WE are here met this day to keep a day of humiliation, to out-cry the cry of our sinnes by the cry of our Prayers, and teares, to wrastle with God, with our hearts, and with the devill: With God for a blessing upon England & Ireland; with our hearts, to get and keep them in a frame sutable to the worke; with the devill, least he steale away the benefit of this day. Now as the Prov. 27. 1 Wiseman saith, Who knowes what a day may bring forth? Who knows what a mercy such a day as this may bring forth? Who knows what a rare successe this day may have throughout all England? The Lord give a blessing unto it.

To help you in the work of this day, I have chosen this Text. It is the skill of a workeman, not only to make good work, but fit worke. A garment is not well made, though never so good, if not fit made: This hath been my care to choose a fit text. It cannot be denyed but that God hath done much for England, and that England hath done much against God. Now my purpose is to lay the sins of England against God in one scale, and the mercies of God to England in the other scale, and to call upon you this day to be humbled, and ashamed, and broken in heart before the Lord, that ever you should sinne against such a God. There are but two wayes to breake a stony heart: As there are two wayes to cure a stone in the bladder: either by cutting out the stone, or by dissolving it with soft medicines; So there are but two wayes to cure a stony heart: either by the heartcutting threatnings of the Law, or by the heart-melting mercies of the Gospell; I have this day chosen the latter way. I will not carry you up to Mount Eball, or Mount Sinai: But to the Mount of Blessings. And I shall labour by the heart-dissolving mercies of the Gospell to breake your stony hearts: It is the duty of a Minister to follow God in his providence. When God sends judgements upon a Nation, then must we preach judgements to that Nation; But when he sends mercies, then must we preach mercy: Now God hath brought England into the schoole of mercy, and hath placed it in the highest forme, and hath made it Captaine of the schoole. And it is my duty to teach you what lessons you are to learne in this schoole. This Text holds forth one lesson, which is the proper lesson for this day, and that is, to be confounded and ashamed, that ever we should sinne against such a God. I read in the second of Judges, that there came an Angell of the Lord from Gilgall, to the people of Israel in Bochim, and preached a Sermon of mercy, in which he commemorates, First Gods kindnesse in bringing them out of Egypt, and into Canaan; and secondly, Their unkindnesse in disobeying of God: And all the people when they had heard this Sermon, lifted up their voyces and wept, in so much as the very place was called Bochim, that is, Weepers. This Angell was not an Angell properly so called, but a Minister, as most thinke: And therefore he is said to come from Gilgall, not from beaven: The Rabbines say it was Pbine has the sonne of Eleazar: God hath sent me hither this day as his Angell upon the same Embassage, I am to reminde you of Gods merci •… s to us: And of our ingratitude against him: O that it might have the same effect: That we may all of us lift up our voyces and weep, and that the Church may be called a Bochim, a place of weepers!

1. The mercy supposed: I will do this: If you looke backe into the Chapter you shall find, that God promises many rare Part. 1. and great mercies to the house of Israel, Mercies in Folio, Mercies unspeakable: God promises to gather them out of all Countries: Vers. 24. And to bring them backe to their owne land; To cleanse them from Idols: And from all filthinesse: To sprinkle cleane water upon 25. 26. 30. them: To give them a new heart, and a new spirit: And to take away their hearts of stone, and to give them a heart of fiesh: And to multiply all outward blessings upon them, &c. Observe from hence;

That God doth sometimes shew mercy to a Nation when it Doctr. 1. least deserves it, and least expects it.

This is apparent out of the text: When Ezekiel wrote these words, the house of Israel was in the house of bondage, Captive in Babylon. Their condition was so desperate in regard of their misery, that Ezekiel compares them to dry bones in the grave, chap. 37. And God demands of Ezekiel: Can these drie Ezek. 37. bones live? He answers: O Lord God thou knowest: for my part I know not. Their estate was hopelesse, and helplesse: And it was as desperate in regard of sinfulnesse, as appears in the 17, 18, 19, 20. verses of this Chapter: When they were in their owne land, they were as abominable before the Lord as the uncleannesse of a menstruous Vers. 17. woman: And when they came into Babylon, they were so wicked, as that the holy name of God was prophaned by them while the Babylonians out of scorn & contempt said, These a •… e the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land: And yet behold God doth here promise to performe rich and unexpected mercies to such an undeserving Nation.

My desire is that this Doctrine may be a Looking-glasse for this Nation, in which we may behold the severall miracles of mercy that God hath bestowed upon us: A Nation not worthy to be beloved, and yet beloved above all Nations of the world; God hath made us like Saul, taller by the head in mercies than all other Nations: There was indeed a time when this Island was called Albion, ab albis Rupibus; but at that time it was black, and defiled, worshipping of stockes and stones, even the Devill in stead of God: We had our Druides, our Flamines and Archiflamines; We offered our Sonnes and daughters alive in sacrifice, Non ad honorem, sed ad injuriam religionis: Our religion was Tristissimum superstitionum Chaos, as Cambden saith: but it pleased God, presently after the death of Christ to send the Christian Religion among us: Christ made haste to convert England; Some say that James the brother of John, some S •… mon Ze •… tes, some that Peter and Paul, but all agree that Joseph of A •… imathea preached the Gospell here, and here he died: And that which makes much for the mercy of God to this happy Island; the first Christian King that ever was in the world, was King Lucius a Britaine; and the first Christian Emperour was borne in England, even Constantine the Great: And when wee came afterwards to be wofully drowned with Popish heresies and Idolatry; the first King that ever shooke off subjection to Antichrist, after he was discovered by Luther, was King Henry the eighth; and the first King that ever wrote in Print that the Pope was Antichrist, was King James of famous memory; God hath made us not only Protestants, but reformed Protestants; We have enjoyed the Gospell of peace, and the peace of the Gospell for almost an hundred yeares: In this Century God hath multiplied deliverances upon deliverances; we have had our 88. and our Gunpowder deliverances, but as Benjamins messe did exceed all his brethrens, and as Josephs shease was lifted up above the sheaves of his brethren; so the mercies of these two last yeares do farre exceed all the mercies that ever this Nation did receive since the first Reformation, mercies that deserve to be ingraven in every one of our hearts: And if Achilles was happy in Alexanders judgement, because he had a Homer to record his fame: It would no doubt be a great honour to this Kingdome, if it had a better Homer to Chronicle the passages of these late yeares: Give mee leave to name, and but to name some few of them.

First, The bappy Pacification between •… Scotland and England; God hath freed us from Civill warres, which of all warres are most uncivill; from intestine warres, warres that would have eaten out our owne bowels; from warres of Protestant with Protestant, which of all warres are most cruell: Odia proximorum sunt acerrima.

Secondly, The mighty turne that God hath made in this Kingdome for the better; for wee were all upon the Tropicks turning to Popery, as some that are most moderate do now confesse: The ill affected party had got a mighty faction, men in authority & power; pits were digged for the Righteous; Gallowses provided for Mordecai, because hee would not bow to Haman; dens of Lions for Daniel, because he would not leave praying; fiery surnaces for the three children, because they would not worship the golden Image; dungeons for Jeremy, because he would preach the truth with boldnesse; We were like firebrands in the fire; like birds in the snare; but God Almighty hath made a blessed turne of things for the better: the enemies are throwne into the dens & dungeons they prepared for the godly, the pits they digged for others they themselves are fallen into; the enemies of the Church hang downe their heads, and the godly begin to lift them up; Our Isaacs are delivered, and the Rammes are caught in the bush, and as the Wiseman saith, The Righteous Prov. 11. 8 is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked commeth in his stead; The wicked shall be a ransome for the righteous, and the transgressours for Prov. 21. 18 the upright.

Thirdly, The Protestation against all Popery and Popish Innovations; next to that Protestation from which we beare the name of Protestants the greatest mercy; God hath brought a great deale of good to this Kingdome by it.

Fourthly, The great hope we have of a reformation of the Church and State. We may now say in some good measure, as it is Canticles 2. 11. The winter is past, the raine is over and gone, the flowers appeare on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come: You know the birds sing early in the morning at the break of day, and the flowers appeare at the beginning of the Spring; Blessed be God, here is a faire spring towards, the day begins to dawne, Reformation begins to blossome, and we hope that the winter of adversitie is past and gone, unlesse our new sinnes do provoke God to repent of the good he intends to do unto us, as hee dealt with Saul for his new transgression, after hee had thought to have established him King, 1 Sam. 13. 13, 14.

Fifthly, The many grievous yoakes that God hath freed us from, so many, as that the day would hardly suffice to repeat them: God hath delivered us from Civill yoakes, and from Spirituall; from Monopolies; from the late Canons mounted up against all good men, but now turned against themselves; from the Star-Chamber, and from the terrible High Commission, that wrack and torture of conscience, and conscientious men; which was appointed like the dogs in the Capito •… l, to scare away theeves, but hath for the most part barked onely at honest men; from those two terrible Oathes, the Oath ex Officio, and the Oath of the late Canons, whereby the Prelaticall party thought for ever to rivet themselves into the Kingdone, and to be above the hurt of the King and Parliament; this Oath is now made the great Canon to shoot them downe.

Sixthly, The discovery of the secret underminers that have for these many yeares laboured to blow up our Religion, and under the name of Puritan to scare all men from being Protestants: God hath done to us as he did to Ezekiel, he hath opened a doore in the wall to behold all the trecheries that are plotted in secret, & there is nothing devised against Church or State, but God raises up one E •… isha or other to discover it; in so much as we may say of England, as Balaam of the Israelites, Surely there is no •… nchantment against England, neither is there any divination against the Houses of Parliament. Here are six mercies: Now there are also divers circumstances with which these mercies are apparelled, that are as remarkeable as the mercies themselves; as we say of some things, that the curious workmanship of them is more worth than the things themselves, (as in a Watch or Clocke) so these circumstances are as glorious and as observable (if not more) than the mercies themselves; and these are likewise six.

First, for God to doe all this for England, and to doe it in a legall way, in a Parliamentary way. This is the first Circumstance. It was that which our enemies did much threaten that wee should never see Parliament more, but blessed be God, we doe see it to our great joy and comfort. It was the happines of England that in her first reformation she was acted by authority: Our reformation began from the head, and not from the feet: And it is now no little blessing, That this second reformation beginnes from the heads of our Tribes in the old and good way of a Parliament, and not by a popular tumult.

Secondly, to doe it in a peaceable way: It is with us as it was in the building of Solomons Temple; Here is no noise of hammers, or axes, but all in a quiet way: Whereas other Nations have travailed through blood to a reformation, All things are managed among us without blood-shed, blessed be God.

Thirdly, to doe it in a praying way; not by the weapons of war, but by the weapons of the Church, Prayers and Teares; In stead of fighting, we have Fasting, and in stead of the enemies drummes, we have Aarons bels sounding in our eares: Our people have prayed up a reformation.

Fourthly, to doe all this for us, when we were in a most desperate condition; when all our faithfull Ministers with one lippe preached desolation and destruction, when thousands had left us as Rats & Mice doe a house when it is ready to fall, when we Psal. 63. 13. lay among the pots fullyed with superstition; for God then to begin to make us, as the wings of a Dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold; to make us a glorious Church, to purge out our drosse, and whatsoever gives just offence, and to make us white as the snow in Salmon; (It is reported of Salmon, That it is Psal 63. 14. an high hill shadowed with trees, darke, and full of pits, but when the snow is upon it, it is white. Our condition was like the hill of Salmon, we were in darke and dismall condition, full of pits and snares, but God is making us white as the Snow in Salmon, and all on the suddaine contrary to all expectation is opening a doore of hope for us, when we were in the valley of Achor.) This is an admirable circumstance.

Fiftly, to doe all this, for such a sinfull Nation as England: a Nation which hath ingrossed all those sins for which God hath destroyed other Nations, as namely, Contempt of the Gospell, Countenancing of Idolatry, loathing of Manna, Crying downe Preaching 〈◊〉 the Idoll of England, preaching against Preaching: Teaching for good doctrine, That Bishops and tithes are Jure Divino, and yet the Lords day is but Jure human •… : crying up the holines of Churches, and at the same time crying downe the frequency of Preaching in these Churches: exalting the holines of places, and at the same time depressing the holinesse of persons, and the holines of the Christian Sabbath: A nation guilty of Apostasie, Opposition to Reformation, Bitternesse against the people of God, loaded with blood-guiltinesse, blasphemies, adulteries, oppression, drunkennes, covetousnes, and such like sinnes.

