Wicked Then are we in a more especial manner to prepare for such a coming of Almighty God among us and to purifie and make clean our selves for such a Lustration and Visit and to take care that our Habitations and Doors may be cleansed from all sin and filthiness and so distinguished from all the rest of the sinful World that when the destroying Angel is sent forth he may see it and pass over our Dwellings that we may escape the Lash of his Rod and the Stroke of his Blow when he comes to punish and destroy And 1. We may see that this is enjoyned by several places in the sacred Word of God that we are then to mourn and weep and to repent and turn from our sins and evil ways when a dreadful Day of the Lord is coming upon us and that if we do so we may then hope to find Mercy And this the Prophet Joel here sheweth Joel 2.12 Therefore also now saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning And rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil This is the Course that we are to take at such a time to mourn and weep and to be heartily sorry for our misdoings and to turn from them to God and then we are like to attone and appease him because he is gracious and prone to mercy And saith God by the Prophet Isaiah 1.16 Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well And v. 19 20. If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land But if ye refuse and rebel ye shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it And Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon And as at other times so also at the coming of his Judgments will he shew mercy when this Course is taken and Men forsake their Sins and sinful Deeds and Ways And God complaineth of the Jews by his Prophet that they fasted for Strife and Wickedness and tells them that the Fast that he had chosen was to loose the bands of Wickedness and to undo their sinful Deeds Isa 58.4 Behold ye fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness Ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your voice to be heard on high Is it such a fast that I have chosen a day for a man to afflict his soul is it to bow down his Head as a bul-rush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord Is not this the fast that I have chosen To loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every yoke Here we see that an outward shew of Fasting and Humiliation and Sorrow so long as Sin and Wickedness are lodged and remain in the Heart and we turn not from our evil Ways will not please God nor appease him towards us and turn away his wrath from us But we see that the Fast that he hath chosen and which will please him is to undo all our wicked acts and to repent of them and utterly to forsake them and to have no more to do with them and to make satisfaction for the Injustice and Unrighteousness and Injuries which we have done to others And saith the Prophet Jeremiah 4.1 If thou wilt return O Israel saith the Lord return unto me and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight Then shalt thou not remove And v. 4 Circumcise your selves to the Lord and take away the fore-skins of your heart ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem lest my fury come forth like fire and burn that none can quench it because of the evil of your doings Their Abominations their idolatrous and sinful Practices were to be put away and laid aside and they were to return to God in Sincerity and Truth and then they were not to remove and be carried away Captive by their Enemies And they were to Circumcise their Heart and to take away all Superfluity of Naughtiness and Wickedness from thence if they would have God's Fury to be averted and kept from breaking out upon them And so are we to do when our Case and Condition is parallel with theirs And v. 14. O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayst be saved How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee Jerusalem's Heart is to be washed from wickedness that she might be saved And so are others to do that at any time expect and desire to be saved and delivered And those that forsake their Sins shall find Mercy as the wise Man sheweth Prov. 28.13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy There is no way to procure Mercy but this And our Lord told the Jews as I have shewed That they should perish as the Galileans had done if they did not repent of and amend their sinful doings Luke 13.3 5. And this is the Direction that S. James gives to procure the Favour of God and to obtain his Help and Mercy To be afflicted and to mourn for our Sins and to purifie our Hands and Hearts from all things that are sinful and evil Jam. 4.8 Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double-minded Be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to heaviness Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up And this Course are we then especially to take when a dreadful Day of Judgment is coming upon us and we would turn away the Wrath of God from us Then are we to weep and mourn and afflict our selves to call our sins and evil doings to mind and to be truly humbled for them and to repent of them and to be grieved and sore vexed that we have committed them That we have been so foolish and unwise as to slight Wisdom's Voice and to err and wander so far from the paths of Life and Happiness And that we have been so ungrateful and unthankful to Almighty God our great Creator as to transgress the just and righteous Laws that he hath set before us and not to hearken to the Voice of his Word Then are we to grow quite out of love with our sins and to loath and abhor them and to shut our Hands and Hearts clear of them and to resolve firmly to have no
more to do with them Then we are to wish with all our Heart and Soul that we had never committed them and to unravel and undo them again as much as we can by making Restitution of all that we have unjustly taken or gotten and satisfaction for all the Injuries and Wrongs that we have done and to repair and make good again all the Breaches that we have any ways made among Mortals and the rest of Mankind by our Sins and Transgressions either in their Souls Bodies Goods or good Name so far as it is possible for us to do 2. We may see that this also hath been the practice of Men when they would turn away God's anger and obtain his favour and mercy To mourn and weep and humble themselves before God and to repent of their sins and to turn from them When Ahab heard the Evil that Elijah was sent to denounce against him and his House he humbled himself greatly before God and did thereby obtain so much favour and mercy from God as to have it deferred and prolonged till after his days 1 Kings 12.19 Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me saith God to the Prophet because he humbleth himself before me I will not bring the evil in his days but in his Son's days will I bring the evil upon his House So taking was his Humiliation with God When the Children