Works Volume 4, Sermon 4
The IV. SERMON.
MATTH. 3.2.
Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
TWO Difficulties there are in theſe few words; what is meant by the Kingdom of heaven, and what by Repentance; and then one plain matter of Practical Divinity that reſults from the union of them. The Difficulties muſt be explained, or elſe the Doctrine will not be come by: the Earth removed, ere the Ore be ſprang; the Veil be rent, and then the Oracle will appear.
The former, what is the importance of the Kingdom of heaven, as being more diſputable, I ſhall propoſe more civilly and tenderly and unconcernedly, as willing to give an Example of that meekneſs and that charity, that in matters of Opinion will keep a Chriſtian from noiſe or quarrel: but the latter being more practical, to which your eternal weal is more cloſely conſequent, (a little miſtake in Repentance, being like the loſing of a pin in a Watch, the Actions and Motions of the whole life, even the ſucceſs of every temporal enterprize or hope, depending on it) you muſt give me leave to be more dogmatical, to affirm confidently, and, if need be, contend and quarrel you out of ſuch errors. To begin with the firſt Difficulty.
The Kingdom of heaven in this place, I conceive to have a peculiar critical ſenſe, different from what belongs to it in many other places; and to ſignifie the deſtruction of the Jews, that remarkable vaſt foreign, or final ſubverſion of that Church and State, wherein the power, and ſo Kingdom, of Chriſt was moſt illuſtriouſly viſible againſt his perſecutors. And if you muſt have the reaſons of my conceit, I will give you a taſte to them.
Firſt, The parallel uſe of the phraſe in ſome other places; not to trouble you with many. In the 21 Luke, where our Saviour having mentioned the beginnings of ſorrows, foreign, beginnings of their throes of travail, and proluſions of this ſo bloody day, (Jeruſalem encompaſt with Armies, and the Prodigies that ſhould be obſervable about that time, the ſigns in the Sun and Moon, &c. ver. 25. parallel to the relations in Hegiſippus and Joſephus, and predictions in Joel, The Sun ſhall be turn'd into darkneſs, and the Moon, &c.) he then concludes in the words of this Text, When ye ſee theſe things come to paſs, know yee that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
A ſecond Argument you may take from the Preacher, the Baptiſt, whoſe office it was to warn the Jews of this deſtruction, as you may ſee, Mal. 4.5, 6. Behold, I will ſend you Eliah the Prophet, i. e. John Baptiſt a propheſying, before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord, and he ſhall turn the hearts of the Fathers, &c. directly the Sermon of Repentance, Converſion in my Text, leſt I come and ſmite the earth (foreign, i. e. in the Scripture phraſe, peculiarly the land of Judaea) with a curſe; the clear interpretation of this Kingdom.
A third Argument you may have from the conſequents in this Text, where the Baptiſt ſaith it over again to the Phariſees in other words, the foreign, the wrath ready to come, and the axe laid to the root of the trees: and ſo it ſeems this Kingdom was a heavy, ſlaughtering, hewing Kingdom.
And ſo indeed the propriety of the word will bear, (which will ſerve for a fourth Argument) there being two notions of a Kingdom; the one as it ſignifies reigning, the other as executing judgment; the firſt ruling, the ſecond coercing or puniſhing; the firſt the golden ſceptre, the ſecond the iron rod; that foreign, royal Officer of God, being foreign, Rom. 13. an avenger or executioner for puniſhment. And for the matter in hand the caſe is moſt clear, Chriſt was never ſo demonſtrably a King as in that royal act of revenge upon his Crucifiers, then was his ſtandard ſet up, his enſign diſplayed, the ſign of the Son of man appearing in Heaven; and they ſhall ſee the Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory, Matt. 24.30.
