threatning against two of the sins of this People violence and the want of the feare of the Lord whereby the law is slacked And for corruption of Justice they that turn judgement into wormwood have their doom Judgment without mercy shall be shewed to them that have no mercy Let us not therefore feare them or be troubled at them that go in these wicked ways for the Judge of all the world will do justly The cry of the oppressed shall prevaile against them He also will heare their cry and will help them The Lord is King the earth may be glad thereof and the multitude of the Ilands may rejoyce for he is known by executing judgment he is the husband of the widow and the father of the fatherlesse The poore committeth his cause unto him for he relieveth the oppressed 2. The particulars of this judgment threatned contain two things 1. The Judgment threatned 2. The Executioners thereof 1. The judgement threatned is that he will punish them by the conquering hand of the heathen This calleth to our remembrance divers points of doctrine delivered out of the prophecy of Obaâ—iah 1. That the decrees of Gods judgments upon the wicked are constant and unchangeable 2. That God useth warre as one of his rods to punish sin 3. That all wars are ordained by God for he stirreth up this warre against the Jews 4. That God punisheth one evil Nation by another 5. That God giveth warning of his judgments to those whom he fore knoweth to be such as they will take no warning to amend 6. That God requiteth sinners in the same kind in which they offend The Jews sinne was violence and violence is their punishment 7. That the judgment of God upon the wicked and unmerciful shall be without all mercy The point that I will now adde Doct. is That the Justice of God doth not spare his own People if they provoke him The Jews shall have no favour if the Prophets and holy men have cause to complain of them All the promises that God made to Israel are limited by the condition of their obedience and the law given to them is called the Lords Covenant because all those promises did follow the obedience of that law otherwise God stood free to withdraw his mercie from them So Moses The Lord made a Covenant with us in Horeb. The Covenant is 1 Pet. 2.5 You shall walk in all the wayes which the Lord your God commanded you that yee may live and that it may go well with you Vers 33. and that yee may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possesse God himselfe confesseth Psal 89.3 I have made a Covenant with my chosen I have sworn unto David my servant Thy Throne will I establish for ever Vers 4. and build up thy Throne to all Generations But yet with condition of obedience for If his children forsake my law Vers 30. Vers 31. Vers 32. and walk not in my judgements If they break my statutes and keep not my Commandements Then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes So that no promise or oath of God doth give Priviledge or immunity to any to offend the law of God And such is the equal Justice of God that David though a man after Gods heart although a servant of Gods finding a king of Gods own annointing doth confesse If I regard wickednesse in my heart the Lord will not hear me Moses his sister Miriam must be a Leper and shut out of the Camp for murmuring Moses and Aaron shall not go into the promised land for their want of sure trust in God For God is no accepter of Persons Those who are sealed with the spirit of promise Reas have their infirmities lapses and relapses but as they sin not unto death 1. The second death so they can't suffer any other then temporal chastisements yet these they cannot stop for by this Physick God doth often purge them and restore them to health in this fire of tribulation he doth often purge their drosse For some water will serve them to wash them if they be taken in time for some that have taken rust with Gods long forbearance and their own custome of sinning fire is necessary to burn out their drosse But none escape of this all are Partakers and as personal sins have personal chastisements so epidemical sins have popular punishments when a Common-wealth is diseased what though it be a People as Israel whom God hath chosen out of all the nations of the world what though he have rooted out the heathen to plant them in although he have given them a land flowing with miâ—k and honey setled the Priesthood and his Worship given them his Word continued them in peace many generations Yet if they shall use violence and oppression if they shall break the Law of God and corrupt the seat of judgement The Lord will see it and be angry and Noah Daniel and Job shall not keep out judgment rather the complaints of the just shall help to hasten the coming of wrath against that land We have heard also that judgment beginneth at the house of God 1 Pet. 4.17 When God sent destroyers into Jerusalem their Commission was Slay utterly old and young both maids and the children Ezech 9.6 and the women and begin at my Sanctuary We may say that England hath been for many years since the restitution of our Religion Gods pleasant plant Vse he hath given it rest he hath hedged you walled it with his Providence He hath given us peace within he hath given us victories abroad he hath kept out the Chaldaeans the Spaniards whose invincible strength came to possesse and divide the land He hath spoken the word and we have had multitude of Preachers Religion and all kind of learning all Mercature hath flourished and we have traded to the ends of the world Mechanical and manual arts have come up to their full growth we may say Non fecit Deus taliter we have peace now with all the world at least in shew and pretence Let not these favours of God swell us and make us presume in our hearts that our God cannot be lost to us to encourage sinne if the sins of the Iews be found amongst us violence contempt of Religion and corruption of Justice God will do a thing in our days which he that heareth will not believe by reason of our long rest All the favours of God came in with true Religion and the contempt thereof wil carry them out again for God is no accepter of Persons as we are Angli if we were Angeli he would cast us out of our heaven upon earth and give our land to strangers that shall punish us and make them that hate us to be lords over us 2. The executioners of this judgment wherin observe 1. By whom God will punish 2. How farre the punishment shall extend 3. What shall become of
that abuse it or to stop the course of his justice to them whom correction doth amend then we say he repenteth him of that which he hath either promised or threatned for clearing whereof understand That God never changeth in promise or in threatning but only in things concerning this life as in all the examples repeated all those promises and threatnings be used as motives to induce obedience and therefore they are not absolute but conditionall For it is no good argument to perswade a man to be Religions and to fear God abstaining from all the pleasing delights of the world to promise him his hearts desire if he know that that promise doth bind God that whatsoever he do he shall be partaker of the promise And it is no inducement to disswade sin by the commination of judgment if the judgment must of necessity be inflicted Therefore this revealed Will of God is conditionall and hath reference to our obedience and faith and good life and use of the means ordained by God and tendered to us This is the rule of life and by this Will is the Church of God governed for by this he doth reveal himself both in his word and in his permissions and in his operations 1. God signifieth his Will by his Word for that doth declare in precepts prohibitions and examples what God would have to be done what not to be done it revealeth both rewards and punishments and it useth both promises and threatnings 2. God signifieth his Will by permissions because he declareth thereby that what he suffereth to be done that he willeth to be effected 3. By operations for what God doth he doth according to his Will 2. Voluntas beneplaciti is the secret Will of God reserved in himself in wiâ—ch 1. There is consilium the wisdom of God foreseeing what is to be done 2. There is decretum determining it and herein the counsell of God is not the rule of his Will for there is nothing in God above his Will but wiling all things to be thus as he hath decreed he foreseeth in wisdom what he willeth and therefore the rule is not with God This is good therefore I decree it but this I decree therefore it is good Now sometimes there seems to be an opposition between these two Wils of God which is thus reconciled The Will of God is revealed to man 1. Either for necessary and absolute obedience as in the whole morall Law of God 2. For probation and tryall as in the commandment given to Abraham to offer up Isaak wherein God concealed his secret Will which was to preserve Isaak and concealed the purpose of his commandments which was to try the saith of Abraham So on the contrary he sent to Pharaoh commanding him to let Israel go yet it was not his secret will that Israel should go yet but the commandment was given to convince Pharaoh of hardnesle of heart and as in Abraham the commandment did cause him to declare his faith so in Pharaoh did it convince him of rebellion to the Will of God So all our preaching wherein we perswade repentance and promise life eternal it serveth to direct all that look for salvation in the way of life and it serveth to convince the world of unrighteousnesse if they obey not The answer then is that whatsoever God willeth and decreeth voluntate beneplaciti by the will of good pleasure doth take effect What God willeth voluntate signi by the Will signified not always Reply How then shall I know what to do seeing the signifying Will of God is my rule and that seemeth uncertain and not agreeable to the secret Will of Gods good pleasure Sol. Do as Abraham did prepare to offer thy son do as thou art commanded leave the event and the disposition of thy obedience to God who wil further reveale himselfe unto thee Do as Hezechiah did set thine house in order yet use the means by repentance and Prayer to prolong thy life Do as the Ninivites did fast and repent and call upon the name of the Lord and try him as the Prophet saith Whether hâ— will shew thee mercy or not But to bring this home to my text when God