to understand of all outward observations abstracted from true piety they are nothing worth 1 Tim. 4.8 Bodily exercise profiteth little Though the body were never so much macerated and even brought to a Consumption yet without contrition of spirit it would avail nothing It is the fervent prayer of the righteous that availeth much Jam. 5.16 And note by the way how this King speaketh only of one God namely the God of the Hebrews whom Jonah had preached in the message he brought The many gods which he had served before began now to be vile in his eyes as able to do him no good Which is the guise of all true Converts to reject idol-gods the belly the Childe that is idolized the wealth c. See hence why we make those long prayers on a day of Use 1 fasting With some this may be accounted tedious Apology and hardly to be endured But the case stands thus Prayer is the chief work of the day and all our preaching is but to prepare your hearts and stir up your affections to cry mightily unto God even with sighs and groans that cannot be uttered And by that time we have duly confessed our own sins and the sins of the Land together with supplications for mercy and forbearance judge you whether it be not requisite to spend more time then ordinary Adde thus 1. These sins are mighty sins and need mightily to be cryed down Amos 5.12 I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins Some sinners are mighty to pour in strong drink to swear bloudily to commit uncleanness to oppress their brethren and the like 2. The mighty God is mightily offended and provoked to wrath Psal 90 11. Who knoweth the power of thine anger it hath proved heavy to men and Angels and so there needs a mighty cry to appease this wrath and get judgements prevented or removed It had been too late for Nineve to pray when once the forty days were expâ—red 3. The enemies of our peace and Gospel are mighty enemies idolaters profane persons dissembling friends real enemies It is a wonder that our house and Kingdom which is so divided is not fallen asunder long ago There needs mighty crying to God that we may defeat these enemies Remember this against a Fast and in your ordinary course of prayer Wrestle strive continue instant in prayer be fervent in spirit serving the Lord. True Christians have both the gift and spirit of prayer and should stir up the gift that is in them Do as Jacob who wrestled with the Angel and would not let him go without a blessing See how it is described in Hos 12.3 4 5 6. By his strength he had power with God yea he had power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplications unto him And the truly-godly are said to be a generation of people much of the same frame Psal 24.6 This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Jacob. They are the Israel of God weak in themselves but mighty in a spiritual consideration The weapons of their warfare are not carnal but mâ—ghty through God to throw down strong-holds Amendment needful to true Penitents For the reformation of life here required Amendment of life is necessary to all that repent and fast aright Let them turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands In Scripture a mans way is that course of life which a man steers for the pleasing of God and saving of his soul And they that steer not aright are said to go in an evil way and need to turn out of it And so to turn is the true fast and the true repentance Sackcloth and all abstinence is nothing without crying to God by prayer and all prayer is nothing without a real reformation Esa 58 6,7 Is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burthens and to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every yoke Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thine house when thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh Zech. 7.7 Should ye not hear the words which the Lord cryed by the former Prophets Use 1 Whence it follows that numbers never rightly kept a fast in all those years nor truly repented of their sins If they had they would not be such swearers as they are or drunkards lyars unjust incontinent otherwise ungodly If they had they would every one have turned from his evil way and wrought righteousness before God Sound reformation ever follows upon sound humiliation Those that would justifie their repentance for sound and testifie the sincerity of their conversion let them turn every one from his evil way Never tell of the many fasts ye have kept and how many tears ye have shed or sighs or groans but make all good by a thorow reforming of things amiss Bring forth fruits meet for repentance Mat. 3.8 Good apples argue the tree to be good and the works of pâ—ety mercy and righteousness argue the man who fasted to be a man truly-godly But how shall I know that I reform aright Notes of right turning from sin and in a saving manner Answ 1. In true conversion there is a turning from every evil way though there be profit to be had by the sin or pleasure or content of any kind David that was a true Penitent hated every false way Psal 119.104 The reason is because all sin is displeasing to God and dangerous to the soul And no sin is forgiven but it cost Christ his dearest bloud there is no other price of our redemption 1 Pet. 1.18 19. We are not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but by the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lamb without spot 2. In true conversion the special sin shall be singled out for censure sorrow and amendment as here the violence of these Nâ—nevites So David confessed his foul sins of filthiness and bloud-guiltiness Zacheus confessed his forged cavillation Matthew his sitting at the receit of custom Jonah wrote the story of his flying from God and declining the work which he had appointed him to do All which things and the like are written for our instruction to do the like 3. In true conversion there is a turning to God with all the heart as the rule is given Jer. 4.1 If thou wilt return O Israel Joel 2.12 13. saith the Lord return unto me And Paul was sent to turn the Gentiles from the power of Satan unto God Act. 26.18 Otherwise the conversion doth not reach home God is the party offended by sin and in Christ must be pleased with us again or else we do nothing Remember this our ordinary Theme and turn aright from your evil way Ver. 9. Who can tell if God will turn
servants of sin but have obeyed from the heart he dâ—ctrine delivered Rom. 6.17 An argument there to urge a real holinesse to dye to sin and live to righteousnesse Learn also to do good with those temporalls which God Use 2 hath cast upon you so unexpectedly Honor the Lord with thy substance Do good with such mercies the rather Pro. 3 9. Deut. 8.11.26.5 Psal 116.12.103.1 and with the first fruits of all thy increase When thou hast eaten and art full forget not the Lord thy God Hence the offering of the first fruits in the Law and the paying of Tythes and the confession A Syrian ready to perish was my Father and Jacohs confession With my staff I went over this Jordan and now I am become a rich man and Davids deliberation with himself What shall I render to the Lord for all his henefits Blesse thou the Lord O my soul and all that is within me blesse his holy Name And the censuring of the unthankful Lepers when cleansed Ten were cleansed but where are the nine Luc. 17.17 Here let none take up an evil thought as if excused because he hath faithfully laboured for what he hath gotten Other Scriptures require it of the painfull and laborious or tell how God gives strength to get substance Deut 8 18. and how without the blessing of God all a mans labor will com to nothing Ps 127.1 2. Still therefore he is the great Benefactor and must be so acknowledged Without him and some grace from him thou hadst been idle rash undiscreet a spend-thrift or crost in thy way of getting Much lesse think What need I labour if God gives his blessings to them that labour not Not so for he hath set an order from the beginning of the world that in the sweat of our brows we must eat our bread Man is born to labour as the sparkes fly upward Be not slothfull in businesse None may walk disorderly but labour with his hands the thing that is good So that Gods preventing us with goodnesse is no warrant for any to be idle and cast care away Idlenesse is a sin and such are threatened to be cloathed with rags So in spiritual things all are bound to a diligent and conscionable use of the means of grace whereby they may get into the favor of God and be saved Lie at the pool to be healed of spiritual maladies Wash in Jordan to be cured of the leprosie of thy soul Dives his brethren were sent to Moses and the Prophets to beleeve them if they meant to escape the place of torment 2 The Lord tells of sixscore thousand infants in Nineve Note 2 Our infants regarded of God which argues the hugenesse of the citie twice before called a great citie and now we see it must needs be so by this proportion what were all the Citizens put together The Lord sees and respects the multitudes of people that are in the world young and old infants and all that know not the right hand from the left one hundred and twenty thousand of them millions in Constantinople in Grand Cairo Paris other great Cities one hundred thousand families of Jews in Alexandria beside the other Citizens four hundred twenty and eight thousand heads at Rome upon a just accompt so of others London York Bristol all particular Towns and Countreys He that calleth the stars by their names and counts the number of them keeps accounts also of young children And as he feeds the Ravens when they cry so he provides for us and our little ones He told Abraham Psal 147.3 how his posterity should be as the stars of heaven and as the sands of the sea-shore for multitude and how he meant to advance them The reason whereof is taken from the infinitenesse of his divine perfections He makes all Reas and he preserves all as a Creator and as a Father he undertakes by covenant for the godly and their seed saying I will be thy God and the God of thy seed These Nivevites were heathens Gen. 17.7 and yet their little ones were thus respected What then shall we say of Believers and their off-spring Now magnifie God in this his large and yet special providence Use 1 In that Psalm it stands among the arguments of praise and thanksgiving Ahasuerus by his great and long Feast did shew forth the Majesty of his Kingdome yet we read of no children among the guests but our great Feast-maker gives entertainment continually to young and old even all the millions in severall countreys Meditate and see how the glory of God will swell in thine eyes We admire great House-keepers who keep many in family and provide for every one decently and in very order The Queen of Sheba was ravished in mfnd to see the order and glory and provisions of Solomons houshold But behold a greater then Solomon is here infinitely more guests and better provisions Use 2 Again this affords comfort to believing Parents whom God hath blessed with abundance of Children Comfort to Parents and sometimes they have careful and heavy thoughts how to provide for them especially what will become of them when themselves are dead and gone alass poor creatures what will they do If they were grown up and able to shift for themselves I should care the lesse but they are young and tender and my heart is much troubled for them Now remember wbo looked upon Nineve and there noted six score thousand who could not discern between the right hand and the left And he is the same God still infinite in all his Attributes and as loving to our little ones as ever he was to these of Nineve one of them far better then all the Ravens in the world and yet God feeds every of them and the Angels have a charge of our Children as well as of our selves Mat. 18.10 and it hath been seen that God hath raised poor mens Children and set them among Princes Psal 113.7 8. Onely let Parents be advised in three things 1. To lay hold upon the Covenant for themselves and their little ones get God to be thy God and the God of thine A carelesse Parent in this respect is but a sorry friend to his poor Babes Mark to whom the blessing is entailed Psal 103 17 18. The mercy of nhe Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousnesse unto childrens children To such as keep his covenant and to those that remember his commandements to do them 2. To pray for their Children that they may be respected in special love and find mercy with the Lord as did Father Abraham Oh that Ismael might live in thy sight Gen. 17. He that can pray should exercise his gift in praying for his poor Children As for the Church State health harvest other interests so specially for the souls of his Children and their eternal welfare 3. To give them religious education bringing them up in the nurture and admonition
it be with the loss of their Souls and yet when they have it it is in much danger to be stollen or mastered by Fire or forfeited or to be cast away with ones own hands and Oh that I had never know peny of this ill-gotten Goods Mat. 16.26 what profit what recompence beside those cases of meeting a murderous Theef Take my Goods and save my Life And mark how expresly the way of worldlings is called folly Psal 49.13 This their way is their folly with Jer. 17.11 He that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his days and at his end shall be a fool Use 2 Take heed Christians and adventure not Souls for Goods It were no reasonable exchange 1. Mark these Heathens if they prefer their Lives before their Goods let not Christians who know better and higher things cast away their precious and Immortal Souls for a little Commodity no not if it were never so great Certainly there is no proportion between a Soul and the whole world 2. We read of some Philosophers that they cast away their wealth and worldly business that they might the better attend the getting of Learning and Wisdom so did Crates and Thales by buying up the Vineyards in the Country when he fore-saw a Scarcity by Philosophy and made good advantage of it shewed how easily a Philosopher might get wealth if he minded it And if such mind it not why should Christians mind it so much What then may some say Object Answ would you have me cast my wealth into the River I see no such need Sir Answ 1. There is need to make restitution of Goods that have been ill-gotten as did Zacheus 2 There is need to be free for pious and charitable uses according to ability 1 Cor. 16.2 as God hath prospered a man 3. There is need while we hold these temporals to hold them with a moderate mind and affection not to mind Earthly things but to have the conversation in Heaven Phil. 3.19 20. not to set the affections on things below but things above Col. 3.1 2. and our rule is not to Treasure in Earth but in Heaven Mat. 6.20 and when we have any riches to refer them to the right ends they were given for as is said Honour God with thy substance Prov. 3.9 And still they should be used as encouragements in his service Ver. 15. 4. There is need above all our getting to labour for the better and enduring substance Heb. 10.34 to be rich in faith and good works to get saving wisdom which is better then Rubies and Diamonds to have a stock of prayer going in Heaven without all question great is the gain of godliness 1 Tim. 6.6 though worldlings esteem it not Where note these two Loves do much hinder and waste one another If a man earnestly and as he ought shall mind the spiritual wealth it will in great part take him off from his mudling in the world Is he not in the prosecution of better things A Prince that seeks a Kingdom will purchase no Cottage On the other side he that eagerly pursues the world shall either neglect Religion altogether or pursue it very indifferently worldly-mindedness hath been the maâ—ring of many an hopeful Professor Demas embraced the world 2 Tim. 4.10 and left the Apostle To the fourth point We are apt to be very secure even Doctr. 