Sabbati, 12. die Aprilis, 1679.  
ORDERED,  
THAT the thanks of this House be returned to Mr. Jane for his Sermon Yesterday Preached before this House; and that he be desired to Print his Sermon. And that the Members that serve for the Universities do return the thanks.  
WILL. GOLDESBROUGH. Cler. Dom. Com.   

A SERMON Preached on the Day of the Public Fast, April the 11 th'. 1679. AT St. Margaret's Westminster; BEFORE THE Honourable House of Commons.  
BY WILLIAM JANE, B. D. Canon of Christ-Church in Oxford, and Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of London.  
LONDON: Printed by M. C. for Henry Brome, and Richard Chiswel, in St. Paul's Churchyard. 1679.   

A SERMON ON HOSEAH seven. 9 Strangers have devoured his strength and he knoweth it not, yea grey hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.  
THE Argument of this Chapter is much of the same nature with the foregoing, only with this difference, that in that the Prophet directs his speech against Judah, in this against the Ten Tribes. And because in the end of the former Chapter he had given the Jews some hopes of their return from Captivity, he proceeds in this, and those which follow to lay open the sins, and aggravate the guilt of the people of Israel, and thereby to cut off from them all occasion of complaining against God, as if he had adjudged them to too severe a doom in not affording them the like promise of a Temporal restitution.  
He makes a distinct discovery of the sins and provocations of all orders and degrees of men amongst them, not only of the common people but of the Princes and the Rulers, not only of the lesser and inferior Cities, but (and that principally) of Samaria the great Metropolis of their Nation. And this seems to be the design of the Prophet in almost every Verse of this Chapter: First, to lay before them the sad calamitous condition whereto their sins had brought them: Secondly, their senselesness and stupidity which increased upon them in proportion to their miseries, and grew the more incurable by the methods of their recovery.  
Thus we read Verse 7. They have devoured their Judges, all their Kings are fallen, there is none among them that calleth unto me. By which words, as I conjecture, the Prophet endeavours to represent to them those Treasons and Conspiracies, and horrible Butcheries of the Kings of Israel, which are more particularly described, 2 Kings xv. and which at last determined in the utter destruction of their Kingdom.  
And yet notwithstanding the posture of their affairs was so dismal and amazing, though there appeared among them such visible tokens of the Divine vengeance in so many revolutions of their Government, so many changes of their Kings, who all succeeded one another by Sedition, Treachery and Murder, yet (which is the more dreadful prospect of the two) there was no man among them so far wrought upon by the sense of the public calamities as to humble himself before God, to reform his life, or to implore the Divine assistance for repairing the breaches, and restoring Peace, and settlement to a perishing and distracted people. The like argument with some variety of expression is again repeated in the words of my Text. In which we find represented to us,  
1. The misery of Ephraim's Captivity, 
Prov. xviii. 11.  strangers have devoured his strength. By strength here we may understand first that which the Wise man calls a Defence, a High-wall, 
Eccl. seven. 12.  and a strong City, the Wealth, Treasure and Riches of a people. And how far this had been impaired together with the occasions of it, we have a very large account from the xiii. to the xvii. of 2 Kings. Under Jehoahaz the son of Jehu they were so thresht, and worn out by the King of Syria, that there remained to Jehoahaz of all the people but fifty Horsemen, 
2 Kings xiii. 7.  ten Chariots, and ten thousand Foot. And though afterwards under Jeroboam there began to appear some glim ps of settlement and restauration, yet these glorious hopes were soon defeated by the Invasion of Pull the King of Assyria, who forced Menahem the King of Israel to a composition of a thousand Talents of Silver, 
xv. 19  that so his hand might be with him to confirm the Kingdom in his hand. And in this state they continued wasting and consuming till the coming of Salmanasser, 
xvii. 3.  who like an insatiable gulf devoured and exhausted all.  
Or, II. By strength here may be understood that wherein the true safety of a Nation doth consist, which is the Divine Providence, and Protection. Without this the Fortifications of Cities, the Courage of Soldiers, the multitude of Counsellors, the vastness of Revenues are of no avail at all to the defence and security of a people. For when ever God withdraws his presence and favour from a Nation, he dismantles their Fortresses, 
Isaiah nineteen. 3.  mingles a perverse spirit in the midst of their Counsels, makes the heart of a people to melt, and their spirit to fail within them, he curses the Treasures of the wicked, and makes the increase of his house to departed and flow away. 
Job xx. 28.   
And as Ephraim's strength in the former acception had been devoured by strange men, so in this by strange gods. 
