ONE OF THE SERMONS PREACHED At Westminster: The fifth of APRIL, (being the day of the Public Fast;) Before the Right Honourable Lords of the High Court of PARLIAMENT, and set forth by their appointment. By the Bishop of SARUM. LONDON, Printed for Richard Badger, and are to be sold by john Stempe at his shop at the East end of S. Dunstan's Churchyard in Fleetstreet. 1628. JEREMY 3.22. the latter part of the Verse. Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord, our God. SOme wonderful sight out of all question was here to be seen, or else men never durst have been so bold, as to have called to the great God of heaven to behold it. Some pleasing spectacle out of all doubt was to be exhibited, or else the great God of heaven would never have vouchsafed the casting down of his gracious eye upon it. It was so indeed. A wonder above all other wonders: the stony and rebellious hearts of men suddenly turned, into soft and obedient hearts. A joyful spectacle unto God above all other spectacles; runagate servants returning unto the service of their Sovereign Lord; rebellious children repenting, and running as it were into the bosom of their gracious God, and loving Father. If we will believe him who is Truth itself, this is the principal, if not the only sight upon earth, which gives contentment, and brings joy unto Heaven, Luke 15.7. unto the Saints, unto the Angels, yea unto the blessed Trinity itself. I have chosen this, as a Text fitting the present occasion, because we are now doing the very same thing, which the Israelites than did: For tell me, I pray, what do we intent by this solemn general Assembly, or what do we pretend by this public Fasting, Praying, and humbling ourselves under the hand of Almighty God, but this serious protestation; Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God? Bold, profane, and wretched men we are if we deride our Maker, and call unto him, that he would out of heaven behold a Sight here upon earth when in truth there is no such Sight to be seen. Dutiful, holy, and happy men we are, if God looking down from heaven, behold in us, that which we pretend, and he expects. Now that we may the better understand what this is, let us come to a particular consideration of the Text; which is nothing else, but a short and direct answer of God's people, unto a Proposition which God had made unto them in the words immediately going before. God's proposition was this: (O return ye back sliding children, and I will heal your rebellions) The Israelites answer hereunto, is very punctual and direct. (Behold, we come unto thee for thou art the Lord, our God.) In which answer, we may observe these two general parts: 1. A protestation of their sincere obedience, (Behold, we come unto thee) 2. A declaration of the motive inducing them thereunto, For thou art the Lord, our God. This protestation consists not of many words, and yet it contains many matters of great importance; which I will speak of in order, as the words shall offer them unto me. 1. The first is the Inward Obedience of their Hearts, implied in the word, Ecce, Behold: For howsoever the Heart be not expressly named, yet this Ecce, calls as it were upon God, to take notice of the secret resolution of their hearts, and to behold their obedience, in bowing and bending of them, unto his most just, and holy commands. In all acceptable obedience unto God, the Heart must be the ringleader: if that be wanting, the seeming good actions of a Heartless Christian, are but like the walking or stirring of a liveles body, Seneca. which affrights many, but pleaseth no beholder. Omnia honesta opera voluntas inchoat. It is the Heart or Will, which gives the beginning unto every good action: and this is it which in the first place the Israelites presented unto God: And surely there was good reason, and a just cause of their so doing First, because their unfaithful and stubborn heart was it, that had lead them out into open rebellion against God; and therefore it was necessarily required, that a loyal and obedient heart, should also be their Leader, in this their Submission, and coming in unto Almighty God. Again, whensoever God calls unto a Sinner to return, his meaning is, that his heart should first answer unto the call. My Son give me thy heart; and Hebrews the 10.22. Let us draw near unto God with a true heart. As good stay behind; as come when God calls, and leave our hearts behind. Last of all, it is the Heart upon which Gods eyes are principally fixed, whensoever we present our humble service unto him: and it is one of his Royal Prerogatives, to be the Discerner of Hearts. We may therefore well suppose, that these Israelites durst never have called God to Behold their coming, had not their hearts been their leaders. For they could not be ignorant of that peremptory conclusion. (If I regard wickedness in my heart, Psal. 66.18. the Lord will not hear me. Now if any man ask me whence came this admirable change, that men of brazen foreheads, and iron hearts, are so suddenly become men of humble, soft, and religious hearts, all that I can answer is this: The same God that had long called unto them for their hearts, had now at length given them new hearts, and a new spirit, Chap. 36. Verse 26. Prosper. and had taken the stony heart out of their body, as the Prophet Ezekiel speaks. Bona voluntas est hominis propria, sed Deo inspirante concepta. A good will, or a good heart, is a man's own when he hath it: but it is the divine inspiration from whence he hath it. Let us now for a while leave the consideration of these Israelites, and their new hearts, and come to consider our own. We all make the same protestation this day, of our obedient and penitent hearts which they did. We all in effect entreat GOD to look down from heaven, and to Behold this unfeigned and sincere resolution of our Hearts. Take heed of drawing near unto GOD with your lips, and removing your hearts fare from him. Be sure of that constant resolution which was in holy David, when he made this profession: Psal. 40. I desire to do thy good will (O my God) yea thy law is within my heart. Pars prima bonitatis est velle fieri bonum. The first part of goodness, is to have the Will of being good. I cannot pierce into your hearts, and see your secret intentions and purposes: God can, and doth, and your own hearts also can and do take notice of your inward resolutions. Hath any man therefore had a filthy, lustful, and adulterous heart; ask it whether it be now resolved to keep itself a pure, chaste, and undefiled heart. Hath any man had a covetous or an ambitious proud heart, let him search into it, and see whether it now be resolved, to renounce the world, with all the vain pomp and pride thereof. Hath any man had an uncharitable, contentious, and malicious heart; let him examine himself, whether he be fully bend to purge out this old and sour leaven of maliciousness or no. If our outward humiliation be severed from this inward resolution, Aduersus Marc. 4. What is it but (as Tertullian speaks) Impietatis secreta superficialibus officijs obumbrare. To hide the depths of wickedness under a Superficies of holiness. I hope there is none such here; but if there be, let them know, that a dissembling Nation is styled, The People of God's wrath; Esay 10. Verse 6. because hypocrites are (to use the Philosopher's phrase) in ultima & proxima dispositione, in the last, nearest, and fittest disposition, to take fire at the devouring flame of God's wrath. In this day therefore of our solemn Fast, and of our professed new obedience, it much imports us to be sure that we are sound, and not rotten at the