Once more, There is but one interpretation of this Kingdom of Heaven that can pretend againſt that which we have now given you, and that is, that it ſhould ſignifie the preaching of the Goſpel, which at John Baptiſt's Sermon was not yet preſent, but foreign, was at hand. But how could that be the thing meant, when Chriſt himſelf (who was this King, and his preaching this Kingdom) doth ſtill continue the ſame ſtyle? Matt. 4.17. Jeſus began to preach and ſay, Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand: the other Kingdom was already come in Jeſus preaching, but ſtill this Kingdom is to come, yet future, though 'twere at hand. Yea, and when the Apoſtles were ſent out a preaching, which ſure was the preſence of that Kingdom, the ſame ſtyle was ſtill continued by them. Luke 10. v. 9. foreign, the Kingdom of God is at hand upon you; and then immediately to give the interpretation of that Kingdom, they ſhake off the duſt againſt them, a direful ceremony, and it ſhall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that City, v. 12. the deſtruction that Sodom met with, was more ſupportable than this.
I will now flatter my ſelf, that I have given you ſome hints (and 'tis in kindneſs to my Auditory that I do no more) to acknowledge it not improbable, that the Kingdom of heaven may have a peculiar ſeparate notion in this and ſome other few places, from that which it ordinarily ſignifies, and ſo denote the fatal final day to the Jews: and that will give our Baptiſt a preacher of Repentance, Gen. 6.3.juſt as Jonas and Noah were, God's oeconomy the ſame, and the ſtyle but little changed. [Repent, for within 120 years the world ſhall be drowned,] was the ſum of Noah's Sermon; [Repent, for within 40 daies Nineveh ſhall be deſtroyed,] was Jonah's Sermon; and [Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand,] within the compaſs of this generation ſhall Jeruſalem be deſtroyed, was the Baptiſt's, the Chriſt's the Apoſtle's Sermon. And ſo I have done with my firſt difficulty.
The ſecond will not detain or importune you ſo long; what is here meant by Repent: 'tis in a word, the amending of our lives, that foreign, Heb. 6.1. repentance not for, but from, dead works, the giving over the ſins of the former life. The Verſicles before our Confeſſion in the front of our Liturgy have directed and authorized this interpretation, Amend your lives, &c. and all other Languages agree in this Divinity: foreign in Greek, a change of mind; foreign in Hebrew, returning or Converſion; Reſipiſcentia in Latin, a return to our wits again; and Reformation or amendment of lives, in Engliſh.
Having thus paſt through the rougher part of your task of patience, ſeen what is moſt probably meant by the approaching Kingdom of heaven, and what undoubtedly by Repentance, (the firſt of which hath brought home the Text very near the preſent condition of this Kingdom: bleſſed Lord, that the latter might bring us home Proſelytes unto the Text!) there is but one ſyllable left behind to exerciſe you, and that is the [For] betwixt this Kingdom and this Repentance; and the importance of it comprehends theſe two things. 1. That Repentance is the only proper Uſe of ſuch direful denunciations; 'Tis the only deſign of God's threats, to extort Repentance from us; the ſame Baptiſt that denounces the approach of the bloody ſlaughtering Kingdom, requires Repentance of his Auditory: Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. 2. That Repentance is the only way of averting that that is now at hand, and will otherwiſe undoubtedly invade them: Repent, for it is at hand.
You ſee the double aſpect of the [foreign, Repent:] one upon the [foreign, the Kingdom;] the other upon the [foreign, it is at hand:] The double propriety of this Grace; firſt, as the Uſe of the Doctrine, ſecondly, as the means to avert the Judgment; to anſwer God's importunity, and to deprecate his wrath: a duty of juſtice to him, and of prudence to our ſelves: an Aphoriſm of Divinity and Policy too; they will both come ſeaſonably to our wants. We had need to make better uſe of the impendencie of God's Judgments, than, God knows, hitherto we have made; and we had need to find out ſome ſtronger Antidote, ſome more approv'd foreign, than hitherto we have taken: the Baptiſt's [For] will be inſtrumental to you for each of them. I begin firſt with the firſt, That Repentance is the only proper Uſe of ſuch direful denunciations.
And that I muſt infer, through theſe two ſteps or degrees;
Firſt, That no other Uſe is ſufficient but Repentance; and then, That no Repentance is ſufficient, but the foreign, the Change, which is here defined.
Firſt, No other Uſe ſufficient but Repentance.