pronounceth the Decree of Judgement against the enemies of the Church and promiseâ—h mercy to his Church believe him in both for neither can Gods enemies repent to change the course of his Iustice neither can his Church sinne unto death that he should take his mercy utterly from it So then the Argument holdeth strong God hath said and decreed what he wil do against these Chaldaeans what for his Church therefore it shall come to passe Quest But if this be true Quest what need then is there of Prayer doth it not argue in us a kind of distrust in the favour of God when we do not take his word but are still importunate to sollicite his favour To this our answer is that this cannot discourage Prayer because the decree is past and unchangable this is the proper foundation of Prayer for the Apostle saith And this is the confidence that we have in him 1 John 5.14 that if we ask any thing according to his Will he heareth us So that it is a necessary knowledge before we undertake to pray to know what is that good that acceptable and perfect Will of God For we not only lose our labour but we do also offend God if we ask any thing against or beside his Will therefore that we might not run into the errour of the sons of Zebedee Nescitis quid petatis you know not what you should ask Our Saviour hath set down a forme of Prayer so absolute as that we cannot justifie the asking of any thing according to the Will of God that hath not reference to one of those petitions Reply If then we prevail in our Prayers Object why do we commend Prayer seeing all events do follow Gods will and decree and not our Prayers Our answer is that though the supreme agent in all operations be the Will of God Answ yet the hand of operation in many things is prayer which God hath ordained and commanded as a means to draw forth his Will to execution So God giveth every good gift yet we are without any wrong to God thankful to men by whose means any good cometh to us So that the doctrine doth remain firm Whatsoever God hath promised to his Church or threatned the perverse enemies therof that he will surely perform for the decrees and the word of God are unchangable Quest But when God threatneth me punishment and denounceth judgement against me how shall I know whether it be voluntas signi or bene placiti is there not an hope left me that God may repent him of the evil that he threatned It is a note of the evil conscience to feare where no fear is â—e where there is no cause of fear an elect man fearing judgement threatned which shall not come near him feareth where no cause
revealed to Abraham Gen. 15.13 Know that thy seed of a surety shall be a stranger in a Land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred Years And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judg Vers 14. and afterward shall they come out with great substance This as St. Augustine vvell understandeth doth include all the time that passed between the birth of Isaac and the entring of the people of Israel into the land of promise during vvhich time they had no land of their ovvn and in a dis-junct reading they vvere either strangers as during their first abode in Canaan and after in Aegypt or they served as after Josephs death and vvere afflicted Four hundred years are a long time yet they savv an end of their travails and afflictions and they knevv that their posterity should have rest at last and they knevv that God vvould judg their oppressours this made them able to bear the affliction Here is a picture dravvn to the life of a christian mans life here on earth for he must be a stranger and pilgrime here and must serve and suffer before he can come to Jerusalem which is visio pacis the vision of peace before he can come to rest from his labours This captivity in Babylon was a great punishment to this people but God made his vvill known to them as the Prophet here teacheth them to pray for he gave them vvarning of it long before 2 Reg. 20.17 but somwhat obscurely he came to a more cleer discovery of his purpose to Hezechiah All shall be carried into Babylon nothing shall be left The Lord also by Jeremie his Prophet gave them warning of it Jer. 16.13 I will cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not He threateneth to send Fishers to fish them compare that with Habakkuks prophecy Thou makest them as the fishes of the Sea Hab. 1.14 there you heard of their angle net and dragge Jeremy is yet more plain in this prediction Jer. 20.6 I will deliver all the strength of the city and all the labours thereof and all the pretious things thereof Jer. 25.11 c. to be carried into Babylon But most fully begin at the 9 verse And this whole Land shall bee a Desolation Vers 12. and an Astonishment and these Nations shall serve the King of Babylon 70 years And it shall come to passe when 70 years are accomplished that I will punish the King of Babylon Jer. 30.2 and that nation saith the Lord. There is some better news sic dicit Dominus The days come faith the Lord that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah saith the Lord and I will cause them to returne to the land that I gave to their Fathers and they shall possess it The miseries that smart upon afflicted men do make them forget the comforts that should heal their wounded spirits David expresseth his vexation so My soul refused comfort therefore O Lord make it known Make thy people sensible of that comfort which thou hast gratiously reserved for them And indeed the people were not quite out of heart all the time that they lived in that captivity they stil remembred Jerusalem and thought upon Sion and expected their deliverance But the dispersion of the Jews that hath now continued almost 1600 years that hath lasted long and the time of their restitution is not perticularly revealed this maketh them hang the head God in justice for the cruelty which they did execute upon his Son would not let them know the time of their deliverance as in their former afflictions he did which no doubt is a great signe of Gods heavy indignation Seeing then that the knowledge of the will of God and his purpose revealed in his Word 1 Vse is so great a comfort in afflictions we are taught to study and search the Book of Gods Will and therein to exercise our selves for he is the same God that he was and his wil is the same the just have the same promises that they had the unjust shall have the same judgments hear read the Book of God and apply it as thou goest for there thou shalt have thy portion Labour for newnesse of life and that shall bring thee to the proof and tryal to the discerning and experience of the will of God as the Apostle saith And be not conformed to the World but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind Rom. 12.2 that you may prove what is that good that acceptable and perfect will of God For God will not reveale himself to the ungodly but the secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant We must rest in this wil of God with a fiat voluntas tua thy will be done we must not resist it we must not murmure at it we must not make haste but we must live by faith and tarry the Lords leasure and in the mean time gather strength from his promise to establish our hearts that they faint not and fail us in our tribulations 3 Petition In wrath remember mercy The plea of the true Church in afflictions is mercy Doct. 1 Reas God taught us this himself for when our first Parents had sinned they were afraid and ashamed and hid themselves from God there was no mercy yet revealed Hovv vvould they solicite God Jesus Christ vvas not yet known to them therefore they fled from God for there is no drawing neer to God for sinners without Christ then God came and sought out Adam he arraigned the offenders and finding the Serpent guilty of the temptation he cursed him and there he promised Christ When mercy was revealed to man then he called the man first and then the woman And ever since that mercy was made known to the Church the true Church hath had no other plea but mercy There is misericordia condonans a pardoning mercy he forgiveth all our iniquities an article of faith remissio peccatorum remission of sins there is misericordia donans a giving mercy he giveth medicine to heal all our infirmities The Church knoweth that they have given God cause to be angry 2 Reas they know that if his wrath be kindled but a little he is a consuming fire and it is a fearfull thing to fall into his hands they know that in his favour is life and at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore We have nothing to keep us from the anger to come but mercy Lam. 3.22 Psal 51.1 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not all consumed for his compassions fail not Have mercy upon me O Lord according to thy loving kindnesse c. We have nothing to bring us again in favour with God whom we provoke every day but his mercy But as for me I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy
