MERCY In the midst of JUDGEMENT: By a gracious discovery of a certain Remedy for LONDON'S Languishing TRADE. In a Sermon Preached before the Right Honourable, the Lord Mayor and the Citizens of London, on September 12. 1669. at the new repaired Chapel at Guild-Hall. By D. BARTON, M. A. and Rector of Saint Margaret's New Fish-street, London. LONDON, Printed for James Allestry, at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Churchyard, 1670. To the Right Honourable, Sir SAMVEL STARLING Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of LONDON, AND THE Court of ALDERMEN. Right Honourable, THIS Sermon, savouring of the Country, in which it was conceived, and brought forth, without the Midwifery of a Library (my own perishing in the same Flames with your City, and the place of my now residence not affording an assistant) was intended only for your religious ears, in them to have both its birth and burial; but since it hath pleased you to reprieve it to a longer and more public life, where should it be more justly laid than at your doors? who for your able parts and endowments have been fitted for the public employment, and entrusted with the weightiest affairs of this City; and who by your Favour and Countenance are able to cover the rawness, and rudeness, or what other defects in my weak and unworthy handling so necessary a subject. I have in publishing it, regarded more your Opinion than my own conceit; and I hope (because you think so) that the matter will not be altogether unprofitable, or unseasonable; although it be not handled so artificially, and rhetorically as it ought, my main study being to be plain and to apply the things delivered to the present times: whatever it be, (and I wish it much better) it is now no more mine but yours; and if under the beams of your goodness, it shall so thrive, as to become an Instrument for the furthering that important Work mentioned in it; next under God your Honour and your worshipful assessors are to have the Praise, and I therein shall receive a sufficient reward of my labour; accounting it my greatest happiness on earth, to have been able to perform any acceptable service to that Royal City, to which for many years past, and my whole life for the future, I have dedicated all my endeavours. I will not detain your Honour, etc. any longer from your more public and serious affairs, but only beseech the Almighty and Alwise God, that he would give you understanding and valiant hearts to manage them Courageously and Prudently, that you may be instruments in God's hand for the making up the breaches in our Zion and Jerusalem; which is, and shall be the daily Prayer of, Your Honours and Worships unfeignedly devoted, in all Christian duty and Observance, DAV: BARTON. Haggai I. 9 Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it; Why, saith the Lord of Hosts? Because of mine House that is waste, and ye run every Man unto his own House. SOme Geographers have observed that there is no Land so placed in the World, but from that Land a man may view some other Land: though between Land and Land you may see Seas enraged with storms and tempests, yet land is still within ken. An observation, perhaps, of more curiosity than verity in the material Sea of this World: yet most certain if it be applied to the mystical Sea of God's Judgements, (which the Royal Prophet compares to a great deep) and the dry land of his mercy: though between mercy, Psa. 36. 6. and mercy God interposeth a raging Ocean of trouble and calamity, raised by the storm of his indignation, so that men seem to be in the condition of the material world, Gen. 7. When the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole Heaven were covered. Omnia pontus erant, deerant quoque littora Ponto. All was a Sea and that Sea had no shores, yet if they look but onward they cannot miss of a prospect of dry land, of Mercy. The Almighty God hath so interwoven these two in the dispensation of his providence, that the one is never discernible without the other. When God landeth his people in the Haven of prosperity, he would have them look back on the tempestuous Sea from which they are escaped, and fear his Justice: when he lancheth them forth into the depth of misery he carries them not out of sight of land, that there may be hope of mercy. Thus doth the most Gracious God in the midst of Judgement remember Mercy, and giveth even the valley of Anchor, Host 2 15. the valley of trouble for a door of hope, and in the deepest Ocean of his Judgements, discovers a little Island of Mercy to repair to. And thus did he of old deal with his People the Jews; He caused the King of Babylon to arise like waters out of the North, Jer. 47. 2. and to become an overflowing flood, and to overflow the land and all that was therein, whereby they were swept away into Captivity; yet then when these waters did so overflow their heads that they said they were cut off, Lam. 3. 54. the all-merciful God lifted up their heads, and showed them a prospect of mercy, by a faithful promise of deliverance after seventy years: at which harbour they are no sooner arrived, but their sins provoke God to bring them back into the Sea of his Judgements, and he afflicts them with famine, ye have sown much and bring in little: ye eat but have not enough: ye drink but ye are not filled with drink: etc. vers. 6. of this Chapter; Yet even here though the Sea roared, and the Heaven was black with Clouds, that God which gave to the Sea his decree, saying, Thus far shalt thou go and no farther, and there thy proud waves shall be stayed; not only discovers a Cape of good Hope, and makes a path in that mighty water for his ransomed to pass to it, Go up to the Mountain, and bring wood, and build the House: and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord, vers. 8: but also gives them a faithful representation of their present state and condition, with the by-path that brought them into it, that so they might be induced to consider their ways, and leave them and return into the way of peace, and this he doth in the words of my Text: Ye looked for much, and lo it comes to little, etc. So that my Text is made up of the two parts of David's Song, Psalm 101. 1. Mercy, and Judgement, which in God are always twisted together, Gracious and righteous is the Lord, Psal. 25. 