his praying and preaching did more for the defence and safety of Israel than all their Armies could do 1 Obs. It is dangerous following our fore-fathers in sin Iehoash doth so and is punished for his pains People are so besotted with the example of their Parents and Ancestors especially if Idolaters that they will after them what ever come of them 2 King 17. ult which made the Lord to adde that commination to the end of the second Commandement which hee doth to no other Commandement against those children which should walk in the steps of their Idolatrous fore-fathers and often forbids that sin as fore-seeing our proneness to it Ezek. 20. 18 19 20. Psal. 78. 8. Zach. 7. 4. and bids us to the Law and not to Examples Isa. 8. 20. If Ioash would have followed his Predecessors hee should have set before him the example of Abraham Isaac and Iacob and not of Ieroboam an Idolater that had mis-led so many into sin and misery Wee may follow our fore-fathers so far as they followed Christ and no further But such is the bewitching power of Superstition that when once it hath got possession and rooting in mens hearts it is seldome ever rooted up again but runs from generation to generation till all bee cut off Idolatry hath so many flesh-pleasing pompous Rites and Ceremonies such seeming sanctity and devotions such splendor of Temples Images Organs and other allurements as are very taking with carnal men besides the fat Bishopricks Denaries Cardinal-ships and Kingdomes with which they intice many from Christ. This was that which made all these Kings of Israel keep up the worship of the Calves that they might keep the people from going from them to Ierusalem 2 Obs. Men may conquer others and yet not conquer themselves Ioash here beats the Syrians three times recovers many Cities from them takes the King of Iudah prisoner and yet himself is a prisoner to sin hee pillageth Jerusalem and the Devil pillageth him Hee is called the Saviour of Israel and yet himself was not saved from his iniquity for hee lived and dyed an Idolater So true is that of Solomon Prov. 16. 32. Hee that can rule his own spirit is better than hee that taketh a City Alexander that could conquer others yet Wine and Women conquered him 3 There is none so wicked but there is some good in them Joash here a wicked King yet visits the Prophet in his sickness sympathizeth with him and weeps over him in his affliction considering the great loss that the Church and State would receive by his death hee gives him honourable Titles savouring of much respect to him How would some Atheistical Sectaries amongst us have railed at this King for calling the good Prophet Father and stiling him The Chariot of Israel i. e. The Shield and Buckler the best defence that Israel had Those Sots and Satans whom the Devil hath blinded and strongly deluded are not worthy of an Answer yet if any would see them answered let them peruse my Comment on 2 Tim. 3. 17. p. 296. Wisdome is justified of her own children and though this ungrateful world vilifie Gods Ministers whilst living yet when they are dead they are ready to adore them 4 There is no loss in shewing kindness to the Prophets of God The King comes to visit the Prophet in his sickness and the Prophet by way of gratitude assures the King of a threefold victory which hee should have against the Syrians 2 King 13. 25 c. The Lord takes the kindness which wee shew to his Prophets as done to himself Hee that honours them honours him whose Embassadors they are Ebedmelech that shewed kindness to Ieremy hath his life given him for a prey Ier. 39. 17 18. Hee that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet and shews kindness to him upon that account because hee is a Minister of Christ shall have a Prophets reward Mat. 10. 41. i. e. Hee shall have an eminent reward fit for such a one as hath promoted Gods service in a high degree Gaius lost nothing by such guests as Iohn nor the Shunamite or Sareptan Widow by entertaining Prophets of such Christ seems to say as Paul did of Onesimus if hee owe thee ought put it on mine account I will repay it 5 Hee died The most potent puissant successful Conquerors of the world are conquered by death As I have shewed before 14 Jeroboam the second succeeds his Father Joash and reigns one and forty years not one of his rank reigned so long hee was one of the most prosperous successful and victorious of all the Kings of Israel since the division of the ten Tribes Hee recovered the antient borders of Israel from the Syrians and made them tributary to himself The ground of all this goodness is given 2 King 14. 23 25 26 27 28. The Lord saw the affliction of Israel that it was very bitter for there was none shut up or left nor any helper left therefore the Lord out of his wonted mercy raised up Jeroboam to bee a Saviour to them Yet hee is stigmatized with the old brand that his predecessor had before him vâ—z That this New Jeroboam was a chip of the old block for hee did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and departed not from all the sins of old Jeroboam the Son of Nebat who made Israel sin 2 King 14. 24. And that which aggravates his sin is this 1 That hee sinned against great Light for in his daies preached Jonah Amos Hosea three very famous Prophets 2 Against great Love for the Lord sent Jonah to prophesie of victory and good success unto him 2 King 14. 25. But since hee profited not by this Prophets Ministery the Lord sends him to Niniveh the chief City of the great Empire of the Assyrians Obs. 1 When a Nation is in its most prosperous and flourishing condition it may bee nearest ruine Israel never flourisht since the division of the ten Tribes under any King as it did under this Joash and Jehoahaz had done valiantly before but Jeroboam excells them all Under him the Kingdome flourisht in riches honours victories and great success But after this its honour and power still decaied till it was totally ruined It was in this Kings reign that Hosea fore-told the destruction of Samaria Hos. 1. 1. And Amos fore-told the ruine of Jeroboam and his house Amos 1. 2. and 7. 8 9 10 11. Idolatrous Kingdomes cannot stand long Babylon may think to sit as a Queen but sorrows shall at last surprize her and no worldly pomp or power shall bee able to keep off Gods judgements from her Rev. 18. 7 8. All Kingdomes have their rise and ruine and when they bee at the height then they decrease and moulder away as wee see in the Assyrian Babylonian and Persian Monarchies what vast Dominions had they yet all are vanisht and come to nothing This should keep us humble in the midst
Samaria's Downfall OR A COMMENTARY By way of Supplement on the Five last Verses of the Thirteenth Chapter OF HOSEA VVherein is set forth Ephraim's Dignity Duty Impenitency And Downfall Very suitable to and seasonable for these present Times Where you have the Text explained sundry Cases of Conscience cleared many Practicâ— Observations raised with References to such Authors as clear aâ— Point more fully And a Synopsis or brief Character of the twenty Kingâ— of Israel with some useful Inferences from them By THOMAS HALL B. D. and Pastor of Kingsnorton Thus will I do to thee O Israel and because I will do thus unto thee prepare to meet 〈◊〉 God O Israel Amos 4. 12. A prudent man fore-seeth the evil and hideth himself Prov. 22. 3. Etsi Christus Apostoli minantur facinorosis graviter reprehendunt viti◠〈◊〉 phetarum conclones ideo ad deterrendos malos aptiores ad timorem Dei inculca 〈◊〉 ficaciores sunt quia semper certas Paenas slagitiosorum addunt quâ—s eventus postea 〈◊〉 dit non fuisse vanas Luther in Praefat. ad Hoseam 〈…〉 for Io. Cranford at the Castle and Lion 〈…〉 TO THE Renowned CITIE OF LONDON GRACE MERCY and PEACE bee multiplied A Word spoken in season is much commended by the wisest of men Prov. 15. 23 and 25. 11. Yea it is made one of Christs excellencies that hee had the tongue of the Learned and knew how to speak a word in season Isa. 50. 4. Such words are not onely profitable but also powerful and carry abundance of convincing strength and force with them Iob 6. 25. This principally hath emboldened mee to dedicate this Treatise to you Had I searched for five verses thorow the whole Bible I could hardly have found five together all things considered more suitable and seasonable for the present times wee live in In them wee have an Alarum for the Drowsie a Corrasive for the Impenitent a Cordial for the Penitent and many quickening Considerations to move us all to a speedy preparing to meet our God in a way of unfeigned Humiliation before the Decree bring forth and the fierce anger of the Lord ceize upon us Here wee may see Ephraims Dignity and Ephraims Downfall and those sins which helpt to bring him down and in him wee may read Englands condition the Lord hath made us his Ephraim hee hath laid his right hand upon us hee hath made us the head of the Tribes hee hath set us above when for our sins hee might long since have laid us in the dust Ephraims sins were Ephraims ruine and if those sins bee found in England which were found in him what can wee expect but the like judgements for God is the same to the same sinners If Samaria's sins bee found in London London must look for Samaria's judgements God will not spare sin where ever hee findes it bee it in City or Country Sin hath brought down greater Cities than yours as they had their times of rising so of ruining as of building so of burning witness Nineveh No Tyrus Babylon and Ierusalem Sin hath made them all a desolation For my own particular I shall never expect that City or State should prosper till Gods Church prosper or that our houses should continue when Gods house lies waste all our buildings will bee but Nods and Babels that is unsettlement and confusion till Gods house bee setled and exalted amongst us Hag. 1. 4 6 7 8 9 c. It is the sins of England that I fear more than all the enemies in the world It is not Spain or Italy it is not France or Turkey that I fear though all Nations should compass us about yet were wee but an obedient people I should not doubt but that in the Name of the Lord wee should destroy them But it is the Atheism Heresie Blasphemy Security Impenitency Apostacy Prophanation of holy things Formality Hypocrisie Unrighteousness Division Witchcraft and contempt of the Gospel These even these are the enemies that I fear and if any thing destroy us it is these abominations that reign amongst us Bee instructed therefore O England and thou O London the chief City thereof lest the Lords soul depart from thee and thou bee made a desolation Jer. 6. 8. God hath bornelong with our provocations but hee will not alwaies bear but will at last reconcile his patience with the fierceness of his fury Let not therefore Satan delude any as if these were but some melancholy conceits some fearful fancies or vain prognostications of some lying Astrologers but know that these are certain Assertions grounded upon the infallible Word of God whose Threatnings as well as Promises are like unto Silver that hath been seven times purified and â—horowly tried Psal. 12. 6. It is true wee have many Priviledges that others want but no Priviledges can preserve an impenitent people from ruine Ierusalem was highly priviledged and had the choicest Preaching a little before its downfall The sins of a City and Nation may bee so great that though Noah Iob and Daniel three men that could do very much with God Ezek. 14. 14. Should stand before the Lord for them yet they shall not prevail for a hardened Apostatizing people where such spiritual judgements go before there temporal judgements alwaies follow Isa. 6. 9 10 11 12. Sinning is worse than suffering better see a people bleeding than blaspheming for by our Sufferings God is glorified but by our sinns hee is dishonoured Wee are a people that are much for Liberty wee cannot endure a yoak no though it bee Christs easie yoak yet wee will not have him to reign over us wee will not serve him with gladness and singleness of heart in the abundance of all things and therefore hee may justly make us serve our enemies in the want of all things Deuteronomy 28. 47 48. And as wee are all for Liberty so hee may justly proclaim a Liberty for us to the Sword Pestilence and Famine Ier. 34. 17. God hath humbled many in your great City by sickness poverty and decay of Trading c. But have you been made humble thereby Hee hath sent the choicest of his Ministers amongst you and fed you in a spiritual sense with the finest of the Wheat but have you answered Gods cost and care and are you bettered by all his dispensations to you Have you heard the voice of the Rod and who hath appointed it or have you not rather fallen away more and more and grown worse and worse if so how can you expect peace when your Apostasies witchcrafts and spiritual fornications are so many 2 King 9. 17 18. But it is not for mee to counsel you who have so many living and dead Counsellors at hand I shall therefore betake my self to Prayer desiring that the good will of him that dwelt in the bush may dwell amongst you that hee would bee for walls and bulworks to you and your glory in the midst of you that hee by the Spirit
