Errors and Induration Great Sins and Judgments of the Time, Sermon

Errors and Induration Great Sins and Judgments of the Time · Sermon

p. 1A Sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Houſe of Lords, July 30. 1645.

ISAI. 63.17.

Lord, why haſt thou made us to erre from thy ways, and hardned our hearts from thy fear? Return for thy ſervants ſake, the Tribes of thine Inheritance.

IN this and the two next Chapters, The Diviſion of the Chapter.we have a heavenly Conference and Dialogue betwixt Chriſt and the Church of Iſrael, in the time of her affliction in Babel.

The Dialogue hath Three or Six parts: Three Queſtions of the Church, and Three Anſwers of Chriſt.

In the firſt verſe of this Chapter, The firſt Pars.we have the firſt Queſtion and Anſwer. The Church, about that time of the Captivity to which this part of the Prophecie relateth, was much oppreſſed with many Enemies. God, after all his wrath, begins to ariſe, and take order with them who long had deyoured her; eſpecially with Edom, the neereſt and moſt bitter Enemy of Jacob. When ſhe ſees the ſudden and unexpected Vengeance on Edom, admiring who could be the p. 2author and worker of it, ſhe propoſes the Queſtion, Who he was that had deſtroyed Bozra, the principall City of the Edomites, and was marching in his great and glorious ſtrength from the Land of Edom, the ſervice there being ended, to other of the Enemies Countreys.

Unto the Churches Interrogation, Chriſt anſwers, That it was he himſelf, who now, by his works, was demonſtrating the truth of his ancient promiſes, and ſhewing the might of his power to ſave his people from the Enemies oppreſſion.

Obſerve, The Doct…ine.When the Church hath wreſtled long with her enemies, and is ready to faint and give over; on a ſudden, Chriſt, the King and Captain of the Host of Iſrael, comes down, and breaks the ſtrength of the prevailing enemy; to the Church her great admiration.

The ſecond part of the Dialogue is in the next five verſes. The ſecond part of the Chapter.The Church finding it was her Lord and God who was begun to take vengeance on her enemies; before he go, ſhe is deſirous of more conference with him, and propoſes a ſecond Queſtion, Wherefore his Garments were red, as if he had been treading a Preſſe of red wine?

The Lords Anſwer is, That the ſet time of his Vengeance upon her Enemies was come: That though her ſtrength was gone, and among all her friends there was none able to ſtand againſt her foes; yet he alone would do it, and by his own Arm had deſtroyed already ſome of them with ſo great a ſlaughter, that all his glorious Raiment was ſtained with the blood of the ſlain.

Hence obſerve, The firſt Doctrine.firſt, When the condition of the Church is moſt deſperate upon earth, then is the day and hour of her certain redreſſe from heaven.

The Church, The ſecond.deſerted of her ſelf and all men elſe, hath one fast friend, who alone is worth many Ten thouſands, able to draw her out of all deeps.

p. 3In the day of the Lords anger, The third.wo to all the enemies of the Church. When the Lord begins to trample them in the Winepreſſe of his Indignation; if there were no more but the daſhing of their bodies in pieces, the watering of the ground with their blood, and the ſtaining of the garments of their killers therewith; if no more followed, it were well to them: But they muſt drink after death in the Cup of the everlaſting fury of the Almighty, as John comments it, Rev. 14.10. They ſhall be tormented with fire and brimſtone for ever and ever.

In the third part of the Dialogue from the ſeventh verſe, The Subdiviſion of the third part.the Church finding her Deliverance ſenſibly begun, but not accompliſhed (for though Edom was deſtroyed, yet Babel was ſitting like a Queen over the Nations, and moſt over the rubbiſh of deſclate Jeruſalem) ſhe turns her ſelf to her preſent Redeemer, and moſt humbly ſupplicates him to perfect what he had begun, To deliver her fully from the great burdens both of ſin and miſery that yet lay upon her. This Prayer is ſet down in the remnant of this Chapter, and all the next; whereunto a large and gracious Anſwer is returned by Chriſt in the 65 Chapter, thorow the whole.

The firſt part of the Prayer is Thankſgiving, Its firſt member.from the ſeventh to the fifteenth.

To prepare their hearts for petitioning, they lay out before the Lord the great goodneſſe which he of old had beſtowed on the houſe of Iſrael, his wonders in Egypt, his glorious works at the Red Sea and in the Wilderneſſe, the conſtancy of his kindneſſe, notwithſtanding their Rebellion and vexing of his Spirit: Though ſometime he puniſhed them for their ſins, yet he never left them, for the glory of his Name, and the Multitude of his mercies: Not onelyonly Moſes his Shepherd, but the Angel of his Preſence went before them: He was afflicted in all their afflictions; he bare them, and carried them in his arms all theſe days of old thorow that howling Wilderneſſe. This is the Churches Preface to her ſubſequent Prayer.

Hence obſerve, firſt, The firſt Doctrine.Thanksgiving is the meeteſt uſher which p. 4a Petitioner can have to the Throne of Grace. Praiſe perfumes the lips of a Supplicant; it ſweetens, it ſoftens, it opens the heart of a Seeker, and fits it ſingularly to receive all its deſires from God.

The kindneſſe of God in the days of Moſes, The ſecond.and the moſt ancient times, is the Churches Inheritance to the worlds end. All the favours of God regiſtred in Scripture, all the gracious experiments of the Saints in any time, in any place, are our Patrimony, ſerving as ruled Caſes, to ſtrengthen our Faith, Hope and Patience in the days of our adverſity.

The ſins of many perſons, The third.remove not the favour of God from an elect Nation. There is no interruption of the courſe of mercy towards a People, by the deſtruction of many particular perſons. Great Vengeance may be upon Thouſands, the carcaſes of Ten Thouſands may fall in the Wilderneſſe, even of Moſes himſelf, and many of the Shepherds both of Church and State; and yet the Lord may graciouſly march on before his People, till he have ſetled them and his Ark in peace on his holy mountain.

The Prayer conſiſts of Petitions, The ſecond member.Complaints, Confeſſions of ſin, Profeſſions of faith, intertexed one with another, as the holy paſſions of the Supplicants hearts do mix them.

In the fifteenth verſe, The matter of the 15 verſe.there is a Petition backed with a Complaint. The Lord for a long time had left his People to the outrages of their Enemies, he had as it were left the earth, gone up to the heaven, and miskent all that the Enemy had done to his People: Now therefore they petition that he might be pleaſed to look down upon them from his holy and glorious Throne in the heaven. For this is the ſtrange faith of the Church, That ſhe is perſwaded ſo far of the power and goodneſſe of her God, at that very time when he hath left her to ſink in miſery for her offences; that even then, if he would but look back to her, in never ſo far a diſtance; if from the very heaven, the place of his retiring, he would behold her on the earth overwhelmed with miſery; ſhe is hopefull, if ſhe come but in the ſight of her p. 5gracious Lord, he would not fail to take pity upon her, and deliver her.

To this Petition, a Complaint is ſubjoyned, of the reſtraint and withdrawing of Gods ancient favours: Sometimes his zeal and ſtrength had been employed in her defence, his mercies, the tender bowels of his compaſſions, had been extended towards her; but now all ſenſe of ſuch favours were away.

This complaint, leſt it ſhould irritate, The matter of the ſixteenth.is preſently corrected in the ſixteenth Verſe, with a fair profeſſion of Faith, …bove and againſt all preſent ſenſe, however the beams of Gods loving countenance did not then ſhine upon them, as at ſome other time; yet they profeſſe their certain perſwaſion, that God was their Father: Though Abraham and Iſrael, and all their bodily Progenitors ſhould caſt them away, as unworthy to be counted their children; yet they did beleeve, that their everlaſting and unchangeable God would not caſt them off, but deal with them as children, notwithſtanding of all their miſdeſervings.

As for the words in hand in the ſeventeenth Verſe, The diviſion of the Text.the Church goes on to powre out her ſpirit before him, whom ſhe beleeves to be her Father, in the midſt of all her afflictions, in a new complaint and petition. The complaint hath two parts, and the petition is backed with a twofold Reaſon: The firſt part of the complaint is in theſe words, O Lord, why haſt thou made us erre from thy wayes? the ſecond part in theſe, Why haſt thou hardned our hearts from thy fear? The petition is, that he would return after his long abſence. The firſt reaſon, They were his ſervants; the ſecond, They were his inheritance. Let us conſider ſeverally, the minde and uſe of every part.

As for the firſt part of the complaint, The Expoſition of the firſt pars.four things in it would be exponed: Firſt, What are the wayes of the Lord. Secondly, What it is to erre from his wayes. Thirdly, How God makes men erre from his way. Fourthly; How the Church complains of this divine action. Three of theſe particulars are eaſie, and may be diſpatched in a word; but in the fourth there is no little difficulty.

p. 6For the firſt; What are the wayes of God.Gods wayes here, are his Commandments, full of holineſſe and righteouſneſſe; they are called Gods wayes, becauſe of their ſimilitude with his nature, that is, holy, righteous, and true: All his Commandments, and converſation, are according to the ſtrait rule of his eternall, and eſſentiall holineſſe, righteouſneſſe and truth. Secondly, Becauſe they are his Law and Preſcription, his will preſcribes them as a way to his creatures to walk in. Thirdly, Becauſe of his preſence therein, in that way he is to be found: He is graciouſly preſent, and doth conntenance all that walk into it. Fourthly, Becauſe of their end; they lead to God, they are the ſtrait way, wherein the godly walk, till they come to the glorious palace above.

The ſecond point, What it is to erre from theſe wayes.To erre from theſe wayes, is to ſin, as it is expreſſed Pſal. 119.8, 10. To wander from Gods Commandments. When we leave Gods way, and run out on the right hand, or the left, to the wayes of our own blinde minde, and corrupted heart; our falſe opinions againſt Gods truth; our wicked inclinations and actions againſt his holy nature, and revealed will; all of this kinde is our erring from his wayes.

But the great difficulty is in the third, How God makes men to erre.How the Lord cauſes us to erre from his way: This would ſeem to make God the cauſe and author of ſin, which is a horrid blaſphemy againſt many Scriptures, and all reaſon. To eſchew this huge, great, and intolerable inconvenience, ſundry famous interpreters do tranſlate the originall otherwayes then we read it; Not, Why haſt thou made or cauſed us to erre? but, Why hast thou ſuffered or permitted us to erre? So Junius an excellent tranſlator: And many hundred yeers before him, the Chaldee Paraphraſt did render it, Why haſt thou caſt us away to erre from thy wayes? This interpretation is approved by very Learned and Orthodox Divines, who bring this reaſon for it, That the Hebrew word here, is not ſimply in the active form, not in Kal, but, as they ſpeak, in Hiphil, whoſe ſignification oftentimes is not to make or cauſe, but to permit.

p. 7Indeed, this tranſlation does eſchew fully the difficulty; The Grammaticall ſolution of ſome great men is not ſelid.yet we dare not venture upon it; for as it ſeems it were to make too bold with the Scripture. The Septuagens, the ancient Latin, the French, the Dutch, the Italian, and many more, reads it juſt as our Engliſh, Why haſt thou made us to erre from thy wayes? The Grammaticall reaſon alleaged, hath no ſtrength in this place; for be it ſo, that Hebrew Verbs in Hiphil, ſometime have a permiſſive, and not an active ſenſe; though this in any word is very rare, and the examples alleaged, are very queſtionable; yet for the Hiphil of the word in hand, we deny that ever it can be ſo exponed. A number of places of Scripture may be produced where Hithah muſt be actively exponed, as here our tranſlators read it; but not one, if it be not this in queſtion, can be brought where it may be exponed of a meer permiſſion, without ſome agency and operation upon the erring and ſeduced perſon. We dare not truſt the ſolving of ſo weighty a difficulty upon ſuch a meer Grammatication.