4 in the greatest danger 1. Good men as Jonah In great danger apt to be secure who was very shortly to be cast into the Sea and yet fast asleep in the side of the Ship and David who after his sin with Batsheba lay securely for awhile without renewing peace with God till the Sword was threatned to come against his house and never go from it Only with this difference the security of a godly man is neither total nor final At the worst he hath some motions of God in his heart and at last he runs to him with full speed Cant. 5.2 I sleep but my heart waketh And oil is ready in his Lamp to go forth and meet the Bridegroom 2. Carnal and worldly men These say Peace and Safety when suddain destruction comes upon them unawares 1 Thes 5.3 And the man with gall of bitterness saith he shal have peace when the smoak of Gods wrath is arising against him Deut. 29. So said they of the old world till the flood came and drowned them all and the men of Sodom till the fire fell from Heaven and consumed them Every natural man sleeps the sleep of death and he never awakes till he be dropping into Hell Use 1 Whereby note a cursed and dangerous effect of sin as it brings a man into extreme danger of losing God and all happiness A fruit of sin and of falling into the everlasting torments of Hell so it is ready to make and keep him secure and altogether insensible of his danger till he know not what to do wâ—th himself Esa 6.10 He hath a gross heart eyes to see and not perceive ears to hear and not understand and he hath an impenitent heart Rom. 2.5 whom all the goodness and patience of God cannot lead to repentance so little cause there is to be in love with sin as many are or to refuse the Exhortations of zealous Ministers Use 2 2. Note and admire the wonderful mercy of God who watcheth over us for good The mercy of God and in due time awakenes us out of our deep and deadly sleep by giving faith and repentance O the rich and invaluable grace of Conversion how are we bound unto God that now we stand up from the dead Eph. 5.14 and live for ever We were asleep sometimes yea dead in sins and trespasses but now Christ hath given us the light of Life It is onely of his discriminating grace for which we must ever remember to be thankful 3. Awake unto duty Christian watchfulness is a duty Use 3 often commanded in Scripture Be sober be vigilant watch 1 Pet. 5.1 for ye know not the hour when the Son of man cometh Mat. 25.13 and saith Christ what I say unto you I say unto all watch Mar. 13.37 For Motives consider how it is made a Note of wisdom to watch till the Bridegrome comes as did the wise Virgins How the wise as well as the foolish are apt to slumber and sleep How the Bridegrome comes in a time when he is least expected at mid-night Ver. 5.6.10.12.13.14.19 How the wise Virgins enter with him into the glorious Bride-Chamber How others are excluded though they knock and call for admission And how hereupon our Saviour inferreth the Exhortation Watch therefore together with another Parable to the same purpose There will be a day of reckoning with the Servants about their Talents and Employments therefore watch and do duty Ver. 6. So the Ship-Master came to him and said unto him What meanest thou O sleeper
obeyed in all our course of life Both Creation and gubernation are ascribed to him therefore he is God He made us Use 2 and he feeds us therefore he is God Ps 135.6 Again it is comfort to the good Subjects of his dominion that he hath to do and doth what he will both in Heaven and Earth and in all deep places When we travel in waters or occupy businesses in that Element there he sits and overrules all In the great and threatning waves of affliction he orders the Event for good to the faithful Psal 32.6 Surely in the flouds of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him Mat. 8.26 14 31. Rev. 20.13 Esa 43.2 When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee For the Disciples he rebuked the wind and sea and there was a great calm And he took up sinking Peter into the ship and one day the sea shall give up her dead There is comfort also in the preparations and provisions that the Lord makes for us both by sea and landâ— He that prepared a great fish for Jonah prepares for us a multitude of fishes both small and great precious for their usefulness and pleasant by their variety Food Physick Oil Bone abundance of uses for the enriching of a Nation whereunto adde that God first taught the art of making ships for Navigation so Noah by his instruction Heb. 11.7 prepared an Ark for saving himself and his Use 3 Family And if it be so believe in God for supply of all your wants In all straights say as Abraham God will provide He that appointed Jonah to be cast into the sea prepared a fish to save him from drowning He that sent a Famine upon Canaan sent Joseph before into Egypt for a Caterer for us also he will provide what is wanting and shall be expedient Believe it and beware of the chiding Why did ye fear because ye brought no bread Jonah was in the belly of the fist three days and three nights Miraculous preservation of Jonah Here is miracle upon miracle A storm raised a calm restored a fish prepared for safety a man kept alive in his belly so long and no longer and then set on dry land again wonders that the fish was so ready for him that he escaped crushing between his teeth which stood in great rows as Sawes to knap him asunder that the digestive force of the fishes stomack was so long restrained that he was not choaked wiâ—h waters and weeds that came about him that he was tost from one side of the fish to another that all this while he had no way of free breathing yet there he was and there he prayed and thence he was delivered Admirable preservation Note the wonderful power of God Note And of others who in the midst of dangers can preserve his people even where no hope of safety appears Jonah in the Whales belly Israel amidst the red sea and in Jordane with bread from heaven water out of a rock one sute of Apparel to serve a man for forty years together The three Jews to breathe and live in an hot fiery furnace and come forth again Daniel to escape well enough in the den of Lions Noah in a world of waters and among all sorts of beasts all came to him and the wildest were made tame so to live with the rest Fables will an Atheist say who can believe Against Atheists or how can these things be Answ 1. Ask sense and experienâ—e how lives the Child in the womb for some moneths together where he neither breathes nor takes nourishment by the mouth yet a continual business as appears in the Birth of Children John 20.29 2. He must needs be a gross Atheist who will believe no more then he sees Blessed is he that hath not seen and yet hath believed Spiritual matters are as much above sense for perceiving as they are for worth The soul is far better then the body yet not seen as the body is and God who is infinitely better then both 3. Jesus Christ who is the true and faithful witness hath given testimony to this History of Jonah and his Whale that he was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish And whosoever shall infringe the truth of Christ in his assertions shall never find him a Saviour A Revenger he shall find him but not a Saviour The wrath of God abideth on him 4. Poets and Heathens have a fable of Ariou Methimnaeus carryed by Dolphins along the sea into his own Countrey no doubt but some glimmering of this History of Jonah Gualter or rather a fable invented by the Devil to obscure this History that it should not be credited as to render the Apostles suspicious he cryed out Act. 16.17 These are the servants of the most High God who shew unto us the way of salvation Use Expect deliverance when least likely Now remember this against times and cases of very great danger God is the same and his power is the same and his love and his care and his truth and all his Attributes and if thou be the same with Jonah in faith and holinesse thou shalt find the same protection and deliverance so far as shall be good for thee I am the Lord I change not Object There is the scruple may some say I am no whit like Jonah that God should so take care of me Sol. Answ 1. The least degree of true faith and holiness is accepted with God and shall keep the head above water Peter was a man of little faith and yet by his little faith he was able to walk upon the sea and if he had held fast his confidence as he began he should not have sunk in the least nor cryed out for help as he did 2. Though Jonah was a very good man yet at this time he was very faulty and in wrath cast forth into the sea Hab 3.2 Only the Lord in wrath remembers mercy toward him and so he will toward thee The gifts and calling of God are without repentance no unbelief of ours can make the faith of God of none effect nor break off the tie between him and a believing soul Oh but my case is very grievous Object A devouring evil lies upon me Answ Thy case is not worse then Jonahs case was Sol. he was devoured by a Whale and this devourer was the means of his preservation Judg. 14.14 Out of the eater came meat and out of the strong came sweetness Thou sayest I see no likely means of my deliverance no more did Jonah and yet he is delivered even in a way quite contrary God saves by means without means above means or against means Oh but mine is a tedious affliction Ob. Sol. it hath lain long upon me and now what hope remains Answ 1. Jonah was in the Whales belly three days and three nights no doubt but that he had sad thoughts
one day prove a consuming fire who though he hath brought up thy life from corporal corruption yet not from eternal But come we now to the illustration from the contrary Idolaters miss of mercy because they seek not the true God They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy Jehovah brought up Jonahs life from corruption Jehovah heard his prayer and delivered him of Jehovah is salvation the true God did all but the idol-gods can do none of these things they are vanities and teachers of lies Hab. 2 18. and will deceive all those that trust in them and call upon them But I comprehend under the name of lying vanities Lying vanities what 1. The idols of the Gentiles which the Mariners prayed unto every one to his god Had not Jonahs God delivered them they had been all drowed in the sea none could save as the God of Jonah and of the Hebrews who is also the God of us Christians 2. Those carnal reasonings wherewith Jonah was swayed to leave Nineve and flee to Tarsus whereof he tells us in chap. 4 2. and now he recants all professing to adhere to the true God only Such carnal reasonings we all have and are to exalt high thoughts against the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 Religion with many is measured by meer policy credit multitude thriving in the world and the like lying vanities all of them as to the soul and in Gods matters Yet farther all superstitions are lying vanities that is humane inventions put for Gods worship Psal 40.4 They turn aside to lyes And all Astrological predictions in Moon-prophets who tell of lucky and unlucky dayes Jer. 10.2 And all forms of Religion in hypocrites they compass God about with lyes Hos 11.12 And all good things of this life in worldlings who pursue them immoderately and inordinately Vanity of vanities all is vanity Eccl. 1.2 And all lusts in profane persons called deceitful lusts Eph. 4.22 and we read of deceivablness of unrighteousness in them that perish 2 Thes 2.10 Now accordingly as these vanities are observed more or less what the observing of them so mercy is forsaken Profane and impenitent persons observe these lying vanities totally and finally and so they altogether lose the mercy of God having their portion in this life Psal 17.14 but godly Christians who observe them but a little and only for a while do miss of some mercy they might enjoy as we see in this terrible balk which Jonah made Why their own mercy But why is it called their own mercy Answ Because it belonged to them it was tendered to them they might have had it they should have taken it and not let it go for the best advantage in the world So the Jews are called the children of the Kingdom Mat. 8.12 that is those that belonged primarily to the Church and favour of God But see the like opposition in Luke 16.10 11 12. The words are a doctrine They that observe lying vanities Doctr. Reas forsake their own mercy The reason is mercy is basely undervalued and vanities preferred before it Though it be a precious mercy a soul saving Mercy undeserved free rich the fountain of all good in earth and heaven though it be renewed in a costly way of Christs bloud which is more then the creation of man and the world though it be published and offered in the ministery Take it it is your own be reconciled to God and all shall do well though God be very patient after many of your refusals yet still vanities shall be observed and pursued as the chief good A just forfeit the Lord will not endure the disparagement of his mercy Luke â—4 21 the King was angry when the Guests would not come to his Supper saying Not one of them that were bidden shall taste of my Supper Use 1 Terror to sâ—nd Professors Which may serve for great terror to many Oh that they might be convinced of their great folly and humbled and work wisely hereafter for the welfare of their poor soul 1. Here is extream folly shewed thus Mercy is magnified in general but forsaken when it comes to particulars in the practice and when the main stroke is to be struck it is left as no good bargain as if the salvation of a soul were not indeed a thing to be stood upon never is it weighed well till the day of judgment when it will be too late Christ and his salvation are liked well and presumed on but lost for trifles and lost with a kind of wilfulness it is not said here that they lose mercy but forsake it 2. These vanities will one day be seen to be altogether unprofitable that they cannot profit nor deliver because they are vain 1 Sam. 12 21. Vain to have had pleasure in this life or scraped wealth together or climbed up to honors or to have so drudged about the world as if Religion were no calling for a Christian Then they will say What hath pride profited us or any of the other when the soul is lost and the shame and misery comes Rom. 6.21 Rev. 6 16. they will call the mountains to fall upon them and the hills to cover them Oh hide us from the presence of the Lamb. 3. What a confounding lye will it appear when these vanities appear in their own colours when the man finds himself disappointed of his hopes and mercy lost too no full contentment by his lusts and pleasures when most fully enjoyed no solidity in all his cavils and carnal reasonings mercy pleaded to the losing of mercy as here by Jonah At that day mercy will be found to be the portion of good souls only who love and fear God and at that day it will appear to have been limited wiâ—h certain conditions which at present are overlooked and altogether neglected These conditions for receiving mercy were delivered warily by good Preachers though others could daube and skin them over And they were told what a mortal variance there is between mercy and these lying vanities but would not lay it to heart Oh that now men and women were ashamed as one day they must be now it would be to some purpose they might be converted and saved as the Prophesie went of Converts in the latter days Ezek. 16.63 they shall be ashamed of their doings but in that great day it will be too late it should have been done before-hand Use 2 Christians be exhorted to be tender and chary of the mercy of God toward you Work wisely to find mercy one day and do not exchange it for vanities Ye see it may be forgone and forsaken and the way how it comes about beware of lying vanities no wise man will let go his Land for points and counters and consider withall 1. This mercy is such a thing as the worst among us Mot. 1 do seem to crave and magnifie Oh they hope God will be merciful to them and if
