"Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou
shalt become a plain, and he shall bring forth the head-stone
thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it." —Zech. iv. 7.
I perceive that God will have His temple built, which had been long neglected; partly by the worldliness of the people, who had greater care of their own houses, than of the house of God; as appears by the prophet Haggai, chap. i. 3,4. He reproves them for this fault, that they cared more for their own houses than for the house of God; partly, because of the great impediments and difficulties they apprehended in the work. Yet God, having a purpose to have it builded, sends His prophets to stir them up to the building of it. As for impediments He promises to remove them all, and assures them of this by Haggai and Zechariah; yea, He shews to Zerubbabel and the people, that although impediments were as mountains, yet they should be removed.
I need not stand upon introductions and connections: this verse I have read, shows the scope of the prophet; viz. God will have His work going on, and all impediments removed. These times require that I should rather insist upon application to the present work of reformation in hand, than to stand upon the temple of Jerusalem, which we know well enough was a type of Christ's kirk, which in this land was once built, but now hath been defaced by the enemies of Christ: we have long neglected the re-edifying of it; partly, men being given more to build their own houses, nor the house of Christ; and partly, because of the great impediments that have discouraged God's people to meddle with it. Now, it hath pleased God to stir up prophets, noblemen, and people of the land, to put their hands to this work. And I think God saith to you in this text, "Who art thou, O great mountain? thou shalt become a plain."
There are two parts in this text; 1. An impediment removed, under the name of a mountain, "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel, thou shalt become a plain." 2. In the second part of the text, the work goeth up, and is finished, the impediment being removed, "He shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace be unto it."
But that ye may take up all that is to be said in order and method; there are six steps in the text, three in the mountain, impeding the work, and three in the work itself. The three in the mountain are these; 1. It is a mountain seen, "O great mountain!" 2. A mountain reproved, "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel." 3. A mountain removed, "Thou shalt become a plain." The three in the work are; 1. A work growing and going up. 2. A work finished, "He shall bring forth the head-stone thereof." 3. A work praised, "He shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace be unto it." I shall speak of all these, God willing, and apply them to the time.
As for the three in the mountain. 1. It is a mountain seen; it is called a great mountain; under this are comprehended all impediments and difficulties impeding the building; all being taken together make up a great mountain, which is unpassable; the enemies who impede this work were this mountain: look and ye will see the adversaries of Judah become a great mountain in the way of that work.
That ye may take up this mountain the better, I find that kings are called mountains in Scripture; and good kings are so called, for these three, 1. For their sublimity; as mountains are high above the valleys, so are kings lifted up in majesty above their subjects: some apply that place to kings, "Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth." 2. They are called mountains for their strength to guard their people. David saith, "God hath made my mountain strong." 3. Good kings are called mountains, by reason of their influence for peace to the people: "The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills by righteousness." I find also, that the strong enemies of the church are called mountains, because of the great impediments to the kirk's building that are made by them, as ye may see in Psalm cxliv.
This mountain (that I may speak more plainly) is Prelacy, which hath ever been the mountain in the way of our reformation. It may be, some of you that hear me, are not of my judgment concerning episcopacy; for my judgment, I ever condemned it, as having no warrant for it to be in Christ's house; yet I am sure, that all of you that are here this day, will agree with me in this, that prelacy being antichristian, is intolerable: but such is the prelacy of this kirk, it is antichristian. I may easily prove, that amongst many marks of antichrist, these two are most evident, false doctrine and tyranny in government: where antichrist is, there is tyrannical government, imposing laws upon the consciences of God's people; where antichrist is, there is idolatry, superstition and error; these two are clearly in our prelacy: their idolatry, superstition, and error may be seen in their service-book, their tyranny may be seen in their book of canons. I think there are none here, but they may see this mountain: no greater tyranny hath ever been used by antichrist, than hath been used by our prelates, and exercised upon this kirk.
This mountain being seen by you all; I would have you take a view of the quality of it. I find in Scripture, that the enemies of the kirk being called mountains, are so called, because of these three qualities: the first is in Psalm lxxvi. 4. they are called "mountains of prey;" so called, because from them the robbers rush down to the vallies, and prey upon the passengers. The second is in Jer. li. 25, Babylon, a great enemy to God's kirk, is called a "destroying mountain;" the word in its own language, is called a pestiferous mountain, (so called) because the pest destroys. The third is in Isa. ii. 14, they are called "mountains of pride;" compared with the twelfth verse, you will find these mountains called "mountains of pride."
Our mountain of prelacy hath all these three bad qualities: 1. It is a mountain from which they have, like robbers, made a prey of the kirk of Christ. Tell me, I pray you, and I appeal to your own consciences, who are my brethren, if there be any privilege or liberty that ever Christ gave us, but they have taken it from us, and made a prey of it. 2. This mountain is a pestiferous mountain; it hath been the mountain that hath been as a pest, to infect the kirk of Christ with superstition, heresy and error; and withal, it hath been a destroying mountain; for they have destroyed the fair carved work of our first reformation. 3. They are mountains of pride; for greater pride cannot be, than there is upon this mountain; they rule as tyrants over their brethren, and as lords over God's inheritance.