LONDON'S Return, After the decrease of the SICKNESS: In a Sermon (appointed for the Cross) but preached in St. PAUL'S CHURCH. January 8. 1637. By O.W. P. And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, etc. Luk. 19.41. LONDON, Printed by N. and I. Okes; and are to be sold by Richard Whitaker, at the sign of the King's Arms in Saint Paul's Churchyard 1637. To the truly noble, and my much honoured friend, John Puliney Esquire. Sir, I Have read of gratitude, in Birds, and Beasts; of a Lion's thankfulness to a Roman Captive; of a Stork which cast a precious Stone into the bosom of a Maid, which had healed her of a wound: Which deeds of Nature do speak to me that Gospel Luk. 10.37. Vade & tu fac similiter, Go thou and do likewise. Now if Solomon thought to shame the Sluggard into pains, by sending him to the busy Ant; I'll think it, no disparagement, to learn in Nature's School, gratitude of a Bird. Those many favours of Love which your noble spirit hath heaped upon me, laid such a strict siege to my thoughts, that I knew not how to rescue myself, but by this public declaration; wherein, whilst I show my duty, I proclaim my weakness; and deserve this censure (from the world) to be a man guilty of gratitude: yet no matter, 'tis a less crime to commit an error, then to forget a friend: and if Naaman did not remember his maid, which told him of the Prophet, I dare say, his ingratitude was a fouler disease than his leprosy. The last Summer, when Divine Justice had scattered us over all the Land, your house was my noble Sanctuary; where I saw, as much Religion practised, as an Hypocrite can talk of; and such reverend conformity in your private Chapel, that obedience might there safely stand for a Lecture; and bending the knee (to the Jesus of men) would not lose a voice, but get a blessing. And now, sir, for my royal entertainment, I present you with a paper payment, this poor Sermon, which wears no costly dress; preached in a time of sadness, when sorrow is the best eloquence. To your hands I tender it, and your religious Lady, who (to the glory of her Sex) sees herself oftener in a Book then in a Glass, and is so enamoured with saving knowledge, that she resembles the Bee, which lives in honey, or the Birds of the fortunate Lands, which are nourished with perfumes. Now the good will of him that dwelled in the Bush, preserve you both, and your virgin sister (second to none in Virtue) who now increaseth the poor with Alms, Mrs. Marry Puliney. as she will hereafter Heaven with a Saint: and the God of Jacob, give you the blessing of Joseph, the precious things of Heaven, and the precious things of the Earth; & grant, that what you sow beneath, you may reap above; God Almighty lead you by the hands, from Grace to Glory; 'tis the prayer of him who is, and ever will be Your virtues bumble and devoted servant, O. WHITBIE. London's Return. Text, Hosea 6. vers. 1. Come and let us return to the Lord, for he hath torn and he will heal us; he hath broken, and he will bind us up. Text, Hosea 6. vers. 2. After two days he will revive us; the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Here are a sort of good people met in my text, and I hope within mine eye too; and though we are not all of one blood, yet we are all of one business; they and we are now met, about a return to the Lord. And the time fitly conspires with our purpose, for the year is now returned; the Sun gins to return, and lengthens the day; after him the Spring, and Fowls will follow: and most of you here are returned from your last year's exile, to your own houses, O stay not behind in the best and chief of all returns, your return to the Lord. Here is none in this, needs fear solomon's Valerio soli, woe to him that is alone; for if you will return, you shall have a whole Nation to be are you company; the twelve Tribes are now ready to set forth: their way is our way, their case our case, even smiting and tearing, and their Physician our Physician: oh than let their voice be ours, and every one of us say to our neighbour, as they here did, Venite & revertamur ad Dominum, etc. The words are a story of the egress, and regress, of prodigal children, a clear crystal glass, wherein may be seen the face, and perfect proportion of penitent men's conversion. Now as Travellers in a morning, will not stay at every man they meet, to inquire the way, but having taken good direction in their Inn, pass on with speed. No more will I now stand to dispute with all expositors of these many ways, which is the best, but lead you on like Ahimaaz by the way of the plain, neither marching too furiously, like some Iehu's of Rome, who think to win Heaven by their spurs, nor yet creeping a snails pace with our lazy Solifidians, who would get to heaven too when they die, and yet live with their arms a cross: but lead you fairly on, as jacob did his wife's children, and in your way desire you to take notice of these observations. First, Israel's proposition. Secondly, their reasons. The Proposition is revertamur ad Dominum, let us return to the Lord. In few words they have spoke much. Their reasons. 1. Drawn from God's Justice, He hath torn, and he hath smitten us, ideo revertamur, therefore let us return. 2. Drawn from God's mercy, and the profit which shall redound to us, He will heal, he will bind us up: He is a Chirurgeon that can heal all sores, a Physician that can cure all diseases, ideo revertamur, therefore let us return. 3. Is drawn from God's power and goodness, he can revive and raise us up; though we are now dead in misery, yet he can revive us; though buried in the graves of Assyrian bondage, he can raise us up: and this with as much speed as power; after two days he will do it, and if not upon the second, yet he will be sure to do it upon the third, & ideo revertamur, come therefore and let us return. Last of all, here's the happy estate we shall enjoy after our return, We shall live in his sight: now we suffer a living death in the Assyrian land, where they that hate us are Lords over us, but when once we return to the Lord, we shall live in his sight. In the proposition we have the Persons, Israel and judah; their Act, a return; their Object, to the Lord: Wherein they make: 1. An ingenuous confession of their faults; they acknowledge, that they had gone astray, because they desire to return. 