are fast bound up and sealed then they are safe and sure Mony that lyes at random is lost but that which is lockt up in Coffers is safe and will be brought forth when need requires So God had not forgot Ephraims sin but had hid and sealed it up till the determined time to punish him was come and lockt them up in his memory for a day of reckoning Yet to leave no clod unbroken that we may find out the golden Oare I shall give you the Grammatical reading of the words for a good foundation is the strength of the building The iniquity Avon the pravity and perversness the prevarication and crookedness of Ephraims wayes is laid up Of Ephraim Ephraim in the letter was Iosephs second son here 't is put for the ten Tribes of Israel of which Ephraim was one of the chiefest So Hos. 4. 17. and 5. 3. and 6. 4. and 7. 8 11. and their first King after the division was an Ephraimite Is bound up The metaphor implies special care and custody and is borrowed from the men of the world who are careful to lock up their money that it be not lost the like expressions you may read Deut. 32. 34. Iob 14. 17. and 22. 19. Lam. 1. 14. So the iniquity of Ephraim was sealed and kept safe to be brought forth in due time as a charge against him Though men scatter their sins abroad and forget them yet God bundles them up and remembers them and as pardoning grace doth loose the sinner so sin unpardoned is said to be bound up and reserved for punishment Mat. 16. 19. His sin i. e. The punishment of his sin 't is a frequent Metonymical speech to put sin for the punishment of sin So Levit. 20. 20. Numb 12. 11. Ezek. 4. 4 5 6. Hattatho peccatum ejus from hata to erre or wander from the mark such is sin 't is a wandring and going astray from the Law of God 't is an erring from the mark which we should alwayes aym at viz. the glory of God and our own salvation Is hid Not from God but with God 't is laid up by him for a day of reckoning when the Lord shall pour out the fierceness of his wrath on Israel So that their sin is hid not in mercy but in judgement not for protection but for desolation Samaria shall be made desolate The Metaphor is taken from a treasure where things are hid and laid up in store that when time serves they may be forth-coming God layes up the sins of the wicked in store against a day of wrath Rom. 2. 5. when he intends to punish them for all together OBSERVATIONS 1. The Lord is very patient and bears long with sinners 2. Though he do bear long yet he will not alwayes bear but first or last he will certainly bring the punishment due to their sin upon them I shall only handle the first the second will fall in with the Application 1. God is wondrous patient and bears long with sinners He 's many years in bundling up mens sins and laying them up in his treasury He doth not presently cut off sinners nor alwayes destroy wicked men in the act of sin as he might do for so many sins as men commit so many damnations they deserve but with much patience and great-long-suffering he beares with the Vessels of wrath Rom. 9. 22. He bore with the old world many hundred years even till the whole earth was corrupt before him and his Spirit tyred out as it were with striving with them Gen. 6. 3. 1 Pet. 3. 20. He spareâ— Sodom so long that their sins cryed to heaven for vengeance against them Gen. 18. 20 21. He spared Israel here three hundred and sixty years ere he sent them into captivity Ezek. 4. 4 5 6. He spared the Gentiles foure thousand years Act. 14. 16. and bore with Ierusalem till they stoned his Prophets and would not nee reclaimed Matth. 23. 37. and spareâ— Amalech four hundred years L â—am 15. 2 3. His Vials of wrath are Vessels of large extent but narrow mouths they pour our slowly but drench deeply and distil effectually Gods wrath on the heads of his enemies Rev. 16. 1. and 18 19. Though we provoke him dayly yet he 's Patient towards us not willing that wee should perish but come to repentance 2 Per. 3. 9. Rev. 2. 21. He sends his messengers in great compassion to us rifing early to stop us in our sinful courses and so prevent our destruction 2 Chron. 36. 15. Ier. 25. 4. Yea he 's not only Patient but long suffering which is a further degree of Patience 't is Patience lengthâ—ed our Exod. 34. 6. Psal 103. 8. Ionah 4. 2. he waits and waits long for our returning crying oh when will you bee made clean when shall it once be Ier. 13. ult if some good man should sit but one houre in the Throne of God and look down upon the earth as God doth continually and should see what abominable Idolatries Witchcrafts Blasphemies Heresies Homicides Perjuries Adulteries Persecutions Oppressions c. were committed in that houre he would undoubredly in the next set all the world on fire 'T is well in this respect that we have to do with God and not with man Hos. 11. 9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger I will not destroy Ephraim why so for I am God most true in my Promises and of infinite Patience and not man who is mutable and Passionate and could not bear the dayly indignities and provocations which are committed againâ—t me Great then is the sin of those who abuse the Patience and long-suffering of the Lord adding sin 〈◊〉 drunkenness to thirst that draw on iniquity with the 〈◊〉 Vanity and so treasure up wrath against the day of 〈◊〉 â—unity breeds in them impenitency because punishment is not speedily executed therefore the hearts of the sons of men is fully seâ— in them to do evil Eccles. 8. 11. Every word hath its weight these indulged sinners do not barely practise sin but their heart is set on it the very bent of their spirit is to evil indefinitely i. e. to all manner of evil â—and that with resolution and full purpose of heart they follow it fully as good men cleave to God and his wayes with full purpose of heart Act. 11. 23. and are married to him Cant. 2. 16. So do these to sin and Satan they are married to them Hos. 4. 17. 'T is this impunity and prosperous wickedness which makes men Insolent Psal. 73. 8 9. Impudent Isay 3. 9. and Resolute in sin Jer. 44. 16 17. Such are apt to think there is no God or at least that he regards not things below or that he is like themselves approving of their wayes and that which they do is no sin Psal. 50. 16 to 22. Those gross hypocrites that talked so much of Gods Word but denied him in their works being Slanderers Adulterers Theeves thought that
view of all 2 Sam. 12. 12. the onely way to have our sins hid indeed is plainly and sincerely to confess them psalm 32. 5. 2. Whereas thou gloriest that thou hast escaped so long unpunisht know that t is a sore punishment to go unpunisht for sin When the Lord was angry with Ephraim hee bids let him alone and tells him that he will not punish him for his sin Hos. 4. 14 17. q. d. Since Ephraim will go after Idols after Idols he shall go I will not by any punishment restrain him but I will let him go on and prosper in his abominations to his utter confusion and thus to be given up to ones own hearts lust is a signe of Gods highest displeasure Psalm 87. 11 12. in this sense not be stricken is the sorest stroke Isay 1. 5. and for God not to bee angry is the greatest anger as to bee stopt and corrected for sin is the greatest mercy Psalm 89. 32 33 34. and 94. 12 13. 3. Know that punishment is never neerer than when 't is least feared A great calm many times is a force-runner of a storm When men cry Peace Peace then comes sudden and swift destruction 1 Thes. 5. 3. When the old world was eating drinking buying building marrying and snorting in security then comes the flood When Agag thought the bitterness of death was past now saith Samuel hew him in peeces When men bee at ease in Sion there 's a woe hang over their heads Amos 6. 1. to 8. When men look upon judgements as a far off then God will defer no longer Ezek. 12. 27 28. Secure Laish becomes a booty to its enemies Iudg 18. 7 27. The Amalakites when they had taken Ziglag and were drunken fearing no danger they were suddenly surprised and slain 1 Sam. 30. 16 17. When the Philistims met to be merry and sport themselves with Sampson he brings the house upon their heads Iudg. 16. 25 29. Darius in the midst of his cups was â—lain by the Persians Dan. 5. 30. and Babylon that boasted shee 〈◊〉 as a Queen and should see no sorrow had sudden plagues 〈◊〉 on her Rev. 18. 7 8. Let no man then delude himself with the thoughts of impunity for though conscience may sleep for a time yet at last it will bee awakned and then the longer thy sins have been hid the more will it rage against thee especially at the day of judgement that day of revealing the hidden work of darkness God will then bring every work to judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or evil Eccles. 12. ulâ— God will then unlock his Treasury and those sins which are now sealed and bundled up shall then be brought to open light and those secret Villanies which men would not have known for all the world shall then be written as with a beam of the Sun upon their foreheads to their everlasting shame Sinners shall then have no cause to say where is the God of Iudgement Mal. 2. 17. Let us therefore make a right use and improvement of the Patience of God let it melt and humble us and lead us to repentance Let us in this our day know the things that belong to our everlasting peace whil'st the Patience of God yet waits upon us and hee stands knocking at the door of our hearts Rev. 3. 20. before the door of grace be shut against us for then 't will be too late To quicken you know that God in the end will reckon with you for all his Patience and forbearance the longer he hath borne with you the greater will your sin be He takes an exact account of every day and year that he hath borne with us Psal. 95. 10. fourty years long was I grieved with this generation He takes notice of every provocation Numb 14. 22. These ten times have they provoked me though you forget your provocations yet God doth not Yea hee records every Sermon that wee hear and the day and year that it was preached to us Hag. 1. 1. Lastly let us imitate God and be followers of him as dear children be Patient as he is Patient though wee cannot bee so by way of Equality yet by way of Analogy and resemblance in our degree and measure wee may and must if hee bear with us wee may well bear with our brethren if hee hath forgiven us Pounds wee may well forgive them Pence We should forbear one another and forgive one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us Ephes. 4. 31. Colos. 3. 13. Let your moderation and quietness of minde be made known to all Phil. 4. 5. and if any man wrong us let us melt them with our kindnesses Rom. 12. 20. as David â—elted Saul and made him weep and confess that hee was more righteous than himself Even Nature could say it becomes a noble spirit to pass by injuries When one told King Iohn that his deadly enemie was buried there and advised him to deface his Monument no said the King but I wish all the rest of mine enemies were as honourably buried 'T was an excellent answer of Chrysostom to the Empress Eudoxa and savored of a sweet mortified frame of spirit If the Queen said he will banish me let her banish me The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof If she will saw me asunder let her do it the Prophet Isay suffered as much If she will let her cast me into the sea and there will I remember Jonah VERSE 13. The sorrows of a travelling woman shall come upon him he is an unwise son for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children IN this Verse the Prophet goeth on to denounce judgements against an obstinate and rebellious people if by any means he might awaken them out of their security By the sorrows of a woman in travel he sets forth the sudden sure and sore destruction which was even now coming upon the heads of those carnally-confident sinners They promised themselves Peace and Prosperity they had made a league with death and had put the evil day far from their souls and therefore drew near to iniquity Amos 6. 3. No words nor warnings no mercies nor judgements could work upon them therefore the Lord resolves to bear no longer with them but speedily to surprize them with his judgements The sorrows of a travelling woman shall come upon them In this Verse we have 1. A commination or a judgement threatned set forth by the similitude of the sorrows of a Travelling woman a Metaphor very frequent in Scripture Wherein is set forth 1. Sudden 2. Sharp 3. Inevitable Sorrows 1. Pangs upon a woman in travel come suddenly and unexpectedly Sometime whil'st they are eating drinking sleeping playing and think not of the pains of travel So the Lord threatens to bring upon this stupid people such calamities which should be like the sorrows of a travelling woman sudden and uneâ—pected 2. The