Holding therefore to our vulgar tranſlation, The matter of a ſinfull action muſt be diſtinguiſhed from its form.How does God cauſe us to erre, and yet is not the Author of our errours? For the underſtanding hereof, we muſt diſtinguiſh ſin, and the actions of God about ſin. In ſin there are two things, albeit inſeparably joyned, yet eſſentially diſtinct; The matter and form, the act and its pravity; the one is naturally good, the other morally evill: This is viſible in two actions whoſe matter is the ſame, but the forms much different: For example, the ſtoning of Naboth, and the ſtoning of Achan; the ſubſtance of the actions, the caſting of the ſtones at both, was the ſame; but the forms was much different: The caſting at an innocent man, and at a man condemned by God, and all Iſrael; the one form makes the ſtoning of Naboth an act of unjuſt murder, the other form makes the ſtoning of Achan, an act of juſt puniſhment.

The acts, not of Gods will and decrees, Three acts of Gods effectuall providence about ſin.for ſuch concern not the words in hand, but of his actuall providence about the matter and form of ſin, are many: The moſt conſiderable of theſe to us, for opening of our Text, are three: p. 8His concourſe, his efficacious permiſſion, his judiciall tradition, ſo to ſpeak.

For the firſt, 11An active concourſe in the ſubſtance of the action.the Lord hath an actuall, yea, an active concourſe; and if you will, an efficiency in every act of ſin, ſo far as concerns the ſubſtance or matter of the ſinfull action; for in him we live, we move, and have all our being, in the moſt ſinfull action, the matter of the act being a poſitive entity, it muſt be a naturally-good thing, and have its exiſtence from the firſt and univerſall mover, the fountain of all Being: Without this kinde of efficiency and concourſe, Shimei could not have moved his tongue to curſe David, nor Doeg drawn his ſword to have killed the Prieſts: When God denies this kinde of concourſe, ſin is neceſſarily ſtopped: When he removes the life of the two Captains, they cannot oppreſſe Eliah. When God leaves the life, but takes away the ſight from the Sodomites at Lots door, and the power from the arm of Jeroboam, their ſin is impedite. When by ſuſpending of his operation, he takes away the will from David to kill Nabal, though both life and power remained, the ſin is marred. But for ſuch kinde of working in the ſinner, and cooperation with the ſinfull act, Sin uſes not to be aſcribed to God, more then the generation of living Creatures, to the motion and influence of the Heavens; for effects are denominate from the ſecond and particular cauſes, not from the firſt and univerſall, though their efficiency and concourſe be never ſo neceſſary and certain.

The next action of God about ſin is, 22An efficacious permiſſion of the ſinfulneſſe of the act.his efficacious permiſſion; This for its object, hath not onelyonly the matter and ſubſtance of the ſinfull act, but its very form, its pravity, its anomy, its ſinfulneſſe: This malignant quality is a morall evill, and ſo cannot be of God, who is goodneſſe it ſelf; its a privation and defect, and ſo the cauſe of it is not efficient, but deficient. If we would render the cauſe of a lame mans crooked walking, we behoved to diſtinguiſh betwixt the walking, and its crookedneſſe: The walking we would aſcribe to the motive power of the mans ſoul, and to the inſtruments of motion in his body; but the crookedneſſe of p. 9it, to the defect and hurt of ſome inſtrument of motion, not to the ſoul, or to the faculty, or to the inſtrument of motion, but onelyonly to ſome defect of the inſtrument. So the finfulneſſe of ſin is to be aſcribed not to any efficiency of God, but to the deficiency of mans will, which now is ſinfull, and before ſin, was weak, as being made of nothing, and ſo able to change it ſelf from good to evill; but however, the ſinfulneſſe of ſin cannot be charged on Gods either efficiency or deficiency, yet it muſt exiſt by his free permiſſion; for nothing can have any exiſtence in the world, any being in the dominion of God, without the leave and permiſſion of the great Lord and Maſter of the World.

That action of God which in reſpect of ſin is called a permiſſion, in regard of the ſinner is a deſertion: This is really one thing with deſertion.This conſidered, will help to clear that which is the hardeſt knot in this matter; the efficacy that is ſaid to be in the permiſſion, and yet without all efficiency of the permitter, in the ſinfulneſſe permitted.

This matter which naturally is exceeding dark, will be beſt ſeen in ſimilitudes: When the Sun goes down, the darkneſſe of the night neceſſarily doth follow; when the Sun declines towards the Southern ſignes of the Zediack, the Winter blaſts certainly do come on; the Sun the fountain of light and heat, in propriety of ſpeech, cannot be called the cauſe of the nights darkneſſe, or of the Winters cold; yet theſe, as ordinary and neceſſary conſequents, are uſually aſcribed to the Suns removall. Hot water removed from the fire, becomes incontinent cold: A ruinous Wall, when its props are removed, falls quickly to the ground: The coldneſſe of the water flows not from the fire, but from its own nature; the falling of the Wall comes from the naturall heavineſſe of the ſtones, which, without the impediment of a ſupporter, makes them to fall downward. It is ſo with God and man; when he withdraws, we become dark as midnight, cold like Ice, we fall to the ground.

Theſe effects neceſſarily follow his deſertion, but not as effects, onelyonly as conſequents; their proper cauſe, is neither p. 10in God, nor his removall; but in our nature, which of it ſelf, ſince the fall, is full of theſe malign qualities.

This kinde of providence about our ſins, is expreſſed in words of the active form, of blinding the eyes, and hardning the heart: Not that the Lord infuſes any darkneſſe or hardneſſe in the heart, which is not its own; but becauſe upon the removing of his illuminating and ſoftning Spirit, the naturall blindneſſe and hardneſſe of mans ſpirit, lurking before, doth then appear.

The third action of God about ſin, Gods third action, is, a Judiciall Tradition.is that which I did call, a Judiciall Tradition, when God, as a juſt Judge, puniſhes ſin by ſin; when he gives over men not onelyonly to their own heart, but to the devil and his inſtruments to be tempted, ſeduced and drawn away to commit wickedneſſe with greedineſſe. However all the ſinfull actions be immediately the works of the ſinner alone, and the upſtirring to theſe actions be from the devil and his inſtruments, laying arguments, objects and occaſions, as baits and ſnares, in the way of the ſinner; yet God, as a juſt Judge, ſending out Satan and men as his executioners and making way for mens own luſts to break out on the objects ſet before them: For theſe acts of Judgment, both in our Text, and oft elſewhere in Scripture, the cauſe of mens ſins, not as they are ſins, but as puniſhments of ſin, is aſcribed to him, 2 Theſſ. 2.10. Becauſe they received not the love of the truth, God ſhall ſend them ſtrong deluſions to believe a lye. He was to ſend on them The Man of ſin, whoſe coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and with all deceiveableneſſe. The committing of the ſin is aſcribed to the ſinner, who believes the lye; the tempting to it, is aſcribed to Satan and his Antichriſtian Inſtruments; the ſending out both of Satan and Antichriſt, the giving over to deluſion, is aſcribed to God the righteous Judge, by theſe means puniſhing former ſins. Rom. 1.18, 21, 24, 26, 28. The wrath of God is revealed againſt all unrighteouſneſſe of men; becauſe, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God: wherefore God gave them up alſo to uncleanneſſe. For this cauſe God gave them up to vile affections. God gave them over to a reprobate p. 11minde. The ſinfull acts flow from the reprobate mindes and vile affections of the ſinners; yet God the Judge is thrice ſaid to give them up to theſe their own ſins. Rom. 11.8. God hath given them the ſpirit of ſlumber, eyes that they ſhould not ſee, and ears that they ſhould not hear to this day. Let their Table be a ſnare, a ſtumbling-block, and a recompence to them: Let their eyes be darkned, that they may not ſee. 2 Chron. 18.22. The Lord hath put a lying ſpirit in the mouth of theſe thy Prophets. Many ſuch places there are, where God, as a righteous Judge, is made to give over ſinners to the devil, to other wicked men, to themſelves, to be led in more and greater ſins, as puniſhments of the former.

Thus far Proteſtant Divines do go; Proteſtants are unjuſtly accuſed for making God the author of ſin.and all the acts which any of them aſcribe to God about the cauſation of ſin, may be referred to one of the three named: All which ſtands well with the holineſſe of his Nature, and extreme contrariety to ſin. The Papists and Arminians do ſlander us moſt unjuſtly, as if we did blaſpheme the holy Lord, in making him the author of ſin: All of us ever have abhorred ſuch Doctrine: We never aſcribed to God more acts of providence about ſin, then the moſt clamorous of our enemies themſelves expreſly have done. The three forenamed acts, by Bellarmine and Arminius are attributed to God, in as ample and unadviſed expreſſions as ever fell from the Pen of any of our approved Divines.

I grant, the Libertines of old, This is the blaſphemy of the Libertines, and of M. Archers book, juſtly burnt therefore.and their children the Antinomians this day, do caſt out on this ſubject many abominable Blaſphemies: but theſe were ever deteſted by all Orthodox Proteſtants, as the vomit of the father of all lyes and blaſphemies; which makes us the more to marvel what theſe men can mean, who lately here, under the name of M. Archer a famous Independent in his time, have printed the worſt and groſſeſt of theſe Blaſphemies. Surely, if ſuch kinde of Doctrine be entertained by any of that Party, our Diſputations will not ſtand long at Church-Government; but the world will be confirmed in that opinion which ſome wiſe men long ago have given out, That Independency was not p. 12ſo much loved for it ſelf, as for ſomwhat elſe, A liberty, without cenſure, to vent ſuch Doctrines as the conſcience of Orthedox Divines will never be able to hear with patience. But in this I will not enter: The zeal of the whole Aſſembly and both the Honourable Houſes againſt the blaſphemous Hereſies of that infamous Book, doth quiet and ſecure our mindes herein.

