Oh that your lives might shine forth in holines after this day and that it may be with you as it was with Hezekiah when he and all his people kept the Passeover together the first thing they did before the killing of the Passeover was the taking away all the Altars that were at Ierusalem and casting them into the brook Kidron And when the Passeover was finished all Israel that were present went out to the Cities of Iudah and brake the Images in peeces and cut down the groves and threw down the high places and the Altars out of all Iudah and Benjamin in Ephraim also and Manasseh untill they had utterly destroyed them all I speak not of any tumultuous disorderly illegall way but of an orderly and legall reformation Which I desire like this of Hezekiah may be the issue of this day The Motives are many 1. If you build Gods house God will build Houses for you as he did for the Hebrew Midwives he will blesse and prosper you Remember what the Prophet Haggai saith Is it time for you O yee to dwell in your ceiled houses and this house lye waste Now therefore thus saith the Lord consider your wayes Yee have sown much and bring in little yee eat but ye have not enough ye cloath you but there is none warm and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes Thus saith the Lord Consider your wayes go up to the Mountain and bring Wood and build the house and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified saith the Lord c. Read also Verse 9 10 11. 2. Consider what Mordecai said unto Esther Think not with thy self that thou shalt escape in the Kings house more then all the Iews for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Iews from another place But thou and thy Fathers House shall be destroyed And who knoweth whether thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this As Ierome said concerning the day of judgement That whether he did eat or drink or whatsoever he did he did alwayes hear the voice of the Arch-Angel Arise yee dead and come to judgement So doe I desire that you would at all times and in all places remember and consider this soul-awakening speech of Mordecai and Esther 3. Consider the famous examples of Ezra Nehemiah and Zerubbabel what care and pains they took for the rebuilding not only of the Walls but also of the Temple of Ierusalem It is not enough to set the State in tune but you must remember to repair the Temple also Be not afraid of Tobiah Sanballat or of any other enemy Who art thou O great Mountain Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain A Parliament-man must be like Athanasius who was Magnes Adamas A Loadstone and an Adamant A Loadstone by his affable carriage and courteous behaviour drawing all men to the love of him But in the cause of God he was as an Adamant untameable and unconquerable 4. If we reform and turn God will turn If we turn from the evill of our sins God will turn from the evill of his judgements Tertullian speaks of himself That he was born to nothing else but to Repentance An excellent saying for every one to lay to heart The first Text that ever Iohn Baptist preached on was Repentance The first that ever Christ preached on was Repentance And the first thing that Christ commanded his Apostles to preach was Repentance God himself hath consecrated Repentance by his own example saith Tertullian Dedicavit poenitentiam in semetipso He repenteth to teach us to repent This is that which God not only commands and entreateth but sweareth that he would have us to do Happy we for whose sake God swears but most unhappy if we beleeve not God when he swears and if we live not as we beleeve Will a nationall reformation certainly divert Gods judgements from a Nation Did not Iosiah reform and yet it is expressely said That notwithstanding this Reformation Yet the Lord turned not from the fiercenesse of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Iudah because of all the provocations that Manasses had provoked him withall 1. A nationall reformation will certainly deliver us from everlasting misery 2. It is Gods ordinary way for the removeall of temporall judgements There is no instance fully against it but this of Iosiah but to this it may be replyed that Iosiahs reformation in reference to the multitude was hypocriticall and therefore it did only prorogue and adjourn but not totally remove Gods wrath That it was so in regard of the people appears Ierem. 3. 10. