Church Psal 44 All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy Covenant our heart is not turned back neither have our steps or goings declined from thy way 3. Be we then exhorted 3 use Exhortation to renew Covenant with God as others have done upon like grounds if not to enter yet to keep or renew our Covenants made with God and with one another in the presence and sight of God We have as good cause thus to do as ever nation had and the same or like occasions What moved King Asa with Iudah and many of Israel solemnly to Covenant with God and one with another and that upon the forfeiture of life if any kept it not 1. Was it not a mercy and a great deliverance 2 Chron. 15. 2 Chron. 15.10 11 12. for which thus they would shew their thankfulness bind themselves to a through Reformation 1. By occasion of mercies and great deliverances Now comes England behind in mercies of this nature or doth it not go before all other Nations in remarkable deliverances Asa was delivered from a mighty Army of the Ethiopians and Israel from Aegypt for which he renews and they are called to enter into Covenant with the Lord and urged to keep it and that because of such deliverance and mercies as Exod. 19.1 2. c. 5. c. 20.2 Already received I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt Thou shalt have no other Gods before me c. The remembrance of which mercy is urged by Ioshuah to make them renew and firmly to keep Covenant with God Iosh 24.2 3 -6.7 c. 14 15.-25.26 Now our deliverances have been from spiritual enemies also as from spiritual Aegypt as from the tyranny of Antichrist that spiritual Pharaoh and from spiritual Babylon and from Popery by a child King Edward and a woman Queen Elizabeth which when Iudah was delivered temporally made them resolve saying Come let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetuall Covenant c. Isai 50.5 Since we have been miraculously delivered both from spiritual and bodily bondage as from the Popish Spanish Navy in 1588. from the Popish powder plot Anno 1605 and especially from late designs of the Popish and Malignant party and for the discovery and prevention of plots against Parliament and City tending to the utter subversion of Religion and of our Liberties which occasioned the National Covenant between England and Scotland and their joyning in Arms for the Vindication and Defence of their Religion Liberties and Laws against the Popish Prelatical and Malignant party as in their Declaration they have published Besides many no less then an hundred successes deliverances or victories obtained one after another without interruption till the power of the Adversary was wholly broken in remembrance whereof have we not as much cause as ever any had to make keep and renew Covenant with God and among our selves Especially if withall we consider other hoped mercies and the benefits of keeping our Covenant firm with God and with our neighbour-Kingdoms for thus we become strong yea invincible God and good men being in league with us we shal in the end at least be the more prevalent party such a cord is not easily broken Otherwise being divided from God by breach of Covenant made with him or in his name Other good redounding hence by unbelief and impenitency and among our selves by Faction Schisms c. we shall surely in the end fall Thus also the unsound are discovered and we know our enemies at least whom to suspect and to put no trust in Otherwise invisible enemies are most dangerous When once the Lord causeth us to pass under the Rod and brings us into the bond of the Covenant then saith he Ezâ—k 20 37 38. I will purge out from among you the Rebels them that transgress against me Yea the best come thus to be more purged at least to walk more closely with God in all good conscience of our duty whereas till we bind or take our selves bound fast to God by Covenant whether made directly with him as a party or with others in him as a witness or both we walk more loosly and carelesly ready to break with God and man upon small occasions As one being with a Master upon tryal and before he be bound to his Trade by Indenture is reâ—dy to break away without fear of any penalty I wish these our loose times made not this good we should not then play fast and loose as we do both with God and man 2. Another ground or cause of covenanting with God 2 Former corruptions to be covenanted against and of keeping it we find to be when a land or people hath been polluted with Idolatry and Superstition and hath been kept in ignorance of the true God his pure Worship his Laws and Word in a lawless liberty of sinning transgressing his Sabbaths c. For which see 2 Chron. 15 3.-8.-16 Nehem. 9.34 35 -38 with cap. 10.29 30 31. c. Ezra 10.2 3. c. 2 Chron. 23 3.-16 with 17. 29 5 6 -10. 