nothing more than Dying then their haughty Spirits are brought down and they now tremble and talk at another rate and will suffer a Minister or a serious Christian to discourse freely with them whose Reproof or Presence before they would not bear 5. God doth sometimes in this World punish Sin with terrible Rebukes and Terrors of Conscience He makes them possess their former Iniquities he sets their Sins in order before them he awakens Conscience to do its Office as a Witness and a Judg and in some respects an Executioner too So that they accuse condemn and torment themselves How many careless profligate Sinners after great Transgressions and how many good Men after great Backslidings have experienced these Terrors and Rebukes of Conscience Believe it Sinner whoever thou art one Sin set home on the Conscience with the Frowns of God will sting the Soul as with fiery Scorpions it will rend thy Heart with the most desperate Rage it will make thy Lips quiver thy Knees tremble thy Bones rot thy Spirit to fail within thee it will make thee apprehend all the Miseries and Torments threatned in Scripture belong to thee it will make thee cry out I am feeble and sore broken mine Iniquities are a Burden too heavy for me O how shall I appear before God! How shall I flee from his Presence or bear his Wrath O that I had never sinn'd O that I had never been O that I might cease to be How much better if I had never been born never seen the Light Lord if I should now die what would become of me and if I should yet live will the Lord ever be merciful to me The Sins I have committed are numberless and hainous the Wrath I feel is unexpressible that which I fear is Infinite and Endless Lord I see if I live I am an undone accursed Creature and if I die O let me not die I fear I shall be for ever a damned miserable Sinner Is there no Mercy Lord no hope for such a Wretch as I have been And in such cases all the Pleasures and Diversions the Riches and Honours of the World will signify little they are Physicians of no value you can taste no Sweetness in them they can give no Rest to thy disturbed Thoughts they cannot calm thine accusing Conscience God alone can create the Fruit of the Lips Peace Peace Men and Angels are not competent Chyrurgions for such a wounded Spirit If God speak Trouble who can speak Peace Ministers and Friends may repeat the Promises of Mercy and of Grace but all in vain until God bind up the broken in Heart He alone that removes the Guilt of Sin by pardoning Mercy can remove the desparing Sense of it by speaking Peace Now consider this Ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver The Improvement of this Discourse may be for Instruction Reproof and Exhortation There are several things we may learn for our Instruction as 1. What Peace so long as the Whoredoms of thy Mother Jezebel c. Observe that it is the Wickedness of Men especially of Persons in great Places is the true Cause of Wars and publick Calamities Nothing more common than to charge the publick Calamities of a Country upon Religion and the Professors of it as Ahab did the Famine in Samaria and his Son Joram likewise on the Prophet Elisha But his Answer will serve in both Cases when he taxes him as the Troubler of Israel he reply'd It is Thou and thy Father's House that have troubled Israel in that you have forsaken the Commandment of the Lord and followed Baalim 1 Kings 18.17 18. You may as well say that Health is the Cause of Sickness as charge Wars and Contentions and publick Calamities upon serious Godliness It is from the Lusts of Men from the Wickedness of Magistrates and Subjects that either obstruct the Peace of a People amongst themselves or provoke God to take it away by desolating Wars Religion is not to be blamed for any such Miscarriages of Christians as disturb the publick Peace You do not condemn the Laws of the Land because Thieves and Murderers break them The Laws are good and oblige to nothing but what is good tho ill Men will not observe them So is it with the Laws and Precepts of Christian Religion So far as real Christianity prevails it will influence the Hearts and Lives of Men for the Good of every Society whereof they are Members Christians acting according to the Laws of Christ will honour their Rulers on God's Account as his Officers They know they obey God in obeying them and so will do it for Conscience sake because of his Authority whereof they partake and of his Command to be in Subjection to them Therefore so far as they fail in their Duty by Faction and Rebellion c. they forsake their Rule and offend their Heavenly Lord and Master And it is not owing to their Godliness and Christianity but to the want of it 2. What Peace so long as the Whoredoms of thy Mother Jezebel and the Crimes of the Family of Ahab are so many Observe that the Sins of Courts do sometimes bring Judgment on the whole Land The People were punished with a dreadful Pestilence for David's Sin in numbring the People 2 Sam. 24.17 And he acknowledged and said Lo I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these Sheep what have they done Let thine Hand I pray thee be against me and against my Father's House God turned not away his Anger from Judah and Jerusalem notwithstanding