of Israel were distressed by the Philistines and Ammonites they humbled themselves before God and confessed and turned from their sins and evil ways and he had pity upon them and sent them deliverance Judges 10.15 16. And the Children of Israel said unto the Lord we have sinned do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee deliver us only we pray thee this day And they put away the strange Gods from among them and served the Lord and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel And afterward did he send them deliverance as we may see in the next Chapter And we may see that the Ninevites turned from their sinful and evil ways and the wickedness that they had been guilty of when they sought to turn away God's Judgment from them which the Prophet Jonah had denounced against them and that for this reason especially God repented and did not bring that destruction upon them which he had threatned against them Jonah 3.8 But let man and beast be covered with Sackcloth saith the King and cry mightily unto God yea let them turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not The repenting and turning from the evil of their ways was the great reason that moved God to repent and turn from the evil that he intended to bring upon them And these Examples are to instruct us what we are to do in such a case That we are then likewise to mourn and weep and to be truly humbled and sorrowful for all our sins and transgressions of God's most righteous Laws and Commandments and to repent and forsake our sins and iniquities and to undo them as much as we can by making restitution and satisfaction for all the evils and wrongs that we have done to others and firmly to resolve that through God's blessed help and assistance we will no more commit the like but walk in his fear and in obedience to his sacred Commandments Thirdly We are at such a time to set more earnestly upon the works of Righteousness and Piety and Mercy We are indeed at other times but then especially when we apprehend a dreadful Day of the Lord to be coming upon us not only to cease to do Evil but to learn to do Well and to set more vigoriously upon a righteous and holy Life carefully observing all the Commands of God and are to be then more zealous and abounding in the works of Piety and Charity and Mercy We are then to be more frequent and fervent at our Devotions and Services to Almighty God we are then to be more watchful over our selves that we transgress not in any particular and more strictly to observe all the Rules of Justice And we are then to be more liberal and open-handed to the Needy and Necessitous and more ready and forward to forgive all others that have injured and wronged us that we may have the greater hope to find Mercy at God's hand at such a time We are at such a time to live like those that believe that they shall shortly die and be brought to Judgment because we are at such a time to expect to be judged by Almighty God and to be dealt with according to our works and deserts That a careful setting upon a righteous and pious course of life in every respect is our duty at such a time when a dreadful Day is apprehended to be near will appear 1. By several places of Scripture where it is prescribed upon the like occasions or shewed to be so This the Prophet Isaiah prescribes to the Jews that they might not be devoured by the Sword Isa 1.17 Cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow And v. 19. If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land But if ye refuse and rebel ye shall be devoured with the Sword And that such works of Charity and Mercy are to be shewed at such a time we may see by what God saith by the Prophet Isaiah concerning the Fast that he had chosen Isa 58.6 Is not this the Fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house when thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh Then shall thy light break forth as the morning and thine health shall spring forth speedily and thy righteousness shall go before thee and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward This course is to be taken when we keep a Fast to the Lord and would procure his favour then are we in an especial manner to shew our selves merciful and kind to our poor and needy Brethren and not to hide our selves from them and to grow hard-hearted towards them And v. 10. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfie the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noon day Such a lightsom time is the merciful Man like to find and has good grounds to hope that he shall find some comfort when the dark and gloomy Day shall come And this is the Counsel of the Prophet Daniel to
2.17 Let the priests the ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the altar and let them say spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach that the heathen should rule over them wherefore should they say among the people where is their God The Prophet here doth give command to cry and pray to God upon this very account and doth here give direction in what form and manner the Priests were to address themselves to God wherein the People also were to join viz. To intreat Almighty God to spare them who were his peculiar People and not to suffer them to be made a Reproach by the Heathen and to be domineer'd over by them and to have them to ask others in scorn and derision where their God and Saviour was in whom they trusted And this divine Direction of the Prophet seems to me to be no less adapted and fitted for us at this day than it was for the Jews in the Prophet Joel's time And this was David's Resolution to have Recourse to God and to call upon him in all Distress and Danger 2 Sam. 22.4 I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be saved from mine enemies And Psal 55.16 As for me I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice And Psal 86.7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee for thou wilt answer me This is the Psalmist's Resolution to make his earnest addresses to Almighty God and hereby he hoped for Mercy and Help in the needful time of Trouble and Distress And this is God's Command by the Psalmist that we should call upon him at such a time and if we do it as we ought he hath promised that he will hear us and deliver us Psal 50.15 And call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me We are humbly to sue for mercy at such a time before we are to expect it and after we have received it not to forget to return Almighty God his due laud and praise for the same And Solomon in his prayer in 1 Kings 8. doth shew that it is our Duty in all Distresses to make Supplications to God in an extraordinary manner when he there requesteth that he would hear such prayers and supplications that are made to him by his people in their afflictions and distresses and doth shew that they are like to be heard and relieved when they seek and cry to God with all their Hearts And saith God by his