JUDAH'S PURGING IN THE MELTING POT. A SERMON Preached in the Cathedral at SARUM before the Reverend Sir Robert Foster, and Sir Thomas Tirrell Knights, Judges for the Western Circuit, at the Wiltshire Assizes. Sept. 6. 1660. By W. CREED D. D. Archdeacon of Wilts and Canon Resident of Sarum. Published at the special request of their Lordships, and divers eminent Gentlemen, Justices of the Peace, and others. LONDON, Printed for R. Royston, and are to be sold by John Courtney Bookseller in SARUM. To the Reverend Sir ROBERT FOSTER, AND Sir THOMAS TIRRELL Knights, His Majesty's Justices of the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, Judges for the Western Circuit. AND To the Honourable and Right Worshipful, the Justices of the Peace for the County of WILTS. My Lords and Gentlemen, THat I presume to affix your Names to this Sermon, is to let the World know, that as by your Favour in not forsaking our Cathedral, I had the Opportunity to Preach it, so by your desire, and at the Instance of divers Honourable and Worshipful Persons, Justices of the Peace, and others it was committed to the Press. The truth is, my Lords, you and those worthy Gentlemen did more than desire it. You assured me (as a Motive for you to ask, and me to grant) that it would be very useful for the Public. And this had with me the Nature of a Command; because I count it my duty, as a Minister of Christ, to promote by all lawful ways, the true interest of Christianity, exemplary Piety, Repentance, Purity and Peace. And as these blessed Ends (wherein the Happiness; and Welfare of a Church and Nation consist) have been by God's Grace (though with much Frailty and Weakness) the constant Objects of my Endeavours in the work of the Ministry, so now more especially, since God has been pleased so miraculously to be seen in our Deliverance, and happy Restauration. For though God's Judgements always signally call for Repentance, yet me thinks his Mercies much more; because he has promised that Christ's People shall be willing in the day of his power, Psalm. 110. in the Beauty of holiness from the womb of the Morning, when the lively fruitful Dews of Grace fall, that renew the face of the Earth, and make it fresh and youthful. And as these times are Times of Mercy, so I thought, that healing Discourses were the fittest. But then that the Cure might be sound and real, not Palliative and false, I thought it proper at this Season (the Emblem of the great Assize) to search the wound unto the bottom. And therefore I made choice of a Scripture, not so much to teach you your Duties, (which I had good Reason to hope you better understood, than to need my Admonition) as to make my Auditory sensible of those sins, that had drawn down our heavy Judgements, that so laying them to heart, they might leave the Magistrate less work by a Cordial Repentance, and more prize God's Mercies, so miraculously bestowed on us, when we had least Reason to expect them, because by his Corrections, we had so little been prepared for them. Yet because I saw God had drawn a wonderful Veil of Mercy between our Sins, and his Judgements, and that the King and his great Council, were so solicitous and careful in Preparing and Passing so unparallelled an Act of Grace and perpetual Oblivion, I resolved not to meddle with any Persons, or Parties, concerned in that Act, but with the crimes of the Text, and the Vices of the Nation, and still to fix on such Motives, as the Text naturally suggested, to make us bury our Animosities, and with all Humility to adore the Hand in the Clouds, and not regard the rods, and the Scourges, wherewith we were beaten. And where in the Application I was forced to speak of the sins, that had made us like Jerusalem, in the Punishment, I industriously confined myself to those, that had been in the Melting Pot. And I have reason to bless God, that the great Sufferers, and prime Objects of my Discourse, were so sensible of my reproofs, that they gave me hearty thanks. As for the rest of the Audience, they were so unconcerned in my Thoughts, that I could not be so uncharitable to imagine, they would so much own and countenance the sins of the Text, as to conceive themselves aimed at in the Description of those sins. And it must be their own unchristian Imprudence, if by any sinister Construction, they turned that into a Satire, which I delivered a Sermon. And I wish them timely to consider, whether such unjust Apprehensions may not deprive them of a right to our Mercies, by entitling themselves as yet to those sins, that have drawn down such Judgements. Yet if any Sanballats and Tobiah'sses still maligning the happy restauration and Building our Jerusalem and Temple, will think themselves concerned, when the sins so sorely threatened, and sharply punished in God's People, are but named and described, this will only argue their guilt, that still stairs them in the Face, and will not suffer them to forget, what their Brethren have resolved to bury in perpetual oblivion; and they are too much like the Roman Dame, whose trembling at the noise of the Lictor's whip (that was the Ensign of her Sister's Honour) did palpably betray the meanness of her present condition. But as I thought not of any such Self-libellers, as these, before the Sermon was Preached, so I shall less think of them now, when it comes from the Press. I have better work at present; to praise God for his Mercies in the removal of his judgements, and humbly beseech him, that by the power of his Grace, he would put an end to our sins, lest they make us unworthy of the continuance of his mercies. And as he has restored us our Judges as at the first, and our Counsellors as at the beginning, so he would make you, my Lords, and Gentlemen, very eminent among those, whom he has designed to dress and polish us by Justice and Judgement, that so being now delivered from the hands of our enemies, we may all serve God without fear, in holiness, and righteousness before him all the days of our life, and become a faithful City, a City of Righteousness. And this shall be the Prayer of, My Lords, and Gentlemen, Your most faithful servant in Christ Jesus WILLIAM CREED. JUDAH'S PURGING IN THE MELTING POT. Isaiah I. vers. 25, 26. And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy Tin. And I will restore thy Judges, as at the first, and thy Counsellors, as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called the City of Righteousness, the faithful City. The Context runs thus. Vers. 21. How is the faithful City become an Harlot? it was full of judgement, righteousness lodged in it, but, now murderers. 22. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water. 23. Thy Princes are rebellious, and companions of thiefs: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. 24. Therefore thus saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies. 25. And I will turn my hand upon thee, etc. 27. Zion shallbe redeemed with judgement, and her converts with righteousness. THe words indeed are a Prophecy concerning Judah and Jerusalem a Esay 1. 1. for 1. but fitted and calculated for every Meridian and Country, where God has a Church. b 1 Cor. 10. 11. These things, saith the Apostle, happened to them for ensamples, and were c Rom. 15. 4. 1 Cor. 9 9, 10. 1 Cor. 10. 11. written for our instruction. And though this be Gods constant Method, yet no Nation under Heaven has had a more signal experiment of the Accomplishment of this Prophecy in the first, and most eminent parts of it, than ourselves. We have sensibly been ●aught by our late afflictions and miseries, and the now happy Restauration of our former Judges and Counsellors, that it belongs to us, as well as to Judah and Jerusalem. And God grant, that as our late miseries and judgements have not been to devour, but only to refine us, so we may have a share in the Issue and Event of the Prophecy, and that our Magistrates and Ministers, that God has restored to us, may have a powerful influence on our true Reformation; that our Zion may be redeemed with Judgement, and her Converts with Righteousness. Esay 1. 27. You see the Text exactly squares with the Times, and this Occasion. For here the Prophet represents to you Gods deal in the Reformation of his people under the Metaphor of a Founder, as it were melting and dressing them to be fit vessels of his Sanctuary. And I will turn mine hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, etc. Wherein observe a double Work or Operation of this Alwise, Almighty Artist, with the Issue and Event of it. In the first work, we have God like the Goldsmith laying his hand upon the Metal, which he finds corrupted and embased beyond all possibility of scouring, and then breaking it in pieces by his judgements, and casting it into the Furnace of Affliction to purify it from its dross, and refine it from the Tin. And I will turn mine hand upon thee, etc. In the second, we have Gods dealing with the Metal now purified and melted. He brings it to the Wheel, and the Anvil, the Hammer and the File, the Putty and the Oil to shape and fashion, dress and polish it for the great Master's use. He restores unto them good Magistrates, and good Ministers * Calvin, Junius, and others after them, by Counsellors, here also understood Civil Magistrates, that were assistants to the Judges; but Jerom, Haymo, Lyra, Alapide, Brentius, the ordinary Gloss, and others understand it of the Restauration of the Priests and the Prophets; such as Ezra, Josuah the son of Josedeck, and the Apostles and Ministers of the Gospel. But it seems; to me at least, to have been literally and primarily fulfilled under Hezekiah, who restored the Priests and the Levites to the service of the Lord; though secundatily, and in type, it refers to all such future Restauration in the Church. Compare 2 Chron. cap. 29. 