unto him in better words We acknowledge O Lord our wickedness and the iniquity of our Fathers for we have finned against thee The remembrance of these ought to be very grievous to us and the burden of them intolerable VVhich if we feel sensibly it will dispose us to cry to God with the greater fervency and frequency and to beseech him the more earnestly to spare us saying as Baruch a great Friend of Jeremiah teaches us III. 1 2. O Almighty Lord the soul in anguish the troubled spirit cryeth to thee Hear O Lord and have mercy for thou art merciful have pity upon us for we have sinned against thee And if he do condescend to our request we shall the more magnifie his mercy and his clemency will be the more admirable in our eyes when we have been made thoroughly sensible how little we deserved it nay how justly we had incurred his severest displeasure 3. The sense also of our ill deservings will help another way to make our Prayers effectual because it will move us wholly to depend upon God for our deliverance That 's a third thing necessary to make our supplications prevalent We must in this humble manner apply our selves to God and quitting all confidence in any thing that we can do even in our Prayers desire him to save us merely for his own sake there being nothing in our selves to move him to any thing but only displeasure against us This Jeremiah also teaches us in the next words to those now mentioned v. 21. Do not abhor us though we and our Fathers have been great sinners yet do not abhor us for thy Names sake do not disgrace the Throne of thy glory Which argument he uses also a little before my Text v. 7. O Lord though our iniquities testifie against us do thou it for thy Names sake A most excellent Form for us to imitate who may and ought to say as it there follows Our backslidings have been many we have sinned against thee O thou hope of Israel the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble we have provoked thee to resolve that thou wilt save and deliver us no more but do it for thy Names sake do it for thy Truths sake disgrace not thy holy Religion here established among us though we be wicked that is pure though we deserve to be deserted that is worthy of thy defence and protection And may we take the boldness to add as thy Servants heretofore have done thou hast many holy devout Worshippers among us for whose sake we beseech thee to do it O look not upon the sinners of thy people but on them which serve thee in truth 2 Esdras III. 28.31.34 and VIII 26. Are their deeds any better who inhabit Babylon that they should therefore have the dominion over Sion Weigh thou our wickedness now in the ballance and theirs also that dwell in the world and so shall thy Name be found no where as it is in our Israel Psal CXV 1. Not unto us therefore O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give glory for thy mercy and thy truth sake Remember not the iniquities of our Forefathers but think upon thy Power and thy Name now at this time For thou art the Lord our God and thee O Lord will we praise and for this cause hast thou put thy fear in our hearts to the intent that we should call upon thee These last are the words of Baruch III. 5 6. who imitates you see his Friend Jeremiah as they all do the Psalmist with whose words I shall conclude this particular LXXIX 8 c. O remember not against us former iniquities let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low Help us O God of our salvation for the glory of thy Name and deliver us and purge away our sins for thy Names sake Wherefore should they say where is now their God Let him be known among them in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy Servants which hath been shed That 's the third thing Let us profess our sole dependence on him and expectation meerly from his goodness and for his glory disclaiming all confidence in our selves and let me add in man too that is in all humane help and Counsels For which end let me recommend that Form of Prayer to you for perpetual use Psal LX. 11. Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man I say perpetually 4. For we must pray to God in this manner with perseverance continuing instant in Prayer as the Apostle speaks Rom. XII 12. praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance Ephes VI. 18. That is we must not be discouraged if we obtain not our suits presently but pray still with all prayer secret private publick and in the Spirit with earnestness and fervour watching thereunto i. e. borrowing some time from our sleep or our business rather than neglect this Duty of fervent prayer resolving not to be weary but with all perseverance to cry mightily to him till he have mercy upon us This is our Saviours Doctrine Luke XVIII 1. where he spake a Parable to this end that men ought always to pray and not faint or grow weary For if as he shews an unjust and impious Judge may be moved by importunity to do a poor Widow right shall we think that God will not avenge his Elect which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them I tell you that he will avenge them speedily v. 7 8. And this was the course that Jeremy here resolved to take in their great distress for want of Rain ver last of this Chapter Can any of the vanities of the Gentiles give Rain or the Heaven give showers