Idolatry and Idols of high places Images and groves yet now he goes on to a more thorough reformation and put away the remainder of abominable Idols â—ut of all the Land of Iudah and Bâ—â—jamin and out of the Cities which he had taken from 〈◊〉 Ephraim and renâ—wed the Altar of the Lord for ever where Idols goe up Gods Altars goe downe therefore he pulleth downe the one and setteth up the other And not this alone but he offered â—nto the Lords great sacrifes and both himselfe and his people 〈◊〉 into a Covenant to seeke the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soule that whosoever would not seeke the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great whether man or woman and they firme unto the Lord with a loud voyce and with shouting and with trumpets and with Cornâ—ts And all this immediately upon the deliverance and victory which he had obtained for in vers. 11. it is said expressely that they offered unto the Lord the same time or in that very day of the spoilâ— which they had brought 700. Oxan and 1000. Shâ—â—pâ— meaning of those which they had carryed away from the Ethiopians that came out to battaile against them So that now you see another solemne 〈◊〉 entred into not by Asa alone but by all the people of God â—â— Covenant solemnized in publique by Sacrifiâ—â— by Oâ—th and under the highest penaltie of death it selfe to all that should not observe it In pursuit of which Covenant see what he presently did He spared not his owne Mother that regarded it not For when he perceived that notwithstanding thiâ— Covenant the Queene his Mother 〈◊〉 would needs retaine her puppet Gods still and amongst the rest one abominable Idol in a grove so obscone as it is not fit to be named 〈◊〉 a obseâ—â—â—th that it was Priâ—pâ—â— and conjectureth thencâ— that shâ— was not only a grosse Idolatrosse but an abominable stumpâ—â— b for ordinarily Idolatry and adultery spirituall and bodily fornication goe together c It is said that â—â— removed her from being 〈◊〉 because she had made â—â— Idol 〈◊〉 grove and Asa cut down her Idol and stampâ— iâ— and 〈◊〉 is at the brooke 〈◊〉 vers. 16. Which passâ—gâ— iâ—â—â— prest with an emphasis iâ— 1 King 15. 11. Als◠〈◊〉 his Mother eveâ— Her â—â— removed from being 〈◊〉 Although a Queene although a Mother * yet ever her he deposed from her dignitie This he did and this he must doe not only by reason of that voluntary Covenant into which he had entred but by vertue of the speciall Command of God himselfe in what ever relation she had stood unto him Yea in Deut. 13. 6. the Law was more strict for though she had been neerer than a Mother even the wife of his bâ—some yet if she were an Idolater and should entise him secretly saying Let us goe and serve other Gods she must have been put to death and his own hand must have been first upon her vers. 9. You now see the point proved in the generall that thus it is with Gods people upon any notable deliverance * they enter anew into solemne and strict Covenant with God 2. But more especially ought this to be the care of the Church when God gives her deliverance out of Babylon out of that servitude and bondage which of all other was most heavy and lay longest on her See this in some instances both on Gods part ayming at this in giving deliverance and on his peoples part performing this after deliverance from Babylon On Gods part first This was foreshewed under the similitude of the basket of good figs Jer. 24. 5. There it is said by the Lord the God of Israel Like these good figs so will I acknowledge them that are carryed away Captive of Iudah whom I have sent out of this place into the Land of the Chaldeans for their good for I will set mine eyes upon them for good and I will bring them againe to this Land c. And in the seventh verse it followeth I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and I will be their God for they shall returne unto me with their whole heart He will give them an heart to know him to returne and become his people which cannot be without a Covenant Againe That this is that which Gods heart is exceedingly set upon and full of namely that he never meant to bring his people backe from Babylon but upon this very condition albeit it was a great while ere it was done and therefore they thrived accordingly as we shall shew anon will yet further appeare by many other passages of the Prophecy of Ieremy to passe by sundry other Prophecies uttered by Isaiah Micah and others In Ier. 30. 18. we shall finde a Prophecy that this should be done and I shall shew by and by that it was afterwards performed Behold saith the Lord I will bring againe the captivitie of Iacobs tents and have mercy on his dwelling places c. and in vers 21. I will cause him to draw neere and he shall approach unto me and then as one assured of it and admiring at it he presently adds for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me saith the Lord That is both Governour and people all of them should binde and engage themselves not their outward man alone but even their very heart and soule also by solemne Covenant to be the Lords That this was the meaning is cleare by the next verse Ye shall be my people and I will be your God For it was such an engaging of their hearts aâ— that out should say I am the Lords and another shall call himselfe by the name of Iacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and sirname himselfe by the name of Israel Isa. 44. 