Forty sermons whereof twenty one are now first publish'd, the greatest part preach'd before the King and on solemn occasions / by Richard Allestree ... ; to these is prefixt an account of the author's life.

SERMON XVII. AT HAMPTON-COURT May 29. 1662. (Book 17)

HOSEA III. 5.

Afterward shall the Children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness.

HE has said in the words before, that the Children of Israel shall abide many days without a King and without a Prince, without a Sacrifice and without an Image or Altar, and with∣out an Ephod and without Teraphim. Now when they shall have been for many years in such a state of helpless desolation, shall have no King under whose shadow they, their Laws and Rights, might hope for shelter; no Prince to guard them from the sad calamities of wild confusion or usurping violence; shall have no exercises of Religion to allay and soften those calamities, and give them comfort in the bearing of them; no Altar to lay hold on for security against them, or to stretch out their hands towards, for deprecation of them; no nor a God to put an end to this sad state; nor any means of direction what to do under it, no Ephod to ask Counsel at; nor yet the pageantry, the fallacy of these, no Tera∣phim for Ephods, nor Image for a God; the same destruction having seized these and their worshippers, the people and their Idols going into Captivity together, and the only true God having forsaken them: Now when the Prophet had denounc'd this state of Woe, which was to dwell with them so long as that their very expectations of deliverance should be dying, having continued threescore years and ten, a longer and more wearisome age of patience then life, he then proceeds to sweeten all by telling them of a return, and what things they shall do in it; and they are three.

First, Seek the Lord their God, apply themselves to his Worship and Obedience, and cleave to him; for so the word is rendred 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Lev. 19. 23. and Jeremy repeating this c. 30. 9. words it, shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King.

Which is the second thing they were to do. As the Ecclesiastical state was to be setled, so the secular too upon its just foundations, Religion and Loyalty both running in their ancient current.

Thirdly, They shall fear the Lord and his goodness▪ Not only trem∣ble before him, who is the Lord, that did exert his power in their destruction; but shall much more revere his goodness, that did flow out in such plentiful miraculous expresses of deliverance.

Now these being not only prophecy what in that juncture they would do, nor only duties what they were to do, but also counsels and directions immediately from God what they were best to do, the only prudent and safe course according to the policies of heaven; the direct view of these particulars in reference to that state of theirs is not an unconcerning prospect at this season, which is the Anni∣versary of an equal return; and therefore I shall lay them so before you, and the reflection on them in our practice shall make the application.

1. They shall seek the Lord their God is my first part, and the Lord's prime direction for the repairing of a broken Nation. Neither indeed can any other course be taken; for 'till we have found him, while he does hide his face, nothing but darkness dwells upon the land; or if any light do break out, 'tis but the kindlings of his anger: So he expresses, Deut. 31. 17. Th•••• people will forsake me and break my Covenant, then my anger shall be kindled against them, and I will forsake them, and hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not amongst us? This absence is only another word for desclation: Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, saith God by Jeremy, c. 6. 8. lest my soul depart from thee, and I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited: As if without him there were nothing else but solitude in Cities and in Courts, and all were desart where he does not dwell. Yea there is something beyond desolation, Hos. 9. 11, 12. As for E∣phraim, their glory shall flee away like a bird from the birth and from the womb, and from the Conception: though they bring up their Children, yet I will bereve them that there shall not be a man, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 yea wo also to them when I depart from them. And it must needs be so; for let our state be never so calamitous, if God be not departed, there is comfort in it,* 1.1 and a deliverer at hand: If we are in the place of Dragons, his presence will make heaven there; and al∣though we be covered with the shadow of death, if the light of his Countenance break in, we are in glory; and the brightness of that will soon damp and shine out the fiery Trial. But if the Lord depart, then there is no redemption possible; God hath for∣saken him, persecute him and take him, for there is none to deliver him, Psal. 71. 11. But if there were deliverance some other way, yet the want of God's presence is an evil, such as nothing in the whole world can make good: The presence of an Angel in his stead does

not. When the Lord said to Israel, I will not go up in the midst of thee, but I will send an Angel with thee, and drive out the Amorite, the Hittite, &c. yet when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourn••d, and man did put on his Ornaments, Exod. 33. 4. Nay more, I shall not speak a contradiction if I shall say, that the most intimate presence of the Godhead does not supply God's absence; and such a small with∣drawing of himself as may consist with being united hypostatically, was too much for him to bear, who was Immanuel when he com∣plained God was not with him: I mean our Saviour on the Cross. He, who although he did beseech against his cup with fervencies that did breath out in heats of bloody sweat,* 1.2 with agonies of prayer, yet when he fell down under it, did chearfully submit to it, saying, Not my will,* 1.3 but thy will be done; yet when God hides himself, he does expostulate with him, crying out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? His God could no more forsake him, than himself could be not himself: And yet the apprehension of that which could not be was even insufferable to him, to whom nothing could be insufferable.

He seems to feel a very contradiction while he but seems to feel the want of the Lord's presence.