The fourth word to be exponed, Why doth the Church complain of theſe acts of God about her ſins?is the Interrogation and Complaint, Why hast thou made us to erre? The Church being now before God, and laying hold on his fatherly compaſſions, pours out before him the troubles of her heart. That which troubled them moſt, was their ſins and obſtinacie in Rebellion, which they complain to the Lord had befallen them in his great wrath, through his deſerting of them, and giving them over to be led away by their own luſts, and Satans tentations. This part of Gods wrath upon them, in puniſhing their ſins with more blindneſſe, and making them erre farther from his ways, was their greateſt miſery, the true cauſe of all their outward plagues, and a greater plague then all the reſt; as we may ſee in the ſixth of this Prophecie, where the Lord, for contempt of the Prophets Miniſtery, doth puniſh the body of that people with Spirituall Judgements, and makes their heart fatter, their minde blinder then before: And from this Spirituall evil, he makes all their Temporall deſolation to flow, as out of its proper Fountain. Of this miſery the people here complain to God, not to lay their ſins off themſelves, on the Lord; but to witneſſe their deep ſenſe of them, as coming on them through Gods juſt deſertion, and deſerved judgement: Not to upbraid the Lord with their miſeries, but to ſpread them out before his feet, as their onelyonly hope from whoſe hand alone they expected a remedy.The firſt Doctrine. The godly pour out all their complaints in Gods boſom.

From the words thus exponed, obſerve, firſt, The children of God, in their worſt eſtate, are ſo familiar with their heavenly Father, as to pour out in his boſom the complaints of whatever miſery lies upon them. At this time, as appears by the words both before and after, the peoples condition was exceeding p. 13hard. We are all as an unclean thing; our iniquities, as the winde, have taken us away. Thou hast hid thy face from us, and conſumed us, becauſe of our iniquities. His zeal, ſtrength and mercifull bowels ſeemed to be reſtrained towards them; yet they come before him: and that which troubled them moſt, their wandring from his ways, they ſpread it out before his feet, as the matter of their chiefeſt complaint.

The truth of the Doctrine may be ſeen, Lam. 4.1. The Proof hereof.Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us; conſider and behold our reproach. In all the Chapter, and the whole Book, there is a familiar complaining to the Lord of all their miſeries. Moſes and Aaron, in all their tribulation, run to the door of the Tabernacle. Jacob, at the ſide of the foord Jabbuk, in his great fray for Eſau, betook himſelf to weep and pray. David, in his preſent danger of ſtoning by his own men, comforted himſelf in God. Hezekiah ſpread out before the Lord the railing of Rabſhakeh; and, after his deſperate ſickneſſe, turned himſelf to the wall to pour out his heart to God. The examples of this practice are innumerable.

The Reaſon of it is, The Saints interest in God: The Reaſon.He is their Father. Poor children in diſtreſſe, whither ſhall they go, but to their father? Neither ſin nor miſery will annull that more then naturall relation, that ſupernaturall Paternity and Filiation. Though God clothe himſelf with a cloud in his anger; yet faith will make the ſoul, with Moſes, run thorow the fire and darkneſſe to him. The Prodigall, in the midſt of his miſery, reſolves to return to his father. The Spirit of Adoption, in our hardeſt times, will make us cry, Abba, Father. This reaſon is uſed in the ſame place, ver. 16. Doubtleſſe thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us. Verſ. 19. We are thine; thou never beareſt rule over them. The next Chapter, verſ. 8. But now, O Lord, thou art our Father; behold, ſee, we beſeech thee, we are all thy people.

The Uſe is for our Encouragement to continue this practice with all earneſtneſſe and perſeverance. The Ʋſe.If there be any means to draw down a bleſſing from the heavens on a diſtreſſed p. 14Nation, it is the prayer of the Saints: This is the hand that hath drawn up this ſinking Land from the pit of ruine; that hath ſet our feet on that Rock of ſafety whereon now we ſtand. Whatever difficulties are yet before us, by this means, or none elſe, will they be gotten overcome: Though all other ſhould give over this holy exerciſe of Faſting and Praying, or turn it in a ſinfull and provoking formality; yet it behoves us to keep it on foot, remembring both the expreſſe command of the Lord, Call on me in the day of thy trouble, I ſhall deliver thee, Pſal. 50. Lam. 2.19. Ariſe, cry out in the night, in the beginning of the watches pour out your hearts like water, before the face of the Lord; Lift up your hands towards him. And your own viſible experience: As no people have ſown more plentifully this pretious ſeed; ſo none have already reaped more evident fruits thereof: Be not weary of this good work, untill all our deſires be accompliſhed.

In the next place obſerve, The ſecond Doctrine. Sins are heavier then afflictions. The Proof.That the chief part of the Saints complaint to God, is of their wandrings from his wayes. Their ſins are heavier to them, then all their afflictions.

This is proved from divers Scriptures, Pſal. 38. When the Prophets trouble was great, Nothing ſound in his fleſh, The Arrows of the Lord ſticking in him, Gods hand preſſing him ſore; yet the chief burden whereof he complains, was his ſins, verſe 4. Mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. Pſal. 40.12. Innumerable evils have compaſſed me about, but mine iniquities have taken hold on me; for them he was not able to look out, his heart failed him: Daniel c. 9. complains of the heavy wrath and curſe that was powred out on Jeruſalem, and of ſo great afflictions as had befaln to no Nation under Heaven; yet the firſt, chief, and longeſt part of his complaint is, of the ſins of their Kings, of their Princes, of their Prieſts, and whole Land.

The reaſon of the Doctrine, The Reaſon.Sin is the greateſt evill, its the fountain of afflictions: Affliction cometh not out of the duſt; trouble ſpringeth not out of the ground: Sin is the root p. 15of it. Alſo ſin is moſt contrary to the nature of God: Wrath and trouble, even the greateſt, the very torments of Hell, are not ſo; for they are according to his juſtice. The godly therefore, who weigh things aright in the juſt ballance of the Sanctuary, eſteem their ſins much heavier, and more grievous evils, then any they can ſuffer for them.

The uſe is for our inſtruction: The Ʋſe.Let our complaints be rightly ordered, and our ſorrows rightly placed: Beware to ſpend the moſt, or beſt of thy ſenſe, on thy ſufferings: Beware to pour out the vehemency of thy paſſion, the bittereſt of thy ſorrows on calamities, either private or publike. The firſt fruits, the flower, the firſt-born of thy grief, muſt be reſerved for the chief evill. The naturall and kindely children of God, will have more ſorrow at their heart for the ſins of the Land, then for the deſolations thereof: What ever poverty, diſgrace, pain, can befall their perſon, the very wrath of God, ſuppoſe the torments of Hell, will not be ſo heavy, ſo bitter, ſo troubleſome to them, as their ſins, the cauſe of all theſe evils.

The third obſervation, The third Doctrine. Gods hand in our ſins, encreaſeth their bitternes. An Objection anſwered.Gods puniſhing and judiciall hand in our ſins, is their aggravation, and increaſe of their bitterneſſe: For this is the head of the Churches complaint, That God had cauſed them to erre from his wayes.

It is true, the Saints in Scripture draw comfort from ſome acts of Gods mercy about ſin, as from his gracious directing of its act to a good end. Upon this ground Joſeph comforts his Brethren, that not they, but God had ſent him down to Egypt: That their felling of him, which they intended for evill, God had ordered it ſo, that it did become the mean of all their preſervation. Alſo Gods prediction of ſin in ſundry Scriptures, is made a ground of contentment: All this was done, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, is a common place of comfort againſt the treaſon of Judas, and the wickedneſſe of the Jews. Likewiſe the Apoſtles, Acts 4. quiet their minde on this meditation, That God in his eternall counſell, had determined what Herod and Pilate in time had done in crucifying of Chriſt. Of ſuch acts of Gods mercy p. 16about our ſins, we ſpeak not, be they temporall, be they eternall; but of the acts of his juſtice and wrath, puniſhing ſin by ſin. From theſe actions of God, we can draw no comfort; but they aggravate the weight of our ſins, and increaſe our grief.

The miſcarriage of Abſolon, The Proof.his rebellion and inceſt, could not but grieve David; but to increaſe his grief, 2 Sam. 2.10. God tells him, I will do this thing before all Iſrael, and before the Sun, in that terrible viſion, Iſai. 6. the Lord, to demonſtrate his wrath againſt that people, ſendeth to them a meſſage full of anger, Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy. Their excaecation was in it ſelf a grievous evill; but it was more grievous, when it came as a plague from an angry God. John 12.39. Gods blinding of their eyes, that they could not beleeve Chriſts Word, is brought as an aggravation of their ſin, and of the anger of Chriſt againſt them, ſo far, as he went from them, and hid himſelf.

The reaſon of this is, The Reaſon.That theſe acts of God proceed from wrath and juſtice, puniſhing former ſins. Again, they are the means to make ſin more ſinfull, the perſon being given over to be carried headlong by his own luſts, and Satans tentations. Thirdly, The puniſhment of ſin in this degree, is much ſorer, then if it had been a ſimple ſin, as in the ſixth of Iſaiah, and elſewhere it appears. No marvell therefore, that men of awakened conſciences make it a chief part of their complaint and grief, That God had cauſed them to erre: This being a figne of wrath, and increaſe of guiltineſſe, and a forerunner of greater puniſhment.

The uſe is firſt for Caution, 1 Ʋſe for Caution.To beware of that dangerous errour of taking comfort and encouragement from Gods judiciall hand in our ſins, that is, to glory in our ſhame, and to joy for what we ſhould be ſad. It is to caſt off our ſelf the burden of our ſin, to whom alone it belongs, on God, whoſe eyes are purer, then to behold iniquity.

Secondly, 2 Ʋſe for Counſel.It ſerves for Councell, to make it our chief grief in our mourning, That we have faln under ſo heavy diſpleaſure, as to be ſcourged with the worſt of Gods Rods: p. 17Of all the Arrows in Gods Quiver, this is the moſt venemous, To be given over by God to ſin; this comes from a ſpeciall wrath, and is a preſage of very great miſery following. When Gods ſpirit ſtirred up David to number the people, it came from his anger againſt Iſrael, and was a forerunner of the deſtroying Angell: The blinding of the peoples eyes, Iſaiah 6. and John 12. is made an antecedent of a nationall ruine. When ever we feel this to be our condition, it ſhould be the matter of our moſt mournfull complaint.

The fourth obſervation will clear the third; it is this, The fourth Doctrine. Judiciall errours are moſt lamentable.The godly, when their eyes are opened to ſee their wandrings, they are ſingularly affected with their judiciall errours, As here the Church mourning and praying to God, for ſin and miſery, begins her complaint for theſe errours, into which, by Gods anger and judgement, ſhe had faln.