Prophet Jeremiah 29.12 Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart And I will be found of you saith the Lord and I will turn away your captivity And it is our blessed Lord's Command to his Disciples when he foretold them of that Judgment and Destruction that was coming upon the Jewish Nation to be constant and fervent at their prayers to Almighty God that they might obtain Mercy then and be saved and not perish with the Wicked Luke 21.36 Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man By Watchfulness and Constancy and Earnestness at Prayer to Almighty God are we to prepare our selves that we may be accounted worthy of Mercy and to escape the Judgments of God and to stand before the Son of God whensoever he shall come in an extraordinary and eminent manner to Judge and Punish the Inhabitants of the World for their great Wickedness By these and such places we may see that it is our Duty whensoever we apprehend a Day of the Lord's Wrath to be coming upon us to cry mightily to Almighty God and to make Supplications to him for Pardon and Mercy and Help and Protection at such a Time when a Day of Wrath and Revenge is coming upon Men. 2. We may see that this hath been the practice of several Persons at such times of anguish and distress to cry to Almighty God and to supplicate his Divine Majesty for mercy and succour and that they have often prevailed hereby and this will farther shew it to be our duty at such a time and a perswasive to it to call upon God in a more earnest and extraordinary manner for the averting of such Judgments as we have just cause to believe do hang over us and are ready to fall upon us and for the procuring of Mercy for our selves When the Fire of the Lord consumed the People Moses prayed unto the Lord and the Fire was stopt Numb 11.1 And when the people complained it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the Camp And the people cryed unto Moses and when Moses prayed unto the Lord the fire was quenched When the Children of Israel were sold into the hand of the Mesopotamians for their sin and wickedness which they did in the sight of God in forgetting him and serving other Gods in their misery they cryed to God and he sent them a deliverer Judes 3.9 And when the Children of Israel cryed unto the Lord the Lord raised up a deliverer to the Children of Israel who delivered them even Othniel the Son of Kenaz Caleb 's younger Brother In their distress did God hear them notwithstanding their former backsliding and had respect to their Prayer and this may be an encouragement to us sinners to do the like When the Children of Israel cried unto the Lord when they were oppressed and afflicted by Eglon King of Moab he heard their cry and shewed them mercy and delivered them out of his hand Judg. 3.15 But when the Children of Israel cried unto the Lord the Lord raised them up a deliverer Ehud the Son of Gera a Benjamite When the Children of Israel were sold into the hand of Jabin the Canaanite for the evil which they did in the sight of the Lord they cried unto the Lord in their distress and he delivered them Judg. 4.3 And the Children of Israel cried unto the Lord for he had nine hundred Chariots of Iron and twenty years he mightily oppressed the Children of Israel And God did then deliver them out of his hand by Deborah and Barak as we may there see afterward And several other times did God deliver them when they returned and sought him and cried and made Supplications to him notwitstanding they had often revolted from him When King Abijah and Judah were beset on both sides with their Enemies the Israelites they cried unto the Lord in their distress and he heard their cry and delivered them 2 Chron. 1.14
Idols nor false Gods to our selves lest we have this return to our Prayers when we cry to God in the needful time of Trouble And we are to make no Idol of our Wealth nor to place our trust and confidence therein we are are not to confide in and to rely upon an Arm of Flesh and make mortal Man our hope and confidence and so to rob God of his Glory in not making him as we ought the only Rock of our defence These things seem to be branches of our duty and highly necessary for us to set upon and practise whensoever we apprehend a dark and dismal Day of Wrath and Vengeance to be coming upon us And now to draw to a Conclusion Seeing we have no reason to expect that we should be exempted from the Judgments of God if we do wickedly but must look to be dealt with as others have been if we are as sinful as they were and are to look upon the threatnings of Judgments in the word of God as Threatnings and Menaces against our selves when our case is the same with theirs against whom they were threatned And seeing our Sins and Iniquities do appear to be very great and we are now actually warned that the Judgments of God do now hang over our heads and are ready to come upon us let us lay these things to heart and mind the things that belong to our Peace before it be too late Let us not be like Solomon's Fool Prov. 17.16 that had a price in his hand to get Wisdom but no heart to it But let us make a good use of our time while we have it while the long-suffering of God waiteth for our repentance and amendment Let the great Terror and dreadfulness of the Judgments of God awake us out of our careless and vain security That we may take such a course for our Peace and Safety as is prescribed in the Word of God while his great Goodness doth yet afford us some time for it and let us speedily and seriously set our selves to the practice of these things that I have shewed to be enjoined by that sacred Word at such a time Let us turn to God with Fasting and Weeping and Mourning and call to mind and repent of all the sinful deeds that we have done and resolve through Divine help never to commit such any more and make satisfaction for all the injuries and wrongs that we have done to others Let us cease to do evil and learn to do well and set more strictly upon a righteous and pious course of Life and take pleasure and delight in the works of Mercy and Goodness and shew our selves merciful to others when we are in a more extraordinary manner seeking for Mercy at God's hand Let us be constant and earnest at our Prayers to Almighty God for pardon and mercy for help and succour in all our necessities and distresses and that we may be accounted worthy to escape the things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of God whensoever he shall come to punish the Inhabitants of the World for their great Sin and Iniquity Let us seek the Lord while he may be found as saith the Prophet Isaiah 55.6 and call upon him while he is near before he shuts up his Mercy in displeasure and stops his Ears at our Cry Let us put to our helping hand to keep off all publick Judgments from our Land and Nation by the innocency and uprightness of our Lives by begging pardon for our own and the transgressions of the whole Nation and by our earnest Prayers for the