he should not be merciful at last they were in a sad case Oh mercy is all in all what should a sinner do without mercy it is our life it is our salvation it is our all The more shame if poor creatures let it go so slightly as 't is to be feared many do Mot. 2 2. Consider the qualities of this mercy It is infinite it is tender it is free it is rich and abundant and every way worth the keeping The mercy of the most loving man or woman is cruelty in comparison Gods mercy is the only saving way to raise up sinners Luke 1.77 78 He gives knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins through his tender mercy or the bowels of his mercy Now who of us would lose a dear friend for a few pins or points Beware of this extream foolery Mot. 3 3. Mercy cost the Lord dear before he could make it your mercy or you could call it your own mercy Though it be free in respect of his love so ordering a way of reconciliation yet it is not free in respect of Christ and his sufferings It cost him great drops of bloud scourges fears sorrows manifold indignities he found it no easie matter to procure mercy for sinners And should it now be prodigally squandred away and all for trifles what maâ—e a great purchase by expending a great summe of money and idly forfeit it again Mot. 4 4 What a terror one day will it be to have it as your own mercy and let it go to have it merited offered sealed applyed rejoyced in yet lost when all is done Heb. 6.5 to taste of the powers of the world to come and yet fall away and lose all for a little ease or wealth or other vanity what Boy hath a bird in his hand and lets him fly away in hope to catch him again Oh who can pity or help that soul which thrusts away his own mercy 5. Worldly comforts are not our own in comparison Mot. 5 nor worthy to be owned they are but clouts and accidentals to speak off they are easily and quickly put off forfeited lost consumed remembred with bitterness when they are gone Riches take them wings and fly toward heaven Prov. 23.5 Pleasures many time end in pain Honors go out with a snuff And at best these things give not contentment as they promised There is a lye in my right hand saith the Idolater Esa 44.20 in my eye sath the wanton in my heart saith the covetous in my course of life saith the profane or the hypocrite 6. If good things be such lying vanities what shall we Mot. 6 say of lusts of will-worships star-gazings and the like how will these lye and deceive and do a mischief what will be the end of gross and staring sins in many shall they find mercy at the hands of God it is impossible God reserves mercy for them that make a better use of it for vessels of mercy in this life vessels of his praise and by grace fitted for glory Lastly for carnal reasonings let all godly men take Mot. 7 heed by Jonahs example who was almost drowned in Gods mercy when it was perverted to declining of duty Ye see how he fared beware of halting a little or for a while Ver. 9.10 I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving I will pay that that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land Of sacrificing to the Lord we spake on chap. 1.16 as also of making vows And on v. 17. we spake of the powerful and present providence of God how it reacheth to all the creatures even the fishes of the sea Therefore the less is to be spoken now Note Difference of godly and ungodly But for farther edification note thus There is much difference between the purposes of the godly and the wicked in regard of afflictions 1. The wicked purpose well while under the rod and in great danger the godly when they have now escaped viz. Jonah was now got out of shipwrack and saith he will sacrifice and pay vows but of the Mariners we hear no more A man hereby may guess something of the frame of his heart 2. The wicked make vows but the godly say they will pay their vows In case of revenge perhaps or of some wickedness a wicked man will do it because he hath vowed it as he saith but in case of religiousness he will take more leisure and think of it ten times or an hundred times before he will do it once There is another tryal of your hearts I will sacrifice with the voice of thanksgiving So David sometimes I will offer unto thâ—e bullocks and lambâ— and tell of all thy wondrous works Come children I will tell you what he hath done for my soul I will not hide his righteousness and his doings from the great Congregation I will praise the Lord among the faithful and in the assembly Note â—se expressions of thankfulness A godly man ought to be thankful for mercies and to use expressions of his thankfulness Indeed the marrow of thankfulness lies in the heart and they are hypocrites who are all in good words but where the heart is right and inditing a good matter the tongue may well be allowed to be the pen of a ready writer yea must interpret the mind in way of thankfulness Of this see something in Psal 37.30 31. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgement The law of his God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide Eph. 4 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers Col. 4.6 Let your speech be alwayes with grace seasoned with salt that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man Which serves to reprove the barrenness of good speech that appears in some of the godly Use Reproof thankful for â—he mercies of God prize them meditate on them magnifie the love from which they come and mean to follow on in a way of real thankfulness according to their calling but fail in this that they utter not the voice of thanksgiving when and where it concerns them sometime to testifie their gratitude or speak to the edification of others Mat. 12.35 A fault and should be mended A good man out of the treasure of his heart should bring forth good things not only actions but speeches How else shall the lips of the righteous feed many or how shall Idolaters be confronted profane persons brow-beaten or religious friends edified excited unto the like thankfulness provoked to be active as well as our selves but a meer dulness must lie upon our spirits to be very little serviceable in our generation or in the place of our abode I confess there is too much tattle
what saith the Spirit fear not their fear nor be dismayed Luke 12.4 fear not them that can kill the body and afterward can do no more but fear him who can cast both body and soul into hell I say unto you Prov 29 25. fear him Solomon saith the fear of man bringeth a snare that is sometimes enwraps a man in that and that danger which by faith he might have avoided as here Jonah carnal fear threw him into the depth of the sea Now Nineve was an exceeding great City of three days journey that is such as a man could not pass in all the streets of it and deliver a message as Jonah must do under so much time allotted Of the bigness of this City we spake on Chap. 1. 2. and how Jonah was told of it before hand that he might arm himself with courage accordingly And now methâ—nks when he sets upon obedience it sets forth his courage and faithfulness and tends to his high commendation there being many difficulties which might hinder or encounter his honest resolution to do the service As for instance 1. In Nineve which was the head of the Assyrian Monarchy there was a potent and flourishing people who were Lords of the Eastern world and how angry would these be to hear a poor fellow cry out against them Yet forty days and Nineve shall be overthrown 2. In what danger should he be to be torn in pieces among them or to be beaten and sent away empty for so the Jews dealt with divers of their Prophets yet the only people of God and how should heathenish Ninevites be expected to do better 3. If the Ninevites should be quiet yet the good man had a shrewd task to do for three days together to trudge up and down in all their streets and with such a message as none was likely to give him countenance or entertainment 4. The message had no likelyhood to be performed Where was any Army to beset and overthrow Nineve or whence should the enemies come what should they drop out of the sky or what should be the Engines whereby it should be vanquished Difficulties enough to hinder Yet on he goes and doth the message Note No difficulties stand before zeal Zeal for God will break through all difficulties and do duty Jonah had now got into his heart a burning love and a strong fear of God and therefore falls on his work without forecasting of events or hardships So still Love is strong as Death much water cannot quench love the love of Christ constrains us Cant. 8.6 2 Cor. 5.14 saith the Apostle Use 1 Those then have no true love or zeal of God who are easily puzzled with difficultâ—es and fly back from those duties which they know they should perform for example the duties of mortification duties of the family of suffering for a good cause of painful managing a calling so as God may be glorified suppose in Magistracy or Ministery Some mean well but have no courage for the truth or for righteousness or reformation either of their families or of the places where they live Jer. 9.3 They are not valiant for the truth upon earth Hos 7.11 Ephraim is like a Dove without heart without understanding or courage for God But we shall ever commend those stout and resolute Champions who fall on duty whatever it cost them as here Jonah the three Jews that adventured into the fiery furnace Paul and other Apostles who amidst many and great persecutions went on with their preaching and the Martyrs that followed them Heb. 11.37 they were sawn asunder and diversly afflicted not nice and delicate of suffering as now-a-days not afraid of threats nor ashamed of Christ in an evil generation not swayed by carnal wisdom or self considerations therefore one day Christ will not be ashamed of them but own and honor them saying Well done good and faithful servant ye have been faithful in a little now be rulers over much Yet forty dayes and Nineve shall be overthrown This was Jonahs Text but it is likely he amplified it divers ways as for example by telling of their great sins which had provoked the God of heaven against them as chap. 1.2 Cry against Nineve for their wickedness is come up before me And this God of heaven sent me on this errand I am his servant I come not on my own head he bade me come and do this message and because I declined the service I was cast into a Whales belly for three days and three nights together and now I tell you this of a truth that ye may repent and be saved if not temporally yet at least spiritually and eternally The point to be stood upon is this Note Sin overthrows great peoples Sin is able to overthrow great Cities or Nations and that sometimes very suddenly Cities Nineve Sodom Jerusalem Samaria other Nations as in the change of Monarchies from the Assyrians to the Persians from them to the Greeks and from them to the Romans Yea the whole world first by water at last-by fire Righteousness exalteth a Nation Prov. 14.34 but sin is a reproach to any people and out of other Scriptures I might adde a confusion Whereby we see in what danger we of England are and Use 1 we of Reading because a sinful Nation A people laden with iniquity whose wickedness is gone up before God and cryes for vengeance against us Suppose there were none but the horrible sin of Drunkenness it were enough to overthrow us but you may adde Heresies Deceits other wickednesses None is safe long who is so near unto danger The judgment of a sinful people lingereth not 2 Pet. 2.3 and their damnation slumbreth not It were well if the sinners among us would fall to quarrelling Use 2 with those sins which threaten and endanger our Nation they have shrewdly shaken us already Have we not felt the terrible Earthquakes of the times who almost but complains in one kind or other but this is not all the mischief which sin can or will do us there is a full and final overthrow to be expected without amendment even by these profitable and pleasurable sins which most men think good to maintain to the utmost True God is merciful and we have found him such of a long time and we hope so he will be still but what little cause have we to expect more mercy and longer forbearance do we not know it should lead us to repentance And it is true we cannot say as Jonah Yet forty days and such a sinful place shall be overthrown Rom. 2.1 but we can say Suddain destruction comes upon some unawares 1 Thes 5.3 Beware there is no way to escape but by doing as the Ninevites in the words following Ver. 5.6 7 8 9. So the people of Nineve believed God and proclaimed a Fast and put on Sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them For word came unto the King