the Reformation of Josiah for the Sin of his Grandfather Manasses and his Father Amnon 2 Kings 23.25 26. tho there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his Heart and with all his Soul and with all his Might according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose there any like him Nevertheless the Lord turned not from the Fierceness of his great Wrath wherewith his Anger was kindled against Judah because of all the Provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal And the Lord said I will remove Judah also out of my sight as I have removed Israel and will cast off this City Jerusalem which I have chosen and the House of which I said My Name shall be there Therefore in the Confession of National Sins we must look further back than the present Reign lest the Guilt of former Princes bring Judgment on the Nation So the Sin of Saul brought three Years Famine upon the Land till Judgment was executed and God's Anger turned away Thus Israel was here punished for the Wickedness of Ahab Jezebel and Joram And doubtless their Example had infected the People too My Anger says God was kindled against the Shepherds and I smote the Goats Zech. 10.3 that is against the Officers in Church and State who were the Ring-leaders in Sin and the Community suffered upon that Account the People were smitten What reason
and no further O take heed of Partiality in Religion of dealing deceitfully with God You may go a great way and do many things and yet if your Hearts are not right with God if you are not sound in his Statutes and have respect to all his Commandments he will not accept you 8. Instability and Unsetledness in that which is good is another Instance This was the Case of Joram At one time he calls Elisha Father at another time he vows to have his Head and to be the Death of him whatever it cost 2 Kings 6.21 compared with the 31st Verse Hath it not been so with some of you Is it not still thus with many Now for God and then for Baal warm and cold off and on up and down now convinced and seemingly resolved for serious Religion the next Week the World is on the Throne again or some particular Sin prevails notwithstanding your Convictions You ought this day to humble your selves for these things III. The Exhortation which remains shall be to three Duties First Mourn for the want of Peace and bewail the Desolations of War which are the Fruits of Sin and most of all that Sin which is the Cause of War Secondly Pray earnestly for the Peace of our Jerusalem and the taking away Sin that hinders all kind of Peace Thirdly Let your own Personal and Family Repentance and Reformation show that you are sincere in the two former 1. Mourn and bewail the want of Peace and the Desolations of War There are some of you who have felt the Smart of this War so as to have reason to mourn on your own Account tho little comparatively to others abroad But we may feel more yet and we have all reason to mourn for that which is so general a Calamity and to pity our Brethren whose Country is the Seat of War We ought to compassionate the thousands of Families that have been undone and thousands of Souls that have been sent to Hell by dying in an impenitent State who have fallen in the high Places of the Field or been kill'd at Sea or died in Garisons or in the Fleet. Let us look abroad into Neighbouring Countries and we shall find a Roll like that of Ezekiel written within and without in Capital Letters Lamentation Mourning and Wo. What Robberies Spoils Sackings Burnings and Devastations What Oaths Blasphemies Rapes Cruelty Desperate Threatnings to stab or pistol those who will not confess their Riches and Treasure or the little they have hid to make them accessory to their own Spoils and afterwards forc'd to wander from their Habitations into Woods Mountains Caves or other places of Shelter or are carried Captive by the Enemy and hardly fed with Bread and Water And after such Miseries how many of our Brethren have been brought by cruel Usage to bow down in the House of a strange God to make Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience and outwardly to yield to Superstition and Idolatry against their Light and Conscience or been sent to Dungeons and Gallies or to more merciful Flames or Gibbets if they had the Courage to continue faithful Let us mourn for these things which I shall represent more largely under another Head Especially let us mourn for our own and our Brethrens Sins that are the provoking Cause of these Calamities without which we should not feel such terrible Effects of God's righteous Anger Let us mourn also for the Dishonour of the Christian Name by Bloody Wars when Christians should be Examples of Peace and Union to the whole World But the peaceful Name of Christ is blasphemed among Heathens and Infidels by the Wars of Christendom 'T is become a Proverb among the Turks What! fight and kill one another as the Christians do 2. Pray earnestly for the Peace of Jerusalem Earnestly as those that apprehend the Divine Displeasure fearing lest Wrath be gone out from the Lord against us Let us wrestle with him and strive together in our Prayers that if it be possible the Cup may pass from us and we may turn back an Host of Judgments that seem