changed Look Jerem. 18. ver 6 7 8. If I shall speake to a Nation to pluck it up and to roote it out to destroy it if that Kingdome and that Nation shall turne from their evill waies and repent then saith God I will repent of that evill that I threatned to doe against them The sentence is absolute to the end it may strike a further feare and terrour The sentence is propounded absolutely but intended conditionally Though God doth not change his will yet God doth will a change If wee know how to change our lives God knowes how to change his sentence That is the first thing that he requires The second thing that God lookes for at the hands of his children is an earnest and vehement intercession to God by prayer for pardon That was the condition hee looked for here at this time He said hee would destroy this people but it was with this condition hee would not destroy them if Moses made intercession for them Yea and hee would encourage Moses hee did as much as tell Moses that this was the meanes whereby hee might be stayed And he would encourage Moses to make intercession by his words Moses saith hee let mee alone and let mee destroy this people Why doth hee say let mee alone What is that but because hee would have him be bold O Moses you see what power you have with mee I cannot strike this people if you make intercession hee knew Moses his love to this people therefore let mee alone that I may destroy them I must conclude with the time and with an application There is a fatall period set to all the Kingdomes of the earth sooner or later according as the sinnes of that Kingdome and people come to their full ripenesse and maturity Both Philosophers and Divines have observed by long experience diverse prognostick signes of the approach of the ruine of a people If God should seeme by any of these prognostick signes to threaten our ruine and destruction at this time if God doth seeme to any to doe this let them know it may be that this threatning of God now is but conditionall There are two waies by which wee may get God to revoke and call back his word One is by true repentance from wicked men and the other is an earnest intercession made by Gods children O brethren that wee did but know in this our day what belongs now to our peace O that wee could do as the Ninevites did every one humble himselfe before God and turne from the wickednesse of his waies And O that Moses would run to the breach and now with strong cries and teares begge pardon for who doth know whether the Lord will not yet be mercifull to us and turne his fierce wrath from us that wee perish not I have gone thorow the first thing the revocation of the sentence Who caused it Moses And by what means By standing in the breach I must leave till next time FINIS PSAL. 106. 23. Wherefore hee said hee would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood in the breach c. I Spake the last day of the revocation of this sentence I come now to the next thing Who caused the revocation of this sentence but one man Moses but hee was a chosen man Moses whom hee had chosen Marke I pray among Gods elect in every generation in every age there have been some men that have been select Such a man I name Enoch in the old world that God tooke away hence that hee should not see death And such a man I reckon Noah to be a man gracious in the eyes of God when all the world perished And such a man I reckon Abraham to be whom God is pleased to honour with the name of his Friend Abraham my Friend And such a man was Moses whom God was wont to talk with as familiarly as one man talkes with another as the Scripture saith And such men I reckon Eliah and Elisha to be the very Chariots and Horsemen of Israel in their daies And such a man was Daniel a man of Gods affection a man that God did wondrously love and set by and many more These are as deare to God as the apple of his owne eye as the signet upon his right hand these I call the Favourites of heaven Kings upon earth have their Favourites the King of Kings hath his These are the Favourites of heaven these are those principall men Micah 5. v. 5. The Princes of men The hebrew beares it Principall men These are those Excellent ones upon earth that David speakes of Psal 16. My delight is upon the Excellent ones that are upon the earth There is not one of these but are worth a thousand others and have more power with God then many thousands of others And as the people said of David when hee would goe to battell against Absolom No thou shalt not goe lest the light of Israel be quenched for thou art worth ten thousand of us I may say the same of such as these One Moses in the day of Gods hot wrath and vengeance one such a man as Phineas was in the time of a plague One such a man as Eliah was in the time of a drought One such a man as Paul in the companie when men are in a shipwrack is able to doe more good then a thousand others Gods children they are not alway mighty men according to the flesh Not many mighty saith the Apostle not many mighty ones according to the flesh 1 Cor. 1. 6. But though they be not alway mighty according to the flesh yet in regard of their spirit and grace and their state with God they may be mighty men Saint John Baptist a contemptible man according to the flesh but the Angell fore-told of him that hee should be great in the sight of the Lord. You have some men that have prided themselves in the sirname of Great Antiochus the Great and Alexander the Great and Herod the Great and Pompey the Great and diverse others There be many of Gods children poore contemptible things Ignobilia mundi the contemptible things of the world that are greater men with God and have done greater acts then the greatest of these great ones Which of all those great ones was able to command the sun to stand still Josuah did it Sun stand thou still in Gibeon and thou Moon in the valley of Ajalon Which of all those great ones was able to command the thunder Samuel did it in the time of wheat-harvest Which of all those great ones was able to command the raine Eliah did it As the Lord God of Israel liveth there shall be no raine but according to my word 1 King 17. verse 1. Which of all those great ones was able to stand in the breach against the great God of heaven and earth when hee came to execute his fierce wrath upon his people you see Moses did it If one Moses may cause a revocation of a
