if any man teach you otherwise let him be accursed O that ye would know therefore in this your day the things that belong unto your peace lest otherwise they be hid for ever from your eyes Consider what Almighty God faith to the Jewes Isa 1.19 20. For the very same he saith now to you If ye be willing and obedient willing to have your King restored and will henceforth be obedient to him Ye shall eat the good of the Land but if ye refuse his gracious pardon and resolve still to rebel against him Ye shall be devoured with the suord for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it If ye still keep up the sword ye will in the end perish by it your sword will certainly penetrate your own heart Obey not them therefore that think they can kill the body and that would have you make a trade of killing but obey him that can kill body and soul whose express Command is that ye shall not kill If ye will not follow peace ye shall never see the Lord if here ye banish that from you he will hereafter banish you from him he will renounce you with those words of David Psalm 139.19 Depart from me ye bloody ye blood-thirsty men And as God abhorreth the blood-thirsty so doth he the covetous man Psalm 10. He that said Do not kill said also Do not covet as therefore ye must abstain from blood so must ye from covetousness let not this be once named amongst you as becometh Saints but learn of the Apostle in whatsoeuer state ye are therewith to be content see that ye covet no mans silver or gold or apparel but having food and rayment be therewith content Ye know whose Law it is Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house take heed then brethren of coveting Bishops houses or any thing else that is anothers and not yours All covet all lose ye have good Scripture for it Jer. 8.10 I will give their wives unto others and their fields to them that shall inherit them for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness from the Prophet even unto the Priest They that greedily get away other mens beget a gangrene in their own Estates De malè quaesitis vix gaudet tertius Haeres Take heed therefore as our Saviour exhorteth and beware of covetousness the caution is ingeminated and therefore the more emphatical Luke 12.15 Consider also what St. Paul saith Eph. 5.5 No covetous man who is an Idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God And consider what the same Apostle saith 1 Tim. 6 9. They that will be rich as it were whether God will or no fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtfull lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition Covetousness tempteth men to murder this i◠that which maketh Rebels so bloody as they are From whence come Wars and fightings among you Surely Covetousness hath been the Original of them all the lower sort of people strive to be in an higher room the poor would fain turn Tables with the Rich they would thus have every valley to be filled and every mountain and hill to be laid low as if in this sense every man were bound to seek anothers wealth they that were born to nothing strive to get others birth-rights calling themselves forsooth the Saints who say they must inherit the earth they would make themselves rich that have nothing and others poor that have great riches But to conclude this brethren is not the office of Saints but of the King of Saints it is the Lord that maketh poor and maketh rich 1 Sam. 2.7 Presume not then to take God's office out of his hand strive not per fas nefas to make your selves rich if God have made you poor but be content with that portion of outward things that he hath given you The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of hosts Hag. 2.8 Deny him not therefore that priviledge which your own selves chalenge give him leave to do what he pleaseth with his own Let not the least root of covetousness remain in you remember that godliness with contentment is great gain if the riches of others increase set not your hearts upon them seek not these things below but those above strive not for an inheritance on earth but to have one in heaven that ye may banish cruelty let covetousness be banished first that ye may not thirst after other mens blood covet not their goods Hast thou killed said God to Ahab and also taken possession Well ye know what became of him and Jezebel for this Stifle therefore not only your murtherous but also your covetous thoughts If you must needs be killing mortifie your earthly members if ye must needs be coveting covet earnestly the best gifts God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith to be heirs of his Kingdom labour therefore to get the gold of faith whereby ye may be rich towards God and then though here ye have no temporal Inheritance yet hereafter ye shall have one far better ye shall be Heirs apparent unto Heaven ye shall inherit glory God will give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified Though now you are in your nonnage yet at the last day ye shall be perfect men ye shall attain to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ who shall then invite you to enter upon your Inheritance in these words Come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world FINIS A SEVERE Sentence AGAINST SECVRE CITIZENS A Sermon PREACHED At ST. Maries in Oxford Upon Sunday March 17. 