Englands Face in Israels Glass, Sermon 5
PSAL. 106.23.
Wherefore hee ſaid, that he would deſtroy them, had not Moſes his choſen ſtood before him in the breach, &c.
I Have done with that ſame fearefull ſinne of this people. I am now, in the verſe that I have read, to ſhew you the fearefull puniſhment of God upon them for this ſinne. He ſaid, hee would deſtroy them, had not Moſes his choſen ſtood before him in the breach, to turne away his wrath, leſt hee ſhould deſtroy them. In theſe words you have two things:
The ſentence that God pronounceth againſt this people for this ſinne; He ſaid, hee would deſtroy them.
You have ſecondly, the revocation of this ſentence; the meanes whereby God was kept from the execution of this judgment: you ſhall ſee how Gods hand was held from deſtroying of them; Moſes his choſen ſtood in the breach, and turned away the wrath of God, that hee ſhould not deſtroy them.
Firſt, hee ſaid hee would deſtroy them. The judgement that God threatens for this ſin, is not famine, nor captivity, nor bondage, nor peſtilence, nor the ſword of an enemy; but it is a totall ſubverſion, a totall deſtruction of the whole Nation. The words of God uſed to Moſes, Deut. 9.14. Moſes, let mee alone, let mee deſtroy this people, that I may blot out their name from under heaven. Here was the ſentence, hee would blot out their name from under heaven. I will never be troubled againe with ſuch an unthankfull people as this; I will blot out their name; there ſhall not be ſuch a people upon the earth as this, that have uſed mee thus unthankfully for ſuch mercies as I have ſhewed them. Hee doth not now threaten to lopp off a bough or two from the tree, but to ſtub up the whole tree; hee will not leave roote or branch, head nor tayle of this people; hee will have them all buried and entombed together in one grave of deſtruction; I will deſtroy them all.
Hee ſaid hee would deſtroy them.
I will ſet downe one generall Propoſition: Great ſins, ſuch as are ſinnes of an high nature, when they come once to be committed with an high hand, that is, with delight, with out-rage, with impudency, and impenitency; they are able to bring the judgements of God to the utter deſtruction of a whole people, of a whole country.
Sins of an high nature. I told you, when I began to handle this Scripture, what ſinnes are ſinnes of an high nature; that is, ſuch ſinnes as are directly againſt God:
As, Atheiſme.
As, Blaſphemy.
As, Idolatry.
Or, ſuch as are directly againſt nature:
As, Sodomy.
As, Beſtiality.
As, All inceſtuous, and unnaturall pollution.
Or, thirdly, ſuch ſinnes as are directly againſt humane ſociety:
As, Murther.
As, Robbery.
As, Rapine.
As, The effuſion, and ſhedding of innocent bloud.
Such ſinnes as theſe, that are directly againſt God, againſt nature, againſt humane ſociety, when they are thus committed with an high hand, they are able to bring deſtruction, utter deſtruction, not only upon whole houſes, as they did upon the houſe of Jeroboam the ſon of Nebat, upon the houſe of Baſha, upon the houſe of Ahab (which houſes God ſwept with the beeſome of deſtruction, as the Prophet ſpeakes) but they are able to bring the judgement of God, to utter deſtruction, upon a whole people, upon a whole country: they are able to lay the honour of the greateſt Kingdom, of the greateſt Monarch in the duſt, in a little ſpace, in a little time. I need not ſtand long to prove this; only two or three examples.
Some of theſe ſinnes of this nature brought an utter deſtruction upon the whole world; there were but eight perſons left in it: when it was over-flowne with theſe ſins, it came then to be over-flowne with water.
For ſome of theſe ſinnes God brought ſuch a fearefull deſtruction upon Sodome, and Gomorrah, that he made all that country a proverb of reproach: When God is pleaſed to threaten utter deſtruction, hee ſaith, hee will deſtroy it as hee did Sodome and Gomorrah.
For this ſinne of Idolatry, 2 King. 21.3. God threatens that hee will wipe Jeruſalem as a man wipeth a diſh, and turneth it upſide downe, when hee hath wiped it. In Ezek. 21.27. he threatneth Jeruſalem, that he will overturne it, and overturne it, and overturne it; three times: and three times you may ſay that Jeruſalem was overturned.
