Heart Humiliation, Sermon 17
SERMON XVII.
Iſaiah 64. 6.
—And we all do fade us … leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
HEre they joyn the puniſhment with the deſerving cauſe, their uncleanneſs and their iniquities, and ſo take it upon them, and ſubſcribeth to the righteouſneſſe of Gods dealing.
We would ſay this much in general, Firſt, No body needeth to quarrel God for his dealing he will alwayes be juſtified when he is judged. If the Lord deal more ſharply with you then with others, you may judge, there is a difference between your condition and theirs, as well as in the Lords diſpenſation, even as this people do, verſ. 5. 6. It is a ſtrange ſaying, Lam. 3. 31. The Lord doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. That is, (as we conceive,) the Lord hath not ſuch pleaſure in trampling on men, as he might do on the duſt of his feet: Though he be abſolute ſoveraign Lord of the Creature, and men be but as the duſt of his feet, and he may do with his own what he pleaſeth, and none ask, What doſt thou? Yet the Lord uſeth not to walk according to his own abſoluteneſs, he hath another ordinary rule whereby he worketh, a rule of juſtice and equity; eſpecially in the puniſhing of men; he uſeth not to …fflict men for his pleaſure, as tyrants uſe to deſtroy their people. The Lord exerceth his ſoveraignty another way, and if he be abſolute and illimited in any thing, it is in ſhewing mercy o… men: But in judgement there may be ſtill ſome reaſon gotten for it in the creature beſide the will of God; So that (to ſpeak with reverence of his Majeſty) ſtroaks are often drawn out of his hands, he getteth ſo much provocation ere he ſtrike, and holdeth off ſo long, threatneth, and giveth warning thus before ſtroaks, as if it were againſt his will to lay on, as if his heart wer… broken with us.
Secondly, if men knew themſelves and their own ſinfulneſs, they would not challenge God with unrighteouſneſs, but put their mouth i… the duſt and keep ſilence. And it is from thi… ground, that this people do not charge God. Sin is of ſuch infinit deſert and merit, becauſe againſt infinite Majeſty; that God cannot go beyond it in puniſhment: And therefore Jeremiah when he is wading out of the deep waters of ſore temptation and ſad diſcouragement, he pitcheth and caſteth Anchor at this ſolid ground, It is of the Lords mercy that we are not conſumed Lam. 3. 22. What do I mean, thus to charge God, as if he dealt rigorouſly? No, no, It is his mercy that a remnant is left, our ſtroaks are not pure juſtice, our cup is mixed, mercy is the greateſt part: what ever is behind utter deſtruction, whatever is below the deſert of ſin, which is hell and damnation, all this muſt be reckoned up to mercy That I am yet alive, and ſo may have hope this is mercy, For why ſhould a living man complain, verſ. 39, That a rod is come to awake … out of ſecurity, this is mercy, for we might ha… ſlept to death. And this wholſome counſel g… Job of his friends to ſtay his murmuring an grudging at Gods diſpenſations, Job. 11. 6. Wh… doſt thou complain Job? Know but thy ſins, an there ſhall be no room for complaint; look b… unto Gods ſecrets of wiſdom, and his Law, a… ſee it is double to what you have known, yo… obligation is infinit more then you thoug… upon, and then how great and numberleſs mu… iniquities be? Know therefore, ſaith Zoph… God exacteth of thee leſs then thine iniquiti… deſerve, God exacteth not according to Law he craveth not according to the obligation, b… bids write down fifty in his bill of affliction when an hundred are written in our bill of deſerving. So then complain not, it is mer… that life is ſaved. Are you men, and livi… men? wonder at this, and wonder not th… you are not wealthy, are not honourable, ſein… you are ſinners: All that came on Jeruſale… maketh not Ezra think God out of bound… Chap. 9. 