LONDON'S LOOKING bacl TO JERUSALEM, OR, GOD'S JUDGEMENTS UPON OTHERS, ARE TO BE OBSERVED BY US. Jeremiah. 44.2.3. verse. 1. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israël: Ye have seen all the evil, that I have brought upon jerusalem, and upon all the Cities of judah: and behold this day, they are desolate, and no man dwelleth therein. 2. Because of the wickedness which they have committed, to provoke me to anger, etc. August. 7. 1630. Preached at Paul's Cross by JOHN JONES Mr. of Arts, Curate and Lecturer; at S. michael's Basenshaw. LONDON, Printed by WILLIAM JONES dwelling in Red-crosse-streete, 1633. TO THE RIGHT, HONOURABLE SIR NICOLAS RAYNTON, KNIGHT, LORD MAYOR of the City of LONDON. Together with the Right Worshipful his brethren, the Sheriffs, and Aldermen of the same City. W. I. desireth all blessings spiritual, and temporal to be poured upon you in this life, and eternal blessedness in the life to come. RIGHT Honourable And Right worshipful, I am bold to present unto you this Sermon, preached at Paul's Cross, because the Author had so intended, after that the importunity of some Christian friends had prevailed with him to have it published; which Sermon, is entitled London's looking back to jerusalem, according as God send jerusalem to look to Shilo, what he did unto it, for the wickedness that was in it, which was his text handled: And what the sins of jerusalem were this sermon doth plainly discover, as pride, fullness of bread, & idlnes, contempt of God's Ordinances and ministry; And hereby we may be admonished of that general outward formality in Religion; but where is the life and power, in a holy walking with God? where is the earnest contending for the faith once given unto the Saints? God hath advanced your Honour to this place of dignity: stand fast, to that charge, which God and his Majesty hath put into your hands, to cut off the cords of all prophanesses, and Sabbath breaking, etc. And the Lord make you zealous for his glory; to stand fast in that liberty: wherein Christ hath set you free. Receive this Right Honourable, and Right Worshipful, as a testimony of his, for your loves to God's Church, in maintaining so many Preachers at home, and abroad, which draws the great blessing of God upon you, and the City for the same (as it was his speech on his death bed) receive it Right Honourable, and Right worshipful Company of Haberdashers, from whom he received some yearly stipend while he lived, his Lectureship being but small; Read it Right Honourable, and Right worshipful; and the Lord writ it in the tables of every one of your hearts, that you may avoid the judgements of the wicked, and enjoy the blessings prepared for the righteous, & that for the Lord jesus Christ his sake: to whom be given all honour and glory, now, and for evermore. Amen. Your Honours, and Worships daily Orator, WILL. JONES. This Psalm, CXiX. The sixth part, he gave to be sung before his Sermon. 41 THy mercies great and manifold, let me obtain (O Lord:) Thy saving health let me enjoy, according to thy word. So shall I stop the slanderous mouths, of lewd men and unjust: For in thy faithful promises, stands my comfort and trust. The word of truth within my mouth, let ever still be pressed: For in thy judgementes wonderful, my hope doth stand and rest. And whilst that breath within my breast, doth natural life preserve: Yea till this world shall be dessolude, thy laws will I observe. So walk will I as set at large, and made free from all dread: Because I sought how for to keep, thy precepts and thy reed. Thy noble acts I will describe, as things of most great fame: Even before Kings I will them blaze, and shrink no whit for shame. I will rejoice then to obey, thy worthy hests and will: Which evermore I have loved best, and so will love them still. My hands will I lift to thy laws, which I have dear sought: And practise thy commandments, in will, in deed, and thought. Master jones his Prayer before his Sermon. MOst great and glorious Lord God, who by thy Almighty power hast created the Heaven and the Earth, and by thy unsearchable wisdom governest and guidest the same: we vile and base wretches, that have defiled the Heavens by our sins, and cursed the earth by our transgressions, do prostrate ourselves in all humility before the throne of thy Divine Majesty: beseeching thee to look upon us not in justice, but in mercy; not as we are in ourselves, but in the face and countenance of thy Son jesus Christ. In ourselves we are altogether unworthy to come into thy holy presence, to tread upon holy ground, or to meddle with holy things. This day is holy, set apart by thine own self for thine own holy worship: this place is holy, it is thy own sanctuary, thy ordinances are holy, & the service in which we are employed, is a holy service. But we are most unholy, impure in our very beginnings, impure in our proceed; all over polluted with sin: in all the faculties of our souls, in all the members of our bodies: in the notions & imaginations of our minds, in the motions & inclinations of our wills, in the affections and desires of our hearts, in the words of our mouths, in the works of our hands: we are poor, and wretched, and blind, and naked, highminded, vaine-minded, worldly-minded, falsehearted, full of hypocrisy, full of security, full of infidelity, wanting in charity, wanting in knowledge, in zeal, intemperance, in patience; deficient in all grace, abundant in all sin, we have sinned against all the means of grace: thy word, thy Sacraments, thy Sabbaths, thy Christ, thy Spirit; we have sinned against all the times of grace: we have sinned in the times of our childhood, in the times of our youth, and our riper years not only in the times of ignorance, but since we have known thy will: not only through infirmity, but presumptuously: we have sinned against all thy attributes, we have abused thy patience, provoked thy anger: we have sinned against thy judgements, which should have enforced us to obedience; against thy mercies, which should have alured us and led us to repentance: we have sinned against all thy creatures, against heaven, and against earth: against all thy works; against the work of creation, by defacing thy Image; against the work of thy preservation, by distrusting thy providence: against the work of redemption, by our infidelity; against thy law, which is the rule of righteousness, against the Gospel of grace and salvation; against our vow made unto thee in our baptism: we have broken the first vow that ever we made, and never since have been faithful in our promises unto thee: against our own purposes and promises made unto thee in our prayers, and that before our calling, and since our calling: in our general calling, and in our particular callings: we have failed and sinned since it hath pleased thee of thy free mercy to translate us out of the powers of darkness into the kingdom of thy dear Son. What shall we do that have thus sinned against thee, o thou preserver of men? whither shall we go from thy spirit, or whither shall we sly from thy presence? If we ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if we make our bed in the deep, thou art there: if we take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand find us. No darkness can cover us from thy allseeing eye, no place can shelter us from thy almighty hand: thy judgements can follow us, and thy vengeance take hold on us whithersoever we go. What then shall we do in this perplexity? In all humility we cast down ourselves before the throne of thy mercy, bewailing our misery, with bleeding hearts and throbbing souls deploring our misery, imploring thy mercy, condemning ourselves, confessing our sins; promising, purposing and resolving with all our hearts to forsake our sins. Though we are out of measure sinful, yet thou art out of measure merciful: thou art infinite in mercy, and with thee is plenteous redemption. The greater our sins are, the greater shall be the glory of thy mercy, and of thy Sons merits, in forgiving our sins, which are so many and so great. Pardon therefore, we pray thee, all our sins past: wash us from them in the pure laver of thy Son's blood. It is not the river jordan, nor all the rivers of Damascus, that can cleanse us from our spiritual leprosy: only thy Son, thine only Son, and that pure fountain of thy Son's blood, which thou hast opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of jerusalem for sin, and for uncleanness. In that blood we beseech thee to wash us from our sins, from the guilt of sin, from the punishment of sin, from the power of sin, with that blood purge our consciences from dead works, and quicken us by thy Spirit unto a new life, that we may serve thee the true and everliving God, zealously without fear, universally without partiality, sincerely without hypocrisy, constantly without apostasy, in all righteousness and true holiness all the days of our lives: that the end of our life may be the end of our faith, which is the salvation of our souls. And although we are unworthy to pray for ourselves, yet in the name of thy Son we are bold to enlarge our prayers for thy whole Church, howsoever distressed or whersoever dispersed throughout the parts of the whole earth. Give thy Gospel a free passage, repair the ruins of Zion, build up the broken walls of jerusalem, and with the breath of thy nostrils blow down the walls of jericho. In thy due time put an end to the troubles of the Church abroad. Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand; and dost not pluck it out of thy bosom? how long oh Lord, how long wilt thou suffer the blood of thy servants to be spilt upon the ground? Thou that didst once hear and regard the blood of Abel, one man crying for vengeance; wilt thou not hear the blood of many thousands? What advantage canst thou have in giving over thy own children to the fury of their enemies? shall thy enemy's triumph, and thy children perish? shall thy enemies rejoice & thy children mourn? shall the light of thy Gospel be eclipsed, the splendour of thy glory obscured, thy temple defiled, thy name dishonoured, thy truth slandered? Are they of Babylon better than they of Zion? or is there any other people that knoweth thee besides Israel? or what generation hath so believed thy covenant as jacob? Arise then oh Lord, arise, plead thy own cause, honour thy own name, defend thy own altar, fight thy own battle, protect thy own people: behold the pride of the wicked, and send thy wrath upon their heads: throw down the forces of all them that have purposed cruel things against thy Sanctuary, against the top of Zion, thy hallowed house, the place where thine honour dwelleth. Make every nation to acknowledge that thou art the God of all power, that there is none other that protects thy Church and truth but thou only. Protect thy Church and truth among us, and all that thou hast placed in authority over us; especially his sacred Majesty, Charles, by thy gracious providence King of great Britain, France and Ireland defender of the true, ancient, Catholic Apostolic faith, and in all causes, and over all persons, as well Ecclesiastical as civil, next