Hosea 14:1–3 (Edward Reynolds)
Verse 1 — 3.
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iyiiquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. As-ihur shall not save tis; we will not ride xipon horses: neither will ice say any more to the work of our hands, i’e are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
The blessing of Ephraim was, according to the signification of his name, fruitfulness. Gen. xli. 52; the fruitfulness of the earth, a bough by a -n-ell, and the fruitfulness of the -n-omb, and of the breasts, Gen. xlix. 22,25; Deut. xxxiii. 13 — 17. Contrary to which two blessings, we find in our prophet two judgments threatened against him for his sins; chap. xiii. 15, 16, “Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels. Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their- women with child shall be ripped up.” And ihroughout the whole prophecy, (if you read and ob- -■rye it,) you will find the judgments of God against ,]thraim to be expressed by weeds, emptiness, barren- ■-«, dryness of roots, of fruits, of branches, of springs, and by a curse upon theii’ children; as, on the other side, the blessings here in this chapter renewed to Ephraim repenting, are all expressed by metaphors of fruitfulness, Tei”. 5 — 7.
From these two woeful judgments, against the fruitfulness of then- springs, and the fruitfulness of their wombs, by the desolations of a bloody sword, our prophet takes occasion once more to awaken and di’ive them to a timely repentance, that so they may recover the blessing of theii’ name; Ephraim may “ifalxorAY^..- Ephi-aim again, a plentiful, a fruitful, Dai’ia alo, a flourishing people. That “when God’s Td^acxp’pofia- judgments are in the earth,” they would “fiI’m’Ta!’’^n»’o then, at least, set themselves to” learn apud A. Gel. 1. 6. righteousness,” that they may wash their feet in the blood of the wicked. Of all nations under heaven this land of ours has had the blessing of Ephraim upon it, fruitfulness of the earth, abundance of plenty; fi’uitfulness of the womb, abundance of people. But our misery is, that the abundance of our sins has mightily outvied the abundance both of our plenty and of our people; sins, also, too parallel to those of Ephraim. And this parity of sins has no doubt called upon God for a parity of judgments. It is but a very little while since the Lord seemed to call for a north wind, as he does here for an east wind; two armies there met, ready to look one another in the face; but his heart turned, his repentings were kindled, he would not give up Ephraim then. He seems now once more to be drawing a sword, and having in vain “hewed “us by his” prophets,” as he complains, Hos. vi. 5, to try whether hewing us by his judgments will work upon us. So that now, though I must read my text, “O Israel,” yet I must apply it, O England,” return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words.
and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all
iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.”
The whole context contains two general parts:
I. An invitation to repentance, ver. 1.
II. An institution how to perform it, ver. 2, 3. Before we come to the particulars of the invitation,
let us first briefly observe. That in the midst of judgments proposed against obstinate sinners, God reserves and proclaims mercy to sinners that are penitent. When a consumption is decreed, yet a remnant is reserved to retm’n, Isa. x. 22, 23. The Lord will keep his “vineyard,” when he will burn up “the briers and thorns “together, Isa. xxvii. 2 — 4. When a day of” fierce anger” is determined, the “meek of the earth” are called upon to seek the Lord, Zeph. ii. 3. When the Lord is coming “out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,” he calls upon his people to “hide “themselves in their” chambers,” “until the indignation be overpast,” Isa. xxvi. 20, 21. The angel which was sent to destroy Sodom, had withal a commission to deliver Lot, Gen. xix. 15. God made full provision for those who mourned for public abominations, before he gave order to destroy the rest, Ezek. ix. 4, 6. Men in their wrath will many times rather strike a fi-iend than spare a foe; but God’s proceedings are without disorder, he will rather spare his foes than strike his servants, as he showed himself willing to have done in the case of Sodom, Gen. xviii. 26. “Moses stood before him in the breach,” and diverted judgments from Israel,” Psal. cvi. 23. Yea, God seeks for such, Ezek. xxii. 30, and complains when they cannot be found, Ezek. xiii. 5; and if he deliver others for them, certainly he will not destroy them for others. However it go with the world and with wicked men, it shall go well with the righteous; there shall be a sanctuary for them when others stumble, and they shall pass through the fire when others are consumed by it, Isa. iii. 10, 11; viii. 14 — 16; Zech. xiii. 8, 9. The reasons of this tender care are,
1. God’s justice. He wUl not punish the righteous with the wicked; he will have it appear that there is a difference “between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not,” Gen. xviii. 23; Mai. iii. IS.
2. God’s love to his people. He has “a book of remembrance” ■mitten before him, for them that fear him, and think upon his name. “And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him,” Mai. iii. 16, 17. Here is a cUmax and gradation of arguments drawn from love. In a great fire, and devouring trouble, (such as is threatened, Mai. iv. 1,) property alone is a ground of care; a man would wUlingly save and secure that which is his own, and of any use to him; but if you add to this preciousness, that increases the care. A man will make hard shift to deliver a rich cabinet of jewels, though all his ordinary goods and utensils should perish. But of all jewels, those which come out of the body are much more precious than those which only adorn it. Yho would not snatch rather his child than his casket or purse out of a flame? Relation works not only upon the affection, but upon the bowels, Jer. xxxi. 20. And lastly, the same excellency that the word “jewel” adds to the word “mine;” the same excellency does “service” add to the word
“son.” A man has much conflict in himself to take off his heart from an undutiful son. Never a worse son than Absalom, and yet how does David give a charge to the commanders to have him s])ared! How inquisitive after his safety! how passionately and unseasonably mournful upon the news of his death! But if any child be more a jewel than another, certainly it is a dutiful child, who has not only an interest in our love by nature, but by obedience. All these grounds of care and protection for God’s people in trouble are here expressed; property, they are “mine;” preciousness, they are “jewels,” treasures, ornaments unto me; relation, they are “sons;” usefulness, they are sons that “serve:” none could look on a thing so many ways lovely with the same eye as upon a professed and provoking enemy.
3. God’s name and glory. He has spared his people even in the midst of their provocations for his name’s sake, Deut. xxxiii. 26, 27; Josh. vii. 9. How much more when they repent and seek his face! He will never let it be said, that any seek the Lord in vain, Isa. xlv. 19.
But it may be objected, Does not Solomon say, that “all things come alike to all?” and that “no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before him?” Eccl. ix. 1, 2. And is it not certain and common, that in public desolations good as well as bad do perish? Does not the sword devour as well one as another?
True, God does not always difference his servants from wicked men by temporal deliverances; troubles commonly and promiscuously involve all sorts. But there are these two things in it to be considered:
1. Many times the good suffer with the bad, because they are together corrupted with them; and when they join in the common provocations, no wonder if they suffer in the common judgments. Rev. xviii. 4. Nay, the sins of God’s people do (especially in this case) more provoke him to outward judgments than the sins of his professed enemies; because they expose his name to the more contempt, 2 Sam. xii. 14; and are committed against the greater love, Amos iii. 2; and he has future judgment for the wicked, and therefore usually begins here at his own sanctuary, Ezek. ix. G; 1 Pet. iv. 17.
2. When good men, who have preserved themselves from ])ublic sins, do yet fall by public judgments, still there is a great difference in this seeming equality, the same affliction having, like the pillar that went before Israel, a light side towards God’s people, and a dark side towards the Egyptians, God usually recompensing the outward evils of his people with more plentiful evidences of inward and spiritual joy. A good man may be in great darkness as well as a wicked man, but in that case he has the name of God to stay himself upon, which no wicked man in the world has, Isa. 1. 10. The metal and the dross go both into the fire together, but the di-oss is consumed, the metal refined. So is it with godly and wicked in then- sufferings, Zech. xiii. 9; Eccl. viii. 12, 13.
This reproves the folly of those who in time of trouble rely u])on vain things which cannot help them, and continue their sins still. For judgments make no dift’erence of any but penitent and impenitent. Sickness stands not on ceremony with an honourable person, but uses him as coarsely as the base. Death knocks as well at a prince’s palace as a poor man’s cottage; wise men die as well as fools. Yea, poison usually works more violently when tempered with wine, than with some duller and baser material. In times of trouble usually the greater the persons the closer the judgments. ‘When Jerusalem was taken the nobles were slain, but the poor of the land had vineyards and fields given them, Jer. xxxix. 0 — 10.
Therefore in troubles we should be more humbled for our sins than our sufferings, because sin is the sting of suffering. That mercies should not win us; that judgment should not awaken us; that the rod should speak, and we not hear, Micah vi. 9; that the fire should burn, and we not feel, Isa. xlii. 25; that desolation should be threatened, and we not insti’ucted, Jer. vi. 8; that the hand of God should be lifted up, and we not see it, Isa. xxvi. 11; that darkness should be upon us, and we not give glory to God, Jer. xiii. 16: this is that which should most deject us, in mercies to have been wanton, and in judgments senseless. Get repentance by an affliction, and then you may look on it as a ti’affic, and not as a trouble, like a merchant’s voyage, which has pain in the way, but treasure in the end. No afflictions can hurt him that is penitent. If thou escape, they will make thee the more thankful; if not, they will bring thee the nearer and the sooner to God.
The way to be safe in times of trouble, is to get the blood of the Lamb upon our doors. AH troubles have their commission and instructions from God, what to do, whither to go, whom to touch, whom to pass over. Be gold, and though the fire come upon you, you shall keep your nature and purity still. “Godliness,” saith the apostle, “hath the promise of this life,” and in that general jjromise one special clause, that we shall not “be tempted above that we are able,” 1 Cor. x. 13; neither are there indeed any distresses against which there is not a refuge and escape for penitent sinners to some promise or other. Against captivity. “When they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly,” Lev. xxvi. 44. Against famine and pestilence. “K I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land,” 2 Chron. vii. 13, 14. Against sickness. “The Lord will strengthen him u])on the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness,” Psal. xli. 3. Against poverty. “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them,” Isa. xli. 17; Psal. lxviii. 10. Against want of friends. “AMien my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up,” Psal. xxvii. 10; lxxii. 12. Against oppression and imprisonment. “Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: the Lord looseth the prisoners,” Psal. cxlvi. 7. Against “whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be,” 1 Kings viii. 37, 38. He is the God of “all consolation:” how disconsolate soever a man’s condition is in any kind, there cannot but within the compass of “all consolation” be some one or other remedy at hand to comfort and relieve him. And so much by the way of general preface from the words of the context, which leads us to consider,
I. The invitation to repentance: in which we have, 1. The matter of the invitation. 2. The motives contained in the invitation.
1. The matter of ‘the invitation is conversion: without that, the hand which is lifted up in threatening will fall down in punishing; and where that is, God has “a book of remembrance” for his jewels, when his wrath burneth as an oven against the stubble, Isa. xxvi. 11; Mai. iii. 16.
But this conversion has two conditions in it. 1. It must be to the Lord. “O Israel, return unto the Lord.” Not merely philosophical, to some low and general dictates of reason, such as Aristotle, or Plato, or Epictetus, or Plutarch, or the like heathen moralists
en
could fm-nish us with, without self-denial, lowliness of spirit, or * faith in Christ.
