than against your self A due Sense of your Sin and of the Dishonour you have done to God thereby would make you even out of an holy Indignation and Revenge against your self humbly and patiently to submit to the utmost of that Severity which God is pleased to exercise towards you 5. Remember how ill God took it from his People the Jews that they complained the Way of the Lord was not equal which is in effect your Complaint Concerning this he complains and expostulates with them Ye say Ezek. 18.25 The Way of the Lord is not equal Hear now O House of Israel Is not my VVay equal Are not your VVays unequal And so again ver 29. And then he adds ver 30. Therefore will I judg you O House of Israel every one according to his VVays saith the Lord God repent and turn your selves from all your Transgressions so Iniquity shall not be your Ruine As if he had said Whereas ye complain of the Inequality of my Dealings with you unless you repent I will destroy you all and then you will have little Cause to complain of my inequal Dealings They who complain of the Inequality of God's dealing with them had need take heed lest God lay Judgment to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet as he threatens Isa 28.17 Lest he lay heavier things upon them lest he bring such Judgments on them as shall come up more nearly to the Measures the Proportion and Demerits of their Sins How much soever they have suffered God may yet lay much more upon them and yet still punish them much less than their Iniquities deserve 6. Whereas you complain that God deals more severely with you than with many others think with your self 1st That 't is possible your Sins may have been greater than the Sins of such as you have in your Eye greater in respect of the Circumstances and Aggravations of them It may be they never sinned against so much Light and so many clear Convictions against such Mercies and so many Discoveries of God's Love against so many Warnings and gentler Chastisements against so many severer Stroaks when milder Courses would not prevail Can you wonder at it that God deals more severely with you than with others if upon Examination it should be found that your Sins have been greater than theirs 2dly It may be God intends you more Good than many others By sorer Afflictions he means to make you better and so much the better as your Afflictions have been and are greater His Chastnings though severe are no Evidences of his Hatred but Fruits of his Love and of his Purpose to do your Soul much Good by them for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth Prov. 3.12 even as a Father doth the Son in whom he delighteth 3dly What if the time for correcting some others be not yet come even they who have been hitherto spared or been dealt very gently with may hereafter if milder Remedies do no good be as severely dealt with as you have been God takes his own Time and makes use of his own Methods for disciplining all his and some he sees good to handle after one manner some after another as to his Wisdom seems best 4thly What if some of those who are for the present spared should be reserved to the Judgment of the last Day while you are chastned here that you may not be condemned with the World hereafter God may spare some others in Anger and correct you in Mercy for his forbearing to punish is sometimes no Fruit of his Favour but an Effect of his highest Displeasure according to that Psal 81.11 12. My People would not hearken to my Voice and Israel would none of me So I gave them up to their own Hearts Lust Object 3. But my Troubles are long and tedious saith another there is no End of them I have been waiting and waiting for Deliverance but it comes not I see others in Trouble and I see them come well out of it but my Feet stick fast in the Mire Answ To this I answer 1. That it is not your Case alone Did not the People of God take up the like Complaint The Harvest is past Jer. 8.20 the Summer is ended and we are not saved The time when we expected Deliverance is over and yet we are still where we were our Afflictions are still lengthened out Was there not a time when Zion said Isa 49.14 The Lord hath forsaken me my Lord hath forgotten me Was there not a time when David after he had been long praying for Deliverance and waiting Psal 69.3 said I am weary of my crying my Throat is dried mine Eyes fail while I wait for my God Wherefore have no hard Thoughts of God much less give way to murmuring against him who deals no otherwise with you than he often deals with many of his own 2. Is not the Cause of God's respiting your Deliverance in your self Are not you still unfit for Mercy and is not that the true reason why you have it not God delighteth in Mercy Mich. 7.18 He waiteth to be gracious Isa 30.18 How ready God is to shew Mercy to us when we are ready and prepared to receive it he hath declared in the most pathetical way of Expression Psal 81.13 16. O that my People had hearkned unto me and that Israel had walked in my VVays I should soon have subdued their Enemies and turned my Hand against their Adversaries The Haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him but their time should have endured for ever He should have fed them with the finest of the VVheat and with Honey out of the Rock should I have satisfied thee And to the same Purpose is that Isa 48.18 O that thou hadst hearkned to my Commandments then had thy Peace been as a River and thy Righteousness as the VVaves of the Sea So then we may thank our selves that in our Afflictions we wait so long for Deliverance Our Mercies never meet with any Obstructions in God but in our selves We by our Continuance in Sin by our Remisness and Slackness in the Work of sound Humiliation and Reformation retard and set back our Mercies and then we complain and murmur as if God were slack and unmindful of his Promises as if he were hardly drawn to shew Mercy 3. Deliverance out of Trouble is of God's free Grace we cannot challenge it at his Hands We bring our selves into Trouble by our Sins and he may justly leave us to perish in our Troubles He therefore who doth all that he doth for us out of free Mercy may take his own time to do it when he pleaseth Is it fit that we who are unworthy of any good thing who can demand nothing of him should prescribe Times and Seasons to him and as if we required a Debt of him set him a Day when he should shew Mercy 4. His own Time is the best Time It may seem long to us that we
before the coming of the Messiah Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and will shake all nations 2. We have a Prediction of his coming And the desire of all nations shall come 3. A Promise of the Glory of the second Temple together with an answer to an objection against it And I will fill this house with glory the silver is mine and the gold is mine 4. An Amplification of that Promise concerning the glory of the second Temple The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the glory of the former 5. An additional Promise of Peace as an Appendix to all other Mercies promised And in this place will I give peace 6. The Ratification or Confirmation of the whole in those last words saith the Lord of Hosts so often mentioned before and with which all that was before promised is at last shut up and sealed To begin with the first of these the Prediction of great concussions and shakings in the World before the coming of the Messiah It is yet a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and will shake all nations By these Metaphorical Expressions according to the usual Language and Style of the Prophets we are to understand great Troubles Commotions Changes and Alterations in the World in which high and low Persons of all Conditions Ranks and Qualities represented by the Heavens and the Earth should take their turns and have their share So God speaking of his terrible Judgments on the World saith Isa 13.13 I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of its place in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts and in the day of his fierce anger But now all the difficulty is what shakings should be here intended Some understand the words of the great things which the Evangelists report to have been done at and upon the Birth of Christ the Miracles wrought by him in his Life the strange and miraculous Providences at his Death and Resurrection and of the shaking of the World afterwards by the preaching of the Gospel whereby Idols were thrown down Heathenish Idolatry and Superstitions were abolished the Christian Religion and the Worship of the true God coming in place thereof These were great and wonderful things but how they should be here by the Prophet intended is not easie to conceive For he seems to speak of such concussions and shakings as should be antecedent to the coming of Christ and go before it not concur with it much less follow after it Thus saith the Lord of Hosts I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all nations and the Desire of all nations shall come that is after God should thus have shaken the World Christ should come And indeed very great and dreadful shakings there were between the time of this Prophecy and the coming of the Messiah in which shakings the people of God the Jewish Nation were not a little concern'd The Persian Empire under which they now were was not only shaken but shaken in pieces dissolved and ruined by the Grecians under the Conduct of Alexander the Great Then presently after Alexander's Death who died in the flower of his Age the Empire which he had but just then acquired and been possessed of was in effect once more rent in pieces and divided amongst his Chieftains and Principal Commanders While this state of things continued the Jews were miserably shaken oppressed and harassed by the Tyranny and Cruelty of Antiochus Epiphanes besides many other grievous pressures and sufferings which during the Government of the Seleucides they underwent After some time the Romans came upon them all and subdued all to themselves in which Revolution the distressed Jews fell under the power of the Romans and were at their Mercy After all these terrible shakings nearer the coming of Christ the Civil Wars under Augustus Caesar caused horrible shakings and convulsions in the Empire after which the Temple of Janus was shut up and a peaceable time ensued all Swords being sheathed and all Arms laid aside throughout the whole Empire and then was Christ the Prince of Peace born in the Forty first or as some will have it in the Forty second year of the Reign of