say Tush this is no matter of feare unto us we have no Prophets in these dayes to foretell judgements or whose threatnings we need to regard I answer Though the gift of prophecie properly so called be ordinarily 〈…〉 Church neither doe the true Ministers of the Gospell now take upon them to foretell wherewith when and how the Lord will punish the sinnes of a people yet assuredly the providence of God is wonderfull to direct them in their ministerie what texts of Scripture to handle what Doctrines to raise what promises or threatnings comforts or reproofes to use If therefore thou art placed under the ministerie or hearest such an one as thy soule and conscience doth witnesse he is the true Minister of Christ know that the spirit of God doth wonderfully guide and direct his studie and meditation his Sermons and preaching and therefore if he be much in the promises of the Gospell reioyce if in reproofe of sinne be sorrie if in the threatning of judgements feare he speaketh not rashly and at randome the fictions of his owne braine or publish the suggestions of an evill spirit but undoubtedly he delivereth what he hath received from the Lord it is the good Spirit of God directeth his heart tongue and pen to thinke write and speake what he knoweth most needfull for his people and therefore receive it with reverence as from God and submit your selves to such as watch over your soules and must give account unto God for you And verily herein lieth no small part of our feare that as God hath many waies testified his anger so hath he stirred up his faithfull servants both here and elsewhere by word and writing 〈…〉 and presse zealously to reprove the great and monstrous sinnes of this age and as sonnes of thunder to cause every corner of the Land to ring with the threatning and denunciation of some judgement or other and to call and cry for repentance whereby the same may be prevented which cannot be without God who undoubtedly without repentance will in his good time make good their word when mens hearts shall breake within them to remember they were told so before And so much for the maine reasons why sometimes God will not be intreated to the contrary but will punish a people viz. The declaration of his justice and truth that he may be feared and beleeved when by his servants he doth threaten It now followeth according to my proposed method to declare what sinnes they are which then did now doe and for ever will so provoke God and exasperate him that he will not spare and namely what were the sinnes which brought this miserable and inevitable captivity upon this people and which threaten the like judgement wheresoever found And therein two things are to be considered viz. The sinnes for their kindes and the measure or proportion of them What their sinnes were will appeare from the Prophets sent unto them to reprove them and threaten their captivity which were our Prophet Ezechiel Nahum Zephany Habacuck and Ioel Wherefore from their Prophesies only and specially of those two great and worthy Prophets I will gather light to this purpose and from them prove what I shall deliver And that I and you may the more orderly proceed and better remember them I will range them in certaine rankes As first the sinnes of the Priests and then of the people the sinnes of the Priests either in regard of their Ministery or conversation the sins of the people were either the greater as against the first Table or lesser as against the second Table The laying open of these things will both declare the justice of God who would not be entreated to spare so sinfull a people and also admonish all people to beware of such sinnes for feare of a like judgement And first note that judgement beginneth at Gods Sanctuary And no marvell for there beganne the corruption of all sorts of men The Prophets did most reprove and cry out against the Priests who in their Ministery first were blinde and ignorant It is true they were wonderfully conceited of their learning and knowledge and like enough they had a great measure at least some of them of worldly wisdome and humane learning but they rejected the word of the Lord and then what wisdome was in them Whereby it appeareth that howsoever the Priests lips should preserve the knowledge of God and God made his Prophets Seers and Watchmen to preserve the people from judgements to come by declaring their sinnes and directing them in the waies of God yet before the captivity they generally rejected the word of God and were simple without any power to tell the people of their sinnes or give direction what course to take whereby to prevent ensuing judgements Secondly they dealt falsely in their Ministery which the Lord complaineth of saying If they had stood in my counsell and declared my words to my people then should they have turned them from their evill waies And the Prophet bewaileth this fault Thy Prophets have not discovered thine iniquity to turne away thy captivitie but gave themselves to serve the time and please men flattering and saying peace peace building and dawbing with untempered morter They told the people all was well and that they should see neither sword nor famine nor any evill And if any one dealt more faithfully with the people shewing their sinnes and labouring to touch their consciences and to humble them that so they might prevent the judgement as Ieremy Ezechiel and some others did those wicked Priests and Prophets were angry and assured the people they did but terrifie and discourage them without cause all was well Yea that false Prophet Hananiah tooke away the yoke which by Gods command Ieremy did weare whereby to signifie their captivity and brake it prophesied falsely Thus within two yeeres will God breake the yoke of Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babylon yea Pashur could not hold his hand but smote Ieremy and put him in the stocks And as they were corrupt in their Ministery and enemies to such as were faithfull so were they most prophane in their lives and conversations being carnall and earthly minded From the least to the greatest every one was given to covetousnesse and from the Prophet to the Priest every one did deale falsely And againe Both Prophet and Priest are prophane yea in mine house have I found their wickednesse saith the Lord Whereas God told Baruch that which I have built I will breake downe and that which I have planted I will plucke up even this whole Land and seekest thou great things for thy selfe seeke them not Ier. 45. 