Prognostics of Impending Calamities

Prognostics OF Impending Calamities.

IN this Chapter, and that which follows, we have an account given of the most remarkable passages of the Life and Reign of Josiah, an Excellent Prince, and in some respects, unparalleled by any of the Kings that had gone before him. I shall not now insist on his early piety, and speedily exerting it in an industrious restoring of the Worship of God, which had been so depraved under some of his Progenitours. That which I shall observe, to make way to the Text under consideration, is that whiles he is engaged about purging of the Temple, God ordered the finding, and presenting him with the Book of the Law, which was of manifold use to him at this time, verse 8 &c. When God's Servants are sincerely engaged in Reformation he is wont to reveal himself more unto them, for their direction and quickening. One eminent and observable passage is, that upon the reading of this book to him, Josiah is convinced that his people lay exposed to the fierce anger of God, in that by their Apostasy they had laid themselves open to the threatenings therein denounced; which deeply affects him, Verse 11. He rent his clothes. Whereupon he presently sends messengers to inquire of God what was to be done to divert the Judgment denounced, Verse 12, 13, 14. From thence to the end of the Chapter, we have an account of the return given him upon this message. It is the surest way, for God's people to ask counsel of him, when they are in any perplexity. In this return there are two parts observable,

1. A confirmation of the threatenings against the body of that People, which should certainly issue in their ruin, Verse 15, 16, 17.

2. A consolation directed to Josiah, Verse 18. to the end of the Chapter. Many worthy remarks might be made on every passage of it, but I may not tarry here: I shall only glance on the last Article of it, recorded in our Text, which contains in it a gracious promise made to him with regard to those times which were coming. The Promise in Sum is, that God would keep off this Calamity, during his life, and would deliver him from the sight and sorrow of it, by removing him out of this World. In particular, there are three passages by which it is expressed.

1. I will gather thee to thy fathers. ] Which manner of speech is used in the Scriptures to set forth the state of the Dead, in which one Generation succeeds another; and it is indifferently applied both to Godly and wicked men: and divers suppose it to refer not only to the state of the Body, but of the Soul too, after Death; but I dispute it not: only observe, That God saith he will do it, I will gather thee ; which tells us, That God disposeth of the Life and Death of all men at his pleasure. And because God promiseth this to him as a favor or privilege, it farther teacheth, That it is sometimes a peculiar Privilege for Godly men to Dy.

2 And thou shalt be gathered to thy Grave in Peace. ] To be gathered to his Grave, intends, that he should have a funeral bestowed on him; and he had a very honorable one, as is recorded in, 2 Chron. 35.24, 25. But it maybe here demurred, how this promise was fulfilled, that he should be gathered in Peace, whereas he was slain in battle? Some interpret it, that he died in Peace with God, and so entered into everlasting Peace, which is true and not hence to be excluded, yet it is not the whole truth of it. Others therefore generally understand it of the public Peace of the Nation, which was not at that time embroiled in War; and both of these may be taken in conjunction: and we may learn from it, That let a man dy a natural or violent Death, yet if he be reconciled to God, he dies in Peace. As also, That it is a favor to live and dy in times of public Tranquility. Hezekiah thought it to be so, 2 King 20.19 Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days ?

3. And thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. ] These words are supposed to be explicatory of the former, and added to signify in what respect he should be gathered in Peace, viz. That he should not be disturbed with the fight of the Calamities of that dismal time; but that by Death he should be out of the noise of it, or any acquaintance with it: teaching us, That Dead Saints, when gone to their rest, know nothing of the affairs of this World. And consequently, That it is a kindness for them to be called off first, when doleful Calamities are coming upon their People. But we may farther look upon these words as they stand distributive with the foregoing threatening against the People; and it is, q d. I will without fail bring all these evils upon the sinful Land; however I will defer it as long as thou livest, and standest in the gap: I will therefore first see thee well housed, and then I will open the floodgates and let in Cataracts of desolation upon them; whence observe this,

DOCTRINE. Sometimes God takes away good men in order to the letting in of more fearful and amazing Judgments upon a People.

There are seasons when the removal of such as these is a prognostic of great Evils at the door, and ready to break in upon the Land where they have lived. It is not indeed always so, but sometimes it is otherwise: and there are the Rules for discerning of this, which it becames all wise men to observe, that they may practice accordingly; for we are told, Prov. 27.12. The prudent foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself. It may then be suitable and seasonable in such a day as this is, to make some enquiry into that Case, viz.

