not any order or degree of men which have not been shaken with these Earth-quakes O how deep is our stupidity if we do not all of us analyze and resolve our sufferings into their proper principles ours sins and Gods Displeasure If we have only howled vnder them and see not Gods Providence in them ordering the sins of men unto our Humiliation If we know them only naturally by their smart to the flesh and not spiritually by their influence on the Conscience If we censure others and absolve our selves If our sufferings harden and enrage us in animosities against men but do not meeken and melt us under the holy tryals of God Let us therefore labour to find out our sins by our Sufferings the cloud of wrath rising out of the sea of lust Let us search and try our wayes and since we are living men not complain of the punishment of our sins be not as Adamants Rocks Oakes which blowes waves winds break not move not bend not Make use of our sufferings to review our sins and to know our Duty what we should haply have done and did not in the day of our prosperity before God laid us aside what the Controversie was which God had against us in our Sufferings what the Duties are which he requireth of us in our restitution The Prophets staffe did no good to the dead child till he came himself Judgements do nothing till God follow them with his Craces Chastisements never mend us till they Teach us Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law Psalm 94. 12. Till we see his name and hear his voice in them Mic. 6. 9. Till we take notice of his Justice preparing the whale that hath s vallowed us Jon 1. 17. Bidding Sâ—imei curse 2 Sam. 16. 10. Giving a charge to the Assyrian Isa. 10. 6. This will make us dumb when we consider that it is God that doth it Psalm 39. 9. And now that the Cup hath gone round and God hath by his Righteous providence prevented our revenge and done that by the strange vicissitudes of his justice in a wise and holy manner which if he had left us to do in our owne cases would possibly have been done with folly and fury Let us conclude that the Lord having judged us all himselfe we should make it our work not so much to look back with revengefull as to look forward with Healing and closing Resolutions We have been like wanton children which fall out in a family now our father hath whipped us round that should make us returne to our fraternal agreements againe 2. The Lord hath variety of Judgements whereby to reduce froward and stubborn sinners can punish them in the Heavens over them in the Earth under them in their bowels within them can beset them upward downward outward inward and make a Net and Chain and Hedge of afflictions to shut them in And to fence up their way that they cannot pass Job 3. 23. Job 19. 8. When he will plead he will take away all Refuge and make every Region towards which we look minister Despair They shall look upward and they shall look unto the earth and behold Trouble and Darkness and Dimness of Anguish Isa. 8. 21 22. If they look without behold a Sword if within behold Famine and Pestilence Levit. 26 25. Jer. 21. 4. 6 Ezek. 7. 15. Evil which they shall not be able to escape or go forth of Jer. 11. 11. When men multiply sins the Lord usually multiplyeth Judgements till he either bend by Repentance or break by Destruction When Cleanness of teeth Blasting and Mildew Pestilence and Sword the Judgements of Sodome and Gomorah did not prevail with Israel to return then he threathneth final wrath Therefore Thus will I do unto thee Amos 4. 6. 12. Which Thus in the Prophet Amos seemeth to me to be the same with Lo Ammi in the Prophet Hosea an utter rejection of them from being the Lords people Hos. 1. 9. Four times after one another doth the Lord threaten to punish his people seven times more for their sins if they walk contrary unto him Levit. 26. 18 21 24 28. Philosophers use to reckon but eight steps to the highest and most intense degree of a quality but the wrath of God is represented by eight and twenty degrees unto us 1. The Methode of God in these various Judgements usually is 1. He begins at the outward man exercising a people many times with change of Rods which is ever a sign of Anger in the Father and of stubbornness in the Son 2. He proceeds to the soule by smiteing that revealing his wrath subducting his peace implanting his terrors causing guilt and fear to gripe and seize on the conscience called Breaking of bones Psal. 51. 8. drinking up of spirits Iob. 6. 4. A wounded spirit Prov. 18. 14. If the Lord should give a secure sinner who now haply thinks himself alive and safe upon the mistaken apprehensions of Mercy a full view of the filthiness and sense of the Heaviness of any one atrocious sin whereof he stands guilty it would make him a terrour to himself willing to exchange his burden for the weight of a Rock or Mountain O my broken bones saith one Psalm 51. 8. O my withered heart saith another Psalm 102. 3 4. O the distracting terrours of God saith a third Psalm 88. 15. O the intoxicating Arrows of the Almighty saith a fourth Job 6. 