34.21 -25 31. And have not we then like cause Have we not declined and been corrupted in doctrine worship and manners Gods Sabbath turned to play-day Masks and Plays instead of afternoon Sermons and that even at Court And were we not almost quite grown not only slavish but prophane Popish and Superstitious And was not this one ground at least of our covenanting namely to restore Religion to her purity Preface to the Covenant and to preserve her in it and keep it fromâ—â—tter ruin How can we else be thankful for our freedom from such corruptions but by keeping firmly our Covenant with God of a more pure and holy worship and walking with him Lastly Evils inflicted and evils feared or threatned 3 Evils 1. Felâ— have occasioned a new covenanting with God 1. Inflicted as we have seen Nehem. 9.36 37 with 38. So in King Hezekiah 2 Chron. 29.8 9 with 10. He exhorting the Levites and recounting the evils which for sin befel Judah and Ierusalem for Loe our Fathers have faln by the sword c Now saith he it is in mine heart to make a Covenant with the Lord God of Israel that his sierce wrath may turn away from us 2. So for feared wrath 2 Feared King Iosiah having read in the book of the Covenant what wrath was due to such sins as his people were guilty of and Huldah having Prophesied the Destruction of Jerusalem 2 Chron. 34 29 30 31. though respited in his days he gathered together all the Elders of Jerusalem and Judah Priests Levites and people and read in their ears all the words of that book and made a Covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his Commandments with all his heart c. This turned away wrath
in the purity and power of the same and become a quiet habitation which we also dare assure Gods people of when once or it may be after and upon some new and sharp handling we shall be sincerely humbled and purely purged from our dross This doubt removed concerning the authority by which the Prophet did denounce this judgment 2 The Authority by which the judgment cometh We may secondly take notice of the authority by which this judgment of the sword cometh or of that soveraign power by which the sword cometh again upon them or of the Original or efficient cause of war begun or renewed and whence it is that enemies were to return again To which I answer Answ 1 Negatively It is not from Enemies themselves who cannot though they were most malicious yea powerful The sword comes not by mans will Non enim passant quod non sivumur essicere as is Satan him elf do what they would but what God wills they must do all by permission yea commission from God so that if God be ours and we in Covenant with him and he with us we need not fear what men or devils can do unto us neither should they brag of their power or threaten or tell us what they will or can do Only if God be not with us or that we return not to him or keep not close with him it s not for us to trust to our own strength policy yea goodness of our cause in the general or to â—ormer good success Why It is God we have to deal withal who if he be not our friend we can want no Enemies It is he that commands and orders the battel All must and shall be as he will and according to his appointment and command And therefore it is here said But secondly by Gods command I will command saith the Lord and cause them to return to this City c. Now God doth this by his secret providence so procuring and ordering things and so disposing of the thoughts and counsels of Enemies as if he had given them some command so to do So he is said to bid Shimei curse ' David 2 Sam. 16.10 See 2 Kings Chap. 24. Vers 1 2 3. 2 Chron. 36.17 Jer. 49 14. 50.21 Note God the Lord of hosts Note God commander in caief of all â—rmies Deut. 28.50 51 52. is Commander in chief of all the Armies under heaven He is that great Centurion who at his only pleasure bids go and come and is obeyed It is only the Lord that sends a Nation against his people The Lord shal bring a Nation against thee from far and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates until thy high and fenced walls come down wherein thou trustest c. This was the case of * Newcastle this place a while ago and may it not be so again with us and other Cities and Towns God is the same stil in his judgments where men are the same in sin He therfore is also said to call for sword Jer. 25.29 to give the sword a commission and to say sword go through the Land Ezek. 14.17 to muster the host of the battel Isa 13.4 The Lord appoints it for all circumstances beginning continuance Jer. 47.6 7. Has 11.6 and ending Psa 46.9 It will be our wisdom then not to provoke this great Commander and glorious God from whom there is no fleeing as no resistance against him Amos 4.11 12 13. It s good having him on our side Usâ— Not to provoke him and having any way provoked him betimes to meet him or to send before us our prayers tears c. while he is yet far off and so to agree with him our Adversary which is the way to prevent the sword or if it be upon us to quiet it which will not be till God discharge it Jerem. 