1644. LONDON Printed in the year 1660. A SEVERE SENTENCE AGAINST SECVRE CITIZENS JONAH 3.4 And he cryed and said yet fourty dayes and Nineveh shall be overthrown HEre are two of the divine Attributes which are Gods Mercy and his Justice so that I may say with the Apostle St. Paul Rom. 11.22 Behold here the goodness and the severity of God for the words of our Text are both a Premonition and a Commination as they give warning so there is Mercy in them Adhuc quadraginta dies yet fourty dayes as they threaten so there is judgement in them Subvertetur Nineveh Nineveh shall be overthrown This might be the general division of these words But if we examine them more particularly they will afford us these five parts Here is first the Preacher He the Prophet Jonah Secondly The Manner of his preaching He cryed Thirdly The Matter of his preaching he threatned an overthrow Fourthly The place of his preaching the City Nineveh Fifthly The Time when his Preaching or Prophecy was to be accomplished and fulfilled and that was within fourty dayes And he cryed and said yet fourty dayes and Nineveh shall be overthrown And of these in order I begin with the first part the Preacher He the Prophet Jonah
offer to offer up Isaac and the will went for the deed Non combureris thou shalt not be burnt The third example may be the Israelites in whose company the fire was kindled there went out a fire from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense Num. 16.35 But though the flame burnt up the ungodly mutiniers yet every obedient Israelite escaped Non combureris thou shalt not be burnt The fourth example may be the three Salamanders in the furnace Dan 3. who though they walked thorow the fire yet their coats were not changed nor so much as the smell of fire had passed on them And this last example is without example I never heard of any fire-proof before for Fire is of a most devouring and consuming nature turning all combustible things into ashes that come neer it yet the children of the fire the sparks hurt not these three children with the shields of their faith they quench'd the violence of fire when they walked thorow the fire they were not burnt neither did the flame kindle upon them And to these I might adde though somewhat out of order the example of Abraham whom God brought out of Ur of the Caldees Gen. 15.7 Now Ur as Huge observeth signifyeth fire the Greek word from which our English word seemeth to come hath but one Letter more and therefore the Hebrews had a tradition that because Abraham would not worship the Fire as the Caldeans did he should have been cast into the fire had not God given him notice of it and so preserved him But though Vr signifie fire yet the ordinary Glosse taketh it not for a common but a proper Name for the Name of the town or village where Abraham dwelt This example therefore cannot claim kindred of the Text I might more properly bring in our preservation from the Powder-treason but I will rather answer a question that may rise from our Text for is this promise alwayes performed Thou shalt not be burnt the flame shall not kindle on thee What shall we say then to that fiery persecution in Queen Maries dayes when there were so many Bethels in this Kingdome so many Cities wherein mens bones were burnt I Answer it is true that the Church of Christ this Church in particular hath endured the fiery triall But as Rex non moritur so Ecclesia non comburitur as the King is never buried so the Church is never burnt James may die and so may Charles yet God maintaine his life but the King let rebels do what they can never dieth So Latimer may be burnt and Cranmer may be burnt but the Church is never burnt If Pagans should prevail so farre which God forbid as to burne up all the Christians or if Puritans should prevaile so far which God forbid too as to burne up all the Protestants yet I verily believe that out of their very ashes God would raise up a new Phoenix Cinis Mariyrum should be Semen Ecclesiae the ashes of an old should be the seed of a new Church she shall not be so burnt as to be quite extinct neither shall the flame so kindle upon her And the Application hereof now may be briefly thus Seeing God will not suffer his Church to be finally burnt up by others this may teach us as it were to set on fire our selves not with the fire of lust it is better to marry than so to burn nor with the fire of wrath rather heap coals of fire upon the head of the enemies but let it be with the vestal fire of devotion and affection let our hearts burn within us with love to God and men So shall neither the sun burn us by day nor the moon by night the Lord shall preserve us form all evil it is even he that will keep both our bodies and our souls when the Elements shall melt with fervent heat when the earth and the Works therein shall be burnt up he will preserve and keep us from everlasting fire and exalt us to his Coelum empyreum his fiery heaven there for ever to behold him whose eyes are as a flame of fire and his feet like unto fine brass as if they burned in a furnace And so ye have the safety of the Church in her passage thorow fire literally taken Ye shall see her safety likewise as she passeth thorow the fire of affliction and persecution When thou walkest thorow this fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee It is the nature of fire Congregare homogenea and Segregare heterogenea to bring together things of the same kind and to separate things of divers kinds A Refiner therefore is wont to bring his Myne to the fire and by this means he severeth the silver from the dross which is likewise wise the very practice of Almighty God it is the Prophet Malachie's similitude word for word Mal. 3.3 He shall sit as a Refiner and Purifier of silver and he shall purifie the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver And the sweet Singer of Israel harpeth upon the same string Psa 66.9 Thou O God hast proved us thou also hast tried us like as silver is tried