their obscene words they corrupt good manners and rather incite than suppress sin If men must answer for every idle word much more for sinful and immodest ones 3. Obs. 'T is a point of great folly to lye long under convictions and yet never proceed to a thorow conversion The world is full of such unwise Ephraims that are of a Laodicaean temper neither hot nor cold that halt between two or rather twenty opinions Their hearts are divided between God and the world God and their Idols Hos. 10. 2. They have their understandings enlightned their affections stirred and they are strongly convinc'd of the truth and comfort that is in Gods wayes and yet there they stick they never proceed to a thorow conversion They are almost but not altogether perswaded to bee Christians and so shall bee almost but not altogether saved Act. 26. 28. God hath brought them to the birth and there they stick refusing to come forth Hee would cure them but they will not bee cured he would convert them but they will not bee converted Ier. 51. 9. Many have a name to live and are not far from the Kingdom of heaven they come even to the place of the breaking forth of children but there they stick and are stifled They were never fully brought off from their vain Principles and Practices and therefore when a temptation comes they return to them again as the dog to his vomit Many go far very far so as they hear the Word with some kind of faith and affection with sorrow and joy reforming many things performing many good duties both publickly and privately being endowed with excellent gifts of Knowledge Utterance Praying and Preaching and shews of many graces to the deceiving of themselves and many others as Balaam Saul Ahab Iehu Herod Iudâ—s Demas Ananias and Saphira and those Apostates Heb. 6. 4 5 6. and yet for want of sincerity lose all 'T is said of King Ioash that he smote the ground twice or thrice and then stayed whereupon the Prophet was angry with him saying thou shouldest have smore the earth five or six times for then thou had'st completed thy victory over the Syrians 2 King 13. 18 19. So many a man begins well and subdueth two or three lusts it may bee but for want of thorow work in subduing them all loseâ—all A man may go within a mile of some famous City and yet for want of going that mile never come there A man may bid within a shilling of some good bargain and yet for want of that shilling lose it The people of Israel went as far as Kadesh Barnea and were within eleven dayes journey of Canaan and yet by reason of their sins many of them perisht in the wilderness and never came there save only Caleb and Ioshua who followed the Lord fully and sincerely Numb 14. 24. and 32. 8 11 12 13. 'T is sad when a man shall come near the Kingdom of heaven and yet never come there Mark 12. 34. to sink within sight of the harbour and with Rachel to dye within a mile of Ephrath Gen. 35. 16. and to come within one stride of the mark and yet miss it that torments the soul. Many purpose well and promise well they begin to repent and begin to reform but they are ever beginning and never bring any thing to perfection like those silly women that were alwaies learning yet never came to the knowledge of the truth 2 Tim. 3. 7. like that hypocritical son that said he would go but never did Matth. 22. 30. their cold velleities and heartless essayes come to nothing These lose heaven many times for some one lust as Iudas for his covetousness Esau for a mess of Pottage and the young man that had done much yet one thing was lacking which marr'd all Mark 10. 21. if they could but have parted with that they might have had Christ and happiness Oh then deny your selves universally sell all for the Pearl of price you may buy gold too dear but you can never buy Christ too dear what if thou part with riches pleasures friends thou fhalt have better riches pleasures and friends all shall bee made up in a better kind yea thy friends and riches if God see it good for thee shall bee given thee into the bargain Matth. 6. 33. 'T is true conviction is very necessary and an excellent Preparative to conversion As plowing fits the ground for sowing so doth this fit the heart for grace and therefore the first work of the Spirit is to convince the world of sin John 16. 8. A man must by the Law bee convinc'd of his misery before ever hee will beg for mercy and though all are not converted who are convinced yet all are convinced who are converted Men will not come to Christ till they see no other remedy The Malefactor cries not for a Psalm of mercy till hee bee cast The Prodigal never cares for coming to his Father till hee comes to see and say Here I dye Luk. 15. 17. Men must bee beaten out of their strong holds like fish out of their holes or else they will not come in Wee may break hook and line too to get out a great fish but cannot till hee bee half-choakt First convince a man that his disease is desperate and then perswade him to cut off a leg or an arm First disarm men of all shifts and flattering dreams and then you will bring them upon their knees Saul had many shifts but Samuel refels them all and at last brings him to I have sinned If you belong to God hee will effectually convince you in his due time hee that hath begun a good work in you will finish it hee that hath brought to the birth will give strength to bring forth hee that hath brought you out of Sodom will not rest till hee hath set you safe in Zoar hee perfects all his works in his people Psal. 57. 2. This then is the first and great work of the Spirit to convince men throughly of their lost and undone condition This is virtually and fundamentally all till this bee done no good can bee done wee shall never bee truly humbled nor prize a Saviour nor bee fit for his service nor bee intrusted by him Men must bee convinced in themselves what they are in themselves before Christ will reveal himself unto them Christ will not powre the oyl of mercy but into broken hearts nor bee a Physitian to any till they bee sick of sin Such will bee ductible and tractable to his will Paul when unhorsed and humbled to the ground then is ready to do whatever Christ commands him Act. 9. 6 Naturally men have covers false colours cavils and excuses for sin but when the Spirit comes with convincing power it stops their mouths and puts them to silence so that they have nothing to say for themselves Rom. 3. 19. they see themselves to bee guilty and such as cannot plead their own cause
wee are cut off Yea the Prophet himself staggered and was non-plust verse 3. the Lord asked him Son of man can these bones live Is it possible that ever such dry bones should live again The Prophet answers Lord thou knowest q. d. it passeth my apprehension to conceive how this should bee I know not how it should bee effected but Lord thou knowest what thou hast to do and to thee nothing thing is impossible This the Lord doth in his wisdome to out us of our selves and all creature-confidences that in an holy desperation wee may say with repenting Israel Ashur shall Not save us neither will wee ride upon horses nor say any more to the work of our hands Yee are our gods for with thee the fatherless finde mercy Hos. 14. 3. 6 Obs. God in his due time will deliver his people out of the deepest distress Hee is Omnipotent hee can and will redeem Israel not out of one or two but out of all his troubles Psal. 25. ult Art thou weak Hee can strengthen thee Art thou sick Hee can heal thee Art thou dark Hee can insighten thee Art thou dead Hee can inliven thee Hast thou lain in thy grave till thou stinkest again so did Lazarus Hast thou lain till thou art rotten so did Israel in their Babylonish Captivity and yet were restored Ezek. 37. 11 12. So in desertions wee are apt to bee despondent when wee walk in darkness and can see no light neither Sun-light nor Moon-light neither Star-light nor Candle-light but are like unto dry bones in a Sepulchre without life without spirit without strength without comfort and see no way of deliverance Aye but now is a time to live by faith and not by sense Isa. 40. 27 28 29 30 31 and 50. 10. Such is our weakness that wee are apt to limit the holy one of Israel and to think that hee can help us in lesser trials and bring us out of petty crosses but when some fluctus decumanus some great waves of Tentation come then wee are apt to question Gods power and promises and to say with David I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul 1 Sam. 27. 1. Wee are apt to say with Martha If Christ had come a little sooner hee might have raised Lazarus but now saith she he stinks and is past help Ioh. 11. 39. Aye but it is the better for that for now Christs power will bee the more manifested and his Father the more glorified The more grievous thy disease the greater will the praise of thy Physitian bee in thy cure and wee shall love much when wee see how much is forgiven and therefore David makes it an argument to move the Lord to pitty him because his sins were great Psal. 25 11. Remember it is Gods usual course to let men bee dead and buried as it were in misery and to bring things to extremity and then appear Gen. 22. 14. Psal. 461. when trouble comes then hee comes too Wee read of three persons that Christ raised from the dead One was dead but not carried out Maâ—k 5. 41 A second was dead and carried out Luke 7. 14. A third was dead carried out buried and lay till hee stunk in his grave and that was Lazarus Christ speaks but the word Lazarus come forth and hee lives God is never nearer to his people than when to a carnal eye hee seems furthest off As wee see in the three young men that were cast into a fiery Furnace and Daniel into the Lions den Sense and carnal reason would have said God had now forsaken them and there was no help yet even then did they finde the greatest help so good it is to trust in God 7 Obs. Death in it self is a formidable enemy and considered as a curse due to impenitent sinners it is very terrible even the terriblest of all terribles as Aristotle calls it It is armed with stings and plagues and is therefore called an Enemy 1 Cor. 15. 26. And the King of terrours even such a terrour as is the chiefest and greatest of terrours Iob 18. 14. Hence dreadful calamities are set forth by the shadow of deaâ—h Job 10. 21 22. and 16. 16. and 24. 17. Psal. 23. 4. Ier. 13. 16. and the messengers of death Prov. 16. 14. and the snares sorrows and terrours of death Psal. 18. 4 5. and 55. 4. It is this that snatcheth men when they least think of it from their dear Relations Pleasures Riches Recreations Mansions Honours c. which they love as their lives and this must needs bee terrible to a natural man who hath no assurance of better things when he dyes Hence such are said to be in bond age and a slavish fear of death all their life long Heb. 2. 15. whilst wicked men look upon death at a distance and think it far off they fear it not but when God shall open their eyes by sickness and summon them to appear before him then like Pashur they are Magar-missabib a terrour to themselves and all that are â—ound about them Ier. 20. 3 4. Saul though a King and a 〈◊〉 man yet when hee heard that death was at the door and hee must dye to morrow was so dis-spirited with this dismal news that hee fell into a deadly trance and was not able to bear it the fear of death had well nigh ended him before his death came 1 Sam. 9. 19 20. So Belâ—hazzar a mighty Monarch in the height of his mirth is all amort his countenance is changed his thoughts trouble him and his joynts are loosed but whence came all this terrour and amazement why it is for fear of this King of fears Death which suddenly after surprized him Dan. 5. 1 2. c. This puts an end to all a wicked mans comforts and hopes conscience shall now bee awakened and hee must give an account of his Stewardship This made Lewis the eleventh King of France to command his servants in his sickness that they should not once mention that bitter word Death in his hearing Yea even the godly in a temptation for fear of death have not acted like themselves at other times as wee see in three of the greatest-Worthies that wee read of in the Scriptures first Abraham famous for faith Gen. 12. 12 13. 20. 2. 11. And David famous for valour 1 Sam. 22. 12 13. And Peter for courage yet to save his life denied his Lord. 8 Obs. Death is a conquered Enemy Christ hâ—th disarmed him and taken away his sting Hee hath redeemed his from the power of the grave and swallowed up death in Victory Christ by his death hath destroyed death and him that had the power of death the Devil Heb. 2. 14. by suffering of that death which was due to us for our sins hee hath destroyed the power of Satan and taken away that advantage which hee had against us by reason of sin whose wages is death Satan thought by death to destroy Christ
I think in the world Besdes the singular helps in Print those excellent Tracts both Polemical and Practical compare but our large Annotations with the Dutch Annotations and you will see what cause wee have to bee thankful in this kinde All these things make us deeply indebted to our God but had wee ten thousand times more Priviledges than wee have yet if wee walk not up unto them and answer them with obedience wee are an undone people The greater our Priviledges the nearer to Judgement if wee abuse them Shiloh was for a time priviledged with the Tabernacle and the Ark those visible pledges of Gods special presence and residence amongst them but they abusing these mercies were given up to Judgements Ier. 7. 12. And if England go on in sinning as it hath done of late and proceed in its Hypocrise Blasphemy Apostasie Heresie Witchcraft Formality Prophaneness and abuse of Gods favours c. wee must certainly expect some sweeping judgement It is not Priviledges it is not Circumcision nor Uncircumcision it is not those outward Prerogatives that make us acceptable to God but a new creature Gal. 6. 15. either new men or no men in Gods esteem Let us then become an holy people and wee shall bee an happy people Let us answer our Priviledges with self-denying hearts and lives that as God hath done more for us than for others so wee may do more for him than others that as hee hath given us distinguishing mercies so wee may answer them with distinguishing manners not living like the men of the world Exod. 19. 4 5. that the Lord may rejoyce over us to do us good and may shew us yet greater things than these 5 Obs. Abuse of mercies loseth mercies God had done much for Ephraim hee had not been to him a barren wilderness or a land that was not sown but hee brought him out of the wilderness miraculously delivered him out of Egyt freely adopted him for his own planted him in a fat pasture even a land flowing with milk and honey gave him his Law and sent to them many extraordinary Prophets but they instead of exalting God who had exalted them grew proud and insolent forgetting the God of all their mercies and confiding in Kings and Princes kissing the Calves and sacrificing to Baal who could not save them and then they dyed Hos. 13. 