Eighteen Sermons, Sermon 17
SERMON XVII. AT HAMPTON-COURT May 29. 1662.
HOSEA III. 5.
Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness.
HE had said in the vvords before, that the children of Israel shall abide many dayes vvithout a King and vvithout a Prince, vvithout a Sacrifice and vvithout an Image or Altar, and vvithout an Ephod and vvithout Teraphim. Now vvhen they shall have been for many years in such a state of helpless desolation, shall have no King under vvhose shadow they, their Laws and Rights, might hope for shelter; no Prince to guard them from the sad calamities of vvild confusion or usurping violence; shall have no exercises of religion to allay and soften those calamities, and give them comfort in the bearing of them; no Altar to lay hold on for security against them, or to stretch out their hands towards; for deprecation of them; no nor a God to put an end to this sad state; nor any means of direction vvhat to do under it, no Ephod to ask connsel at; nor yet the pageantry, the fallacy of these, no Teraphim for Ephods, nor Image for a God; the same destruction having seized these and their worshippers, the people and their Idols going into Captivity together, and the only true God having forsaken them: Now vvhen the Prophet had denounc'd this state of Woe, which vvas to dwell vvith them so long as that their very expectations of deliverance should be dying, having continued threescore years and ten, a longer and more wearisome age of patience then life; he then proceeds to so eeten all by telling them of a return, and what things they shall doe in it; and they are three.
First, Seek the Lord their God, apply themselves to his Worship and Odedience, and cleave to him; for so the word is rendred foreign Lev. 19. 23. and Jeremy repeating this c. 30. 9. vvords it, shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King:
Which is the second thing they vvere to do. As th… Ecclesiastical state vvas to be setled, so the secular too upon its just foundations: Religion and Loyalty both running in their ancient current.
Thirdly, They shall fear the Lord and his goodness: not only tremble before him, vvho is the Lord, that did exert his power in their destruction; but shall much more revere his goodness, that did flow out in such plentiful miraculous expresses of delivetance.
Now these being not only prophecy vvhat in that juncture they vvould do, nor only duties vvhat they were to do, but also counsels and directions immediately from God vvhat they vvere best to do, the only prudent and safe course according to the policies of heaven; the direct view of these particulars in reference to that state of theirs is not an unconcerning prospect at this season, which is the Anniversary of an equal return; and therefore I shall lay them so before you, and the reflection on them in our practice shall make the application.
1. They shall seek the Lord their God is my first part, and the Lord's prime direction for the repairing of a broken Nation. Neither indeed can any other course be taken; for till we have found him, while he does hide his face, nothing but darkness dwells upon the land; or if any light do break out, 'tis But the kindlings of his anger: so he expresses, Deut. 31. 17. This people vvill forsake me and break my Covenant, then my anger shall be kindled against them, and I vvill forsake them, and hide▪ my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they vvill say in that day, Arc not these evils come upon us because our God is not amongst us? This absence is only another vvord for desolation: Be thou instructed, ô Ierusalem, saith God by Ieremy, c. 6. 8. lest my soul depart from thee, and I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited: As if without him there vvere nothing else but solitude in Cities and in Courts, and all vvere desart vvhere he does not dwell. Yea there is something beyond desolation, Hos. 9. 11, 12. As for Ephraim, their glory shall flee away like a bird from the birth and from the vvomb, and from the conception: though they bring up their children, yet I vvill bereave them that there shall not be a man, foreign yea vvo also to them vvhen I depart from them. And it must needs be so; for let our state be never so calamitous, if God be not departed, there is comfort in it, and a deliverer at hand: If vve are in the place of dragons, his presence vvill make heaven there; and although we be covered vvith Psal. 44. 19.the shadow of death, if the light of his Countenance break in, vve are in glory; and the brightness of that vvill soon damp and shine out the fiery trial. But if the Lord depart; then there is no redemption possible; God hath forsaken him, persecute him and take him, for there is none to deliver him, Psal. 71. 11. But if there vvere deliverance some other vvay; yet the vvant of God's presence is an evil, such as nothing in the whole vvorld can make good: the presence of an Angel in his stead does not. When the Lord said to Israel, I vvill not go up in the midst of thee, but I vvill send an Angel vvith thee, and drive out the Amorite, the Hittite, &c. yet vvhen the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned, and no man did put on his Ornaments; Exod. 33. 4. Nay more, I shall not speak a contradiction if I shall say, that the most intimate presence of the Godhead does not supply God's absence; and such a small vvithdrawing of himself as may consist vvith being united hypostatically, vvas too much for him to bear, vvho vvas Immanuel vvhen he complained God vvas not vvith him: I mean our Saviour on the Cross. He, vvho although he did beseech against his cup vvith fervencies that did breath out in heats of bloody sweat, vvith agonies Luk. 22. 44.of prayer; yet when he fell down under it, did chearfully submit to it, saying, Not my vvill, but thy vvill be done; yet vvhen God hides himself, he does expostulate vvith him, crying out, Ver. 42. Mat. 27. 46.My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? His God could no more forsake him; than himself could be not himself: and yet the apprehension of that vvhichwhich could not be vvas even insufferable to him, to whom nothing could be insufferable. He seems to feel a very contradiction while he but seems to feel the vvant of the Lord's presence.