Such is the sad importance of God's not being with us; and this same instant tells us what drives him away. 'Twas sin that he withdrew from them: Christ did but take on him our guilt, and upon that the Lord forsook him: God could no more endure to behold wicked∣ness in him, than the Sun could to see God suffer; Iniquity eclips'd them both, and sin did separate betwixt him and himself, and made that person who was God cry out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?* 1.4 And it will do the same betwixt God and a people. Isay. 59. 1, 2. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortned that it cannot save; nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. His face is clothed with light, we know; but when Wickedness over-spreads a people, those deeds of darkness put out the light of his Countenance. His hand although it be not shortned, yet it contracts and shuts it self, not only to grasp and withhold his mercies from them, but to smite: Iniquity builds such a wall of separation as does shut out omnipresence, and makes him who is every where, not be with such a people; not be in hearing of their needs; for when their sins do cry, no prayers can be hearkned to; he will not hear you, saith the Prophet. And that gives us the very 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of the Lord's departure from a people, and the manner of it.

He is taking away his peace and mercies from a Nation when he will hear no prayers for it; and he declares that he will hear no prayers when he withdraws once from his house of prayer, and makes his Offices to cease. The place appointed for these Offices, the Sanctuary, he calls, we know the Tabernacle ofa 1.5 meeting, that is, where he wouldb 1.6 meet his votaries, and hear and bless them; calls it hisc 1.7 house; hisd 1.8 dwelling place, his Court,e 1.9 presence, and hisf 1.10 throne: And if so, when he is not to be found in these, when he no longer dwels nor meets in them, we may be sure that he hath left the land. The Psalmist,* 1.11 when he does complain men had done evil in the Sanctuary,* 1.12 the adversaries roared in the midst of the Congregations, and

set up their banners there for trophies;* 1.13 they broke down all the carved work thereof with axes and hammers,* 1.14 and had defiled the dwelling places of God's name even to the ground,* 1.15 and burnt up all the houses of God in the land; he does suppose that God was then departed when they had left him no abiding place: And therefore cries out, O God wherefore art thou absent from us so long? Remember Sion where thou hast dwelt. But 'tis not only upon these Analogies I build; this method of departure we shall finde exactly in Ezekiel's Vision of that case to which my Text referrs: It begins ch. 9. 3. And the glory of the God of Israel, (i. e. the shining cloud, the token of his presence in the Sanctuary,) went up from the Cherub whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house, as going out; and then vers. 8. he does refuse to be entreated for the land: After that ch. 10. 18. the glory went from off the threshold to the midst of the City; and ch. 11. 23. it went from thence to the mountain without the City, and so away: And then nothing but desolation dwelt upon the land, untill the Counsel of my Text was followed, and they did seek the Lord their God: For then the glory did return into the Sanctuary just as it went away, as you may find it chap. 43.

And having seen when and how God forsakes a people, and for what, that does direct us how to seek him, and it is thus, When men forsake those paths in which they did not only err and go astray, but did walk contrary to God, so that they did forsake each other; and do return, walk in his ways, the ways of Commandments, and return also to his Church, and seek him in his house, fall low before his footstool, beg of him to meet in his tabernacle, renew his worship, and all invitations of him to return into his dwelling-place. For sure as it is in vain to seek him but in his own ways, nor can we hope to meet him but in his Tabernacle of meeting; so also Scripture calls both these to seek the Lord, and promises to both the finding him. To the first, Deut. 4. 29, 30. If from thy tribulation thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient to his voice. And the second, Jer. 29. 12. speaking of this sad state to which my Text relates, then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me; and I will hearken unto you, and I will be found of you, saith the Lord, and I will turn away your Captivity. I could produce you instances of Asa making all his people swear to seek the Lord: But because my Text speaks of David, he shall be the great explication, as he was the practice of this duty in both senses. In the former, 119. Psal. I have sought thy Commandments above Gold or precious stone; more than that which does make and does adorn my Crown, than that which furnishes all the necessities and all the pomps of Royalty. And for the other, Psal. 63. 1, 2. O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is: To see thy power and thy glory, as I have seen the in the Sanctuary. His very words do seem to labour too, and he does seek expressions to tell us how he seeks. The hot fits of a thirsty palate that call so oft and so impetuously are in his soul; it hath a pious fever, which cannot be allay'd but by pouring out of his soul to God in the

Temple, by breathing out its heats in his devotion Offices. Nay, more, he longs, hath that I know not whether appetite, or passion, which is not to be understood, but onely suffered; to which all the unreasonable violences which passion can be heated into, all the defail∣lances nature can be opprest into, are natural; it is the bodies Extasie. Now this he had towards the worship of the Sanctuary; his very flesh found rapture in those exercises, and when he was in a barren and dry land, was driven from the plenties of a Court, and from the glories of a throne into a desart solitude, he found no other wants but of God's house; did mind, pant, and long after nothing else, did neither thirst for his necessities, nor long for his own Crown, but for the Tabernacle only. And besides the Religion of this, he had reason of State too to be thus affected; this was the best means to engage his Subjects to him and secure his Throne. He knew, if by establishing God's worship,* 1.16 and by going with the multitude, as he did use, to the exercises of it; if by Royal Example and encourage∣ments of vertue, and by discountenancing and chastising impiety, by doing as he did profess to do, Psal. 101. (that Directory for a Court) he could people his land with holy living, and his Temple with holy Worship; he knew he should then have good Subjects, Loyal to him and at peace with themselves. I they will seek their God, then they will seek their King. The Lord saw this dependence, and therefore counselled this course should be taken. The Master of our Politicks discerned it too,* 1.17 and therefore does advise that the first and chiefest publick cares should be about things of Religion, that and the same profession of it being 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the cement of Communities, and the very foundation of all legislative, and indeed all power in the Magistrate: And in the people 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 'tis a most efficacious philtre,* 1.18 a charm, a Gordian knot of kindness. And as a Jew observed of their own Nation, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, To have one and the same opinions of God, and not to differ in their rites from one another, breeds the best harmony in mens affections. When on the other side no obligations, though the most signal and divine, will hold them in obedience and peace, if their ambitions or interests look another way: And if at any time present advantage, or an expectation, or some passion do encline them to seek David their King; yet the appearance of a change of Interest, that expectation defeated, or a cross animosity will burst those bonds, unless Religion and Communion in Worship help to twist them. David had had experience of this.