Non sicut foenum sed sicut argentum non in cineres convertisti sed sordes abluisti saith St. Austin God trieth us not with a consuming but with a cleansing fire turneth us not into ashes only taketh away our sullage and our ashes from us purely purgeth away our dross and taketh away all our tinne God purgeth men by affliction as the Israelites were to purge the spoil of the Midianites Numb 31.23 Every thing that may abide the fire ye shall make it go thorow the fire and it shall be clean God trieth men by affliction what metal they are made of they that endure this fiery tryal they are good gold they are Gods Children they that endure it not they are but dross they are but Cast-awayes Good men are like Shadrach Meshack and Abednego though they walk thorow the fiery furnace of Affliction yet they are not burnt up no not so much as singed but wicked men are like the souldiers that bound and cast them in when they are yet but at the mouth of the fiery furnace when the fire of Affliction but beginneth to seize upon them it prevaileth against them and consumeth them in a moment Good men are in this like clay the fire of Affliction strengthneth and confirmeth them but wicked men are like wax as wax melteth at the fire so do the ungodly perish in the fiery tryal Affliction to them is like the fire that burneth up the wood and like the flame that consumeth the mountains God maketh them like a fiery oven in time of his wrath the Lord destroyeth them in his displeasure and the fire consumeth them Affliction maketh wicked men a great deal worse as water becometh much colder after heating than ever it would have been if it had never
seed that is in Christ who was the Israelites own Countryman which is their last Prerogative recorded by the Apostle Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came Thus ye have seen how God loaded the Israelites with blessings with Privative and Positive with Temporall and Spirituall you only have I known of all the families of the earth And now Israel as Moses once said Deut. 10.12 What doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in all his wayes and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul But alas the God of Israel is here forced to complain that notwithstanding all the cost he had bestowed upon his vineyard when he expected grapes from it it brought forth wild grapes notwithstanding those many benefits he had bestowed upon his people they continually rewarded him evill for good they thought not of his hand nor of the day when he had delivered them from the hand of the enemy how he wrought his miracles in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zoan neither destroyed they the heathen but learned their works for they shed innocent blood even the blood of their sons and of their daughters whom they offered unto the Idols of Canaan and the land was defiled with blood In generall termes their sins are set down Deut. 9.7 But they are more particularly described in the third and fist chaptel of Isaiah In the third chapter ye may see their womens sins the Prophet bringeth you as it were into the Exchange he sheweth you the pride and vanity of their womens dressings he giveth you such an inventory of their toyes as is able to make a very Cato change his countenance In the fist chapter the Prophet sheweth you their Mens sins after the catalogue of Gods benefits he giveth you another catalogue of their sins At the seventh verse he sheweth you their oppression and injustice I looked for judgement but behold oppression for righteousnesse but behold a cry At the eight verse their encroaching coverousnesse in joyning house to house and field to field until there was no place that they might be placed alone in the midst of the earth At the eleventh and twelft verses their drunkenness and riot in rising up early to follow strong drink and continuing untill night till Wine enflame them having the harp and the viol the tabret and pipe and wine in their feasts At the eighteenth and nineteeth verses their contempt and slighting of Gods word in defiance of this drawing iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with a cart-rope as who should say let him do his worst let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it and let the counsel of the holy one of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it ver 20. Their hypocrisy in calling evil good and good evil in patting darkness for light and light for darkness in putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Ver. 21. Their self-conceit Being wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight verse 22. Their Porvalour in that they were mighty to drink wine and men of strength to mingle strong drink nverse 23. Their bribery and corruptio in justifying the wicked for reward and in taking away the righteousness of the righteous from him And shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this yes the wrath of God was kindr'd against his people insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance for three transgressions of Judah for four he resolveth that he will not turn away the punishment thereof And so I am fallen upon the second part of the Text which is Comminatio supplicii the threatning of a future punishment therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities You only c. Ye have heard that God bestowed upon Israel two sorts of blessings both which he threatneth to withdraw for their unthankfulness First his Privative blessings they must expect no more deliverances from him He brought them forth out of the iron-furnace even out of Egypt but they had so provoked him that he threatneth to