Sixthly, And to doe all this for such a Nation, and not for other Nations; Not for Germany, not for Ireland. Although we drinke as deepe of the cup of sinne as they, yet that God should give us no cup, but a cup full of mercy to drinke off; to make us like Goshen, when all other Protestant Nations are plagued as Egypt, O what a rare Circumstance is this!

These mercies, and these circumstances are so great and so wonderfull, as that, if I had as many tongues as haires on my head, they would not all suffice to set out the praises of God for them: And indeed I can hardly forbeare from turning this day of humiliation, into a day of thanksgiving. Surely God requires a thousand thousand Hallelujahs; And that we should blesse him upon a thousand stringed Instrument: Here is fewell enough. The Lord kindle a great fire in every one of our hearts, to burne out all our lusts: to infiame our cold hearts with the love of such a God: and to make us ashamed and confounded that ever wee should sinne against him.

The second part of the Text is the Author of these mercies, 2 Part. in these words: I will doe this saith the Lord God. Here I observe, That the deliverances that come to a Nation, come from Jehovah Adonai. Nationall mercies come from the God of Nations; And that all Doctr. 2. the world may take notice that mercies come from God, he ordinarily doth two things.

First, he delivers Nations at su •… h times, and when they are in such straites, as that none but a God can deliver them. Thus he delivered his people out of Egypt, when they were in their worst estate, Cum duplicant •… r lateres, tunc venit Deus: thus he delivered his people out of Babylon, when they were as dry bones in the grave past hope; this is a time fit for a God to worke, as it is Deut. 32. 36. The Lord shall judge his people, and repent himselfe for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and that there is none shut up, or left.

Hee delivers Nations by such wayes and such meanes that 2. none but a God can doe.

First, By little meanes: Thus he tels Gideon, The people that are Judg. 7. 2. with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine owne hand hath saved me; and therefore he brings the Army from 32 thousand, to ten thousand, and from ten thousand, to three hundred; and afterwards delivers them without the helpe of these three hundred, by Trumpets, Pitchers, and Lamps: Thus he delivered Israel from a huge hoast of Philistims, by the help of Jonathan and his Armorbearer: 1 Sam 14. And in 2 Kings 3. 22, 23. he makes a fancy to be the foundation of a great victory, the Sun shines upon the water, and the Moabi •… es conceive it to be the blood of the Israelites, and by this fancy were vanquished.

Secondly, By unlikely meanes: Thus God preserved Noah by an A •… ke, wherein he was buryed, as in a darke sepulcher; dwelling among wilde beasts, floating on the waters without a Pilot to guide him; onely the Text saith, God shut him in, and by his Gen. 7. 16. power kept him from sinking: Thus God made the Jaylor (an unlikely Instrument) to wash the stripes of Paul and Silas, and Act 16 Revel. 12. 16. he makes the earth to helpe the Woman, that is, the basest and the most unlikeliest of the people.

Thirdly, By contrary meanes: Thus Jonah was preserved from drowning by a Whale, and was kept vivus in sepulchro; thus Joseph was made Lord of Egypt by being cast into prison, and the blinde man cured with clay and spittle, a way more likely to put out his eyes than to cure him.

Fourthly, Without any meanes at all: And thus God delivered his people out of Babylon; For when God turned againe the captivity Psal. 12 •… ▪ of Sion (saith David) they were like unto them that dreame; now men know not what they shal dreame of when they go to bed; we dreame of strange things, wee doe not study our dreames; such was their deliverance out of Babylon, a strange, uns •… ught, 〈◊〉 for deliverance, just as a dreame: now God doth all this, that it might appeare, that deliverances come not from secondary causes, but from his owne arme and power.

Let this Doctrine be an other Looking-glasse for this Nation; Englands mercies come from the God of England, we may truely say with David, If the Lord had not beene on our side, if the Lord had Psal. 126. not beene on our side when men rose up against us, they had swallowed u •… up quicke, and the streames had gone over our soules: There is not onely the finger of God, but the hand, even the right hand; the a •… me, even the strong arme of Jehovah, the onely wonder-working God in Englands mercies; and this will appeare, If either you consider the mercies themselves; Or the time when we received them; Or the manner how we received them.

First, If we consider the mercies themselves, they are so super-superlative, as that we may say of them, as Protog •… es did of a curious line which he saw drawne in a Painters shop; None but 〈◊〉 could draw this line; so none but a God could doe such great things: These mercies declare the glory of God, and these deliverances s •… ew forth his handy workes; workes worthy of a God.

Secondly, If we consider the time when we received them, for God suffered us to be at the very pits brinke, and betweene the very teeth of the Lions, as Daniel was, and like Isaac ready to be slaine even Tantum n •… n, and then he came from heaven to help us, O beatos articulos temporis! O happy articles of time! When my enemies came up against me, saith David, then (and not before) God fought for me.

Thirdly, The manner how God hath brought about these mercies is so rare, as that we may not onely say (as David to the Woman) Is not the hand of Joab in all this? but we may certainely conclude, The hand of God is most conspicuous in all Englands mercies; Never since the first day of the creation of the world, when God brought light out of darknesse, hath God more appeared in the workes of his providence in bringing good out of evill, than in these last yeares, wherein he hath suffered the enemies of the Church and State to dig pits, and then he hath caught them in the pits that they themselves have digged; In the net which they bid is their owne Psa •… . 9. 16 foot taken; the wicked is snared in the workes of his owne hand. Higgaion. Selah. As Christ whipped out the buyers and sellers by a whip made of their owne cords, which they brought to tye their beasts withall; so God hath whipped out the enemies of this Church and State, by whips of their owne making; He hath taken them by their owne iniquities, and hath held them with the cords Prov. 5. 22. of their owne sinne: Goliah is killed with his owne sword; H •… man hanged upon his owne G •… llowes: All that our enemies have done these many yeares hath beene but as the weaving of a spiders web, Esay. 59. and the hatching of Co •… atrice egges, for they have consumed their bowels by what they have weaved, and they are destroyed by the egges which they have hatched; God hath delivered us not onely by little meanes, by unlikely meanes, but by contrary meanes; he hath brought unity out of division: The indeavours to divide the Nations of England and Scotland, have beene the meanes of their farther union: (we have indeed a saying, Omne malum ab Aquilone; but we may well turne it, and say, Omne bonum ab Aquilone, for Scotland hath beene the cause of a great deale of good to England) God hath brought liberty out of oppression: If things had not beene so bad, they would not now have beene so good; if mans wickednesse had not beene so evident, Gods goodnesse had not been so transparent; God hath made our enemies Preservatives, to be their Destructives, and hath ruinated them by what they thought to be established; their very rising hath beene their ruine; and by indeavouring to bring themselves too high, they have overgrasped themselves, and almost lost all; In all those things wherein they dealt proudly, God was above them: God hath made all Exod. 1 •… . 11. our Destructives to be our Preservatives; and by those wayes by which they thought to destroy us, they have preferred us; and all this hath beene done not so much by the wisdome of the Parliment, nor by the graces of his Children, as by the very lusts and pride of the Adversaries: This is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes: and we may safely say with David, Surely the Ps. 67. 10. wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath shalt thou restraine. Give mee now leave (right Honourable) to make two uses of these two Doctrines: If these mercies come from God,

Let God have the glory of all his mercies. Vse. 1.

And glory with all his mercies. Vse 2. Vse 1. P •… al. •… 15.

Let God have the glory of all his mercies; let us say with David, Not unto us O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name wee give the praise: Not unto us, because not by us; let us give the praise, and the whole praise to God: The nature of man is wonderfull prone to sacrifice to his owne net, and to ascribe the glory of deliverances to himselfe; Nebuchadnez z •… r spake and said, Is not this great Babell that I have built, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my Majes •… y? and Moses himselfe spake unadvisedly Dan. 4. 30. with his lips, when he said, Shall we bring water out of this Rocke, &c? as if he had done it by his owne power: and therefore let us take heed of this sin. There are two things in every mercy.

First, the comfort and benefit of the mercy.

Secondly, the praise and glory of the mercy. Now God giveth us the comfort and benefit, but the praise and glory he reserveth to himselfe: this is like Potiphars wife, that Joseph must not meddle withall: Z •… latur Deus propter gloriam. This I speak the rather, because I preach to them whom God hath made one of the Instruments of all our mercies; You are the golden pipes through which these mercies come to us, and you must be as golden pipes, in suffering the praise to passe through you, not reserving any to your selves: you must sing the Angels song, Glory be to God on high, in earth peace; and say with Bernard, Mihi plaeet distributio Angelica, Gratanter accipio quod re •… inquis, relinquo quod retines, abjuro gloriam, ne amitterem pa em. It was that which the King of Sweden did often complain of, and much bemoan, saying, That God would surely take him out of the wor •… d before his worke was done, because people did idolize him and ascribe too much unto him.

May we not give praise and thankes to the Parliament that Quest. hath taken such indefatigable paines for our good?

Yes certainly, but not as to the first Authors and Fountaines, but Answ. onely as to the Messengers of the good things we e •… joy; as when a great Lord sends a gift by his servant, we may thanke the servant for his paines in bringing the gift, and give him a reward for his paines, but the whole praise for the gift is to the Lord that sent it; so it is here, the great God hath made you (right Honorable) his Servants, and Embassadors to bring great blessings to us; And we thanke you for your cost, and care, and paines, and the Lord reward you a thousand fold; But the mercies are not yours, but Gods; And therefore, Not unto you, not unto you, but unto God be all the praise. You must be as carefull to appropriate all the glory to God as Joab was to preserve the glory of David, when he sent for him, to come to Rabbah and take it 2. Sam. 12. 28. lest if Joab had taken the City, it should have beene called by his name. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdome, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that gloryeth, glory in the Lord. It was the last speech of dying Chrysostome; Glory be to God from all creatures. Let the Jesuites at the end of their Bookes subscribe; Laus Deo, & beatae Virgini; Praise be to God, and the blessed Virgin; Let this be the badge of the Beast: But let every true Protestant subscribe; Soli Deo gloria, to God onely be praise; for so Christ hath taught us, Thine is the Kingdome, the power and the glory; And therefore to him onely be glory.

And as we must give God the glory of his mercies, So we must Vse 〈◊〉 give glory to God with all his Mercies. We must improve Englands mercies to the glory of the God of England; England is an Island incompassed about with foure Oceans: An Ocean of water: And of late yeares an Ocean of dangers: And now I am sure with an Ocean of sinnes; and an Ocean of mercies. O let us adde one Ocean more, an Ocean of service, and obedience; as God hath done singular and extraordinary things for us, so let us do some singular and extraordinary service for God. He hath made England a miracle of mercy; let England be a miracle of obedience: A Christian in England must not onely servire Deo, sed & adulari, as Tertullian saith: He must be rich in good works as God hath Englands mercies must bee made, Moti •… a obedientia. beene rich in mercy. We must eight wayes improve Englands mercies.

First, let us make these mercies, Motives to obedience and service. As God made the deliverance out of Egypt a motive to the keeping of the ten Commandements, I am the Lord which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, therefore thou shalt have none other Gods but me: Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any graven Image, &c. So let us make Englands mercies a Motive to the keeping of Gods Commandements. I beseech you by the mercies of God offer up your bodies a living •… rifice, holy Rom. 12. and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonab •… •… vice; •… et the great turne of times move us to turne to God: Let us not take Gods name in vaine, after so many mercies; Let us not prophane Gods day, commit whoredome, make our lusts our lawes, our money our God, after so many mercies.

Secondly, let us make these mercies, as so many cords and bonds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to tye us fast to God and his will. Gods mercies, saith Austine, are like to a Needle, that sowes two peeces together that are rent and torne asunder. Man and God by nature are separated, but his benefits and mercies must be used as Needles to sow them together, and to knit them to God in obedience. It is Gods promise, I will draw thee unto me with the cords of love. Now God hath reached out many cords of love to this Kingdome, O let these golden cords draw us unto him: Let us not be like Sampson that burst all his cords in sunder. I read of a man in the Gospell whom no cords could binde, but I read also he was possessed with a devill: It is a signe that the spirit of the devill is in you, and not the Spirit of God, if these Cable robes of mercy will not draw you to the obedience of Gods will.