Such is the sad importance of God's not being with us; and this same instant tells us vvhat drives him away. 'Twas sin that he vvithdrew from then: Christ did but take on him our guilt, and upon that the Lord forsook him: God could no more endure to behold wickedness in him, than the Sun could to see God suffer; Iniquity eclips'd them both, and sin did separate betwixt him and himself, and made that person vvho was God cry out, My God, my God, why hast thou Mat. 27. 45.forsaken me? And it will do the same betwixt God and apeople. Isay. 59. 1, 2. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortned that it cannot save; nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have separted between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. His face is clothed with light, we know; but when Wickedness over-spreads a people, those deeds of darkness put out the light of his countenance. His hand although it be not shortned, yet it contracts and shuts it self, not only to grasp and withhold his mercies from them, but to smite: Iniquity builds such a wall of separation as does shut out omnipresence, and makes him who is every where, not be with such a people; not be in hearing of their needs; for vvhen their sins do cry, no prayers can be hearkned to; he will not hear you, saith the Prophet. And that gives us the very foreign of the Lord's departure from a people, and the manner of it.
He is taking away his peace and mercies from a Nation vvhen he vvill hear no prayers for it; and he declares that he vvill hear no prayers when he vvithdraws once from his house of prayer, and makes his offices to cease. The place appointed for these offices, the Sanctuary, he calls, we know the tabernacle of aforeignmeeting, that is, vvhere he would bExod. 29. 42, 43.meet his votaries, and hear and bless them; calls it his cPsal. 42. 4.house; his dPsal. 74. 7.dwelling place, his court, his ePsal. 31. 20.presence, and his fIer. 17. 12. & 14. 21. Psal. 74. Ver. 3.throne: and if so, vvhen he is not to be found in these, vvhen he no longer dwels nor meets in them, vve may be sure that he hath left the land. The Psalmist, vvhen he does complain men had done evil in the Sanctuary, the adversaries roared in the midst of the Congregations, and set up their banners there for 4.trophies; they broke down all the carved work thereof with axes 6.and hammers, and had defiled the dwelling places of God's … even to the ground, and burnt up all the houses of God in the land; he does suppose that God vvas then departed vvhen they had Ver. 7.left him no abiding place: and therefore cries out, O God wherefore art thou absent from us so long? Remember S… where thou Ver. 1. 2.hast dwelt. But 'tis not only upon these A…l…gies I build; this method of departure vve shall finde exactly in Ezekie… Vision of that case to vvhichwhich my Text referres: it begins ch. 9. 3. And the glory of the God of Israel (i. e. the … cloud, the token of his presence in the Sanctuary,) went up from the Cherub whereupon he was, to the threshold of the …nse, as going out; and then ver. 8▪ he does refuse to be entreared for the land: after that ch. 10. 18. The glory went from off the threshold to the midst of the City; and chap. 11. 23. it went from thence to the mountain without the City, and so away: and then nothing but desolation dwelt upon the land, untill the counsel of my Text vvas followed, and they did seek the Lord their God: for then the glory did return into the Sanctuary just as it vvent away, as you may find it ch. 43.
And having seen vvhen and how God forsakes a people, and for vvhat, that does direct us how to seek him, and it is thus, When men forsake those paths in vvhichwhich they did not only erre and go astray, but did walk contrary to God, so that they did forsake each other; and do return, walk in his vvaies, the vvayes of Commandments, and return also to his Church, and seek him in his house, fall low before his footstool, begge of him to meet in his tabernacle, renew his vvorship, and all invitations of him to return into his dwelling-place. For sure as it is in vain to seek him but in his own vvayes, nor can vve hope to meet him but in his Tabernacle of meeting; so also Scripture calls both these to seek the Lord, and promises to both the finding him. To the first, De…t. 4 29, 30. If from thy tribulation thou …alt seek the Lord thy God, t…ou shalt find him, if thou seek him vvith all thy heart, and vvith all thy soul, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice. And to the second, Jer. 29. 12. speaking of this sad state to vvhichwhich my Text relates, Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me; and I will hearken unto you, and I will be found of you, saith the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity. I …ould produce you instances of Asa making all his people swear to seek the Lord: but because my Text speaks of David, he shall be the great explication, as he vvas the practice of this duty in both senses. In the former, 119. Psal. I have sought thy Commandments above gold or precious stone; more than that vvhichwhich does make and does adorn my Crown, than that which furnishes all the necessities and all the pomps of Royalty. And for the other, Psal. 63. 1, 2. O God, thou art my God, early vvill I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no vvater is: To see thy power and thy glory, as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary. His very words do seem to labour too, and he does seek expressions to tell us how he seeks. The hot fits of a thirsty palate that call so oft and so impetuosly are in his soul; it hath a pious fever, which cannot be allay'd but by pouring out of his soul to God in the Temple, by breathing out its heats in his devotion offices. Nay more, he longs, hath that I know not vvhether appetite, or passion, which is not to be understood, but onelyonly suffered; to vvhichwhich all the unreasonable violences which passion can be heated into, all the defaillances nature can be opprest into, are natural; it is the bodies Extasie. Now this he had towards the vvorship of the Sanctuary; his very flesh found rapture in those exercises, and vvhen he vvas in a barren and dry land, vvas driven from the plenties of a Court, and from the glories of a throne into a desaert solitude, he found no other vvants but of God's house; did mind, pant, and long after nothing else, did neither thirst for his necessities, nor long for his own Crown, but for the Tabernacle only. And besides the Religion of this, he had reason of State too to be thus affected; this vvas the best means to engage his Subjects to him and secure his Throne. He knew, if by establishing God's worship and by going vvith the multitude, as he did use, to the Psal. 42. 4.exercises of it; if by royal example and encouragements of vertue, and by discountenanting and chastising impiety, by doing as he did profess to doe, Ps. 101. (that directory for a Court) he could people his land vvith holy living, and his Temple vvith holy Worship; he knew he should then have good Subjects, loyal to him and at peace vvith themselves. If they vvill seek their God, then they will seek their King. The Lord saw this dependence, and therefore counselled this course should be taken. The Master of our Politicks discerned it too, and therefore Arist. Pol. l. 7.does advise that the first and chiefest publick cares should be about things of Religion, that and the same profession of it being foreign, the cement of Communities, and the very foundation of all legislative, and indeed all povver in the Magistrate: and in the people foreign, 'tis a most efficacious philtre, a charm, a Gordian knot of kindness. And as a Iew observed of their own Nation, foreign, Ioseph. l. con. Appio.foreign, To have one and the same opinion's of God, and not to differ in their rites from one another, breeds the best harmony in mens affections. When on the other side no obligations, though the most signal and divine, vvill hold them in obedience and peace, if their ambitions or interests look another way: and if at any time present advantage, or an expectation, or some passion do encline them to seek David their King; yet the appearance of a change of Interest, that expectation defeated, or a cross animosity will burst those bonds, unless Religion and Communion in Worship help to twist them. David had had experience of this.