5. So againe in Ier. 31. the Lord having first promised to bring back the captivitie he subjoynes Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Iudah nor according to the Covenant which I made with their fathers in the day that I tooke him out of the Land of Egypt which my Covenant they brake although I was an husband unto them saith the Lord But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those dayes faith the Lord I will put my Law in their inwâ—rd parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people Here is a Covenant God begins the 〈◊〉 but his people follow They imbrace the Covenant and joyne themselves by mutuall Covenant to him He puts his Law into their hearts for this very purpose Once more In Ier. â—2 â—7 there is a promise that God would gather his people out of all countries whither ther he
such a preservation deserve lesse at Your hands than to give Your selves to your Great Deliverer for so Great a Deliverance whereby three Nations destinated at once to Death received no lesse than a joyfull resurrection from the Dead and were again born at once Therefore let not this Great mercy seeme small in Your eyes And remember too that you may have as much need of God another time nay you knew not what need you may have of him this present Parliament You cannot be ignorant of the many 〈◊〉 and more than whisperings of some desperate and devilish conception suspected to be now in the womb of the Jesuiticall faction And how neere it may be to the birth or how prodigious it may prove being born I take not upon me to divine but this we are an sure of that what ever it be which they are big withall it shall not want the least graine of the utmost extremitie of malice and mischiefe that all the wit power and industry of Hell it self can contribute unto it and that they labour as a woman in travaile to be speedily delivered of it What dangers and what cause of feare there may be at the present I leave to your Wisdome to consider But this be confident of if Deliverances already received can prevaile with you for a Covenant that Covenant will be your securitie for it will certainly engage all the power and wisdome of the Great and only wise God of heaven and earth to be on your side for ever So that if God himself have power enough wisdome enough and care enough you cannot miscarry no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper no plot no gates of hell shall prevaile against you And if he have goodnesse enough mercy enough bowels enow in him he will then also raine down aboundance of trueth righteousnesse justice peace and plentie upon all Corners of the Land from whence and on whose errand You are now come together Therefore it becomes you above all others to be first in a Covenant 2. Consider that till we do this there cannot be such a full enjoying of God as otherwise there might be Indeed the perfect fruition of God is not to be expected till we come to heaven but yet we might have much more of God even in this life than now we have could we be perswaded to such a Covenant with him Whatsoever experience we have of him now in any deliverance bestowed it would be doubled if upon the deliverance received we would thus be joyned to him Nor is this a notion or conceit only but a reall trueth For marke what He saith to his people Hos. 2. vers. 19 20. I will marry thee unto me for ever I will betroath thee unto me in righteousnesse and in Iudgement and in loving kindnesse and in mercies I will even marry thee unto me in faithfulnesse and thou shalt know the Lord He that enters into Covenant with God is betroathed yea even married to him And how married even to the partaking of all his goods of all he hath yea of himself and of all that he is As the wife may say Vbitu Caius ego Caiâ— and as Laban sometimes of Iacobs wives children and cattell These daughters are my daughters and these children are my children and these cattell are my cattell and all that thou seest are mine So a man once married to the Lord by Covenant may without arrogancy say this righteousnesse is my righteousnesse this judgement is my judgement this loving kindnesse these mercies this faithfulnesse which I see in thee and all that thou hast is mine for my comfort supply support direction salvation and what not And take notice of that phrase Thou shalt know the Lord Did they not know him before Yes but never in such a manner with such a Knowledge at least in such a measure They shall now know him in such neere familiar sweet and ineffable expressions of his deerest deepest choycest conjugal love as they never tasted nor could taste of before We know how it is with a wife married to a loving husband They loved one another before marriage and many expressions of a speciall love passed betweene them but they never enjoyed one another fully till the marriage was solemnized Then there is not only a more intimate manifestation of fervent intire loyall chaste love but a further enlarging and stretching out of mutuall affections to each other than they could possibly have beleeved they should ever have reached unto till now experience assure them of it And even thus it is between us and God Is he Good in deliverances have we tasted of his love already Oh how great would his goodnesse be how full of grace mercy bountie and how would he communicate even whole rivers of all these to that Soule that would once come up to him and close with him in an everlasting Covenant All the wayes of the Lord are mercy and trueth unto such as make and keep Covenant with him Psal. 25. 