Old Iſrael by Gods judgement, The Proof.had faln in the grievous errour of civill diſcord, which coſt in two dayes, the eleven Tribes, the lives of fourty thouſand men; and in the third, proceeded very near to the extirpation of the twelfth Tribe. When the hand of God was lifted off them, and they began to look back upon their actions, Judges 21.2. they weeped fore before the Lord, and complained to him of the great miſchief wherein they had faln: Though the injuſtice and obſtinacy of Benjamin had been the immediate cauſe of the diſſention; yet they pittied their Brethren, ſeeing it was the Lords judgement upon them all, that had made that breach in Iſrael, Verſe 15. Ephraim in his pride would needs rebell againſt the houſe of David, and have a King among themſelves, and Altars of their own making at Dan and Bethel; God in juſtice gave them over to theſe ſins of continuall ſedition and idolatry, till they were totally ruined: He gave them a number of Kings in his anger: Hoſ. 8.11. Becauſe Ephraim hath made many Altars to ſin, Altars ſhall be unto him to ſin. But when the Lord gave repentance to Ephraim, ſee how much they are grieved, aſhamed, and confounded, for their madneſſe, wherein by the judgement of God, they p. 18were made long to go on, Jere. 31.18. I have heard Ephrains bemoaning himſelf thus; Surely, after I was turned, I repented; and after I was inſtructed, I ſmote upon my thigh; I was aſhamed, yea, even confounded, becauſe I bore the reproach of my youth. The Jews were plagued of God with a horrible blindneſſe of minde, and obſtinacy of heart, ſo that they rejected the Goſpel, crucified the Lord of Life, and remain in Rebellion to this day: But when the Lord ſhall take off the vail of their eyes, and they begin to ſee their judiciall errours, their madneſſe againſt Chriſt and the Goſpel, wherewith God in juſtice did plague them; their grief for it will be extraordinary, as it is ſet down, Zach. 12.10. They ſhall look on him whom they have peirced, and they ſhall mourn for him, as one mournath for his onelyonly ſon; and ſhall be in bitterneſſe for him, as one is in bitterneſſe for his firſt-born. 2 Theſ. 2. The Churches of the Gentiles are in Gods juſtice, many of them given over to ſtrong deluſions, to beleeve Antichriſtian Lyes; but when God begins to open their eyes to ſee theſe deluſions, their grief and indignation for them is ſo great, Revel. 17.16. That they hate the whore, who did ſeduce and bewitch them; They make her deſolate, and naked: They eat her fleſh, and burn her with fire.

The Reaſons of this Doctrine, The Reaſons.are the ſame which of the former, eſpecially the ſecond. The ſingular and extraordinary guiltineſſe, that is in theſe judiciall errours, the blinded ſoul ſees them not, while God in mercy remove the cloud, and ſend in his light; but then the lightned ſoul beholding the horrible wayes wherein it hath been wandring, ſuch wherein it would never have walked, had it not been led by a powerfull Divell, ſet on by the permiſſion and commiſſion of a juſt God; Seeing in theſe ſins a juſt God, a wicked Divell, and a heart ſtirred up by extraordinary temptations; by this horrible back-ſight is affrighted and amazed, till Faith in the infinite mercies of God, doth calm and ſettle it.

The Uſe is for admonition: The Ʋſe.Beware of judiciall errours; very often they are never pardoned, but bring on deſtruction p. 19both temporall and eternall: 2 Theſ. 2.11. They to whom God ſends ſtrong deluſions, are damned: Iſai. 6.11. When God ſhut the peoples eyes, and made their heart fat, the Cities were waſted, and the Land made deſolate: Before Ephraim and Juda recovered themſelves from that ſnare of rebellion, and came to the repentance ſpoken of, How many hundred thouſands and millions of them did periſh both temporally and eternally? And theſe few whom the Lord bringeth to ſee, and mourn for their judiciall ertours; How great is their grief? How much do they wiſh to have ſeen in time their madneſſe, that they might not ſo much have been plagued therewith?

But what are theſe judiciall errours which we would beware of? Search the Scriptures, they will make you wiſe in this very neceſſary point of knowledge.

For your uſe, I ſhall point at ſome: Firſt, Civill diſcord a Judiciall errour.Civill Diſcord is a ſin, and a great judgement; a ſin to the authors and fomenters; a judgement to all, as well the innocent as nocent party. Iſai. 19.2. God puniſheth the ſins of the Egyptians with his plague, I will ſet the Egyptians againſt the Egyptians and they ſhall fight every one againſt his brother, and every one againſt his neighbour; City againſt City, and Kingdom against Kingdom; and the ſpirit of Egypt ſhall fail in the midſt thereof, and I will deſtroy the counſel thereof. The ſame is the Judgement of Iſrael, Zech. 11.6. I will no more pity the inhabitants of the Land, but I will deliver the men every one into his neighbours hands, and into the hands of his King, and they ſhall ſmite the Land: and out of their hand I will not deliver them. This is the great Judgement that long hath lien upon us; the removall whereof, hath been one chief end of all our late Humiliations: The longer it lieth on, it is the heavier; and all good men have the more reaſon to cry, with Abner to Joab, upon a leſſe occaſion; Shall the Sword devour for ever? Knowest thou not that it will be bitterneſſe in the later end? How long ſhall it be ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren?

Our Malignant enemies, the onelyonly authors of our preſent p. 20Diſcord, have to this day denied us Peace in any juſt and ſafe terms. If obſtinately they will go on in their refuſall, we muſt proceed in our neceſſary defence, and crave from the God of Peace, that which theſe children of Diſcord do deny unto us; and expect from the heaven ſuch a Bleſſing upon our Armies, as may force them to permit us to live in quietneſſe, when they are no more able to cauſe troubles. In the mean time, all ſhould continue their prayers to God ſo to frame the hearts of all men, that the weary and fainting Kingdoms may be delivered, ſo ſoon as is poſſible, from our deſtroying Diſcords.

The eſtate of the world abroad, Reaſons why Peace is to be wiſhed.doth much call us to theſe thoughts. The Deſolations of Germany, farther from any appearance of remedy this hour then Six and twenty yeers ago, ſhould be exemplary unto us.

If our mindes be ſo large as to look ſo far abroad, we may ſee the whole Weſtern Kingdoms in a greater danger to be ſwallowed up with the great Turkiſh Leviathan, then they have been at any by-gone time: We know his head this day is bent towards Chriſtiendom. The Bulwarks which were wont to keep him out on both hands, upon our Eaſt in Germany and Hungary, upon our South in Italy and Spain, are ſo much brangled with Inteſtine and irreconcileable Diviſions, that we have juſt ground to fear what this his Weſtern Enterpriſe may produce. England ofttimes hath felt the heavie ſtroke of the Conſtantinopolitan Arms, when they were in much weaker and far leſſe terrible hands then at this day they are.

If theſe ſeem far-fetched fears, look over to the condition of our neereſt Neighbours. While we are ſleeping, and ſo ſoon as awakened, fallen a deſtroying our ſelves, the French King hath ingroſſed a greater and more formidable power then any of his Anceſtors for ſome hundred yeers did enjoy. No wiſe man of this Iſle will cloſe his eyes at the extraordinary and diſproportionate encreaſe of that Eſtate.

If there were no other reaſons, I believe convincing Demonſtrations might be drawn from the preſent eſtate of the p. 21world abroad, why we ſhould continue to make it one of our ſpeciall prayers in all theſe meetings, That we might be ſo happie as quickly to ſee in all the three Kingdoms a juſt and well-grounded Peace. But if the fatall obſtinacy of our enemies will force us to fight it out; with all chearfulneſſe let us go on, till they be brought ſo low, as not to be willing any more to reject the equitable Offers of both Parliaments.

OnelyOnly let this Judiciall Diſcord be extended to as narrow bounds as is poſſible: Moſt of all, Peace among our ſelves would be kept with care.Let all our Diviſions be with the enemy; among our ſelves let the bond of brotherly Union continue and encreaſe. All that are for God, and the welfare of the Kingdoms in the three Nations, are united together by the Covenant and Band of God. All Ages ſhall call them Curſed, who, for any imaginable advantage, private or publike, ſhal labour to put aſunder what God hath conjoyned. The greateſt advantages cannot make up the loſſe which unavoidably will follow upon ſuch a Breach. We know the Prince of Diſcord, that reſtleſſe Spirit, will always be ſtirring up in the humours both of evil and of good men the ſparkles of that fire of jealouſie, envie, malice, diviſion, wherewith he enflamed the nature of all men, in the breſt of our old father the firſt Adam: But all the members of the ſecond Adam ſhould make it not ſo much their profeſſion, as their reall care and conſcience, to ſmother theſe ſmokes, whenever they appear. I am ſure, the wiſedom, the piety, the peace of minde, the love to his Countrey, of that man is greateſt, who with the greateſt ſedulity employs himſelf to caſt water on every beginning, on every the leaſt appearance of any Diviſion which Satan may be working in the Parliament, in the Aſſembly, in the City, in the Army, and, above all, betwixt the Covenanted Nations.

The ſecond Judiciall Errour I point at, is, Eccleſiaſtick Anarchy is a Judicial error.Our Eccleſiaſticall Anarchy: How great a ſin and how great a judgement this is, a little conſideration will clear. By this wofull Anarchy, Chriſt is robbed of a great part of his Kingdom in this Land. That in all the Churches he hath in England, there ſhould be no Government at all, no execution of Diſcipline: p. 22That not one of his Officers ſhould have liberty to keep from his Table, to caſt out of his Houſe thoſe that are moſt grievous to him: That for ſo long a time he ſhould be hindered to keep ſo much as one Court in any of his approved Churches in England; it is very ſtrange.

Which of you would not take it for agrievous offence, The abſurdity thereof.if any would offer to hinder the ſitting of the high Court of Parliament at Westminſter, or wherever elſe they pleaſe to ſit? Yea, it would be taken for a hainous crime, if any in the Citie or Countrey ſhould ſtop the leaſt Committee, or meaneſt Officer whom either of the Houſes would ſend out in their name to execute any of their Orders. What man in the Kingdom would not take it for an intolerable affront, if his ſervant were hindred to cloſe his doors, and keep out of his houſe his enemies, or any whom he diſcharged his preſence? What grief would it be to any of us, to be forced to ſee daily, not onelyonly walking in our houſe, but ſitting at our Table, thoſe whom leaſt we deſire? We may judge, by what we feel in our own breſts when ſuch offences are offered to us, what ſenſe Chriſt will have of them, when his Spirit ſo long hath been pierced with them. That Chriſt, by whoſe power alone this Parliament hath ſitten ſo long time, in deſpite of their enemies; by whoſe goodneſſe it is that their Sentences get any where obedience; who makes their wills in their private States and Families to be regarded; That he ſhould not be ſuffered to keep any Court in his own Church, That his Orders ſhould not be regarded in his own Houſe, it is very ſtrange.

Can any man ſay that ever before it was thus in England theſe Fourteen hundred yeers, or if it be longer ſince there were any Churches in this Land? Was ever a totall Anarchy heard of in any Churches, before theſe late times? Is it any where elſe this day to be ſeen in the world? Doth the Pagan, the Turkiſh, the Popiſh Princes or States, refuſe or delay to grant Eccleſiaſtick Government to the Churches that live in their Dominions? Have the Independents, the Browniſts, or the Anabaptiſts, or any of the Hetorodox Societies p. 23among us, wanted their own Government, ſince the firſt hour of their ſelf-erection?

The Judgement of this Errour appeareth in three Circumſtances.It is demonſtrate to be a Judgement and Plague.