Abner knew of God's oath to David that after Saul he should be King over all Israel; but he vvas otherwise concerned, and therefore he made Ishbosheth King, maintained a long and a sore warr even against vvhat he knew God was engaged to bring about, and made himself strong for the house of Saul, 2 Sam. 2, 3, ch. But vvhen a quarrel happened betwixt Ishbosheth and him, then, So do God to Abner and more also, except as the Lord hath sworn to David, even so I do to him, to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Iudah. And he sent Messengers to him saying, VVhose is the land? make but thy league with me. c. 3. 9, 10, 11, 12. Do but look forward, and you find when Abner vvas cut off, and Ishbosheth vvas slain, and Israel had no leader, then they came to David, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh, and the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, c. 5. 1, 2. They knew all that before, yet vvould not let him do it, till they had no other leader. Nay, vvhen they had done that, by Absalom's insituations (who in a vvay of trecherous pitty did instill dislikes against the government, and did remonstrate in good wishes, as some men do in prayers, c. 15. 3, 4.) they vvere all drawn into rebellion against this David, and made him flie out of the land, and became Subjects to that Absalom. When he vvas dead indeed they spake of bringing back the King, c. 19. 10. and vvhen his own Iudah had done it, quarrell'd ver. 43. because that their advice was not first had: and though Iudah had nothing but their service, for, Have we eaten at all of the Kings cost, or hath he given us any gift? say they, ver. 42. yet Israel is is angry, because he came not back upon their score, for they forsooth have ten parts in him, v. 43. and yet the next day every man of Israel went after him that said, we have no part in David, Sheba a man of Belial, ch. 20. 1. Thus no allegiance, no tie however sacred and divine vvill hold them vvho follow not upon God's score. Nay at the last, because that Rehoboam vvould not ease their taxes, all Israel cry out, VVhat portion have we in David? see to thi…e own house, David. And to make this secession perpetual (vvhichwhich all the former did 1 Kings 12. 16.not prove) Ieroboam did use no other policy, but to change the VVorship and the Priests: He knew he should divide their hearts and Nations for ever, vvhen he had altered once the Service and the Officers; and if he could but keep them from seeking God at Ierusalem, he vvas secure they vvould not seek David their King. And so it proved. Now the Lord to prevent divisions had provided so far for Vniformity in his vvorship, that he required a single Vnity; and that it might be but in one manner, he let it be but in one place.
And truly, when men once depart from Uniformity, what measures can they set themselves of changing? what shall confine or put shores to them? vvhat principle can they proceed upon vvhichwhich shall engage them to stay any where? and why may not divisions be as infinite as mens phansies? And though, vvhen those are but in circumstantial things, those vvho are strong, and know them to be such, are no otherwise concerned to contend for them than on Authorities behalf, (to vvhichwhich every change is a Convulsion fitt,) and on the account of decency, and of compliance vvith the universal Church: yet vvhen others do dogmatize, and put conscience in the not doing them, and stand at such a distance from them as to chuse Schisme, Disobedience, and Sedition rather, and therefore must needs look upon damnation in them; these differences make as great a gulfe and ch…sme as that vvhichwhich does divide Dives from Luk. 16. 26.Abraham's bosom. It is one God, one Faith, one VVorship makes hearts one. Hands lifted up together in the …emple they vvill joyn and elasp: and so Religion does fulfill its name à religando, binds Prince and Subjects all together; and they vvho thus do seek the Lord their God, vvill also seek David their King, God's next direction, and my second part.