10. 3. Consider that what ever worke God calls You to Yee will never buckle thoroughly to it till you have entred into Covenant with him An apprentise boy when he goes to a Master upon tryall onely his minde is now on then off againe sometimes he could like the trade by and by his minde hangs after his Mother at home or after some other course of life and he never sets close to his businesse till he be bound When once the Indentures be sealed and he enrolled he knowes there is now no more time to deliberate but he must fall to his busines or else take what happens for his idlenesse and negligence So is it with a wife if she be but onely promised or betroathed to a man she may come to his house and cast an eye up and downe but it is rather to observe than to act she may perhaps cast out a word now and then somewhat freely â—lso but she never sets her selfe to guide the house or to doe any thing to purpose till she be married then she careth for the things of the world that is with all possible diligence looking to and managing of the businesse of the family committed to her how she may please her husband all her thoughts care diligence run this way she makes it her businesse that she must stick unto and daily manage as a part of the marriage Covenant And thus also it will be with you You have much worke under your hands and are likely to have more and I hope you desire to doe all in truth of heart for God and not for ends of your owne but let me tell you this will never be done throughly till once you be martyed to him by solemne Covenant Then will you care indeed for the things of the Lord how you may please the Lord in every cause in every Answer to any Petition and in every Vote of any Bill
or sentence You would then think when you come to manage debate vote any Question I am the Lords not mine owne not my friends will this I doe stand with my Covenant will it please God will it be profitable for the State is it agreeable to Justice and equitie Then on with it no man shall divert or take me off But till then one will entreate for his friend another for his one will make you one way another would draw you another way and they are both your friends and you knowe not how to deny either and thus are you even torne in peeces betweene them in so much as you sometimes resolve to be absent or to siâ— still and say nothing or to gratifie him that hath most power with You be the Cause what it will But when once the Covenant is sealed all this will be at an end You will quickly stop your eares against all perswasions that may hinder Justice and Reformation and when this is known men will soone forbeare also to trouble You with such solicitations Againe fourthly Wicked men stick not at a Covenant with death and hell it self so they may but satisfie their Lusts though they know the end thereof will be damnation Oh then shall not we much more make a Covenant with our God to do his will which will be beneficiall and comfortable both here and hereafter and procure a full torrent of his mercies bountie grace and eternall life to flow in upon us 5. Consider that the Devill himself will have a Covenant from all his vassals that expect any extraordinary matters from him else he will not be engaged to be at their Command There is not a Witch that hath the Devill at her beck but she must seale a Covenant to him sometimes with her bloud sometimes by other rites and devices and perhaps he must suck her too as in those hellish bargaines you know they use and then he is for her during the time agreed upon And shall we think God will be so cheap as to be with revenence be it spoken at our Command to help direct assist deliver and save us who will not do so much for him as Witches and Sorcerers will do for the Devill In the 45 of Isay vers. 11. there is a stâ—â—ng expression this way Thus saith the Lord the Holy one of Israel and his Maker aske of mee things to come concerning my sonnes and concerning the work of my hands Command ye mee It is not to be thought that God complementeth with his people but is free and heartie in the expression of what they shall really find him But make it concernes his Sonnes that is those that are truely in Covenant with him This priviledge is for none else So that the way to have God at Command with humilitie be it used is to be his sonnes and daughters by Covenant For to whom it is said I will be their God and they shall be my people to them is it spoken I will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord Almightie 2 Cor. 6. 