4. As this was the great corruption of the Priests and false Prophets so the people did exceedingly further it and increase it in them For first they approved and liked well of flattery so the Lord himselfe said
desolation a day of darknesse and gloominesse a day of the trumpet and alarum against the defenced Cities and high towers bloud shall bee powred out as dust and flesh at dung neither shall silver nor gold bee able to deliver them in the day of the Lords wrath but the whole land shall bee devoured by the fire of his iealousie for hee shall make a cleane riddance of all them that dwell in the land I say after the Prophet had thus spent and concluded the first chapter in denunciation of severe judgements in that fearefull manner as might make the knees knocke and haire stand upright marke how he beginneth the second chapter with heavenly and good counsell Gather your selves together yea gather together ô nation not desired before the decree bring forth before the day passe as the chaffe before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you before the day of the Lords anger come upon you seeke yee the Lord all the meeke of the earth which have wrought his iudgement seeke righteousnesse seeke meeknesse it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger Where note that when Gods judgements are threatned men and women must not sit downe carelesly with hand over head Let God doe his will I shall escape aswell as others it concerneth mee the least of many thousands But God would have men to be exceedingly affected at the testimonies of Gods anger and to tremble at his judgements a Doctrine which hath beene raised and largely handled from this Scripture already Secondly note that hee would not have the faithfull content themselves to mourne and pray in secret but to gather together so farre as their callings and gifts will serve to draw on others to the practise of pietie and godlinesse Thirdly note who they are that God specially looketh should seeke him as being his favourites and such as are best able to resist him even such as are meeke on earth i. Such as are meeke to stoope to the instructions of the Word such as are meeke patiently to beare the corrections of his rod and such as are meeke to put up wrongs and injuries still crying to God for the good of his people even when they offer them greatest injuries Such a meeke man was Moses most earnest for the peoples good when they were readiest to stone him Moreover they must be such as have wrought his judgements i. Such as have kept themselves unspotted and specially from Idolatrie such as have still cleaved unto God his Word Law and Commandements doing such things as hee hath judged to be just and right still walking with God as Enoch did these are the men who in all ages have only beene in favour with God and most powerfull with their prayers wherefore Pharaoh intreated Moses and Aaron to pray for him and the people in their distresse runne to Samuel and pray him not to cease to one to God for them And verily how 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wicked world esteeme of them all the hope and helpe of a people that can come from man remaineth in these and their prayers only Againe that their prayers may be the more available it must not suffice that they have beene meeke and have wrought right but they must seeke meeknesse and righteousnessei Labour everie day to be more and more meeke and righteous walking with such care and conscience in all the Commandements and Ordinances of God that the world cannot have the least matter against them except it be as against Daniel for the matters of their God for the more mortified sanctified and holy any are in the greater favour they are with God and the more powerfull are their prayers for themselves and others Whereas God will not heare sinners no not for themselves much lesse for others it being as dangerous for a sinner to come neare unto God as for the drie stubble to come neare the flaming fire Wherefore David would wash his hands in innocencie and so goe to his table and the Priests had their laver to wash hands and feet in before they went to minister to the Lord. Then lastly observe what shall be the comfortable issue of such seeking God viz. That if they cannot prevaile with Gods Majesty for the sparing of his people yet they shall save their owne soules and finde an hiding place in the day of the Lord. One of these two or both they shall be sure to finde and the very lesser of them is an abundant reward for all the labour any can take in seeking God though it were day and night An example whereof we have in our Prophet who taking exceedingly to heart the misery of Gods people which he foresaw and wishing his head were waters and his eies a fountaine of teares that he might weepe day and night for his people and protesting to God that he stood before him to speake good for them and to turne away his wrath howsoever therein he could not