Augustus Caesar Now whereas all these shakings were to go before the coming of Christ which was the greatest Mercy that ever was vouchsafed the World we may observe That great Troubles and Afflictions sometimes go before and make way for great and signal Mercies This is indeed the ordinary and usual method of God's most wise and gracious Providence Thus Joseph is sold to the Midianites carried into Egypt and there again sold to Potiphar falsly accused cast into Prison and laid in Irons that by this Series of long-continued Afflictions way might be made for his Advancement to the highest Honour in Pharaoh's Court and for his being made Ruler over all the Land of Egypt Thus seventy years Captivity and Bondage in Babylon goes before the joyful and triumphant Return of God's people into their own Land of which the Psalmist thus speaks Psal 126.1 2. When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen The Lord hath done great things for them Which Psalm though placed among the Psalms of David yet is by Learned men upon good grounds supposed to have been penned by some other Person after the return from Babylon as also Psal 137. that is to say 460 years at least after that David had been gathered to his Fathers and perhaps much more for we know not how long after the return from Babylon it might be penned Thus the Ten most Cruel and Bloody Persecutions of the Christian Church in the first Ages thereof went before that quiet and tranquillity which the Church enjoyed under Constantine and the succeeding Christian Emperors when to use the expressions of the Prophet God made the peace of his Church as a river and the righteousness thereof as the waves of the sea Thus that wicked Usurpation and Tyranny of Antichrist making havock of the Church which hath been drawn out to so great a length already and yet we know not how much longer it may last goes before that happy estate of the Church and of the World when those joyful Acclamations shall be heard The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11.15 And when they who shall have gotten the victory over the beast and over his image shall sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou king of saints Rev. 15.1 2. And to add but one instance more here at home thus
treacherous strongly inclined to evil and ready to comply with all Temptations Jer. 17.9 The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Having such a dangerous Inmate within our own Bosoms it stands us upon to walk circumspectly and to think our selves no longer safe than we keep a strict guard over our selves and carefully heed all our goings that we may never tread beside that narrow path which we are required to walk in 5. It concerns us to walk circumspectly in regard of the strict account we must hereafter give of all our ways Eccles 12.14 God will bring every work to judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil a 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad b Mat. 12.36 Of every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof at the day of judgment When they shall be accountable to God for their Omissions as well as for their Commissions Mat. 25.41 42 43. They who verily believe they must be called to so strict an account how can they think they can ever walk strictly and circumspectly enough Believing and expecting this great day of reckoning 2 Pet. 3.11 what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness As the Apostle speaks 6. It behoves us to walk circumspectly in regard of the high and everlasting concernment of our ways and walking while we are here Ab hoc momento pendet eternitas As we demean our selves so we must fare hereafter for ever As a Man soweth here so shall he reap hereafter Gal. 6.7 8. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption and he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting A short time is here allotted us to be improved for our everlasting happiness in another World If this time be neglected it will not be long e're the things belonging to our peace will be hid from our Eyes There will thenceforth be no more offers of Mercies no more opportunities of making our peace with God There will be no more place to Eternity for redeeming time and correcting the Errours and Miscarriages of our heedless and uncircumspect walking O then how great should our care how exact should our circumspection be while the day of grace lasteth and while opportunity is afforded us of laying up a good Foundation for the time to come that we may lay hold of Eternal Life I come now to the uses of this point Is it the Duty of every Christian to walk circumspectly VSE 1. Then let no Man take offence at the strictness and circumspection of any who endeavour to conform themselves to the Rule as exactly as they can Let no Man judge so much Care and Circumspection to be needless Can any Man be too careful where the injunctions of care heedfulness circumspection and watchfulness are so many so peremptory and absolute and where our Concernment is so high and important and that upon so many accounts If any cannot bring their own Hearts to be willing to live by the Rule and to conform to it yet let them not condemn or censure others especially seeing the Holy Ghost hath noted it as a chief point of true Wisdom thus to walk and branded the neglect thereof with folly as we shall see afterwards But if any will yet be wise in their own Eyes and reproach the wisdom of God as foolishness let them hear what God saith concerning such Jer. 8.9 They have rejected the word of the Lord and what wisdom is in them Whatever for the present they may judge of the strictness of such as endeavour to keep in the narrow way that leadeth to Life the time is coming when they will be of another mind When they come to stand before the Tribunal of Christ to be accountable not only for all the more notorious Irregularities and Extravagancies of their Life but for every idle word O then they will acknowledge that the circumspection and watchfulness which they now deride and laugh at and look upon as folly would have stood them in some stead Then they will be convinced that the most circumspect Man is the wisest Man Then they will say of the sincerely pious and strictly conscientious person whom they now contemn as the Author of the Book of Wisdom brings them in speaking Wisd 5.3 4 5. They shall change their minds saith he and sigh for grief of mind and say within themselves This is he whom we sometime had in derision and in a parable of reproach We fools thought his life madness and his end without honour How is he counted among the children of God and his portion is among the saints VSE 2. Is it the Duty of every Christian to walk circumspectly Then how much do they fail and come short of their Duty who walk at all adventures and live by no Rule Who regard not at all how they walk or where they tread This is that despising of our ways which Solomon makes to be so dangerous and destructive Pro. 19.16 He that despiseth his ways shall die that is he that is of so loose careless and heedless a temper that he rambles up and down like a drunken man or a mad-man without any consideration or regard of his way that minds not considers not his way whether it be safe or dangerous but on he posts with full speed through Dirt and Stones over Bogs and Quagmires upon Pits and Precipices all is alike to him He that thus lives hand over head takes the ready course to destroy his own Soul This is noted concerning Jehu 2 Kin. 10.31 a man of a rash and precipitant Spirit that he took no heed to walk-in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his Heart And this is a part of the Character of the ungodly man Psa 50.17 that he casts God's Words behind him where it might be sure to be out of his Eye as not caring to look upon it or regard it for the regulating of his Life and the due ordering of his Conversation thereby Whithersoever the impetuous violence of such men's corrupt nature hurries them thither speed they without any regard either of their Duty or of the issues of their sinful courses Eccl. 5.1 They consider not that they do evil saith Solomon but rush into sin as the horse rusheth into the battle Jer. 8.6 Though God be in a readiness to meet them in their ways of sin and to withstand them as an armed man yet they go on daringly and presumptuously even running upon the thick bosses of his buckler as the foolhardiness of such rash and bold Sinners is described Job 15.26 VSE 3. Let us all be perswaded to walk more circumspectly to
a sick Man is a competent Judg of the Estate of his Body when his Disease hath gotten Possession of his Head and disturbed his Fancy Again whereas you say you should bear any other Cross with more Calmness and Silence you speak as one neither acquainted with your own Weakness nor with the Deceitfulness of your Heart 1st Your Language bewrays your small Acquaintance with your Weakness You know not what Frailty you might discover if God should try you some other way though it should be with a far lighter and more favourable Affliction We are never throughly acquainted with our Weakness till we be tried All our Strength lies in God if he be pleased to stand by us to support and strengthen us we may bear we may easily and comfortably bear the greatest Affliction if he withdraw the Influences of his Supports and the Supplies of his Grace the smallest Affliction will worst us Do we not observe how strong we are sometimes to conflict with great Trials and how weak other-while when far smaller and less considerable Afflictions encounter us Who maâ—â—â—h us thus to differ from our selves 〈◊〉 God as he either vouchsafeth us his Presence and powerful Assistances or withholdeth them 2dly You speak as one too much a Stranger to the Deceitfulness of your Heart You think you could bear any other Affliction better and that no other thing could have so discomposed you and put you out of order but herein your false and guileful Heart deludes you If you were afflicted in some other kind your Heart would then be as likely to tell you that you could bear any other Affliction better than that Your present Affliction would still be judged the most difficult to be born You are like a sick Man who complains of the Bed on which he lies and thinks he should be better at ease if he lay any where else but when he makes trial of another Bed he still finds himself as restless and uneasy as he was before He now finds 't is the Distemper of his Body not the Uneasiness of his Bed that makes him restless You think you should