30, 31. and 2 Kings 18. and the stories of Vzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, with the first Chap. of Isaiah. men of lawful Authority for Commission, and of solid Integrity for Execution; such Judges as they had at first, and such Counsellors as at the beginning: the one to shape and dress them by Judgement and Justice in punishing offenders, and a Psal. 101. 8. cutting off all evil doers from the city of the Lord; the other to scour and polish them by sound doctrine b 2 Tim. 3. 15, 16, 17. , and seasonable reproof, by wholesome correction and instruction in Righteousness. And I will restore unto thee thy Judges, etc. And then the Issue and Event is (which is the third Branch of the Text) the vessels of Gold and Silver thus purified and fashioned become sanctified indeed and vessels unto honour. Afterward thou shalt be called the City of Righteousness, the faithful City, or according to the Hebrew Idiom, thou shalt really be, as thou art called, or, as Calvin, thou shalt be so eminently a just and religious people, that all Nations round about shall take notice, and speak of it, and call thee, as thou art. Of these in the Order proposed. And first of the first, God's purifying of his People from their dross, and their Tin by the fire of Affliction. And I will turn my hand upon thee, etc. It begins with a Copulative. And this shows the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXXII. Connexion and dependence of this Act and Operation on the former, at the same instant, that God will avenge himself upon his Adversaries, he will turn his hand on Zion. Whence observe, That when the sins of a Nation are at the height, God brings a national Judgement. He kindles a fire in Zion, and it devours the very Lam. 4. 11. foundations thereof. In common Calamities all suffer alike. The Plague, the Sword, the Famine (Gods National whips and scourges) make no distinction. The Good and Bad are equally exposed unto their fury. The fire in the Furnace as well furiously scorches the precious metal, as the Tin, and dross. The only difference is in the issue of the work, and the design of the Artificer: and God with the selfsame Judgements, wherewith he eases himself of his Adversaries, refines and melts his people, that are in covenant with him. Whence learn we not to pass censure on private persons in common Calamities. Let us not think them worse, on whom the Tower in Siloe fell, than the Luke 13. 4. rest of Jerusalem that escaped: or that those were Luke 13. 2, the very worst and most seditious of all the Galileans, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, and so perished in their Rebellion. But consider we what our Saviour has told us Luk. 13. 3. 5. against such Censurers, I tell you nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. He that sinks in a common Calamity, may be better than any that are spared: nay sometimes the best and chiefest in a Nation fall soon under the Burden. But then many times this happens not for their own, but others sins, even of those that are often spared in the Judgement. When the People murmured Psal. 106. 32 against God, he was angry, says the Psalmist, with Moses, (their Ruler) for their sakes. A pious K●ng may be destroyed by, and for the sins of those, that conspire his destruction. Or secondly, God sometimes takes away the Goodman from the evil yet to come, when he has greater plagues in store. Or thirdly, that the wicked may have no Mediators, no Intercessors left, to bind his hands, and wrestle with him in Prayer, as a Exod. 32. 10, 11. Psal. 106. 23. Moses did, when he resolves to destroy them. We do not b Gen. 18. 32. find ten righteous persons in the four Cities of the Plain, though Lot and his Family dwelled in Sodom, lest it might have been spared for ten sake. And no injustice at all in this. For as the best men have their sins, and he that is least guilty in a Nation has some way or other helped to add to the public Bank: so the worst may, through God's mercy to them in Christ, be reprieved in National Judgements, to give them space to repent (it was wicked Jezabels' case Revel. 2. 21.) or he may reserve them for whips and scourges to punish an hypocritical people, as he saved the c 1 King. 11. 26. 40. 2 Chron. 13. 6 Traitor Jeroboam from the sword of his Prince, that so he might be the d 1 Kings 11. 31, 32, 33. compared with vers. 9, 10. 11. scourge to Rehoboam the son of a e 1 King. 11. 1, 2 etc. to the 11. Quisquis ille Confessor est, Salomone major aut melior, aut charior non est, qui tamen quamdiu in viis Domini ambulavit, tamdiu gratiam, quam de Domino fuerat consecutus, obtinuit. Postquam dereliquit Domini viam perdidit & gratiam Domini. Et ideo scriptum est, Tene quod habes ne alius accipiat Coronam. Cyprian de Eccles. Unitate seu simplicitate Praelat. p 171. edit. Froben. Basil. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins, that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right. he shall surely live, he shall not die, Ezek. 18 21. And that Solomon repent of his evil ways, I have reason to imagine, and that Ecclesiastes was the signal fruit of his Repentance. wicked Father. And if they make not good use of this Reprieve, God has greater Judgements in store (as he had for impenitent Jezabel, Revel. 2. 22, 23.) and when the discipline is ended, than the Assyrian the f Esay 10. 5. 12. Rod of his Anger, must be thrown into the fire, and f Esay 10. 5. 12. another nation shall visit and ruin them, for the evil of God's People, to which they were instrumental. Let not then the g Esay 10. 15. Axe boast itself against the wood, that is hewed, and say, I am better than thou, much less against him that heweth therewith: nor let him, that has escaped a common Calamity, think it was for his own goodness, that he fell not, as other men. God's Judgements as we read in h Dan. 12. 4 9 Revel. 6. 3. & 10. 4. Isai. 29. 11. Daniel and the Revelation, are still sealed. They are secret hidden things to us, and we know not the Causes nor the Justice of them. Nevertheless, as the Apostle * 2 Tim. 2, 19 2 Tim. 2. 19 the foundation of the Lord standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them, that are his. And let every one that but nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. That is † Deut. 29. 29. our business at all times; especially in public Calamities. † But secret things (his winding intricate Paths of Providence and Judgement against an hypocritical People) belong unto the Lord. We may see indeed who suffers, and what scourge falls upon him, but then we know not the end, or reason of the stroke. It is not then for us to pry into God's Counsels when he is at his work of Judgement▪ When the Founder sits at the Melting pot, none can know, but himself, why this piece of Metal first goes into the flame, or why that other is reserved. God's Judgements, says the * Psal. 36. 9 Psalmist, are a great deep, not to be fathomed by us. No rather, let it humble us under his sin-avenging hand, and make us tremble at the severity of his wrath, and abhor our own vileness, that makes him spare none. Good, bad, all alike, we see, lie under a common Calamity: and the best are either first taken away, or are the most eminent in sufferings. Let it teach us to adore his Justice in Wonder and Silence, and make us lay our hands on our lips, as † Psal. 39 9 David did, and be dumb, and open not our mouth, because God did it. Or rather let us lay our hands on our hearts, and judge not others, but ourselves, and say as Nathan did to David, we, we are the men; 2 Sam. 12. 7. We have brought this destruction on our Princes, and on our Brethren. Let it make us lift up our Prayers for the remnant that is left. As the Judgement Esay 37. 5. has been National and Public, so let all the Joel 2. 16. 17. Congregation, the Elders, the Sucklings, the Bridegroom, the Priests, all cry out, spare thy People, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach. Let our Prayers and our Repentance be as large and public as our Sins and Miseries have been. Alas! let us not consider who was struck, or who spared, or who threatened in the desolation, but the hand, that did strike us. The Author of the Punishment, the next thing considerable. And that is one sufficient enough for such a work. For he wants nor Power, nor Skill, nor Authority to effect it, because he is the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, Esay 1. 24. the mighty one of Israel, as he describes himself in the verse before the Text, to show his own strength, and our weakness, and affright the sinner to Repentance. For his Power, he is the Lord of hosts, the mighty one: Job 25. 3. and is there any number of his Armies? as it is Job 25. 3. And certainly methinks this alone should humble us, were we rational Creatures. For do we provoke the Lord, the Lord of hosts, to Jealousy? Are we 1 Cor. 10 22. stronger than he, that is, the mighty one of Israel? Are any of us able to dwell with his Everlasting burn? Esay 33. 14. Are we sufficient to meet him with our ten thousand Weaknesses, that comes against us with his twenty thousand Judgements? Me thinks when a Nationall Plague is broke in upon us, it should humble and terribly amate us, that it is the King of Kings, and Lord of hosts, one higher, one stronger than all, that smites us, that can consume us with the very breath Psal. 18. 8. Esay 5. 24. Esay 31. 