heart; lest when we shall come hereafter to plead with God, as those hypocritical jews did; why have we fasted, Esay 58. and thou seest it not. Why have we punished ourselves, and thou regardest it not? We receive the same answer. Behold, in the day of your fast, ye seek your own will; Behold, you fast to strife and debate. If there be in our hearts a resolution only of abstaining from meat and drink for certain hours, but no purpose of waning ourselves from our own wills, all outward shows of intended reformation, will but make to our deeper condemnation. Qui laudatur ab hominibus vituperante Deo, non saluabitur ab hominibus damnante Deo. He who is praised of men, whilst God accuseth him, cannot be saved by men, when God will condemn him. But I am charitably persuaded, that every one of us, who this day present ourselves unto the view of God, hath brought with him a new heart, fully resolved upon a new and holy life. 2. There is a second point now to be considered in this Protestation of their obedience; and that is, the outward performance answerable to the inward resolution and purpose of their hearts: wherein I will first speak briefly of the Act itself, and then of the several circumstances considerable in the same Act. This Act God expresseth by the name of Returning; (Oreturne ye disobedient children.) The Israelites term it Coming. (Behold, we come unto thee.) Both words note unto us one and the very same thing; to wit, the forsaking of our wicked and sinful ways and the walking in the undefiled way of God's Commandments. For as sin, is Auersio à Creatore, & conversio ad creaturam. An inordinate turning from God unto the creature; so on the contrary, Godliness or righteousness, is a turning from the vain creature, and a Returning or coming unto God our Creator. August. Ad Deum non locis movemur sed moribus. We come unto God, not by shifting of places, but by changing of our manners and practices. Coming unto the Church (as now we do) is but coming unto the material house of God: ceasing to do evil, practising to do well, that is our true returning unto God. Es. 55.7. Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous his own imaginations, and return unto the Lord. If there be not this outward practice, answerable unto the pretended inward obedience of our hearts; out of question the former pretence was but false and counterfeit. Nemo veraciter dicit, Parisicensis. volo, qui nonfacit illud quod potest. No man truly says: I am in Will and Heart resolved, unless according to his ability, he endeavour to perform his resolution. But every man will allege for himself, that he is none of those that come unto God in pretended resolutions of obedience; he comes in deed, that is, in the practice of a Godly life. Let us examine a little the truth of this allegation. There is but one way of coming unto God; there are many crooked by-paths (yet broad and beaten ways too) which carry us quite away from him. He who walks in the way, which Gods Word hath chalked out unto him, he and none but he, is coming unto God; and how few be there that care either to find or follow this way; They which follow the guidance of their own corrupt and crafty reason, may come unto wealth or worldy preferment, but certainly by this way they can never come unto God: and how many be there that wander in this way all their life long. But the Apostle hath given them their doom. 1 Cor. 2.14. The natural man perceives not the things which are of God, neither can he, for they are foolishness unto him. They which follow the bent of their own sensual appetite, may wallow in bodily and filthy pleasures; but by this way they can never come to God, nor to those pleasures which areat his right hand for evermore. Last of all, they which walk in the way wherein the Multitude walks, and follow only the fashions of the present time, they may at length arrive at that place, where they shall meet with most company, but never there where they shall meet with God, and the best and most blessed company. Seneca. Tritissima quaeque via maxime decipit. The most beaten and broad way, leads us farthest out of the right way. What therefore remains, but only this? If thou wouldst have assurance, that thou art in the number of those that truly come unto God, see whether thou takest his word for a lantern unto thy feet, and a light unto thy paths; for this alone is the strait way chalked out by God, and bringing men unto GOD. And let this suffice for the Act of our coming unto God; the Circumstances of this act must now be handled, which are in number three. The first, is the Generality of the persons returning or coming unto God, implied in the word, We; that is, All we, the whole Congregation, Behold, we come. Had not their coming been a joint and general coming, they could not thereby have obtained that which they sought for. What was that? The remoovall of such heavy judgements as lay upon them, and the averting of more heavy, which by the Prophets were threatened against them. A particular man by returning unto God, may turn away a particular judgement hanging over his own head; but where the rebellion hath been general, and where the judgement prepared is some general calamity, there it must be a general conversion and coming unto God, that must turn away his wrath. Ezek. 14.14. Noah, Daniel, or job, may deliver their own souls by their particular repentance, but they shall save neither sons, nor daughters, they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be wasted. If the Sea roar and swell, threatening to break down the banks, and overflow some large plain; it is not the care of one or two in keeping or repairing their banks, that can prevent the inundation: even so when God, (that I may use the phrase of the Prophet jeremy) shall roar from above against a nation, and be ready to swallow them up: If there be not a general endeavour in stopping him from making a breach, the endeavours of some few cannot prevent the deluge of his wrath. Would we therefore (the people of this land) prevent a general calamity, which out of doubt hangs over our heads for our general impiety; jet us troop together, and one call upon another; Hos. 6. Come let us return unto the Lord, for he hath spoiled us and he will heal us, he hath wounded us, and he will bind us up again. Let the children of Israel, jer. 50. Verse 4. and the children of juda Come Together, and weeping seek the Lord their God: In brief, let us all joining together, hands, hearts, and voices, say truly and unfeignedly unto God, Behold, we come unto thee; and then there is no doubt to be made, but he will turn away his fierce wrath from us. But alas, what hope or likelihood is there of such a joint and general returning unto God? Every man indeed seems willing that others should turn from their sins and come unto God, but the most are desirous to stay behind themselves, or to be the very last in this return. The Laity are much troubled, and hearty grieved at the Scandalous sins of the Clergy, and by all means they would have us forced to come unto God jointly and generally, without leaving any one straggler of our company behind us. But when the matter concerns themselves, I see no such general displeasure against their own sins, no such care or endeavour to return jointly and generally unto God in their own persons. And I am afraid we of the Clergy are quit with them in the same kind: inveighing mightily against their sins, and crying aloud unto them, Return, and yet in the mean time going on in our own. I might say the same of the great and mighty men of the land, compared with the poorer and meaner sort of