13. As we are leſs then the leaſt o… Gods mercies, and all our goodneſs deſerveth none of them, ſo is the leaſt ſin greater then the greateſt of all his judgements, and deſerveth ſtill more: Nay, if there were no more but original corruption common to men, and the filthineſs that accompanieth mens good actions, ye… is God righteous in puniſhing ſeverely, and this people acknowledge it ſo. You uſe to enquire what ſin hath ſuch a man done, when ſo terrible judgements come on? Nay, enquire no more, he is a ſinner, and it is mercy, there is not more, and it is ſtrange mercy that it is not ſo with you alſo. You uſe to ſpeak fooliſhly when Gods hand is upon you, I hope I have my puniſhment here, I hope to ſuffer here for my ſins: Poor ſouls, if God make you ſuffer for ſins, it will be another matter, though now your puniſhment be above your ſtrength and patience, yet it is below your ſin: As ſin hath all evil in it, ſo muſt hell have all puniſhment in it: The torment of a Gravel, racking with the Stone, and ſuch like, are but play to Hell, theſe are but drops of that Ocean, that you muſt drink out, and you ſhall go out of one Hell into a worſe; eternity is the meaſure of its continuance, and the degrees of it ſelf are anſwerable to its duration. There is much impatience even among Gods children under the rod: you vex and torment your ſelves, and doth well to be angry. Any piece of thwarting diſpenſation, that goeth croſs to your humor and inclination, embi…ters your ſpirit againſt God, and maketh you go croſs to his providence: How often do your hearts ſay, Why am I thus? What aileth the Lord at me? But Chriſtians, learn to ſtudy your own deſervings, and ſtop your mouth with that, that you may not ſpeak againſt Heaven. If you knew ſin well, you would not wonder at judgements, you would rather wonder that you are out of hell: know what right God hath over you, and how li… uſe he maketh of it againſt you: when you … pine at a little, ſhall it not be righteouſneſs wi… God to exact more, and let you know your d… ſerving better. He that thinketh it rigor in Go to exact fifty, it is juſtice that God crave … hundred. If the Law require fourty ſtripe and he give but one, will you not rather co… mend and proclaim his clemency, then ſpeak … his cruelty? Wonder that God hath ſpared … ſo long. Sin is come to great maturity, as pri… is ſaid to bloſſome and bud into a rod, ſo all ſ… are bloſſomed and budded into the very harveſt that the ſickle may be put in. If we ſhou… have Citie, deſolate, and our Land conſume… if we ſhould take up Jeremiahs lamentation, an our caſe be made paralel to theirs, we ha… then been puniſhed leſs then our iniquities deſerved.
There are ſome godleſs people ſo black mouthed, as to ſpeak againſt Heaven whe… God correcteth them, they follow the counſe of Jobs wiſe, Curſe God and die, if God but tou… them a little in that which is deareſt unto the… they kick againſt the pricks, and run hard-head with God. As we have known ſome-fooliſh women when their only child hath been removed, blaſpeeme, ſaying, What can God d… more to me, let him do what he can? O madneſs and wickedneſs of men! Cannot God do more, when he caſteth them in hell? Thou ſhalt acknowledge that it is more. Some have left off to ſeek God and turned profane becauſe of the Lords correction. But you would know …at all that is here is but Arles. If God had done his worſt, you might think your ſelves out of his common, nay, but he hath yet more to do, the full ſumm is to be payed. It were therefore wiſdome yet to make ſupplication to thy Judge.
But thirdly, Sins and iniquities have a great influence in the decay of Nations and Perſons, and change of their outward condition, when it is joyned with the wind of Gods diſpleaſure. The calamity of this people is ſet down in excellent terms, alluding to a tree in the fall of the leaf: We (ſaith he,) were once in our Land as a green tree busked round about with leaves and fruit: our Church and State was in a flouriſhing condition, at leaſt, nothing was wanting to make outward ſ…lendor and glory, we were immoveable in our own Land, as David ſaid in his proſperity, I ſhall never be moved, ſo did we dream of eternity in earthly Canaan▪ But now Lord, we are like a tree in the fall of the leaf: ſin hath obſtructed the influence of Heaven, hath drawn away the ſap of thy preſence from among us, ſo that we did fade as a leaf before its fall: we were prepared ſo by our ſin… for judgement, viſible draughts and prognoſticks of it were to be read upon the condition and frame of all ſpirits and people: And then did our iniquities raiſe the ſtorm of thy indignation, and that like a whirle-wind hath blown the withering leaves off the tree, hath driven us out of our own Land, and ſcattered us among ſtrangers. Sin and uncleanneſs and the filthineſs of our righteouſneſs prepared us for the ſtorm, made us light matter that could reſiſt no judgement, made us matter combuſtible; And then iniquities, and ſin riſing up to iniquities, …oming to ſuch a degree, hath accompliſhed the judgement, put fire among us, made us as the Birk in Yule-even.