Thirdly, let us make these mercies as so many Memorandums to put us in minde of our duty: As Ahashuerus on a certaine night when Memorandums of duti •… . Ester. 5. he could not sleep, called for the Chronicles, and there was read to him a good deed that Mordecai had done, and presently he asked what honour and dignity had beene done to Mordecai for this? So must we make a Catalogue of Gods mercies, and keepe them by us, and be ever and anon reading of them, and saying What honour hath God had for all my honour and riches and other mercies received from him? And when we begin to forget a duty, then run to our Catalogue. As God commanded Moses to keepe the pot of Manna, for a Memento to put the Israelites in minde of his great mercy in giving them Manna: so must our hearts be as the Arke to keepe Gods mercies, to put us in mind of God, and our service to him when we are ready to forget him.

Fourthly, let us make these mercies Looking-glasses to see God Specula 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 in, and not wals to separate betweene us and God: God never appeared more in his wisdome, power, goodnesse, and mercy then in these dayes: And not to see God in good workes of his providence, is a curse, and will bring a curse: That it is a curse appeares Jeremy, 17. 5, 6. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his Arme, and whose heart departeth from the Lord; for he shall be like a heath in the desart, and shall not see when good •… mes: And that it brings a curse appeares Psal. 28. 5. Because they regard not the workes of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands; he shall destroy them and not build them up.

Fiftly, let us make these mercies as so many footstools to raise us up Footstooles of obedience. to higher mercies; Let us use these mercies reflexively: not terminatively: And say as good Fulgentius did, when he saw the glory of Rome, Sitalis est Roma terrestris, qualis est Roma caelestis? If Gods mercies be so rare here in the valley of teares, what are they in the mountaine of joy?

Sixtly, let us make these mercies as so many bridges to lead us over to better mercies: to such mercies, which are at Gods right Bridges to obedience. hand, and in his right hand; and which are the mercies of his right hand. All temporall mercies are the mercies of Gods left hand, which he gives to many whom he will put at his left hand at the day of Judgement. Spirituall mercies are the mercies of his right hand, and mercies in his right hand, For his right hand is full of righteousnesse: Let us be earnest Petitioners for those mercies, Psal. 48. 10. Psal. 16. 11. which whosoever hath, shall be placed at the right hand of Christ, at the day of Judgement; and shall be made partakers of those everlasting pleasures, which are at Gods right hand. Let us not be like that woman, that when •… er husband sent her a jewell as a token of his love, to put her in minde of him, fell in love with the jewell and forgot her husband. Let us not make these mercies our God, but bridges to lead us over unto God.

Seventhly, let us make these mercies as so many Cordials to Cordialls of comfort comfort us in all distresses: and if God at any time should bring this Nation into new straites and dangers; Let us say as Manoahs wife did unto Manoah, If the Lord did intend to destroy England, Judge. 13. 23. surely he would never have bestowed so many mercies upon England.

Eightly, let us make these mercies as so many meanes, and instruments Media & instrumenta obedientiae. of service; Let us serve God with our health, wealth, and parts; Let us serve him, Cheerefully, liberally, thankefully, fruitfully, lest God send upon us that curse threatned, Deut. 28. 47, 48. Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulnesse, and with gladnesse of heart, for the abundance of all things: Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, in thirst, in nakednesse, in want of all things: And he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy necke untill he hath destroyed thee: Let us rend our hearts and not our garments, and turne to the Lord, for he is gracious: Joel 2. 13. O give thankes unto the Lord, for his mercy endureth for ever: There Psal. 137. is mercy with thee O Lord, and therefore thou art to be feared: Let us feare to sinne against a God of such mercy; Let us admire these mercies, and admire him for his mercies: And say with David, Who am I O Lord, and what is mine house that thou shouldest bring me hitherto? and is this the manner of man O Lord God? And let us pray that excellent prayer, Domine da gratitudinem cum misericordia, 〈◊〉 Sam. 7. 18. nolo misericordiam sine gratitudine; Lord give us thankefull hearts with thy mercies, Lord give us obedient hearts with thy mercies, Rather let us be without mercy, than not to have grace to glorifie thee with thy mercies.

The third part of the Text is, the false reason of the mercy deposed, and that by way of Proclamation; Be it knowne unto Part 3. you O House of Israel, that it is not for your sakes that I doe this; Nec per vos, nec propter vos; Neither by you, nor for you; It is I, that doe it, saith the Lord; and for my owne names sake I doe it; Not for your sakes. This Proclamation is very often inculcated for feare lest men should ascribe mercies to their owne merits, which all are very apt to doe. It is said in the 22. verse of this Ezek. 36. 22. Chapter; Say unto the House of Israel; Thus saith the Lord, I doe not this for your sakes O House of Israel, but for my holy names sake, which you have prophaned among the heathen whither you went; Thus Ezekiel 20. 44. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my names sake, not according to your wicked wayes, nor according to your corrupt doing •… , O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord; Thus also, Deuteronomy 9. 4. Speake not thou in thine heart (for many will thinke so in their hearts, though ashamed to speake it with their tongues) after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousnesse the Lord hath brought me to possesse this Land; But for the wickednes of these Nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee; This is repeated againe at the 5 verse, that it may not be forgotten; Not for thy righteousnes, or for the uprightnes of thy heart dost thou goe to possesse the land, &c. This is also againe repeated verse 6. Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possesse it for thy righteousnes, for thou art a stiffenecked people; And in the 7. verse he cals upon us to remember it, and not forget it. Hence observe,

That Nationall mercies come from free grace, not from free will; Doct. 3. Not from mans goodnes, but Gods goodnes. My desire is, that this Doctrine may be a third Looking-glasse for England. If any shall aske, How it comes to passe, that England hath beene like No •… s A •… ke, safe and secure, when all other Nations have beene drowned with a sea of blood: Why England is like Gideons dry fleece, when all other Nations are like his wet fleece bedewed with miseries and lamentations: No other answer can be returned; but Gods free grace and mercy: I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy: May I not doe what I will with mine owne? May not a man that hath two debtors equally indebted to him, spare the one and not the other, as he pleaseth? Be it known unto you, O house of England, It is not for your sakes, for you are a stiffenecked people, but for my holy names sake.

But doth not God indent and Covenant with a Nation, upon its repentance, to shew mercy, how then is Gods mercy free? Quest.

Repentance it selfe is of Gods free grace, 2 Tim. 2. 25. In meeknesse instructing them that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will Answ. 1. give them repentance. Repentance is Gods free gift, and therefore Christ is said to be exalted by God, to be a Prince and a Saviour, for Acts 5. 31. to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sins.

Repentance is not the cause for which God spares a Nation, 2. but onely a qualification of that Nation which God will spare: Repentance denotes the Persons whom God hath freely promised to pardon, but not the c •… se for which he promises to pardon; as the Gnomon in the Diall is not the cause why the Clocke goes right or wrong, but onely an Indication whether it goe right or wrong.

If Englands mercies come from Gods goodnesse and not our Vse. 1. righteousnesse, let us not thinke our selves more righteous than Ireland, because wee are not wallowing in blood as Ireland; Thinke you, saith Christ, that those eighteene upon whom the tower in Luk. 13. Silce fell, are sinners above all men that dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you nay: I that am the Judge of the world, I tell you nay. The nature of man is prone to censure Germany and Ireland as horrible sinners above others, but I tell you nay, saith Christ. When the Barbarians saw the Viper skip upon the hand of Paul, they concluded presently, Sure •… y this man is a murtherer; but they were Ac •… . 2 •… . Barbarians, and in this they acted the part of Barbarians. It is a barbarous action to censure them that are punished by God, to be the greatest of sinners. Judicia Deinm sunt t •… mere discutienda, sed formidoloso silentio vener and a saith Gregory. Be it knowne unto you, O England, it is not for your righteousnesse you are spared, not because you are better, but because I love you better; not for your sakes doe I this, saith the Lord, for if Ireland be sinfull, England hath a great share in this sinfulnesse, because it hath taken no more care to bring those Popish Rebels to the knowledge of the Gospe •… of Jesus Christ. Let England say as Lysima •… hus did, (who was on a suddaine called forth out of a house, where he was at supper, (by his good Genius, as the Heathen say,) and as soon as ever he was out of doores, the house fell down and killed them all which were within) Good God, saith he, to what evill am I reserved! So let Eng •… and say, Good Lord to what super-transcendent judgement am I reserved, if I repent not. And this makes way for the second use.

If Englands mercies come from free grace, let not England presume upon Gods mercies, as i •… intailed upon them and their Vse. 2. posterity: for it is as free for God to take away his mercies, as it was free to give them; And thus Christ tels the Jewes in the forementioned place, I tell you n •… y, but except ye repent ye shall likewise perish; and so they did within forty yeares after, with a severe destruction. And so doe I say to England, Except England repent, England also shall perish; let not England be high minded but feare. God hath a devouring sword for England, as well as Ireland: And therefore let England this day humble it selfe in dust and ashes, for though God deferre Englands judgement, longer than Irelands, or Germanies, yet as sure as there is a God in Heaven, unlesse wee repent, we also shall perish: Gods forbearance is no acquittance: It is one thing to forbeare a debtor, and another thing to acquit a debtor: The longer God is fetching about his hand, the heavier will the blow be when he strikes. What so calme as the Sea? but yet when a storme comes, what so tempestuous? What so blunt as iron? but when it is sh •… rpned, what more sharpe? None so patient and mercifull as God, but yet when he begins to strike, and his anger is kindled, how unexpressible is his fury? Consider this you that forget God, lest he teare you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you.

If free grace hath preserved England, let England blesse God for free grace, and say, as it is Lament. 3. 22. It is the Lords mercy Use 3. that we are not consumed, because his compassions faile not; not because our sinnes faile not, for our sins are as many as our mercies, but because his compassions faile not: It is the Lords mercie that we sinfull men and women are not consumed; O give God the glory of free grace, as it is expressed, Malachi 3. 6. I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed: Not because you have not changed your God, not because you are good and righteous, but because I am unchangeable, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Let us say as David, We have not got our Psal. 44. 3. peace and plenty by our owne sword, neither hath our owne arme saved us, but thy right hand, and thy arme, and the light of thy countenan •… e, because thou haddest a favour unto us. If thou art converted, blesse God for free grace: For who made thee to differ from another? and what hast thou which thou hast n •… t received? and if thou didst receive 1 Cor. 4. 7. it; why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Let us ascribe all our Deliverances and all our mercies, the mercie of the Pacification, the mercy of Reformation, the mercy of the Union of both Houses of Parliament, the discovery of all plots and treasons against this Church and State, our freedome from all our yoaks, and all the good things that God hath done for us unto free grace, and say as God to Zerubbabel, Not by might no •… by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountaine, before Zerubbabel? thou shalt become a plaine, and he shall Zach. 4. 6, 7. bring forth the head stone thereof with shouting, and crying, Grace, grace unto it: Let grace, grace be our constant acclamation.