8. and all his paths are mercy and truth, v. 10, Not one path of mercy, and another of truth, but every path mercy, and truth both. The red Cross of his Justice (as in your City Arms) is born on the white Field of his mercy: as these therefore were the burden of David's Ditty, so they must be the support of my Meditations, and the object of your Attentions Judgement and Mercy, the former included in the very words of my Text, the latter in the design and scope of those words. And first of the Judgement, that so I may end with that, which is not only the end of all our aims, and desires, but of all God's Judgements too, and that is Mercy. In the Judgement we may consider, First, The Judgement itself, which was Famine. Secondly, The Author of it, the Lord of Host. Thirdly, The cause moving God to it, the neglect of God's House. The Judgement very dreadful, the inflicter most powerful, the cause provoking exceeding sinful. And first of the Judgement, which we shall consider, first in its nature: Secondly, In its severity. First, Of the nature of it, it was Famine, a general want of the supports of this life, because of the failing of the creature, both in the production and breeding; Ye sow much and bring in little: and in the vigour, and nourishing power of them; ye eat, but are not satisfied. And this is a sore, and dreadful Judgement, King David chooseth the Pestilence as the lesser evil, which yet was so destructive, that there died of the people in less than three day's space, 2 Sam. 24. threescore and ten thousand men, of whose destructive nature too, he could not be ignorant, having an instance in the law of Moses (wherein he meditated day and night) of three and twenty thousand slain by it, while Aaron was putting incense into the Censer; And as he prefers the Pestilence, so the Prophet Jeremy, the Sword: They that be slain with the sword, are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field. Lam. 4. 9 and yet the Sword makes a deplorable desolation; take it in the words of the prophet Joel: A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness, yea and nothing shall escape them. Neither is it less dismal in its effects, for necessity is an hard weapon, and want will make a man part with any thing: fourscore pieces of Silver (ten pound sterling) for an Ass' head, and five pieces of Silver (12 s. and 6 d.) for the fourth part of a Kab (which is but half a pint) of Dove's dung, 2. King. 6. 25. The Egyptians who were famous, or rather infamous for their covetousness, yet can part with all their money for Corn. Gen. 47. It not only makes men forget common humanity, for the people are ready to stone Moses, who had done so great things for them, when they are ready to starve, Exod. 17: but it dissolves all the bonds of nature, making men to eat, not only dogs, cats, and rats, but one another; pone pretium humanae carni, was a proclamation in Rome in Honorius days. And in England An. 1316. Men did eat one another, and thiefs newly brought into the Goal were torn in pieces and eaten half alive, by them that had been longer in: nay it stifles natural affection. In this Famine of my Text, Neh. 5. 5. the Jews sold their Sons and their Daughters for bondslaves to buy Corn; And in the before mentioned, in Samaria Parents did devour their own Children. The Prophet Esay foretells of one, Isa. 9 29. wherein every man should eat the flesh of his own arm; And our Chronicles tell us of one in England about An. 700. So violent that not only many died for hunger, but great numbers joined hand in hand 40 or 50 in a company, and threw themselves headlong into the Sea. But we shall better understand how sad, and dreadful this Judgement was, if we shall consider it in relation to several circumstances hinted in the Text. The first whereof is the country afflicted, a most plentiful and fruitful land, A land like not only the Garden of Eden, but the Garden of God, full of all kind of pleasant and delightful fruits; which cannot be described more fully, and signally, than Moses hath done it to our hands: Deut. 8. 7. A good land, a land of brooks of waters, of fountains and depths that spring out of the Valleys. A land of Wheat and Barley, and Vines, and Figtrees, and Pomegranates: a land of oil-olive, and Honey: A land wherein they might eat bread without scarceness: a land whose Stones were Iron, and out of whose Hills they might dig Brass. And again, c. 32. 13. A land wherein they might suck Honey out of the Rocks, and Oil out of the flinty Rocks; Butter of Kine, and Milk of Sheep, with Fat of Lambs, and Rams of the breed of Bashan, and Goats, with the fat of Kidneys of Wheat, and drink the pure blood of the Grape. A Land which had not only plenty for itself, but bounty for others: For the Country of Tyre, Act 12. 20. was nourished by this Country. That this fruitful Land should become barren; that this Paradise should be turned into a Wilderness; that there should be scarcity in such a fruitful Land, is the first aggravating circumstance. The second is, That it was National, universal, an overspreading Famine; a comprehensive Judgement, like a Chain-shot bearing all before it, reaching to all men, the great and good, as well the mean and wicked: Zerubbabel the Governor, and Joshua the High Priest; for to them the Prophet speaks, verse 1. They are included in this, Ye look for much, etc. Wisdom, Riches, or Strength may secure from other annoyances, but Scarcity, and Famine strike at the Life of every man. The King as well as the Clown must beg for daily bread; and the profit of the Earth is for all. That the King himself is served by the Field, was wise Solomon's observation. Ecc. 5. 9 And King Ahab may be an evidence of it; who in time of Dearth could not help himself, 2. King 6. 27. much less others, out of the Barn-floor, or out of the Wine-press. Even the Saints have their share, and portion in it, as being parts, and members of that people which is to be punished; and though not actors in those gross impieties which kindle the fire of God's vengeance, yet are guilty of sins, though of a smaller nature, which add to the fuel of God's wrath. Zerubbabel and Joshua, though perhaps not themselves in fault, or at least not so much, for they were both very Religious, yet because not so forward, and putting forth as they should have been, are liable to the common Judgement. The third Character of the Severity of this Judgement, was the season of it, which was immediately after their return from the Babylonian Captivity; They had but a very little breathing space from the burden of that Yoke, when God lays on an heavyer: there, to use Jeroboams expression, 1 King. 12. 24. they were Chastised with Whips but here with Scorpions. There, very probably, they had meat after their labour, and though they trod out the Corn, their mouths were not muzzled, their masters sometimes lifted up the Yoke, and set meat before them. As in Egypt, although they had hard Tasks, and cruel Taskmasters, yet they had their Fleshpots, and their Garlicks, and their Onions to the full; but now they labour, and have nothing to eat, thus the Messengers of ill news, as to Job, did throng upon them, one at the heels of another, which was none of the smallest aggravations of this Calamity, that it followed so immediately on the neck of the other. The fourth mark of the Severity of this Judgement, was the frustration of their hopes, and expectations: Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little. If hope deferred makes the heart sick. Prov. 13. 12. Hope frustrate, and lost, can do no less than break it. When men think themselves sure, as Esau did of the blessing, and it then fails them, this is matter of bitter weeping. For God to take away the Corn in the time thereof, and the Wine in the season thereof, that is just at harvest, when it is to be inned: when the old store is spent, and they look for a new recruit, then to have the meat cut from their mouths, and the morsel from between their teeth, then to have their hopes defeated, heightens the misery. A fifth print of the Severity of this Judgement, was the loss of their labour. It is very frequent, and scarce ever otherwise, to see the Sluggards hopes blasted; he that will not sow in Winter, can never promise himself to reap in Harvest; but after Ploughing, Sowing, nay Reaping too, and bringing home, to find but little, that adds to the weight of the want: Nothing so much discontents men as labour in vain; to take pains, and to see nothing come of it, is enough to make a Prophet complain; Isa. 49. 