bear another Affliction better and more like a Christian but as long as your Heart is unsubdued to God and the unquiet and rebellious Distempers of your Spirit remain and stick close to you it is not to be questioned but that you would be as unquiet and as apt to complain and murmur under any other sharp Affliction as under this 'T is the Change of your Heart and not the Change of your Affliction that must dispose you to a patient Undergoing of your Burden Object 2. But saith another I see others as bad as my self not so severely chastned God seems to single me out and to set me up as a Mark to shoot at and to direct all his Arrows against me He makes me a Spectacle of his severe VVrath and the only Instance of his fierce Indignation VVhy should I be so grievously punished while others escape Answ 1. You do not well understand your self nor remember the Distance between God and you While you thus complain what is this but to contend with the Almighty and to quarrel with him as if he were your Equal or Inferiour Is he to be accountable to you for his Actions Must he treat you and other Men as you shall judg fitting Must he manage the Government of the World as you would have him And will you be angry and fall out with him if he doth not This is not a Deportment becoming the Creature towards its Creator An humble Acknowledgment of your Sin and a Profession of your Resolution to reform were more agreeable to your Condition and the Circumstances under which you stand towards God Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born Chastisement I will not offend any more That which I see not teach thou me if I have done Iniquity I will do no more So Elihu judged Job 34.31 32. 2. Are you the only Instance of God's Severity Are there not many more to be seen if you look abroad and cast your Eyes up and down the World Though God's Patience and long-Sufferance be admirable for the present and though he hath thought fit to put over the Punishment of the greater part of Offences to the Judgment of the great Day yet in the mean time he so consults the Honour of his Justice here as not to leave the World without many signal Instances of his Severity against Sin And if it seem good to him to make you one of those Instances what have you to object against it Is he not at liberty to make use of what Instances he pleaseth If he had thought fit to let you pass unpunished and instead of you had pitched on any other might not that other Person have had as good a Plea for complaining as you now think you have It seems by your Exceptions against God's Providence that he must either punish all Offenders here or none This is the Rule which you would set him for the Exercise of this Part of his Government of the World and if he do not observe it you will contest with him about it and have from him an Account thereof 3. If God make choice of you to vindicate the Honour of his Justice and Holiness before the World and to take off some part of that Imputation which in the Judgment of carnal Wisdom from his Patience seems to lie upon his Justice if in you as in one remarkable Instance he will let the World see how much he hates Sin and with what exact and severe Righteousness he intends to judg the World hereafter should you murmur at it Should you not rather be well contented that God might have any Honour by your Sufferings that you who have by your Sins so much dishonoured him should be capable of suffering any thing whereby any slender Reparations might be made to his Honour Were you not made for his Glory and if you would not be perswaded to promote it by doing were it not better you should contribute to it by suffering than that you should wholly lose the End of your Creation 4. Consider whether your complaining of God's Severity against you while he deals more favourably with many others be not a clear Evidence that your Heart is not throughly humbled for Sin The Apostle among other Fruits and Evidences of true Repentance and godly Sorrow for Sin 2 Cor. 7.11 makes mention of Indignation and Revenge An holy Indignation which the truly humbled Sinner the true Penitent hath against himself for having so grievously offended God and an holy Revenge which he takes upon himself on that Account How widely different are complaining and murmuring from that holy Frame of the penitent Sinner which the Apostle describes When you suffer your Heart to rise and give your Tongue liberty to murmur against God you seem to direct the Edg of your Indignation and Revenge against him rather
him the Gospel i. e. a more full and clear discovery of the way of Salvation by Christ than before That the light in both senses is come into the World and finds no better reception This is The condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the judgment according to the proper acception of the word but here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judgment for Condemnation by an usual Synechdoche and so our Translators have rendered it looking rather at the sense than at the immediate propriety of the word Again This is The condemnation that is by a Metonymy the cause of condemnation that which deserves meritoriously procures and brings on condemnation Lastly This is The condemnation not solely and exclusively as to all other things but in the sense that shall be afterwards mentioned when I come to speak to that particular The words of my Text not to spend time in any unnecessary Preface to what I have to say we may conveniently resolve into these four Propositions 1. That light is come into the world 2. That men love darkness rather than light 3. That the reason why men love darkness rather than light is because their deeds are evil 4. That this is the condemnation that though light be come into the world yet men love darkness rather than light Passing by the three former the last of these Propositions is that which I intend at present to insist on as being the chief thing intended in this portion of holy Scripture Concerning the sense of which Proposition a few words will be necessary to be premised before I proceed to lay down the grounds thereof This is The condemnation not solely and exclusively as to all other things as if nothing else could condemn a man but signally and emphatically 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great meritorious cause of the severest punishment I say the rejection of the light of the Gospel or not giving it due entertainment is not the only thing that condemns men For 1. Those Heathens unto whom the light of the Scriptures never came shall not therefore be exempted from punishment The Apostle hath taught us That as many as have sinned without the law Rom. 2.12 shall also perish without the law Their sins against their natural light and the Law of Nature written in their hearts shall condemn them there shall be no need of calling in the assistance of the Law externally promulged and written in Tables of Stone much less of the Gospel to give evidence against them 'T is true if the Gospel were never offered them and they shut up under a moral impossibility of being acquainted with it we cannot apprehend how their not believing should be charged upon them as their sin Aquinas hath rightly stated this matter 22dae Quaest 10. Artic. 1. Si infidelitas sumatur secundum negationem puram si cut in illis qui nihil audiverunt de fide non habet rationem peccati pure negative infidelity or a meer not believing in those who never heard any thing of the Gospel hath not the nature of sin And this was likewise St. Austin's judgment as appears by the Exposition he gives of the words of our Saviour John 15.22 If I had not come unto them they had had no sin Loquitur de peccato quo non crediderunt in Christum Our Saviour speaketh saith he of the sin of not believing in Christ Though they had been guilty of many other sins yet their not believing had not been imputed to them And the reason hereof is evident because they had never a power in Adam of believing that which was never made known unto them there being a simple incompossibility and repugnancy in the nature of the thing that a man should by faith assent to and embrace that which he was never in the least acquainted with which was never as much as propounded to him to be the object of his faith How shall we believe on him of whom we have not heard Rom. 10.14 'T is a question that cannot be answered Adam himself with all that strength which he received from God could not have done it and therefore neither can that be required of his Posterity which he himself never received 2. As for such as have the Gospel published to them and finally persevere in unbelief neither is their unbelief the only sin for which they are condemn'd What sober man can think that one sin can expunge another that mens unbelief should take off and extinguish the guilt of all their other sins so as none of them should at all come under consideration when Christ pronounceth the condemnatory Sentence They who should entertain so wild a phansy must have forgotten the form of the Proceedings at the last day as Christ himself hath described it Matth. 25. where express mention is made of other sins as the ground of the Sentence to be then pronounced Yet I deny not but that in a limited sense wicked men living under the light of the Gospel may be said to be condemned only for their unbelief because if they had believed none of their other sins should have condemned them But now they not believing the guilt of all their other sins against the Law abideth on them and besides there is an addition of further guilt by their great sin against the Gospel and this their sin against the Gospel is that which presseth them most heavily and hath the sorest influence upon the final Sentence for the inflaming and heightening of it So then these things being thus premised we have the sense of the Proposition before us This is The condemnation the matter and meritorious cause of the most sore and dreadful condemnation that light being come into the world the Gospel being published and Christ in the Gospel being tendered to the Sons of men they slight and refuse this light preferring darkness before it and chusing rather to continue in their sins though it cost them dear than to embrace Christ to their everlasting bliss and happiness Now the grounds of the Proposition together with the equity of that severity which it imports will further appear unto us if we take into consideration these ensuing particulars 1. 'T is light that is refused and refused with an affront put upon it darkness being preferred before it Now in this alone there are several things which do not a little aggravate a man's sin and by consequence heighten his punishment 1. When a man goes on against light there is more of the formality of sin than where light is wanting There is a direct and plain opposition against the Rule an intentional 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or irregularity whereas in case of ignorance the Rule indeed was violated materially but not formally and wittingly as such Our Saviour lays much stress upon this for the greatning of a man's sin Joh. 9.41 If ye were blind ye should have no sin that is none in comparison of what now you have