had six steps to it and on both sides of the steps on the right hand and on the left were Lions made there were 12. Lions It was for ornament an ornament of Glory There was not such a throne in any Kingdome saith the Scripture Nay farther here you see the people made a similitude of an Oxe that eateth grasse Solomon he made twelve such similitudes of Oxen. Look in 2 Chron. 4. 3 4. you shall finde that the molten Sea stood on 12. Oxen that Solomon had made This people made the similitude of an Oxe that eateth grasse Solomon made twelve similitudes or likenesses of Oxen that eate grasse Solomon was never reproved for this this people was plagued for theirs There is the difference then they made it for one end and Solomon for another they made it for worship and Solomon for ornament God allows us Images for ornament Nay of what shape the Cherubims were that you reade of oft in Scripture that were made in the Temple it is hard to say Josephus saith it cannot be affirmed or conjectured We usually think the face of a Cherubim was like the face of a man but you shall finde there is a difference betweene them Ezek. 10. 4. Every beast had foure faces one face like the face of a Cherubim another like the face of a Man the third like the face of a Lion and the fourth like the face of an Eagle These were all different faces the face of a Cherubim and the face of a Man then are different faces But of what shape soever they are God commanded Cherubims to be made in his Tabernacle yea and Solomon made Cherubims not only those two Cherubims in the Sanctum Sanctorum the most holy place but he made Cherubims all along the wals of the Temple and all upon the vailes of the Temple and upon the brims of the vessels and upon divers utensils in the house and service of God Solomon made Cherubims And together with them he made the Images of Lions and Buls and Flowers and Palme-trees and of Pomegranates All these were for ornament I conclude then It is lawfull for us to adorne and beautifie our houses yea it is lawfull to adorne and beautifie the house of God the wals the windows with such Images as First may not hinder the people in their devotion Secondly such as are in no danger to be abused to Idolatry or superstition That is my second Thirdly it is lawfull to make Images for monument You know how the Brazen Serpent was made at Gods command in the wildernesse and that though it were the similitude of a Serpent yet notwithstanding this was preserved afterward as a monument for the space of 700. yeares no fewer for as long as it was a monument it was preserved but when it came to be abused to Idolatry as you shall heare anon then it was broken in pieces Those same Statues those Images of our Kings and Queens and Nobles and great personages in Westminster or Pauls that are set on their Tombes to what end serve they but to be monuments The Father may set up a monument a statue upon the grave of his deceased child or the child upon the grave of his Father This God hath allowed us Christian Religion never forbade it and the Christian Church hath alway practised it for Monument Fourthly it is lawfull to have an Image for History there is an historicall use of Images The Naturall History of beasts birds and plants may be set downe by Imagerie they cannot well be made knowne without the figures of these beasts and these birds How profitable the figures of plants and herbs are in Herbals I think there is no man but he doth know that knows the use of an Herball or Naturall Histories Then secondly the Ecclesiasticall histories of the Church the martyrdomes of the Saints the sacred histories of the Bible the historie of Adam and Eve seduced by the Serpent or the history of Abel slaine by Cain or the history of Abraham sacrificing Isaac or of David killing Goliah or of Solomon judging and giving the Child to the right mother yea and the history of the Passion of Christ the history of it I say this hath beene approved of in the Church of God We reade anciently in Gregory Nyssen of the history of the Passion of Christ The historicall use of Images we condemne not God and the Church never disallowed it So then now I goe over all God allows us to make an Image for the distinction of coine he allows it for ornament he allowes it for monument he allows the historicall use of Images in Naturall history in Sacred history and in Ecclesiasticall history But yet let me give some cautions and proviso's about these Images First no Image is to be made of the Trinity to any use whatsoever though it be not to a Religious use God forbids this Deut. 4. Thou heardest a voice but thou sawest no likenesse therefore thou shalt make no likenesse of me So in Esay 40. 18. To what will yee liken me To make a visible Image of an invisible God it is no lesse unlawfull then impossible to make an Image of the Trinity saith Damascene who though he was but an Image-monger a worshipper of Images yet he abhorred this to make an Image of the Deity there is no lesse follie then impiety in it Yet notwithstanding you shall finde some such Images in the books of Papists in some of their Service-books you shall finde the Trinity with three faces in some of their books you shall finde God the Father as an old man and Christ his Son between his legs and the Dove between them both These are abominable such as Christian eyes should not look on without horrour and detestation No Image of the Trinity whatsoever is to be made Secondly no false Image no false representation I could name many in Popery To paint the Virgin Mary now in glory in heaven with Christ a little Babe in her armes is a false lying blasphemous representation no way answering the person and quality of them that are represented The like I might say of Saint Dunstan and the Devill and of Garnets face in the straw as it is publike at Madrill in Spaine Such like false representations God condemnes and we abhorre Thirdly take heed of wanton lascivious pictures obscene filthy pictures those are to be abhorred too If evill words corrupt good manners surely lewd and obscene pictures will do it more Those provocations to lust that get into the heart at the eye do a great deale more move the heart to uncleannesse then those provocations that get in at the eare Segniùs irritant animos c. He that would have an eye to his heart must have an eye to his eye Fourthly take heed of all wanton excesse in a love of pictures There are many men among us that have spent even their estates in a dotage about these rarities and excellent workmanship These rules observed