2. And here three things offer themselves, a King, their King, and David their King.
I am not here to read a Lecture of State policy upon a vie of Governments; vvhy seek a King, not any other sort of Government; and vvhy their King, one that already was so by the right of Succession, not vvhom addresses or election should make so. And though I think, twere easie to demonstrate only Monarchy had ever a divin… or natural original, and that elective Monarchy is most unsafe and burthensome, full of dangerous and uneasie consequences; and this so much to sight, that choice for the most part bounds it self, proves but a ceremony of Succession: yet this I need not do, for I am dealing vvith the Jews, vvho had God's judgement in the case, and his appointment too; and to me that is argument enough. And vvhen God hath declard, for the transgressions Prov. 28. 2.of a land many are the Princes thereof; many at once, as in a Common-wealth, or many several families successively, (for so God reckons also one or many; 'tis still, vve see, David their King, while 'tis in David's line, and so the King does truly never die, while his race lives.) If either of these many be Gods punishment, for the sins of a land; I vvill not say that they vvho love the many Princes love the transgressions which God plagues so; but I will say, they who do chuse that which God calls his plague, that quarrel for his vengeance, and vvith great strife and hazard take his indignation by force, I can but pity them in their own opinions and enjoyments: but, O my soul, enter not thou into their counsels.
As for seeking their King. I shall content my self vvith that vvhichwhich Calvin saies upon the words; Nam aliter verè & ex animo Deum quaerere non potuit, quin seetiam subjiceret legitimo …mperio cu… subjectus erat: For they could not otherwise truly and with all their heart seek God, except they did subject themselves to his Government to whom they did of right belong as Subjects. And I shall adde that they vvho do forsake their King, vvill soon forsake their God. The aR. Simeon the son of Iochai said, foreign and R. Simeon the son of Menasiah said, foreign Deut. 33. …. Exod. 3…. 1, 5.Rabbines say it more severely of Israel, that they at once rejected three things, the Kingdome of the house of David, and the Kingdome of Heaven, and the Sanctuary. And truly, if vve do consult that State from the beginning, we shall find that vvhen they vvere vvithout their King, they alvvaies vvere vvithout their God.
Moses vvas the first King in Jeshurun, and he vvas only gone into the Mount for forty daies, and they set up a golden Calf; they make themselves a God if they vvant him vvhom the Lord makes so, as he does the Magistrate: if they have not a Prince, that foreign, living Image of God, then they must have an Id…l. When Moses his next successor vvas dead, vve read that the man Micah had an house of Gods, and consecrated one of his sons to be his Priest: and truly he might make his Priest vvho made his Deities. And the account of this is given, In those daies there vvas no King in Israel, Iud. 17. 5, 6. The very same is said, ch. 18. 1. to preface the Idolatry of the Tribe of Dan: There vvas no heir of restraint, as it is worded ver. 7. It seems, to curb impiety is the Princes Inheritance, vvhichwhich till it be supprest, he hath not what he is heir to. But Vice vvill know no boundaries if there be no King, vvhose sword is the only mound and fence against it: for if vve read on there, 19, 20, 21. ch. vve shall finde those dismal tragedies of Lust and VVarre, the one of vvhichwhich did sin to death the Levites wife; the other, besides 40000. slain of them vvho had a righteous cause; and vvhom God did bid fight, destroyed also a Tribe in Israel: these all spra…g from the same occasion, for so the story closes it, In those daies there was no King in Israel, ch. 21. 25.
Just upon this, when God in their necessities did raise them Iudges, that is, Kings, read all their story, you will find to almost every several Judge there did succeed a several Idolatry: God still complaining, the children of Israel did evill again after the death of such an one, till he raised them another. Iudg. 3. 7. & ver. 12. Ch. …. 1. Ch. 6. 1. Ch. 10. 6. Ch 13. 1. … 1 Kings 16. 26. Ch. 2…. 22. & 22. 52. &c.Those 450. years being devided all betwixt their Princes and their Idols. After them Jeroboam, he that made the great secession of that people from their Prince, hath got no other character from God but this, the (a) Man that did make Israel to sin, at once against God and against their King. Yea upon this account they are reckon'd by God to sin after both their Idolatry and State vvere ended, vvhen their calves and their Kingdome vvere destroyed. Ezek. 4. 4, 5. the Lord does bid the Prophet lie on his left side 390. daies, to bear the iniquity of Israel according to the number of the years of their iniquity. But this vvas more then the years of their State, vvhichwhich vvere only 255. 390. years indeed there vvere betwixt the falling off of the ten Tribes, and the destruction of Ierusalem by the King of Babel; but those ten Tribes vvere gone, their Kingdome perfectly destroy'd above 130. years before: but their iniquity vvas not, it seems, that does outlive their State, so long as that God's Temple, that King's house did stand from vvhichwhich they did divide. As if Seditious men and Schismaticks sin longer then they are, even while those are vvhom they do sin against in separating from.
'Tis true, there vvas an Ahaz and Manasseh in the house of David, but Hezekiah and Iosiah did succeed. Mischief did not appear entail'd on Monarchy, as 'tis upon rebellion and having no King. It does appear their Kings vvere guards also to God and his Religion, the great defendors of his faith and worship. God and the Prince for the most part stood and fell together: Therefore St. Paul did afterwards advise to pray for Kings, that 1 Tim. 2. 2.we might live in godliness and honesty; and still they vvere the same vvho sought the Lord their God, and David their King.