prevaile and in the end God forbade him to pray for them yet his praiers and teares were returned into his owne bosome for as God promised him Verily I will make the enemies to entreat thee well in the time of evill and in the time of affliction so God performed it For Ieremy being in prison when Ierusalem was taken Nabuzaradan the chiefe Steward according to the command which Nebuchad-nezzar had given him not only set him at liberty but gave him victuals and a reward with leave to goe whither he would so good a thing it is to be faithfull unto God how ever things goe with his Church Upon these grounds from Gods Word I renew mine exhortation againe Pray pray pray you shall at the least deliver your owne soules Yea let me yet speake a word of further comfort unto you I cannot finde one example in all the Booke of God wherein a people humbling themselves in sincerity in any measure according to the ordinance and word of the Lord but they were ever delivered from that temporall judgement threatned at the least for the present Oh therefore that it would please God that the Lords Ministers could stirre up all the meeke of the Land to seeke the Lord in repentance and praier to step up into the breach intercede and resist God I would not doubt but as to see judgements passe over us so to see peace on Gods Israel abroad There is helpe for Ierusalem in her God and when the Lord hath brought her on her knee and clothed her with sackcloth for her sinnes he will visit the fruit of the proud heart of the King of Ashur and the glory of his high lookes who doth not know that he is the rod of Gods wrath The stripes of Ierusalem shall be healed but the wounds of Babylon are incurable there is no Balme in Gilead for her Ierusalem may be shaken but it is Babylon shall fall and never rise againe Oh then pray and
persecuting Citie which liveth so deliciously and saith I sit a Queene and shall see no sorrow Her purple flatterers vaunt that temporall felicite is a note of the Church and make a catalogue of the strange victories which the Catholikes have had and as one saith scarcely ever received the foile in a just warre yet the holy truth assureth us the Beast and false Prophet shall be taken and all the sowles of Heaven filled with the flesh of those Kings Captaines and mightie men which have fought against the Gospell Yea Babylon as a mill-stone cast into the sea shall be throwne downe and found no more and she rewarded double according to her works at whose destruction all the Kings and Merchants of the earth who have lived deliciously and committed fornication with her shall bitterly lament and cry Alas alas that great Citie bow in one boure is she made desolate So Heaven Prophets Apostles and all the Martyrs Saints shal praise God with many a ioyfull Alleluiah Therefore stumble not at it that for the sins of his people hee giveth them into the hands of such as are more wicked than themselves for when his people are sufficiently scourged their enemies shall for ever be destroyed But some object againe wee have continued long in our sinnes and have felt none evill why should wee now be so earnestly called upon and urged to repent and threatned with judgement If wee repent not God is not so hastie I wis as our Preachers would make us beleeve I answer It is the continuance in sinne doth increase our danger as Iudah and Ierusalem were not carried into captivitie for the sinnes of a few yeeres but for their sinnes wherein they had long continued even ever since they were brought up out of Aegypt the men of the old world were spared long even an hundred and twentie yeeres yet continuing in sinne were in the end drowned Iudah and Ierusalem were spared long after their brethren were carried captive even 130. yeeres but continuing in sinne in the end they were carried into captivitie too The Lord is patient and slow to anger yet if there will bee no end of sinne there will be an end of mercie and God may repent so often that hee will repent no more and as our Prophet saith he can no longer beare and as he saith in another place God is wearie with repenting this wee have in the Scriptures illustrated by two familiar and elegant metaphors The first is of a large vessell which by drops asketh a long time of filling so God told Abraham the iniquitie of the Amorites was not yet full and our Saviour bade the Scribes and Pharisies of his age Fill ye up the measure of your fathers The second is of an harvest Corne when it is sowen is not by and by ripe The husband-man saith S. Iames hath great patience Why did not men cut downe their corne at Easter because it was not then ripe why are they now in many places so busie with sithes and sickles because the harvest is come and corne is ripe So God calleth to the executioners of judgements when wickednesse is great as unto his reapers Put ye in the sickle for the harvest is ripe Oh then doe not say we have sinned often or long and what evill hath happened for a vessell at last may be filled with drops and corne may so long grow till fields be white to harvest and readie to be cut The last objection is Oh but England is a most happie and flourishing kingdome blessed with a most wise and prudent King a most hopefull issue wee have many learned and religious Preachers multitudes of godly and sincere professours Gods true religion established by Law and maintained by authoritie God hath heaped such temporall blessings upon us that it is another Canaan flowing with milke and hony God hath most wonderfully delivered it from matchlesse dangers and ruine intended it is a verie Sanctuarie of refuge for the Saints of God elsewhere persecuted Oh the consideration of these things makes many an one so secure that no warning fro heaven