command of the King of Syria to his Captains and souldiers to fight neither against great nor small but onely against the King of Israel and it was good counsell for as soone as they had slaine the King the day was presently their own and when a man hath been victorious over his Master sin hee will easily conquer his lesser corruptions It serves to stirre us up to this hard task I call it a hard taske because a man will be content to part with many sinnes rather than he will leave his beloved corruption as it is in fleaing a skin of a dead body it comes off with ease till yee come to the head but there it sticks and comes not off without difficulty so a man peradventure will forsake many iniquities but not dilectum delictum his beloved transgression See it in Augustine hee was very unwilling to leave his unsanctified Olims and wicked acquaintance when at first God opened his eyes his lusts then said unto him nonne tecum erimus in aeternum shall not wee be with thee for ever who have been with thee so long but yet when God furnished him with his grace he cast them all off though he had taken never so much complacency in them before And this must be done by us take it in some instances Come to a licentious man and presse on him the practise of divers things and he will be content to admit of them but if you touch his sin of uncleannesse ye touch him to the quick and he will no longer beare with you as in Herod He heard John gladly and did many things which he spake but if he offer to meddle with his Herodias his life must pay for his errour so that say what man will or can such a one will not leave his filthy yet beloved sin nay some have protested they could not leave their uncleannesse In like manner come to an excessive person bid him doe this or that he will subscribe unto it but if ye strike at his sin of excesse then he stormes and fumes saying Take away my cup and take the club out of Hercules hand take away my liquour and take away my life he saith with the Vine Judges 9.13 Should I leave my wine which cheareth God and man Come to the covetous man and he will easily be perswaded to avoyd prodigality here you shall finde him as tractable as may be but yet all that you can say or doe shall not worke upon him to forsake his covetousnes But notwithstanding all this as men take knowledge of those sinnes which domineere most in them so they must forsake and leave them yea though they be as deare unto them as Shechaniahs wife was unto him And tell me not that this is difficult but hearken to what our Saviour Christ saith If thy right hand offend thee cut it off for it is better to enter maimed into heaven then having two hands to be cast into hell fire And what dost thou telling me that they be profitable sins is not Godlines the best nay the only gaine and what dost thou tell me of thy sweet sin of licentiousnes I tell thee Momentaneum quod delectat aeternum quod cruciat it is a momentary pleasure and unlesse thou forsake it will bring thee into eternall torments to the utter ruine of thy soule body And say not to me as Naaman to Elisha God be mercifull to me in this or that sin for as one leak is enough to sink a ship so one sin will damn a soul and thou art far from mercy if thou preferrest a profitable or pleasurable sinne to thy God I will come home to thee in a familiar resemblance if thou shouldest harbour a Rebell in thy house and when the King sent unto thee upon paine of death to deliver him thou shouldest refuse to doe it couldst thou expect any favour though hee were never so neare or deare unto thee even so thy sinnes be Rebells against the King of heaven no such Rebells against his Majestie as they if now at his command thou wilt not renounce them and cast them from thee how canst thou hope for mercy there remains nothing for thee but a fearfull expectation of wrath and vengeance to light upon thee Away then with the bond-woman and her-sonne away with this Jonah for which the whole ship fares the worse though thy sins be as deare unto thee as thy right eye yet cast them from thee because they displease God doe not love thy sinne and hate thy soul if thou dost what then wilt thou doe in the end thereof Secondly they put away the children borne of them What was the cause of this Carthusian gives the reason and it is a very good one which will yeeld us the ground of an observation saith hee They cast out the children with their mothers lest the wives having lest their children behinde them should take occasion to returne againe to fetch them so that you see they cut off all occasion of being again ingaged in that transgression the point then is this He that would avoyd sin must make conscience of avoyding all the occasions of sin For proofe hereof see that place Gen. 39.10 Gen. 39.10 Joseph was so resolute in goodnes that he not only repells his mistresse her unlawfull request but saith the text though she spake to him day by day yet he hearkned not unto her to lye by her or to he with her Exod. 12.15 In the 12 Exod. 15. the Lord gives his people charge that when they keep the Passeover they should eate no leavened bread for seaven dayes and because he would be sure they should observe it he commands them on the first day of the seaven to put away all leaven out of their houses So Job 31.1 saith he Joh 31.1 I made a covenant with mine eyes why then should I think upon a maid and it is Davids prayer Psal 119. 