many such when they lye a dying how 't is with them whether there be any thing that troubles them or lyes heavy upon their Consciences And they will readily answer There is nothing that troubles them nothing that disturbs their peace Ask them if they be willing to die and whether they be not afraid of death Their answer is they are very willing to die and as for death they fear it not Now call you this a dying peaceably and comfortably when men of very bad or careless Lives go out of the World fast asleep in carnal security When they die without any sense of their Spiritual and Everlasting Estate O be not deceived 't is certainly a very sad and fearful thing when a careless or wicked Life without any evidence of after-repentance is shut up in a quiet and undisturbed death How much better grounds of comfortable hopes concerning the Everlasting Estate of such men were there if they died under many fears and troubles from a sound conviction and thorough sence of the sins of their Life 'T is very true you will say if they have been very wicked Men great and notorious Sinners But if the worst that can be said of them is that they have been careless and uncircumspect in their Lives the matter is not much A. Considering the corruption of our Nature our strong proneness to Evil the many Temptations we meet with and the malice and restlesness of Satan ever watching to take hold of all advantages against us to hurry us into Sin 't is impossible but that a man of a careless and uncircumspect Life should have led a very sinful Life and have contracted and heaped up a great deal of guilt and therefore if such a one without discovery of any After-repentance and Humiliation and without any trouble upon account of his Sins go quietly out of the World 't is a sad and uncomfortable thing and though we may not rashly and peremptorily pass our Judgment concerning the Eternal Estate of particular Persons yet have we just cause to fear and all things considered we cannot but greatly fear how it may be with such a one in the other World Sure we are without Repentance whereof there was no evidence or appearance he must everlastingly miscarry So from the Duty of walking circumspectly I come to the Argument by which it is enforced implied in the next words Not as fools but as wise 'T is every man's wisdom to walk circumspectly but his folly to be careless uncircumspect and heedless in the course of his Life Prov. 17.24 Wisdom is before him that hath understanding That is He that hath understanding the man that is truely wise his wisdom is before him to look right on to ponder the path of his feet as Solomon speaks Prov. 4.25 26. to spy out and consider his way to direct and govern his steps And so is this Proverb expounded by that other to the same purpose Prov. 14.8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way that 's the use which he makes of his wisdom he is as to that matter wise for himself in Solomon's Language still Prov. 9.12 But the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth he exerciseth that little reason which he hath about remoter things about any thing else rather than what most nearly concerns him the observing and making choice of his way As if a Man should fix his Eyes on the Hills at a great distance where the Earth and the Heavens seem to meet and in the mean time neglect to heed his way to observe where he treads and what dangers he runs upon as the Philosopher who fell into a Pit whilst his Eyes were taken up with the Contemplation of the Celestial Bodies Thus we see 't is our wisdom to walk circumspectly and 't is so in several respects 1. We hereby shun and avoid the greatest Evils 1. The displeasure of God whose wrath is so terrible that it made the Prophet cry out Hab. 1.6 Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger 2. The sting of an evil and guilty Conscience the Torment whereof is intolerable Prov. 18.14 A wounded spirit who can bear 3. The loss of a man's Soul which nothing can compensate or make up What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world Mat. 16 26 and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul He that walketh circumspectly avoideth these three great and formidable Evils greater than which none can be the displeasure of God the sting of a guilty Conscience and the loss of his Soul 2. On the contrary by walking circumspectly we secure to our selves the greatest the most desireable good things 1. The favour of God for while we are with God in a course of Obedience 2 Chron. 15.2 he is with us 'T is only sin that deprives us of God's favour Now the favour of God is better than life Psal 63.3 What is there in all the World that is comparable to it 2. It secures to us peace of Conscience Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this rule peace be upon them and upon the Israel of God And this also is a thing of invaluable worth Prov. 14.13 A good conscience is a continual feast The comfort of which is so great as none can tell what it is but he that hath had experience of it in himself It passeth knowledge Eph. 4.7 3. By walking Circumspectly we secure to our selves the Everlasting well-being of our Souls which even in Satans valuation of them are more worth than the whole World Mat. 4.9 Psa 50.23 To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God There being these singular advantages of walking circumspectly you need not be much troubled at the Censures of the World They who are strangers to the ways of God and were never acquainted with the Comforts of them may count them little better than Fools that run not with them to the same excess of Riot But this is more than enough to satisfie and quiet you that what they count foolishness the Holy Ghost honours with the Elogy of Wisdom So I have done with the great Duty of circumspect walking together with the reason by which it is enforced I come now to speak of the particular instance in which our circumspection should be exercised Redeeming the time To redeem properly is by laying down a price to purchase again or recover that which another hath gotten possession of So a Captive or a Slave is redeemed out of the hand of an Enemy So a Man redeems his Goods which have been pawned or sold to another Now in this very sence to redeem time that is gone is impossible For time is of that nature that it can never be recovered when once 't is lost All the Gold and Silver all the
God in the exact frame due lineaments right proportions and features strength and beauty of perfect Creatures So the poor strait and indigent condition of some so much the more commends the Bounty and Goodness of God to others and provokes them at least should provoke them to so much the greater love and thankfulness to that God who hath been so bountiful to them and hath been pleased to put such a difference between them and others and this albeit they have deserved at the hands of God no more than those their inferiours who are in the most necessitous condition 2. This difference which God hath put between men affords the Rich opportunities of exercising their Charity Pity and Compassion towards the Poor and gives the Poor occasion of exercising their Faith and Trust in God for supplies of Necessaries Patience Humility Contentment with their mean condition quiet submission to the good pleasure of God in thus dealing with them and thankfulness to God for those helps and assistances which he is pleased to reach forth to them by the hands of those with whom he deposited more of the things of this World on purpose that they might be helpful to those who have less 3. God hath been pleased to put this difference between men in regard of the necessity there is of different Stations and Conditions different Services and Imployments for procuring and carrying on the good and welfare of the Community of Mankind Some must govern and others must be governed or else we shall quickly be ruined and all things will run into confusion Some must labour in the Field others must grinde at the Mill others handle the Distaff some must be imployed in meaner other in higher Services in order whereunto it was fit that men's conditions should be suited to those Imployments in which they are to be serviceable to God and their Generation Now the Application of what hath been spoken follows and this will concern all I shall first speak to the Rich and then to the Poor As for the Rich or those whom God hath been pleased to intrust with a larger portion of Temporal things they may hence be minded of their Duty several ways If the Rich and the Poor meet together in all those respects before mentioned and God be the Maker of them all both as men and as considered under the different Adjuncts of Riches and Poverty then may the Rich hence be cautioned and admonished 1. Not to despise the Poor This is that which men who even wallow in plenty and abound with the good things of this Life are very subject to A poor man is many times a contemptible thing in their eyes and as he hath occasion to come near them he scarce meets with those civilities from them that are due to Mankind And usually none are more faulty this way than such as have the greatest obligation to civility and condescension I mean such as were not long since in a mean condition themselves and have but newly been advanced to an higher Station But these and whosoever else may be blame-worthy in this respect should consider what hath above been discoursed of 1. That the poorest and most forlorn Creature who is most despicable in their eyes hath as noble and excellent a Soul as they have themselves or as the greatest Potentate in the World hath and as for his very Body though cloathed with nasty Rags the exquisite Workmanship thereof is no less admirable than that of his that is cloathed with Scarlet and adorned with Gold and Pearls and whatever Nature or Art could contribute