under thee and thy Son Christ, supreme governor. Bless we beseech thee his royal consort Queen Mary: beseeching thee that with Mary she may choose the better thing that cannot be taken from her. Bless the present pledges of our succeeeding hopes, Prince Charles, with lady Mary his sister. O Lord grant that as they grow in years, so they may grow in grace and favour with thee and with men. Bless the rest of the Royal progeny beyond the scaes, the Lady Elizabeth with her princely issue, when thou seemest best, settle them again, in their former inheritance, that they may be nursing Fathers and mothers unto thy Church. Bless the Right Honourable the privy Council, the true hearted Nobility and Gentry of our Land, the Reverend judges, all unto whom thou hast committed the sword of justice, all Ministers unto whom thou hast committed the sword of the spirit, what names or titles soever distinguished; whether Archbishops Bishops, or inferior Pastors. And that there may be a continual supply of able men to govern both in Church and common wealth, bless all nurseries of good learning, especially the two famous Universities of this Land, Cambridge and Oxford, water the young plants that are in both of them, with the dew of thy grace that they may grow up as Cedars in Lebanon for the building of Zion. And comfort all that are comfortless oh thou Father of comfort, and God of all consolation, visit the sick, strengthen the weak, heal the wounded, bind up the broken hearted, gather the dispersed redeem them that are enthralled, relieve them that are impoverished, secure them that are tempted, restore them that are fallen by infirmity, and establish them that stand by thy free spirit. Finally, give a blessing we pray thee, to this our meeting, in this thy house upon this thy day: to speak and to hear thy holy word, O Lord God I am a child, and cannot speak, I am of polluted lips, and slow of speech, but thou art he that canst give sight to the blind, and speech to the dumb, therefore untie the strings of my stamering tongue, and touch it with a coal from thine altar, my doctrine shall drop as doth the rain and as the dew upon the grass. And for this thy people, touch their ears and their hearts with the finger of thy blessed spirit that they may hear thy word attentively, conceive it rightly, believe it readily, apply it wisely; treasure it upon their memories, faithfully practise it, in their life and conversations conscionably so all our understandings may be enlightened, our hearts purified, our conscience spacified, our sinful lives reform and our souls saved yea, the whole man at length glorified in the land of the living. And that in and through thy dear soon, our only Saviour jesus Christ, in whose name and words, we pray: Our Father etc. JEREMY 7.12. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh; where I set my name at the first: and see what I did unto it for the wickedness of my people Jsrael. SUCH is the lenity and long animity of Almighty God, that before he proceeds to the punishment of sinners he gives them many warnings; before he sends the storm shall not now profit you that are wicked, but you and your temple shall be destroyed. The temple is not more excellent than another place; but for the Ark and the Altar: indeed it is somewhat more adorned, but all the excellency and sanctity lie in them. And were not these as well in Shiloh? yet notwithstanding it was ruinated. So that it is but a folly in you to wax proud of these things, as if their sanctity without your sanctity could save you from the wrath to come. Therefore, for the abating of your pride and the rectifying of of your confidence, Go ye to my place etc. Which text, though at first sight, seems not shoot. Yea, he doth often show us his bow, but takes neither string, nor shaft into his hand. Thou hast showed the people hard things, Psal. 60.3. showed, not imposed: he shows his bow, before he shoots; and his rod, before he lays it on. So true is that speech of the Church, Lam. 3.33. The Lord doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. Search the rolls of holy writ, and there ye shall observe him, sometimes grieving for sin, sometimes complaining of it, sometimes threatening of it, sometime proposing to us the execution of his judgements upon others for such and such sins: as here to jerusalem, that she might see her miserable condition & fall to speedy deprecation, to her and her inhabitants, he propoundeth Shiloh, as a spectacle of his justice, and that for those sins of which jerusalem was as deeply guilty as ever Shiloh was. Ite ad locum meum in Silo, etc. The choose but set a sudden stop and period to their prosperity: yet did they trust for safety in the outward badges of their religion, and especially in their Temple, saying, The Temple of the Lord, etc. The temple of the Lord is holy & glorious & reverenced of all: how is it possible that any should destroy the temple of the Lord, or vanquish the city in which that temple is? Oh, saith jeremy, trust ye not in such lying words: for the holiness of the place doth little avail a people, if they themselves be not holy in their lives. For proof of which go but unto Shiloh: the holiness of the place in Shiloh (where at first the holy Tabernacle stayed for a long time, & the Ark before which the name of God was invocated, and the worship of sacrifices administered) did nothing profit the people of Israel, when they gave themselves to wickedness, but together with them that place was rejected of the Lord: so the temple of Solomon shall not now profit you that are wicked, but you and your temple shall be destroyed. The temple is not more excellent than another place; but for the Ark and the Altar: indeed it is somewhat more adorned, but all the excellency and sanctity lie in them. And were not these as well in Shiloh? yet notwithstanding it was ruinated. So that it is but a folly in you to wax proud of these things, as if their sanctity without your sanctity could save you from the wrath to come. Therefore, for the abating of your pride and the rectifying of of your confidence, Go ye to my place etc. Which text, though at first sight, seems not to meddle with matters present now, of near home, but past and fare off, matters of another Meridian, aloof from us as fare as Shiloh, or jerusalem; concerning not Christians, but jews, mentioning not our wickedness but theirs, the wickedness of the People Israel: Yet as the Sun, though it rise in the East, sets in the West, by that time the Text hath gone its circuit, it may come to set fare from where it rose: as Nathan though he began with a parrable of two men and a sheep, yet brought it about in the end to, Thou art the man. In our Text there is a journey prescribed, yea a double journey, the one corporal, Go; that respects the body: the other spiritual, see; that respects the mind. Or if you like it better, here is a direction to a double action, Go and see. 1. Ite, go ye: and that is amplified by two circumstances, the time and the place: besides which ye may add the consideration of the persons, Ye, Go ye. And 1. the persons are the inhabitants of jerusalem. 2. the time is now, go presently, for delay breeds danger. And 3. for the place it hath a double description: 1. Nominal, it is Shiloh. 2. Real, it is the place where God did set his name at the first. 1 What that place was possessively. In which latter are divers particulars to be observed. 1. proprietary or owner of it, God; my place, saith the Lord; which shows the glory of it: for that must needs be glorious which is the place of God, 1 King. 8.11. the King of glory, But the whole world is Gods as well as Shiloh was: true, but this is his in special respects, set down in the next passage, expressing the reason, why Shiloh was so glorious. it was a privileged place, for 1. God did set his name there: and not only so, but 2. 2 What that place was positively. he set it there at the first. there's the glory of the place, the sanctity and previledge of the place, and the antiquity of each. Go ye now &c. there's the first act. The second followeth, Videte, See: not only Go, joh. 1.46. but Go and see, as Philip to Nathaniel, Come and see: When ye are come to Shiloh, be not idle there, but open your eyes and see, employ your minds and consider, What I did unto it for the wickedness, etc. 1. Observe what was done unto it, the calamity that befell it: 2. Who was the Author of that calamity, I, saith the Lord: 3. What was the impulsive cause that provoked the Lord to inflict that calamity, Wickedness. 4. Whose wickedness it was that could so fare provoke him as to reject his own place Shiloh, the wickedness of his own people Israel: Where wickedness reigneth, God will not spare that place, though it be Shiloh, nor that people though it be Israel, Go ye now etc. I will handle the text two ways. First, Exegetically or Paraphrastically, by way of explication: then Diadactically or Doctrinally, by way of instruction. And I begin with the first act, Ite, Go ye. Men for the most part are like the snail, always carrying her house on her back. Commonly we love a sedentary life, and are loath to leave our cushion, unwilling to disease ourselves, utinam hoc esset laborare, said he that lay along and stretched himself. As the slothful man is Socors, that is, Sine cord, without a heart; wanting affection and courage to do what he knows: so is he Piger, that is Pede aeger; he lacks a foot to convey him to any honest employment. Like those secure ones overwhelmed in the general deluge, he can sit still, and laugh and sing, till the water stop his wind and he be drowned. But wisdom is not gotten by sitting at home in Hemicyclo, in an half mooned chair, or by lurking in a corner: as Solon Socrates, Caesar, Plato, Cicero, & other Pagans knew well, who, to purchase wisdom, exposed themselves to the tempests of foreign climates. And God himself, that they might learn wisdom, doth here send the jews out of their own City. Ite, Go ye. So long as you contain yourselves within the narrow compass of your domestical seat, like sheep in a pinfold, ye stand gazing upon the beauty of your city, the outward splendour of your temple, and admiring at those goodly gifts, with which it is enriched, not admitting the least thought of a change. Let me therefore council you no longer to shroud yourselves in your city, but measure a few steps, Go out of your own place and take notice how things pass abroad, Go. 2. And Go ye; ye the inhabitants of jerusalem, ye that stand so much upon your outward prerogatives, that look for safety in my sanctuary, be your sins never so many. Ye are the fittest scholars to take out that lesson which I am about to teach, but out of your own school. Therefore Go ye, Ye that sleep in the chair of security, supposing there is nothing good but that which ye know, no house comodious but your own, no air to live in but where ye breath, no life like that which ye lead in darkness and ignorance, Go ye. Go from your chair or bed, where ye sleep in security; go from your sensual pleasures, bewitching pastimes, brutish passion, beastly companions; Go from your customary coldness and stupidity, Go from your selfconceited opinions and imaginations, it is to you that are secure that I do here direct my speech, lifting up my voice like a trumpet, & row sing you up from that sleeping stool of yours. Therefore Go ye, ye yourselves personally, stand not to the report of others, but go yourselves unto the place, and see with your own eyes What I did unto it. 3. And Go now too: make no delay, Now is the only sure part of our time, that which is past, is come and gone: that which is to come may peradventure never come. Till to morrow, till this evening, till an hour hence we have no assurance. Now therefore; or, if not Now, as near Now, with as little distance from it as may be, Go ye to my place. 