But vvhy David their King? for could his Kingdome disappear and be to seek, of vvhom the Lord had said, I have sworn once by my Holiness, I will not fail David? Psal. 89. And his Vet. 3….Throne therefore vvas as sure as God is holy. But yet the Lord had said to the people of Israel, If ye do wickedly; ye shall be 1 Sam. 12. 25.destroyed both you and your King. There are other sins besides Rebellion and Treason that murder Kings and Governments: Those that support their Ills by their dependencies, and use great shadows for a s…elter to rapacity, oppression, or licences, or any crying vvickedness; these prove Traitors to Majesty and themselves, strike at the root of that under vvhichwhich they took covert, fell that and crush themselves. National vices have all Treason in them, and every combination in such sins is a Conspiracy. If universal practice palliate them, we do not see their stain it may be, think them slight; but their complexion is purple: Common blood is not deep enough to colour them, they die themselves in that that's sacred. Nay these do seem to spread contagion to God; as if they vvould not let the Lord be holy, nor suffer that to be which he swore by his holiness should be: for the Psalmist cries out, Where Psal. …9. 49.are thy old loving kindnesses which thou swearest unto David? But sure some of God's oaths will stand; if not those of his kindness, those vvill by vvhichwhich he swears the r…ine of such sinners, and God that is holy will be sanctified in judgement upon Isa 5. 16.them. Yea, upon more then the offenders, for the guilty themselves are not a sacrifice equal to such piacular offences. Innocent Majesty must bleed for them too; If you do wickedly, you shall be destroy'd both you and your King. Thus when God vvould remove Judah out of his sight, good Josiah must fall; and the same makes them be to seek David their King.
But how David their King, vvhen 'twas Zorobabel? for with Theodoret and others I conclude he must be meant in the first literal importance of the vvords.
It vvas the custome of most Nations from some great eminent prince to name all the Succession, so at once to suggest his Excellencies to his followers, and to make his glory live. Now vvithout doubt David vvas Heroe enough for this, and his …lour alone sufficient to ground the like practice upon. And though we do not find that done, yet vve do find his piety and his uprightness made the standard by vvhichwhich that of his Successors is meted. Of one 'tis said, he walked in the waies of David his father, of another, he did that which 2 Chro. 34. 2. 2 King. 14. 3.was right in the sight of the Lord, but not like unto David his father. And because David vvent aside, and vvas upright vvith an Exception, once therefore it is said. The Lord was with Ieho…haphat, because he walkt in the first … ayes of his father David. But besides this, his very name is given to two, Zorobabel, and the Messiah; both vvhichwhich vvere to be the restorers of their Chron. 17. 3.people: the one from Sin and Hell, to re-establish the Kingdome of heaven it self; the other to deliver his people from Babel, and to repair a broken Nation and demolish'd Temple. And for this vvork God bids them seek David their King.
The vvaies from Babel to Ierusalem, from the Confusion of a people to a City that is at unity in it self, the City of God where he Psal. 12…. 1▪ 5.appears in perfect beauty, and where the throne of the house of David is, must be the first vvaies of David: in those he vvalk'd to Sion, and did invest his people in God's promises, the vvhole land of Canaan. In those Zorobabel brought them back to that land and Sion. And in these our Messiah leads us to Mount Sion that is above, to the celestial Ierusalem; does build an universal Church and Heaven it self. And all that have the like to do must vvalk in those first waies, fulfill that part of David, and must copy Christ. Such the repairers of great breaches must be: these are the vvaies to settle Thrones; the only vvaies in vvhichwhich vve may find the goodness of the Lord; vvhichwhich to fear is the third direction, and my last part.
They shall fear the Lord and his goodness.
3. That Israel vvho came but now out of the furnate should fear the Lord vvhose vvrath did kindle it, vvhose justice they had found such a consuming fire as to make the Temple it self a Sacrifice, and the vvhole Nation a burnt-offering, is reasonable to expect: but vvhen his goodness had repair'd all this, to require them to fear that, does seem hard. That that goodness vvhichwhich vvhen it is once apprehended does commit a rape upon our faculties, and being tasted melts the heart, and causes dissolution of soul through swoons of complacency, that this should be received vvith dread and tre…bling, is most strange. Indeed the Psalmist saies, There is mercy with God Psal. 130. 4.that he may be feared; for vvere there not, vve should grow desperate: but how to fear those mercies is not easie. 'Tis true, when God made his goodness pass before Moscs, shewed him the glory of it, as he saies, in those most comfortable attributes, the sight of vvhichwhich is beati…ick Vision, Exod. 34. 6, &c. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin; if that vvhichwhich follows there be part of it, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers up on the children unto the third and fourth generation; if this be one ray of the glory of goodness, if it dart out such beams, alas, 'tis as devouring as the lake of fire, his very goodness stabs vvhole successions at once, and the guilty may tremble at it for themselves and their posterity. But if those vvords do mean as vve translate those very vvords, Jer. 46. 28. I vvill not leave thee altogether unpunish'd, yet will not utterly cut off, not make a full end of the guilty, vvhen I visit foreigniniquities upon the children, but vvill leave them a remnant still; then there is nothing dreadful in …t, but those very visitations have kindness in them, and his rod comforts, and this issue of his goodness also is not terrible but lovely. To fear God's goodness therefore is to revere it, to entertain it vvith a pious …stonishment, acknowledging themselves unworthy of the crums of it, especially not daring to provoke it by surfeting, or by presuming on it, or by abusing it to serve ill ends, or any other than God sent it for, those of piety and obedience: not to comply vvith vvhichwhich, is to defeat God's kindness, and the designs of it. If vvhen they sought the Lord, he vvas found of them, and came to his dwelling place onelyonly to be forc'd thence again by their abominations; if vvhen his goodness had restor'd all to them, they had David their King but to conspire against, an Altar onelyonly to pollute, and a Temple to separate from, as Manasses the Priest, Sanballat's son in law, vvith his accomplices did doe; this vvere both to affront and to renounce that goodness, vvhichwhich above all things they must dread the doing: for if this be offended too, ruine is irreversible; tho…e is no other attribute in God a sinner can fly to vvith any hope. His Holiness cannot behold iniquity; his Iustice speaks nothing but condemnation to guilt, his Power vvithout kindness is but omnipotent destruction; but if vve have his Goodness on our side, vve have an Advocate in his own bosome that vvill bear up against the rest, for his mercy is over all his attributes as vvell as vvorks: but if this also be exasperated, and kindness grow severe, there is no refuge in the Lord, no shadow of him to take Sanctuary under; for there is nothing to allay the anger of his Compassion and Bounty. This sure is the extreamest terrour, we are to dread his kindness more than his severity and wrath; we have an antidote, a buckler against these, but none against the other if it be provok'd; and if the heats of love take fire and rise into indignation, 'tis unquenchable flame and everlasting burning. Therefore when God hath done all things that he can do or they can wish, then most of all they must fear the Lord and his goodness.