to be upon their march Let us pray for Peace with God for the removal of Sin by Repentance and pardoning Mercy and then for Brotherly Peace and Unity and Love and for Civil Peace But the taking away of Sin is the great thing we should beg as that which is an Enemy to all kind of Peace Without which if God should make an end of this War and give us Peace and Plenty and Trade and all that we could wish of that kind if his Anger be not turned away from us but he only say Why should you be smitten any more I will let you alone such a Peace without our Repentance and God's Pardon would be the most dreadful Judgment A displeased God may sometimes deliver an unpardon'd People but it proves not a Blessing but a Curse to them For Peace with God is the Foundation of all other Blessings National or Personal Let us therefore pray especially for the Pardon of Sin and Peace with God and then for Peace in the World and in the Churches of Christ And when you pray for Peace remember to pray for Truth with it There can be no firm or durable Peace that is not cemented with Truth How amiable is it to have Peace with Truth to serve God with Purity and Safety with Sincerity and Security to enjoy the Blessings of God's Right-hand and Left together Without Truth there may be Presumption instead of Peace with God there may be a Combination without Peace the Colour and Name of an Agreement without Union Beg that Christ may be advanced by whom God hath made Peace and reconciled all things in Heaven and Earth Where his Truth Interest and Authority are left out or overlook'd there can be no valuable or lasting Peace It is God alone can ordain and establish Peace for us can sheath the Sword that is drawn and make Peace in Europe Any rash or furious Hand can make a Wound or kindle a Fire but God only can heal our Breaches and extinguish the Flames of a Church or State and bless the World with a happy Peace 3. Show that you are sincere in mourning and in praying by your Personal and Family Reformation Without resolving and endeavouring this our solemn Mockery of God in these Solemnities will cost this Nation and City dear If we confess Sins that we yet love and resolve not to forsake if we pretend Desires in Prayer that we have not if we complain of Burdens that we do not feel if we spare and cherish any known Lust if we continue in the neglect of any known Duty especially what we have been this day minded of God will be so far from accepting our Fasts and Humiliations that he will abhor us the more Is this the Fast I have chosen may God say If there be no Reformation no Divorce between you and your Lusts promoted by it I am no more
What Peace so long as the Whoredoms of thy Mother Jezebel c. Her Crimes are mentioned rather than his partly as they were more infamous and notorious partly as it was for her Sins that God was now about to execute Judgment and partly as this Joram had been nursed up and educated in her cursed Idolatry and so her Wickedness became his own But especially are her Crimes taken notice of to show that it was not a particular War with Joram but with the whole Family and that the Anger of God which Jehu was to execute was against the whole House of Ahab and Jezebel Which is a sufficient Account why Jehu makes such a smart Answer to Joram's Question Is it Peace as this What Peace so long as the Whoredoms of thy Mother Jezebel and her Witchcrafts are so many This therefore is the Sum of these Words as the Ground of my following Discourse that there is no Peace to be expected by impenitent unreformed Sinners Or That Sin is an Enemy to all kind of Peace What Peace so long as c. That I may confirm and improve this let us first consider that there is a threefold Peace First Divine Peace or Peace with God Secondly External and Civil Peace between Man and Man and this in lesser and greater Societies Thirdly The Peace of the Soul inward Peace or Peace of Conscience Now if we look above us or round about us or within us there is no Peace to be had while Sin is not repented of and reformed In general Peace is taken for all kind of Good for all manner of Blessings as sometimes for Spiritual Blessings The Legacy of Christ is Peace John 14.27 My Peace I leave with you In me you have Peace Ch. 16.33 Sometimes for all Temporal Blessings God threatens to take away PEACE from a People even Loving-kindness and Mercies Jer. 16.5 Hence the ordinary Salutation Peace be to such an one or Peace be to such a House that is Blessing Favour Mercy Now Sin as the Cause of all Evil is an Enemy to Peace in this Latitude as it is that which separates between God and us and hinders all good things from us But let me speak more distinctly to these three kinds of Peace Peace with God and Peace with Men and Peace with Conscience I. Peace with God That Sin is an Enemy to this kind of Peace I need not so much to prove as to apply You know it is the abominable thing which his Soul hates Jer. 44.4 Psal 7.11 Rom. 1.18 Psal 11.5 6. That he is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity That he is angry with the Wicked every day That his Wrath is declared from Heaven against all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness of Men. That on them he will rain Snares Fire and Brimstone