4. My place, that the next, be not extravagant, straggle not to those places to which your own lusts invite you, that is to follow judas, who went to his own place: Act. 1. go not on neither in the way that ye have begun but go whether I direct you; ad locum meum, to my place; to go thither will be worth your labour indeed. So that this licence of travel is limited and bounded, as you see. Some there are that love travel as their life, so they may be gadding, they care not to what place it be: they dare breath in the poisonous air of Italy, and touch the very pommel of the Chair of pestilence: So the Devil plays the Marshal and takes them up, because they straggle abroad without a warrant or passport. We can never have comfort in any travel or journey, except it be so bounded as this in our text. Go ye, saith the Lord, ad locum meum, to my place. 5. My place which was: was, and is not: God sometimes calls them his people which were not his people; Rom. 9.25. and that his place which was not his place: and on the otherside sometime they which were his people cease to be his people, and that which was his place ceaseth to be his place. My place which was: was, and is not. 6. Was at Shiloh: that's the next, God sends them not out of their own coasts into a foreign country, as he did Abraham, nor yet to a remote place in their own country; Go, saith he, to Shiloh, that's not fare, ye have the name of the place and cannot miss it, nay, ye cannot but know it, it being but six miles distant from your Metropolis, jerusalem. This Shiloh was once my place, Deut. 12.5, 6. that which I chose for myself, above all other places. For the understanding of which read, Iosh. 18.1. There ye shall find that after the Canaanites were subdued unto the Israellites, and a place to be appointed, where the people might meet for divine service, God put it into their hearts to make choice of Shiloh. 1. Because of the beauty and glory of it, josephus, speaking of this matter, saith: Lib. 5. c. 1. Antiquit. they placed the sacred Tabernacle in the City of Shiloh, and sets down this as the reason of; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. For it seemed to be a meet place by reason of the beauty of the same, where the Ark might remain, till such time as their affairs of State permitted them to build a Temple. Secondly, Because of the convenience of it for the whole people to meet there, being situate about the midst of the land of promise, as I said not above six miles distant from jerusalem, Ezek. 5.5. which was even in the midst, the navel of the land, as josephus terms it * To which some apply that text. Ezek. 38.12. . Thirdly, because it did belong to Ephraim, which was more warlike than the other tribes, a Psal. 78.9. and so more able to defend the place of God's worship. Fourthly, principally, because their captain joshuah was of b Iosh. 19.49, 50, 51. & Num. 13.8. Ephraim, he who assembled them to determine of the place: and where he dwelled and had decreed their solemn meetings, there they persuaded themselves upon good ground, that the observation of the Law and sacred rites would be more exact. For these reasons, and especially by the direction of God, who had made choice of that place, they set up the Tabernacle of the Congregation at Shiloh, appointed that as a fixed seat for the Tabernacle, which before had been in continual motion; and for the Ark which was within it, that all the jews might repair unto it in their chief solemnities, being to worship God with the oblation of their Sacrifices and first fruits, as we read of Elkanah, 1 Sam. 1.3. He went up out of his City yearly, to worship and to Sacrifice unto the Lord in Shiloh. In this respect Shiloh was the place of God, my place, saith the Lord, the place where I did set my name, that is, * Calvin in loc. Vbi volui arcam residere, where I made my Ark to dwell (for * 2 Sam. 6.2. the Ark is called by the name of God, and the Hebrew word imports a fixed residence:) my place, the place where I appointed my worship and the use of my ordinances, by which I am made known unto you, as a man is made known by his name. And which is yet more, I did not only set my name there, but did set it there at the first, In principio, before your Temple was built, nay, before it was known that mount Zion should be the place where I would have a Temple built, then was Shiloh my place, consecrated to my service. All this considered, First, the propinquity of the place, it is Shiloh, and that's but six miles distant from your City: Secondly, the glory of the place, together with the sanctity of it, that it is my place, that which I made choice of above all other places in the world, there to set my name, to settle my Ark & Tabernacle & divine worship. Thirdly, the antiquity of the place and privileges of it, that I did set my name there at the first, long before the Temple of jerusalem was thought on; I say, all this considered, it will be worth your labour to follow my council in this, Go ye now etc. But to go thither, is not all, that were soon done; to an Ite you must add a Videte, Go and see, as the King of Israel said to his servants, 2 Kings 7.14. Your feet, your ankles, your locomotive faculty, were given you to go; the spheres of your eyes, these lights, this sharpness of sight, were given you to see: you are neither lame, nor blind, therefore Ite & videte, Go and see. The Philosopher * Arist. lib. de sensu et sensato c. 2. concludes against the Platonists, that the fight draws most after the Element of water; for * Arist. de Gener & Corrupt l. 2. c. 2. as water is hardly kept within his own, or without the limits of his neighbour Elements: so the sight, denied by nature to see itself, is never satisfied * Prov. 27.20. with gazing upon other creatures, The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Eccles. 1.8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a volubitatè Scapula And there is not more volubillity * Prov. 27.20. in the eye, than curiosity in the mind, of man, to behold strange and uncouth sights. If such objects be near, no locks can hold us, we must out to see. Then what needs such a precept as this in our Text, Ite & videte, Go and see? Yes: for it is not barely to see, to cast their eyes where they list themselves, but to fix them upon that object to which God directs them. See, saith he, what I did unto Shiloh, for etc. Mark the calamity which befell that place, which is in situation so near you, in antiquity beyond you, in glory and sanctity sometimes equal to that Temple wherein ye trust. The calamity of it is recorded. 1 Sam. 4. Where ye shall read, that the Israelites being smitten by the Philistines and in great distress, they sent for the Ark out of Shiloh, trusting that the Ark (being a pledge of God's presence and assistance) might then save them out of the hands of their enemies, as if their sins were not of force to sever the power of God from the Ark, and to make a divorce between the truth and the figure. Well, the Ark is brought, and in it the Law written in tables, but it had been better if they had had the Law written in their hearts, when the Ark came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. Her's great joy, but to little purpose; they triumph before the victory and without the victory; for they triumph without God, Calvin. Hom. 17. in lib 1. Sam. nay against God do they erect their trophies of triumph, not being reconciled unto him by faith and repentance. The vanity of their triumph may appear by the issue of the battle: for at the presence of the Ark they received a greater overthrow than before. The slaughter was very great, for there fell of Israel 3 0000. footmen, Their young men were consumed and their Priests slain: yea, the Ark itself, the pledge of God's favour and succour, the strength and glory of Israel was taken by the enemies. And (as S. Jerome * apud Sanctium in jer. 7. 1●. Sic etiam Pelican. ibid. observes) the place, where Shiloh was, is utterly ruinated and made desolate. Howsoever, Shiloh forfeited her Charter, and lost her former privileges * Christophor a Castro. ibid. 1 Sam. 7.1. the residence of the Ark. For after the Philistimes had brought it to Bethshemesh, it was fetched to Kiriath-jearim, and so carried from place to place, but never more to Shiloh; where it had continued from the days of joshuah to the death of Eli, 369. years, Ghisler in jer. 7 12. according to the Chronologie of the Hebrews, or 351. according to the Computation of other Authors. This was the calamity which befell Shiloh, it ceased for ever to be the place of God's worship: which came not to pass by chance, but by the Divine providence. See, saith the Lord, what I did unto it. The Philistines were but my instruments in this work; I, the chief Agent. Non vires ferri, Anson. Epigr. 5. sed ferientis agunt. I did it. And yet I did it not out of any hatred, but in my justice; not because I desired their woe, but because I was provoked by their sin, even the Wickedness of my people Israel. My people, for so were they in Shiloh as well as you in jerusalem, My people, not only as all by right of possession, but as you by the right of confederation and the grace of acceptation. But such is the righteousness of my nature, such the purity, of mine eyes, that I cannot with approbation behold sin, no, Amos 3.2. not in mine own people. If they, whom I have so much honoured as to be my people, will so dishonour me as to commit wickedness against me, I cannot but glorify myself by doing justice upon them. Then consider this ye that now profess your selves to be my people, and glory so much in the beauty of your temple, Go ye now etc. Hitherto be it spoken of the words exegetically: I now come to handle them Doctrinally. And now task your wits and your memories and keep pace with me; for within the compass of the time I shall run over these five observations, all of them naturally deduced, not tyranously enforced from the words. 1. Where God doth set his name, that's the peculiar place of God. 2. The holiness of the place cannot protect a people, except there be holiness in the persons, who inhabit that place. 3. It is God who inflicts judgement upon a place or people. See, saith he, what I did. 4. It is the wickedness of a people which provokes him to judgement, I did it, saith he, for the wickedness of my people. 