shall for ever be shut up against him and when once this day comes he hath lost his owne peace and deprived himselfe of eternall happinesse Now there are three Reasons of this point the first is the law of retaliation of rendring like for like which is ye justest law that can be made with man for to give unto every man according to his works to make him take such as he brings as the heathen call it to give a man quid for quo Now if God call upon thée and thou wilt not heare it is righteousnesse with God yea equity with God that is more that when yu callest on him he should not hear thée for thus runs the tenor of Gods Word Prov. 28. 9. He that turns away his eare from hearing the Law even his prayer shall be abominable He that turns away his eare from Gods Law God will turne away his eare from his prayer He that turns it is spoken in the present tense that is that now turns away his eare his prayer shall be abominable in the future tense yt is the Lord marks what master or servaunt what father or mother what husband or wife what man or woman it is yt turns away the eare of his head or the eare of his heart from hearing his will and obeying of his Commandements the Lord takes speciall notice of it sets it dowue in his Calender records it in his Memoriall kéeping a strict account thereof as if God should say Well is it so I now call and will not this man or that woman answer Do I now stretch out my hands and will not they take care to obey me Well let them alone saith God there is a day comming that I shal be a hearing of them times of sorrow and misery will take hold of them and then they in their aflictions will cry unto me but I will not heare they will beg for mercy but I will not regard they will seek me early but they shall not find me It was on of the Articles of high Treason brought in against Cardinall woolsey that he had the Por and a stinking breath and yet durst come into ye kings presence So it will be an article against thée of high treason before the King of heaven if thou come into his presence with the stinking breath of thy sins living in thy lusts and wallowing in thy filthinesse all thy Prayers are but as so many stinking breaths in ye nostrils of the Lord every duty yt thou performest unto the Lord shall be as so many articles of high treason against thée for to condemn thée becaus thou livest in Rebellion and a traitor against God His prayer shal be abominable he doth not say I wil turn away mine eare from hearing his prayer which turns away his eare from hearing my Law that is the true exposition of the words no like for like is sometimes injustice for if a man should strik a Magistrate a box on the eare it were not justice for him to give him another for it is a greater sin to strik a Magistrate then any other common person therefore a greater Punishment the Law requireth So God doth not say he will turne away his eare from hearing his prayer but wil serve him in a worse kind he will count it abominable yea abomination in the abstract it shall be loathsome yea loathsomnesse it selfe in the worst manner Gal. 6. As a man soweth so shall he reap if thou sow sparingly thou shalt reap sparingly if thou sow a dull eare to Gods Word thou shalt reap a dull care from God to thy prayer For God wil reward every man according to his workes Secondly because of the time of Gods attributes both meâ—cy and justice have their season in this life and when mercy hath acted her part then commeth justice upon the stage and acteth her part so that God with have his attributes manifested to all the sons of men yea to the face of ye whole world There is no Market nor Fair-day yt lasteth alwaies if the Countrey will not come in ye Tradesmen will put up their Wares and he gone but if they come in time they may have a pennyworth otherwise if they come too late they will have none For ye Merchant will not alwaies dwel in Tents but away he goeth and will not stay for them Beloved Gods standing is now open and his shop is set wide unto ye sonns of men if men will not come in cheapen and buy without money whiles God offers his Wares he will put them up and be gone For the Merchant will not lose his Wares which he should do if he should alwaies remaine in the open Aire with them if he alwaies continue in the fieldes expecting Customers his Wares would spotle and rot So it is with God how many swéet Counsels doth he lose how many swéet Exortations how many blessed Sermons holy Sacraments and Sabbaths doth he lose how many checks of Conscience how many days of Grace and motions of his Spirit have béen suandred away in vaine do you thinke that God will lose all these and let them rot upon ye stall with staying for you No no the day of grace mercy will have an end and then ye day of wrath and vengeance will step up To day if ye will heare his voice then harden noâ— your hearâ—s then they hardned their hearts would not be led by Gods mercies to forsake their sinns Therefore he sweare in his wrath that they should never enter into his rest If it be so with you as it was with Israel in the Wildernesse in the day of tremptation you doe not know but yt your sinns may now begin to pluck vengeance upon you I tell you if you harden your hearte this day you do not â—now but this very day ye Lord may clap an Oath upon your beads that you shall never enter into his rest For vne the self-same occasion last not aâ—waies as