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart but fainedly saith the Lord A sincere Nationall turning will certainly divert Nationall Judgements and procure Nationall Blessings If we will not turn reform and repent of our sins God will repent with a new kinde of repentance he will not repent of the evill but repent that he hath repented of the evill he will repent of the good wherewith he said he would benefit us And this leads me to the fourth Doctrinall Conclusion Doctrine 4. That when God begins to build and plant a Nation if that Nation do evill in Gods sight God will unbuild pluck up and repent of the good he intended to do unto it This is a point of great concernment expressely set down in the tenth verse It is certain that God hath begun to build and plant this Nation and he hath made you his Instruments Right Honourable in this great work We reade Zechary 1.19 of four horns which scattered Iudah and Ierusalem By these four horns are meant all the enemies of Gods people that are alwayes pushing at them and goring of them And verse 20 we reade of four Carpenters whom God raised up to fray away these horns Such Carpenters have you been unto us You have knockt off all those horns wherewith the fat Buls of Bashan pushed at us You have endeavoured to under-prop the House of this Kingdom and to keep it from falling You have stubb'd up many unprofitable Trees and taken away at least in your endeavours many rotten posts you have removed a great deal of rubbidge You have been our Ebedmelech's to release our Ieremies out of the Dungeon Indeed you have done marvellous things blessed be the Name of the Lord And we have cause to be enlarged in much thankfulnesse though you never have opportunity to do more for us Ezra blessed God that had given them a little reviving in their bondage A man that hath been for many yeers in a dark Dungeon will rejoyce exceedingly for a little crevise of light though never so little We have been in the Dungeon of despair and we blesse God for the
wildernesse make it a fruitfull Paradise But if that Nation do evill in Gods sight and will not obey his voice then will God repent of the good wherewith he would have benefited them and pull down what he hath built and pluck up what he hath planted and of a fruitfull Paradise make it a barren wildernesse By all this it appears That as this day is a Nationall day and this Honourable Assembly a Nationall Assembly so this Text is a Nationall Text every way sutable for the occasion about which we are met The Lord make it as profitable to you as it is sutable for you From the words thus explained I gather these four Doctrinall conclusions 1. That God hath an absolute power over all Kingdoms and Nations to pluck them up pull them down and destroy them as he pleaseth 2. That though God hath this absolute Prerogative over Kingdoms and Nations yet he seldome useth this power but first he gives warning 3. If that Kingdome against which God hath threatned destruction repent and turn from their evill God will not only not destroy that Kingdome but build it and plant it Or thus Nationall Repentance will divert Nationall judgements and procure Nationall blessings 4. That when God begins to build and plant a Nation if that Nation do evill in Gods sight God will repent of the good he intended to do unto it The first is this 1. That God hath an independent and illimited Prerogative over all Kingdoms and Nations to build them or destroy them as he pleaseth This is set forth in the beginning of the Chapter by ocular demonstration God bids Ieremy Arise and go down to the Potters house c. them and when he came there he beheld the Potter making a Vessell of clay and breaking it and making it again another Vessell as seemed good to the Potter to make it And God himselfe makes the application Oh House of Israel cannot I do with you as this Potter saith the Lord Cannot I make you Vessells of honour or dishonour cannot I save you or destroy you as I please Behold as the clay is in the Potters hand so are ye in mine hand O House of Israel Because Nebuchadnezzar would not confesse this truth he was driven to school to the beasts of the field and he had the heart of an Oxe till he acknowledged that God doth whatsoever he will in the Army of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What dost thou This supremacy of Gods power is founded upon this absolute Right that God hath over us as he is our Creator For he is Jehovah that gives being to all and receives being from none Of him and to him and through him are all things All creatures are beams from his Sun drops from his Ocean If I speak saith the Text I in whom all men live move and have their being I that made all things out of nothing and can as easily turn all things into nothing If I speak This power of God over Kingdoms hath two properties 1. It is illimited and independent which