of crucifying Christ As often as we think of them we ought to consider the danger of infidelity and the heavy judgments which that brings upon a people We may take some estimate of the wrath of God against that sin by the desolation of the Country and the miseries of the inhabitants of it When you think it a small sin to despise the Son of God to revile his doctrine and reproach his miracles consider then what the Jews have suffered for these sins As long as they continue a people in the world they are the living monuments of the Vengeance of God upon an incorrigible and unbelieving Nation And it may be one of the ends of God's dispersing them almost among all nations that as often as they see and despise them they may have a care of those sins which have made them a byword and reproach among men who were once a nation beloved of God and feared by men See what it is to despise the offers of grace to reproach and ill use the Messengers of it who have no other errand but to perswade men to accept that Grace and bring forth the fruits thereof See what it is for men to be slaves to their own lusts which makes them not only neglect their own truest interest but that of their nation too If that had not been the fundamental miscarriage of the Rulers of the Jewish Nation at the time of our Saviour they would most readily have entertained him and saved their land from ruine See what it is for a people to be high in conceit of themselves and to presume upon God's favour towards them For there never was a nation more self-opinionated as to their wisdom goodness and interest with God than the Jews were when they began their war and the confidence of this made them think it long till they had destroyed themselves See what it is to be once engaged too far in a bad cause how hard it is though they suffer never so much for it afterwards for them to repent of it We might have thought the Jews when they had seen the destruction of Ierusalem would have come off from their obstinacy but how very few in comparison from that time to this have sincerely repented of the sins of their Forefathers in the death of Christ. See how hard a matter it is to conquer the prejudices of education and to condemn the most unjust actions of those when we come to understanding whom from our infancy we had in veneration For it is in great measure because they were their Ancestors that the Jews to this day are so hardly convinâ—ed they could be guilty of so soul a sin as crucifying the Messias 2. Is it nothing to us what they have suffered who enjoy the greatest blessings we have by their means and upon the same terms which they did For to them at first were committed the Oracles of God we enjoy all the excellent and sacred records of ancient times from them all the prophecies of the men whom God raised up and inspired from time to time among them By their means we converse with those great persons Moses David Solomon and others and understand their wisdom and piety by the writings which at this day we enjoy By them we have conveyed to us all the particular prophesies which relate to the Messias which point out the Tribe the place the time the very person he was to be born of By their means we are able to confute their infidelity and to confirm our own faith Therefore we have some common concernment with them and ought on that account to be sensible of their miseries Is it nothing then to you that God hath dealt so severely with them from whom you derive so great a part of your Relâ—gion But if that be nothing consider the terms upon which you enjoy these mercies you have and they are as the latter clause of the Text assures us no other than the bringing forth the fruits thereof If we prove as obsâ—inate and incorrigible as they God may justly punish us as he hath done thâ—m It is but a Vineyard that God lets us it is no inheritance God expects our improvement and giving him the fruits of it or else he may justâ—y take it away from us and give it to other Husbandmen Let us never flatter our selves in thinking it impossible God should make us as miserable and contemptible a people as he hath done the Jews but we may be miserable enough and yet fall short of them Have we any such promises of his favour as they had how great were their priviledges while they stood in favour with Gâ—d above all other nations in the world But we see though they were the first and the natural branches they are broken off by unbelief and we stand by faith Nothing then can be more reasonable than the exhortation of the Apostle be not high minded but fear Bâ—ast not of your presâ—nt priviledges despise not those who are broken off for consâ—der if God spared not the natural branches we ought to take heed lest he also spare not us 3. Is it nothing to us what the Jews suffer since our sins are in some senses more aggâ—avated than theirs were For though there can be no just excuse made for their wilful blindness yet there may be much less made for ours For wâ—at they did against hâ—m was when he appeared in the weakness of humane flesh in a very mean and low condition before the great confirmation of our faith by his resurrection from the dead But our contempt of Christ is much more unpardonable not only after that but the miraculous consequences of it and the spreading and continuance of his Doctrine in the world after the multitudes of Martyrs and the glorious Triumphs of our Religion over all the attempts of the persecutors and betrayers of it after the