To paſs by thoſe ſo frequent, but abominable, Uſes which are made of theſe preſent Calamities; In one, a ſupine ſtupidity, a conſtant wretchleſneſs, an intermitting all the duties of our Callings till the Times be better, and ſo making it impoſſible without a ſecond Miracle, that Peace ſhould prove Peace, i. e. bring Proſperity after it: In a ſecond, the relieving his melancholick thoughts with a cup of Lethe, a ſleeping pill of good-fellowſhip, calling to the Ocean to drown, when the Hills will not be ſo kind as to fall upon him; like Saul ſending to the Minſtrel, when the evil ſpirit came upon him; or like his ſecond addreſs, that to the Witch, (for ſuch is the cup wherein he divineth) to charm the Judgment that is ready to invade him: In a third, the multiplying of ſins as faſt as God multiplies Judgments, like the Elephants by the blood of the Mulberies in the Maccabees, the more inraged in our foreign, our fightings againſt God, by the bloudineſs of the ſpectacle before us, advancing even to profaneneſs and Atheiſm; like the Emperour that, inſtead of reforming or trembling, would thunder back againſt Jupiter: all which I cannot compare better, than to the effect of the famous plague in Thucydides, that ſaith he, was peſtilential to their ſouls as well as bodies, made them foreign & foreign, ſwept away civility and humanity as well as men, left nothing but ferity and ſavageneſs among them. To omit theſe, (which ſure are no ſufficient Uſe, none of that foreign, ſerving the time, which can be miſtaken for foreign, ſerving the Lord) many other Uſes there are, with which men are willing to content themſelves; many inferiour vulgar graces the Devil can allow us to be taught by theſe calamities, if by that means he may keep us off from this one grand neceſſary of Repentance. When the Whale approaches the Ship, 'tis the Mariner's ſtratagem to throw him out a Barrel or two to ſport with, to keep him from that nobler game he came for, the toſſing and drowning the Ship. When Xerxes was in danger in the tempeſt, Herodotus tells us of his Nobles, foreign, they made their obeiſance and leapt over-board to ſave their Prince's life. And ſo when the Leviathan in the Text, a devouring denunciation makes towards us, that naturally delights in that charitable cruelty, the toſſing and drowning the ſinner-part of the man and ſtate, wounding the veſſel through the ribs, ſhipwrecking the affections, the luſts, the reigning ſin, the Heathen Prince, the Devil in it, (that grand important work, that joy of ſuch Angels or Meſſengers of Heaven, that (to them ſo delightful) game of Repentance) ſome lower meaner veſſels we have to caſt out to it, ſome inferiour contents to ſacrifice, ſome Nobles to leap over-board, ſome very vertues and graces we can have our great Pilot Satan's leave to retribute to theſe ſtorms, theſe denunciations, ſo the body of reigning ſin may be kept unſhipwreck'd, ſo that fatal work of Repentance may not be required of us.
One or two not inconſiderable Graces theſe Times may already have wrought in the moſt of us: In one man, perhaps, contempt of the World, having by our preſent miſeries learn'd ſo much of the contemptibleneſs of it, and by the world's contemning and affronting of us, had provocations to all returns of contumely and revenge on a villanous World; and he that upon ſuch unworthy uſage, ſuch barbarous, reproachful, incenſing behaviour, can but hold up a ſlight quarrel with this petulant enemy, charge it with ſome unkindneſs, and in that pet break off that ſtrict League of friendſhip, vow never to love the unkind, treacherous, falſe World ſo well again, perſwades himſelf he hath made a moſt excellent ſanctified uſe of theſe Times. I confeſs I am glad to ſee ſuch quarrels, glad that any thing can allay that mad paſſion, that foreign, as Iſidor calls it, that fury of love and doting on our earthern Gods, glad that they that have been ſo long tormented in their own Gallies, ſuo calculo damnati ad metalla, by their own tyrannical covetous minds condemn'd to that old Roman puniſhment, a digging and hewing in the Minerals for ever, are by the bounty of theſe ill Times, return'd from their thraldom, their captivity before their year of Jubilee, expell'd from theſe Gallies, baniſh'd out of this Inquiſition; glad, that the World's forſaking of us, can work any degree of cure on our fits of ſpleen, our hypochondriack paſſions to the World. 