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| "This Manasseh [depicted above] was late King of Judah, and was dead about thirty years before this time; yea and before he died, upon his repentance had gotten mercy for his sins, and yet the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned away from Judah, because of all the provocations of Manasseh." |
RULERS SINS: The Causes of National judgments
or
a Sermon Preached at the Fast, upon the 26th Day of
December 1650.
by
Patrick Gillespie
Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his
great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah
-2 Kings. Chap.23. Vers.
26.
This
is the close of the history of the great reformation, wrought by Josiah,
whereof we may read from the beginning of the Chapter hitherto, and it is a
strange close of such a story; for it was a great reformation that he wrought
in Judah; and the 25thverse says of him, "That like unto him
was no King before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with
all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses,
neither after him arose there any like him." And yet, notwithstanding the
Lord turned not from the fierceness of his wrath.
In the words we
have three things. 1. There is God’s anger against Judah
The words are
plain; I will say no more on the explication, neither will I gather every thing
that might occur, but some chief points only that most suit with the present
occasion. I. We consider the context which is as strange as readily we read
again in Scripture, Josiah works a great reformation in Judah, like unto him
there was no King before him, neither after him arose there any like him, who
turned to GOD with all his heart, and yet notwithstanding the Lord turned not
from the fierceness of his wrath. Hence observe, that the persons and honest
endeavours of the Lord’s worthies, that do their uttermost for turning away the
Lord’s wrath from his people, may be graciously accepted with him, when their
labours and endeavours come to little purpose, and are ineffectual for the
turning away of his wrath and anger. There is here a testimony given to Josiah,
that like unto him there was no King before him, neither after him, and yet his
work came to nothing, in respect of his main design, the turning away of GOD’s
wrath from Judah Judah
The second part
of the proposition is, that even when it is so, that the honest endeavours of
the Lord’s worthy servants for turning away of God’s wrath comes to nought, yet
even then they in their persons and endeavours are graciously accepted and
highly commanded on him, so verse 25. Josiah gets the highest testimony and
commendation, that hath been given to men on earth. Moses, Joshua, David,
Solomon; and all there worthies, that prevailed often with God, to turn away
his anger from his people, are no more commended, and some of them not so much
as Josiah here. That which I would say, for application of this. I draw it to
these three uses.
Use 1. This
speaks sad things to the Kingdom, whilst we consider that the honest endeavours
of public and gracious instruments come to nought. It, says the Lord, is not
turned from the fierceness of his anger towards the land. Josiah essayed this,
and it could not be with him. And there are a number of honest-hearted men, who
have stretched their endeavours to the utmost for this end, and when their
endeavours miscarry, it speaks yet more wrath to the land.
Use 2. It may
be for the comfort of many, whose hearts are sad throughout the Kingdom, for
the breaking of the honest party that would fain have turned away the Lord’s
wrath. I know there are many who are glad and rejoice at it, which is a black
mark to them: But I know also there are many whose hearts are smitten with
sorrow, to whom (I say) this is ground of comfort, that though the endeavours
of that honest party have been ineffectual, yet their persons and service have
been accepted, and the sadness of heart and reproach of men that lie under, and
under all the sufferings they endure, and against the wrath of the Lord that
appears to be not yet turned away. Reason, the Lord renders to every man
according to his works. Rom. 2:6. and not according to every construction put
upon it, not according to the success it hath, therefore let the broken forces,
and the broken hearted who sympathize with them, comfort themselves in this,
the acceptation and commendation of Christ. They shall be glory and honour, and
immortality and eternal life put upon them, when indignation, wrath,
tribulation and anguish shall be upon the contentious who do not obey the
truth, but obey unrighteousness. Josiah is accepted and commended for his
works, when the Lord’s wrath is not turned away.
Use 3. For
encouragement to all to join in the duty of this day; and I shall speak this
the rather, because I know many godly hearts are ready to look hopelessly on
this day’s work, or that for all that can be done, the Lord’s controversy will
take no end. But if thou for thy part honestly endeavour to turn away the
controversy, though the wrath of the Lord should burn against them, for whom
thou art humbled, and wrestles with the Lord for that end, thou and thy service
shall be accepted and commended of GOD. Therefore trouble not yourselves with
what GOD will do with the King or Rulers, but be found in your duty as Samuel,
1 Sam. 12:23, "God forbid that I shall cease to pray for you," and
Chap. 16. 1. He mourned for Saul. Thy endeavours in thy duty shall be no less
accepted, though GOD should never be pacified with this evil generation, but
should sweep us all away. 2 Cor. 2:15, We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ
in them that are saved, and in them that perish. And to clear and confirm this
point to the full, read Isa. 49:4. where the Prophet speaking in Christ’s name,
and in his own name, and in the name of all the Lord's faithful instruments
that shall have a finger at his work to the end of the world, proposing an
objection, saith, "Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my
strength for nought, and in vain." But what is his answer? "Then said
he, my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God." Deal thou
honestly in thy duty, and though wrath be not turned from the King, nor the
Land, thy person and work shall be accepted and commended.