Firſt, It is familiar in the Scripture, that people in a proſperous condition are compared unto a green tree flouriſhing, Pſal. 37. 35. The wickeds proſpeting is like a green Bay tree ſpreading himſelf in power, ſpreading out his arms, as it were, over moe Lands to conquer them, over moe people to ſubject them. And this is often the temptation of the godly, and ſo doth the Lord himſelf witneſs of this people. Jer. 11. 16. I have called thy name a green Olive tree, fair and of goodly fruit. This was once their name, though it be now changed. Now they are called a fading withering tree without both leaves and fruit. Now their place doth not ſo much as know them, they are removed as in a moment, Pſal. 37. 36. And this compariſon giveth us to underſtand ſomething of the nature of humane glory and pomp. The faireſt and moſt beautiful excellency in the world, the proſperity of nations and people is but like the glory of a tree in the ſpring or ſummer: yea, the Scripture uſeth to undervalue it more then ſo, and the voice commandeth to cry, Iſa. 40, 6. 7, 8. All fleſh is graſs, and the goodlineſs thereof as the flower of the field, the one withereth, and the other fadeth, becauſe the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. A tree hath ſome ſtability in it, but the flower of the field is but of a monethmonth or a weeks ſtanding; Nay, of one days ſtanding, for in the morning the graſs is green, and the Sun ſcorcheth it ere night, ſo that one Sun's courſe ſhall ſee it both growing green and fadeing: So is the goodlineſs, the very perfection, the quinteſſence (ſo to ſpeak) and the abſtract of creatures perfections: Outward accommodation in a world is as fading a thing as the flower is, as ſmoak is, it is ſo vaniſhing that it bides but a puft of his breath to blow i… to nothing. Job hath a ſtrange expreſſion, Thou looketh upon me, and I am not, Job 7. 8. The Lord needeth no more but ſtare on the moſt durable creature, and look it not only out of countenance, but alſo look it into its firſt nothing, look it out of glory, out of beeing. And therefore you would not truſt in theſe uncertain things, that can take wings and leave you. When you have accommodation outwardly to your mind, do not build your neſt in it: theſe leaves of proſperity will not cover you alwayes, there is a time when they will fall. Nations have their winter and their ſummer, perſons have them likewiſe, as theſe muſt change in nature, ſo muſt they do in their lot. Heaven only is one day, one Spring perpetually bloſſoming and bringing forth fruit: There is the Tree of Life that bringeth forth fruit every monethmonth, that hath both Spring and Harveſt all the year over. Chriſtians, ſit not down under the green tree of worldly proſperity: If you do, the leaves will come down about you; The Gourd you truſt in, may be eaten up in … night: your Winter will come on, ſo as you ſhall forget the former days, as if they had never been. We deſire you to be armed for changes: Are not matters in the Kingdome ſtill going about? All things are ſubject to revolution and change, and every year hath its own Summer and Winter, ſo hath it pleaſed the Lord to ſet the one over againſt the other, that man might find nothing after him, Eccleſ. 7. 14. Therefore we would have you caſt your accompts ſo, as the former dayes of darkneſs may return, and the Land be covered with mourning cloaths.