Quest. When the removal of good men is a foreboding symptom of great miseries ready to break in upon a people.

A That this Case may be rightly stated & resolved, let these Conclusions be observed.

1. That Death is the common lot of all, both good and bad. There is an old Statute for it, which hath been of force ever since man's fall, Heb. 9.27. It is appointed for men once to dy. It was sin that brought it into the world, and subjected all sinful men to it, Rom 5, 12. Death passed on all men, for that all have sinned. It therefore belongs to the Curse, and though God hath taken out the sting of the Curse from it in respect of his own Children, and rendered it beneficial to them, yet he hath seen good to continue it in this world, and make it to be the passage of men from time to eternity; and hence it is not, of itself, a note of distinction between the Godly and the wicked, for both dy, and those pass over to heaven, as well as these are detruded into hell, through this common road: It is the Psalmists observation, Psal. 49.10. He sees that wise men dy, likewise the foolish and brutish person ; and this Job lotted upon, Chap 30 23. I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

2. That Death, whenever it comes, is to good men, a pasport from their labor to their reward. The time of life is working time, and though' Godly men can merit nothing by their best works, nay they utterly renounce all thoughts of so doing, yet God hath, in the New Covenant, promised a reward of Grace, to the faithful Service that is done him by his Children in this life, for we are told in, Psal 58.11. Verily there is a reward for the righteous. And as they are to follow their work as long, as they continue here, being faithful in it unto death, so there is a recompense which they shall receive in the end of it, after they have persevered in it, Gal 6.9. Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. And the Scriptures abound with promises of this nature. Now though there is reserved a more glorious compleatment of this reward for the great day; in which their faithful Service shall be declared openly before the whole world, and they shall receive it both in Soul and Body after the most stately manner, yet their Souls do enter upon it immediately at their dissolution. We are therefore told, Isa. 57.2. They shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness ; they are on this account declared blessed from that very instant, Rev. 14.13. Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord, from henceforth: And this is contained in the reason which Paul gives of his desire; Phil. 1.23. Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.

3. That God hath allotted to each one of his Servants, the work of their Generation, and when it is done he calls them to rest. Every Godly man is cordially engaged in the Service of God, and it is his Duty diligently to pursue it as long as he abides in the Body, for he will have work to do all the while he liveth: but God hath in his holy counsel laid out what work he will have from everyone, which he will give them the opportunity for, and when they have done that, he calls them off and gives them a quietus sit. He knows what business he hath laid out for this and for that man to do, and as he will continue him in life until that be over, so he will call him home to himself when it is done; thus we read of David, Acts 13 36. David after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corrupti+on. They may possibly see a great deal more of desirable work before them, which they would have been glad if they might be serviceable in; but God accepts of their fidelity in that little which they have done faithfully, and thereupon giveth them an honorable discharge, in calling them home to rest in his Glory.

4. That when God hath more favor to bestow on his people, he adapts other instruments to be made use of in the continuing of it. He doth not always take away good men in anger against a people, but he doth it to declare his sovereignty and his power, and absolute independency, and to take the occasion to distribute his honors among his Servants. As he useth none to do his work, for any need that he hath of them, for he could as easily have done it without them; so he hath the residue of the Spirit, and can communicate to others a double portion of it as he pleaseth, when he sees meet to call them to any eminent service; and he makes way for their serviceableness by calling of others from their post, when they have kept it as long as he saw good: and when he purposeth the continuance of his benignity to a people, he is wont thus to do Thus when Moses was to dy, God provided and spirited Joshua to conduct his people Israel into, and give them the possession of Canaan, whom the other had so happily conducted to the borders of it. Moses therefore when he was acquainted that he must not do that service himself, so addresseth God about it, Numb. 27.16. Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the Congregation, &c. Which the Lord accordingly did, and commands Moses to set apart Joshua for it, verse 18, &c. And by this way God mercifully continues his presence with and among a people. Thus when David had accomplished his work in making ready for the Building the Temple, Solomon succeeds him, who carries on the work that his father had begun, with very great success.