4. Thus the Lord can make a man a Magor Missabib a very fury and fiend unto himself by arming his own conscience against him And if the Sergeant be so formidable what a fearfull thing is it to fall into the hands of the Living God Against whose wrath all the Honours of the world all the Wealth and greatness which a thousand Kingdomes could heap upon a man could be no more a protection than a robe of beaten gold could be to one that is cast into a furnace of fire Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord let us be perswaded to be beware of provoking his wrath by any presumptuous sin 3. Towards obdurate sinners the Lord many times deals in a more fearfull manner sealing them up under hardness of heart a spirit of slumber a Reprobate sense a seared conscience to be led blind-fold by Satan till destruction unawares overtake them So it is said of the old world that notwithstanding the preaching of Noah who by preparing an Ark condemned the world they yet knew not till the flood came and took them all away Mat. 24. 39. Because I have purged thee saith the Lord and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more Ezek. 24. 13. Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Hos. 4. 17. Let him that is filthy be filthy still Rev. 22. 11. Now since the Lord hath such variety of Judgements that we can never out-sin his wrath Let us be deeply humbled for our pride who have
THE MEANES and METHOD OF HEALING IN THE CHVRCH Set forth in a Sermon PREACHED Before the Right Honourable the House of Peers in Westminster Abby April 30. 1660. being a Day of Solemn Humiliation to seek God for his Blessing on the Counsels of the PARLIAMENT By EDWARD REYNOLDS D. D. and Dean of Christ-Church LONDON Printed by Tho. Ratcliffe for George Thomason at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1660. Nobilissimis Honoratissimis Amplissimis DOMINIS IN SUPERIORI DOMO PARLIAMENTORUM Ardua Regni Negotia tractantibus Concionem hanc coram ipsis habitam ipsorumque jussu PVBLICI JVRIS Factam IN Summi Honoris humillimique obsequii TESTIMONIVM Dat Dicat Consecrat E. R. 2 CRON. 7. 13 14. If I shut up Heaven that there be no Rain or if I command the Locusts to devour the Land or if I send Pestilence among my people If my people which are called by my Name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked wayes then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their Land THE words are a Gracious Promise made by the Lord unto Solomon after he had dedicated the Temple by fasting and prayer for though there be no mention of Fasting yet if we consult the time we shall find that it was in the seventh moneth 2 Chron. 5. 3. and that the solemnity continued from the 8. to the 23. day of that moneth 2 Chron. 7 9 10. and the 10. day was by a Statute for ever appointed to be a day wherein to afflict their souls Levit. 16. 29. The parts are three 1. A Supposition of Judgements vers. 13. where by the enumeration of Three any others may Synechdochically be understood 2. A Direction unto Duties wherein are two things to be taken notice of 1. The Quality of the persons who are to perform them My people called by my Name 2. A Specification of the Duties which are these four Humiliation Supplication Reconciliation Conversion 3. A Gracious Promise of Mercy wherein are very remarkable four signal Returns of Grace in conformity to their Duties 1. They Humble themselves under Gods Holy hand and he humbleth himself to look down from Heaven 2. They pray and God hears their prayer 3. They seek the favour and the face of God and God forgives their sin and is reconciled unto them 4. They Turn from their wicked wayes and God Heals those evils which those wicked wayes had brought upon the Land no duty undertaken in vain but a sutable and correspondent Mercy promised to encourage them thereunto It may here not impertinently be asked why these three Judgements of shutting up Heaven sending Locusts and Pestilence are rather mentioned than any other since doubtless the Promise doth extend it self further I take the reason to be 1. Because these are irresistable no Counsel no Policy no Strength can prevent them 2. Because they are inflicted by God alone no second causes immixed in them if I shut up Heaven if I command the Locusts if I send Pestilence 1. If an Enemy come Counsel may hinder strength may vanquish Treasure may bribe and divert him Our own Polices and Provisions may seem to contribute towards our help But against an Army of Locusts no Policy Wisdome Srength Embassie can prevail No power of man can open or shut the Clouds No Gates or Barres can keep out a Famine or a Pestilence from a place 2. If an Enemy come we are apt to ascribe that to the malice of men to look outward to second causes and not inward to our own sins or upward to the Justice of God though it be certain that there is no humane Hostility without a divine Commission Men are Gods Rod and Sword and Staffe Psal. 17. 13. Isa. 10. 5 6. Ezek 21. 3 5 11. He by his secret and holy Providence edgeth the spirits of men against one another as he sent an evil spirit between the men of Shechem and Abimelech Judg. 9. 23. And stirreth up Adversaries against those that provoke him as he did against Solomon 1 Reg. 11. 14 23 And when he pleaseth to return in Mercy He rebuketh the sword and breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder Psalm 46. 