appears by three expressions in the Text 1. By these words At what instant which hold forth unto us that God can destroy a Nation in an instant in the very twinckling of an eye In the morning the Sun shone upon Sodome but before night it was destroyed with fire and brimstone The old World was drowned as Luther thinks in the Spring time when all things began to bud and blossome The flood came suddenly saith Christ it came de repente according to the vulgar translation of these words when they least expected it And on the contrary God can in an instant make a Nation happy The Israelites were in an instant brought out of Egypt a and were in one and the same day of all people most miserable and of all people most happy as Calvin well observeth upon this Text 2. By these words I shall speak If God do but speak to destroy a Nation it is presently destroyed He spake the word and the World was made and if he speak the word the World will return to its first Principles If I bring a sword upon a land and say sword go through that land so that I cut off man and beast from it Though these three men were in it as I live saith the Lord they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters c. Ezek. 14.17 18. On the contrary if God do but speak to plant a Nation it is planted for Gods benedicere is benefacere 3. This absolute power of God is likewise deciphered by three synonimicall expressions in the Text To pluck up pull down and to destroy Which three words do intimate That God hath an illimited Prerogative over Kingdoms and that he can overturn overturn overturn uhem as it is said Ezek. 21.27 Or as Hugo glosseth upon the words He can pluck up all mercies pull down all judgments and destroy them that is make an utter ruine of them 2. This power of God is universall For the words run in generall At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation not this or that Nation but a Nation indefinitely There is no Kingdome exempted from Gods jurisdiction or that hath Letters Patents to priviledge it If I speak concerning Ierusalem or concerning England c. God is the Governour of the whole World all alike to this Heavenly Potter If Gods power over Kingdomes be so large If and so absolute let all the World stand in awe and not dare to sin against such a mighty and terrible God A God before whom all the Nations of the World are as a drop of a bucket and as the small dust of the ballance And if all Asia Africa Europe and America be but as the drop of a bucket what a little drop of that bucket is one man though never so great If all the World be but as the dust of the ballance what a little little particle of this dust is one man Who would not fear thee oh King of Nations forasmuch as there is none like to thee O Lord Thou art great and thy Name is great in might Will ye not fear me saith the Lord will ye not tremble at my presence which hath chained up the sea with fetters of sand c. That am the God of earthquakes the God of thunder and lightning a God that can cast both body and soule into Hell fire Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall dye and of the son of man which shall bee made as grasse and forgettest the Lord thy maker that hath stretched forth the Heavens and layd the foundatons of the earth Think of this you that are greater in sin than in greatnesse that make no other use of your greatnesse but as of Letters Patents to free your selves from all humane punishments and to
the Looking-glasse of the Countrey where they live according to which most men dresse themselves If they be wicked the whole Countrey is much the worser by them The vices of Rulers are rules of Vices Quicquid faciunt praecipere videntur If the head be giddy the members reel If the liver be tainted the body is dropsie Ieroboam made all Israel to sin But when great men prove good men it is not to be expressed what good they do When Crispus the chief Ruler of the Synagogue beleeved on the Lord many of the Corinthians hearing beleeved also When the Master of the family was converted his whole family were also baptized The Lord make all great men good men and good men of parts and abilities great men 2 As this Reformation must be personall so also it must be nationall For so saith the Text If that Nation against which c. A particular man by turning unto God may turn away a particular judgement But when the sins of a Nation are generall and the judgements upon a Nation generall the turning must be generall If the Sea hath broken the banks and overflown the Countrey it is not the care of one or two men by repairing their banks that can prevent the inundation Even so when God is