5. That God sometimes takes away useful instruments in the midst of their work, in Testimony of his displeasure at them personally. The most pious and eminently serviceable men have their frailties & sinful infirmities; and though in the tenor of their lives they do faithfully serve their generation to God's glory, in obedience to his command, yet he is sometimes pleased so far to leave them to themselves, as once he did Hezekiah, as that in some overt action or other, they discover this imperfection, by doing something that is to God's dishonor, and by which he is righteously provoked at them: and though he loves their persons, yet he dislikes the things that are so done by them, as, 2 Sam. 11 ult. The thing that David did, displeased the Lord. And though he accepts of their faithful Service, and will reward it graciously; nor shall these obliquities put them out of his favor; yet he will bear some notable Testimony against the thing which they did, and that in this world; and he hath many ways in which he doth this, instances whereof we shall find in the Word of God: and among others this is one, that he call them off in the midst of a work, which their hearts were engaged in, and will not suffer them to accomplish it: which, though it doth not hinder their eternal blessedness, yet is a fatherly rebuke given them, and is to them a matter of humbling, and to others a matter of warning. Thus Moses conducts Israel through the Wilderness to the very borders of the promised Land, and they were now just ready to enter in and possess it, but he must dy, though apt enough for that Service, for we read, Deut. 34 7. His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated ; but the reason why it must be so is rendered in, Numb. 27.14 Thou shalt be gathered to thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered; for ye rebelled against my Commandment (in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the Congregation) to sanctify me at the water, before their eyes. Nor could he obtain a repeal of this sentence, though he earnestly requested it, Deut 3 23. &c. I besought the Lord at that time, saying, &c. I pray thee let me go over, &c. but the Lord was wroth and said, let it suffice thee, speak no more to me of this matter. Thus also it was with Josiah, who had wrought a great reformation in the Kingdom of Judah, and now hoped to live to confirm it, and enjoy many happy days in the comfort of it, but he must dy, and that business cease: and we are told how this came to pass, 2 Chron. 35.22 He hearkened not to the words of Necho from the mouth of God

6. Nevertheless there are times wherein God takes away such men in a way of Judgment against their people. Nay, this may be so, and often is so, when they themselves do suffer the chastisement of their own failings: for God many times leaves them to such mistakes, in anger against a people; thus we read, 2 Sam 24 1 The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he moved David against them, to say, go number Israel and Judah. And such to be sure was the removal of Josiah at this time, for, in regard of himself, it was an accomplishment of the gracious promise made to him in our Text ; and God often calls off such of his precious Servants when there is no such thing; and such a Providence is recorded in the Scriptures as an introduction to other and greater calamities for which it is to make way, and which are to ensue upon it: read for this, Isa. 3 beg. The Lord of Hosts doth take away from Judah and from Jerusalem, the mighty men, the Man of War, the Judge, the Prophet, the Prudent, the Ancient, the Counselor, &c. So that it is not only a Judgment itself, but an harbinger to more and more awful Judgments. And that we be not mistaken in our observation on such a dispensation, let us consider:

1. That every Godly man is a blessing in the place where be lives, and his Death is a loss. It is the wise man's observation, Prov. 12 26. The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor. And the more worth there is in anything, the greater damage is sustained in the losing of it. The Saints are called the excellent that are on the earth, Psal. 16.3. Whenas ungodly men are said to be vile, and are compared to dross, and to chaff, which are contemptible. Of what esteem such men are with God, and how profitable they are to a people among whom they dwell, may be remarked, in that ten such would have kept off vengeance from destroying Sodom itself: Gen. 18.32. I will not destroy it for tens sake. These are they unto whom God hath respect, and not only do they pray heartily and importunately for their people, but they have an interest in Heaven, and God neareth their prayers, Isa. 66 2. To this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. And therefore, let these be never so obscure, carry never so mean a part among men, be little noticed, but rather despised by their Neighbors, yet when they dy, the places they lived in are sufferers by it; on which account we find the Psalmist so expostulating; Psal. 12.1. Help, Lord, for the Godly man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the Children of men.