37. Psal 119.37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity and when Solomon gives the young man counsell against the strumpet he saith Remove thy way far from her and come not nigh the doore of her house Pro. 5.8 Pro. 15.8 The ground of this is double Reason 1 First if it be a sin that a man hath repented of before then he must be so much the more carefull to avoyd not only the sin it selfe but all occasions tending to it that he may shew forth the truth of his repentance for it repents not him seriously of his sinne who doth not avoyd all occasions of committing the same for the future Reason 2 Secondly if it be an evill that a man was never ingaged in before yet he must avoyd the occasion for there is great need that our prayers strengthen our works and that our works give vigour to our prayers nothing is truer than that proverb Occasion makes a thiefe and it is as true that occasion oft times doth make a sinner Let us in the name
forbeare but breaks forth into lamentation and mourning which affords us this point of Doctrine Doctrin 1 Good men though they be at peace with God finde cause of sorrow for other mens sinnes yee shall see this proved in the Scripture the Spirit of God calls Lot a righteous man yet this righteous mans soule was vexed from day to day with the uncleane conversation of the Sodomites 2 Pet. 2.8 The like we see in Moses that good man 2 Pet. 2.8 doe yee not think that hee was strangely moved at the sinne of the people when he let fall and brake in pieces the two Tables of Stone in which God had written the Decalogue with his owne sacred finger Exod. 32.19 Exod. 32.19 It was so with the Prophet Samuel he mourned for the disobedience of Saul for which God rejected him from reigning over Israel 1 Sam. 15.35 1 Sam. 15.35 the like we see in David mine eyes saith he gush out rivers of teares because men keep not thy Law Psal 119.136 Psal 119.136 may some man say what were the sinnes of the world to David it is true they were none of his yet he thinks himselfe bound to grieve for them because he knew they were displeasing to his maker We see the same in good Ieremiah he wishes his head were waters and his eyes a fountaine of teares that he might weep day and night for the iniquities of his people who were all adulterers and an assembly of treacherous men Ier. 9.1.2 Ier. 13.17 Ier. 9.1.2 and in Ier. 13.17 He professes that his soul shall weep in secret for their pride and was it not so with thee O blessed Saviour thou didst mourn for the hardnesse of mens hearts Mark 3.5 Mark 3.5 and when thou camest to Hierusalem thou weptst over it saying if thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes Luk. 19.41 42. and the same spirit was in S. Paul Luk. 19.41.42 Philip. 3.18 Philip. 3.18 he tells them he had told them often and now speakes it weeping that there bee those among them who are enemies to the crosse of Christ thus yee see the point sufficiently proved Vse 1 It shall be to let us see the stupidity and sencelessenesse of the sonnes of Belial though they have most cause to weep and mourn yet they live in jollity and merriment and are meere strangers to all sadnesse Some of these stick not to say What hath any man to doe to weep for their sinnes and that by their impieties they trouble none but their own soules But I tell thee O wretch thou troublest not only thine own house and soule but thou troublest all Israel thou givest the Saints of God occasion to be pensive for that which makes thee jocant and glad and happy is it for thee that there be such as Noah Lot Samuel and David to mourn for thee for were it not that some did mourn for thy prophannesse thou shouldst not live againe to commit it did not some bewaile thy drunkennesse thou shouldst bee taken away with the pot at thy mouth did not some godly people grieve for thy filthy lust thou shouldst with Zimri and Cosbi be smitten dead flagrante crimine in the very act of uncleannesse but the servants of God pray and mourn fast and weep and all to avert judgements from thee who deservest little at their hands Vse 2 In the second place This may Answer a common Objection which is put to the Saints because they be sad and dumpish I would have you know that it