Not merely political, to credit, or profit, or secular ends, propter J’amam, non propter conscientiam, as the orator speaks, or as our prophet saith, “for corn and wine,” Hos. vii. 14. As good be an empty vine, as bring forth fruit only to ourselves, Hos. x. 1.
But it must be spiritual, to the Lord. “If thou wilt return, 0 Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me,” Jer. iv. 1. And not only “unto the Lord,” for that may be done falsely and flatteringly, with a halting and divided heart, Jer. iii. 10. By the force of semi-persuasions, like that of Agrippa, Acts xxvi. 28, and Orpah, Ruth i. 14, compUmenting with God, and then forsaking him. By the force of compulsory impressions, like that of Pharaoh and Israel in the wilderness, Exod. viii. 8; ix. 27 — 34; Psal. lxxviii. 34 — 37. J Promises on the rack, and pride when there was respite again; thawing in the sun, and freezing in the shade; melting in the furnace, and out of it retui-ning again to hardness; like the prophet’s cake, bui-nt on the one side, and dough on the other. But it must be,
2. Even unto the Lord; so much the original word “ly imports, a full, thorough, constant, continued conversion, with a fixed, rooted, united, established heart, yielding up the whole conscience and conversation to be ruled by God’s will in all things, Joel ii. 12; Acts xi. 23; Psal. lvii. 7; Eph. iii. 17 j Psal. lxxxvi. 11; Heb. xiii. 9.
2. The motives to this duty are two. 1. His mercy: “Return unto the Lord thy God;” he is yet “thy God:” no such argument for our turning to God as his turning to us. Adam looks on him as a judge, and hides; the prodigal looks on him as a father, and returns. As the beams of the sun shining on fire deadens its flame, so the shining of God’s mercies on us should dishearten and extinguish our lusts. This is the use we should make of mercy. Say not. He is my God, therefore I may presume upon him; but. He is mine, therefore I must return to him. Because he is God, I w-iU be afraid to provoke him; and because he is mine, I will be afraid to forfeit him. He is so great, I must not dare to ofi’end him; so precious, I must not, o- - venture to lose him. His mercy is a eem Si^Jtiamrt, holy mercy, which knows to pardon sin, Ti t’??’” ‘^’’^“‘- but not to protect it. It is a sanctuary ci?rn°ii”t’s°re“‘” for the penitent, not for the presumptuous, Joel ii. 12, 13; Isa. Iv. 6, 7; Jer. xxxi. 18; Hos. iii. 5; Psal. cxxx. 4; Acts ii. 38; Matt, iii. 2; Isa. lxiv. 9.
2. His judgment, and that expressed rather as our act than his: “Thou hast fallen by thine iniquit)’.” If mercies do not work upon love, let judgments work .., upon fear. Extremities are a warrant to loqiiendum libere importuuitics. EvcH hcathcu manners Liv™!^,.”?“”’ in a storm will cry mightily upon God. mi°E™ani’?d°De’os ^Vhcn there is a deluge coming, is it not verti^X^Liv’ts ^’’“^ ^°’” ^0^^ to ti’’ ‘’“‘^ t° prepare an -*]«■ stro. 1. in. ’ ark? Heb. xi. 7.” “What meanest thou, ioiom,’ L 9! c. e”“”” O thou sleeper,” to lose the season and It- •“^’”^’“- benefit of God’s visitations? when there i”cf 33! ‘^’’’ °’’’ “” is a tempest over the ship, heavy distresses, and distractions both at home and abroad, to be so secure in thy wonted impenitency, as if thou hadst had no sins to procure these judgments, or no sense to feel them, Jonah i. 6; as if
* Non sunt bona quas non de radice bona procedunt. Ea ipsa opera cjuaj dicnntur ante fidem quamvis videantur hominibus laudabilia, inania sunt, lit magna? vires et cursus celerrimns pra:ter viam, Aug. Enarr. in Phal. 31. Vide de Spirit, et Lite, c. ‘iO, 21. 26. Contra Duas Epist. Pelag. 1. 3. c. 7. ep. 106. De Fide et Operibus, c. 14. Contra Julian, lib. 4. cap. 3.
t Nihil ad ostentationem, omnia ad conscientiam refert. PI.
there were agreements and sealed covenants between thee and the sword, that it should not touch thee? If thou be falling, is it not high time to consider thy ways; to search and to judge thyself; to have thine eyes like the windows of Solomon’s temple, broad inwards; to find out thine own provocations, ^KatrTot «a«o,-.pand, as David speaks, to keep thyself -rm i^fpe. Tin. from thine iniquity? Psal. xviii. 23. nM.’dcleiT’”’
Thus when in one and the same time ‘*““‘”’■ mercies and judgments are intermixed, then is the most solemn season to call upon men for repentance. If we felt nothing but fears, they might make us despair; if nothing but mercies, they would make us secure. If the whole year were summer, the sap of theearth would be exhausted; if the whole were winter, it would be quite buried. The hammer breaks metal and the fire melts it, and then you may cast it into any shape. Judgments break, mercies melt, and then, if ever, the soul is fit to be cast into God’s mould. There is no figure in all the prophets more usual than this, to. interweave mercies and judgments, like those elegancies which rhetoricians call oliutoga, to
allure, and to bring into a wilderness, c. 12. sect. 7. Hos. ii. 14. And this of all other is the vwe Gomei D^nnit. >/f(fpa Kpiffi/KOf, as physicians call it, the “‘’’’’■” ^“”’™’- critical time of diseased people, wherein the chief conjecture lies, whether they be mending or ending, according to the use which they make of such interwovea mercies.
I have cursorily run over the first part of the context, the invitation to repentance, as intending to make my abode on the second.
II. The institution how to perform it. Therein we-have, 1. A general instruction, “Take with you words.” 2. A particular form, what words they should take, or a petition di’awn to their hands, “Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render th& calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more tO’ the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.”
1. A general instruction, “Take with you words.“^ Of this I shall speak but briefly. It imports the serious pondering and choosing of requests to put up to God. The mother of Ai’taxerxes in Plutarch was wont to say, that they who would adckess themselves to princes, must use prinaai fSvaaivois, silken words. Surely he that would approach to God, must consider, and look as well to his words as to his feet. He is so holy and jealous of his worship, that he expects there should be preparation in our accesses unto him. Josh. xxiv. 19 j John iv. 23; Eccl. v. 1, 2; Gen. xxxv. 2, 3; 1 Sam. xvi. 5; Isa. i. 15, 16; preparation of our persons by: purity of life, Job xi. 13; preparation of q„,„i„„, „™„p. our services by choice of matter, Job ix. [,’^s ^^!>™„”i; “”.“’ 14; Luke XV. 17, 18; preparation of mos. Tert5t.de our hearts by finding them out, stirring ‘^’’’” “‘’’ them up, fixing them, fetching them in, and calling together all that is within us to prevail with God, 2 Sam. vii. 27; Isa. lxiv. 7; Psal. lvii. 7, 8; ciii. 1; 2. Chron. xxx. 19.
The services which we thus prepare must be taken from him; they must not be the issues of our own private and fleshly hearts; for nothing can go to God, but that which conies from him. And this phrase seems to import these three things: 1. We must at-
1. 1. epist. 22. Nihil opinionis caus&, omnia conscientiae, faciam. Senec. de Vita Beata, c. 20.
X Semisauciam hac atque hac versare voluntatem. Aug-Confess. 1. 8. c. 8. Plerique ipsius pcenitentia;, &c. Ambro. de Pcpnit. 1. 2. C. 9. ‘ETraXt|Xoi Ittl tois a/iapxij/iao-i /itrafoiai.. Clem. Alex. 1. 2. Strom. Irrisor est non pcenitens qui adhue agit quod pcenitet, &c. Isidor. de Summo Bono. Senec. Ep.. 120. Ambros. Offic. lib. 2. c. 22.
tend to his will, as the rule of our prayers, 1 John v. 14. 2. We must attend to his precepts and promises, as the matter of our prayers, 2 Sara. vii. 25. 3. We
must attend to the guidance of his Holy ztspilfilVS: Spirit, as the life and ])rinciple of our
prayers, without which we know not what to ask, Rom. viii. 26; Zech. ii. 10; Job xxxvii. 19.
And prayers thus regulated are most seasonable and sovereign duties in times of trouble; the key which opens a door of mercy, the sluice which keeps out an inundation of judgments. Jacob wrestled and obtained a blessing, Hos. xii. 4. Amos prayed, and removed a curse, Amos vii. 1 — 6. The woman of Canaan will not be denied with a denial. Matt. xv. 24, 27. The people of Israel will beg for deliverance even when God had positively told them that he would deliver them no more, Judg. x. 13, 15. Jonah will venture a prayer from the bottom of the sea, when a double death had seized upon him, the belly of the deep, and the belly of the whale; and that prayer of his opened the doors of the leviathan, as the expression is. Job xli. 14, and made one of those deaths a deliverance from the other, Jonah ii.
Oh let the Lord’s remembrancers give him no rest. There is a kind of omnipotency in ])rayer, as having an interest and prevalence with God’s omnipotency; it has loosed iron chains, Acts xvi. 25, 2G; it has opened iron gates, Acts xii. 5, 10; it has unlocked the
windows of heaven, 1 Kings xviii. 41: it Ipol’T’t“”“”’ has broken the bars of death, John xi. steUpijaS’ i 41 — 44- Satan has three titles given him
in the Scripture, setting forth his malignity against the church of God. A dragon, to denote his malice. Rev. xii. 3; a serpent, to denote his subtlety, Gen. iii. 1; and a lion, to denote his strength, 1 Pet. V. 8. But none of all these can stand before prayer. The greatest malice, the malice of Haman, sinks under the prayer of Esther; the deepest policy, the counsel of Ahithophel, withers before the prayer of David; the hugest army, an host of a thousand thousand Ethiopians, run away like cowards before the prayer of Asa, Esth. iv. 16; 2 Sam. xv. 31; 2 Chron. xiv. 9 — 12.
How should this encourage us to treasure up our prayers! to besiege the throne of grace with armies of suppHcations! to deny a denial! to break through a repulse! He has blessed those whom he had crippled. Gen. xxxii. 25 — 28; he has answered those whom he did reproach. Matt. xv. 26, 28; he has delivered those whom he did deny, Judg. x. 13 — 16. He is “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,” Heb. xiii. 8. If he save in six and in seven troubles, shoidd not we pray in six and seven extremities? Job v. 19. Certainly, in all the afflictions of the church, when prayers are strongest mercies are nearest.
And therefore, let me humbly recommend to the cares of this honourable assembly, amongst all your other pressing affairs, the providing that those solemn days, wherein the united prayers of this whole kingdom should with strongest importunities stop the breaches and stand in the gaps at which judgments are ready to rush in upon us, may with more obedience and solemnity be observed, than indeed they have been of late. It is true, that here, and in other cities and populous places, there is haply less cause, to complain. But who can without sorrow and shame behold in our country towns, men so inapprehensive either of their brethren’s sufferings, or of their own sins and dangers, as to give God quite over, to let him rest, that they themselves may work; to come in truth to Jehoram’s resolution, Why should we wait upon God any longer? to grudge their brethren’s and their own souls and safeties one day in thirty, and to tell all the world that indeed their day’s work is of more value with them
than their day’s worship? multitudes drudging and moiling in the earth, while their brethren are mourning and besieging heaven. I do but name it, and proceed to,
2. The particular form suggested to them, according to which their addresses unto God are to be regulated; which consists of two parts; 1. A prayer; 2. A promise. The prayer is for two benefits; 1. The removal of sin; 2. The conferring of good. In the promise or restipulation, we have, 1. Their covenant, wherein they promise two things; 1. Thanksgiving for the hearing and answeiing of their prayers; 2. A special care for the amendment of their lives. 2. The ground of their confidence so to pray, and of their resolutions so to promise; “For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.” We shall now meditate on the first of these. The prayer of the church in their fears and sufferings; wherein I shall begin, in the prophet’s order, with their prayer against sin, “Take away all iniquity.”
