A SERMON Preached before His MAJESTY AT CHRIST-CHURCH IN OXFORD. On the 18. of April 1643. By WILLIAM STAMP Vicar of Stepney in the County of Middlesex. OXFORD, Printed in the year 1643. TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE, CHARLES PRINCE OF WALES, DUKE OF CORNWALL, and Earl of CHESTER. SIR, IT hath pleased your Highness to command this Sermon to the Press, and me to be your servant: what you have observed from either, that might incline you to so much grace and favour, I know not; unless it were my plain dealing with the Times. This (indeed) your Highness mentioned with a deep sense and relish. Would God the mad world knew it. Certainly it were enough to stop the foul mouths of some: enough to warm the honest hearts of others. God Almighty so compose the present troubles of this State, that the Government thereof may stand the surer for this shaking; and continue and increase his graces in you for the glorious support thereof, when it shall please him to lay it upon your shoulders. Thus prays Your Highness' most obliged humble servant, WILLIAM STAMP. A SERMON PREACHED before His Majesty at Christchurch in Oxford on Tuesday, the 18 of April, 1643. ESAY 59 1, 2. 1 Behold, the Lords hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. IN the precedent Chapter, we have the difference stated between a religious, true fast; and that which is merely fictitious and Hypocritical. In this, we have the true ground why our fastings at some times become fruitless, and our prayers unsuccessful: Both common themes; yet neither of them unseasonable as our times now are. Never did any age produce more fasting, more preaching, more praying. Never did these holy exercises produce less fruit. Look we well upon the fruits, and we must be driven to conclude (by an argument a posteriori) that sure some where or other, there hath been fasting for strife, and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: Esay 48. 4. for of these bitter and accursed fruits have we abundantly tasted, witness every Cranny and Corner of two miserable distressed Kingdoms: So that our devotion hath neither prevented Gods Judgements: nor (which is worse) God's Judgements prevented our sins. What between the Atheist in heart (the schismatical, factious, & dissembling Hypocrite;) and the Atheist in profession (the licentious, daring, & resolved sinner) we are yet to fast, and yet to pray, and yet to prosper, and prevail with God: we are (at best) but under the throes and pangs of our deliverance; not, but that God is as easily entreated at this day as ever he was since the Creation; his power and propensity to relieve England, and Ireland, is as great (at this day) as ever it was to relieve his own peculiar Israel. The great incapacity we labour under, is from ourselves. God's Controversy for sin, Hos 4. 1. is the Cause of all our Controversies among ourselves; his Mercy and Justice are as immutable as himself, and therefore if we are not relieved, we must not blame him, but thank ourselves. For Behold the Lords hand is not shortened, etc. This Text is delivered by the Prophet, to prevent a mistake which Commonly arises in the hearts of men, in their conceits of God, and themselves. For if we want what we would have, or feel what we would want, we rave and storm, and impute the troubles of Israel sometimes, to Ahab the King, sometime to Elijah the Prophet, nay sometimes we pin them on God himself; and instead of humbling ourselves under his mighty hand, a 1 Pet 5. 6. we behave ourselves very frowardly in his covenant b Psal. 44. 17. . For the prevention of which, this text hath a double aspect, with one eye it looks upwards upon Almighty God, and there takes notice of an omnipotent hand, an attentive Ear, both pointed at with an Ecce, Bebold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save: neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear, with the other eye it looks downward, upon man: upon man at distance from his maker, upon man divorceing himself from his God, and (by a self Excommunication) delivering himself up into the power and government of Satan. So that we have here Aliquid Dei, and Aliquid nostri: that which belongs to God, described in the Negative, his hand is not shortened, his ear is not heavy, etc. (that is) he is always one and the same God: That which belongs to us, (and which indeed we can only call our own) are our sins; and not barely sins but Iniquities too; and these with two desperate Consequences following close at the heels; one is, they obscure the light of God's favourable Countenance: Lu●. 16. 26. the other is, they make a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between God and us; they make us (that which is so odious in the very name) Separatists; and of all Separatists the worst, Separatists from God. These are the natural parts of the text, wherein I shall briefly discover God's power and propensity to relieve his people, and afterwards inquire into these 3 particulars. 