people. Both have their proper and known faults; each of them are wondrous earnest that the other might be reclaimed, and neither so forward as they should be, in reforming themselves. I see but one way to make us come jointly and Generally unto God; and that is, if we can fall amongst ourselves at an unwonted and unheard of, but most allowable and happy strife, who shall be the first in coming unto God. I am sure there is every where strife more then enough for worldly precedence: I would I were able to kindle in your hearts a spiritual ambition about this Holy Precedence, in coming unto God. Let us of the Clergy begin the contention; and as we have a prerogative of more near and special attendance upon God in regard of our sacred function: so let us strive to come first and nearest unto him in holiness of conversation. If we prove dull and slack herein, you the Nobles, the Magistrates, the great men of the kingdom, step forth, and claim your privilege. The high Officers of the Kingdom in Civil matters challenge a right of precedence before other men: but this is not all; take notice I pray, of your full right. You are styled and enrolled, Officers of God's Kingdom, Wisd. 6. Verse 4. and therefore you must hold your precedence, as well in the Service of God as of the King. If neither Priests nor Nobleses, Ministers nor Magistrates, will put in for this right of precedence: you of the commonalty, you of the lowest and meanest of the commonalty, strive to get the precedence from us both. It is neither pride nor evil manners, in this case to thrust before your betters. Nay, in so doing, you make yourselves more holy than your Priests more noble than your Princes. It was the saying of a Philosopher; Philosophia stemma non inspicit. The Divine may say as truly; Theologia stemma non inspicit; Divinity looks not upon pettigrees. He is nobly borne, who is borne again of the Spirit; he is honourable, who makes it his honour, to be one of the first and foremost in God's service. Eccl. 10.20. There is a seed of man which is an honour able seed: and this honourable seed are they which fear the Lord. Now my wish and prayer unto God, and my earnest exhortation unto you is this; that you would all grow ambitious of this honour, that you would lay aside all other strife, and make this your only strife, who shall first leave his sins, who shall first come unto God. If this strife were once a foot amongst us, no doubt but we should come jointly and generally unto God, as the Israelites here did. The second Circumstance observable in this Coming of the Israelites unto God, is now to be considered; which is, the Celerity or present haste used in this their Coming. (We Come) in the present Tense; not we will come ere long; not we will consider upon it when will be our fittest time to come unto thee. No such matter. Here is obedience without delay, present coming, answerable unto Gods present calling. When God calls upon sinful men to repent and return unto him, the most give him an answer, not unlike that which Felix gave unto Paul, Act. 24.26. Go thy way for this time, and when I have convenient time, I will call for thee again. But we must not refuse Gods convenient time, and think to make him wait upon our convenient time. No, the practice of these Israelites must be our pattern and instruction. Prosp. Obedientia non discutit Dei mandata, sed facit. True obedience doth not debate the case when God commands, but presently falls in hand with executing his command. Excellent is that example of faithful Abraham. God saith unto him, Genesis 12. Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy Father's house, unto the land that I will show thee. And so Abraham presently departed. Even so when GOD bids the true seed of faithful Abraham, to leave their corrupt affections, to forsake their wont wicked courses, and come into that land of Righteousness which he shows unto them, they presently leave the one, and come into the other. Delay is always dangerous in matters of importance, but in this our coming unto God, it draws three Mischiefs after it, and they are mighty mischiefs too. The first is, an unspeakable and intolerable Indignity, offered unto the Sacred Majesty of God himself. For when God calls us to come unto him, What stays us from coming, upon whom do we wait in the Interim? upon whom (as much as in us lies) do we make the great God of heaven to wait? I will tell you. It is our own base and sinful lusts which stay our coming unto God. For as the new married man answers in the Gospel unto God's invitation; I have married a wife, Luke 14.20. I cannot come: so sinful men answer when God invites them to come unto him by true repentance; We are wedded to our own lusts; we cannot come. But who hath made this marriage betwixt thine own heart, and thy sinful lust? Who is it that persuades thee, to forsake the commands of God thy Father, and of Holy Church thy Mother, and to cleave unto this strumpet, which thou callest thy wife? Sure the Author of this is neither better nor worse, but even the devil himself. Now consider seriously; is the infinite Majesty of the great God of heaven, a fit Subject to have such a scorn and contumely put upon him? What earthly King would not storm and rage at the Indignity, if calling one of his servants to come unto him, he should answer. Sir I am sporting with some of mine idle companions, and therefore your Highness must be content to wait my better leisure. But if hereunto he should add; here is an old Rebel and Arch-traitor against your Majesty, who persuades me not to come at your call, and I must be ruled by him; this would aggravate the matter, and make it be taken fare more heinously. This in effect is all that the Fornicator, the Drunkard, the Covetous, the Ambitious person hath to say for himself, why upon Gods call he comes not presently unto him. His sinful lusts entreat him to embrace them yet a little while longer: and the devil whispers unto his heart; Nazianzen. Da mihi quod praesens est, Deo quod futurum est, mihi florem aetatis, illi reliquias. Give me the present time, allow God the Future, give me the flower of thy youth, let God have the bran of thine old age. Thus wretched men to the infinite dishonour of their Creator, let the devil take his choice, and put God to wait for his leave; which in all likelihood will in the end prove either nothing, or worse than nothing. The second Mischief which follows upon it, when we come not presently at Gods call, is the manifold wrongs and Hurt which thereby we do unto our own souls. Wicked men whilst they linger on the time of their returning unto God, think that they do their Souls great pleasure, at least that they do them no great harm: but they consider not that whilst the Soul takes her sinful pleasure, she withal takes her deadly bane. She falls into a Consumption of spiritual grace, if ever she were endued therewithal: and is not a Consumption a dangerous disease. She contracts a Schirrus, or spiritual hardness, which makes the Soul scarcely penetrable by the dew of grace whensoever it falls upon it: and is not this a grievous malady? Last of all (if God be not wonderfully merciful) she comes to have a cauterised conscience, and to be given over unto a Reprobate sense, which is ultimum Terribilium, the last and most terrible evil that can befall a man, who is not yet in hell. These things considered should make a Christian who hath any care of his own soul, to beware of the devil's Dilemms, who always adviseth men in the point of Repentance, as the Philosopher did in the case of marriage. If a young man ask his counsel; when shall I repent, and return unto God? his answer will be, Nondum, not yet, it is a great deal too soon. If an old man ask him the same question, his answer will be, Nunquam, not at all, it is now much too late. But we may build upon it, that whensoever God calls unto us, (as at this very present he doth unto us all,) it is neither too soon nor too late, and therefore let young and old presently come unto him. The third and last Mischief, which attends upon Delay, is a Number of unknown dangers, whereupon such men put themselves, every moment that they continue impenitent in their sins. They trifle away their time, and delay their coming unto God; but in the mean time who can assure them that God's vengeance will delay the coming unto them? It is safe and wise counsel; Make no tarrying to turn unto the Lord, Eccles. 