My Text and I have spoke all this vvhile to the Iews: nor do I know vvhether I need to address any other vvay, all this did so directly point at us. The glories of this day need not the foil of those calamities from vvhichwhich this day redeem'd, to set them off; Or you may read them in my Prophet here, and our own guilts will make too sad a Comment on his Text, who were more barbarous Assyrians to our selves. We also were without a Prince and without Sacrifice, had neither King, nor Church, nor Offices, because we our selves had destroy'd them, and that we might not have them had engag'd or covenanted against them; ty'd to our miseries so, that without perjury we could neither be without them, nor yet have them. As we had broke through all our sacred oaths to invade and usurp calamity and guilt, so neither could we repent without breach of Vows, If … is were not enough to make us be without a God too, then to drive him away vve had defil'd his dwelling places to the ground, and by his ancient gists of remove he vvas certainly gone. There was indeed exceeding much Religion among us, yet, God knows, almost none at all, while Christianity was crumbled into so many, so minute professions, that 'twas divided into little nothings, and even lost in a crowd of it self; while each man was a Church, every single professor vvas a vvhole multitude of Sects. And in this tumult, this riot of faiths, if the son of man should have come, could he have found any faith in the Land? Vertue vvas out of countenance and practice, while prosperous and happy Villany usurped its name; vvhile Loyalty, and conscience of oaths, and duty vvere most unpardonable crimes, to vvhichwhich nothing but ruine vvas an equal punishment; and all those guilts that make the last times perillous, Blasphemy, disobedience, truce-breakings and Treasons, Schisms and Rebellions, with all their dismal consequences and appendages, (for these are not single, personal crimes, these have a politick capacity) all these did not onelyonly walk in the dress of piery, and under holy Masks, but were themselves the very form of Godliness, by which 'twas constituted and distinguished, the Signature of a party of Saints, the Constellation of their graces: And on the other side, the detestation of such hypocrisie made others Libertines and Atheists; vvhile seeing men such holy counterfeits, so violent in acting, and equally engag'd for every false religion, made them conclude there vvas none true, or in earnest. And all this vvas because vve vvere without our King; for 'twas the only interest of all those usurpations that vvere, to contrive and preserve it thus. And vvhen vve had roll'd thus through every form of Government, addrest to each, mov'd every stone, and rais'd each stone to the top of the Mount, but every one still tumbled down again, and ours like Sisyphus's labour was like to have no end, onelyonly restless and various Calamity; Necessity then counsell'd us, and we applied to God's directions in the Text, I know not whether in his method, but it is plain we did seek David our King. And my heart is towards the Governo…rs of Israel, that Iudg. 5. 9.offer'd themselves willingly among the people: bless ye the Lord: yea, Thou, ô Lord, bless them. May all the blessings which this was the birth-day of, all that my Text encloses, all the goodness of the Lord, be the sure portion of them and their Families; may they see the King in his beauty, and peace upon Israel, and may their Names be blest in their posterities for evermore. We sought him with the violent impatiences of necessitous and furious desires, and our eyes, that had even fail'd with looking for him, did even fail with looking on him, as impotent and as unsatisfied in our fruitions as expectations; and he was entertain'd with as many tears as pray'd for; as one vvhom not our Interests alone, but our guilts had endear'd to us, and our tears: he vvas as necessary to us as repentance, as vvithout vvhom it vvas impossible for us to repent and return from those impieties to him, of usurping his rights, of exiling, of murthering him by wants, because vve could not doe it by the Axe or Sword; vvithout him 'tvvas impossible for us to give over the committing these; and the tears that did vvelcome him vvere one of our best lavers to vvash off that blood that vve had pull'd upon our selves. One endear'd also to us by God's most miraculous preservations of him for us: We cannot look upon his life but as the issue of prodigious bounty, snatch'd by immediate Providence out of the gaping jaws of tyrannous, usurping, mutherous malice, merely to keep him for our needs; and for this day: One vvhom God had train'd up and manag'd for us, just as he did prepare David their 2 Sam. 5. 4.King, at thirty years of age to take possession of that Crown vvhichwhich God had given him by Samuel about twelve years before; Inter 7 & 9. Sauli qui regnavit an. 20. Vid. Sim. Chron.and in those years to prepare him for Canaan by a VVilderness, to harden him vvith discipline, that so the luxuries and the effeminacies of a Court might not emaseclate and melt him; by constant Watches, cares and business, to make him equal for, habituated to, careful of, and affected vvith the business of a Kingdome; and by constraining him to dwell in Mesech, vvith Aliens to his Religion, Psal. 120. 5.to teach him to be constant to his own, and to love Sion. And hath he not prepared our David so for us? and vve hope hath prepared for him too the first dayes of David, having no Sheba in the Field, nor Achitophel in the Councel, nor an Abiathar in the Temple, not in that Temple vvhichwhich himself hath rais'd, God having made him instrument of that vvhichwhich he vvould not let David doe, building his house, and furnishing it vvith all its Offices, and making it fit for God to meet us in, vvhen vve do seek him also, vvhichwhich vvas the other perquisite of our Condition.