2. Here's their faith, in that they durst return, had they not believed in God's mercy, they would not have come back to him. 3. Their charity, they would not steal to him in private, nor come alone like Nicodemus by night, but all join together in the bands of love, with a venite, Come, let us. 4. here's their humility, in that they confess, to the glory of God's justice, with Daniel, tibi Domine justitia, nobis confusio facierum, to thee, O God, belongs justice, but to us smiting and tearing, as at this day. 5. here's their hope, in God's power and goodness, that as he can, so he will revive, he will raise them up. 6. here's their patience, that they would tarry the Lords leisure, not only to the second, but till the third day; and blessed are all they that wait, Isaiah 30. Last of all, which is the Crown of all, they should live in his sight, which was, They should lead the life of Grace here, and that should conduct them to the life of Glory hereafter. And these parts are distillatio favi, the voluntary droppings of this Honeycomb; which I intent to speak of with much plainness, the sadness of this time, and subject, will admit no descant; sick men must sigh and groan out their words, the whole may sing and be witty. I begin with the persons, Israel and judah, and their ingenuous confession, That they had gone astray, inferred out of their venite & revertamur, Come and let us return. THis life is a journey to another, to a better life, 'tis man's way upon earth, so said David, I am going the way of all the earth, 1. King. 2.2. and no long way neither, 'tis but a short walk betwixt Cradle and a Grave: But as in a Labyrinth, so here, many turnings there are, many aberrations, and therefore the Scripture cries, cavete, take heed, for straight is the gate, and narrow is the path which leads to life, and therefore the Prophet Isaiah, ch. 30.21. tells us of a voice behind us, that cries, O all ye that pass on, turn neither to your right hand nor your left: this is the way walk in it: The Church is your way, the Priest your guide, follow them, and you shall find rest to your souls. But alas we are men, & while we carry about us these bodies of clay, we shall either fall, as the most righteous man doth, seven times a day, or else forsake the right way, as Baalam did, who followed the wages of unrighteousness, 2. Pet. 2. in many things we all offend, and who can say, that when pleasure and profit have beckoned to him, he has not been ready to say to God, as Elisha did to his Master, 1. King. 19 Suffer me I pray thee to go kiss them, and I will follow thee: this is our misery. O but her's our comfort, the errors in our life are not like those in war, for which all repentance comes too late, no, being out of the way we may get in again; in the valley of Anchor, there was the door of hope left open for us, Hos. 2.15. and we have a Saviour, that took compassion on them that were out of the way, Heb. 5.2. who sent forth his Disciples to be guides and leaders to all the World; who lift up their voices like Trumpets, who cry, heus vos, O all ye that are out of your way, make haste back again, ye that have turned aside, return, this is your way, walk in it. But what is it that so makes us lose our way? O 'tis sin, and therefore it is called transgressie from gressus, our going; and whereas it promiseth us a nearer way and a fairer, as thiefs do the true men, when they lead them into a wood, yet alas 'tis mere deceit, and therefore called the deceitfulness of sin, Heb. 3.13. 'Tis Gull, a trick which the grand Cheater put upon our Mother in Paradise, who promised her the nearest way to Divinity, but she found the clean contrary, Serpens seduxit, the Serpent hath deceived me and led me out of the way. In Hebrew the same word goes for sin and error, because every sin is an error, a turning out of the way which God commands us to walk in, nun errant omnes, saith Solomon, Proverbs 14. Do not all sinners err? yes they do: we may see it in two places, 2. King, 21.9. where wicked Manasseh, who drew Israel into heinous abominations, is said to have led them out of the way; God's way, and the way of life, into the Devil's way, and way of death: Manasseh led Israel out of the way: The second is in the 53. Psalm 3. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if any would understand and seek after God, but he finds, they are all gone out of the way: some had bought Farms, and must go see them; some yokes of Oxen, and must go prove them, and some had married wives, and must go bed them; that is, their affections, like Sisera were nailed to the earth, and the ways of God not once thought on: yet let all worldly wanderers know that truth of Solomon: There is a way that seems right to a man in his own eyes, yet the end thereof is death: And though sin may set a man a chair, as it did the scorner, in the 1. Psalm; or a stool, as it did in the 94. Psalm, yet they must quickly be diseased of both, and lie in Hell, Psal. 49. No Chair of State, nor Stool of ease there. there's none of us I am sure that would endure that man, who in a strange place (in foul weather) should purposely set us out of our way, especially we being weary, our beasts tired; our Inn a great way off, and the night at hand; surely if ever we met with that man again, our blood would rise at him, and we should have somewhat to say, yet sin leads all out of the way, the way to heaven, and who is angry who falls out with that? It leads the old