‘the word sen rendered “take away,” signifies, 1. To expiate, or make atonement by a sacrifice. So the scape goat ( which was a sign of Christ our sacrifice as risen and living again) is said to carry the sins of the people into the wilderness, Lev. xvi. 22, thereby signifying Christ’s taking our sins from us, John i. 29; Heb. ix. 28. 2. To forgive, which in the court of mercy is the taking away of sin, Psal. xxxii. 1,5. 3. To remove or take away by destroying, Hos. i. 6; Jolj xxxii. 22; and sometimes by burning, 2 Sam. v. 21; Nah. i. 5: so sin is said to be destroyed, Rom. vi. 6, to be subdued, Micah vii. 19, to be purged away with the spirit of judgment and burning, Isa. iv. 4. The meaning then is. Take away all our sins fi’om us, lay them upon Christ our sacrifice; for his merit pardon them, by his grace destroy and subdue them, that so, the root of judgments being removed, they likewise may therewithal be removed too. From hence the observation which I shall insist upon is this:
Obs. 1. When God threatens judgments, we in our conversion to him should pray against sins. Our eye of sorrow should be more upon lliat which dishonours him, than upon that which afflicts ourselves; more upon that which is contrary to his image, than upon that which is contrary to our own nature; more upon that which defiles, than upon that which pains us. Pharaoh cares for nothing but the removal of death, Exod. X. 1 7; Simon Magus for nothing but to have ])erdition and the gall of bitterness kept from him, Acts viii. 24; but good men, like wise physicians, cure the disease at the root, as Elisha did the waters by puttin” salt into the spring-head, 2 Kings ii. 21. The angel was smiting the people with a plague; David betakes himself to the right remedy, “Lo, I have sinned, and have done wickedly;” he goes not to the physicians, but to the altar to make atonement for sin, and so the plague was stayed, 2 Sam. xxiv. 17, 25. Destruction was threatened against Israel, for their calf, their murmurings, their rebellions; Moses stands in the breach to divert it, Psal. cvi. 23; but how does he do it? surely by praying against their sins, Exod. xxxii. 31, 32; xxxiv. 9; Numb. xiv. 19. A sick man was brought to Christ to be healed. Matt. ix. 2; Chi-ist overlooks the disease, and begins at the sin, “Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee;” and this being forgiven, the malignity of the disease was removed, though the matter should have remained. This was the usual method of David in his troubles, to throw over those Shelias that had wrought his woe. “Blot out,” “wash thoroughly,” “cleanse,” “create,” “renew:” he is far more inijiortunate for pardon and purging, than for case and comfort, Psal. xxv. 18; xxxii. 4, 5; xxxviii. 3, 4; Ii. Complaining in trouble is the work of a man, but repenting is the work of a Christian, Lam. iii. 39, 40.
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The reasons of this point are these three. 1. If a judgment should be removed while sin remains, it is not removed in mercy, but in anger; for many times God gives over punishing in displeasure, as a man throws away the rod when his scholar is incorrigible. “Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more,” Isa. i. o. If men be settled on then’ lees, and will not be reclaimed, there cannot a heavier jiunishment light upon them, than to be without punishment, to be left to themselves, and the fury of their own wills, speedily to work out their own per- (Htion; that their own pleasures may become their plagues, and the liberty of their own lusts their sorest bondage, Hos. iv. 14; Psal. Lxxxi. 11, 12; Ezek. xxiv. 13; Kom. i. 24, 28; Rev. xxii. 11.* God may take away in wrath that which he sent in anger, Hos. xiii. 11; as on the other side he may punish sin then when he forgives it, and may visit iniquity with rods then when he will not utterly take away his loving-kindness iiiim a people, Psal. lxxxix. 32, 33; xcix. 8.
2. If a judgment be removed, so long as sin remains it is gone cum animo revertendi, either the same or a ^Mirse is likely to succeed, for God will overcome ^lhen he is judged, Rom. iii. 4. Pharaoh’s stubbornness did not but increase his plagues. God will not endvn-e that the pride of man should outvie his justice,
. Exod. ix. 17. K we do not take Chi’ist’s warning to go and “sin no more,” we have great cause to fear his inference, that “a worse thing” will come unto us, .lohn v. 14. If ive do yet exalt ourselves, God will yet plead with us, Jer. ii. 9. If we will walk contrary to him, he threatens to do the like unto us, and to punish us seven times more for our sins, Lev. xxvi. 18 — 28. If we do not turn to him that smites us, then “his anger” in smiting shall not be “turned away, but his hand is stretched out still,” Isa. ix. 12. God can bring clouds after rain, distresses in Ireland after distractions in Scotland, and distractions in England after distresses in Ii’eland, mischief upon mischief, and counsel against counsel, Manasseh against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh, to vex and weary out a sinful people, till they pine away in their calamities.
3. Sin being removed, though the affliction should hot be removed, yet it is sanctified and turned into good. Repentance, like the philosopher’s stone, can turn iron into gold, can make afflictions golden. So ‘■ the trial of your faith,” that is, your affliction, is said to be •’ much more precious than of gold that perisheth,” 1 Pet. i. 7. Whereas sin remaining is like copperas, which will turn wine or milk into ink. It converts the blessings of God into the provisions of lusts; cankers learning with pride, wit with profaneness, and wealth with luxury; like leaven, which turns a very
passover into pollutions. As the pearl,
” which is an ornament to the woman
who wears it, is a disease to the fish which breeds it; as the same perfume which refi-eshes a dove, is mortal to a vulture; as the same pillar and cloud was light to Israel, but dark to Egyt; the same deep a path to Israel, but a grave to Eg)’pt; so the same blessings which by grace are converted into comforts, by sin are abused into dishonourable services, Hag. ii. 13. Sweet powders can make leather an ornament, when the sanies of a plague-sore will render a robe infectious. As it was said of Naaman, he was “a great man,” an ‘• honourable “man, “a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper,” 2 Kings v. 1; so whatever other ornaments a man has, sin stains them with the foulest but that can be brought to deprave the fau-est endowments. A learned man, a wealthy man, a wise man,
* Exaiulit propitiuri, non exaudit iratus: et rursus non exaiidit propitius, exaudit iratus. non parcilpropitius, parcit
iratus. Aug. contra .Julian, lib. 5. cap. 4. Ad utilitatem quusdam non exaudis, ad damnatioaem quosdam exaudis. Id.
an honourable man, but a wicked man. This makes all those other good things ti-ibutary to Satan.
And therefore as the gold and silver of the Canaanites was to pass through the fire before it could be used by Israel, Numb. xxxi. 22, 23; so all other blessings bestowed on men must be “purged by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning,” through the purifying waters of repentance, before they can bring honour’ to their author, or comfort to their enjoyer. ■Wlien Christ overcomes Satan, “he taketh from him all his armour wherein ,^Jp?”«o?Aar°’ he trusted, and di’ideth his spoils,” Luke f ’ “‘“”■ “”“n-Hxi. 22. How does he divide the spoils? Q»’ se dedebant Surely he makes use of that wit, wealth, CifsBr. de bbUo gsIpower, learning, wisdom, influence, which ‘”°’ ‘’’’’ ^’ Satan used against Christ’s kingdom, as instruments and ornaments to the gospel: as when a magazine in war is taken, the general makes use of those arms which were provided against him, for his own service.
And as sin thus corrupts blessings, so on the other side repentance sweetens judgments, and can turn afllictions into matter of comfort. As scarlet pulls out the teeth of a serpent, so this ‘“‘’“• ^^5?’™”’- takes away the sting of a judgment. As wine draws a nourishing virtue from the flesh of vipers; as hot birds can feed upon iron, and purge their bodies by swallowing stones; so repentance, though it should not remove a judgment, yet it can feed upon it, and fetch meat out of the eater, and out of the strong sweetness, Judg. xiv. 14.
There are two evils in afflictions. They are a thorn in the flesh, as they are matter of pain, and a snare to the conscience, as they are matter of temptation; as there are two things in a chain or fetter, the heaviness whereby it loads, and the hardness whereby it galls, Isa. viii. 21; 2 Chron. xxviii. 22; Rev. xvi. 10, 11. Now as a prisoner, though he cannot make his chain lighter, yet, by lining it with wool or other soft things, he can prevent the galling; so repentance, though it take not away the pain of affliction from the flesh, yet by humbling the soul to bear meekly, with silence and quietness, the indignation of the Lord, and accept of the punishment of sin, Micah vii. 9; Lev. xxvi. 41; Jer. X. 19, it removes the temptation and malignity of it from the conscience. And thus as Pro-, „.,. tagoras by his natural dexterity ordered the burden which he was to bear with more ease and advantage; so piety makes judgments, by spiritual ])rudence, more easy to be borne, and the light yoke of Christ, as bladders in a deep water, bears up the spirit of men from sinking, and lightens every other burden. And therefore as he in Plutarch said of the Scythians, that though they had no music nor vines amongst them, yet they had gods; so whatever other things may be wanting to a people, yet if God be then’ God, they are not destitute of any happiness. Yea, as those roses are usually sweetest which ““‘eJend”^“‘” grow nearest to ungrateful weeds; so the comforts of God’s Spirit are strongest when a man is otherwise pei-plexed. It was promised to Josiah, that he should die in peace, and yet we find that he was slain in war, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 28; xxxv. 24. His weeping and humiliation altered the very nature of trouble, and made war to be peace to him.
Now for the use and application of this point: this serves,
1. To instruct us how to deprecate calamities when God shakes his rod over us. There is csque ad delictum nothing in all the world that God is tumTonusexinde
in Psal. xsi. Mana ira est quaudo peccantibus non irascitur Deus. Hieron. Ep. 33. O servum ilium beatum cujus emendationi Deus instat, cui dignatur irasci, &c. Tertul. de Patient, cap. 11.
jiidfx rt setCTin, angi’y with but sin; for all other things M^n’.li.’rc.’ii, are his own works, in the goodness of ‘*• which he rested with singular complacency and delight. Sin is that against which God’s arrows are directed; and as the arrow- sticks in the butt to which the mark is fastened, so the judgments which are shot at sin must needs light upon us to whom sin cleaves. The way then to divert the arrow is to remove the mark. God does indeed sometimes bring afflictions, without respect to the provocations of sin, upon his best servants: as if a man should s,ha..v out of a mass of gold some excellent vessel, though the gold be never so pure, yet it must pass through the fire and the hammer again. But it is certain too, that no affliction comes in anger but with respect to sin. And the anger of God is the bitterest thing in any calamity.