Abner knew of God's Oath to David that after Saul he should be King over all Israel; but he was otherwise concerned, and therefore he made Ishbosheth King, maintained a long and sore War even against what he knew God was engaged to bring about,* 1.19 and made himself strong for the house of Saul, 2 Sam. 2, 3, ch. But when a quarrel hap∣pened betwixt Ishbosheth and him, then, So do God to Abner and more also, except as the Lord hath sworn to David, even so I do to him, to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah. And he sent Messengers to him saying, Whose is the land? Make but thy league with

me, c. 3. 9, 10, 11, 12. Do but look forward, and you find when Abner was cut off, and Ishbosheth was slain, and Israel had no leader, then they came to David, saying, behold we are thy bone and thy flesh, and the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, c. 5. 1, 2. They knew all that before, yet would not let him do it, 'till they had no other leader. Nay, when they had done that, by Absalom's insinua∣tions (who in a way of treacherous pitty did instill dislikes against the Government, and did remonstrate in good wishes, as some men do in prayers, c. 15. 3, 4.) they were all drawn into Rebellion a∣gainst this David, and made him flie out of the land, and became Subjects to that Absalom. When he was dead indeed they speak of bringing back the King, c. 19. 10. and when his own Judah had done it, quarrell'd, ver. 43. because that their advice was not first had: And though Judah had nothing but their service, for, have we eaten at all of the Kings cost, or hath he given us any gift? say they, v. 42. yet Israel in angry, because he came not back upon their score, for they forsooth have ten parts in him, v. 43. and yet the next day every man of Israel went after him that said, we have no part in David, Sheba a man of Belial, ch. 20. 1. Thus no allegiance, no tie however sacred and divine will hold them who follow not upon God's score. Nay at the last, because that Re••oboam would not ease the Taxes, all Israel cry out, What portion have we in David? see to thine own house,* 1.20 David. And to make this secession perpetual (which all the former did not prove) Jeroboam did use no other policy, but to change the Worship and the Priests: He knew he should divide their hearts and Nations for ever, when he had altered once the Service and the Officers; and if he could but keep them from seeking God at Jerusalem, he was secure they would not seek David their King. And so it proved. Now the Lord to prevent divisions had provided so far for Uniformity in his Worship, that he required a single Unity; and that it might be but in one manner, he let it be but in one place.

And truly, when men once depart from Uniformity, what measures can they set themselves of changing? What shall confine or put shores to them? what Principle can they proceed upon which shall engage them to stay any where? And why may not divisions be as infinite as mens fancies? And though, when those are but in cir∣cumstantial things, those who are strong, and know them to be such, are no otherwise concerned to contend for them than on Authorities behalf, (to which every change is a Convulsion fit.) and on the account of decency, and of compliance with the universal Church: yet when others do dogmatize, and put conscience in the not doing them, and stand at such a distance from them as to chuse Schism, Disobedience, and Sedition rather, and therefore must needs look upon damnation in them; these differences make as great a gulf and chasm as that which does divide Dives from Abraham's bosom.* 1.21 It is one God, one Faith, one Worship makes hearts one. Hands lifted up together in the Temple they will joyn and clasp: And so Religion does fulfil its name à religando, binds Prince and Subjects all together; and they who thus do seek the Lord their God, will also seek David their King, God's next direction, and my second part.

2. And here three things offer themselves, a King, their King, and David their King.

I am not here to read a Lecture of State-policy upon a vie of Govern∣ments; why seek a King, not any other sort of Government; and why their King, one that already was so by the right of Succession, not whom addresses or election should make so. And though I think, 'twere easie to demonstrate only Monarchy had ever a divine or natural original, and that elective Monarchy is most unsafe and burthensome, full of dangerous and uneasie consequences; and this so much to sight, that choice for the most part bounds it self, proves but a ceremony of Succession: yet this I need not do, for I am dealing with the Jews, who had God's judgment in the case, and his appoint∣ment too; and to me that is argument enough. And when God hath declar'd, for the transgressions of a land many are the Princes thereof;* 1.22 many at once, as in a common-wealth, or many several fa∣milies successively, (for so God reckons also one or many; 'tis still, we see, David their King, while 'tis in David's line, and so the King does truly never die, while his race lives.) If either of these many be Gods punishment, for the sins of a land; I will not say that they who love the many Princes love the transgressions which God plagues so; but I will say, they who do chuse that which God call his plague, that quarrel for his vengeance, and with great strife and hazard take his indignation by force, I can but pity them in their own opinions and enjoyments: But, O my soul, enter not thou into their counsels.

As for seeking their King, I shall content my self with that which Calvin says upon the words; Nam aliter verè & ex animo Deum quaerere non potuit, quin se etiam subjiceret legitimo imperio cui subjectus erat: For they could not otherwise truly and with all their heart seek God, except they did subject themselves to his Government to whom they did of right belong as Subjects. And I shall add that they who do forsake their King, will soon forsake their God.a 1.23 The Rabbines say it more severely of Israel that they at once rejected three things, the Kingdom of the house of David, and the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Sanctuary. And truly, if we do consult that State from the beginning, we shall find that when they were without their King, they always were without their God.