It was overturned once by the Babylonian army, under Nebuchadnezar.
It was overturned a ſecond time by the Romane army, under Titus Veſpaſian.
And then the very ruines of it afterward were ſo overturned by Elius Adrian the Emperour, the very carkaſſe of that City; for Titus left it but like a carkaſſe, it was ſo torne and tortured. The carkaſſe of Jezabell was eaten ſo with doggs, that men could not ſay, This is Jezabell; ſo the carkaſſe of this City was ſo torne, that, had it not been for a turret or two, and a piece of a wall that they would have ſtand, a man could not have ſaid, This was Jeruſalem.
Idolatry was firſt eſtabliſhed in the Eaſterne parts of the world: I pray looke what miſerable deſtruction God brought upon thoſe Eaſterne parts. Where are now thoſe golden Churches of Aſia? Where are thoſe learned Churches of Greece? As Pius Secundus once ſaid, A man may looke for Greece in Greece now, and not finde it: they are all drowned in Turciſme and infidelity, for this ſinne of Idolatry. I will goe no further in examples.
In Levit. 18. God reckons up the ſinnes of the people that lived in the land of Canaan before he brought his people to it; and he reckons all thoſe ſins that I named to you now: ſome directly againſt God, ſome directly againſt nature, ſome directly againſt humane ſociety. Then he warnes his people v. 25. & 28. to take heed; Take heed that you defile not your ſelves, and the land, with thoſe ſinnes wherewith the Gentiles did defile it: mark the reaſon, leſt (quoth hee) the land ſpue you out, as it did the inhabitants before you. A homely phraſe, you will ſay: It is ſo; yet, it is a phraſe obſervable. As it is with a man that hath his ſtomack overcharged with ſome meat that hee hath eaten, hee never is at reſt and quiet till hee have caſt up that meat that offends his ſtomack: ſo is it with a land that is over-charged with ſinnes of this nature, it is never at reſt; it is ſtill working, and working; as a mans ſtomack is never at reſt, till it have eaſed it ſelf by vomiting, and have caſt out thoſe inhabitants that have defiled it.
It pleaſeth the Spirit of God to uſe the ſame phraſe in Rev. 3.16. ſaith God to the Angell of the Church of Epheſus; Thou art neither hot nor cold, but luke warme, I will ſpue thee out of my mouth. I will caſt thee out with loathing and indignation.
God is a mercifull God, and his mercy is over all his workes; but when ſin once growes to be horrible, God can no more forget that he is juſt, then hee can forget that hee is mercifull: hee muſt needs pay it, and pay it home in the end with vengeance. God may be provoked too farre, and patience, when it is too farre abuſed, will turne to fury.
When I conſider the manifold ſinnes, under the burthen where of this Land groanes, and I name that firſt which I named laſt; our luke warmneſſe, our neutrality in Religion, our halting between God and Baal, together with our unmercifull oppreſsions, and our over-mercifull connivance at the vile diſhonour to the Name of God: I doe not wonder, brethren, that God hath denied to us, this yeare, his accuſtomed plentifull bleſsing in our corne-fields. I doe not wonder that hee hath ſent to us divers times ſuch unſeaſonable ſeaſons. I wonder not at the murraine of cattell in many places of this Kingdome. I wonder not that the arrowes of peſtilence flee abroad to ſo many corners of the Kingdome, that the venome of them drinkes up the ſpirits of ſo many hundreds in ſeverall places. I wonder not at our mutuall Jealouſies and diſcontents (peradventure, fore-runners of heavier judgements) I wonder at the mercy of God, conſidering what a ſinfull Nation we be, a Nation laden with ſins; a Nation that walk, moſt unworthy of thoſe high favours that God hath vouchſafed us; I wonder, I ſay, at Gods mercy, that hath ſpared us thus long: It is his mercy, that wee are not all conſumed. It is his mercy, that God blots not out our names from under heaven. Pradventure, there be ſome Moſeſes in the land, ſome choſen ſervants of God, ſome that have ſtood in the gap to keep this judgement from us. That is the firſt point.