Firſt, That it is evident to all.

Secondly, That it were moſt eaſily amended.

Thirdly, That it is ſingularly hurtfull.

The Evidence of it may be ſeen in the confeſſion of all. The greateſt and moſt unreaſonable Sectaries, will not deny but every true Church ſhould be without all delay inveſted with Government: And if you will ſpeak with the men who moſt have and do retard the erection of the Government deſired, they will profeſſe their true intention and deſire to ſee the Church-Diſcipline eſtabliſhed. For this evil Anarchy hath been ſo oft, by ſo many of Gods faithful ſervants witneſſed againſt, that now its defended by none.

Concerning the ſecond. The facility of its erection, it is as clear: For, I pray, who are the men that will take it upon them to impede it? Can we at this preſent, or could we for ſome yeers complain of the violence of a ſeduced Court? Can the blame be caſt on any Popiſh or Prelaticall Faction? Will either Browniſts or Anabaptiſts profeſſe their deniall to us of what they long ago have taken to themſelves? Who then muſt anſwer to God for our ſhamefull Anarchy for ſo long a time?

The hurt of it is too too perſpicuous. Whoſoever will lay the Sword, the Peſtilence, and all the Calamities that deſtroy the Land, on our delay to build the Houſe of the Lord, ſhall have for him the Prophet Zechariahs direct Warrant, Zech. 8.10. Before theſe days, there was no peace to him that went out or came in, becauſe of affliction: For I ſet all men every one againſt his neighbour. And if we indeed believe, It is not the ſtrength of men, but the Lord Chriſt who ſetleth troubled Kingdoms; What hope can we have, that he will ever ſettle our State, ſo long as his Church lies neglected, in ſo wofull a confuſion?

Beſide outward Judgements, this Errour is the cauſe of p. 24the greateſt ſpirituall Miſchiefs. The hedge of Diſcipline lying level with the ground, makes open doors, yea, invites and calls for all the devouring beaſts to prey on the Flock of Chriſt. From this it is, that ſo many thouſand ſouls are permitted to periſh eternally in ignorance, in profaneneſſe, in Hereſies, in damnable Sects, without the leaſt controll, or any mans endeavour to reclaim them. So long as the Law permits no Paſtor in England to exerciſe his Paſtorall charge on any perſon, he may well weep and mourn when the devil in his ſight plucks away numbers of his Sheep: but with his Shepherds Crook, with the Ordinance of Chriſts Diſcipline, to hold off that Lion it is not in his power.

It is not onelyonly the paſſionate deſire of all the Reformed Churches abroad, of all the godly and Orthodox Party at home; but alſo their confident expectation, That the Honorable Houſes, without further delay, will at laſt ſet up the walls of the Houſe of God, who now is going on apace, by ſo many Succeſſes, to ruine their enemies, and to ſettle the ſtate of their affairs, much according to their hearts deſire. The neglect of this piece of Thankfulneſſe may provoke the Lord to repent him of his favours, and to call back in one day, what he had been giving in many.

I point but at one other Judiciall wandering, Falſe Doctrine is a Judiciall Errour.that which uſually and properly goeth under the name of Errour, the word of our Text; falſe Doctrine, contrary to the ways of Gods Truth. That Errour is a ſin, and a Judiciall one, infliflicted by God as a puniſhment of former ſins, we may ſee in divers Scriptures: 2 Theſſ. 2.10, 11. Becauſe they received not the love of the Truth, for this cauſe God gave them over to ſtrong deluſions to believe a lye. Here Errours are Judgements which God puts Satan to bring on men, for their coldrife entertaining of the truth. And how grievous a Judgment Error is, this and other Scriptures clear: Here it is made a cauſe of damnation. That they might all be damned who believed not the Truth.

The Socino-Remonſtrants have taught our new Maſters to extenuate much, and at laſt to deny the ſinfulneſſe and danger p. 25of Errour. They would hide the Vipers ſting, till the pretty and beautifull worm be once taken into the boſom, where a little warmed, it makes it quickly appear how innocent and harmleſſe a creature it is.

They tell us, that all ſin is in the Will, Errour is a dangerous evil and the cauſe of damnation.but the ſeat of errour is the minde: Is not the minde the moſt high and divine facultie of the ſoul? Is not the corruption of the beſt things truely worſt? The mindes pollution with the darkneſſe of errour, is eminently contrary to the light and truth of the divine nature.

Againſt this greateſt of errours, the excuſing of all errours, we ſhould minde the truth of God, who cannot lye: In the place cited, errour is made the cauſe of damnation; elſewhere the Apoſtle tells us, That falſe Doctrine eats up and kills the ſoul, as a Canker, Gangrene or Peſt doth the body. 2 Tim. 2.17. Alſo falſe Teachers are called Ravening Woolfs, who tear and rent in peeces the ſouls of the ſeduced, Acts 20.29.

The Apoſtle Peter is in the ſame minde, 2. Epiſtle 2. He tells us the condition of falſe Teachers, They bring in damnable Hereſies, their wayes are pernicious, their diſtruction is ſwift, their damnation ſlumbereth not: It is as certain, as was the damnation of the Devils, of the old world drowned in the deluge, of the Sodomites: All this is Peters Doctrine.

And this he had from his Maſter Chriſt, Matth. 7.15. Beware of falſe Prophets. When they have the faireſt ſhew of piety, he that knows the heart pronounceth, They are but ravening Woolfs. Matth. 15.14. If the blinde lead the blinde, both ſhall fall in the ditch: If we beleeve the Lord, a falſe Teacher doth not onelyonly deſtroy himſelf, but draws with him all his blinded Scholers into the ditch of the ſame perdition.

1 Cor. 12.25, 27. The Apoſtle tells us, The nature of Shiſm.That the Church is the Body of Chriſt, and that Schiſmaticks make a Schiſm in Chriſts Body: that is, they rent his Body in peeces: they who crucified him would not rent his ſeamleſſe Coat; but Schiſmaticks can tear his skin, cut his fleſh, rent his Joynts and Members in peeces.

p. 26Underſtand the Language of them who plead for liberty of errours; What is meant by liberty of conſcience, and what is the true ſenſe of their language who require a toleration of Errours.If you beleeve Chriſt, or the Doctrine of Paul atteſted by Peter, and the reſt both Prophets and Apoſtles, whom I have not time to cite; they invite you to permit ravening Woolfs freely to enter your ſtreets, and tear in peeces all they meet with; to come into your Houſes and Chambers, to devour the ſouls of your beſt beloved Wives, Sons, Daughters, Servants, and Friends; to lead them all out to a ditch, and drown them; yea, which is infinitely worſe, to caſt them all in the pit of damnation. Theſe were hard expreſſions if they were our own, and not our betters, I mean Chriſt, and his Apoſtles.

Would you permit any whom you were able to hinder, to rent the Coat of Chriſt, to tear his Skin, to cut his Fleſh, to pull his Arm from his Shoulder? Theſe are the things which too long have been done in our eyes: It were good that ſuch impious actions, ſo grievous to God, ſo hurtfull to the ſouls of men, at laſt were ſtopped.

Would you count him a gracious parent, who ſhould wink at any who brought into his houſe Vipers and Serpents, Woolfs and Tigers, to deſtroy his Children? who brought in Boxes of Peſtiferous Cloaths, and boldly ſpread them on the Beds, and about the Table where himſelf and family were to ſit and lie? This is the office and onelyonly exerciſe of all our Hereticks and Patrons of errour.

All Chriſtians are obliged to the uttermoſt of their power to quench the fire of Hereſie and Schiſm; but above all other, we have a ſpeciall obligation for this duty; we have lifted up our hands to the moſt high God, vowing to him, in the ſight of all the Neighbour-Nations, our endeavours in the ſincerity of our hearts, to extirpate Hereſie and Schiſm, and whatſoever ſhall be found contrary to ſound Doctrine, without reſpect of perſons. If herein we ſhould be negligent, would not God avenge our ſolemn Perjury? If reſpect to any perſon ſhould make us ever think of breaking that Bond, and expreſſely contrary thereto to begin once to tamper about the toleration of errours contrary to ſound Doctrine; p. 27what might we and the poſterity expect from the hand of the God of Juſtice and Truth?

Let none object the example of the States of Holland to us in this point:The example of Holland an ſwered.

For firſt, Where the Will of God is evident, the contrary example of men is not to be regarded.

Secondly, The evill example of one State, is not to be followed againſt the good example of all other Proteſtant Churches.

Thirdly, Theſe States were never bound to God by ſuch a Covenant as we are.

Fourthly, In theſe States there hath been a connivance at Errours by particular Magiſtrates for their private gain; but to this hour, was ever any Sect among them, ſo impudent, as to offer a Petition for a Toleration by Law, when lately ſome aſſayed to do it, they repented ever ſince of that folly.

Laſtly, Hath not the Magiſtrates connivance without any Legall Toleration, ſo much multiplied Sects among them, that for this one thing (though for many other their renown be great) they have become infamous in the Chriſtian World? The godly among them have been more grieved with this ſcandalous ſin, then with any other; and thoſe of them who are wiſe, do ſee their State this day in greater civill danger by this peece of impious policy, and from it apprehend greater hazards of commotion and ruine to their State, then from any other ground: However, the connivence there at Sects, and the multiplication of Sects by connivence, is no wayes comparable to what is among us: but we truſt that this kinde of our erring from the wayes of God, is near a period, and ſhall ſhortly be remedied.

So much for the firſt part of the Churches complaint, The ſecond part of the Complaint exponed.followeth the ſecond, And hardned our heart from thy fear, Not onelyonly they had wanderd out of the wayes of God in divers by-paths of ſin; but in theſe ſins they were obſtinate, their hearts had been hard, the fear of God moved them not p. 28to repentance: This was a worſe evill then the firſt; ſo they acknowledge the hand of God, and his ſore puniſhment into it, and of this make a heavy regrate to him.

The originall word that here is turned harden, What is hardneſſe of heart.is but once elſe in Scripture, Job 39.16. ſpoken of the Oſtridge, She is hardned againſt her young ones, or is removed from her young ones; ſhe leaveth them alone. It ſignifies two things, To harden, or to remove. Some of the beſt Latin Interpreters tranſlate it here, Why removeſt thou our heart from thy fear? The Chaldee Paraphraſt takes it ſo alſo: but the Septuagint, and the moſt of other Interpreters old and late, tranſlate it as we have it: The words will bear both; but for ſhortneſſe I ſhall hold with our own tranſlation onelyonly.

Hardneſſe of heart is a metaphor, importing the wilfull, obſtinate, and rebellious diſpoſition of the Spirit againſt the fear and counſells of God: As hard Wax refuſeth the ſtamp, while the ſoft receives the impreſſion: A hard Wall puts back the Ball, which the ſoft Ayr letteth paſſe through: A Corſlet of Iron holds out the Bullet, which the ſoftneſſe of the fleſh receiveth.