Art not thou he O Lord our God therefore will we wait upon thee And so truly must we praying in the Psalmists words Psal CXXIII 2 3 4. Behold as the Eyes of Servants look unto the hand of their Masters and as the Eyes of a Maiden unto the hand of her Mistress So our Eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy upon us Have mercy upon us O Lord have mercy upon us for we are exceedingly filled with contempt Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease and with the contempt of the proud Let every soul here present put up at least this short petition to God day by day for this Church and Kingdom besides those he makes for himself and Family And as often as you can set apart some time for more solemn importuning of his mercy towards us 5. And let us be sure to take care of one thing more without which all this labour will be lost viz. to make all our supplications with hearty resolutions to reform every thing that we know to be amiss in our hearts and lives This was the course to which the King of Nineveh directed his People by
A SERMON PREACHED AT S. PAVL COVENT-GARDEN On the late Day of Fasting Prayer NOVEMB 13. By SIMON PATRICK D.D. Rector of the said Parish and Chaplain in Ordinary to his MAJESTY IMPRIMATUR Guil. Jane R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. a Sacris Dom. Nov. 23. 1678. LONDON Printed by R. E. for J. Magnes and R. Bentley in Russel-street in Covent-Garden near the Piazza 1678. TO THE Inhabitants OF THE PARISH of S. Paul Covent-Garden THis Sermon being Printed meerly because many of you have desired it I hope you intend it shall not lose its Fruit but be imprinted in your Memories and on your Heart It is plain as becomes the Habit of a Mourner but what it wants in Ornament it makes up I trust in honest affections and substantial endeavours to do you good and if it be received into honest and good hearts may conduce much to your happiness here and hereafter I pray God it may and beseech you every day to commit the custody of your selves so seriously unto him in well-doing that you may every one of you be able to say boldly The Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me Nay you may have that comfortable hope which S. Paul had and say with him 2 Tim. IV. 17 18. I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lyon And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me to his Heavenly Kingdom Amen Jeremiah XIV 9. latter part Yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name leave us not THE occasion of our solemn meeting at this time is an Information that hath been given as we are told in the Proclamation which called us hither of an horrible design against the life of his Sacred Majesty which must needs have drawn along with it such fatal consequences had it succeeded as would have endangered the subversion of the Protestant Religion and Government of this Realm which God of his infinite mercy hath hitherto prevented and it is to be hoped will prevent for the future These Reasons have moved the Parliament to desire and His Majesty to grant and appoint that this day be set apart for the imploring the mercy and protection of almighty God to His Majesties Royal Person and in him to all his loyal Subjects and to pray that God would bring to light more and more all secret Machinations against his Majesty and the whole Kingdom For the obtaining these great blessings we ought in the devoutest manner to lift up our hearts and our hands as this Prophet speaks elsewhere to God in the Heavens Acknowledging indeed that we are a very sinful Generation a people laden with iniquity who deserve if he should punish us according to our provocations to be utterly abandon'd by him but humbly beseeching him of his infinite clemency to have patience with us and spare us and not to cut us down as barren Trees that cumber the ground but to try us at least a while longer whether we will bring forth the fruit he justly expects from us Which though we have often promised and not performed and thereby made our selvs the more obnoxious to his heavy displeasure yet since he hath not taken the forfeitures we have made of his favour but still continues it to us nay in a wonderful mannner defeats the attempts of those who would subvert our Religion we have incouragement to importune him in such words as these I have now read and to say though we have been false to thee and to our own vows Yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy Name leave us not Which are part of an humble deprecation of Gods displeasure which the Prophet Jeremy makes in the behalf of Judah and Jerusalem And are the fittest I could think of to put into your mouths at this time for the averting of Gods Judgments from this poor Church and Kingdom The Jews for whom the Prophet was so importunate in those dayes languished under and were in danger to be devoured by a most miserable Famine which in that Country was wont to come from want of Rain as here in this part of the world from overmuch moisture Thus the Chapter begins as the words run in the Hebrew The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the restraints which were upon the clouds that is by the command of the Almighty who detained their showers and so brought a dearth upon the Land This dearth is described in a very dreadful manner