Now to divert this, there is no way but to get sin removed. Take the bark from a tree, and the sap can never find its way to the boughs. Sin is the vehiculum which carries shame and sorrow to the soul. Take .away that, and a judgment has no commission. You may find an eiTor in it, if you be not the same men that you were when it issued forth, for God shoots no arrows to hurt the body of his Son. Job indeed complains that God’s arrows were within him, Job vi. 4, „, but these were not for destruction, but
non est siEvii.n, cer- lor trial; as men shoot bullets agamst Sprov’’c.l’“”’ armour of proof, not to injure, but to S.“it!i°fid’t”s,“d” tf’st it. Job in this case was brought probJtur. cjrpr de forth, not as a malefactor to suffer, but
Mort. Aug. de Ov. ‘.
DeL lib. 1. c«p. 29, as a champion to triumph. Let a man M. b,4. op. 3. ^^yg w’hat course he can to keep off God’s judgments, and hide himself in the closest protection that human power or policy can contrive; so long as he keeps his sin with him, God’s arrows will get through at one joint or other, 1 Kings xxii. 34. A naked man with innocency, is better armed than Goliath in brass or iron.
We are apt in our distress to howl and repine, to gnaw our tongues and tear our flesh in the anguish of our sufferings; like the silly hart, which runs mourning and bleeding, but never thinks of getting out the fatal dart that sticks in its side. We look upward, to see whether help will drop into our mouths; and we look downward, to see whether human succoui’s will avail us, Isa. viii. 21, 22; but we look not each inward, to find out “every man the plague of his own heart,” that we may be rid of that, 1 Kings viii. 38: and till this be done, sin as naturally draws and sucks judgments to it, as the loadstone does iron, or turpentine fire. Indefatigable have been the pains of this high court, to make up the breaches that threaten us, and to heal the land. Whence comes it that our distractions remain unremovcd? Certainly our leaks are not stopped, our sins ai’e not thrown away; we labour at the pump to get the water out, but we do not take care to cure the ])assage at which it enters in: we are old bottles still, and God will not “put new wine into old bottles,” Matt. ix. 17. If men would spend their murmurings and reproaches rather u])on their sin than upon their physicians, the work would be sooner done. When the temple of God was to be new built, and a public restitution of the face of things to gloiy and splendour was in agitation, the prophets call upon God’s people then especially to repent, Hag. i. 7; Zech. i. 3. Impenitency puts obstructions to God’s mercy, and to all noble enterprises. So long as our lives are as bad as before, how can we expect that our condition should be better ‘:• in that case mercies tliemsclvcs become no mercies; as, in the case of rcjicntance, judgments wovdd be no judgments. If we turn from our evil ways, God has engaged himself by a solemn promise, that he will do us “no hurt,” Jcr. xxv. 6. Otherwise to busy ourselves in outward ceremonies of repentance, bodily fasting, and verbal praying, is indeed but to flatter God, and, if we could, to deceive him. And God will answer such men not according to the prayer of their lips, but according to the idol of theii- hearts, Ezek. -xiv. 4, 5.
2. This teaches us how to pray against sin. It must be against all, and in all respects. In the Hebrew text there is a kind of unusual transposition of the words, tiv NBT-Ss the word for “all” is first. Methinks it intimates an intentness of the church upon that ])oint, to have, if it were possible, all sin taken away at the very first. If there be one leak in a ship, one gap in a wall, one gate in a city unprovided for; it is enough to sink a ship, to drown a country, to betray a city. One little boy tnrust in at a window, can unlock the door for all the rest of the thieves. It was but one Jonah that raised a tempest, but one Achan that troubled a camp, and one sin generally unrepented of were enough to undo a kingdom. Do not say it is a little one, and my soul shall live. Even the philosopher tells us, that sometimes ahKriiara iXa- ‘Villi. uus.mp’.I! Xi-ara are fiifwra, the smallest errors prove most dangerous. How little soever it be in its owti nature, it becomes heinous by thy allowance. It is as much treason to coin pence as twenty-shilling pieces, because the royal authority is as much violated by the one as the other.
This then we must first and principally remember, to set ourselves against all sin. In confession none to be dissembled, in supplication none to be excepted, in conversion none to be reserved; never give it over so long as any is left. O Lord, yet it works, yet it lives, yet it tempts, yet it pains me. Sin has not done accusing me, let not thy mercy have done forgiving my sin. Sin has not done rebelling in me, let not thy grace have done subduing my sin. When men kill snakes or vipers, so long as they see them pant, or attempt to thrust out a sting, they strike them. Sin, like the thief on the cross, when it is fii’st nailed and kept from its old tjTanny, yet will, as much as it can, revile, and spit out venom upon Christ. O, therefore, give it not over, break its legs, crucify it clean through, till it be quite dead. None can pray or turn to God in truth, or hope to be delivered from judgments in mercy; so long as he holds fast any known sin. Can any man look to receive benefit by the blood of Christ, who hugs the monster that shed it? Is it not treason knowingly to harboui’ and entertain a traitor? AA’hosoever love’s and holds fast sin, lies to God in every prayer that he makes.
This serves to reprove and humble us for our hypocrisy and halvings with God in our conversions from sin,”and confessions of it: we are willing to pray for the pardon of them all, we would have none hurt us; but when it comes to parting, and taking all away, this we cannot away with. Some are fat, delicate, golden sins; we would fain spare these, as Saul did Agag, and hide them, as Achan did his wedge, 1 Sam. xv. 9; Josh. vii. 21. Herod hears John gladly in many things, but if he restrain him from his Herodias, he must expect to be himself restrained, Mark vi. 20. Agrippa will be almost a Christian, but altogether may clianee to bring a chain with it. Acts xx’i. 2S. Jehu will down with Baal and his priests, but he knows not how to part with his calves, lest he venture his kingdom, 2 Kings X. 30, 31. Policy is ever entering caveats against piety. Thus men stand bartering with Christ in the bargain of salvation, not considering that the purchase of heaven is like the buying of the sibyl’s ]ir<>])liecy, the longer we stand off, the dearer every (lay it will cost us; the more tears, the harder repentance, the deeper sorrow, the stronger cries. These men know not the price of a soul, nor the worth of a Saviour.
Oh, if Christ should have served us so in dying for sin, as many of us serve him in turning from sin, what a condition had our souls been in! If he had died for some sins, and not for others; if he had been as unwilling to “save” us “to the uttermost,” as we are to serve him to the uttermost; if he had stopped before he came to “It is iinished,” and left any one drop of that bitter cup for us to drink after him, -would it not have caused our belly to swell, and our thigh to rot, and made us for ever incapable of any other mercy than only a less damnation? Numb. v. 21.
Well, beloved, Christ expects, that as he died for all sin, so we should die to all. He will be counted “worthy of all acceptation,” before he will bestow himself, 1 Tim. i. 15. He will not suffer his blood and his mercy to mingle with sin, or to be a protection to it: he cannot endure mingling of the holy seed with the profane; swearing by the Lord, and swearing by Malcham, Zeph. i. 5; Samaritan services, to be for the Lord in one thing, and for the world and flesh in another, one step straight, and another crooked, 2 Kings xvii. 33; one speech Ashdod, and another Canaan, Neh. xiii. 24; to let our conversation be yea and nay, a Aiterme inter cupi- mongrcl sorvlco. In this I will do as you
‘“‘“‘I’^”“”“” ‘’ ^^’^ ™^> ‘^“‘’ ™ *^’’’’ ■’■ ^’’^^ ^°^ ’ ^’■^^ ^’’® sS. LrIe”.’e“‘io Jbws that would buy Christ’s blood with mum^SidJm m°us money, but not take the money into the Ep.”iSi.’’“vir”bo’nus treasury; they were fearful to defile their aueraueXiiTof chssts, but not to defile their consciences: tip, 46. TeTpA- this Christ cannot away with. It is dan-Tuivot. M. L I.e. 10. gerous to say with the Pharisee, This I So.oi. oJk exaT“”- am Dot, and that I am not, Luke xvm. Id. 1. 8. c. ?. J J. gj, ^.jj[j j.yg young man. This and that
I have done, and in the mean time to haie one thing lacking, to have one door locked up still to keep Christ and salvation fi’om us, Mark x. 20. Whosoever keeps a covetous heart for the world, or a sensual heart for the flesh, or a proud heart for the devil, is unworthy of heaven by his own election, and would not go in thither if the door were wide open: he would not find there „. any fuel for these lusts, any Nabal, or
omnium reus est, Cosoi, Or Uiotrepncs, With whoui to conntItemMi“qua’p’i’n- verse. And surely he that allows himself Ep’ist.°“9”’vid.*s’en. 11 ^’^Y °^^ wickeducss is, in God’s condeBenefic 1. 4. C.26, structlou, habitually guilty of all, James ii. 10; Luke xvi. 10; Ezek’. xviii. 10 — 13.
Therefore in this case, as Samuel said to Jesse, “Are here all thy childi-en?” if any be left “we will not sit down till he come hither,” 1 Sam. xvi. 1 1; so we must conceive in our confessions and renunciations of sin, that Christ asks us, “Ai’e here all?” if any be reserved, I will not take possession till that be cast out: there must not “an hoof” be left in Egypt, if God be to be served, Exod. x. 26. God’s law, as well as man’s, disallows inmates in the same house: he will not endure “a double heart;” he is “heir of all things,” there lies no writ of partition in his inheritance; his title is so good that he will never yield to a composition; he will have all the heart. or none, Psal. xii. 2; James i. 8; Psal. cxix. 104, 128.
4. AVe should therefore be exhorted (in time of trouble especially) to set about this great work, to fall foul of our sins; to complain against them to God, as the Achans that trouble Israel, as the corrupters and betrayers of our peace; to set ourselves in God’s eye, and not to dare to lie to his Holy Spirit, by falseness or hypocrisy, as if we could reserve any one sin unmortified which he should not know of; but being in his sight to whom “all things are naked and opened,” to deal in all sincerity, and to hate sin even as he hates it, Heb. iv. 13; Gen. xvii. 1; 2 Cor. ii. 17.
‘• Take away all iniquity.” There are five notable duties to which these words lead us.
1. Sense of sin, as “an heavy burden,” as the prophet David calls it, Psal. xxxviii. 4. Such sense our Saviour requu-es in true penitents, “Come unto me, all ye that labom- and are heavy leaden,” Matt. xi. 28. To conceive them heavier than “a millstone,” Luke xvii. 2; than the weight of “mountains,” Luke xxiii. 30. What apprehension had Peter’s converts of sin, when they felt the nails wherewith they had crucified Christ sticking fast in their own hearts, and piercing their spirits with torment and hoiTor! Acts ii. 37. AATiat apprehensions had the poor jailer of his sins, when he came as a prisoner before his own prisoners, springing in with monstrous amazement and consternation of spirit, beseeching them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Acts xvi. 29, 30.’
Consider it in its nature: a universal bruise and sickness, like those diseases which physicians say are corruptio totius suhstmitice, unsoundness from head to foot, when “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint,” Isa. i. 5, 6. And who does not feel such a universal languor to be a heavy burden? For a man that must needs labour, to have weights hung at his hands; that must needs walk, to have clogs fastened to his feet; how can he choose but cry out with the apostle, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Rom. vii. 24.