5. The judgements of God inflicted upon others are to be observed by us: especially, if they be such as light upon his own place and people. And this is the main point which the text drives at. For to this end doth the Lord send them of jerusalem to school (as it were) unto Shiloh: Go ye now etc. Observa. 8.1 1. Where God doth set his name, or place his worship and ordinances, that's the peculiar place of God. My place, saith the Lord here; and My house, jer. 11.15. thy house, saith the Saints * Psal. 84.5. & 42.4. ; his banqueting * Cant. 2.4. Psal. 11.4. & 74.7. & 26.8. 2 Chron. 6.41. house saith the Spouse; his holy Temple, saith * Cant. 2.4. Psal. 11.4. & 74.7. & 26.8. 2 Chron. 6.41. David, the dwelling place of his name, the place where his honour dwelleth. Reason. For God that is present in every place, is more especially present in that place; and God that doth protect us in every place, doth more especially protect us in that place; and God that gives blessings in every place, gives a more especial blessing in that place. First, I say, God, who is present in every place, is more especially present in that place, where he doth set his name, 2 Chron. 6 4 1. or settle his worship and ordinances: that's his dwelling place, and his resting place. He is in every place, but doth not dwell or rest in every place. The Lord is in his holy Temple, the Lords throne is in heaven, Psal. 11.4. He is so in his Temple, as he is in heaven: that which heaven is above, is his Temple beneath, in heaven & so in his Temple, he is present after a special manner; in heaven is his glorious presence, in his Temple on earth his gracious presence; his * Psal. 27.4. beauty, and * Exod. 40.34. his glory too in some sort; his face and countenance. When shall I come & appear before God? Psal. 42.2. Hebr. Before the face of God: for the face, countenance and special presence of God is in his holy Temple. When Cain departed from the family of Adam, which was then the only place where God was worshipped, it is said he went out from the presence of the Lord. Gen. 4.16. because where he is worshipped, there's his special presence, where Christ promiseth in those words, Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I will be there in the midst among them. There, how? not only so as I am every where, but in a more singular manner; I will be there by the presence of my grace and assistance of my spirit. In the time of the Law God was worshipped before the Ark, and the Ark was called by the name of the Lord, 2 Sam. 6.2. and when the Ark removed, they spoke to it as to the Lord; Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered, Num 10.34. The reason was, because the Ark was a sign to the people of God's presence among them. So now are our Churches, wherein God is worshipped. 2. As there is God's gracious presence, so there is his gracious Protection, and therefore the place where he is worshipped, is his peculiar place. It is like those Cities of refuge, which God appointed among the Israelites, whither he that had offended might fly for safety. The walls of salomon's Temple were carved round about with figures of Cherubims, 1 King. 6.29. and palm trees, and open flowers within and without. The palm trees and flowers, did type out the Saints (that grow up like palmtrees in the house of God) together with the variety of their gifts: the Cherubims signified the Angels, by whose Ministry God protects his people, and that in a special manner when they are in his house. Psal. 27.5. & 91.1. That is God's pavilion, wherein he hideth his children; the secret place and the shadow of the Almighty, that is, the defence (or as it is in the Greek translation) The protection of the Almighty when the incestuous person was cast out of the Church of Corinth, 1 Cor. 5.5. 1 Tim. 1 20. it is laid, he was delivered up to Satan, * Calvin. & P. Matyr in 1 Cor. 5.5. the like is spoken of Hymeneus and Alexander * Calvin. & P. Matyr in 1 Cor. 5.5. : to Satan, that is, to the tyranny of Satan * Calvin. & P. Matyr in 1 Cor. 5.5. to the power of the evil er of the evil Angels: they wanted the protection of God and his good Angels, and so do all those that are excluded the Church. The first Adam was placed in Paradise that he might dress and keep it: so (saith Bernard * Bern. In dedicatione Eccles. jer. 6. ) is the second Adam in his Church, which is a Paradise, or garden of delight, to defend and keep it. 3. Where God is worshipped, there's his special blessing, that attends his ordinances. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they go from strength to strength, So Psal. 65.4. the Lord will give them grace and glory: grace, by the means of grace here, and glory hereafter. Psal. 84.4. etc. When God promiseth to give special blessings, he promiseth to give them in his house and within his walls. Isay. 56.5, 7. Contrariwise, when God threatens to withdraw his blessings from a people, he excludes them his house. * Hos. 9.4.15 Now if God's special presence, and special protection, and special blessing be there, where he is worshipped, then that must needs be the peculiar place of God. What terror should this strike to the hearts of those, that offer any violence to this place, Use. the peculiar place of God? Will a Prince suffer his palace to be demolished or battered? no more will God suffer any, without special punishment, to wrong his Church, which is his palace, his pavilion, his dwelling place, and his resting place. If any man destroy the Temple of God, him will God destroy. 1 Cor. 3.17. But who are they, that be culpable in this kind? Not only open enemies that by devastation lay it waste, but also secret enemies that undermine it, by Schisms and Sacrilege. 1. Schismatics, Such as as make rents in the Church, dividing themselves from the unity of it, and scorning the authority of it, do offer great violence to the peculiar place of God. Nam proditores quidem siunt, quicunque in hoc Domini castrum in●micos eius introducere moliuntur, quales sunt utique detractores Deo odibiles, qui discordias seminant, nutriunt scandala inter fratres. Sicut enim in pace factus est locus Domini, sic in discordia locu diabolo fieri manifestum est &c Bern. in the dicatione Eccles. jer. 3. They betray it into the hands of the enemies, and instead of God's house, they make it speluneam daemomorum, a den of Devils, saith Bernard, Nil dissociabile firmum est. * Prudent. Psychom. S. Bern. in de dicat. Eccles. jer. 1. A Kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Stones of one building that jar one with another, will ruin the whole house. Sola conjunctio facit domum * ja. jer. 2. . It is union that makes a house: wood and stones disunited cannot do it. Let those violent and turbulent spirits consider and think on this, by whom division and discord is fomented in the house of God: they go about to ruinated this house, and to drive God himself away from it. For (as Bernard noteth) he will not abide in such a Kingdom where there is division, nor in such a house which is near to desolation. To these factious spirits I propound for an example Corah and his accomplices, so severely punished for this sin: because they had made a Schism in the Church, God made a Schism in the earth, the ground clavae asunder, the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up. Num. 16.31. But not only by Schism, by Sacrilege also is violence offered to the peculiar place of God: when the goods of the Church; things sacred and sequestered from common use, are alienated and taken away by the felonious hands of sacrilegious catchpolles. A sin too common amongst us: the region of it being white, and ready for harvest, and calling for a sickle from heaven to cut it down. As * Epist. 1●. Anno 1088. cited by D. Tillest● in his Animadversions upon Selden. Ivo Carnotensis once complained, so may every Godly man at this day: Multa inordinata video in domo Dei, quae me torquent; maxim quoth apud nos, qui altari non serviunt, de altari vivunt. I see many things out of order in God's house, which do perplex me; especially this, that they do live of the altar, who do not serve at the Altar; Church-locusts, whose lips no lettuce likes but sacred Manna: and they in the the mean time that serve at the Altar, may starve at the alter. I cannot here pass by the words of a Reverend Bishop of this See; D. King in his Lectures on jonas. Time was religion did eat up policy, and the Church devoured the commonwealth, but now policy eats up religion, and the Commonwealth devours the Church. Men are professed Politicians; let the Commonwealth flourish, and what care they for the Church? Now Munus offerendi is turned into Munus auferendi; and old Oblation is turned into Ablation. Our Gentiles (Heathens I had almost said) do break into God's house, and like bold thiefs do ransack and pillage it, and with more than heathenish petulancy trample underfoot the Ministers of the Gospel. We need not with that order of popish Priests, pull on ourselves a voluntary beggary, for Gentlemen have enforced us to it of necessity. We may now cease studying of sermons, and study for bread to put in our mouths: like the jews under the oppression of Pharaoh, when we should make brick, we are forced to gather straw; when we should work in our vocation, we must look out for sustenance, we must set our heads and our hands to work together, we must be Orators and Arators, Preachers and Ploughmen, teachers and tentmakers: as if we had the extraordinary dispensation of Preaching which S. Paul had, when he laboured with his hands and lived by his work. Dionysius took from an Image a golden covering, pretending that it was too hot for summer, and too cold for winter, and gave one of wool, saying, that that was fit both for summer and winter. So deal the sacrilegious persons of this age, cursed Impropriators, corrupt Patrons, Barterers and purloiners of holy things, all those that under pretence and colour of Law, custom, composition, prescription, do cut short the Minister of his proper portion; they take from the Minister his gold, which (say they) would make him proud, idle, covetous; Cicero pro Ros●io Amarino. and give him wool, that will make him humble and laborious. Yet can they themselves (without pride sure) wear gold on their spurs, who will not endure a Minister to have gold in his purse. The Orator tells the grave judges and Senators in the Guild hall at Rome of a fellow called Fimbria, intolerably audacious, who stabbing Quintus Scaevola at the funerals of Caius Marius, boasted of the favour that he shown unto him, Quòd non totum telum corpore suo receperit, that he had not thrust his dagger up to the hiles in his body. This fellow hath scattered his brood among us, there being too many that have been spawned of him; who having seized upon a great part of the Church's Patrimony, think it no small kindness they have showed us, that they have not shred us of altogether, God is beholden to them for letting his house stand; though for the maintenance of his house and of his worship in his house, they have been so bold with him, as either to share half, or leave him none. Now as the Eagle in the Fable, that was shot flying in the air, did much lament, when she saw herself to be shot with an arrow that was feathered with a plume of her own wing: so may Religion mourn, when she sees herself thus wronged, by such as will seem most to be of her own side. They pretend purging, but intent pilling: they * D. Pridcaup ser● on Rev. 2.4. are sweeping God's house and prying into every corner, not to restore the groat that is lost, but to take away the penny that is left. To whom I may speak in the words of Damasus: Quâ front, Damas' Decre●. 