A Caveat to Prevent Future Judgments, Part 3
And ſaid vntounto him, behold, &c.
IN theſe words that Chriſt ſpake vntounto the Man, wee hauehave a precept, and reaſons perſwading it: the precept in theſe words; Sinne no more: the reaſons are two, as firſt the benefit of his health, thou art made whole; and the threatning of a worſe matter, if he ſhould ſin afterwards as before: leſt a worſe thing come vntounto thee: for the firſt of the reaſons; we hauehave the benefit it ſelfe, and finger at it, in the word; behold. After our Sauiour had cured this man, he preſently left him, as appeareth in the next verſe before; now he returnes againe, as not meaning to bee long hid, that his power might be knowne, & his ſtrange worke had in remembrance: which therefore made him to ſay; behold, as leading him by the hand to a deeper cō ſideration of what was done vponupon him: as if he had ſaid; thou was't tyed to thy bed with a long infirmity of eight and thirty yeeres continuance: now this tie is looſed by him that ſaid vntounto thee; riſe, take vp thy bed and walke, v. 8. and now thou art noe longer bound to thy bed, but free to God: remember and forget not: or behold; that is, intend thy thoughts to this worke of thy cure, paſſing ſome pauſe vponupon it. This I take to be the meaning of our Sauiour in theſe words: behold thou art made whole: which teacheth that chriſtians ſhould not paſſe ouer Gods proceedings towards them in his noble Acts, either of mercy or iuſtice with a careleſſe, or blinde eye. In Pſal. 32. the word Selah, which is a word of attention, repeated three times, as ver. 4.5.7. importeth as much: and, what God did againſt Amaleck (Gods peoples enemie) muſt as we heard, be written in a booke or regiſter, Ex. 17.14. and in Deut. 25.17. it muſt be written, what God did that way, in ſure tables of laſting memory. So Samuel, taking a ſtone, and pitching it betweene Mizphe and Shen, called it by the name of *Eben-Ezer.hitherto the Lord hath holpen vsus, 1. Sam. 7.12. The like ſtone of help for memorie, did the Iewes ſet vp in an extraordinary holy day to God for his deliuering of them from the butchery of Haman, Heſt. 9.17.18. And Dauid brought his heart to an edge by ſuch diligent booking of Gods daily mercies: for, fighting the Lords battells, he ſet down, as in a commentarie or iuſt volume, the Geſts and Acts of eueryevery daies march to the praiſe of God. The book of Pſalmes ſhew's he had the pen of a ready writer, this way: the reaſons:
One maine end of God, Reaſons in his ſtrange workes of mercy and iuſtice, is to open our eyes and to prouoke conſideration: and ſhall God come ſo neere, in them, to eueryevery one of vsus, and we take no view of him in obiects of ſo great light? Pſal. 50.22. Secondly, he that made all, doth all for himſelfe; Pro. 16.4. that is, that his workes might praiſe him, who is onelyonly worthy to be praiſed, Pſal. 145.10. but how ſhall we giuegive him the reſpects of his power, praiſe, goodnes, and infinite glory, when in his workes that are wonderfull, we obſerue little or nothing thereafter; and when, from things that are ſtranger then we thought of, and greater then we lookt for, wee draw no matter to admire his wiſedome ſo, as we be guided by it; or to magnifie his power ſo, as we repoſe vponupon it? and heere, tell me if it be not a diſgrace to an expert workeman, hauing made ſome excellent peece, that his friend ſhould paſſe by, with contempt, with neglect at leaſt, not vouchſafing to looke vponupon it? To apply therfore: is this a diſgrace, being offered to man who works imperfectly? what is it then, not to hauehave in eſteeme the workes of God, ſo perfectly wrought? And (here) Salomons counſel is, (and it is good counſel;) conſider the work of God, Eccleſ. 7.13. Thirdly, when men comming into ſome ſhop, behold ſome curious work; they paſſe by it (knowing it made not it ſelf;) and enquire after him that made it: and ſhall we looking into the ſhop of Gods workes, that are all excellent, looſe our ſight in them, neuer looking away to the moſt excellent work-man, IEHOVAH our Creator? Fourthly, if God doe nothing in vaine; then what he doth alwaies to purpoſe, muſt be thought of accordingly, by the aſſiſtance and helpe of our beſt meditation, Pſal. 111.4.
An inſtruction therfore to gather matter from all Gods works, Vſe 1 (eſpecially ſuch as are ſtrangely wrought) to our help in this duty: when we ſee iudgements executed in the land, we muſt put them down in our memories, as in ſome book, that we may feare and be humbled by them: or, if God work mercifully in our kingdome, as he lately did by quenching ſo ſtrangely thoſe coales of Plague he caſt into London, and by opening that Fountaine of trading that was ſo choakt vp in the laſt Viſitation by Peſtilence: we muſt not forget his louing kindneſſe to obſerue it for his praiſe, whoſe mercy endureth for euer. The Prophet, the Author of the 147. and 148. Pſalmes, was trained vp in this Schoole, & learned very much by the wiſdome and iuſtice that he found in all Gods workes. And ſurely, if we would go to Schoole, but to our daily experience in this kinde, hauing eyes ſuch as this Man of God had, and vſing our diligence ſo as he did, we ſhould not be ſo fooliſh & ignorant, and as beaſts before God.