overflowing a Land with a generall destruction there must be a generall endeavour to make up the whole breach There must be a Court-Reformation a Countrey-Reformation a City-Reformation Church and State-Reformation a Generall-Reformation But how shall we do to obtain this generall Reformation Two wayes If you that are the representative Body of this Nation as you stand under this relation be reformed the Nation it self may be said to be reformed For you are the Nation representatively virtually and eminently you stand in the place of the whole Nation and if you stand for Gods cause the whole Nation doth it in you Oh let it not be said that the Reformers of others need Reformation themselves If the eye be dark how great is that darknesse c. If the Salt that seasoneth other things be unsavoury wherewithall shall it be seasoned This is the first way The second way to reform a Nation is when you that are the representative Body of the Nation do as much as in you lyeth to reform the Nation you represent This is a duty that God requires and expects from your hands It was the complaint of Nehemiah that the Nobles of Tekoah did not put their necks to the yoak of the Lord this was a great blemish to them Let not I beseech you the like brand of infamy be cast upon any of you It cannot be denied but that this Nation needs Reformation not onely in reference to the Common-wealth but also to the Church The Prophet in the ninth verse compares a Nation to a House that needs building and to an Orchard that needs planting And sure it is that the House of this Nation is much out of repair the House of the Lord lieth waste and there is much rubbish in it Many pollutions have crept into our Doctrine much defilement into our Worship many illegall innovations have been obtruded upon us the very posts and pillars of this House many of them are rotten the stones are loose and uncemented the House exceedingly divided and distracted with diversity of opinions the very foundation is ready to shake and the House to fall down about our ears The Garden of this Nation is over grown with weeds and there are many not onely unprofitable but hurtfull trees planted in this Garden Now this is the great work that the Lord requireth at your hands Oh ye Worthies of Israel To stub up all these unprofitable Trees and to repair the breaches of Gods House to build it up in its beauty according to the pattern in the Mount and to bring us back not onely to our first Reformation in King Edwards dayes but to reform the Reformation it self For we were then newly crept out of Popery and like unto men that come newly out of prison where they have been long detained it was impossible but our garments should smell a little of the Dungeon from whence we came It is said of Lazarus that when he came first out of the Grave He came forth bound hand and foot with Grave-clothes and his face was bound about with a Napkin So it was with us in our first Reformation it was a most blessed and glorious work like the resurrection from the Grave but yet notwithstanding we came out of this Grave bound hands and feet with our Grave clothes and eyes-blinding Napkins we brought many things out with us which should have been left behinde Our Saviour Christ rose from the dead and left all his linnen clothes behinde him So must we bury all superstitious Ceremonies in the grave of oblivion and perfect a Reformation according to the Word of God And as our Saviour Christ in the place forementioned commanded his Disciples to unbinde Lazarus and to take away his Grave-clothes Oh that you also would command the Apostles of Christ the faithfull and learned Ministers of this Kingdome to meet in a free Nationall Synod for to inform you about the taking away of these grave clothes and eiesblinding Napkins or whatsoever else shall appear to be prejudiciall to the piety and purity of of Gods Worship But then I do most earnestly beseech you to take heed that those whom you call to this Synod be not like unto the Cardinalls and Prelates who met at Rome to consult about Reformation of the Church of whom Luther speaks That they were like unto Foxes that came to sweep a house full of dust with their tails and instead of sweeping out the dust they swept it all about the house and made a great smoke for the while but when they were gone the dust fell all down again I doubt not but if this motion which I offer in all humility succeed your Wisedoms will be carefull to make such qualifications both of the Persons that are to chuse and to be chosen that no Minister lyable to any just exception shall have a voice in this Synod for fear lest our greatest remedy prove to be our greatest ruine But this by the way Oh that the Lord would make me an instrument this day to encourage you to go on in the work of Reformation For Sions sake I will not hold my peace and for Ierusalems sake I will not rest untill the righteousnesse thereof go forth as brightnesse and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth Arise arise have mercy upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come Let it pitty you to see Sion in the dust Let this be the product of this solemn Fast to quicken you to a Nationall Reformation When Moses had been conversing with God his face shone when he came down You are now conversing with God in the Mount