is not holinesse which makes them sad but the prophannesse of the world is that for which they are so much dejected What need the child of God be sad who is in the love and favour of God thou that complainest against him for his sadnesse know that therfore he grieves with holy David because he is constrained to sojourne in Mesech Psal 120.5 and to dwell in the Tents of Kedar Psal 120.5 Vse 3 Lastly according to the practise of Ezra though we have made our peace with God let us mourn for the wickednesse of others every one knowes what cause there is for this iniquity having overspread this Land of ours from Dan to Beersheba from one corner of it to another and were these impieties modest it were not so much but they be impudent and have a Brazen front Religion is out of fashion and none are so esteemed as fashion-mongers they be your only men now in credit The case thus standing there is no way to prevent judgements which be imminent but by mourning and fasting Now that yee may bee perswaded to practise these so seasonable and necessary duties remember but these things First it is piety to mourn for the sins of others shall we hear and see God to bee dishonoured and not grieve for it piety cannot lodge in that breast where such an ill spirit inhabites a man will and ought to grieve when his friend is wronged Christ calls us his friends Ioh. 15.15 and hee is our best friend Iohn 15.15 therefore wee have abundant cause to mourn for the sinnes of wicked men whereby hee is much dishonoured and the Holy Spirit grieved Secondly pity requires this duty at our hands I read of Marcellus the Roman that entring a City which he had gained by composition after a long siege he burst forth into teares one that stood by him demanded why he wept saith he I cannot chuse but weep to see so many thousand led into captivity Shall a Heathen weep for the captivity of mens bodies and shall not Christians mourn for their sinnes which are enough to enthrall soules and bodies in Hell for evermore it should bee the griefe of our soules to see thousands and tenne thousands that will be damned Thirdly if we doe not mourne for other mens sinnes we make them our own that of the Father is most true peccatum quod non displicet tuum est that sinne is thine with which thou art not displeased and that yee may see I goe not without book in this look that place in 1 Cor. 5.6 there was one in the Church of Corinth that had committed that foule sinne of incest 1 Cor. 5.6 and the Corinthians were so farre from grieving for it as they ought to have done that they gloried in it S. Paul corrects them for it telling them that thereby they were become a sowre lump Lastly we should be moved to this duty by the blessing which attends it what saith our blessed Saviour Matth. 5.4 Matth. 5.4 Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted And in Ezek. 9.4 the Lord gives command to spare them in Hierusalem Ezek. 9.4 that did sigh and cry for the abominations done in the midst thereof The next way to escape judgement is to mourn for the sinnes of the Nation and though we should bee
though Dagon have been thrown down yet is hee not set up againe So for uncleannesse is it not to be found shall I say in the skirts nay in the more noble parts of the City and I wish it were a slander to say there were profest brothell houses both without and within the wals of London and for pride if ever it rid in triumph in any generation then now it is how neare doth the toe of the Citizen come to the heele of the Gentleman This smoak containes not it selfe in palaces but gets into meane habitations the back and the belly two daughters of the horse-leech cry Give give and the men of the times are so indulgent to them that they will deny them nothing insomuch that by this meanes many brave Estates are brought to nothing Fourthly for blasphemy who can with patience passe along and heare the volleys of oathes which are sent out against heaven daily nay so common is this sinne that children can no sooner speak but they can swear and blaspheme And for murther you have scarse a bill comes out but some or other are slaine nay sometimes bloud toucheth bloud and for oppression what complayning is there in our Streets against such as grinde the face of the poore and for prophanation of Gods ordinances I grieve to declare how frequent this is men are grown so prophane that they will excommunicate themselves from the Congregation and save the Minister a labour and for those that doe come hither the greatest number of them stand but for ciphers for dum corpus in choro animus in foro while their bodies be in the Church their minds are in the Market-place Now seeing these sinnes are found among us may not the Lord say justly of us as he said of the Jewes Ierem 5.29 Ierem. 