done in former ages page 105 Religion in the Head is speculation in the Heart affection in the Hand action page 169 Rich mens duties to the poor page 161 S. SAlvation is a work of power 210. of glory Ibid. Of mercy page 211 Salvation only of God page 229 Satans Suggestions that God is merciful animates sinners to do evil page 58 Satan is but Gods instrument in afflicting of the Church page 84 Selah what it signifieth page 49 Self conceited men how they ought to be taught page 32 Self-opinion is a kind of spiritual drunkennesse page 32 Set-prayers both lawful and necessary to be used page 6 Senselesse and livelesse creatures are subject to Gods will page 119 133 Sigionoth what it signifieth page 2 Signes of true spiritual joy page 201 203 Six Signes of ensuing judgment page 146 Sin is that which parteth God and us page 146 Sometimes God taketh away from his children their feeling of his love and of the joy of the Holy-Ghost page 56 T. TEmporal things have but a resemblance of good and evil spiritual favours are reall Pag. 202 Thanksgiving ought to be joyned with Prayer Pag. 106 Thanksgiving is a work of Justice which puts us in mind of our unablenesse to requite God and of our unworthinesse Pag. 69 The Contemplation of Gods justice in punishing the sins of his Church of his vengeance in revenging the quarrels of it of his mercy in his mercy in healing the wounds of it give the faithful occasion to resort to God by prayer Pag. 3 The Churches Plea in affliction is for mercy Pag. 45 The Church of God hath a special interest in the power and protection of God Pag. 54 The best forme of thanksgiving is that which maketh particular commemoration of Gods mercies Pag. 68 The sense of Scripture is the soul thereof Pag. 76 The welfare of the Church is the grief and vexation of her enemies Pag. 82 The truth of God is a good ground because the word of God is a sure word Pag. 112 The devil knew where Moses was buried Pag. 137 The effectual fevrent prayer of a righteous man prevaileth much Pag. 139 The poor are under Gods protection and his own flesh Pag. 160 The very Elect are shaken with fear Pag. 177 The law sheweth us how much we are in Gods debt Pag. 178 The same hand that put the children of Israel in possession of the land of Canaan put them out again Pag. 186 The Chaldaeans armies the Troops of God Pag. 186 The Saints of God have their sorrows on earth yet they always rejoyce in the Lord. Pag. 202 The general apprehension of Gods mercy in Christ will not justifie a man in the sight of God Pag. 207 The Lord will loose the bonds of his Church and give her deliverance out of her troubles Pag. 220 They that joy in the Lord rest in the Lord and rejoyce in nothing otherwise then as a means to serve the Lord. 200 and because God is Lord. Pag. 201 Three notes of a lawful promise and oath Pag. 115 VAin repetitions not to be used in Prayer Pag. 33 W WE ought to give the whole glory and praise for all good to God 70. And thanks to creatures as ministers and instruments of God Pag. 71 We must search out and confesse the true cause of all the good that God doth to us Pag. 107 What use may be made of Davids Psalmes in our frequent reading and meditation of them Pag. 19 What is meant by the works of God Pag. 19 What is meant by the midst of years Pag. 21 Whether we ought to swear at all Pag. 114 Whether every oath ought to be kept Pag. 115 Wheresoever there is Election there is Vnction pag. 130 154 Where God loveth a People his favour runneth in a full stream in the channel of his Church Pag. 138 Where there is the true joy of the Holy Ghost no temporal affliction can extinguish or eclipse it Pag. 195 X Xerxes angry with the sea causeth it to be beater with stripes pag. 102 FINIS A Commentarie OR EXPOSITION UPON The Prophecy of HABAKKVK CHAP. I. Verse 1. The Burthen which HABAKKUK the Prophet did see THis first verse tels us what we shall find in the ensuing Prophecy and it openeth to us three things which give light to that which followeth 1. The Minister of God in this Prophecy 1. By his name Habakkuk 2. By his Function the Prophet 2. The manner how he came by it Vision 3. The matter of it the Burthen 1. Of the Minister First of his name The name Habakkuk is rendred by Philo the Jew amplexans embracing so doth Pagnine give it our English a wrastler for they that wrastle do embrace and hold fast one the other a name well expressing the office and employment of this Prophet who wrastled with the sinners of those times and their horrible iniquities to cast them 1. But as God wrastled with Jacob that he might leave behind him a blessing His tribe Dorothaeus saith was Simeon I know not upon what information for the silence of the holy Scripture doth argue it to be conjectural Concerning the time when he prophecied it is not particularly exprest but it appears to be before the deportation into Babylon for the Chaldeans invasion is here threatned and therefore Junius thinks him contemporary with Jeremiah and referreth his Prophecie to the end of Josias his Government Others after the Hebrews referre it is the â—â—me of King Manasseh Master Calvin very truly affirmeth it before the time of Zedekiah Arias Montanus gives a probable conjecture by comparing that which is said 2 Reg. 21.12 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel behold I am bringing forth an evill upon Jerusalem and Iudah that whosoever heareth of it both his ears shall tingle That in the eleventh verse t is said Because Manasseh King of Judah hath done these abominations and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did which were before him and hath also made Iudah to sinne with his idols And this Commination is almost in the same words in the fifth verse of this chapter Saint Hierome in his Prologue to this Prophet saith that he is called a wrastler quia certamen ingreditur cum deo because he wrastled with God Nullus enim Prophetarum ausus est tam audaci voce Deum ad disceptationem justitiae provocare none durst so boldly provoke God to vindicate his Justice as it appears v. 2. But he doth violate the text of Canonical Scripture and History to verifie that Apocrypha tale of Habakkuks bringing food to Daniel by miracle which destroyeth the truth of the history to make faith of a Legend For either there must be two Habakkuks or this one must live as Arias Montanus doth cast it up three hundred years if he lived to feed Daniel in the Captivity a long time of life then or this must prophecie before he was born Bellarmine hath found out two Daniels one the
If you were of the world the world would love you for the world loves all her own but because you are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you You see how they compasse about the just men in whom any Religion appears or any care of a good conscience or any fire of holy zeal the wicked come about such to quench this fire and beset such round about that they may not escape them Let Lot say to the Sodomites I pray you brethren do not so wickedly Gen. 19 9 they will presse upon him and threaten him Now will we deal worse with thee then with them then they pressed to break the door Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth Because things are carried by the licentious and unbridled will of power without Religion or conscience of Equity therefore there is wrong judgment I understand the Prophet thus That private injuries and oppressions between man and man were frequent and the wicked used all means to molest the just and when they did flie for remedy to the courts of Justice they were also so corrupt and did so favour the cause of the wicked that there they had wrong judgment The Judges and Magistrates that should execute the judgments of God upon the wicked and should deliver the oppressed out of the hands of the oppressour they were guilty 1. Of favouring and animating and abetting the wicked in their ungodlinesse which they should have punished for which also they were ordained 2. Of unjust judgment punishing where they should spare and oppressiing whom they should defend Here was a corrupt common-wealth and this was the grief of the Prophet and he had no remedy but to put the scrole of their sins and to spread it before the Lord and in the behalf of the oppressed to appeal from the courts of men to the tribunal of God The words thus opened and the sense cleared let us consider this text 1. In the totall summe it is a verie serious complaint of the Prophet to God 2. In the particulars of which he complaineth He complaineth of two things 1. Of the corruption of the state of the common-wealth of the Jewes 3. Of Gods declaring the same corruption to him The corruption is exprest in three things 1. In the Conversation 2. In the Religion 3. In the Justice of that Nation 1. In the totall the Prophet doth complain to God seriously and out of a greived heart of the people 〈Complaint is a part of Prayer 〉 Doctr. Prayer is a pouring forth of the heart to God wherein we prostrate all our desires to God and crave his help Sometimes we call to remembrance the mercies of God and summe up his benefits which though it be joyned with prayer and doth passe under the name of prayer yet is it rather a speciall and distinct part of Gods worship in it self then properly any member or part of prayer Sometimes we begge of God supply of our wants and that we call Petition Sometimes we plead the cause of our brethren and begge for them that is Intercession Sometimes we pray against judgment and sin and that is Deprecation Sometimes we have cause to complain to God of the sins and transgressions of our brethren when either the honour of God or the peace of brethren is violated so here this is Imprecation For when we see that the outward means of reclaiming men from giving offence to God to the Church and to Christian Religion do not work effectually to reforme them yet we must not forsake the cause of God so but make our complaint unto him and put the matter into his hand Thus when there was a councel held against the Apostles Act. 4. and therein consultation for the quenching of the light of the Gospel then beginning to shine more clearly Vers 17. Peter and John went aside from the councel dismissed with a straight and severe charge to speak no more in that name They came to their brethren and informed them of these things and They lifted up their voice to God with one accord Vers 24. In that prayer they complain of their enemies 1. For that which they had done already For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles were gathered together 2. For that which they meant to doe And now Lord behold their threatnings This also is twice included in the Lords Prayer for when we desire that the Kingdome of God may come we do complain of the enemies of that Kingdome and desire God to arise and scatter them and defeat all their designes against the same And when we pray not to be led into tempation but to be delivered from evils we do secretly complain of all those evils which Satan and his wicked instruments do plot against the body of the Church or any particular members thereof 1. The reason is because vengeance belongeth to God and we must remember of what spirit we are and must not take the quarrel of God into our hands but leave it to God to see and require 2. Because the times and seasons are only in his power and we must leave it to his wise Justice to take the fit time for the conversion or confusion of his enemies in the mean time resting our selves on his sure Protection and faithful care of us 3 Because we may have enemies for the present who may come to a sight and sense of their sins and may by our complaint of them to God receive his saving mercy to reconcile them to the Church as he did Saul at the Prayer of Saint Stephen who shortly after became an Apostle and proved a chosen Instrument of Gods Glory 4. We must complain of these things to declare our zeal of Gods Glory and our holy impatience to see his Commandements despised of men 5. To shew our charity to our brethren who do suffer by this cruel and wicked world whose estates we pitty and we go to God as a common father to us all to take the matter into his own hands From whence we conclude that it ever ought to be a part of our Prayer to call upon the name of God by way of complaint of the iniquity of the times in which we do live that God may give an end to it and that it may not prevail against his Church least the enemies thereof do grow too proud This manner of complaining and calling upon God for Justice against the ungodly doth not die with us here the separated souls parted from earth and from their bodies do retain it I saw under the Altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the Testimony which they held Rev 6.9 And they cryed with a loud voice saying how long O Lord and holy and true Vers 10. dost thou not judg and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth This