But would you know what is the original of the creatures vanity, what is the moth that eats up the glory and goodlineſs of creatures enjoyments? Here it is, Sin and iniquities. It was ſin that firſt ſubjected the Creation to vanity, Rom. 8. 19, 20. This inferior world was to have been a durable houſe for an immortal ſoul, but ſin made man mortal, and the world corruptible: And from this proceed all the tempeſts and diſorders that ſeem to be in the Creation. It is this ſtill: It is ſin that raiſeth the ſtorm of the Lords wrath, which bloweth away the withered leaves of mens enjoyments. Sin drieth up all the ſap and ſweetneſs of the creature comforts, it maketh the leaves of the tree wither, drives the ſap away to the root, hindereth the influence of Gods bleſſing to come thorow the veins of worldly proſperity: For what is the vertue and ſap of Creatures? It is even Gods bleſſing, and therefore the bread nouriſheth not, but the Word and Command of God, Matth. 3. 4. That is a right unto the Creatures by Jeſus Chriſt, when poſſeſſion of them is entered into by prayer and thankſigiving, for all rightis ſanctified by theſe, and it is the iniquities of men, that ſeparateth between God and them, Iſa. 59. 2. And when God is ſeparated and divided from enjoyments, they muſt needs be empty ſhells and husks, no kernel in them, for God filleth all in all, is all in all; And remove him, and you have nothing; your meat and drink is no bleſſing, your table is a ſnare, your pleaſures and laughter have ſadneſs in them, at leaſt they are like the vaniſhing blaze of thorns under a pot. And therefore when God is angry for ſin, mens beauty conſumeth as before the moth, Pſal. 39. 11. When God beginneth to ſhew himſelf terrible, becauſe of ſin, poor man, though of late ſpreading his boughs out, yet all falleth, and like Ice melteth as before the Sun, which juſt now ſeemed as ſolid as ſtone. O but David was ſenſible of this, and could ſpeak from much experience, Pſal. 32. 3, 4. The anger of the Lord did eat him up, and dryed his moiſture; It might be read in his countenance, all the world could not content him, all the ſhowres of creatures dropping fatneſs could not keep ſap in him, Gods diſpleaſure ſcorcheth ſo, nay, is within him, that no hiding place is to be found in the world, no ſhadow of a rock among all the Creatures in ſuch a weary Land. Moſes and the people knew this well, Pſal. 90. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. The Lords diſpleaſure carried them away, as a floud coming down carrieth all headlong with it, it ſcorched them, and made them wither as graſs. When God ſetteth iniquities before him, that which is the ſouls ſecret, beginneth to imprint it in viſible characters on the rod, and writeth his ſin on his puniſhment, then no wonder that daye… be ſpent in vanity and grief, ſince they are paſt over in his wrath, Job 13. 25. Then doth a ſoul loath its dainty meat, and then doth the Ox lowe over his fodder, meat is laid before, and he cannot touch it, becauſe of the terrours of the Almighty; And that which before he would not once touch, would not enter in terms of communing with, as the Lords threatnings, he muſt now ſit down, and eat them up as his meat; how ſorrowful ſoever, Job 6. 5, 6, 7.
