SERMON XXXV.*

CHRIST'S PASTORAL CARE.

Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.-MICAH vii. 14.

It is not much I shall offer unto you from these words; yet I cannot give you a right apprehension of the mind of God in them, and what I intend from them, without a little going over the chapter from the beginning. Woe is me, for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits,' &c. ver. 1, When the prophet says, 'Woe is me,' he speaks in the name of the earth, say some, as it was the seat of the church of God: I rather take it to be in the name of the church of God, of those who were truly so, in the midst of a profane, but outwardly professing people. And this lamentation is with a prospect and view of the sin which was in the people, and of the misery which was coming upon them. They have both of them ever been matter of lamentation unto all that truly fear God. They cannot consider the sins and the miseries of an outwardly professing people, but every one of them ought to cry, Woe is me; sorrow is to me; sadness of heart is to me. In respect of sin David saith, Psal. cxix. 136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy law. And in respect of misery and judgments, Jeremiah expresses his sense thus, chap. ix. 1. O that mine head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.' The prophet foreseeing both these, an overflowing of sin, and an overflowing of judgment, had reason to cry, 'Woe is me,' it is a lamentation unto me,

He gives an account of the state of the professing, visible church, which he looks upon to be like unto a field or a vineyard after the harvest is past, and the vintage over: 'I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage:' there is no cluster to eat: my soul desireth the first ripe fruit. His prayer was, that * This sermon was preached October 16, 1673. 2 B

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they might be a fruitful vineyard unto God; but, saith he, we are just as when the vintage is over, there are some grapes, some clusters left under the leaves, but the principal are taken off and not only so, but when a field is reaped, or a vineyard gathered, the owner leaves it for a season, takes down the fence, and the beasts come in and prey upon it, until the time of culture and tillage is come again. God never leaves a professing church to be a wilderness, unless upon the utmost apostacy; but he many times leaves them to be as a field after harvest, or a vineyard after the vintage. God will leave Babylon to be as a wilderness, that shall never be tilled any more, shall have no rain, no fences, no tillage: but he will not leave his church so, unless the utmost apostacy come. In like manner, when a man hath gathered in his corn out of the field, you would think he had thrown off all his care about it, the fence is broken down, and the beasts come in; it lies in common, men ride over it, and trample upon it, and he lets it alone: but when the time of culture is come again, the man makes up his fence, drives out the cattle, tills the ground again, and sows it with good seed, that it may bring forth good fruit. So God deals frequently with his church. He dealt so with them here. He takes down the hedge, he suffers the wild beasts to come in, lets persons spoil at their pleasure: but there will come at time of culture again, when he will have fruit brought forth unto his praise.

In ver. 2. the prophet refers the evil he complained of, unto two heads: First, That those who were good were very few; and, Secondly, That those who were evil were very bad. 'The good man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men; they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.' This phrase, ‘The good man is perished out of the earth,' is not that the good man perisheth, but that he is taken away, and the earth hath lost the benefit and advantage which it had by him. The same expression is used, Isa. lvii. 1. The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; men are taken away.' And, Psal. xii. 1. ceaseth, the faithful fail from among the

and the merciful The godly man children of men.

From hence therefore we may observe, that when the good are very few, and the bad are very bad, inevitable de

struction lies at the door of that place or nation. If either of these be otherwise, there is yet hope. If there had been but ten good men in Sodom, it had been spared. If the sin of the Amorites had not been come to the full, they had not been ruined. If the good therefore are not very few, or the bad very bad, there is yet hope; but where both concur in a professing nation, as in this, which was the visible church of God, unavoidable destruction is at the door, there is neither hope nor recovery: and therefore, they that endeavour to make men good, to increase the number of the good, they do not only endeavour to save their own souls, but they endeavour to save the nation from ruin. And we will place our plea and our cause there, wherein we are engaged in this world, against the world, and those that do reproach us, that our design is to save the nation as far as we are able; for it is to increase the number of the good, to convert men unto God, the consequence of which is to preserve the nation: and it will at last be found, that they who are useful herein, do more for the preservation of the nation, than armies or navies can do. But when the prophet says, 'The good man perisheth, and there is none upright among men,' it is an hyperbolical expression, intimating, that there are but few that are either good or upright.