God only that can build and plant a Nation He is the only Architect that can build our waste places and make up our dilapidations though never so great he is the only Gardner to pluck up our Weeds and to plant usefull and fruitfull Trees in the Orchard of this Nation And if he please he can do it and that in an instant with a word speaking For so it is in the Text At what instant I speak concerning a Nation to build and to plant it Though the House of the Kingdom be never so much out of repair God can in an instant build us and plant us and make us better then ever But if God begin to repent of what he hath done woe to the Nation For except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it in vain to rise up early and to sit up late c. God will unravell all and though he hath brought us neer Canaan he will carry us back again and make us to tarry forty yeers for a Reformation or it may be he will at last carry us back again to Egypt which was the last and greatest curse threatned against the people of Israel and it is the greatest misery that can come upon this Nation But on the contrary if we turn from our evill wayes God will perfect his building and finish his plantation he will make us a glorious Paradise an habitation fit for himself to dwell in he will set up his ordinances after a purer manner and watch over us for good from the beginning of the yeer to the end of it Oh that these words of mine might be as goads and as nails to fasten this point upon your hearts that it may take deep impression and abide for ever upon your spirits It may be some will say That this doctrine is as common as the high-way It is true It is a common high way but it is the high way to heaven And though it be not a Doctrine to glut your ears yet it is savoury meat such as Iacob provided for Esau whereby he obtained the blessing Turn or burn for ever in Hell Let every man labour first to turn himself and then let us endeavour to reform one another There is a great complaint in the Kingdom The Ministers complain of their people that they are factious seditious covetous dis-respectfull of the Ministery c. And that because they do not reform therefore the judgements of God are not turned away from us The people complain of their Ministers that they are dumb dogs greedy dogs which can never have enough and that they are superstitious more for pomp then substance and that untill the scandalous Ministers be removed Gods heavy hand will never be removed from us The rich complain of the poor that they are lazy and theevish The poor of the rich that they are proud and hard-hearted The superiours cry out against their inferiours and the inferiours against the superiours And because every man expects when his neighbour should turn hence it cometh to passe that no man in particular turns We look for that in another which we forget to do in our selves I know no way to reconcile this division but by raising a new division and by perswading all sorts of people to strive who should be the first in turning to God who should first get into Christ who should first get into the Ark Every man strives for worldly precedency Oh let us strive for this spirituall precedency It is no pride in this to go one before another He is the humblest that goeth first And being reformed in our own persons let us in the next place labour to reform one another We are all of one nation of one body one flesh one Church There is a Nationall Communion a Morall Communion a Politicall Communion a Spirituall Communion amongst us I may adde There is a Communion in misery We are all in the same condemnation Let us labour to pitty one another and to turn one another Let every man search what drunkard what swearer what adulterer c. He hath in his House and either cause the sin to depart from the person or both sin and person from his house First reforme your own families and then you will be the fitter to reforme the family of God Let the Master reforme his servant the Father his childe the Husband his Wife Will a man keepe a servant in his house all night if he were assured he would murther him before morning Such a servant is sinne It will murther soul and bodie Let us cast it away from our selves and from our families There is one Motive more and that is from the ayd you are sending to Ireland to distressed Ireland that at this instant calls to England with aloud cry for help and assistance I doubt not but you are sensible that delay is as bad as deniall almost I shall offer only one Text to be considered on when you send forth your help and that is Deut. 23. 