man out of his way, who should make haste home, death being close at his heels; and it leads the young man out of his way, and betrays him to thiefs which wound his conscience, and rob him of his innocence; and often time casts him into a pit, the pit of despair, from whence there is no redemption. And therefore, seeing young and old; seeing all of us, like sheep, have gone astray, and have turned to our own ways, Isaiah 53.6. let us make haste back again: and seeing, with the Prodigal, we have gone into a fare Country (every sinner goes fare from heaven, and the God of it) our mouths being filled with laughter, and our tongves with joy, let us come back by Weeping-Crosse; and as travellers love good company, we have in my Text all the Israel of God, who having, like us, traveled into the wilderness of Sin, are now making haste back again, their way is our way; their home, our home: let their faith be our faith too; and their voice our voice, we stirring up one another as they here do, venite & revertamur, Come, let us return. So much for the persons and their ingenuous confession: I come to the next thing, the Act, which they resolve upon, revertamur, Let us return. But can a man return when he will? Hath he power, as to sin, so to convert himself from it? Are not the hearts of men in the hands of God, who turns them like the rivers of water? Why then doth not the Lord say, Egoreducam, I will bring them back, but suffers them to take it out of his hands with a venite, Come, let us return? I answer, they are both true; and the second supposes the former; our return, Gods preventing grace; by which being led, we freely go, and the Lord brings us back to him, yet not without ourselves; that is, God doth so reduce man to himself, that we are neither refractory nor idle, but contribute to our own happiness, as jonadab the son of Rechab did in the 1. of King. 10. when jehu called to him, give me thy hand, ascend my Chariot; so we must obey the sweet motions of precious Grace, which some men resist to their own damnation. 'tis true, the Graces of God insinuate themselves by secret ways, and the impressions of the will are extremely nice; all that past is, is a dream, and the future a cloud where thunders murmur in the dark: and though the matter be plain, to wit, no man comes to Christ, except the Father draw him, joh. 6. yet the manner how, is most hidden and secret. God draws every man, yet not violently by the head and shoulders; but rather by the ears, with sweet and gracious persuasions. I let them with the cords of love, Hos. 11.4. God led, but they followed; and leads by peaceful love, no rough violence: As the Sun, who breaks neither doors nor windows to enter into houses, but penetrates mildly with his gentle beams; so Grace finds a quiet passage into man's soul; which like a chaste love, being fairly wooed, is most willing to be won. Indeed, from the beginning it was not so; in our creation there was God's hand, faciamus hominem, Gen. 1. let us make man; but in our conversion there is (if I may so say) but digitus Dei, the finger of God, no absolute power, for then man might be saved without himself, and all the rewards of Virtue would perish in the world. But redemption was not wrought to make men idle, and therefore the Scripture divides the child, sometimes it gives it to God's grace, sometimes to man working by grace. I will draw them, saith the Lord, Chap. 11. and they shall seek me, in the verse. before my Text. But to leave the dispute, and come to the practice: The Lord at this instant, speaks to every one that hears me, to return; and offers grace sufficient, to all that will go about it. Will you stand still as Lot's wife did; and think to be ravished to heaven by some fatal decree? fie no: though man's soul be God's spouse, as 'tis in the 2. Chap. ver. 19 sponsabo te mihi, yet he must enjoy thy love by willing contract, not by ravishment. And therefore lazy Faith adieu, let us acquit ourselves like men, like Christians, and use that Grace which is now offered, and which exercise will improve; and seeing the gracious Lord of heaven and earth, knocks at the doors of our hearts, to come back, let us answer him with David paratum est cor meum Domine, My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready; and seeing he calls to us by his Prophet, jere. 3.22. O ye disobedient children, return, and I will heal your backslidings; let us take up that answer which the Prophet made for them, Behold we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God. Thus much for the Act revertamur: I come to the Object, to whom, that is, ad Dominum: Let us return To the Lord. PEccantes recedunt a Deo, affectuum non locorum spatijs, saith Saint Jerome, Sinners wander from God, by the distance of affections, not of place; they may go from his mercies, they can never go from his judgements the Prodigal child, from his father's house, went afar off; but as by sinning, we depart from God; so by forsaking it, we come back again; neither can our conversion be right, unless it end in him who is Alpha and Omega. If thou wilt return, O Israel (saith the Lord) return to me, jere 4.1. some did return, but it was not to the most High, in the 7. chap. of this Book. 16. ver. they returned from one sin to another, as dogs to the vomit, or the sow that was washed, to wallow in the mire: but these are the Devils returns, a malo ad pejus; ours must be to the Lord: Turn ye unto him from whom ye have deeply revolted, Esay 21. from whom we have strayed, to him we must go back: Against thee only have I sinned, Psal. 51. and therefore to thee only will I return, Esay 44. Well, these men did so, and to the honour of their faith be it first spoken, that although they had sinned against heaven, and the Lord of it, and were of sons become rebels, yet they knew, God remained unchangeable, and if they would return, he would be still their