47.6 7. But what doth God command 3 What doth God command The return of enemies and do I will cause them the Chaldaeans to return Note 1. When one danger is past it 's not safe to be secure it or the like yea much worse may and will in case of impenitency return Danger is not always past when it seems over Many are for present respited Note 1. Dangers return to the impenitent reprived preserved from common danger but where pardon is not timely sought by them or the same or other sins returned unto their Preservation proves but their Reservation to greater and more remarkable judgments The former may be from Gods Patience and other * See my Newcastles Call in the Preface ends the latter from Gods Justice and Holiness Vse 1. It 's not for any then to dally with God or to presume on his Patience by abusing his sparing mercies his pardoning mercies in Christ would especially be sought 2. We are neither simply to beg a removal of the evil which presseth us nor to take the removal of it as a mercy unless sin be first or withall removed 2. 2 How faâ— Gods providence is in evil mens actions I will command and cause them to return c. Surely these Babylonians had no intention to fight Gods Battels or to serve under him but had ends base and bad enough different from Gods as Isai 10.5 6 7. we might here note how far generally God â—ath an hand in evill mens actions and how far they do his will when he sends them to an hypocritical nation to be his executioners For in war Gods Intentions and Purposes are one and mens grounds ends and ayms another God by them may justly punish an unthankful people for their sins against him when they shall sin by taking up arms against such as have done them no wrong out of their own ambition covetousness contrariety and madness against the Truth of God professed outwardly by his people And sometimes God intends good to his people by so scourging them a while to bring them to repentance amendment and Reformation and so in the end to beautifie them by deliverances to make them for midable to all about them as 2 Chron. 17.11 20.29 30. to bind them the more in thankfulness to himself yea for his own greater glory and the greater shame and confusion of his and his peoples enemies Psal 9.16 17 18. Rom. 9.17 or Exod. 9.16 Josh 11.19 20. Enemies by Gods just Providence often rise up against Gods People that they may fall before men c. As then the wise Physitian applying his Leeches to the Patient intends health thereby whereas the Leeches seek only to glut themselves with blood so God lets his people blood by war for their good and his own glory though the other think not so 3. To this City i. Jerusalem to this City not that 3 Gods judgments come with choyce at least to this now and not to that till a fitter time Note God sends the sword with choyce as to Jerusalem of Judah and not as yet to
others sin and causes at least occasions of their punishments Such general Desolations are the fruit of sin persisted in against former mercies and lesser chastisments from God Desolation Which is a fruit of haâ—dness of heaâ— Psal 107 34. unto which sencâ—less sinners are at length given over God is provoked at length to turn a fruitful Land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwel therein As sin dispeopled the whole world in the flood and the paradise of the world the Land of Iudah for now was accoâ—plished that wrath â—olong foretold by the Prophet Isâ—â—â— in the desolationâ—o this people for their obstinacy Their hearts were made fat to that the word in the Ministry of it had no saving effect on the most of them Isai 6.10 11 â—â— 13. 〈◊〉 which their obstinacy was to continue so long until their Cities be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and the land be utterly desolate desolate with desolation and the Lord have removed men far away and there be a great forsaking in the Land Such desolations must they expect at length who neglect lesser warning and who harden themselves against the word mercies judgments and forget their vows promises and Covenants with God and man For this is that sin here which added to their former sins made them ripe for destruction and for which this great desolation by the return of the Babylonish Army came upon them Now from the whole Verse observe Doctrine Breach of Covenant is an haynous sin which God will by no means pass by in his people unpunished It causeth The main Doctrine from the whole verse as here irrevocable judgments Where I speak not of unlawful or sinful Covenants which are better broken by