5.29 Shall I not visite for these things shall not my soule be avenged on such a Nation as this hee may say I will no longer suffer their iniquity to out-brave me but I will up and make them smoak I will root them from under heaven as I did the Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah Lastly in Ezra his practise wee may see a true forme of confession he confesses their great trespasse teaching us thereby that as wee must confesse all sinne in grosse so especially our maine and master sinne that Saul which is higher by the head then the rest of his brethren wee want not examples of this in Scripture David confesses his murder Paul his persecution and Daniel confesses the great sinne of his people A great many confesse their sinnes but they doe it as Nebuchadnezzar told his dreame he tells his wisemen that hee had a dreame but never tells them what it was So these men say they are sinners but they will not confesse their grosse transgressions Wilt thou deale otherwise with God Almighty then with thy Physitian when he comes to thee in thy sicknesse thou wilt conceale nothing from him but tell him how it is with thee in every particular and yet when thou commest to confesse thy sinnes to thy God thou concealest those capitall sinnes which have most offended him Well let my counsell be acceptable to thee get thee up to the beame of thine own conscience and judge thy selfe and in judging thy selfe doe not think it enough to censure thy selfe for thy lesser sinnes but especialiy judge thy selfe for thy great offences if thou doe not God will judge thee mince not then thy sins by labouring to extenuate them but confesse them ingenuously for the more severe thou art against thy selfe the more mercifull shalt thou finde God unto thee Sermon II. EZRA 9. the latter part of Verse 13. Seeing that thou our God hast punished us lesse then our iniquities deserve and hast given us such deliverance as this WEe come now to the second amplification of Gods mercy Ezra had said that God had dealt mercifully with them how proves hee the mercy of God hee proves it thus because that when hee punished them it was lesse then they deserved thou our God hast punished us lesse then our iniquities deserve Here is one word joyned with punishing which I would have you take notice of he saith thou our God hast punished us Herein he is a pattern to us when at any time wee come to confesse our sinnes before God Our God intimates a strong relation and affection certainly when hee saith thus be knew there was hope of Gods being reconciled to them againe giving us thereby to understand what is required of men in the confession of sinne a man must not only as David water his couch with his teares Psal 6.6 Matth. 26.75 Psal 6.6 nor with Peter goe out and weep bitterly Matth. 26.75 nor with the woman which was a sinner in the City wash Christs feet with our teares Luke 7.38 Luk. 7.38 nor secondly must hee only with a great deale of selfe shame confesse his sinne as did Ezra in this chapter and the poore Publican Luk. 18.13 Thirdly nor must hee only confesse his sinnes with anger Luke 18.13 Ioh 42.6 Hosea 14.8 as did Ioh 42. chapter 6. v. and Ephraim in Hosea 14 8. But lastly he must confesse them with faith and confidence that is so to aggravate his sinnes before God as not to let goe his hold in God Wee see the Church taking this course in Hosea 6.1 Come Hosea 6.1 let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heale us hee hath smitten and hee will bind us up Mark they had a confidence in Gods mercy though they knew their sinnes were foule and criminall So Daniel confesseth and aggravateth the sinnes of the people yet he lets not goe his hold but saith To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses though wee have rebelled against him Dan. 9.9 Dan. 9.9 The like we see in the Prodigall hee had gone into a farre Countrey and there wasted his substance with riotous living afterwards being pincht with want and comming to himselfe hee saith I will arise and goe to my Father and say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to bee called thy Sonne Luk. 15.13.17.18 Luk. 15.13.17.18 Though hee knew hee had grievously offended God yet hee will make use of that name Father and not let goe the staffe of his confidence and to say the truth God doth make known to us in his word that hee is our Father intimating thereby the duration of his affection a husband may cease to be a husband by reason of a lewd wife which is divorced from him and a master may cease to bee a master for want of a servant but a father can never cease to be a father though his child be never so wicked and contumacious because hee is full of bowels and compassion Therefore when a man comes to confesse his sinnes before God he must not confesse them with assurance to die as Achan did but