4. to labour all night in fishing, and take nothing may tempt an Apostle to desist. To labour in the fire, and to weary themselves for vanity, to lose oleum & operam, cost and pains, is sufficient to bring men to desperation; Especially when that little which is coming in, doth no good; when God blows on it, and takes away the nourishing virtues, so that either men dare not eat their fill▪ for fear of want another day; or if they do eat, the Staff of bread being broken for want of God's concurrence, they are not satisfied A Boulimy, or Canine appetite, being a disease common at such times, when in the fullness of their sufficiency (as Zophar in Job speaks of the wicked) they are in straits; Job. 20. 22. that little is so far from abating, that it increaseth the Calamity: And so much for the first Particular, the Judgement with the Severity of it. The Second thing is the Author of this Judgement. I did blow upon it, Saith the Lord of Hosts. Shall there be Evil in the City, and I have not done it, Saith God himself, Am. 3. 6. God Challengeth the execution of Justice to himself; not only at the Last Day, but in this world, and it is as agreeable to his nature now, as it will be hereafter. It is not luck, or fortune that tosseth or tumbleth things below; but God sits at the stern, and steers the affairs of this World. The Genealogy of all the good creatures is resolved by God into himself, Host 2▪ 21. Unless he hear the Heavens, and the Heavens hear the Earth, no Corn, or Wine, or Oil can be expected. The Earth is a kind Mother, yet it cannot open her bowels to yield seed to the sour, or bread to the eater, if it be not watered from above. The Heavens are the Storehouses of Gods good treasure, which he openeth to man's profit and nourishment, yet they cannot drop down fatness on the earth, if God close it up, and withhold the seasonable showers, which he can do if he please, and will do, if he be provoked. First, He can do it easily. Secondly, He will do it justly. First, He can do it easily. It is but his blowing upon it, and it is done. As he made all things, so he can dissolve them by the breath of his mouth. Psa. 104. 29. 30. He hideth his face, and the creatures are troubled; he taketh away their breath and they die. He sendeth forth his breath and they are created, and reneweth the face of the Earth. Psa. 90. 3. He turneth man to destruction, and again he saith, come again ye children of men. And this he can do so easily because he is the Lord of Hosts; a title frequently used by these three last Prophets, Haggai, Zachary, and Malachy, who prophesying after the Jews return from the Babylonian Captivity, when their state was at the lowest, scarce ever name God by any other title; to denote unto them, how easy it was for him to bring his Judgements upon them, and to remove them again; all creatures being at his command as Lord of Hosts; and like the Centurion's Servants, if he say to one, Mat. 8. 9 Go, he goeth, to another, Come, he cometh: and to a third, Do this, he doth it. When he will do a thing, who shall hinder him? Nature may be resisted, and stopped in her course; Men and Devils, though never so potent, may want of their will, and be crossed in their designs and desires; but the Lord of Hosts doth whatsoever he will, both in Heaven and Earth without control or contradiction. Secondly, He will do it justly. God's Judgements are not always manifest, they are always just. And he may say as David to his Brethren in another case; 1. Sam. 17. 29. What have I now done? is there not a cause? God never punisheth a People: but there is a just cause for it, and could men but see it, the root of the matter would be found in themselves. Job. 19 28. It is the Plague of their own hearts, that procures them all their mischief; and this might have been put among the aggravations of the Judgement, that it is from themselves that they are the cause of their own ruin; that they may thank themselves, and blame their sin, as the Mother of their misery, and cause of their Calamity, Host 13. 9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thyself, Saith God. So that there is no ground of complaint: Lam. 3. 36. why should a living man complain: a man for the punishment of his sin? Had man never been sinful, he had never been miserable; had he never lift up his heart against Heaven to provoke, God, God had never lift up his hand on earth to punish man. If these Jews would but have considered their own ways, as God himself exhorts them twice in a breath, verse 5. and 7. They might have easily found the Serpent that bit them, to be lurking in their own bosom; the contempt and neglect of God's worship, which brings me to The Third particular, The cause of this Judgement, why saith the Lord of Hosts? etc. Wherein three things offer themselves to our Consideration: First, The sin its self, God's House lies waste. Secondly, The Aggravation of that sin, Ye run every man to his own house. Thirdly, The Proportion between the sin, and the punishment. First, The sin itself, is, that God's House is suffered to lie waist. This House, which God Challengeth to himself, as his own possession, was that glorious fabric of the Temple at Jerusalem, built by King Solomon, and consecrated by him to God's immediate worship, and which God was pleased to accept of, and wherein he promiseth to dwell for ever. This is my rest for ever, Psa. 132. 14. here will I dwell, for I have desired it, saith God. Although he be the high and lofty one, that inhabiteth Eternity whose name is Holy; Although he be infinite, and Comprehended in no place, and so dwelleth not in Temples made with hands: yet it was his good pleasure, that Solomon should build him an house, wherein as to his manifestative presence, he was resolved to dwell more especially among his people the Children of Israel, whither he would have the Tribes go up, the Tribes of the Lord, Psal. 122. 4. unto the Testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. And this he calls his house. My House, saith he, shall be called the House of Prayer, and in my Text, Because of my House, which is waste. Wast, the Hebrew word signifies properly dried up. A similitude taken from a piece of ground, dried up, and parched by the Sun, so that nothing is able to grow in it, and is used by the Holy Ghost to express an extreme desolation, and destruction. His spring shall become dry, and his foundation dried up, saith the Prophet Hosea of Samaria, when he would set forth their utter ruin: Host 13. 