and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not This may be the voice of faith striving between hope and fear The King and Nobles of Nineve hope well they may be spared upon their repentance but they fear the worst they cannot tell what the event will be they will use the means but are not sure what will be the success Only they hope God may be over-intreated by their humiliation and reformation to save them from perishing It is a temporal mercy which they crave and Gods own Children are not sure alway to speed in such matters viz. to escape the danger of war to get out of a great fit of sickness or the like Yea such is the modesty of godly men that in the sense of their own unworthiness they will not prescribe to Gods wisdom concerning the length or strength of their afflictions but quietly submit to his will and good pleasure I was dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst it Psal 39.9 Yet methinks we may look higher even to the forgiveness of sin and salvation of the soul Our Saviour saith of the Ninevites that they repented at the preaching of Jonah and in the former words we have seen three acts of repentance and now the fourth will make up a competent description of repentance Repentance is such a grace of God as whereby we are humbled for sin Description of repentance pray for pardon reform what is amiss and have some hope of finding mercy at Gods hands All these were in the Ninevites and are in each true Convert 1. A true Convert is humbled for sin though not perhaps in sackcloth and ashes as these here 1 Cor 14.25 or though he do not fall down on his face as he in the Corinthians yet his heart is pierced with godly sorrow for sin which now begins to be very bitter and grievous to him Jer. 2.19 He finds it an evil and bitter thing to have forsaken the Lord his God Sin now is grown burdensome to his soul as is implyed in those words labour and are heavy laden Mat. 11 2â— And now earthly comforts grow unsavory what joy can he have so long as he is under the guilt and condemnation of his sins especially the pleasures of sin O odious and bitter to be thought on 2. A true Convert prayes for the pardon of his sins God be merciful to me a sinner Luke 18.13 Psal 51.1 according to the multitude of thy mercies blot out my transgressions So Daniel and Ezra in their humiliations and these Ninevites cry mightily unto God In the one and fiftieth Psalm we see Davids doubled and trebled Petitions for mercy just as a condemned Malefactor earnestly beseecheth the Judge to shew him mercy forgiveness of sins being the happiness of a sinner Rom. 4.6 and a chief mercy for which we should give thanks Psal 103.1 2 3. Oh how happy should I be thinks the distressed soul if I were released of my sins 3. A true Convert reforms what is amiss Turns from his evil way both Commissions that the wickednesses shall not be done over and over as heretofore and Omâ—ssions that he will do the duties which formerly he neglected pesonal and in the family not as our negative Christians who rest contented if they be not so bad as sometime they were No God requires good to be done as well as evil to be left undone Cease to do evil and learn to do wâ—ll Put off the old man Esa 1 16. Eph. 4 22.24 put on the new Paul when he was converted presently a sked Lord what wilt thou have me to do 4. A true Convert hath some hope of finding mercy at the hands of God who can tell whether he will turn and shew favor Though he cannot yet say his sin is pardoned yet he conceives it is pardonable To the Lord my God belong mercies and forgivenesses we have heard of this King of Israel that he is a merciful King therefore we will nourish some hope amidst all our fears and notwithstanding many discouragements Doctr. Mixture of hope and fear in Converts The point is this Gods own Children sometimes cannot well tell whether he will be merciful to them that they perish not there is a Conflict of faith between hope and fear we read of a bruised reed and smoaking flax some fire but much smoak They can say with the poor man I believe Mark 9.24 Rom 7 24 but say with tears too Lord help my unbelief They can say Good is present with me but withall who shall deliver me from this body of death Now this holds both first and last 1. At the beginning of conversion a young Convert cannot tell whether his sins be forgiven him and his soul set in safety by Jesus Christ as the Childe lives in the womb but knows not that he lives A man may be rich and not know that he is rich so aâ— Christian is ignorant concerning his good estate toward God till the Spirit of revelation be given him to know his happiness 2. Afterward all along in his course he hath his doubtings fears cares jealousies concerning the love of God returning upon him now and then which comes to pass by the weakness of his faith by the strength of temptations by his remisness in using the means of grace or by neglecting his religious course Hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious c. One way or other it comes to pass that even a good Christian must rejoyce with trembling Pas 77. Psal 2 11. Phil 2.12 and work out his salvation with fear and trembling and he that ere while was very confident in little time begins to flag and faint exceedingly I know that my Redeemer liveth said Job yet by and by he was quite carryed down the stream Quest But may not a Christian tell whether Gods fierce anger be turned from him or no Answ 1. There be good and sufficient grounds for assurance Answ as for example the covenant of grace the freeness and largeness of the promises the powerful satisfaction and intercession of Jesus Christ the word of reconciliation committed to Ministers the Oath of God the Seals of Sacraments with other Why all this but to give us strong consolation Heb. 6.18 God would not have his Children to doubt and be afraid and hath said Why did ye doubt O ye of little faith Be not faithless but believing c. Assurance then is to be had and those are the grounds of this assurance 2. This assurance admits of degrees In Scripture we read of assurance much assurance and full assurance of faith Some days are brighter then other and the comforts of some Christians are more lively then of others Yea in the same Christian there be lucida intervalla among all their evidences dusky at times but the cloud soon vanishes and after many wrestlings comes at last the triumph of faith Who shall accuse or condemn Rom. 8.34
Go and preach to Nineve and thereupon should have silenced his own reason utterly 2. Having a desire to advance the glory of God be sure to use right means thereunto not as Jonah who for fear of Gods dishonor refused to do Gods Errand at Nineve It is a goodly and specious colour for actions to talk of the glory of God but if the course be 〈◊〉 a direct and warrantable course in vain shall the glory of God be pretended who will never account himself honoured but in a way of his own Yea it hath been the advancement of many a wickedness to pretend so and so in order to 〈◊〉 and the course of Antichrist to make a noise of acting in order to the Church 3. Be tender of the life of man and of his outward welfare I say not soul but even the body and worldly condition as Jonah was not and we see how he is chid for it And we see how loving the Lord is even in this respect ver 11. Should not I spare Nineve a City so populous Remember the sixt Commandment Thou shalt not kill 1 Thes 4.6 no not in desire Remember those commands Let no man defraud or go beyond his Brother in any matter for the Lord is the avenger of all such And be chary of thy Neighbours Oxe or Asse much more of his life and comfort of his life We are fallen into an hard yea bloudy age wherein the life of man is little regarded nor how well he shall go along in his course Take heed there remains a merciless judgement for them that shew no mercy Jam. 2.13 4. Study the gaining of souls to God and be glad when there is the least hope of grace begun in any Here also was some fault in Jonah certainly he heard how they fasted and prayed and turned from their evil wayes which should have gladded him and made him congratulate their repentance and safety thereupon Remember and do so Luke 15.10 Convert any if thou mayest be so happy and as there is joy in heaven for a sinner that repenteth so let it be on earth It was a wicked humour in the Pharisees that they envyed the conversion of the Publicans Beware thou and be ambitious of the great honor of converting a soul Dan. 12.3 To shine as the Stars for ever and ever For the second particular A marvel it is that Jonah is so stout and sturdy after his great punishment and all those terrors which God sent upon him One would have thought he had had enough of his flying to Tarsus Note But so it is Some godly men have stout and sturdy corruptions sticking by them which may humble them and keep them upon their watch and because they watch not as they ought God sometimes exerciseth them with strong afflictions and sometimes with strong conflicts in sad hours Take heed Use Christian and take thy self in the manner for every unmortifyed lust and every corrupt affection Sturdy humors are sometimes punished with sharp temptations or Visitations of the Almighty But I had rather put this humor of Jonah upon a way of carnal reasoning which too much swayed with him at this time taken from the mercy of God which he thought would never so far proceed as to let Nineve be overthrown though he said it Was not this my saying thou art merciful c Calvin If Jonah had been sent to Nineve with an offer of mercy upon their repentance as to the ten Tribes we may verily think he would rather have offered his service then declined it But now he mutters against God for his meer denunciation of judgment Note Carnal reasonings mischievous as if it could not agree with the nature of so merciful and gracious a Lord God and this mis-leadeth him Carnal reasonings do sometimes lead us from God and duty 1. Totally as in the ungodly eve◠the mercy of God undoeth them as they misuse it it is their bane They know God is gracious and merciful and flow to 〈◊〉 and of great kindnesse therefore live as they list turn grace into wantonness sin more that grace may abound more As men make it mercy is a common pack-horse for horrible wickednesses and final impenitency Why should they trouble themselves about repenting when God is so merciful 2. Partially in the godly as here in Jonah he knew these Attributes and therefore he left Nineve and went to Tarsus It were well if we did not sometimes bear up our selves too much upon the mercy of God and an interest in Christ and certainty of salvation and perseverance in grace We hold these things right in the Doctrine and miserably pervert them in the Use And though we swim not with full Winde and Tyde yet we sail too fast with a side-winde Take head Christians Use Avoid them and down with these carnal reasonings which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God and against the due obedience to Jesus Christ The ministery intends the casting them down and so do you 2 Cor. 10.4 5. Never will Religion thrive where such reasonings prevail As it prevails more with any man so he leaves them off as Gal. 1.16 Paul consulted not with flesh and bloud but fell to his preaching-work Consider there be many of these carnal reasonings taken from the multitude from example profit pleasure credit safety or the like but none more dangerous then this from the mercy of God so long as God is merciful on they go in their sins and fear nothing A miserable case God is gracious that is freely for his own sake to forgive the sins of his people And he is merciful that is will relieve them against all their misery spiritual temporal and eternal And he is 〈◊〉 to anger that is he is loth to empty the Vials of his displeasure upon sinners And of great kindness that is tenderly considers their case and is willing to do them good But should this or any of these be abused to keep from repentance and amendment were not this the ready way to be drowned in a sea of mercy Jonah was almost drowned in such a sea though a godly man yet almost undone by misapplication of the mercy of God But thou O man a secure and hard-hearted wretch wilt be quite drowned one day look to it as well as thou wilt For the third particular It is a strange prayer that Jonah here makes both for the manner and for the matter of it He prayed unto the Lord and said Take my life from me Mark this is spoken in haste being exceedingly displeased and very angry and he speaks it in a muttering and chiding manner expostulating the case even with God himself I pray thee O Lord was not this my saying when I was yet in my Countrey as if he had said I thought what thou wouldest do I had just cause to fly away and never do the Errand at Nineve I said what would come of it A merciful God thou art and
Psal 121. Psal 91.11 Luke 12.4 and hath these Lions in Chains that they can hurt none but as he pleaseth I say unto you fear him Remember the keeping of us in our way and The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Proverbs 10.29 So of the former point 2. Note how one sinner brings a whole Company in danger one Jonah one Achan one Colloquintid marâ—d Doctr. 2 all the good Herbs that were in the Pot. One sinner endangers many David numbred the people and seventy thousand of them dyed of the Plague But how can this stand with the Justice and Mercy of God Answ How 1. The Justice of God cannot lightly miss of Objects to work upon Israel had sins enough by which God was offended and might justly diminish them by the Pestilence So had these who Sailed with Jonah though Jonah had not been among them Divine Justice might righteously for sin have laid them in the bottom of the Sea Who can say he is righteous or suffers at any time without sin provoking Gods anger 2. The Mercy of God appears in Affliction as well as in Favours bestowed v. c. that both Jonah and his Companions escaped the danger of the Sea and the Mariners came hereby to the Knowledge of the true God It is good for me to be afflicted that I may learn thy statutes Others are in Occulto Coronati as Tertullian said of some Confessors who died in Prison still in good hands when they are most judged according to the world Use 1 Now if one sinner can endanger many into how great dangers do many sinners cast a poor Town or Nation many sorts of sin and many Offendors of each sort and many acts of every Offendor as for example in the sin of Drunkenness or Swearing No marvel if we have had such civil Tempests Divisions Confusions Diseases other Evils The greatest marvel indeed is that our House and Kingdom is not already laid desolate This is only by the long-suffering of our most patient and loving Lord God Use 2 2. If so a sinner is no such good Neighbour as he may think he is Though he be of a loving Nature and do some good in his place Num. 16.46 yet he hurts more another way He provokes God to anger and so the Plague begins in one kind or other Jonah was an honest man yea a godly man he served the God of the Hebrews and he paid his Fare when he entred into the Ship yet see what a burthen he becomes and how he endangers both the Vessel and the Goods and all the Passengers together with himself In Religion it is a meer Delusion to think a bad man can be a good Citizen as to God he is a very Pest to Church and State Use 3 3. If so see how studiously and eagerly Magistrates should set upon the work of Reformation Zealous Reformers turn away wrath to shame and punish sinners and lessen the number of them that so wrath may be turned away It was high time to cast Jonah overboard that so possibly there might be some hope Israel could not stand before the men of Ai till Achan was stoned when a man is sick of a Pleurisie there is no rest to be expected till the corrupt blood be voided away so here And a wise Surgeon must come sometimes with his Causticks where remember the saying Foolish pity marres the City An idle Governour hastens wrath 4. If so be not such a sinner as for thine own sake so for others to whom thou art related and with whom thou art engaged in Society 1. In Charity to others a man should be Religious fear and serve God pray keep Sabbaths do all duty not only in way of Piety and Charity that so he may not hurt but help his Brethren This Case of Jonah tells us that a sinner though he be but one yet may wrong many and other Scriptures tell how one good man may profit many and though he be a private man yet he may be a publick good Joseph was a Blessing to all Potiphars house and to all the Land of Egypt All this while we say nothing of Charity to a mans own Soul which in an holy way might be saved or of pleasing God in the way of Holiness which ought chiefly to be minded or of crediting our holy Profession to which every Christian ought to be an Ornament The only comfort is to put all these together and carry our work cleaverly before us 2. Let a Religious man take heed of stepping out of his way which would endanger both himself and others as Jonah here and David in numbring the people He that opens a sluce may drown many others as well as himself Somewhat is the matter that judgment begins at the House of God and that the Righteous shall scarce be saved saved they shall be but so as by Fire And by this account scarce any strictness can be esteemed too much I mean in the holy ways of God Ver. 5. Then the Mariners were afraid and cryed every man unto his god and cast forth the Wares that were in the Ship into the Sea to lighten it of them But Jonah was gone down into the side of the Ship and he lay and was fast asleep Here be two things 1. The Prophet by divers circumstances sets forth the greatness of the danger whereinto they were brought 2. He tells of his own deep security in the mean time True grace ever notes and confesses its own Imperfections There needs little or no Exposition But we have four points to be briefly handled Doctr. 1 1. God hath terrible works to do which sometime affright the stoutest and rudest sinners that are Stout sinners how to be over-awed Sea-faring men who converse much in Dangers and Commotions in the Air use to be Fearless men and altogether desperate in their way yet at this time we see how they are afraid and fall to their Prayers so still some are desperate enough and care for nothing but in some great judgment of God their spirit fails them and they melt away into effeminate passions so Belshazzar Dan. 5.5 so Caligula at the hearing of Thunder so in 2 King 7.6 A noise in the Air chased away an Army of the Syrians Reas 1 The Reason is some things are terrible above man that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist beyond the Power and Wisdom of man to withstand them especially in the concurrence of those three things Grievous Judgments an Awakened Conscience and Sin set in order before the guilty Soul These meeting together make foul work sometimes with a very stout sinner Art thou come to call my sin to remembrance this day 1 King 17.18 Act. 24.25 and to slay my Son and while Paul discoursed of Temperance Righteousness and Judgment to come Judge Felix trembled True some under much guilt and in the midst of terrible Judgments fear nothing why because Conscience is not yet