father: though they had lost their way, they had not as yet lost their faith, they believed God would be gracious, though they had been sinners. And this spark of faith did kindle in them a holy fire of Charity, which is the next thing observable in their friendly compellation, venite, come let us. Though every man had gone after his own lusts, and scattered their ways to strange gods, jer. 3.13. yet now they will not only mend one, but one another, such is their Charity, that they will not steal, no not to heaven, but stir up all to go; you hear no lazy Solifidians creditè, nor the Centurions Ite, go thou, go he, but the Saints community, venite, come let us. And this was that which proved their faith to be quick and legitimate: Faith in God, neither aught, nor can be without charity to our neighbour: Faith is a good huswife and lives by her work, she cries for them as Rachel did for issue, give me children or I die. Non quaerit quae sunt suae, saith St. Paul, 1. Cor. 13. She seeks not her own; she was not so nobly borne to be her own centre, and Divinity, but like the Sun, to do good to all. St. Iren. calls it a present from heaven, the top and Zenith of all virtues, it is the gate of the Sanctuary, which leads us to the vision of the Trinity, 'tis the double spirit, which Elisha required, wherewith to love God and our neighbour. You are not much to afflict yourselves to become perfect: (saith St. Augustine) Love God, and then do what you will: And if you would know whether your love to God be real; mark how you love your neighbour; by how much the lines draw nearer to one another, by so much the more they approach the Centre: by how much the nearer you approach to your neighbour in love, by so much the nearer you are to God. In the old Law the jews were commanded to lift an Ox or an Ass out of the Pit, into which they were fallen: Numquid Deo cura de Bobus? What, hath God care of Oxen? surely he hath more of men, by how much man comes nearer to his Nature, than does the Ox or the Ass: And it was our Saviour's charge to St. Peter Luke 22. Thou being converted, strengthen thy brethren: Peter, lovest thou me? then feed my sheep. We are members of that one body, whose head is Christ: and as in the natural, so in this mystical body; one member has need of another member: the head is to instruct the hand, and the hand to guard the head; the eye must see for the foot, else they will both fall into the Ditch: And this St. Paul calls the fulfilling of the Law, Rom. 13.10. For the Law commands no more than to love: And a more delicate war (saith Chrysologus) was never heard of, than to conquer all by love: and St. Cyprian observes, that all the volumes of the Scriptures are to be found in this one word, Love, in this all religion hath her consummation. Surely Charity is a sacred flame, kindled in our breasts by the God of Nature; 'tis the soul and life of the whole World; it knows no more how to hide itself, than fire does in straw; for as fire will bewray itself by light and heat, so will Divine Charity; it gives light by holy examples, and heat by pious admonition, teaching and admonishing one another, Col. 3.16. The Donatists would to heaven alone, as we have some, who will allow salvation to none, but them of their faction: whereas the blessed St. Paul would have ventured to be accursed for the salvation of his brethren, and these good men here judged it, in glorious piety, a piece of repentance, to be repent of, to return to the Lord alone; fearing (perhaps) GOD would give them that answer, which joseph did the Patriarches: Gen. 42. You shall not see my face, unless you bring your brother with you: this made them move together like the fingers of one hand, like the eyes of the same head; and in love, that might invite the eyes of Angels, lock arm in arm, and as if they had had but one soul, to say with one voice, venite, come let us. Note again out of their venite, what we may think of those, who neither return to God themselves, nor suffer others, but are as the Authors of their Schism, so the hinderers of their conversion. Truly we may fafely judge, that they are not of Christ's fold who mislead his sheep: and it was a sin, which made Lucifer the Devil to draw the Angels away from God; and they who on earth go about to divide Christ's seamlesse coat, the Church; show that they are not members of his body. Union builds God's Church, but Schism pulls it down: and judge you, whether it be not a greater sin than Idolatry, when it was punished with a greater vengeance than Idolatry; the greatest Idolatry of Israel was to be punished with the Sword, Ex. 32. but to destroy Church Rebels, the Lord did a new thing on earth; and made that earth which fed the peaceful, devour the factious Israelites, who went down quick into the grave, and because they were so unworthy to live, the Lord scarce permitted them to dye: but gave them that deadly vae of our Saviour, Matth. 11 7. Woe to them by whom offences, come. It was jeroboams' brand set upon him by God himself, that he made Israel to sin, and brought that Schism into the Church, which rend 10 Tribes, not only from the Sceptre, but the God of judah: As for himself, he lived to see his Altars crack under the horror of his new religion, and his posterity were so closely pursued by the wrath of God, that in the revolution of a short time, there was not a handful of the dust of his house left alive upon the face of the earth, and the miserable Tribes whom he seduced, were lost in foreign captivity, and scattered as so much dust before the wind, or as so many straws upon a wrought sea. And thus (in Eusebius) the famous Schismatic Novatus, swore all his Communicants upon the Sacrament, that they should adhere to his Sect, and never more return to the Orthodox Cornelius. The Church at unity with her children, is the fairest among women, but when once torn in sunder, by several