to make it beautiful and lovely 2. That the poorest man in the World is as dear to God as they are and as much under the Care and gracious Providence of God for fine Cloaths and Riches and Honours commend no man to God high and low rich and poor are alike to him for he is no respecter of persons Act 10.34 neither doth he rate or value any man according to these things 'T is grace and holiness that he looks after and accordingly proportions his esteem for men The Lord seeth not as man seeth man looketh upon the outward appearance but the Lord looketh upon the heart 1 Sam. 16.7 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous Psal 34.15 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy Psal 147.11 But as for wicked and ungodly men of what rank or quality soever they may be in this World the Lord hates and abhors them Psal 5.5 3. They should consider that the poorest man in all the World is as capable of being admitted to the blisful Vision and Fruition of God in the World to come is as capable of glory and eternal happiness as the richest As God hath given the same Rational and Immortal Soul to Rich and Poor whereby they are both capable of the sight and enjoyment of God so hath Christ died for both and paid the same invaluable price for the Redemption of both and so he hath commanded his Gospel to be published alike to both and therein the same terms of Salvation to be indifferently propounded to the one and the other There is not one Gospel for the Rich and another for the Poor nor are the terms of peace with God and reconciliation to him more easy and favourable for the one than for the other The Gospel puts no difference between men with reference to those different circumstances as to outward things under which they may be It speaks the same Language to all Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.15 16. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Except ye repent ye shall all perish Luke 13.3 Except ye be converted ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven Mat. 18.3 Now if God values the Souls of Rich and Poor alike hath taken the same care of and made the same provision for the Salvation of both if Rich and Poor meet together stand both upon even ground and are upon equal terms as to the matters that are of highest importance and everlasting concernment to the one and the other should any man despise his poor Brother upon the account of these temporal things these poor and worthless trifles that signify as good as nothing 2. The Rich may hence be cautioned Not to count the Poor a grievance or heavy burthen to them I mean the honest sober humble modest and industrious Poor As for wicked loose idle and unprofitable Persons whether they be Poor or Rich they are not only a grievance but the very Pests of the places where they live as exposing them to God's wrath and drawing down his Judgments upon themselves and others 1. While you count the Poor a grievance and think how much happier the World would be if all men were Rich as you are you
their Heads before he brings his Judgments upon them This is the usual Course of God's Providence he is not wont to surprize Men with his Judgments before he gives them any notice of the Danger they are in but he first warns them calls them to Repentance and threatens them if they shall still continue in their Impenitency and when all his Warnings are slighted then he strikes Thus he warned the old World and called them to Repentance by the Preaching of Noah all the while the Ark was a building Thus by the Prophets he called the Jews to Repentance and threatned them with the Captivity if they repented not Thus Christ himself called them to Repentance and in case of their Impenitency still persisted in threatned the utter Desolation and Destruction of the Temple and City of Jerusalem by the Romans Now the Reasons why God is pleased thus to deal with Sinners why he thus calls them to Repentance and gives them warning before he strikes are principally these two 1st That by their timely Repentance and Reformation they may prevent his Judgments and that he may have no Occasion of using that Severity against them which if they repent not will be necessary both for the Vindication of his Honour and in order to their Humiliation and Reformation God doth not afflict willingly Lam. 3.33 nor grieve the Children of Men. He takes no Delight in severe Courses unless where there is a Necessity of them in regard that gentler Means do no Good 2dly He gives Warning calls to Repentance and promises Mercy upon Repentance before he strikes to the End that if Men will take no Warning if sin they will and persevere still in their Sins whatever it costs them the Justice of his Proceedings against them may be cleared that the Sinners themselves may be rendred inexcusable and every Mouth may be stopped or be enforced to acknowledg that he is righteous even when he punisheth them most severely Vse 1. If God be so gracious as to call to Repentance and give Warnings before he strikes let us not be unconcerned at such Warnings let us not flight them or contemn them neither let our Hearts fret or rise against them but humbly patiently and thankfully entertain them and carefully improve them If God's Design in them be to prevent Punishments let not us by our slighting and disregarding them draw those Evils upon our selves which they are designed to keep off 'T is a dangerous thing not to take Warning when 't is given us when God gives it that he may bring us to Repentance by it The Admonition that Ely gave his Sons and the Representation that he made to them of the Danger of their sinful Practices was in effect a Warning from God but they regarded it not and what was the Issue but their Ruine The Spirit of God saith 1 Sam. 2.25 That they hearkned not to the Voice of their Father because the Lord would slay them Psal 68.21 God shall wound the Head of his Enemies and the hairy Scalp of every one that goeth on still in his Trespasses And the making good of this Threatning may They above others expect that still go on in their Trespasses against Warnings and especially if they still go on against many Warnings Prov. 29.1 He that being often reproved hardneth his Neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without Remedy Do we believe this If we do how should we hasten to make our Peace with God especially such of us as have long gone on in our Sins against all Warnings and Calls to Repentance We may think perhaps that because we have been long warned and threatned and yet still God holds his Hand and forbears to strike we are in no Danger it may be the long Patience which God hath exercised towards us makes us regardless of his Warnings and now at length we begin to make account that we may safely enough go on in our old Ways there is no such Danger as hath been pretended But let us take heed how we thus abuse the Patience and Long-sufferance of God Whatever our present Thoughts are or how much soever we may now flatter our selves these two things we shall certainly find in the end 1. That how long soever God may bear with us yet he will fulfil his Threatnings in the end unless by our Repentance we prevent them Heaven and Earth shall rather pass away Mat. 24.35 than any one Word that he hath spoken shall fall to the Ground 2. The longer God is pleased to bear with us and wait for our Repentance the more severely will he handle us at last if still we refuse to be reclaimed Long-continued and abused Patience usually ends in Fury I kept silence said God to the wicked Man the obstinate Sinner that would not be reclaimed I had long Patience with him And thou thoughtest that I was such a one as thy self My Forbearance of thee made thee think that I was much of thy mind and had no great dislike of thy evil Ways Psal 50.21 22. But I will reprove thee and set thy Sins in order before thee Consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you As if he had said Though I have born long with thee yet thou art much mistaken if thou thinkest that I will always bear with thee The longer I stay the more terrible and irresistible will my Judgments be when I reckon with thee and come upon thee at last Vse 2. If God be pleased to call Sinners to Repentance and to give them Warning before he punishes them then let all such as are punished justify God and acknowledg that they suffer justly and that they have no reason to complain of God but of themselves For having offended and deserved Punishment God gave them Warning before he would correct them but they would not take Warning If they be punished they may thank themselves they might by their Repentance have prevented it but they would not Vse 3. The same Consideration should also perswade Sufferers to bear with Patience what God is pleased to lay upon them for their Sins They have wilfully made themselves Sufferers and drawn those Evils upon themselves which God would never have inflicted on them if any Warnings would have made them sensible of their Danger and have reclaimed them if any Calls and Invitations to Repentance and Offers of Mercy would have prevailed with them taken them off from their sinful Courses and gained them Is there not all the reason in the World that they should undergo with Patience those Evils which they would bring upon themselves notwithstanding all the Means which God made use of to keep them off Hab. 2.10 Thou hast consulted Shame to thy House said God to the King of Babylon When impenitent Sinners will take no Warnings when they will not be perswaded to take that Course by which alone Punishments may be prevented they