1. What it is that separates from God 2ly. Wherein God separates from us, 3ly. (which results from both) in what condition we are when God is depated from us. Behold the Lords hand is not shortened, etc. The words are a large proposal of mercy offered to all that will but make themselves capable of it, namely, that God hath always an attentive ear, and a ready hand, to relieve those that shall address themselves unto him. Not that God hath either Hand or Ear in strictness of speech, in both Humanum dicit, he speaks to us (as the nurse to the child) in that language, wherein we are best able to understand him. Nor is it a single mercy that is here proposed, but mercy ingeminated; not hand alone, or ear alone, but hand and ear both: not an Hand Shortened, or an Ear heavy: but an hand stretched out, an ear always attentive. So that we can no sooner present a prayer, but God immediately meets it with his ear, and whilst the prayer is even entering into his ears, he meets and embraceth with his hand of mercy. Again, the mercies here proposed are of two sorts, either Spiritual mercies, such as concern the inward man; or Temporal, such as concern the preservation of the outward: in both these respects the hand of the Lord is not shortened. As for spiritual mercies, I shall only say thus much in brief, that God (in that Covenant of Grace which he is pleased to make with his Creature) freely offers unto us his son, and in him all the Treasures of inexhaustible mercy: No otherwise then a King by his Proclamation Royal, offers his mercy to those rebels, that will but throw away their Arms, and come in and submit themselves to him, and his Government. But as those Proclamations are seldom without the Proviso of a limited time: so God's mercies have their dates upon them; which if once expired, they are no longer mercies, but the heavy dooms of wrath and Judgement; like the same exhalation which distils at one time in a sweet; softening shower; and at another time, by being detained too long, is hardened into a thunderbolt. To the old world he gave a time of 120 years Gen: 6: 3: To the City of Nineve a time of 40 days, Jonah 3. 4. To Jezabell a certain space to repent of Her Fornication, Revel: 2: 21: To every soul Horam prafixam, a certain limited time Heb. 4. 7. And as he gives his word of Command to the sea, Psal. 104. 9 thus fare thou shalt come and no farther: so his word is gone out concerning every one of of us here present: Thus long my hand shall not be shortened unto you, Thus long ye have the Sceptre of my mercy held out unto you: Thus long I am content to wait, and listen, to hear but so much as a Quid feci, come from you: jer. 8. 6. But not a minute longer than the limited time, the glass is turned upon you, and there's no reversing the sentence after it is once pronounced. We know they were all virgins in the parable, and all of them alike slumbered and slept, Mat. 25. 1. only the foolish ones, stayed a little beyond their limited time. The time is, when God may and will be found: Esay. 55. 6. The time will be, when God cannot, will not be found; Prov. 1. 28. when his hand will be shortened and his ear heavy etc. and then he that is filthy shall be filthy still, Revel. 22. 11. and he that is unjust shall be unjust for ever. 14. 13. And because Non est nostrum, etc. It is not for us to know when this time shall be. How thrifty should we be of those hours, which are but given us to prepare for that hour which neither Men, nor Angels know of? How seasonable and welcome should that hand of mercy be: which (like our Saviour's unto Saint Peter) offers at this instant to save me from an eternal drowning? How precious and invaluable that moment, that gives me either a Bene or a Male Discessit to all eternity? That part of time which is past, will never wheel about again, that which we think and presume is yet to come, may peradventure never come, the only time we can call our own is the present, as yet his Hand is not shortened, neither his ear heavy: It shall be our wisdom therefore, to make God's time, our time, the time of his Grace: the time of our Reconciliation: and let this be thought upon at all times: That he that neglects the present time, in hopes of future, does for the present forsake his own mercy: and shall sensibly find himself for the time to come, more hardened, more unworthy, if not uncapable of that mercy he hath slighted. 2ly In regard of Temporal preservations his Hand is not shortened, etc. The same hand of mercy which was a Convoy to the Israelites in the Sea a Exod: 14. 2. , a Crane to Joseph in the pit b Gen. 37. 28. : to jeremy in the Dungeon c jer. 38. 13. , A protection to Daniel in the Den d Dan: 6. 23. , to the three children in the furnace e Dan: 3 27: : The same hand that had the winds in his fist f Pro: 30. 4. in 88: The same Digitus Dei, that pointed out that horrid, (though now we cannot say unparrallelled) Conspiracy Novemb. 5: The same hand that saved a Crown, The Battle at Edge-hill. and sheltered the Royal blood Octob. 23. (at the apprehension of which hazard our Trembling will be, (and our praises should be) as strong and lasting as our memories.) The same Canopy of good providence and protection does as yet hang over us, if we do not run away from under it. And as it is with the Hand: so is it likewise with the Ear; Certainly the Ear of the Almighty was very free, and open to our forefathers: that Joshuah and Hezechiah could command the Sun to stand still or go bacl Iosh 110. 