Object. But you will say. This a work of time. What is to be done to avoid the danger of the present distractions ?
Sol. I answer — That question is to be put to God, not man: Ps. xi. 3, ' If the foundations be destr<?yed, what can the righteous do,' i.e, if religion, laws, authority, and all have lost their awe, what can they do ? The answer is in the next verse : ' God is in the holy temple,' i.e., there is a God above, one in heaven, go to him. I suppose you are met this day, as those at Ahava, to seek a right way, Ezra. viii. 21 ; when we are at a loss and past the help of means, the address may be the better made to God.
2. If you go to God, you must go to him in his own way. How is that? You shall see Job xxxiv. 31, ' Surely it is meet to be said to God, I have borne the chastisement of mine iniquity ; I will oflend no more,' This is meet for you to be said to God, to come before him with humiliation and reformation,
[1.] With humiliation. Sadlyreflect upon your miscarriages. I would not willingly declaim upon that theme ; too many do. It is natural to us to speak evil of dignities : envy would blast eminency. Some are mad upon idols ; they will blemish you, for you have vexed them. Others are burdened with payments, and they will say, ' The former times were better than these,' Eccles. vii. 10. Haply Solomon relateth to his own times. They complain of Solomon's yokes, though occa- sioned by the temple work in those days. Some affect the repute of bold men ; it feeds the humour of the times to lay things to your charge. The Lord make others more sober, and you more humble ! It is your duty to smite upon the thigh. Surely there is a cause,
ZeCH. XIV. 9.] MEAT OUT OF THE BATER. 409
when there were such great distractions that they groped like a blind man, and could not find the way. They said, * Our iniquities are with us; as for our transgressions, we know them/ Isa. lix. 10-12. When those that speak tremblings are little feared, surely there is some offence, Hosea xiii. 1. Commune with your own hearts ; guilt works best when it results from your own consciences ; being represented from without ; it irritateth ; sweetly arising from within, it humbleth. What is the matter then ? Have you dealt with God so faithfully, with the people so kindly, as you should ? Have grievances been redressed, justice executed, the glory of God's house provided for ? I remember a story in Phitarch of Demetrius, king of Macedonia,^ who, when his subjects tendered their petitions to him of having their grievances redressed, he cast them into a river: afterward Seleucus the Great came with an army against him ; not a man would stir ; he was taken prisoner, and deprived of his kingdom. People will bear any- thing rather than neglects of justice. Consider these things. Come with humiliation.
[2.] Come with purposes of reformation : 'I will do so no more.' Do your first works if you would recover your lost glory. You know by what insinuations Absalom stole away the hearts of the people ; by those of justice and kindness. He kissed them. He did perjicere oscula, adorare vulgus, as the historian saith of Otho ; and you know he said, 2 Sam. xv. 4, Oh ! that I were a judge in the land, then I would do them justice ; and it would be sad if corruptions be found in you when distractions are upon you. It is said of the assembly of ' the gods,' that had not done justice to the afilicted, nor defended the poor widow and fatherless, Ps. Ixxxii. 5, ' That they know not, neither will they understand ; they walk on in darkness, though the founda- tions of the land be out of course ; ' they continued in perverting justice and right, though God ruined the commonwealth and plucked it asunder. Oh ! let it be never said of you ; it shall be my prayer to God for you.
^ Plutarchus in Vita Demetrii.
ENGLAND'S SPIRITUAL LANGUISHING;
THE CAUSES AND CURE :
DISCOVERED IN A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE HONOURABLE
HOUSE OF COMMONS, ON THEIR SOLEMN DAY OF FAST,
AT MARGARET'S, WESTMINSTER, JUNE 2S, 1648.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
To the Honourable House of Commons now assembled in Parliament.
You were pleased to require my service on your late day of fast, as you had done on the same occasion just a twelvemonth before. I desh-ed to speak seasonably then, and now too. The Lord directed my thoughts then to a subject of peace, — our distractions were great , and now to treat of zeal, — our destruction, we fear, draweth nigh. These two things may well stand together, love and zeal ; and if men were wise, James iii. 18, the fruit of righteousness might be sown in peace, and such con- cord effected between brethren, wherein religion may not suffer. I know there are two parties that will never be accorded — the seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent ; there will be enmity. But is not there a wise man among us ? not one that shall be able to judge between brethren ? 1 Cor, vi. 5. I speak not this to flatter with a general offer ; I have always disliked general invectives against error, and general proposals of peace.i This were to deal in names rather than things, and to seduce the soul into a hope of that which is far enough from being accomplished. Neither do I speak it to cool any man's zeal ; the drift of this sermon is to kindle it. Godliness cannot be without a holy heat. Those that suffer under persecution will contend against delusion, that is but a duty ; and it were to be wished it were more done, and more regularly. Certainly some have been too silent whilst the truths of God have been made void ; ^ therefore, we are far from condemning any such vigorous opposition of the present errors. I only mention it as an expression of my desires and hopes.