from thence to the 7th v. But looks nothing so terribly to my apprehension as a famine of the word of God would do which we may fear would have followed here in these Countreys if God had permitted our Enemies to accomplish their designs against us For they would have shut up the holy Scriptures from you and laid a restraint upon that Heavenly Doctrine which hath so many years to use the words of Moses Deut. 32.2 Dropt upon you as the rain and distilled as the dew as the small rain upon the tender herb and as showers upon the grass Our unfruitfulness indeed under such sweet influences of Heaven may bring upon us this sore punishment For we must confess as Jeremy doth in the 7th v. That our iniquities testifie against us They are open and apparent they accuse us heavily and demand judgment upon us they plead for our condemnation and the severest executions For our back-slidings are many and we have sinned against God most grievously And therefore unless he will be favourable to us as the Prophet there speaks for his own Namessake we must look for nothing but utter destruction That is our only hope as it was theirs But alas such was the sadness of their case that they had too much reason to fear he who was the hope of Israel as it follows v. 8. and the Saviour thereof in time of trouble would not regard them nor take any farther care of them For that 's the meaning of those questions why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land and as a wayfareing Man who turneth aside to tarry for a night That is as one that minds not what becomes of us no more than a man is concern'd for a place where he intends not to inhabit but only to pass thorough in his way to some other Country Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied as a mighty man that cannot save Or as some render it like one that is weary with his former labours and toils for the good of his neighbours which he finds have been bestowed to so little purpose that he hath no incouragement to do any more to help them God seemed that is to be resolved to send them no more deliverance but to abandon them to inevitable destruction or matters were come to such a pass that the Prophet feared he would soon be so resolved their behaviour towards him being so
he there gives directions how it should be built and orders how it should be furnished with a Table and Dishes and Spoons and Candlestick and Snuffers and abundance of other houshold-stuff Whereof no reason can be given but this that it might represent in the most familiar manner to the grossest souls in the Nation that God dwelt and as it were kept house among them 5. And that it might be more apparent this was his House and that herein he dwelt among them this House was seated in the midst of their Camp Numb XI 17. v. 3. and there was also a glorious cloud covered it whereby it was sanctified to be his habitation Exod. XXIX 43. The pillar of the cloud and fire that is which had led them out of Egypt and was the special token of his presence with them he there promises should rest upon this House and consecrate it to himself And accordingly you find that as soon as Moses had finished this habitation and set it up A cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle So that Moses was not able to enter into the place because the cloud abode thereon and the glory of the LORD filled it Exod. XL. 34 37. On the outside of the house that is there was a smoak but within there was a most glorious brightness which sometime broke forth in an amazing splendor as a visible token of his presence in the midst of them So you read in many places which I cannot stand now to mention that the Glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud and stood in the door of the Tabernacle and appeared to all the congregation dazling their eyes and frighting them when they were in the greatest tumults and rebellions against Moses and Aaron For it lookt then like a consuming fire which they thought would presently devour them Lastly Gods dwelling among them was so clearly demonstrated he was so nigh to them and made himself so familiar with them that he is said to be seen face to face among them So you read Numb XIV 14. Where the people being in a mutiny against the only good men amongst them The Glory of the Lord appeared in the Tabernacle and the Lord threatned to disinherit them and had then done execution upon them had not Moses interposed for them by this argument that the people of Canaan would make an ill construction of it For they have heard that thou LORD art among this people that thou LORD art seen face to face and thy cloud standeth over them c. Read also Deut. V. 4. And when you have considered all this seriously you will see there was reason to say that the LORD was in the midst of them and in an extraordinaary mnner sensibly present to this people They were above all others dear to him and had the highest marks of his favour and love None could more presume of his indulgent kindness to them or be more assured of his tender and affectionate care watching over them to preserve them Unless it be our selves who have a greater grace vouchsafed to us and more illustrious demonstrations of his powerful presence with us to bless protect and defend us than the Israelites though so much in his favour could boast of