Industry without Gods leave and blessing avails nothing Except the Lord build the house and keep the City all that men do will be in vain Psal 127.1 2. And there be many grounds of it as Gods displeasure Mans sin and insensibleness of his sin and of Gods displeasure for crossing him then Gods insisting still on his own way bringing about his own ends blasting of our endeavours and hopes disabling of the creatures disgracing of mans wisdom and intention to bring the sinner to his own bent as is said Man lives not by bread only Deut. 8.3 but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Use Tradesmen see how they decay Many a man doth his true endeavour and takes faithful pains in his Calling and yet can make nothing of it when all is done rows hard and yet cannot bring his Vessel to land is ready to break and gives over his Calling What is the matter the Lord hath sent a storm upon him and it cannot be got to cease the Sea works still and is tempestuous against him do what he can he doth no good upon it Why the Lord is offended with his earthliness and neglect of a religious course Civil he is and observes a form of Religion and toils enough and too much but he is fugitive from God therefore is in great straights Here the man might take notice of Gods displeasure against him and seek to remove it Such cross providence is esteemed a judgment Hab. 2.33 Behold is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity so in Hag. 1.5 6. Consider your wayes ye have sown much and bring in little ye eat but ye have not enough ye drink but ye are not filled with drink ye cloath you but there is none warm and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes So now-a-days men make Cloth and cannot sell it would work but cannot provide Wool to set them on work or the inferiour Cloth-workers must be paid but the Master scarce knows how to get bread Great straights one would think that in this leisure-time men would addict themselves more to Religion which in an hurry of businesses used to be too much neglected But I doubt much whether it be so done or no I doubt much of earthly hearts which as yet are alienated from the life of God thence this working sea which continues tempestuous against you Oh no that is not the cause Object some have as little Religion as we and yet have good trading get money and live finely Answ 1. Some of them live upon the quick stock Answ which makes them pine and fret within themselves but they cannot help it Mat. 5 â—5 2. For the prosperity of worldings some of them very wicked it may be meer Atheists there is little comfort in it It is only of the general providence of God whose Sun shines and Rain falls upon good and bad And without repentance there is coming forth against them a tempest which shall lay them in the bottom of the sea of his fiery indignation 3. It were good for Tradesmen in these tempests to think of Gods intention toward them namely of industrious civil and well-natured men to make them Religious men which all this while they have not been to purpose See ye have time enough only find hearts seek God be religious in earnest and then the tempest may cease there may be a great calm Cloathing may be as quick as ever it was Wherefore they cryed unto the Lord we beseech thee we beseech thee Mark how these mariners profit in Religion by little and little At first they cryed every one to his God to be delivered in that great distress but now they leave their Idol gods and cry to Jehovah the God of the Hebrews whom Jonah had preached to them they heard his word and they saw his terrible works which made them afraid and now they call on him alone for mercy and deliverance and afterward we shall hear more of their piety ver 16. This is the progress of Religion in true Converts Note that by little and little they grow very good and zealous like leaven in three pecks of meal working on till the whole lump be leavened or like Corn sown in the field still growing on first the blade then the ear after that the full corn in the ear Mark 4.28 Though their beginning be but small yet their latter end encreaseth exceedingly 2 Pet. 3.18 1 Thes 4.1 So we are commanded Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and As ye have received how ye ought to walk and please God so increase more and more Reason Phil. 1 6. Col. 2.19 Phil. 1.19 The reason is He that begun a good work in them will finish it to the day of Christ it is a Divine conception the seed of God abideth in them and we read of increasing with the increase of God and of Christ the Head whereby all the body so increaseth and of the supply of the spirit carrying on the work with power Ye may conceive these degrees 1. The Convert lives in none of his old sins though pleasant and profitable He is cleansed from all his idols and all his filthiness These Mariners left their gods which their Fathers worshipped and called upon the God of the Hebrews so Naaman Thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice unto other gods but unto the Lord 2. King 5.17 2. A true Convert improves and grows both by the word and works of God as these by the preaching of Jonah and by the dangerous tempest that lay upon them Grace turns all into the nourishment of it self Ordinances Providences Mercies Afflictions yea sins too to be more humble and stand better upon the guard and turn unto God that smites them 3. A true Convert presently falls upon a course of prayer so to get more strength wisdom and hold of the love of God so did Paul presently upon his conversion Act. 9.11 behold he prayeth These mariners pray to Jehovah that the blood of Jonah may not be laid to their charge and that with earnestness We beseech thee we beseech thee 4. A true Convert studies the point of thankfulness for the great mercy of God in saving his soul as these for saving their lives ver 16. they offered a sacrifice unto the â—ord and we must come before God with our spiritual sacrifices thinking what may be done for his honor What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me and stirring up all that is within us not to forget any of his benefits Temporal mercies bind not firmly but spiritual do 5 A true Convert binds himself to God by honest and faithful purposes even after a mercy received as these when the calm had taken them off from their danger ver 16.
they made vows A carnal Christian is full of good words during his sickness or other danger but the true Christian is for â—after-times Esa 42. hears for the time to come prayes partakes of a Sacrament all to become better and to live afterward more carefully and profitably Hear ye that begin to mind Religion Use and see that ye profit in these particulars and in all other The course of Gods Children is as the course of our Children to grow strong by little and little And as a man after a great fit of sickness desires daily to pick up his crumbs more and more so must thou upon this recovery out of the estate of sin and wrath Mind and grow Let us not perish for this mans life and lay not upon us innocent blood Even rude and barbarous people have abhorred murther as a grievous sin as these Infidels Note Murder a hainous sin in the eye of heathens and those Barbarians in Act. 28.4 6. And some for expiation of their murthers have in the guiltiness of their consciences put themselves voluntarily into banishment or other sorrows as it were so many pennances Use 1 The more shame to this cruel and bloody age wherein we live which sets nothing by the life of a man yea of many men it may be many hundreds and thousands of men slain in battel possibly in meer malice or corrupt affection possibly for Pay only so much a week to kill men No matter whether it be innocent blood or no no deprecation of the wrath of God We beseech thee we beseech thee No making account that they may perish for those mens lives As if the Law were not made for murtherers or as if murderers should ever inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Tim. 1.9 Rev. 21.8 contrary to the express words of Scripture Use 2 Take heed Christians both of the sin and of those corrupt affections which lead to the sin Remember the Commandment Thou shalt not kill Remember the argument used in the Image of God created he man Remember the threat He that takes the sword shall perish by the sword Remember the expiation of blood in the time of the Law and the Cities of refuge and how no price might be taken to save the life of a murtherer Numb 35.31 And those heathens confess they need Gods mercy for casting Jonah into the sea though a guilty person both by his own confession and by the judgement of God who discovered him by lot But how then do the Mariners talk of innocent blood Answ It was innocent as to them or for any quarrel they had to him but in respect of God he was not innocent Jonah had confessed his guiltiness and desired them to cast him into the sea whence that clause in the Verse For thou O Lord hast done as it pleaseth thee Note God alone or ders the death of evil doers None but the will of God can justifie the putting of any to death He is the Soveraign Lord of life and death and provoked by the sins of his people so as sometimes he calls for their blood to make some part of satisfaction And this he doth by the Magistrates into whose hand he hath committed the sword of justice and he must not bear the sword in vain and He that sheds mans blood by man shall his blood be shed In vain therefore do some talk Use that no man ought to be put to death for any cause whatsoever A very foolery so to extoll mercy as to take away justice Solomon pronounceth them equally abominable to God who acquit the wicked and condemn the righteous We know the example of Saul who lost his Kingdom because he spared the King of the Amalekites and of Ahab whose life must go for Benhadads life because he let go a man worthy to die Wholsome severity is as necessary as mercy and kindness that offendors be punished according to the nature of their wickedness Ver. 15. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the Sea and the Sea ceased from her raging We have here Parts 1. the execution of Gods sentence against Jonah he was cast into the sea 2. the consequent of it the sea ceased from raging A plain demonstration of the case That the Lord in wrath remembers mercy and yet strange withall wrath to his servant mercy to the heathen In some case the wicked may fare better then the godly innocent heathens fare better then faulty Jonah For the former of these though the mariners were very loth to cast Jonah into the sea yet now that they see â—he will of God expresly revealed for it they do it though sore against their wills Mâ—morandum for many reasons they were unwilling to cast Jonah into the sea He had not wronged them in the least he had paid the Fare and committed himself to their Custody and trust ought not to be deceived he had professed his faith in the true God and such ougbt not to be violated he had confessed his fault and was sorry for it and what would they have more he submitted to the punishment which was to be inflicted though to the losse of his life He prophesied that upon his punishment all should do well the tempest should cease and so it did Yet fain would they save him if they could possibly Sulcarunt they made furrows in the Sea and rowed hard to bring the ship to dry land But now when they consider on the other side that God hath plainly designed him to drowning in the Sea thou O Lord hast done as it pleased thee they give over their former deliberation and propension to mercy and do what the Lord leads them to do teaching this Note Do Gods will though against reason When we are sure of the will of God for a matter we must lay aside all self-thoughts and motions and set to do what God will have us to do So Abraham went to offer up his son Isaac so Christ offered himself Not my will but thy will be done so the Martyrs left all and endured those torments in the cause of God joyfully suffered the spoyling of their goods accepted not deliverance Father and all must be forsaken or we are not fit for Christ An offendor must be forgiven though it go quite against the hair Difficult duties must be done and costly and dangerous Reas The reason is God is the soveraigne Lord of all flesh us and others and his wil is much superior to all the will of men whosoever they be and he hath more reason for his matters then we are aware as appears in the sequel of Jonahs history And whereas we think our selves very mercifull and pitifull in some cases Gods mercy is the truest mercy when all is done as that which comprehends the soul as well as the body and the publick good as well as a private interest not only Jonah but Nineve and all Jsrael beside Fearfully then do those offend who