Consider it in the curse that belongs to it: “A roll” “written within and without” with “lamentations and mourning, and woe,” Ezek. ii. 10.
Look outward, and behold a curse in the creature, vanity, emptiness, vexation, disappointment; every creature armed with a sting to revenge its Maker’s quarrel.
Look inward, and behold a curse in the conscience, accusing, witnessing, condemning, haling to the tribunal of vengeance; first defiling with the allowance, and after terrifying with the remembrance, of sin.
Look upward, and behold a curse in the heavens, “the “nTath of God” “revealed” from thence “against all ungodliness and um’ighteousness of men,” Rom. i. 18.
Look downward, and behold a curse in the earth; death ready to put a period to all the pleasures of sin, and like a trap-door to let down into hell, where nothing of sin will remain but the worm and the fii-e.
Look into the Scripture, and see the curse there described; an everlasting banishment from the glory of God’s presence; an “everlasting destruction” by “the gloi-y of his power,” 2 Thess. i. 9; the Lord showing the jealousy of his justice, the unsearchableness of his severity, the inconceivableness of his strength, the bottomless guilt and malignity of sin, in the “everlasting destruction” of ungodly men, and in their everlasting preservation to feel that destruction. “Who knoweth the power of thine tuHonn’S^ anger?” saith Moses; “even according Au’’i’d?c?v°’De’i’’ to thy fear, so is thy wrath,” Psal. xc. i- “■ c. 2. PHmi 11. It is impossible for the most trem- lentem pemt a corbling consciences, or the most jealous fcn’i’i.’m”e’t?net’iS fears of a guilty heart, to look beyond ‘“f”“’ “‘“‘■ ‘■ “‘• the wrath of God, or to conceive too highly of it. As in peace of conscience, the mercy of God is revealed to believers “from faith to faith;” so in anguish of conscience, “the wrath of God is revealed” from fear to fear.
A timorous man can fancy vast and terrible fears, fu”e, sword, tempests, racks, furnaces, scalding lead, boiling pitch, running bell-metal, and being keipt alive in all these to feel their torment. But these come far short of the wrath of God, for, 1. There are bounds set to the hurting power of a creature; the fire can burn, but it cannot drown; the serpent can sting, but he cannot tear in pieces. 2. The fears of the heart are bounded within those narrow apprehensions which itself can frame of the evil which may be done. But
the wrath of God proceeds from an infinite justice, and is executed by an omnipotent and unbounded power, comprising all the terror of all other creatures (as the sun doth all other light) eminently and excessively in it. It burns, and drowns, and tears, and stings, and bruises, and consumes, and can make nature feel much more than reason is able to comprehend.
Oh, if we could lay these things seriously to heart, (and yet these are but low expressions of that which cannot be expressed, and come as short of the truth Itself as the picture of the sun in a table does of the greatness and brightness of it in its ovm orb,) should we not find it necessary to cry out, “Take away all iniquity?” this sickness out of my soul; this sword, this nail, this poisoned arrow, out of my heart; this dagger of Ehud out of my belly; this millstone, this movmtain, from off my back; these stings and terrors, these flames and furies, out of my conscience? Lord, my wounds stink, my lips quiver, my knees tremble, my belly rots, I am feeble, and broken, and roar, and languish; thy wrath lies hard upon me, and thy waves go over my head.
Oh, if we had but a view of sin as it is in its native foulness, and did feel but a touch of that fury which God is ready to pour out upon it, this would stain all the pride of man, and sour all the pleasures of sin, and make a man as fearful to meddle with it, as a guilty woman with the bitter water which caused the curse. Numb. V. 21. Most true was that which Luther spake in this point; If a man could perfectly see his own evils, the sight thereof would be a perfect hell to him: and to this God will bring wicked men. “I will reprove thee, and set” thy doings “in order before thine eyes,” Psal. 1. 21. Make them take a view of thenown hearts and lives, fuller of sins than the firmament of stars, or a furnace of sparks. “Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.”
2. Confession; for he that cries to have sin taken away, acknowledges that it lies upon him. A full confession, not of many, but of all sins, either actually committed, or habitually comprised in our body of
sin. As he in the Oomoedian said, that he had invited two guests to dinner, Philocrates and Philocrates, a single man, but a double eater; so, in examination of ourselves, we shall every one find sins enough in himself to denominate him a double and a treble sinner. A free confession; not as Pharaoh’s, extorted upon the rack, nor as that of Judas, squeezed out with anguish and horror; but ingenuous and penitent, arising from the purpose of a pious heart, that comes like water out of a spring, with a voluntary freeness, not like water out of a stUl, which is forced with fire.
3. Weariness and detestation of all sin; for we call not to have a thing removed till we be weary of it. Thus we are taught in the Scripture to be ashamed and confounded, to loathe and abhor, to judge and condenm ourselves, to throw sin away as a detestable thing, though it be a golden or silver sin. A spiritual judgment looks on all sin as filthy and stinking, showeth a man to himself as a vessel full of dung, scum, excrements, and gives him no rest till he be thoroughly
purged. For hatred is irpbe rd yei’ij,
against the whole kind of that which we
hate, Psal. xiv. 3; xxxviii. 3; Ezek. vi. 9; xvi. 63;
Isa. XXX. 22; 1 Cor. xi. 31.
4. An acknowledgment of our own impotency to remove sin from ourselves. We have no more power than a slave in chains has to get out of his bondage till another ransom him; than a dead body in a grave, till Christ raise it. Our iniquities take hold upon us and keep us down, that we cannot hearken or be subject to the will of God. If sin were not removed by a
greater strength than our own, it would most certainly sink us into hell, Psal. xl. 12; Jer. vi. 10; Rom. V. 6, 8; vi. 23; viii. 7; Eph. ii. 1 — 5; 2 Cor. iii. o.
5. An imploring of God’s mercy and grace, that what we cannot do ourselves, he woidd be pleased to do for us. In works of art it is hard to build, but easy to destroy. But in works quS’’qu1l’v3°“S^’”’’ of sin, though our weakness is able to ^.“KKfoSunicommit them, yet none but God’s power faciVe et p«r«re iam is able to demolish them. None but um.’Liv’!’?.’’!*. Christ is strong enough to overcome ^.?„°S.’’i!!,%”u,.. “the strong man,” Luke xi. 21. His f“”^’“- ‘’^’’ ^’’’’ person only has sti’engtli enough to b t the curse of sin; his sacrifice only uicrit enough to make expiation for sin; his grace only vh-tue enough to remove its pollution. Though we should take” nitre,” and “much soap,” our sin would remain “marked,” Jer. ii. 22; but he comes “like a refiner’s fii-e, and like fullers’ soap,’’ and can wash out all, Mai. iii. 2. His only business in coming into the world was, “that he might destroy the works of the del,” 1 John iii. 8.
Now the tilings for which we pray in this petition are these three. 1. Remission; that God would take away the condemnation of sin from us, by not imputing the guilt thereof to us, but would cause it to pass over on Christ, on whom he has laid the iniquities of his people, Isa. liii. 6; Rom. iv. 8. Such an expression the Holy Ghost uses, -iisyn The Lord has caused thy sin to pass over from thee to Christ, 2 Sam. xii. 13; which being obtained, all other judgments are ipso facto removed too, so far as they import proper and vindictive punishment.
2. Sanctification; that the virtue of Christ’s death, and the grace of his Spu-it, may subdue the power of sin, and cleanse and strengthen our consciences against the commands of it, and temptations unto it, Heb. is. 14; Micah vii. 19.
3. Continued renovation; that as in sanctification begun we have power against all kinds of sin, so by the contuiual supplies of the Holy Spirit we may have further power against all degrees and remainders of sin. That Christ would purify our sin unto death, as our sin did him, and not give over mortifying it, tiU his blood be revenged of it to the uttermost, and our souls delivered from it to the uttermost.
I shall conclude the first part of the petition with a short word of exhortation to this honourable assembly. Those things which God works in us and bestows upon us by his grace, he also requires of us by his command: sometimes he promises to tiun us, sometimes he commands us to turn to him; sometimes he bids us put away sin, and sometimes he promises to take it away from us, Isa. i. 16; Ezek. xviii. 31; xxxvi. 26; Heb. viii. 10 — 12; in the one,.,. showmg US what is our duty, and m the jurat. Aug. epul other where is our help. And as this °’’ latter consideration calls upon our faith to pray, so the former upon our obedience to work. I shall therefore (right honourables) humbly ofl’er a double exhortation to all of you.
First, That every one of you would seriously endeavour to “take away all iniquity” from his own person. And to this there lies upon you a double obligation: one with relation to the safety of your own souls; for whatever other honour, wealth, wisdom, learning, interest a man ha,s besides, if sin have the predominancy, they are but Satan’s magazine, and that man his servant, to employ them against God that gave them; and the more mercies wherewith any man has been trusted, the heavier judgment will be poured out upon the breach of that trust. Better be a wooden vessel to hold wine, than a silver vessel to hold excrements; better be a beggar with the treasure of God’s grace, than a prince with the load of a man’s own sins.
But there is a further tie upon you, with relation to
the success of that honourable employment whereunto
, ,.,. you are called. Ita nati estis, nt bona
Tacit AnniJ. lib. i ‘.
malaque, ves/ra ad rempubiicam pertineant. God will be sanctified in all those that draw near to him, as well in civil as in sacred administrations. It is very hard for a person in whom sin rules, to be constantly faithful to any public and honourable service; for grace only establishes the heart, Heb. xiii. 9. Ahithophel, a man of great wisdom, falls from David; Joab, a man of great valour, falls from Solomon. And admit he be faithful, yet the sin of his heart sends out a prohibition to the wisdom of his head and the labour of his hand: he that will be a fit vessel for his Master’s uses, must first of all “purge himself,” 2 Tim. ii. 21; as we first cleanse a vessel before we use it. T^Taen Joshua was to negociate a public reformation, and to administer a public service, his “filthy garments” must be taken frem him, and he must be clothed with “change of raiment,” Zech. iii. 4. Let every one of you make his public service one argument more than he had before for his necessaiy reformation, and let the piety of yom’ lives bear witness to the integrity of your honourable undertakings.