Peace and Prosperity of our Church and Kingdom Pray for the peace of Jerusalem saith the Psalmist Psal 122.6 they shall prosper that love thee And so let us pray for the peace and good of our Church and Nation that they may not become a prey to our Enemies and be totally swallowed up by them If we could all-amend and a general repentance were effected our Peace and Happiness would then I hope be secure and we need not fear the evil Machinations of Men against us nor any Judgment of God coming upon us For we may see that the Ninevites obtained Mercy by Repentance after the Judgment was denounced against them And the Prophet Joel here sheweth that if the course were taken that he prescribeth there was hope to obtain Mercy at God's hand Joel 2.18 Then will the Lord be jealous for his Land and pity his People And so we may conclude that he would deal with us if we would take such a course But so long as our Sins cry to Heaven against us and we persist in them we can have no security of Peace and Prosperity And therefore let us set earnestly upon a Righteous and Holy Life and live like those that expect shortly to die and to be called to Judgment that we may do what we can to prepare for our own safety and security against such a dreadful Day of Darkness and may endeavour to keep off all publick Judgments that we may be instrumental in procuring a Blessing and not a Curse upon our Land and Nation Such as are not better instructed may exercise themselves in reading these Chapters and meditating upon them and learning what good Instructions they can from them Isaiah LVIII Jeremiah IV. Joel II. Jonah III. Matthew X and XXIV Mark XIII Luke XII and XVII and XXI 2 Peter III. Revelation II and III. And in the Book of Common Prayer they may find a great deal of good Matter for their Prayers even against such a great Day of Judgment to which they may add these two Prayers that follow For Repentance ALmighty God and most merciful Father we miserable Sinners do here humbly acknowledge before Thee That we are unworthy of the least of all thy Mercies We confess O Lord in the bitterness of our Souls that we have grievously sinned against Thee that all Orders of Men amongst us have transgressed thy Righteous Laws that we have hitherto rendred both thy Mercies and thy Judgments ineffectual to our Amendment It is of thy meer Mercy O Lord that we are not consumed for which our Souls do magnifie and bless thy Name O God who hast hitherto spar'd us to the end that thy Goodness might lead us to Repentance let it be thy good pleasure to give unto us all that Godly Sorrow which worketh Repentance to Salvation not to be repented of that thou mayest turn from thy heavy displeasure against us and mayest rejoice over us to do us good through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour Amen For Peace and Vnity O Lord God our only hope in time of need Save and deliver us we humbly beseech thee from all those Dangers that threaten us Give Peace in our days O Lord if it be thy will and prevent the effusion of Christian blood in our Land Reconcile all our Dissentions and heal all our Breaches Preserve that Holy Religion we profess together with our Laws and Antient Government Unite us all in unfeigned and universal Charity one towards another and in one and the same Holy Worship and Communion That with one heart and one mouth we may glorifie thy Holy Name and shew forth thy Praise from generation to generation And this we beg for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Beloved in whom thou art well pleased to whom with Thee and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory now and evermore Amen In these Papers I come as a Messenger of Peace among all my dear Country-men and therefore I request that I may find a kind reception among them and that they would seriously lay to heart what I have here written that I may do them some good Service at this great juncture of time for the Preservation of their Lives and Souls when they are in so great Danger FINIS
And v. 17. Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach that the heathen should rule over them And v. 20. But I will remove far off from you the northern Army and will drive him into a land barren and desolate These places make it probable that this Day of the Lord was a Judgment and Destruction upon their Land by the Assyrians and Chaldeans And it seems probable to me that both the Captivity of the ten Tribes and also of the Kingdom of Judah were hereby threatned if they were not the chief things here intended by this day of the Lord the Prophet Joel as most affirm living before them both And this was a very sore and terrible day of the Lord to them indeed when they were invaded and domineer'd over by foreign Armies when they were driven from their own Habitations and rooted out of their own Land and their whole Polity and Government was destroyed when they were driven from Jerusalem their beloved City and the City of the great King the Lord of Hosts and their magnificent Worship at the Temple was quite extinguished and the Temple it self burnt down and destroyed when they were carried away like Slaves into a strange Land from whence the greater Part of them never returned again and the other Part underwent a Servitude of seventy Years before they returned and came back into their own Land again This was a very sore and terrible day of the Lord to them indeed And some do refer this Prophecy of Joel to all the Miseries and Destructions that were brought upon them by the Chaldeans Persians Grecians Syrians and Romans And it seems clear to me that the Prophet's great and terrible Day of the Lord Joel 2.31 is to be understood of that dreadful destruction of the Jewish Nation by the Romans about 38 or 39 years after the Death of our Saviour when they were most miserably destroyed when Sword and Famine both raged horribly among them The great effusion of the Spirit was to be before this day as we may see here in Joel 2.28 And this S. Peter tells us was fulfilled upon the day of Pentecost and afterwards Acts 2.16 which makes it more than probable that by this terrrible day was meant that heavy destruction by the Romans From hence then I shall farther shew that God doth often threaten and inflict very sore and terrible Judgments and Calamities upon Cities and Nations for the great Wickedness of them when it is grown ripe for such a temporal Punishment First We may see that God doth often threaten to send very terrible and grievous Judgments and Destructions upon Cities and Nations for the great Wickedness and Provocations of the Inhabitants of them when they are guilty of such With Sword Famine and Pestilence evil and noisome Beasts and the removing of his Word and Gospel and other such Plagues and Judgments doth God threaten those that abuse his Mercies and rebel against him and the light of his Word and wax bold and presumptuous in Sin and Wickedness Moses hath spent the greatest part of Deut. 28. in