expostulation with God for bearing so much with them and therefore did stirre up God to judgement to chasten them in the first section of this chapter Now that God hath answered him in the second with declaration of his purpose to punish the iniquities of the Jews by the Chaldaeans whom God would stirre up to fight against them and to prevail Now in this third section the Prophet is as much troubled and grieved at their punishment as he was before at their sin Now he chides as fast and disputes as hotly against the remissenesse and patience of God toward the Chaldaean as he did before toward the Jew Before he pleaded the cause of the glory of Gods Iustice in punishing the iniquity of the Iews now he pleads the glory of Gods mercy in sparing them The first part was imprecation this deprecation And herein the Prophet doth declare his mixt affection to the Jews for out of his hatred to their sins he desired their correction but now out of his love to their Persons he prayeth against their punishment so farre that it may be moderate as in Ieremies Prayer Correct us O Lord yet in thy judgement not in thy fury lest we be consumed and brought to nothing Which teacheth us that Religion hath the bowels of compassion Doctr. Truly they have no true religion that have no mercy This is given us in precept with a sicut Reason 1 Luk. 6.36 Be yee merciful as your heavenly father is mercifull there is nothing wherein the image of our God doth more shine in man then his mercy because that is the heavenly nature the wisedome of God is too high for us the power of God too great for us the justice of God too strict for us all these vertues of the Godhead be out of the reach of our imitation The furthest that our Saviour goeth in the patterne and president of wisedome is est ote prudentes ut serpentes Wisedom Be yee wise as serpents In innocency Innocentes ut columba be ye innocent as doves it is not estote prudentes ut pater vester Be yee wise as your heavenly father Concerning fortitude The mother of Samuel saith Fortitude Non est fortis sicut deus Sicut leo Salomon hath it siout quorcus Amos hath it Concerning Iustice let us take the righteous men at their best Justice then Iustus fulgebunt ut sol the righteous shal shine as the Sun but to misericordes ut pater vester We must strive to imitate him in mercy that is the divine nature because it is super omniâ— operadei above all the works of God and that is the humane nature also because it is called Humanity and therefore wel-becometh the man of God 2. There is nothing that every one of us doth more stand in need of then mercy Reason 2 without which all the frame of nature would shake and dissolve it is anima mundi the soul of the world it is the juncture of every limb thereof it is the garment that hideth our nakednesse it is the grave the sea that burieth that swalloweth all our reputed sinnes it is the taylour to our backs the cater to our bellies the soule that quickneth us the strength that supporteth us the grace that saveth us the power that raiseth us the glory that crowneth us And they that shew no mercy shall have none 3. The consideration of our own infirmities doth plead for our mercy to our delinquent brother Reas 3 not to make the most of their faults and scrue their punishment to the uttermost rather to save our brethren Ga. 6.1 and to pull them out of the fire least we also be tempted for we have many suits to God for pardon of our own sinnes and therefore by the law of Justice let us do as we would be done to that is sollicite the favour of God for our brethren and although the zeale of Gods glory do put us to it to pray for their correction that they may be amended yet considering how bitter the medicine is that healeth sinne let us entreat the Physitian to look but on the corrupt humours in the body of the Church to purge them to take no more blood from the body thereof then may stand with the health of the body 4. It is a more easie suit to obtain the mercy of God Reas 4 then to stirre up his anger for as he is slow to wrath and long-suffering and when he doth begin to chide he will not keep his anger continually so he is rich in mercy abundant in goodnesse oleum supernatat vino the oyle swims above the wine Christ his sonne the character of his fathers glory of his mercy the true coppie of that sicut Pater vester qui est incaelis as Our father which is in heaven Of whom Saint Augustine sweetly commenting upon his pater ignosce eis father forgive them saith De utilet paen l. 1. he left them not quojusque ejus jam sanguinem possent bibere credentes quem fuderant saevientes they know how to drink believing the blood which they shed raging which is called in the Psalmist Multitudo dulcedinis Saint Hilary upon the Parable of the parable in the vineyard saith Ad spem omne tempus est liberum In Ps 129 mercedem non operis sed misericor diae undecimae horae operarii consequuntur God loves to be sollicited for mercy 4. Because in the contrary Ionah had a chiding from God himselfe Reas 4 that he stood more upon the credit of his office then he did upon the honour of his God that sent him being so angry at Gods sparing of Niniveh Wherein God himself pleaded the cause of his own mercy and justified his suspense of the threatned judgement against Iohan c. David had good cause to choose to fall into the hands of God rather then into the hands of men for with God there is mercy And had Niniveh been in the hand of Jonah their fasting with sackcloth and repenting should not have cleared nor calmed the storme threatned God said in Niniveh there were more then six score thousand Persons that knew not the right hand from the left there were a great many more in the nation of the Jews many also that served God with a true heart many that was not yet com to the height of sinning of whom there was hope many that had drunk deep already to the Cup of affliction by the sins of others who had thereby provoked God Therefore Habakkuk could do no lesse then stand in the gap now and keep out some of this wrath To make use of this doctrine Vse and of the holy example of this Prophet let me use the words of the Apostle to you Put on therfore as the Elect of God holy and beloved Col. 3.12 bowels of mercies kindnesse humblenesse of mind meeknesse long-suffering Forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have aquarrell against
any man even as Christ forgave you so also do ye And above all things put on charity with the bond of perfectnesse As it is a welcome suit to God when out of a zeal to his glory you do call upon him for his judgments to chasten the overgrown sinnes of the time in which ye live so it is a pleasing intercession which solliciteth for mercy in Justice for the pure justice of God will endure an allay of mercy and we shall have the better interest in his favour by how much the more we desire more sharers in it There be good Authours of opinion that the Prayer of Stephen Father forgive them was no weak means of the Conversion of Saul who was one of his Persecutors The point is moderation that neither we should so favour high-grown sinners as not to complain to God of them nor yet so delight in their punishment as not to pray against the whole and full displeasure of God that neither the zeal of Gods glory do extinguish Christian compassion nor the tendernes of pity quench the zeal of Gods glory but that at once we do shew our obedience to the whole law that he that loveth God may love his neighbour also God himself directed Abimilech to Abraham to pray for him and the friends of Job to use Jobs intercession because he loves to be entreated to shew mercy And the rich man in hell would not have his brethren come to that place of torment Complain then that is holy passion but begge easie punishment that is charitable compassion the children of God have as many tears to shed for the punishment of their brethren as for their sinnes 2. The Parts are two 1. The Prophets resolution concerning the Church and Common-wealth of the Jews 2. The Prophets dispute with God The first containeth an argument 1. The Antecedent Thou art from everlasting O Lord my God my holy One 2. The Conclusion Therefore we shall not die O Lord thou hast ordained them for judgement O mighty God thou hast established them for correction The Proposition That God is eternal and holy needs no proof to such as know God both are clearly maintained through the whole body of Scripture 1. The Eternity of God And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba Gen. 21.33 Ps 90.2 and called there on the name of the Lord the everlasting God Moses Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art our God Saint Paul Rom. 16.26 speaking of the mystery of the Gospel long kept secret but now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the Commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations Hast thou not known Isa 40.28 hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the end of the earth fainteth not c. Plato defined God to be aeterna mens sibi ad omnem felicitatem sufficiens summe bona omnis boni efficient in natura Neither can we rest in the search of causes till we come to one supreme eternal cause of all things the Alpha and Omega of other things of himself without Alpha or Omega 2. The Conclusion from hence issuing is Therefore