'Tis poſſible that the man thus diſpoſſeſt of his old Familiar, may at length have hoſpitable thoughts for ſome nobler gueſts, that the ill uſage from the Harlot may bring the Spouſe into favour again, that the ſenſe of the ill Maſter that we have drudg'd under ſo long, may make us ſeek out ſome more gainful ſervice; that the unproſperouſneſs of the arm of fleſh, the ſeveral failings of the Second cauſes which we have idolized ſo often, the many deluſions and ill ſucceſſes we meet with in the world, may make ſome forſake thoſe Atheiſtical colours, and bring in Proſelytes to Heaven; and ſo, this contempt of the World, may be a piece of prooemial piety, an uſher or Baptiſt to repentance: but till it be thus improv'd and built upon, till this excellent piece of Philoſophy be, as Clemens ſaith of the Pagan School, foreign, baptized by that Baptiſt, chriſtianiz'd by the addition of Repentance, till the thorns that are now in the fleſh, enter to the pricking and wounding of the heart, to the letting out all worldly truſts and aiery hopes out of it, till he that is fallen out with this world and his Aegyptian Maſter there, come with him in the Goſpel unto Chriſt in queſt after the bleſſed heavenly Maſter, running, and kneeling, and asking, Good Maſter, what ſhall I do to get my portion in another World? and purſue Chriſt's directions to the utmoſt in that deſign; that contemner of the World muſt ſtill know, he hath not yet taken out the Baptiſt's Copy, not made ſuch uſe of the Doctrine of the Rod, as is expected from him, he is not yet advanced ſo far as to John's Baptiſm, to that [foreign] the ſo much as almoſt a Chriſtian, which the Baptiſt could have made him. O then let him go on to the perfection of the Text, not ſatisfie himſelf with that uſe of it.
In another, perhaps, the complexion of the Times have had a yet nobler influence, inſpired him with a perfect valour, an athletick habit of Soul, a contempt of Life it ſelf, brought him to a dreadleſs approach of that ſupreme terrour; and that not only the martial man, whoſe calling is to heard that Lion, but even the ſoft Courtier, who had imbibed no ſuch bold principles; 'tis now no news to hear Death kindly treated. We can think of Death as of a Preferment, of the Grave as one of the greateſt Dignities in the Church, and not only foreign, but foreign, bleſs this enemy, (when we have not ſo much meekneſs or charity for any other) count them happieſt and bleſſedeſt that come earlieſt to it; each diſcontented Jonah hath his [Take, I beſeech thee, my life from me;] the whole Kingdom is become wilderneſs, a many prickly Juniper-trees ſcattered every where in that wilderneſs, and an Eliah ſate down under every one of thoſe Juniper-trees, [a ſighing cut his requeſt for himſelf, that he may die; It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life:] and I ſee, this paſſeth with ſome for a ſpecial piety and mortification; which, let me tell you, conſidered aright, is an act of the ſulleneſt Atheiſm, a fellonious intent againſt themſelves, which becauſe (like Saul) they are too cowardly to execute with their own hands, God muſt ſupply the Armour-bearer's place, be call'd in to do it for them. But I am not ſo uncharitable to think that all our thoughts of kindneſs to death, are the congelation of ſuch black melancholick vapours; 'tis, I hope, in ſome an obedience to Plato's precept, the foreign, the endeavouring to behave ones ſelf comely in whatever fortune, a Chriſtian ſubmiſſion to God's will in either of the foreign, which way ſoever the oeconomy of providence diſpoſes us, even as far as to death it ſelf; no hatred or ſatiety of Life, but an indifference to either lot; the hating Life only as we are commanded to hate our Parents, not with an abſolute, but comparative hatred, (the denotation of the Hebrew foreign) only chuſing the reſt, preferring the dormitory, the being aſleep in Chriſt, in Paradiſe with Chriſt, rather than to be in thoſe uneaſie poſtures, laborious marches, that an Hell on earth provides for us. And then, I ſhall commend your righteous judgment; but yet ſtill, not flatter you that this is a ſufficient Uſe of this Baptiſt's Sermon, of the preſent impendency of God's puniſhments. Thou may'ſt not only be content, but wiſh to die and be with Chriſt, which is far better, more deſirable even to the carnal man, moſt gladly exchange the torments of a brittle life for the joys of an Eternity; and yet not have depoſited the luſts and baſeneſſes of this nauſeated life: the former is but an act of the Judicative faculty, a concluſion that ſuch premiſſes once conſidered cannot chuſe but extort from us; but the other is an act of the Will, which is not ſo eaſily brought to perform its duty, to mortifie the fleſh with the affections and luſts, the work of Repentance here required of us. And I beſeech you, let us not be too confident that we have performed our task, though we could reſolve to be content, nay, glad, to die with Chriſt, (for ſo you know, Peter could do, and deny and blaſpheme him after it) unleſs we have that ſecond Martyrdom, (that Cyprian, or ſome body in his diſguiſe, hath wrote a Book of) that vital Martyrdom of our exemplary, ſaintly, penitent lives to improve and conſummate t'other: and ſo ſtill, we are not got ſo far as Repentance; we require more ſtorms, more thunderbolts, more rouzing tempeſts, more preſſing calamities yet, to drive us thither.