3. of his nostrils; us, that are as stubble before the flames, and chaff before the wind, that like Egypt's horses, are flesh and not Spirit? Though in our Brave, with † Esay 37. 24. 25. Sennacherib, we talk high, and threaten what we will do against the enemy at home, or abroad, yet * Vers. 29. Leviathan has a hook in his Nostrils, the war horse hath a bridle in his lips: he shall go, but to the compass of his Line, and whether † A notable example of God's Providence in this kind we have Ezechiel 21, 19, 20, 21, 22, etc. Vid. Grot. in loc. God himself by his all wise Providence shall guide him to destroy. * Esay 37. 33, 34, 35. Esay 54. 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria, He shall not come into this City, nor shoot an Arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a Bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this City saith the Lord. For I will defend this City to save it for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake. So again, Esay 54. 16. Behold, says God, I have created the Smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth his Instruments for his work, and I have created the Waster to destroy. But can he go further than God pleases? No. It follows v. 17. No weapon that is form against thee, Vers. 17. shall prosper: and every tongue that shall rise against thee in Judgement, thou shalt condemn: this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And therefore, † Esay 49. 9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker: Let the Potsherds strive with (their equals) the Potsherds of the Earth: Shall the Clay say to him that fashioneth it, what makest thou, or thy work, he hath no hands? No, consider we what he says a little before to this purpose of Cyrus, * Esay 49. whose right hand he had holden to subdue Nations before him, Esay 54. 5. Vers. 5. I am the Lord and there is none else, there is no God besides me: I have girded thee with strength, though thou hast not known me. This for the consideration of God's Power to humble us, in a common Calamity. None so strong as he; none so weak as we are. But then not only strength and might are his; but wisdom, and counsel too, to effect, whatsoever he pleases. He styles himself the Lord, for that. Ah Lord God, says Jeremy c. 32. 17, 18, 19 behold Jer. 32. 17, 18, 19 thou hast made the Heaven and the earth— and there is nothing too hard for thee— Great in Counsel and mighty in work; for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways, and the fruit of his do. We when a Judgement comes, may strive and plot and labour what we can to prevent it. What Rabshaketh spoke falsely concerning Hezekiah, is often 2 Kings 18, 19, 20. too true of our Policies and Stratagems. What confidence is this, wherein we trust? We say (but they are but vain words) we have Counsel, and strength for the war. But talk, and think, what we will; No Counsel shall prosper against his determination to punish a rebellious People. For what says he in Esay 46. c. 10, 11? My Counsel shall stand, and I will Esay 46. 10. 11. do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my Counsel, from a far Country; yea I have spoken it, and I will bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also do it. We are apt on all sides to lay the blame on evil Counsel. How readily do we charge our Miseries on this man's Treason, or the others Folly? If such a one had been wise, or honest, to have advised the Prince in good time, or such an one had not been false, to reveal his counsels, or conspire against him, none of these Calamities had followed. But fools as we are, not to think of our own sins, that are the true causes of all our miscarriages, the rest are but Occasions. When God is resolved to visit a People in Judgement, he catches the wise in their own craft, and turns the counsels of the Sages of the Nation, like those of the Oracle, Achitophel, into foolishness. 2 Sam. 15 31. 2 Sam. 16. 23 2 Sam. 17. 5, 6 7, 8. And by his Providence he blasts the best directions; either making wise advices to be rejected as vain, or raising up a Hushai to match Achitopbel, a Craftyer Vers. 14. than they, to counterwork all their Plots, and bring them to confusion. This should teach us not to look on any kind of Instruments, evil Counselors, or others, that God makes use of, for our chastisement. How apt have we all along been to complain, (and yet this Mistake is not purged out of us to this day) against this man's Craft and the others Folly; against this man's Rashness and the others Treachery; this Layman's Faction, and that Priests seditious Rhetoric; this Tradesman's Covetousness, and that Gentleman's Malice; this Citizen's Pride, and that Courtier's Ambition? But have we thought of our sins, and of our God, whose Providence and Wisdom has overruled our own sins, to be our own Punishments? Sure things had been far better, if we had looked up to God, and adored the strange Abyss of his wisdom in all our Punishment, and had not fallen on Inferior Agents, that can do nothing of themselves, but only as he directs. For as he has Power and Wisdom, so he has the only Right to chastise. He is not only the Lord of hosts, but the mighty one of Israel too, to show his Right and Authority to punish: none can do it, but Herald for as the Prophet asks the Question Amos 3. Amos 3. 5, 6. vers. 5, 6. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? Shall there be evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it? He it is, that hisses for the Fly (the Horsemen) in the uttermost parts of the Rivers Esay 7. 17. of Egypt, and for the Bee (the spear and arrow) that is in the Land of Assyria, Esay 7. 17. And he usually rewards them with unexpected success, whom he raises for vengeance. O Assyria, the rod Esay 10, 5, 6. of mine Anger, and the staff in their hand is my Indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical Nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like mire in the streets. Hence it is that God compares him to a Razor that is hired for this purpose, Esay 7. 20. And for this cause he calls Esay 7. 20. Esay 45. 1, 2, 3. Cyrus his anointed, whom he had raised up unexpectedly to the throne, and prospered him to beat down the Gates of Brass, and lose the loins of Kings, and receive the Treasures of Darkness, Esay 45. v. 1, 2, 3. The Instruments of all our Miseries, could never have been able to have done any thing against us, unless God had not only given it them in charge, but assisted them to do it. We blame their Pride and and Covetousness and Ambition; and we do not amiss. But our spoils and Plunder were the wages, God bestowed upon them for their service. And they were God's Hirelings, when they knew it not, and only designed to serve their lusts, and obey their own ambitions. Even heathen Cyrus was Esay 45. 1, 4▪ Gods Anointed, though he was ignorant of him. And the Assyrian was his hired servant, howbeit, as it is in Esay 10. 6, 7. our Prophet, that he meant not so, but only to destroy and cut off Nations not a few. This should help to bury our Animosities on all sides. Consider we, that they have been God's instruments, his Fire and Hammer to break us for the Furnace, and melt us from our dross and Tin. The Devil, God's Executioner, and wicked men his substitutes, are all but in a chain. They could not fall on Jobs , or substance, or touch his Person, Job 1 9, 10. 11. Mark 5. 12, 13 till God gave them leave. Nay they could not enter into the Gadarens Swine, without Christ's permission. And yet God, in this, is not the Author, nor Abetter of their sin, no more than the Apothecary begets the Scorpion and the Viper, which he makes into an Antidote; or the Goldsmith Creates the Fire, whose Fury he makes use of, to refine his Metal. The Sinner is a Sinner still. Judas was never a whit the less Traitor, or the Jews less Parricides, the one in betraying, the other in murdering the Lord of life, because by their malice God brought redemption to the world, by the death of his Son. And herein appears, as well the strange wisdom, as the Power of God, that he can make use of the sins of men to punish a wicked People, and yet himself be just and innocent. Truth is, God need not be the Author of sin (if it were possible) that so he may become the Author of Punishment. If Satan, the Executioner of God's Vengeance be but loosed, he will do it fast enough. If God but once remove his hedge of Providence about Job 1. 2. us, he will bring Chaldeans and Sabeans, winds and tempest, fire and brimstone, botches, plagues and diseases more then enough for such a purpose. Nay if the Devil were not a roaring Lion, still running up 1 Pet. 5. 8. and down to devour us, yet wicked men have sins enough to devour one another, to punish themselves while they refine others. The fire in the Furnace, whilst it melts the Metal, consumes itself. The appear and the nether Millstone, as they grind the good Corn between them, so they wear out one another. The * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Arist. Eth. Nicom. l. 2. c. 8. Moralist observes of the two opposite vices, that they are more Enemy one to the other, then to the middle virtue between them. And we had too sad experience of this in our late unnatural war. Had we any need to prompt on the debauched Cavalier against the hypocritical pretender? or of Curse ye Meroz to stir up the Zealot to come in to the help of the Lord against the Mighty? Their own contrary humours and passions would make them fight, and with eagerness enough, to one another's destruction. The time will not give me leave to show you ho● God makes use of the sinner for the punishing his servants, and purifying them from their dross. Sufficient it is for the present Point, that he does it, and only for his People's sake. And this hints unto us the Persons melted, his People, his Chosen; the next Circumstance. And it is Thee Judah and Jerusalem, his own People. God will not lose his Art and Pains on those, that are without the Pale of the visible Church. You only, says he in a Amos 3. 