12. as they should direct: That Elijah had so much power over Israel and the Elements, 2 King. 20 10. that there could be neither rain nor dew for three years, but only at his word: 1 King: 17 1. And that Moses had so much power in prevailing with God, Numb: 16. that he is entreated of God, not to entreat for the people. And yet Saint James will tell ye these were but men: ●am: 5 17. men, subject to the very same passions, and infirmities with any of us. Our sins have made all the difference that is between us. Behold his ear is not yet heavy, etc. The Sun is always of the same strength, and influence, notwithstanding an Eclipse, or interposition of a Cloud: The needle of the Compass leans always to the same point, be the weather never so foul, or the distance never so fare. God's power is like the Sun, always in full strength, there is nothing hid from the heat thereof: Psal 119 6. his propensity to help, like the needle of the Compass, leans always one and the same way: But we mistake our God, because we mistake ourselves; and (with the giddy apprehensions of those that put to Sea) we think the Land goes away from us, when the truth is we go away from it. God is an Eternal, and Immutable essence, the two arms of his Mercy and Justice, of equal dimension and extent: never so strict in Justice, but always merciful: never so Gracious in mercy but always Just. Nor is it possible he should be otherwise at any time, than what he hath been from all Eternity. Behold the hand of the Lord is not shortened, etc. This Doctrine of God's immutability, lays a strict charge upon the pulpit and the press, to be faithful and impartial in those messages that come from God. Our doctrine should not be like the water in the weatherglass, that rises and falls according as the wind sits. If God be always the same, why should not his word be so too? There is not under heaven, a more ugly and deformed creature then a changeling in the pulpit; And what ever men may hope to gain, or save, in desperate, and unsteady times; by wresting that which was never made to bow, The Scripture. yet, sure I am there's one text in Saint john's Revel. will not be wrested; That to the bold usurper on God's word, (either by Addition or Diminution) God shall add all the plagues that are written in that book, and shall take away his part out of the book of life. Revel 22, 18. And (in the second place) it would be no shame for the zealous Sectary to reform the desperate error of his way; who is now jesuite enough to contract, or dilate the Hand of God's mercy, according as he sees the purse open, and shut, to the cause and himself. He makes great use of the Devil's perspective; whereof he hath one end for the Pulpit, and another end for the Chamber. This in the Pulpit shall present mercy contracted, or (like the character he writes in) in short hand; That in the chamber shall present it both , and near; and under the pretence of Christian Liberty, or something that must go for zeal, shall instruct ye to swallow any kind of wickedness whatsoever. Thus by his subtle arguments drawn from the paucity of the Elect, the difficulty of being saved, at one time, and the Cheapness of mercy at another, he fills his purse by the sale of his Spiritual Comforts, and Saints with more confidence and freedom, than that Church he so much declaimes against. Lastly, Let the dejected drooping penitent lift up his eyes unto the hills from whence cometh his help; Psal. 121. 1. and from this text take a fair prospect of mercy to his saving Comfort: Behold the Lords hand is not shortened, etc. He hath given thee all the assurances of mercy thou canst propose unto thyself: he hath given thee his Royal word, his Covenant under hand and seal, his many sacred protestations: nay, he hath bound himself by Oath, to be reconciled, at what time soever thou shalt turn and repent. Away then with those fears and Jealousies, that make thee uncapable of thy maker's mercy. The Majesty of a King is never so deeply wounded, as when Royal intentions, and Declarations become blasted by distrust. And 'tis just with God, that they should forsake their own mercy, that dare not trust it. The truth is, The weakness of our faith, proceeds commonly from the foulness of our guilt, and the reason why we stand in our own light, and turn our backs upon Gods favourable countenance, is because our works are the works of darkness, Joh. 3. 19 and therefore we hate that ●ight that will discover them. Beware then of shortening the good hand of God; Remember Moses at the rock; Num. 20. 10. and that great favourite that perished at the gate of Samaria, 2 King. 7. 2. 17. by the weight of that mercy he would not believe. Though more miscarry by presumption, yet the more desperate are they that ruin themselves by their own despair. If therefore thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe with thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead; (and steer thy course according to this belief) thou hast the Apostles warrant, thou shalt be saved, Rom. 10 9 In the mean time (for the great extremities we labour under) the same Apostle assures, that God is able to do exceeding abundantly for us, above all that we can ask or think. Ephes. 