1. to 12. when hee began to fight against God with his own mercies and to abuse the health wealth and blessings which God had given him to the dishonour of the donor then hee lost his riches strength glory Kingdome and all Then comes the Assyrian like an East-wind and sweeps away all before his name was fruitfulness but now God threatens them with emptiness barrenness driness of roots fruits branches springs even the loss of all As all the world had been witnesses of Gods special favour to them so now they should be witnesses of their just confusion when men honour not the Lord with their riches but kiss their own hands and sacrifice to their own Nets when like beasts they bite the hand that feeds them and crop the tree that shelters them it is just with God to take all from them Hos. 2. 8 9. Neh. 9. 7. to 25. Wee have a large Catalogue of Gods singular mercies Vers. â—6 wee read how they abused those mercies vers 27 28. wee read of Gods judgements on them for abusing those blessings So Psal. 106. 9 10 11. wee see Gods mercies vers 13. to 39. wee have the abuse of them and vers 40. 41 42. Judgements follow It is usually seen that where the Lord bestows the greatest mercies there hee oft receives the greatest indignities where hee gives most honour there hee receives most dishonour When Iesurum is fat and full then hee kicks Deut. 32. 15. Ephraim here was a son and had all the priviledges of a son the greater was his sin to rebel against that God who had been so tender to him 1 Hee had Dilection when Israel was a childe God loved him Hos. 11. 1. 4. 2 Direction hee taught him how to go and sent Ionah Amos Hosea and other Prophets to instruct him Hos. 11. 3. 3 Correction as a father corrects his children for their good so did God by Ephraim Hos. 5. ult and 6. 1 2. 4 Provision Fathers provide for their children so did God for Ephraim Hee made him fruitful amongst his brethren and sed him in a large pasture Hos. 13. 6. 5 Protection hee was their King who saved them from their enemies Hos. 13. 10. God hath done as great things for England all things considered as ever hee did for Ephraim hee hath been a tender Father to us hee hath blessed us abundantly both in Church and State Hee hath broken the power and policy of many subtil Achitophels and great Zanzummims Giants and sons of Anak Hee hath made Mountains a plain before us and though fierce men have rid over our heads yet hath hee brought us through fire and water into a wealthy place For Englands sake hee hath sent to Babylon and brought down all their Nobles Hee hath bound even Kings and Princes in chains and their followers in links of iron Hee hath made the wicked to bow before the good and the evil at the gates of the righteous No Nation so blessed of our God as wee and no Nation that hath worse requited the Lords blessings than wee have done As hee hath loaded us with mercies so wee have loaded him with Blasphemies Heresies Apostasies no favours can win us no benefits binde us if God had been our deadly enemy wee could not have acted more ignobly and disingenuously against him than wee have done It is a Miracle of mercy that hee yet continues his mercies to us and that he hath not long ago stripped us naked as in the day when wee were born Hos. 2. 3. Wee have rendred evil to the Lord for all his goodness to us and therefore wee may justly fear that evil should pursue us Prov. 17. 13. if hee shall bee punished that renders evil for evil to man what shall bee done to him that renders evil for good and that to his God who never did him hurt The good Lord humble us for all our ungrateful and dis-ingenuous walking before him who hath been so good and gracious to us and grant that at last wee may know and acknowledge the God of our mercies lest an East-wind come and bereave us of all for though at present wee have peace and plenty and fresh springs of mercy round about us yet God can suddenly dry up all our springs and bring a plundring Assyrian from the East or West upon us for those Metathorical winds as well as the Natural are all his servants that shall quickly rob us of all our pleasant things Let us not therefore flatter our selves and think that because at present wee have peace therefore no evil shall come upon us for if England go on to sin
3. 8 9. It is as easie with God to destroy a world of men as one man they are al but as a drop and a little dust to him Isa 40. 15 17. Multitudes of sinners increase wrath When the Iews assembled themselves by troops into the Harlots houses then God would pardon them no longer Ier. 5. 7 8. The more wicked the times and places are that wee live in the greater our praise will bee if wee bee godly To bee good in good times and places an hypocrite and formalist may bee but with Lot to bee good in Sodome and Iob in the Land of Vz and with Noah Gen. 6. 9. and Elijah to bee righteous and zealous in the midst of an unrighteous and perverse generation that is praise-worthy indeed and argues much sincerity It was the commendation of the Church of Pergamus that she professed Christs Name where Satan had his throne and did not deny him in the days when Antipas his faithful Martyr was slain Rev. 2. 12 13. Flye sin then which brings destruction not only on the sinner but also on the very Towns Cities Castles and places where they dwell As God hath promised that peace and prosperity shall bee in the dwellings of the righteous Iob 5. 24. and 8. 6. Prov. 3. 33. and that hee will make a hedge about them and all that they have to preserve them from robbery fire molestation by evil spirits and other calamities Iob 1. 10. So on the contrary sin makes a man naked and exposeth him and all that hee hath to the curse of God Hee will destroy the very dwellings of Idolaters Swearers Cursers Bribers c. Iob 12. 6. and 15. 34. Zach. 5. 4. The wickedness that hath been practised in the great houses and Castles of this Land hath said so many of them in the dust and wee may look to bee brought yet lower wee have brought God low in our judgements low in our affections low in our actions low in his Ordinances low in his Vicegerents and Ambassadors and therefore it is just with God to lay us low and to debase us who have so many wayes debased him 7 Obs. No Fortifications can preserve a sinful people from ruine Let them make walls as high as heaven and ditches as deep as hell yet if sin reign within it will bring all down It is not a Fleet by Sea nor Forces by Land it is not a Magazine of Treasures nor an Arsenal of Armour that can preserve a wicked Kingdome from ruine As Samaria was a well fortified so it was a rebellious Idolatrous sinful place and this brought it down Ezek. 16. 46. and 23. 4 5. Hos. 7. 1. Amos 3. 9 10. Mic. 1. 5 7. though it were strongly fortified both by Art and Nature and very large about three miles in compass yet Samaria's sin was Samaria's ruine Niniveh was a populous antient great strong wealthy City yet her great sins laid her in the dust and made all her strong holds drop like ripe figs with little ado into the mouth of the Caldeans Babylon a most ancient ample wealthy well fortified potent populous pompous City yet abounding with sin all her power and policy could not keep her from ruine Ierusalem that strong City encompassed with Mountains Towers and Bulworks fortified both by Art and Nature and so powerfully protected by the Lord himself for many years together to the admiration of all the world that it was judged invincible Lam. 4. 12. The Kings of the earth and all the Inhabitants of the world would not have beleeved that the enemy should have entred into the gates of Ierusalem yet Ierusalems sin was Ierusalems ruine and therefore for her sake let none confide in Cities or any Priviledges whatsoever Wee are apt in our distresses to run to well-fortified places but in vain is salvation looked for from those creature-confidences if the Lord help not how should these help This is to forsake God the fountain of living waters Almighty and All-sufficient a present help in trouble and to go to Cisterns broken Cisterns of creature-comforts that will fail and forsake them in a time of trouble 8 Obs. Sin is a bitter thing Samaria hath rebelled or imbittered as the word is in the fountain God and provoked him to anger most bitterly by her sin Hos 12. 14. Ephraims sins were bitter to God yea they were bitternesses in the abstract and in the plural number also This may discover to us the cursed nature of sin and the iniquity of our iniquities which turns Gods sweetness into bitterness his patience into wrath and his bowels into wormwood If any thing can sadden God and imbitter his soul it is sin To see every base lust preferred before him to see Satan in the Throne the heart and the Spirit of God kept out must needs imbitter his Spirit against us The Lord that made heaven and earth and sustains the Pillars of it yet never complains of that burden but sin is such a burden that hee oft complains of that as tyring him out Isa. 1. 14 24 43 24. Amos 2. 13. and the bitterness thereof is as gall which hee cannot indure Deut. 32. 32. God is all love and sweetness and would not deal thus bitterly with us did not our bitter sins provoke him to it Sin is bitter 1 To God 2 To Christ 3 To the Spirit of God 4 To Angels both good and bad 5 To Men both good and bad 6 To Kingdomes and States 7 To Creatures 8 In its effects Privative Positive 1 Sin is bitter to God as wee have seen before 2 To Christ it made him cry in the bitterness of his soul My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee And made his soul heavy unto death So bitter were our sins to him that they made him a man of sorrows Isa. 53. 4. and made him sweat non guâ—tas sed grumos clods of blood Luke 22. 44. When Christ hung upon the Cross they gave him gall and vinegar to drink every sin is as gall to him Lam. 1. 18. The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against him or as it is in the fountain because I have imbittered him hee is righteous in all his judgements on mee for I have imbittered him against mee by my bitter sins 3 It is bitter to the holy Spirit of God Nothing grieves it and drives it out of the soul but sin Gen. 6. 3. Ephes. 4. 29. To the Angels 1 To the good Angels it is bitter and displeasing to them to see their Lord and Master daily provoked by a company of sinful rebellious creatures and should the Lord give them but a word of Command they would suddenly smite all the wicked dead and revenge the dishonours done to him as wee see in Senaâ—heribs blasphemous Camp where one Angel in one night killed an hundred fourscore and five thousand men 2 It is bitter to the evil Angels it hath thrown them from heaven to hell and of
Sacraments good books corrections and all other rich means which God hath afforded us in these latter daies Oh what Gyants might wee have been in waies of grace and goodness if every Ordinance had been effectual upon our hearts hee that is weak amongst us might have been as strong as David and hee that is strong as David might have been as an Angel of the Lord for wisdome and purity Zach. 12. 8. Like Saul we might have been taller by the head and shoulders in the waies of Grace than other men Our leanness and our lewdness our barrenness and unfruitfulness our unanswerable walking to the rich means of Grace that wee enjoy doth certainly fore-tell a storm approaching 10 Ingratitude and abuse of Gods mercies to the promoting of Idolatry The more God did for them the less they did for him their fulness bred forgetfulness and the more they were increased the more they sinned Hence the Lord so oft complains of this sin as provoking him more than all the rest Hos. 2. 8. 4. 7. 10. 1. 11. 3 4. 13. 5 6. It was this sin especially that brought the sword upon them Hos. 2. 9. 13. 7. The Prophet Amos also who was contemporary with Hosea doth notably set forth the great Ingratitude of this people in abusing Gods mercies Amos 2. 9 10 11. And is not this that crying sin of England Do wee notâ—fight against God with his own blessings abusing our health wealth wit peace plenty corn wine gold silver Scriptures Ordinances yea all our comforts and creatures to the dishonour of the giver of them His mercies make us proud his riches covetous his peace secure his food intemperate and all his benefits serve us but as weapons to rebel against him And do wee thus require the Lord O foolish and unwise is this the thanks wee give him for all his patience preservations success and deliverances Will not the Lord visit for these things and shall not his soul bee avenged on such a Nation as this Had England no more sins to answer for but this even this were sufficient to make it a desolation as it did Samaria 11 Covenant-breaking God had betrothed them to himself and chosen them from the rest of the world to become his people But they like men transgressed the Covenant there did they deal treacherously against him Hos. 6. 7. 10. 4. Like Sons of Adam they walkt in his steps though they were abundantly blest by God yet they revolted from him and transgrest the Covenant there even thâ—re it is put emphatically where they should have been most faithful viz. in the Covenant there they dealt most falsly and perfidiously with him And is not this one of the crying sins of England Never was there a wiser and better composed Covenant in the Nation and never any worse performed wee have lifted up our hands to the most High that wee will in our places and callings extirpate heresies and yet many walk as if they had taken a Covenant to propagate them many amongst us make no more of their Covenants than an Ape doth of his coller which hee can put off or on at his own pleasure Let any man but read all the branches of the Covenant and then compare our contrary walking to it and hee cannot but admire the infinite patience of the Lord that hee hath not long since sent a sword to avenge the quarrel of his Covenant upon us Levit. 