We whom he hath Elected to be his peculiar people called to be Saints and sanctified excell them as much as they did other Nations He hath exalted our praise far above theirs who were heretofore so much renowned and hath approached so nigh to us and made us so near to himself that we may glory in his holy Name and say in a far more noble sence than they could that he hath spoken to us face to face For no man hath seen God at any time but the only begotten Son who is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him And the Word was made flesh say the Apostles of our Religion and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father Joh. I. 14.18 God shone into the very hearts of these holy men to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. IV. 6. And what they saw and heard they have declared to us that we might also have fellowship with them and they protest that truly their fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. I. 3. Who is the image of the invisible God and the brightness of his glory By whom God looks upon us and speaks to us through our own flesh for he dwells not now as he did among them in a Tabernacle made of Curtains and beasts Skins or in a house of stone but hath made our Nature his dwelling-place The flesh of man is become the Sanctuary of God wherein he will dwell for ever As our Lord hath assured us by sending down from his holy place the HOLY GHOST the Spirit of glory upon us whereby all Christians are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit Ephes II. 22. Who hath delivered to us his Oracles in the holy Gospel where such things are revealed unto us as the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. I. 12. For the New Jerusalem of which we are Citizens came down from God out of Heaven and when it descended S. John heard a great voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God Rev. XXI 2 3. Nor was all this proper only to those times when Christianity was first planted in the world but we have still visible assurances of his gracious presence among us and of his dear love to us And that is in the holy Sacrament of our Lords Body and Blood where he really and indeed makes himself present to all the faithful and is in the midst of them There he calls unto us and says See the love I bear to you Behold the tokens of my everlasting remembrance of you Believe it I am with you always to the end of the world I assure you hereby that my Body and Blood shall preserve you to eternal life Because I live ye shall live also And though you may imagine this to be a priviledge common to all Christians yet if the matter be well considered it will appear that we have a peculiar Claim to this honour of being a people nigh unto him or may at least in a double regard challenge a special interest in his favour above all those who endeavour wholly to ingross and limit it to themselves First In that we have the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood more entirely and purely administred unto us Whereby we are assured he is there present among us when-as they that depend upon the intention of their Priests can have no certainty of so great a blessing We have him presented to us
according to his own Institution and therefore cannot reasonably doubt of receiving there all the fruits of his dying love Whereas they that glory most in his favour have an imperfect representation of him a lame and defective ministration of that Divine Grace which he there communicates to his people 2. We believe also and are sure that our Lord is so nigh us that we may immediately address our selves to him and be confident of finding access though we take no Saints or Angels in our way to his blessed presence We need none to intercede with him for us like those of the Church of Rome who beg the assistance of this or that Saint especially of the blessed Virgin his Mother to introduce them into his favour and to recommend them and their suits to him Which manifestly supposes him at a distance and not to be nigh to such Supplicants who depend upon I know not how many men and women whom they suppose to be great Favourites in the Court of Heaven and whose Mediation they must use before they can approach him This one thing alone is sufficient to entitle us to this priviledge of being a People nigh unto the Lord and having him in the midst of us above all those Churches of that Communion It is no fansie but a real Truth that we stand in a nearer Relation to him and may be confident of his favour more than they can be who dare not go to him but by the intercession of others whom they desire to procure them acceptance with him Which very thing also is such an Offence to him that I am confident it sets them still at a greater distance from him For it is an imitation of that Worship which God abhorred so much in the Heathen world that he sent his Son on purpose to destroy it and to bring them to the acknowledgment of this truth that there is but one God and one Mediator between God and man the Man Christ Jesus This Truth blessed be God we have received and hold as it hath been taught us by his holy Apostle St. Paul 1 Tim. II. 4 5. And by virtue of this our glory ought to be great in his Salvation and we should triumph in his praise saying What Nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for