the Hebrews how is he to be feared above all other Gods who can do as he alone therefore him alone will we fear and serve all our dayes So say we at the end of a great Plague or of a great fit of sicknesse or escaping a danger by Land or Water Fire War other terrible matters Oh feare the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him Psal 34.9 Use It serves to reprove all gracelesse people who never fear God that afflicteth neither in the danger nor after the danger to be the better for any of their afflictions Possibly they are afraid while the danger lasteth for the pain or the losse they may sustain and especially the losse of their lives it may be it is Magor-Missabib fear round about Jer. 20 3. they are ready to dye for fear before the evil comes near them sometimes more afraid then hurt but for God in whose power their breath is and who can cast both Body and Soul into Hell Signes of not fearing God him they fear not though that be the only gracious fear commanded in Luk. 12.4 5. 1. For departing from evil as did Job Joseph and the Midwives of Egypt what fear of God is in those that live in the constant practice of one sin or other drunkennesse or what ever it be sin is the greatest enemy that God hath and yet numbers make a trade of is according to the humor of each walk in the way of the wicked or sit in the seat of the scornfull though they have been in great danger of life or estate yet on they go in a tract of sinning The danger is past and they make account they live to do all their abominations 2. For the beginning of wisdome Numbers have no signe of the fear of God in them Sapientia dicitur quasi sapida scientia but Numbers have no savor of God and Religion Mercies Afflictions Ordinances all passages of Providence have no more savor then the white of an Egg no heart to Prayer or other duty or to accept a good motion that is made for edification These Mariners that feared the Lord offered him sacrifice but where are these mens sacrifices great and precious mercies are received but what return do they make in way of thankfulnesse 3. For perfecting holinesse in the fear of the Lord how doth this agree to those who fall back from the good way of God either into Heresie or Profanesse or Worldly-mindednesse or those that stand at a stay in Religion A round of dutyes there is and that is all the space of many years makes no difference in their profession unlesse it be for the worse they would be troubled if they thrived no better in their outward estate but for the estate of their Souls they minde no thriving 4. For fearing the Lord exceedingly as did these Mariners Numbers profess to fear God but they fear men more Losses Troubles Dangers Persecutions excessive fear surpriseth them that they are taken off from duty Prov. 29.25 and the way of God the fear of man is a snare and catcheth many unto Atheism Or they fear the Lord and the gods of the Land as did the mungrel Samaritans 2. King 17.33 5. The fear of God hath a dash of holy joy with it as Psal 2.11 rejoyce unto him with trembling fear him as a glorious God but rejoyce in him as a loving Father reconciled and tenderly affected in Christ So the Childe fears his Father and the wife her Husband But numbers mind no such relation between God and them or care not to have it or presume to have it but get no comfort by it in a dark houre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their fear is an heavy passion of unbesâ—efe Adde outward worship to inward 1 Cor. 6.20 For the Second They offered a sacrifice unto the Lord. Outward worship must be added unto inward As we must glorifie God with the Spirit so also with the body for both are God's and both are bought with a price And the same God made both Soul and body and deserves to be served with both commands and expects it What kinde of sacrifice these Mariners offered to the Lord we read not nor is it materiall to know Only this they had Learned by tradition of their neighbours and by the neighbourhood of the Jews that thank-offerings would do well in way of gratitude for deliverance and so did all the Gentiles round about therefore so do they Note Express thankfulness in good actions Our lesson is In way of thankfulnesse for mercies received we must use holy expressions of Loyalty and duty to our good God not only fear him with other internal vertues as before but with outward worship and service Christians also have their sacrifices of righteousnesse appointed for them as was prophesied Deut. 33.19 But what are they Answ 1. A mans whole self with all powers of Soul and Body Rom. 12.1 Present your selves a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service 2. Holy and hearty prayers Pro. 15.8 The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord but the prayer of the upright is his delight 3. Hearty praises with voice and life Heb. 13.15 By Christ let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually 4. Works of love to the poor members of Jesus Christ Ver. 16. With such sacrifices God is well-pleased 5. Releif and comfort to good Ministers who need assistance Phil. 4.18 An odor of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable well pleasing to God 6. Suffering in the cause of God Ch. 2.17 If I be offered upon the sacrifice of your faith I joy and rejoyce with you all 7. All parts of the publick or private worship of God 1 Pet. 2.5 A spiritual Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 8. All dealings with men carried in a loving and righteous manner Psal 4.4 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. Whereby we see that none hath cause to say he wants Use 1 a way and means to shew his thankfulness to God for great mercies and deliverances he hath received None but may so express Levitical sacrifices are ended in Christ and he is loth to offer sacrifice in a blind manner as these Mariners did and I desire to testifie my thankfulness for escaping such a danger or receiving such a mercy but what should I offer Answ He hath shewed thee O man what he requireth and what he will accept as a gratuity Mic. 6.8 and the Map now delivered shews a great Bed-roll of Christian sacrifices Peruse and see if one way or other thou canst not offer a sacrifice to the Lord only find the Altar of an holy heart and a sacrifice will quickly he had Out of the abundance of the heart will come forth much good A man possibly hath not wealth to distribute among the poor or is not called to
Jonah at this time had sinned hainously and might be ashamed to look God in the face yet see how he ownes God for his God and falls to prayer so did David Daniel Ezra other Saints they ever prayed to God as to a God pardoning iniquity transgression and sin Exod 34.7 And he is glorified in this act of mercy as well as in delivering out of trouble and danger and more because it is an act of greater mercy as he proclaimed before Moses Oh but mine is an amazing evil Ob. Sol. and so puzzles me that I cannot pray Answ 1. Jonahs case had as many amazements as any mans case lightly can have yet was not he puzzled 2. It is a sinful infirmity in Saints that they were not able sometime to pray and to lift up their heads and so they have confessed it Psal 77.10 I said it is my infirmity And they checked themselves for their unbelief hastiness saying they were cast out of his presence and he was angry with their prayer Often we read in the Psalms how David upon these distempers fell to prayer again Oh but I am unworthy to pray Ob. Sol. or to be heard in prayer Answ So was Jonah and yet he prayed and was heard And the Centurion who acknowledged his unworthiness yet had his suit granted And Gods Children when they fall upon this work do not go as worthy persons but in Christ they are accounted worthy and that is all their pleading In true and proper speech none but the Lamb is worthy to receive honor and glory Oh could I see any door of hope open to me Ob. Sol. I should be encouraged to pray Answ 1. God is able to open a door where in nature and in thy sense there is none at all 2. Pray and it shall be opened and thou shalt see it as Hagar who saw the weâ—l of water Little did Jonah think that the Whale should vomit him out upon dry land Little did Israel think that thy should go on foot through the red sea or Jordan Ob. Sol. Oh but I am afraid God is angry with me and will do nothing for such a wretch as I am Answ It is a certain rule that God is sometimes angry with his Children but never hates them as with Jonah angry but loved him still He ever loves his faithful ones and in his love he will receive their prayers as Jonahs In Christ their persons are accepted and in his mediation their prayers shall prevail Use 2 Hear thou afflicted and never give over thy praying though in a forlorn case Think what Jonah did in the Whales belly and among the weeds waves billows noysomeness Think what it is to cry out of the deeps when the floods of ungodliness made thee afraid when the arrows of the Almighty stick fast in thee when a plurisie comes or some dangerous disease Try what an hearty prayer can do do not restrain prayer from the Almighty nor give all for lost or if thou hast fainted as Jonah yet pluck up thy spirits and to it again Insignis mutatio saith Mr. Gualter He that before fled from the presence of the Lord doth now upon his repentance hang on him and will not let him go without a blessing even so do thou Amend every error and mark this notable change in the Penitent 2 Cor. 7.11 to sorrow after a godly sort works much carefulness and fear and zeal Consider for encouragement to prayer while a Christian finds an heart God will find an ear to hear and do and save out of troubles and still the best is behind Mark here what follows I cryed and he heard me again I cryed and thou heardest me Doctr. 1 God will hear and regard all the moanings of his Children in prayer God hears all good prayers why because he is a God hearing prayer it is one of his Attributes because Jesus Christ appears for them and is a powerful Mediator with his Father because good prayer iâ— the breath and voice of his own holy spirit in his Children because they cast themelves upon his mercy and faithfulness because hell and the world is all against them because they have an honest purpose to glorifie God with whatsoever mercies they shall receive at his hands as here Jonah But mark how he hears prayer 1. In the kind of mercy How 1 which is desired as Jonah to be delivered out of the Whales belly we out of sickness danger or any adversity 2. In How 2 something that is as good or better we shall have grace sufficient for us strong consolation of his spirit hereafter it shall come but not yet our posterity shall fare the better for those prayers in the appointed time and manner all the promises of God shall most certainly be fulfilled Now take this as an encouragement to prayer Ask and Use 1 ye shall have seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you Cry as Jonah and thou shalt be heard as Jonah every suitor at Court is not sure to speed of his Petition but believers are sure to speed 1 John 5.15 we know that we have the Petitions that we desired of hâ—m And a begger will know the door where he useth to get a good alms And if it be so do not mis-conster Gods delays as if Use 2 they were denials sometimes he delays to give his answer but he never denies his children It was three days and three nights ere Jonah got out of the Whales belly he prayed the first day but came not forth till the third The woman of Syrophenicia sped at last in her suit but it was after some repulses Every vision of comfort is for an appointed time but at last it will speak and not lye But mark yet another thing A godly man receives an Doctr. 2 outward mercy as a fruit of prayer We may know it he sees in the effect that his prayer is answered and takes the mercy as the income of prayer he heard me saith Jonah and I am delivered so David Psal 120.1 In my distress I cryed unto the Lord and he heard me â— vast difference then there is in the godly mans receiving Use 1 mercies and others He receives it upon prayer and by vertue of a covenant and pâ—omises and as a part of Christs purchase who makes requests for us in heaven prayer ascendeth and grace descendeth Others not so Use 2 And it teacheth godly Christians to look after their prayers that they may observe what answer it pleaseth the Lord to give as Psal 85.8 I will hearken what the Lord God will say Praying is compared to sowing of seed and the Husbandman useth now and then to look to his sowen fields Only mark the last clause there return not to folly A godly man must keep himself a godly man and do the work of a godly man or else may miss of his answer at least for a time as here Jonah Ver. 3.4 5
used among his Children We need the witness of his Spirit together with our spirits to let us know we are his Children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that our Consciences bear us witness in the holy Ghost Rom. 8.16 and chap. 9.1 But what then Despair two-fold do godly men fall into despair sometimes Answ Despair is either total and final as in Cain and Judas or only partial and temporary as in Heman and some other godly men And godly men in their greatest despair can pray for mercy as here Jonah out of the Whales belly which he calls the belly of hell and they shall find mercy as he delivered out of all yea more they had some mixture of comfort while they were in the belly of hell Jonah remembred God when his soul fainted in him verse 7. and even then he would look again toward his holy Temple ver 4. All for the instruction of godly men who see by this Use 1 how strictly and circumspectly they need to walk lest the terrors of God fall upon them and if they be not cast into hell yet shall be made to believe so God sometimes holds them by one leg to hang over hell as if he meant to throw them in when they grow loose or idle in their course and especially if they grow scandalous Take heed Heb. 10.31 1 Pet. 4.17 it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and judgment begins at the house of God who never meant to make fondlings of his own children And if it be so what will become of the sinner and the wicked Use 2 where shall they appear how shall they be cast into the belly of hell for ever for all their impenitency and infidelity what other can be the fruit of all that security and hardness of heart which possesseth many of our people It is an horror to think what their end will be He that thinks deeply would think it an horrible mischief to be three days and three nights with Jonah â—n a Whales belly with weeds and noysomness But what misery will ye think it to be for ever with devils in the place where the worm dyes not and the fire goes not out I said I am cast out of thy sight and my soul fainted within me He that before made nothing of it to flee from the presence of the Lord now complains that he is cast out of his sight and he that before was so hardy as to go directly against the word of the Lord now tells how his soul fainted within him No courage will hold out with a man which is not well founded in dependance on God Note and in obedience to him Self-will and self-confidence will sooner or later leave a man in the suds and in the mire Peter who relied too much on his own strength had cause afterward to weep bittely I said I am cast out of thy sight Note A good soul is sometime jealous of Gods love to it Oh I have rejected God and God hath rejected me I doubt he will be no more greaâ—ous but hath shut up his loving kindness in everlasting displeasure and Job said He counteth me for his enemy Reas Which comes to pass partly by the weakness of faith which is in a Believer I believe Lord help my unbelief Partly by the guiltiness of some sin hitherto not repented nor pardoned or the sense of pardon not yet come to his understanding Partly by the tenderness of his Conscience loth to part with so great a good as the favour of God is reckoning and saying In thy presence is fulness of joy and the loving kindness of God is better then life Psal 16.11 and 63 3. Use 1 For want of which tenderness of spirit it is that vain and carnal Christians never doubt of the love of God toward them They conclude it upon weak and insufficient grounds and in the same presumption go on confidently without fear or care to make sure their Election brag how they are assured of Gods love to them wonder at them that are of a troubled or distressed spirit cry out upon the Ministery that hath been a means to wound them or courses that have made them so melancholick So the fool rageth and is confident Prov. 14.16 Idle and formal Christians get more assurance such as it is then they that take most pains for it A tender-hearted Christian comes drugling after almost out of breath and much ado to keep up his spirit when the other went before fearlesly and holds on in a flaunting fashion too fine to last alway Our rule is to work out our salvation with fear and trembling Take heed Phil. 2.12 there have been those who have puffed or raged in prosperity and yet have fainted in adversity Let the exhortation be to good and discreet Christians Use 2 2 Pet. 1.10 Heb. 10. carefully follow the great business of making sure your Calling and Election grow up more and more to the full assurance of faith as in things indifferent so about the love of God let every one be fully perswaded in his own mind Rom. 14 6. what is wanting to a weak faith get it supplyed by a conscionable use of the means of grace such as the Word Sacraments Prayer Covenant Promises all the grounds of confidence which God hath given to work us to strong consolation Heb. 6.18 Especially take heed of a scandalous sin which gasheth conscience deeply and of casting thy self out of Gods sight by relinquishing duty as here Jonah did such may thank themselves for their desertions sad eclipses and jealousies that arise in them how should it be otherwise My soul fainted within me Note A good soul sometimes hath his fainting fits in respect of faith and comfort so had Baruch Jer. 45.3 I fainted in my sighing so the Church Lam. 5.17 for this our heart is faint And not only for corporal wants and dangers as those that fainted for thirst or for the sword but for spiritual considerations Psal 84.2 my soul longeth Amos 8 1â— Ezek. 21.7 15. yea even fainteth for the living God and 119.81 my soul fainteth for thy salvation The reason is 1. The greatness or tediousness of an Reason 1 affliction is apt to tire out the spirits of Gods children who can bear no more or no longer and if God come not timely to help he would fail utterly Esa 57.16 Jonah was almost spent by lying so long in the Whales belly 2. Where the guilt of sin and the wrath of God meet together in a soul usually it makes foul weather that it comes so far as to fainting Pro. 18.14 A wounded spirit who can bear And this is Jonahs case at this time we may hear afterward that he fainted for the heat of the Sun Jâ—n 4 8. but that was nothing to this where sin intervenes and makes the sorrow far more intolerable Use 1 Teaching us wisely and mercifully to consider them