There never vvas so much pretence of seeking God as in those late dayes of his absence from us; and it should seem indeed vve knevv not vvhere to find him, vve took such several vvayes to seek him. But if God did look down from heaven then as he did Psal. 14. to see if any did understand and seek after God, should he not then have found it here as there? They are altogether gone out of the way; their throat is an Psal. 11. Rom. 5.open scpulchre, with their tongues have they deceived, the poison of asps is under their lips, their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and unhappiness is in their wayes, and the way of peace have they not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes: They eat up my people as it were bread; and, vvhichwhich is vvorse in these then them, they even then call upon God; as if they craved a blessing from the Lord upon that meal that did devour his people, and when they did seek God, they meant to find a prey. Yet where were any others that did seek him? or that do cleave to him novv? The Schtsmatick does not seek God, who shuns the place where he appears, and meets, and dwells; nor does he cleave to God vvho tears himself off from the Lord's body. Mark such as cause divisions, saith S. Paul, and avoid them: Rom. 16. 17.and if all Christians must avoid them, then I am sure God is not vvith them. The other Schismaticks that divide from the World by cutting off the World from them: do they seek God that are diverted by so many Saints and Angels? that terminate divinest Worship in a creature? or do they cleave to God, when their devotion embraceth stocks and stones? or did they seek God for the purpose of my Text, who did not seek David their King, but did apply themselves to several forein Princes, and to others which they hoped would setup their Golden calf? Incendiaries, that make fires and raise commotions, these are farre from God; for the Lord vvas not in the fire, or in the Earth-quake, but in the still …1 Kings 19. 11. 12small voice, in the soft whispers of peace and love. The Atheist, he that says in his heart there is no God, will not seek God, you may be sure; nor does he care to seek David h… King, who is equally well under all Governments that will allow his Licences, and who hath no Religion to tie him to any. If he at all disliked the former, it was upon reasons of Burthen, or of Pride, or Libertinism: So much Religion, though counterfe…t, was a reproach to him, and the face of such strictness was uneasie to him. These are so far from seeking God, that God says these did drive him out of Israel, Ezek. 9. 9. And then when that hath so long been the Wit, that it is now the Complexion of the Age, and they who thought fit to shew their not being Hypocrites by License, and (…o give it an easie word) by drollery in sacred things, have now made nothing to be sacred to them; how shall the Lord dwell among such? they are enough to exorcise God out of a Nation. The Hypocrite also, for all his Fasts and Prayers never did seek God, for he is but a whited Sepulchre, Matth. 23. 27.our Saviour says. Now who would seek the Living God among the dead? the Lord of Life sure is not to be found in Graves. Golgotha was a plate to cruci…ie him in, not worship him: He takes not in the Ait of Funeral Vaults for Incense; it was a Demoniack that used to be among the Tombs. The subtle, false, and faithless men that walk in mazes, never shall meet God; these are the windings and the tracts of the Old Serpent and they lead onelyonly to his habitation. They that do climb as if they meant to finde God on his own Throne, that follow Christ up to a pinnacle of the Temple, or to the top of that exceeding high Mount. whence they can over-look the glories of the World, and pick and chuse, these do not go to seek Christ there: It is the Devil that does carry up …nither, upon his own designs. Not is it possible to Matth. 4.seek the Lord in the wavs that lead to the strange VVomans House, for her House is the way to Hell, Solomon says, (and he did Prov. 9. 27.know;) nay more, Her steps take hold on Hell, seise on those Prov. 5. 5.everlasting burnings which her foul heats kindle and begin. In a word, they that seek their own, that turn all meerly to Phil. 2. 21.their advantage, they cannot seek God too, he will not be joynt God with Mammon. And then where are the men that …ought him? that did retrive him to us? or with whom does he dwell? If he be not among us, we do in vain flatter our selves in our prosperity and peace, gawd it in all our bright appearances. Have we not seen the Sun rise with a glory of day about him, and mounting in his strength chase away all the little receptacles and recesses of the night, not leave a cloud to shelter the least relicks of her darkness, or any spot to checquer or to fleck the countenance of day? when strait a small handful of vapor rais'd by that Sun it self, did creep upon his face, and by little and little getting strength bedasht his shine, and pour'd out as full streams of storm as he had done of light; till it even put out the day, and shed a night upon the Earth in spight of him? So may prosperity it self, if the Lord and his blessing be not in it, raise that which will soon overcast and benight the most glorious condition of a Nation. That Wine which now makes your hearts glad, may prove like that which did commit the Centaures and the Lapithae, first kindle Lusts, then VVars, and at last onelyonly fill a Cup of trembling and astonishment; and that oyl that does make you chearful countenances, may make your paths slippery, and nourish flames that will devour and ruine all.