5.7. and put it not off from day to day: for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord break forth, and in thy security shalt thou be destroyed. The longer thou makest the patience of God, expect thy return, the heavier will the load of God's judgements light upon thee, Gregory. for not returning Quo diutius expectat, durius damnat. The longer he waits, the harder he strikes: Dost not thou tremble to think, that whilst thou art sporting with thy sinful lusts, Heb. 3. Verse 11. God may be Swearing in his wrath, that thou shalt never enter into his rest? What was it but delaying to come when God called, which drowned the old world, which consumed Sodom with fire and brimstone, and which at length carried away the jews into the Babylonian Captivity? And why may not England fear, lest by the same fault, we suddenly draw upon us the like destruction? O consider this, Psal. 50. Verse 22. ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you. O consider this ye that fear God; and that he may embrace you within his arms of mercy, say presently unto him from an unfeigned resolution; Behold, we come unto thee. Having spoken of the Generality of the Persons which must come, and of the Present haste to be made in coming; the last Circumstance remains; which is, the Direct Course here used: (We come unto That.) They come in a most Direct line unto God himself: And in this straight line, they move not only towards him, or till they come some what near him, but they come up close unto him; never resting, until they come to rest, as it were in his very bosom. This alone is the Straight, Short, and perfect way of coming unto God; other courses, are but crooked by paths, or circular compassings, and will not answer the expectation of the Comers, as shall be cleared unto you in the particulars. It is a rule in natural Philosophy, Omnis motils est propter indigentiam; Every thing moves for supplying some want wherein it stands. Now the sinner by this motion which we call Repenting, Returning, Converting or Coming (for all is one) seeks after three things, whereof no one can be had, but by coming directly unto God himself for it. And the least of these three things is of more worth, than all the wealth, all the honour, yea all the world beside: and therefore must be duly sought. The first is Venia, Pardon for all our sins passed, for obtaining whereof, who can imagine a more proper and direct course, then to come immediately and directly unto God the Father, by the True Way, God the Son, taking for our guide God the Holy Ghost? In this motion there is no crooked turning into by lanes, no circular and frivolous running in a round, but a most direct and straight coming unto God. And this is just as God would have it. jeremy 4. Esay 43. O Israel, if thou return, return unto me, saith the Lord: I, even I am he, that putteth away thine iniquities for mine own sake. And therefore Tertullian said well in this case; Quo fugiam poenitendo, nisi ad eius misericordiam cuius potes●atem contempseram peccando? Unto whom shall I fly for pardon in repenting, but unto his mercy, whose power I contemned in sinning? And as for pardon of faults, so likewise for Release from Punishments which we feel or fear, the same direct course unto God must be holden. For the same hand which hath wounded us, can only heal us, the same mighty arm which hath broken us, Hosea 6. can only bind us up again, as the Prophet speaks. The young Prodigal when he came to his right mind, understood that none but his Father could either pardon his faults, or free him from his miseries: and therefore his resolution is; I will arise, and go to my Father, Luke 15. and say; Father I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, etc. You know the gracious entertainment which he found. Shall we then when we find ourselves troubled in conscience with the guilt of our sins, hope to get absolution and remission from sinful men, standing in as much need of remission as ourselves? By no means: For, 2 Cor. 5. Verse 18. albeit the ministry of Reconciliation be committed unto men; yet there was never man invested with the Authority of Remission, Mat. 9.6. but only the man Christ jesus, who was God and Man in unity of Person. Shall we when we feel the smart of God's scourges, or tremble for fear of some future punishments, hope to clear the score by purchasing some plenary Indulgence from Christ's pretended Vicar. Away with such foolery. Let the Pope first prove that he needs no pardon for his own sins, or that he can pardon himself, and then let him try what good his pardon can do unto others. And as for release from any punishment, whereunto God hath adjudged a sinner, I am sure that if it were but one fit of a burning ague, the Pope's plenary Indulgence, with that most favourable and liberal clause, Quantum se extendunt claves Petri, can do him no help or good at all. Do we herefore seek to be freed from the burden of sin which presseth our consciences, or from the burden of punishment which lies upon our backs, or hangs over our heads; let us take the only straight and direct way, which is, by a true Faith, and a new life to come unto God; and in so doing we may assure ourselves of finding that which we come for. There is a second want, to wit, of sanctifying Grace, which the penitent soul hopes to have supplied; for supply whereof there is no other possible way, but only this, to come directly and immediately unto God. For this grace whereby we are enabled and strengthened to lead a godly Righteous and Sober life, is a gift that comes from above from the Father of Lights, james 1.17. and therefore if any man lack this heavenly gift, let him come to as he it of God, which giveth to all men liberally, and reproacheth no man, as the same Apostle speaketh. To imprint this lesson in our hearts, Blessed Saint Paul makes it a usual Salutation in the forefront of his Epistles; Rom. 1.7. Grace and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord jesus Christ. The very heathen Philosopher had some glimmering of this Truth, that man's goodness is God's gift: which made him say. Seneca. Bonus vir sine Deo nembest. Nulla sine Deo bonamen. There is no good man; nor no good mind in any man without God. Doth the soul therefore of any man hunger and thirst after righteousness, doth it long to be refreshed with the dew of divine grace, jer. 2.13. seek it at the Fountain of living waters, and not in broken pits, which can hold no such precious water. Some are so foolish as to think spiritual grace may be found in holy water, in Relics and such like superstitious observations. Some hope to fetch it from Rome, Loretto or jerusalem by a tedious and long pilgrimage. Some suppose the directest and readiest way, is to beg it of the Saints, and especially of the Blessed Mother of our Saviour