From the description of the other part of men, you may observe two things: First, The instance of their sin; Secondly, The manner of the prosecution of it. The instance of their sin was blood; which word comprises all violence, oppression, cruelty, and persecution: and the way of prosecuting this evil is with much diligence and great endeavours: They lie in wait for blood; and they hunt every man his brother.' Or, as it is expressed, ver. 3. They do evil with both hands earnestly.' And where men do lay out all their wisdom, and all their industry and strength in the pursuit of sin, there also destruction lies at the door. When men are slothful, careless, negligent, sensual in all other things; but industrious only in doing evil, this is another thing the prophet lays down, as a certain sign of approaching destruction.

Having spoken this of the body of the people, he divides them into two parts; the rulers, and the residue of the people and the rulers he also distributes into three sorts;

the prince, the judge, and the great man. Thus saith he 'The prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward, and the great man uttereth his mischievous desire;' ver. 3. I shall not particularly open these words, but this is what the prophet would teach us: that when there is, as it were, a conspiracy in all sorts of rulers to commit the same iniquity, and to wrap up the whole business by agreement among themselves; so that there is none to intercede, none to stand in the gap, none to do otherwise; that lies in a tendency to those judgments which he will afterward declare. And this was the state of affairs at that time: for this prophecy was given in the days of Ahaz; and there was a great agreement and conspiracy among all in power then to oppress, and to carry on their own covetous and mischievous desires, as they could: they agreed together, and so wrapt it up.

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In ver. 4. he speaks as to the residue of the people: The best of them,' saith he, is as a brier; the most upright is sharper than a thorn-hedge.' The prophet, after he had laid so great a charge upon them, seems to reflect upon some that made a great pretence of friendliness to the church of God, pretending they would be a hedge, a fence unto it; but, saith he, they prove briers and a thorn-hedge.' This hypocritical part of the nation, who speak so fair, and make such a mighty appearance of friendship, yet when a man presses upon them, tear and rend him, and give him nothing but trouble and vexation; whatever pretences they make, there is nothing to be expected from them but what you would look for from briers and thorns. And I observe that the prophet, upon this occasion of dealing with this hypocritical part of the people, doth insert a threatening as though the judgment should fall more upon them, than those whose open wickedness he had before described. Therefore, the day of thy watchmen, and thy visitation cometh: that is, the day which the watchmen had so often declared would come upon them, for their false and hypocritical dealing with God: now shall be their perplexity.' When false professors make a specious pretence to relieve. the church, but really neither design nor effect any thing for them, but farther vexation and rending; the day of the watchmen is then at hand.

In the 5th and 6th verses, he sheweth that this universal.

corruption that was among the people had extended itself to all sorts of relations, that there was nothing of confidence left even among relations. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide; keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.' It is a sign of extreme confusion when disorder breaks in among relations, and all grounds of confidence between them are taken away. But this place is applied by our Saviour particularly unto the time of persecution for the gospel, Luke xii. 53. Matt. x. 35, 36... There is no wilderness doth so debauch the nature of man, and break off all confidence in the nearest and strongest relations, as an enmity to godliness and persecution thereon. When once they are engaged in this, then, saith our Saviour, it shall be so and so.

This being the state and condition of the people of the land, the prophet makes in the name of the church a threefold application of himself; first to God, ver. 7. secondly, to her enemies, ver. 8. 10. and thirdly, to himself, ver. 9.

First, Upon the prospect of this state and condition, he makes application to God: 'Therefore, I will look unto the Lord,' saith he, I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me ;' ver. 7. When all things are in confusion, and at a loss, the people of God are not discouraged from looking unto God; yea, they are encouraged thereunto; and it is made necessary for them so to do. And in such a season not to be looking peculiarly unto God, is an evidence of a heart insensible of the state and condition of the church of God.

Secondly, The prophet, in the name of the church, applies himself unto her enemies; 'Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her, which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? Mine eyes shall behold her; now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets;' ver. 8. 10.

We may observe here,

1. Who this enemyis; She that is mine enemy. Some