Delay of Reformation Provoking Gods Indication, Title page – Dedication
DELAY OF REFORMATION PROVOKING Gods further Indignation.
Repreſented in A SERMON Preached at WESTMINSTER to the Honourable Houſe of COMMONS Aſſembled in PARLIAMENT at their late ſolemn Monethly Faſt, April 29. 1646.
By JAMES NALTON Miniſter of the Goſpell, and Paſtor of Leonards Foſterlane, London.
LEVIT. 26.23, 24.
And if ye will not be reformed by theſe things, but will walke contrary unto mee:
Then will I alſo walke contrary unto you, and will puniſh you yet ſeven times for your ſinnes.
LONDON: Printed for Samuel Gellibrand, at the ſigne of the Braſen-Serpent in Pauls-Churchyard, 1646.
TO THE HONORABLE HOVSE of COMMONS now Aſſembled in PARLIAMENT.
Noble SENATOURS:
I See You are pleaſed to have not onelyonly Bezaleel's and Aholiab's aEx. 31.2, 6(choyce and skilfull workemen in that reverend Aſſembly of Divines) imployed in purging and beautifying the houſe of God; but you will have ſome other poore Labourers alſo ſet on worke, to bring ſtones and mortar to the building. And truly, had not I looked above my ſelfe, at that great God, who when we are faint and feeble, doth gird us about with ſtrength b1 Sam. 2.4., The waight of the worke, together with the ſenſe of my owne extreame unfitneſſe, to carry the Name of God before ſuch an Auditory, might have overwhelmed me with ſinking diſcouragments: But if Gods power may get glory by my weakneſſe, I will rejoyce in my Infirmities c2 Cor. 12.9.. I hope, there is none ſhall have ſo low a conceit of my poore parts or paines, but I my ſelfe ſhall have a lower.
The marke I levelled at in this plain homely piece, now preſented to your view, was the preſſing and promoting the Worke of Reformation, which how it ha's been retarded (ſince we entred into that Solemne ſacred League) I need not tell you. Sure I am, if either Atheists or Papists, Neuters or Hereticks, Sectaries or Seducers, Hypocrites or carnall Goſpellers, can doe the Devils worke, viz. either perſecute the Woman, or ſtifle her Childe in the birth, or devoure it as ſoone as it ſhall be born dRev. 12.4.; this Malechilde of a long expected, much deſired Reformation, ſhall never be brought forth to light. But looke about you, for God looks on you, nay, God looks within you; Hee exactly views (as my Text will tell you) every one of you, how you Act your parts on the Stage where he imployes you.
The Lord ha's holpen you to carry on your Worke (the preſervation of a poore distreſſed distracted Kingdom.) Therfore he now expects that you ſhould help him to carry on His Work, even That for which you have lifted up your hands to the moſt high God. Let it never be ſaid of any of you (ſitting in that honourable Aſſembly) what was ſaid of the Nobles of Tekoah, eNeh. 3.5.They put not their necks to the work of their Lord. God forbid, that occaſion ſhould be given to fasten that complaint on any of you which the Apoſtle utter's with ſome regret, fPhil. 2.21.All ſeeke their own, not the things which are Jeſus Chriſts. Certaine it is, the more we ſeeke our ſelves, the more we loſe our ſelves; the more we deny our ſelves, and our own ends, and our owne honour, the more will God honour us both in our perſons and in our places. O that the zeal of Gods houſe might even eat you up gJoh. 2.17.! O that your hearts were ſo fired with a burning Love to Jeſus Chriſt, and his Government, that you might ſay with David, hPſal. 132.4, 5.I will not give ſleepe to mine eyes, or ſlumber to mine eyelids, untill I finde out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.
Never was Parliament ſo lifted up to heaven in extraordinary diſcoveries of Gods providence and protection, which have beene as a Pillar of a cloud by day, and a Pillar of fire by night, to conduct you through the Wilderneſſe of a Bloody Warre, bringing you from Shittim to Gilgal iMic. 6.5., even to the skirts of Canaan: Therfore that which Joſhua ſpake to the Iſraelites, when (upon the freſh memoriall of God's miraculous mercies towards them) he renewed a Covenant between them and their God, kJoſh. 24.25, 27.This Stone ſhal be a witnes to us, for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he ſpake unto us. The like may I ſay to you; All the Mercies, Victories and Deliverances vouchſafed to you; all the Promiſes, Protestations, Covenants and Engagements lying on you, wil witnes either for you, or againſt you, at the great day of your Account.
The Lord Jeſus Chriſt ſtill ſtand by you; Let his everlaſting arms be alwayes under you, and ſo establiſh your hearts in his truth and feare, that he may delight in you as poliſhed ſhafts in his own quiver, and happy instruments of further advancing Temple-work, the compleating whereof will be to you a Name of Renowne, and to us the joy of our hearts, and the crown of our hopes. It is and ſhall be the constant prayer of
The weakeſt and unworthieſt of them that ſerve you in the Goſpell, James Nalton.