2. Amos, have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities, Amos 3. 2. This was a b Philip. 1. 29 Privilege God granted them, when he promised Abram that the Church should spring out of his loins. Thy seed shall be strangers in a foreign land, and Gen. 15. 13, 14 afflicted for four hundred years together. A long time this to be in the Melting Pot! But the silver must not out till purified. The same Promise he renews to David, 2 Sam. 7. 14. I will be his Father and he 2 Sam. 7. 14. shall be my son: if he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men, but my mercy shall not departed from him. Though this may seem somewhat unworthy the generousness of Faith, that the Christian should, as it were, be dragged and haled unto Goodness, because the Whip is for Slaves, and the Rod for the back of Fools, Prov. 26 3. etc. 10. 13. c. 29. 15. as Solomon speaks, yet this is God's usual Method, and which seldom fails of success. The best of all God's Saints, from him that sitteth on the throne, to Act. 14. 22. him that grinde●h at the mill, must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. The Ram, the Gen. 22. 13. emblem of our Saviour, that saved Isaac from the slaughter, was caught in a Thicket. The Church, though she be a Lily, is planted among thorns. And Cantic. 2. 2. Heb. 2. 10. Rev. 21. 4. the Captain of our salvation, because a Surety for sinners, was made perfect through sufferings. It is in heaven only, where the Saints are without sin, that they are without sorrow. Where no dross or rust can corrupt, there needs no Furnace, no Mat. 6. 10. Scouring. But here the case is otherwise, we are all an unclean Rom. 3. 11. thing: and Adam's Curse, and his Sweat and his Labour and Sorrow, are together with his sin entailed upon us. The best of us all * 2 Cor. 4. 7. have our treasure but in earthen vessels: and though our † James 1. 17 Rectè Metallorum ortus tribuitur Coelesti calori, etsi consistentiam à frigore recipiant. Vales. Philos. sac. c. 49. p. 239. Gold and Silver be begun and perfected by the † Influences of heaven, yet because they are begotten in the * Metalla omnia generantur sub terrâ. Vales. ibid. pag. 237. vid. Georg. Agricol. dear Metal. l. 3. p. 54. & de subterr. ortu & cause. l. 5. Bowels of the Earth, they are earth too, and the rich ‖ Vide Vales. philos. sac. pag. 23 8. Ore must be brought to the Fire, and the Melting Pot before it can be cleansed from the dross. And therefore it is the less to be wondered at, that we can not any any where turn in this book of God, but we shall find eminent Examples of it. Even Abraham the Father of the Faithful, before he can be Gen. 11. 28. vid. Ainswer. in loc. called the Friend of God, he must leave his Native Country, and his Father's house, and pass through Ur of the Chaldeans: that is, say the * Vid. Targum Jonathan Ben. Uziel. c. 11. v. 28. Rabbins, he must be cast into a fiery Furnace by that Idolatrous People from whence he escaped by Miracle, that he might flee from their Pollutions. But be the story what it will, yet * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cujus ignis est in Zion. Esay 31. 9 Psal, 34. 19 Num. 12, 3. Exod. 7. 1. Exod. 3. 10. Acts 7. 35, Acts 7. 30. 1 Sam. 13. 14. Ur, in that language signifies fire, and shows us this lesson, that many are the troubles of the Righteous, though the Lord delivers them out of all. What think you of Moses the meekest man alive? Before he can become a God to Pharaoh and a Leader of Israel, he must be weaned for forty years together from the vices of Egypt and the dalliances of Pharaohs Court. What say you to David, the man after Gods own heart? Take him from the sheepcote to the Throne, and you shall find him either 1 Sam, 17 36, 37, 50, 51. 1 Sam. 19 10. in the Jaw of the Lion, or the Paw of the Bear, or the Sword of Goliath, or the Spear of Saul; in deaths and perils often. His enemies mighty for their Power. Psal. 38. and more than the hairs of his head for number Psal. 38. 19 Psal. 69. his troubles at home, abroad, in Jewry, Psal. 69. 4. Palestine, in Gath, in Jerusalem, in the Cottage, in the Throne, in the Court, in the Camp, so many I cannot count them: for he himself, that suffered them, says that they are innumerable, Psal. 40. and Psal. 40. 12. Psal. 38. 8. these, many of them so sharp, that they made him roar through the very disquietness of his Soul. Mark the good man and the Perfect, Job, and you shall find Job 1. 1. &. c. 2. 3. Psal. 37. 37. Job 2. 8. Job 7. 11. him on a Dunghill, and in the midst of the Ashes with a Potsheard in his hand, to scrape his sores. And so great was his afflictions, that this miracle of Patience will not refrain his Mouth, but he will speak in the anguish of his spirit, and complain in the bitterness of his soul. And therefore, beloved, think it not strange concerning 1 Pet. 4. 11. the fiery trials, that have tried us. You see no new thing happens unto us. The best of Saints have had their melt, as well as we of this Nation. The † Excoquam igne tribulationis, sordes & vitia purgando, ut soparato stann● purum remaneat argentum; quod absque igne fieri non potest: unde quasi ignis conflans. Malach. 3. Gloss. Ordinar. in Esa. 1. 25. dross and Tin cleave so close to their best and purest Metal, that there is no taking it away, nor purging it out, without the Crucible and Mel●ing Pot. Nay it is the greater wonder, if we were not truly Gods People, that he should turn his hand upon us. If we were Reprobate Silver, God would throw us to the dirt of the street, and not into the Melting Pot. The Refiner will not put the * Dantur quaedam mixta, quae, metallicam naturam utcunque aemulantur, plenè non assequuntur; simul enim ad lapidum naturam deflectunt. Haec duorum ordinum. Priora Marchesitae nomen obtinuere. etc. Mocenic. p. 336. Marchesite into the Furnace, because though it glisters like Gold, yet it is but a stone. God will not lose his Art and Pains on such adulterate ware. For what says he in the Prophet of these, Jer. 6. 28, 29, 30. They are Brass and Iron, they are all corrupters Jerem. 6. vers. 28; 29, 30. (and have nothing of precious Metal in them.) The Bellows are burnt, the ** Plumbum in examine perfectorum (metallorum) adhibitum, imperfecta absumit, & una per sumum abripit, aut in scorias convertit Sennert. Institut. Phys. l. 5. c. 5. p. 401. Lead is consumed of the fire, the Founder melteth in vain. For the wicked are not plucked away. Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them. Such Revolters as these, notwithstanding their gilded outsides are unworthy of his skill. And therefore he cries out, why should ye be stricken any more, ye will revolt more and more? Since Esay 1. 5. it is not in the Power of his Art to refine them, he withdraws his hand, and lets them alone to prosper in their wickedness, that they may be scourges to the Psal. 73. 3. Psal. 85. 8. Psal. 73. 5, 6, 12. Saints, lest they return again to Folly. Behold these are the ungodly that prosper in the world; they are not in trouble as other men; therefore Pride compasseth them. But this their way is their folly, their happiness is their Psal. 49. 13. Psal. 73. 18 Vers. 19 curse. They are in slippery places. And O how suddenly do they consume? How are they brought into desolation as in a moment? they are utterly consumed with Terrors. And therefore, beloved, this should be our rejoicing, that we have been in the Melting Pot; and we should count ourselves happy, that God has turned his hand upon us. This shows that as we have been under his Artifice, so we are with him in esteem, otherwise the Founder would not melt us. Whatsoever our Enemies scandalously say against us, it seems there is something in us of his Grace and Goodness left. The Dross and the Tin have not eaten out all our precious metal, but to the glory of his Grace be it spoken, we retain something (as I hope our lives and conversations and future amendment shall testify) something of that Treasure, which the workman at first founding did put into the vessel. As we have been a long time in the Crucible, and under the Hammer and the Cross, so we have been under his Art and his Care and Protection too. And this, as it may argue us to belong to the household of faith, so it may assure us of God's love and respect towards us. If he were not our Father that begat us, he would not trouble himself thus to discipline and correct us. Whom the Lord loveth he Heb. 12, 6, 7. chasteneth, says the Apostle, Heb. 12. 6. and he scourgeth every son, whom he receiveth. But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are Partakers, then are ye Bastards and not Sons. Away then with those that Censure the Church or Good men, when they are under the Scourge, and cast into the Melting Pot. Those that seem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 4. 13. vid. Bezam, in locum. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the filth of the world, and offscouring of all things, fit for nothing in the eyes of men, but to be burned and destroyed, are now in Gods more immediate custody, when they are in the Furnace. Now they are the Objects of his Art and Skill, his Care and Love. Now the Founder is about his business and Trade; and he more immediately attends upon them, to purify them from their dross and their Tin, and cleanse and new fashion them. Though carnal men looked on us, as cast away by God, yet the issue hath showed that all our crosses and afflictions have been only in order to our scouring, and as we have been under God's Protection, while we were in the Crucible, so we were in his account in the readiest way to honour. And this hints unto us our next circumstance, the manner how God refines his People: it is by fire and melting. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. LXX.— Excoquet omnes sordes— ut separa. to sta●no purum argentum remaneat, quod absque igne fieri non potest, per quod significat eos passuros esse tormenta. Hier. in loc. vid. Lyram in loc. I will purge, and take away. And though the Method be sharp, yet it is for all that necessary. Dross and Tin will never be got out with all the washing and scouring in the world. There is nothing but the Fire can do it. Who sees not but that our Corn must pass under the flail and the Mill, before it can be cleansed from the Chaff, and dressed from the Bran to be Shewbread for the Sanctuary? The Grapes must be tread in the wine-press, and boil and work in the Fat, the Juice must be racked and drawn, and imprisoned in the Cask, before the Wine will be fully purified from the stone and the Husk, the Must and the Lees, and fitted for our Saviour's drinking in his Father's kingdom. Though Israel be God's chosen vine, a plant which his Esay. 5. 2. Jer. 2. 21. own right hand hath planted, yet the luxuriant Branches must come under the discipline and stroke of the Pruning hook, before it will be fruitful. And therefore God in Scripture is compared to a Vine-dresser, a Gardener, that is nothing without Esay 5. 1. the Spade, and the Hough, and the Pruning-knife; to a Husbandman, that must tear the bowels of the Earth Joh. 15 1. 1 Cor. 3. 9 with the Plough and the Harrow, before he can kill the weeds, and fit the soil for the seed; to a Refiner, as here in the Text, that is nothing without his Aqua fortis, and Melting pot, his fire, and waters of Separation. And this as it serves to represent the Sharpness of the Affliction, that God often brings upon his People, so it shows the deepness of their sin and Pollution. God sends not Nationall Judgements for ordinary common sins. Those he leaves to the Sword of the Magistrate. It is for the dross and the Tin, notorious debaucheries, and gross and scandalous sins, and gilded Hypocrisies, that have embodied themselves in the precious Metal, and have run through the whole substance, and overspread the whole Nation, and are too big for the Law. If you read in the foregoing Part of the Chapter, you shall find the Prince's rebellious, and companions of Esay 1. 23. Thiefs, the Courts of Justice made Exchanges and Mercates to sell the Causes of the Poor for the Briberies of the Rich; nothing but following after gifts and rewards; no Judging of the Fatherless, nor the Cause of the Widow regarded. The faithful City vers. 21. was become an Harlot, and instead of Judgement and Righteousness, nothing now but Murderers to be found in it. The hands full of blood, the mouth full of blasphemies and cursing and lies, the head full of covetousness and projects to gain Estates, and the heart full of hypocrisy, and dissembling with God and Man. For still they are for the outside and cheap forms of v. 11, 12, 13. 14, 15. devotion. Much treading Gods Courts, and sanctifying the Sabbaths, and calling solemn Assemblies, and multitude of Sacrifices, and spreading forth the hands, and making many prayers. Their silver, as it is verse the 22. was now become so drossy and embased, that no Lotion was sufficient, though of Fuller's soap, or Nitre; no scouring or cleansing, though of Putty and Oil, will serve the turn. The Laws and Punishments of the Nation are too weak, and the Preach of the Prophets not regarded. None but such active Instruments as the fire and the flame, that pierce into the very substance, and dissolve the Metal, is sufficient for the work. And this should teach us, not to repine at God's Judgements, but to be angry with our sins, that force as it were, the Almighty against his own gracious inclination to wound and chastise us. Wherefore, says the Prophet Jeremy, Lament. 3. 39, 40. doth a living Lam. 3. 39 40 man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways, and turn unto the Lord our God. For to our Comfort it is, God will not cast us off, his mercies are not clean gone, even in the very midst of our Afflictions. Though, as it is Lament. 3. 32, 33. he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according Lam. 3. 32, 33 to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. We Esay 1. 24. see he sighs and laments and cries * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ah, when he rouzes himself to ease him of his Adversaries, and avenge Plangitautem clementissimus Pater Principes delinquentes, etc. Hieron. in loc quem vid. & Lyram. him of his enemies: and therefore when he turns his hand upon his People, we may be well assured, that his strokes are only the disciplines of a Father, and the lancings of a Surgeon, not the wounds of an Executioner. And though he kindle a Fire about us, yet it is only to melt and refine us from our dross and our Tin, and not to destroy us. Which hints unto us the end of God's Judgements, the next Circumstance. It is, I will purely purge away thy dross, and take away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. LXX. secund. M. S. Angl. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Symmach, in Drusii Fragment. Veter. Interpr, Grae. in Esai pag. 286. all thy Tin. Though their sinful Condition requires this sharp Artifice; yet is there mercy in this fiery trial. Though it purge out the dross and Tin, yet the fire is a kind of Lambent flame to purify the precious Metal, not consume it. The Gold, like that of † Exod. 32. 24. Aaron, is cast into the furnace, that it come forth a statue: but not like that which † vers, 22. ● Moses cast there (that by a strange * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Arist. l. 3. Meteor. c 6. unheard of Chemistry was calcined and ground to Powder) for a final abolition. I know O Lord, says David, Psal. 119. 75. that thy Judgements are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Whatsoever Carnal men may think, it is a mercy to be in the Melting Pot. Afflictions make us know ourselves, our sins, our God. Before I was afflicted, I Psal. 119. 67. went wrong, says David, but now have I kept thy word. And he observes it of Israel, a whole Nation, Psal. Psal. 78 34. 78. 34. When he slew them, they sought him, and returned, and enquired early after God. And therefore says Solomon, the fining pot is for Prov. 17. 3. silver, and the furnace for Gold, and the Lord tryeth the heart. And how is that? Let Malachi tell you, Mal. 3. 3●. c. 3. 3. For he is like a Refiners fire, and like Fuller's soap, and he shall sit as a Refiner and a Purifier of Silver. And we know by experience, that the Hammer of the Goldsmith, and the flame, and the Crucible is not to destroy the precious Metal, but to cleanse and fashion it. And what it loses of its dross and Tin, it gains in lustre and brightness, in purity and worth. For that is the end of God's Artifice and Pains, that being purified, he might put us into the mould, and fashion us to be vessels unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good 2 Tim. 2. 21. Malachi 3. 3, 4. work. For it follows Malachi 3. v. 3, 4. And he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as Gold and Silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in Righteousness. Then shall the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former times. And that we may be sure that this is Gospel-m●thod, and disciplines of Grace, the Baptist will tell you, Mat. 3. 27. that the great Mat. 3 27. Founder and restorer of his Church shall baptise with the holy Ghost and with fire; that his Fan is in his hand, and that he will throughly purge his Floor and gather his wheat into his Garner, and burn up the Chaff with unquenchable fire. This made the good Father S. Austin cry out, hic ure, hîc seca, Domine, ut in aeternum parcas, Lord let me have my hell here upon earth, that I may have my heaven and happiness hereafter. I care not, how sharp my Afflictions be, since they are for my amendment: if what I lose in my Estate, and my Liberty and good Name, I gain in Christian Purity, and Meekness and Patience; if I die at the stake, or on a Gibbet, or a Scaffold, if that death prove a Martyrdom, and I be delivered unto Satan for the destruction 1 Cor. 5. ● of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Oh beloved! me thinks there cannot be a greater comfort to believers, nor a stronger support to them in the midst of their afflictions, then to consider, that when they are in the fining pot, they are in the way to spiritual advancement; that God delights not in the tormenting of their bodies, but aims at the salvation of their souls. God's end in these sharp Methods shows his Love and respect towards them. The care he takes in Melting, and purely purging out our dross, and taking away all our Tin, manifests, that he than most prizes us, when to Carnal worldly men, that triumph in our miseries, we seem as lost and gone in the fire of Indignation. And therefore the Apostle sensible of the love of God, even in the midst of our trials, cries out in behalf of believers, 2 Cor. 4. 8, 9, 10. We are 2 Cor. 4. 8, 9, 10. 