2. The more eminent any have been for Holiness, and zeal in the cause of God, the greater is the loss of such. Every good man is a public blessing, but there are some who are more so than others; and these are such as do most express the life and power of Godliness in their conversation. The more exemplary that any are for their piety, the more careful they are to order their whole course aright, and the more practically they bear witness against sin, and live contrary to the corruptions of the times & places they are cast into, the more is God glorified by them, and the greater is the public benefit that is enjoyed in them. It is the commendation that God gives to Phineas, Numb. 25.11. Phineas, the son of Eliazar, the son of Aaron the Priest, hath turned away my wrath from the Children of Israel, whiles he was zealous for my sake among them. When therefore such men are taken away, there is more of God goes with them. Such as these were stakes in the hedge to keep off Judgments, and now they are plucked out of it.

3. The more public Station these stand in, the loss is still more influential. When goodness and greatness meet together in a man, such an one is of eminent use and service for a people; these have a great advantage put into their hands above others, to promote the interest of God's Glory, to suppress the prevalency of provoking sins, and to encourage the ways of righteousness and piety: yea their very Example is of greater force to command men; and when God bestows such upon a people, he doth it in great mercy. The Queen of Sheba made that observation on Solomon, when she had seen, and was surprised with his great wisdom, 1 Kin. 10.9. Because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore made he thee King. And truly, the more happy a people have been in the enjoyment of such, the more sorrowful must the loss of them be. These are main pillars in the building, and do mightily strengthen it as long as they stand in it; it must needs therefore be much weakened by the plucking them down and taking them away; and the more rarely that greatness & goodness meet in one person, the more awful must the death of these be.

4. The more capable they were of Service, the more afflictive is the loss of them. The best & ablest of men are subject to the infirmities of nature, and to lose the vigor and activity both of mind and body by sickness, and the decays of age, so that sometimes their work is next to done before they dy; & now they would very gladly go to rest, if God will give them leave, when they can no longer be serviceable to him as formerly: and yet even such, although they dy seasonably for themselves, may dy in a bad hour for their people, and Judgments might but wait for their departure. But when they are in the verdure of their age, and in the midst of their work, engaged strenuously in the Service of God and his people now to be cut down and called off, is no small rebuke in Providence, & gives occasion for deep searchings of heart ; such was the death of Josiah in our Context ; he was now in his prime, and what a blessing might he have been to Judah ? and what Service might he have yet done for the house of God, if he had pleased to have lengthened his days, and continued him still in his Station.

5. These considerations alone will not amount to an evidence that their death is to make way for the inundation of sore Judgments. These things indeed may be witnesses of God's displeasure, and inflicted in way of chastisement upon a people, and so they ought to be deeply resented, and duly improved; and to neglect them will render a people guilty; but of themselves they are the ordinary dispensations of God's Providence to his people in the best of times. Would we therefore make a true judgment of those things we ought carefully to observe the circumstances of their death, and these as they come under Moral consideration ; else we may labor of a mistake on either hand; and there are those Rules to be gathered from the Word of God which will be serviceable to conduct us right in this search, and by which we may be led to draw safe conclusions about these unhappy Symptoms ; for which let us here observe.

1. That sin is the moral procuring cause of God's Judgments upon a people Sin brought all the evil into the world which mankind are exposed unto; for they are nothing else but practical Commentaries on the Text of Death, which is expressed in the threatening; and though God acts much of his Sovereignty in the dispensing of his Judgments among sinful men, sometimes exemplifying of his patience in bearing long with them, at other times declaring his holy severity in letting out of his fury upon them, yet hither are they referred as to the rise of them; hence that, Isa 59.2. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you ; and Jer. 2.17. Hast thou not procured this to thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God ? and the People of God have been wont, when they were truly awakened, to acknowledge this in their confessions to him, in which they have justified him, and taken the whole blame to themselves declaring that in all that hath come upon them, he hath visited them less than their iniquities deserved, Ezra 9 13

2. That God, in the dispensation of the Covenant to a professing people, hath limited the threatening to an Hypothesis There are both promises & threatenings which belong to it as it is exhibited in the Gospel; but they are not absolute but connex in the exhibition of them: and therefore we are everywhere told on what account the threatenings are, or what it is for, and in what way a person or a people may expose themselves to be made the unhappy subjects of the execution of them; whereby they are instructed that if they avoid such things and practice the contrary cordially, they shall so escape the threatened evil; yea he hath made a promise of doing them good, and continuing of his blessings to them, Isa. 1 19. If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land. Nay he hath so restrained the threatening, that he hath secured to them a stop of begun Judgments, and deliverance from the oint and full accomplishment of them, upon their Repentance, Jer. 18.7. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation, and concerning a Kingdom, to pluck up and pull down, and destroy it: if that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil which I thought to do unto them.

