not punish; his love shall heal our back-slidings; the greatness of our sins shall not hinder the freeness of this grace. He will do us good, and give us life, by the dew of his grace reviving us; and glory, clothing us, like the lily of the field, with the beauty of holiness; and stability, fixing us by his grace, as the cedars of Lebanon are fastened upon their roots; and growth or enlargement, as the branches spread forth themselves; and continual vigour and plenty, as the olive-tree, which is always green and fruitful; and glorious comforts, by the sweet savour of the knowledge of God, which, like the spice-trees of Lebanon, shall diffuse a spiritual perfume upon the names and into the consciences of penitent converts. a He will present us with the blessings of safety, as well as of sanctity and comfort; we shall under his shadow find shelter and protection from all our fears. Though like corn we be harrowed under the clods, though like a lopped vine we seem naked and reduced to lowness, though like crushed grapes we lie under heavy pressure; yet he will receive, and enlarge, and comfort us again; and when we are, in our own eyes, as fatherless children, he will set his eyes upon us as a tutor and guardian; he will hear, and observe, and answer, and pity us, enabling us to make good our covenant by his grace, and causing the fruits of his loving kindness to be found upon us. Thus God is pleased to borrow the various perfections of other things, to adumbrate the united and cumulated mercies, which he promiseth unto a converting and petitioning people. You have the petition sent you from God, and his answer, preventing you, in all the members of it, with the blessings of goodness. I have nothing else to do, but to beg of you, and of all this great people whom you represent, the subscription of your hearts and lives unto this petition: and to beg of God, that he would graciously incline the hearts of this whole kingdom rather to wrestle with him for a blessing, than to struggle and conflict amongst themselves for a curse. With which prayer I humbly conclude, commending your persons and your weighty affairs to his grace; and rest Your most humble servant in Christ, ED. REYNOLDS. From my Study in Braunston, August the 8th, 1642. a 2 Cor. ii. 14. TO THE READER * CHRISTIAN Reader, understanding that my sermon, which was preached three years since before the Honourable House of Commons, on the day of their solemn humiliation, was to be reprinted; I thought fit to peruse, transcribe, and enlarge six other sermons, in which I had, at mine own charge, in the country, on the ensuing fast days, briefly explained and applied that whole chapter (a portion only whereof was in the first handled), and to send them forth, together with it, unto the public; which I was the rather induced to do for these two reasons:- 1st. Because it hath pleased God, in his righteous and holy providence, to make me, by a long infirmity, unserviceable to his church in the principal work of the ministry—the preaching of the gospel, which is no small grief unto me: so that there remained no other means whereby my life might, in regard of my function, be useful to the church, and comfortable to myself, than by inverting the words of the psalmist, and as he made "his tongue the pen of a ready writer," so to make my pen the tongue of an unready speaker. 2d. I considered the seasonableness and suitableness of these meditations unto the condition of the sad and disconsolate times wherein we live, very like those which our prophet threatened the ten tribes withal throughout this whole prophecy, unto which this last chapter is a kind of use and a most solemn exhortation, pressing upon all wise and prudent men such duties of humiliation and repentance as might turn threats into promises, and recover again the mercies, which by their sins they had forfeited and forsaken. Which being restored unto them according to their petition, they are here likewise further instructed in which manner to return unto God the praises due to his great name. And these two duties of humiliation and thanksgiving are the most solemn duties which, in *This address is omitted in the Folio edition. these times of judgements and mercies, so variously interwoven together, the Lord doth so frequently call us unto. Places of Scripture I have, for brevity sake, for the most part, only quoted and referred thereunto, without transcribing all the words; and have usually put many parallel places together, because by that means they do not only strengthen the doctrine whereunto they belong, but mutually give light unto one another. The Lord make us all in this our day so wise and prudent as to understand the righteous ways of our God towards us; that we may not stumble at them, but walk in them, and be taught by them "to wait upon him in the way of his judgements," and to fix the desires of our soul upon his name, as our great refuge, and upon his righteousness, as our great business; till he shall be pleased, by the dew of his grace, to revive us as the corn, to make us grow as the vine, and to let the scent of all his ordinances be over all our land, as the smell and as the wine of Lebanon. It will be an abundant return unto my poor and weak endeavours, if I may have that room in thy prayers which the apostle Paul desired to have in the prayers of the Ephesians", "that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to preach the mystery of the gospel." The Lord sanctify all the ways of his providence towards us, that when we are chastened we may be taught; and may be greater gainers by the voice of his rod, than we are sufferers by the stripes. с d a Isai. xxvi. 8, 9. b Ephes. vi. 19. c Psalm xciv. 12. d Micah vi. 9. ON THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER OF HOSEA. FIRST SERMON.* HOSEA XIV. 1, 2. O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously (or give good); so will we render the calves of our lips. SECT. 1. The blessing of Ephraim was according to his name, fruitfulness". The fruitfulness of the earth, a bough by a well, and the fruitfulness of the womb and of the breasts. Contrary unto which two blessings, we find in our prophet two judgements threatened against him for his sins. "Though he be fruitful amongst his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up; he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels. Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up." And throughout the whole prophecy, if you read and observe it, you will find the judgements of God against Ephraim to be expressed by weeds, emptiness, barrenness, dryness of roots, of fruits, of branches, of springs, and by a curse upon their children; as, on the other side, the blessings, here in this chapter renewed unto Ephraim repenting, are all expressed by metaphors of fruitfulness"." From these two woful judgements, against the fruitfulness c Hos. e Hos. ix. 11, 14. a Gen. xli. 52. 4 Gen. xlix. 22, 25. Deut. xxxiii. 13, 17. iii. 15, 16. d Hos. viii. 7. ix. 2, 6, 16. x. 1, 8. xi. 6. f Hos. i. 5, 6, 7. * Folio-edition, p. 491. |