Factions, she proves like the Levites divided Concubine; the horror and detestation of every eye. The speediest way to set a man at variance with God, is to be at opposition with his brother; and what a shame is it, that Thiefs and Murderers should go more friendly to hell, than Christians do to he even. O that our Novatian brood, they of the separation, would consider this, who dispose Heaven to 〈◊〉 but them of their brother and sisterhood; would they would remember, That heaven was made for more than for themselves, though they entitle God to a cruel Decree, and pass the sentence of Reprobation, upon all that are not as mad as themselves: Yet maugre their malice, all are their brethren that can say, Our Father; brethren by a threefold tie that is not easily broken, by the same Father, God; by the same mother, the Church; by the same Redeemer, Christ: And therefore I will beseech all Christians, in the powerful words of an Apostle, 1. Cor. 1.10. by the Name of our Lord jesus Christ, that they would be perfectly joined together in the same judgement, and the same mind, that ye all speak the same things. And if ye now hope to re-establish your broken peace with God, The news Carrier of Ipswich. you must be at unity with his Church; Let the seditious man, who sowed his tares by night, his Pamphlet in your streets, rail on, till the accuser of his brethren (the Devil) who set him on work pay him his wages: as for ourselves, the way to recover our union with God, lies in the happy agreement with one another, when you all say with one heart and one voice, what Israel here did, venite & revertamur ad Dominum, come let us, etc. And so I pass from the proposition, with its adjuncts, faith and charity, to the reasons, whereof the first is drawn A justitia Dei, from God's justice. For he hath torn, and he hath smitten us. ANd this may seem a strange reason, that a man should return to him, by whom he is sore wounded; and kiss that hand, to whose severity he owes the loss of blood; as if David should embrace Saul for running at him with a javelin. Yet such is the wholesome power of affliction, that whom fair words could not return, rough blows will bring back again; and the Prodigal child did more at the urgence of hunger and could, than at the tears, and oratory of his Father. jonah in fair weather would be running from God, but the tempest and the Whale brought him back again. Nay, a Dungeon freed Manasseh from the Pit of Hell; had he not been chained in Babylon, he had gone on in sin, till he had been bound hand and foot and cast into utter darkness. This people, who in prosperity, (like Balaam) road post to sin, yet when Divine vengeance drew upon them, as the Angel did upon him, than down upon their faces, and cry, If it displease the Lord, we will go back again, Numb. 22. These who before made the holy one of Israel to cease, yet now the rod is upon them, sue to him without ceasing, and verify that which the Lord spoke in the verse before, in angustijs manè requirent me, in their afflictions they will seek me early. Truly in this, men use God, as children do fruit trees, throw sticks at them in fair weather, but when once a storm comes, run under them for shelter. The Lord could not otherwise scour Israel, but with the file of afflictions; they would not look towards their Maker, until the destroyer was come forth; nor turn back, till judgement trod on their heels: this indeed prevailed more with them, without speaking a word, than God, and all his Prophets could with their passionate Sermons. The Almighty threatened them two verses before this: I will be a Lion unto Ephraim, and as a young Lion to the house of Judah; I will tear, even I, and none shall rescue them: yet threatening would do no good, no news as yet of their conversion; but when the wrath of God had brought the Assyrian troops into their land, and they began to bathe their swords in their bowels, than every man to his knees, O Israel! venite & revertamur, come, and let us return to the Lord. O how powerful is Justice to save, when grace comes with it: these, who before forgot God and themselves; yet now in their miseries remember both: they, who before sought after pleasures and profits, yet now when the Lord slew them, than they sought him, Psal. 78. 'Tis true, Reprobates will not own God in his Judgements, unless extreme; nothing can startle some but thunder; yet good natures will repent at the first blow, and like gracious children, kneel to the mothers for mercy at one whipping. These men could discern the Lord through the thickest troops of the Assyrian Armies, and in the midst of their swords, confess it was his hand, not King jareb, nor Salmanaser, nor chance, but Dominus rapuit, the Lord hath smittenus. And thus, as in Sampsons' riddle, Out of the Eater came forth meat, when out of this tearing Lion they could gather the honey of comfort, making God's wrath an argument of his love, and return they will, because he hath smitten them. Now their argument may be framed thus: 'Tis God's Nature (say they) to punish where he affects, and to chasten every son whom he loves: Now like a just father, he hath smitten us, but to break our stomaches, not our bones; though he punishes our sins, yet he pities our humanity; like a wise Chirurgeon he has torn us, yet not to kill, but cure our festered sores: he is salus Israel, Jer. 3. the health of Israel; therefore let us return. And thus, like job, they acknowledge affliction cometh not out of the dust, nor misery spring out of the earth; and therefore resolve with that Champion of heaven, Though the Lord tears and slays us, yet will we trust in him. And happy are they who so kiss the son, when he is first angry, and fall upon their knees, before his whole displeasure be arose; a tear may do that with God in time, which afterwards a shower of blood cannot. But thrice miserable they, who when they feel the rod, yet will