We may lawfully look upon our selves and most thankfully acknowledge it as having the most High in the midst of us after a peculiar manner to bless save and deliver us in one word to be our God and singular Benefactor Which as it is the greatest glory so it was ever accounted the greatest safety and security Zach. II. 5. For if God be for us as the Apostle speaks who can be against us We need not care that is who opposes us nor fear what man can do unto us But though all Nations should compass us about as the Psalmist speaks Psal CXVIII 10 c. we might say with the same courage and resolution that he doth could we but be assured that God is with us In the Name of the Lord will we destroy them They compass us about yea they compass us about but in the Name of the Lord will we destroy them They compass us about like Bees but they shall be quenched as the fire of thorns for in the name of the Lord will we destroy them They may thrust sore at us that we may fall but the Lord will help us The right hand of the Lord shall be exalted the right hand of the Lord shall do valiantly We shall not dye but live and declare the works of the Lord. This is such a satisfaction that it is a wonder we are not all more solicitous to secure the Divine presence with us whereby we might live not only safely but confidently without those fears and dreadful apprehensions that are apt to possess and terrifie us Which would all vanish could we but rationally hope that we abide under the shadow of the Almighty and could say of the LORD he is my refuge and my fortress my God in him will I trust Surely he shall hide me from the Counsel of the wicked and from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity There is not a Man of us one would think but would put away all other fears and dread this alone lest God should not be with us did we not presume too much of his favour and vainly hope for his continued protection though we be so negligent as to remain utterly insensible of what he hath done for us and to take no care to behave our selves worthily as becomes those who have the honour to be so nearly related to him II. III. Let me therefore briefly awaken you as I propounded in the Second place to a due use of Gods singular grace to you by representing how far the extraordinary presence of God among a people will be from exempting them from the severest punishments if they prove ungrateful and disobedient to him There is so little reason for any presumption of such immunity 〈…〉 we may rather justly expect as I said in the third thing I propounded to your consideration which for brevities sake I shall joyn with this that he should punish them sorely nay utterly forsake them if they will not be reformed by those punishments The Israelites are a woful example of this who fancied indeed strongly that God was tyed to them so fast by his promises that they were in no danger to lose him though they took no care to keep him with them but found their error to their cost and paid dearly for it throughout all generations When he first manifested himself to them at their coming out of Aegypt into the Wilderness you know how many of their carcases fell there till they were all consumed but two men who were the only persons that followed God fully The cloud which you heard stood over them as a shelter to them while they were obedient to his word would defend them no longer when they rebelled against him but poured down fiery indignation upon them and destroyed them From that Lord who was in the midst of them from that dwelling place which they had built for him out of the house of his glory in which they trusted there came forth several sorts of sore judgments and smote down the choisest of them For that without all doubt is the propriety of such phrases as that in Numb XVI 46. Wrath is gone out from the LORD the plague is begun From the glory of the Lord i. e. which appeared then to all the congregation at the door of the Tabernacle v. 19.42 there issued out the tokens of his divine displeasure in a noisome pestilence by which and other such-like punishments Their dayes did he consume in vanity and their years in trouble For he who had been so kind to them was so incensed by their repeated rebellions that he
had sworn a little before Numb XIV 22 23. That they who had seen his glory and his Miracles should not see the land which be promised to their Fathers surely saith he there shall not any of them that provoked me see it And they that did when they turned their backs and dealt deceitfully like their Fathers provoking him to anger with their high places c. felt the same severe strokes of his just indignation For when God heard this saith the Psalmist He was wroth and greatly abhorred Israel So that he forsook the Tabernacle of Shiloh which was the first place where the Ark of his presence fixed after they came to Canaan the Tent which he placed among men and delivered his strength into captivity and his Glory into the enemies hand Psal LXXVIII 59 60 61. And as he did to Shiloh so he threatned for the same reason to do to Jerusalem where he afterward chose to dwell in the famous Temple which Solomon built for him So we read very often in this Prophecy of Jer. VII 12. c. Go now unto my place which was in Shiloh where I set my