But God, vvho is found of them that seek him not, nay who Isai. 1. 65. Luk 15. 4, 5.himself sought the lost Sheep and carried him, when with his straying he was wearied into impossibility of a return, has also sought, and found, and brought together us and our great Shepherd: For this is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. These ways of his also are so past finding out, that we may well conclude they are the meer footsteps of his incomprehensible goodness, and we have onelyonly now to fear that goodness.
But give me leave to say, Those that despise his goodness, do not fear it; and they whom it does not lead to repentance, do despise it. S. Paul says, Rom. 2. 4. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-sufferance, not knovving that the goodness of the Lord leads thee to repentance?
And now, O Lord, what sort of men among us hath thy goodness wrought upon, and made repent? Those whom it was directed to convince, and came on purpose to, to prove by their own onelyonly argument they had of providential Miracles, they were not in the right, but that destruction and misery vvere in their vvays; yet these chuse rather to deny their own conclusions, and resist Gods goodness, then to be convinced and repent: For we have seen them as bold Martyrs to their Sin as ever any to Religion, signalize their resolv'd impenitence with chearful suffering, as if the fire they were condemn'd to were that Triumphal Chariot, in which the Prophet mounted up to Heaven. Others that 2 King. 2. 11.did not go so far in condemnation nor guilt as they, and therefore think they have no reason to repent of that, do they repent of what they did contribute to it? Of those that lifted up their hands to swear and fight, how many are there that have made them fall, and smite their own thigh, saying, VVhat have I done? Do not all rather justifie as far as they themselves proceeded? and if all that were well, why do not we let. 31. 15.repent of our Allegiance and Lovalty? if all that were well, what hath thy goodness done, O Lord, that hath reverst it all? And for the rest, those that do not partake the plenties of thy goodness, murmure and repine at it; are discontent at having what they prayed for, what they would have died for. Those that have been partakers of it, have turned it into vvantonness, have made it furnish them for base unworthy practices; such as have not the generosity of Vice, have not a noble, manly wickedness, are poltron sins; have made it raise a cry on the Faithfullest party, the best Cause, and the purest Church in the World. While we have debauched Gods own best Attribute, made his goodness procure for our most wicked or self-ends; and the face of things is so vicious in every order and degree and sex, that—But the Confession is onelyonly fit for Litanies, and we have need to make the burthen of ours be, Lord, give us some afflictions again, send out thy Indignation, for we do fear thy goodness, it hath almost undone us; and truly, where it does not better, it is the most fearful of Gods Attributes or Plagues, for it does harden there. S. Paul says so in the forecited place; and Origen does prove this very thing did harden Phara…hs heart, indulgence Rom. 2. 5.was his induration. Now induration is the being put in Hell upon the Earth: There is the same impenitence in both, and judgment is pronounced already on the hardned, and the life they lead is, but the interval betwixt the Sentence and the Execution, and all their sunshine of Prosperity, is but kindled Brimstone, onelyonly without the stench. And then to make the treasures of Gods bounty be treasures of vvrath to us! to make his kindness, his long-suffering; that is S. Peter says, salvation, condemn us, his very goodness be Hell to us! But sure so great a 2 Pet. 3. 15.goodness as this we have tasted, cannot have such deadly issues; and it was great indeed, so perfectly miraculous in such strange and continued successes, resisting our contrivances and our sins too, over-coming all opposition of our vices, and our own policies, that do not comport with it, and in despight of all still doing us good; it was fatality of goodness. Now sure that which is so victorious will not be worsted by us. But Oh! have we not reason so much more to fear the goodness? The greater and more undeserved it is, the more suspicious it is: As if it were the last b…az… of the Candle of the Lord, when its light gasps; its fl…sh of shine before it do go out, the dying struggles and extream efforts of goodness, to see if at the last any thing can be w…ough… by it. And if we did consider how some men menage the present goodness, make use of this time of it, and take, and catch, we would believe they did …ear the departure of it: But vet it is in our power to fix it here. If we repent, Gods gifts then are wit… out repentance, but one of us must change: B…ing Piety and Vertue into countenance and fashion, and God will dwell among us. Nay S. Paul says, Goodness to thee if thou Rom. 11. 22.continue in his goodness. If we our selves do not forsake it, and renounce it, not fear it so a… to fl… from it, but with the fears of sinking men, that catch an… grasp, lay fast dead hold upon it; if, as God prom…ses. he so put his fear in our hearts that vve Ier. 32. 40.never depart from it, fear that hath love in it, and is as unitive as that, then it sh…ll never depart from us; but we shall see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living, and shall be taken thence to the eternal fulness of it. This day shall be the Birthday of Immortal Life, the entring on a Kingdom that cannot be moved. A Crown t…us beautified, is a Crovvn of glory here, and shall add weight and splendor to the Crown hereafter: A Church thus furnished, is a Church T…umphant in this World, and such a Government is the Kingdom of Heaven upon Earth; and then we shall all reign with him who is the King of Kings, and vvho vvashed us in his Blood, to make us Kings and Apoc. 1. 5, 6.Priests to God and his Father. To vvhom be glory and dominion for ever.
Amen.
FINIS.