If free grace hath preserved England, not free will, Let England Use 〈◊〉 . maintaine free grace above free will. I find in history, that Pelagius the greatest enemie to free grace that ever the world had, was borne in England; and I am sure that England of late yeares hath been too great a friend to Pelagianisme, under the name of Arminianisme. Bradwardine an Englishman complains of his time, (as Hierome before had done of Arianisme) That almost all the world was gone after the errour of Pelagius, and he cries out, Exurge Deus, & judica causam tuam: I am confident, that this complaint, and this prayer might justly have been taken up in reference to England these few yeares past: for there was A mighty faction risen up in the Church (so I dare now call it, blessed be God) who advanced free will above free grace, and subjected the power of grace to the power of free will: which faction prevailed so farre, as that whosoever was not an Arminian, was e •… mine, A doctrinall Puritan (as hee was then termed.) The Universities were poysoned with this doctrine, and all, preferment stre •… med this way. We were come to that height, that the doctrine of Arminianisme was accounted the doctrine of the Church of England. And therefore, I beseech you (right Honourable) to take this into your most serious consideration: Place free grace in its throne; advance free grace, that hath so much advanced you: roote out Arminianisme; settle our doctrine (not only our discipline) that there may be no shadow of plea in it for an Arminian. King James of famous memory, in a Declaration written to the States of Holland, cals Arminius, the enemy of God: and a booke of Bertius, of the Apostasie of the Saints, A blasphemous booke, whose very Title makes it worthy the fire: and he perswades the Low Countries betimes to roote out those heresies and schismes, which if they suffered to have the reines, would bring the curse of God upon them, infamy through all the Reformed Churches, and a perpetuall rent and distraction in the whole body of their State. I speake to wise men, consider what I say. And certain it is, if temporall deliverances be the fruits of Gods free grace, much more are spirituall and eternall. Therefore we are said to be justified freely by his grace, and to be Elected according to the good pleasure of his will; and whereas the Eph. 2. Eph •… . 1. Rom 6 23. Apostle saith, that the wages of sinne is death, he doth not adde, the wages of grace is eternall life, but the gift of God is eternall life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is not free will, but free grace that puts the difference between Jacob and Esau; It is not of him that Rom 9. willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. It is an excellent saying of Augustine, Timeo ego animae meae salutem aliqua ex parte libero arbitrio committere, Iam afraid to commit the least Iota of my salvation to free will: and the same Father doth much and often commend a saying of Cyprian, In nullo gloriandum, quoniaem nostrum nihill est, We must glory in nothing, because nothing is ours. Bernard most sweetly, Horreo quicquid de meo est, ut sim meus, I abhorre whatsoever is mine, that I may be mine. Bucer likewise hath these words, Si v •… l tantillum boni a Deo non est, Deus non est, if the least beame of holinesse be in us without the efficacious worke of Gods grace, he is no longer a God. Now surely the act of assenting to the offer of grace, is the chiefe worke of conversion; And the Arminians deny this to be effectually, inseparably, and inevitably from God, which is to ungod God, in the opinion of Bucer.

If Englands mercies come from free grace, let England serve God freely. God loves a free people, a free-will offering: let the Use 5. service of God come freely from us; God gives us freely, let us give freely to Ireland, The Papists upbraid us Protestants (I know not how truly) that there was never any Law made for rates for the reliefe of the poore, till the reformation of Religion; in times of Popery they gave freely without compulsion. It is for the hardnesse of our hearts that there needs such a law: let us be ashamed to •… e out-striped by Papists in our free serving of God. I deny not, but that it is lawfull for a man with Moses to have an eye to the recompence of reward; but there is a great deale of difference betweene Amor mercenarius, and amor mercedis, betweene mercinary love, and the love of the reward: Mercinary love is to serve God onely for reward, this is meretricious love, this is to serve our selves, not God; this is to make use of God, to enjoy our selves; but the love of the reward, is to make Heaven a motive of our service, but not the last, nor the greatest. A right Christian loves Heaven for God, not God onely for Heaven. He that loves God onely for heaven, loves God for that which is inferiour to God. Chrysost •… me hath an excellent saying, If God should command me to obey him, & afterwards throw me into hell, yet I would obey him. This is my Heaven to be obedient, this is my meat and drinke to do the will of God. Merces amoris amor, He that loves God, that loved us freely, will love him freely.

The fourth and last part of the Text, is the true Use we are to 4 Part. make of Gods mercies, contained in these words, Be ashamed and confounded for your owne wayes O house of Israel. The words in the Hebrew are both of the same signification; be ashamed and ashamed. Erubescite & rubore afficiamini, So Junius: blush for shame, and be confounded with shame, for your owne wayes, that is, for your owne evill wayes, and for your doings that are not good (as it is expounded in the former verse) O house of Israel. Give me leave to alter the persons, and in stead of the House of Israel to put in the house of England, and so it will suit most excellently to this Assembly here gathered together this day. For the House of Commons is the house of England representatively. Let us then read the words thus: Be ashamed and ashamed, for your owne evill wayes, O you house of England.

That the contemplation of Gods free mercy to Nations and D •… ct. 4. persons ought to be a mighty incentive, and a most effectuall argument to make them ashamed, and ashamed, ashamed for sinne for the time past, and ashamed to sinne for the time to come.

This is a motive that the Prophet Ezekiel doth often use, Neverthelesse, I will remember my covenant with thee, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant, then shalt thou remember Ezek. 16. 61, 62, 63. thy wayes, and be ashamed, &c. That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee, for all that thou bast done, saith the Lord of hosts. That is, when I shall be graciously reconciled unto thee in Jesus Christ, then thou shalt be confounded and ashamed for thy evill doings. As also Ezek. 20. 41, 42, 43. I will Ezek. 20. 41, 42, 43. bring you out from among the people, &c. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring yee into the land of Israel, &c. And there shall ye remember your wayes, and all your doings, wherein yee have beene defiled, and yee shall loath your selves in your owne sight, for all your evils that ye have committed. So also in the verse before my text. Then shall yee remember your evill wayes, and your doings that were not good, and shall loath your selves in your owne sight Ezek. 36. 31. for your iniquities, and for your abominations. Then: that is, when I shall bestow my mercies upon you, Tken shall ye loath your selves for your iniquities.

And this is the argument (Right Honourable) which I spread before you this day to help forward the worke of humiliation. It is a day of deep mourning and lamentation, a day wherein it is no hypocrisie to appeare to men to weep. It is no signe of an effeminate man, but of a penitent man to weep this day. It is not vain glory, but Gods glory to be heard sighing and groaning. This is sweet musicke in Gods eares. Woe be to that man that is not humbled in a day of humiliation: woe be to us if the day breake up before our bearts be broken! Now the motive which I will bring to perswade you to loath your selves for your abominations, and to be ashamed and confounded for your owne evill doings, is from

The many rare and great mercies that God hath bestowed upon the Nation in generall, and upon our persons in particular.

And there is great reason why the mercies of God should make us ashamed for sin, and ashamed to sin.

Because to sin against God after mercy is a sin of such a crimson die, as that it must needs make us blush, if any grace be in our hearts. The greater the sin is we commit, the greater is our shame to commit it. Now it is a sinne of a very high nature to sinne after mercie, for these reasons.

Because every new mercy we receive from God, is a new kindnesse; Reas. 1. and the more kindnesse we sinne against, the more unkind it is to sinne, and the more shame to be so unkind to that God that is so kind to us. Caesar tooke it very unkindly at the hands of Brutus, upon whom he had bestowed so many favours, when hee came to stab him: What thou my son Brutus! God takes it very unkindly when a Nation upon whom hee hath bestowed great mercies, commits great sinnes. And therefore he expostulates Jer. 2. 5. with the Jewes; What iniquitie have your Fathers found in mee, that they have gone farre from mee, &c. Why are your Fathers so unkind? Neither say they, Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Aegypt? Thus also he complaines, Jerem. 31. 32. They have broken my covenant although I was a husband unto them. Jer. 31. 3 •… . It is a self-confounding sinne, to be unkind to a kind God.

Because every new mercy is a new obligation to obedience; and 〈◊〉 2. the more obligations we sin against, the more shame it is to commit the sin. As to sinne against a mans father and mother, is a greater sinne than to sinne against a mans brother and sister, because wee are more obliged to our parents than to our brethren and sisters. Hee that kills his father (saith Cicero) commits many sins in one, he kils him that begat him, and brought him up, &c. So to sin against God after mercy, is to commit many sins in one: it is to break as many bonds, and to sin against as many obligati •… ns, as we have receiv •… d mer •… ies.

Because every new mercy we receive from God is a new talent, (for mercies are talents, betrusted with us by God as stewards, 〈◊〉 . 3. for which we must give a severe and strict account at the day of Judgement) and the more talents we sin against, the greater is our sin, and the more shame to commit it. To whom much is given, of him much shall be required. If the man that had but one talent, when he came to give up his account, was confounded & made speechlesse, and bound hand and foot, and cast into hell fire for not improving it; What shame and confusion of face, and how many hels do they deserve that have received not onely one, five, or ten, but many hundred talents of mercies, and do not onely not improve them, but mis-improve them to the service of sin and Satan?

Because to sin after mercy, is a sin of formall unthankefulnesse; 〈1 line〉 . There is mat •… riall unthankefulnesse in all sin, because every sin is committed against God that is our Creator, Preserver, and Rede •… mer; but to sin against mercy, is to be formally unthankefull. Now unthankfulnesse is a sin that will make any ingenuous man ashamed to be guilty of it. Indeed it is the Epito •… of all sin. Ingratum si dixeris, omnia dixeris. The whole duty of man saith Augustine, consists in this, Vt anim •… non sit ingrata Deo, to take care that our soules be not unthankfull to God▪ and therefore an unthankfull man neglects the whole duty of man. Unthankfulnes is a sin that mak •… th •… times perilous. It is a sinne for which God gave over the 〈◊〉 T •… m 3 1 R •… . 〈◊〉 . 21. 27. Heathen to a reprobate mind: Because when they knew God, they did not glorifie him as God, but became unthankefull, &c. theref •… e God gave t •… em up to their owne hearts lusts, &c. And if God dealt thus with the Gentiles for sinning against the mercies onely of creation, how severely will he punish us that sin against creating mercies, redeeming mercies, and against mercies of all kinds? For it is a certaine rule, The more mer •… y we receive from God, the greater is the unthankefulnesse to sinne against such a God. The Romans made a Law, that if a Master did free a servant from bondage, & afterwards that servant proved unthankefull, the master had power to re-inslave •… im. The great God hath freed this Nation from Egypt, and Babylon, from the Gun-powder treason, and from many slaveries. Now if we prove unthankfull after all these mercies, wee may justly expect to be re-inslaved.

It is a sinne of formall injustice; for every deliverance doth 〈◊〉 . 5. bind over the delivered, to the service of the deliverer; so saith the Apostle, You are not your owne, for ye are bought with a price, 1 Cor 6. 19. therefore glorifie God with your bodies, and with your spirits, which are Gods; and so also, Luk. 1. 74. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without feare, in holinesse and •… ighteousnesse, &c. Among the Romans the parties delivered, were the servants of the deliverers. And therefore to breake Gods Commandements after deliverance, is to be guilty of the horrible sin of injustice. Thou art not onely unthankefu •… l, but unjust, which is a brand that will confound any man.

It is a sin so great, that God himselfe stands amazed at it, that R •… s. 6. any man should be so impudent as to commit it. Esay 1. 2. Heare O Heavens, and give •… are O earth, for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against mee; The Oxe knowes his owner, and the Asse his Masters crib, but Israel doth not know, my people do not consider; Ah sinfull Nation, a people laden with iniquity, &c. This is a sinne that makes us worse than the Oxe or the Asse: A sin that makes a Nation that is guiliy of it, not onely sinfull, but laden with iniquity, as an Asse with a burden. Thus also God calls to the Heavens, Jeremy 2. 12. Be astonished O ye Heavens at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye ve •… y desolate, saith the Lord; Why? what is the matter? For my people have committed two evils, they have forsaken m •… the fountaine of living waters, and hewed them out cisternes, broken cisternes, that will hold no water. This is a sin that breakes the very heart of God: and it had need breake our hearts to commit it. I am broken, saith God (of Ez •… k. 6▪ 9. his people Israel) for their whorish heart. If God be broken with it, it is time for us to be broken with it.

It is a sin so great, as that it puts a great aggravation upon every R •… as 7. sin; It makes the least sinne of us in England, greater than the greatest sin of the Heathens; of the Christians in Germany, and Ireland; yea than the sin of the devils themselves.

1. Greater than the sins of the Heathen, because we sinne against greater mercie; Tribulation and anguish upon every soule that Rom. 2 •… . doth evill, first upon the Jew, then upon the Gentile: Why first upon the Jew? Because the Jewes received more mercies than the Gentiles. I may justly adde, First upon the Christian, then upon the Jew, then upon the Gentile, because the Christian hath received more mercy from God, than either Jew or Gentile. You only have I knowne of all the Nations of the earth, therefore I will punish 〈◊〉 3. 2. you for all your iniquities; because you sin against more light, more grace, and therefore your sin is more ungracious.