solemn Vows of our Baptism in his Name and frequent addresses to God by him and celebrating the memory of his death and passion What can be more mean and ungrateful what can shew more folly and weakness than after all these to esteem the blood of Christ no otherwise than as of a common malefactor or at least to live as if we so esteemed it Nay we may add to all this after so severe an instance of God's vengeance already upon the Jews which ought to increase our care and will therefore aggravate our sin What the Jews did they did as open and professed enemies what we do we do as false and perfidious friends and let any man judge which is the greater crime to assault an Enemy or to betray a Friend 4. Can this be nothing to us who have so many of those Symptoms upon us which were the fore-runners of their desolation Not as though I came hither like the son of Anani in the Jewish story who of a sudden four years before the war cryed out in the Temple a voice from the East
did dominando dominari as some render it exercise an arbitrary and tyrannical power over the people that he was guilty of breach of the trust committed to him for he promised to bring them into a Land flowing with Milk and Honey or give them inheritance of fields and vineyards but he had not done it and instead of that only deceives the people still with fair promâ—ses and so puts out their eyes that they cannot see into the depth of his designs So that now by the ill management of his Trust the power was again devolved into the hands of the people and they ought to take account of his actions By which we see the design was under very fair and popular pretences to divest Moses of his Government and then they doubted not but such zealous Patriots as they had shewed themselves should come to have the greatest share in it but this which they most aimed at must appear least in view and only Necessity and Providence must seem to cast that upon them which was the first true motive they had to rebel against Moses and Aaron 2. The Persons who were engaged in it At first they were only some discontented Levites who murmured against Moses and Aaron because they were not preferred to the Priesthood and of these Corah was the chief R. Solomon observes That the reason of Corahs discontent was That Elizaphan the Son of Vzziel of the younger house to Izhar from whom Corah descended was preferred before him by Moses to be Prince over the Sons of Kohath Corah being active and busie in his discontents had the opportunity of drawing in some of the Sons of Reuben for they pitched their tents near each other both on the South side of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and these were discontentented on the account of their Tribe having lost the priviledge of Primogeniture Thus what ever the pretences are how fair and popular soever in the opposition men make to Authority ambition and private discontents are the true beginners of them but these must be covered over with the deepest dissimulation with most vehement Protestations to the contrary nothing must be talked of but a mighty zeal for Religion and the publick interest So Iosephus tells us concerning Corah that while he carried on his own ambitious designs with all the arts of sedition and a popular eloquence insinuating into the peoples minds strange suggestions against Moses his Government as being a meer politick design of his to enslave the people of God and advance his own family and interest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would seem to regard nothing but the publick good If fair pretences and glorious Titles will serve to cheat the people into their own miseries and â—he sad effects of Rebellion they shall never want those who will enslave them â—or the sake of Liberty undo them for â—he publick good and destroy them with designs of Reformation For nothing is â—ore popular than Rebellion in the beginning nothing less in the issue of it And the only true reason that it is ever 〈◊〉 is from the want of wisdom and judgment in the generality of mankind who seldom see to the end of things and hardly distinguish between the names and nature of them till their own deaâ— bought experience hath taught them the difference Sedition is of the nature and hath the inseparable properties oâ— Sin for it is conceived with pleasure brought forth with pain and ends in death and misery Nothing enters upon the stage with a braver shew and appearance but however prosperous for a time it may continue it commonly meets with a fatal end But it is with this sin as to this world as it is with others as to the next Men when they are betrayed into them are carried away and transported with the pleasing temptations not considering the unspeakable misery that follows after them So that what the Devils advantage is in order to the ruin oâ— mens souls is the advantage of seditious persons over the less understanding people they both tempt with an appearance of good and equally deceive theâ— which hearken to them But as we stâ—â— find that notwithstanding all the gravâ— admonitions the sober councels the rational discourses the perswasive argâ—ments which are used to deter men froâ— the practice of sin they will still be such Fools to yield to the Devils temptations against their own welfare So neither the blessings of a continued Peace nor the miseries of an intestine War neither the security of a setled Government nor the constant danger of Innovations will hinder men of fiery