bind them Apprentices there the second time Apprentices nay worse he threatneth to make slaves of them so we read Deut. 28. ult The Lord saith Moses shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships by the way whereof I spake unto thee thou shalt see it no more again and there ye shall ye besold offer your selves at least unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen and no man shall buy you God threatneth to sell his people for nought and to take no money for them And whereas the Israelites were wont to have the better of their enemies they had so angred the Lord of hosts that he threatned to give their enemies the victory so we read Deut. 28.25 The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies thou shalt go out one way against them and shalt flee seven wayes before them and shalt be removed into all the Kingdomes of the earth And I am sure they have been thus dispersed for many hundred years they are strangers in all Countries they have lost both their place and Nation Secondly God threatneth to withdraw his positive blessings from them We have a plain Text for this Isa 5.5 6. I will tell you saith God What I will do to my vineyard I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and I will break down the wall thereof and it shall be troden down and I will lay it waste it shall not be pruned nor digged but there shall come up briars and thorns I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it So true is that of the Psalmist Psalm 107.34 A fruitfull land maketh he barren for the wickedness of them that dwell therein For though the Land of Canaan were as the garden of Eden yet for the iniquity of the Inhabitants it shall be turned into a wilderness and though the Israelites had the blessings of the right hand and of the left yet for their ingratitude and disobedience God threatneth to withdraw both You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities Therefore I will punish you You that were my darlings mine own peculiar people you that were as dear to me as the apple of mine eye because ye have broken my Commandments and been unmindfull of my loving kindness therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities And the observation from hence for our instruction is most obvious Gods hatred against sin is such that he will not let it go unpunished in his dearest Children Adam was the Master-piece of all Gods workmanship and highly in favour with him at the first and yet as soon as ever he had tasted of the forbidden tree God banished this very
with the choicest Religion that of Orthodox Protestants And he hath built a Tower among us he hath set up Episcopal Authority Some think this Tower too high and would fain have it quite demolished down with it down with it say they even to the ground But these are an Assembly of birds that would fain build in others nests there are Presbyterian Levellers as well as Independent but let them both do what they can I hope I shall never see the day wherein these Towers fall God hath as it were a Wine-press among us too No Nation under heaven hath better Laws than we many of them of late yeers have been cast into a deep sleep but I hope that within short time they will be wakened And that in telling you of one blessing I may tell you of all the rest God hath set over us a gracious and most religious a prudent and most pious Prince a King for his faith and life unspotted from the world a Patron and Pattern of good men and all goodness a Maintainer of his Countries Laws and however Rebellion hath traduced him a zealous Professour and Defender of the Christian faith O fortunatos nimium bona si sua nôrint Angligenas Happy Nation we to be in such a case happy nation we to have the Lord for our God to have him as kind and good to us as ever he was to Israel You onely have I known of all the families of the earth And now England what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to feare the Lord thy God to walk in all his wayes and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul But here God may as justly complain of us as he did of the Israelites that when he looked for grapes from us we have brought forth wild grapes there is not a sin Isa 5. charged upon Israel but we stand guilty of it I have not time to arraign all the sins that raign among us the time would faile me to reckon up the oaths imprecations Our sins therefore being as many nay more I doubt than those of Israel of two things one we must either plead more priviledge to sin than they had which I am sure we cannot or else without great mercy we must look for greater judgments at least to have God so threaten us as here he threatneth the people of Israel You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities I will punish You You that have seven years set in Counsel been in covenant for him but have armed your selves against him and have at last most traiterously imprisoned mine Anointed you that have turned judgement into wormwood you that have turned your still waters into blood you that have turned your Kings house nay your Gods house into a den of thieves you that imagine wickednesse and practise nothing else you that have set your selves in no good way you that dare do any thing but justice you that dare rob your Soveraign nay even your God you that are made up of cousenage and contradictions you that have no religion but rapine and rebellion you that are Papists in practice though ye will not own that name you that neither fear your God nor honour your King You that resolve to beggar all that refuse to be such Rebels as your selves you that with Herod are deeply dyed in blood of