Moses was the first King in Jeshurun,* 1.24 and he was only gone into the Mount for forty days,* 1.25 and they set up a Golden Calf; they make themselves a God if they want him whom the Lord makes so, as he does the Magistrate: If they have not a Prince, that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, living Image of God, then they must have an Idol. When Moses his next successor was dead, we read that the man Micah had an house of Gods, and consecrated one of his Sons to be his Priest: And truly he might make his Priest who made his Deities. And the account of this is given, in those days there was no King in Israel, Jud. 17. 5, 6. The very same is said, ch. 18. 1. to preface the Idolatry of the Tribe of Dan▪ There was no heir of restraint, as it is worded ver. 7. It seems, to curb impiety is the Princes Inheritance, which 'till it be supprest, he hath not what he is heir to. But Vice will know no Boundaries if there be no King, whose Sword is the only mound

and fence against it: for if we read on there, 19, 20, 21. ch. we shall find those dismal Tragedies of Lust and War, the one of which did sin to death the Levites wife; the other, besides 40000. slain of them who had a righteous cause, and whom God did bid fight, destroyed also a Tribe in Israel: These all sprang from the same occasion, for so the story closes it, In those days there was no king in Israel, ch. 21. 25.

Just upon this; when God in their necessities did raise them Judges, that is, Kings, read all their story, you will find to almost every several Judge there did succeed a several Idolatry: God still com∣plaining, the Children of Israel did evil again after the death of such an one,* 1.26 'till he raised them another. Those 450. years being de∣vided all betwixt their Princes and their Idols.* 1.27 After them Jeroboam, he that made the great secession of that people from their Prince,* 1.28 hath got no other Character from God but this,* 1.29 theb 1.30 Man that did make Israel to sin,* 1.31 at once against God and against their King. Yea upon this account they are reckon'd by God to sin after both their Idolatry and State were ended, when their calves and their Kingdom were destroyed. Ezek. 4. 4, 5. the Lord does bid the Pro∣phet lie on his left side 390 days, to bear the iniquity of Israel according to the number of the years of their iniquity. But this was more then the years of their State, which were only 255, 390 years indeed there were betwixt the falling off of the Ten Tribes, and the destruction of Jerusalem by the King of Babel; but those ten Tribes were gone, their King∣dom perfectly destroy'd above 130 years before: But their iniquity was not, it seems, that does outlive their State, so long as that God's Temple, that King's house did stand from which they did divide. As if Seditious men and schismaticks sin longer then they are, even while those are whom they do sin against in separating from.

'Tis true, there was an Ahaz and Manasseh in the house of David, but Hezekiah and Josiah did succeed. Mischief did not appear entail'd on Monarchy, as 'tis upon rebellion and having no King. It does appear their Kings were guards also to God and his Religion, the great defenders of his faith and worship. God and the Prince for the most part stood and fell together: Therefore St. Paul did afterwards advise to pray for Kings,* 1.32 that we might live in godliness and honesty; and still they were the same who sought the Lord their God, and David their King.

But why David their King? For could his Kingdom disappear and be to seek; of whom the Lord had said, I have sworn once by my Holi∣ness, I will not fail David? Psal. 89. And his Throne therefore was as sure as God is holy.* 1.33 But yet the Lord had said to the people of Israel,* 1.34 If ye do wickedly, ye shall be destroyed both you and your King. There are other sins besides Rebellion and Treason that murder Kings and Governments. Those that support their Ills by their dependen∣cies, and use great shadows for a shelter to rapacity, oppression, or licences, or any crying wickedness; those prove Traitors to Ma∣jesty and themselves, strike at the root of that under which they took covert, fell that and crush themselves. National vices have all Treason in them, and every combination in such sins is a Conspiracy. If universal practice palliate them, we do not see their stain in may

be, think them slight; but their complexion is purple: Common blood is not deep enough to colour them, they die themselves in that that's sacred. Nay these do seem to spread contagion to God, as if they would not let the Lord be holy, nor suffer that to be which he swore by his holyness should be:* 1.35 For the Psalmist cries out, Where are thy old loving kindnesses which thou swarest unto David? But sure some of God's Oaths will stand; if not those of his kindness, those will by which he swears the ruine of such sinners, and God that is holy will be sanctified in judgment upon them.* 1.36 Yea, upon more then the offenders, for the guilty themselves are not a sacrifice equal to such piacular ofences. Innocent Majesty must bleed for them too; If you do wicked∣ly, you shall be destroy'd both you and your King. Thus when God would remove Judah out of his sight, good Josiah must fall; and the same makes them be to seek David their King.

But how David their King, when 'twas Zorobabel? For with Theo∣doret and others I conclude he must be meant the first literal impor∣tance of the words.

It was the custom of most Nations from some great eminent prince to name all the Succession, so at once to suggest his Excel∣lencies to his followers, and to make his glory live. Now without doubt David was Heroe enough for this, and his valour alone sufficient to ground the like practice upon. And though we do not find that done, yet we do find his piety and his uprightness made the standard by which that of his Successors is meted. Of one 'tis said, he walked in the ways of David his Father,* 1.37 of another, he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,* 1.38 but not like unto David his Father. And be∣cause David went aside, and was upright with an Exceptation, once therefore it is said, The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his Father David. But besides this, his very name is given to two,* 1.39 Zorobabel, and the Messiah; both which were to be the restorers of their people: The one from Sin and Hell, to re∣establish the Kingdom of heaven it self; the other to deliver his people from Babel, and to repair a broken Nation and demolish'd Temple. And for this work God bids them seek David their King.