11. troubled on every side, yet not distressed, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the marks of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Let then the Atheist and the prosperous sinner boast of Providences and success, whilst we, when good men are oppressed and slain, and the blood of Princes and of Nobles is poured out like water in the streets, do glory in the cross of Christ, that fits us for a Crown. But then as the Consideration of the Cause Proegoumenal and Final, God's love to us in Christ, that alone inwardly moves him, and his great end and aim, the purifying and saving of our souls by these sharp disciplines, should serve to support us in the midst of our Calamities: so it should serve to humble us under his hand, when we consider the Procatartick and Meritorious Cause, that from without stirs up God to cast us into the Melting Pot, our dross and our Tin, that have corrupted and embased our precious Metal. And that is the next thing considerable. And happy it is for Judah and Jerusalem that God promises to purge out their dross and Tin. For no greater enemies to Gold and Silver then these. They corrupt and embase the precious metal, and make it cheap and contemptible. Nothing so vile in God's esteem as the Sinner. This dross and Tin, this pollution that is in him, makes the great Artist not delight in the work of his own hands, nor value that Purchase, which he bought with his own blood. It is true, as the * Est Obriza examen seu probatio per ignem acerrimum, qua omnis fere alienae materiae admixtio excernitur. Vid. Budae. l. 3. de Ass. dixi (ferè) nam eousque excoqui aurum posse, ut caractae unius quadrans tantum relinquatur materiae alienae, etc. Brerewood de Ponder. & Pret. cap. 22. Refiners have observed, the finest Gold, let it be purified seven times in the fire, will still retain some mixture of Alloy. Grace, though it sanctify nature never so much, yet so long as we are in the flesh, we shall have a touch of our fleshly corruptions. As the best man that is, ‖ Prov. 24. 16. falls seven times a day: so is it true of Nations and Churches. The * Mat. 13. 39, 40. Corn and Tares, and Chaff will be mixed in the threshing-flore, till the winnowing day comes. The * 47, 48, 49. net of the Gospel catches the Fish of all sorts, the bad as well as good, and no sorting them as yet, till the Net comes to shore. There will be sinners as well as Saints, in the Pale of the visible Church, till the day of Separation of the Sheep from the Goats. The only Church without Eph. 5. 27. Gal. 4. 26. spot or wrinkle, is Jerusalem, that is above. And therefore when God promises he will purely purge away the dross, Purgatio ad liquidum ut nulla scoria maneat, non ita debet intelligi, quasi Deus Ecclesiam suam in hoc mundo penitus unquam abstergat ab omni labe (sed) ut instar mundi argenti reluceat. Vera pietas notatur, cum ante Judaei sibi in faecibus suis nimium placuissent. Calvin. in loc. and take away all the Tin, it is not to be expected that any single Saint should arrive to an absolute sinless perfection in this life, much less that a Nation should. For then there would not be work for Mortification, Repentance, and godly sorrow for sin, and the Magistrate would be useless, and truly bear the sword in vain; Our Purity consists, in not suffering sin, as the Apostle advises, to reign in our Rom. 13. 4. Rom. 6. 11. mortal bodies, that we should obey it in the lusts thereof, that the dross and the Tin be so purged out of a people, that its brightness may appear, that the sinner may be every where discouraged, and virtue and Godliness eminently advanced. As than it is not to be expected that the Artist should purify his Gold and Silver, till it be wholly without Alloy; so such Purity as this, is not the Object of the great Founder's skill and Pains. For in the next verse he promises to restore our Judges as at the first, and our Counselors as at the beginning; and this supposes that still there will be business for the private Christian, and the public Magistrate. They are Public, Scandalous, Open sins, of a Crimson die Esay 1. 18. and a spreading nature, that as they corrupt, and embase, so they run and diffuse themselves through all the good Metal, that here God promises to purge, and take away. They are Nationall sins, which are too big for the Law, that call for Nationall Judgements. And these the Prophet elegantly describes under the Metaphor of Some by dross understand gross iniquity: by Tin glittering Hypocrisy; or persons openly profane by the one, inwardly unsound by the other. Which may well be, for that Tin carrieth an outward resemblance of silver. etc. Assemb. Not. in loc. Confer. Calvin in Isa. cap. 1. v. 22. dross and Tin. The dross: what's that? It denotes the gross and palpable impieties, that are open to every eye, that Nature as well as Grace discovers and condemns. The weakest sight that is can discern the dross, from the Silver. And therefore says the Apostle * Gal. 5. 19, 20, 21. Esay 1. 4. 16, 17, 21, 23 the works of the flesh are manifest. And this was Jerusalem's Pollution. Abundance of dross in it: Rebellions, Thievery, Plunder, Bribery, Oppression, Murder, Blood, what not? and this from the sole of the foot even to the head, the corruption vers. 6. was universal. And yet though her impieties were so gross and palpable, the more to embase her precious Metal, she adds Tin unto her dross, and masks her notorious wickedness with the veil of Religion. Much treading Gods Courts, and vers 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. making many prayers, and sanctifying of Sabbaths, and calling solemn Assemblies, and heaping Sacrifice upon Sacrifice, while the hands are full of blood. And this was the Aggravation of their sin, that they added Hypocrisy to Profaneness, that they fasted for strife and debate, and striking with the fist of Wickedness▪ Esay 58. 4. that they had much pretence of Religion and Godliness in the face and tongue, when rapine and sacrilege, and bribery, and Covetousness, and Rebellion was in the heart. The Devil is never more a Devil then when he puts on the shape of an Angel 2 Cor. 11. 14. 1 Kings 21. 9 of light. And it was the height of Jezabels' impiety, that she sanctified a fast, and counterfeited Religion to hid her Bloodshed and Perjury, and Injustice and Rapine. By this the sinner gains him not only security, but Reputation to his highest crimes, and Multitudes to follow him. And this makes Hypocrisy, of all others, to be the most hateful thing to God; and our Saviour so often and so passionately to cry out, woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, Mat. 11. 13, 14, 15. Hyppocrites. The Prophet excellently describes the Nature and Property of this Vice, under the Metaphor of Tin. For first, Tin is very * Ex stanno va●a ●omestica ducta in mensaru● usu argent●is fulgor● comparantur C●mbden. Britan. in Cornub. Quamvis autem stannum aemuletur quodammodo ●rgenti splendorem, tamen longe est melius & ab igne magis exeditur▪ Magir. ●hvs l. 5. c. 1. in comment 1. Convenit argentum cum stanno in albedine, magis tamen album est, quoniam ipsius terrestre est magis ●enue, magis lotum, ae ●●gis digestum. Phil●p Mocenici univers. Institut. contempt 4. p. 2 c 6. p 334. Propter ●ruditatem & volatilitatem dicitur imperfectum: verè quidem cum incoctum ratione cruditatis imperfectum dici mereatur. P. Io. Fabri Panchym. vol. 2. l. 4. sect. 7, c. 27. like to Silver in colour, though i● hath nothing of the substance of it: so the Apostle tells us of Hypocrites, that they have the form of Godliness, but deny the power of it, 2 Tim. 3. 5. Secondly, the Naturalists tell us that Tin is never Stannum differt ab albo plumbo, quod hoc per se oritur, illud autem semper cum argento. Magir. loc. citato. Invenitur & in aurariis metallis, quae elotia vocant Plin. Nat his●. l▪ ●4 c. 16. Plumbum aut suâ provenit venâ nec quicqu●m ●lind ex se parit, au● cum arg●nto nascitur, mistisque venis conflatur. Ejus, qui primus fluit in fornacibus liquor, stannum appellatur; qui secundus, argentum. Plin. ibid. found to grow by itself as all other Metals do, but only in Mines of Gold and Silver: so the Hypocrite will never put on the shape of devotion among a company of Atheists. He will be sure to act his part to the purpose, where the true religion is professed; there he is a Pharisee to the height; still at his † Esay 65. 5. touch me not, I am holier than thou, there and in the * Luk. 18. 10, 11, 12. Temple, still at his Lord I thank thee I am not as other men, no not as this Publican, though never so humble and penitently devout. Thirdly they observe, that Tin by reason of the thinness, and rarity of the Constat stannum substantiâ rariore, & minus excocta; quare— & liquores subtiliores transmittit, ut vinum destillatum, & medicamenta pretiosa. Magirus loc. citat. substance, will not hold spiritous bodies, and that precious oils and rich spirits evaporate away through it: so though the Hypocrite pretend much to the spirit, yet the rich graces of the spirit dwell not in him. Saint Judas will tell you that these mockers walking after their own ungodly lusts, separate Judas vers. 19 themselves having not the spirit. Fourthly, the Mineralists observe that Tin is of a † Stannum balbutientem complexionem habet, caeteris metallis admixtum ea similiter balbu. tyre facit, ab illisque ductibilitatem aufert. Mocenicus loc. citat. Tin is said being mixed with gold and silver, to make them harder or shorter and more brittle. Assembls. notes in loc. Plumbum inimicitiam gerit cum omnibus metallis, praesertim cum sit album, auroque & argento vel centesima parte additum, fragilia ea reddit. Magir. loc. citat. stubborn nature, and that if mixed with gold or silver, it makes them harder and less ductile and pliable; but apt to cracks and flaws; more short, and brittle. And S. Judas and S. Peter and S. Paul will tell you that the Hypocrite is never good subject, but one that a Judas v. 8. 