A third ſort may have arrived to a third and greater degree of proficiency yet in the School of Judgments, to a reſolution and practice of Patience under God's hand, how heavy ſoever it prove; and yet, let me tell you, come ſhort of Repentance ſtill: for, I beſeech you obſerve, there is a double ſubmiſſion unto God, to his will, and to his wiſdom: that to his will reveal'd as well as ſecret; reveal'd for the duties, ſecret for the ſufferings of this life: the firſt in an active, the ſecond in a paſſive obedience to Heaven. The ſubmitting to God's will in ſuffering what he lays upon us, (the utmoſt degree of Patience that the moſt of us attain to, and when we have done that, think our ſelves Champions and Martyrs of the firſt magnitude) is but a very moderate degree of Chriſtian fortitude, that which Chriſt needed not have aſcended to the Croſs to preach unto us: a man muſt be a kind of mad Atheiſt to come ſhort of that; for what is it but Atheiſm, to think it poſſible to reſiſt his will? and what but madneſs to attempt it? 'Tis that high Philoſophy of ſubmitting to his wiſdom, the acknowledging God the beſt chuſer for us, the ſtripes which he ſends, far fitter for our turns, than all the boons we pray for, his denying of our demands, the divineſt way of granting them, and, in a word, the reſolving that whatever is, is beſt, whatſoever he hath done, beſt to be done, whatſoever permitted, beſt to be permitted, (foreign, that very fury and madneſs of earth and hell, is a piece of God's oeconomy) whatſoever is revealed to be his will by its coming to paſs among us, is (though the Actors in that Tragedy ſhall pay dearly for it, yet) better and more deſirable and eligible for us, than all friends and Patron-guardians in heaven and earth, yea, and our own Souls, could have contrived and choſen for us. The good Hezekiah's [Good is the word of the Lord which he hath ſpoken] when it denounced deſtruction to his whole family; old Nahum's foreign, even this for good, to the heavieſt news that ever came, ſo oft repeated, that we find him in Elias Levita ſurnamed Gamzo, Even this, the firm adherence to the truth of that Apoſtolical Aphoriſm, that all things tend to good to them that love God, from tribulation through ſeven degrees to ſword or death it ſelf, and the forming all our lives by the plaſtick vertue of this one Article; this ſubmiſſion, I ſay, to his wiſdom, ſuperadded to that other to his will, and that attended with its natural conſequent, a rejoycing in tribulation, is the leſſon God's rod muſt teach us; yea and ſubmiſſion in actions as well as ſufferings, to his precepts as well as to his decrees, doing chearfully as well as patiently enduring his will; or elſe we are ſtill but punies in St. Paul's Academy, but triflers in the School of the Croſs of Chriſt.