2. This makes the least sinne of us in England greater than the greatest sin of Germanie, or of Ireland, because God hath dealt more mercifully with us, than with them: therfore Christ saith, Woe be to thee Chorazin, woe be to thee Bethsaida; for if the mightie works which have been done in thee, had beene done in Tyre and Sidon, Math. 11. 21, 22. they would have repented long agoe in dust and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of of judgement, than for you. If Bohemia, and the Palatinate had had the mercies and deliverances, that we have had, they would have repented in dust and ashes, therefore it shall be easier for them at the day of judgement, than for us. And thou Capernaum which h •… st beene exalted to heaven, shalt be brought downe to hell, &c. God hath listed us up in mercies to heaven; therefore we must looke for the lowest hell, if we abuse them.

3. This makes the sins of England greater than the sin of the Devils, though not simply, yet in three respects.

1. The Devils never sinned against the blood of Jesus Christ; Christ never dyed for them, but he dyed for us. For verily hee tooke not on him the nature of Angels, but he tooke on him the seed of Abraham. Heb. 2. 16.

2. The Devils never sinned against Gods patience. God was not patient towards them, but as soone as ever they sinned, hee cast them into hell. Deus non expectabat Angelos, as Bernard saith: but we sinne against the blood of Christ, and the patience and longsuffering of God, which is very great towards mankind.

3. The Devils never sinned against any example. For they were the first that sinned, and were made the first example; but wee have had divers examples of Gods wrath against sinne, the example of the Devils, and of the punishment of the old world, of Sodom and Gomorrah, & many hundred such like, and yet we sin notwithstanding al these examples. In these three respects to sin against the mercies of God, is more than diabolicall.

It is a sinne that takes away all excuse, and will so confound a Reas. 8. man at the day of Judgement, that it will make him speechlesse. This is excellently set out in the 9 chapter of Ezra, the 6, 7, 8, 9, & 10. verses, O my God, saith Ezra, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, O my God: for our iniquities are in •… reased over our heads, &c. For we were bondmen, yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy to us, &c. And now O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy Commandements. What excuse shall we bring? What shift shall we plead? What shall we say? That is, we have nothing to say. This interrogation is an emphaticall negation. Had I not come unto you, saith Christ, ye had had no sinne, but now ye have no excuse. Had not God shewne such mercies to England, it might have had some Apology to plead for its contempt of the Gospel, for its pride, for its adultery, and drunkennesse, but now it hath no excuse. To sinne after mercy shuts up all defence. What shall we say after this, O our God? for we have forsaken thy Commandements.

This Doctrine is a blacke bill of indictment against all those that Vse 1. are not ashamed to sinne against God, notwithstanding the mercies they have received from God. God hath done mighty things for this Nation, he hath heaped deliverance upon deliverance; We have had more deliverances than there are Commandements. And yet notwithstanding are there not many of us that sinne in the midst of mercies? That are like the Horse and Mule that have no understanding? Psalme 32. As a Horse, the more it is pampered, the more it kickes against the rider; so there are many, the more they are fed to the full with mercy, the more they rebell against the God that feeds them; Like unto the thicke vapours, which are first exhaled by the Sunne, and afterwards when they come into the Aire, stop the light of the Sunne from shining upon us. There are many such vapours whom God hath exalted, and lifted up in •… nour above others, that make no other use of their honour, but to darken the glory of God, and to hinder the light of God from shining upon us. Let conscience speake; Are we not as proud, as covetous, as blasphemous, as adulterous, as ungodly as ever, notwithstanding all that God hath done for us? May I not say to you as Moses to the Israelites; Doe ye thus requite the Lord, O ye foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father Deu •… . 32. 6 that bought thee? Hath he not made thee, and established thee? Is not he the God that hath multiplyed mercies upon us? The Lord humble us this day for this sinne.

There are divers sorts of men come under this reproofe.

1. Such as sinne notwithstanding mercies.

2. Such as sinne under mercies, at the same time when God is shewing mercy unto them. Of these David speakes, Our Fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt, they remembred not the multitude Ps 10 •… . 7. of thy mercies, but provoked him at the Sea, yea even at the Red Sea. This was a great aggravation. They sinned at the very place where they were delivered, and at the very time when they were delivered, at the Sea, even the Red Sea: And as it is at the 13. verse, They soone forgat his workes; the word in the Hebrew Ps. 109. 13 is, they made haste to forget his workes. This is our condition: God hath brought us into the schoole of mercy, but are there not many among us that turne this schoole of mercy into the schoole of iniquity? that remaine irreformable in a yeare of Reformation, that not onely hate to be reformed, but hate the very Reformation it selfe? that sinne under mercies, even under mercies?

3. Such as sinne with the mercies of God, that like the Spider, sucke poyson out of those flowers out of which a Bee suckes honey; that sucke their damnation out of those mercies, out of which the godly sucke their salvation; that make a golden calfe of the jewels of mercy, and sacrifice their sonnes and daughters unto devils; that turne the grace of God into wantonnesse; that improve their honours, learning, wealth, parts, to make themselves more active to sinne against God, to be Ingeniose nequam, facundi, sed malo publico. As Basil saith of Eve, That God gave her to be a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . helper to Adam, and made her of the rib of Adam, but the devill tooke this rib, and made a dart of it, and with this dart shot at Adams heart, and wounded him to death, Per costam petit cor, so God hath bestowed mercies upon us to helpe us to serve him more chearefully, more liberally, but there are many that play the devils part, and that take these mercies, and make darts of them to shoot against God, and his cause: Non ho •… quae situm mun •… s in us •… .

There are thousands in the world that are worser for the mercies they receive from God, that are like unto a dunghill, the more the Sunne of mercy shines upon them, the more they stinke and putrifie in all sin. And as the clay is hardned by the Sunnes shining upon it, so there are many, the more health, the more wealth, the more honour, the more mercy they receive from God, the more they harden their hearts against God; like Elies two sonnes, the kindlier their father dealt with them, the worser they were; like Absalom, that as soone as ever his Father received him into Jerusalem, then he began to conspire against him. Of these David Psal. 55. 19 speakes, Because there are no changes in their lives, therefore they feare not God, because they meet with no crosses; and Psalm. 73. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Because they are not plagued like other men, therefore pride compasseth them about as a chaine, they have more then •… eart can wish, therefore they speake wickedly and loftily, and set their mouthes against the Heavens, &c. like Dionysius, that because he prospered in his voyage by sea, after he had robbed a Temple, boasted and said, Behold, how the gods love sacri •… edge! I beseech you (Right Honorable) let us examine whether we be not guilty of these sinnes, •… or they are such sinnes which we are all very prone to commit. Hezeki •… though a good King, yet he sinned after mercy; when he was recovered of his sicknesse, his hea •… t was lifted up with pride. 2 Chro. 36 22. Lots Wife also, as soone as ever she was delivered out of Sodome, began to Apo •… tize. N •… y L •… t himselfe after he had received so great a mer •… y, and had seene so fearefull a judgement, yet when he came to Z •… r he was drunke, and committed incest, which he never did while he was in Sodome. And Noah also when he came out of the A •… ke was made drunke, which he never was when he lived among the wicked in the old World. And David also, when delivered from all his enemies, then he said in Psal. 30. 6. his prosperity he should never be moved, and then he lay with Bathsheba, and murdered Uriah. And therefore if we be guilty of this sinne, Let us be deepely humbled for it before the Lord this day.

There is no sinne that doth more provoke God to anger, or sooner cause him to destroy a Nation, and to destroy it utterly, than this sinne: To sinne after mercy▪ under mercy, and with mercies. So it is said Ezra 9. 13, 14. Seeing thou O God hast given us su •… h a deliverance as this, should we againe breake thy Commandements, and joyne in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldst thou not be angry with us, till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? To sinne after mercy, and with mercy, procures universall and utter destruction. Because I called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, Prov. 1. 24 I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mocke when your feare commeth, &c. God is never more angry than when he laughs. Quod Deus loquitur cum risu, id tu legas f •… etu. We have never more cause to weepe, than when God laughs. Zach. 7. 13, 14. Therefore it is come to passe, that as he cryed and they would not heare, so they cryed and I would not heare, saith the Lord of Hoasts, but I scattered them with a whirlewind among all the Nations, whom they knew not; thus the laud was desolate after them.

There are divers reasons (besides the reasons before named) why this sin (to sin with the mercies of God) should be such a God-provoking, such a Land-destroying sin; which I the rather mention, that they may be forcible helps to humiliation, which is the proper worke of this day.

Because mercy in it selfe is so rare and excellent a jewell, bestowed Reas. 1. upon England purposely to serve God withall, that to abuse it to the dis-service of God, must needs be a God-provoking sin: for these rules in Divinity are very cleare.

1. The greater the person is we sin against, the greater the sin; as to offer an affront to a King, is a greater offence than to injure a common Gentleman.

2. The better the person is against whom we sin, and the more good we expect from him, or have received from him, or the more need we have of him, the greater is the offence to offer wrong unto him. Now mercy is the greatest and chiefest of Gods attributes. In themselves Gods attributes are all equall, but in regard of our necessities, as oyle swims above all other liquors, as the Eagle is the chiefe of birds, the Lion of beasts, gold of metals, so mercy is the chiefe of all Gods attributes, and therefore to sin with mercy must needs be a horrible sin. Mercy is an attribute that we al stand in need of; the best of men need mercy as well as the worst of men. Mercy it is the best friend we bave, & indeed the only friend in Gods bosome to plead for us, it is the only Orator, and Embassador to intercede for us, it is the only fiery chariot to carry us up to heaven. When Justice pleads against us at Gods barre, we have no refuge but to his Mercy-seat. And therefore to abuse so deare a friend as mercy, and so great a friend as mercy, and such a pretious friend, and such a necessary friend, must needs make us ashamed, if not past shame, and must needs provoke God to anger, though he be full of mercy; especially if we consider the superlative mercies that God hath bestowed upon England; for this is another rule in Diuinity: The more elevated, and the mo •… e distinguishing any mercy is, the greater the sin, to abuse it to sin. Corruptio optimi pessima, the best things abused, prove the worst sins.

Because he that sins with the mercies of God, fights against God Reas. 2. with his owne weapons, which must needes provoke God. Suppose a man should come into a Smiths shop, and take up the Smiths owne hammer, and knocke him on the head, this were to commit a double sin, not onely to kill the Smith, but to kill him with his owne hammer. Such a double sin are they guilty of, who the more wit they have, the more they plot against God, and the more health, and honour, and wealth, the more they despise God and his Commandements, with their wealth and honour. If a Chirurgeon should freely bestow paines and charge to cure a man of a lame hand, and he should as soone as ever he is cured kill this Chirurgeon with his cured hand, this were a horrible ingratitude, and a provoking sin. Thus do they, that when they are delivered from sicknesse and made whole, fall presently to sinning against God with their health. This sin is so great, that the Apostle cries out, Shall I take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an Harlot? God forbid; the word in the Syriake is, God forgive: God forbid, God forgive, I should be so vile and wicked.

Because he that sinneth with the mercies of God, turnes the greatest Reas. 3. good into the greatest evill, and brings darknesse out of light, which is a worke proper to the devill. It is Gods worke to bring light out of darknesse, good out of evill, but it is the devils worke to bring evill out of good. Now to sin with Gods mercies, is to bring the greatest evill out of the greatest good; To bring the darknesse of sinne out of the light of mercy. It is to act a devill, which God must needes abhorre, and which will certainely bring u •… to the devill.

To sin with mercy is to make mercy to be our adversary. And if Reas. 4. mercy plead against a Nation, then looke for speedy destruction. Mercy is our best friend (as you have •… eard) but when we sinne against it, we turne our chiefest friend into our bitterest enemy, and mercy it selfe cryes to God against us, and the cry of mercy cryes louder against us than the cry of justice. As poyson when it is mingled with sweete Wine, the Wine puts strength into the poyson, and makes it more powerfull: so the sweet mercies of God, when they are mingled with our sins, put strength into our sins, and make them more powerfull to destroy us. In the tenth of Judges 11. God brings in his deliverances to plead against the people of Israel. Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, and from the c •… ildren of Ammon, and from the Philistines, the Zidonians also and the Amalekites? &c. Yet you have forsaken me, therefore I will deliver you no more. When justice pleads against a Nation, there is mercy to flye unto: but if mercy (because it is abused to sinne) become our enemy, there is no way but everlasting ruine.