not see the hand, but arm themselves with Past-boord against the murdering Canon, and beg of the creature help against the Creator. Thus Asa in his disease sought to the Physician, not the Lord: thus jobs Wife in her husband's misery, when he should have kneeled to Prayer, fell to cursing: Thus wicked Ahaziah turned from the God of Israel, to seek help from Baalzebub, the god of Eckron; but all these knocked at a wrong door, and took great pains to go to hell: Thou turnest man to destruction: (saith David) Again thousai'st, come again ye children of men: And as Hannah sung, 1 of Sam. 2. It is the Lord that kills and makes alive, that brings down to the grave, and lifts up again, ideo revertamur, cries Israel, therefore let us return: and this is the first argument: the second is drawn, A misericordia dei, from God's mercy. He will heal, he will bind us up. A Metaphor taken from Physicians and Surgeons: the Septuagint turns it, alligabit sicut fascijs, he will bind us up as with swaths, as Surgeons do sores till they are whole: St. Jerome uses the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, linteola, Linen rags put by a Chirurgeon into wounds, to eat out the corrupt matter. Indeed in Israel's recovery the Lord used much Art, and played the skilful Chirurgeon: first he applied applied sharp corrosives to eat out the festered corruption; judgement to eat out sin; then he suppled their broken spirits with his mercy, and swathed them with a gracious pardon: so David: He forgives thy sins and heals althy infirmities, Psal. 103. Their disease would admit no Physician but God, to him alone belong the issues of life and death: the balms of Gilead were antidotes too weak; for the oil of the Scorpion must heal his own sting, and the sight of the Brazen Serpent expel the poison of the fiery Serpent. In the chapter before, ver. 13. When Ephraim saw his sickness, and judah his wound, than went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to King jareb for help, yet could he not heal, nor cure you of your wound. No said jer. 3. in vain is salvation hoped for from the Hills and mountains (the Kings and great men of the earth.) God is the health of Israel, ver. 23. so that now they conclude with Solomon, Proverbs 21. There is neither prudence, nor council, nor wisdom against the Lord: What is the Physician over his patient without God? but a busy Ant, striving to put life into a mountain. There is no flying from him, but to him; from the hand of his justice, to the arms of his mercy, and look how much the arm in length exceeds the hand; by so much his mercy, to the penitent, is extended beyond his justice. O! this is a safer Sanctuary, than was jerusalems' hallowed Temple: his favour is a stronger protection, than ever were the horns of the Altar, and therefore the Prophet calls them, the sure mercies of David: men's mercies are sometimes cruel, always deceitful; but Gods are sure mercies, such as never failed any soul that trusted in him. And though the same Physic which helps an Ague, will not cure a Fever, yet the same mercy which helps the soul of one sin, can cure it of all: Return to me, (saith the Lord) and I will heal all thy Rebellions, Jer. 3.22. And therefore out of this book, let me take up one peeble, to throw against the brow of the Giant Despair: though the Lord, like an enraged Lion, does smite, and tear us with his judgements, yet we here learn, if we will return, he will heal us, he will bind us up, and why will he? O, because with him there are multitude of mercies, with him there is plenteous redemption; and with this hope, Israel in captivity, did now even gild their chains. It was prophesied in the fourth of Malach. ver. the second: Unto them that fear my name shall he come, with healing upon his wings: Who is (He) that shall come? O 'tis Messiah the Saviour of the World, he shall come with wings, to show his speed, that he will even fly to be merciful. Secondly, he shall come with infinite virtue, and unspeakable comfort, he shall come with healing upon his Wings; and therefore never fear your sanabit, but God will heal, and bind you up; and this is the second argument: The third is drawn, A potentia, & bonitate Dei, from God's power and goodness. After two days he will revive us, the third day he will raise us up. AMong many opinions, of these days, I will name but one, and that is of them, who by two days, understand a short time, by the third, a long time, and both of them uncertain, whose accomplishment they might not know, but aught to expect, and blessed is he that waits, saith the Prophet, Dan. 12. but cursed is he that says with the King of Israel, Why should I wait upon the Lord any longer, 2. King. 6.33. Now if two days be taken for a short time, than the argument runs thus: The time wherein we are to be afflicted, is no long time, therefore never despair, 'tis but two days, no more, and therefore (O ye seed of Abraham) bear your Cross with patiented spirits, your afflictions are not everlasting afflictions, though heaviness may endure for a night, yet joy will come in the morning, and if not the first, yet sure enough upon the second, Post biduum, after two days he will revive us. But if the third day be taken for along time, then thus: The Lord can raise a carcase, as well after three days, when it begins to smell and putrify, as the first day and hour it died. Elishas' Coffin raised a man that had been many years dead, as easily as Elias did the child that had been so but a few hours. Now if Prophets could do thus, surely the God of those Prophets could do much more; and therefore, although three days (that is along time) we have lain in the grave of our captivity, yet the Lord can raise us up. Some have undertaken to show these three days in the Chapter before my Text, at whose, 14. ver. the Lord said, He would be a Lion to Ephraim, and judah, and would tear them as a Lion