But Secondly, when ſin hath prepared a man for judgement, then if iniquity be added to ſin, this raiſeth the ſtorm, and kindleth the fire to conſume the combuſtible matter: when ſin hath given many blowes by preparatory corrections at the root of a mans pleaſure and credit, it will at length bring on a fatal ſtroak that ſhall drive the tree to the ground. There are ſome preparatory judgements and ſome conſummatory; ſome withers the leaf, and ſome bloweth it quite off. ſome make men like the Harveſt, ripe to put the ſickle of judgement into it. The Corrruption of a land, the univerſality of it, and formality in worſhiping of God, ripeneth a land for t…e harveſt of judgement, expoſeth it to any ſtorm, leaveth it open to the Lords wrath, ſo that there is nothing to hold his hand and keep off the ſtroak. But when the wind ariſeth, and iniquities have made it tempeſtuous, then who may ſtand, it will ſweep away Nations and people as a flood and make their place not to know them, ſo that there ſhall be neither leaf nor branch left. There is often a great calm with great provocations, and iniquities cry, Peace, peace. But when once the cry of it is gone up to heaven, and hath engaged Gods anger againſt a people or perſon, then it raiſeth a whilr-wind that taketh all away. Now all this belongeth to you, we told you the acknowledgement of ſin was yours already, and a wonder it is that the complaint is not ours alſo: Alwayes this ought to be an admonition and example to us on whom the ends of the world are fallen. Therefore we would declare this unto you, that ſin and iniquities have judgment in the taile. Now you ſit at peace, every one in his own dwelling, and ſpread forth your branches. But is there not much uncleanneſs among you? We would have you trouble your carnal peace and ſecurity, trouble your eaſe with thoughts of this. And we have ground to give this warning, becauſe if there were no more but the iniquity of our holy things, the formality of our ſervice, the commonneſs of Spirit in worſhip, this might be enough to raiſe the ſtorm. You know not for what reaſons to be afraid of judgement, look but on original corruption, look on the defilement of your religious actions, and then find ground ſufficient of fading away. Though now you ſit ſtill and ſeem to be ſo ſetled, as you would never be moved: you dream of an eternity here, you cleave in your hearts to your houſes and lands: you ſtick as faſt to the world, and will not part with it, as a leaf to a tree: yet behold, the wind of the Lord may ariſe, that ſhall drive you away, take your ſoul from theſe things and then whoſe ſhall they be? If you will not fear temporal judgements, yet I pray you fear eternal, fear hell. May not the Lord ſhake you off this tree of time, and take you out of the land of the living, to receive your portion. There is not only an univerſal deadneſs of ſpirit on the land, but a prophane ſpirit, Iniquities, abominable ſins abound. Every Congregation is overgrown with ſcandals; and for you, None may more juſtly complain: we are all unclean, ſin is not in corners, but men declare their ſin as Sodom, ſin is come to the Maturity, Defection and Apoſtacy is the temper of all Spirits, and above all the general contempt and ſlighting of this glorious goſpel, is the iniquity of Scotland, ſo that we wonder that the withered leaves yet ſtick to, that the ſtorm is not yet raiſed, and we blown away. Now you are like ſtones, your hearts as Adamants and cannot be moved with his threatnings, the voice of the Lords word doth not once move you: you ſin and are not afraid; Nay, but when Gods anger ſhall joyn with iniquity, and the voice of his rod and diſpleaſure roar, this ſhall make the mountains to tremble, the rocks to move, and how much more ſhall it drive away a leaf. You ſeem now mountains, but when God ſhall plead, you ſhall be like the chaff driven too and fro. O how eaſy a matter ſhall it be to God to blow a man out of his dwelling place: ſin hath prepared you for it, he needeth no more but blow by his Spirit, or look upon you, and you will not be. You who now are lofty and proud, and maintain your ſelf againſt the word, when you come to reckon with God, and he entereth in judgement, you ſhall not ſtand: you will conſume as before the moth: your hearts will fail you, Who may abide the day of his coming? It will be ſo terrible, and ſo much the more terrible, that you never dreamed of it. If the example of this people will not move you, do but caſt your eyes on Ireland, who all do fade as a leaf, and their iniquities have taken them away out of their own Land. Shall not the ſeeing of the eye, nor the hearing of the ear teach you? What ſecurity do you promiſe to your ſelves? Have not we ſinned as much as they? Were not they his people as we? Certainly ſince God waiteth longer on you, the ſtroak muſt be the greater: provoked patience muſt turn fury. If you would then prevent this peoples complaint, go about ſuch a ſerious acknowledgement of your ſins, ſearch your wayes and turn again to the Lord. And let not every man ſit down in a general notion of ſin, but unbowel it until you ſee uncleanneſs, go up to the fountain head, Original corruption, go down to all the ſtreams, even the iniquity of holy things: let every man be particular in the ſearch of his own provocations perſonal, and every one be publick in the general ſins of the Land, that you may confeſſe out of knowledge and ſenſe, we are all unclean, &c.