or earth word or works of mercie or justice will doe them good but they proceed from evill to worse as though no hurt could come unto them But give me leave as I doe most unfainedly acknowledge the great mercies of God so I would plucke away these pillowes from under their elbowes whereupon they sleepe in security I say then that the greater are the mercies of God unto any people the greater shall be their judgements if they abuse them The higher that Capernaum is exalted to heaven the lower shall it be cast downe into hell if it repent not And God threatneth Coniah As I live saith the Lord though Coniah the sonne of Iehoiakim King of Iudah were the signet upon my right hand yet would I plucke thee thence and I will give thee into the hands of them that seeke thy life Was there ever any people in the world could compare with Iudah and Israel for privileges and prerogatives yet could they not secure them but their sinnes comming to height God forsooke the house whereon his Name was called yea and gave the dearely beloved of his soule into the hands of her enemies or as some Translations reade his beloved soule Oh if God did not spare such a people as he acknowledgeth to be the dearely beloved of his soule who had such a good and religious King when Ieremy beganne to prophesie viz. Iosiah who reformed Religion destroied the monuments of Idolatry and strictly compelled all to serve the Lord according to his word such excellent Prophets and some learned and worthy Teachers and some good people that mourned for the abominations of Ierusalem yet when their sinnes came to be full he would not heare any for them but gave them over to a long and wofull captivity What have any people to presume on No no this Doctrine shall stand against all the subtill objections of Satan and of flesh and bloud against it That the sinnes of a people may come to that height that God will bring some temporall judgement upon them and not heare any that shall pray for them Now to come to ourselves that we may make good use of all that hath beene spoken and heard You hearken what I should say concerning our owne estate and that you shall doe first from the mouth of an enemy When Ieremie heard the false Prophet Hananiah prophesie much good to Iudah he answered feelingly Amen the Lord doe so Pererius the Iesuite writing on that you have heard in Genesis The sinne of the Amorites is not yet full saith If any doe marvell why England continueth to flourish notwithstanding the cruell persecution of the Catholikes there he doth answer thē with the words of the Text Because their sinne is not full
and appearance of Gods anger Who saith Moses considereth the power of his wrath Psal 90. Oh it is a powerfull wrath indeed as Hezekiah and David say It crusheth and breaketh the bones it woundeth and killeth If the wrath of a King who is but a mortall man be as messengers of death what is the wrath of the King of Kings Oh saith David when thou turnedst away thy face I was troubled and Solomon said A wounded spirit who can beare Oh it is the sense of Gods anger troubleth woundeth killeth is the hell on earth at the appearance whereof Gods children are so affected mourne and cry The second reason is because next unto God Gods Church and people are dearely beloved of all the true members thereof as being the people that God hath redeemed with his bloud entred into perpetuall league and covenant with yea the spouse of Christ Ephes 5. 32. and therefore it wonderfully affecteth Gods servants with griefe and maketh them cry when they foresee any judgement or miserie befall them the rather because in the miserie of Gods Church Gods glory seemeth to be stained whereof they are so zealous that rather than that should happen Moses wished to be blotted out of the booke and S. Paul to be separated from Christ Oh how father Eli was afflicted at the report of heavie newes when one told him that Israel was fled before the Philistims his two sonnes slaine and the Arke of God taken It strucke him dead at heart he fell backward from his seat and broke his necke and his daughter in law hearing the same newes presently fell into the throwes of travaile and being delivered of a sonne called his name Ichabod When zealous Nehemiah heard how the people of God were in great affliction Ierusalem broken downe and the gates burnt with fire he could not containe himselfe but sate downe and wept and being the Kings Cup-bearer and as much as his office and life was worth to appeare sad and hee never had beene so before yet now he could not hide it his countenance bewrayed it the King tooke notice of it and asked him Why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sicke this is nothing else but sorrow of heart Oh the ruines of Ierusalem lay at his heart which also made the people of God so imprecate themselves If I forget Ierusalem let my right hand forget her cunning yea let my tongue cleave to the roofe of my mouth if I preferre not Ierusalem to my chiefestioy The third and last reason whereof flesh and bloud are more sensible than the two former is That the godly may be wrapped with the wicked in the same temporall punishment and therefore when they see it comming they are much affected and labour to prevent it I say againe howsoever God is marvellous in commonly providing for his children before a judgement come as we shall heare more hereafter yet many times even the godly are wrapped with the wicked in the same temporall punishment and therefore are so affected Shall we condemne all that perished in the waters and all that were consumed with fire God forbid If yee doe yet know that though all were not guiltie of the sinne of making and worshipping the golden Calfe yet it endangered all Let mee alone