consult Punishments to themselves Whatever a Man suffers he may say to himself as God said to his People Jer. 4.18 Thy Way and thy Doings have procured these things unto thee He that shall consider this cannot but acknowledg that his Impatience under God's afflicting Hand is most unreasonable II. Another Observation from God's speaking to Manasseh and his People from his forewarning them of approaching Judgments and calling them to Repentance is That God is pleased to give warning to the greatest Sinners before he punisheth them and to call them to Repentance that they may use the Means for escaping those his Judgments which without Repentance will inevitably overtake them and come upon them Such a Sinner was Manasseh whose monstrous Wickedness and horrid Abominations we have in part been acquainted with before And as for his People we may well suppose that they also were prodigiously wicked and ripe for the Sickle for the Sickle of the Wrath of God seeing many of them must needs concur with Manasseh in those his Sins and were together with him jointly threatned with those terrible Judgments that are mentioned 2 Kings 21. So then both Manasseh and his People had arrived at a fearful pitch of Wickedness and yet as wicked as they were God gives them fair Quarter he warns them before he will pour out the Vials of his Wrath upon them and calls them to Repentance that they might not say when his Judgments should take hold of them that they would have repented if they had known the Danger they were in and sufficient Warning had been given them in season The Age before the Flood was desperately wicked insomuch that it 's said it repented the Lord that he had made Man on the Earth Gen. 6.6 and that it grieved him at the Heart So is God pleased to set forth the Wickedness of Mankind in those Times speaking after the manner of Men. So again 't is afterwards said that all Flesh had corrupted his Way upon the Earth Ver. 12 13 and that the Earth was filled with Violence And yet tho Mankind had so wofully degenerated and the World was so fearfully corrupted and so universally depraved that only eight Persons Noah and his Family were preserved yet God did not presently sweep them all away with the Beesom of Destruction but gave them warning of the Flood 120 Years before it came Ver. 3. and waited for their Repentance all the while that the Ark was a preparing 1 Pet. 3.20 The Jews were desperately wicked before the Captivity as by the Descriptions of their grievous Sins and universal Corruption which we meet with in the Prophets may be seen and yet God did not immediately call for their Enemies to fall upon them and carry them away Captives but raised up and sent them many Prophets to forewarn them of the Captivity and call upon them for Humiliation and Reformation that the Miserie 's threatned might not come upon them The Wickedness of the Ninivites was great Jonah 1.2 and came up before God and yet God would not presently destroy them but gave them Warning by the Prophet Jonah sent to them on purpose who cried and solemnly proclaimed in the City saying Jonah 3. â— Yet forty Days and Niniveh shall be overthrown How extreamly wicked and universally corrupt the Jewish State was immediately before the coming of Christ is evident from the Prophecy of Malachi the last of the Prophets and yet the fatal Day of their Visitation did not presently come upon them and surprize them but our Saviour by his Preaching called them to Repentance and forewarned them of the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Miseries attending it Now the Reasons of this Point are the same with those of the former he calls the greater Sinners to Repentance and forewarns them of the dangerous and fearful Consequents of their continued and final Impenitency that he may thereby bring them to Repentance and prevent their Punishment if it may be or that in case they repent not they may be rendred inexcusable and that the Righteousness of his Severity against them when he reckons with them may be justified and cleared But you may here object against what hath been said Doth not God often surprize wicked Men with his Judgments Doth not his Wrath fall upon them on a sudden many times and when they least fear it Doth it not often take hold of them in the height of their carnal Security and when they do not so much as dream of any Danger they are in And is not this to be suddenly and unexpectedly surprized by his terrible Judgments So the Destruction of wicked Men cometh as a Whirl-wind Prov. 1.27 that is both suddenly and irresistibly So Christ speaking of the last Judgment at the End of the World saith that as a Snare it shall come on all them that dwell on the Face of the whole Earth Luke 21 35. It should suddenly and unexpectedly surprize them as the Bird is surprized that is taken in the Snare So again 1 Thess 5.2 3. The Day of the Lord so cometh as a Thief in the Night For when they shall say Peace and Safety then sudden Destruction cometh upon them as Travail upon a Woman with Child and they shall not escape To this I answer That these and divers other Scriptures to the same purpose are no way contrary to what hath been said concerning God's giving Warning to the greatest Sinners and his calling to Repentance before he punisheth For 1. That wicked Men are often suddenly overtaken and surprized with God's terrible Judgments is not for want of being warned but because they will not take Warning Though they be told from Day to Day of the Judgments of God that seem to be even at the Door and ready to light upon them yet they will not believe it and so whensoever the Judgments of God come upon them they are surprized and they come when they think not of them when they look not for them 2. 'T is most just with God that they who have contemned many former Warnings and would take no Warnings should at last have no Warning And this is that which is expresly threatned Rev. 3.2 3. where Christ speaking to the Angel of the Church in Sardis saith Be watchful and strengthen the things that are ready to die for I have not found thy Works perfect before God Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent Here is Warning sufficient If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a Thief and thou shalt not know what Hour I will come upon thee That is in Effect If thou wilt take no Warning when I at length come upon thee to punish thee thou shalt have no Warning And so much by way of Answer to that Objection Now to apply very briefly what hath been said concerning this Observation Vse 1. If God be graciously pleased to call the greatest Sinners to
22.21 I spake unto thee in thy Prosperity and thou saidst I will not hear To the same Purpose is that of the Psalmist who speaking of wicked Men saith Because they have no Changes Psal 55.19 therefore they fear not God Because they are not harassed with Afflictions nor emptied from Vessel to Vessel therefore they regard not God's Calls to Repentance nor his Threatnings He may say what he pleaseth he may threaten them as severely as he will they are not moved at it nor concern themselves with it 2dly Another thing that makes them the more obstinate is their not believing the Threatnings and Denunciations of Judgments against them for their Sins Thus the old World not believing what God had threatned concerning the Destruction of the World by the Flood still continued in their Sins and repented not till at length the Flood came upon them and took them all away excepting only those few Persons that found Grace in the Eyes of God to be exempted from that dreadful Judgment So though God had often by his Prophets threatned the Captivity yet the profane and obstinate Jews putting far off the evil Day and giving no Credit to the Threatnings would not be brought to Repentance Such were they whom the Prophet Zephany described who being setled on their Lees Zeph. 1.12 said in their Hearts The Lord will not do Good neither will he do Evil that is he would neither fulfil his Promises nor make good his Threatnings they believed neither the one nor the other 3dly Another thing that makes wicked Men the more obstinate and that hardens them against all Invitations and Calls to Repentance is the abused Patience and Long-sufferance of God towards them Because God hath long born with them therefore they think he will always bear with them because waiting for their Repentance he doth not speedily put his Threatnings in Execution therefore they make account he will never put them in Execution Eccles 8.11 Because Sentence against an evil Work is not executed speedily therefore the Heart of the Sons of Men is fully set in them to do Evil. If Punishment be but deferred and respited for a time to see if Offenders will not bethink themselves and by their Repentance prevent that Severity which else must be used against them even this makes them think they are now in no Danger of being punished and so they are incouraged to go on in their Sins Thus the wicked Jews incouraged themselves in their sinful Courses and in their carnal Security saying Ezek. 12.22 The Days are prolonged and every Vision faileth As if they had said the Prophets terrify us with sad Visions and severe Threatnings and Denunciations of approaching Judgments but nothing comes of it all their Visions fail and we are still in Safety and so we trust we shall be notwithstanding all the Frights they would put us into 4thly Another thing and indeed the chief thing that makes wicked Men so obstinate as that they stop their Ears against all Solicitations and Calls to Repentance is the most intire League that there is between them and their Sins So dearly do they love their Sins that they cannot indure to think of parting with them Whatever can be said to take them off from their Sins is of no Account signifies nothing with them injoy their Sins they will whatever comes of it They are perfectly deaf to all Charmings that tend to the making a Separation between them and their Lusts Thus were the Jews so sondly in love with the idolatrous Services of foreign Nations that after them they would nothing should withhold them I have loved Strangers Jer. 2.25 saith Judah and after them will I go Now to apply very briefly what hath been said concerning this Point Vse 1. If wicked Men that have long gone on in a Course of Sin may and do sometimes come to such a Degree of Obstinacy and Hardness of Heart that no Admonitions no Reproofs no Invitations or Calls to Repentance no Warnings of approaching Judgments will work upon them then let no Man that treats with Men about the Concernments of their Souls think it strange if he sometimes meet with such Men. The World is full of such Men and ever hath been The Prophets and Apostles and our Saviour Christ himself had to do with such Men And these later Ages of the World are not better But you will say What 's to be done when we meet with such Men Must we let them alone because as far as we can see they are such as hate Instruction and cast the Words of God behind their back as the wicked Man is described Psal 50.17 I answer No. For 1. We know not Mens Hearts and therefore though they seem to be obstinate and incorrigible yet there may be some Convictions within and some secret Relentings that we cannot discern 2. If they should really be as obstinate and incorrigible as they seem to be and much worse yet God can work upon them and change their Hearts if he please No Heart is so hard but he can soften it no Heart is so obstinate