Innocents that make no more of cutting a mans than cutting off a dogs neck you that have filled the grave with bodies and hell with soules therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities You likewise of the silly Schismaticall Assembly that out of meer opposition preach in Cloakes you that are no legal Synod but rather the Synagogue of Satan you that for a pious Liturgie would give the Church a pure piece of Non-scence you that would banish the Lords Prayer and the Apostles Creed and the ten Commandments you that call evill good and good evill you that teach for doctrines the commandments of wicked men you that preach up rebellion for four shillings a day you that would be more than Deanes or Bishops though you dislike those Titles you that are greedy dogs never thinking ye have enough you that serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but your own bellies Therefore I will punish You for all your iniquities And You also of the Court for your flattery prodigality You of the cowardly City for your disloyalty You that dare fight gainst none but your King and you of the Country for your stupidity and sottishnesse in sufferring your fellow subjects so long to enslave you You of the Clergy likewise for temporizing for fearing the face of men for not daring to speak truth You of the Laity for tenebrizing for your Conventicles You that are rich for your covetousness You that are poor for your idlenes You that are men for your day-sins gluttony and drunkenness you that are Women for your night-sins chambering wantonnes all you that are against the King for forswearing of your selves some of you that are for the King for your customary swearing you that swear not as Ioseph did by the life of your King but by the life of your God and by the Prince of life whom ye swear over once a day from top to toe as if ye would swear Christ in pieces or God out of heaven Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities Ye have been told of this sin 〈◊〉 and if I now told you of it rightly I should tell you weeping that they who thus mouth their oaths and their God damne them they are no better than the very enemies of the Crosse of Christ. Nor are they enemies to him only but arrant Traitors also to their King and Country as arrant Traitors as those that have imprisoned him let them never tell me they are the Kings friends for they are the worst of enemies because of Swearing the Land mourneth Ier. 23.10 And mourn it will a great deal worse unless this and many other horrid sins be banished We have seen hitherto but as it were the morning of mourning the beginning of sorrows except we repent our land like Rama will be filled with bitter mourning as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo Zech. 12.11 For indeed how can we ever hope to have God blesse us when we are daily at him to damne and confound us how can we hope for peace with men so long as by oaths and other sins we fight against our God No there is no peace to the wicked their portion is desolation which though we hope still to out-run yet in the end it will overtake us Quod differtur non aufertur as God hath leaden heeles so he hath iron hands though he hath spared us therefore a long time yet he will pay us home at last he will bruise us with a
had been no Husband-man the Earth need have had no Mid-wife she would have brought forth of her self But Haec maledictio Adae c. saith St. Bernard this was a curse entailed on Adam's sin that for his sake the ground it self was cursed his barrenness in obedience made the very Earth grow barren Which may therefore serve to mind us sinners of repentance the husbandry of the hand may teach us the husbandry of the heart even to break up our fallow ground and sow in tears But I must not insist upon these Georgicks I must lead you from corporal to spiritual husbandmen And these are the painful Preachers of Gods word For as the Earth must be plowed and harrowed by the Country-man before she will ever bring forth her increase So the men of the earth must be directed and corrected by the Church-man before they will bring forth the fruits of righteousnesse The Clergy like the Prophet Elisha are a kind of Plow-men They that do as it were drive the plow are ordinary Ministers They that hold the Plow are the reverend Bishops the Plow would not go so well should Episcopacy be abolished Let these Labourers therefore have their due they are worthy of their hire And let them likewise have a respectful estimation set upon them for the Courtier cannot live without the Country-man the King himself is served by the field Ec. 5.9 As then where no Husband men are the people sterve So Likewise where no Ministers where no vision is the people perish Which admonisheth Gods Husbandmen the Clergy to be industrious There is no profession more laborious than that of Husbandmen who in the sweat of their face most commonly eat their bread And herein they are a pattern and ensample unto us who indeed should labour more abundantly than they all because they labour but to sustain mens bodies we to feed their souls We must therefore abound alwayes in the work of the Lord we must preach the word as St. Paul charged Timothy not slothfully but painfully we must labour in the Gospel we must be instant and eager and earnest in our preaching in season out of season in time of peace in time of War we must reprove we must rebuke we must exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine as the Apostle speaketh And as we must be fervent so we must be perseverant in our office having put our hand to Gods plow we must resolve not to look back we must not with Demas forsake