3. That yet God is sometimes so provoked at a people, that he resolves to bring them to feel the severity of the threatening. Though the promise of the Covenant do stand according to the tenor of it, and it must be so, for it is inviolable, yet sometimes God is resolute that such a people shall smart severely for their provocations, and shall not escape; and this he will bring to pass consistent with the veracity of his promise, by leaving them to themselves, and their own lusts. There are therefore some threatenings denounced by God, which are in this sense absolute and determinate, such was that against Saul, for the taking away the Kingdom from his Family, of which the Prophet hath that observation, 1 Sam. 15 29. The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent. And how resolved God was against the Kingdom of Judah, we may see in, Eze. 14.14 Though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they should deliver but their own souls : And yet about the same time Jeremiah could make that offer unto them, Jer. 26 13. Now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, & the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. And this notwithstanding God himself had before said to him, Chap. 7.16. Pray not for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me, for I will not hear thee.

4. That, this notwithstanding, he sometimes raiseth holy and zealous reformers, who hold back his hand from executing the threatening. These are of God's own providing and by such as these there is a respiting of the execution, and we may, in a sound sense, truly say, that if these had not interposed, and held back his hand, the case of such a people had been dismal, and his wrath had broken in, and born down all before it. On this account we shall read such expressions in, Psal. 106 23. He said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them ; and in Vers. 29, 30. Thus they provoked him with their inventions; and the plague brake in upon them: Then stood up Phineas and executed Judgment; & so the plague was stayed. And we shall find more than once that in Judah, when things were brought to a fearful pass; when their sins cried to Heaven for Vengeance, & Judgments brake in upon them with fury, some holy man or other hath stepped in, and prevented the final stroke. Thus did Hezekiah, and thus did Josiah, and thus also did Jehoiada in the days of Joash.

5. That such a people may be Hypocritical in their Reformation. Yea, it too often falls out, that when holy and zealous Magistrates and Ministers appear for the interest of Religion, there will be much of an outside show, as if the body of such a people were cordially engaged, and were resolved in setting forward so good a work; when indeed it is nothing but flattery and dissimulation. It is charged upon them in the wilderness, Psal. 78.34. to 38. When he slew them, then they sought him, and returned, &c. nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongues, for their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his Covenant. And it is notorious by the consequence, that the Reformation made by Jehoiada, in the days of Joash, was such, if we read, 2 Chron. 24. And of that eminent one wrought by Josiah, we have God's own animadversion upon it, Jer. 3.10. Her treacherous Sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord.

6. Hence, by taking off these men from such a people, God makes way for his wrath to break in upon them. God is not to be imposed on, or put off with men's dissimulation, for, God is not mocked ; he knoweth their hearts and designs. He is not therefore atoned to such a people, though for a while he with holds his wrath, in testimony of his especial respect to such of his Servants: but still the provocation abides, and he will find an occasion to let it be seen to their cost. In order to this, he puts these men out of the way. Whiles they enjoyed them, he not only gave them a space to repent, but, under them, gave them all encouragments and helps unto it; but they repented not: he will therefore remove these pillars, and call home his Ambassadors, and now, what but fury is to be expected? And from the premises, we may gather these five Symptoms of their being removed in order to his venting of his anger upon such a people.

1. When these have lived despised and reproached Whatever outside pretences men have made of their respect for them, yet they have indeed been weary of such: their piety, their zeal, their holy Conversation, and the Testimonies which they have born against sin, have been burdensome to the most, and they have sat uneasy under them. Hereupon they have on all occasions, and without just occasion, murmured, and complained, and found fault with them: instead of giving God thanks for such men, they have wished them gone, thought they lived too long, counted them the troublers of Israel, been ready to charge all adverse Providences which have fallen out among them, to their evil conduct; and have sought all under hand ways to under-mine their names, and blast their credit among men. So Israel dealt with Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, Psal 106.16. They envied Moses also in the Camp, and Aaron the Saint of the Lord. And thus the Jews traduced Jeremiah, Chap. 38.4. The Princes said unto the King, we beseech thee let this man be put to death, &c for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt. And thus it was in Isaiah's time, Isa 59.25 Truth faileth, and he that departs from evil, makes himself a prey.