The way how God hardneth the heart againſt his fear, How God hardeneth the heart.is not by infuſion of any hardneſſe, or any evill diſpoſition into the heart, but by three other actions.

Firſt, By withdrawing of his gracious ſpirit, whoſe operation it is that ſoftens the heart, and makes it plyable to the Counſells of God, and ſubject to his fear: Deut. 29.9. The Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, eyes to ſee, and ears to hear, to this day: That all they had ſeen in Egypt and in the Wilderneſſe, had not pierced their heart with the love and fear of God. Of this wonderfull hardneſſe of the peoples heart, this reaſon is rendered by Moſes, God had not given them a heart to perceive.

Beſide this negative action of God in hardning the heart, he hath two poſitive; He gives over the heart to its own naturall hardneſſe, that it may be more and more hardened: Thus, the Lord hardened Pharaohs heart: He not onelyonly withheld all the gracious motions of his ſpirit from him, but let p. 29his naturall obſtinacy work it ſelf to an acquired habit of hardneſſe: And ſo, what was before naturall, became habituall and judiciall. This is the judgement ſpoken of, the twelfth of John, from the ſixth of Iſaiah: Make the heart of this people fat; for their rejecting of my former counſels, let their rebellious heart become-worſe and worſe, ſo that thy miniſtery do them no more good.

Thirdly, God gives over the heart judicially hardned by it ſelf, to Satans tentations, whereby it becomes more blinde, dead, and hard, then of it ſelf alone it could be: He ſent evill Angels among the Egyptians, for this evill among others, Pſal. 79.49. 2 Theſ. 2. He ſends out Satan to work with Antichriſt; for to blinde the eye, and harden the heart with ſtrong deluſions.

By all this you underſtand, why the Church regrates it here to God, That he had hardened her heart from his fear: Hardneſſe was naturall to her heart, yet they found Gods judgement, cauſing in juſtice that naturall evill to increaſe upon them.

From this part of the Complaint, obſerve, The Doctrine Judicial hardneſſe is the godlies greateſt grief.Judiciall hardneſſe of heart, from the fear of God, in the times of trouble, is the godlies chiefeſt grief, and complaint to God. The troubles and calamities of the Jews were great at this time, their ſins alſo were great: But behold, here they complain to God more then for either their calamities, or other ſins, that God had hardened their heart from his fear, in the midſt of all their ſins and judgements.

This was it that made the Prophet Jeremy amazed, The Proof.Jere. 5.3. O Lord, thou haſt ſtricken them, but they have not grieved; thou haſt conſumed them, but they have refuſed to receive correction; they have made their faces harder then a rock.

The Reaſon why this condition of a people is moſt lamentable, is firſt, It is a preſage of deſtruction: The firſt Reaſon.When ſtrokes humble not a people, and ſoften not their heart to the fear and obedience of God, then it cometh to this, Why p. 30ſhould ye be ſtricken any more. After correction is obſtinately refuſed, then cometh rejection. 2 Kings 17.18. God is very angry with the ten Tribes, and removes them out of his ſight; the great cauſe we have, Verſe 14. They hardned their necks, like the necks of their fathers, that did not beleeve in the Lord their God. This ſame was the cauſe of the ruine of Jeruſalem, Jere. 19.15. I will bring upon this City all the evill that I have pronounced againſt it, becauſe they have hardned their necks, that they might not hear my words. Jere. 26.29. The Lord hath rejected and forſaken the generation of his wrath, becauſe they had hardned their necks, and did worſe then their fathers.

Another Reaſon. The ſecond Reaſon.This is ſuch an evill as draweth on eternall perdition after temporall ruine. Rom. 2.5. After thy hardneſſe and impenitent heart, thou treaſurest up to thy ſelf wrath against the day of wrath. There is a treaſure and heap of everlaſting wrath from this hardneſſe. Heb. 3.7. To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation: Wherefore I was grieved with that Generation, and ſware in my wrath, They ſhall not enter into my reſt: Meaning ſuch grief and anger in God againſt this evil, as holds out of heaven.

Thirdly, The third Reaſon.This ſin hath extraordinary malignancy in it, though neither eternall nor temporall wrath followed on it: The hand of an angry God, of a working devil, and high degree of corruption, are into it: in its production, all theſe three have place. Before any be hardned in ſin, and become obſtinate, the corruption of the heart muſt be great, and highly advanced: Alſo Satans hand is in the blinding of the eyes, and ſearing with the hot-iron, in ſtupifying and making ſenſleſſe the conſcience of the hardned perſon: and God, as a juſt Judge, putting on the executioner, muſt be alſo about this action. So that this hardning is very oft the ſigne of a Reprobate to whom God ſhews no mercy: Whom he will he hardens, and ſheweth mercy on whom he will ſhew mercy; albeit its not ever ſo, as in our Text and elſewhere. God hardens the hearts of ſome for a time, whom thereafter he ſoftens, p. 31and to them ſheweth mercy: Yet oft, being the caſe of Reprobates, and ever very like to it, and in it ſelf a degree to that wofull condition; it affrighteth the godly, when they ſee it in themſelves or others, and becometh a great part of their complaint to God.

The Uſe is for Exhortation, The Ʋſe.That we be carefull to grieve and complain to the Lord for this great evil, wherever we ſee it, in our ſelves or others. Not onelyonly the moſt faithfull of Gods Watch-men in all the three Kingdoms, but alſo thoſe of the people who by the anointing of God have the eyes of their minde opened to ſee the Spirituall eſtate of their own or their neighbours ſouls, bear witneſſe with an unanimous teſtimony, that notwithſtanding all the Judgements which lie on the Land, yet this hardneſſe of heart is greater and more univerſall then ever they have ſeen it. This cannot be but the hand of God, adding this Spirituall Plague, as the worſt and greateſt of all our evils: For this we have great reaſon to mourn, and intreat the removall of it above all our Woes.

Motives to the Duty we need no other, then the Reaſons of the Doctrine.

If thou finde this evil crept in thy heart, as I doubt not but it lodgeth ſenſibly in ſome hearts that hear me; or though the Lord had bleſſed thee with the tender heart of Joſiah, to mourn for the ſins and calamities that are already, and to tremble for what further is coming; yet if thou ſee this Miſchief proclaiming it ſelf in the countenances and lives of the moſt of thy neighbours, as truely an obſerving and conſcientious eye will remark too much of it, whereever he will look, even in the days and places of moſt ſolemn Humiliation, when hardneſſe of heart ſhould be baniſhed fartheſt away; this evil, I ſay, wherever found, in thy ſelf or others, ſhould be complained of to God: For having in it ſo much of an angry God, a buſie devil, and of a high degree of humane corruption; it being alſo a preſage and certain forerunner, if not remedied, of greater Temporal Judgements then yet we have ſeen, albeit we have ſeen and p. 32heard of as much wo as our fathers in theſe Kingdoms have felt for ſome hundred yeers, though all their ſufferings were put together: Yet the hardneſſe of our hearts, if it continue, will make all we have ſuffered but the beginning of evils; yea, this hardneſſe of heart poiſons and envenoms all our ſufferings with a curſed quality. Peſtilence, wounds, ſpoiling of goods, death, are all ſanctified and ſweetned to a ſoftned heart; but to a hardned heart they are the firſt acts of a wofull Tragedie; there is a treaſure of wrath, and lake of fire and brimſtone at their end attending them.

If we were able, on theſe days ſet apart for this end, above all other, to attain the bleſſing of a ſoft heart, and the Judgement of a heart hardned by God removed, we would quickly be ſecure of damnation, we would becom certain of the removall of all theſe Judgements which have very long ſo heavily lien both on the Church and State, and on the backs, if not of our perſons, yet of many in whom our intereſt is great: we ſhould be aſſured of heavenly conſolations againſt all evils that for the time were on, or hereafter might befall us. Let it therefore be our earneſt endeavour to finde this bleſſing by the Word, by the Sacraments, by publike by private Prayer, by Reading, by Conference, by Meditation. At this time I will point at ſome Scripturall helps towards it.

Firſt, The firſt cure of hardneſſe is, The embracing of the word by faith.believe the Word of the Lord. Gods Word is the means that ſoftneth the heart, like the Sun that melteth the wax, likethe Hammer that breaketh the ſtone, the Fire that ſoftneth the Iron, the watry cloud that moiſtneth the dry and parched ground. With all care and conſcience, ſet thy heart under the beams of that Sun, the ſtroke of that Hammer, before the heat of that fire, under the droppings of that cloud. The contempt, the neglect, the misbelief of this holy inſtrument of the Spirit, is a great cauſe of all the hardneſſe of heart we ſpeak of. Heb. 3. To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart. Take heed there be not in any of you an evil heart of misbelief. Who will not hear the voice, or doth hear, but with an evil heart of misbelief, they harden their heart. The Word, which ſhould melt them as the Sun doth Wax, p. 33hardneth them, as the Sun doth Clay: that Word which to the believer is the loud voice of the Trumpet of God, to waken them when ſleeping, to quicken them when dead; becomes, to the unbeliever and careleſſe hearer, the ſong of a pleaſant voice to ſing them aſleep, and to keep them ſleeping. To ſuch, the moſt powerfull Miniſtery of a Prophet, of an Apoſtle, of Chriſt himſelf, ſerveth to make the heart more hard, and fat, and dead then it was before; as from the ſixth of Iſai. and twelfth of John it is manifeſt. That which to the faithfull is a quickning Spirit, to the misbeliever is a killing letter: What to the one is the power of God to ſalvation, to the other is but as ſounding Braſſe and a tinkling Cymbal. Let it therefore be your earneſt endeavour, in all holy exerciſes about the Word, private or publike, be it preaching, or reading, or conference, to embrace it with an honeſt heart, with all attention, reverence and faith.

Particularly, Eſpecially the promiſe of a ſoft heart.embrace and lay up in thy heart the promiſe of a ſoft heart, as it is ſet down, Ezek. 36.26. there the people of God were in a worſe condition then we yet: The fury of the Lord was ſo far kindled againſt them for their ſins, that they were caſt out of their Land, they were ſwallowed up on every ſide, as it is in the third verſe: They were taken up in the lips of talkers, they were an infamy of the people, and the reproach of the Nations, and for all that were not reformed, but continued to profane the Name of God, and to encreaſe their provocations, in the midſt of all their Judgements: Yet, even then, the Lord doth promiſe, For my own Names ſake, not for your ſake, will I do this: A new heart will I give you, and a new ſpirit will I put within you: I will take away the ſtony heart out of your fleſh, and will give you an heart of fleſh. Let this Word, as a pickle of good ſeed, be laid up in the heart, it will in time break up to good fruit. This is a part of the new Covenant, as appeareth from Jer. 31 and 32. and Heb. 8. which belongs to us, as to any other, which we would embrace, humbly waiting till the Lord perform it to us.