our function and embrace the world nor must we cease to exercise it till we just put off this Tabernacle though there be never so great danger in the exercising of it Husbandmen will not give over plowing for a shower of rain nor must we give over preaching because of persecution though we are never so superannuated though we are such as Paul the aged or though so feeble that with St. John we must be carried to the Pulpit Neither must we lord it over Gods heritage like these chief Priests in our Text who that they might be Lords of the vineyard conspired to murder the right Lord of it the conspirators our Text telleth us were Coloni the Husbandmen And so likewise Pontius Pilat told our Saviour thine own nation and the chief Priests have delivered thee unto me Joh. 18.35 What prodigious unthankful miscreants were these there can be no Epithet bad enough for such Traitors For they that taught the people taught they not themselves They that were dressers of the vineyard durst they conspire against the owners of it Durst men of the Temple venture on the worst of treasons Well we see by this the truth of that old axiome Corruptio optimi est pessima the best wine maketh the sharpest vineger if Clergy-men once turn Traitors they are incarnate dviils So our Saviour stiled the Traitor Iudas thus likewise all Synod-traytors may be stiled And so I passe from the first part of the Text the Efficient cause of this conspiracy or the Conspirators the Husbandmen to the second the Material cause of it or the Person conspired against which was the Heir when the Husbandmen saw Him The Heir The wise God of peace and order will not have every man his own carver for the best weapon would then be the best evidence the strongest arm would be the surest title But as he hath ordained a succession of Men so of Esates their children must be their Heirs they must leave their substance to their Babes Dominio non fundatur in gratiâ they that call themselves babes of grace all things are not theirs had not Iacob supplanted Esau this gracelesse one had been Isaac's Heir For the inheritance was ever chalenged by the Eldest son and therefore this title of Heir must needs be due to Christ who was the first-begotten of his heavenly Father the first-born of his earthly Mother the first-born of every creature the first-born among many brethren by right of primogeniture he was the Heir 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faith the Apostle Heir of all things Heb. 1.2 The earth is the Lords and all that therein is the compasse of the world and they that dwell therein Psal 24.1 And he that is owner of all things maketh his Eldest Son a promise of them he promiseth to give him the Heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession Psal 2.8 The Devil I know made his brags once that he was the Heir of the World when he shewed our Saviour all the Kingdomes of it and told him they were His But as he was a Murderer so he was a Lyar from the beginning It is true Abraham had a promise that he should be heir of the world as the Apostle testifyeth Rom. 4.13 But though to Abraham and his seed there were such a promise made yet Christ for all this was still to be the Heir it is the same Apostles observation Gal. 3.16 He saith not to seeds as of many but to thy seed as of one which is Christ But here we must not be mistaken for though our Saviour be stiled the Heir yet we must know that his inheritance is no temporal but a spiritual inheritance his Kingdome his Church his heritage is not of this world And as we Christians are not of it so our inheritance properly is not in it we are heires to a better country that is an heavenly though not by nature yet by grace though not by birth yet by faith we are made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light we are heirs of God coheires with Christ we have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us where we shall see the Son of man siting on the right hand of God where we shall see our pierced Saviour not to our terrour but our triumph where we shall see him with no other but with these same eyes the same numerical though not the same mortal eyes where
yet thou shalt not be cast away for even He that upholdeth the Heavens is thine upholder Which leadeth me from the second part of the Text the Churches Passage thorow fire and water to the third which is the Concomitant or Convoy Almighty God I am or I will be with thee I that am the great Creator of Heaven and Earth I that fill all places and am contained in none I that am about thy path and about thy bed and spie out all thy wayes I will be with thee But what need then is there of this promise For we may say it without Blasphemy that God must still be with us it being as impossible for him to deny his Omnipresence as to deny himself he can sooner separate heat from fire he did that in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace he can sooner separate light from the Sun He did this at our Saviours expiration The Creator can better do any thing than divorce or divide his presence from his Creatures for herein not only our well-being but our very being doth consist should he substract his presence from us we must return into our first nothing He is not far therefore from every one of us as St. Paul told the Athenians nay he is neerer to us than we are unto our selves I will be with thee But ye know there is a twofold presence of Almighty God First His general presence which is his universall power and providence whereby he governeth and disposeth all things both in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth according to that of the Psalmist Psalm 