3. quâ conscientià oblationes vultis accipere? With what face or conscience can ye receive tithes and oblations, that discharge no part of the Ministerial function in God's house? You say, that they were taken from idle drones and fat bursten-bellied Monks and Friars. But why are they now detained and kept back from laborious & painful Pastors? The foundations are cast down: but what have the righteous done? Psal. 11.3. The foundations of the Church which should support religion, tenths and maintenance, are cast down, because of superstitious abusers; but what have the righteous done, that these things should be taken from them? but alas why should I touch that sore which is all dead flesh? you may say to me, as on did to Luther, when he began to preach against the Pope's Supremacy and tyranny, you had as good hold your peace. This wickedness is so powerful that you will never be able to prevail against it. Get you to your study, and say, Lord have mercy on us and procure yourself no ill will. But be it good will, or be it ill will, we come hither to speak the truth: and for Zions sake I will not hold my peace. Who knows whether the Lord may be pleased to open the heart of one Lydia, Act. 16.14. to attend to the things which are spoken? Consider then the danger of this sin: Prou. 20.25. It is a snare to a man to devour holy things. As the feathers of an Eagle, laid with the feathers of other birds, are said to consume them: so holy things, the goods of the Church, mingled with private men's patrimonies, do devour them. Male parta, male dilabuntur: which may be observed by the Crane in Emblem, that having swallowed a wrongful prey, Au●●us Gelius N●tt. Alloc. l. 3. c. 9 could not digest it. When Scipio rob the Temple of Tholossa, there was not a man that carried away any of the gold, who ever prospered after it. That gold was not more fatal to the followers of Scipio, than the stolen goods of the Church have been unfortunate to the Gentry of our land. They have proved gangreenes to their whole estate, and as knotgrass to dogs, which being eaten keeps them from thriving: so that in the end these robbers, or their posterity prove beggars. Aug. ad Macedon. Epist. 54. Dum alienum rapis, a diabolo raperis, et quamd in id detines, a diabolo detineris: retines aurum, & prodis coelum: iniuste detines rem alienam, & just amittis haereditatem tu am: iniustum lucrum, sed iustum damnum: lucrum in arca, sed damnum in coscicutia: percat mundi lucrum, per quod fit animae damnum. But that's not the worst: remember that of S. Augustine Multi in hac vita manducant quod postea apud in feros digerunt Many devour that in this life, which they shall digest in hell. And again, Si in ignem mittitur, qui non dedit rem propriam, ubi mittendus qui in vasit alienam? etc. If he be decreed to the fire, which gave not his own: whither is he to be sent that hath robbed another? whilst thou snatchest from another, the Devil snatcheth away thee: and so long as thou withholdest it, the Devil withholdeth thee: thou retainest gold, & loseth thine inheritance: an unjust gain but a Just loss. Lucre in thy coffer, but condemnation in thy conscience: a mischief on that money that brings destruction to the soul. If this be to engross the portion and possession of the Lord, if this be to rob the house of God, who dares lay sacrilegious hands upon it? Oh meddle not with that which is consecrated to God: as pilate's wife sent her husband word, have thou nothing to do with that just man: Matth. 27.17. so, have thou nothing to do with God's portion: do not forage his Church defraud his Ministers, this is to rob God himself. Mal. 3.10. Will a man rob God? yet ye have rob me. But ye say, wherein have we rob thee, ye make yourselves ignorant, as if ye knew not that ye had rob me in my tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have rob me, even this whole nation: ye have joined yourselves in one to rob me of my portion, thinking the commonness of the offence to be every man's particular justification therefore ye are heavily accursed. Enough to terrify those sacrilegious pioneers of God's house, that say with them, Psal. 83.12. Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. But I have spoken sufficiently touching this kind of violence, offered to the peculiar place of God. I pass now to another. Further, they are here to be taxed, who carry themselves irreverently in the place of God's worship, which is the peculiar place of God, not a Barber's shop, nor an Apothecary's house, nor a common court, but the place of Angels and Archangels, the Kingdom of God, yea heaven itself * Chrysost. in 1 Cor. Hom. 36. . Many by their indecent behaviour do so vilify this place, as if it were the worst of all others, worse than their own houses, as S. Chrysostome * Ibid. complained in his time: for there's order observed, but in the Church (saith he) is such disorder, such confusion, such laughing, and sleering, and nodding, and whispering, such a stir and noise, that there is little or no difference made between the Church and an alehouse; nay between the Church and a Playhouse, nay, between the Church and a brothelhouse, no difference made at all. I would to God this our irreverence were not a just occasion to the Romanists to scandalise our religion. S. Paul, 1 Cor. 14. 24. exhorts us so to carry ourselves in the Church, that if an unbeliever come in, he may say, God is there, and God is in us, and may be drawn to join with us in the worship of God. But if such a one should come into some of our Congregations, and observe the carriage of many, he will well say, what Lord do this people serve, that are so irreverent? Mal. 1.10. The Lord said to the jews in the like case, I have no pleasure in you, neither will I accept an offering at your hand: and v. 6. he tells them, that they despised his name and made his table contemptible. It is our sin at this day. We make his table contemptible, his throne contemptible, his house contemptible, his word contemptible, and all contemptible, by our indecent behaviour in the place of his worship. Therefore I say in this case, as the Prophet did to them in the like, Mal. 1.9. I pray you beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: Beseech him with broken and bleeding hearts to be gracious unto us in the pardoning of this sin. Mac. 1.9. Mac. 2.3. Mac. 2.15. Remember how Antiochus was punished for profaning the house of God; so Heliodorus, Nicanor, Belshazzar; Dan. 5. when Christ was in his humiliation he whipped out such, showing by that base punishment that they are not sons, but slaves: and will he not then punish these now, being so highly exalted? When King Ahashuerosh conceived that Haman would have forced Queen Ester, he took it the worse because it was in his house, Est. 7.8. Will he force the Queen before me in the house? A man of the poorest condition cannot abide to see his house abused: and shall God endure to see his abused? He cannot, he will not: therefore beware of that. Let it ever be our care, when we enter in to the house of God, where Father, Son, and Holy Ghost behold us, to do nothing any way unbeseeming that place. To conclude this point: If the place where God is worshipped be his peculiar place, let us think upon the glory of this place, this land, I mean) this Kingdom wherein we live. Here is the place where God doth set his name, settle his worship and ordinances, as once he did in Shiloh, and afterward at jerusalem. Israel and England, though they lie in a diverse climate, may be said right Parallels; not in Cosmographical, but in Theological respects. Nay, we do herein fare transcend them: they had only a drop to refresh themselves, we have the whole streams of God's mercies poured upon us: they had only the green blade of corn, we have the plentiful increase as in the time of harvest; they had the shadow, we the substance; they had a glimpse of the Sun, we have him in the full strength: they had the Paschall lamb to expiate sins typically; we have the lamb of God to take them away really. joh. 1.29. Gal. 4. They were Alphabetarij and Abecedarij, young beginners, learning their A B C under the tutorship of the law: but to us the Gospel is given, wherein our saving health is spread before our believing eyes, without any shadow cast over the beauty of it. We behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord with open face, 2 Cor. 3.18. we feed upon the true Manna, and drink of the water of life freely. Oh let us thankfully embrace our transcendent happiness. Plato was thankful to nature (as we read in Lactant.) 1. For that he was borne a man, Lactant. l. 3 divin. Iust. c. 19 not a beast. 2. A man, not a woman. 3. A Grecian, not a Barbarian. 4. An Athenian, not a Theban; and finally, that he was borne in the time of Socrates. But much more thankful should we be to the God of nature, for that we are borne, not Pagan's, but Christians; and in such a place as England, where heaven stands open, which to other parts is barred on the outside, with ignorance or misbelief. England is the place of God's worship, therefore the peculiar place of God; so that we may say, as it is in the Psalm, Psal. 46.7. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of jacob is our refuge: we have his special presence, his special protection, his special blessing; and that so long as ever we continue to serve him in holiness and righteousness, not one minute longer. 