doth his prey, and sell them for nothing to the Kings of Assyria and Babylon: and this may be the first day, Dies Crucis, & Mortis, The day of their death. Secondly, at the 15. ver. I will go saith the Lord to mine own place, I will wash mine hands of Israel, as a people that are dead, and buried; they shall lie in desperate captivity without Prince, Priest, Ephod, and Teraphin, and this is the second day, Dies sepulturae, The day of their burial. Thirdly, the Lord says in that same ver. he would not forsake them for ever, Donec, Until they acknowledged their faults, and sought him, no longer: showing that after those days, of death, and burial, he would return, and put new life into his people; which is to be understood, not carnally, but spiritually; and respects not only their deliverance out of Babylon, but their freedom from the slavery of sin, and hell, to be accomplished ere long by Emmanuel, the Saviour of the world. Now, out of their Vivificabit we may learn, that man's best life comes from God's grace: unless he revive us with his Spirit, we are dead in sin, like the Widow in pleasure: 1 Tim. 5. She was dead, though alive. Secondly, these men buried in miseries; cry, Vivemus, We shall live; to teach, that life is to be hoped for in the jaws of death; and though the Grave gapes never so wide, yet it cannot devour the Article of our Resurrection. Wherefore my spirit and flesh shall rest in hope; for though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet with these eyes I shall see God. Thirdly, here are God's children in the dark night of Captivity, raising arguments of comfort, to help one another; teaching that man should never despair of God's goodness, or his own Salvation, but to believe in hope, though against hope: He that is good to himself, need not fear that God will be ill to him. Would time permit, I might show you how this Text was verified upon Christ, and how upon each Christian; how Christ had these three days of Death, Burial, and Resurrection, upon whom God did let fly, like an enraged Lion, did tear, and smite him in the day of his fierce wrath; and how each Christian must drink after him in this bitter cup, and in this life pass through the jews purgatory. But I hasten to the period of all, which like jobs latter end, is better than his beginning, which stands like a beloved harbour beyond a churlish sea; which looks like a clear Heaven after a battle of clouds, and thunder; 'tis Visio Dei after all these tearings, and smitings, deaths, and burials, Vivemus coram eo. We shall live in his sight. ANd this is no mean happiness, to live in God's sight; in the last Chapter, the Lord turned his back upon them, and did what he threatened, jer 7.15. I will cast you out of my sight: And this Cain confessed to be no light punishment, but one greater than he could bear. Gen. 4.14. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be bid; and it shall come to pass, that every one that finds me, shall slay me. Some affirm, that wheresoever Cain set his foot, the earth trembled: and Procopius adds a tradition, that he perpetually saw certain Spectres with swords of fire, which brought horrible affrightments upon him; the truth whereof I know not. Yet this I am sure of, no sword could be more fiery than that of his conscience, which every moment, with hidden launches, did open his breast and made him think every creature he met, owed him a murder. And such is the estate of every one whom God turns his back upon; but now, it was Israel's comfort, that the Lords face was turned to them; his favour, and protection; and though hitherto they had been cast out of both, yet now they should live in his sight. In a word, the life which the Prophet here means was primarily, a temporal life, secondarily, an eternal life; absolutely the life of Grace, by consequence, that of Glory: So the Chaldee para. renders my Text, vita donabit nos in diebus consolationis qui venturi sunt, in die resurrectionis mortuorum suscitabit nos, & vivemus coram eo. That is, we shall lead a happy life here, and a glorified life hereafter: these two following one another, like the twins out of Rebecca's womb; the later laying hold upon the former, and more than these two, no covetous Jew could desire. I cannot stay to show you how this Prophecy was verified upon Israel & judah; whom the Lord, after seventy year's captivity, raised from the graves of Assyrian bondage, and brought them back to that jerusalem, which they beheld with as many tears of joy, as they remembered with sorrow, when they sat down by the Waters of Babylon; where again they lived in God's sight, until new sins provoked a more consuming wrath, and the Romans, for crucifying their innocent Messiah, made the Jews blood as cheap as their mother's tears. The few sands which are yet behind, shall run forth in a short review of my Text, by way of application; and so I'll commend you to God. Come let us return to the Lord etc. HAd Hosea uttered his Prophecy the last year, it would have been hard to say, whether he meant Israel or England: the Scenes are the same, only the Actors differ; both of us have beheld a Tragedy commenced in our own blood: jerusalem bore the first part, London the second. Lord how are we spoilt? said the Prophet of them; and may not I say so of this place? A City undone, and no man the richer: Above 1200 slain, and no sword seen; Lord how are we spoilt? How is jerusalem become a desolate widow? It was the Lamentation of jeremiah, and may it not be revived upon London? how was she forsaken, not only of her children, but of her God, and many months sat, like Rachel, weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they were not. Your doors which were used to be opened to your friends, were shut up by disease; and the very casements whereat you took the breath of life, did let in death: so that we may cry with Israel, The Lord hath torn, and