139. If I climb up into heaven thou art there if I go down to hell thou art there also If I take the wings of the morning and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea even there also shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me Secondly There is Gods special presence whereby he is present with his Elect only either to prevent their Troubles or else to comfort and support them And chiefly is he with his servants in his Temple at his publick Worship which may easily be explained by an example The King is or ought to be by his Power in all parts of his Dominion yet he is said to be there especially where his Courtiers where his Retinue is In like manner the King of Kings by his unbounded Power and Providence is at all times in all places yet we may know him to be with us after an especial manner in the Temple from the Retinue of heavenly Courtiers that are there attending on him For it was not for Ornament only that the Walls of Solomon's Temple were carved round about with Cherubims but also to signifie that the holy Angels are ever about us at our publick services And if Angels be there much more is the King of Saints Tibi adsum I am or I will be with thee There are three things especially that will continually be with us The Air our Conscience and Almighty God We may as well be without our being as without our breath take but away this from us and take away us too The Air leaveth us not till death Our Conscience this goeth further with us it remaineth with us after death to all Eternity Do not therefore the least sin though none be with thee but thine own conscience for this will accompany thee to thy death-bed nay this worm will live for ever And thy conscience is not more inseparable from thee then thy Creatour whisper never so softly he will hear thee hide thy self never so closely he will see thee run away never so swiftly he will still be at thine elbow Tibi adsum I am or I will be with thee But I should not speak so much of Gods general presence his special presence is that which I must here insist upon That presence which he promised his Patriarchs and Prophets that presence which our Saviour promised his Apostles Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Mat. 28. ult Alway there is no Intermission To the end of the world that is world without end here is no Termination We may have men for our companions that will forsake us in distress or if they stick to us all our life they must leave us in our death But if God be our Companion if God be present with us it is not distress it is not death shall ever part us nay death shall unite us more neerly than ever we were before we shall alway be with him he will alway be with us Tibi adsum I am or I will be with thee But if God be thus alway present with his Church we may then expostulate here as Gideon once did with the Angel Judg. 6.13 Oh my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us Why is the blood of his dear servants shed like water on every side Why suffereth he the Turk Turk and Pope to drink themselves drunk with the blood of Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus I answer though seemingly God absent himself from his Church for a season yet never will he finally forsake her Seemingly I say for indeed he absenteth not himself at all it is but in our apprehension that he is ever from us if we can but believe it he is present with us alway Tibi adsum I am or I will be with thee And the Application of this now may be twofold First Here is comfort for all that mourn in Sion and with good Hezekiah turn their face to the Wall Let them be cast into prison as Joseph was Let them be cast into a dungeon as Jeremy was let them be cast into a den as Daniel was let them be cast into the water as Moses was let them be cast into the fire as the three Children were let them go thorow fire and water famine and sword never so many dangers never so great disasters yet so long as they have God with them this will sweeten all their pills in the multitude of the sorrows which they have in their hearts his comfortable presence will refresh their souls Secondly Seeing God is still with us this should teach us likewise to be still with him seeing he vouchsafeth to keep company with us on earth therefore our conversation should be with him in Heaven When we are lying down to sleep to him we should commit our spirits when we wake up likewise we should be present with him It was Jacob's vow Gen. 28. That if God would be with him then the Lord should be his God We need not speak so doubtfully for God is certainly with those that fear him not only by his general but also by his special presence to direct and protect them to deliver and to defend them which leadeth me from the third part of the Text the Concomitant Almighty God to the fourth and last which is the Consequent the Churches safety Flumina non operient flamma non incendet