A ſecond help to ſoftneſſe of heart, will be a Catalogue of p. 34ſins for which we ought to mourn; The ſecond Cure of hardneſſe is, A clear ſight of ſin.for ſoftneſſe of heart is either the ſame thing, or proceeds in a great part from grief and forrow for ſin; as hardneſſe of heart and impenitency are the ſame, or are always conjoyned. Thou from thy hardneſſe or impenitent heart. The tenderneſſe and melting of Joſiahs heart, was his mourning for the Lands ſin: The ſoftning of the Jews heart from their long Plague of induration, is, when they are weeping and in bitterneſſe for their ſins, as one for his firſt-born. The clear ſight of ſin being a help to grief, ſorrow and repentance, muſt be ſo towards the ſoftneſſe of heart. The ſpeciall end of theſe ſolemn Humiliations is for regiſtrating, in clear and legible letters, in the hearts of the godly, the ſins both of the Land, and of their own perſons. The Tables of our conſcience have been ſo oft impreſſed with theſe Types, that I need no more but to remit every one to the books of their breſts: There you may read in capitall letters the cauſe of our Woes, the matter of our Mourning.

While the Lords Candle did ſhine over our head, What are the ſins of the Land.and we waſhed our ſteps in butter; while to all the Neighbour-Nations for a great number of yeers we were a wonder of Proſperity; and with abundance of all Temporall bleſſings, we had likewiſe plenty of the Goſpel; How did we meet the Lord? Great numbers of all ranks and eſtates, were obſtinate in Idolatry, and known Papiſts. Of them who profeſſed the Truth, how many were altogether void of knowledge, void of fear, without any conſcience of God? The moſt did pollute the Service and Church of God with manifold Superſtitions, and Prelaticall Tyranny, perſecuting all who had the leaſt zeal to oppoſe their Corruptions: True Piety was mocked. The Sabbath, by publike Authority, profaned. Covetouſneſſe, Pride, Oppreſſion, Pampering of the fleſh, Uncleanneſſe, like a flood, did overflow the Land. In theſe very times, when the Lords patience is broken off, and he from heaven is revealing his wrath againſt our wickedneſſe; yet where is our Repentance? How many have an ear to hear more what the preſent Rods of God do ſpeak, then what p. 35his former Favours? How many Popiſh and Prelaticall ſpirits have yet mourned for their old ways? How many upon conſcience have left any of the named abominations? How great an addition have we made to our old heap of ſin? How much have we put to our old treaſure of wrath? Rather then to be reclaimed from their ways, Hath not a great part run to the Sword, and covered the Land with more innocent blood, more Rapines and Raviſhments then this Iſle did ſee for many Ages together?

Many whom Gods mercy hath ſeparate to the right hand, Epiſcopacy and Independency flow both from one fountain.How do they ſtill provoke the Lord, continuing without grief for their old ways? And ſundry of them who profeſſemoſt Piety, advancing the old unhappie way of this Land, an affectation of ſingularity and difference from all the Reformed: The bitter Potions of Gods Judgements, have not yet purged out this very evil humour of many ſtomacks. The vain ſpirits of this Land made that the peculiar glory of England, which was truely her peculiar infamy, and proper unhappineſſe, and the ſpeciall grief of the moſt godly in the Land: The gloriation of theſe light ſpirits was, That England did excell all other Reformed Churches in their Epiſcopacy and Service-book: alſo, That the moderation of their King and Prelats was ſuch, that Romane Catholikes might enjoy a ſober liberty among them, without all hazard of perſecution. Is this humour diminiſhed to this day? Or, with a little change, doth it not predomine yet in many? We muſt ſtill excell all other Churches in our Government: In place of Epiſcopacie, we will have a new Popularity: Juſt the old Browniſm of the rigid Separatiſts, covered with the new name of Independency: For after triall it will be found, that this new and Middle way (as it is called) is really the extremity of the moſt rigid Separation: That it is not a ſemi, but a ſeſqui-Separation: Independency is not a ſe…i, but a ſeſqui-ſeparation.That for the ſmaller crotchets of the Browniſts which they lay aſide, they adde more errors, of a worſe ſtamp, which the old Separatiſts were wont much to deteſt.

But to ſwe…ten our new eminency above other Proteſtants, p. 36it muſt be mixed with a Liberty of Conſcience; not that, for which the King, Court and Biſhops were lately ſo much cryed out upon, The toleration onelyonly of Papiſts, or any one falſe Religion; but a full and Catholike Liberty for all imagiuable kindes of falſe Religion; much more then to this day was ever required, either in Amſterdam, or Pall, or Tranſilvania, or any where elſe where the licentiouſneſſe of erring, in the great wrath of God, hath been permitted to dwell. Upon theſe things the godly would look, not as upon a ſubject of talking, or an incentive of wrath and indignation againſt the perſons of any; but to be matter of heart-grief, and mourning to the Lord in our ſecret places.

In the end of this Catalogue of publike ſins, thou wouldſt have annexed a Regiſter of thy perſonall provocations: When thou haſt brought the Candle of Gods Word and Spirit within thy own houſe, and within the Cabinet of thy own breſt; doubtleſſe thou wilt behold ſo many abominations, both fleſhly and ſpirituall, that will be juſt cauſe of watering thy Couch with thy tears, and pouring out thy heart before the face of the Lord, if thou wer able, in tears of blood.

A third help to ſoftneſſe of heart, A third Cure of hardneſſe is Motives to fear.is Motives to fear; for this hardneſſe of heart proceedeth as from misbelief and impenitency; ſo alſo from ſecurity: wherefore in our Text it is oppoſite to fear: Why hast thou hardned our hearts from thy fear? And Joſiah, ſo ſoon as tenderneſſe of heart came upon him, began to fear and tremble. So Motives to fear, are helps to ſoftneſſe, and cures for hardneſſe of heart: Of theſe, I point ſhortly but at three: The Judgements of God on others: His Mercies to us: And, if theſe affect not, The Wrath yet to come on us.

For the firſt, 11Judgements on others.we would oft remember the examples given us by God: Who ever thou art, thou haſt thy patern from God: Be thou a Church-man, a Citizen, a Knight, an Earl, a Duke, a Prince; how hath the Lord ſcourged divers of thy Coat lately before thy eyes? wounded, killed, impoveriffied, p. 37diſgraced many, and put others to ſtand this day on the brink of ruine and worldly miſery? Were they the greateſt ſinners on whom the Tower of Siloam fell? Or they whoſe blood Pilate mingled with their Sacrifice? The Lords remark on theſe Judgements was, That except we repent, we ſhall all likewiſe periſh. The late Judgements which God hath inflicted on many of thy quality, are loud words to thee, that thou mayeſt fear and tremble; that thy heart may melt within thee for thy ſins, leſt the Lord make thee a ſpectacle of Judgement to others, who by the miſeries of others wouldſt not be taught to repent.

Again, Remember the great mercies of the Lord: 22Mercies on us.For there is mercy with God, that he may be feared. The ſpeciall means whereby Nathan ſoftned the heart of David, after it had been long hardned in ſin with Bathſheba, was a Catalogue of Gods mercies towards him, 2 Sam. 2. I d…livered thee out of the hand of Saul; I made thee King over Iſrael; I gave thee thy maſters houſe; and if that had been too little, I would have given thee more: Why haſt thou deſpiſed my Commandment? The ointment of mercy is moſt ſoftning of it gracious heart, when it groweth into hardneſſe: Its good to have a Regiſter of Gods favours both to the publike and thy perſon. Conſider all that the Lord hath done lately for the Church and Kingdom. If the Malignant party had prevailed, (as once they were too like to have done) if their Tyranny in Church and State had been eſtabliſhed by the overthrow of the gracious party in the whole Iſle; what wofull days ſhould have come upon us and the poſterity? That the Lord hath heard our Prayers, and from the heaven hath done ſo many and ſo great things for us: That we are in ſo fair a way to have both Church and State ſetled according to Truth and Juſtice: That for our perſons, we have been guided aright in the common Cauſe; that when ſo many greater, wiſer, better then we, have been given over to the counſels of their own hearts, to joyn with the enemy, for their own diſgrace and wrack: That the Lord ſhould have kept thy heart ſtrait, and hold … thee on thee ſide wherein was Juſtice, p. 38Truth, and the bleſſing of God: That in that party the Lord hath taken any ſervice at thy hand, when many, more able, and as willing, have been unſerviceable: That thy life, thy limbs, thy eſtate, are preſerved, when this ſervice hath coſt many their life, ſome their limbs, ſome their eſtates. Theſe and the like favours would be remembred, for the ſoftning of our heart.

In the third place, 33Greater Judgements yet coming.if neither Judgements on others, nor mercies on thy ſelf, will move; conſider what remedileſſe evils may ſhortly be the reward of ſo great a contempt. When Nabals heart grew like a ſtone within him, the hand of God did in a little time cut him off by death. When neither Judgements nor mercies bring a heart to fear, the Lord uſually pours out the full Vials of his heavieſt wrath. It is a fearfull thing to fall into the hand of that conſuming fire. We would do well to be lifting up our eyes to that inviſible Spirit whom the world cannot ſee; To behold his hand guiding all the wheels of publike and private affairs. Were our State much better ſetled then yet for a long time it can be; if he be miskent, he can caſt down in a moment more then men can build in many yeers. If he be not feared and ſought to, he will ſo croſſe and confound the guides of Church and State, that when they are at the end of the Wilderneſſe, on the very borders of Canaan, he can bring them back to toil in the Wilderneſſe till they die, without ſo much as a ſight of that Canaan, though once they had come very neer unto it. Albeit the publike did proſper, yet the fearfull wrath of God, for thy hardneſſe of heart, may light on thy perſon. Achan may be ſtoned to death in the valley of Achor, in the midſt of Iſraels triumph. The misbelieving Prince in Samaria may ſee the Plenty, but be cruſhed, before he taſte thereof. Thy hardneſſe of heart, if it remain, will ruine thee: What the fury and curſe of an angry God hath ever brought on a miſerable ſinner in this life, think upon it, for ſhortly it may be thy portion; and, which is infinitely worſe, the whole treaſures of the wrath to come, a greater then ordinary condemnation, for thy impenitency & hardnes p. 39of heart, if thou remain as thou art, cannot but fall upon thee.

The laſt help I propone, is Earneſt Prayer. A fourth Cure of hardneſſe is Prayer.Sometimes all the former helps will not do it; for the heart is deſperately wicked, and incredibly hard, like that of Leviathan, Job. 41.24. His heart is firm as a ſtone, as hard as the nether milstone. When we finde it thus, ſhall we give over in d… ſpair? Not ſo: For there is yet mercy and power in God to make the rocks flow down, to melt the mountains, to diſſolve the Adamant-ſtones. There is a Warrant, Neh. 9. once and again proponed, for the people of God to lay hold on Gods mercy and power, in the midſt of their greateſt Rebellion and Induration, verſe 16. Our fathers dealt proudly, and hardned their necks, and heackned not to thy Commandments: But thon art a God ready to pardon, gracious and mercifull; thou forſakeſt them not. Alſo in the 29 verſe, They dealt proudly, and withdrew the ſhoulder, and hardned their necks, and would not hear. Yet in the 31 verſe, Nevertheleſſe thou didſt not forſake them; for thou art a gracious and mercifull God.