15. so that their sin was the permitting God's House to lie in its ruins, and not repair it. And it is observable that these Jews had not demolished it themselves, they had not laid it waste; that was done by Necuchadnezzar, and his Officers, it was they which set fire to the Temple, these had no hand at all in it: and yet it is looked on as a sin in them, that it is waste. Not only pulling down Churches, but not repairing, when God gives opportunity is a sin. Omissions are sins with God, as well as Commissions. It was the rich man's ruin, not that he rob the poor, but that he did not relieve them. Fasting as well as fullness may breed diseases, and make work for the Sexton or Physician. Not only the commission of evil sinks men to Hell, but the omission of goodness. The Figtree had no bad fruit on it, and yet was cursed because it had none at all; the forbearance of wickedness is not enough to acquit the soul, unless there be a performance of Righteousness. These Jews are condemned, not for wasting God's House, but letting it lie waste. That's the first, the sin. The Second thing is the aggravation of this, by their self-seeking. Ye run every man to his own House, or, Ye take pleasure every man in his own House: Ye are all self-seekers private-spirited persons, all for your own Interest, none for the honour and glory of God. They were like the Tortoise, Toti in se, wholly drawn up into themselves, and insensible of the public good, or common danger of Church and Religion: Far from Nehemiah's temper, who drowned all selfe-respect in God's glory, and the public good; far from true goodness, which will be public spirited, although it be to private disadvantage: And if nature will venture its own particular good for the general, as heavy things will ascend, to keep out a vacuity and preserve the Universe; much more will grace make men in all their desires and designs to study God's end more than their own, and as Solomon did to build God's House first, and afterward their own; and not like these Jews, who so themselves were warm in their Feathers, in their own houses, never did regard the ruins of God's House. Secondly, This self-seeking is aggravated in two particulars; First, In the persons guilty; and Secondly, In their earnestness in that guilt. First, In the persons guilty. The first universally; Secondly, Emphatically. First, Ye; universally; every man of you, even the best of you, Zerubbabel, and Joshua too. When all Flesh have corrupted their way, when all the foundations are out of course, when as in Sodom, all the people from every quarter, both old and young, are guilty; no wonder then that God punisheth. When not only private men, but public run into the same sin, it is then incorrigible as to man, those that should punish it being themselves guilty, and therefore then it is time for God to lay to his hand; for private men to have private spirits and to run every man to his own House, to mind their own particular good, is no such rare thing, but for public persons to have private aims, to have such narrow souls as to mind themselves only, this is an aggravation of the crime. Secondly, Ye, emphatically; Ye that are so much concerned in it, when others not so much, or not at all concerned in it, have been so zealous. When Cyrus and Darius, a payr of outlandish, and Heathen Kings, shall not only give leave to the Jews to return to their Country, and build both their City and Temple, but also restore the Vessels and Jewels, which had been taken from it, and allow the expenses of the building out of their own Revenues; and supply them with Sacrifices, with a check to all Adversaries; be ye far from thence, and a peremptory Decree, That whosoever should alter that sentence, that the Wood should be pulled down from his House and he hanged thereon; And lastly, a direful imprecation on all those, whether Kings or People, that should put their hands to alter and destroy the House of God which is in Jerusalem; the History whereof you may read at large in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah; when these shall thus zealously, and earnestly promote the work, and the Jews themselves universally, who were most concerned, be careless and negligent, this is a first aggravation of the sin. A Second is their diligence and earnestness in their own private interest, Ye run every man, etc. When ye do not so much as creep, crawl, or go to God's House. They thought no time, no labour, no cost, too much for their own House; and every little portion of either of them too much for Gods. The least cost is esteemed misspent, saying with Judas, To what purpose is this waist; the lazyest labour is accounted lost. It is in vain to serve the Lord, and what profit is it that we have kept his Ordinance, say these very men, Mal. 3. 14. The shortest time is thought cast away; The time is not come, The time that the Lords House should be built, say they, vers. 2. They followed the business of their own Houses earnestly and industriously, but of Gods very negligently; which, if nothing else; were enough to condemn them. The third considerable in the sin, is the proportion between that and the punishment, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they leave God's House, Chareb, waist; God, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers. 11. calls for Chereb, a drought, or as the Septuagint probably read it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Choreb, a Sword, which shall in like manner lay their Land waste, and their House desolate, they had pinched on God's side, and he pays them home in the same kind, they thought in the Famine to have kept the more for themselves; and they had less for keeping from him, that which was his own. A just hand of God upon all such, who think every thing too much for his service, for the most part they are always in want and needy, their wealth melting away like Snow before the Sun. The Merchant that denies to pay his Customs, forfeits all his Commodities; they forfeit their own portion, who withhold Gods from him. God tames his Prodigals, and starves their bodies, who by neglect of his worship starve their own souls; God denies the same external things to them which they deny to God's House. But might not these Jews have pleaded against this Sentence, and charged God with too much severity, saying with their Forefathers, The way of the Lord is not equal? What is this Temple more than another place? Cannot we worship God in any House as well as this? Is not God a spirit, Joh 4. 24. and will be worshipped in spirit and truth; and that we may do in any Mountain as well as this? Whereunto although it might be a sufficient answer to say with S. Paul, Rom. 9 20. O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing form say to him that form it, why hast thou made me thus? Shall sinful man plead with his Maker? Yet because this malapert sauciness is the temper of many in this age, as well as that; that the most just God may be justified when he speaketh, and clear when he judgeth, we may take notice of the equity of it, by a twofold consideration; First, Of the nature of the place; and Secondly, Of the nature of the punishment, First, God's equity will be cleared from the nature of the place, which was, First, A visible sign and token of Gods more immediate and gracious presence; for although God dwells not in Temples made with hands; that is, so as we dwell in our Houses to be comprehended in them, yet God is said to dwell there where he manifests himself; and therefore what was done before the Temple, was said to be done before God; called therefore, The Throne of his Glory; Jer. 14. 21. The place of his rest; Psa. 132. 