2 King. xvii. 12.  For they served Idols of which the Lord had said unto them, ye shall not do this thing. And what more likely course could they have taken to cut off all their claim and interest in the Divine favour? They chose new gods, 
Jud. v. 8.  than was war in the gates.  
And surely for the people of Israel, to whom God had made such clear Revelations of himself, and by so many repeated experiments of his love, an earnest of his assistance, while they continued stedfait in his Covenant; for them I say thus in a plain defiance to their known duty, to forsake the Lord who brought them out of Egypt, and to fly for refuge to the gods of the Nations; what is this but to distrust the veracity of Heaven, and scorn the Protection of an Omnipotent Arm, to renounce the Covenant which had Espoused them to their Maker, and consequently to proclaim a war with the Sovereign of the world? What in all likelihood can be the consequence of such a daring heinous provocation but what we read, 2 Kings xvii. 20. Therefore the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of Spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. This then is the misery of Ephraim's Captivity, strangers have devoured his strength.  
2. We have the symptoms of his approaching ruin, Grey hairs are here and there upon him. Grey hairs may denote either the intention and greatness, or else the duration of his Calamity. And in either signification the meaning of the expression will amount to this, that the people of Israel had been so long kept under a continued series of pressures and afflictions, that they were in a manner worn out with old Age, ready to give up the Ghost, and to pine away in their Calamities; there appeared upon them the constant forerunners and manifest presages of ruin and desolation.  
And whenever God decrees the final consumption of a people, they may foresee it themselves without the prediction of a Prophet. A general dissoluteness of manners, an impudent boldness in the practice of iniquity, a neglect and contempt of all the duties of Religion, the losing the joints of Government by Treasons and Conspiracies, divided interests and Dissensions among the people, Confusions and Divisions in the Church are as infallible symptoms of a dying State, of the dissolution of a Commonwealth and the funeral of a Kingdom, as if a flaming Sword had hung over it, or a voice from Heaven had revealed its doom. These are the grey hairs of the people in the Text. And how near we ourselves resemble them, I leave you to judge by comparing our condition at present with that of the Ten Tribes before their carrying into Captivity.  
But III. Which is the worst symptom of all, here is described the general senselesness of that people, notwithstanding all the judgements of God either past or present, a deep sleep that had seized them (like Jonah in the Tempest) none awakening himself to cry unto God, or to pour out his supplications at the Throne of Grace. This is his condition, yet he knoweth it not (that is) he does not consider the greatness of his danger, or he does not discover himself to be seriously affected with the sense of God's judgements, so as to lament, and bewail, and to tremble at them; he does not resolve them into their proper principles, nor acknowledge the Author of them, which was the hand of God, nor the Impulsive cause which was his own iniquity: or lastly he knoweth it not, that is, he does not comply with the end and design of it. Afflictions have not that errand upon him for which they were sent, but he so behaves himself under them, as if he had been wholly ignorant what had been done unto him.  
From the words thus explained, I shall consider, 

I. The end and design of God's judgements upon a Nation, which is, that they may know and consider, that they may be brought to a sense of their sins, to true Repentance and amendment of their lives.  
II. The contrary effects which they often have upon a secure and a sinful people, which is to make them the more incorrigible and obstinate in their sins. God's judgements are upon him, yet he knoweth it not.  
III. I shall discover some Causes of it.  
iv The greatness of the provocation, Yet he knoweth it not: This Yet hath an Emphasis, an accent upon it, and denotes sins under judgements to be exceeding sinful.  
V And lastly, I shall conclude with some brief Application to ourselves. I begin with the first of these which is the end and design of God's judgements upon a Nation, which is that they may know, etc.    
And this will appear, 1. From the intention of God in the threatening and inflicting of his judgements. 2. From the natural tendency of the judgements themselves. God not only threatens but sends his judgements upon a people on the same errand as the Ancient Romans did their Heralds, before they actually entered upon a war, not peremptorily to declare our doom but to warn us to prevent it by coming in and submitting to terms of Peace and Reconcilement. At what instant, 
Jer. xviii. 7, 3.  says God by the Prophet Jeremy, I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it, if that Nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from the evil, I will repent of the evil which I thought to do unto them. In the xxvi. of Leviticus, God in a Prophetical Scheme represents the sorest judgements which were to fall upon his people in succeeding Generations, he lays before their eyes the Sword, Pestilence and Famine, expulsion from the Lords Land into a Land of Enemies and Idols, the ceasing of the Sacrifices and the solemn Festivals, and even all the utmost miseries of Captivity and Desolation; and yet in the conclusion of that black Catalogue, which seems rather an inventory of what evil the hand of God was able to inflict, than what a people should suffer, we have room for Repentance and a reserve of mercy, Verse 41. If then their Uncircumcised hearts be humbled and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity, then will I remember my Covenant with Jacob, and also my Covenant with Isaac, and also my Covenant with Abraham will I remember, and I will remember the Land.  
