fion, bribery, extortion, corruption of juftice and fuch like. These things do put Almighty God fo to it, that he faith How shal I pardon thee for these things? Jer.5.7. Shall I not vifit for these things faith the Lord, shall not my Veg. foul be avenged on fuch a Nation as this?" The fields look yellow,as Chrift faith,for the harvest, and call for the fickle of Gods vengeance to cut them down. 2 The spreading and extent of fins, when it hath corrupted the moft, as in the old world, God faid to Noah, Thee inely have I found righteous before me in this age. And in Sodome not ten righteous to be found, and in ferufalem God faid, Run too and fro through the streets of Jerufalem, and fee now and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgement, that seeketh truth,and I will pardon it. The Prophet did go the circuit. He fearched amongst mean men, and he found them foolish and ignorant: he gate him amongst the great ones, and he found them fuch as had broken the yoak. When fin once covereth the face of the earth, and is grown like a generall peftilence infecting the greateft part, Mofes, Job, Samuel and Daniel may pray and have no audience. 3 The impudencie and boldneffe of fin when men are not afhamed of their evils that they commit to cover and conceal them to do them in the dark, but brave the Sun with them : as Abfolon defiled the Concubines of David in the fight of the Sun, and before all Ifrael. It is Gods complaint of his people. The fhew of of their countenance doth witnesse against them, and Jer.3 9. they declare their fin as Sodome,and they hide it not. And again, Were they afhamed when they had committed abomination; nay, Jer.6.15. were not at all afhamed, neither could they blush. they Thou haft an Harlots forehead, thou refuseft to be ashamed. .4 Oftentation of fin, when men do make their boaft there- cr.3.3. of why boafteft thou thy felf in mischief? Upon which words, Saint Augustine faith, Gloria maligni tatis, gloria eft malorum. He faith, it is a foolish boaft to glory in evill: for evill is eafily done. He gives many inftances, the care of preparing the feed, and of the ground the fowing, the weeding, the attending,how many hands it asketh, and Abfolon can fet it all on fire in a moment. So Samfons Foxes did the fields of the Philistines. The Wiseman fetteth it down as a fault; Prov.20.6 Most men will proclaim every man his own goodneffe; how much more to boast of evil. As wantons boaft how many they have defiled, and drunkards how many they have out-drunk. 5. Making a mock at fin: fo the Wifeman faith, there be that toffe fire-brands, and say, Am not I in Sport? All our fins are fire-brands,we need no other rods to fcourge us here, no other fewell to enfire us hereafter, then our owne fins: this is, Hilaris infania, to make our selves merry with thefe, and to fet in the chair of the fcornfull. 6 Incorrigibility, when the gratious warnings of God do not lead then to repentance: when the angry threatnings of God do not draw bloud of them, when the rods of Gods favourable chaftifement doe not fmart upon them. O Lord, Jer.5.3. faith feremy, Thou haft stricken them, but they have not grieved Correction had wont to be the way to reclaime finners, but when iniquity is come to the full ripenefs,God may lay on while he will, they that have not known the way of peace will harden their hearts, as Pharaoh did, and correction will but make them curfe, and blafpheme God to his face. This was the full iniquity of thefe nations, whom God threfhed and wounded, and digged up, and caft out, that he might plant his Ifrael therein. And it teacheth us to be wife to falvation, as the Apostle faith; Thon man of God fly these things. And let me fay to you, as Lot to the Sodomites, I pray you, my brethren,do not fo wickedly. Take heed of Idols, Babes, keep your felves from Idels. Idolatry hath growen bolder of later then heretofore, the Fa Factors of Rome are bufie amongst us, trading for profelites but God stirreth up the fpirits of his religious fervants to foli cite the caufe of Religion, and the worthies of our land stand up with zealous fervency of fpirit for the truth of God. This is the light of Ifrael, fo long as we keepe the fire of God burning upon our Altars, we fhall have hope that God is with us, and that he will give us his blefling of peace. Let us break off our fins by repentance, that we may turn away the indignation of God from us, let not fin reign in our mortall bodies, that we fhould obey it in the lufts thereof. Let us take heed that we give not way to fin, either in our felves, or in others, left it over-grow us, but let us examin our own hearts in our chambers, and turn to the Lord. And if a brother by occafion fall into fin,let them that are fpirituall, reftore him with the fpirit of meekneffe. Let thame cover our faces for the evils that we have done, it is no fhame to be ashamed of our evils, as there is a godly forrow, fo there is a godly fhame, let us fay with Job; I