saith God and I will utterly consume them and blot out their name from under Heaven for Achans sinne Iosuahs armie is put to flight and many slaine for Sauls sinne in killing the Gibeonites there came a famine upon the land for three yeeres together and you know for that great villanie committed by the inhabitants of Gibeah in abusing the Levites Concubine not only vengeance came upon the Citie wherein it was committed but upon all the Tribe of Beniamin because they delivered them not up to be punished but rather would seeme to defend them yea not only upon that Tribe which might seeme justly accessarie but upon the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead because they came not up to the warre to see Gods judgements executed upon those wicked men Let him that readeth that story consider how farre the judgements of God may extend themselves towards all such as are not affected with Gods anger and doe not to the uttermost of their power endevour to punish sin This was it made all the people of Israel so much afraid when they heard how the Reubenites Gadites and halfe the Tribe of Manasseh had erected an Altar on the other side Iordan and supposed it had beene to offer sacrifice on their Commissioners told them if they did so rebell against the Lord the next morrow the Lord would be wroth with all the Congregation of Israel If then the zeale of Gods glorie and love to Gods people will not move yet the love to ourselves and estates may move us to mourne for sinnes and abominations of the land and to take greatly to heart the tokens of anger and threatnings of judgements because wee also may be wrapped up in them But mee thinketh I heare some say such is Satans malice and bloudie murtherous desire to have Gods judgements generall and therefore dulleth the spirits of Gods children thus Alas what profit will it be for me to mourne and afflict my soule if the judgement come I and mine all we are and have shall be wrapped up in it as well as those who take nothing to heart but live joyfully and therefore let us even eat and drinke and let God doe his will Oh fainting soule be not abused and deceived step up for thy part into the breach to stay Gods wrath seeke the Lord amongst the meeke of the earth for Sions sake hold not thy tongue and for Ierusalems sake give God no rest bee one of his remembrancers day and night in all thy supplications and prayers hold up thy hands against Satan and Antichrist and bee thou to the uttermost of thy power an enemie to all the enemies of the Church and helpe the Lord and his people against them with prayer prease and push of pike if thou beest thereunto called and crie mightily unto God for helpe in this that God would generally open the eyes of all men to see our sins and the judgments thereby deserved that all mens hearts may melt into teares as Iosiahs did in the like case and that all as one man may goe out and meet the Lord by repentance before his decree bee executed upon us Yea if none shall joyne with thee but in this case thou mayest complaine with Eliah that thou art left alone yea so farre from helping as that they doe mocke and discourage thee as David complained For thy sake I have borne reproach and shame hath covered my face when I wept and chastened my soule with fasting that was my reproach I put on sackcloth and became a proverbe they that sate in the gate spake against
judgement afarre off and like faithfull watchmen from the wall give warning to the City as soone as ever they descry the Lord comming against his people Secondly they must labour by their Ministery to bring the people to repentance that so Gods wrath may be pacified and judgements prevented and to that end they must faithfully reprove them for their sinnes and let them see the hainousnesse of their transgressions and call earnestly upon them for repentance Thus did Noah before the floud Lot before the burning of Sodom the Prophets Isay Ieremy Ezechiel Ioel before the Captivities Rent your hearts and not your garments and turne to the Lord your God thus did Christ and Iohn Baptist before the finall destruction of the Iewes Repent repent Except yee repent yee shall all perish Now is the axe laid to the root of the tree and O generation of vipers who hath forewarned you to flee from the anger to come bring forth fruits worthy amendment of life yea thus have all Gods servants done that desire to be free from the bloud of all men for if they give not warning the bloud is required at their hands and therefore it behoveth them to bestirre themselves that if it be possible they may save Gods people from the wrath to come or at least deliver their own soules and be found a sweet savour unto God even in them that perish Thirdly it is the faithfull Ministers duty to be very tenderly affected towards all such as mourne in Sion and with David are afraid of Gods judgements they must be sure to speake a word in due season to such as are weary God gave the Prophet Isay a charge to speake comfortably to the heart of Ierusalem And hence it is that the Prophets Christ Iohn Baptist and the Apostles did ever interlace reproofes and threatnings with heavenly comforts to prepare them for times of triall and tentations that howsoever they lived amongst the wicked and some great judgement and generall might come yet come what will it should goe well with them yea let vs Ministers be assured the Lord will require as strict an account of us how we have cheared and comforted the godly as that we have reproved and threatned the wicked And I say upon this occasion in the word of the Lord Be of good comfort all godly Magistrates and Governors if your hearts be set aright to advance Gods Religion and holy Gospell of Christ and to suppresse