9. Isa. 54. 17. These things I say are certain But we are too apt to bite the stone that hurts us and not mind the hand that threw it Whereas when wrath is from Heaven only we are forced to see God we have no second causes to ascribe it unto So the meaning is If I send Judgments immediately from my self such as no humane Wisdome can prevent or Power remove if then the people shall bethink themselves and return and seek my face they shall find that when Wisdome Policy Treasures Walls Armour Munition are nothing worth Prayer and Repentance shall avail for healing So here is a double Combate between God and Man 1. Man provokes God with sin and God overcomes sin with Judgement 2. Man wrestleth with Prayer and Humiliation and God yieldeth in Mercy and Compassion I begin with the first General the supposition of Judgements and from thencemake two observations I. Judgements light not on a people casually or by chance but by the over-ruling and disposing Power and Justice of the Command and Commission of God It hath not an earthly original It growes not out of the dust Job 5. 6 7. but it comes from Heaven and is sent from God to signifie something of his mind unto us 1. Sometimes indeed by way of Dominion and absolute Power He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked he laugheth at the trial of the innocent Job 9. 22 23. Sometimes as a Preparation unto intended Mercy as men plow the ground which they mean to inrich with precious seed and carve the stone which they mean to put in the top of the building Josephs Iron chain made way to his golden chain and Davids troubles season'd him for his Crown As men put forth longest into wind and sun that great Timber which must bear the greatest burden and stress of the building No such School to learn in as the School of Affliction But most usually in a way of Justice Because thy sins were increased I have done these things unto thee Jer. 30. 15. Thou hast done right we have done wickedly Neh. 9. 33. I have not done without cause all that I have done Ezek. 14. 23. Personal chastisements may be for tryal and exercise of faith and patience but general and publick Judgements are ever in wrath and displeasure Such have been the dealings of God in this Nation The cup of Affliction hath been given to All orders of men we have seen Princes on Scaffolds and in banishment Parliaments broken in pieces by their servants Peers and Patriots devested of their Honours and secluded from their Trust Dishonours poured upon the City Poverty on the Countrey Blood on the Land Scorn on Ministers Threats on Vniversities Consternation on Souldiers there is
O Lord give not thine Heritage to reproach Joel 2. 17. And the Lord when there is no motive else is marvellously wrought on by this Argument Is Ephraim my dear son Is he a pleasant child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord Jer. 31. 20. In Confession we must say Thus and Thus have we done Josh. 7. 20. In Petition we must say Thus and Thus hast thou promised We may argue much better from Relations then Performances Lord We are thy Children when we deserved wrath thou didst Adopt us though we deserve it still do not reject us When thou didst Adopt us thou didst adopt enemies If thou shouldst reject us thou shouldst reject Children Our unworthiness could not prevent thy Mercy let it not remove it 2. In what manner to do Duty None can do Duty aright but as one of His and in Covenant with him In Christ by faith both our Persons and our Services are accepted Ephe. 1. 6. 1 Pet. 2. 5. The Altar sanctifieth the Gift and he is our Altar Out of him we can do nothing Duties are not done aright but in the vertue of the Covenant of Grace Jehu did a work materially good but carnal policy turned it into sin Hos. 1. 4. To pray and yet hold fast cruelty To Fast and to take pleasure in Wickedness To bring Offerings and Flocks to Gods house and still delight in violence and oppression If any thing be to mock God and provoke wrath certainly this is to make Religion like Samuels Mantle a Cloak for the Devil 3. In what manner to escape Judgements and secure Mercy Be His people and you are sure to be spared Mal. 3. 17. Ezek. 9. 4. He hath an Ark for Noah a Zoar for Lot a Basket for Paul a Gath for David Chambers and hiding places for his people untill Calamity be over-past Isa. 26. 20. Psalm 57. 2. Zeph. 2. 3. When Jesus was neer his own suffering and in the midst of dangers himself he took care of his poor Disciples Let these go Joh. 18. 8. The less protection they find amongst men the more they shall have from him Since therefore the Lord is tender of the Interests of his people and takes special care of Hearing Forgiving and Healing them Let it be your care Right Honourable likewise to take them into your protection they who hurt them hew at the bough whereon they stand dig under the Foundation which holds them up This for the Qualifications of the persons of whom these duties are required The Duties themselves required for the removal of Judgements follow 1. If they shall humble themselves and be cast down under my holy hand in the sense of my displeasure But that is not enough Ahab did so 1 Reg. 21. 