Secondly, As you must take away sin from yourselves, so make it your principal work to “take away all iniquity” out of the land. Liberty, property, privileges are sacred and precious things, not to be in the least manner betrayed; yea, in some sense we may look upon them, as the Jews upon their Massora, tanquam legis el pietatis sepem, as a fence and mound to religion itself. Arbitrary government would quicldy be tampering in sacred things, because coiTuption in the church is marvellously subservient and advantageous to corruption in the slate. But the most orient pearl of this kingdom is our religion, and the bitterest enemies to that are our sins. These are the snufl’s that dim our candlestick, and threaten its removal; these the leaven that defile our passovers, and urge God to pass away and depart from us: these the obstructions between his sacred Majesty and you, and between both and the happiness of the kingdom. Think seriously what waj’s may be most effectual to purge this leaven out of the land. The principal sacrificial knife which kills and mortifies sin, is the knowledge of the word of God. It would have been a great unhappiness to the
commonwealth of learning, if Caligula ^““cTp.’ai”’’^’ had (as he endeavoured) deprived the
world of the writings of Homer, Virgil, and Livy. But oh, what an Egyptian calamity is it to have, in this sunshine of the gospel, thousands of persons and families (as I doubt not but upon inquiry it would appear) without the writings of the prophets and apostles! a Christian soldier without his sword, a Christian builder without his rule and square, a C’lu-istian calling without the instruments and balances of the sanctuary belonging to it. Oh that every parish, therefore, had an endowment fit for a learned, laborious, and worthy pastor, and pastors worthy of such endowments, that provision were made that every family might have a Bible in it, and (if by law it might possibly be procured) the exercises of religion therewithal! this would be the surest magazine to secure the happiness of a kingdom: that all reproachful titles, which the devil uses as scarecrows to keep back numbers from pressing in upon Christ’s kingdom, were by law proscribed; that scandalous sins were by the awfulness and severity of discipline more blasted and brought to shame; that the Lord’s house were more frequented, and his day more sanctified, and his ordinances more reverenced, and his ministers, which “teach the good knowledge of the Lord,” more encouraged; in one word, that all the several fountains of the commonwealth were settled in a sound and flourishing constitution: that in eveiy place we might see piety the elm to every other vine, the supporter to every other profession; learning adorned with piety, and iaw administered with piety, and counsels managed with piety, and trade regulated with piety, and the plough followed with piety: that when ministers fight against sin, with the sword of God’s word, you who are the nobles and gentry of the land would second them, and frown upon it too; a frown of yours may sometimes do as much service to Christ, as a sermon of ours; and he cannot but take it very unkindly from you, if you wUl not bestow your countenance on him who bestowed his blood on you: that you would let the strictness of your lives, and the piety of your examples, put wickedness out of countenance, and make it appear (as indeed it is) a base and a sordid thing.
If we would thus, in serious earnest, set ourselves against the sins of the land, no power, no malice, no policies, should stand between us and God’s mercies; religion would flourish, and peace would settle, and trade wotdd revive, and the hearts of men would be reunited, and the church be as a city compacted, and this nation would continue to be, as it has been, like the garden of Eden, a miiTor of prosperity and happiness to other people; and God would prevent us, in the second part of our petition, with the blessing of goodness; as soon as ever iniquity were removed, he would do us good, which is the second thing here directed to be prayed for.
“And receive us graciously.” 3ltfl-npi And take good, to wit, to bestow upon us; so taking is sometimes used for giving, thus: nnsa nijro nnpS “thou hast received gifts for men,” Psal. lxviii. 18, is by the apostle rendered Kai tloine lofia-a Totg ai-9piairoie, “and gave gifts unto men,” Eph. iv. 8: and it is not improbable that the prophet here secretly leads us to Chi’ist the Mediator, who first receives gifts from his Father, and then pours them forth upon his church. Acts ii. 33.
The meaning then is. Lord, when thou hast pardoned, weakened, mortified sin, go on with thy mercy, and being in Christ graciously reconciled to us, give further e-idence of thy fatherly affection, by bestowing portions upon us. They shall not be cast away upon unthankful persons, we will “render the calves of our lips;” they shall not be bestowed upon those that need them not, or that know where else to provide themselves. It is true we have gone to the Assyrian, we have taken our horses instead of our prayers, and gone about to find out good; we have been so foolish as to think that the idols which have been beholden to our hands for any shape that is in them, could be instead of hands and of God unto us, to help us in our need: but now we know that “men of high degree are but a lie,” that horses are but “a vain thing for safety,” that “an idol is nothing,” and therefore can give nothing, Psal.lxii. 9: xxxiii. 17; lCor.viii.4: that power belongeth unto thee, none else can do it; that mercy belongeth unto thee, none else will do it; therefore since in thee only “the fatherless findeth mercy,” be thou pleased to do us good.
“VVe will consider the words, 1. Absolutely, as a single prayer by themselves. 2. Relatively, in their connexion, and with respect to the scope of the place.
1. Absolutely: and from such a consideration of the words we
Obs. 2. All the good we have is from God; he only must be sought unto for it; we have none in ourselves; “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing,” P^om. vii. 18; we can neither think, nor speak, nor do it. Gen. vi. 5; 2 Cor. iii. 5; Matt. xii. 34; Psal. xiv. 3.
And missing it in ourselves, it is in vain to seek for it in things below ourselves.
They can provide for our back and belly, and yet not
Chap. XIY.
even that without God: the root out of which the fruits of the earth grow is above in heaven, the genealogy of corn and wine is resolved into God, Hos. ii. 21, 22. But if you go to your lands, or houses, or treasui-ies for physic for a sick soul or a guiltv conscience, they will all return an ignoramus to that inquuT; salvation does not grow in the furrows of the field, neither are there in the earth to be found any mines or harvests of grace or comfort.
In God alone is “the fountain of life,” Psal. xxxvi. 9; he that only “is good,” he only “doeth good,” Matt. xix. 17; Psal. cxix. 68: when we have wearied ourselves with having recourse to second causes, here at la.«t, like the wandering dove, we must aiTive for rest: “There be many that say, AMio will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us,” Psal. iv. 6. From him alone comes “every good and every perfect gift,” Jam. i. 1 7: whether temporal; it is his blessing that makes the creature able to comfort us, Prov. X. 2; Matt. iv. 4; 1 Tim. iv. 4, 5. The woman touched the hem of Christ’s garment, but the virtue went not out of the garment, but out of Christ, Luke viii. 44. Or whether spiritual; sanctified faculties, 1 John v. 20; sanctified habits, Eph. ii. 8 — 10; Col. ii. 11,12: sanctified motions, Phil. ii. 13; 2 Tim. ii. 25; glorious relations, in predestination, adoption, and Christian liberty, Eph. i. 5, 6; John i. 12; excellent gifts, hea- ., ,,., .. venly comforts, all and only from him, 3,4,5. conciL Arau 1 Cor. xu. 6; 2 Cor. 1. o; Kom. XV. 1,5: <i%“t“itt^’’” and that without change and alteration; cap. 21. jjg (jQgg „Q(. dg gQQ(j one while, and evil
another, but goodness is his proper and native operation; he is not the author of sin, that entered by the devil; he is not the author of death, that entered by sin; ut our desti’uction is of ourselves, Hos. xiii. 9. And
therefore, though the prophet saith, Sr’c^”.’i c“u.” Shall there be evil in a city, and the
Lord hath not done it?” yet he does it not but only as it is bomim jusliliie, good in order to his own gloi’y; for it is just with God, that they who run from the order of his commands, should fall under the order of his pro•idence, and doing willingly what he forbids, should unwillingly suffer what he threatens. In one word, God is the author of all good, by his grace working it; the pemiitter of all evil, by his patience enduring it; the ordcrer and disposer of both, by his mercy rewarding the one, by his justice revenging the other, and by his wisdom directing both to the ends of his eternal glory. This serves,
1. To discover the free and sole working of grace in our first conversion, and the continued working of grace in our further sanctification. AMiatsoever is good in us habitually, as gi-ace inhering, or actually, as grace working, is from him alone as its author. For though it be certain, that when we will and do ourselves are Aug He Grau agents, yct it is stUl under and from him;
chnsti c.25.conLi CerliiTH esl itos foccre cum faciamus, sed De Perfect. Justitiir, lUe facit u/jaciamus, as the great cham- ‘” pion of grace speaks; by grace we are
that we are, we do what we do in God’s service. Vessels have no wine, bags have no money in them, but what the merchant puts in: the bowls of the candlesticks had no oil but that li hich dropped from the olive branches. Things which seek no higher perfection Aug. deer^Dei, 1. jyyy y jg (g found within the compass
of their own nature, may by the guidance and actix-ity of the same nature attain thereunto; but man, aspiring to a divine happiness, can never attain to Aug. lib de p.. it but by a divine strength: impossible it tienii c 19. jj f any man to enjoy God without God. The truth of this point shows itself in five gradations:
vij. AuB. de crjt 1. By gfacB our minds ai’c enlightcncd irpMis!’’ “‘”’ to know and believe him; for spiritual
things “are spiritually discenied,” Jer. xxxi. 33; Matt. xi. 27; 1 Cor. ii. 12 — 14.
2. By grace our hearts are inclined to love and obey him; for spiritual things are spiritually approved: he only, by his almighty and ineffable operation, worketh in us, et reras revelaliones, et botias voluntates, both right perceptions and good A>’g’J«|CracLr-... desires, Jer. xxxii. 39; John vi. 44.
3. By grace our lives are enabled to work what our hearts love; without which, though we should w ill, yet we cannot perform, no more than the knife which has a good edge is able actually to cut, tdl moved by the hand, Rom. vii. 18; Phil. ii. 13; Heb. xiii. 20, 2i.
4. By grace our good works are carried on to perfection. Adam, wanting the grace of perseverance, fell from innocency itself. It is not sufficient -^^^ 4„g Enehirid. for us that he prevent and excite us to ?■?- ‘^’’”,^’^5,’’.’^
. 1, Arb. e. 6, el 17. reto
Will, that he co-operate and assist us to ut accipum, et cum work, except he continually follow and H’ieron“a™ct’m’’ “■ supply us with a residue of spirit to per- ‘’’’°°“” feet and finish what we set about. All our works are begun, continued, and ended in him, 1 Thess. v. 23;
1 Pet. V. 10; Jude 24; John xvii. 15.
Lastly, by grace our perseverance is crowned; for our best works could not endure the trial of justice, if God should enter into judgment with us, Psal. cxliii. 2; Isa. lxiv. 6. Grace enables us to work, and grace rewards us for working; grace begins and grace finishes both our faith and salvation, Phil. i. 6; Heb. xii. 2. The work of holiness is nothing but grace, and the reward of holiness is nothing but grace for grace.
2. To teach us how to know good from evil in ourselves. Miat we look on as good, we must see how we have derived it from God; the more recourse we have had to God by prayer, and faith, and study of his wQl, in the procurement of it, the more goodness we shall find in it. A thing done may be good in the substance of the work, and yet evil in the manner of doing it; as the substance of a vessel may be silver, but the use sordid. Jehu’s zeal was rewarded as an act of justice, quoad substanliatn operis, and it was punished too as an act of policy, mioad modum, for the perverse end,
2 Kings X. 30; Hos. i. 4. A thing which I see in the night may shine, and that shining proceed from nothing but rottenness, ^^’e must not measure ourselves by the matter of things done; for there may be nialum m)us in bona materia. Doeg prays, 1 Sam. xxi. 7, and Herod hears, Mark vi. 20, and hj-pocrites fast, Isa. lviii. 3; Matt. vi. 16, and Pharisees preach, Matt, xxiii. 2, 3; but when we would know the j,^^^^ ,^^ goodness of our works, look to the denubus in imo pofountain, whether they proceed from the tim; ncJS^m Father of lights, by the Spii’it of love, and ‘^JtlT’^ the grace of Christ, from humble, peni- |?;ii”;c; J^,SSJ” tent, filial, heavenly dispositions: nothing jst. Aug Enamt will carry the soul unto God, but that
which comes from him. Our communion with the Father and the Son, is the trial and foundation of all our goodness.