but he can subdue it Wherefore God laid an express Charge upon Ezekiel to speak to a perverse and obstinate People though in all Probability his Labour would be lost upon them Thou Son of Man shalt speak my Words unto them whether they will hear Ezek. 2.7 or whether they will forbear for they are a rebellious House And this he is enjoined to do with all Freedom and Boldness notwithstanding all the Enmity and fierce Opposition which he might thereby procure from such wicked and unreasonable Men as they were with whom he had to do Ezek. 2.6 Thou Son of Man be not afraid of them neither be afraid of their Words though Briars and Thorns be with thee and thou dost dwell among Scorpions be not afraid of their VVords nor be dismayed at their Looks though they be a rebellious House And so the Prophet Isaiah who had to do with the same perverse and obstinate People must deliver his Message though God in effect told him before-hand That no Good was to be done upon them they would rather be worse than better by all that he should say to them Go and tell this People Isa 6.9 10. saith he Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the Heart of this People fat and make their Ears heavy and shut their Eyes lest they see with their Eyes and hear with their Ears and understand with their Heart and convert and be healed Speak he must unto them though God foreshewed that this would be the Effect of all his Indeavours with them for their Good Vse 2. If wicked Men that have long gone on in a Course of Sin may come at length to that degree of Obstinacy and hardness of Heart that no Admonitions no Reproofs no Calls or Invitations to Repentance no Warnings of approaching Judgments will work
for ever If I whet my Sword and my Hand take hold on Judgment I will render Vengeance to mine Enemies and reward them that hate me I will make mine Arrows drunk with Blood and my Sword shall devour Flesh Deut. 32.39 40 41 42. Thus I have shewed that when God will punish Men for their Sins no Means they can make use of shall secure them against his Judgments Neither their high Quality in the World nor the Eminency of their Rank and Condition nor their Honours nor their Power nor their Policy nor their Riches nor their Interests nor their Friends nor any thing else that can be named shall do them any Good or stand them in any stead to interpose between them and the Wrath of God and skreen off his Judgments from them I come now to apply this Point briefly Vse 1. Let no Man therefore let no impenitent Sinner be incouraged to go on in his evil Ways by the vain Hopes of going unpunished and of escaping the Judgments of God A Man that shall thus flatter himself that makes account he shall be able to find Means to escape the Judgments of God whoever be punished such an one above all others shall be sure to be punished most severely Consider how dreadfully God hath threatned such hardned secure and fearless Sinners He that blesseth himself in his Heart saying Deut. 29.19 20. I shall have Peace though I walk in the Imagination of my Heart to add Drunkenness to Thirst The Lord will not spare him but the Anger of the Lord and his Jealousy shall smoke against that Man and all the Curses that are written in the Law shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his Name from under Heaven Such secure Sinners were those whom God threatned It shall come to pass that I will search Jerusalem with Candles Zeph. 1.12 and will punish them that are settled on their Lees and that say is their Hearts The Lord will not do Good neither will he do Evil. As if they had said The Lord is in Heaven and regards not what is done by us here below he will neither reward us if we do well nor punish us if we do ill Such obdurate and secure Sinners as these God would find out wheresoever they should be he would search Jerusalem with Candles for them that he might punish them Not one of them that upon the narrowest Search could be found out should escape his righteous Judgments So again God threatned that such as did put far away the evil Day Amos 6.3 4 5 7. did make account that the Day of Visitation when God would reckon with them for their Sins would never come or that it would be long enough before it would come and that thereupon caused the Seat of Violence to come near gave themselves to Rapine Oppression and Injustice and moreover glutted themselves with sinful Pleasures and Delights addicting themselves to all manner of Riot and Excess I say God threatned these secure Sinners that they should go captive with the first that should go captive So then none are more sure to be punished and to be punished severely and speedily than they who least fear it and who are most confident of their Safety and Security Vse 2. Let all impenitent Sinners therefore be perswaded and exhorted to labour to make their Peace with God and to do it speedily lest the Judgments of God overtake them and come upon them before they have done it Let them not be slack herein and put it off from Day to Day as if there were no Danger in delaying it They may perhaps think there is very little in those Threatnings and Denunciations of Judgments which they often hear and that such an evil Day as they have been frighted with shall never come or if it do come that they shall be able to make a shift to secure themselves well enough They have such and such Advantages above other Men and therefore whoever suffer they hope they may find Means to be exempted from suffering But let none deceive themselves these are but idle Dreams and vain Fancies When God comes to visit Mens Sins upon them he comes irresistibly All the Means in the World for keeping off God's Judgments all their Advantages for securing themselves will signify nothing Whatever they may seem to have to safe-guard and protect themselves against the Wrath of God their Sins have made them naked Exod. 32.25 as Moses said of the Israelites They lie as open and as much exposed to the Judgments of God as if they were perfectly stripp'd of whatever might promise them any Protection or Security in an evil Day 'T is true Mens Riches and Power and Policy and Interests may help them to withstand many a Shock and to weather out many a Storm But when the Day comes which God hath set and appointed for reckoning with them then all these things in which they trust shall afford them no Relief at all It may be instead of relieving and protecting them they may contribute to their Ruine So we know God often curseth Mens Policies Job 5.13 and causeth the Wise to be taken in their own Craftiness as Eliphaz speaks And their Riches do them no other Service than only to make them a more desirable Prey to the Enemy When the time comes that they are to be punished in vain shall they hope to escape whatever they have to protect and defend themselves withal and to ward off those Evils that are coming upon them The Prophet Jeremiah fore-telling and prophetically describing the Overthrow of Pharaoh's Army and all his hired Forces by the Army of Nebuchadnezzar and the sore Distress of Egypt attending that Overthrow saith Jer. 46.21 Her hired Men in the midst of her are like fatted Bullocks for they are turned back and are fled away together they did not stand because the Day of their Calamity was come upon them and the time of their Visitation When the time of Mens Calamity and the Day of Mens Visitation is come nothing shall help them or deliver them out of the Hands of God This Insignificancy and Unavailableness of all Means for affording of Relief God emphatically sets forth when speaking to Egypt Ver. 11. he saith Go up to Gilead and take Balm O Virgin the Daughter of Egypt in vain shalt thou use many Medicines for thou shalt not be healed I say therefore make your Peace with God and do it speedily before it be too late Isa 55.6 Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near as the Prophet exhorts Seek him for the Pardon of your Sins seek him for the averting of those Judgments which by your Sins you have deserved and which are hanging over your Heads To the same Effect is that Exhortation of the Prophet Zephaniah Zeph. 2.1 2 3. Gather your selves together yea gather together O Nation not desired before the Decree bring forth
Though we may in some Cases take the Liberty of humble and reverent Expostulation with God yet we must take heed of any unmeet Reflections upon his Justice or Goodness and still remember our Distance from him that God is in Heaven and we are upon Earth as Solomon speaks Eccles 5.2 And that he giveth not account of any of his Matters as Elihu excellently represents him to Job chap. 33.13 So then all these sorts of Complaints being allowed us the Complaint condemned in the Text is that which either proceeds from or is joined with Impatience under God's Hand and Discontent with his Providence 't is the Complaint of an unquiet and sinfully disturbed Spirit which the Scripture sometimes expresseth by murmuring so here the Word in the Original may properly enough be translated and so the same Word is rendred Numb 11.1 Now the Evil and Unreasonableness of this kind of Complaint under the Hand of God may appear several ways 1. 