To sinne with the rare and choyce mercies of God (such as the Reas. 5. mercies of England are) is a sin of such transcendent unkindnesse, as that God cannot but destroy su •… h a Person, 〈◊〉 such a Nation that is guilty of it. When David was used unkindly by Nabal, upon whom he had bestowed many courtesies, how did this unkindnesse provoke David to anger? in somuch as he said, Surely in vaine have I kept all that this fellow hath in the Wi •… dernesse, so that nothing 1 Sam 25. 21, 22. was missing of al that appertained unto him, and he hath requited me evill for good: so, and more also doe God unto the enemies of Da •… id, if I leav •… of all that pertaine to him by the morning light, any that pisseth against the Wall. Thus is the great Jehovah enraged when we sinne with his favours. God will say, In vaine have I adorned thee with all the Jewels of my mercy, which thou as a swine hast trampled under thy feete. In vaine bave I given thee learning, and riches, and my Gospell, &c. for thou hast requited me evill for good, therefore in destroying I will certainely destroy thee.

Thus also we reade in the 2 Sam. 10. When David sent a kind Embassage to King Hanun, to comfort him after his fathers death, and he despised and abused the messengers, shaving off the one h •… lfe of their beards, and cutting off their garments in the middle, &c. this did so far incense David, as it made him destroy them al after a rigid manner. Gods mercies are like Davids messengers messages of love. God lookes we should improve these messages to his glory. But if we despise them, and abuse him with them, he will utterly destroy us. O consider this, you that forget God, You that undervalue his mercies, You that contemne his mercies, You that sin with his mercies. How angry was Christ with Peter, because he would not suffer him to wash his feete? he seemes to be more angry with him than when he denyed him, because he refused an act of Christs love. Christ tooke it unkindly, at Peters hands. When God comes in love to us, and offers to wash us, and to reforme us, if we refuse to be washed, and choose rather to wallow in the mire of sin and superstition, this will provoke God more than if we did flatly deny him. We would have healed Babylon, Ier. 51. 9. but she is not healed, forsake her, and let us goe every one into his owne Countrey, for her judgement reacheth unto Heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. Which words tell us, That those that sin with mercies, shall be lifted up as high in judgement as they are in mercy. Thus it is likewise said Ezekiel 24. ver. 13. Because I have purged thee and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not bee purged from thy filthinesse any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee. Oh that the Lord would give us hearts to lay these things to heart! Oh let us be ashamed and confounded, ashamed, and ashamed, that ever we have sinned, after mercies, under mercies, and with mercies.

And indeed when I consider seriously how the mercies of England are abused by England, I am possessed with exceeding great feare, lest all our mercies should be but forerunners of some greater miseries, and all our preservations, reservations to some greater destruction. For though the times are changed, yet our people are not changed; though the times be better, yet the men that live in these times are not better.

The Sodomites were delivered by Abraham, but because they sinned Gen. 14. after their deliverance, their preservation was but a reservation for a greater destruction by fire and brimstone. Lots wife was delivered out of Sodom, but because she looked backe towards Sodom, her preservation was but a reservation to be turned to a pillar of salt. Pharaoh was often delivered by the prayer of Moses, but because he hardned his heart after deliverance, his preservation was but a reservation, till he was drowned in the Red Sea. The people of Israel had deliverance upon deliverance, but because they continued to sin after deliverance, God at last destroyed them with a wofull destruction. The Lord open our eyes to consider these things, and to be confounded and ashamed for our evill doings, and to loath our selves for our former abominations, and to be humbled exceedingly for our sins against mercy, that God may continue his deliverances to us, and our posterity after us, as long as the Sun and Moone endureth.

Seeing God hath done such rare things freely for this Nation, Let us be exhorted to subscribe to the obedience of this Text, and not •… se 2. onely be hu •… bled for what is past, but ashamed and confounded for the time to come, to sin willingly against so mercifull a God. Let an argument from mercy prevaile with you. It is a great objection against some kinde of Preachers, that they preach nothing but hell and damnation. This Objection cannot be brought against me this day. Behold I come with an Olive branch of Peace in my mouth. I come as a Barnabas, not as a Boanerges, as a Minister of the Gospell, all apparelled with rich mercy. It is a great mercy that we have mercies to breake our hearts withall. What would Germany give, if they had these mercies? What would Ireland doe for God, if they had these mercies? O let mercy melt us. This was Nathans argument to David, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I 2 Sam. 12 〈◊〉 , 8, 9. annointed thee King over Israel, and delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, and I gave thee thy Masters house, and the house of Israel, and of Judah, and if that had beene too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandement of the Lord to doe evill in his sight? Thou, for whom I have done so much: Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandement of the Lord? This made David cry out, I have sinned against the Lord. Me thinkes I heare God saying unto us here present, I have delivered you from many dangers, I have recovered you from many sicknesses, I have heaped many favours upon you, and if this had not beene enough, I would have done such and such things, wherefore have you rebelled against me? O that this might affect our hearts. Observe how Davids mercy wrought upon Saul, 1 Sam. 24. 16, 17, 18. David had gotten Saul at an advantage, and spared him when he might have destroyed him, this did so work upon Saul, that he lift up his voyce and wept &c. Nothing ever moved Saul so much, as the kindnes of David towards him.

So when we consider how neare we have beene to destruction, and how often God hath spared us, when he might have destroyed us; let us lift up our voyces and weepe for our sins against such a God. Observe how Mephibosheth was affected with Davids mercy, in 2 Sam 9. David had cause to be revenged upon the house of Saul, but he freely shewed kindnesse to Mephibosheth, restoring him all his fathers lands, and causing him to eate bread at his Table continually. And this Mercy did so melt his heart, that he cryes out, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest looke upon such a dead Dog as I am? O let the contemplation of Gods love towards us, make us to loath our selves for our abominations, and say, What am I, a dead Dog, an impure Swine, an uncleane Leper, that the Lord my God should doe so much for me! Beloved in the Lord, it is my comfort that I preach this day to those that are Noble and ingenuous. My humble suite is, That you would appeare to be such indeed and in truth. An ingenuous spirit is more wrought upon by love, than feare. This Fast might have beene in blood, the Land might have beene in confusion this day. Let the goodnesse of God drive you to repentance. Let the love of Jesus Christ constraine you to obedi •… nce. There is a constraining power in love. Though a stubborne and slavish spirit is more wrought upon by judgements than mercies; yet a gracious and godly heart is more wrought upon by mercies than judgements. And indeed in its owne nature, Mer •… y workes more powerfully, more kindly, more inwardly and deepely than judgements.

1. Mercy workes more powerfully than judgements. And therefore Rom. 12. 1 the Apostle Paul, beseecheth us by the mercies of God; he doth not say, I beseech you by the judgements of God: And in 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having these promises, let us cleanse our selves from all the defilements both of flesh and spirit. He doth not say, having these threatnings, let us cleanse our selves, &c. Let a Cart loaded goe over a River frozen with Ice, the Cart breakes the Ice, but it remaines Ice still; but let the sun shine upon the River, and it will melt the Ice, and dissolve it into water, so as nothing of the Ice shal remaine. The Judgements of God may break a hard heart, but it will remain hard still, as a Rocke broken in peeces remaines a Rocke; But the Sun-shine of Gods mercy, and the consideration of Gods love to us in Christ will breake the heart to powder, and make it not onely a broken heart, but a soft and contrite heart. Have you not seene a Malefactor at his condemnation and place of execution, when without hope of mercy, carrying himselfe desperately, and obdurately in sinne, and afterwards, when informed that there was a pardon provided for him, hath beene exceedingly melted and broken in heart, at the consideration of the graciousnesse of the King towards him?

2. Mercy workes more kindly and sweetly than judgements. As a thicke Cl •… ud that is melted by the Suns shining upon it, distills downe sweetly into a fruitfull showre, but the cloud that is broken with a thunderbolt makes a mighty cracke, and teares the cloud in peeces: So the mercies of the Gospel doe kindly worke upon the heart, opening it, as it did the heart of Lydia, and sweetly melting it into teares after a blessed and comfortable manner: But the thunder-bolt of Gods judgements makes an earth-quake, and a heart-quake, as it did upon the Gaoler, Act. 16. As the blustering winds teare up the Trees by the rootes: So doe the judgements of God rend and teare the heart quite in peeces, but mercies will kindly dissolve it.

3. Mercies will worke inwardly. Take a piece of gold, beate it with a hammer never so much, and yet you shall never separate the drosse from the gold by beating of it; but put the gold into the furnace, and the fire will separate the drosse from it. The hammer of the Law will batter and bruise the soule, but the drosse still remaines in it; but the fire of the Gospell, the furnace of Gods love will separate a man and his lusts, and purge out the filth that is inwardly got into the soule. The Sun by its hot beames made the Traveller, (as it is in the Fable) put off his Cloke, when the blustering winde made him gird his Cloke faster about him. Thus you see how mercy workes more powerfully, more kindly, more inwardly. Oh that it might appeare in our hearts this day, that this doctrine that I preach, is true. I read that Caesar upon a certaine time with a booke in his hand was hearing of Cicero pleading, and was so taken with his eloquence and listened so attentively, that he let fall his booke.

Oh that the Lord would so affect you with the consideration of Englands mercies, that your sins may fall away from you, as Caesars book did from him. That you that write, may blot your bookes with your teares, and you that look upon me may look with teares in your eyes. Let us shed penitent teares this day, for the sins of many yeares.

Let us study the duty of this Text, let us be ashamed and ashamed for our sins. There be many men, saith Chrysostome, that are ashamed of what they should not be ashamed, and not ashamed of what they should be ashamed: are ashamed to confesse their sins, but not to act their sins, not ashamed to be seene at a Play-house, but ashamed to be seene at Gods House upon a weeke day, ashamed of Christ and his cause, ashamed to be accounted precise, but not ashamed to be wicked and ungodly. And as the same Author saith, many men are not ashamed to sin, but ashamed to be known to sin, not ashamed to commit adultery, but to be knowne to commit it, not ashamed to be sinners, but to be called sinners, not ashamed to be covetous, but ashamed to be called covetous. This shame comes from the Devill, and will bring us to the Devill. Let us pitch the act upon the right object. Let us be ashamed of our evill (and not of our good) doings. Shame is the daughter of sin. If there had not beene sin, there never had beene any shame. But God hath appointed the daughter to devoure the mother. As the Worme eates up the tree that bred it, so let shame devoure sinne. There is no creature capable of sh •… me but man. Bruit beasts are capable of feare and sorrow, but not of shame: God forbid any here present should be so bruitish as to be past shame. To sinne and not to be ashamed of it, is Limen inferni, the next doore to damnation. The Heathen hath a saying, Erubuit, salva res est. As long as there is shame, there is hope. O let us be confound •… d and ashamed, and let Mercy be the Midwife to bring forth this shame and sorrow. The Apostle commands us, That if our enemies hunger, we should feed them, if they thirst, we Rom. 1 •… . 20. should give them drinke, and in so doing we shall heape coales of fire upon their heads. The meaning is, That this mercy will be like a heape of hot coales, either to melt their hearts and make them our friends, or if they persist in their enmity, to adde fewell to thei •… torments in hell. God hath heaped many hot coales of fire upon our heads, O let this fire burne up our drosse, and melt our hard hearts lest if we continue obstinate, these Coales of fire serve to adde to our burning in bel. I read in the ninth of Daniel: When Daniel saw that Daniel 9. the time was come wherein God had promised to deliver Israel out of Babylon, this mercy made him fast, and mourne, and confesse his sins with shame and confusion of face, &c. We hope the time is come, yea the set time, wherein God intends to shew mercy to England; O let us pray, and mourne, and weepe, and take shame for our scarlet abominations.

If we were sure that God would perfect what he hath begun Object. and consummate our hopes, this would mightily disswade us from ever sinning against God.