telling the Jews what plagues and judgments of God should light upon them if they should forsake God and fall to Idolatry and such grievous Wickedness how they should be cursed every way till they were consumed Deut. 28.20 The Lord shall send upon thee cursing vexation and rebuke in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do until thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly because of the wickedness of thy doings whereby thou hast forsaken me The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee until he have consumed thee from off the land whether thou goest to possess it The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption and with a fever and with an inflammation and with an extream burning and with the sword and with blasting and with mildew and they shall pursue thee until thou perish And much more to this purpose as you may see there The Prophet Samuel tells them after that if they went on in Wickedness they should be consumed 1 Sam. 12.23 But if ye shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your King And the Prophets do often warn the Jews and others that a day of the Lord's Vengeance was coming upon them in their days Isa 13.6 saith the Prophet concerning the Burthen of Babylon Howl ye for the day of the Lord is at hand it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty And saith God to the Prophet Ezekiel 14.13 Son of man when a land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously then will I stretch out my hand upon it and will break the staff of the bread thereof and will send famine upon it and will cut off man and Beast from it And Sword and Pestilence are threatned too as we may see in the following Verses And Ezek. 30.2 Son of man prophesie and say thus saith the Lord Howl ye wo worth the day For the day is near even the day of the Lord is near a cloudy day it shall be the time of the beathen And the sword shall come upon Egypt and great pain shall be in Ethiopia when the slain shall fall in Egypt and they shall take away her multitude and her foundations shall be broken down And saith the Prophet Zephaniah 1.7 8. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God for the day of the Lord is at hand for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice he hath bid his guests And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice that I will punish the Princes and the Kings children and all such as are cloathed with strange apparel And v. 14. The great day of the Lord is near it is near and hasteth greatly even the voice of the day of the Lord the mighty man shall cry there bitterly And saith the Prophet Zechariah 14.1 Behold the day of the Lord cometh and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee For I will gather all Nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city shall be taken and the houses rifled and the Women ravished Then shall the Lord go forth and sight against those Nations as when he fought in the day of battel By these and such places we may see that God hath oft threatned to bring a Day of Vengeance and Wrath upon the Jews and others and to visit them with some Judgment or other for their Wickedness when it was grown great We may see that such Judgments and Plagues and Calamities are not meerly casual and come not upon Men by blind Chance that they are not the Effects of an inevitable Fate farther than Men make them so themselves and that they are not to be ascribed to such Causes as worldly and carnal Men are too ready to ascribe them But that they are the Orderings and Disposals of divine Providence and the Rods and Scourges of the Just and Righteous Governour of all the World who
Reason offereth and make Men's hearts to fail them and recoil back upon them and turn all into confusion and disorder without and within too These fill Men's minds full of horror and amazement and make their Faces to gather blackness and set their Limbs a tottering and quaking And this farther shews how dreadful and astonishing these Judgments of God will be when they surprize Men in this manner when they are careless and secure and do not prepare themselves against them by clearing their hands of all wickedness and by calling upon God for pardon and mercy and help Secondly We may see as for matter of Fact that God hath often sent great and dreadful Judgments upon the Inhabitants of the World for their great Sin and Wickedness when they have been ripe for Judgment We may see that God hath often brought the days of Vengeance upon them when they have in a manner totally revolted from him and become rebellious against the Light And we may see that the Wicked and Unrighteous have been surprized with such Judgments when they thought not of them or believed them not and have been swept away with the Beesom of Destruction when they expected it not For the great wickedness thereof did God destroy the old World and swept them away with a prodigious Flood of Water Gen. 6.5 And God saw that the wickedness of Man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually And it repented the Lord that he had made Man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth And Gen. 7.21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth both of fowl and of cattel and of beast and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth and every man This heavy judgment did God send upon them for their Wickedness when they were so wholly given up to it and made this total riddance of all Mankind but Noah and his Family And with this Deluge of Water were they all surprized when they expected it not as our Lord sheweth Matt. 24.37 But as the days of Noe were so shall also the coming of the Son of man be For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noe entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away so shall also the coming of the Son of man be In this unexpected manner were they all wrapt up in destruction before they were well sensible of it In a prodigious manner with Fire and Brimstone from Heaven did God destroy the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for the grievous Sin and Wickedness of them Gen. 28.20 And the Lord said because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous And Gen. 19.13 For we will destroy this place because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it And v. 24 25. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven And he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and that which grew upon the ground In this astonishing manner did God destroy these Cities for their egregious Wickedness and consume them with the Fire of his Wrath And the very Ground where these Cities stood is turned into that Lake which is called the Dead-Sea or the Sea of the Plain And in this terrible Destruction were all these Sinners surprized and thought not of it till the Flame was all about them and had seized upon them Luke 17.28 29. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all Here our Lord doth shew how they were surprized with this Fire from Heaven when they thought not of such a thing but were busie in pursuing their Sins and worldly Concerns For their wickedness did God send sundry Judgments and Plagues upon the Egyptians as we may see in the Book of Exodus And at the last in a surprising manner overwhelmed them in the Red Sea Exod. 14.23 And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them to the midst of the Red Sea even all Pharaoh 's Horses and his Chariots and his Horsemen And v. 27. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the Sea and the Sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared and the Egyptians fled against it and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the Sea This surprising destruction swallowed them up at the last For the great wickedness and high provocations of the Inhabitants of the Land of Canaan did God bring a heavy Judgment upon them to destroy and root them out of their own Land by the Children of Israel God delivered the Kingdoms of Sihon and Og to Moses and he Destroyed the Inhabitants thereof Numb 21. And Joshua destroyed 31 Kings on the other side Jordan Joshua 6 And we may see that this heavy judgment of the Sword came upon them to their utter ruin for their great wickedness and abominations Gen. 15.16 saith God to Abraham concerning his Posterity But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full Hereby intimating that when their Iniquity was full ripe for Judgment they were to but cut off for it And saith Moses Deut. 18.12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee It is clear that they were driven out and destroyed for their great wickedness and abominable practices And we may see that God's own People the Jews were often scourged by other Nations and sold into their hands for their own wickedness and for revolting from God Judges 2.13 14. And they forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtaroth And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them and he sold them into the hands of their Enemis round about so that they could not any longer stand before their Enemies And we may read that God did often punish and afflict them with the neighbouring Nations for their wickedness towards him With the Mesópotamians and Moabites and others Judges 3. with the Canaanites Judg. 4. with the Midianites and others Judg. 6. with the Philistines and Ammonites Judg. 10. With these and others did God often scourge them and afterwards let the Assyrians and Chaldeans carry them away Captive out of their own Land for their Rebellion towards God and backsliding from him and one part of them returned
no more and the other was kept in Captivity for the space of seventy Years as we may see in the end of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles And as our blessed Lord had told them when they were fallen to great wickedness again That except they repented they should perish as the Galileans did so for want of their repentance and amendment did God send a most heavy Judgment upon them about 38 or 39 Years after our Saviour's Death and the Romans did destroy and root them out of their own Land in the end The Sword of the Enemy without and Famine and Pestilence and intestine Broils within did make most miserable havock of them The Famine was so sharp in Jerusalem that they eat their own Children through extream hunger as Moses long before had told them And the slaughter of the Jews of all sorts that died first and last in the compass of a few Years by Sword Famine and Pestilence was so great that there perished above fourteen hundred Thousand Persons as it is reported By these and the like Examples we may see that God hath often sent very sore and heavy Judgments and Calamities upon the Inhabitants of the World for their great Sin and Rebellion against him And now as for our selves we can plead no exemption from such Judgments of God We have no cause to believe that our Age and our Nation should be free from the Scourges of Divine Providence and the Lashes of God's Rod when others have smarted so sorely under it and been punished in this dreadful manner if we commit Sin and Wickedness as they have done When our sins grow clamorous towards Heaven and ascend up like the Cry of Sodom and call for Judgment upon us we may well expect that God will hear the cry of them and be moved to wrath and come down in vengeance upon us We are to know that our condition is the same with others and that these menaces and threatnings of Judgments and Calamities to others are to be such to us when our sins and transgressions grow great as theirs did and wax ripe for punishment And these Judgments and Plagues that have fallen upon others are to be Warnings to us what we are to expect if we become great transgressors like them as the Apostle sheweth 1 Cor. 10 5-11 Now all these things happened unto them for Examples and they are written for our Admonition upon whom the ends of the World are come And the 2 Pet. 2.6 And if we do but seriously mind how black and dark our Land is grown with all kind of wickedness and how little Light appears in it how bold and daring Sin and Profaneness is grown and what high Affronts and Provocations are offered against Heaven we may well conclude that the righteous God above will not always keep silence but that his patience and forbearance will be tyred out and that he will come in wrath to revenge himself and to still such Clamors and hideous cries that will not let him rest and to ease himself of his Adversaries and to vindicate his Honour and Worship and Dread here among Men. We may see that the unprofitable Husbandmen were to be destroyed and the Vineyard to be let out to such Husbandmen as should render the Fruits thereof Mat. 21.41 And if we observe how little the blessed word of God is regarded how some have not patience enough to hear it and that others lay it but little to heart and let it have but little influence upon their lives to lead them accordingly we may justly fear that God will not suffer his blessed Word to be so slighted and contemned by us but will remove our Candlestick and his blessed Word and Light from us and leave us to grope in the dark a while that we may know the better how to value such a Mercy when we have suffered a while for want of it And if we do not repent but proceed on in wickedness and add new sins to our old ones if besides our former transgressions and provocations we fall to that gross Idolatry which is in the Roman Church which God declares he so much detests and abhors we may well expect that the Beesom of Destruction will sweep us away in the end and that the Sword or some other Instrument of Divine Vengeance will cut us off at the last And what Judgments soever befall us we are to know that the hand of God is therein and that he suffers them to light upon us for our sin and wickedness And that Men may be prepared against such dreadful Judgments of God