18. And to them he saith also Command ye me 6. Consider that it is the proper and chiefe businesse of a Fast to enter into Covenant with God You see it to be the practise of the Church in Nehemiah's time And where this hath been omitted the Fast hath been lost God never accounted any of those foure annuall solemne Fasts before mentioned that were so long in use among the Jews to be fasts unto him but calles them fasts to themselves Zach. 7. 5 6. Why but because they looked no further in their Fasts but to afflict their soules for a day to bow down their heads as a bullrush and to spread sack-cloth and ashes under them and there an end But they lost all their labour getting nothing from God but a chiding and contempt And in trueth when will we thus joyne our selves to the Lord if not at a Fast Then are our hearts in more than ordinary tune for such a work when we are brought to set our sinnes before us and humbly to confesse bewaile and renounce them when we have taken some paines with our Soules to soften and melt them before the Lord especially if then they be in any measure raised up towards Him with any apprehension of his love in the pardon of so many and great sinnes even when the Soule is most cast down for them Then I say strike through the Covenant or it will never be If you let slip this opportunitie you may perhaps never obtaine the like while you live but either your selves may be cut off or your hearts shut up in desperate hardnesse like unto Pharoah whom every deliverance and new experience of Gods favour in taking off new evils hardened more and made worse 7. In the last place and let it not have the least force of perswasion remember and consider that this day even this very day the 17. of November 82. yeeres sithence began a new resurrection of this Kingdome from the dead our second happy Reformation of Religion by the auspitious entrance of our late Royal Deborah worthy of eternall remembrance and honour into her blessed and glorious Reigne and that from thenceforth Religion thrived and prospered under her Government with admirable successe against a whole world of oppositions from Popish factors at home and abroad So as the very Gates of hell were never able to extinguish that Light which God by her meanes hath set up amongst us Consider I beseech you that it is not without a speciall Providence that this your meeting was cast upon this very day for I presume little did you think of the 17 of November when you first fixed on this day for your Fast that even from thence one hammer might be borrowed to drive home this nayle of Exhortation that the very memory of so blessed a work begun on this very day might throughly inflame you with desire to enter into a Covenant and so to go forward to perfect that happy Reformation which yet in many parts lyes unpolished and unperfect Oh suffer not that doore of hope by Her set open this day to be again shut for want of a Covenant If you would indeed honour Her precious memory yea honour God and your selves and not only continue the possession of what she as a most glorious Conduit pipe hath transmitted to us but perfect the work set upon this duty of joyning your selves to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant that shall not be forgotten And so have you the Motives 2. I shall now shut up all with some few Directions to help us in it And here passing by what hath been al ready spoken touching the preparatives to it the Substance of it and the properties required in it I shall only give you these sixe subsequent Directions 1. Give a Bill of divorce to
he hath upon for the accomplishment of it that was the resolution care of these people must be ours this is to aske the way to Zion with our faces thitherward And without this no entring into Covenant with God This is for substance no other though otherwise expressed than that of the people in Asa his time when they sware the Covenant before mentioned 2 Chron. 15. where it is said they did it with all their heart and with all their soule and exprest it by the loudnesse of their voyces and with shoutings c rejoycing at the Oath because they had sworne with all their hearts and sought him with their whole desire vers. 15. Men that will stand disputing consulting with flesh and bloud and casting about how the entring into such a Covenant may consist with their profits honours lusts designes relations c. are no fit Covenanters for God His people shall be willing Psal. 110. 