2. Observe,
that the Lord’s anger may be so kindled, and burn so fiercely against his own
people, that by no means it shall be turned away, till he have taken vengeance
on them, till his anger break out and consume them. There are many examples of
this in Scripture, there is one; for all that Josiah could do, "the wrath
of the Lord was not turned away from Judah
Now I will not
dip far in this point; politicians and some divines do speak of the fatal
periods of Kingdoms, but what they say is not our rule. We find one sure rule
in the Word, according to which the Lord hath proceeded through the whole of
Scripture from the beginning to this day, and it is this. There is a measure of
iniquity which the Lord hath set to a Kingdom or people, which when it is
accomplished or filled up, out must his wrath go, to ruin that Kingdom or
people, Gen. 15:16. "The iniquity of the Amorites is not full." Math.
23:32. "Fill ye up then the measure of your Father." And when that
measure is filled up, then shall not be one stone left upon another, that shall
not be thrown down, and Zech. 6. We have a vision of an ephah, or a talent or
lead, a woman sitting in the ephah, &c. The key of the vision is in a word,
this is wickedness, there was a measure of sin and wickedness, which that
nation had to fill up, and when they had filled up the measure, a talent of lead
is cast upon the mouth of the ephah, and the ephah is carried to the land of
Shinar. Ezek. 21:25. "And the profane wicked Prince of Israel, whose day
is come, when iniquity shall have an end," when the cup of thy sins is
full, thou shalt not sin a day longer. This is a rule that has never yet failed
from the beginning of the world. But what are the evidences whereby it may be
known, that the cup of a land's sins is full (and we may speak and hear of them
with fear and trembling) this, 1. is certainly on evidence, it goes ordinarily
with the overflowing and abounding of sin. Gen. 6:5,6,12 "The Lord said,
he would destroy man, because the wickedness of man was great, for all flesh
had corrupted his way upon earth. 2. When folks sin proudly and incorrigibly,
it is an evidence the cup of their sin is near full, and ruining wrath
approaching. 2 Chron. 36:16. "They mocked the messengers of God, and
despised his words, and misused his Prophets; until the wrath of the Lord arose
against his people, till there was no remedy." Isa. 5. "why should ye
be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more." Isa. 3:9. "The
show of their countenance doth witness against them, and they declare their sin
as Sodom, and they hide it not, wo unto their soul," &c. 3. A third evidence is, when it comes
to this, that these to whom God has given power and authority, become
ringleaders in sin and sinful courses. Isa. 3:12. "O my people, they who
lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Jer. 5:5. "I
will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; but these have
altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bands, wherefore a lion out of the
forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evening shall spoil them, a leopard
shall watch over their cities, every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in
pieces." 4. And when added to all the former, the Lord has sent lesser and
smaller judgments upon a people, and these do no good to reclaim them from sin.
Ezek. 24:13. After the vision of the great pot, the Lord says, "because I
have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy
filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee." I
shall not stay upon the application of these evidences, take it in a word. I
doubt, if there be one of all these four evidences I have named, wanting in
Scotland’s condition this day.
For l. Hath not
sin overflowed all ranks like a speat? 2. Do not Men sin proudly and
incorrigibly? 3. For these in public places of trust and power, that should
bear down sin, are they not rather ringleaders in sin? And 4. Have we not been
under lesser judgments these years past, and yet we revolt more and more.
As to the
second, what may be in our condition, that speaks our GOD’s fierce wrath,
besides what hath been said in the former word of application, I shall only add
these three things more. l. When a people after stroaks sin still, and sin
more, and wax worse and worse. Psal. 78:32. "For all this they sinned
still." And has not the land sinned more, and gone further back after the
stroak at Dumbar than before? And yet further, after the late stroak at
Hamilton? 2. The Lord’s taking away of the righteous with the wicked, is one of
the saddest tokens of fierce wrath that can be, when it is not the vile only,
but the godly also. Isa. 57:1. "The righteous perish and no man layeth it
to heart, and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous
is taken away from the evil to come," that is an evidence of sore wrath
coming, and Ezek. 21:4. "Seeing then that I will cut off from thee, the
righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath
against all flesh from the South to the North." 3. The Lord is beginning
with judgment at the best of the land, or at these parts of the land, wherein I
may say comparatively most of religion, and manifest seekers of GOD are to be
found; and when these parts are begun at, what may other parts of the land
expect? Luke 23:31, "If they do these things in a green tree, what shall
be done in the day?" When the West, which was known to have more religion
than the North, is begun at, judge what they may expect.