Christ. But God con●eigheth not his grace into the souls of men, through any of those channels. We must come unto him for it, and in the use of his ordinances, we shall receive heavenly grace immediately from the hand of our heavenly Father. Parisiensis. Gratia immediate ex ipso Fo●e descendit in cor humanum, alium alveum, aut aliam causam non habet. Grace doth immediately descend into the heart of a man, from God the Fountain of grace; other course or other cause it hath none. All therefore that thirst after this sanctifying grace must come directly unto God for it. Here every man will be ready to say; there is none of us so wretched and profane that comes not directly and daily unto God, for this gift of heavenly grace. I will show you what manner of men refuse to do this, and then I will leave it to every man's own conscience, whether he be in the number, or no. Those who find not themselves over-pressed, and wearied under the burden of their sins: Those who feel not in themselves a hungering and thirsting after righteousness; those that care not for the means of obtaining grace; to wit, Prayer, the Word, the Sacraments: In brief, those that are more desirous to enjoy their sinful lusts, then to subdue and conquer them: these, and all these refuse to come unto God for his sanctifying grace. Nay, I may go a step further; If God come & offer his grace unto any thus disposed, they are ready to thrust it back; and had much rather obtain from God (if it were possible) a dispensation to live still after the sinful lusts of their own hearts, than a power and strength to overcome the sinful lusts of their own hearts. If GOD should presently offer unto us all, our choice of these two; how many of us would be at a stand which to choose? How many may we justly suspect would choose the latter, and the worse part? I press this no further; Let every man judge of himself by that which hath been said, whether he say unto God, as these Israelites did, Behold I come unto thee, for thy sanctifying grace. Now there remains the third and last thing which a sinner returning seeks after, and that is Glory, or Eternal life. There were no great benefit reaped by coming unto God for pardon of our misdeeds, and grace to live well, if these two drew not after them the benefit of eternal life. But when we have truly repent, obtained pardon, and endeavoured our best to lead a new and holy life; for all this our consciences will tell us, that we fall short of deserving eternal life. Surely then there is but one direct course to obtain it, and that is by addressing ourselves as humble petitioners unto God, and saying: Behold we come unto thee, to beg that which we know we cannot merit. Rom. 3. For all have sinned, and are deprived of the glory of God, and have no other hope to obtain it, Rom. 6. but by way of free gift, through jesus Christ our Lord. And yet let me tell you this; that if we come unto God for it as we should, that is, by faith and holiness of life: this very coming is a most certain leading way thereunto, though not a deserving cause thereof. It is a short but a sound determination of S. Bernard; that good works, or a godly life is, Viaregni, non causa regnandi. The Apostle hath taught us the same doctrine; Rom. 2.2.7. that by continuance in well doing, we seek glory and honour, and immortality and eternal life. But, alas, how many be there in the world that dream they seek after eternal life, and yet never take this direct course of coming unto God for it? Will your proud Papistical merit mongers come to God for it and beg it at his hands? No sure. They will rather urge God to bring it unto them, and pay it as a due debt, which by their condign merits they have long ago deserved, secundum aequivalentiam rei adrem, as their jesuitical Doctors have taught them to speak. Do profane Epicures, and worldlings seek it by coming unto God for it? No questionless: They rather seek it from the devil; as if they believed not only that boasting lie of his, Luke 4. All the Kingdoms of the earth are mine, and to whomsoever I will, I give them: But as if they believed that which the Father of lies durst not affirm; that the kingdom of Heaven was at his dispose, and that by his service it might be gained. Last of all, Do hypocrites (think you) and dissemblers come to God for eternal life? Nothing less. They make a show sometimes of coming towards God, & drawing very near unto him, but in their hearts they are resolved never to come at him. It should seem they think to get into heaven, not by coming unto God in the plain and direct way of a lively Faith and a holy life, but by deceiving God, and shipping in at some blind backdoor of their own making. But to shut up this point, and withal the former part of my Text. Let every man that desires either pardon of his sins, or release from God's judgements, that hopes either for infusion of sanctifying grace here, or participation of eternal glory hereafter, come to God for all these, and come to him in that direct way which he hath appointed. And thus much for the Israelites protestation of obedience. We are now come to the other branch of my Text, which contains a Declaration of those Motives which induced them to obey; in these words. (For thou art the Lord, our God.) Hear is a double chain to bind men unto obedience. The strong iron chain of God's infinite Power and universal dominion, which ties all men alike: (For thou art the Lord,) The pleasant golden chain of God's special love and mercy, which in special manner tied these Israelites unto him. (Our God.) He that acknowledgeth God to be the universal and Omnipotent Lord over all the world, fear should drive him to obey his commands. He which believes him to be His God, love should draw him to obey his commands. He whom this double chain cannot bind unto obedience, is in a fare worse case than that Demoniac in the Gospel, Mark 5.3. Whom no man could bind, no not with chains. Let us begin with the former. God is here acknowledged, The Lord. Not a Lord, over this or that Nation, within the precincts of this or that place; but The Lord, over all nations, over all countries, over all Lords, over all Creatures. I am The Lord, this is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, Esay 42.8. Now God is such an universal Lord, in three respects: First, he is the Lord Creator, that makes all his subjects, that makes the subjects of all other Lords, yea, that makes the Lords themselves, and that out of Nothing. Our bodies with all the members thereof, our souls with all the faculties thereof, are of his making. Psal. 100 It is he that made us, not we ourselves. Not our earthly parents; who were unable to frame the least part of our bodies, much more unable to breath into us living souls. Qui silium generat, Lactantius. non habet potestatem ut concipiatur, ut nascatur, ut vivat. He which begets a child, hath neither the conception, the birth, nor the life of his own child, within the limits of his power. If our Parents had been our Makers, we had been but like dead idols, which have eyes and see not, ears and hear not, hands and handle not, feet and walk not. This ground work being now laid, that God, is the Lord of all men by creation, let us consider whatforce this aught to have in drawing us to obedience. First, I am sure, that God himself judgeth it a most forcible motive. Why else should he set such a Memento upon it? Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Eccles. 