that are of a poor spirit and ready to faint in the sight of their sins or fear of Gods displeasure some are of a tender spirit and should be handled tenderly Rough speaking or doing would even quite over-set them and bring them to a despairing faintnesse In such cases we should note and be tender and pour in oyl to heal their wounds so did Christ Esa 50.4 he spoke a word in season to him that was weary and it hath been said nothing doth so discover a man to be spiritual or according to the mind of Christ as the gentle handling of another mans wounds Use 2 But let these careful souls help themselves by ways and means which the Lord hath appointed Help against fainting fits As against bodily faintings we get hot waters and other helps so should we against these faintings of spirit As thus 1. Get thy faith strengthned as much as may be Faith is a special reviver of the soul in evil times Ps 27.13 I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living as how because it draws vertue from Christ and from his intercession who is a quickning Head and from the promises and covenant which also have an enlivening power and it gives the poor soul a view of heaven to fetch life again 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. for which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen those temporal these eternal 2. Wait upon God in the diligent use of his Ordinances Cant. 2. these are the flagons which stay a soul that is sick of love to Jesus Christ and see Esa 40.29 30 31. he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth strength Even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly faâ—l But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint Christians ye converse daily in Ordinances adde diligence and good conscience and your faintings will wear off by little and little No such Cordials as the Word and Sacraments well improved 3. Pray and it shall be done God is he that sendeth this faintness into the soul and it is he that must take it away Levit. 26.36 I will send a faintness into their hearts and he that wounds must heal again He that cast Jonah into the Whales belly and into the fainting fits did set all at rights again I will look up again toward thy holy Temple I remembred the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee unto thine holy Temple Here Jonah amplifies his prayer by the hope he nourished amidst his great danger he was not without some hope even when he fainted most and thought himself cast out of Gods sight And all these three days and nights he was well employed A good soul at lowest hath some working toward God for comfort and deliverance and ought to be well employed during the time of his affliction Yet I will look again toward thy holy Temple that is Heaven A good soul from the belly of hell can look toward heaven as here Jonah No distance of place Note Out of hell seâ—â— heaven nor lowness of condition can hinder this prospect Steven amidst the stones looked up and saw the heaven open and Jesus standing on the right hand of God Moses in Pharaohs wrath and threats saw him that is invisible and endured all Micaiah saw God on a throne and was hardned against his meeting of wicked Ahab Reas 1 All from the nature of faith which is the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 By faith Abraham saw the day of Christ and rejoyced By faith he and the old Believers embraced the promises By faith Paul and his fellow Apostles looked not at things seen which are temporal but at things not seen which are eternal and They walked by faith not by sight that is spiritual encouragements not carnal Use A good memenâ—o for a Saint in low condition whether by sickness or otherwise Upward upward below all is black and uncomfortable but upward all is clear and joyous Make use of thy faith to carry thee far above all these tumults fogs and confusions why a sword by the side and not defend against a thief why faith in the heart and not strengthned by it in threatning evils why as heartless and comfortless as he that hath no faith to support himself Remember how David rated away his unbelief Psal 42. Why art thou cast down O my soul and remember how our Saviour chode Peter for fearing Mat 14 31. Why didst thou doubt O thou of little faith Ob. Sol. Oh but I have something sticks by me that is of an higher importance my sins which are many and great Answ So had Jonah at this time he had greatly sinned against God in refusing the service imposed and said he was cast out of his sight but mark the adversative Yet I will look toward thy holy Temple he would not seal his disobedience with unbelief and impenitency one sin to another They say Judas did worse by despairing then in betraying his Master And mark the word again he had conversed with God formerly and found comfort while he held on in a course of duty but now upon this baulk made the sweet communion was interrupted therefore he saith again so thou though thy sins be many and great yet return yea though they be relapses yet again come to thy God by repentance there is a promise for healing our backslidings Hos 14 4. Though man will not pardon faults by recidivation yet God will Jer. 3 1. thou hast played the harlot with many lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord. And if comfort come not presently yet look again as Jonah here at thy first looking thou mayest misse of mercy but look again it will come at last at the last looking rain came according to the prayer of Elias When my soul fainted within me I remembred the Lord. A Believer finds a good remedy against his fainting fits Note Remedy against fainting fits to remember the Lord. Where note First there is an head-remembrance which stands chiefly in speculation as that there is a God that he is able to help us in misery that he sees and knows our estate and can put forth mercy and power for our relief If thou wilt thou canst make me whole Secondly there is an heart-remembrance when we look upon God as our God and trust in him and cast our selves upon his care and love to do for us according to our need whether for soul body or
estate 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whâ—m I have believed the desire of our heart is to the remembâ—ance of thy name Oh but David remembred God and was troubled Ob. Sol. Psal 77.3 Answ David was now under a temptation as appears by ver 10. I said it is my infirmity But I say more there is something in God which may trouble even a good soul namely his justice his displeasure at sin his revence for sin sometimes upon his own children and these arm his other Attributes against the soul of a sinner viz. his holiness his power his wisdom his soveraignty his providence and government all terrible where the guilt of sin lies upon the soul which possibly might be Davids case at this time mine or thine But let weak believers take this instruction Use when ye find these fainting fits coming or already come upon you remember the Lord and stay your hearts on him remember him in that form in those relations as he stands to a Believer Remember him as the Lord in covenant as the Lord thy righteousness as the Lord merciful and gracious as the Lord pardoning iniquity transgression and sin as the Lord that bears a most watchful eye of care and providence over thy person and estate that remembers his covenant and thy frailty and knows when a deliverance will be most seasonable Though a Mother forget her Child yet will not I forget thee saith the Lord yea though we forget duty as Jonah did at this time yet will he remember to be gracious And though we know not what to do for our own deliverance in any kind yet he knows well enough and will do it for us he knows to deliver the righteous out of trouble My prayer came in unto thee into thine holy Temple Note Good prayers use to come up before God and get a merciful consideration as Jonahs Salomons Hezekiahs Cornelius others The reason is Christ takes the prayers and presents them to his and our Father Rev. 8.3 4. It is one chief part of his Priestly Office intercession as well as satisfaction and he will be sure to do it to the uttermost he appears for us and makes requests in our behalf Use 1 An encouragement to be much and often in prayer Is it not a speedy way Every good husband will insist in the way wherein he may thrive apace and so should a Christian in the way of praying Audience in prayer is one of the priviledges which belong to a Believer and one of Gods Attributes is that he is a God hearing prayer Use 2 And it teacheth a Believer when he hath made his prayer to the God of his life and mercy to rest assured he shall prevail one way or other as here My prayer came into thy Temple and elsewhere We know we have the Petitions we ask of him and he will speak peace to his people For why it is his promise Ask and ye shall receive seek and ye shall find c. Ver. 6.8 10. Thou hast brought up my life from corruption O Lord my God They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving c. Here the Prophet amplifies his prayer by the effect it had namely his deliverance out of that great danger Parts Thou hast brought up my life from corruption O Lord my God And this is farther illustrated 1. By the contray in Idolaters who misse of mercy because they seek not to the true God v 8. 2. By the thankfulnesse he means to shew for the deliverance v. 9. 3 By the particularizing of the deliverance and how it was effected v. 10. Thou hast brought up my life from corruption O Lord my God There be many in this company that may truly say Note God hath brought up my life from corruption at such a time I was very likely to die I had one foot in the grave I had made my Will and bid farwel to all the world yet it pleased God to add more time to my days I am yet in the land of the living among old friends and neighbours and the time that remains in the flesh I ought and partly have promised to spend in the service of God better then formerly But Whether do I speak those words in way of hearty and Use 1 real thankfulnesse or only in form Examine whether delivered in mercy have I serious purposes indeed to improve this life of mine for the service and glory of God or do I now think of those vows and purposes to perform them effectuaâ—ly If I do do I put forth my best and truest endeavours to bring them into act when Jonah had escaped his great danger he went and did the message though to as great a danger When Hezekiah had been sick and recovered he set to praise the Lord all the days of his life Now these examples are written for our instruction to do the like as bad examples are to be avoided so good examples are to be followed Whether by general mercy or special And if we do not the deliverance out of danger will prove only a common mercy that comes of the general providence of God whereby he saves man and beast and his Sun shines and rain falls on good and bad True Jehovah raised thee out of thy great fit of sickness or some other mischief but thou canst not yet say the Lord my God and yet that is the only right receiving of mercies when one is able to say Thou hast brought up my life from corruption O Lord my God There is a vast difference between these two Saved by the true God and saved by the Lord my God Consider the word especially in 1 Tim 4.10 he is the Saviour of all men especially of them that believe And let all fall closely upon this point to make it sure Use 2 to our own souls The Lord my God My Lord and my God said Thomas my Redeemer said Job he loved me and gave himself for me I pray what think ye is it not great difference to say A good summe of Gold and Silver and This is my Gold and Silver even so is it here A man may be poor enough though he see heaps and treasures of money so in spiritual treasure Know the only happiness stands in the appropriation my God Blessed are the people that have the Lord for their God Psal 144.15 In these Ordinances therefore the main design of Christians should be to make Christ sure to their souls and so be able to say my God my Saviour my Redeemer Him we preach as the chief matter of our pains-taking and in his Name we make offers of the favour of God to be thy God and thine 2 Cor. 6.1 and thine Now receive not the grace of God in vaiâ— be sure to do this business which is the main business to be done Heb. 12.29 and if it be not done this thy God will