and an horrible Tempest God hath no Enemy in the World but those which Sin makes him The Wicked are represented in the holy Scriptures as Enemies to God Fighters against him Haters of him c. This Contrariety of Sin to God must needs make it obstruct our Peace with him It is a walking contrary to God it is a Contempt of him a Rebellion against him a bidding Defiance to him and therefore while Sin is unrepented of God is our Enemy And of how dreadful Import is that to a considering Mind to have God for our Enemy For who knows the Power of his Wrath Whose Heart can endure or Hands be strong if he ingage against us If he rise up against us if he enter into Judgment with us He is a consuming Fire and we like Thorns and Briars which he will go through and burn up Whither shall we flee for Shelter or seek for Refuge And how fearful is it to fall into his Hands who is the Almighty and Eternal Judg the God to whom Vengeance belongs when the time of his Patience and Long-suffering is over How can you have a Moment's Rest when God is apprehended to be your Enemy How can you live merrily or in quiet for one Day or Hour while you have no ground to apprehend the Breach is made up between him and you while his destructive Vengeance hangs over your Heads and is every moment read to fall on you and crush you into everlasting Destruction while for ought you know the next moment may for ever divide between you and all your Comforts and all your Hopes I say for ever O think of that little Word for ever Everlasting You that are not reconciled and at Peace with God by Repentance towards God and Faith in the Blood of Jesus and yet are content and careless think of this and tremble Don't make light of the Divine Threatnings and despise that Wrath that in a moment can destroy you Let such think of it who go on securely in some hidden course of Sin upon the brink of Eternal Ruin Spell me that Word EVERLASTING added to the Wrath of God and tell me how many Syllables of Time go to the compounding of it There is no Peace saith my God to the Wicked but Indignation and Wrath and a fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation O consider it believe it apply it while it is possible to make Peace with God and escape his Righteous Vengeance II. Sin is an Enemy to Civil Peace between Man and Man What else is the Original of Wars and Fightings Confusions and Strifes James 4.1 of all the Tumults and Disorders Desolations and Confusions in Human Societies that Men are Wolves and Bears and Lions and Tigers and almost Devils to one another What else is the great Make-bate of the World that destroys the Peace and disturbs the Order defaces the Beauty and obstructs the Happiness and Tranquillity of Families and Churches and Cities and Nations I might shew this in divers Particulars As 1. Some Sins and some Lusts have a direct Influence and Tendency to hinder and destroy Civil Peace as Pride Covetousness Envy Ambition Wrath Malice Revenge inordinate Passions c. 'T is the Pride and Ambition of Princes that puts them upon enlarging their Territories with the Destruction of their Neighbours Tho they have many Pretences to colour their Ambition Covetousness Envy or Revenge The Defence or Promotion of true Religion is sometimes made a Cover for Violence Rapine and Murder How many thousands of Indians and Infidels have been massacred by the Spaniards to make room for Christianity and to plant the Gospel among them And how much innocent Blood hath been shed in Christendom to reduce Hereticks to the Unity of the Roman Church or punish their Obstinacy or Apostacy who would not return to it And this under the pretence of Religion and Conscience and a Zeal for Truth in Obedience to Christ's Vicar to propagate the Faith of the Gospel by a sort of Christians who think it their Duty to destroy all others when and where they are able to do it if the Pope require and encourage it for the
have we to pray for holy Magistrates and to bless God when we have such 3. What Peace to thee O Joram while the Whoredoms of thy Mother Jezebel c. Observe that Children may be punished for the Sins of their immediate Parents and if they continue to commit the like they may expect it to the third and fourth Generation Wicked Parents little consider how cruel they are to their Children by entailing the Curse of God upon them and leaving them Heirs of his Judgment and Wrath as their Inheritance We find Naboth's Blood that was shed by Joram's Father is mentioned to him his Son and thrown in his Dish The Prophet Elisha scruples not to call him the Son of a Murderer 2 Kings 6.32 And it is remarkable that his dead Body is cast into the same Plat of Ground where Naboth's Blood it is probable had been spilt Ver. 25 26. of this Chapter That very Ground is manured by the Blood of Ahab's Wife and Son where Dogs licked the Blood of Naboth who was murdered by Ahab's Order 4. What Peace so long as the Whoredoms of thy Mother Jezebel c. We may learn how dangerous it is to be related to a wicked Family with which God is angry For these words are spoken to Joram who was not so bad as his Father Ahab and whose Wickedness was inferiour to that of his Mother Jezebel For it is said of him tho he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord yet not like his Father or Mother 2 Kings 3.2 and yet you see the Issue by this Text. Let Parents remember this and younger Persons who are not enter'd into a married Relation It is a bold and dangerous thing to match into a wicked Family to be in their Company and to be of their Kindred For King Ahaziah who was now with Joram he was slain too Tho he were the Son of good Jehosaphat yet he married the Daughter of Jezebel and thereby was brought to walk in the Ways of Ahab and he also was destroyed 2 Kings 8.18 compared with 2 Chron. 