covered not my tranfgreffion with Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosome... Let it grieve us that wee have finned' and let us not boaft thereof, but fay with Job, Peccavi, quid faciam tibi: with Saul, I have finned and done foolishly. Let the remembrance of our fin fnite our hearts, as Da vids heart fmote him, when he had numbred the people,and let us do no more fo. で Let the judgments of God make us afraid. Let the corrections of God humble us, and caft us at the feet of God, that he may fhew us mercy, and with Paul, let us pray three times, that the Angel of Satan "may be taken from us. Then shall we neither feel the flail of God threshing us, nor the fword of God wounding us,nor the fpade of God diging up, but we shall rejoyce every man, under his own Vine, and under his own Fig-tree. 2 What he did in favour to his own. Thon wenteft forth for the Salvation of thy people, even for falvation with thine annointed. David faith, Truly God is good to Ifrael. The 2 3 4 5 6 Reafon. The everlafting comfort of the Church hath been planted and grounded in the favonr of God by the mediation of Jefus Chrift his anointed. For although Chrift were not fo manifeft to his Church before, and in the time of the law, as he hath been in the time of the Gospel, yet he hath been always the hope of all the ends of the world. The reafon is,because Chrift is not onely a Mediatour of interceffion to pray for us, and a Mediatour of fatisfaction to die for us, and a Mediatour of falvation to prepare eternall manfions for us: but he is and ever was, and will be a Mediatour alfo of temporall protection all to keep and defend us from all evils. So that the Sun fhal not fmite us by day,nor the Moon by night. For as God created us to his own image,fo he fitted to... only begotten Son a body in our image, he was made of a woman, and fo foon as his word had made him the promised feed, fo foon was he crucified for us, and was the Lamb flain from the beginning of the World. Then did he take his Church into his bolome, and married her to himself, and they became one body, and ever fince his Angels have charge over her to keep her in all her ways, and this muft comfort Ifrael in Babylon, that God vvent before them vvith his anointed, to fetle them in the promised Land. There be no other mercies that vvill tarry by us, but those which God doth vouchfafe us by the means of this Mediator. He importeth many outward bleffings, even to the vvicked, by the means of his holy ghoft. For all the knovvledg that they have, all the vvifedome in arts and fciences be the gifts of the holy ghoft, but they have no portion at all in the office of Chrift, he vvas not anointed for them. From hence the Apoftle doth conclude, that God hath not forfaken the Jevvs, but that they fhall be called again, for he faith. Hath God caft away his people? he anfvvereth: God hath not Ro. 11,1, caft away his people whom he foreknew. The election of grace vvhich made them his, doth confirm them to him forever, and therefore they mention his going be before them with his anointed to affure them, that though they go into captivity and abide a long time there, yet they fhall not be left in bonds for ever. For the fpirit of the Lord is upon this anointed, to preach liberty to Captives, and the ope- If...61.1. ning the prifon to them that are bound. This is now the true comfort of the diftreffed parts of the Church, which groan under the burthen of oppreflion, and bloudy perfecution. They cry for the help from men, and no Nation doth fuccour them, they weep and pray to God and to his annointed, and,no doubt, but in good time, he wil come down to them to vifit them in his mercy, they are Chriftians, and they carry the name of Gods anointed, his name is in them, and his righteoufnelle and truth are their hope and strength. It is time for thee, Lord, to put to thy hand, for the wicked fons of Belial,the children of Edem cry out against thy Church, down with it, down vvith it, even to the ground. The Bishop of Rome, abetteth the unchriftian fhedding of Christian bloud, by his letters, and aifperfeth his vvhetstones to fharpen the fword of Gods enemies againft Gods Church. Let us fay vvith old facob; O Lord, I have waited for thy falvation, for thy Jefus, 2 This repetition of salvation. 1. Doct.2. Thou wentest forth fer the falvation of thy people, even for falvation, teacheth us. That God hath taken upon himself the care of the prefervation of his Church. Therefore he goeth before them for falvation, and he doth never leave them nor forfake them. 1 God hath many gratious titles, which do affure his love Reef.1. and favour to us. He is cal'd fehovah:fo we live,move,& have our being in him. He is called by fob, The preferver of men, Saint Paul addeth efpecially of the elect, for their falvation is a peculiar = grace, no common favour. ก And fo his right hand both fupporteth and guideth us, that vve neither ftray out of the vvay: nor fall in the vvay. He |