Once more, Denunciations of God's wrath may ſet us a praying oftner than we were wont before, make us aſſiduous and importunate in that duty: The tempeſt in Jonah, may caſt the heathen Mariners upon their knees, crying every man unto his God; and yet for want of the clean hands to ſpread forth towards Heaven, of the new Soul to exhale and breath forth thoſe prayers, the livelieſt of thoſe flames, like all thoſe which our earthy fire brings forth, faint and extinguiſh long before they come to that Region of purity. 'Twas the blind man's Divinity, Now we know that God heareth not ſinners, a principle of blind Nature; and Hierocles a Philoſopher deſcants excellently upon it, The ſacrifice of ſuch unreformed fools is but foreign, but a feaſt for the fire to prey on, their offerings to the Temple foreign, a prize for the ſacrilegious to ſeize on; the wiſe man is the only Prieſt, the only friend of God, foreign, the only man that knows how to pray, offering up himſelf for a ſacrifice, hewing his lower Soul into an Image, his upper into a Temple of his Deity.
I might ſhew you ſome more of theſe inferiour uſes, imperfect ſudden motions, that theſe judgments may have forced from us; and ſo ſtill like Chymicks in the purſuit of the Philoſopher's Stone, we meet with may handſome Experiments by the way, pleaſe our ſelves in our journey, though never attain to our journeys end. Theſe ſad Times, and this forced ſtudy and contemplation of God in his Judgments, may have caſt us upon ſome conſiderable Chriſtian vertues, and yet not advanced us within any ken of that great tranſcendent treaſure, to which all the ignis and the ſulphur, the fire and the brimſtone of his Judgments, that vaſt expence of thunder-bolts, to the emptying of his Armory, was deſign'd. Repentance is a higher pitch than any or all of theſe, and 'tis only Repentance is the proper Uſe of this ſad Doctrine; and not all kinds that paſs under that Title neither: and that muſt be ſhewed you in our next ſtage.
And firſt, the Repentance we ſpeak of, is not Sorrow, whether for miſery, or for ſin. For Miſery, that ſluce which lets out ſuch rivers of tears, which get away all the cuſtom from godly ſorrow or humiliation: Such ſorrow as this, is admirably deſcribed by God, Hoſ. 7.14. and call'd aſſembling themſelves for corn, faſting and praying only upon the loſs and for the recovering of worldly plenty; and this, it ſeems, very reconcileable with all the impiety in the world, for it follows, [and they rebel againſt me.] Nor bare ſorrow for ſin neither, that which ſome men call Repentance; and by ſo doing, have fill'd Hell with none but Penitents; for I am confident there is not an unhappy creature there, which hath not both theſe parts of ſorrow, both for his miſery, and for his fall that betray'd him to it; had he not, Hell were not half ſo much hell as 'tis, two of the ſoreſt tormentors would be miſſing, the ſenſe of the flames, and the gnawing of the worm, the one extorting the tears, the other the gnaſhing of the teeth.
Nor, ſecondly, Humiliation alone, though that were a great rarity to be found among us: for though that might prevail to avert or defer ſecular calamities from a Kingdom, as it did from Ahab, (and therefore our Satan that accuſes this Nation day and night before God, will not allow us this common grace; after all our ſufferings, the whole Nation, God knows, is as unhumbled as ever) yet will not a bare humiliation under God's rod be accepted for a ſufficient return, when Repentance and change is call'd for.
No nor, thirdly, the ſudden paſſionate motions toward Reformation, the ſhooting up of the ſeed in the ſtony ground: many ſuch weak falſe conceptions there are in the world, and an foreign, or ſpeedy abortion, the common fate of them all; like the Goats in the Philoſopher, that give milk when they are ſtung, but never elſe: When he ſlew them they ſought him, and turned them early and enquired after God. Every one of theſe is but a poor imperfect paiment of that great arrear, that God's terrors and imminent Judgments are come, like the foreign, in the Goſpel, to arreſt us for: and if we do not preſently make our peace with our adverſary, by rendring him that only royal tribute, the ſincere, impartial, uniform obedience of our whole age to come, and counting the time paſt of our lives ſufficient to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, give our ſelves up an early and voluntary ſacrifice to Chriſt, firſt to be ſlain before him, then brought forth (like Antinous in Homer, foreign, there lies the ſin, laid out a ſpotted Corps, that hath brought all the miſery upon us) and then offered up upon his Altars ſo many devoted mortified new creatures, that have the addition of Fire to that of Air and Water in the mixture, the active, vital, as well as the ſighing, weeping penitentiaries, (the imitation of the Sacrifices of old, foreign, gold pour'd about the horns of the Sacrifice) not only the Ox or beſtial part ſlain, but righteouſneſs and mercy to the poor uſed as the Ceremonies of breaking off our ſins, of ſlaying that ſacrifice, (as in the Primitive times, no Penitent was re-admitted to the Church, without foreign, or alms-deeds, and for him that was in the Church, there was yet no coming to the Sacrament, without an Offertory;) then ſtill, after all this paſſionate variety, hath God's meſſage not yet had audience from us, and till God may be heard by us, there is ſmall hope that we ſhall ever be heard by God; for Repentance is not only the only Uſe of the denunciation, but withal the only preſervative or phylactery, the only way of averting the Judgment which is now at hand, my laſt particular, Repent, for it is at hand.