sinues upon thée unto the third and fourth generation because thou hast withstood the day of grace Beloved men run on in their sins as if so be an Augel from heaven should cry unto them and tell them yet God will be good unto them yet God will shew them mercy and forbeare them Beloved let your consciences answer if you ever heard the Lord God say to any of you thus long I will forbeare you No Gods patience is in his own breast and therefore no man knows how long it will last Reas. 2. A second reason is because Gods patience giveth no marks or inkling of it before it ends commonly when God strikes a man with death he giveth some signes or warnings of it before as sicknesse and paines and gray hairs and many sorrows c. Now because thy life is in Gods hands thou carest not for it but venturest to goe on in thy sins hoping to have some warning though thousands be cut off without it but the day of grace may come to an end and yet thou never have any inkling or warning of it beforehand commonly when God strikes a man with death he tells him of it before-hand by aches and pains as if the Lord should say Now thou shalt die now will I take thée out of the world But when the Lord taketh away the day of grace from a man though the spirituall man may take some notice of it yet there is no sensible apparition of it but after the day of grace is set upon a man he may be as strong and lustrie as before he may come to Church as well after as before performe religious duties and do many good things as well after as before as Saul went on in duties of Religion as well after Samuel had pronounced the Lords doome upon him how many times was he offering sacrifice unto the Lord after the Prophet told him that he was a man rejected how many good spéeches came from him as when Samuel met him he salutes him with these words Blessed be thou of the Lord I pray thee turne againe with me that I may worship the Lord A man would have thought that Saul had beene a good convert No no before al this his judgment and doome was set upon him God steales upon him and saies nothing he claps his plague upon their souls and holds his peace Isaiah 42. 14. I have a long time held my peace I have beene still and refrained my selfe now will I cry like a travelling woman I will destroy and devoure at once The Lord shewes here how he deales with men they goe on in their sinnes but the Lord holds his peace they provoke him every day but the Lord refraines his anger but now all at once his wrath breateth foorth upon them Psal. 64. 7. God will shoot an arrow at them suddenly their stroke shal be at once The Lord suddenly shoots a swift arrow at thée no sooner it is shot but it enters into thy bowels When the Lord comes upon a man he comes suddenly when he ends the day of grace upon him he doth it suddenly He ended the day of grace on the Scribes and Pharisées even in the very Sermon time While Christ was preaching unto them they were delivered up to hardnesse of heart so many were delivered up to hardnesse of heart in the time of Hosea's prophecie Hosea 4. 17. Epharim is joyned to jdols let him alone saith God as if he should say Sermou let him alone Preacher let him alone Spirit let him alone Christ let him alone let him alone Beloved if we stand out against God and reject the day of grace the Lord may say Word let such aman alone and never convert him Christ let such a man alone and never redéeme him Spirit let such a man alone and never sanctifie him Sacraments let such a man alone and never seale up any comforts unto him a fearefull signe that men are come to this hours do we not sée that men come to the Word and the Word lets them alone in their sins do not men come to the Sacrament and the Sacrament leaves them still in their filthinesse men come unto good dtuies but good duties let them alone and do them no good and this is the condition of many thousands in the world Therefore oh thinke upon this you that have made a league with your sinns and an agréement with hell hear this delivered to you this day that the day of grace may be ended and God may come and clap his curse upon men and never give them any inkling of it at all A third Reason is because God reckons upon every houre if God kept not a strict account of time how many Sermons you have had how many mercies you have enjoyed how many crosses he hath warned you by if God kept not a true talle and account of every houres time you might rub on many dayes and moneths and yéeres and spend much time in fulfilling of your lusts but God kéepeth a reckoning of these things yea of every houre and of every minute Act. 17. 30. The times of ignorance God regarded not but now he admonisheth all men to repent Alas when men live in their sins through blindnesse and ignorance and know not God the Lord takes no such strict notice of them but lets them goe on longer and longer but when the Lord send them his Word and Gospel and affords them the meanes of grace he doth the more strictly looke unto them and takes the more exact account of them before they had the meanes of grace the Lord winked at them and did not so narrowly watch them but looked over mens ignorance as the originall hath it but now God sends his Word and Gospel he admonisheth all men to repent he winks at never an houre but sets downe how oft thou hast had exhortation from thy Minister how often thou hast had warning by sicknesse and afflictions how often thou hast had chéeks from thine owne conscience how many admonitions thou hast had from thy friends how many times thou hast had the sound of the Gospel to sound in thy eares to bring thée home unto God John 2. 7. 11. This is the first beginning of miracles that Jesus did John 4. 58. This is the second miracle that Iesus did saith the Text God sets downe this is the first this is the second time This is the second Epistle I wrote to you saith Paul Oh this is the third time I wrote unto you 2 Cor. 13. that when I come I will not spare so God sets it downe in his catalogue this is the first time that I have warned this man this is the second time this is the third time that when I come I will not spare the Lord counts how long he hath sought unto thée and intreated thée by his mercies how long he hath allured thée by his Word how long he hath warned thée by his judgements how oft he hath smote