9. When the Host goeth forth against their enemies then keep thee from every wicked thing If sin be in the Host it will make you turn your backs upon your enemies Turn to God and he will make your enemies turn their backs upon you But it is not in my power to turn unlesse I were praedestinated I answer with Master Bradford that we must first go to the Grammar-schoole of Repentance before we can be admitted to the University of Praedestination It is not a dispute about Praedestination that will turn away Gods wrath but it is the practise of humiliation and Reformation It is most certain that God is not the cause of any mans damnation He found us sinners in Adam but made none sinners Thy perdition is of thy selfe oh Israel And it is as certain that it is not in the power of man by nature to convert himselfe And that therefore God commands what we cannot perform that we might therby take notice what we should do and what we once could do in Adam and where we should go to get power to do that which we cannot do of our selves Go to the Word that hath a creating power God oftentimes in speaking gives power Go to prayer for converting Grace Pray with Austine Lord give me what thou commandest and command what thou wilt It is an excellent rule observed by the same Author That there is nothing required of us from God as a duty in Scripture but it is either promised by God as a gift or some of Gods Saints have prayed for it as a gift As for example God commands us to turn unto him but Ieremy prayes for it Turn us oh Lord and we shall be turned And God promiseth it Deut. 30. 6. Ezek. 36. 26. Let us therefore be sensible of our inability to keepe the commandement of the text and let us beleeve in his promise to give us power to keepe it and pray for the performance of his promise FINIS Mallem obedire quam miracula facere Luther 2 Chron. 24.24 Prov. 14 34. Ezra 5.1 Verse 7. Verse 8. Verse 8. Verse 9. Ver. 10. Doct. 1. Verse 2. Verse 4. Verse 6. Dan. 4.34 35. Reas. 1. Ro. 11.36 a Eodem die fuistis omnium miserrimi omnium beatissimi Nox una non tantum vos a morte in vitam traduxit sed ex abysso profundissima evexit supra omnem terrenam faelicitatem ac si in nubibios equitaretis Vse 1. Isa. 40.15 Iere. 10. 6 7. Iere. 5.22 Isa. 51.12 13. Text. Isa. 30 33 Reve 6. 15 16. Psal. 4. 1 Cor. 10.22 Vse 2. Vse 3. Athanas. in vita Antonij Doct. 2. Reas. 1. Isa. 45.7 Reas. 2. Cant. 2.8 Reas. 3. Vse 1. In vita 1. Agrip. Lib. 5 de Bell. Gal. Tertul. Apolog. Motives Bernard Bernard Sermon de triplici miseric. Bernard Sermon de triplici miseric. quatuor miserat Doct. 3. Deus vult mutationē sed nunquam mutat voluntatem Aquinas Deus aliquando mutat sententiam sed nunquam mutat decretum Greg. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Naz. Tertul. de paenit Paenitentia radens verrens peccata Ibid. Use of exhortation unto two Duties 1 To Humiliation Seven Buckets to draw out the water of tears Job 14. 17 Ps. 56. 8. Eph. 4 30. Am. 2. 13. Ezek. 6. 9. Six Reasons to move us to great sorrow for little sins Buck. 2. Ps. 105 7. Aust. Epist 6 4. Heb. 13.4 Vrsin's preface to his Catechisme 3. 4. Luk 19. 41 42. Iustin. A fifth help to humiliation A sixth Bucket Ps 6.8 Plutarc in vita Alexand. Gen. 19.27 28. Neh. 1.3 4 5. Proemium Cōmentar in Ezek. 1 Sa. 4.19 Mat. 2. 18. Jud 5.28 7. In vita ejus apud Surium The second duty is Reformation This Reformation must be 1 Personal Jona 3.8 Ps. 18 23. Luke 15. 2 Sam. 23.15 16. Quo grandius nomen ca grandius scandalum Act. 18.8 2 It must be nationall Quest Answ. Nehe. 3 1. Ioh. 1 1.44 Ioh. 10.5 Ioh. 11 44. Sleidan Convent Isai. 62.1 2 Chron. 30.14 15. 2 Chron 31.1 Motives to a Reformation Ex. 1.21 Hagg. 1.4 5 6 7 8 9. Esth. 11. 13 14 15. Zach. 4 7. Tect de poenitent Matth. 3. ◠Mat. 4. 17. Luk. 24. 47. Tertul. de poenit Ezek. 18. Tertull Quest 2 King 23. 26. Answ. 5. Doct. 4. Ezra 9 8. Psa. 68.13 Zac. 4.10 Ezra 10. 11. Nehe. 12.22 Gene. 6. 2 Sam. 6. Reason 2 Chron. 15 2. 1 Sam. 12.23 Vse Ef. 26. Ier. 5. 31. Vse 2. Psa. 1 7 1. Deut. 28 68. Object Answ.