3. Observe,
that God is sometimes angry with a Kingdom, and so angry as his fierce wrath
shall not be turned away from them, for the sins of their King: Therefore the
sins of Manasseh are given for the cause of all the fierce wrath against Judah,
and 2 Chron. 28:19. The Lord brought Judah low, because of Achaz King of Judah,
for he made Judah naked, &c. So God may be many times angry, and
his anger kindle and burn hot and long against a people for the sins of their
King, as here for Manasseh’s sin, remedies wrath goes out against the land,
because the Kingdom was not free of the King’s sin, therefore they might be the
more justly judged. Look either to Jer. 15:4,6: or 2 King 21:5-10. and this
will be clear. Now three ways was the Kingdom of Judah involved in the guilt of
Manasseh’s sins. l. By their connivance at his sin, the people and rulers
should not have suffered him to go on in these abominations, but as they
withstood Uzziah, 2 Chron. 26:18, so should they have done him. 2. They did not
mourn for the King’s sin, Ezek. 9, therefore they were guilty. 3. They were
guilty also by imitation, 2 Chron. 33:9,10. Manasseh made Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, and the Lord
spake to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken. All the
Kingdom wheeled about in the defection with him. Now Manasseh’s sins were
chiefly two: 1. Against the worship of God. 2. Against the blood of God’s
people, he gave himself to all fort of idolatry, and corrupted the pure worship
of God, and he made the streets of Jerusalem to run with blood of the Lord’s
people. And we have heard that these are the main sins pointed at in the paper
that was read, which may be reduced to these two heads: 1. The opposition made
by the King and his predecessors to the covenant and work of God; and
corrupting of worship of God, and secondly, The shedding of so much innocent
blood. For application of this point I shall speak to this purpose, to let you
see, that when the Lord was so wroth with Judah for the sins of Manasseh, how
much more reason the Lord hath to be wroth with Scotland for the sins of their
Kings. And I shall hold it forth to you in these two, 1. I shall show you, what
there is in our condition and estate, that speaks more wrath to us, than what
was in the condition and estate of Judah that did speak wrath to them. 2. I
shall show you how just reason and cause there is to charge the King’s sins on
this Kingdom. And I shall speak a little to these two the rather, because I
fear there be many that look upon the causes of this humiliation, as things
that they are not much concerned in.
As to the
first, what is in our condition more than was in the condition of Judah, that
speaks more wrath to us for the sins of our Kings, I shall draw it to these
particulars: l. If the fierceness of God’s wrath past against Judah for the
sins of Manasseh in the following generation, which the foregoing generation
had sinned, how much more reason have we of the present generation to fear the
fierce wrath of the Lord go forth against us; for we must have a greater
fibness to the Kings’ sins in the present generation than the Kingdom of Judah
could have to the Kings’ sins done in the former generation. 2. If the Lord was
so angry against Judah for the sins of one King (although both Ezekiah did
reign before him, and Josiah, that did succeed him were gracious Kings, and
free of his sins) how much more reason have we to apprehend fierce wrath
against this Kingdom for the sins of a family, that is not terminate in one
person, but hath gone along in a continued opposition to the work of God, and
the persecution of his people from the grandfather to the son, and from the son
to the grandchild, from the very beginning of their reign. 3. If the Lord was
angry, and his wrath was kindled against Judah, for the provocations of
Manasseh though he did repent, and obtained mercy ere he died, and reformed
what was wrong in many things, how much more have we reason to apprehend wrath
for the sins of a King, who when the Lord brought him low, did never thing, for
ought we know, or was made known to the world of his repentance. Manasseh, in
the time of his distress, and when he was laid in irons, mourned and found
mercy, and yet notwithstanding fierce wrath comes on Judah for his
provocations; may we not then be afraid of wrath for our late King’s sins, of
whose repentance the world never heard? 4. If the Lord’s fierce wrath went out
against Judah for the sins of Manasseh, notwithstanding his grandchild Josiah
was a gracious man, and was not accessory to his sins, but did repent for them,
how much more reason have we to apprehend fierce wrath for the sins of the son
who has followed his father and grandfather’s footsteps, as the paper relates?