27. who for ought we read did not pray unto God 2. If they shall pray and cry for help as Ninivie did Jonah 3. 8. But that is not enough neither Hypocrites in distress will say Arise and save us Jer. 2. 27. They will spread forth their hands and make many prayers Isa. 1. 15. and cry in the ears of the Lord with a loud voice Ezek. 8. 18. And enquire early after him Psalm 78. 34. 3. If they shall seek my face be grieved more for my Displeasure than my Rod Pray first for Mercy and then for Healing as David Psalm 6. 2. It was Christs Method first to forgive and then to heal Mat. 9. 2 6. And it must be ours in praying for it But neither is this enough Pharoah can be contented to have his sin forgiven though he will not let it goe Exodus 10. 17. 4. If they shall turn from their evil wayes and so lift up holy hands unto God First wash their hands in innocency and then compass the Lords Altar Psalm 26. 6. Put iniquity far away from their hands and then stretch them forth towards God Job 11. 13 14. Lift up pure hands 1 Tim. 2. 8. Put away the evil of their doings and then come and reason together with the Lord Isaiah 1. 16 17 18. 1. Then If they shall Humble themselves A duty called for by Prophets and Apostles Mic. 6. 8. Jam. 4. 10. 1 Pet. 5. 6. specially respected by God as we find in the case of Josiah 2 Reg. 22. 19. And gracious Promises made thereunto Leviticus 26. 41. 42. It emptieth the heart of Self-Confidence is the Root of that fundamental Duty of Self-Denial It fits for approach to God because the more humble the more welcome the more we tremble at his Threatnings the more we shall supplicate for his Grace Isa. 66. 2. Job 9. 15. It disposeth to a Confession of sin as we see in the poor Prodigal and Publican Luke 15. 17 18 19. Luke 18. 13. It prepares the heart for the entertainment of Mercy though the proclamation be made and the Court of Mercy be open to all Rev. 17. 22. yet while men love sin they forsake Mercy Jon. 2. 8. But when the soul is humbled it opens to God and his Grace Weary souls are glad to be satiated Jer. 31. 25. It makes way to the forsaking of sin the more a soul is humbled for it the more it is fearfull of it and watchfull against it Humiliation is two-fold 1. A Passive when God breaks the heart by the Hammer of the Word as it is called Jer. 23. 29. or by some sore Affliction 2. Active when the soul humbleth it self under sin and wrath When a man-afflicts his own soul Levit. 16. 29. Again This is two-fold 1. Legal proceeding from a spirit of Bondage when the heart roars on a rack or melts in a furnace is fill'd with Consternation and Anguish under the weight of sin and wrath which was the case of Pharaoh Ahab Belshazzar Felix the Jaylor the Murtherers of Christ 2. Evangelical When the soul is not only broken and batter'd with the Horror and dread of wrath this it may be and remain hard as every piece of a broken flint is hard still But when it is kindly melted and softned with apprehensions of Gods Goodness and free Grace A compounded Duty made up of Love and Sorrow the Humiliation of Hezekiah Jer. 26. 19. and of Josiah 2 Chron. 34. 27. This is a perpetual Duty As long as sin remains there must be a sense of it and sorrow for it But in some times and cases it is specially to be renewed As in time of extraordinary sins and provocations of publick Dangers and Distresses of great Enterprizes attempted or Successes and Blessings desired which was the case of Exra 8. 21. The great sins the sad Divisions the dis-joynted affections the contrary Interests the dolefull Errors and Distempers in the Church the miserable Fluctuations and Discomposures which have been in the State the horrid violations of Order and Justice the wofull Staines which have been upon the Land by the irregular and
Pharaoh-like put God to so many changes of Rods and variety of Judgements as we in this Nation have felt Let us yield betime unto him for he will overcome when he judgeth Let us take heed of flattering our selves when one rod is worn out or laid a side as if the bitterness of death were past God can make every Creature about us every faculty within us a Rod and a Scourge against us And therefore having received such deliverances as we lately have done let us make holy Ezra's conclusion Should we again break thy Commandments Ezra 9. 13 14 Should we not take heed of sinning any more lest a worse thing come unto us Joh. 5. 14. Should we not consider for what it is that God restored us to our stations namely that we should in our places study how to honour him to be zealous for his Truth and Pure Religion tender of the Liberties Properties and equal Rights of all the people in the Land to restore all oppressed Innocents to loose the bonds of violence and to settle these so long shaking and discomposed Nations upon the firm foundations of Truth Peace and Righteousness againe Thus much for the first General The supposition of Judgements various and such as come immediately from God and admit of no possible prevention by humane wisdome or removal by humane power II. We proceed to the Direction unto Duties wherein comes first to be considered the Quality of the persons who are to perform them My people that are called by my name All men are his Creatures only a select and peculiar inheritance that bear his name enjoy his Peace Promises and Protection and are in Covenant with him are called His People I entred into Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine saith the Lord Ezek. 16. 