I come now to the ſecond; He ſaid, he would deſtroy them (ſaith the text;) then Moſes his choſen ſtood in the breach, and kept away his fierce wrath, that hee ſhould not destroy them.
Here are three things obſervable:
Firſt, that a ſentence of extirpation, pronounced againſt a people, is revoked; God ſaid that hee would deſtroy them, yet hee doth it not.
A ſecond thing that one man, Moſes, (indeed a choſen man) Moſes whom hee had choſen, procures this revocation of this ſentence againſt this whole people.
A third thing is, the meanes by which Moſes came to get this ſentence revoked, and that was this, hee ſtood in the breach. God, like an enemy, had made a breach in the wall, and Moſes hee runnes to that breach, and there ſtayes God, that hee ſhould not deſtroy them.
I am affraid time will not give mee leave to goe through all theſe, I will goe as farre as I can, and leave the reſt till the next day; they are not things that are to be haſtily paſſed over.
The firſt is, that the ſentence is revoked;
Hee ſaid that hee would deſtroy them.
[Hee ſaid it.] If a man had ſaid it, I ſhould not then have wondred, that it ſhould have been revoked. A man may ſay a thing and never meane it; Man is deceitfull upon the weight, lighter then vanity it ſelfe.
Or, ſecondly, a man may ſay a thing, and meane it, and yet not be able to make it good: as Senacherib uſed great and big words againſt Jeruſalem, what hee would doe; and hee meant it, ſurely, for hee came with a mighty army againſt it: but God put a hooke in his noſtrils, and a bridle into his lips, and brought him back againe that ſame way that hee came; hee was not able to ſhoote an arrow againſt it.
Thirdly, a man may ſay a thing, and meane it, and have power in his hand to doe it; but his mind may be altere, hee may repent of what he hath ſaid: as you ſee of David, he ſaid he would not leave a man alive in Nabals houſe, to make water againſt the wall: ſurely, hee meant it too, and had power in his hand to do it; but, by the wiſedom of Abigail, he was perſwaded to turne, and alter his mind; hee did not doe it. If a man had ſaid this, I ſay, I ſhould not have wondred: But that God, that is the prime truth, the prime eſſentiall truth, upon whom all truth depends; Hee that is light, in whom is no darkneſſe at all; hee that is truth, in whom there is no falſhood at all: none actually, hee cannot deceive us; none paſsively, hee cannot be deceived himſelfe, that hee ſhould ſay, and ſhould not doe it when hee hath ſaid it: for, as that Wizard Balaam, ſaid truely, God is not as man, that hee ſhould lie; or as the ſon of man, that he ſhould repent. Hath God ſaid it, and ſhall he not doe it, ſaith hee? Hath the word come out of Gods mouth, and ſhall he not make it good? I will urge the objection no further.
But I anſwer it, and with the words of Gregorie; Deus mutare ſententiam, &c. God knowes how to change a ſentence pronounced againſt a people, but God knowes not how to change his counſell. The counſell of God; that is, what God in his ſecret counſell hath decreed and determined from all eternity, that ſhall be fulfilled in the ſeaſon, in the ſubſtance, yea, in every circumſtance. God knowes not how to change his counſell; the counſell of God is as immutable as God himſelfe: There is no variableneſſe, with God, (ſaith S. James) nor ſhadow of change c. 1.18. Mutability, is a kind of mortality: It is as poſsible for God to be mortall, as to be mutable. The counſell of God is immutable, God knows not how to change that, but God knows how to change a ſentence pronounced. You ſhall ſee it in many examples: God tells. Abimelech in a dream; Surely thou art a dead man, for this woman that thou haſt in thine houſe; yet, no ſooner had Abimelech reſtored the woman, but Gods ſentence was changed, his life ſpared. In Judg. 10. the people were oppreſſed by the Philiſtines, and by the Ammonites; they come to God for help: God tells them, No (ſaith hee) I have delivered you heretofore; when you cried to mee I delivered you, but you have gone and ſerved other gods: goe, get you to thoſe gods, let them deliver you; as for mee, I will deliver you no more. A fearefull ſentence; yet, preſently upon their repentance, God delivered them, and many times afterward.