repentance and pardon begged of God for that rashness which was in the making of them Such was that of those Iews who more then fourty of them Breach of Covenant punished by the sword banded together to kill Paul Acts 23.12 But of lawful Covenants whether only 1. Civil Whereby men ingage themselves one to another in civil respects only as when Abimelech and Abraham covenanted and sware one to another at Beersheba Covenants distinguished or the well of the oath Gen. 21.27 30.31 And when Iacob and Laban covenanted at Galeed Gen. 31.44 52. Or 2. Religious To yeeld obedience to God according to his will or to seek God as when Iehojada made a Covenant between him and between all the People and between the King that they should be the Lords People 2 Chron. 23.16 And so when Ezra made a Covenant for himself and the people with God to put away all their strange wives c. Ezra 10.3 See also Nehem. 9.38 10.1 c. 29.30 c. Or 3. Mixt Such was that also of Iehosaphat which was made not only between the Lord the King and people but between the King also and the people 2 Kings 11.17 And of this nature is our national Covenant Now God will severely punish the breach of all these sorts of Covenants And God puniâ—heth breach of Covenants of all sorts for so he hath done 1. For Civil As that made Ezek. 17. between the King of Iudah and the King of Babylon 1 Civil against whom after he had taken an oath he rebelled in sending his Embassadors into Egypt that they might give him horses and much people But what saith God Shall he prosper Shall he escape that doth such things Ezek. 17 15 16 19. Or shall he break the Covenant and be delivered As I live saith the Lord God surely in the place where the King dwelleth that made him King whose oath he despised and whose Covenant he brake even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall dye c. See also 2 Sam. 21.1 2 3. c. with Iosh 9.15 2. For Religious Covenants Thus Isai 24.1 2. 2 Religious the Lord threatneth doleful judgments to fall upon the Land Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty and maketh it wast and turneth it upside down and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof c. The Land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled c. But why is all this Isai 24 1 2 3 4 5 6. Because they have transgressed the Laws changed the Ordinance broken the everlasting Covenant therefore hath the curse devoured the earth and they that dwel therein are desolate So the Army of Israel could not prosper at Aj nor stand before their enemies though Gods promise was to be with them Why Josh 7 11 12. Because Israel saith the Lord hath sinned and they have also transgressed my Covenant and yet it was but one man Achan with his family that had taken of the accursed thing and stollen who accordingly were destroyed So for profanation of the Sacraments signs of the Covenant and of holy things see how God takes such wicked ones up Psal 50.16.17 What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant in thy mouth c. 3. So for Mixt Covenants 3 Mixt. In King Asa his days they bound themselves by a renewed Covenant to God and one to another that they would seek the Lord God of Israel and so by mutual covenanting to destroy Idolatry and the groves and superstitious worship they bound themselves and submitted to the penalty of death 2 Chron. 15.13 14. c. So acknowledging that not only Idolatry and breach of mens general Covenant with God deserved death but that they by vertue of this their covenanting one with another which they did to shew their thankfulness to God for that late great victory were bound without any pity or partiality to see Gods Will and Law ' Deut. 13.1 2 3 4. c. in such case executed and fulfilled But especially the Instance in my Text is remarkable King Zedekiah had made a Covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty unto them as Jer. 34.9 10. But afterwards they turned and caused the servants and handmaids whom they had let go free to return and brought them into subjection c. verse 11. Therefore thus saith the Lord verse 18. I will give the men that have transgressed my Covenant which have not performed the words of the Covenant which they had made before me even the Princes of Judah and of Jerusalem the Eunuchs and the Priests and all the people of the Land which passed between the parts of the Calf I will give them into the hand of their enemies and of them that seek their life And then as in my Text I will command and cause them to return to this City and they shall fight against it and take it and burn it with fire c. Where we may observe God verse 18. cals that his Covenant which the King and Princes had made with their servants before him i. in his presence taking him to witness so when men Covenant one with another by