we shall not die saith Habakkuk For as God is eternal in himself so is he to his Church and from the eternity of God doth the eternity of Angels and men derive it self for eternity cannot flow from any thing that is not it selfe eternal and we know that the nature of Angels and men is eternal both of them being by the eternal God created to abide for ever the elect Angels and men in eternal glory the reprobate Angels and men in eternal shame and pain Yet is the judgement of the reprobate in Scripture called by the names of Death Destruction Perishing because these be titles of the greatest horrour and dismay that the heart of man can conceive Now we have two hopes built upon this foundation of Gods eternity non moriemur 1. Temporal that God will still reserve a remnant of the Jews to return again to the possession of their fathers and to build again the City and the temple and to renew the face of a Church and Common-wealth so non moriemur hoc est omnes we shall not die that is not all 2. Eternal That God will not utterly cast off his People from his favour but that although he scourge them with the rods of men even to a temporal losse of their land their liberty and their lives yet non moriemur we shall not lose our interest in his promise of a better life So that the Prophet doth teach us the right use of the doctrine of Gods eternity to assure us against all temporal and eternal evils And this doth Moses conclude for this Antecedent Before the mountains were brought forth Ps 90.2 or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art our God Thou turnest man to destruction Vers 3. again thou sayst return ye sonnes of Adam From the power of Gods Eternity there is a return for the sons of Adam as David saith Thou renuest the face of the earth Non moriemur death our last enemy shall be destroyed and perish we shal be translated from death to life this is clear because God hath in eternal wisedom appointed an eternal redemption for some to an eternal inheritance of eternal glory This eternity of God is two fold 1. Eternitas essentiae Eternity of Essence in himself 1. Eternitas Providentiae Eternity of Providence in respect of his creatures From the first we conclude the second for if God be in his own nature eternal he hath also an eternal Providence by which he governeth all things his word by which he governeth is also eternal in the heavens Saint Augustine proveth this point of Gods eternity thus Quaest 83 l. c. 19. Quod incommutabile aeternum est That he proveth Quod semperest ejusdem modi est incommutabile Such is our God without variablenesse or shadow of change and therefore eternal And whereas from this eternity our Prophet doth conclude Non moriemur Saint Augustine doth therefore call our eternity immortalitatem rather then aeternitatem Anteced-Consequent 2. Another Argument is here inforced Thou art holy Therefore this punishment of the Jews by the Chaldaeans is for their correction only Of the Antecedent God is holy The Quiristers of heaven do attribute it to God three times in some Greek Copies we read it three times three nine times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy The song of Moses is sung in heaven and that saith Who shall not feare thee O Lord and glorifie thy name Rev. 15.4 for thou only art holy The Seraphims say each one to another Isa 6.3 Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole earth is full of his glory It was his law
read and they returned saying Never man spake like that man If they that run from the word may be taken thus with a glance upon it you may soone conceive what effect it may work in those that run to it that are swift to hear that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse If they that hear or read the word immediately aliud agentes may perceive the mind of the Lord by the plain opening thereof much more they that come of purpose and run to it that come with appetite and desire after it with delight in it with purpose to profit by it and with due Preparation of the heart by earnest Prayer for the holy blessing of God upon the Ministry and hearing of it therefore quid Scriptum est quomodo legis what is written how readest thou 2. The assurance that he gives of the performance of his purpose in due time The Vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lie Next verse It will surely come it will not tarry This is Rhetorically set down For 1. Here is veritas decreti the truth of the decree The Vision is yet for an appointed time 2. Here is veritas verbi the truth of the word it shall speak it shall not lye 3. Here is veritas facti the truth of the deed It will surely come it will not tarry 1. Decretum the Decree The Vision is here put for the thing seen as you have heard and that is the declaration of Gods just judgment in the cause of his Church against the Chaldaeans for he saith the time is appointed meaning in his own holy and fixt decree which is unchangeable 2. Verbum the Word God will speak his minde by this Vision and declare what he intendeth against the Chaldeans and therein he will deal truely and faithfully for he is truth he cannot lye For these be two Premises or Antecedents to one conclusion for we may conclude both wayes 1. The Decree of God is past Ergo veniet non tardabit he shall come he will not tarrie 2. The Word of God is past Ergo. From thence we are taught Doctr. That whatsoever God hath decreed or spoken shall certainly take effect in the appointed time The holy word of Scripture confirmeth this Indeed who should alter Gods decrees for he himself will not I may say truly he cannot change them for the Apostle saith he worketh all things after the councell of his will Eph. 1.11 And the Will of God is himself And he cannot deny him self 2 Tim. 2.13 Neither can he repent as Samuel told Saul The strength of Israel will not lye nor repent 1 Sam. 15.29 for he is not a man that he should repent And if God himself be without variablenesse and shadow of change his Will being established by his counsell and wisdom we may be sure that there is no power beneath him that can swerve him from his own ways for the wiseman saith There is no wisdom nor understanding Pro. 21.30 nor counsell against the LORD One reason may serve of this Doctrine God is equall infinite in his wisdom justice and mercie to conceive him infinite in power to do whatsoever he will and not infinite in wisdom to decree whatsoever he will do were to make him a Tyrant not a King but David saith The Lord is King and we do ascribe it to him Tuum est regnum potentia thine is the Kingdom and power for power without equall proportion of wisdom must needs degenerate into cruelty This wisdom foreseeth all things that shall be this wisdom decreeth all things that he will do which his power after in the times appointed doth performe and bring to act Against this Doctrine is Objected Object 1. Why then do so many texts of Scripture tell us that God repenteth Sometimes he repenteth of the good that he hath done for to make man upon the earth was a good work yet it is said And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth Gen. 6 6. and it greived him at his heart So to make Saul King over Israel was a good work for it was his own choise yet himself saith It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be King 1 Sam. 15.11 Sometime God is said to repent of the evil that he hath done malum poenae the evil of punishment is there to be understood So after the great plague when David had made a fault in numbring the people When the Angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it the Lord repented him of the evil 2 Sam. 24.16 and said to the Angel It is enough stay thy hand And concerning his Word we have frequent examples in Scripture of events contrary to the letter of his Word For example His word was to Hezekiah by Isaiah set thy house in order for thou shalt dye non vives Yet Hezekiah did live 15 years after that his word was to Nineveh by Jonah 40 days and Niniveh shall be destroyed yet yet it fel not out so and the story saith God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do to them Joh. 3.10 To all we answer Sol. 1. That the Will of God that is his counsell decreeing what he will do is constantly the same and unchangeable as we have taught 2. Where it is in Scripture charged upon God that he doth repent we say with Chrysost it is verbum parvitati nostrae accommodatum a word accommodated to our weaknesse Hom. 22. in Gen. For we are said to repent when we change our mindes now the God of wisdom and power never changeth his minde but sometimes he doth change his operations there is not mutatio mentis but mutatio dextrae Exclesi as St. Aug. Paenitudo dei est mutandorum immutabilis ratio by which he without changing of his own decree maketh alterations in the disposition of things mutable This for want of understanding in us to comprehend the ways of God is called repentance and greif in God but as Aug. saith Non est perturbatio sed judicium quo irrogatur poena as Saint Paul I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh 3. I approve that received distinction of the Will of God 1. Voluntas signi of the Signe 2. Voluntas beneplaciti of his good Pleasure 1. God doth reveal his ways to the sons of men and sheweth them what he would have them do and openeth to them the knowledge and tendereth to them the use of fit means to performe that which he would have them and so it is said he would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of his Truth According to this revealed Will of God he doth offer mercy to all and he doth withall threaten judgment to such as forsake their own mercy as Jonah saith And when he seeth cause to call in either his mercy from them