Ezechiah was ſick to death, and God ſends him a meſſage by Iſaiah, Set thine houſe in order, for thou ſhalt die. Ezechiah turnes his face to the wall, and weepes; God revokes his ſentence, and hee addes fifteene yeares more to his daies. God ſends a fearefull meſſage by the mouth of Jonah to the Ninevites, Yet fourty daies, and Nineveh ſhall be deſtroyed; yet, for all that fourty, and fourty, and almoſt fourty more, not daies, but years, paſſed over the heads of the Ninevites, before that City of theirs was lodged in bloud.
Why, but will ſome ſay, how can this ſtand, though with the conſtancy and unchangeableneſſe of Gods nature, yet with his truth, thus to change, and revoke his ſentence?
Not to trouble you with the opinions of ſome men: let me only hold to this, That theſe ſame comminations, and threatnings of God, are not abſolute, but they are conditionall; they are upon a condition: Now a condition (as the School-men ſay) a conditionall threatning, a conditionall commination, it doth turne it ſelfe upon the condition this way, or that way, as the doore doth upon the hinges.
Let me make it a little plainer if I can; When God doth threaten that hee will roote out a people, as hee did here now; or to bring ſuch and ſuch judgements upon a people, hee doth it uſually upon a two-fold condition. When God doth ſo threaten a people, hee requires two things from that people:
The firſt is at the hands of wicked men, that is, that they ſhall all turne away from their ſins, repent of their ſins; and then the ſentence is changed. Look Jerem. 18. ver. 6, 7, 8. If I ſhall ſpeake to a Nation, to pluck it up, and to roote it out, to deſtroy it; if that Kingdome, and that Nation ſhall turne from their evill waies, and repent; then (ſaith God) I will repent of that evill that I threatned to doe againſt them. The ſentence is abſolute, to the end it may ſtrike a further feare and terrour. The ſentence is propounded abſolutely, but intended conditionally. Though God doth not change his will, yet God doth will a change. If wee know how to change our lives, God knowes how to change his ſentence. That is the firſt thing that he requires.
The ſecond thing that God lookes for at the hands of his children, is, an earneſt, and vehement interceſsion to God by prayer for pardon. That was the condition hee looked for here at this time: He ſaid, hee would deſtroy this people; but it was with this condition, hee would not deſtroy them, if Moſes made interceſſion for them.
Yea, and hee would encourage Moſes; hee did as much as tell Moſes, that this was the meanes whereby hee might be ſtayed. And he would encourage Moſes to make interceſsion, by his words; Moſes (ſaith hee) let mee alone, and let mee deſtroy this people. Why doth hee ſay, let mee alone? What is that, but becauſe hee would have him be bold? O Moſes, you ſee what power you have with mee, I cannot ſtrike this people if you make interceſsion (hee knew Moſes his love to this people) therefore, let mee alone, that I may deſtroy them.
I muſt conclude with the time, and with an application.
There is a fatall period ſet to all the Kingdomes of the earth, ſooner or later, according as the ſinnes of that Kingdome and people come to their full ripeneſſe and maturity. Both Philoſophers, and Divines have obſerved, by long experience, diverſe prognoſtick ſignes of the approach of the ruine of a people: If God ſhould ſeeme, by any of theſe prognoſtick ſignes, to threaten our ruine and deſtruction at this time; if God doth ſeeme to any to doe this, let them know, it may be that this threatning of God now is but conditionall. There are two waies by which wee may get God to revoke, and call back his word. One is, by true repentance from wicked men; and, the other is an earneſt interceſsion made by Gods children. O, brethren, that wee did but know, in this our day, what belongs now to our peace. O, that wee could do, as the Ninevites did, every one humble himſelfe before God, and turne from the wickedneſſe of his waies! And, O, that Moſes would run to the breach, and now with ſtrong cries and teares, begge pardon! for who doth know whether the Lord will not yet be mercifull to us, and turne his fierce wrath from us, that wee periſh not? I have gone thorow the firſt thing, the revocation of the ſentence: Who cauſed it? Moſes; And by what means? By ſtanding in the breach. I muſt leave till next time.
FINIS.