the Lord hath smitten us, and as the Magicians said of the louse of Egypt, Exod. 8.16. They were digitus Dei, the finger of God; We may of our Visitation, 'twas manus Dei, the hand of God; and therefore we call it plaga, a stroke, a blow from heaven. Yet see the goodness of the most high; no sooner had we, by the appointment of our most gracious Sovereign, run to the second of joel, and proclaimed a Fast; called a solemn assembly, and cried with Israel, venite & revertamur, O come, let us return unto the Lord. But that power, who repent of making us, did also repent of destroying us; and said, My Spirit shall not always contend with man, lest the souls which I have made, should fail before me. Isai. 57 And as jeremiah cried, God is the health of Israel; Chap. 3. so may I, God is become the health of London: it was not the Frost, nor the Snow, nor any of nature's colds, thrown down from those moving shops of Meteors, but Dominus sanavit, the Lord hath healed, the Lord hath bound us up. And now let me direct my speech to you, right Honourable, and the inhabitants of this City, and say in the words of the Saviour of the World; Art thou made whole? sin no more, lest a worse thing happen to thee: though ye have escaped the last year's contagion; yet there is a Tophet in Isaiah, where plagues are eternal. And therefore let every man begin a reformation at home, & as those cried out, much more will I, every man to his tents, O Israel; to his conscience, O London. Now look to thine own house David. I make no question, but much cost and labour has been bestowed in airing and cleansing your houses; but it is to no purpose, unless you sweep out sin, which Solomon calls, the plague of the heart, turn that out of your shops and consciences, it will prove a better antidote, than all the Pitch, Rue, and frankincense in the World. Infect the air no more with your oaths and courteous equivocations; make not yourselves worse in belying your wares, that they are better: the most winning eloquence a tradesman can speak, is truth, and the best way to thrive apace, is to pray. Look not upon the next life, as Mathematitions do at heaven, through a cranney, or hole, out of a dark Chamber, which renders it poor and small; not venture your hopes of heaven, like Cain, to build upon earth. Raise not the walls of your houses with the ruin of God's house, or your neighbours; nor pay your Lecturers with your Parson's tithes: let not the wracked out blood of the Tenant cry against you, nor your workmen's wages be kept back. Use not false lights, and a deceitful balance, wherein your souls are put and found too light. And believe me, before it is too late, Godliness is great gain, and there's no such policy in this World, as to be an honest man. And you my Lord, and your brethren, to whom the government of this City is committed, I know, you have taken all the courses, that wisdom can think of, to stay the infection, when there is but one way to do it, that is, to make your Citizens good: but you will say, 'tis God that must do this, you cannot; 'tis true, your part is only to show them the way by a good example: and seeing your spirit is the first wheel, whereunto all others are fastened; it is necessary that you give a good motion; for it is held by some Astronomers, that when the Sun stood still in the time of joshuah, the Moon and Stars kept the like pause. Now, if you that are Governors, would have the Plague a stranger in the City, then see that in your Courts of judicature, justice and mercy kiss each other: Let justice run down like water, and righteousness as the river, Amos 5.24. It will cleanse the City better, than all your Conduits let lose upon Sundays. Suffer not the wicked Advocate, who ploughs lies, and exchanges God for a bribe, to put Truth upon the Rack, and stretch a Client's cause with delays, as the Shoemaker doth Leather with his teeth: these men are our Plagues in the times of health, and it put God's mercy to a stand, when in jerusalem there was not found a man that executed justice, jet. 5. How shall I pardon thee for this? (saith the Lord, ver. 7. But God hath set you on high to no other purpose, then to punish vice beneath you; and if you suffer that to rise, it will trample you under foot; and therefore, continue my Lord, like a good Moses, to stand in the gap; plead before God the cause of his people with your prayers; and before his people, the cause of God with your sword. And let me beseech all that hear me, that they would leave no sparks of sin raked up in their consciences, lest the fire of God's wrath breaks out again more furiously the next spring. Verify the first part of my Text, Return to the Lord with all your hearts, with all your souls; and he will verify the second, sanabit, he will heal, he will bind us up. And though for two days, you, and your shops, and your trade have lain dead, yet there's a third day, wherein God will raise you up, and make you live in his sight, where Divine protection shall watch over you here, and keep all Plagues from your bodies, as the Nurse does flies from the face of her sleeping child, till you enter into the other vision of God, the sight of Glory; where our miseries can have no beginning, nor our felicity any ending; where youth shall not wax old, nor health impair, but these bodies, which are now the shops of all diseases, shall become as impassable as Angels, as subtle as rays of light, as radiant as the Sun, and as swift as the wings of thunder, and we shall lead no other life than that of God; of the knowledge of God, of the love of God; and that as long as God shall be God: and therefore, venite & revertamur ad Dominum. Come, and let us return to the Lord, for he hath torn, and he will heal us, he hath broken, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us, the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Which God of his mercy grant, etc. FINIS.