and not surprized with them that they may repent and provide for their escape and security at such a time is Warning usually given and so we see it is here II. Here we see that Warning was to be given in the Church and among his People that this dreadful Day of the Lord was coming and nigh at hand to them Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion and sound an Alarm in my holy Mountain for the Day of the Lord cometh for it is nigh at hand Here the Prophet useth Metaphorical Expressions alluding to the Camp and Military Affairs as I conceive when he bids the Trumpet to be blown and an Alarm to be sounded The Trumpet indeed was used among the Israelites for other purposes besides Martial Affairs viz. to assemble the Congregation for the worship of God and for Consultations c. But here the Prophet having joined the Alarm with it he seemeth to allude to Martial and Military Affairs when the Trumpet is blown and an Alarm is sounded at the sudden and unexpected approach of an Enemy that they might put themselves into as good a posture of defence as is possible for the reception of them that they might be able to stand valiantly against them and not be overcome by such a sudden Assault and be beaten and routed by them And so here the Prophet sheweth that as the Trumpet is to be blown and a loud Alarm to be founded at the unexpected coming of an Enemy so was Proclamation to be made and Warning to be given at the approach and coming of this dreadful Day of the Lord. And this was to be done in Zion that is in Jerusalem the chief City of the Jews for Zion was a part of this Renowned City and in God's Holy Mountain that is where the Sacred Temple of his Worship stood or rather in the Land of Judea where God's peculiar People dwelt which seems here to me to be called God's Holy Mountain From hence I shall endeavour to shew how God doth usually give Warning to all but especially to such as will hearken to his voice and take Warning when such a Day of Judgment and Tribulation and Destruction is coming upon Men that they may prepare for it and for their own safety and security in it Such is the wonderful Love of God to Mankind that he desires not the death of sinner but is earnest with them
have been destroyed because they were not Righteous but Wicked And this will farther shew that it is our Duty and will be a great Encouragement to us to set then earnestly upon all the works of Righteousness at the apprehension of a dreadful Day coming upon us that we may then escape and find Mercy This God shews to be the Reason why Noah was to be saved from perishing with the Inhabitants of the Old World because he was righteous before God Gen. 7.1 And the Lord said unto Noah come thou and all thy house into the ark for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation This was the Reason why he was to be saved by the Ark when the rest of the World were to be destroyed by a Flood of Waters because God saw him to be righteous When God destroyed Sodom all the righteous Men were to be preserved and if there had been fifty Righteous yea if there had been but ten righteous Men therein they and the whole City too had been spared for their Righteousness sake Gen. 18.23 And we may see that righteous Lot was delivered at that time and that he was delivered because he was a just and righteous Man S. Peter sheweth 2 Pet. 2.6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly And delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished Here we may see that Lot was delivered because he was a just and righteous Man and that pious and godly Men from this Example and that of Noah are to be encouraged that God will deliver them from Temptations and Trials and Dangers But that the Unjust must expect to be reserved to the Day of Judgment to be punished for their Unrighteousness When the Israelites were to be consumed and to have their Carkases fall in the Wilderness and not to come into the Land of Canaan because they murmured and sinned against God Joshua and Caleb were then delivered from this Sentence because they were righteous and wholly followed God Num 14.20 and Num. 32.10 And the Lord's anger was kindled the same time saith Moses and he sware saying Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt from twenty years old and upwards shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob because they have not wholly followed me save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite and Joshua the son of Nun for they have wholly followed the Lord. By the Works of Righteousness did the Harlot Rahab escape Destruction and perished not when Jericho was taken and destroyed when she concealed the Spies and sent them away in peace because she believed them to be the Servants of God By faith saith the Apostle Heb. 11 31 the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace And saith S. James 2.25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way By Works was she justified and by her works of Piety and Mercy was she saved from this Destruction and perished not with the Inhabitants of Jericho By these and such Examples we may see that righteous Men have been delivered in the Days of Vengeance for their Righteousness sake when others have perished and this may serve as a farther Argument to shew that it then behoves us especially to set earnestly upon the works of Righteousness whensoever we apprehend such a terrible Day of the Lord to be coming upon us And what it is that is Good and God requires the Prophet sheweth Micah 6.8 He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God These are the things that are Good and which God requires of us at all times but especially at such a time That we should be just and upright in all our dealings with others and do as we would be done by and rather wrong our selves than over-reach and deceive another That we should be so far from grudging at charitable Works like the Miser that we should love them and take delight in all acts of Mercy and Goodness and chearfully communicate to all the Needs and Necessities of others and be joyful and glad when we can relieve and succour them in their Miseries and Wants That we should be prone and forward to forgive all others that have done any Harm or Hurt to us and contentedly to pass by all the Injuries and Wrongs that have been done to us by others without seeking any Revenge and with Good to overcome all the Evil and Malice that is offered to us by any That we should walk humbly before God in a deep Sense of our own Unworthiness and Vileness and of God's great Goodness and Mercy to us and the continual Dependance that we have upon him and of his dreadful and glorious Majesty These are the things which God requires of us and such works of Righteousness and Mercy and Kindness are we especially to set upon when a dark Day is apprehended to be near at hand And then are we to be more frequent and zealous at all our Services and Devotions to Almighty God But Fourthly Then