Church of Rome for it is clear that there was a time wherein there were no images at all known in the Church There were some desirous then to bring them in but the councel of Eliberis decreed that no picture or image should be brought into the Church lest it should be adored And Epiphanius finding an image painted on a cloth Can. 36. hanging in a Church rent it down and said it was against the Authority of Scriptures that any image should be in the Church Saint Origen saith of his time Con. Cels l. 7. nos imagines non adoramus we do not worship images Eight hundred years after Christ the second Nicene Councel set up images but The Councel of Franckford which was a general Councel and where the Popes Legates were present repealed it and affirme The Catholick Church doth affirme that mortal man ought to worship God not by images and Angels but by Christ our Lord. And whatsoever the practice of the Church of Rome now is in the use of them they shall never be able to reconcile the judgments of their best learned concerning them For Some condemn all divine adoration given to them some condemn external bowing before them some confesse that the ancient fathers condemned them some think their use dangerous And they which have gone farthest in defending them have done it by so nice distinctions that the common People cannot understand how to beware of idolatry themselves not understanding themselves therein Even in the administration of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper they are idolaters in worshipping the hoast which I prove from Cardinal Bellarmines own penne De justif lib. 3 cap. 8. Ne que potest certus esse certitudine fidei se percipere verum Sacramentum cum Sacramentum sine intentione ministri non conficiatur intentionem alterius nemo videre potest And thus much Garnet the Provincial did ingenuously confesse upon his private conference with some of our Bishops Wherefore how they can excuse their idolatry in the worship of the elevated hoast I cannot see seeing they worship they know not what Any man may easily conceive that they do carry a corrupt mind that way because in all their Catechismes set forth for the institution of young beginners they do leave out the second Commandment quite and to make up the number they divide the tenth Commandment into two Now having convinced them of idolatry which is the high sin against God and toucheth him in his Majesty and Glory we see how dangerous a thing it is to have conversation with such least we receive of the plagues due to them Though the Church of Pergamus did hold fast the name of Christ and denied not his faith yet had the Lord something against her Rev. 2.14 Because she had there them that held the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication The same quarrel had our Lord to the Church at Thyatira in which though he approved her works and charity and service and faith and patience yet he saith Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Iezebel who calleth her self a Prophetesse Rev. 2.20 to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols We have no law to favour idolatry or idolatrous meetings to masse we have severe laws against them yet it is in sight that Masse is frequented by multitudes of all sorts in the sight of Israel in the sight of the sun whence this boldnesse grows we cannot judge but from â—n negligent execution of our godly and just laws Have we forgotten 88 have we forgotten the fifth of November 1605 do we not believe experience Were not the Canaanites whom Israel suffered to live amongst them against the Commandment of God Jude 2.3 thorns in their sides and pricks in their eyes and were not their gods a snare to Israel Is not Popery a dangerous religion to the Soveraign Authority of the King setting the Pope above him to over-rule him and to deprive him of his Crown if he be not for his turn Is not Popery a profest enemy to the Religion that we professe light and darknesse God and Belial may as soon be reconciled and therefore an enemy to our Clergy who are all armed with the Word of God against it Or is it good and wholesome doctrine which the Anabaptists this last year tendred to the King Prince Nobility Judges and Commons of Parliament that Freedome of Religion is not hurtful to any Common-wealth or that Freedome of Religion depriveth not Kings of any Power given them of God The times are foule God is much dishonoured where the fault is and of whom the Church and Religion hath cause to complain is not so much our duty to enquire as to pray to God to amend all I le tell you where you shall have him 2. The punishment of this sinne is exprest in one word Vae Wo and it containeth the whole Cup of Gods indignation 1. In this life they trust in that which cannot help them 2. They invocate that which cannot hear them They trust in lying vanities and they forsake their own mercy they are taught by teachers of lies and therefore the light that is in them is darknesse Baals servants cried from morning to evening upon Baal their god to hear them and it would not do here is a double woe 1. Losse of labour 2. Want of help In the first they bewray their folly the god of this world hath made fools of them for turning the glory of the invisible God into the images of creatures But it the second they find the misery for we cannot subsist without help and they trust to idols where there is no help But that is not all the woe the Apostle telleth us that no idolaters shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven Gal. 5.20 this is terror domini the terrour of the Lord for how shall they hope to have glory witch God who deny glory to God will God give them glory that seek to take away glory from him or let them into heaven that would thrust him out Observe it in that law concerning graven images God hath more exprest himself then in any of the rest to be a God of vengeance for there is ratio legis God is jealous And there is Comminatio judicis visitabit and it goeth in descent to the third and fourth Generation of them that hate him Observe he calleth them such as hate him There is a promise He will shew mercy to thousands of them that love him And I conceive this added to this Commandment rather then any of the rest because Gods Israel did most often offend in this kind by worshipping God in creatures and by performing external adoration to them which is in this law chiefly forbidden The fear of this woe hath
not come so neer our truth our truth will confute it and the God of Truth wil not suffer his truth to fail Yet if our unthankfulness to God for his light so long shining in our Church if our evil lives so unanswerable to our outward profession if our contentions so displeasing to the God of peace our want of zeal and devotion in prayer do turn away the face of God from us we may thank our selves and his justice may say Perditio tua ex te Thy destruction is of thy self 2 The Petitions these are three vide p. 29. 1 Revive thy work in the middest of the years that is as we have expounded it literally in the mean time preserve thy Church In which Petition we are taught That the Church of God is the work of God 1 Doct. ye have heard it so acknowledged by God himself Ask me concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands Isa 45.11 command ye me Wherein God confesseth his Church to be his own work and therefore so comprehended in his care that they may challenge his protection Again He calleth his Church thus The Branch of my planting the work of my hands Isa 60.21 that I may be glorified And David upon this prayeth Forsake not the works of thy own hands Psal 138.8 The reasons why the Church is thus called Because the Church is not an Assembly that doth gather themselves together as we say That Birds of a feather do fly together but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a congregation of such as the free election of grace hath called out of the world by the ministery of the Word of God and the Sacraments The first Church of God in whom God was glorified consisted of Angels intellectuall spirits whereof many kept not their first estate but were excōmunicated never to be redeemed The first Church of God on earth were our first Parents whom God created in his image The Creation miscarried by the fall of our Parents who might have stood if they would The election of grace remained unchangeable and continued a Church in Adam in Abel in Seth which separated from Cain and his issue in Noah and Sem and in Japhet perswaded to the tents of Shem in the calling of the Gentiles so that all that have the election of grace do come to be members of the Church by vertue of an effectuall calling election designeth them vocation declareth them to be the members of the Church and both these are the work of God Will you take it from Gods own mouth who saith Levit. 20.26 Ye shall be holy unto me for I the Lord am holy and have severed you from other people that you should be mine The Church is called the work of God in respect of his perpetuall presence with it and preservation of it both by his own speciall providence which is the priviledge of the Church also by the subordinate ministery of his holy Angels 1 For his own providence he hath declared it in a promise I will not sail thee Josh 1.5 nor forsake thee in which promise what interest the Church hath and every member thereof the Authour to the Hebrews shevveth Let your conversation be without covetousnesse and be content with such things as you have Heb. 13.5 for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee So that we may boldly say The Lord is my helper I will not fear what man shall do unto me For which gratious protection 1 Pet. 4.19 St. Peter willeth us to commit our souls to him in wel-doing as to a faithfull Creatour so called saith Lyranus quia secure conservat gloriose coronat non relinquit opus He not onely buildeth but standeth to reparations 2 For the ministry and subvention of Angels the Psalmist saith Psal 91.11 12. He hath given his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy wayes They shall bear thee up in their hands Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them Heb. 1.14 who shall be heirs of Salvation The Church of God is called the Work of God to honour God for God is not so glorious in any thing that he hath wrought as in his Church for therein mercy and truth met together righteousnesse and peace kissed each other our election adoption is to the praise of the glory of his grace Ephes 1.6 Is 60.21 You heard himself say of his Church The work of my hands that I may be glorified For God is more glorified in those things which he hath wrought by Jesus Christ in our flesh and in those things which he doth for his sake then in all the other works of his hands This will one day appear it is revealed already in part to us for whatsoever God did work sine verbo incarnato without the word incarnate it all shall fail and come to dissolution or to a worse condition that is an eternall being in wo. For example the heavens and the eath shall