The ways from Babel to Jerusalem,* 1.40 from the Confusion of a people to a City that is at unity in it self, the City of God where he appears in perfect beauty, and where the throne of the house of David is, must be the first ways of David: In those he walk'd to Sion, and did invest his people in God's promises, the whole land of Canaan. In those Zorobabel brought them back to that land and Sion. And in these our Messiah leads us to Mount Sion that is above, to the celestial Je∣rusalem; does build an universal Church and Heaven it self. And all that have the like to do must walk in those first ways, fulfil that part of David, and must Copy Christ. Such the repairers of great breaches must be: These are the ways to settle Thrones, the only ways in which we may find the goodness of the Lord; which to fear is the third direction, and my last part.

They shall fear the Lord and his goodness.

3. That Israel who came but now out of the furnace should fear the Lord whose wrath did kindle it, whose justice they had found such a consuming fire as to make the Temple it self a Sacrifice, and the whole Nation a burnt-offering, is reasonable to expect: But when his goodness had repair'd all this, to require them to fear that, does seem hard. That that goodness which when it is once appre∣hended does commit a rape upon our faculties, and being tasted melts the heart, and causes dissolution of soul through swoons of complacency,* 1.41 that this should be received with dread and trembling, is most strange. Indeed the Psalmist says, There is mercy with God that he may be feared; for where there not, we should grow desperate▪ But how to fear those mercies is not easie. 'Tis true, when God made his goodness pass fore Moses, shewed him the glory of it, as he says, in those mo•••• comfortable Attributes, the sight of which is beatifick Vision, Exod. 34. 6, &c. The Lord, the Lord God, mer∣ciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin; if that which follows there be part of it, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third or fourth Generation; if this be one ray of the glory of goodness, if it dart out such beams, alas, 'tis as devouring as the lake of fire, his very goodness stabs whole successions at once, and the guilty may tremble at it for themselves and their posterity. But if those words do mean as we translate those very words, Jer. 46. 28. I will not leave thee altogether unpunish'd,* 1.42 yet will not utterly cut off, not make a full end of the guilty, when I visit Iniquities upon the Children, but will leave them a remnant still; then there is nothing dreadful in it, but those very visitations have kindness in them, and his rod comforts, and this issue of his goodness also is not terrible but lovely. To fear God's goodness therefore is to revere it, to entertain it with a pious astonishment, acknowledging themselves unworthy of the crums of it, especially not daring to provoke it by surfeiting, or by presuming on it, or by abusing it to serve ill ends, or any other than God sent it for, those of piety and obedience: Not to comply with which, is to defeat God's kindness, and the designs of it. If when they sought the Lord, he was found of them, and came to his dwelling place only to be forc'd thence again by their abominations; if when his goodness had restor'd all to them, they had David their King but to conspire against, an Altar onely to pollute, and a Temple to separate from, as Manasses the Priest, Sanballat's son in-law, with his accomplices did do; this were both to affront and to renounce that goodness, which above all things they must dread the doing: For if this be offended too, ruine is irreversible; there is no other attribute in God a sinner can fly to with any hope. His Holiness cannot behold iniquity, his Justice speaks nothing but condemnation to guilt, his Power without kindness is but omnipotent destruction; but if we have his Goodness on our side, we have an Advocate in his own bosom that will bear up against the rest, for his

mercy is over all his Attributes as well as Works: But if this also be exasperated, and kindness grow severe, there is no refuge in the Lord, no shadow of him to take Sanctuary under; for there is no∣thing to allay the anger of his Comp••ssion and Bounty. This sure is the extreamest terrour, we are to dread his kindness more than his severity and wrath; we have an antidote, a buckler against those, but none against the other if it be provok'd; and if the heats of love take fire and rise into indignation, 'tis unquenchable flame and ever∣lasting burning. Therefore when God hath done all things that he can do or they can wish, then most of all they must fear the Lord and his goodness.

My Text and I have spoke all this while to the Jews: Nor do I know whether I need to address any other way, all this did so di∣rectly point at us. The glories of this day need not the foil of those calamities from which this day redeem'd, to set them off; or you may read them in my Prophet here, and our own guilts will make too sad a Comment on his Text, who were more barbarous Assyrians to our selves. We also were without a Prince and without Sacrifice, had neither King, nor Church, nor Offices, because we our selves had destroy'd them, and that we might not have them had engag'd or covenanted against them; ty'd to our miseries so, that without per∣jury we could neither be without them, nor yet have them. As we had broke through all our sacred Oaths to invade and usurp calamity and guilt, so neither could we repent without breach of Vows, if this were not enough to make us be without a God too, then to drive him away we had defil'd his dwelling places to the ground, and by his ancient gifts of remove he was certainly gone. There was indeed exceeding much Religion among us, yet, God knows, almost none at all, while Christianity was crumbled into so many, so minute professions, that 'twas divided into little nothings, and even loft in a crowd of it self; while each man was a Church, every single professor was a whole multitude of Sects. And in this tumult, this riot of faiths, if the Son of man should have come, could he have found any Faith in the Land? Vertue was out of countenance and practice, while prosperous and happy Villany usurped its name; while Loy∣alty, and conscience of Oaths, and Duty were most unpardonable crimes, to which nothing but ruine was an equal punishment; and all those guilts that make the last times perillous, Blasphemy, Disobe∣dience, Truce-breakings and Treasons, Schisms and Rebellions, with all their dismal consequences and appendages, (for these are not single, personal crimes, these have a politick capacity) all these did not onely walk in the dress of piety, and under holy Masks, but were them∣selves the very form of Godliness, by which 'twas constituted and distinguished, the Signature of a party of Saints, the Constellation of their graces: And on the other side, the detestation of such hypocrisie made others Libertines and Atheists; while seeing men such holy counterfeits, so violent in acting, and equally engag'd for every false Religion, made them conclude there was none true, or in earnest. And all this was because we were without our King; for 'twas the onely interest of all those usurpations that were, to contrive and preserve it thus. And when we had roll'd thus through every form