and restless spirits from raising combustions in a Nation though themselves perish in the Flames of them This we find here was the case of Corah and his company they had forgotten the groans of their captivity in Egypt and the Miracles of their deliverance out of it and all the faithful services of Moses and Aaron they considered not the difficulties of Government nor the impossibilities of satisfying the ambitious desires of all pretenders they regarded not that God from whom their power was derived nor the account they mâ—st give to him for their resistance of it nothing but a full Revenge upon the Government can satisfie them by leaving no means unattempted for its overthrow though themselves be consumed by the fall of it It were happy for Government if these turbulent spirits could be singled out from the rest in their first attempts but that is the usual subtilty of such men when they find themselves aimed at they run into the common herd and perswade the people that they are equally concerned with themselves in the present danger that though the pretence be only against faction and sedition the design is the slavery and oppression of the People This they manage at first by grave nods and secret whispers by deep sighs and extatick motions by far fetched discourses and tragical stories till they find the people capable of receiving their impressions and then seem most unwilling to mention that which it was at first their design to discover By such arts as these Corah had prepared as Iosephus tells us almost the whole Camp of Israel for a popular tumult so that they were like to have stoned Moses before he was aware of it and it seems the Faction had gained a mighty interest among the people when although God so severely and remarkably punished the heads of it yet the very next day all the Congregation of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron saying Ye have killed the people of the Lord. What a mark of God's people was sedition grown among them When these men were accounted Saints in spight of Heaven and Martyrs though God himself destroyed them They were men who were only sanctified by Rebellion and shewed no other fruits of their piety but disobedience to Authority But the danger had not been so great how loud soever the complaints had been
the Roman Power What shall we say then to these things Have we any ground to suspect the truth of the story as either made by Christians in hatred of the Jews or improved mightilâ— to their disadvantage Not so certainly when all the circumstances are related by Jewish and Roman Writers who had no kindness at all for Christians Or shall we say there was nothing extraordinary in all this but that the Jews were a wild and seditious people that destroyed themselves and their nation but it is evident they were not always so they had been a people that had flourished with the reputation of wisdom and conduct and had great success against their enemies And the Romans themselves at this time acknowledged they never saw a people of a more invincible spirit and less afraid of dying than these were But all this turned to their great prejudice and they who had been so famous in former ages for miraculous deliverances from the power of their enemies were now not only given up into their hands but into those which were far more cruel which were their own What then can we imagine should make so great an alteration in the State of their affairs now but that God was their friend then and their enemy now He gave then success beyond their Counsels and without preparation now he blasts all their desâ—gns divides their counsels and makes their contrivances end in their speedier ruine Now they felt the effâ—ct of what God had threatned long before Woe he unto you when I depart from you Now their strength their wisdom their peace their honour their safety were all departed from them Whereby we see how mucâ— the welfare of a Nation depâ—nds upon God's Favour and that no other security is comparable to that of true Religion The Nation of the Jews was for all that we know never more numerous than at this time never more resolute and couragious to venture their lives never better provided of fortified Towns and strong places of retreat and all provisions for War but there was a hand-writing upon the Wall against them Mene Tekel Peres God had weigh'd them in the ballance and found them too light he divides their Nation and removes his Kingdom from them and leaves them to an utter desolation Neither can we say this was some present infatuation upon them for ever since all their attempts for recovering their own land have but increased their miseries and made their condition worse than before Witness that great attempt under Barchocebas in the time of Adrian in which the Jews themselves say there perished double the number of what came out of Egypt i. e. above 1200000 men After which they were not only wholly banished their land but forbid so much as to look on the place where the Temple had stood and were fain to purchase at a dear rate the liberty of weeping over it ut qui quondam emerant sanguinem Christi emanâ— lachrymas suâ—s as St. Hierom seaks i. e. that they who had bought the blood of Christ were now fain to buy their own tears It would be endless to pursue the miseries of this wretched people in all ages ever since the slavery disgrace universal contempt the frequent banishments confiscations of estates constant oppressions which they have laboured