2 Pet. 2. 10. despises dominion, and speaks evil of dignities; that they are b 2 Tim. 3. 4. Traitors, heady, high minded, that though they know not how to rule; yet less know how to obey, c 2 Tim. 3. 6, 7, 8. 2 Pet. 2. 1, 2, 3, 18, 19 crumbling the Church and State into Schisms and Factions, making the People hardhearted, and uncharitable, and disobedient and stubborn. Fifthly, they that writ of weights Stannum est metallorum omnium levissimum, sicut aurum gravissimum, ex experientiis Nic. Tartaleae in appendice ad lib▪ Jordani de Ponderofitate & Francisci Euxei Parisiensis. Brerewood. de ponder. & pret. c. 23. Stannum— est facillimae fusionis & sub malleo facilis extensionis—— Copia humidi, & viscosi aeris & aquae——▪ effigy effusionem facilem & extensionem. P. Jo. Fabr. Panchym Vol. 2. l. 4. sect. 7. c. 27. vid. Mocenicum loc. citat. and measures tell us, that Tin is the most light and fluid metal of all; and S. Judas observes of the pretenders to Godliness, that they are of an airy flitting complexion, waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wand'ring Stars, Clouds without water, carried about with every wind of Doctrine, v. 19 ever learning, as S. Paul speaks, but never coming to the knowledge of the Truth. 2 Tim. 3. 7. He can be Pharisee, Saducee, Gaulonite, Herodian, any thing. The double minded man is unstable in all his ways. S. James 1. 8. it is no matter what the religion be, if it will serve his advantage. And if he can make a Trade of Godliness, you shall be sure to have enough of the form, though he denies the power of it. For Sixthly, it is observed that Tin has this property, that it will cleave to any Metal; * Vasa non solum ex re domestica in cisternas, caldaria, lebetes, despumatoria, sed etiam arma è re bellica, ut manubria sive capulos gladiorum & sicarum, parmas, & thoraces, sive ex ferro; aut chalybe, sive ex aere, aut cupro conficta Stanno obducimus etc. Angel. Sal. Oper. Chymic. in sept. Planet. Ter. Spagyr▪ recens. c. de stanno. p. 119. Gold, Silver, Brass, Iron, Led, indeed it matters not what, if you dress with Tallow, or Rosin, or any other fat or † unctuous body; and than it will be sure to cleave so fast there will be no ungluing it it again, till you bring it to the ‖ Jungi inter se plumbum nigrum sine albo non potest, nec hoc fine oleo▪ Plin. Nat. hist. l. 34. c. 16▪ ‖ Stannum est facillin●ae fusionis— nam abundantia humidi efficit effusionem facilem,— cum autem crudum sit, & none perfect coctum, ideo non est fixum & permanens in igue, sed perenni igne & ●orti evaporat, & in auras convertitur. J. P. Fabr. Panchym. loc. citat. vid. & Mocenic. loc, citat. fire: such is the pretender of religion, you shall be sure to have him of the thriving side still: no getting him from thence without fire. And if it once comes to that pass, if he be but in any danger of that, he melts and drops away from the Party, whatsoever it be; as soon from the gold, or silver, as the Brass, or Iron, or Led, the good, as the bad cause. And therefore says our a Mat. 18. 7. Saviour, it is necessary that offences (and persecutions) should come; and S. b 1 Cor. 11. 19 Paul, that heresies and sects and divisions should come, that they which are approved (that are gold and silver indeed, and can endure the Fire, and the Touch) may be made manifest among you. The Hypocrite will be sure to be a weathercock, a turncoat, and you may know him by that; and he will never be a Martyr, for Tin and he cannot endure the Fire. The least danger makes him wag; and therefore S. Peter, 2 Pet. 2. 17. 2 Pet. 2. 17. compares him to clouds, that are carried with a Tempest, and our Saviour to corn sown upon stony ground, Mat. 13. 5, 6, 20, 21. which though for a while it may in calm and thriving times sprout up, and flourish, yet no sooner does the scorching summer's heat of persecution beat upon it, but it instantly decays and withers. Again it is observed that Tin, if it be mixed with Brass and Copper or Silver, it makes Bell-metal, that is excellent for sound and Noise; indeed only useful for that: so if hypocrisy and pretence to religion meet with some subtle crafty dispositions, and of fit and popular Tempers, they are excellent for Pulpits and Declamations: and with their noise will soon draw whole Maltitudes together. Their fair speeches and language chain a Nation to their Tongues, as it is storied of the Hercules, and make them follow to what place they please. And therefore says Saint Paul, Now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause Rom. 16. v. 17, 18. divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine, which ye have learned, and avoid them. For they that are such, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple. Lastly, it is observed of Tin that it is of a * Si dubites an sit venenum in stanno, quaere ab iis qui embryonem fundunt, ac purgant, aut abiis qui calcinant stannum, magno cum suo malo dicent: Frigidus, O pueri, fugite hinc, latet anguis in herba. Angel. sal. op. Chym. loc. citat. very poisonous nature, infecting the Brains, and distorting the Limbs and Sinews of those, that melt, and work in it, by a deadly fume, that arises from it: so it is also true of Hypocrisy, nothing so fatal to the brain and understanding, as that, corrupting the spirit, distorting the face with strange seemingly sanctified spasms and convulsions. When ye fast, says our Saviour, be not like the Hypocrites 2 Tim. 3. 5. 6. Mat. 6. 16. of a sad and mortified countenance: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for they rack and crucify, or vanish into a vizard, or a Fucus, they corrupt and disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to fast, and be the only religious, when the heart is infected with divers lusts and abominable impieties, which makes them resist the truth, and become men of corrupt minds, 2 Tim. 3. g. reprobate concerning the Faith. But you shall know them by their faces, for they look not as other men. And therefore since this is the true Nature of Hypocrisy, since the whited sepulchre hides nothing Mat. 23. 27. but rottenness and dead men's bones, was it not a great blessing for Jerusalem, that God now brought them to the Fining Pot? For whatsoever the Fury and the sharpness of the Flame be, yet since by these God purifies them from the dross and Tin, and Nationall sins be purged out by National Judgements, there is mercy even in this Judgement. And though whilst the rod is on our backs, the Caustick to our wounds, and the Metal in the Flame, the Chastising is not joyous but Heb. 12. 11. grievous, Nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby, and now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, we have our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Rom. 6. 22. But especially since God turns his hand upon a Nation, and melts them by Judgements to purge out the dross and take away the Tin, we should do well to consider, whether we have answered God's Artifice and Labour upon us, how we are bettered by our Judgements, lest, if we prove Reprobate silver, he casts us out of his favour, and reserve us for desolation. For let us not flatter ourselves, beloved— God hath lately turned his hand upon us, and he never brings Nationall Judgements on a Land, but for National sins. We have had a long time much dross and Tin in all our holy things. That you may not think me a Satirist, behold God loudly proclaims your sin in your Punishment. Does not Blasting and Meldews in our fields show us, that God is angry with the Riot of our Tables? Does not he by our late Malignant Fevers in all places show us, that we are truly Ecclesia Malignantium, all every where malignant? And does he not send unknown diseases to punish unknown sins? What dismal noisome pestilences did God not long since send among us, to sweep away a Multitude of noisome gross impieties? They provoked Psal. 106. 25. him to anger with their Inventions, says David, and so the Plague broke in upon them. And what a multitude of new Inventions had we? in Apparel, in diet, in building (alas this was nothing!) in our shops, in our Trades, in our Cities, in our Towns, in our Schools, in our Courts, in our Pulpits, and Churches, nay in our Parlours and Conventicles too; and all for our Pride, and our covetousness and lust? And this made way for the Bloody Horse, Warr. Revel. 6. 4. They chose new Gods, than was war in the Gates. Judges 5. vers. 7. And this was just our case: Much longing and stir about new Religions, and Ceremonies, and then the War broke in upon us. And now when destruction overtook us like an armed man, our sins and debaucheries did multiply with our miseries; execrable and cursed Oaths outroaring the mouth of the Cannon; Soldiers pouring out their blood and their wine at the same wound; Oppression, rapine, Murder, Calumny, Perjury of all sorts, but above all the most damnable Hypocrisy and Lying in the world. And now triumphantly marches in the Pale Rev. 6. 8. Horse Famine. We lusted for War, and we had all the Plagues and Miseries of Want and Devastation that attend it. When Israel would not be contented with Manna, but they must have blood and flesh too, then says David, he gave them their desire: but he sent leanness into their souls. Psal. 106. 