3. 20. It may seem strange: what? above all that we can ask or think? Sure that must be a vast circumference of mercy, that extends itself beyond our thoughts; and if deliverances would come with thinking, we could soon think ourselves into a better condition. But mistake not; This hand of mercy is not held out to every idle, squandring thought, every extemporary, indigested prayer: but confined to prayers qualified with faith; thoughts regulated by obedience; fasting governed by sincerity. 'Tis expected all these should move from a pure heart, a good Conscience, and from faith un●ained. Ephes. 1. 5. We ask and receive not, and St James giveth the reason, Jam. 4. 3. because we ask amiss; we think high, and think in vain, because (indeed) we do little else but think: we fast oft, and miscarry when all is done; and the reason follows in the text, because the obstruction continues unremoved; Behold the Lords hand is not shortened, neither his ear heavy: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins etc. First then, what it is that separates. Saint Paul makes the Quoere Rom. 8. 35. Who shall separate from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? If these would separate, we were but in a very ill condition, as our times now are; by these (indeed) faith may seem at some time stupefied, or as it were strangled for the time, it cannot be extinguished. (as there be many things that will cast into a trance, that do not separate the soul from the body) Nothing from without can make this separation, the Enemies that must do it, must be of our own house, of our own cabinet and familiar acquaintance: the text calls them here by two names, Sins, and Iniquities: (that is) they are several sorts of sins, and several degrees in sin: what these Iniquities were, and what a mischievous influence they had upon the Commonwealth of Israel, may be seen in the verses immediately following the text; Their hands were defiled with innocent blood: their lips black with lies: their tongues furred with murmuring, their hearts so mischievous that they hatched Cockatrice eggs: they woven the Spider's web, their feet swift to shed blood, the way of peace they knew not, they made themselves crooked paths, that whosoever went along with them might not know peace: this the extract of their Sin; and therefore their punishment follows, They groaped as men without Eyes, and stumbled at noon day, they roared all like Lions, and mourned like Doves, and sat in desolate places like dead men, etc. In the seventh of jer. 12. God commands his people to take notice what he had done to Shiloh (the place of his name, the dearly beloved of his soul) Deut. 12. 11. Jer. 12. 7. only for the wickedness of those that dwelled there; and the judgement we read of in the first of Sam. namely, the Ark of God (which had continued among them almost 300 years) was taken by the Philistines, their Priests slain, and their people miserably discomfited; 1. Sam. 4. 11. The time will not give me leave to present ye with observations taken from Gods dealing with the old world, with Sodom, and Gomorrha, with Egypt, Ninive, jerusalem, with some neighbouring Kingdoms of late years; or to compare our peace and plenty, with that of Samaria, and jerusalem; The light of our knowledge, with that of Chorazin and Bethsaida; The sins of our nation, with the villainy of Gibeah, when there fell by the sword threescore and five thousand; Jud. 10. The pride of our nation, with David's ambition, when there fell by the pestilence seventy thousand; 2 Sam. 24. 25. The rebellion of our nation, with that of Corah and his company, when there fell by the same plague 14 thousand and 7 hundred, besides those which the fire and a strange death devoured. Num. 16. I shall only add a double aggravation of our sins, wherein we have outstripped all that ever were before us. First (as if in all the mire of our forefathers there had, not been room enough for us to wallow) we have fulfilled that of the Apostle, and have approved ourselves exquisite inventors of evil things, Rom. 1. 30. Witness our new inventions to find out strange sins, Peccata aliena naturae, aliena Gratiae, monsters in nature, prodigies in Christianity; witness our new devised excesses in diet and apparel, and our new minted oaths and execrations, banded without blushing in every corner of our streets. And secondly, I find it recorded by the Psalmist (though with no great honour to the Israelites) Psal. 78. 34. that when God slew them, than they sought him, though before they did not; 'Twere well if but so much could be said of us; God hath slain us, now almost a twelvemonth together, every day brings in the report of a new slaughter some where or other, nay very probable it is, that God is slaying even whilst I am speaking; Reading, Lichfield. Leedes, Manchester, all besieged at that time. and yet, I fear, we are yet to seek our God: At first (indeed) he only held the rod of his indignation over us, and threatened a long time to strike, that he might not strike at all; and when he did begin to draw blood, he did it rather like a physician, than an executioner. But now, that we have provoked him to draw more blood, than the body can well spare; and some of the best blood too; now that the axe is laid to the root of all that's dear unto us (our Sovereign, our religion, our laws, liberties and lives being all in danger) Is there an adulterer the less Prov. 7. 