The very heathen, that were without the word, and had no other bookes but the workes of God to reade in, did in them ſee ſomewhat of the true God, though not to his glory by the wiſedome which is of him, Rom. 1.20. And ſhall we learne nothing of God, who hauehave not only the darke booke of his workes to looke vponupon, but the booke of a plainer letter, the booke of his word to meditate of? ſhal we become more fooliſh then the wiſer ſort of the heathen were, that onelyonly groped after God in their fooliſh hearts that were full of darkeneſſe, verſe 21. And (now) to our purpoſe: doe we thinke, or can wee imagine that God ſent and took away ſo great a fire of Plague, ſaue for ſome few ſparkes that yet remaine here and there vntroden out, only to hold talke of it, and not to feare that God that hath power ouer all Plagues? Then are we as blockiſh as thoſe Iewes, whom Ieremy reprooueth for learning nothing of the feare of God by his bleſſings, yea though he reſerued vntounto them the appointed weekes of the harueſt, Ier. 5.24. But Gods children, and all whom the Lord hath made wiſe to their Saluation, wil heare the Rod, and him who hath appointed or betrothed it; Mich. 6.9. If the father brings a rod, the fearefull childe will tremble: the whip of Peſtilence is a ſore Rod, & they tremble at it, whom God hath ſealed. By it, or in ſight of it, they gather themſelues, and all their wits together, taking them vp from their ſtray waies, before the decree (which is at the ſeale) come forth, or be executed againſt them, Zeph. 2.1. or they fan & winnow themſelues from the chaffe of ſin, which cā not abide in the winde of the Lords iuſtice, & is driuen to hell with ſinners, and all that forget God. They trie their waies, and bring them to the touch, turning vntounto God, Lam. 3.40. and ſo are better by the rod, Gods louing correction makes them whole: The wicked not ſo.
A reproofe of thoſe who ſet all Gods iudgements, or Vſe 2 workes done in iudgement, at naught. There are that deſpiſe counſell, and will none of Gods correction, Pro. 1.25. ſuch are neuer the better by his word calling them, nor by the whip laſhing them: whether God be angry or well pleaſed, they are all one. Let the earth be moued, they are not moued, and let the hills tremble, they feare not. In the ſad daies of a Land, cauſed by Peſtilence, dearth, or the rumours of warre, they drinke wine in bowles, and anoint themſelues with the chiefe oyntments, not troubled for the affliction of Ioſeph, Am. 6.6. no aduerſity can make them change their merry note which they chaunt to their inſtruments of muſick, ver. 5. and they put the day of euill farre off, verſe 3. They conſider not the rod, and prouoke the ſtriker, neither can puniſhments awe them, nor bleſſings winne them: for puniſhmēts, if they touch not them, no matter wher they light: and for bleſſings, they take them as gifts of fortune, or with Papiſts, as their due and merit from God: they riſe not by them to obediēce, & they liue in them to the giuers diſhonor. Hence, ſo few to this day, ſee to any amendment, notwithſtāding the ſinger of God, or rather whole hand in ſo grieuousa Plague, or ſtroke vponupon Londō, neuer the like, or ſo great in any memory now liuing. But though God hath now ſtopped the ſore, that ſo ran & ceaſed not; yet how ſoone he may open it againe, who knowes? & who ſhould not conſider? he is the ſame God that he was euer, and the God that hateth iniquity as much as euer he did. The Peſtilence that was ſo lately ſent, what was it but the fruit of an euill tree, that is, of the Realms ſin? Our Land was all ouer-runne with ſin: Our Cities and great Townes were as the Pot, and the men in them, as the fleſh, ſpoken of by Ezekiel, Chap. 11.3. & 24.3.4.5. Our Maſters in Iſrael were (many of them) no Teachers: and ſome that taught, threw down by euill example what they builded by doctrine, eating and drinking with ſinners, Mat. 24.49. the poore ſheepe were ſmitten with ignorance: all good fellowſhip was and did conſiſt in pots of drinke, and pipes of ſmoake. In the whole Land there was a large confederacie and increaſe of ſinfull men. The ſinnes of the Churches ſpoken of. Apoc. 2. and 3. Chapters, were the ſins of ſome of better note in their cold louelove of the truth: and for pride, fulnes of bread, and abundance of idleneſſe (the very ſins of Sodom) what were they but Englands crying ſins? Thus it was with vsus, and this wee were, when the late Plague began: and if we fall againe vponupon this euill byas of old cuſtome to like ſins or worſe, not remembring Gods late hand, what can we expect but a new Plague, or the old renewed? God hath other roddes of correction in his Schoole, and yron rods to breake vsus, if we will not turne at the correction paſt: or if we will ſinne ſtill, prouoking God in the Church, and grieuing him in the Common-wealth, the Lord will watch vponupon worſe Plagues to bring them among vsus: for, when one affliction cannot preuaile, he can ſend another, and many, till we be made better, or confounded, Leuit. 26.18.19.
So much for the finger directing to the benefit: the benefit it ſelfe followeth.