It is an argument sufficient that there is a possibility, though not a Answ. certainty. This was enough to worke upon the Ninivites: Let us cry mightily to God, and every man turne from his evill way. Who Ionah 3. 7 8, 9. can tell if God will turne, and repent, &c.? Who knowes but that God may reare us up a glorious Church? E •… ra blesses God, that Ezra 9. •… 0 be had given them a little reviving in their bondage. We must doe as the servants of Benhadad: Bebold (say they) We have heard 〈◊〉 Kings 20 31, 32, 33. that the Kings of Israel are mercifull Kings, let us put sack-cloth upon our loynes, and ropes upon our heads, per adventure he will save thy life, &c. And when they came to the King, they did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch at it, &c. So must we diligently observe and catch at the very first appearance of mercy, and lay hold upon the very first opportunity; I read, Zach. 4. 10. Who hath despised the day of small things? The Prophet speakes of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, which at the first was so small, that Sanballat, Tobiah, and the rest of the enemies of Gods Church laughed them to scorne and said, What doe these feeble Jewes? will they fortifie themselves? will they make an end in a Neh. 4. 2, 3 day? will they revive the stones, out of the heapes of the rubbish which are bu •… nt? even that which they build, if a Fex come up, he shall even breake downe their stone wall, &c. Yet notwithstanding they did go on, and build, and finish the worke, and all the mountaines of opposition, became a plaine before them; And therefore let us not despise the day of smal things. It is with the friends of the Church as with the enemies of the Church, when the Churches enemies begin to fall before Gods people, they shall certainely fall. As Hamans wise men told him, if Mordecai be of the seed of the Jewes, Ester. 6. 13 before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevaile against him, but shalt surely fall before him. (Marke those words; if he be of the seed of the Jewes, that is, of the people of God.) And when they fall, they fall by degrees, as it is, Exod. 14. First, God troubled the Egyptians, then he tooke off their wheeles from their Chariots, then he drowned them in the Red Sea. So it is with the friends of the Church. If they begin to rise before the enemies of the Church, they shall certainely rise, and be advanced higher and higher. And therefore when a little crevice of light appeares, when God doth but begin to looke towards us, as he did upon Peter, let us weepe bitterly, that ever we should sin against such a God. When a Cart is in a quagmire, if the Horses find it comming, they will pull the harder. God is now drawing neere to us in mercy, we have been in a deepe-quagmire, like Jeremy in his Dungeon, and God is beginning to pull us out. O let the free mercy of God, and his unparalleld love, breake our hearts for, and from sinne.

If this be true, then all our Ministers will be found lyars, for Object. 2. they have prophesied the certaine ruine and desolation of England.

Jonah was no lyar when he preached, Yet forty dayes and Niniveh Answ. 1. shall be destroyed, because he was to be understood conditionally. So are all our threatnings to be understood with an, If, &c.

We Ministers preach what God in his ordinary way is wont to do, Answ. 2 & what God in his word hath threatned to a Nation guilty of such sins as ours are. But God hath dealt with England, not according to his ordinary rule, but according to his Prerogative. England (if I may so speake with reverence) is a Paradox to the Bible. The Bible tels us what sinnes will make a Nation ripe for destruction, and we finde these sinnes in our Nation. But if God will leave his ordinary road, and except us from the generall rule, and miraculously save us by Prerogative, and free grace, who can hinder a free agent? This is a rare act of his Prerogative, & the more mercy there is in it, the more ought we to be confounded for our apostasies, whoredomes, abominations, and rebellions against this God.

Men, brethren and fathers, if all that I have said this day, wil not worke upon your hearts, give me leave to name some other kind of mercies unto you. For I am all for mercy this day.

1. Consider, What a mercy it is for God to make you men, when he might have made you toads. I doubt not but you have heard the story of the two Bishops, that being riding to the Councell of Constance, and espying by the way a poore Country man weeping, turned towards him, and asked him, why he wept, he answered, I weepe to see t •… is toad (that lay upon the ground before him) because I never blessed God sufficiently, for that he made me a man and not a toad. This answer made them goe away astonished and ashamed for their owne unthankfulnesse. And it may justly worke the like effect in us.

2. Consider, What a mercy it is to be not onely a man, but a rich man, a Gentleman, Knight, or Lord, &c. There is none here, but such whom God hath lifted up above thousands in outward mercies. What a shame is it for a poore Cobler to doe more service for God, than it may be some of you doe, that have received so much from God. May not Christ say to you as he did to the Jewes? I have done many great workes among you, for which of these doe you stone me? I have done many great things for you, I have given you health, wealth, credite, wit, and honour, and for which of these is it that thou blasphemest my name, and despisest my Sabbaths, and refusest to obey my Commandements? It is said of Heliogabalus, that he provided silken halters to hang himselfe withall, and ponds of sweet water to drowne himselfe withall, gilded poysons to poyson himselfe withall. O let not your honors and riches, &c. be silken halters to strangle your soules! let not your pleasures be ponds of sweet water to drown your soules! let not your preferments be gilded poysons, to poyson your soules! Say as Nabal did (but in a better sense) shal I take my health which God hath given me, to sin against my God with it? God forbid. Shall I take the wit that God hath given me, to plot against God and his cause with it? God forbid.

3. Consider, the patience of God towards us. This is an argument that should drive us to repentance, Rom. 2. There is no sin, but it is committed in the very bosome of God. For God fils Heaven & earth, and sees all your curtaine abominations. And he is able to destroy you, he is just, and must wound the bairy scalpe of those that goe on in their wickednesse, and he is a holy and a pure God, that hates your iniquities from his very heart. And yet behold how patient this God is towards you! At such a time, when thou wert in the act of adultery, he might have sent thee to hell in the very act, he might have made thy tongue to rot, the last oath thou sworest. Nothing with-held him but pure mercy. O let this melt our hearts. What a mercy is it to be out of hell? Many in hell have not sinned the sinnes that we have done. It is his free grace that we are delivered. We might have been weeping in hell at this instant: And then our teares should have beene our hell, but now they will prove our heaven, if God worke them in us.

4. Consider, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his love in dying for thee. If thy heart be as hard as an Adamant, the blood of this scape Goate will soften it. There were five men met together, that asked one another what meanes they used to abstaine from sinne. The first answered, That he continually thought upon the certainty of death, and the uncertainty of the time of death, and that made him live every day, as if it were his last day. The second meditated of the severe account, he was to give at the day of judgement, and of the everlasting torments of hell, and this kept him from sin. The third, of the vilenesse and loathsomenesse of sin, and of the excellency and beauty of grace, and this made him abhorre sinne. The fourth, of the everlasting rewards and pleasures provided for those that abstaine from sinne, and this prevailed with him. The fifth and the last, continually meditated of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of his love, and this made him ashamed to sin against God. This last is the greatest motive of all. If the pacification betweene the two Nations of England & Scotland will not affect us, let the great pacification that Christ hath made for thee between God and thy soule move thy heart to be ashamed to offend God. It is the greatest argument I can use, to say, For Jesus Christ his sake be ashamed and confounded for your evill waies.

5. Consider, the long enjoyment of the Gospel, the powerfull and plentifull preaching of it, joyned with peace and plenty. And let us mourne for our Gospel sins for our unprofitablenes, and unfruitfulnesse under such fruitfull meanes, that we have beene like a barren ground which no plowing will make good. Let us mourne for our unbeliefe, and impenitency. Let Gospel sins produce Gospel sorrow. Teares are made onely for sin. If we mourne our eyes out for worldly losses; we cannot profit our selves. But if we weep for sin, this will quench the fire of hell. There are 2 sorts of sins, and 2 sorts of curses: legall sins & Gospel sins, legall curses and Gospel curses: Legall sins will bring legall curses; But Gospel sins (unlesse there be Gospel sorrow) will bring a Gospel curse, which is above al legal curses. Of this curse the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 16. 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha: that is, accursed for the present, & reserved for the vengeance which Christ will render to all unbelievers, when he comes to judgement. This is curse upon curse. And this is the curse due to them that abuse mercies. The Lord deliver us from this curse.

6. Let every man consider the personal mercies that God hath bestowed upon him in particular, & take all these mercies, & lay them to his heart, & they wil dissolve the stone in his heart; let our hearts be as wax, & these mercies as the sun to melt them into godly sorrow.

Make a double Catalogue: One of thy sins; The other of Gods mercies to thee, & binde them about thy heart to bring it into a religious frame. Thus I have named six other mercies. My humble suit is, That you would p •… nder & consider seriously what hath been said unto you. Consider what I say, saith the Apostle, and the Lord give you understanding. The Thessalonians had never understood 2 Thes. 4. what Paul had said, if they had not considred it. No more shall we profit by this Sermon, if we do not consider what hath bin said. And this consideration must have foure ingredients.

1. We must consider these mercies distinctly, and deliberately. If a man hath a sweet Cordiall in his mouth and swallow it downe whole, he wil not taste the sweetnes of it, but if he chew it by degrees, it wil be very pleasant to his taste. So these mercies will doe us no good, if we swallow them down without serious meditation. But if we chew them and consider them distinctly and deliberately, one mercy after another, they will exceedingly affect us.

2. We must consider them with reflexion upon our selves, and application to our selves. As it is reported of Plato that when he did walk in the streets, if he saw any man disordred in his speech, or any other way he would say to himselfe: Num ego talis? Am I such a one as this is? So must we say, Num ego talis? Have I abused these mercies? Have I sinned with these mercies? And as the Apostles severally asked Christ, Master, is it I? So m •… t we aske our hearts, Am not I the man that ought to be ashamed, and •… nfoundid for my sins against mercies?

3. We must consider these mercies in as neere a propinquity as we can possible. It is a true saying of the Philosoper, Things that are seen far off, are as if they were not: A great man a far off seems little or nothing: An enemie a farre off, or a serpent a farre off, doth litt •… e trouble us. So it is with mercies. If we looke upon them at a distance they will seeme little, and little affect us, but if we take them neere to us, they will seeme (as they are) very great, and will mightily worke upon us.

4. Consider these mercies devoutly with prayer unto God to make them heart-melting mercies. Pray to Christ to looke upon thee, as he did on Peter; The Cock crew once and Peter wept not, the Cock crew twice, and Peter wept not, because (saith Ambrose) Christ did not looke upon him. But as soone as ever Christ looked upon him, then he wept, Aspexit Christus & flevit. We Ministers are as the crowing of Peters Cocke, we cannot make you ashamed and confounded for your evill doings, unlesse Christ looke upon you. The Lord Jesus in his mercy cast his eye upon us this day, that we may all of us goe out and weep bitterly, as Peter did.

The very brute beasts have bin wrought upon by mercie. Some write (though others contradict it) of the Elephant, that because it wants joynts it cannot kneele, & if it once fall it cannot rise, and therefore when it sleeps it sleepes leaning upon a tree. Now the hunts-man observing upon what tree it sleeps, desirous to take it, comes in the day time, and sawes that tree almost asunder, and when the Elephant comes to leane upon it, the tree falls, and the Elephant with it; Then comes the hunts-man, and lifts up the Elephant, which he takes so kindly, that ever after he followes the hunts-man where ever be pleaseth.

This story may be applyed divers wayes. When we were all fallen in Adam by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree, unable to rise againe, Jesus hath lifted us up from hell: O let this mercie melt us into obedience. When we were all falne of late yeares in this Kingdome into a desperate condition: God by the King and Parliamant hath raised us up to a hope of better dayes. O let us be ashamed to be disobedient to this God. There is another famous story of one Androdus dwelling at Rome, that fled from his Master into the wildernesse, and tooke shelter in a Lions Den; The Lion came home with a thorne in his foot, and seeing the man in the den reached out his foot, and the man pulled out the thorne; which the Lion tooke so kindly, that for three yeares he sed the man in his den. After three yeares the man stole out of the den, and returned backe to Rome, was apprehended by his Master and condemned to be devoured by a Lion. It hapned that this very Lion was designed to devour him; The Lion knowes his old friend, and would not hurt him. The People wondred at it, the man was saved, and the Lion given to him, which he carried about with him in the streets of Rome. From whence came that motto, Hic est homo medicus leonis: hic est leo hospes hominis. Beloved in the Lord, the great God by the help of you, and the House of the Lords hath plucked many thorns out of our feet. O let us not now bring forth thornes and briers. Let not our hearts be drie and barren as the thorny ground. Let us not kicke against God with our feete while be is plucking out the thornes that trouble us. Let us not be worse than the brute beasts. But if all this will not prevaile, suffer me I beseech you to remind you under new expressions of what hath beene before said, and to offer some new motives unto you.