under So that from that time to this they have scarce had any Estates but never any Country which they could call their own So that St. Augustin hath truly said the curse of Cain is upon them for they are vagabonds in the earth they have a mark upon them so that they are not destroyed and yet are in continual fear of being so God seems to preserve that miserable Nation in being to be a constant warâ—ing to all others to let them see what a difference in the same people the Favour or Displeasure of God can make and how severe the Judgements of God are upon those who are obstinate and disobedient 2. They make the Kingdom of God to consist in the flourishing of their State or that Polity which God established among them He was himself once their immediate Governour and thereâ—ore it might be properly called his Kingdom and after they had Kings of their own their plenty and prosperity did so much depend on the kindness of Heaven to them that all the days of their flourishing condition migh be justly attributed to a more than ordinary providence that watched over them For if we consider how small in comparison the extent and compass of the whole land of Iudea was being as Saint Hierom saith who knew it well but 160 miles in length from Dan to Beersheba and 46 in breadth from Ioppa to Bethlehem if we consider likewise the vast number of its inhabitants there being at David's numbering the people 1500000 fighting men who ought not to be reckoned above a fourth part of the whole and Benjamin and Levi not taken in if we add to these the many rocks mountains and desarts in this small country and that every seven years the most fertile places must lye fallow we may justly wonder how all this number of people should prosper so much in so narrow a territory For although we ought not to measure the rules of Eastern diet by those of our Northern Climates and it be withall true that the number of people add both to the riches and plenty of it and that the fertile places of that land were so almost to a miracle yet considering their scarcity of rain and their Sabbatical years we must have recourse to an immediate care of heaven which provided for all their necessities and filled their stores to so great abundance that Solomon gave to King Hiram every year 20000 measures of wheat and twenty measures of oyl every one of which contained about 30 bushels And God himself had particularly promised to give them the former and the latter rain and that they might have no occasion to complain of their Sabbatical years every sixth year should afford them fruit for 3 years By which we see their plenty depended not so much upon the fat of their land as upon the dew and blessing of heaven And if we farther consider them as environed about with enemies on every side such as were numerous and powerful implacable and subtle it is a perpetual wonder considering the constitution of the Jewish Nation that they should not be destroyed by them For all the males being obliged strictly by the Law to go up three times a year to Hierusalem we should think against all rules of Policy to leave the country naked it seems incredible that their enemies should not over-run the Country and destroy their Wives and Children at that time But all their security was in the promise which God had made neither shall any man desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year And to let us see that obedience to
Passions those a wicked man hath lost the command of or else he could never be a wicked man and whosoever is under the power of any unruly passion forfeits all his peace by it For what peace can ever be expected in such a State of violence and usurpation where the calm government of reason is cast off as an unnecessary burden and every passion under the pretence of liberty sets up for an arbitrary power Nay what confusion and disorder must needs follow where the powers of the mind which ought to keep all in order are themselves in subjection to their own slaves and none ever govern so ill as those which ought to obey How serene and quiet is the mind of a man where the superiour faculties preserve their just authority How composed is his temper how moderate his desires how well governed his fears But where once that authority is lost how extravagant is the rage of men how unruly their lusts how predominant their fears What peace had Xerxes in his mind when in stead of conquering his foolish passion he challenged Mount Athos into the field and no doubt would have run fast enough if he had seen it moving What pleasure was it to see that mighty Monarch whip the Sea in a rage as though the Waves had been under his discipline and would run the faster for the fear of his rod What harm had the hair of hâ—s head done to that man who pulled it off with the violence of his passion as though as the Philosopher told him baldness would asswage his grief Was ever Varus the nearer to restoring his Legions for Augustus knocking his head against the wall in a rage about the loss of them What injury did Neptune suffer when he displaced his image in the Circensian games because he had an ill Voyage at Sea What height of madness and folly did that modern Prince's rage betray him to who as the French Moralist saith having received a blow from heaven sware to be revenged on Almighty God and for ten years space forbid all publick exercise of devotion towards him I instance in these things to let us see there is nothing so ridiculous nothing so absurd