9 walking in the twilight? Is there an oath the less, darted against the Majesty of heaven? Is there any abatement of sin, any improvement of grace under all our stripes? Sure, I may rather conclude, that the tides of sin are fare more high, and overflowing under Judgement, than ever they were under mercy: Rom. 2. 4. his mercy did not lead us before, nor do his Judgements as yet drive us to amendment. And therefore what can we conclude, but that without infinite mercy (the way whereof we cannot see in Gods revealed will) our sins are ripe, and we are hardened to a swift destruction. I know this is harsh, and unpleasing; but I know also, that these are no times for the pulpit to present finespun opinions, as ornaments to be worn only in the ear; Ezek. 3. 17. 'Tis the watchman's duty to give timely warning, and there is a woe reserved for that spiritual physician that skins over the wounds of God's people to their hurt, saying, Peace, peace, whilst iniquities do separate. Jer 6. 14. For when the sword hath done his command, pestilence and famine shall be called in to perform theirs: nay (as if all the written wrath of God were not enough to startle us) the 28 of Deut. speaks of unwritten plagues. Deut. 28. 61. So that there shall never want a plague to find out that people that stand out in rebellion against God; And 'tis little less than Atheistical to believe, that God will give over punishing till we give over sinning. So that, as (in the mystery of our Redemption) it was not the malice of the chief priests; nor the blindness of the people; nor the iniquity of Pilate; nor the treachery of judas; but our sins that drew our Saviour into that dreadful Agony of his passion: so in the mystery of that providence which hangs over us at this day, it is neither the error, nor treachery of counsels; nor the destructive factions & divisions among themselves; nor the ignorance of a seduced people, and infatuated nation; nor the wildfire of sedition, thrown abroad with so much art and industry; at all which we so much storm and rave; no, God's messenger must bid you look some other way, into yourselves, into your own bosoms: they are your own iniquities, that have unhinged our goodly frames of Government, and drawn the Church and State into that dreadful Agony under which it now labours: But your iniquities have separated, etc. Secondly, wherein God separates. First God withdraws from a people in the general, by withholding all good things from them, Ier: 5. 25. Such is the nasty stench of sin, that it turns Almighty God clean out of his way of mercy, (just as a man changes his walk, when he sees a stinking carrion thrown in his way) God will walk with us no longer than we walk with him, and if we forsake him, he also will forsake us, 2. Chron: 15. 2. Secondly, God withdraws, by withholding the presence of his protection, and Except the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vain. Psal: 127. ●: When God is so highly displeased with his people as to put them out of his protection, see what follows; A Lion out of the forest shall slay them, & a Wolf of the wilderness shall destroy them, a Leopard shall watch over their Cities, because their trespasses are many, and their rebellions are increased, Ier: 5. 6. Of so great esteem was this presence of God in Moses his time, that the Israelites durst not march one foot without it; If thy presence go not with us, carry us not from hence, Exod, 33: 15. Thirdly, God may very properly be said to withdraw, when he takes away his Deputies, the men of his right hand, Psal: 80: 17: those visible Gods to whom he hath entrusted the government of his people. And however, some have (more than) thought, that those may well enough be spared, (and are at this day acting their opinions) yet sure I am they are not guided by that spirit, who hath left it upon record, for the transgressions of a land many are the Princes thereof. Prov. 28. 2. And of those four things which Agur observes to breed the greatest disquiet in a State, the first and chief is a Servant when he reigneth, Prov: 30. 22. Fourthly; God withdraws, by withholding the presence of his Truth. His Gospel, and his ordinances are continued, but according as they are used. in the Prophet Jeremy's time, The Prophets prophesied lies, and the Priests bare rule by the sword, and the people were very well content, nay they loved to have it so, Jer. 5. last; And though jeremy were Israells prophet at that time, whose office was to pray for them, yet God gives him an express command to the contrary, Thou shalt not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry, or prayer for them. Ier: 7 16. God hath not so entailed his Gospel, or perpetuated his Church, to any one place, or people, but that he can remove it when he pleases. 