14. The place of his habitation; Psa 76. 2. His dwelling place: Now we know that affronts offered to the King's Chair of State although in his absence, are as much resented as when he is present. Secondly, That House was the choicest, and chiefest instrument of God's worship in the Jewish administration, they were to direct all their worship towards it: It was the King of Heaven's Court of Requests, which he had appointed for the hearing their prayers, and granting their Petitions; and which had the privilege of an universally gracious audience; In this place will I give peace, saith the Lord, c. 2. 9 Now because the honour done to any part of God's service reflects on himself; as those that offered any polluted bread on God's Altar are said to despise his name, therefore to punish this offence so grievously could be no over much severity. Thirdly, That House was a type of Christ, it was a sacred Mystery representing their Messiah to them, who was the true Temple made without hands; as himself makes the application, John 2. 19 Destroy this Temple, and after three days I will raise it up; which S. John who was his beloved Disciple, and lay in his bosom, interprets as meant of his own body, Vers. 21. He spoke of the Temple of his body; And this the Apostle asserts at large, in the ninth Chap. of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Jesus Christ was that true Temple in which the Godhead dwelled bodily; that is, really, fully, substantially; by the nearest union, and most intimate conjunction as the soul dwells in the body; and so the neglect was the neglect of Christ himself. Fourthly, That place was the springhead of all their blessings; God had made that the staple of all his favours; Exod. 20. 24. In all places where I record my name, I will come to thee and bless thee. From whence it is that in Scripture, God's blessings are not said to be given from Heaven immediately, but from Zion the place of God's worship; There the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore, Psal. 133. 3. And the Lord that made Heaven and Earth, bless thee out of Zion, Psal. 134. 3. The Ocean of blessing is in Heaven, but the wellhead is Zion, and so by neglecting God's House they forsook their own mercy; so that the nature of the place acquits the Lord of Hosts from the imputation of overrigorous proceeding, which likewise will appear, Secondly, From the nature of the Judgement, if we shall consider those veins of mercy which run through it, which is the Second general part, and is included in the scope and design of the words of my Text. And this mercy is visible in four particulars. First, In the Judgement itself. Secondly, In the matter of that Judgement Thirdly, In the measure of it. Fourthly, In the discovery of the cause, and consequently the means of removing it. First, It was mercy that they were punished at all, correction being a sign of God's paternal care; For every Son, whom he loveth, Heb. 12. 6, 7. he chasteneth; and Scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth. Immunity from Chastisement and Correction, is the Bastards, not the Child's prerogative. God's forbearances are his most dreadful Severities; and a prosperous iniquity is the most unprosperous condition in the world. It is cruelty, not mercy, to suffer men to go on in sin unpunished, it being that which hardens men in sin, and consignes them over to ruin and reprobation. It is a deplorable condition when God shall say; Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more. Vis indignantis Dei terribilem vocem audire? will you here the terrible voice of a provoked God? Hear it saith Origen in that of Host 4. 14. I will not punish your Daughters when they commit whoredom. Never was Jerusalem's case so desperate as when God said to her; I will make my fury towards thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry. Ezek. 16. 42. That's the first beam of mercy; that they are punished. A Second, is that their Punishment is in external temporal things, and not in internal and Spiritual, which as they are most necessary, so the loss is most dangerous: Man may be happy without the one, he cannot be so without the other. The Lord of Hosts might instead of a famine of bread have sent a famine of the word of God, which is the Souls proper food, and without which it cannot live, which he threatens in another Prophet as the most dreadful Famine. Am. 8. 11. Behold the day is come, saith the Lord, that I will send a Famine in the Land, not a Famine for Bread, nor a thirst for Water, but of hearing the Word of the Lord. We never fear a dearth if we have Bread-Corne, though we want Apples and Plums. Let God deny us the worldly toys of earthly enjoyments, if he continue his spiritual blessings, we cannot be esteemed miserable. A third Island of mercy appearing in this Sea of misery, is the measure of it. They had a little, though not much; God did not take away all, but left them a pittance, as we say, enough to keep life and soul together. I will correct thee in measure, saith God to his people, and not leave thee altogether unpunished. Jer. 30. 11. If he should have been extreme to have marked what had been done amiss, he might have utterly destroyed them as he did Sodom and Gomorrha, and set them forth as perpetual examples of divine vengeance, but it was of the Lords mercies that they were not consumed, Lam. 3. 22. because his mercies fail not. There is yet a fourth ray of mercy shining in this judgement, and that is the discovery of the cause, which he doth not only in respect of himself, for the vindication of his justice, but also in respect to them, that they might provide for deliverance. God by reason of that independent dominion, which he hath over all his creatures, which in their very being depend upon him, hath no obligation lying on him, to give any other reason of his acting, than his Sic volo, sic jubeo; and therefore it must be an act of great mercy, to come to debate and reason with his creature, to be content to bring himself as it were before man's tribunal, and to plead his cause, and make even sinners his judges, yet so he doth frequently; Come now, Esa. 1. 18. and let us reason together. And now, Esa. 5. 3. O Inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge I pray you between me and my Vineyard. Should he have made short work with them, and dispatched them in a moment, yet he would have continued just and holy, and he might have justified his proceedings; but to stoop so low as to give an account of his doings, and to render a reason of his sentence, is a condescension of mercy that can be never expressed, and never enough admired, or praised. And thus having run through the two Stages of my Text, Judgement and Mercy; I cannot dismiss you without making you partakers of some observations, which you may improve to your advantage, As, First, That all the industry and labour of man in his calling, is in vain, if God withhold his blessing; he may sow, and reap, and bring in too, he may export, nay import too, and little come of it, if God do but blow upon it. Not but that men may, nay must take pains in their vocations. Adam even in his innocency and integrity, before his fall, had his employment set out to him to dress and keep the Garden; much more since the fall, when all the Creatures are under the Curse for the sin of man; and the earth is so far from yielding fruit without our labour, that it is often fruitless, and barren with it. So that now it is not so much our curse as our duty, that in the sweat of our brows we should eat our bread, and he that will not labour, as he doth not deserve, so he hath no promise that he shall eat: Labour than they must, but in that they must depend upon God for the success, whose blessing only can make rich. Prov. 10. 