12. Out of doubt God knew that it was impossible even for a young man to grow rebellious, whilst he remembers the Lord to be his Creator. Why should God charge every wicked and man, Deut. 32.18. with an Oblitus es Domini Creator is tui, Thou hast forgot the Lord thy Maker; but that he knows, if this were not forgotten, his commands would never be disobeyed. Not only God, but all good men have conceived the force of this motive to be so great, that upon the apprehension thereof, they presently conclude in their own souls: Come let us fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker. If Grace were wanting, yet Reason is able to make this inference; If God be my sovereign Lord by right of Creation, I cannot resist him but to mine own destruction. For woe will be unto him that strives with his Maker. Esay 4.9. This reason makes all creatures though devoid of reason, ready to obey at God's beck. God made the Sun; and therefore if he bid it stand still in the firmament, it dares not but stand, if he bid it go back so many degrees, it dares not but go back; though in its own nature it rejoiceth like a Giant to run his perpetual course. God made the fire; therefore if he forbidden, it dares not burn the three children, no not sing so much as one hair of their heads. The like obedience to their Creator hath shown itself in the most fierce beasts, in the most ravening birds, in the most venomous Serpents. What shall we say then is the cause, that this most forcible reason, hath so little force in moving reasonable men unto obedience? That whereas every child if he be asked who made him, can presently answer, God; yet few men when GOD who made them asks for their obedience, have learned to answer from the heart, Behold we obey. I can give no better reason here of then this: that men deceive themselves, whilst they suppose they firmly believe that as an Article of their faith, which they only assent unto for company or fashion sake, because other Christians hold it for an Article. Such a belief, is but a slight opinion swimming in the brain, it is no true and lively faith, rooted in the heart. Such men when they call God their Creator, deal with him as the Jews did with Christ; who clothed him in a royal robe, and salute him with the royal title of a King, and yet at the same time they scorn him, buffet him, and spit in his face. Doth not the Drunkard, the Fornicator, the Sweater, and in a word every bold and rebellious sinner deal with God in the same manner? He calls him his Creator, he bows the knee unto him as to his Maker, and yet he sears not to cast the filth of his sins into the very eyes of this his Lord and Maker Cuires nominisubiecta negatur, Tertullian. nomine illuditur. It is but a flat mockery to give God high titles, and to deny him answerable duties: and those which do it, are but Christians in name, and Infidels in deed and truth. The true Christian that believes from a sound heart God to be his Maker, cannot but in some good measure from the heart obey God his Maker. Secondly, GOD is not only The Lord Creator, but also The Lord High Protector, or General Preserver of all his creatures, and more especially of mankind. For God is not like an artificer; who when he hath finished his work, quits his hands of it, and leaves it for-lasting or perishing to the strength of the materials, whereof it consists No; we must conceive a perpetual Manatenentia divina (as the Schoolmen term it) without which, men and Angels, heaven and earth, with all the creatures in the world, would in a moment fall back into that Nothing out of which they were at first made Something. Upon this ground Durandus maintains; Durand. Verum est dicere de quavis creatura, quod quamdiu est, creatior à Deo. We may truly say of any creature, that so long as it Is, so long God Creates it. His meaning is, that Creation and this Conservation are the same action being considered in God; and only differ thus: That Creation respects the Being of the Creature, as newly produced out of Nothing by God's infinite power: and this Preservation respects the Being of the same creature, as continually supported from falling into nothing, by the same infinite power of GOD. But to let Schoole-speculations pass; the Scripture can best teach us, how this title of Universal Lord Protector belongeth unto the Almighty. Colos. 1.17. He is before all things, and in him all things Subsist, saith the blessed Apostle. And again, Omnia portat, He beareth up all things by his mighty power. Heb. 1.3. So that if this our great Supporter, should but for a moment withdraw his Preserving power, the whole world in the twinkling of an eye, would vanish into Nothing. Neither is it our Being only, which depends upon God's continual preservation; but all our well-being is also derived from his gracious providence and protection. It is this bountiful Lord which opens his hand, and filleth us with his blessings; which holdeth his hand over us, and keeps us out of manifold dangers, which stretcheth out his helping hand unto us, and plucks us out of all our miseries. Such a General Powerful and Careful Lord Protector, is our God unto us. Now this being granted, is it not an effectual motive to make all men dutiful and obedient unto such a Lord? I am sure that our Sovereign Lords upon earth, for this very cause of protecting their subjects, and maintaining them in peace and safety; challenge and justly challenge, Rom. 13. Verse 6. both obedience and tribute at their hands. How much more than may the Sovereign Lord of Heaven, who protects both Prince and People, challenge the tribute of obedience from them both? Out of doubt he will and doth require it, and therefore it is our best to pay it. The wise Solomon tells us, Pro. 3. There is no rising up against the King. And the Hebrews have a Proverbial saying: Migrandum ex loco in quo Rox non timetur. It is time to leave that Country where the King is not feared: as if always some great judgement were hanging over it. What then may we think is like to befall that Nation, which is up in rebellion against their heavenly King, which deny obedience to their omnipotent Lord, and gracious Protector? I am either much deceived, or this matter doth very nearly concern us. No Nation in the world hath seen more apparent effects of Gods admirable protection over them, than we have done. No Nation in the world hath been more laded, and over laded with plenty of all manner of blessings, than we have been: And (which I am sorry may truly be added) no Nation in the World hath showed themselves more careless, and thankless and graceless, towards so gracious a Lord, and mighty Protector than we have done. I cannot think of the general impiety of these times, but me thinks I see withal a terrible black storm gathering over our heads: me thicks I see God withdrawing his wont favourable protection from us, and suffering us to be overwhelmed with such judgements, as our folly and impiety hath long ago deserved. There is but one means to prevent those miseries which hasten towards us; and that is, betimes to cease from farther provoking our mighty and gracious Protector. jeremy 25. Verse 6. Provoke me not to anger by the works of your hands, and I will do you no barm: it is Gods own promise, by the mouth of the holy Prophet. I am now come to the third and last Respect, wherein God is truly styled, The Lord; that is the Universal Lord over all mankind. And this is, in regard of his judiciary Office and Power, which makes him the true Lord Chief justice through the whole world. For the Office, it is in express terms ascribed unto him by the Psalmist. Psal. 9.7. The Lord hath prepared his throne for judgement; for he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with equity. And this Office, doth not only extend itself to