of Government, addrest to each, mov'd every stone, and rais'd each stone to the top of the Mount, but every one still tumbled down again, and ours like Sisyphus's labour was like to have no end, onely restless and various Calamity; necessity then counsell'd us, and we applied to God's directions in the Text, I know not whether in his method, but it is plain we did seek David our King. And my heart is towards the Governours of Isral,* 1.43 that offer'd themselves willingly among the people: Bless ye the Lord: Yea, Thou O Lord, bless them. May all the blessings which this was the birth-day of, all that my Text en∣closes, all the goodness of the Lord, be the sure portion of them and their Families; may they see the King in his beauty, and peace upon Israel, and may their Names be blest in their Posterities for ever∣more. We sought him with the violent impatiencies of necessitous and furious desires, and our eyes, that had even fail'd with looking for him, did even fail with looking on him, as impotent and as unsatisfied in our fruitions as expectations; and he was entertain'd with as many tears as pray'd for; as one whom not our Interests alone, but out guilts had endear'd to us, and our tears: He was as necessary to us as repentance, as without whom it was impossible for us to repent and return from those impieties to him, of usurping his rights, of exiling, of murthering him by wants, because we could not do it by the Axe or Sword; without him 'twas impossible for us to give over the committing these; and the tears that did welcome him were one of our best lavers to wash off that blood that we had pull'd upon our selves. One endear'd also to us by God's most miraculous preservations of him for us: We cannot look upon his life but as the issue of prodigious bounty, snatch'd by immediate Providence out of the gaping jaws of tyrannous, usurping, mur∣therous malice, merely to keep him for our needs, and for this day: One whom God had train'd up and manag'd for us,* 1.44 just as he did prepare David their King, at thirty years of age to take possession of that Crown which God had given him by Samuel about twelve years before;* 1.45 and in those years to prepare him for Canaan by a Wilderness, to harden him with discipline, that so the luxuries and the effeminacies of a Court might not emasculate and melt him; by constant Watches, cares and business to make him equal for, habitu∣ated to, careful of and affected with the business of a Kingdom; and by constraining him to dwell in Mesech, with Aliens to his Religion, to teach him to be constant to his own,* 1.46 and to love Sion. And hath he not prepared our David so for us? And we hope hath prepared for him too the first days of David, having no Sheba in the Field, not Achitophel in the Councel, nor an Abiathar in the Temple, not in that Temple which himself hath rais'd, God having made him in∣strument of that which he would not let David do, building his house, and furnishing it with all its Offices, and making it fit for God to meet us in; when we do seek him also, which was the other perquisite of our Condition.

There never was so much pretence of seeking God as in those late days of his absence from us; and it should seem indeed we knew not where to find him, we took such several ways to seek him. But if God did not look down from heaven then as he did Psal. 14. to

see if any did understand and seek after God, should he not then have found it here as there?* 1.47 They are altogether gone out of the way; their throat is an open sepulcher, with their tongues have they deceived, the poison of asps is under their lips, their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and unhappiness is in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes: They eat up my people as it were bread; and, which is worse in these then them, they even then call upon God; as if they craved a blessing from the Lord upon that meal that did devour his people, and when they did seek God, they meant to find a prey. Yet where were any others that did seek him? Or that do cleave to him now? The Schismatick does not seek God, who shuns the place where he appears, and meets, and dwells; nor does he cleave to God who tears himself off from the Lord's body.* 1.48 Mark such as cause divisions, saith S. Paul, and avoid them: and if all Christians must avoid them, then I am sure God is not with them. The other Schismaticks that divide from the World by cutting off the World from them; do they seek God that are diverted by so many Saints and Angels? that terminte divinest Worship in a creature? Or do they cleave to God, when their devotion embraceth stocks and stones? Or did they seek God for the purpose of my Text, who did not seek David their King, but did apply themselves to several foreign Princes, and to others which they hoped would set up their Golden Calf? Incendiaries, that make fires and raise commotions,* 1.49 these are farr from God; for the Lord was not in the fire, or in the Earth-quake, but in the still small voice, in the soft whispers of peace and love. The Atheist, he that says in his heart there is no God, will not seek God, you may be sure; nor does he care to seek David his King, who is equally well under all Governments that will allow his Licences, and who hath no Religion to tie him to any. If he at all disliked the former, it was upon reasons of Burthen, or of Pride, or Libertinism: So much Religion, though counterfeit, was a reproach to him, and the face of such strictness was uneasie to him. These are so far from seeking God, that God says these did drive him out of Israel, Ezek. 9. 9. And then when that hath so long been the Wit, that it is now the Com∣plexion of the Age, and they who thought fit to shew their not be∣ing Hypocrites by License, and (to give it an easie word) by drol∣l••ry in sacred things, have now made nothing to be sacred to them; how shall the Lord dwell among such? They are enough to exercise God out of a Nation. The Hypocrite also, for all his Fasts and Prayers never did seek God,* 1.50 for he is but a whited Sepulcher, our Saviour says. Now who would seek the Living God among the dead? the Lord of Life sure is not to be found in Graves. Golgotha was a place to crucifie him in, not Worship him: He takes not in the Air of Funeral Vaults for Incense; it was a Demoniack that used to be among the Tombs. The subtle, false, and faithless men that walk in Mazes, never shall meet God: These are the windings and the tracts of the Old Serpent, and they lead only to his habitation. They that do climb as if they meant to find God on his own Throne, that follow Christ up to a pinnacle of the Temple, or to the top of that exceeding high Mount, whence they can over-look the glories