21.6 and 12.13 It is dangerous in respect of Sin lest we be infected and it is dangerous in respect of Judgment lest we share in their Plagues For all the seventy Sons of wicked Ahab were cut off as we read in the next Chapter 2 Kings 10. For the Sins of Jeroboam God cut off all the Remnant of his House and Family 1 Kings 15.30 And all the Kindred and Children and Friends of Baasha died for his Iniquity 1 Kings 16. It is so ordinary for the Branches of a wicked Family to share in Punishment with the Heads of it that the Spirit of God takes notice of it as an unusual and extraordinary thing if it fell out otherwise Numb 26.10 11. The Earth opened and swallowed up Korah and his Company and it is added as deserving to be particularly taken notice of that notwithstanding this the Children of Korah died not 5. What Peace Joram while thine and thy Mother's Sins make God thine Enemy We may learn that the Peace Safety and Happiness of a People depend upon the Favour and Protection of God Some of the Heathens have had some Apprehension of this that the Presence of their Gods would do more for their Defence than all their Fortifications or Souldiers And therefore when they went to War against any People they used several Methods which they thought were likely to get the Gods of such or such a City out from amongst them or they endeavoured sometimes by Bribes and Presents and sometimes by Inchantments to gain them over to their side A very little Observation from History and Experience will confirm it that in Matters of War and Peace the Hand of God is chiefly to be regarded His Providence is most remarkable in the Management and Success of National Revolutions The Canaanites had their Hearts hardened that they did not seek after Peace would not make Peace with Israel This came of the Lord to the intent they might be utterly destroyed Josh 11.20 At other times he girds with Strength for War he musters the Horse to the Battel he breaketh the Bows and burns the Chariots and cuts the Spears in sunder and determines the Success of National Wars It is the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon that must secure the Victory The latter without the former will prove a wooden Dagger and do not Execution But if God be on our side we need not fear when Men rise up against us Hence it sometimes comes to pass that mighty Armies have been blasted by Divine Providence been ruined we know not how falling as it were by their own Strength withered and come to nothing by a secret Curse of God great Politicians fooled firm Alliances strangely broken resolute Commanders disappointed sometimes fearing where no Ground of Fear was sometimes as resolute and fool-hardy against all Reason to their own Destruction Our Age is not without Instances of this 6. We may not then wonder if this War is not honourably and speedily ended It should not be thought strange if God should not give Peace in our Days if he should not establish and settle us by a speedy honourable and gracious Issue of the present War For what Peace can we expect while the bare-faced Impieties and Provocations of our Age and Nation in Court City and Country in Fleet and Army are so many when there is so little Appearance of Reformation and all Attempts for it meet with such Opposition It is rather a Wonder that we remain escaped at this day and enjoy so many of the Blessings of Peace while other Countries feel worse Effects of a Lasting War We may rather sit down and wonder that after so long a time of God's Forbearance after so many Trials as he has given us after so many slighted Warnings after such strange Methods of Divine Providence as we have had to awaken us that yet though unreformed we are not destroyed For all our former Judgments have not humbled us or united us Our late Mercies have not made us thankful The most astonishing Appearances of God among us have not wrought a Cure We are impenitent and divided and stiff-necked still We complain sometimes that Poverty is coming on us like an armed Man but we consider not the National Sins or our own in particular whereby God is provoked Is it then any Wonder that the Sword is not put up into its Scabbard when the Case is thus with us as to the Generality of the Nation and so few Exceptions are to be made II. There are several things also observable from this History of Joram and Jezebel which may hereupon afford Matter of Reproof with respect to several Transgressions amongst us of the like kind Not only as the Openness and Boldness and Impudence in Sin under which the Land groans is parallel with the Case of Israel at this time But there are other Instances observable from this History As 1. Doth not