all perish and new shall be made in their place a nevv heaven and a nevv earth vvherein God vvill plant righteousnesse The Angels that fell and the reprobate shall suffer eternall flames What remains now but Angels and just men the elect Angels and the holy Church of God the one sort elected in Christ established in blisse by Christ the other redeemed by Christ these are reserved to glory the just shall be as the Angels of God in heaven In this Church then God is most glorified The Church is called the Work of God to give honour to it here on earth for God would have the World knovv that he owns his Church and that they are a peculiar people a chosen generation a royall Priesthood that he delighteth in in them And again the faithfull delight in nothing but what he hath vvrought in them and from them So Augustine bringeth in the Church saying Opus tuum in me Domine vide non meum nam meum si videris damnum tuum si videris Coronas Behold thy work in mee c. It is Davids glory I am thine All things else have the same maker that have any being but the Church hath the honour of curious and costly vvork all the rest of the vvorks of God are not vvorth the cost that he bestovved in the vvhite vvashing of this vvork To turn this point into profit 1 Seeing vve are the vvork of God in regard of election of grace of creation and protection this teacheth us to live godlily righteously and soberly in this present vvorld and to keep our selves unspotted of the vvorld 1 For election Ephes 1.4 He hath chosen us that we should be holy and without blame before him in love 2 For creation Ephe. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works that we should walk in them 3 For all his other favours as that we are a royall priesthood
mercies Psal 5.7 The Church knoweth that God is more glorious in his mercy 3 Reas then in all his other attributes for his mercy is above all his works the justice of God is against us because we are unrighteous the wisedom of God is against us because we have walked as fools and not as wise men The holiness of God is against us because we are unclean conceived in sin and born in iniquity The truth of God is against us for omnis homo mendax every man is a lyer The power of God is against us because we have forsaken him the fountain of living water c. The Patience of God is against us because he is a God that loveth not iniquity neither shall evill dwell vvith him he hateth all those that work wickedness Onely Mercy is our friend that maketh Christ our justice our wisedom our sanctification and redemption that maketh truth perform gratious promises and his power becometh our protection his patience our peace Divitiae misericordiae riches of mercy This seemeth to excellent use 1 To assure to us the favour of God 1 Vse because it is built upon the foundation of Gods mercies of which Dauid saith The mercy of God endureth for ever his mercy is euerlasting The knowledge of salvation given by the remission of our sins is Through the tender mercy of our God Luk. 1.77 78. whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us So that if God be angry with us for our sin yet his vvrath doth not burn like fire but as he sayd of Solomon I will chasten him with the rods of men but my mercy will I not take utterly from him 2 It seemeth to rebuke those that put their trust in humane merits or works of the Law they that come to God for wages forsake their own mercy nothing so contrary to Divine mercy as humane condignity 3 Because here is anger and mercy together 2 Cor. 1.3 Naâ—u 1 2. this killeth all presumption for he that is called The God of mercies is called a jealous God and a furious Avenger And the rods of men well laid on will smart and draw bloud 4 This inviteth to new life because The goodness and mercy of God leadeth to repentance and the Crown of it Rom. 2.6 5 Seing we have so much need of mercy our selvs let us shew mercy unto others Estote misericordes ut pater vester coelestis be ye mercifull as your heavenly father for there shall be judgement vvithout mercy to him that sheweth no mercy Christ abideth yet naked and sick and imprisoned and hungry and thirsty in our poor brethren as his mercy embraceth us so let our mercy embrace him that he may say esurivi pavistis I was hungry and ye fed me Ver. 3. God came from Teman and the holy one from mount Paran Selah His glorie covered the Heavens and the Earth was full of his praise 4 And his brightness was as the light he had horus coming out of his hand and there was the hiding of his power 5 Before him went the pestilence and burning coals went forth at his feet THe second part of this Psalm doth contein a celebration of the prayses of God Vid. divis p. 23. which also doth declare upon what grounds the Church in affliction and captivity doth put trust in God The whole Section is a commemoration of the great power and glory and power and mercy of God shewed in behalf of his own people v. 3 4 5. ad finem v. 15. 1 In his coming to them from Paran and Teman 2 Of the same power and glory declared in giving of the possession of the land of Canaan to Israel 3 In the dismay of the Nations v. 7. 4 In the marvellous Water-works 8 9 10. 5 In their great victories within the Land I begin at the first God came from Teman and the holy one from Mount Paran The best exposition that I do finde amongst many of these words is that here is remembred the coming of God to Israel when he gave them the Law written in two Tables of stone with his own hand For God came then from Teman and Paran Paran was a great mountain neer to mount Sinai but Teman signified the South so God came from the South thence came God to give Israel his Law wherein he did express himself the King of this people by coming so neer to them by shewing himself so openly and by revealing his wil to them so plainly This was so great a favour done to them that he addeth Selah which word is onely used in Davids Psalmes and in this Psalme and the word in the judgments of the learned is sometime vox optantis the voice of one that wisheth aequivalent to Amen or vox admirantis the voice of one admiring shewing some speciall matter or vox affirmantis of one affirming avouching what is said or vox meditantis of one meditating requiring consideration of what is said But withall it is a rest in Musique Jerome saith it is commutatio metri or vicissitudo canendi his glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise And His Brightnesse was as the Light he meaneth the brightnesse of that glory wherein he appeared when he gave the Law set forth Exod. 19.16 For there were Thunders and Lightnings He had Horns comming out of his hands by Horns in Scripture strength is signified the horne of salvation is the strength of salvation the exalting of the horne is the advancing of power and these are said to be in his hands because the hands and arms are called the strong men in the body they are the instruments of power And there was the hiding of his power there in that apparition God did hide his power from the rest of the world and declared it perticularly to his Church as David saith He hath not dealt so with any nation and as for his judgments Psal 147.20 they have not known them Before him went the Pestilence and burning coals went forth at his feet His meaning is that God then declared himself mighty in the punishment of his enemies and the enemies of his Church for under these tvvo kinds of punishments by pestilence and fire he shevveth that God hath the command of all the instruments of vvrath of vvhich these tvvo by plague and fire are the most licking and devouring putting no difference where they go And this hath reference to the many plagues wherevvith he punished the Aegyptians vvhen he brought his people from the land of Aegypt from the house of bondage The summe of all is this that God hath declared himself glorious 1 In his speciall favour to his people 2 In his just vengeance From vvhence these points of doctrine issue 1 That the consideration of Gods former mercies doth strengthen faith in present tribulations 2 That the Church of God hath a speciall interest in the povver and protection of God 3 That
judgments they are For Reas 2 1 he is so quick sighted to discerne our sins that he seeth all nothing can be hidden from him but all lyeth open and naked to his sight 2 Hee is so wise to weigh the sins that we commit putting into the scales the incitements and temptations the circumstances of time person place number even the very affection wherewith sin is committed 3 He is so just as not to impute more sin to us then we have committed not to abate any of that we have mis-done 4 He is so holy as not to abide or appear the least evill for he is a God that hateth iniquity 5 He is so powerfull as to avenge it with his judgment and he hath all sorts of instruments of vengeance to punish sinne 6 He is Ubiquitarie as that no remove can avoyd him his presence filleth all places 7 He is so true of his word that heaven and earth shall passe but no part of his Word shall fail till all be fulfilled 8 He is one that cannot repent of any thing that he peremptorily decreeth All these things do declare that there is great cause to fear when he threatneth The Apostle teacheth us the use of this point Vse Româ— 3.3 wilt thou not then be afraid of the power do that which is good then shall thou have praise of the same This is the way to make us seek the face of God the first sinners fled from the presence of God behind the trees in the garden Adam confessed to God Gen. 3.10 I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid A good life is a good fence against fear Solomon saith the righhteous is bold as a lyon Perfect love casteth out fear for perfect love is â—â—e fâ—â—filling of the law where our love falleth short there fear filleth the empty and void room The voyce of the Lord is comfortable and his words are sweet to those that fear him he will speak peace unto his people and to his Saints Psal 85.8 But let them not turn again to folly So David resolves there I will hear what the Lord will speak It is a plain sign that all is not well with us when the voyce of God doth cast us into fear when we are afraid to hear the Word preached when just reproofs of our sins are unwelcome to us and anger us and make us think the worse of our Minister that chideth and threatneth us A good life and a well governed conversation