2. Observat. For the holiness of the place cannot protect a people, except there be holiness in the persons who inhabit that place: which is the second point, that falls next into our consideration. Shiloh was a holy place, glorious for sanctity and for the antiquity of that sanctity: yet because the inhabitants of it were not holy, both they and it were exposed to the fury of the enemy. joan. Papp●… in jer. 7.12. Though God in the old Testament would be worshipped o●●ly in that place, where himself had set the memory of his name: yet did he not so tie the memory of his name to any certain place, but that for the impiety of the people, he changed the place of his Tabernacle and Temple In the new Test. (because the Gospel was to be published through the whole world) that distinction of places is taken away; the time is now come, when neither in the mountain of Samaria, nor yet at jerusalem, john 4. men shall worship God by any such tie. Now every place is so long (no longer) the Temple and habitation of God, as there shall be found in it true faith and holiness of life. But where these cease, where superstition and heresy do corrupt faith, and wickedness succeeds in the room of holiness, Matt. 21.43. there the like judgement is to be feared which befell Shiloh; that God will remove his kingdom of grace from such a place or people, and give it to a Nation that will bring forth the fruits of it. jerusalem might go to Shiloh, and England may go to jerusalem, to learn this lesson, that the holiness of a place cannot protect a people, except etc. Consider jerusalem, the City of the great King, the throne of God, the place of holy worship and perfect joy: tell her turrets and mark well her bulwarks, carry in your minds the Idea of her glories, joseph. de bello judaico. l. 7. ca 7, 8, 9, 14, 17. how she was great among the provinces, princess among the nations, the joy of the whole earth; and then on a sudden behold her Temple and houses burning, the smoke of the fire waving in the air, and hiding the light of the sun, the flame rising up to heaven, as if they would ascend as high as their sins had erst done; her old and young, rich and poor, high and low, matrons, virgins, mothers, infants, Princes and Priests, Prophets and Nazarites, famished, fettered, scattered, consumed. here's a master piece of God's justice for sin: jerusalem once so glorious is now become a heap of stones, that holy city, yea, that whole country is now become a ploughed field, laid waste under the feet of Pagans; And the place of divine Oratory become a den of Dragons. Ghiesler in jer. 7.12. Go from jerusalem to the Churches of Corinth, Galatia, Philippi, Ephesus, Smyrna, Nice, Laodicea, Antiochia, to all the Eastern and * African Churches, sometime glorious Sanctuaries of the most high, consecrated to his service: when the inhabitants thereof became polluted, they were rejected of the Lord, who discarded their Idols and gave their land to be inhabited by Zijm and Ochim, Turks and Infidels. The more gloriously the sun and summer have apparelled a tree, the more we admire the blasting; but when God hath planted a people in his own holy ground, (as he did Adam in Paradise, Israel in Shiloh and jerusalem) watered it with the dews of grace, shined on it with the beams of mercy, spent much care and cost upon it; if this people brings forth no fruit or bad fruit, no marvel, if there goes out a curse, Never fruit grow on thee more; no marvel; if God bestow no more care nor cost upon it, but suffers it to be laid waist: as he sometimes threatened to do to his Vineyard, Isay 5.5. I will take away the hedge thereof, I will break down the wall thereof, I will lay it waste. I, saith the Lord. For such alterations and subversions, are not to be ascribed to fortune, destiny, stars, planets or the like, but to God himself, which is our next point. 3. Observat. It is God who inflicts judgement upon a place, or people. See, saith he, what I did, Go ye now etc. It was he that forsook the Tabernacle at Shiloh, he that delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hands: he gave his people over unto the sword, and was wroth with his inheritance, etc. Psal. 78.60.61. It was he that gave the sword a charge against Ashkelon, Ier 47 9 Ie●●6. ●5. jer. ●0. 25. jer. 19.3. that swept away the valiant men of Egypt, that opened his Armoury and brought forth weapons of indignation to smite Babylon; it is he that thus threatens jerusalem, Ièr. 18.11. I frame evil against you, and devise a devise against you. I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. Whatsoever calamities befall us, public or private, they are from God: He is the Author of all our Tragedies, and hath written out for us, and apppointed to us, the several parts, which we are to act in them. The more to blame then are those impatient Spirits, that in the case of calamity are sick of the fret, not looking up to the hand of God, but fretting at the men and the means by which God doth afflict them: like the Ethiopians, who detest the Sun, because it scorcheth them with immoderate heat; or like cursed mastiffs, that break their teeth in gnawing those iron chains, wherewith their Master ties them, and in biting the staff with which he beats them, as if a staff could smite, or a chain bind, without an hand to use it It will be more laudable for us to imitate the Saints, Psal. 44.9. job 1.21. Chrysost. in 1. Ep. ad Thess. who in every calamity did own the hand of God. The Lord hath given, saith job; the Lord hath taken away, etc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. What dost thou say, the Lord hath taken away? the thief had taken away, the Sabeans had taken away his oxen, the Chaldeans had taken away his Camels: true, yet job complains not of them, but looks up to the hand of God. So should we in the like case. Doth the plague come? look up to God: doth the sword come? look up to God: doth dearth come, poverty, ignominy, or any other calamity? Act it upon God. 2. Sam. 14 19 As David inquired of the woman of Tekoah, if the hand of joab was not with her in the close plea, and artificial atonement which she made for Absalon; in all our distresses let us inquire, if there be not the hand of God in them, and enquiring we shall find it so: which when we have done, let us with patience resign up ourselves into his hands, saying, (as the Church, Mic. 7.9.) I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him. 4. Observe. For it is our sin which kindleth the indignation of God, and provokes him to judgement, which is our next point. See what I did unto it for the wickedness of my people Israel. Wickedness was that cloud, in which all the storms that fell on Shiloh were engendered. It lies in the power of sin and wickedness, to make the most fruitful land barren, and the most blessed place accursed: A truth that may well pass for current, and being coined in the mint of God's word, Psal. 107.34. God turns a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of the inhabitants that dwell therein, Aug. Civitatis eversio, morum, non murorum casus. The ruin of a city, is not so soon wrought by the weakness of the walls, as by the lewdness of their lives that are the inhabitants. Were the walls of a city stronger than those of Babylon, the sins within would hurl down the walls without. Hos. 13.9. Intra muros hostis: thy perdition is of thyself o Israel. The Heathen Historian * Abundant voluptates desiderium per luxum atque libidinem pereundi perdendique omnia invexere. Liv. Heylin. observed, that Rome began to lose all, when sin abounded most amongst all, Rome's utter overthrowing was nothing else but their vices abounding and sins overflowing. An English Gentlemen at their expulsion out of France, was demanded by a French Cavalier when they would return again: his answer was feeling and pithy, When your sins (quoth he) are greater than ours. He knew well that for sins Kingdoms are translated from one people to another, and that a land spews out her inhabitants for the iniquity of them that dwell therein. * A. Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 3. ●9. In A Gellius, mention is made of the horse of Sejanus, called Sejus, this horse, a goodly horse to look on, but whosoever owned it, was still unfortunate. Such a thing is sin, unfortunate to all: whatsoever person or nation doth harbour it, can never prosper. S. Cyprian writes thus to Demetrian and others, who imputed to Christian religion pestilence, sword, famine, and all the evils which then fell out in the world: Ye are discontented to see God displeased, ye are angry that God is thus angry, as if ye could deserve from him any good by living ill, as if all these evils of punishment were not less than the evils of your sins. * Hos. 2.14. God of himself is gracious, merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, not willing to punish, except he be provoked: but if we provoke him by sin, we are sure to feel the punishment. Look into Paradise, look into hell, look into heaven, look upon earth, and every where ye shall meet examples to confirm this. 1. Look into Paradise, Gen. 3. where God placed our first parents, and enriched them with all sorts of blessings; so soon as they fell into disobedience and did eat of the forbidden fruit, they were cast out: and as the sentence was gone out of God's mouth, so the sword of justice, 2 Es●● 7. ●●. follows to execute, they must die and all their posterity. All must die in them, since all have sinned in them. Secondly, look into hell, see the unmercifulness of Dives punished, according to the rule of justice. Desideravit guttam, qui non dedit micam, Aug. Luk. 16. He begged a drop of water and could not have it, because he denied a crumb of bread before, when Lazarus begged it. Thirdly, 2. Pet. 2.4. Look into heaven and see sin punished there: God spared not the Angels that sinned, not those glorious inhabitants of heaven, but cast them down to hell. And art thou better or dearer than the Angels? Fourthly, look upon earth, and see there innumerable punishments, both personal and national, inflicted for sin. Every story is a Chronicle of this truth, and the whole world but the practice. Gen. 7.11. For sin God sluced out floods from the sea and opened the windows of heaven, taking away the retentive power from the clouds, that they might pour down unmeasurably to drown the old world; for sin he reigned down fire from heaven to consume Sodom, and opened the jaws of the earth to swallow Corah: Num. 16.31. for sin he sent jerusalem into captivity, jer. 40.2. jer. 33.15. jer. 30.15. and suffered Shiloh to be msde desolate, Go ye now, etc. See what I did unto it: consider how I deprived it of my mercies, and made it a spectacle of my justice. So true is that, jer. 2.3. Evil shall come upon sinners. The evil of sin, is but an earnest laid down for the evil of punishment. If sin be the herald going before, punishment will be the attendant, and follow after. When disobedience hath played her part, than vengeance comes upon the stage. Should I turn over every leaf of sacred writ, and search all Fathers, and all writers divine and humane, by innumerable testimonies, I should evince this truth, that sin hales on punishment. It is so sure a concomitant of sin, that oftentimes the word which signifies sin, is translated punishment * Zach. 14.19 : as if sin and punishment were termini convertibiles, Raro antecedentem scelestum Descruit pede poena claudo. in a manner all one. Haply it is sometimes punished slowly, but always surely. For a while it may with a boldened face out brave virtue, and so flourish as if vice were the only favourite of heaven: but, if we have time for observation, we shall see it halting on a crutch, and blushing for shame. It winds about men, like a subtle river, (seeming only to run on his course) doth yet search as it runs, gliding so slily by, as if it scarcely touched the bank, yet still eats something in it. * Plut. de sc●● numinis ultione. Isiodor Peleusiot lib. 1. Epist. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: God's justice is like a mill: it may be late, ere it doth grind a man for sin, but when once it gins to do it, it grinds him to powder. On whomsoever this stone shall fall, it will grind him to powder * Mat. 21.44. . God's patience being abused, is turned into fury; and then horrendum est, etc. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the loving God: Heb. 10.31. Aquinas * Aquin. sum. p. 3. q. 86. art. 4. (not amiss) gives this reason why men must be punished for sin: The disorder of sin (saith he) cannot be reduced to the order of justice, but by punishment: for it is just that he, who, more than he ought, hath followed his will, should suffer something against his will. This may be the way to reform him to Gods will. Though the anvil being beaten upon doth wax harder, yet being put into the fire it becomes soft: so sinners may be softened by punishment, that are hardened by mercies. Secondly, if God should never punish sin, wicked men would think God altogether like themselves, & conclude him a partaker in their sins Psal. 50.21. An ill tempered body, the more it is fed with good nourishment, the worse it is: so an ill tempered soul, with the untempered mortar of sin, becomes worse for the mercy and lenity of God. Thirdly, if God should never punish sin, wicked men would set at nought all his ministers, and conclude them false Prophets in denouncing judgements that never come upon them. jer. 5.12, S Chrysostome in Epist. ad Rom Home 25. 13, 14. Therefore (saith Chrysostome) doth God punish many in this world, that because they will not believe (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) the words of commination, they may believe (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) the deeds of execution. Fourthly, when sin is ripened, God is much provoked, and it is then an easing of him to punish sin. Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me on mine enemies, Isay 1.24. Till he is thus eased, he is by our sins pressed under us, as a cart that is full of sheaves, Amos 2.13. Our sins disturb God in the highest heaven, they cry unto him for vengeance, as the sins of Sodom did, Gen. 18. And if our sins cry, shall not he (that made the ear) hair? justice is his nature, and it is a righteous thing with him to recompense sin with punishment, 2 Thess 1.6. Upon those words of the Lord, (Ier 4.3, 4. S●w not among thorns, lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the wickedness of your doings: Ghist. in loc. ) It is observed by some, that sins are as thorns, which do easily kindle the fire of God's wrath. His wrath * Id. in jer. 15.14. is otherwise as a fire covered with embers; his divine love, I mean, (which is as warm embers) doth cover his wrath: but our sins, as a violent wind, do blow away those embers; and then his wrath appears, than his fury breaks forth like fire, and burns that none can quench it. I want time to handle the last observation, therefore jointly to apply this with the precedent points: Ye have heard, first, that it is God, who inflicts judgement. Secondly, that he doth it not except he be provoked by wickedness; and if he be so provoked, he will do it. Thirdly, and that to his own place and people. Behold here how we may come to lose all our prerogatives, Churches, Cities, prosperity, Application. safety, peace, Gospel, and what not? by running the courses of wickedness. Who can number the blessings we have enjoyed? The world can tell that of all the trees in the garden we are the Vine; amongst all flowers, we are the lily; 2 Esdr. 5.23 amongst all fowls, we are the dove; amongst all cities, we have Shiloh and jerusalem. Upon us God hath with a full hand poured those blessings, which he hath but sprinkled upon others: temporal, I mean, as well as spiritual blessings. All other countries are in some things defective; Sands Trau. l. 4. but England, like a provident parent, doth minister unto us whatsoever is useful; foreign additions but only tending to vanity and luxury. The summer burns us not, nor doth the winter benumb us. We may sit and sing under our own figtrees, — Penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos. Vir. and drink the wine of our own vineyeards. As in situation, so in felicity, our beloved Isle is wholly disjoined from all the world. They that have traveled the Belgic Provinces, can witness the miserable footsteps of war, Eccl. ●. and the tyranny of desolation: Churches and Cities have no more monuments, but the ruined foundations, to testify that they were. Whereas peace is within our walls, and prosperity within our Palaces. Our artificers may sing in their shops, husbandmen may cheerfully follow the plough, and students peaceably apply their books. We hear not the murdering pieces about our ears, we see not our Churches & houses flaming over our heads; we fear not rapes and outrageous violences to be offered to our wives, our daughters, our matrons, and our virgins. We feel not the rifling of our houses, the ransacking of our temples, the spoiling of our goods, nor the miserable insolency of our insulting enemies. We see not the wife breathing out her life in the arms of her husband; nor the tender babe, snatched from the mother's breasts, either bleeding dead on the pavement, or sprawling on the merciless pikes. We see not the high way strewed with breathless carcases, nor our streets swimming with blood. We cannot judge of the terrors of war, but by report and hearsay. Though God hath tossed our neighbour-nations, and made them like a wheel, and as the stubble before the wind; yet this Island, or Britain, our dear Country, hath stood like the Centre, with unmooved firmness. Oh how happy might we be, if our iniquity did not envy our prosperity, nor our wickedness make way to our wretchedness? Whether it come to pass, Ex Daemonis injuria, vel Ex hominis incuria, from the Devil's malice, or man's neglect, so it is, that for so many talents of God's blessings, we give him not a dram of service. Nay, we give him the worst of all things, who hath given us the best of all things. For his blessings heapen, and shaken, and thrust together, we give him iniquities pressed down, and yet running over. As Archimedes tomb was overgrown with thorns, Cic. Tusculan. quaest. lib. 5. when Cicero came to visit it: so is our land with heaps of vices. From the Cedar to the shrub, from the Eagle to the wren, from the highest to the lowest, from the youngest to the oldest; we have all corrupted our ways. Sin was wont to love privacy, as if she walked in fear, like one in danger of an Arrest: but now she dares show her face without blushing. Though the heavens blush at the view, and the earth sweat at the burden of so vile sinners, and the Prophets proclaim open shame and confusion against them: yet they neither shrink at the shame, nor feel the horror, nor fear the revenge. Now may we see the truth of that Praemonition, 2. Tim. 3.1. In the last days perilous times shall come. The times are now so perilous, that it is scarce safe to be an honest man. Virtue, like joseph for his goodness, is brought to the stocks and irons. Look upon this Angle of the world; for so, we think ANGLIA signifies: how doth it swarm with all abominations? with oppression, extortion, profaneness, uncleanness, unmercifulness, envy, malice, pride, fraud, bribery, luxury, and the rest? for to name all particulars is impossible. We need rather tears to bewail them than a tongue to report them. And, if the whole land be so full of sin, shall we think this City free? Nay, this is the Pontifical seat of sin, where she is never nonresident. As many lines meet at the Centre: so all sins by a general confluence to this place. * Holinshed Chron. Ann. 1. of Q. Mary. Grimstone State of the Empire. p. 566 The word of Stephen Gardiner, L. Chancellor, to Sr. Thomas White, L. Major in the star Chamber. My L. take heed to your charge, the City of London is a whirlpool, and a sink of evil rumours, there they be bred, and from thence spread into all parts of this Realm. There is a common Proverb in Germany, that the Country of Suabe alone is able to furnish all Germany with strumpets, Franconia with rogues and beggars, Bohemia with heretics, Bavaria with thiefs, Westphalia with perjurers and false witnesses, and the Marquisat of the Rhine with gluttons. I would to God, that London alone could not furnish all England with all these; with strumpets, rogues, beggars, heretics, thiefs, false witnesses, gluttons; and with any others, that are audacious in sin. Our wickedness is such, and so much, that it is all, if the idolatry of Rome, or the blasphemy of Turkey, can go beyond it. Rev. 3.1. I know there are a few names in Sardis, that have not defiled their garments; some amongst us, that make conscience of their ways: but what are these in comparison of the rest? How many ignorant are there, to one that hath sound knowledge? how many swearers, to one that fears an oath? how many oppressors, adulterers and hypocrites to one truly religious? As jerusalem justified Sodom, so we may well justify jerusalem; abounding in all damnable abominations. What then can we expect but that God should stint the influence of his favour toward us, withdraw from us all his blessings, power upon us the full vials of his wrath, and make us a spectacle of his justice, as he did Shiloh and jerusalem? We are now by reason our sins, circled round with imminent dangers, destruction with sail-stretched wings hovers o'er our heads, and a cloud of mischief is ready to break upon us. Not to mention other particulars, material in this kind, the glory of our nation hath of late been eclipsed, the lively lustre whereof was ere while so resplendent, that it dazzled the eyes of all such as were near or about us; God hath not gone out with our armies, but hath suffered our enemies to prevail; our young men and our strong men of the highest rank have fallen by the sword. So that, as fluttering birds fly wondering about the Owl, our friends have wondered, our foes rejoiced at our ill success; hissing and clapping their hands, to see our glory swallowed up. Whence this but from our sins * Indeed we do commonly impute it unto other causes, but we forget our sins, which are the principal. ? Besides, the massacring Angel, that harbinger of death, doth again visit our land; God for our sins doth now send the pestilence home to our doors, this his pursuivant rides circuit in our City, Country, and University; and catcheth men as with a snare, perhaps when they most hast from him, and will not be rid away, so long as our sins invite him to tarty. Our sins are the cart-ropes that hale down the plague and all other judgements upon us; they are the enemies that ring our knelles and proclaim our funerals; they are the thick clouds which hinder the Sunshine of our prosperity; they are the false strumpets that make a divorce between God's mercy and our safety; they are the traitors that forfeit into God's hands all those privileges, which we have hitherto enjoyed. And shall we still twist these cart-ropes and strengthen the hands of these enemies? shall we still increase these clouds, and foster these strumpets and traitors? Nay, rather let us bethink our selves of some remedy against that misery which is like to fall upon us. ENGLAND hath now for her sins (as it were) many swords drawn out against her, and shall she provide no buckler? Her own brood is ready to bite out her belly, to put out her candle, to shake her foundations, and shall we not look about us? Where