26. 25. wee must not think to do such things and escape or to break our Covenants with God and then bee delivered Ezek. 17. 15 to 20. If the Lord so sadly avenged the breach of Covenant with a man yea with a Heathen and Idolater what shall bee done to him who breaks his Covenant made with the great God of Heaven and Earth and if a good man will perform the Covenant which hee made though it bee to his disadvantage how great is their sin then who perform not the conditions of such Covenants as tend to their everlasting welfare Psal. 15. 4. The Jews have a saying That there is no punishment that befalls them but there is a dram of the golden Calf in it so there is no misery that befalls England but there it a dram of Covenant-breaking in it 12 Security Though strangers had devoured his strength yet hee knew it not the Syrian and Assyrian had consumed him and made a prey of him yet such was his stupidity that hee knew it not viz. with a practical saving knowledge so as to repent and make a right use of it Yea gray hairs were sprinkled here and there upon him which were a sign of weakness and old age and death approaching yet they laid it not to heart Hos. 7. 9. but they were at ease in Sion and trusted in the Mountain of Samaria putting the evil day far from them and therefore a woe is denounced against them Amos 6. 1 3. 9. 10. And was there ever more security and sensless stupidity in England than at this day Do not the Ministers of Christ generally complain that they see not that life zeal activity tenderness compunction c. in their people as formerly Many applaud and flatter themselves with their gifts and external profession of sanctity but the power of it is very much wanting amongst us A great calm oft times is a fore-runner of a storm and great security is a great fore-runner of some great judgement When the old world was eating drinking buying building marrying and thought not of a flood then it came and swept them all away when men cry peace peace then comes sudden and swift destruction 1 Thes. 5. 3. 13 Anarchy They devoured all their Iudges all their Kings were fallen Hos. 7. 7. They discovered their rage in their seditious and frequent conspiracies to the devouring and destroying of their Judges and Magistrates as appears in the frequent murders of their Kings What Anarchy and confusion is amongst us hee is a great stranger in our English Israel that knows not 14 Lukewarmness This is another sin that helpt to ruine Ephraim Hos. 7. 8. Ephraim is a cake not turned and so but half-baked or dough-baked neque crudus neque coctus neither hot nor cold neither fish nor flesh but of a middle mongrel Religion halting between two partly for God and partly for the Devil partly for Christ and partly for Baal but God hates such halting 〈◊〉 doings and therefore spues them out of his mouth and sends them packing into captivity And is not this the sin of England Are wee not a luke-warm generation neither hot nor cold that halt not between two but two hundred opinions Wee have a knee for God and a knee for Baal a tongue for Christ and a tongue for Antichrist a tongue for Truth and a tongue for Falshood Like the harlot wee are all for dividing But God will bee served truly and totally without halting or halving hee hath made our whole
hearts and hee will have all or none at all Oh this sin of formality and lukewarmness cries for some judgement against us Where is our zeal for Gods glory our mourning for the great dishonours that are done to his Name our crying out and witnessing against the blasphemies heresies witchcraft juggling and Satanical delusions that abound amongst us Nay do not many plead for a general Tolleration of all sorts and sects and if under a colour they make a Law against such yet it is either made so wide that offenders creep thorow or the Rulers are so over-awed that they dare onely admonish when they should punish and barely shave the head which of right should bee cut off Now will not the Lord visit for these things and shall not his soul bee avenged on such a cold and careless Nation as this is 15 Divisions Ephraim was against Manassse and Manasses against Ephraim there was division upon division amongst them their sins had divided them from their God and now God in his just judgement sets a spirit of division amongst themselves to their destruction Hos. 10. 2. Their heart is divided now shall they bee found faulty or as some render the word they shall bee ruined For desolations in a State oft follow divisions in the Church as wee see in Poland Germany c. And was England ever more sadly divided and sub-divided than at this day What separations and sub-separations are found amongst us One is of Paul another of Apollo divisions in principles divisions in practice divisions in judgement and divisions in affection divisions in Church and divisions in State For the divisions of England there bee sad thoughts of heart Ierusalems divisions were Ierusalems ruine The Lord grant that Englands divisions prove not Englands ruine These give the enemy great advantage against us and encourage them to set upon us When Israâ—l and Iudah were at variance then comes Shishak the Egyptian and troubles Ierusalem 2 Châ—on 12. 2. It is observed that England was never conquered but when it was divided within it self Oh that God who hath made our hearts would mend them and unite them that wee may never lose our Religion Laws Estates Persons Posterity and all that is dear to us and lay our selves open to the malice of a bloody enemy who hath no way to overthrow us sooner than by our sinful dissenâ—ions 16 Carnal-confidence For this sin they are frequently reproved one while they trusted in their Kings anon they go down to Egypt for help and then seek to the Assyrian they forsook the Lord and trusted in an arm of flesh which yet could not help them in their troubles Hos. 5. 13. and 7. 11. and 12. 1. and 13. 10. And doth not this sin abound in England Have not wee trusted in Kings Princes Protectors Parliaments Armies Navies c Wee have leaned so long upon our staves till wee have broken them all and ruined our carnal confidences by idolizing them 17 Incorrigibleness under lesser judgements God had been as a moth to Ephraim which consumed him by little and little but since that did not better him the Lord came as a Lion against him and tore him all to peeces Hos. 5. â—2 14. Like a good Physician hee used all means to heal them Hos. 7. 1. by his word by his mercies by his judgements but since nothing would mend them the Lord swears by himself to root up them and their posterity for their stubbornness Amos. 4. per totum And is not this our sin Hath not the Lord used all gentle means and spent all his lesser rods in vain upon us Who can say hee hath been the better for all the Agues Feavers Taxes Poverty Sickness c. or any of those lesser rods which God hath laid upon us May not the Lord complain of England as hee did sometime of Israel for their incorrigibleness Amos 4. 6. to 12. Thus and thus have I done to you yet have yee not returned to mee saith the Lord and therefore now I will bring some greater judgement on you unless by repentance you prepare to meet your God and so prevent his wrath 18 Oppression and cruelty They acted their oppressions upon the poor in a violent virulent manner which brought destruction upon them Amos 3. 9 10 11 12. and 4. 2. They used false weights and loved to oppress they were all for getting though it were by force and forgery Hos. 12. 7. And doth not this sin reign amongst us Was there ever more wracking of Tenants grinding the faces of the poor squeezing them and eating them peece-meal Was there ever more couzening cheating over-reaching over-reckoning and unrighteous dealing in the Land and that by some who pretend to an extraordinary measure of Religion I beleeve the like hath not been known in the memory of man Our fore-fathers had less light and knowledge but there was far more plaâ—nness and single-hearredness in those dayes than is in ours I have but little dealing in the world had I less I should bee well contented yet I must profess that I can scarce tell where to finde a plain simple single-hearted Nathanael let such know that God abomâ—nates them Deut. 25. 13 14. and will bee avenged on them 1 Thess. 4. 6. The whole land fares the worse for such This was one of those sins amongst the rest that brought judgements on Ierusalem and will certainly bring judgements on London and the rest of our Cities where such enormities abound Ezek. 22. 12 29 31. 19. Atheism They forgat God dayes without number hee was not in all their thoughts Hence the Lord so oft complains that they knew him not nor considered that hee remembred all their doings Hos. 2. 5. 8. 13. and 5. 4. and 7. 2. Atheism at this day is the crying sin of England wee are not in so much danger of Papism now as of Atheism how hath this God-provoking Land-ruining sin over-spread the whole Island wee have all sorts of Atheism amongst us Mental Vocal Vital Wee have close Atheists and gross Atheists wee have Atheists contemplative and Atheists practical some are closer Atheists they do not directly and plainly cast God out of the world yet these fools who are the worlds wise men say in their hearts There is no God Psal. 14. 1. This kinde of Atheism is not so easily discovered nor reproved and so it wants that help which gross Atheism meets withall 2 Many that confess God in their words yet deny him in their works and by consequence deny his All-seeing eye and Being as if God took no notice of things below these are practical Atheists Titus 1. 16. Eliphaz sets the brand of wickedness upon the fore-head of this sin Iob 22. 5 13 14. and God threatens to search as with Candles for such Atheistical ones i. e. Hee will search narrowly and sift them thorowly as the woman that lighted a candle to search for her lost groat Zeph. 1. 12. yet Atheism
his Armies bee routed his plots defeated the loss of his Kingdome and utter destruction of him and his be foretold yet hee is Jeroboam still and persists in his wickedness after all this 1 King 13. 3 4 5 33. Besides hee could not bee ignorant how severely God punished the Israelites for the very same sin of worshipping the golden Calf But wilful sinners are judgement proof no plagues upon themselves or others can work upon them It is this that aggravated Jeroboams sin and made it out of measure sinful that hee did not through infirmity but wilfully hee sets up Idolatry and therefore hee is said to devise a worship of his own head the better to destroy the worship of God and draw men from his Temple at Jerusalem 1 King 12. 28 33. Now the more contrivement there is in sin the worse it is as wee see in David the kilsing of Vriah lyes as a blot upon him more than all his other sins because there was more deliberation and contrivement in that than in any of his other sins 1 King 15. 5. 15 The tolerating of such contemptible men as are neither called nor qualified for the work of the Ministry to usurp the Ministry is a God-provoking sin Ieroboam makes Priests of the lowest of the people and this provokes the Lord to root up both him and his posterity 1 King 13. 33 34. 16 Wicked men bring a curse on their posterity The poor children many times fare the worse for the fathers wickedness not onely is Ieroboam cut off but all his posterity perish with him 1 King 15. 29 30. Of this see more before on vers 16. Obs. 12. 17 Carnal policy is meer folly One grain of sincerity and real honesty will outweigh many mountains of shisting subtilty It is hee onely that walks uprightly that walks surely It is ill when Rulers are more careful of the State than of the Church of civil policy than the matters of God When they dare not promote Religion for fear of troubling the State God oft punisheth such selfishness with the loss of all Ieroboam for politick respects and self-ends sets up Calves as suiting better with his carnal projects than the pure worship of God hereby hee thought to get the hearts of the people and settle the Crown faster on his head and thereby hee lost all His Calves deceived him and cast him off Hos. 8. 5 14. hee need not to have used such indirect courses for hee had Gods hand for it that hee should bee King 1 King 11. 31 35 37. But hee like a Machiavellian trusted more to his own policy than to Gods promise and hee prospered accordingly for hee had war all his dayes 1 King 14. 30. And many of the Priests and people forsook him and went to Ierusalem and joyned with Iudah where they might worship God in purity 2 Chron. 11. 13 16. When men make Religion ftoop to their politick ends and use it no further than it may either obtain retain or augment a Kingdome such self-seekers are self-destroyers their end is miserable 1 King 14. 9 10 11. Carnal plots and projects may bee kindled with hope kept up with miserable shifts but their end is doleful 18 Idolatry brings war When men chuse New Gods then war is in their gates Iudg. 5. 8. If Ieroboam forsake God and set up Idols hee shall have war continually 1 King 14. 30. So had Bâ—asha his Idolatrous Successor 1 King 15. 32. 19 It will not excuse wicked men in the day of wrath to say their Rulers lead them in wicked paths Such Ieroboams shall bee punisht and Israel shall suffer with them 1 King 14. 15 16. Wee may not follow great men nor any men further than they follow Christ unless wee mean to perish with them See more in my Comment on 2 Tim. 3. 