What heart can be more hard and blinde then Pauls, when he made havock of the Church? yet the Lord made the ſcales to fall from his eyes, and put in his breſt, in place of the ſtone, a moſt gracious, ſoft and ſpirituall piece of fleſh. The ſpectacle of the greateſt induration, the Jews, when the Spirit comes on them, their moſt obdured hearts fall to the greateſt mourning, Zech. 12. Let it therefore be our care, in our greateſt hardneſſe, to lie at the Throne of Grace, to cry on ſtill for this mercy of a ſoft heart; who knoweth how ſoon the Lord may hear and anſwer? When nothing elſe can help us, if he himſelf come down, all will yeeld to his power. When the King of Glory comes to aſſault the moſt ſtiff and beſt cloſed heart, all doors are caſt open to him, Pſal. 24.9. He breaketh the gates of braſſe, and ſmiteth the bars of iron in ſunder, Pſal. 107.16. When he puts his finger in the hole of the door, the bowels of the ſecure Spouſe will ſhortly be moved for him, Cant. 5.4. It muſt be our p. 40continuall prayer, that the Lord would come to put away the hardneſſe of our heart, to enlighten it with faith, to melt it with repentance, to break it with fear; that ſo it may be a fitted Sanctuary for his perpetuall inhabitation.

If time were not paſt, The laſt part of the verſe exponed.there are in the ſecond part of the Text, the Churches petition for the Lords return, ſundry things uſefull for the preſent occaſion. Look in a little upon the meaning of the words.

The returning of the Lord, is a metaphor taken from finite creatures, that go and come: But properly the Lord cannot move from place to place; for his Eſſence is infinite; he is eſſentially omni-preſent; God is every where, in the heaven, in the earth, in the Sea. Pſal. 139. If I aſcend up unto heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, thou art there: neither ſo onelyonly, but he fills the heaven and the earth, Jer. 23.24. Do not I fill the heaven and the earth, ſaith the Lord? But not ſo, as if when he filled all things, he could be within the circle of the higheſt heavens: 1 Kings 8.27. Behold, the heavens, and the heaven of heavens, could not contain thee. We have the reaſon in Job 11.8. The perfection of God is ſuch, that it is as high as heaven, deeper then hell, longer then the earth, and broader then the Sea.

But beware to conceive of this infinite and immenſe Eſſence of God, which is in all places, and without all places, as of a bodily ſubſtance; for God is a Spirit, and that of an infinite ſimplicity: take heed of all groſſe imaginations of him, left thou turn him to an idol of thine own making.

Not long ago, The zeal of the Court of England againſt Vorſtius hereſies.Verſtius and ſome of the Arminians in Holland, began firſt to brangle with their Problems, and thereafter, to deny with their poſitive aſſertions, theſe groundſtones of Religion. At that time, the zeal of England brake out, to the joy of all the Churches: Then the care of the King, and the very Prelats, was great, not onelyonly to keep Hereſies, as helliſh vapours, out of England; but to have them ſuppreſſed among their neighbours in Holland, with all ſpeed. We hope it ſhall never be told to poſterity, that the zeal of this Parliament was leſſe againſt Errours at home, then the p. 41Courts wont to be againſt that evil abroad. And however for the preſent there be nothing ſo ſacred in the Divine Nature and Perſons, which the boldneſſe of Heretikes among us, ariſing onelyonly from impunity, dare not wickedly profane; yet ere long we expect a remedy to this and many more evils.

The Returning whereof our Text ſpeaketh, is not to be underſtood of the Divine Effence, Nature, Subſtance, nor of the Lords common Operations; but of his gracious Works, of his Mercy and Compaſſion, as we have it expreſly, Zech. 1.16. I am returned to Jeruſalem with mercy: And Jer. 12.55. I will return and have compaſſion on them. As a man in his anger turns his back, and goeth his way; but when reconciled, he cometh back: So the Lord, when grievouſly provoked with the ſins of his people, for a time departeth to his place, hideth his face, withdraweth the ſignes of his favour: but thereafter, when appeaſed, he maketh his face to ſhine, and by his Spirit works graciouſly in the ſeduced and obdured heart: For this the Church here petitions, That the Lord would return, and make himſelf ſenſibly preſent to her, and by the gracious work of his Spirit, reclaim her from theſe errours, and that hardneſſe of heart whereinto by his abſence ſhe had fallen.

The Ground whereupon the Petition is builded, is, Gods Relation to them, and their Intereſt in God: They were his ſervants, he their Lord and Maſter; as it is in the laſt verſe: We are thine; thou never bareſt rule over them: they were never called by thy Name. Since the Lord had taken them to be his people to ſerve him, this was a ground to them, That he would not fully nor finally caſt them off; but, for his intereſt in them, would return. This is cleared in the laſt words, his returning to them was not for any good was in them, but becauſe they were The Tribes of his Inheritance: Among all the inhabitants of the earth, he had choſen for his portion the Tribes of Jacob, as the word ſignifies the Rods or Branches that ſprang out of the Root of Jacob, for his peculiar poſſeſſion: Deut. 32.8. When the p. 42Moſt high divided to the Nations their Inheritance, when he ſeparated the ſons of Adam; the Lords portion was his people, and Jacob the lot of his inheritance. Out of the whole world, he choſe Iſrael for his peculiar portion; as it is in Amos 4. Thee on…ly have I known, of all the families of the earth. Not for any good in them, but alone for his own love and good will; as it is, Deut. 7.8.

Were not the time paſt, we would have enlarged theſe Obſervations:

Firſt, Obſerv. 1 The proper, the ſovereign, the onelyonly Cure of an erring ſpirit and hardned heart, is the preſence, the return, the gracious entrance of God in the heart.

Secondly, 2When the Lord upon entreaty hath come into the heart, and begins to enlighten and ſoften it; he would be entertained with much love, humility, fear, care. All in the heart that may grieve his holy eye, would be ſwept out, leſt, if again he depart in anger, the laſt eſtate be worſe then the firſt.

Thirdly, 3A Land wherein the ſpirit of Errour and Induration doth predomine, cannot enjoy the gracious preſence of the Spirit of Truth. 2 Cor. 6.15. What communion hath light with darkneſſe? What concord hath Chriſt with Belial?

Fourthly, 4All who plead for a Liberty of habitation to errenious ſpirits in this Land, require, in plain Engliſh, a Liberty, ſo far as is in them, to baniſh God out of England.

Fifthly, 5When by the Judgement of God the ſpirit of Errour hath entred a Land, there is no putting of him out, but by Gods own Arm; for he is a great deal ſtronger then men. Zech. 13.2. It is the Lord who takes it on him to cauſe the falſe Prophets, and the unclean ſpirit that leads them, to paſſe out of the Land.

Sixthly, 6Though the Judgement of Erring and Induration cannot be cured but by the return of the Lord; though the ſubduing of the ſpirit of Errour and Obſtinacie be the work of Gods hand: yet every good man, according to his place and calling; above all, the Nobles of a Land, and the Houſes of Parliament, would employ their whole ſtrength to help the Lord againſt that p. 43ſtrong one. We tempt God, when we neglect to uſe the means for doing of that work wherein he hath the principall hand. Becauſe we live in God, Shall we not eat, and drink, and keep our ſelves from ſeen dangers? It is the Lord that ſubdues our enemies under us; therefore ſhall not our Souldiers fight? The Lords Spirit is the ſubduer of the ſpirit of Errour; therefore Aſſemblies and Parliaments need to have no care of this matter? When Satan reaſoned thus with Chriſt, He hath given his Angels charge over thee; therefore cast thy ſelf down headlong: he replieth wiſely, Thou ſhalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

Seventhly, God will return for his ſervants ſake, 7in the moſt deſperate times: When Calamities have wracked the State, when Errour and Obſtinacy (and theſe Judiciall) lie on the ſpirits of a people; the faithfull expect, believe, pray for favour, upon the ground of their relation to God, ſtill remaining in the mids both of ſins and miſeries; they are his ſervants, and he their Lord. The conſcience of a deſire to ſerve the Lord, is a Ground of hope in our hardeſt conditions.

Eighthly, 8No hope of a deliverance by God in mercy from any Judgement, unleſſe we be willing to ſerve him as an abſolute Master. The greateſt enemies of a State, are thoſe, who would evert or enervate the Relation of maſter and ſervant, between God and a people; for this Relation is the groundſtone of all the Protection, of all the Deliverance we may expect or pray for from God. Popes, Kings, Biſhops, have been ſtriving to be lords over Gods Flock; that ambition hath coſt all the three dear. Let Chriſt alone (by his own Laws, his own Officers, and his own Courts) have the full Spirituall and Eccleſiaſtick Government of his Churches: The taking of this from him, may ſpoil us of his protection. Thoſe men that are moſt carefull to vindicate the right of Chriſt, are beſt ſervants to the State; for they lay a ſure foundation of Chriſts favour and protection to that State wherein they ſettle Chriſt as the onelyonly King, Lord and Maſter of the Church.

Ninthly, Conſider the unexpreſſible benignity of God, p. 449chuſing out among the children of ſinfull and miſerable men, ſome to be his own inheritance: That the Infinite and All-ſufficient God, who hath need of nothing, and to whom all creatures can adde no perfection; in all Agesſhould delight to have a poſſeſſion and inheritance among men, as his peculiar treaſure, they to be his, and he to be theirs; its a wonderfull love to men.

Tenthly, 10Gods Inheritance, his peculiar People, his dearest Children, if they will venture on ſin, they ſhall be ſure of Plagues both Spirituall and Temporall, rather then any other people of the world: For their ſins are greateſt, being againſt a moſt loving Father: It concerns him in honour and glory not to let them go with their ſcandalous treſpaſſes: He would be blaſphemed, if they went unpuniſhed. Thee onelyonly have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will puniſh thee for all thy tranſgreſſions.

Eleventhly, 11The Spirit of Adoption, under great ſins, and grievous puniſhments therefore, moves the children of God to lay hold on their priviledges for the melting of their heart, and bringing them to Repentance.

Finally, 12The ſweetest exerciſe of a Chriſtian, is the improving of the priviledge in band, The making uſe daily of this mutuall Relation, We are Gods Inheritance, and God is our Portion. A ſoul truely religious, muſt give it ſelf up fully to be poſſeſt and filled by God, to be repleniſhed in minde, will, affections, memory, conſcience, and every faculty, with the whole fulneſſe of God, as an inhabitant, as a due, proper and onelyonly heritor: On the other part, it will claim and lay hold by faith, on the power, the glory, the truth, the mercy, and all that is in God, as its own peculiar portion, as the onelyonly heritage which either in earth or heaven it deſireth to enjoy.

But being cut off by time from enlarging theſe things, I commend them and the reſt to your meditation, and the bleſſing of God.

FINIS.

End of the text · Robert Baillie, Errors and Induration Great Sins and Judgments of the Time (1645)