1. who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed Our Saviour upbraids the Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 21 32. that they belâ—eved not when they had heard the preaching of the Baptist And the Apostles say they could not enter because of unbelief Heb. 3.19 Rev. 21.8 and The unbelieving march with the formost into the lake that burnes with fire and brimstone for ever and Give him his portion as with hypocrites so with unbelievers Yea more He that believeth not is condemned already Unbelief is a damning sin as well as any gross sin against the Law and whereas the Law condemneth a sinner potentially unbelief condemneth actually Use 2 What of God is to be believed Take heed Christians and believe your God when he speaks by his Ministers 1. Believe the justice of God that he knows to be angry as well as to shew favour to threaten as well as to promise to damn as well as to save He is very merciful but will by no means clear the guilty Men may dream what they please Exod. 34.7 but one day will find they have a just God to deal withall 2. Believe the truth of God that all he hath threatned he will most certainly perform without true unfained effectual repentance The words of God are pure words as silver seven times purified in the fire As the promises to the godly so the threats against the wicked not one falls to the ground 3. Believe the power of God that he is able to execute the judgments he hath denounced against sinners The Lord was able to overthrow Nineve within forty days yea within the compass of one day why not Nineve as well as Sodom and neighbouring Cities 4. Believe the wisdom of God that the only way which he hath devised to turn away threats is to be found in Jesus Christ The wisdom of God and the power of God to salvation there is no salvation in any other by him wrath is appeased and by him comes all saving good to repenting sinners Motive to believe threats Consider for a Motive to believe the threats of God 1. This is the only safe way to bid you believe the promises of God We have no commission to bid you believe these till ye be first overawed with his threats The broken heart is the only sacrifice wherein the Lord delighteth Psal 51.17 Esa 61. Mat. 11.28 Christ came to bind up the broken-hearted and said Come all ye that labour and are heavy-laden I will give you ease ye shall have refreshment for your souls 2. It is a mercy to be spoken unto by men weak as your selves as Israel said to Moses Let not God speake to us lest we dye Should God come and speak in his storms and tempests who among us could abide the terror Moses at such a sight did exceedingly quake and tremble Take heed and abuse not his goodness to security or to harden your hearts 3. Mark how those two are joyned together Believe the Lord and believe his Prophets 2 Chron. 20.20 This saith he is the only way to prosper We have this treasure in earthen vessels we are Stewards and have the dispensing of holy things and all know in a great house there is no receiving of Pay or Diet but by the allowance of the Steward 4. How good was it for Nineve to believe God when he spake by the mouth of Jonah True they feared repented put on sackcloth refrained from diet and cryed mightily to God for mercy but the sweetness of mercy made amends for all And so it shall do for other Penitents And put on Sackcloth Christians must testifie the truth of their repentance by outward tokens of humility and humiliation Note Shew repentance by outward tokens These were ordinary practices among the Jews in their fasting Ahab put on sackcloth and went softly and so did others others rent their cloaths others stript off their robes and sate in the dust But because in process of time these forms became meer forms and were taken up by hypocrites therefore Joel bad them rent their hearts and not their garments Joel 2.13 and turn to the Lord their God and Esay at large describeth and rejecteth their hypocrisie chap. 58.3 and Zachary tells them they did but fast to themselves not to God chap. 7.3 7. Yet thus far the Ceremony will reach us at this day 1. On days of humiliation no fine nor gaish Apparel should be used as hath been the fashion of some in these days An humble heart must appear before the Lord as alway so especially on such days in the dress of mourners No reason the habit should give the heart the lye nor the heart the habit Out of the abundance of the heart the dress will shape to be either lowly or phantastical 2. Still there must be a rending of the heart to bewail those sins which provoked God to wrath and indignation yea though it be a good and holy heart Even godly men have an hand in the provocation and therefore even godly men should bear their part in the lamentation to turn wrath away even David after those failings did mightily humble himself before his God 3. Out of that which is spared from the back and belly allowanâ—e should be made to cloath the naked and feed the hungry and do works even of corporal mercy and of civil righteousness Esa 58.6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen saith the Lord. Use Thus fast and then see what promises are made Esa 58.8 9 10 11 12. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning and thine health shall spring forth speedily and thy righteousness shall go before thee c. One fast well kept might rid us of all our confusions And thus to fast would well become all of us from the highest to the lowest as here From the greatest of them to the least of them A duty for all All are sinners both in their nature and life and all run into Arrear with God and are in danger of remporal and eternal vengeance If Nineve had been overthrown in those forty days all had gone to wrack infants and sucklings as well as elderly people and therefore all must smart by this humiliation Joel 2.16 so in Joel Those that suck the breasts must want their milk for a while and cry to God as well as they can Yea these Ninevites go farther to the beast the herd and the flock no eating no tasting no drinking of water that the very lowing of the cattel may go up to heaven and call in their language for mercy as is said Psal 147.9 He heareth the young Ravens when they cry If so at such times let the greatest forget and lay aside their greatness and let the least among us bear their part in humiliation especially they that are least in the Kingdom of God and they that think themselves less then the least of all
and come of course and they are small to see to and of daily use but should not therefore be the less prized nor improved for God Inest sun gracia parvis For the latter the withering of the gourd to the great grief of Jonah God hath wayes and means to blast our greatest comforts as here Note God can soon blast our comforts the gourd whereof Jonah was so exceeding glad a worm was bespoken to smite and wither it So we read of blasting and meldew Locusts Caterpillars Canker-worms Palmer-worms Grashoppers other Destroyers of Gods providing whereby an hopeful crop in the Spring comes to very little in the harvest all of the Lords doing Hag. 1.6 9 10 11. Psal 107.33 34. Uses 1 And it teacheth us 1. Whither to look in all calamities of the year as for example the worm which God prepares the East-wind Red wind Black wind other evils that come and blast our hopes They come not without the Lords sending therefore this is his Controversie therefore for sin therefore be humbled make peace get into his favour walk more carefully for time to come Excellent instructions for all of us Do we not all live of the field and who must prosper the fruits of the field harvest or vintage but only God and if it be not prosperous who is it that blasted it the common saying is My Garden or Field was likely to yield a good Crop but a scurvy worm came and destroyed all I shall scarce be able to pay my Rent or maintain my Charge Nay but O man who prepared that worm or sent that East-wind or other spoiler Affliction springeth not out of the dust there is an higher cause look thither and see what is to be done in a Religious way 2. To check and moderate our joy in these earthly things while they last with us as knowing they may be soon blasted and taken away The Grass withereth and the Flower of the Field fadeth away Even so iâ— the glory of the world 1 Cor. 7.30 Therefore rejoyce as not rejoycing Comfort may be taken but take it in a moderate manner Some are taxed Jude 12. that they fed themselves without fear and they are a great generation now-a-days of men that are wholly in their natural enjoyments It is noted for part of Jobs piety that he was jealous over his Childrens Feasting and it would be piety in others to be jealous over themselves 3. To improve the comfort we have by the creatures Use 3 to the glory of God who gave and preserved them 1 Cor. 10.31 Drut 28.47 48. and must bless them to us Whether ye eat or drink or whatever ye do do all to the glory of God In his hands our breath is and all our times and all our comfortable enjoyments It were good to keep in with him that these mercies may be continued as also blessed to us The chief Motive is to have comfortable Communion with our good God but it is one Motive to have an holy and wholsome use of the creatures While the Rent or Service is duly paid the Tenant enjoyes all quietly 4. To foresee changes that may quickly come upon Use 4 our natural contentments Jonah should have thought it is a pretty accommodation to have such a gourd but may not a worm soon smite it and cause it to wither Certain it is that God never lets us a long Lease of these temporals but we shall have and hold them at his pleasure A great change there will be at the last and we should ever wait for it but before that time there may be many changes Job 14.14 and it will be our wisdom to make account of them It will be far easier to say The evil that I feared is come upon me He was wise and holy who said All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change shall come 5. In all such changes that happen we should be patient and submit to the will of God as dumb Psal 39 9. and not open Use 5 the mouth This was one of Jonahs faults that when his gourd withered he was angry and said he did well to be angry to the death Take heed by much wrigling we may make our burthen heavier then it would have been But by patience an evil becomes much lighter which could not be prevented nor afterward shaken off 6. Above all blasts take heed of a blast upon thy soul Use 6 and upon the Ordinances and left that voice come forth Never fruit grow on the tree more Mat. 21. Ezâ—k 24.13 Rev. â—â— 11 or that Thou wouldest not be cleansed thou shalt not be cleansed or that Be filthy still be unrighâ—eous still These are heavy judgments of God and lie upon the spirits of many for their unthankfulness and unfruitfulness under the means of grace They are worse then Famine War or any temporal judgements as the foul is more excellent then the body Yet inflicted on many because they have long sate under the dews of heaven and are still a barren heath nigh unto a Curse whose end is to be burned Heb. 6.8 Take heed Christians lest God in wrath blow upon these Ordinances and for your sluggishness make them altogether ineffectual This is come upon some already no whit moved by all the good instructions and exhortations they have heard in the ministery And some have lost the fine and ripe parts which sometimes they had and are become very sots Others are quite fallen away either to Profaness or Heresie as the Dog to the Vomit or the Sow that was washed to wallow in the mire or as the Salt which hath lost his favour and good for nothing but the Dunghil There be some sorts of men specially that should beware of these spiritual blasts 1. Young people who are newly looking into the world 2. Those that come out of dark Countries to a place of light and warmth by good preaching 3. Those that had their Consciences rowsed by a fit of sickness and took up good resolutions Beware lest for negligence the Lord swear in his wrath that ye shall not enter into his rest Psal 95.11 Ver. 8.9 And it came to pass when the Sun did rise that God prepared a vehement East-winde and the Sun beat upon the head of Jonah that he fainted and wished in himself to dye and said It is better for me to dye then to live And God said to Jonah Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd And he said I do well to be angry even unto death Two things are proposed in these two Verses Parts 1. A farther tryal of Jonahs patience which is found to be small 2. A new chiding him for his anger about the gourd together with his stout reply ver 9. For the former God is pleased farther to try the patience of Jonah by adding a new affliction he not only blasts his gourd and takes that away but increaseth the vehemency of the
of the Lord as Parents are commanded Eph. 6.4 It must not be onely civil education but religious So did Father Abraham and found it the way to obtain a blessing Gen. 18.19 That the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him So did David to Solomon So did Lois and Eunice to Timothy And so do thou to thine And when this is done be quiet commit them to God and his providence hope well of them even in dying his seed shall inherit the blessing Or if they miscarry it is their own fault who fell from their good education and forfeited your prayers and Gods blessing withall 3. We saw on Chap. 3. that even the least in Nineve Note 3 joyned in the Fast yea and the very Cattel Humbled ones shall be saved all cryed mightily unto God to be spared and now we see in the grant that is made how the little Children and Cattel are mentioned They that bear a part in dayes of humiliation and fasting shall find mercy with God in an evil time Fasts shall be turned into joyful Feasts for them Zach. 8.19 They that humble themselves under the mighty hand of God in due time shall be lifted up Jam. 4.9 10. They that mourn shall be comforted Mat. 5.4 They that sow in teares shall reap in joy Psal 126.5 Sorrow endures for a night but joy comes in the morning Psal 30.5 Observe here the Jews had a solemn Fast once every year wherein they were to afflict their souls for sin that they might find favour in the sight of God And of this day two things are affirmed Lev. 23.27 1. That it was a day of atonement that is they should have their sins pardoned namely in the blood of Christ who should come figured in the blood of the sacrifices Christ is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world Now this forgivenesse of sins is the blessednesse of a man as Paul saith out of David Rom. 4.6 So that the everlasting welfare of a sinful soul depends upon the due humiliation for sin 2. That in the evening of that day the Trumpet sounded for beginning the year of Jubilee wherein every servant became a free-man and every one returned to his land which he had any way alienated Lev. 25.8 and when the Church of the New Testament was to be shewed in vision to Ezekiel it was on the same day of the same moneth Chap. 40.1 Reas 1 And thus the Lord shews favour to them that humble themselves in fasting 1. Because of those promises not that there is merit in their humiliations though the body should be pined with fasting yet no merit bodily exercise profiteth little 2. Those that truly humble themselves are brought to Gods bent and are become such people as he would have them to be Believers new creatures reformed and walk with him in holinesse He knows we cannot be perfect but when he sees us rightly set it sufficeth and gives content 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 3.17 In Christ he is well-pleased and so with them Use 1 Those then wrong themselves who distaste our dayes of humiliation They share not in the atonement or the forgivenesse of their sins They miss of many temporal mercies which might be had And they smart with divers afflictions which to them are so many curses as also are all outward blessings Mal. 2.2 I have cursed your blessings And see Zach. 14.16 17 18 19. Use 2 And if so let all be willing to joyn in dayes and duties of humiliation prescribed by authority and do them in a right manner that is 1. With a broken heart cast down for sin Joel 2.12 13. 2. With forsaking those sins which are confest and lamented Pro. 28.13 He that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy 3. With doing the works of holinesse righteousnesse and mercy which are quite contrary Esa 58.5 6. Then follow large and precious promises vers 8. And all other are accounted but hypocrites when they fast never so much or never so often Zach. 7.5 6 7. Consider and remember the afflicting of the soul in fasting and what the Infants and Cattel could not do for want of understanding but meerly by force do you perform voluntarily and do it sincerely really effectually Such is the Fast which God hath chosen and this is the way to find favour with God After humiliation comes exaltation FINIS