name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel And now because ye have done all these works saith the Lord c. therefore will I do unto this house which is called by my name wherein ye trust as I have done to Shiloh and I will cast you out of my sight as I have cast all your Brethren the whole seed of Ephraim Which he repeats again ch XXVI 4.5 6. And at last fulfilled the curse which he there threatens in so terrible a manner that as Jeremy relates in his Book of Lamentations all that passed by clapt their hands and hissed and wagged their heads at Jerusalem For he cast off his Altar and abhorred his Sanctuary He gave up the VValls of her Palaces into the Enemies hands and made her Inhabitants as the off-scouring and refuse in the midst of the People But I will not spend the time in relating things so well known But only remember you how he who appeared to them face to face as I have shewed i. e. in an open and friendly manner told them at that very time when he was so gracious to them that if they despised his Statutes and refused to observe his Laws he would set his face against them Levit. XXVI 15 17. In that very face which shone upon them so brightly they could see nothing but frowns and the saddest tokens of his high displeasure when they set at nought his Counsels and would not be ruled by his will but followed their own foolish lusts and vain imaginations He turned then to be their Enemy and was so far from sparing them because they were called by his Name that he verified to the full those words of Amos III. 2. You only have I known of all the Families of the earth therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities And there was very great reason for it as I had better shew you some other time than hinder my self now in that which I mainly intend and you I believe expect For you are convinced I suppose that the Lord was in the midst of them not meerly as a Benefactor but as a Law-giver and their Judge And that if they offended him by strange VVorship and contempt of all the rest of his Precepts he stood engaged in honour to depart from such a rebellious people By whose Example and your own sad Experience you are sufficiently taught I should think not to presume of the continuance of Gods gracious presence with us in this Church and Kingdom but rather expect to be abandon'd by him if we take not some better course than we have done to prevent a judgment which we have most justly deserved IV. VVhat that course is I know you would gladly be informed and therefore I shall spend the rest of the time in the last thing I propounded to direct you how to pray to God with such prevailing Supplications for the continuance of his mercies to us that we may feel our hearts revived by a comfortable hope that he will not leave us Fot as yet he is in the midst of us and we are called by his Name and therefore ought not to despair of this blessing but only sue unto him the more importunately for it saying Lord forsake us not That is withdraw not thy Divine Protection from us deliver us not over to the will of our Enemies deprive us not of thy holy Gospel and thy blessed Sacraments nor suffer that light which hath so long shone among us to be put out or obscured 1. For these blessings we must pray first with great fervency and earnestness of spirit For cold and listless desires will do nothing especially in a case of such great danger VVhich should stir us up as all dangers when we apprehend them are wont to do to cry mightily to God as the King of Nineveh ordained when he heard there was a Decree of Heaven gone out against them for their destruction Jonah III. 8. Every soul of us should cry mightily to him in secret where no body hears us but only God and in our Families a thing too much slighted beseeching him to be a guard to us and in the Publick Prayers which you should frequent as much as is possible crying unto the Lord at all times as the poor distressed Mariners in Jonah did and saying We beseech thee O Lord we beseech thee let us not perish Nay in such a dangerous time as this it behoves every man who knows any of his Neighbours or Familiars to be negligent in this Duty to awake him as the Ship-master did Jonah in the midst of that dreadful Storm saying What meanest thou O sleeper arise call upon thy God if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not Jon. I. 6. And it concerns us all to mind more seriously what we say daily in the Publick Prayers when Priest and People call upon God in these words O God make speed to save us O Lord make haste to help us For there was never more need of that passionate importunity which we should use at home too saying O God be not far from us O our God make haste for our help We are poor and needy make haste unto us O God thou art our help and our deliverer O Lord make no tarrying 2. And as we ought to pray with great earnestness so with great humility and deep sense of our own unworthiness to find acceptance with God and obtain the favour of him which we desire Our souls must lye as low before him as our bodies and we must sorrowfully acknowledge that we deserve to be utterly abandoned by him whom we have most shamefully forsaken and highly provoked to cast off and let us perish in our iniquities So Jeremiah teaches us in this Chapter v. 20. and we cannot address our selves