'tis an herb will grow in any part of the world under the blessing of him that plants it; And when he hath just cause given him, 'tis very likely he will transplant it to a soil that will answer the husbandry he bestows upon it. And why not India as well as England? I dare not say, the viciousness of our lives will totally excuse their want of faith: yet sure I am, the natural square of the very Indians, is enough to condemn our want of obedience; He that said Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world; Mat: 28: 20: saith also in another place, Remember from whence thou art fallen. and Repent, and do thy first work, or else I will come quickly, and remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. Rev. 2. 5. Lastly (and which includes all the rest) God withdraws, by divorcing himself from his people; the phrase ye have Ier: 3. 8. I gave her a bill of Divorcement (saith God of rebellious Israel) an expression borrowed from those, who by matrimonial contract, have lived a long time together, with mutual joy and comfort, till some high misdemeanour breaks out, which hath no other remedy but a divorcement. And this should be a word of terror and amazement; for the covenant once dissolved between God and us, our jointure is all forfeited, all the pledges of his love to be returned, his silver and gold, and the fair jewels Ezech: 16: 17: of his wisdom, grace, and mercy, to be delivered up; A Divorce at once casheires us of all relations to God; If any man draw bacl, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Heb: 10. 38. And 'tis not prateritio (a passing by) but separatio, a word that speaks a fare worse condition. Better we had never met under the same roof, then to be parted afterwards; Better we had never tasted the good word of God, never known the way of righteousness, Heb: 6: 5: 2 Pet: 2: 21: then after the knowledge thereof, to turn away, and forsake it. A Divorce proves ever scandalous, to one side or other; the memory of a better, doubleth the misery of a worse estate, and the highest aggravation of hell's torment lies in poena Damni, the remembrance of what we once were, the contemplation of what we might have been. We have seen how God withdraws; It were well we would consider when he withdraws too: but herein is our blindness, that God is often with us, by the visible hand of his mercy and protection, whilst with slumbering jacob and Samuel, Gen: 2● 16: 1 Sam. 3: 7: we are not ware of it: And so at other times, God withdraws and will not go forth with us, nor have any thing to do with our designs, and yet with infatuated Samson, Jud. 16: 20: we are ignorant that God and our strength are both departed. that we may therefore be throughly awakened to this danger, we are to consider in the last place what condition we are in, when God is departed from us. Whensoever God departs from a people, or a City, or a soul, he leaves sin, and guilt always behind him; If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted? Gen: 4: 7: but if otherwise Sin lies at the door. and if Sin lie at the door, we know what to expect from such a porter, namely, That every mercy shall be excluded, and every Judgement shall be let in upon us. The Prophet Esayes Judgement shall be let in: I will take away the hedge of my vineyard, and it shall be eaten up, and I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down; I will lay it waste, it shall not be cut nor digged, but briers and thorns shall grow up, and I will command the clouds that they shall not rain upon it, Esay. 5. 5. The Prophet jeremies' Judgement shall be let in, jer. 13. 13. I will fill the inhabitants of jerusalem with drunkenness, and I will dash them one against another, even the fathers against the sons, (the just character of our unhappy times) brother against brother, City against City, County against County, and yet the delusion so strong, and bewitching, that (with Demetrius his rout) Acts 19: 32: the major part (in many places) know not wherefore they are come together. The Prophet Malachies Judgement shall be let in, I will not only pour out my Judgements, but I will curse even your Blessings, yea I have cursed them already, Mal: 2. 2. Your Invocations shall become provocations. Your Sacraments shall return ye charged with more guilt: Your Pulpits instead of teaching you to lead a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty, 1 Tim: 2: 2: shall train you up into rebellion against God and your King: And that meeting (so long thirsted after to have clinched and fastened religion and government) shall prove a Petar (an engine of mischief) to tear all in pieces. In short, when once our iniquities have driven away our God; that long roll of judgements, that stands upon record Deut: 28, will (as so many writs) be served upon us: every mischief will have his full blow at us; & in all this extremity that which should be our shelter, will prove our snare. To shut up all; what hath been thus declared in the general, must now be applied to every man in his own particular. When God is driven out of the heart by sin, the devil is at that very instant invited to come and take possession; this earthly tabernacle of ours will not be long without a tenant. 