22. Moses, saith, It is not bread that man liveth by only, but by the word of God, that is his blessing; and therefore, except the Lord build the House and watch the City, Psa. 127. 1, 2. man's labour and watching is to no purpose; It is but lost labour that ye rise early, and so late take rest, and eat the bread of Carefulness if God doth not give sleep. Join then to your honest labour, trust in God, and fear not a good success; you have King David's warrant for it. Trust in the Lord and do good, and verily thou shalt be said. Psa. 37. 3. 1 Tim. 4. 5. Let your labours as well as the Creatures for which you labour, be Sanctified by the word of God, and Prayer. Secondly, The use or abuse, the care or neglect of the Instruments of God's worship, is no indifferent thing, no matter of slight consequence it procures a blessing or brings down a curse. These Jews neglect to build God's House, and God neglects to provide for their Families. They no sooner go up to the Mountain and bring Wood, c. 2. 8. and begin to build, but from that very day, God begins to bless them. Take one instance more; The Ark, which before the building of the Temple, was the dwelling place of God's name, Psa. 74. 7. was among the Philistines, 1 Sam 5. who profanely insult, and triumph over it, and are smitten with sore diseases, and the hand of God is heavy upon them; c. 6. 19 Afterwards it comes to the Bethshemites, who are bold with it and pry into its secrets, 2. Sam. 9 9 and fifty thousand of them are slain for it. After this Vzzah toucheth it irreverently, and is struck dead before it; whereas Obed-Edom entertains it reverently, and cheerfully, vers. 6. and is blessed in all that he hath. When God sends the instruments and means of Religion among a people, it concerns them deeply to look about them; God intends something towards them, either of judgement or mercy, and counts it an high indignity, if men think he will do neither good or evil. Zeph. 1. 12. The Prophet Isaiah compares God's Word to Rain, Esa 55. 10. which returns not void, but accomplisheth what he pleaseth, and prospers in the thing whereunto he sends it; it either brings up wholesome Herbs, or noisome Weeds, it either furthers our Salvation, or hastens our Destruction. The Gospel of Christ is savour either of life unto life, 2. Cor. 2. 16. or of death unto death. God's Ordinances are all of the same nature, with the Lords Supper, they are either for the better, 1. Cor. 11. 17. or for the worse. Christ's coming to a Nation, Mat. 11. 23. as to Capernaum, is fatal, it either lifts nearer to Heaven, or throws lower into Hell. Thirdly, The neglect of God's worship forfeits all our temporal estate; as Tenants that refuse to do their homage, to perform Suit and Service, and to pay their Landlords rend, do make their Estates liable to a seizure. These outward blessings are the appurtenances of God's worship; And it is piety only which hath the promises both of this life and that which is to come. These provisions are properly for God's Household, and those that wait in the House of the Lord; If a profane person that regards not God's worship hath them, it is but at adventures, and they are so far from being a blessing to him that they become a Snare, making him fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts, 1. Tim. 6. 9 which drown men in destruction and perdition: search the Chronicles and Annals of the Kings of Israel, and you shall still find those times wherein Religion was advanced, as under David, Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah, to be prosperous times, whereas under Idolatrous Kings all things went contrary. So that the best way to secure what men have, is to employ part of it in God's service: Honour God with all thy increase, and thy Estate shall be increased. God's Storehouse is the best Assurance-Office; pay thy deuce to that, and the rest will be secured to thee. As Samson's strength and glory lay in his Hair, so doth the honour and prosperity of your City depend on the true Religion, and sincere worship of God, which if it be once deprived of, it may say with Phinees Wife Ichabod, 1 Sam. 4. 22. The glory of London is departed. Fourthly, God expects that our first care should be for his service, that his glory and worship should have the precedency in our thoughts. These Jews upon their return home from Babylon, set up their own Houses, fell to husbandry, ploughed and sowed their lands, they thought it not time to undertake so costly a work as building the Temple; and flesh and blood might have thought that delay excusable if not reasonable, but God counts it matter of just exception, and sends them two Prophets to reprove them for it; what an obvious excuse had they? That that God who had dwelled so long of old in a Tabernacle, and was now worshipped at his new created Altar, would bear with them if they first built their own Houses, intending afterwards to build his with greater care and cost; but what saith God to them, Vers. 4. Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your Ceiled Houses (not covered only, but Ceiled with Cedar, as the Chaldee renders it, arched and garnished as the Greek) and my House to lie waste. The man after Gods own heart was of another mind, he would not come into his House, nor go up unto his bed, nor give sleep to his eyes, or slumber to his eyelids, Psa. 132. 3. 5. until he had found out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Noah's first care after he came out of the Ark, was, not to build an House for himself, but an Altar for God's worship; he pleads not necessity of preserving store, nor stays till the creatures are multiplied, but takes of every clean creature that came out of the Ark, and offers them to God. True Faith teacheth to prefer God before ourselves; the World as it is inferior in worth to Religion, so it must be in our repute and respects; Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof, was the council of our Saviour. God will crown such early piety with increase of store, for all these things shall be added unto you: If the Widow make a little Cake for the Prophet first, 2 K●ngs. 17. 14. and bring it to him, her Barrel of Meal shall never waste, nor her Cruise of Oil fail. Thirdly, If the not repairing the House of God be so severely punished, what shall become of those that demolish his Houses: Pet. 4. 