the punishing of the wicked who hate God; but to Gods own children also when they disobey him. Psal. 89.32. I will visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. None but such profane Atheists, who wish God out of this Office, durst ever deny it to belong unto him. Martion was anciently branded in the forehead for this heresy. judicis officium à Deo removet, & ei solum bonitatem adscribit, saith Tertullian. But no doubt long since, his own experience hath made him recant this error in hell. It may be, though God have this Office of an universal judge over all the world, yet this Circuit is so large, that he wants Power or Means fully to execute it. This cannot be imagined; the contrary so evidently appears through the whole Scripture. Gen. 6.12. When all flesh had corrupted their ways upon earth, an end of all flesh is presently determined by the judge of heaven; and the whole world is sentenced to be drowned; and the sentence is as easily executed, as if it had been pronounced but against some one particular man. Gen. 18. When the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah had pierced the heavens, God adjudged them to be burned with fire and brimstone; and presently he reigned fire and brimstone upon their heads. I will not trouble you with heaping up more examples of God's power in this kind; I had rather stir you up to fear and obedience, upon consideration of the unresistable power of this Supreme and Universal judge. Shall the Lion roar and shall not the beasts of the field quake? Shall the great Iudge of heaven threaten vengeance against rebellious sinners, and shall not dust and ashes fall down at his feet, and humbly sue for mercy? Shall the Devil himself upon the knowledge of God's supreme judiciary power believe and tremble, and shall men more Devilish than the Devil believe God to be an Omnipotent Lord and Universal judge, and yet never tremble at the matter? It were hard to think there were any such Giants in the world, who durst fight against God, and despise both the Office and Power of this Sovereign Lord, and Universal judge, but that we see them daily with our eyes, and hear them with our ears. Is not the strong Churh-robber one of these Giants, who dares openly say; Psal. 83. Come let us take the houses of God into possession; never fearing that which follows: O my God, make them like a wheel, and like stubble before the wind. Is not the abominable swearer one of these Giants, who dares toss and tumble the reverend name of God in his foul mouth, though God have threatened that for such irreligious oaths the land shall mourn. Is not every filthy fornicator, every beastly drunkard, and in a word, every shameless and daring sinner of the race of these Giants; who knowing and confessing that this great judge hath already passed a sentence of death against these sins, 1 Cor. 6.9. yet sport themselves with them, and gibe at the judge himself. jush, the Lord shall not see it, neither will the God of jacob regard it. But I hope there is none here of this rebellious rout: nay I hope every man here present is in all humility & obedience ready to say unto this great Lord and judge, as the Israelites do in the Text. Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord, our God. And now let us pass from the General Motive, unto the more special in the two last words, (Our God.) (Our God:) The former Motive was common to the Israelites with all other nations: for God is the Creator, Protector, and judge of all men: but this is proper unto them, as they made the Body of God's visible Church, for it is the Church alone, which can challenge God by peculiar right to be her God. And this she may do in a double respect. jure confederationis, jure redemptionis. By right of Covenant, or confederation; and by right of Ransom or Redemption. First, by right of Covenant established betwixt God and the seed of Abraham. I will establish my Covenant betwixt me and thee, Gen. 17.7. Verse 10. and thy seed after thee. And for further ratification of this covenant, God would needs have the seal of circumcision put unto it. If this be not enough, God over and above hath confirmed it, Ezek. 16.8. by swearing thereunto. I swore unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee and thou becamest mine. In respect of this special Covenant, God claimed the Jews for his special inheritance & peculiar people; and they challenged him for Their God, in a more special manner, than all the world beside could do. Now as God was by a special covenant God of the jews under the Old Testament, so now he is become God of the Christians under the New. Our Baptism is the sealing of this Covenant, wherein the blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, receive the party Baptised into special favour and protection: and the party there indents with the same blessed Trinity, so soon as he shall come to understand this Covenant, presently to forsake the Devil and all his works, constantly to believe Gods holy Word, and obediently to keep his commandments. Now I have showed the Nature and quality of this Covenant, which then warranted the Israelites, and now warrants us christian's, to call God, Our God; let us consider how forcible it is, or aught to be to draw us all unto obedience. First, this very Covenant must put us in mind of obedience; because otherwise we lose the Benefit there of, for not Taking hold of the said Covenant. Chap. 56. Verse 4. The Prophet Esay hath taught us, that the keeping of God's commandment, and choosing the things that please him; is the very taking hold of this Covenant: and therefore it will follow from the contrary, that he despising of God's Commandments, and doing those things which he hates, is the losing of this hold. Again we are farther to consider, that all our happiness or unhappiness in this life, and after this life, depends upon the keeping or breaking of this Covenant. Esay 1.19. If ye will consent and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land. But if you will not obey, Levit. 26. Verse 15. but despise mine Ordinances, and break my Covenant, than I will set my face against you, etc. It is a Chapter worthy of our most diligent perusal. For in it as in a glass we may clearly see, how it comes about, that we the people of this Land, who were sometimes crowned with all God's blessings, begin of late to be stripped out of them one after another, and are in danger of being deprived of them all. We may likewise see, from whence it comes that we have been consumed at home with plague & pestilence, that abroad we have fallen before the sword of the enemy; in these and all other judgements which have or shall light upon us, we must take notice of Our God, Levit. 