8. This people have I formed for my self Isa. 43. 21. The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himselfe Psalm 4. 3. They are the people of his holiness Isa. 63. 18. A people for his name taken out from among others Acts 15. 14. To be called by his Name noteth to be his adopted Children as Josephs children were made the children of Jacob Genesis 48. 5 16. We are Gods people two wayes 1. By visible profession or Sacramental separation from the world as the whole Nation of the Jewes are called his people A peculiar Treasure unto him above all people Exod. 19. 5. A Nation nigh unto him Deut. 4. 7. His people even then when they rebelled against him Isa. 1. 3 4. 2. By Spiritual Sanctification and internal Dispositions Thine they were and thou gavest them me and they have kept thy word John 17. 6. Jews inwardly by the Circumcision of the heart Rom. 2. 29. The Israel of God Gal. 6. 16. The Children of the Promise Rom. 9. 8. The Remnant according to the Election of Grace Rom. 11. 5. The Circumcision which worship God in the spirit Phil. 3. 3. These are His people by a Price of Redemption 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. By a peculiar Designation unto his service Tit. 2. 14. By an Intimate Relation of Love and Dearness Ezek. 16. 8. By an high Valuation of them as Treasures Jewels vessels of Honour Mal. 3. 17. 1 Pet. 2. 9. 2 Tim. 2. 20. By Destination to a more glorious end Eph. 4. 30. The Duty extends to both The whole body of a visible Church are in Judgements to humble themselves and as to temporal deliverances the Lord doth respect the Humiliations of the worser Members of the Church as we see in the cases of Ahab and Rehoboam 1 Reg. 21. 28 29. 2 Chron. 12. 6 7. But to do this so effectually as to attain all the annexed promises is the work of the Israel of God by spiritual Sanctification Now from this Qualification we gather these two useful Observations I. The sins of Gods own people who are in Covenant with him may provoke and procure Judgements their Pride and Security Worldly Love Conformity to the Corruptions of the times Coldness and Formality in Duty Uneven and Unfaithfull walking acting by divided Interests from the rest of the Lords people may provoke God severely to punish a land and we may justly fear hath done so amongst us A good man though a Son may yet be silius sub ira under paternal displeasure If Moses and Aaron do not by believing glorifie God they must both die in the Wilderness Num. 20. 12. If David grow proud of victories and number the people God will send a plague which shall lessen their number and his pride 2 Sam. 24. 15. If Solomon turn from God to Women and to Idols though he be a Son he shall be chastized with the rods of men 2 Sam. 7. 14. If Asa grieve the Prophet and oppress the people he shall be vexed with Warrs and Diseases 2 Chron. 19. 9 12. If Jehoshaphat help the ungodly his life shall be endangered and his ships broken 2 Chron. 19. 20. God will have Judgement begin at his own house 1 Peter 4. 17. Their sins have some Aggravations in them which other mens have not these are committed against special light and more glorious convictions as those of Solomon After God had appeared unto him twice 1 Reg. 11. 9. Against special Love and experiences of divine favour 2 Samuel 12. 7. 9. Against special Relations the Honour of a Father a Lord an Husband Isa. 1. 2. Against special Grace and Assistance of the Holy Spirit Ephes 4. 30. Against special Covenants and Engagements after a vouching God for theirs Psalm 78. 34. Against special Deliverances from greatest dangers Ezra 9. 13 14. Against special Hopes and more special Promises which should have perswaded them unto Holiness 2 Cor. 7. 1. 1 John 3. 3. Against special Peace and glorious Comforts as David sinned against the joy of Gods salvation Psalm 51. 12. Peter denied Christ after he had seen his Transfiguration And this may teach the holiest of men 1. To take heed of playing the Wantons with the Grace of God Though God be a tender yet he may be an Angry Father And who knoweth the Power of his Anger Psalm 90. 11. 2. To be more carefull to stand in the breach against publick Judgements having by their sins contributed to the bringing of them upon the Land 2. It is not our doing of Duty but Gods being in Covenant with us which is the ground of his Mercy to us Property doth stir up Compassion Though they have provoked me yet I will spare them because they are mine Malachy 3. 17. Whence we learn 1. In what manner to go to God and to plead with him not in confidence of our Duty but of our Relation to him as His Thou art our Father we are thine Isa. 63. 16 19. The Church in Affliction seldome useth any other Argument Why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people Exod. 32. 11. Art not thou our God 2 Chron. 20. 7. We are called by thy name leave us not Jer. 14. 9. Spare thy people