'T is long before God takes the Rod in Hand to correct he bears long even with the vilest of Sinners and exerciseth much Patience towards them He is slow to Anger and of great Mercy Psal 145.8 He is merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness Exod. 34.6 He takes no Delight in Severity further than we provoke him thereunto He doth noâ— afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men Lam. 3.33 And should noâ— this Consideration be of Force to suppress all our discontented Complainings and Murmurings that God is so unwilling to use Severity against us that he is so hardly drawn on to chaster us and that he never doth it till we have given him much Cause so to handle us 2. When we by our many Provocations have put the Rod into his Hand he is soon prevailed with to lay it aside again He is not of that implacable Temper that he can never be reconciled to those against whom he hath once taken up any Displeasure Upon our humble Submission to his Corrections and sincere Resolutions and Endeavours to reform what hath been amiss he is graciously inclined to lay aside his Displeasure He is ready to forgive Psal 86.5 most ready to shew Mercy as soon as we are in any measure fit for Mercy He doth not always chide Psal 103.9 nor keep his Anger for ever Was this only David's particular Experience and is it not ours also Do not we find how easy he is to be entreated and how ready to pardon Have we not had manifold Experiments thereof in the Course of our Lives And should not this perswade us quietly and patiently to submit to his Corrections while he is pleased to keep us under his chastning Hand 3. While he judgeth it fit to correct us he lays no more upon us than our Sins deserve When we are most severely handled and are apt to complain we have hard measure yet even then do not his Severities in the least exceed the Demerits of our Sins God doth us no wrong nor is it possible that he should for his Will is the Rule and Measure of Righteousness The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his VVorks Psal 145.17 The just Lord will not do Iniquity Zeph. 3.5 What Cause then is there or can there be of complaining where no Wrong is done With this the Church of God silenceth her self and stops her own Mouth when under the most dreadful Effects of God's Displeasure Lam. 1.18 The Lord is righteous saith she for I have rebelled against his Commandments And with this God stoppeth the Mouth of his People VVhy criest thou for thine Afflictions Jer. 30.15 Because thy Sins were increased have I done these things unto thee 4. When God afflicts most grievously his Severities are far short of what our Sins deserve Under the heaviest Weight of Punishment Ezra's Acknowledgment in the Name of the Church must be ours Ezra 9.13 VVe are punished less than our Iniquities deserve Our Sins deserve not only all the temporal Plagues and Judgments which we are capable of undergoing but Hell the unutterable and endless Torments of the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone Wherefore whatever our Sufferings be in this World so long as we are on this side Hell so little Cause have we to complain that we have great Cause to be thankful that it is not far worse with us than it is 5. How much soever God is pleased to afflict us yet still we enjoy many Mercies in the mean time by which the Bitterness of our Afflictions is much allayed and the Smart of them much abated For one or two Crosses we are compassed about with Variety of Blessings In Sickness we have the Pity and Compassion of Friends and Acquaintance we have all that Service and Assistance that many Hands about us can afford us we have all those Means of Relief that either Love or Art can supply us with And all this besides those inward and powerful Supports which we have more immediately from God Again if it so be that God afflicts us in one of our Relations we have Matter of Comfort in divers others of them If we have Losses in our temporal Estate yet our spiritual and better Concernments are safe and untouched If Man be at Variance with us yet we have Peace with God How sadly soever we may in our Afflictions represent things to our selves God never stirs up all his Wrath against us at once nor suffers his whole Displeasure to arise God never so mingles the Cup which he puts into our Hands but that there are some Ingredients of a benign and friendly Nature to qualify the Malignity of the rest The Malignity did I say There is indeed no real Malignity in any of the Ingredients of that spiritual Physick which God administers to his All things have a kind and beneficial Influence for promoting our Good and furthering our highest Interest And where now is there any Place left for complaining Amidst so many Mercies can we yet find in our Hearts to complain Be it so that some things are not only unacceptable but very grievous to us Shall we receive Good at the Hands of God and shall we not receive Evil Shall we bear nothing at the Hands of him who is so good and gracious so kind and bountiful to us many other ways Let us not suffer two or three Afflictions so to imbitter our Spirits and vitiate our Palats as that we should not relish the Sweetness of any of those Mercies which in our most afflicted Condition we still enjoy 6. Add to all this that God hath a Sovereignty of Power and Dominion over his Creatures by virtue whereof he may deal with them as he pleaseth According to this his absolute Power though the Creature had never sinned yet God might expose it to such Miseries as exceed not the Benefit of that Being he has given it He that made the Creature out of nothing as he might turn it into
after the sharp and bitter Persecutions under the Reign of Queen Mary followed that blessed Sunshine of the Gospel and the peaceable and undisturbed Enjoyment thereof throughout all the long and prosperous or rather glorious Reign of Queen Elizabeth and the continuance of it to us ever since even to this day notwithstanding all the destructive Machinations wicked Plots and restless Attempts of the Enemy to deprive us of it and to put out our light in obscure darkness Now some of the reasons of this method of Divine Providence are these 1. It conduceth very much to the displaying and illustrating of the glory of God's Wisdom Power and Goodness who can so wonderfully change the most dark and dismal state of things who creates darkness and forms light Isa 45.7 Who turns the shadow of death into the morning as the Prophet speaks Amos 5.8 Who turns a Town into Ashes and Rubbish in the space of few Hours making it a place meet for Zim and Okim to take up their abode in the merciless Element where it raged scarce leaving a Lintel for the Cormorant or Bittern to lodge in or the remainders of a scorched Window to sing in And then again within the space of few years out of the Dust and Ashes to raise up a Town for the Accommodation of men and a Church for the Service of God and both with the addition of that beauty and lustre which had never been unless God had laid the Foundations of that change for the better in ruin and desolation All Beholders must needs acknowledge such admirable turns and vicissitudes of things to be the operation of his Hands who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working 2. By dark Providences by Troubles and Afflictions God fits and prepares us for Mercies Our Afflictions when sanctified humble us lay us low make us reflect upon our selves and consider our ways make us repent reform and turn to him that smiteth us and all this tends to the rendring us meet to be partakers of the Mercies which God hath in store for us For while we go on impenitently in a course of Sin blessings would be cursed to us and abuse of Mercies would increase our misery 3. Afflictions commend God's after-mercies and make them more sweet and acceptable to us as the darkness of the Night commends the light of the Morning A quiet and calm Season after a Storm how welcome how pleasant and delightsome is it Such is the unspeakable goodness of God that he so much consults our comfort as to order and dispose of the circumstances of our Mercies so as they may afford us most content and satisfaction 4. Great Troubles and Afflictions going before great Mercies dispose our Hearts to greater thankfulness for them When Mercies come in upon us in such a season and with such circumstances they greatly affect us and make deep impressions on our Hearts so as we think we can never be thankful enough we can never bless God sufficiently for them Now to apply this briefly The consideration of what hath been said concerning this method of God's Providence and the Reasons of it should perswade us and prevail with us to bear Afflictions meekly quietly and patiently and with that composedness calmness and evenness of Spirit which becomes Christians who are no strangers to the usual ways of God's Providence neither fretting against the Lord nor desponding or casting away our confidence in him Though it be night with you at present yet you may hope it will not be so always the day will return There is an interchangeable vicissitude of these Providences after darkness light breaks forth and the longer your night hath been the nearer are the approaches of the day wherefore in the most dark and disconsolate condition say with the Church of God Mic. 7.7 8 9. I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation Rejoice not against me O mine enemy when I fall I shall arise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me he will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his righteousness So I have done with the first thing the Prediction of great concussions and shakings in the World before the coming of the Messiah 2. I come now to the second Particular The Promise of his coming And the desire of all nations shall come The Desire of all Nations that is Christ the object of the desire of all Nations or whom all Nations shall desire But then this must be understood of some of all Nations of as many out of all Nations as are disposed to receive him though others perhaps the generality of some Nations may be so far from desiring him that they may hate him blaspheme his Name and persecute to the Death all that acknowledge him for their Saviour But if this sense be judged too strait then by the desire of all Nations we may understand the desireable of all Nations or he who hath that in him which should render him lovely and desirable to all Nations and in respect whereof all Nations may and should desire him and so far as they know him and understand their own interest will desire him This description or character of Christ is agreeable to what the Scriptures elsewhere say concerning him The Spouse having described him and set forth his Perfections and Excellencies saith He is the thiefest among ten thousand Cant. 5.10 And altogether lovely ver 16. And Jacob Prophetically speaking of him under the Name of Shiloh saith To him shall the gathering of the people be Gen. 49.10 That is all People and Nations out of an high esteem of him and an earnest desire after him shall flow in to him So God speaking of the coming in of the Gentiles to the Church in the Times of the Gospel and under the Kingdom of the Messiah saith Behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles and set up my standard to the people and they shall bring thy sons in their arms and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders Isa 49.22 In that day there shall be a root of Jesseâ— which shall stand for an ensign to the people to it shall the Gentiles seek Isa 11.10 Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my spirit upon him he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles I will give him for a Covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles Isa 42.1 It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth Isa 49.6 Hence it is that the Church gathered out of all Nations is represented to St.