9. Obs. 1. p. 190 191. 20 When the enemies of the Church are most high then God cuts them off When Ieroboam is lifted up trusting in his Idols and in the multitude of his armies hee sets upon Iudah both by force and fraud intending to destroy him but in the Mount the Lord appears hee affrights the Israelites and makes them fly so that Iudah slew five hundred thousand of them and the Lord struck Ieroboam that hee died not an ordinary death but hee died by a special hand of God 2 Chron. 13. per totum Wicked men shall not alwaies escape their sin at last will finde them out 2 Ieroboam being dead Nadab his Son succeeds him both in the Throne and in his sin and therefore in the second year of his reign hee was slain 1 King 14. 20. 15. 25 to 29. Obs. 1 That wicked Parents many times have wicked children Usually like Father like Son malus corvus malum ovum As they inherit their Fathers Lands so many times their vices too God often visits the sins of the Fathers upon their Children because they are apt to imitate their sin and to plead the example of their Ancestors and Fore-fathers especially in Idolatry Ier. 11. 9 10. As a good man may have a wicked childe but the promise is for him that God will bee his God and the God of his seed So a wicked man may have a good son as Ieroboam here hath a good Abijah 1 King 14. 13. but the curse is due to him and his seed hee hath no promise of such a blessing 2 Wicked Rulers reign not long They have many temptations to wickedness and have more opportunities to vent it than inferiour persons have and so are sooner ripe for ruine as wee shall see in the following Kings 3 Baasha having slain Nadab gets into the Throne himself and to make sure work hee first cuts off all the house of Ieroboam as the Lord had threatned yet because hee had no command from God to do it as Iehu had nor was inwardly incited by his Spirit to do it as Ehud was but traiterously for base self-ends to get the Kingdome to himself hee slew him and therefore God chargeth him with murder and saith hee killed him 1 King 15. 7. yet God is said to raise Baasha from the dust for though the treachery and murder was Baasha's yet the power and disposing of the Kingdome was from God In his daies lived the Prophet Iehu Hanani and Azariah yet hee hath the common But and Blot put upon him That hee also did evil in the sight of the Lord and walkt in the way of Ieroboam and made Israel sin 1 King 15. 29 30 33 34. Hee overthrew the house of Ieroboam and God over-threw his house according to the Prophecy of Iehu 1 King 16. 1 2 3 4. Hee reigned four and twenty years Obs. 1. God wants not instruments to punish wicked men If Ieroboams posterity must bee rooted up hee hath a Baasha at hand ready to do it Though this wicked man had ambitious ends of his own yet hee doth Gods work 1
per mulieres capi non posse Hee would not bee ensnared by women 8 The God whom wee serve is a bountious God There is no man shall serve him for nought what ever wicked men say to the contrary Mal. 3. 14. If Ahab one of the wickedest men that ever lived an Idolater an Oppressor a Murderer a Persecutot yet if this wicked man do but humble himself though it bee but hypocritically and onely for fear of punishment hee shall have a reward answerable to his service the evils threatned shall bee deferred and hee shall have a temporary deliverance answerable to his temposary humiliation Wee should have thought if so vile a wretch should have rent his flesh torn off his hair and wept rivers of tears yet God should rather have killed him than spared him But Gods thoughts are not like our thoughts if the shadow can do so much what will not the substance do if God so far reward an unsound what will hee not do for sincere service Again wee see here that grief is not alwaies a sign of grace Ahab rends his cloaths but not his heart hee puts on sackcloath but not amendment hee walks softly but not sincerely worldly sorrow causeth death Happy is that grief which makes the soul holier 9 Our God is a patient God Hee bears long with the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction what man could have born two and twenty daies with Ahabs provocations yet the Lord lets him reign two and twenty years The ninth King of Israel is Ahaziah Ahabs Son who reigned ill two years walking in the waies of Ieroboam Ahab and Iesabel and those waies were as bad as bad could bee 1 King 22. 52 53. Hee rebels against God and Moab rebels against him in his sickness hee sleights the true God and goes to Baal-zebub the God of Ekron for help hee persecutes Elijah and dies 2 King 1. 1 2 3 9 15 17. 10 Iehoram alias Ioram a second Son of Ahab succeeds his Brother Ahaziah who had no children Evil hee was yet not so evil as his Father and Mother for hee pulls down the Image of Baal 2 King 3. 1 2 3. Yet there is a But and Blot upon him vers 3. But hee persisted in the waies of Ieroboam Hee is wounded by the Syrians and slain by Iehu after hee had reigned twelve years 2 King 9. 24. Obs. 1 Where there is but some goodness and some reformation God takes notice of it and commends it Hee takes notice nor onely of mens vices but also of their virtues if Abijah the Son of Ieroboam have but some good in him it shall bee recorded and rewarded 1 King 14. 13. Many like flyes pass over the sound flesh and light upon that which is galled or like Beetles they flye over all the flowers in a field and if there bee any dung in it that they creep into So it is with most they pry into mens infirmities but pass by their Graces But Christ did commend the Churches for what was good in them as well as reprove them for their failings Rev. 2. 3. Christ takes notice not onely of the grown fruit but of the green buds and tender Grapes even of the beginnings of Grace in young converts Cant. 2. 13. Hypocrisie is sullen sowre and censorious especially to young beginners but true Grace is meek merciful and tender It is our duty to acknowledge Grace where ever wee finde it be it in Jew or Gentile in rich or poor old or young Where ever wee finde but aliquid Christi some seeds of piety and the fear of the Lord wee should love and cherish it Hence Christ commends Natharael that had but some seeds of Grace for his sincerity Iohn 1. 47. The Centurion though a Gentile yet Christ commends him for his Faith Matth. 8. 10. Christ took notice of such as did improve their Talents and calls them good and faithful Matth. 25. 21 23. And Christ testifies of Mary that shee loved much Luk. 7. 47. Sad then is the condition of those that are so blinded with malice that they cannot see the graces of God in others without indignation like Cain that hated his Brother because hee was better than himself 1 Iohn 3. 12. Or like Ioshua that was envious at Eldad and Madad for prophesying in the Camp Numb 11. 29. Wee may not bear false witness against our neighbour but must acknowledge the Grace of God in them to his praise Our eye must not bee evil because Gods eye is good It is the Devils work to bee the slanderer and accuser of the Brethren let him do his work himself Iob 1. 9 10. Rev. 12. 10. But let us imitate our Saviour who hath a tender care not onely of his strong rooted Oaks and bright burning Tapers but also of his weak bruised Reeds and smoaking Flax though as yet it flame not Mat. 12. 20. Yea where there is but civility and common good Christ takes notice of it and commends it when the young man came to Christ though hee had no true grace yet it is said Christ loved him Mark 10. 21. Hee also took notice of that discreet answer of that Scribe Mark 14. 34. and said to him Thou art not far from the Kingdome of God This should incourage us to bee active for Christ who covers our infirmities takes notice of our services and will reward them openly 2 Hypocrites reform to halves Iehoram suppresseth the worship of Baal but continues the Idolatry of the golden Calves Herod will reform many things but his Herodias hee will not part withall It is said of Naaman the Syrian that hee was a valiant man But hee was a Leper So many go far have good gifts make great shews But they are covetous But they are disobedient and will not do Gods will Ezek. 33. 31. These Buts spoil all They must have their Reservations their Dispensations their Dalilahs their beloved lusts though they perish with them 11 Iehu the Son of Nimshi for now the line of succession is again changed having slain Ioram the Son of Ahab gets up into his Throne Hee is anointed King by a young Prophet at Elisha's command 1 King 19. 16. and 2 King 9. 6. 2 Chron. 22. 7. The reason why hee onely of all the Kings of Israel since the division was anointed with Oyl was this because his work was hard and extraordinary and therefore the Lord to make him the more couragious and confident assures him by this visible sign that hee had called him and hee would keep him in his office Hee being an active valiant politick man Commander in Chief over the Army in the City of Ramoth Gilead and so highly esteemed amongst the Captains and souldiers was raised by God to execute his vengeance on the house of Ahab Having slain Ahaziah King of Iudah 2 King 9. 27. Hee then cuts off Iesabel 2 King 9. 30 33. Causeth the seventy Sons of Ahab to bee beheaded 2 King 10. 6. Slaies
two and forty of Ahaziah the King of Iudahs Brethren 2 King 10. 13 14. And destroies all the Idols Priests and Worshippers of Baal down go all his Monuments hee burns his Images destroies the house of Baal and makes it a draught-house 2 King 10. 25 26 27 28. This was good service and such as God had commanded and approved of and therefore the Lord promiseth him a reward for his service viz. that his posterity to the fourth Generation should sit upon his Throne 2 King 10. 30. Yet this But lies on him as a blot that hee countenanced and practised that part of Idolatry which consisted in the faise worship of the true God brought in by Ieroboam who set up the Golden Calves 2 King 10. 29. And for this God punisheth him 1 In his own daies God smote him in all the coasts of Israel 2 King 10. 32 33. And because his heart was not sound in what he did but hee sought himself and the setling of the Kingdome upon himself and his posterity and did tollerate Idolatry therefore God threatens to punish him in his posterity after his death and to avenge the blood of Iezreel upon the house of Iehu Hos. 1. 4. Hee reigns eight and twenty years and then leaves the Kingdome to his Son Obs. 1 God transfers Kingdomes from one family to another as pleaseth him Hee takes it from Ioram and gives it to Iehu his servant 2 King 〈…〉 Wee may not therefore free and murmure at Gods dispensations but must bee dumb and silent since it is hee who is King of Kings that doth it Hee pulls down one and sets up another in the Throne and none may say unto him what dost thou Dan. 2. 21. 4. 35. 2 The hearts of men are in the hand of God and hee turns them as pleaseth him If hee set up Iehu hee will give him in the hearts of the people It is wonderful to see that a Captain should so suddenly and so unanimously become King of Israel 1 The souldiers they proclaim him at the City of Ramoth Gilead 2 King 9. 13. 2 Hee goes to Iezrâ—el and it yeelds 3 Hee bids throw down Iesabel and the Eunuchs presently do it 2 King 9. 32 33. 4 Hee summons Samaria and it submits 5 Hee calls for the heads of Ahabs seventy Sons and they are given him hee can but ask and have as it is said of Caesar Veni vidi vicâ—â— hee no sooner came but hee overcame Thus shall it bee done to those whom God will honour 3 What ever God threatneth or promiseth shall certainly come to pass They are all Yea and Amen true and infallible Heaven and E 〈◊〉 shall fail before one jot or tittle of Gods word shall fail 〈◊〉 all bee fulfilled Matth. 5. 18. God threatned vengeance on the house of Ahab and see how it is fulfilled in every particular 1 The Lord threatens that where the doggs lickt Naloths blood there they should lick the blood of Ahab see this fulfilled 1 King 22. 38. 2 That the doggs should eat Iesabel in the field of Iezreel see it fulfilled 2 King 9. 35 36. 3 That God would cut off Ahabs posterity for his Idolatry and wee see Ioram and the seventy sons of Ahab all cut off whereupon Iehu calls on the people to consider the truth of Gods threatnings 2 King 10. 7 10. God hath threatned many judgements against disobedient ones Deut. 28. 16 c. And there is not one of them but first or last will light upon the heads of those that go on still in their sins 2 The Lord promised Iehu that his children should sit upon his Throne to the fourth Generation and wee see it punctually performed for after him reigned his four Sons Jehoash Joash Jeroboam and Zechariah The Kingdome continued in his family about an hundred years 4 Though God for a time may defer the fulfilling of his threatnings and promises yet in his due time when men think hee hath forgot and imagine that God is like to them and approves of all their doings hee will arise and fulfil what ever hee hath said Though hee seldome come at our time yet hee never fails his own Hab. 2. 3. Heb. 10. 37. Hee lets Ahab reign two and twenty years suffers Jesabel to stone Naboth to slay his Prophets to persecute his people I but see what havock Jehu makes amongst them and how God recompenseth his patience with the fierceness of his fury and suffers not one word to fail that hee spoke against them by the Prophet Elijah Let us therefore firmly beleeve the Word of God and let us not faint in a time of trouble for then our strength is but small Prov. 24. 10. And let us not envy the prosperity of wicked men nor fret when they seem to carry all before them for they shall soon bee cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb Psal. 37. 1 2. 5 When God hath great works to do in the world and great changes to make hee raiseth up Instruments fitted for the work and gives them a spirit of activity wisdome and counsel to effect it If God will have Ahab Jesabel and Baal down hee hath a Jehu at hand ready to perform it God can no sooner command but Jehu executes Hee shoots Joram slaies Ahaziah kills Jesabel cuts off the house of Ahab and conquers all before him No doubt but many cursed and mis-called him for this great slaughter and change but hee came to do Gods work and will and hee doth it strenuously and successfully in despite of all opposition that lay in his way So good it is to act for God in our places and callings 6 Idolatry is attended with war and misery Jehu walks in Jeroboms Idolatry and see what follows 2 King 10. 31 32 33. In those daies the Lord began to cut Israel short and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel hee burnt their Cities killed their young men slaies their children 〈◊〉 ripped up the women with childe and then the Moabites distress them on the other side 2 King 1. 1. and 3. 5. and 13. 20. 7 Obs. Sin besots men that they cannot see the misery which is coming on them Iehu knew how Gods hand was upon Jeroboam and his posterity and Baasha and his posterity and Ahab and his posterity for their Idolatry yea and Jehu himself was an executioner of Gods wrath upon the house of Ahab for this sin and yet hee lived and dyed an Idolater himself and brought a curse on his posterity as his predecessors had done on theirs It is strange that men should punish others for illegal exorbitant courses and breach of priviledges and yet themselves bee notoriously guilty of the same crimes The Devil and the ambitious desire of a Kingdome had so blinded them that they walked in the very steps of those wicked Kings which they had but newly slain Hence God in his just judgement made them executioners of his wrath one upon another