2. When they dy unlamented. Possibly a people may make a great outward show of mourning over them, and give some plausible signals of it; they may build them tombs, as they of old did for their Prophets, whom they had persecuted in their lives; but it is nothing but mere dissimulation, when indeed they are inwardly glad that such are gone, and discover their gladness in it by too broad tokens. This was evident in the Death of that holy Reformer, Jehoiadah. We indeed read of great outward respect shewn him in his funeral, 2 Chron. 24.16. They buried him in the City of David, among the Kings, because he had done good in Israel, both towards God, & towards his house. But we shall discover their Hypocrisy in what they did presently upon it, Verse 17. After the death of Jehoiadah, came the Princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the King, and he hearkened to them. No doubt they accosted him after such a manner as this, That great zealot is now Dead, who held us under such an intolerable restraint, and abridged us of our liberty, and would not suffer us to follow our own inclinations, but punished every transgression, &c. but now he is gone, and will trouble us no more, &c. It is therefore given as an Omen of evil hastening, when such men dy, and their Death is not duly resented, Isa 57.1. The righteous perisheth, and no man lays it to heart, and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. And truly this makes it evident that they were a burden to their people whiles they lived, and that they bless them selves in their being eased of them.

3. When the gap which was made by their removal, is not filled up again. The great blessing that any people enjoy by such men, is that they stand in the gap, to keep off the wrath of God from flowing in upon them: and of what influence their standing there is for this end, we may gather from that, Jer. 5.1. Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, see if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it. Their Death therefore leaves the breach open, unless there be some other to step into it in their room, who may fill it up again, and this is done only by such as are men of a like spirit, and are acted with the same zeal for God which was in their predecessors. Hezekiah had a successor, but who was it? a Manasseh, who did not follow his fathers steps, but turned all things upside down, and destroyed what his father had built. Josiah had Successors in the Kingdom, but they proved such as provoked God, widened the breach put an end to, and utterly ruined the Reformation which he had so gloriously begun; and that hastened God's wrath, and brought a speedy desolation upon the Land. Hence we have that exprobration on Jehoiakim, Jer. 22, 15. &c. Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat & drink; and do judgment & justice, and then it was well with him &c. And how fearfully is he threatened? Verse 18, 19. This therefore God renders as a reason why he would bring ruin & desolation on the Kingdom of Judah, because there were none to make up the breach, Ezek. 22.30, 31. I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none; therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them, &c.

4. When upon their Death iniquity gets head again among a people. So long as they lived, they suppressed it, and though men were wicked, and would practice it secretly, yet they dare not to make an open show of it, and declare their sin as Sodom, but curbed themselves in, and made an outward show of Sobriety and Religion; but now it breaks forth with the greatest impetuosity, as waters do that have been long pent up, when the dam that kept them in is broken down. Thus it was upon the Death of Jehoiadah, 2 Chron 24 18. They left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served Groves & Idols: and wrath came upon Judah, &c. And it we observe the current of the Scripture history, we shall find that the misery and calamity of a professing people was introduced in this order: Godly and zealous Rulers in State & Church were taken from them, and they presently fell into their Apostasies, and hereby God was stirred up to anger against them, and all manner of evils thereupon over took them, and wasted them. We have such a remark made with respect to the times of the Judges, Judge. 2.19, 20. When the Judge was dead, they returned, & corrupted themselves more than their fathers, &c. & the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, &c.

5 When those good men who are left behind can do nothing to prevent the inundation of Apostasy. God doth not use to take away all Godly men at once from a people; There were, in the most degenerate times of Judah, holy men, and God took notice of them, and sat a mark upon them, Ezek. 9.4. Go through the midst of the City, and set a mark upon them that sigh, & that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst of it. And God raised up Prophets, who bare witness against their degeneracies, & abominations, but they were despised, and abused, and murdered; 2 Chron. 24.19 &c. And there were good men in places of authority, but they were over born, they had no influence, they could mend nothing, prevent nothing, but all went backward; and all they could do was but to Save their own Souls. In a word, they could not stand in the gap ; though they mourned in secret places for their pride, &c. as the Prophet expresseth himself, Jer. 13 17. And when such things as these attend the Death of good men, the Prognosticit is amazing.