NOTES.
(a) P. IQO. — ' Who would go to the pest-house, or to one that hath •' Lord, have mercy upon us," on the door'?' The allusion is to the marks placed upon the ' pest- houses,' and the dwellings of those sick during the plague in London — a visitation very often and very solemnly referred to hy Sibbes, who twice witnessed its devasta- tion— viz., in 1603-4, and the subsequent one of 1624-5. Having died in 1635, he did not pass through the ' Pestilence' of 1636.
(6) P. 200. — ' " We melt away," ... as the word is.' Dr Joseph Addison Alexander renders the phrase, ' For thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast melted us, because of (or by means of) our iniquities.' It will generally be found tliat Sibbes's critical remarks harmonise with the results of the highest modern scholarship. Cf. Note c. Vol. I. page 31. O.
GOB'S INQUISITION.
GOD'S INQUISITION.
NOTE.
' God's Inquisition' forms part of the ' Beams of Divine Liglit' (4to, 1639). The separate title-page is below.* For general title of the volume, see Vol. V. page 220.
G.
GOD'S
INQVISITION.
In two Sermons
By the late Keverend and Learned
Divine Richaed Sibs,
Doctor in Divinity, Master of Katherine Ilall in
Cambridge, and sometimes Preaclier at
Geayes Inne.
Gen. 18. 21. 1 tvill <joe downe now and see whether they have done altogether accor- ding to the cry of it, which is come unto me ; and if not, I will know.
PSAL. 14. 3.
They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy, there is none that doth good no not one. [A wood-cut here of an angel, surrounded with a glory, leaning upon a cross ; his right hand holding an open Bible, and his feet trampling upon the usual skeleton- representation of death.]
LONDON.
Printed by G. M. for Nicholas Bourne and Rapha Harford. MDCXXXIX.
GOD'S INQUISITION.
I hearkened and heard, hut they spaJce not ariffht: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying. What have I done ? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swalloic, observe tJie time of their cominy; but my 2)eople know not the judgment of the Lord. — Jer. VIII. 6, 7.
Upon the sins of people it hath been alway God's course to send his pro- phets to warn them beforehand, and afterwards, upon that, to observe how they profit by that warning ; and thereupon he takes occasion to proceed answerably. God usually exerciseth a great deal of patience ere he strikes. He made the world in six days, but he is six thousand years in destroy- ing it.
In this verse, after the holy prophet had menaced the judgment of God upon them, there is set down what use they made of it. Alas ! * They spake not aright : no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done ? ' And lest they should object. How do you know this ? He saith here it is upon inquisition, * I hearkened and heard.' So the words contain God's inquisition or inquiry, and then God's evidence upon that inquiry, together with a complaint. His inquiry, ' I hearkened and heard.' For we must apply these words to God. There is the same phrase, Mai. iii. 16, ' The Lord hearkened, and heard ; and a book of remembrance was written before him ; ' so here, ' I hearkened and heard.' Here is the inquiry.
Then, secondly, the evidence upon the inquiry, ' they spake not aright.' And, thirdly, the complaint upon that evidence set down.
1. First, Positively, * They repented not of their wickedness,' which is amplified, 1. From the generality of this their impenitency, 'No man repented him ; ' and 2. From the cause of it : want of consideration. They did not say, * What have I done ? ' If they had called themselves to account concerning what they had done, certainly they would have repented.
2. Comparatively, * They turned to their course, as the horse rnshcth into the battle.'
8. Lastly, Superlatively, preferring the skill of the poor storks and cranes, and the turtle and swallow, before the judgment of his senseless and stupid
208 god's inquisition.
people : ' The stork in the heavens knowetb her appointed time ; and the turtle, the crane, and the swallow ; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord.' This is the sum of the words.
1. First, Of God's inquiry, 'I hearkened and heard.' Ere Sodom was destroyed, the Lord came down to see whether there was just cause or no, Gen. xviii. 21. God is most just. He will see cause for his judgments. He hath no delight in punishing. When ho judgeth, it is not out of his sovereignty, hut out of his justice. He doth it not as a sovereign Lord, but as a just judge. Now, a judge must do all upon inquisition and evi- dence ; therefore saith he, ' I hearkened and heard : ' where, by the way, the gods of the earth, to whom he hath communicated his name, should learn hence, not to Ic rash in their judgments, but to have sound evidence before they pass sentence. 'I heaikencd and heard.' To 'hearken' is more than to hear: to apply one's self with some affection to hear a thing.