such great places They had need to bee solid seasoned substantial peeces that have the weight of the building lying on them 4 When the Maintenance is Incompetent If a man have a great family to maintain but the means is so small that hee cannot maintain his family nor go thorow the works of his Ministery with that comfort and credit as becomes a Minister of the Gospel in such a case also it is lawful to remove Wee see it is fo in all callings if a man cannot live in one Town hee may lawfully remove to another God would have the Ministers of the Gospel not to beg but to live comfortably in their Ministery and to bee maintained not like Swine-heards but like the Ambassadors of Christ with a competent fixed honourable maintenance The Levites that had their Tythes taken from them left their stations without blame Neh. 13. 10. 5 Whereas many think that a Minister can remove at his pleasure from place to place and get what place soever pleaseth him they are much deceived for God hath decreed and fore-appointed Ministers to their places before they are born Hee hath decreed how long such a Minister shall abide in such a place and how long in such a place Act. 17. 26. and though wee are loath to remove yet when providence calls bee the means more or less it matters not wee must obey Gen. 12. 1. 4. Act. 7. 3. 5. And if a Sparrow cannot fall to the ground nor a hair from our heads without a providence much less can a Minister remove from one Congregation to another without a providence so that the quarrelling Quakers with the rest of that rout who rail at us when wee justly remove from place to place do not so much revile us as the Lord who is the disposer of us he is the Potter and we are the clay hee may raise us or ruine us plant us or transplant us as hee sees good and none may say unto him What dost thou It is not wee but the Holy Ghost that sets us over our flocks Act. 20. 28. Quest. But why doth the Lord remove men from place to place as hee did the Apostles sometimes why doth hee not fixe them to one place Answ. The Lord is a free agent and is not bound to give us a reason of his doings it may satisfie us that it is his good pleasure to have it so Psal. 39. 9. Matth. 11. 25 26. 2 If nothing will satisfie you without a Reason reasons enow may bee given 1 Sometimes people hate and persecute their Ministers and look upon them as a burden not a blessing it is fit such should bee eased and made to know the worth of the mercy by the wanting of it 2 Sometimes people are barren under the means of grace and do not value the Gospel according to its worth it is just with God to remove it to those who will prize it better When the Iews contemned the Gospel the Apostle left them and went to the Gentiles Act. 13. 46. The Kingdome of God shall bee taken from such and bee given to those that will bring forth the fruit of it 3 As for the Apostles there was great reason why they were not fixed to one place 1 Because the Church was then in planting but not planted 2 They were to spread the Gospel over the world and therefore were not confined to any fixed charge Caution Yet to prevent scandal these Cautions would bee remembred 1 Because many are apt to cavil and cry Ministers are covetous and remove without a cause let none remove rashly ambitiously self-seekingly but judiciously and piously for the profit and edification of the Church and the better to stop the mouthes of adversaries it were well if in such cases men would not bee their own judges but refer the hearing of the case with all its circumstances to the Presbytery or for want of that to some neighbour Ministers who are able to judge and determine the case 2 They must do what in them lyes to provide an able successour for the place they leave that the Church bee not unprovided of a faithful Pastor 3 If after all this any shall bee found to make it their trade to remove from place to place solely to get more means and shall refuse to refer their cause to the hearing and determination of sober pious judicious Ministers let them bear their shame for mee I shall never plead for such By all that hath been said wee may see 1 That some offend in the Defect whilst they hold it unlawful for a man upon any occasion to remove whereas Christ who is the Lord of the harvest hath not onely power to call Ministers but also to transfer them from one Church to another and therefore it is not in the power of any man absolutely to indent with any people to stay so long or so long with them 2 Others offend in the Excess when upon every light occasion without any urgent necessity or benefit to the Church they forsake their proper charge and chaffer for Parishes as Horse-coursers do for horses or as Seneca saith of sick men Mutationibus â—â—â—â—tur pro remediis they think to cure their sick souls with changing of their seats as the dropsie man thinks to cure his dropsie with change of drinks 15 Zachariah son to Ieroboam succeeds him both in the Throne and in his sin and hath therefore the common brandset upon him viz. That hee did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord as his Fore-Fathers had done Hee was so far from repenting of the wickedness of his fore-fathers Iehu Iehoahaz Ioash and Ieroboam that hee justified them in their abominations by walking in their sinful paths This his obstinacy so incensed the Lord against him that when hee had reigned but six months hee cut him off by Shallum who killed him openly so wicked was hee and so ill-beloved that the people let him bee slain before them they did not oppose but rather approve of what was done 2 King 15. 8 9 10. This was the time of the Kingdome of Israels wane things grew worse and worse with them one judgement following in the neck of another till they were quite destroyed and one wicked King rising up as Gods executioner to do justice upon another till all was over-thrown Obs. 1 God faithfully performs what ever hee promiseth God promiseth Iehu that his seed should sit upon his Throne to the fourth Generation and see it here punctually performed and if hee thus faithfully keep promise with his enemies who daily provoke him by their ingratitude and Idolatry what will hee not do for his people who serve him sincerely Hee that thus keeps touch with his enemies will never fail his friends Though for a time hee may hide himself to try and exercise their graces yet not one tittle of all that hee hath promised shall fail 2 God is faithful in fulfilling his Threatnings though it bee long
Orbs aâ—d Spheres for their Creators praise onely man rebels against him 2 All these Kings followed the example of a wicked Ieroboam against the Rule 3 They perisht not alone but drew their subjects with them into perdition yea Iudah was in part infected by them 2 King 17. 19. 4 They acted all this against the warnings of Gods Prophers against signal mercies and judgements all which serves to clear the justice of God in their total extirpation and ruine wee may stand amazed at the stupendious patience of the Lord who bare above two hundred years with such a succession of Idolaters and evil doers when if his patience had not been infinite and every way like himself hee would not have born two hundred daies with them Great places corrupt many â—carce ever better any It is folly therefore for any ambitiously to seek Kingship and high-places from whence so many have broke their necks We should rather pitty and pray for great men than any way envy them since they are exposed to so many dangers and great tentations 2 The end of wicked men is miserable What ever the good mans beginning may bee bee it never so blustrous and rugged yet his end is peace Psal. 37. 37. On the contrary let the wicked mans beginning bee never so pleasant and plausible yet his end is sorrowful A good man begins like a Tragedy but ends like a Comedy but a wicked man begins like a Comedy and ends like a Tragedy Of those twenty Kings of Israel eight of them at least if not nine died violent and untimely deaths the other twelve though they died in outward peace yet had they no true inward peace how could they when their Idolatries and spiritual whoredomes were so many The higher men are the more hurt they do and so are neerer to judgement The Kings of Iudah as they were generally better men so they lived longer than the Kings of Israel did and came not to such untimely ends but few of them viz. four Ioash Ioram Ammon and Iosiah Besides in the time of the twenty Kings of Israel there were but eleven over Iudah and of those Asa by name reigned in the time of eight several Kings of Israel and those of five several stocks and Uzziah reigned in the time of six other Kings of Israel of which four were of other stocks It will bee our wisdome to take heed of those rocks against which so many have ruined themselves Sit aliorum perditio tua cautio Let us live by Rule not by Example and then peace will bee our portion Gal. 6. 16. The godly Kings of Iudah that kept purity of worship and went hand in hand with the Prophets they flourisht and were victorious So good it is to walk in Gods way and keep to the Rule Iosh. 1. 8. But the Kings of Israel had loss upon loss and vexation upon vexation by enemies within and without till they lost Life Land and all So ill it is to walk in carnal by-paths against the Rule 3 That Succession Antiquity Universality are all but vain without Verity The Idolatrous Israelites here might have pleaded all these for their Idolatry it doth not therefore follow that it was just and good Genebrard confesseth that of fifty Popes in order succeeding one another there was not one good They were all Apostatical not Apostolical 4 Such as partake with wicked men in their sins shall also bee partaker with them in their plagues Israel here follows their twenty Kings in Idolatry and now they must follow them into captivity and ruine if you would not partake of others plagues bee sure not to partake with them in their sins Rev. 18. 4. HAving shewed before that Impudency in sinning is a forerunner of some judgement approaching I shall now give you an instance of the Impudency Anarchy and Blasphemy of our times The bare reciting of this sinful sensâ—less Pamphlet is confutation sufficient Here you may see what is the fruit of that New-light so much cried up by some it teacheth men to disturb Congregations in Gods worship to bring Pockets to Church and openly to sow them on the Lords day to rail on Gods Messengers and call them lyars to lay their Bastards at Gods Door and father all their abominations on Gods Spirit The Spirit moved and the Lord saith this deluded hardened wretch â—tirred him up and commanded him c. And shall not the Lord visit for these things if Rulers will not hee certainly will These talk much of the Spirits leading them but certainly it is an ill spirit that leads them for God is the God of order and not of confusion his Spirit is the Spirit of Peace and Purity and teacheth men to act according to the word and not according to their own brain-sick deluâ—ions As for his vain scrupulosity in not daring to use the ordinary names of our months and daies you may see this excellently confuâ—ed by the learned Dr. Reynold in his Commentary on Haggai Ser. 1. p. 8 9 10. In the year 59 in the fourth month the last day of the month being the fifth day of the week THe presence of the Lord was felt within mee and in his light hee let mee see what his pleasure was with mee it was clearly shewed mee that I should go to the Steeple-house in Aldermanâ—uâ—y the first day of the week then following and take with mee something to work and do it in the Pulpit at their singing time At which sight I found much unwillingness in my self yet sitting still with â—rembling there came upon mee a very great weight pressing mee to obedience yea a heavy burthen was felt till I had consented to obey I felt the weight to encrease oh how hard my unwilling will was to yeeld but the Lord strengthened mee and having consented I found a little ease yea I did resolve in the power of the Lord to go on I purposed to carry with mee a Pocket to sow So the first day morning being the third day of the fifth month after the eighth hour one of the Doors being open I passed in thinking to get into the Pulpit to hide my self there till their singing time and then get up and work The Sexton spying mee took mee by the arm said friend wee do not open yet for it was their Communion day as they call it but the time I was in I found that the Galleries were higher than the Pulpit and I should have been discovered before their song began I see the Clerk giving Tickets so about the ninth hour their Doors were opened I passed in as one of their own crowd the throng came in very fast I gat into one of the Galleries to spy if possible to get in the Pulpit some way but I found none at that time so they began to read and I came down and finding no way to get into the Pulpit I came to the Table that is prepared so that troop I thought to get upon