nothing so irreligious but a violent passion may betray men to And if such things ever break forth into actions what may we conceive the inward disturbance is where the outward shew which usually dissembles the inward passion betrayed so much rage and disorder for where such flames break out what combustion may we conceive within But it is not only this kind of passion which is so great an enemy to the peace of a man's mind but when his desires are restless and his fears unconquerable and this is the case of every wicked man His lusts inflame him and the means he uses to quench them inrage them more his ambition grows greater as his honour doth and there is no hopes of a cure where the disease thrives under the remedy his love of riches is necessary to maintain his honour and feed his lusts and where passions so great so many so different all increase by being gratified what disturbance and confusion follows But supposing that vices in men may agree as the Devils in Hell do to the destruction of men's souls yet what security can a wicked man have against the power of his fears and we all know no passion disquiets more than that doth And how many sorts of fears possess a sinner's mind fears of disappointments â—ears of discovery and fears of punishmâ—nt but supposing he could master all the rest and the fears of punishment as to this life too yet the fears of that to come is sufficient to rob him of any peace in his mind and impossible to be overcome by him For no sound reason can be given against his fears but the strongest arguments in the world to confirm them Nay the greatest grounds of others comforts are the strongest â—oundations for his fears as the belief of a God and Providence and a life to come And what can give that man peace whom the very thoughts of the God of peace doth disturb so much That is the first kind of Peace we have shewed to be inconsistent with a course of wickedness which is the peace and tranquillity of a man 's own mind 2. Taking this peace for an outward peace and so these words not in respect of every person in particular and that peace which belongs to him as such but as they are joyned together in community so they imply that nothing undermines our civil peace and the prosperity of a nation so much as prevailing wickedness doth So that although mighty deliverances were given the people of the Jews in a very stâ—ange and unexpected manner when God raised up Cyrus his servant a man from whom no kindness was expected and made him the great instrument of setling the people in their land under their own lawful Princes and reâ—â—ored the true worship of God among them yet if they grew wanton in the days of their prosperity and forgat the God who delivered them they must expect a return of Calamities again upon them for there is no Peace saith my God to the wicked i. e. This is the method of his providence and the way he useth in governing the world while Religion and Vertue flourish among them they may hope for peace and prosperity but if those decay and sin and wickedness prevail no other arts imaginable will secure a lasting peace or an abiding tranquillity All other ways are but tricks and devices and there are many of them in the hearts of men but the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand against them all and that Counsel he hath declared himselâ— by the mouth of another Prophet At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to build and to plant it if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice then will I repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them Thus we find it was in this people of the Jews upon their first return from captivity they shewed some zeal towards the rebuilding the Temple and setling the worship of God there but this fit did not hold them long they soon fell back to their formeâ— sins and disobedience to the Laws of God upon this they brake out into greater schisms and factions in matters of Religion than ever were known among them before for then the Pharisees fell into a separation under a pretence of greater sanctity and severity of life and these by their shew of zeal gained a mighty interest among the people so great that the Princes stood in awe of them then the Sadducees who were most part Courtiers as Iosephus tells us out of opposition to the other looked on Religion as a meer political institution cried out against faction and popularity and questioned at least whether there were any Spirits or life to come And what peace
this was so great a part of the Apostles doctrine to preach of this judgment to come and that God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead No wonder the Apostle speaks here with so great assurance of it knowing therefore c. And no persons can have the least ground to question it but such who wholly reject the Christian doctrine upon the pretences of infidelity which are so vain and trifling that were not their lusts strongeâ— than their arguments men of wit would be ashamed to produce them and did not mens pasâ—ions oversway their judgments it would be too much honour to them to confute them But every Sermon is not intended for the conversion of Turks and Infidels my design is to speak to those who acknowledge themselves to be Christians and to believe the truth of this doctrine upon the Authority of those divine persons who were particularly sent by God to reveal it to the world And so I come to the last particular by way of application of