5. If the
Lord’s fierce wrath went out against Judah for the provocations of Manasseh,
notwithstanding his son Josiah began early to be a gracious instrument of
Reformation, was truly gracious himself, and have evidence of true humiliation
for the sins of his father (as chap. 22:19. "Because thine heart was
tender and thou has humbled thyself before the Lord") how much more reason
hath this Kingdom cause to fear the fierce wrath of the Lord for the sins of
this same King, and his opposition to the work of God who did not begin early
to humble himself before God, and in whom as yet, for ought that can be seen,
there is no evidence of humiliation, but rather pregnant evidences to the
contrary. And do ye not think it then a matter that concerns you to mourn for
the King's sins, and for the sins of his father and grandfather when ye see how
great and fierce wrath goes out against Judah for the sins of one King that
ruled there, notwithstanding he repented and obtained pardon?
As to the
second, that ye may see yet more, what cause and reason ye have to mourn, let
us see how far the Kingdom has been involved in the King’s sin, and how justly
it may be charged on the Kingdom. And to hold out this to you a little, I shall
go no further back than the causes of this fast: consider therefore how the
public representative bodies of the Kingdoms had no small accession to the
defection of the King’s grandfather, for did he not draw Parliaments and
nobles, and many in the church after him, and to have accession in the guilt of
the change of government in the church, and in corrupting the worship of God by
popish ceremonies, and in persecuting faithful ministers, who opposed the same.
2. If we look to the second step, the sins of the present King’s father, how
many of all sorts were involved in the guilt of blood with him, some by
counseling, others by connivance, others by assisting, and holding of him on in
that way, and others by taking commission from him to that effect. And hath not
Scotland cause to mourn for that? 3. Look to the third step, the sins of the
present King, whether we look to any thing he did before his coming to this
Kingdom, or since. Have not many in the Kingdom been involved in his guilt the
same way, by consenting and counseling to, and holding him on in a sinful way
in opposition to God’s work, and by taking commissions from him, especially in
the late passage of his deserting the counsels and public judicatories of the
Kingdom, wherein numbers, not only of the old rotten malignants, but many
others, who are not yet known, will be found guilty. 4. The King’s sin may be
charged on the Kingdom, though it were for no other reason but this, that many
who have withstood his opposition to the work of God, never mourned for his sin
in so doing, as Ezra, and Daniel and other godly men of old did. And the King’s
sin becomes the Kingdom’s sin, in so far as it is not mourned for, and repented
of. 5. The Lord hath yet more cause to charge the King’s sin on the Kingdom,
because of our way of carrying on, and closing a Treaty with him, without
evidences of any real change in him, not but I do think (though some be of a
contrary judgment) a King may be a King, and a lawful King, and a people may
have a good life under him, though he be not a regenerate man, albeit I confess
he would be the better of that, but the Treaty was carried on, and closed with
him, without clear evidences of his joining cordially in the cause and
covenant, and forsaking the counsels and company of malignants, and the men not
as careful for Christ’s interest, as they were for the King’s interest, and
their own. 6. We are yet further involved in this guilt, if we consider what
the carriage of the Kingdom hath been, since he came in among us; what good
hath been seen and heard? and what company hath been about him? that if ever
the King should turn an enemy to the work of God (which the Lord forbid) we
cannot think but these should be guilty of his so doing, who have let him see
nothing, but what may confirm him in his former principles, and cause him think
that the covenant for God and religion hath been but a political draught, for
men’s particular interests and ends. And when they have committed the same sin,
which they bid him and us mourn for, is it not the highway to harden the King’s
heart, and to make him think he did right, when he employed the Irish in his
strait, and of late betook him to the malignants, when he conceived he was in
straits. And considering these things, hath not the Kingdom come to the King,
and not he to them, and have they not rather laid a snare to the King, then
brought him out of the snare wherein he was?
3. I shall only
name another point, and it is this, there may be some thing, which in our eye
looks like the turning away of God’s wrath from the Kingdom, which will not
prove real for the aversion of it, " notwithstanding the Lord turned not
from the fierceness of his great anger." There are two things in this
"notwithstanding." 1. Notwithstanding of the outward reformation
wrought in Judah by Josiah. 2. Which is more terrible, notwithstanding of the
true repentance of Josiah the King’s son, which seemed very promising to the
people of God, the fierce wrath of the Lord was not turned away. So, though
outward reformation were never so exactly gone about, both upon the King's part
and the Kingdom’s part. Nay, though true grace and repentance were given to a
King, and many in the Kingdom, God’s fierce wrath may pursue, and not be turned
away for all that. The King may be humbled and get repentance, as here Josiah
got, and yet the Lord’s controversy not turned away from the Royal Family, nor
from the Kingdoms. And what great cause of fear and trembling then may we have,
when there is so little of either of these to be seen amongst us, whether we
look to the King, or to his people. And to walk humbly, and mourn and wrestle
with the Lord this day, and afterward, that at least if wrath shall not be
turned from the land, but the overflowing scourge go through from the South to
the North, wrath may be turned from the men and women that repent, and they may
find mercy, and be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.
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