An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eighth, ninth, & tenth chapters of…

Thirdly, Now they shall say, We feared not the Lord.

The taking from a People the protection of, ¹and benefit they might have by Kingly Power, is a punishment of the want of the fear of God in them. We have no King, we are deprived of the benefit of the good that we might have, the protection that we might have by Kingly power; it is, because we feared not the Lord; what evil we feel in this let us attribute it to the want of the fear of God in our selves, and in the people of the Land. We complain of^a those that are about the King, and of^b Her that lies in the Bosom of the King, and of the evil of his own heart in part; but whence ⟨p. 334⟩is it that God hath left him, either to them, or to any evil in his own spirit? The Lord in this punishes the sins of the People: 'tis usual for God to punish the sins of the People in leaving Governors unto evil courses, in 2 Sam. 24. 1. you have a remarkable Scripture for this,⁴ saith the text there, And the Anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel: and what then? And he moved David against them to say, Go number Israel and Judah. The Anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them: to what? God lets temptations be before David for to fall into that sin that might bring evil upon the people. It was because the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. It's because that a people fear not God, therefore it is that the Lord leaves Kings, leaves their Governors to those evil ways that they are left unto, and therefore learn we when we hear of any evil that is done by countenance of Kings or any power, learn we to lay our hands upon our own hearts, and say, even this is because we feared not the Lord: how easy had it been with the Lord to have wrought upon his heart, Oh! what prayers hath been sent up unto the Lord for the heart of one man? never since the world began more prayers for the heart of one man; but the Lord hath seemed even to shut his ears against the prayers of his people, now let us lay our hands upon our hearts, God hath denied our prayers, it is because we have not feared him: now certainly there hath been but little fear of God amongst us, and little fear of the great God is still to this day among us. And that's the third Observation, We have no King because we feared not the Lord.