the objects of his bounty and not only so but he doth it likewise to vex and afflict Gods children for when God shall open their eyes hee knowes it will grieve their spirits for sleighting Gods mercy as they have done therefore it is that he steps in then when God hath been most gracious to men and puts them on to commit sinne that thereby hee might draw black lines over the legible characters of Gods mercy Let me perswade you Vse that as yee bee sensible of Gods mercies so to watch over your selves upon the receit of them that yee may be thankfull for them the Saints of God have been carelesse this way notwithstanding God hath bestowed abundant favours upon them they have been wanting in payment of that tribute of prayse which God expected and deserved at their hands when God looked for sweet they have brought forth wilde and soure grapes like as it was with the Heathen of old who comming to the Temples of their gods to give thanks for their health went home drunk and as the Devill doth labour then to step in when God hath done men most good so above all times labour at that time to be most thankfull and obedient that God may have his glory and you a sweet relish of his mercy shall wee break thy Commandements How shall wee understand this break his Commandements how could it be otherwise doth any man live and not sinne and yet shall they for this be exposed to Gods judgements who knowes not but as long as we live in this world and spin out the thread of our life that we cannot but break Gods Commandements were we as faithfull as ever Abraham was yet wee could not but wee must bee guilty sometimes of breaking Gods Commandements and doth not Saint Iames say in many things we sinne all and what saith the Apostle Iohn he that saith hee hath no sinne is a lyar and there is no truth in him As it is in the Fable which was told the mother of Achilles that if she dipped her Son into such a River so farre as the water wet him so farre hee should bee invulnerable therefore she drencht him over head and eares and wet every part of him save onely the tip of his heele by which shee held him and in that part hee received his deaths wound So let a man be never so much sanctified be hee as holy as ever any Saint was I will not except the Virgin Mary yet as long as he dwels here below he will be guilty of breaking Gods Commandements how then must wee understand what Ezra saith when he saith shall we againe break thy Commandements His meaning is that if after so great mercy as God had vouchsafed them they should fall into grosse sinnes then God should be just in punishing them for though a man cannot shun peccata quotidiana sins of infirmity yet hee may refraine from committing foule and scandalous sinnes Luk. 1.6 In Luk. 1.6 it is said of Zachary and Elizabeth That they were righteous before God walking in all the Commandements and Ordinances of the Lord blamelesse and it is possible for a man to live sine scandalo without scandall though not sine querela without being guilty of lesser iniquities or secondly he may be understood thus though they bee sinnes which be lesse yet if men shall wilfully commit them it shall bee just with God to punish them for the same if they be of industry and not of infirmity if they be lesse then the first and yet shall be runne into against knowledge and conscience they shall for these be exposed to Gods judgements as well as for greater sins From the words thus opened note thus much in way of application Vse 1 In the first place let us deplore the misrerable corruption of our nature since our fall there is now a necessity of sinning waking sleeping solitary in company at home and in Gods Temple were it so that a man were living yet if hee were alwayes sick we would say it were a poore life what is it then to be alwayes prone to sinne yet this is our unhappinesse while we are cloathed with flesh have wee not cause then to be weary of this sinfull life and ought we not with Saint Paul to sigh while wee are burthened with this body of clay desiring to bee cloathed upon with immortality that mortality might be swallowed of life Is there not just cause for us to say with the same Apostle in the sorrow of our soules Cupio dissolvi esse cum Christo I desire to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ Vse 2 Secondly because Ezra would have them avoid foule sinnes in the name of God let our care bee to abandon such Which bee they Swearing whoredome oppression murder drunkennesse Sabbath breaking these doe vastare conscientiam wast the conscience and endanger the soule more then other sinnes a ship may live at Sea that hath a leake sprung if the Mariners bestirre themselves in pumping but when it is shot thorow and thorow by wind and water it is hardly kept from sinking So a man that sins of infirmity if he repent he shall obtaine pardon