26. Verse 25. as avenging the quarrel of his Covenant. What quarrel can God have against us about this Covenant? He hath a double quarrel. First, for our Hypocrisy; in that we call him Our God, and make show as if we were his peculiar people; in that we call him Our Father, and pretend that we are his true children, and yet in the mean time we will neither serve him as Our God, nor love him as Our Father. jeremy 3. Verse 19 It is God's agreement with his people: Thou shalt call me, saying, My Father, and shalt not turn from me. He that will needs call God Father, and yet will turn away from him in the course of his wicked life: If God call him son, it will be no more to his comfort, then when Abraham said to the glutton in hell. Son, Luke 16. Remember that thou in thy life time tookest thy sinful pleasures, and therefore now thou must be content to undergo eternal torments. But yet God hath a farther quarrel against these Covenant breakers, and that is not only for their hypocrisy, but for their plain treachery. For as if it were not bad enough to forget the Covenant established betwixt God and them, they most traitorously account, Heb. 10. Verse 29. the blood of this Covenant as an unholy thing, and make a new confederacy with Gods known enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil. They shame not to boast and brag of this their new league. Esay 28.15. We have made a Covenant with death, and with Hell we are at an agreement. But let every man that by virtue of the Covenant calls God his God, detest all by hypocrisy, abhor all treachery; and remember that his happiness depends not upon the entering into a Covenant with God, but upon the true keeping of the Covenant. And for the more effectual stirring up of every man here present to repentance and newness of life, according to the tenor of the Covenant, I will add this one thing. That whatsoever our carriage hitherto hath been, this very Covenant may assure us, that Our God, and Our Father, neither will nor can refuse graciously to accept us into favour, upon our submission and amendment. He is engaged by special promise. 2 Chron. 7.14. If my people, among whom my name is called upon, do humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear in heaven, and be merciful to their sin, August. and heal their land. Promissa haec tua sunt, & quis falli timeat cum promittu ipsa Veritas? These are thy promises, O Lord, and who needs doubt the performance, where Truth itself makes the Promise? But if any man should doubt whether this Promise be strong enough to bind God, to accept the submission of a rebellious servant; yet there is no doubt, but his tender fatherly affection is strong enough, to make him accept the submission of a Repenting Child. jer. 3.14. Ephraim is my dear son, therefore my bowels are troubled for him; and I will surely have compassion upon him, saith the Lord. Let us therefore now at last come unto our God, with humble, lowly, and penitent hearts, and then we shall speed no worse than the Prodigal child did: That is, our loving Father will have compassion upon us, he will run and fall upon our necks, Luk. 15.20. he will kiss us, and put the best Robe, even the rich Robe of his well-beloved Son's righteousness upon us. There remains the other title of Redemption to be briefly touched, in regard whereof the Israelites term God, their God, and on the other side God also termeth them his peculiar people: And this Redemption was twofold: God was called their Strong Redeemer, and they were styled the people whom God had Redeemed, in regard of that famous and miraculous deliverance out of the Egyptian thraldom. God esteemed this Temporal and Corporal redemption so great a benefit, and so forcible an inducement to Obedience, that he thought it fit to be engraven in the forefront of his ten Commandments. Yet this is not it which I purpose now to insist upon. There is therefore another Redemption wrought by the bloody Passion of the Messiah; obscurely represented in the Leviticall Sacrifices, more plainly described by the Prophets, but most evidently painted out unto us by the holy Apostles. This is our Spiritual and eternal Redemption, whereby we are redeemed out of the laws of the devil, from eternal Death and Damnation of body and soul, which otherwise, we must have undergone, & endured world without end. Now albeit the General Power of this redemption extend itself unto the whole world; yet the Declaration & Application thereof belongs in special manner unto the Church, & therefore it is the Church which out of this respect, calls God, her God; and it is likewise the Church, which for this cause God owns as his peculiar people. This is the Redemption whereof every member of the church ought with holy job, to take special notice. Scio quod Redemptor meus vivit. job 19 I know that my Redeemer liveth. And not only so: but I know that this my Redeemer hath ransomed both my body and soul, not with gold or silver, but with his own precious blood; 1 Cor. 6.20. to the end that being thus Bought with a price, I may glorify him both in body and soul. If all which hath been formerly urged, cannot persuade men to return to the obedience and service of God, yet this Motive, that he is Our God, and that by Right of Redemption should enforce us thereunto. Our Creation out of nothing was an infinite benefit, and ties us straight to God our Creator. But this our Redemption at such an inestimable price, when we were worse than nothing, is infinitely greater than that other infinite benefit, and ties us in a more straight band unto God our Redeemer. Our Creation cost God no more but the word speaking, Dixit & factum est, he said it, and he did it: but our redemption was not so easily wrought; Multa tulit fecitque Deus, sudavit & alsit. What man so thankless that would not for ever acknowledge him for his good Lord and Patron, and strive to do him all acceptable service, who had but redeemed him from the Turkish slavery, and rowing chained in their galleys. How much more than stand we obliged in all duty and service unto our God, who hath redeemed us from being the slaves of Satan, from the chains of darkness, and everlasting damnation. They have no sense of this Redemption, nor no part as yet in it, who are not inflamed thereby to serve God in holiness and righteousness, Tit. 2.14. and to become a peculiar people unto him, zealous of good works. But alas, where shall God our Redeemer find such zealous servants, amongst millions of men that confess and profess themselves to be redeemed with his blood? The World and the Flesh have a world of Servants at command; nay the devil himself is so well attended, that Saint Cyprian brings him in, thus bragging against our Saviour Christ, and insulting over us silly and sinful wretches. Serm. de Eleemosyna. Ego pro istis necsanguinem fudi, etc. I have spilt no one drop of blood for any of these, I have taken no pains to do them any good; nay all my study and pains ever was, and ever shall be, to bring them to death, and eternal damnation. Notwithstanding all this; Ibid. Tuos tales demonstra mihi Christ, O Christ, (if thou canst) show me so many, so busy, so painful, so dutiful servants of thine, as I am able to show unto thee every where of mine. O what a shame is it unto us all that bear the name of Christians, Hec dici potuisse, & non potuisse refelli: That such things may truly be objected against us by the devil, and cannot truly be denied, or confuted by us. O what a grief is it unto our Lord Christ, that a cursed Murderer should be able to entice away so many servants, from a blessed Redeemer? This point should rather be prosecuted with tears, than words; nothing now remains, but that every man here present, search into his own heart and life, inquire and find out his own proper sins, turn speedily from his wicked ways; and that all of us say with a joint and constant resolution as these Israelites did: Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord, our God. THat Almighty God who hath this day called us unto him by his word, draw us unto him by the effectual operation of his holy Spirit; that so renouncing the service of the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, and returning unto the Service of our true Lord; we may recover his favour here, and enjoy his everlasting favour hereafter. Grant this most merciful Father, for the infinite merits of thy well-beloved Son, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all Praise, Power, Majesty, and Dominion, this day and for ever Amen. FINIS.