18. If the Innocent be scarcely saved, where shall the wicked and sinner appear? is S. Peter's way of arguing. If the labours and hopes of these Jews, who only suffered the Temple to lie in its ruins, come to little, certainly theirs shall come to nothing, or at least worse than nothing, eternal destruction, that are the instruments of ruining it. If God shall destroy him that defileth the Temple of God, 1 Cor. 3 17. what shall he do to them that destroy it? If Ananias and Sapphira withholding that which was their own, were accounted Church-robbers, and punished with sudden death; what a severe revenger will God be against those that rob the Temple of that which hath been dedicated to it by others; Christ would not suffer God's House, which was to be called an House of prayer to all Nations, to be made a den of thiefs, by profane usage of it, much less will he endure to have it destroyed after he hath reform it; this is sacrilege, and that the Apostle ranks with Idolatry, as being full out as evil, if not worse than it; for what Idolatry but pollutes, sacrilege quite pulls down; and easier it is to new hollow a Temple polluted, than to build a new one out of an heap of stones. Once more, Sixthly, If the flood of God's indignation ariseth so high against those that suffer the material Temple dedicated to his service to be waste, how shall it rage against them that do not repair his spiritual Temples, their own souls and bodies which have been consecrated to him in Baptism; for so saith the Apostle, Ye are the Temples of the living God, 2 Cor. 6. 16. as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them: And God takes more delight in these, than in the other. For, thus saith the high and lofty one, Esa. 57 15. that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit. And he refuseth all the services that are done him in his external Temple, as an abomination; if the spiritual Temple be defiled with sin and demolished by inquity. Sin not only defiles but destroys these Houses of God, let us therefore build them again by our sincere Repentance and Reformation, let us cleanse them from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit: we cry, shame! to see a Church turned into a Barn, or Stable; to see a Christian all for the world is no better sight; Let us take heed that we do not make this House of God a Den of Thiefs, a Brothel House for uncleaness, a Cage for unclean Birds, but let us adorn it with all the grace of God's Spirit, for Holiness becometh the Lord's House for ever. Especially since the ruins of this Spiritual House will draw with it the ruins of the Material, as God threatens the Jews to do to their Temple, Jer. ●. 12, 14 as he did unto Shiloh for the wickedness of his people Israel. And now to close up all. If any man shall think this concerns him not; because God sends no Prophets now to tell us that for such and such sins, God sends such and such Judgements. Let him know, that all these things that are recorded in the Prophets, happened unto them for examples, and are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. 1 Cor. 10. 11. when therefore we may see a parallel of sins and punishments with those registered in sacred writ: we may without presumption conclude that those sins were the provoking cause of those Judgements. And here the Parallel is so visible, that he that runneth may read; and I make no question but your own meditations have run Parallel with my discourse so that most of my labour that way is already saved. For is it not the general complaint, and outcry of this City, that there is an universal decay of Trade? Do not the Merchants complain? we look for much, and that upon good ground; for we have sent forth our Ships richly laden and ventured them on long and dangerous Voyages; but lce it comes to little, our Ships return not, or if they do, the income doth not answer the expense, our Commodities hardly yield what they cost. Doth not the Shopkeeper complain? we look for much, having taken Houses at great Prices and Furnished our shops with rich wares, but lo it comes to little, there are few Buyers, and but small gains, we can scarce pay our rents. Doth not the Handicrafts man complain we look for much, for we labour hard and work good and sufficient wares; but lo it comes to little; The Shopkeeper will not buy but at his own rates; so that we have little more than our labour for our Pains. And that which adds to the unhappiness of all this is, that every one of these is apt to impute this Calamity to any thing, rather than the right cause and so hinder themselves of the true remedy, because they will not understand the true cause of the distemper: Either a Foreign Nations engrossing Trade abroad, or the Magistrates neglect of Trade at home must bear the blame; who is it that considers that God's House lies waste, while every man runs to his own House? God's House said I, nay God's Houses, how many of them lie in their ruins, in their rubbish? for we must not fancy that God hath no Houses now, and that because that Temple at Jerusalem together with its Ceremonial worship is abolished that God hath not adopted any other places, which he will own for his; for before the foundations of that Temple were laid, and since they have been razed, and one stone not left on another which was not thrown down, God always had a place appropriated to his worship, and where he was pleased to afford a more gracious Presence than elsewhere. Even in Paradise, Adam had a place to present himself before God. Which was called God's Presence or Face. Gen. 3. 8. From which he hid himself, for from God's general presence nothing can be hid, but all things are naked and open. And his Sons out of Paradise had their places where to bring their Sacrifices, Gen. 4. 3. From which when Cain stood excommunicate for the Murder of his Brother Abel, he is said to be cast out from the presence of the Lord. Vers. 16. Abraham, besides Altars in several places, planted a grove, Gen. 21. 23. To be a fixed place for God's worship, for there he called on the name of the Lord. And so it is expounded by one that was no great friend to our Churches. Ainsworth in l c. And afterwards when he is commanded to offer his Son Isaac, the very Mountain is prescribed him, Gen. 21. 1. and God's title to it ceased not with that one act, for there Solomon's Temple was afterwards built, which God in my Text calls his House; nor did it then begin, if we may believe the general consent of the Jewish Rabbins, Maimony in misnoth l. 8. and in Treatise of the Temple, c. 2. s. 2. who assert that to be the place where Cain and Abel, nay Adam himself offered: When Jacob consecrated that place where he saw the Vision of the Ladder reaching to Heaven, Gen. 28. 18. he called it Beth-el, God's House, the ground of which both consecration and name is rendered, Vers. 16, 17. Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not, how dreadful is this place? This is none other, but the House of God, the gate of Heaven. So that God's Houses began not with the Temple of Solomon, no nor that ambulatory Temple of Moses the Tabernacle, Psa. 66. 13. which is peculiarly by David called God's House; nor while they were in being, did they engross that title to themselves, for there were both in Jerusalem and in other places of the Land no small number of Synagogues for the People to resort unto for their Devotions, which are called Synagogues of God, Psa. 74. 8. Psa. 83. 