but the soule that sinnes wilfully is scarse kept from sinking Lastly hee would have them avoid smaller sinnes and so ought wee for a little sinne committed with purpose is greater in Gods account then a great sinne committed against a mans will as therefore a man should avoid great sinnes so also all lesser impieties the heart of man should bee against all sinne and he should have respect to all Gods Commandements that if hee chance to fall it may not bee presumptuously but by infirmity and then hee may expect mercy from God who knowes whereof wee are made and remembers that wee are but dust Shall we joyne in affinity with the people of these abominations It is an Hebraisme the Spirit of God cals them people of such abominations in stead of abominable people it is more to be called people of such abominations then abominable people thus when Antichrist is called the man of sinne it is more then if he were called a sinfull man Here I could observe how hatefull the Heathen and all their doings be unto God as also how odious all grosse sinners are in his pure eyes hee loathes and abhorres them in the Scripture yee shall finde if the godly be compared to gold they are termed drosse if the godly be compared to wheat the wicked to chaffe Nay the ungodly man is resembled to the dirt in the street which you know is filthy and noisome Again if the godly be termed sheep the wicked are called goates nay in our Text they be abominable As it was said of Naaman hee was an honourable man and a brave souldier but a leaper So wee may say of the wicked man be he never so rich and honourable if he be a grosse sinner hee is hatefull to God yea I will be bold to say hee
shall bee seconded by fearefull judgements The second observation arising from that clause wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us is this There be degrees of Gods wrath it rises by little and little till it consume Levit. 26. This is proved in Levit. 26. there we finde that as mens sins encrease so Gods plagues shall encrease and if they persist to sin hee will plague them seven times more and seven times more So in Psal 78.38 He that is the Lord Psal 78.38 being full of compassion forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not yea many a time turned he his anger away and did not stirre up all his wrath So in Psal 2.12 if his wrath be kindled but a little Psal 2.12 blessed are all they that put their trust in him If therefore the Lords wrath bee turned to fire all the World will be consumed So in Revel 6.17 The great day of his wrath is come and who can stand Revel 6.17 The Prophet David makes it an imprecation against his enemies That God would render seven times into their bosomes their reproach Psal 9.12 Psal 79.12 as if he had said O Lord I know thou dost punish them now but I am sure thou canst punish them much more It was so with Eli one brings him word that Israel was discomfited another that his Sons were slain a third that the Arke of God was taken the hearing whereof caused him to fall backwards and it is a question whether his neck or his heart brake first So it was with Iob one brings him word that his cattell were taken away by the Sabeans another that his sheep and servants were burnt with fire from heaven a third that his sonnes and daughters were slaine with the fall of a house which was the most wofull newes of all Thus the wrath of God rise higher and higher Could Rehoboam make his little singer as heavie as his Fathers loynes and could Nebuchadnezzar make his Oven seven times hotter then it was before and shall not God encrease his wrath Yes hee can at pleasure Vse 1 It meets with a great number who if they have been freed from an ague of which they had foure or five fits they presently say with Agag the bitternesse is past and they shall no more have it What thinkest thou is not God able to visite thee againe or thinkest thou that thou deservest no more at Gods hand Gods manner is first to shake the 10d at his child if that will not deterre him then he gives him two or three stripes if that will not work him to obedience then he layes on more and no wonder if new judgements succeed new sinnes and if great sinnes be inherited by great judgements Vse 2 In the second place whensoever Gods hand is upon us let us know that hee could lay much more upon us if hee would and though his hand lie heavie on us yet there is something beyond that and that is to give us up to our own lusts and that is as bad or worse then to be given up to the Devill when God gave David up to adultery and murther it was much worse then that the sword should never depart from his house spirituall judgements doe farre exceed corporall and temporall Why the one drives men to the other drives men from God Againe there be some judgements beyond these and they be troublers