And here I ſhall be able but only to draw you a Scheme of what I had deſign'd you, a rude draught of dead lines, and not venture to importune your patience with a foreign, but only tell you that I had purpoſed,
1. To explain to you that myſtery of Scripture, The diſtribution of God's Judgments into reverſible and irreverſible.
And 2. to give you the mark or character in Scripture diſcriminating the one from the other: the reverſible under God's word only, the [Nineveh ſhall be deſtroyed] and yet Nineveh repents, and Nineveh is not deſtroyed. The irreverſible under God's Oath alſo, Though theſe three men were in it, Noah, Daniel, and Job, as I live, ſaith the Lord, they ſhall deliver neither ſons nor daughters, &c.
3. The commonneſs and frequency of the motion, of the foreign, or proficiency of one of theſe ſtates into the other, the change that ſome addition of judgments, and years, and ſins, and intercalary mercies, may make in God's decrees, their improvement into irreverſible. Thus is it very poſſible, that upon the firſt breaking out of theſe Judgments upon this Land, the beginning of this rouzing Sermon, the fate and ſtate of this Kingdom might be a reverſible mutable ſtate, like the Souls of men in Maximus Tyrius, foreign, in a pendulous middle poſture. But ſince the prodigious unkindly working of theſe medicinal inflictions, as of the bitter water in the trial of Jealouſie, making the thigh to rot, and the belly to ſwell; ſince to all the ſins that before we had borrowed from our Neighbours, we have added ſo many more from the Fiends and Furies, to the rifling and impoveriſhing, as it were, of Hell it ſelf; ſince thoſe Armies of high uncleanneſſes, of lies, of crafts, of multiplied oaths, a ſtrange diſcordant grating harmony in the ears of God, of ſacrilegious rapines and prophanations, of— (I beſeech you ſave me the pains of confeſſing them for you) that ſin might be exceeding ſinful, and deſtruction exceeding deſtructive; and (after ſome intermiſſion of Judgments, but none of provocations) ſince a Dove-like embleme of peace hath been hovering over our heads, but not permitted to reſt upon us, diſclaim'd and driven out of our Region as a Vulture or Scriech-owl, the moſt ominous hated enemy; ſince the concurrence of all theſe, I ſay, 'tis alſo as poſſible we may be now improv'd and advanc'd to our full meaſure.