and beat downe Atheisme Poperie and all wickednesse whereby Gods anger is kindled and heavie judgements procured Be of good comfort yee Ministers of Christ that watch and warne Gods people having continuall sorrow and heavinesse to see their sinnes and being farre off from serving the time and flattering them saying Peace peace when there is no peace but faithfully reproving them for all their sinnes and earnestly calling on them for repentance And be of good comfort all yee people whose hearts are broken with godly sorrow to see the sinnes of the Land and you that strive to keepe your selves unspotted of the world and to walke worthy the Gospell and such great mercies as God vouchsafeth and humble your soules before God privately in fasting and praiers and so farre as you can and is lawfull labour to draw on others in the like practise of piety know that you are sealed and maintained of God assure your selves the eie and hand of God are on you for good his compassions shall not faile the hils shall sooner remove out of their places than his mercy can be removed from you his covenant with day and night shall sooner be broken than with you you are written upon the palmes of his hands and are ever in his sight and either God will be pacified and spare for your sakes or as he knoweth best will provide for you either take you to himselfe that you shall not see the evill to come or whatsoever evill come his good Angels shall guard you his spirit support you his grace be sufficient for you he shall enrich you with peace patience and joy and in good time make an end of all misery and set the crowne of immortall glory on your head The second duty particular is for the chiefe Magistrate to command such as are subordinate and inferiour to see execution these are to testifie how greatly they are affected with tokens of Gods wrath and appearance of judgements by labouring to reforme sinne and enjoyning fasting and humiliation for pacifying of Gods anger and preventing of judgements Thus did Moses Ioshuah David Iehoshaphat Nehemiah Hesty King of Ninivie It would aske too long a time to shew you how wonderfully God hath beene appeased and how strangely judgements have beene prevented by this most godly and Christian exercise the Scriptures are plentifull in this point Yea it is registred that even Ahab only thereunto moved with a base feare of judgement threatned and but fasting and wearing sackcloth in hypocrisie God deferred the judgement untill his sonnes daies Oh what a blessing did this Land receive hereupon in Ann. 1588. I am perswaded never any did humble themselves before the Lord in true fasting and praier but found a blessing from heaven thereon Oh that I could but perswade you to make triall hereof and to prove the Lord herein I assure my selfe God is the same loving God as ready now as ever most graciously to answer the soule that setteth it selfe aright to seeke God by such waies and meanes as he hath prescribed Now let us come and make application of these things to ourselves That God hath many waies testified his anger and displeasure and not only threatned but also in some measure executed his judgements who so blinde as seeth not But how are men and women affected herewith Doe we in the conscience of our sinnes judge our selves unworthy of any common blessing peace food sleepe apparell and most worthy of all those heavie judgements which either he hath threatned or executed on any others Are we afraid of Gods judgements and specially of those that are spirituall I say againe of those that are spirituall and most dreadfull Doe we grieve exceedingly and mourne in our soules that we have so justly offended God and purchased his anger and displeasure and to have the very floudgates and all the sluces of his judgements drawne up to our utter overthrow and destruction Doe we bend our selves with all our strength to pacific God and prevent his judgements And to that end doe we with full purpose of heart resolve to forsake our owne knowne sins and to put in practise all holy purposes and vowes to reforme presently whatsoever we know to be amisse in us and to shew forth more true zeale of Gods glory and the power of godlinesse in our lives than we have done
it Oh most gracious good God wee humbly thanke thee that though our sinnes be many great and grievous yet thou hast not suddenly rooted us up and destroyed us as we have deserved but hast for many and many yeares from thy word and workes of mercy and justice on our selves and others warned us Thou never gavest greater and fairer warning to any people than thou hast done to us But seeing thou art a God of justice and when thy patience is long abused and no meanes will serve thou visitest indeed and in dreadfull manner Lord give us grace to take to heart thy threatned judgements and stirre up all thy faithfull servants that they may stand in the breach to turne away thine anger from us yea Lord give to all us that have heard thee this day the spirit of praier and supplication that by our lips and lives we may cry unto thee And because Atheisme and Popish Idolatry are the common plagues wherewith thou dost scourge a people who doe not receive the love of the truth nor walke worthy the glorious Gospell vouchsafed unto them Lord deliver us from these plagues grant thy Gospell a free and powerfull passage and increase every where the love and obedience of it that such judgements as are threatned for contempt of it may be removed and thou maiest continue a good God to us and ours to the comming of Christ Amen For I will not heare thee It is very common in the Scriptures of Old and New Testament to promise and threaten the grant or deniall of mens praiers in this forme of hearing or not hearing