3. their heart minde spirit body countenance all shall professe and proclaime this to the whole world that they are for God for a Covenant for putting themselves into the strongest bonds that can possibly be thought on to bind them hand and foot soule and body to the Lord for ever 2. Nor is this all For the men in my Text content not themselves to be thus earnestly addicted to the worke in their own particulars but as one stick kindles another they desire to kindle the same flame of affection in others also and mutually to blow up the coales in one another saying Come This notes the fervency of their Charitie towards others also For 't is not here brought in as a formalitie or complement but as the evidence of a strong desire to draw as many others as they can to the same journey and if it be possible to keep the same pace with them as being most unwilling to leave any behind them This indeed is true Love unfained Charitie to draw all we can along with us unto God True Converts when once they returne themselves they cause others tâ—â—eturns also And this was often prophecyed as a thing which should certainly be Witnesse all those places in Isay 2. Mic. 4. and Zach. 8. before quoted So then all these things are requisite and previous to the Act of Covenanting with God There must be a seeking to God with true humiliation a seeking of him with all intention of spirit and with all manifestations of a resolution not to be terrified from daunted at or ashamed of the worke yea with fervent Charitie to draw others into the same Covenant also Thus much for the disposition previous to the Covenant 2. The next thing considerable in the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is the Substance of the Covenant it self Let us joyne our selves to the Lord in a Covenant Two things here must be opened the matter and the forme of this solemne action 1. The matter of this Act is set forth under this expression Let us joyne our selves to the Lord The original word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} from {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is very emphatical so as that word being explained will sufficiently set out before you the nature of the Covenant here intended Some Translators render it Let us glue our selves unto the Lord which imports a conjunction so neere as nothing can come between and so firme as nothing can dissolve But more particularly the verb here used is in Scripture applyed to a double sense or to denote two things both of which being set together will fully discover what it is to be joyned to the Lord in Covenant First it signifyeth the binding of a mans self to the Usurer of whom he hath borrowed money to pay backe both principall and interest So it is used in Nehem. 5. 4. where the people complaine We have borrowed money for the Kings tribute and that upon our Lands and Vineyards That is they had engaged both Lands and Vineyards for securitie of the money borrowed that the Usurer should enter upon all in case they failed of payment at the day So that as men to make sure will have a Statute Staple or recognisance in the nature of a Statute Staple acknowledged whereby a mans person goods lands and all are bound for the securitie of the Creditor that he shall have both principall and interest at the day agreed upon and here that of Solomon proves too true The borrower is servant to the lender for he hath nothing left to his own dispose if he would sell any Land settle any joyncture there is a Statute upon it he can dispose of nothing till that be taken off so it is in the case of any man joyning himself to the Lord by Covenant he must even bind himself to God as firmely as fully as the poore borrower who for his necessitie takes up money binds himself to the Usurer If Godlend him any mercy any blessing he binds himself to restore not only the principall the blessing it self when God shall call for it but even the interest too I meane all possible homage service and honour which becomes those who have received so great a benefit This is more than implyed in that parable of our Saviour touching the talents dispensed Matth. 25. 27. for even to him who had received but one talent was it said Thou oughtest to have put my money to the Exchangers that at my coming I might have received mine own with usury God will have his returne some interest for every mercy and expects a Statute Staple that is a Covenant for his better securitie God will have him bound soul body estate life and all so as all he is and hath shall be forfeited if he do not keep touch and make payment according to agreement and Covenant made between them This is the first use of the word nilvn Secondly there is yet more in it For though it be true that the obligation of a borrower to the usurer be as strong as bonds and Statutes can make it yet there is not such an entire neere firme and lasting tye of the borrower to the Lender nor such a thorough interest in the whole estate of the Usurer as there is of him that is in Covenant with God The Usurer though he bind the poor borrower fast to him yet he keeps him at distance not giving him interest in or use of any other part of his estate but only of the summe borrowed But now this joyning of our selves to the Lord is such as is made by marriage and gives interest in all that the Lord is and hath and admits us to the participation of all the most intimate neerest choysest expressions of the deerest Love of God which is or can be found between the husband and the wife who are joyned together by the bond of marriage and made one flesh So the word is used Gen. 29. 34 where Leah being