1 Sam: 16: 14: Saul is not sooner dispossessed of the good, then possessed of the evil spirit; and whither that evil spirit will lead we may guess if we look after the herd of swine, Mar: 5: 13: or rather indeed to a more dangerous lake then that wherein they perished, a lake of fire and brimstone, where the worm never dieth, nor the fire shall ever be quenched. Revel: 19: 20: Mar: 9: 43: How much then does it concern us, to separate from that betimes, which otherwise, will make an eternal separation between God and us? especially in times of hazard, and perplexity; with what confidence might we advance against the enemy, were but our drunkenness, our profaneness, & the poison of the whorish woman banished our quarters? (besides the scandal given to the cause) sure, our strength would not be the less; without question, our success would be every day more visible and apparent; when thou goest out with an army, be sure to keep thee then from all wickedness, saith Moses, Deut: 23: 9 The meaning is not that wickedness may be dispensed with at another time; 'tis spiritual advice tending immediately to thine own preservation; for when thou goest into the field, thou goest between the jaws of death, within the reach of the Cannon, thou art likely enough to take leave of this world; Let not thy mind then be so much upon thine honour, or thine enemy, as to forget what spiritual arms thou hast on, to preserve thy soul from eternal ruin. Thou wilt not march out, without thine arms: and wilt thou leave thy God behind thee? He that can so easily want his God, gives just cause to suspect, he was never yet throughly acquainted with him. 'Twas wont to be a proverb; Let him that cannot pray go to sea and learn; and why not into the field and learn? And yet are the hazards of war so far from startling the military man, that as if (together with his commission) he had a dispensation to be more desperate, and daring in his sins, than any other man; he makes Lust, and Rapine, essential to his profession; the most prodigious oaths, but as so many necessary accents of passion belonging to the duty of his place; as if indeed he were resolved on Hell, & were practiceing aforehand to curse & blaspheme. Believe it, the weight of Damnation is no whit lessened, by dandling the name of it upon the tongue; nor can I see how they can hope to be preserved of God who wish themselves confounded of him every hour. Though God will not hear the prayers of wicked men, yet 'tis likely enough he will hear their curses, and bring them home too, like water into their bowels, and like oil into their bones; nay 'tis past being likely; 'tis most certain he will, there's a text for it, Psal. 109: 18. I know not whether we shall more admire, or pity those bold (not valiant) amongst us, that dare go forth to meet their eternal condition, with hearts more hardened, than the Arms that cover them. The cause (indeed) requires our lives, it doth not require our souls, 'tis no honour to venture them. Nay little do we think how much our evil lives destroy, what with our lives we offer to maintain. 'Tis said in the first Psalm: That whatsoever the godly man doth it shall prosper. Psal: 1: 3: Methinks that should be of great esteem (as our times are) that would make every thing to prosper in our hand. Sure it has more virtue, than the Philosopher's stone, that will turn every thing we touch into a blessing: and let no man think to prosper otherwise; for he that may seem to prosper in his wickedness, may do well to take notice that he lies under the greatest judgement that can be named on this side hell: as having no sense of judgement till it cannot be reversed, nor ever awakened till the fire be all about his ears. And therefore whilst ye are engaged in war, be sure ye make your peace with God; and take heed of giving yourselves that deadly wound, that will never be cured unto all eternity: give no cause to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, 2 Sam: 12: 14: and let not your good be evil spoken of, Rom: 14: 16: the goodness of your cause be suspected and sullied with the foulness of your sins: lest whilst you appear for your Sovereign (and in him for yourselves) by your purses, and your persons, ye plate thorns in his crown some other secret way, and (unwittingly) wound that righteous cause, which cannot, will not thrive, but by holy addresses unto Almighty God. It hath been showed, what it is that separates from God: wherein God separates from us: & how miserable we are when God is departed from us. What remains then? but that we so demean ourselves in the presence of God, whilst his hand is not shortened, neither his ear heavy, that upon all occasions we may have free and open access unto his ear: and may find that hand of mercy, (which hath hitherto been enlarged almost to a miracle) constant, and propitious, to us and our designs. That God may always own us for his servants here in this life, and acknowledge us for his Saints in that which is to come. Which God of his infinite mercy grant, etc. FINIS.