One place of Scripture selected out of a great multitude may serve for proofe of this Wee know that God heareth not sinners but if any man be a worshipper of God and doth his will him he heareth So then the meaning of not hearing is God will denie what the Prophet should thus begge of God If the Prophet contrary to his charge should make his suit unto God to spare his people and preserve them from captivitie hee would not heare hee would not grant his desire he should but sinne against God himselfe and doe the people no good God was now unchangeably resolved Iudah should into captivitie as well as their brethren the ten Tribes he was resolved to cast them out of his sight as he had done the whole seed of Ephraim and it were bootlesse for the Prophet to pray against this which he signifieth thus I will not heare thee Indeed it is true that the judgements of God are commonly conditionall as God himselfe hath said At what time I shall speake concerning a nation and concerning a kingdome to plucke up to pull downe and destroy it if that nation against whom I have pronounced turne from their evill I will repent of the evill which I thought to doe unto them And in threatnings sometimes the condition is expressed as divers times God threatneth his people thus If ye walke contrary to me and will not hearken unto me I will punish you seven times more Sometimes the condition is not expressed but necessarily understood as when Ionah threatned Ninivie Yet fortie dayes and Ninivie shall be destroyed the fortie dayes came and Ninivie was not destroyed God changed his revealed will because the concealed condition was kept for Ninivie repented and therefore must not be destroyed Yea the same judgement which at the first threatning may be conditionall yet afterwards may become absolute and unavoidable as the destruction of Sodome was at the first conditionally threatned and therefore Abraham so farre prevailed with God that if there were but ten righteous persons found in it he would spare them for those tens sake but that condition failing it was in the next place absolutely threatned the Angels said to Lot The Lord hath sent us to destroy this City and we will destroy it It might be the case of this people if when Gods servants reproved them for their sinnes and threatned them with captivity they had repented in sackcloth and ashes peradventure the Lord would have heard them and repented of the evill But seeing they would not be reformed but grew worse and worse and unto all their other sinnes adding this crying one of evill entreating yea most shamefully abusing Gods servants who dealt faithfully with them to bring them to the sight of their sinnes and repentance honouring and esteeming none but the false Prophets who preached peace and pleasing things God is now resolved to bring a heavie judgement even the sword of the enemie upon them and to give them over into captivity revealeth this purpose to his Prophet Ieremy The Land shall be desolate the earth shall mourne and the heavens above be blacke I have spoken it I have purposed it and will not repent neither will I turne backe from it Yea to make it if it were possible more sure he told him He had sworne by himselfe that house wherein they so trusted should become a desolation And to adde yet more waight thereunto expresly forbiddeth the Prophet to pray cry or make intercession to him in behalfe of the people in this kinde assuring him if he should he would not heare him or grant his request The sense being given and that which might be said against it prevented now I raise your fourth and last lesson for instruction viz. That such may be the sinnes of Gods deare Church and people in generall and of his faithfull servants in particular that he will bring some temporall judgement upon them and he will not heare themselves nor others for them in this kinde This being a Doctrine which doth so exceedingly concerne us even as much as all our lives and livelihood bodies and goods come to is not sleightly to be regarded but in the holy feare of God to be advisedly considered of and taken to heart In the handling whereof I purpose to spend all my labours here and elsewhere this day For method and order wherein and helpe of memory there being so much now to be delivered I will first sufficiently prove it from both positive and exemplary Scriptures that all of us may see and acknowledge the truth of it Secondly declare the reasons thereof that we may see how just and true God is therein Thirdly search what are those sinnes which doe so exasperate and provoke God that he will not spare that so we may take heed of them Fourthly and lastly I will make application to our selves and search whether those sinnes be found amongst us and remove such objections as may be made against it and accordingly presse the use unto you And all these I will deliver with such plaine evidence as I have received from the word which hath onely power over the soule and conscience First then let us see how the word of God maketh this doctrine good First take knowledge that the Scriptures are most