you shall see how Gods hand was held from destroying of them Moses his chosen stood in the breach and turned away the wrath of God that hee should not destroy them First bee said hee would destroy them The judgement that God threatens for this sin is not famine nor captivity nor bondage nor pestilence nor the sword of an enemy but it is a totall subversion a totall destruction of the whole Nation The words of God used to Moses Deut. 9. 14. Moses let mee alone let mee destroy this people that I may blot out their name from under heaven Here was the sentence hee would blot out their name from under heaven I will never be troubled againe with such an unthankfull people as this I will blot out their name there shall not be such a people upon the earth as this that have used mee thus unthankfully for such mercies as I have shewed them Hee doth not now threaten to lopp off a bough or two from the tree but to stub up the whole tree hee will not leave roote or branch head nor tayle of this people hee will have them all buried and entombed together in one grave of destruction I will destroy them all Hee said hee would destroy them I will set downe one generall Proposition Great sins such as are sinnes of an high nature when they come once to be committed with an high hand that is with delight with out-rage with impudency and impenitency they are able to bring the judgements of God to the utter destruction of a whole people of a whole country Sins of an high nature I told you when I began to handle this Scripture what sinnes are sinnes of an high nature that is such sinnes as are directly against God As Atheisme As Blasphemy As Idolatry Or such as are directly against nature As Sodomy As Bestiality As All incestuous and unnaturall pollution Or thirdly such sinnes as are directly against humane society As Murther As Robbery As Rapine As The effusion and shedding of innocent bloud Such sinnes as these that are directly against God against nature against humane society when they are thus committed with an high hand they are able to bring destruction utter destruction not only upon whole houses as they did upon the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat upon the house of Basha upon the house of Ahab which houses God swept with the beesome of destruction as the Prophet speakes but they are able to bring the judgement of God to utter destruction upon a whole people upon a whole country they are able to lay the honour of the greatest Kingdom of the greatest Monarch in the dust in a little space in a little time I need not stand long to prove this only two or three examples Some of these sinnes of this nature brought an utter destruction upon the whole world there were but eight persons left in it when it was over-flowne with these sins it came then to be over-flowne with water For some of these sinnes God brought such a fearefull destruction upon Sodome and Gomorrah that he made all that country a proverb of reproach When God is pleased to threaten utter destruction hee saith hee will destroy it as hee did Sodome and Gomorrah For this sinne of Idolatry 2 King 21. 3. God threatens that hee will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish and turneth it upside downe when hee hath wiped it In Ezek. 21. 27. he threatneth Jerusalem that he will overturne it and overturne it and overturne it three times and three times you may say that Jerusalem was overturned It was overturned once by the Babylonian army under Nebuchadnezar It was overturned a second time by the Romane army under Titus Vespasian And then the very ruines of it afterward were so overturned by Elius Adrian the Emperour the very carkasse of that City for Titus left it but like a carkasse it was so torne and tortured The carkasse of Jezabell was eaten so with doggs that men could not say This is Jezabell so the carkasse of this City was so torne that had it not been for a turret or two and a piece of a wall that they would have stand a man could not have said This was Jerusalem Idolatry was first established in the Easterne parts of the world I pray looke what miserable destruction God brought upon those Easterne parts Where are now those golden Churches of Asia Where are those learned Churches of Greece As Pius Secundus once said A man may looke for Greece in Greece now and not finde it they are all drowned in Turcisme and infidelity for this sinne of Idolatry I will goe no further in examples In Levit 18. God reckons up the sinnes of the people that lived in the land of Canaan before he brought his people to it and he reckons all those sins that I named to you now some directly against God some directly against nature some directly against humane society Then he warnes his people v. 25. 28. to take heed Take heed that you defile not your selves and the land with those sinnes wherewith the Gentiles did defile it mark the reason lest quoth hee the land spue you out as it did the inhabitants before you A homely phrase you will say It is so yet it is a phrase observable As it is with a man that hath his stomack overcharged with some meat that hee hath eaten hee never is at rest and quiet till hee have cast up that meat that offends his stomack so is it with a land that is over-charged with sinnes of this nature it is never at rest it is still working and working as a mans stomack is never at rest till it have eased it self by vomiting and have cast out those inhabitants that have defiled it It pleaseth the Spirit of God to use the same phrase in Rev. â— 16. saith God to the Angell of the Church of Ephesus Thou art neither hot nor cold but luke-warme I will spue thee out of my mouth I will cast thee out with loathing and indignation God is a mercifull God and his mercy is over all his workes but when sin once growes to be horrible God can no more forget that he is just then hee can forget that hee is mercifull hee must needs pay it and pay it home in the end with vengeance God may be provoked too farre and patience when it is too farre abused will turne to fury When I consider the manifold sinnes under the burthen where of this Land groanes and I name that first which I named last our luke-warmnesse our neutrality in Religion our halting between God and Baal together with our unmercifull oppressions and our over-mercifull connivance at the vile dishonour to the Name of God I doe not wonder brethren that God hath denied to us this yeare his accustomed plentifull blessing in our corne-fields I doe not wonder that hee hath sent to us divers times such unseasonable seasons I wonder not at the