are you, ye deputies of Moses, ye sons of the Highest, into whose hands God hath put a sword of authority, for no other purpose but to strike at sin? Will ye suffer it to rust in the sheath, or hold it in your hand and never strike? Will ye, like jehojakim, sit beaking yourselves before the fire of ease and rest, and wholly neglect the discharge of that high place to which God hath called you? Or will ye for a bribe sell your connivance (and withal your conscience) where ye should give your punishment? Hos. 5.7. & 6. ● 12. Will ye turn righteousness into wormwood, judgement into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock? Mistake me not, I aim at no particular person; and I trust you will not condemn the poor swallows for chattering and using their voice, agreably to nature. Bessus' * Plut. de sera numinis ultione. surmised they cried against him, that he had killed his Father. If the speech meet with any of you in particular, it is not in my intent, but in the event. Nor do I lay the fault upon Magistrates in general, that all sorts of sins are so rise amongst us. Yet (to speak truth) when I consider how powerfully the Ministers of this land, especially, they of this City, do labour to beat down sin, I begin to think there is some want of courage or diligence in the Magistrate: & that he himself is persuaded, that if he would do his best, many disorders might be repressed. The unhappy Cynic, Diogenes. when he saw the boy play the idle pack, went and beat his master. So when we see the forenamed sins fly about, as fiery serpents, we must blame the Magistrate, and say with the Prophet, Psal. 58.1 Is it true? do ye judge the thing that is right and execute with an upright hart? Do not our laws strike at many disorders that are common amongst us? Have we no law against rash swearing? God be thanked, we have: but where's the execution? Have we no law against Sabbath breaking? yes against that too. Yet is it openly profaned. The reformation of these two (to omit many others) I would commend to this Honourable Bench, but that me thinks I hear my friends telling me, what Sadolet said to Erasmus. Erasmus would prove that worshipping of images might well be abolished. I grant (quoth Sadolet) thy opinion is good: but this should not be handled because it will not be granted. Sir Francis Bacon Apotheg. 29. When Lycurgus was to reform and alter the state of Sparta, in the consultation, one advised, that it should be reduced to an absolute popular equality. But Lycurgus said to him; Sir, begin it in your own house. If the Magistrate would begin to reform things amiss in his own house, there were hope of amendment. It is not my practice to scan Magistrates, nor to rake into their actions: but this I have heard from some of your own Bench, that by reason of your solemn meetings, and feastings this day at the house of the Magistrate, the day is scarcely so well sanctified there as it ought to be. I know not whether it be so or not, let them look to it whom it doth concern. Howsoever, the counsel of a reverend Bishop of our Church, Babington on exod. c. 1●. in such a case, is not to be misliked. So ought we to dress meat upon holy days, that ever we have a care of the salvation of them that dress it: who being created and redeemed as we our selves be, ought not so evermore to be kept at this service, as that never they may hear the word, receive the Sacrament, and praise God in the congregation with his people. For that should be to eat the flesh of them, and to drink the blood of them most cruelly, yea, to bury them in our bellies: 2 Sam. 23.16. and for our bodies to destroy their souls for ever. Rather remember David's refusal to drink the water that was bought so dear; and provide so that the one being done, the other may not be left undone. I know well, that Magistrates are called Gods, because they represent his Majesty and magnificence on earth, in which respect much is to be granted them: but yet (by your leave) such should remember, that the nearer they are to heaven in greatness, the nearer they should be unto it in goodness; that as God hath honoured them, so they should honour him. I take not upon me to prescribe in this case, yet me thinks some other day as well as this, might serve the turn for solemn feasts, if custom were not more prevalent than conscience. * Magis nos docere debet judicium veritatis, quam prae ● iudicium consuetudinis. Aug. in psal. 105, Therefore among your manifold consultations, I beseech you to think upon the redress of this, and withal of the publicque and gross profanation of this day. But I must crave pardon, for I fear that through prolixity I have transgressed, whilst the zeal of God's glory hath enlarged my discourse against the transgressions of the time. Yet may I with leave strain my discourse one peg higher: and I will promise not to be overbold with your patience. There is a sin, too much practised in this City, Deut. 25.15, Pro. 11.1. which (the Scripture saith) is an abomination to the Lord; and it should be so to his Vicegerent, the Magistrate. I mean fraud, in selling by false balance, unjusts weights and measures; and in cunning conveyances, in weighing or meating; such as cheat the buyer. They say, there are some who in stead of Troy weights use Venice weights, which are very deceitful & not warranted by law: Silk-men. they say, that amongst * Grocer's, Bakers, Colemeaters, Victuallers and diverse others, there is much fraud used in this kind and to the great detriment of his majesties subjects. I am not a shamed to name these things in this place, when they require reformation. There are laws (no doubt) enacted against this injustice: but these laws without execution are but a dead letter. It is in you (Right Honourable) to put life into these laws, as Elisha did into the Shunamites son, and to set them upon their feet: it is in you, to take away these exactions from God's people, and to maintain the true weight and balance. There is another disorder, which had almost slipped my memory; they say, that the provision, which the Country brings in to serve the City, cannot be bought by householders but at a dear rate and at the second hand; the hands (I mean) of regrators and hucksters that forestall the market. Shall these things pass uncontrolled, unpunished, unreformed? God forbidden. The mentioning of these particulars, some may think not so fit in a sermon. But the care is taken, let them think what they please; I am sure this exaction and injustice doth displease God. The poor people already smart for it, and (if it be not punished) the whole land may smart for it. No question, you know many other particulars, in this, and other kinds, which require speedy reformation: therefore set yourselves to the work. Let it be your care (Right Honourable) to punish these and all others sins: do something this year, that may cause you to be had in remembrance hereafter. Be not unmerciful to your Country, whilst you are over-mercifull to offenders, but punish offenders and strike at the root of sin, for sin striketh at the root, & shaketh the foundation of our land. In brief, let inferiors as well as superiors, every one in his several place put his hand to this work. Every one that loves his nation, that favours religion, that wisheth the continuance of the Gospel, desires speace and prosperity unto our kingdom, let him consecrate his hands to pull down the kingdom of sin. Down wih it, down with it, even to the ground. So long as sin reigneth, our kingdom cannot flourish: but the sinews of our state will shrink, our policy will be no better than lunacy, and our glory be turned into ignominy. It is not our profession of the Gospel, nor any other prerogative, that can in this case defend us. Did not God punish Shiloh his own place: and Israel his own people? Did he not permit the Chaldeans to destroy the Temple built by Solomon; the Romans to overthrow the second Temple; the Turks to overthrow the Christian Churches in Asia and Europe, Sir Walter Raleigh Hist. of the world l. 2. c. 15 § 1. when the people became wicked? The Trojans believed, that while their Palladium, or the Image of Minerva, was kept in Troy, the City should never be overturned; the Christians in the last fatal battle against Saladine did carry into the field, as they were made believe, the very cross whereon Christ died, and yet they lost the battle, their bodies, and the wood: as the Israelites did the Ark, when they fetched it into the camp, from Shiloh. Therefore trust not to the sign, but to the substance of God's worship; it is not the profession, but the practice of religion, Eccl. 7.10. that can guard us. Look we therefore to that, and this we cannot do, except we abandon our sins. Therefore abandon your sins, cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed, pull those Scorpions out of your bosoms, weed these nettles out of the garden of your hearts, spew out this gall of bitterness, break off these bonds of iniquity. Say not thou (if thou wouldst chop Logic with God) what is the cause that the former days were better than these? Theophrastus makes it the character of a prattler, * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Theophrast. Charact. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. to find fault with the present times, and to say men are now worse than before. We all cry out, the days are evil, while we help to make them worse. All complain all censure, none amend. The Scribe points to the Publican, the proud gallant points to the miserable churl; the well conceited hypocrite blames the dissolute, & the dissolute lays the fault on the hypocrite, that the days are evil. But if every one would mend one, the times would then be better. Therefore let every one begin at home. It was the proud Pharisee that broke his neighbour's head, the poor Publican smote his own bosom. Luk. 18.11. To conclude all: God hath highly advanced us into his favour, he hath honoured this nation of ours above all the nations in the world; for shame let not us out-sinne all the nations in the world; for, if we outact them in sin, we must out-suffer them in punishment. For our sins past let us seriously humble ourselves, and by faith lay hold on Christ, that they may be pardoned: and for time to come let us implore the assistance of God's Spirit, that we may be able by his power to mortify our sins. So shall that cloud of judgement be dissolved, which hangs over our heads; so shall that fire of wrath be quenched, which is already kindled, so shall that sword of vengeance be put again into his sheath which is already drawn out, but hath not stricken home, so shall God's blessings fall down upon us, like gracious showers; spiritual, temporal, eternal blessings; personal and national blessings; whole miriads of blessings. Happy, o happy, are the people that are in such a case: blessed, ò blessed is that people, that have the Lord for their God. This blessedness we beg at thy hands o blessed Father, and that for the sake of our blessed Saviour jesus Christ, to whom with thine own Majesty and blessed Spirit, be ascribed all honour and glory, now and evermore. FJNJS.