3. To abase us in our own eyes, and stain all the pride and cast down all the plumes of flesh and blood, when we seriously consider that in us, as now degenerated from our original, there is no good to be found. Our “silver is become di’oss,” our “wine mixed with water,” Isa. i. 22. As our Saviour saith of the devil, ‘• When he speakcth a lie, he spcaketh” U tuv liuv, “of his own,” John viii. 44; so when we do evil we work of our own, and Kari avOpanrov, “as men,” as the apostle speaks, 1 Cor. iii. 3. Our lusts are our own, James i. 14; our very members are of that body of sin which the apostle calls the “old man,” with phich it is as impossible to do any good, as for a toad to spit cordials, Kom. vii. 23; Col. iii. 5; Eph. iv. 22.
Men are apt to glory in their good hearts and in-THE PROPHECY OF HOSEA.
tentions, only because they cannot search them, Jer. xvii. 9; and being carnal themselves, to entertain none but carnal notions of God’s service. But if they knew the purity and jealousy of God, and their own impotency to answer so holy a will, they would lay their hands upon their mouths, and with Job “abhor themselves,” Job xlii. 5, 6; and with Isaiah, bewail the uncleanness of their lips, Isa. vi. 5; and with Moses, fear and quake, as not being able “to endure that which was commanded,” Heb. xii. 20; and with Joshua, acknowledge that they “cannot serve the Lord, for he is an holy God,” Josh. xxiv. 19: they would then remember that the law of God is “a fiery law,” Deut. xxxiii. 2, and the tribunal of God, a tribunal of fire, Ezek. i. 26 — 28; that the pleadings of God with sinners are “by fii-e and by his sword,” and “his rebuke with flames of fire,” Isa. lxvi. 15, 16; that the trial of all our works shall be “by fire,” 1 Cor. iii. 13; that the God before whom we must appear is “a consuming fire,” Heb. xii. 29. Go now and bring thy straw and stubble, thy drowsy and sluggish devotion, thy fickle and flattering repentance, thy fonnal and demure services, into the fire, to the law to measure them, to the Judge to censure them; nay, now carry them to thine own conscience, and tell me whether that will fa’dfcfs.’^uS’Sle? not pass the Father’s verdict upon them. SB’ti8°’’’Greg.°’’^ That which is fail- in thine eye is filthy in God’s. 4. For exhortation to these particular duties. 1. To patience and meekness under any evil that God may bring upon us; and that not barely because he does us good in other things, which was Job’s argument, “What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evO?” Job ii. 10; but further, because the veiy evils that come upon us are oftentimes by him intended for good, as Joseph told iLf.ji„„. .,-.„ i, his brethren. Gen. 1. 20. We are not
Medicina ebam m- - i,, •. i, i
vitis prodest. Sen. angry With the physician when he lances, QuiB per insuarita- diets, and restrains US of our will: he deiSme’Sfo c“„r”i™r nies US oui” will, that we may have our ^re’“resen“m ‘”’ill J a sick man is many times most injunam .upcrven- faithfully Served when he is crossed. I commendant. Ter- lop my trees, Druise mv graiies, gi’md my ’ corn, to fit it to the ends whereunto it tends. God’s end is merciful when his hand is heavy. As John’s roU was sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the belly. Rev. x. 10; so troubles may be bitter to the palate, but profitable to the conscience; like hot spices, that bite the tongue, but comfort the stomach, Isa. xxvii. 9; xlviii. 10; Heb. xii. 11.
And as it dictates patience in suffering enl, so in doing our duties, though we sufier contempt and reproaches for it. If we were m«?’.r^sT.“o“t! to receive our rewards from men, their a’ca ^i’’^’^’ ‘■’’• frowns might discourage us; but when we have done God’s will, God himself will be our reward, and make his promises our comfort. Moses and Aaron, though their whole employments were for the good of Israel, were yet repaid with murmuring and discontent, and the people, like children, qui cibwn sumunt, sed Jfentes, (to use the simili-Bhetor 13 c 1. *”*^® °^ orator in Aristotle,) repined at the food which their prayers obtained for them; yet nothing dismayed them from theu- dut)’. Sen ep 81 Etiam post nmifragium tentantur maria. The woman of Canaan prays on when she is denied, and Jacob holds with his hands when his thigh is lamed. Our first care must be to be in our way, to be doing our duties, and then, though (as Solomon speaks) we should meet a lion in our way, we must not be dismayed; for angels are stronger than lions, and he has given “his angels charge over” us, “to keep” us “in all” our “ways,” Psal. xci. 11. Yea, whilst we are with him, he is with us, 2 Chron, xv. 1. 2 s
Quiequis lolejis de-So that the way of the Lord is the sui’est and safest way for any man to walk in: “The way of the Lord is strength to the upright,” Prov. x. 29.
2. ‘To humility. If thou be a vessel of gold, and thy brother but of wood, be not high-minded, it is God that makes thee to difier; the more bounty God shows, the more humility he requires, 1 Cor. iv. 7; Rom. xi. 20. Those mines that are richest are op.jeniissuna medeepest; those stars that are highest ‘»)’» quorum m alio
,,, ,,., .,’^. latent venw. Sen.
seem smallest; the goodliest buildings ep-.». have the lowest foundations: the more miiSrM’sono’^bln-God honours men, the more they should ‘“• “” *’’“‘■ ‘■ ‘• humble themselves; the more the fruit, the lower the branch on which it grows: pride is ever the companion of emptiness. Oh how full was the apostle, yet how low was his language of himself! “less than the least of all saints,” “last” of apostles, “chief of sinners,” no sufficiency to think, no abilities to do; all that he is, he is by grace: thus humility teaches us in our operations to draw strength from God, not from ourselves; in our graces to ascribe their goodness to God, and their weakness to ourselves, Eph. iii. 8; 1 Cor. xv. 8; 2 Cor. iii. 5; 1 Tim. i. 15; Rom. vii. 18.
3. To dependence and continual recourse to God, as the fountain of all good; to keep an open and an unobstructed passage between him and our soul. Say not,
1 have light enough in my house, I may
now shut up my windows, for Ught within Ubf’Afi).’’cap!l’ has dependence on immediate supplies from the sun without, and so has grace upon continual supplies from “the Sun of righteousness.” God teaches even the husbandman to plough and thresh, Isa. ssviii. 26; in these things his dh-ection is to be implored: meddle not then with great and high affafrs without recourse to him; his name is Counsellor, and his testimonies are counsellors, let them be the rule and square of all your debates, Isa. ix. 6; Psal. cxix. 24. It is recorded for the honour of Scipio, that “« c i
he went first to the Capitol, and then to i. 7.’ i. ’ vakr.’Max’. the senate. But you have more noble ‘’ ‘’ “’ “’ examples. David is put to flight, he flees and prays,
2 Sam. XV. 26, 31; Hezekiah is at a stand in all his counsels, he sends to the prophet and prays, Isa. xlvii. 3, 4, 15; Jehoshaphat is in great distress, and knows not what in the world to do, but he prays, 2 Chron. xx. 6; Nehemiah is sore afraid, and hath a petition to make to the king, but first he makes one to God, and prays, Neh. ii. 3, 4. AATienever the children are come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth, all the world cannot fm-nish you with such another midwife as prayer, and recourse to God; it has delivered even graves of thefr dead. Therefore let me beseech you, whenever you meet with such difficulties as put you to a stand, that you know not what to advise or resolve upon, go to your closets, prostrate yourselves at His throne, whose honour it is to be seen in the mount; beg counsel of him “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Let it appear that you seek his face to direct you, and his glory as the supreme end and design of all j’our consultations; and then try whether he be not a present help in trouble, and whether he will not magnify the wisdom of his counsel in the perplexity of yours.
4. To fidelity, in the use of any good which God bestows upon us; for God gives not talents to men barely to em’ich men, but to employ them: therefore as the vessel has one passage to let the wine into itself, and another to pour it out into the flagon; so we should not only fill ourselves by dependence upon God, but should supply ouselves by love and service to our brethren.
Right Honourables, this nation has put into your hands all that is outwardly dear to them, their persons, posterities, liberties, estates. In these sad and woeful
distractions they look upon you as binders, and liealci-s, and slanders in the gap. and repairers of the waste places. God has called you to a hiph and a gi-eat trust; and the sad distempers of the church and state, the distresses and desolations of Ireland, the doubts, and fears, and convulsions of England, and in these two kingdoms the interest of all the protestant churches, call to you, like the man of Macedonia, in St. Paul’s vision, “Come — and help us,” Acts xvi. 9. Now in this great strait, when the children are come to the birth and there is no strength to bring forth, stir up the graces of God in you, call together all that is within you to call upon his name, improve the uttermost of your interests in him for the state of his chxirch, manage every one of his gifts to the closing of those miserable breaches which threaten an inundation of calamity upon us all; wisdom, and learning, and piety, and prudence, arc healing things. Remember (and oh that God would put into the hearts of this whole kingdom, from the throne to the plough, to remember) the fate of a divided kingdom from the mouth of truth itself. Oh that we would all remember, that misunderstandings, and jealousies, and divisions of heart, are a high evidence of God’s displeasure, and that “through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is “a ‘• land darkened,” and, as it were, infatuated, when Manasseh is against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh, and every man eateth “the flesh of his own arm,” Isa. Lx. 19 — 21. Oh let us all remember what it cost Shechem and Abimelech, Judg. ix.; what it cost Benjamin, and the other tribes, even the loss of threescore and five thousand men, Judg. xx.: remember Priam and his ehildi’en will laugh, Babyn“iouo],”npX Ion will clap their hands, and wag their yoio re noTiec, head; no such time for Shishak, the liaVtv^J^’ Egyptian, to trouble Jerusalem, as when poioTo euwf- Israel is divided, 2 Chron. xii. 2. Let it Horn. u. 1. 2S5. ygpj. |jg gyjj f Q^^,^ Q^^ people, that
they are fallen into the curse of Midianites, and Ammonites, and Edomites, and Philistines, to help forward the destruction of one anothex’. Oh that God would give this whole nation hearts to consider these things, that he would put a spirit of peace and resolved unity into their minds, to be true to their own happiness, and by how much the greater are the subtleties of men to divide them, to be so much the more firmly united in prayers to God, and in concord between themselves; that they may not expose their persons, estates, posterity, and (which is dearest of all) their religion, to the crafty and bloody advantages of the enemies of the protestant churches, who in human view could have no way to overthrow them, but by their own dissensions!