they be 1 Sam. 25.11 No few or none will relieve any but only such as are well known to them And to this custome God seemeth to allude here in our Text You only have I known that is I have blessed you only on you have I multiplied my favours and loving kindnesses on you only or at least chiefly of all the families of the earth And in this sense is the word Known used Psalm 31.7 I will be glad and rejoyce in thy mercy for thou hast considered my trouble cognovisti and hast known my soul in adversities Thou hast known that is thou hast pitied thou hast had compassion on my soul cognoscere est miserari so Agellius expoundeth the place And Solomon hath a passage that may be referred to this purpose Prov. 12.10 A righteous man regardeth the life of his beasts so we read it Novit justus c. so it is in the Latin version but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in the Septuagint a righteous man hath mercy on the souls of his beasts If now we put the Latin and Greek together we shall find that to Know is to shew mercy to In which sense the word is likewise used here in our Text You only have I known of all the families of the earth But if the Commemoration must be so construed why followeth there a Commination because God hath been so good to Israel is it therefore that he threatneth them This indeed seemeth somewhat strange But if we take middle and both ends these things will soon be reconciled You only have I known of all the families of the earth we must hair here a while Desunt nonnulla there seemeth to be somewhat wanting but it cometh in at the end of the verse we may paraphrase therefore upon the Text after this manner the words are in effect as if Almighty God should have said I have nourished and brought up children and like our pretended Parliament They have rebelled against me destruction and unhappiness is in their way and the way of peace have they not known I have known them but they have not known me The Ox knoweth his owner and the Asse his Masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider I threaten them not for the good I have done to them but for the notorious evil they have done to me You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities Idcirco therefore Sin is the Causa impulsiva that which moveth and as it were compelleth almighty God to punish The Prophet Jeremy putteth the Question Lam. 3.39 wherefore doth a living man complain and he giveth an answer to it before the verse be out a man for the punishment of his sins that is a man is punished for his sins and therefore one old translation readeth it thus let him murmur at his own sins these these are the only cause of all his sufferings Idcirco Therefore Therefore I. Shall there be evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3.6 Siracides telleth us indeed of Spirits that are created for vengeance and these evil spirits many times lay on sore strokes but they have Gods commission at least permission for what they do they do this to pacifie the wrath of him that made them Eecles 39.28 As all punishment is for sin so it is from God But how can this consist with Gods goodness yes the very next particle will shew us for he speaketh not in the present but in the future tense I will he giveth Israel warning of his intention before he proceedeth to execution that if they had any grace they might repent and so prevent the Judgement threatned And he threatneth them but after a mild and gentle manner he threatneth not to plague and consume them but only to punish and correct them You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities And so much for the connexion and explication of the words It is high time now to come nearer to the parts I begin therefore with the first which is Commemoraâ—io beneficii the rehearsing of a former benefit in these words You only have I known of all the families of the earth And that we may know how well God dealt with the people of Israel we may observe that he bestowed upon them two sorts of blessings Privative and Positive ones I begin with the first Gods Privative blessings The children of Israel were for a long time bound Apprentices in Egypt where they were grievously oppressed by Pharaoh and his Task-masters who compelled them not only to make brick but it should seem by the story they would have them make straw too From which intolerable servitude God set them free at last he eased their shoulders from the burthen and their hands were delivered from making of pots He brought forth his people with joy and his chosen with gladness and gave them the lands of the heathen and they took the labours of the people in possession As for Pharaoh and his Host they were overwhelmed in the red sea they sunk down to the bottom as a stone After this God made good his word to Joshua not suffering a man to stand before him all the dayes of his life And what shall I more say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barach and of Sampson and of Jephthah and of David what marvellous deliverances God wrought for his people discomfiting their enemies both by these Worthies and by other Champions the Sun Psal 19. is compared to a strong champion and rather than Israel shall be worsted insensible champions shall fight for them the Sun shall stand still in the midst of Heaven the Starrs in their courses shall fight against Sisera so mightily did God deliver his people even the sons of Jacob and Joseph And as God bestowed many Privative blessings upon Israel so many Positive blessings too And these were of two sorts Temporal and Spiritual I begin with the first Gods Temporal blessings which are recorded Isa 5.1 2. My beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill And he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choicest vine and built a Tower in the midst of it and also made a wine-press therein It will be no digression to touch briefly upon each of these particulars the Situation of the vineyard meeteth us First which was in clivo uberrimo in a very fruitful hill The hill of Sion was a fair place and the joy of the whole earth Israel had a goodly heritage Canaan flowed with milk and honey And the fruitfulnesse of it is described at large Deut. 8 7 8 9. Next to the fruitfull situation Gods Fencing of the vineyard followeth He made a Wall about it saith the Margin and Mat. 21. it is said he hedged it round about Now an hedge serveth for