doth not fear the voyce of God the Word of God is the light which God hath set up in his Church to guide her feet in the wayes of peace they that do evill hate the light and will not come neer it lest their-works should be reproved the children of the light resort to it and call upon God search my reins and my heart and see if there be any way of wickednesse in me This fear of the Church is not joyned either with obstinacy against God or murmuring at his judgments or despair of his mercy it is that fear which is one of the effects of a godly sorrow and it is one of the documents to true repentance it is the hammer and mallet of God wherewith he bruiseth us and breaketh us that we may be truly humbled under his almighty hand it is that fear which the spirit of bondage suggesteth which is not a grace of God in us Rom. 8.15 but a punishment of God upon us and we would fain be without it it is the fear of servants and not of sons yet God useth it as a means to bring us home to him again when we like sheep have gone astray and therefore the prodigall to re-enter himself into his fathers house prayed fac me unum ex mercenariis make me as one of thy hired servants it may be that fear which in the school is called Initialis which re-entreth us into the service of God and keepeth us in awe it is ut ilis but not sufficiens and we would be glad to be delivered out of it that we might serve God without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse For so the Apostle doth recompt it a favour to the Romans Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but the spirit of adoption 2 The fear it self This fear was great both in the inward man and in the outward it was that fear of which David spake to God saying of the heathen put them in fear O Lord that they may know themselves to be but men And David himself was soundly shaken with it as his complaint sheweth My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgments Psal 119.120 And we finde the best of the faithfull servants of God subject to this fear and it is cleer in my text that it may be joyned with faith For after this cold fit of fear you shall see the faith of the Church to quicken it again The elect of God are shaken with fear 1 Because they are great Students in the Law of God Doct. Reas 1 for that is a speciall mark of a righteous man he doth exercise himself in the Law of God day and night And wheresoever the law is wisely understood and applyed rightly there fear doth arise for so long as we are under the Law we are under a School-master and as the Apostle doth say a child differeth very little from a servant you know when a young man came to Christ to ask him the way to heaven Christ referred him to the Law and the keeping thereof That is our first lesson it follows so in the mission of our Redeemer he was made of a woman made subject to the Law The law sheweth us how much we are in Gods debt and you may note it in the parable of the good Mr. in the gospel 1 He called his servant to accompt and cast up the debt 2 Then he put him to it to pay it 3 When he saw him willing but unable then he forgave it God calleth us by the light of the Law by the sight of our sins our sins are debts when we see them how can we choose but together vvith them behold the danger of them and the vvrath due to them this cannot be done vvithout fear even great horrour and dejection The thief that vvas converted upon the crosse when he had but a little time he made an example of great mercy the onely example in all the Book of God of so late a conversion yet in that short time he began at the Lavv of God and said to his fellovv We indeed are justly punished for we receive the due rewards of our deeds Lu. 2341. And after that he sought grace this Lavv vvas the Schoolmaster that brought him to Christ saying Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome for Until we compare our selves with the law of righteousness we cannot know how unjust wee are and what need we
serveth to reprove the doctrine and faith of the Church of Rome Vse 3 who teach that God hath committed to his Son the dispensation of Justice but to his sons mother the dispensation of mercy which opinion was no sooner afoot but they turned Domine into Domina Lord into Lady and so in the Church of Rome the Virgin Mary hath more Devotoes vowed to her service then Christ hath she hath more temples dedicated to her honour then Christ and far more miracles ascribed to her then to Christ Yea they shame not in print to tell the world that she hath saved some from hell whom her son had condemned thether and she hath released many from hell whom her son had already sent thither I onely alleage against them the plain words of our Saviour Thou hast given him power over all flesh Joh. 17.2 that he should give eternall life to as many as thou hast gived him Therefore beware of the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees the poisonous doctrines of the Church of Rome which take salvation out of the hands of God and ascribe the donation thereof to creatures This was wont to be called Idolatry in the sermons and writings of the learned to invocate the Virgin Mary as they do in their Rosaries and Letanies of the holy Virgin Mother of mercy Gate of heaven our salvation she that hath bruised the head of the serpent They make their vulgar Latine Bible say so Ipsa conteret caput tuum There be two Psalters both printed in Paris in French and set forth with the approbation of the Sorbonne one called St. Bonaventures Psalter in which wheresoever God is named for Dominus they have put Domina printed in Anno 1601. The other Psalter is digested into fifteen demands printed the same year with the same approbation wherein the Virgin Mary is called the first cause of our salvation the finder out of grace and putteth her before Christ even in gloria Gloria Virgini Maria Jesu Christo What think you doth that Church wish the salvation of of any man in good earnest that swerveth us from the God of our salvation and directeth us to seek it from a creature Yet this is the religion which is now grown in fashion with many in these doubtfull and giddy times which as it robs God of one of his highest prerogatives and doth divest him of his power of salvation so the professours thereof will finde it a thief in their things temporall for in ordine ad Deum the Church will engrosse all the Apostles of that Church wil not be content till all be laid at their feet Let me commend to you the Kings Majesties confession of his faith published in Latine and in English directed to all Christian Kings in this perticular his words are For the blessed Virgine Mary I yield her that which the Angel Gabriel pronounced of her that she is blessed amongst women and that which she prophecyed of her self in her Canticum that all generations shall call her blessed I remember her as the mother of Christ whom of our Saviour took his flesh and so the mother of God since the divinity and humanity of Christ are inseparable and I freely confesse that she is in glory both above Angels and men her own Son that is both God and man onely excepted But I dare not mock her and blaspheme God calling her not onely Diva but Dea praying her to commend and controul her Son who is her God and her Saviour You see what opinion his Majesty hath of the Doctrine and practise of Rome in this point he doth call it mocking of her and blaspheming of God to ascribe salvation to her or to seek it from her I hope you have lived too long in the light of the Gospel to be taken with any of these baits and to be befooled with any of these inchantments of palpable heresie I hope if an Angel from heaven should come and teach you this doctrine to seek your salvation any where else but from God you would answer him 〈…〉 as Nehemiah did answer Sanballat There is nothing as thou saiest but thou feignest it out of thine own heart Beloved let all that love Jesus Christ and his holy truth joyn as one man against popery and seek to the light of the Word whil'st it shineth upon us that we may not lose the way of salvation which that Word revealeth Popery robbeth the Church of this Word and putteth this candle under a bushell it sendeth us the wrong way for salvation and like the blind Aramites it leadeth them into the midst of Samaria even putteth them into the hands of their enemies God did much for this land when he gave us this light let not our unthankfulnesse to him or our peevish waiwardnesse amongst our selves or our evill and unworthy conversations forfeit this light or remove our candlestick So long as we know where our salvation is setled and who hath it in keeping for us so long as we look that way and direct all our obedience and worship our thanks and prayse that way we are safe for Blessed is the people that be in such a case blessed is the people whose God is the Lord for ipse est qui dat salutem 2 Ground of their hope The Lord is my strength This comfort supporterh in afflictions and this is that which is our ability of which the Apostle saith But God is faithfull 1 Cor. 10.13 who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able for what are we able surely of our selves to nothing that is good for us the name of man ever since the fall of man hath been a name of impotency and weaknesse Cease ye from man Isai 2.22 whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accompted of Christ hath told us sine me nihil potestis facere For by strength shall no man prevail 1 Sam. 2.9 Psal 71.10 I will go in the strength of the Lord God and I will maeke mention of thy righteousesse even of thine onely The words of my text are Doctrinall Doct. The Lord is the strength of his Church Consider this which way you will 1 In eo quod sumus in that we are In him we live 2 In eo quod facimus in that we do the good that we do he doth it himself O Lord thou hast wrought all our works in us Isai 26.12 The skill that we have in our severall professions and trades and mysteries it is his spirit that giveth it the strength that we have to labour in our severall callings is his strength and that blessing was included in the curse of man Gen. 3.19 Thou shalt eat thy bread in the sweat of thy face that God would give man strength to earn his bread and his labour should be his physick it should make him breath out evill and noxious vapours in his body which might offend health in sweat And if