12. and Houses of God, in the Plural Number: and these were Frequented by Christ and his Apostles as well as the Temple. And since the Destruction of that Temple, God was never destitute of Houses for his Worship. True it is that in the Primitive times of Christianity, when they had not the Public allowance and Countenance of authority, they could exercise their Religion only in Private, yet than they had places for the Saints to meet in for Divine Worship, such were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the upper-roomes mentioned so frequently in the Acts of the Apostles, and distinguished by St. Paul from Private Houses. 1 Cor. 11. 22. Have ye not Houses to Eat and Drink, or despise ye the Church of God? understood by most Interpreters both ancient and modern of the public place of God's Worship; those perhaps not so sumptous and stately as afterwards, the Churches mean Condition and the world's envy would not permit that, but such as their Poverty would allow they had. But when it pleased God to raise up Kings and Emperors to favour sincerely the Christian Faith, Churches were then erected in all places, and no cost spared, nothing thought to dear which that way was spent and these were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Lords from whence the Scots Kirke and our English Church doth proceed, and is the same title which is given to his day Rev 1. 10; And not improperly since we find the place and time of God's Worship Joined together by the Holy Ghost in Scripture, Leu. 19 30. 8, 26. 2. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my Sanctuary; and than what the Son of Syrach saith of one may be applied to the other, and we may say why doth one place excel another? Ecclesasticus 33. 7. by the knowledge of the Lord they are distinguished, and some of them he hath made high places and hallowed them, and some of them he hath made ordinary places. As the one is the Day of rest, and when we hollow it, it is called God's rest, so the other when Consecrated to his name is called God's rest, Psal. 132. 14. This is my rest for ever. And such were those Houses in this City, which are now wast, for they were Dedicated and Consecrated to God's service, in them the Saints were assembled, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was Preached, The Lords Holy Name was Invocated, and the Sacraments of the new covenant duly administered, to all which Christ under the Gospel hath Promised a gracious presence. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Mat. 18. 20. And to this promise he hath set to his seal by Converting to, and Confirming many a Soul in the doctrine of Jesus Christ from these places. Now, that these are waste, is as legible, as if writ in Text; but where to lay the blame is not perhaps so easily discovered. To impute it to the Magistracy of this City, this Honourable Bench would be no less than Scandalum Magnatum. Their Zeal in general is Sufficiently evidenced by this place wherein we are now Assembled; and in particular many of them either by actual contribution, or subscription, have testified abundantly their respects to these Houses: And of the Commonalty, I have reason to have as good an opinion, if their abilities were consonant to their desires, when I consider their ancient zeal while the City was Flourishing to these Houses of God, how they opened their hands, and filled with Blessings many Churches both at home and abroad, both in their own and foreign Countries; yet even the best Sailors may be becalmed and want the gale of a Prophet to encourage them, to go up to the Mountain and bring wood, etc. Your hearts I am confident are good, it is but setting to your hands, and the work will be done. Do but begin, and never fear the reproach of not having wherewithal to finish; Do but lay the first stone, and never distrust the providence of that God who is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginner and Finisher of every good work. When Moses was about Building the Tabernacle, his charge was no more but this, every one that is of a willing heart, Exod. 35. 5. let him bring into the offering of the Lord, and they brought in so fast both men and women, that there was too much; and a proclamation was made in the Camp that they should bring in no more. When stuff was to be provided for the Temple, 1. Cr●n. 29. 5. King David left it at large: Whoso is willing to consecrate his Service to the Lord. and both Kings, Princes and People offered abundantly and willingly, insomuch that he for himself and them giveth thanks to the Lord in this form; Who am I, verse 14. and what is my People; that we should offer so willingly? Do but lead the way, and I doubt not but God will stir up the hearts of others to follow; there is not a Soul, that feareth God but the Zeal of God's House will eat it up, there will be many a true hearted Araunah who will offer not his land but his Timber for the House of the Lord; The Rich out of his abundance will give more, and the poor Widow out of her Penury will give a mite. Even the labourer out of his hire, the servant out of his wages, and the soldiers out of their pay, will dedicate something, as the two Generals of Saul and David's armies did. 2. Chr. 26. 28. The Living will lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on Eternal life, and the dying, (I persuade myself) will not make a will, but God's House shall have a Legacy in it. Even, the covetous usurer will out of compliance with the times, if not out of remorse of conscience throw down some of his Silver with Judas into the Temple: Do but propose the means, and you have a great and gracious King, the Churches nursing Father, and faith's defender, who will promote the work, and rather than it shall not go on, will with his Countryman Constantine the no less religious than Magnificent Emperor, be content to carry stones on his own shoulders towards it. You have a Loyal and Religious Parliament the Church's Nursing Mother; ready to enact whatsoever shall be propounded to them for the advancement of so great and glorious a work; nay do but set earnestly about it, and God himself will go before you to make the crooked places straight, and to break in pieces the Gates of Brass, Esa. 45. 2. and to cut in sunder the bars of Iron, that is, to remove all rubs and impediments, which would hinder the foundation of the Temple to be laid: and he also will lay the headstone thereof with shouting, saying, Grace, Grace unto it. I cannot conclude better then with the exhortation of this Prophet. c 2. v. 4. Be now strong O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord, and be strong O Josuah Son of Josedech the high Priest and be strong all ye People of the Land, saith the Lord, and work for I am with you, saith the Lord of Host; With you by my help, and assistance; with you by my care and acceptance; with you by my reward, and recompense: c. 2. 7. for than will I fill these Houses with Glory, dwelling and having a delight in them, and in them will I give peace, v. 9 vers. 19 and in them will I furnish you with plenty too: and then happy would be the People that are in such a Case yea blessed will this City be, which hath this Lord of Hosts to be their God. Now to this Lord of Hosts, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, three Persons but one Infinite God, be ascribed in his holy Temple all Praise Honour and Thanksgiving now and for ever, Amen. FINIS.