1. If the beginnings of hope that now appeare, and these inclinings of better dayes will not work upon us to bumble us for, and from sin: God will take away all our hopes, & all his mercies from us, and give them to a Nation that will make better use of them. And as I said in my last Sermon which I preached before this Honourable assembly) he will repent of the good things which Jet. 18. 10 he intended to bestow upon us. Remember what I hinted before of Saul, that if hee had tarried for Samuel, God would have established 1 Sam. 13. 14. the kingdome unto him, But now, saith Samuel, thy Kingdome shall not continue. How do we know but that if we humble our selves, and enter into covenant to be G •… people, and seeke the Lord with all our heart, but that God may establish us to be his choice people for ever? But if we harden our hearts against God and his wayes, God will say unto us t •… is day, I thought to have made you a happy kingdome, but now your happinesse shall not continue.

2. When God hath done much for a Nation, and that Nation sinnes with his •… ercies, God will not onely take away his mercies, but will send curses instead of blessings. For so it is said, Josh. 24. 20. If yee seeke the Lord, and serve strange gods, then will he Josh. 24. 20. turne and do you hurt and consume you, after he hath done you good. God may out of his free mercy prorogue, and demurre our ruine, but be will never remove it, till our Nationall sinnes be removed.

3. If God should heale us, help us, and lengthen out our tranquillity, and make a reformation among us, yet it would be but a lame cure, if we be not confounded and ashamed for our evill wayes. It will be but a skinning over of our disease, and a daubing of us up with untempered morter, a smothering of the fire, which will breake out the more afterwards. But a perfect cure can never be expected from God, till th •… re be a Nationall humiliation, and refo •… mation.

4. Adde lastly, if God should shew us mercy, this mercy will be accursed unto us, if we be not humbled and reformed. A mercy abused is no mercy. Mercy turned to sinne, takes away the comfort of the mercy, and turneth the mercy into a curse; As the raine, that falls upon the Sea, is made salt by the salt water. And that which falls upon moorish grounds, breeds Toads and Serpents: So all the goodnesse and mercies of God falling upon wicked, impenitent, and irreformed hearts, breed nothing but the ver •… •… f sinne and iniquity. Mercy is like the water of jealousie, of which •… e read Numbers the fifth: If the woman was innocent, it made her fruitfull, but if guilty it made her rot. So the mercies of Num. 5. God if we be good, make us more fruitfull. It is Maximum & aptissimum motivum & medium obedientiae. But when they fall upon a wicked spirit, they make him the more rotten, and the more wicked. The Lord blesse these considerations unto you.

For the conclusion of all, I will do two things.

1. I will name some particular sinnes, which are most opposite to the mercies God hath done for England, and beseech the representative House of England, to be confounded and ashamed to commit such sinnes any more.

2. I will name some speciall and heroicall Uses which you are to make of Gods mercies, besides this in the Text.

1. I will name some particular sins, &c.

1. Be ashamed, O house of Egland, to forget the mercies you have received from God. It is a great mercie that we have mercies to remember, and if wee refuse to remember Gods mercies, God will take order that we shall have no mercies to remember. Let not the brand of the chiefe Butler be justly fastned upon us, Yet did not 〈◊〉 •… 0 23 the chiefe Butler remember Joseph, but forgot him.

2. Be ashamed, to contenme and despise the mercies you have received from God. There are many like the Israelites in Babylon; that liked their habitations in Babylon so well, that when Cyrus gave them leave to goe to Jerusalem, they would not leave Babylon to goe to Jerusalem. So there are many that like their former condition under the innovation so well, that they had rather continue in Babylon still, than accept of the reformation offered. That begin to say of Mannah, We have nothing but this Num. 14. Mannah; and to wish for the Garlicke and Onions of Egypt againe. This is a grievous abomination. God was very angry with the Israelites for this sin, he sent plagues upon plagues among them for it. And when at last they brought an evill report upon the land of Canaan, and (as David saith, Psal. 106) despised the holy land, refusing to go into it, God was so provoked with this sin, Psal. 106. that he would not pardon it, but set them back again 40. yeares, and destroyed their carkasses in the wildernesse. Would to God I could not say, that there are some among us, that raise up an ill report upon the reformation intended, as if the Parliament had a purpose to bring in an Anarchie, to reduce every thing into its first Chaos, to leave every man to do what is good in his owne eyes, as when there was no King in Israel: And upon this false rumour they despise the blessed Canaan that we are going into. Oh let us be ashamed and confounded to commit this sinne. This will make God carry us backe againe to the wildernesse.

3. Be ashamed to distrust God and his power in time of great difficulty, having received so many and so great deliverances. We are for the most part like the children of Israel, who although they were by a mighty hand brought out of Egypt, and through the red Sea, &c. yet upon every strait they began presently to murmure, and to thinke of making a Captaine to returne to Egypt, never considering the iron bondage they endured in Egypt. God hath brought us out of the Egyptian bondage, and carried us through a red sea of dangers, and yet when wee meete, though but with the news, of any Giants or Anakins, we begin presently to distrust, and to say: Can God prepare a table in the wildernesse? can God make a way through the hoasts of the Phi •… istines? And some of us begin to wish that things had remained as at first. This is a horrible sinne after so many mercies. As Austin saith of Jesus Christ, He that will not beleeve in Christ after so many miracles, without a new miracle, he himselfe is a great miracle. So he that will distrust God, after so many miraculous mercies, is himselfe a miracle of unbeliefe. How often hath God appeared in the mount these two last yeares, as if he had resolved to take up his dwelling there? How many mountaines of opposition have melted before you, as mountaines of snow before the Sun? Be ashamed, be ashamed O house of England, to distrust God after so many mercies.

4. Be ashamed to be cowardly and faint hearted in the cause of Neh. 6, God, that hath so mightily appeared for us. I remember the storie of Nehemiah, Chap. 6. It is there said, That when the enemies heard that the worke of the building of the Temple prospered beyond their expectations, th •… y accused Nehemiah of treason against the King, and when that plot did not succeed, they bore him in hand as if some Assassinat had conspired his death. And all this was done to make him afraid. But he was above all feare (shall such a man as I fly? (saith he) shall such a man as I feare?) and finished the worke, insomuch as that when the enemies heard thereof they were much cast downe, for they perceived that this worke was wrought of God. Remember that the fearfull are Rev. 21. 8. Act. 12. put, not onely among unbeleevers, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, Idolaters, &c. but in the forefront of them all. Be not afraid to incounter difficulties. When Peter came up to the iron gate, it opened to him of its owne accord.

5. Be ashamed to abate and coole in the worke of the Lord. God will spue out a lukewarme Christian. When Moses let downe his hands Amaleck prevailed; if you coole but a little, the adversaries will waxe hot. There are many that labour to cast water upon your zeale, but remember the cause is Gods, and say with David, It is before the Lord, I will be more vile still. The people of God will honour you, though Michol scoffe at you. It is a great mercie that God hath kept us from blood. God hath left our blood in our veines, let it boyle up in the cause of God.

6. Be ashamed to injure the instruments by which God conveyes these mercies unto us. When Corah and his company rebelled against Moses and Aaron, then came the plague. As we must not idolize, so we must not injure the golden pipes, through which these mercies flow unto us.

7. Take heed of being ashamed of the cause of Christ. God hath not beene ashamed to appeare for us, let us not be ashamed to appeare for him. Remember that thundring speech, Mark. 8. 38. Whosoever shall be ashamed of mee and my words, in this adulterous Mat. 8 38. and sinfull generation, of him also shall the Sonne of man be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father, with the holy Angels. It is not enough not to be ashamed of Christ in a good generation, but we must not be ashamed of him in an adulterous and sinfull generation.

8. Let us neither pride our selves in our mercies, nor waxe wanton in our mercies. It is recorded in the French History, that when the Protestants of France began to grow wanton of their peace and prosperity, and began to affect a vaine and frothy way of preaching, the •… came the cruell massacre upon them.

2. I will briefly name some speciall and heroicall Uses, which we are to make of Gods mercies, besides this use in the Text.

1. Do something, O house of England, for the honour of the Lords day, which hath beene much prophaned, not onely in our practises, but in our Doctrines. Christ Jesus hath two dayes, The day of the Lord, which is the day of judgement, And the Lords day. If you looke to appeare with comfort at the day of the Lord, honour the Lords day; There is a day of the Lord, for those that abuse the Lords day. Do something to make this day more honourable by way of spirituall satisfaction.

2. Do something to purge the Land more and more of the innocent blood of the Martyrs in Queene Maries dayes, by the Lawes that were then established. Oh that in our publike Fasts a clause might be interlaced, To command the Land to be humbled for that bloody sinne, that so the Nation might be freed from the guilt of that blood. This will be an heroicall worke, worthy of a people endeared to God by such mercies.

3. Do something for the reformation of Gods house. Mistake mee not, I do not forget to remember with thankfulnesse, what you have already done, but goe on, I beseech you, to perfect what you have begun to do. And consider what some say of Solomon, That it was his great fault, that he bestowed more time in building of •… is owne house, than he did in building the house of God. He was but seven yeares in building the house of God, and thirteen years in building his owne house. And it is observed he never prospered after. The Scripture seems to give a little hint of this. For it is said in the 1 King. 6. 38. So was he seven yeares in building the house of the Lord. And in the next verse it is added, 1 King. 6. 38 1 King. 7. 1. But Solomon was building his owne house thirteene yeares. This (but) may seeme to be a secret kind of reproofe. O let not the like blame be cast upon you! Make haste to repaire the ruines of Gods house. And be sure to repaire it according to the Word of God, not according to humane policie. Let mee desire you never to forget the story of David, who when he went to bring home the Arke▪ with great joy, because he brought it not home in due order, but suffered it to be carried in a Cart, when God had commanded it should be carried upon the Priests shoulders, there was a great breach made, and a great stop of the worke. As it is expresly said, 1 Chr. 15. 13. Because he did it not at the first, therefore 1 Chr. 15. 13. the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that wee sought him not after the due order. A reformation made according to the rule will abide, when all others will molder away, and the blessing of God will be upon it, and upon the maker of it.

4. Do something for the setting up of a Preaching Ministrie throughout the Kingdome; That the light of the Gospell of Jesus Christ may shine in the dark corners of the Land. And provide a competent maintenance for the Ministrie, for feare lest scandalōus Livings, make scandalous Ministers.

5. Do something to purge out all the defilements that are in the pure worship of God, that the pure and holy God may be worshipped with pure worship, purely, by pure worshippers.

6. Do something for bleeding Ireland, Pitty Ireland that 〈◊〉 the mercies we enjoy. Pray for Ireland. Underwrite for Ireland. This designe now on foot is a worke of great piety, a meanes to roote out Popery for ever out of Ireland, and it may prove as profitable as pious. Send speedy aid, and the Lord blesse it when it is sent.

And thus I have finished my Sermon. It is reported of Ignatius, that when he heard a clocke strike, he would say, Here is one houre more now past, that I have to answer for. Give me leave to tell you, you have heard a Sermon of two houres, and therefore you have two houres more to answer for. The Lord enable us to give up a good account of this dayes meeting. Let us pray down •… a blessing fro •… heaven upon what we have heard. For though the mercies of God be most free, as I shewed you in my third Doctrine, yet God must be enquired of by the bouse of England, to do •… these mercies for them, as it is expressely set downe in the 3 •… . Ezek. 36. 37. verse of this Chapter. Prayer doth not merit mercie, but fits us fo •… mercie. If we will have mercie, we must bring vessels to hold it, and no vessels will hold mercy but broken hearts. This is a Paradoxe in nature, but not in grace. Deus non infundit oleum misericordi •… , nisi in v •… contritun •… . And where should we goe for a broken heart, but to the heart-maker? Let us pray unto God to fit ou •… Nation for more mercies, and then to bestow them upon us.