Having thus spoken at large of the words of the prayer considered absolutely, we shall proceed to view them,
2. Relatively, in the scope and connexion of the prayer suggested to the judgment threatened. And here we would
Obs. 3. When temporal judgments are felt or feared, God’s people should pray for sijiritual mercies; human sorrows cannot overcome where the joy of the Lord is our strength. Thus the Lord seems to b.°” “...SdVoinmui; have taught his apostle; he was under iilnu. A ‘’” ro”?*.’ some pressing discomfort, the messenger ug. f. Sntan sent to buffet him, he prays for particular deliverance, and God answers him non ad rolunlalem sed ad utililulein, imj)lying a direction to all such prayers, “My grace is suificicnt for thee,” 2 Cor. xii. 9. When thou feelest a thorn in thy flesh, pray for grace in thy heart; the buffets of Satan cannot hurt where the grace of God does suffice. So he directs us in time of plague and famine, to pray, and to seek nis face. 2 Chron. vii. 14: to look more after his favour than our own ease; to be more solicitous for the recovery of his love than for the removal of his rod. This is a true character of a filial disposition. “In the way of thy judgments,” even in that way wherein wicked men fling thee off, and give thee over, and quarrel with thee, and rejiine against thee, even “in the way of thy judgments have we waited for thee, and the desire of our soul is” more “to thy name” than to our own deliverance, Isa. xxvi. 8. True disciples follow Christ more for his doctrine than his loaves, and are willing to choose rather affliction than iniquity, John vi. 26.
The grace and favour of God is “life,” Psal. xxx. 5, “better than life,” Psal. lxiii. 3, and therefore must needs be the most sovereign antidote to preserve and to bear up the soul above all other discomforts; whereas if he be angiy, no other helps are able to relieve us. Brass and iron can fence me against a bullet or a sword, but if I were to be cast into a furnace of fire, it would help to torment me, if into a pit of water, it would help to sink me. Now our God is “a consuming fire,” Heb. xii. 29, and his “breath like a stream of brimstone,” Isa. xxx. 33. Human plasters can never cure the wounds which God makes; where he is the smiter, he must be the healer too, Hos. y. 1. All the candles in a country are not able to make day there, till the sun come; and all the contents of the world are not able to make comfort to the soul, till “the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” In a mine, if a damp come, it is in vain to trust to your lights, they will burn blue and dim, and at last vanish; you must make haste to be drawn upward if you will be safe. When God shai-pens an afljiction with his displeasure, it is vain to trust to worldly succours: your desires and affections must be on “things above,” if you wUl be relieved. There is no remedy, no refuge from God’s anger, but to God’s grace. Blood-letting is a cure „, for blcedmg, and a burn a cure tor a onifT.u<io Jcprimiburn; and running in to God is the way ^“lum dSl^S^ to escape him, as to close and get in with JUSuil’Tatui”’ him that would strike you is the way to avoid the blow. In a tempest at sea, it is very dangerous to strike to the shore, the safest way is to have sea room, and to keep in the main still: there is no landing against any tempest of God’s judgments at any shore of worldly or carnal policies, but the way is to keep with him still; if he be with us in the ship, the winds and the sea will at last be rebuked.
This then should serve to humble us for our carnal prayers in times of judgment, such as the hungry raven, or the dry and gaping earth, makes; when we “assemble” ourselves “for corn and wine,” for peace and safety, and be in the mean time careless whether or no God receive us graciously. God much complains of it when he slew Israel; the rack made him roar, the rod made him flatter, but all was to be rid of affliction; it was the ])rayer of nature for ease, not of the spirit for grace, for “their heart was not right,” P.sal. lxxviii. 31 — 37. The like he complains of after the captivity: they fasted and prayed in the fifth month, (wherein the city and temple had been burned.) and in the seventh month, (wherein Gedeliah had been slain, and the remnant carried ca])tive,) but they did it not out of sincerity toward God, but out of pohcy for themselves; and this he proves by their beha«our after their return. If you had indeed sought me, you would have remembered the words of the pro])hcts when Jerusalem was inhabited before, and being returned, would now have put them to practice; but Jerusalem inhabited after the cai)tivity is just like Jerusalem inhabited before the captivity: so that from hence it appears, that all their weeping and separating was not for pious, but politic reasons, Zech. vii. 4 — 7. And there is nothing under heaven more hateful, or more reproachful to God, than
VtK. 1 — 3
to make religion serve turns, to have piety lackey and daj.ce attendance, and be a drudge and groom to private ends, to make it a cloak to policy, a varnish to rotten wood.
O then, when we weep and separate ourselves, let us not think to mock God with empty ceremonies of repentance, let us not assemble ourselves only to flatter away the rod from our back, and to get peace and security to our own persons, and then let the favour of God, the power of his grace, the comforts of his Spirit, be as unregarded as before; (as if we fasted and prayed only for our backs and bellies, not for our consciences or conversations;) for be we well assured, he who does not ask the things which he ought, shall not obtain the things which he asks: such a prayer begs nothing but a denial.
We have now many fasts together, we have prayed for making up our breaches, for repaii’ing our ruins, for composing our distractions, for reducing this kingdom to a happy constitution, for a right understanding between the king and his great council. These prayers we have not found yet return, like Noah’s dole, with an olive branch, a gracious answer to us again. TVTiat is the reason? Where is the obstruction? Is not he a God that heareth prayers? Is it not his title? Does he not glory in it? Certainly mercies stop not at God, but at us. We are not straitened in him, but straitened in our own bowels. If there come but a bttle light into a room, the defect is not in the sun, but in the narrowness of the window. K a vessel fill but slowly, the fault is not any emptiness in the fountain, but the smallness of the pipe. If mercies ripen slowly, or stop at any time in the way, it is not because they are unwilling to come to us, but because we are unfit to enjoy them. Our prayers, doubtless, in many cases, have not been words taken from the revealed mind of God, but from our carnal dictates.
We would fain have things well in our country, but have we hitherto looked after oiu- consciences? The distractions without us, have they driven us to consider the distempers within, or to desii-e the things above? The unsettleduess of peace in the kingdom, has it awakened us to secure our peace with God? We would fain have better times, but have we yet laboured for better hearts? we would fain have a right understanding between the king and his great council, but have we yet seriously set about having a more clear and sweet communion between us and our God? we long to see more good laws, but are we yet come to care for good lives? Every one cries out, “AATio will show us any good?” but how few think on “the light of God’s countenance!”
Hence, beloved, is the miscarriage of all our prayers. If we would “seek first the kingdom of God,” we are promised other things by way of ovei-plus and accession, as he that buys a treasury of jewels has the cabinet into the bargain. But when we place oiu’ kingdom in outward comforts, and let our “daily bread “shut all the other five petitions out of our prayers, no wonder if” the promise of this life,” which is annexed to godliness, answers not those prayers wherein godliness is neglected. It were preposterous to begin the building of a house at the roof and not at the foundation. Pieli, is the foundatio?i of prosperilj/. If you would have your sons as plants, and your daughters as polished corner-stones, your garners full, your cattle plenteous, no complaining in your streets, Psal. cxliv. 12 — 14; if you would have the king happy, and the chm’ch and the state happy, and peace and prosperity flourish again; let oiu’ chief prayer be, Lord, pra-tn”miiS’«t make us a happy people by being our Suite nonest. quic God. Give US thyself, thv grace, thy faquid mHii Tult aate. ■’ j i. 1
Dommusmeus.au- vour, givB US renewed hearts and referat totum, et Be formed Uves; let not our sins confute,
and outcry, and belie our prayers, and e!|^^’’> ^afnL pray them back again without an answer, — i“”. And when we seek thee and thy Christ above all, we know that thou wilt “with him also freely give us all things.” The spiritual good things which we beg, wUl either remove, or shelter and defend us from, the outward evil things which we suffer.
Further, this serves for an insti’uction to us touching a sanctified use of God’s judgments, or threatenings. When we learn obedience (as Christ did) by the things which we suffer, Heb. v. 8; when -naQitiiara are ItaOtijiaTa, that we are chastened and taught together, Psal. xciv. 12; when sufferings quicken spiritual desires, and the more troubles we find in our way, the more love we have to our country; when we can say, “All this is come upon us, and jet have we not forgotten thee,” Psal. xliv. 17, 18; when we can serve God as well in ploughing and breaking the clods, as in treading out the corn, Hos. x. 11; when with Jonah we can delight in him even in the whale’s belly, and suffer not our love of him to be quenched with all the waters of the sea; when we can truly say to him. Lord, love me, and then do what thou wilt unto me, let me feel thy rod rather than forfeit thine affection; when we can look through the anger of his chastisements to the beauty of his commands and to the sweetness of his loving countenance, as by a rainbow we see the beautiful image of the sun’s light in the midst of a dark and waterish cloud; when by how much the flesh is the fuller of pain, by so much prayers are fuller of spirit; by how much the heavier are our earthly sufferings, by so much the stronger are our heavenly desires: when God tlu-eatens punishments, and we pray for gi-ace, this is a sanctified use of God’s judgments. And this we should all be exhorted to in the times of distraction, to make it the principal argument of our prayers and study of our lives, to obtain spiritual good things; and the less comfort we find in the world to be the more importunate for the comforts of God, that by them we may encourage ourselves, as David did in his calamity at Ziklag, 1 Sam. xxx. 6. Allien the city Shechem was beaten down to the ground, then the men and women fled to the strong tower and shut that upon them, Judg. ix. 51. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe,” Prov. xviii. 10. By thus striving for a sanctified use of God’s judgments we shall,
1. More honour God, when we set him up in our hearts as our fear and treasure, and mourn more towards him than for the miseries we feel, and suspire more after him than all the outward contentment which we want.
2. More exercise repentance; for it is “the sorrow of the world” which droops under the pain of the flesh, but “godly sorrow” is most of all aifected with the anger of God.
3. lore prevail with God. The more heavenly the subjects of our prayer are, the more prevalent they must needs be with a heavenly Father; we have five spiritual petitions to the one for bread. The more suitable our prayers are to God’s will, the more easy access they will have to his ear. The covenant of grace turns precepts into promises and the spirit of grace turns precepts and promises into prayers. It is not God’s will that we should live without afflictions, but our sanctification is God’s will, 1 Thess. iv. 3. The more prayers ju’oceed from love, the more acceptable to the God of love: now prayer against judgments proceeds from fear, but prayer for grace and favour proceeds from love.
4. Hereby we shall more benefit ourselves. God’s grace is much better than our own ease; it gives us meekness to submit, it gives us strength to bear, it gives us wisdom to benefit by our afllictions.
God’s favovir is much better than our own case, and is a recompcnee for sufferings beyond all their evils. A man would be contented to be loaded with gold, so he might have it for the bearing, though it be heavy, yet it is precious; and God’s favour’ turns affliction into
fold. If he give quietness, nothing can give trouble, ob xxxiv. 29; and if he keep back his grace and favour, nothing can give peace; neither wealth, nor honours, nor pleasures, nor crowns, nor all the world, with the fulness, or rather the emptiness, thereof, none of them can do us any good. Any thing which will consist with the reign of lust, with the guilt of sin, with the curse of the law, with the wrath of God, with horrors of conscience, and with the damnation of hell, is too base to be called the good of man. “To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God,” this is bonum hominis, the good of man, Micah iv. 8; to “fear God, and keep his commandments,” this is totum hominis, the whole end and happiness of man, Eccl. xii. 13.
O then get remission and removal of sin, get this lunum hominis, the oil of grace in your lamps, the peace of God in your hearts, the streams of the river of God in your consciences; and then, though the earth be moved, and the mountains shake, and the waters roar, whatever disti’actions, whatever desolations happen, imparidum ferient rimicE; thou shalt find a chamber in God’s providence, a refuge in his promises, a pavilion in the secret of his presence, to protect and to comfort thee above them all.