of the World, and pick and chuse, these do not go to seek Christ there:* 1.51 It is the Devil that does carry up thither, upon his own designs. Nor is it possible to seek the Lord in the ways that lead to the strange Womans house,* 1.52 for her house is the way to hell, Solomon says, (and he did know;* 1.53) nay more, her steps take hold on hell, seise on those everlasting burnings which her foul heats kindle and begin. In a word,* 1.54 they that seek their own, that turn all meerly to their advan∣tage, they cannot seek God too, he will not be joynt God with Mammon. And then where are the men that sought him? That did retrive him to us? Or with whom does he dwell? If he be not among us, we do in vain flatter our selves in our prosperity and peace, gawd it in all our bright appearances. Have we not seen the Sun rise with a glory of day about him, and mounting in his strength chase away all the little receptacles and recesses of the night, not leave a cloud to shelter the least relicks of her darkness, or any spot to chequer or to fleck the countenance of day? When strait a small handful of vapor rais'd by that Sun it self, did creep upon his face, and by little and little getting strengh be-dasht his shine, and pour'd out as full streams of storm as he had done of light; 'till it even put out the day, and shed a night upon the Earth in spight of him? So may prosperity it self, if the Lord and his blessing be not in it, raise that which will soon overcast and benight the most glorious condition of a Nation. That Wine which now makes your hearts glad, may prove like that which did commit the Centa••res, and the Lapithae, first kindle Lusts, then Wars, and at last onely fill a Cup of trembling and astonishment; and that Oyl that does make you chearful countenances, may make your paths slippery, and nourish flames that will devour and ruine all.

But God,* 1.55 who is found of them that seek him not, nay who him∣self sought the lost sheep and carried him,* 1.56 when with his straying he was wearied into impossibility of a return, as also sought, and found, and brought together us and our great Shepherd: For this is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. These ways of his also are so past finding out, that we may well conclude they are the meer foot-steps of his incomprehensible goodness, and we have onely now to fear that goodness.

But give me leave to say, Those that despise his goodness, do not fear it; and they whom it does not lead to repentance, do despise it. S. Paul says, Rom. 2. 4. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-sufferance, not knowing that the goodness of the Lord leads thee to repentance?

And now, O Lord, what sort of men among us hath thy good∣ness wrought upon, and made repent? Those whom it was directed to convince, and came on purpose to, to prove by their own onely argument they had of providential Miracles, they were not in the right, but that destruction and misery were in their ways; yet these chuse rather to deny their own conclusions, and resist Gods goodness, then to be convinced and repent: For we have seen them as bold Martyrs to their Sin as ever any to Religion, signalize their resolv'd impenitence with chearful suffering, as if the fire they were con∣demn'd to were that Triumphal Chariot,* 1.57 in which the Prophet

mounted up to Heaven. Others that did not go so far in condem∣nation nor guilt as they, and therefore think they have no reason to repent of that, do they repent of what they did contribute to it? Of those that lifted up their hands to swear and fight, how many are there that have made them fall, and smite their own thigh, saying,* 1.58 What have I done? Do not all rather justifie as far as they themselves proceeded? And if all that were well, why do not we repent of our Allegiance and Loyalty? If all that were well, what hath thy goodness done, O Lord, that hath reverst it all? And for the rest, those that do not partake the plenties of thy goodness, murmur and repine at it; are discontent at having what they pray'd for, what they would have died for. Those that have been partakers of it, have turned it into wantonness, have made it furnish them for base unworthy practices; such as have not the generosity of Vice, have not a noble, manly wickedness, are poltron sins; have made it raise a cry on the Faithfullest party, the best Cause, and the purest Church in the World. While we have debauched Gods own best Attribute, made his goodness procure for our most wicked or self-ends; and the face of things is so vicious in every order and degree and sex, that—But the Confession is onely fit for Litanies, and we have need to make the burthen of ours be, Lord, give us some afflictions again, send out thy Indignation, for we do fear thy goodness, it hath almost undone us; and truly, where it does not better, it is the most fearful of Gods Attributes or Plagues, for it does harden there.* 1.59 St. Paul says so in the forecited place; and Origen does prove this very thing did harden Pharaohs heart, indulgence was his in∣duration. Now induration is the being put into Hell upon the Earth: There is the same impenitence in both, and judgment is pronounced already on the hardned, and the life they lead is, but the interval betwixt the Sentence and the Execution, and all their sunshine of Prosperity, is but kindled Brimstone, onely without the stench. And then to make the treasures of Gods bounty be treasures of wrath to us! to make his kindness,* 1.60 his long-suffering; that is St. Peter says, salvation, condemn us, his very goodness be Hell to us! But sure so great a good∣ness as this we have tasted, cannot have such deadly issues; and it was great indeed, so perfectly miraculous in such strange and con∣tinued successes, resisting our contrivances and our sins too, over∣coming all opposition of our vices, and our own policies, that do not comport with it, and in despight of all still doing us good; it was fatality of goodness. Now sure that which is so victorious will not be worsted by us. But Oh! have we not reason so much more to fear the goodness? The greater and more undeserved it is, the more suspicious it is: As if it were the last blaze of the Candle of the Lord, when its light gasps; its flash of shine before it do go out, the dying struggles and extream efforts of goodness, to see if at the last any thing can be wrought by it. And if we did consider how some men manage the present goodness, make use of this time of it, and take, and catch, we would believe they did fear the departure of it: But yet it is in our power to fix it here. If we re∣pent, Gods gifts then are without repentance, but one of us must change: Bring Piety and Vertue into countenance and fashion, and