the Table to work but the Table was set round with young men and when they began their song they laid on their hats upon the Table so I standing still waiting on the Lord having a great minde to do the Lords work their song being up my hat offended them they took it off and cast it away and one of the young men gave it mee again I put it on and it offended again in so much that Piercefall did perceive mee who came violently and took my hat off to fling it away but I held it then hee took mee by the hair of the head and dragg'd mee out and as one of their own company testified to his face that hee struck mee but I cannot say that but a luâ—ty red hair'd man did strike mee I supposed him to be an officer in that hateful place but Piercefall after hee had dragged mee out by the hair said Sirrah Do you not know William Duike I said nay for I did not know him Sirrah said hee I put him in prison and fined him â—en pound and you must bee served so too and so charged the Conâ—table with mee and went himself in again and received the Sacrament for all this The Constable told mee that I might go away if I would but in again I must not So I stood a while and finding in my self no constraint I passed away towards More-fields finding a little ease from the weight of the burden being faithful to what might bee done at that time but the sixth day of the week being the eighth day of the month sitting at work in my Shop but not on the Shop-board the burden of the Lord came upon mee and the light making manifest the same thing that was not yet done must bee done and the Lord would not discharge mee but laid a necessity upon mee I beholding this with trembling and fear I did resolve in the power of the Lord not to eat nor drink till I had performed the Lords requiring So having purposed in heart I greatly desired the Lords assistance and it was shewed mee how to do it and the Lord made way for mee So the first day of the week being the tenth day of the fifth month I waited opportunity till the singing time began which when I heard I passed in but being fearful to bee taken with the hat again and so lose my main business for the Lord I stept out again but stayed not I came in again I lookt towards the Pulpit and spied the Pue door open that the Priest might pass up the Pulpit So I waited thinking that Edmund Calamy would go up the Pulpit I intended to get in before him for thought I that boy that sits upon the stairs will open the Pulpit door for the Priest and I will get in before but no Priest came whereupon in the power of the Lord I fixed my eye upon the Pulpit and I spied an Iron hook and I passed thorow the Pue up the stairs and unhookt the door and pulled twice and gat it open and I sate my self down upon the Cushin and my feet upon the seat where the Priest when hee hath told out his lies doth sit down and having my work ready I pulled one or two stitches The people lost their song and some cried pull him down some break his neck down and a lusty fellow came up and did intend to do mee a mischief and rang my neck as if hee would have wrung it in two So I let go my hold and hee flang mee down stairs but the Lord preserved mee and I felt no hurt for having done that which the Lord required mee to do I was full of peace and it had been little to mee if they had there taken away or killed the body For I was full of joy and they were full of wrath and madness so they tore my Coat off and my hat and dragged mee out and one took mee by the hair and flung mee upon the ground and some that was without said why do yee use the man so but I gate up again then they dragged mee quite out into the street and there held mee and while they held mee one came and gave mee a violent kick on the shins and said hee could finde in his heart to knock mee down hee made my shin bleed and another kickt mee on the other shin but did not much hurt another said that I had been some notorious sinner heretofore and now came to do something that might merit Presently the Church-warden as they call him came out and hee and the Bell-toller carried mee away to the Counter till their Sermon was ended as they call it then they carried mee away to Pauls Yard to stay for the Mayor but the Serjeant said hee would carry mee away to the Mayors house and there stay mee till hee came in so hee did And all the way thorow Paternoster-Row as I went the boyes kickt my heels so then the Mayor came in and they told him that I was at work in the Pulpit then said hee to mee Wherefore did you work there I said in obedience to the Lords commandement hee said It was a false spirit and said hee Where are your sureties I said The Lord was my surety hee said The Lord would not bear mee out in this thing said hee to them Carry him again to the Counter so they carried mee back again and there I was till the third day Now let all sober people judge whether I did this thing out of envy against either Priest or People Yea further I say the Lord God lay it not to their charge who have said that I did it in malice devilishness and envy it is the desire of my soul that they might bee saved And so do write my name being a Prisoner for the Testimony of the Lord in the Common Gaol in Newgate London Committed the 1 5th of the 5th Month 59. Solomon Eccles. FINIS A Table of the Principal things contained in the Commentary on HOSEA A. ANarchy dangerous p. 103. 104 Application of the word necessary p. 67 Assurance attainable p. 41 Atheism how dangerous p. 106. 107 B. Barrenness under the means of grace a great sin p. 99. 100 Bewâ—re of men amplified in many particulars p. 92 to 97 C. Carnal policy ruines men p. 121 Christ is the Lord. p. 33 Cities that are great usually have great sins p. 69 70 And great punishments ibid. Conviction it is necessary to Conversion p. 17. 18 What it is p. 19 VVhat â—â—easure requisite to conversion ibid. Impediments to Conviction p. 20 Motives to get it p. 21 Covenant â—ins against it grievous p. 78. 102 D. Death is terrible in it self p. 35 36 It is a conquered enemy p. 36. 37 Not to be feared by Believers p. 37. 38. 39 Consolation against it p. 40 Divisions dangerous p. 104 105 E. Englands abuse of patience p. 7. 8 F. Father God is so to his children p. 53 Fools what men are so p.
4. p. 373. and Sâ—holastically by Laurentius on Rev. 2. 22. Homil. 39. p. 300. Mr. Love in his I. Ser on Lam. 5. 7 8. p. 11 12. V. Carylon Job 21. 19. p. 730 731. Me me ad sum qui fcci in me convertite fâ—rrum Vir g. Quorum exitus perhorrâ—scis corum opera pertimescas Qantum hoc sceâ—us mavult â—sse pâ—llex Satanae quam sponsa Christi Wolphius Gilluâ—m Dii stâ—rcorei per contâ—mptum quia faetore suo Deum offendunt The word is used for dung and dirt Ezek. 4 12. 14. 10. V. Weems on 2. Command chap. 6. vol. 2. p. 82. 1 Subsannabant nuncios Dei 2 Contâ—mnebant verba ejus 3 Illudebant Prophetis 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. His tribus verb is summus Prophetiae contemptus videtur significari Lavater Verbi divini contemptus tanquam via ad extremam impietatem cavendus est Wolphius V. Burroughs Hos. 5. 2. p. 363 364 Perkins 3 Vol. p. 421. c. Witness the Quakers Petition five and twenty yards long with twenty thousand hands at it against the Ministery In my Comment on 2 Tim. 3. 2. p. 49. Odi improbum qui proba loquitur verba Menander In oculis Dei nullum maâ—us scelus est hypocrisi Scultet See more in my Comment on 2 Tim. 3. 2. p. 16 17 c. See more in my Comment on 2 Tim. 3. 13. p. 225 226. See Dyke on the Sacrament chap. 15. p. 367 Against barrenness See Gross his Serm. on Col. 2. 10. p. 207. Strong 31. Serm. p. 1. Robinsâ—n Christ All in all 2 p. p. 259. See more in my Comment on 2 Tim. 3. 2. p. 69 70. See more before Obs. ninth and Burroughs on Hosea 4. 1. p. 26 27. 5. 7. p. 420. The danger of Anarchy you may see in my Comment on Psal. 82. 1. See more in my Comment on 2 Tim. 4. 2. â— 334. 〈…〉 desolabuntur Vulg. Montan. V. Burroughs Ireâ—â—cum p. 1 2 c. Dum pugnant singuli vincuntur universi Tacitus Plectimâ—r sed non flectimur corripâ—mâ—r sed non corrigimur Salvian See more in my Comment on 2 Tim. 3. 3. p. 81 â—2 A Quaker came lately to Aldermanbury on the Sabbath day and in Sermon-time gets in the Pulpit and pulls out a pocket and falls to working in the Church Others in Londoâ— work openly upon the Lords day See Solomon per Antiphrasin Eccles. a Quaker his blasphemous Narrative of this business 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 torqucor equulâ—o imponi Mr. Woodwards Chronicle of the Kings of Iudah in two Tracts E Longinquo posuit solent homines qui pii videri volunt dissita piâ—cul fana aut religionis gratia aut novitatis studio frequente invisere Sanctius Nature could say Homines viles non constituantur Sacerdotes propter honorem qui religioni majestati divine dcbetur Arist. Polit. l. 7. c. 9. Decebat vilissimos homines ut vilissimos haberent Sacerdotes A Lapide See more in B. Halls Contemplations l. 18. p. 1175 c. folio See my Comment on Psal. 82. 1. Quales in Rep. Principes tales reliquos solere â—sse Cives dixit Cicero V. My Comment on Psal. 82. 1. V. my Comment on â— Tim. 4. 10. Obs. 6. p. 426. See more in my Comment on 2 Tim 3. 5. p. 140. O Sanctas gentes quibus haec nascuntur in hort is Numina Juven Sat. 15. V. Mr. Clerks Mirrour chap. 128. Edit ult No wonder if such bee brutish who have made a Calf their God Mr. Crostons Serm. on Joshua 22. 19. and Mr. Strongs 32. Serm. p. 471 472. solus imperantiunâ—tatus in melius Vespatianus Tacitus David in ali is peccatis non ex mali animi instituto sed sortuito quodam casu vulous acceperat negligentiae peccata erant non mlignitatis Theodoret. Consilia callida prima specie laeta tractatu dicra eventu tristia Liv. Deus pâ—ape est cum procul abesse videtur Concerning Chronological Doubts I shall refer the Reader to Mr. Roberts his Key of the Bible on the first and second Book of Kings my work is for Practicals Dum patris exemplar potius quam divinam legem intuetur Nadab ipse sceleratus fuit quod scelerati solent reges populum ad peccandum induxit aluit audaciam quare non diu vixit Sanctius Exaltare de pulvere extremam significat conditionem illius qui ex pulvere excitari dicitur In pulvere enim sedere dicuntur miseri abjecti sordidi quique extrema naturae patiuntur incommoda Sanctius These permissive Acts of Providence are no warrant nor security for such Acts of Injustice See my Comment on 2 Tim 3. 2. p. 19 A Conque rour that will securely injoy what hee hath wonn must root up the former stock say Politicians Hence Herod killed the Infants to make all sure V. Mr. Clerks Mirrour ch 42. Tohu inanitas Elilim nihilitates Isa. 2. 8. Ezek. 30. 13. It is not Nihil negativum but Nihil privativum there is no relation between God and it or it is Nihil essectivum it can do nothing Weems Perpetuam ignominiam brevissima fruitione bonorum caduâ—orum emit Ad generum Cereis sine caede vulnere pauci Descendunt Reges ac sicca morte Tyranni Juven Saty. 10. Regna vi scelere parta non sunt diuturna Nulla impiis tuta latebra cum malis ubique male sit Em. Thesaurus Sardanapalus effaeminatus victus in Regiam se recepit ubi extructa pyra se divitias sâ—â—as in incendium mittit hoc solo imitatus vicum Justin. l. 1. Zimri Tyrannus ambiens aâ—lam invenit urnam 〈◊〉 ascondens in Regiam resilâ—it in Pyram A Lapide Sicut in hâ—â—c vitam non spontâ— nostra 〈◊〉 ita rursus ex domicilio corporis quod tuendum nobis est assignatum ejusdem jussu recedendum est qui nos in hoc cerpus induxit tamdiu habitaturos donce jubeat emitti Lactant. See my Comment on 2 Tim. 3. 2. p. 69. Si jus sides violanda est Regnâ— causa vâ—olanda â—st Romano imperio accidit ut milites non sequerentur suffragia Senatus in designando Imperatore sed suo arbitrio plerumque utebantur Pessimi Patris pessimus Filius How hee exceeded all his predecessors in wickedness in twelve particulars see our large Annot on 1 King 16. 33. V. Comment on 2 Tim 3. 20 p. 21. Ne pergas quaerere quid sit coâ— durum sinon expavisti tuum est Bernard Tu servus servorum es iis enim â—upiditatibus quibus tu inservis ego impero Indignum facinus quod Ahab metu aliquo detentus non audebat astu ausu plusquam femineo concipâ—t consicit Iesabel Paroeus Sylla Charybdis Sâ—cula contorquens freta mâ—nus est timenda nulla est serocior fera Seneca in Heicule Oâ—teo V. B. Halls Contemplations p. 1215. folio Mulier est viscus toxicatum quo Diabolus aucupatur August Contra