of soule saith Solomon A wounded spirit who can beare these bee so great that none can expresse them but those who have felt them those lashes of soule are insupportable and yet there is that which is beyond all this if men repent not and that is hell Tophet is prepared of old yea for the King it is ordained hee hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a streame of brimstone doth kindle it Isa 30.33 Isa 30.33 all the strappadoes in the world are but flea-bitings to this Nebuchadnezzars banishment was but for seven yeares but the paines of hell be eternall when a man hath been punished there tenne thousand millions of yeares he is never the nearer comming out of that Pit for he must goe them over again and again world without end The miseries of this present life be compared to waters which ebbe and flow but hell is called stagnum a standing peole saith Iohn Rev. 20.15 Revel 20.15 Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire There is nothing in that place but sorrow and that for ever So that God can plague thee corporally spiritually and eternally Hath he begun to fleece thee hee could flea thee hath he begun to bond thee hee could break thee doth hee punish thee in thy body hee could plague thee in thy soule nay hee could send thee to Hell and that is the dregs of the Viall Therefore stand in awe and sinne not Hath hee begun to plague thee Repent if thou dost not hee can plague thee ten times more and ten times more And it is fearefull to fall into the hands of the living God Sermon IV. Ezra 9. the last Verse O Lord God of Israel thou art righteous for we remaine yet escaped as it is this day Behold wee are before thee in our trespasses for wee cannot stand before thee because of this IN this verse Ezra pleads guilty to the inditement acknowledging God to bee just though hee should renew his judgements afresh upon them There bee two things in it First his justifying God in these words O Lord God of Israel thou art righteous Secondly the reason which hee gives for it first on Gods part he had used all possible meanes to bring them to Reformation Wee remaine yet escaped as at this day secondly on their part they were still in their trespasses And therefore they were the fresh fuell of Gods indignation Before we come to these particulars give me leave to speak a word or two of the stile hee gives God he calls him Lord God of Israel The title Lord signifies his greatnesse the God of Israel his goodnesse A fit Preface for a prayer for the word Lord it is a terme well befitting God in the holy Scripture he is said to be strong in power and wonderfull in working Nay so powerfull he is that nothing whatsoever is impossible to him The Scripture demonstrates further That he doth what he pleaseth in heaven and in earth in the seas and all deep places Psal 135.6 And what hee will doe Psa 135.6 all the world cannot hinder Secondly the holy Scripture sets out Gods power by this that whatsoever hee doth hee doth without difficulty hee knowes how to sit still and work and to work and sit still Yea so farre is his power extended that his will is his power as appeares in the creation he said the word and all things were created and though some Atheisticall spirits have asked
of the Devills snare therefore learne by mee be perswaded by mee to leave such and such courses give not your self up to the service of sinne for I tell you out of experience sinne was never so sweet in the temptation and commission as it will prove bitter in the conclusion now that man that hath thus trembled at Gods Word it is good to hear him for none more fit to advise thee then such a one But I goe another way and think that by those who trembled at Gods Word is meant such as had not been ingaged in that common abomination of marrying strange wives and if so I cannot but note thus much When the times are most wicked God reserves some to himselfe This wee see in the old World when God brought the Deluge to destroy it hee reserved a Noah to himselfe who was a holy man so when Sodom was destroyed God had his Lot and to him he shewed mercy and though Israel was very rebellious in the Wildernesse yet God had a Caleb and Joshuah whose hearts were upright and God himself tells Elijah when he knew of none that served God besides himself that hee had reserved Seven thousand to himselfe in Israel which had not bowed their knee to Baal and though all men for the most part bowed to Nebuchadnezzars Image yet the Three Children chose to die rather then they would fall downe to that Idoll and in Ezek. 9.4 though the generality of men was wicked yet some were found Ezek. 9.4 Who mourned for the abominations of the Land and in the time while our Saviour converst with men though the times were depraved yet God had his number as Hannah Simeon Mary Magdalene c. And