But then 4. I ſhould have ſhew'd you alſo the indiſcernibleneſs (to the eye of man) of the difference of theſe diſtant ſtates, till God by his promulgate Sentence have made the ſeparation; (we have not ſuch skill in Palmeſtry, as to interpret the lines and ſtrokes in God's hand, which hath been long upon us; nor in Symptoms, as to judge whether foreign, whether it be infallibly mortal or no) and from thence the poſſibility yet, that it may not be too late for us to return and live, to ſet God a Copy of repenting. But then,
5. Till this be done, every minute we breathe, we ſuck our poiſon, we run upon all the Spears and Cannons in the World; nay, if God ſhould hear us before we have anſwered him, if Mercy ſhould interpoſe, before Repentance, and Reformation make us capable of it, that very Mercy were to be deprecated as the greateſt Judgment in the world, a kind of Hell of deſertion, a [why ſhould ye be ſmitten any more?) a not vouchſafing us the medicinal ſtripes, a delivering us up to our ſelves as to the fatalleſt revengefulleſt enemies, the moſt mercileſs, bloodieſt executioners. God may ſpare us in wrath, relieve us in fury, give us a treacherous ſettlement, a palliate peace, (the ſaddeſt preſage and fore-runner imaginable;) and ſuch it is ſure to be, if the ſurface of the fleſh be healed, before the foreign, the depth of the wound in the heart, be ſearch'd and mollified, if God repent before we repent: and againſt ſuch mercies we have more reaſon to pray, than againſt all the foreign and inteſtine flames, all the Tophets, and Purgatories, and Hells, that the fury of men or devils can kindle within our coaſts. The ſame motive that made St. Baſil call for his Fever again, to wit, if the recovering of his Health were the re-flouriſhing of his Pride, may move us to pray for the continuance of this State-fever, till our impenitent hearts be humbled. I will make you my Confeſſors; till this Kingdom be really and viſibly the better for ſtripes, I cannot without ſome regrets, ſome fears of uncharitableneſs, pray abſolutely for peace for it. Lord, purge us, Lord, cleanſe us with thy ſharp infuſions, cure and heal our Souls by theſe Cauſticks of thine; and then thou mayeſt ſpare that charge, pour in thy Wine and thine Oil inſtead of them: but till then, Domine, nolumus indulgentiam hanc, Lord, we are afraid of thy indulgence; we are undone, if thou be too merciful, we tremble to think of our condition, if thou ſhould'ſt give over thy Cure too early, if thou ſhould'ſt tear off our plaiſters and our fleſh together, reſtore our flouriſhing, before thou haſt humbled and chang'd our Souls.
I have done with my laſt particular alſo.
Pleaſe you now but to ſpell theſe Elements together, the ſad threats of a direful Kingdom, the but one word between us and that, only Repentance, to ſanctifie it to us, and avert it from us, the Baptiſt miraculouſly born to preach it to them, and the ſame Voice now crying in the Wilderneſs to this Nation, in the midſt of a whole Africk of Monſters, a Deſart of wilder men: and if this Raven ſent out of the Ark, the place of God's reſt in Heaven, thus long hovering over this Earth of ours (going to and fro only on this errand, to ſee whether the waters be dried up from off the Earth, whether the Deluge of ſin be abated) may not yet be allowed ſome reſt for the ſoal of her foot; if at the heels of that, the Dove-like Spirit moving once more upon the Waters, may not find one Olive-leaf among us to carry back, in token that we are content to hear of Peace, to be friends with God; if having Moſes and ſo many Prophets, the rod of the one ſo long on our ſhoulders, and the Thunder of the other in our ears, we cannot yet be brought this day to hear this voice, this foreign, this clamorous importunate voice, Repent, or periſh irreverſibly; I muſt then divert with that other Prophet, with an [O altar, altar, hear the word of the Lord,] becauſe Jeroboam's heart was harder than that, with an [O earth, earth, earth,] with a [Hear O heaven, and hearken, O earth,] flie to the deafeſt creatures in the world, becauſe I can have no better Auditors. In this caſe, Preaching is the moſt uncharitable thing, apt only to improve our ruine, like breath when it meets with fire, only to increaſe our flames: there is nothing left tolerably ſeaſonable but our Prayers, that our hearts, being the only whole Creatures in the Kingdom, may at laſt be broken alſo; that by his powerful, controlling, convincing Spirit, the proud Atheiſtical ſpirit that reigns among us, may at laſt be humbled to the duſt; that in the ruine of the Kingdom of Satan, his pride, his ſorceries his rebellions, may be erected the humble heavenly Kingdom of our Chriſt, that meekneſs, that lowlineſs, that purity, that mercifulneſs, that peaceableneſs, that power of the Goſpel-ſpirit, that we may be a Nation of Chriſtians firſt, and then of Saints; that having taken up the cloſe of the Angels Anthem, Good will towards men, we may paſs through peace on earth, and aſcend to that Glory to God on high, and with all that Celeſtial Quire aſcribe to him the Glory, the Honour, the Power, the Praiſe, &c.