are we also more particularly to cry mightily to Almighty God upon this very account of his Day of Wrath being coming upon us Then are we to make our earnest addresses to Almighty God in this very Respect and to make Supplications to him that he would have mercy upon us and deal with us according to his great Love and Goodness and not according to our Sins and Iniquities That for his own Name sake and for his dear Son Christ Jesus sake he would be pleased to avert and turn away his Judgments and Wrath from us if it may consist with his Divine Will and Pleasure and if not that we may be covered and preserved in the Day of Wrath and sheltered under the Wings of his good Providence and find Mercy and Salvation in that day And 1. That we are to cry and make great Supplications to Almighty God and to seek to attone him and turn away his Wrath from us at such a time by earnest Prayers we may see by several places of Scripture Our own Nature and Reason will dictate this to us and so do the sacred Scriptures This the Prophet Joel prescribes here 1.14 Sanctify a fast call a solemn assembly gather the elders and all the Inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry unto the Lord. And Joel
And when Judah looked back behold the battel was before and behind and they cried unto the Lord and the Priests sounded with the Trumpets Then the men of Judah gave a shout and as the men of Judah shouted it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah When Zerah the Ethiopian came out against Asa King of Judah with an Host of a thousand thousand he cried unto the Lord for help and succour and obtained help from him 2 Chron. 14.11 And Asa cried unto the Lord his God and said Lord it is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no power Help us O Lord our God for we rest on thee and in thy Name we go against this multitude O Lord thou art our God let not Man prevail against thee So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judalâ— and the Ethiopians fled When Jehoshaphat prayed unto the Lord for help against his Enemies the Moabites and Ammonites and they of Mount Seir the Lord wrought a great deliverance for him and the Jews and set their Enemies to destroy themselves and left them nothing to do but to gather the Spoil and return God thanks for the great Salvation that he granted them 2 Chron. 20.3 When Sennacherib King of Assyria sent to Hezekiah and was coming against Jerusalem with his Army Hezekiah and Isaiah prayed unto the Lord and obtain'd help and succour from him against their Enemies and God sent an Angel to destroy them 2 Chron. 32.20 For this cause Hezekiah the King and the Prophet Isaiah the Son of Amoz prayed and cried to Heaven And the Lord sent an Angel which cut off all the Mighty men of Valour and the Leaders and Captains in the Camp of the King of Assyria so he returned with shame of face to his own Land And when he was come into the House of his God they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the Sword And the Angel of the Lord slew an hundred fourscore and five thousand as it is in 2 Kings 19.35 And this was the command of the King of Nineveh when the Prophet had proclaimed the Judgment of God against them That they should cry mightily to God Jonah 3.8 But let man and beast be covered with Sackcloth and cry mightily to God And we see that they did obtain pardon and mercy By these and many more Examples we may see how men have cried to Almighty God in their distress and when they lay under the apprehensions of great dangers and miseries and have obtained mercy and help from him And these do farther teach us to do the like and shew it to be our duty to supplicate his Divine Majesty and Goodness in an extraordinary manner whensoever we apprehend a dreadful Day of Vengeance to be coming upon us But to qualifie us for such a calling upon Almighty God and to make way for an access of our Prayers to him we must first clear our hands and our hearts from all Sin and Wickedness and set upon a Righteous and Holy Life as I have shewed otherwise we may expect that God will not hear our Prayers when we cry to him in the day of Trouble We must first make satisfaction to our Brother for all the injuries that we have done him before we can offer any Sacrifice or Prayer to God to attone him and procure his favour and mercy Matth. 5.23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Altar saith our Saviour and there remembrest that thy Brother hath-ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift This is the course that our blessed Lord hath appointed to be taken And the Psalmist shews that so long as our hearts are inclined to wickedness the Lord will not hear us Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me And no more will he hear us except we withdraw our hearts from it And saith Job of the Hypocrite Job 27.9 Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him Hereby intimating to us that there is no likelihood that God will then hear him And saith Wisdom Prov. 1.24 Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded But ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord And so may we expect to be dealt with if we do not now hearken to Wisdom's voice and follow her blessed Instructions and amend and set upon a pious and holy Life If we will now stop our Ears at her Charming and cast the fear of God behind our backs we may justly expect that he will laugh at our Calamity and mock when our fear cometh And God declares to the Jews that he would not hear their Prayers because they were defiled and polluted with blood and wickedness and had not cleansed themselves Isa 1.15 And when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when ye make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood Wash ye make you clean This is to be done first or else our Prayers are not like to be heard And saith God to the Prophet Jeremiah 11.10 11. They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers which refused to hear my words and they went after other Gods to serve them the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers Therefore thus saith the Lord behold I will bring evil upon them which they shall not be able to escape and tho' they shall cry unto me I will not hearken unto them And saith the Man that was born blind John 9.31 We know that God heareth not sinners By these and such places we may see that there is an absolute necessity for Men to leave their Sins and become Righteous before they are in any fit capacity to address themselves to Almighty God and to pray to him for mercy and help in the needful time of trouble It is needful also at such a time that we place our trust and confidence in Almighty God and do not make any Idols to our selves that God may not say to us as he did to the Jews Judg. 10.13 14. Ye have forsaken me and served other gods wherefore I will deliver you no more Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation It behoves us to make no