cleare that such may be the sinnes of a people that God will not regard their owne praying and fasting Hearken how the Lord himselfe threatneth a rebellious people Because I have called and yee have refused I have stretched out mine hand and no man regarded but yee have set at nought all my counsell and would none of my reproofe I will laugh at your calamity and mocke when your feare commeth when your feare commeth as desolation and your destruction commeth as a whirlwinde Then they shall call upon me but I will not answer they shall seeke me earely but they shall not finde me Lo how the sinnes of a people may come to that height that in their greatest calamity and destruction and when they cry most fervently and seeke God earely yet God will be so farre from hearing and answering of them that he will laugh and mocke them And againe When yee spread forth your hands I will hide mine eies from you yea when yee make many praiers I will not heare And againe by our Prophet he saith When they fast I will not heare their cry but I will consume them by the sword by the famine and by the pestilence And againe I will bring evill upon them which they shall not be able to escape and though they shall cry yet will I not hearken unto them And againe I will deale in fury mine eie shall not spare neither will I have pitie and though they cry in mine eares with a loud voice yet will I not heare them Loe how plainly and plentifully this is proved though but by a few places in stead of many And as he hath threatned he will not heare themselves though they fast and pray and cry aloud so neither will he heare any others no not the best of his servants for them Marke your Text Ieremy an excellent man of God and sanctified in his mothers womb yet God telleth him if he pray against the peoples captivity he will not heare him yea and telleth him because he should not thinke that he was out of favour that if Moses and Samuel stood before him yet his minde could not be towards his people Cast them out of my sight and let them goe forth and if they say whither shall we goe forth thou shalt tell them Thus saith the Lord such as are for death to death and such as are for the sword to the sword and such as are for the famine to the famine and such as are for the captivity to the captivity See what persons God hath picked out of all the bunch of the Patriarches Prophets Judges and Kings Who ever prevailed more by praier with God for others than Moses and Samuel When the people had committed that foule Idolatry in worshipping the golden Calfe God said He would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood up in the gap But Moses he besought the Lord and prevailed The Lord repented of the evill and did it not And when the Philistims came up against Israel and they were exceedingly afraid Samuel Oh faithfull Samuel the Lords Priest cried unto the Lord for Israel and the Lord heard him and thundred with a great thunder and discomfited the Philistims But if Moses and Samuel did now stand before the Lord his minde cannot be won towards this people but they shall goe into captivity And againe by another Prophet he saith Sonne of man when the Land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously and I stretch out mine hand and breake the staffe of bread and send a famine and cut off man and beast though these three men were in it Noah Iob and Daniel they should deliver but their owne soules by their righteousnesse Or if I bring noisome beasts or bring a sword or a pestilence to cut off man and beast as I live saith the Lord though these three men were in it Noah Daniel and Iob yet should they deliver neither sonne nor daughter they should only deliver their owne soules but the Land shall be desolate Oh see againe what three Worthies he doth instance in Noah that upright man in the old World when all flesh had corrupted their waies Iob that upright man and fearing God in the Land of Vz and Daniel that man of Gods desire in Babylon Three men who could doe much with God for whom God did much yet if they had praied for this people God would not heare them they should not be able to deliver sonne nor daughter but only their owne soules And as such may be the sinnes of a nation or people so also of a particular person yea of Gods deare servants that he will not heare them but bring some temporall punishment upon them How great a favourite was Moses unto God to whom God spake mouth to mouth as a man talketh familiarly with his friend who obtained by his praier so many and great things at the hands of God for others so apparently honoured and graced of God that the Lord asked Aaron and Miriam Wherefore were ye not afraid to speake against my servant Moses Yet this great and good man for not sanctifying God at the waters of strife yea for once speaking unadvisedly with his lips and thereunto much provoked by that rebellious people was threatned he should not goe into the promised land An heavie judgement And though Moses made it his earnest suit unto God O Lord God thou hast begun to shew to thy servant great kindnesse I pray thee let me goe over and see the good land that is beyond Iordan that goodly mountaine and Lebanon yet the Lord would not heare him but cut him off saying Let it suffice thee speake no more to me of this matter David Gods deare servant and a man after Gods owne heart and for whose sake he did much to others how often have we these promises for my servant Davids sake yet he begetting a childe on Bethshebah the wife of Vriah the Lord strake the childe that it was very sicke and though David besought the Lord for the childe and fasted and went in and lay all night upon the earth yet God would not heare him but on the seventh day the childe died according to the word of the Lord by his Prophet Nathan Because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the childe that is borne to thee shall surely die And againe for his great sinne of numbring the people the Lord sent him a message by his Prophet Gad that he would send either pestilence famine or sword and though David repented and complained that he was in a great strait yet he could not obtaine freedome but according to his choice God sent a pestilence whereof in three dayes there died seventie thousand men Let all men and women then subscribe to this undoubted truth of God that such may be the sinnes of Gods Church in