16. And what a Famine of all things instantly came upon us? Unusual blights on our Corn; and then the poor wanted work, as well as bread, decay of Trade in our Shops, and of Merchants on the Exchange, of our Ships on our Seas, and our strengths by Land. Our Gentry wasted, our Nobility degraded; our Universities ruined; our Clergy vilified, and silenced; our Laws, and Lawgivers and Parliaments trampled on; and our Kings dethroned, and a new Turkish Grand-Signoirship built and cemented with their blood. So that now the whole nation with the Prophet began to cry out My Leanness, my Leanness! Woe un●o Esay 24. 26. me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, yea the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously! And now we were in the Melting Pot indeed! The fire fell upon all; the dross and Tin, as well as the Gold and Silver. But all this while we were the worse for the Founders Art. Our sins increased, and so did God's Judgements. A great deal of Zeal in the Pretext, but in the Issue sacrilege, Bloodshed, Devouring Widows Houses, while for a pretence we made long Prayers. Much ado about Gifts, and setting Christ upon his Throne, but that we might be his Deputies, and take the houses of God in possession. And then what was the Issue? we that were not content with a Religion, the purest and best established in the Christian world, had instantly a thousand several Sects let in upon us. Our Tin had made our Silver so brittle, that the more it was beaten, the more it cracked and flawed; and no sooner was one Faction grown into Power, and began to set up for itself, but instantly another like a Mushroom in a night, sprung up and pretended greater Purity, and as they had damned their Predecessors of Antichristianisme and Popery; so did these by the same Arts ruin those, that had ruined others. Religions every day multiplied, as the Factions did, till at last we had so many, that many doubted we had none at all. And as it was with our Religion, so it was with our Government. God suffered our best of Princes to be taken from us for our sins: and because we surfeited with that Plenty and Peace, that his own and Ancestors wisdom, under God had poured upon us, but we scorned his gracious easy reign that he had laid upon our Necks, and like wild, resty horses, that have got the Bit into their mouths, kicked to throw off the rider, God then suffered us to be exercised and ridden by all sorts of Masters; Aristocracy, Democracy, Oligarchy, Anarchy, Oplarc●●, Tyranny, (though masked under the gracious name of a Protectorship) the most absolute of any. By this God exercised and melted us so long, till he made us sensible of our own Follies; and we had nothing left to pray for, or hope or endeavour, but only to recall that blessing, we had so unworthily squandered away. And now to prove whether we were purified indeed, God poured us out of the Melting Pot, Jer. 3. 7, 14. etc. 31, 18, 19 and to see whether we truly turned to him, and not to ourselves, by a Miracle, without our own Counsel or Conduct, or Valour or Forces, nay without a Blow struck, or almost so much as a word spoken, he restored to us our old Religion, and Laws, and Church-discipline, and State-government, our Judges as at the first, and our Counselors, as at the beginning, our Magistrates, and Ministers, and Bishops, and Nobles, and Princes, but above all our good King, whom we prayed for, we longed for, as the only healer of our Breaches. And what does he now expect, but that we thankfully embrace his Mercies, and truly value those blessings? That this Grace of his, which has brought this Salvation, may teach us, that denying Tit. 2. 11. 12. ungodliness and worldly lusts, we live godly and righteously and soberly in this present world, that so we may be called by all Nations round about us, a Nation of Righteousness, a faithful Nation? And I humbly beseech God, that it may prove so in the issue. But I fear me that many, many of us at least, Hos. 7. 16. are like a deceitful Bow; that we have returned indeed, but not to the most high that we have not cried Hos. 7. 14. unto God with our hearts, when we howled upon our Beds, and that we assembled for Corn and for wine, but not to the most High, as it is in Hosea 7. 14. 16. For else what meaneth this bleating of the sheep, and 1 Sam. 15, 14. the oxen that I hear? To what purpose this murmuring and repining at the King's Grace and Goodness, and unparalled Act of Mercy? Why are we so unwilling to forget, and forgive petty private injuries, done unto us by our Brethren, when God hath so wonderfully passed by the gross impieties of the whole Nation, and so miraculously spared those, as well as ourselves, whom we grudge to Pardon? what means this reviving of our old fears and Jealousies, and Popular Declamations in our Pulpits and Presses against the King's evil Counselors, and the Persecution of the Godly Party that's approaching? the Antichristianisme and Popery in our Religion, and Discipline, and Liturgy, first up, and approved by the most eminent * P. Martyr. Bucer, Cranmer, Ridley, Taylor. Reformers, and then sealed by the blood of the most learned of our Martyrs? Have we a mind to revive our old Miseries and blood by our old Animosities and scandals? such which time and experience, and the faith and Patience and steadfastness of our Confessors have confuted even to any ordinary understandings? But consider I beseech you, beloved; will it not be a sad thing, if God after all this mercy, should say to us as he did to his People in the Prophet Zachary c. 7. v. 5, 6, 7. When ye fasted and mourned this many years, did ye fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat,, and ye did drink, did you Zach. 7. 5, 6, ●, not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? Should ye not hear the words, which the Lord ha●h cried by the Ministry of the former Prophets, When Jerusalem was inhabited, and in prosperity, and the Cities thereof round about her? O then, beloved, in time consider, before it repent God of his Mercies. * Esay 21. 12. If ye will return, return, return to purpose: to him, not to ourselves. If there be any Contention, let it be to show who is most thankful to God, and Loyal to the King, who most Zealous against vice in ourselves or in others; who most endeavouring to keep the unity Eph. 4. 3. 2 Cor. 7. 1. of the spirit in the bond of peace, and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. As God has turned his hand upon us and from us, so let us turn our hands to him. Since we have been melted by his Judgements, let us by his Grace, and for his mercy purge out our dross and Tin. Let not this wise Founder lose his pains and his Art, but let us answer his expectation; you my brethren of the Clergy, especially, that have been in the very bottom of the Furnace, Let your Patience, and Meekness, and readiness to forgive, your holy lives and conversations, and Zeal and diligence in your callings show, that 1 Per. 3. 15. you did not suffer as evil doers. And though God put you into the Crucible and Melting Pot, yet it was not your just crimes, but your steadfastness and Constancy in your adherence to the King and the Laws, and the Primitive doctrine and discipline of the Church, threw you out of your places and callings. And if as you have suffered as Confessors, so you shall live as Confessors too, it shall appear to your very adversaries, that you have been in the Mel●ing Pot to your advantage, and you shall recover your Reputations as well as Legal Possessions. But if any of you justly have suffered as evil doers, though not according to a due course of Law, let it appear by your future amendment, that you have been bettered by your sufferings, and though the flames have been sharp, yet they have purely purged out all your dross, and your Tin. Then shall God and Men be delighted in you, and Righteousness and Peace break in upon us like an overflowing mighty stream. Then shall your offerings and services be acceptable to God, and Moses hands lift up in prayer shall strengthen the Exod 17. 11. 12. 13. hands of our Josuahs and Rulers, and Magistrates, while they lift up the sword of Justice against the Amalekites. When Phineas the Priest prayed, as some render it, and Phineas the Magistrate Psal. 106. 30: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oravit. Paraph Caldaic. Verse. Syriac. Dijudicavit. Pagnin. Junius. executed Judgement, as others, than the Plague was stayed. But, my Lords and Gentleman, the Justices of the Peace, I need not mind you of your duties, if the Time would give leave. As you have eminently suffered by the sins of the Nation, so I hope your sense of your miseries, which those sins have brought upon you, will make you friends to Justice and the Laws, without any other Monitor. And if as God's Name is called upon you, so you Psal. 82. 6. shall Judge for God too, and carry yourselves as in his sight, who still standeth in the Congregation of the Gods, to mark and judge them, then shall it appear, that you are the Ministers of God to us for good, and that you bear not the sword in vain. Then shall the People speak of your wisdom, and the congregation shall show forth your praise; then shall you make them sensible of the evil of our former Governors, and bless God, that has restored us our Judges as at the first and our Counsellors as at the beginning. And you shall be the happy Instruments of repairing our Breaches, and building, and establishing our Jerusalem in Righteousness and Peace, and we shall again be called a City of Righteousness, a faithful City. Which God of his infinite mercy grant for Jesus sake Amen. THE END.