for Rome that cage of uncleane Birds I perswade my self that in that heape of Chaffe God hath some good Corne. Saint Paul salutes the Saints that were in Neroes house we all know what Nero was he was the monster of Mankinde for his wickednesse yet in his Court God hath his followers God hath his in all times in these times wherein wee live though they be very wicked yet God hath some that belong to him though there be a great number that make no conscience of an Oath yet there be many that feare to swear though some be excessive yet there be others that detest that sinne though there be many covetous persons yet there be others who be mercifully minded and distribute to the necessities of the Saints and though very many be profane yet God be thanked there be those that will not run with them to the same excesse of ryot Vse 1 It is to take away the common excuse of the men in the world who thinke they may take a liberty to sin because they see most men follow that fashion it was not so with these in our text for they abstain'd from those abominations in which most among them were ingaged S. Peters exhortation to the Jews Acts 2.40 Acts. 2.40 is Save yourselves from this untoward generation and S. Paul saith Redeeme the time because the dayes ara evill Ephes 5.16 Shall we say Ephes 5.16 that because the disease is epidemicall therefore we may run our selves into the infection we will not reason thus in regard of our bodies and dare any man be so desperate as to reason thus in regard of fin which is the bane of the soule Besides it is not the place that makes thee bad but it is thy wicked heart that is a cage full of uncleane birds from thence proceeds all villany and if thou have an ill heart thou wilt be wicked in the most holy place it is said of some Isa 26.10 Isay 26.10 that in the land of uprightnesse they did unjustly Thus the Angels fell in heaven our first parents in paradise and Judas in Christs colledge Vse 2 Secondly let us labour to keep our selves from the corruptions of the times when all others doe that which is evill doe it not then and that thou maist doe so remember these things First David makes it a blessed thing not to walk in the way of sinners Psal 1.1 Psalme 1.1 And certainely there is no greater ground of comfort either in life or death Secondly the purity of a mans Religion stands in this to keep himselfe unspotted of the World James 1.27 Thirdly Jâ—mâ—s 1.27 remember for what end Christ dyed hee gave himselfe for our sinnes That hee might deliver us from this present evill world Gal. 1.4 Gal. 1.4 O blessed Saviour was this the end for which thou didst shed thy precious bloud and shall they for whom it was shed set no more by it a conscionable man will say Did my Blessed Lord redeeme mee to bee holy and shall I take licence to sinne against him no I will not for if I doe in so doing I sinne against the end of my Redemption Fourthly I would have a man to consider what a glory it is to God when hee is good amidst a froward generation to bee as the fish which retaines its freshnesse in the salt Sea and to come into the High Priests Hall and neither to bee burnt by the fire nor blackt by the smoak this makes much for the glory of God Fiftly marke what a confusion it is to Satan when a man goes on in a good way where most men goe wrong the Devill was more confounded in one Job than in all the men of the East besides Lastly if wee sort our selves with the sinners of the time wee hinder the conversion of the World whereas when a man shall shunne such a wicked mans company hee will begin to say with himselfe Surely such a man sees something amisse in mee which makes him refraine my societie and by this meanes hee may bee reclaimed Therefore sort not your selves with these Korah's but depart from their Tents A second thing I note from that clause is this may some man say what was the cause that these men abstain'd from such abominations as others committed I answer their trembling at Gods word was the ground of it from whence I note this short observation The feare of God is the restraint of all sinne Doctr. This is proved sufficiently 〈◊〉 16.6 Proverbs 16.6 By the feare of God men depart from evill Mark it in some instances What was the reason that Joseph refused to fulfill his Mistresse her unchaste request but because the feare of God swayed him And it is faid of Job that hee feared God and eschewed evill Marke the feare of God made him eschew evill This was that which kept David from killing Saul when hee had him in his power and to this hee exhorts others Psalme 4.4 where hee saith Psal 4.4 Stand in awe and sinne not And this so swayed in the three Children that they durst not bow down to Nebuch adnezzars Image the feare of God wrought in them to make them obey God rather than man Would any man know the reason why