God will dwell among us.* 1.61 Nay St. Paul says, Goodness to thee if thou continue in his goodness: If we our selves do not forsake it, and renounce it, not fear it so as to flie from it, but with the fears of sinking men, that catch and grasp, lay fast dead hold upon it, if, as God promises,* 1.62 he so put his fear in our hearts, that we never depart from it, fear that hath love in it, and is as unitive as that, then it shall never depart from us; but we shall see the goodness of the Lord, in the Land of the Living, and shall be taken thence to the eternal fulness of it. This day shall be the Birth-day of Immortal Life, the entring on a Kingdom that cannot be moved. A Crown thus beautified, is a Crown of Glory here, and shall add weight and splendor to the Crown hereafter: A Church thus furnished, is a Church Trium∣phant in this World, and such a Government is the Kingdom of Heaven upon Earth;* 1.63 and then we shall all reign with him who is the King of Kings, and who washed us in his Blood, to make us Kings and Priests to God and his Father. To whom be glory and dominion for ever. Amen.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Psal. 44. 19.
• * 1.2

  Luk. 22. 44.
• * 1.3

  Ver. 42. Mat. 27. 46.
• * 1.4

  Mat. 27. 45.
• a 1.5

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• b 1.6

  Exod. 29. 42, 43.
• c 1.7

  Psal. 42. 4.
• d 1.8

  Psal. 74. 7.
• e 1.9

  Psal. 31. 20.
• f 1.10

  Jer. 17. 12. & 14. 21.
• * 1.11

  Psal. 74.
• * 1.12

  Ver. 3.
• * 1.13

  Psal. 4. 6.
• * 1.14

  Ver. 7.
• * 1.15

  Ver. 1. 2.
• * 1.16

  Psal. 42. 4.
• * 1.17

  Arist. Pol. 1 7.
• * 1.18

  Joseph. 1. con. Appio.
• * 1.19

  〈…〉〈…〉
• * 1.20

  1 Kings 12. 16
• * 1.21

  Luke 16. 26.
• * 1.22

  Prov. 28. 2.
• a 1.23

  E. Simeo the Son of Jochai said, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and R Simeon the Son of Me∣nasiah said, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.24

  Deut. 33. 5.
• * 1.25

  Exod. 32. 1, 5.
• * 1.26

  Judg. 3. 7. and ver. 12.
• * 1.27

  Ch. 4. 1.
• * 1.28

  Ch. 6. 1.
• * 1.29

  Ch. 10. 6.
• b 1.30

  1 Kings 16. 26. Ch. 21. 22. & 22. 52. &c.
• * 1.31

  Ch. 13. 1.
• * 1.32

  Tim. 2. 2.
• * 1.33

  ver. 35.
• * 1.34

  1 Sam. 12. 15.
• * 1.35

  Psal. 89. 49.
• * 1.36

  Isa. 5. 16.
• * 1.37

  2 Chro. 34. 2.
• * 1.38

  2 King. 14. 3.
• * 1.39

  2 Chron. 17. 3.
• * 1.40

  Psal. 122. 3, 5.
• * 1.41

  Psal. 130. 4.
• * 1.42

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.43

  Judg. 5. 9.
• * 1.44

  2 Sam. 5. 4.
• * 1.45

  Inter 7 & 9. Sauli qui re∣gnavit an. 20. Vid. Sim. Chron.
• * 1.46

  Psal. 120. 5.
• * 1.47

  Psal. 14. Rom. 3.
• * 1.48

  Rom. 16. 17.
• * 1.49

  1 Kings 19. 11, 12.
• * 1.50

  Matth. 2••. 27.
• * 1.51

  Matth. 4.
• * 1.52

  Prov. 9. 27.
• * 1.53

  Prov. 5. 5.
• * 1.54

  Phil. 2. 21.
• * 1.55

  Isai. 65. 1.
• * 1.56

  Luk. 15. 4, 5.
• * 1.57

  2 King. 2. 11.
• * 1.58

  Jer. 31. 19.
• * 1.59

  Rom. 2. ••.
• * 1.60

  2 Pet. 3. 15.
• * 1.61

  Rom. 11. 22.
• * 1.62

  Jer. 32. 40.
• * 1.63

  Apoc▪ 1. 5, 6.