the former viz. 3. The efficacy of this argument for the perswading men to a reformation of heart and life knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men For as another Apostle reasons from the same argument Seeing all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness There is great variety of arguments in the Christian Religion to perswade men to holiness but none more sensible and moving to the generality of mankind than this Especially considering these two things 1. That if this argument doth not perswade men there is no reason to expect any other should 2. That the condition of such persons is desperate who cannot by any arguments be perswaded to leave off their sins 1. There is no reason to expect any other argument should perswade men if this of the terror of the Lord do it not If an almighty power cannot awaken us if infinite justice cannot affright us if a judgment to come cannot make us tremble and eternal misery leave no impression upon us what other arguments or methods can we imagine would reclaim us from our sins We have been too sad an instance our selves of the ineffectualness of other means of amendment by the mercies and judgments of this present life have ever any people had a greater mixture of both these than we have had in the compass of a few years If the wisest persons in the world had been to have set down beforehand the method of reforming a sinful nation they câ—uld have pitched upon none more effectual than what we have shewed not to be so Firâ—â— they would have imagined that after enduring many miseries and hardships when they were almost quite sunk under despair if God â—hould give them a sudden and unexpected deliverance meer ingenuity and thankfulness would make them afraid to displease a God of so much kindness But if so great a flash of joy and prosperity instead of that should make them grow wanton and extravagant what course then so likely to reclaim them as a series of smart and severe judgments one upon another which might sufficiently warn yet not totally destroy These we have had experience of and of worse than all these viz. that we are not amended by them For are the Laws of God less broken or the duties of Religion less contemned and despised after all these What vices have been forsaken what lusts have men been reclaimed from nay what one sort of sin hath been less in fashion than before Nay have not their number as well as their aggravation increased among us Is our zeal for our established Religion greater Is our faith more firm and settled our devotion more constant our Church less in danger of either of the opposite factions than ever it was Nay is it not rather like a neck of land between two rough and boisterous seas which rise and swell and by the breaches they make in upon us threaten an inundation By all which we see what necessity there is that God should govern this world by the considerations of another that when neither judgments nor mercies can make men better in this life judgment without mercy should be their portion in another O the infatuating power of â—in when neither the pity of an indulgent Father nor the frowns of a severe Judge can draw us from it when neither the bitter passion of the Son of God for our sins nor his threatning to come again to take vengeance upon us for them can make us hate and abhor them when neither the shame nor contempt the diseases and reproaches which follow sin in this world nor the intolerable anguish and misery of another can make men sensible of the folly of them so as to forsake them Could we but represent to our minds that State wherein we must all shortly be when the bustle and hurry the pleasures and diversions the courtships and entertainments of this world shall be quite at an end with us and every one must give an account of himself to God what another opinion of these things should we have in our minds with what abhorrency should we look upon every temptation to sin how should we loath the sight of those who either betrayed us into sin or flattered us when we had committed it Could men but ask themselves that reasonable question why they will defie God by violating his known Laws unless they be sure he either cannot or will not punish them for it they would be more afraid of doing it than they are for supposing both to do it is perfect madness to question his power who is Almighty or his will who hath declared it and is immutable is the height of folly 2. The condition of such is desperate whom no arguments can perswade to leave their sins For there can be no breaking prison in that other State no escaping tryal no corrupting the Judge no reversing the sentence no pardon after judgment no reprieve from punishment no abatement or end of misery How canst thou then hope O impenitent sinner either to fly from or to endure that wrath of God that is coming swiftly upon thee to arrest thee by death and convey thee to thy tormenting prison canst thou hope that God will discharge thee before that dreadful day comes when he hath confined thee thither in order to it Canst thou hope that day will never come which the vindication of God's Justice the honour of Christ the happiness of the blessed as well as the punishment of the wicked make so necessary that it should come or canst thou hope to defend thy self against an all-seeing eye a most righteous Judge and an accusing conscience when that day doth come when all the mercies thou hast abused the judgements thou hast slighted