We read in Joel two. of a day of darkness and gloominess, such as had never been the like before, 
Joel two. 2.10.  whither should there be any after it; such Armies and terrors, as should make the earth quake, the Heavens tremble, the Sun and Moon to grow dark, and the Stars to withdraw their shining. And yet amidst all this distress and perplexity the Lord calls upon his people to return unto him, with an intimation likewise given that he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him.  
God's wrath was never so fiercely kindled against a person or a people, but if true Repentance intervened, it has removed his hand or at least abated the fierceness of the blow. Nay the outward and formal humiliation of an Ahab has procured a reprieve, 
1 Kings xxi. 29.  and suspended the execution. It cannot be denied but that God sometimes punishes a people in vengeance without any mixture or allay of mercy, when he makes a full end of them, and the consumption overflows in judgement, as in the Case of the Ten Tribes under Salmanasser, of the Jewish Church at the destruction of Jerusalem, when the Kingdom of God was taken from them, 
2 Thes. two. 16.  and wrath came upon them to the uttermost; of the seven Churches of Asia, who have had their Candlestick removed, and been swallowed up by the Inundation of Mahumetanism; of the famous Churches of Africa, which once gave light to the whole Christian world, now overspred with ignorance and Barbarism, with a thick darkness that may be felt. But in all these Cases God never proceeds to excision and casting off, till all his other corrections have proved useless and ineffectual, till their iniquities are full, till they are ripe for vengeance, till they have neglected all the seasons of Grace, and out-sinned the day of their visitation. Then indeed God grows weary of repenting being pressed with sin as a Cart full of sheaves.  
This is the account which the Scripture gives us of the people of Judah when they were carried into Captivity, 
2 Chron. xxxvi. 16, 17.  they mocked the messengers of God, despised his word, and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy, therefore he brought upon them the King of the Chaldces, etc. This is a Course which God then only takes when all other remedies fail. But till then he has mercy in store for a sinful people even in the midst of all his severest dispensations. God shoots out his Arrows against a Land as Jonathan shot to David, 
1 Sam. xx, 21.  with Letters bound about them, not to destroy but to instruct. As Gideon when he vexed the men of Succoth, is said to teach them (or to make them to know) though with the briers and thorns of the wilderness. 
Jud. viij. 16. Mic. vi. 9  God's Rod has a voice as well as a smart, and if we hear the one we may escape the other.  
And upon these grounds we may assure ourselves that in this day of the Lords anger, of confusion and rebuke, which now lies upon this sinful Land of our Nativity, the Lord has not given over all concern for our peace and settlement. He waits that he may be gracious and stands ready to recall his judgements, as soon as we shall be contented to be saved, to accept of a deliverance. The Lord looks down from Heaven this day to take notice of our behaviour under his afflicting hand, how far we are advanced in the practice of Repentance which this day he so loudly calls for. There is not a penitent tear, not a devout sigh, not a mourner in secret for them who have no compassion on themselves, nay not a person swearing and revelling, eating flesh and drinking wine in this day when the Lord calls us to weeping, fasting and mourning, but the Lord observes it, and lays it to the account of this Nation as well on the one side for the engagement of his mercy, as on the other for the provocation of the fierceness of his anger.  
'tis not our utter ruin, that the Lord aims at. For what profit is there in our blood? He hath set his judgements, as he once did his Prophet, over Kingdoms and over Nations, not barely to root out, 
Jer. i. 10.  and destroy, but to build and to plant, and these judicial proceed of his are directed to edification, not primarily to destruction. They are what the Censures of the Church ought to be, severe in the execution, but salutary in the event, 
1 Cor. v. 5.  delivering up the offender to the punishment of the flesh, that so by Repentance and amendment thereupon probably ensuing the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. 
Job xxxiii. 29.  Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living. And God often visits iniquity with Rods, when he will not utterly take away his loving kindness from a people.  
But, II. This will further and more distinctly appear from the natural tendency of God's judgements themselves. Which will plainly appear in these following particulars.  
1. Then they have a natural tendency to work in men a sense and acknowledgement of their sins. Prosperity is apt to administer such abundant variety of fresh delights and satisfactions to the fancy, that the soul is never at leisure to retire into itself and take a true estimate of its own Estate and Constitution. The world will never be wanting to present the man with baits and allurements, and external objects to employ his thoughts and gratify his desires. And so by that means he is enabled for a time to suppress the voice of Conscience, and drown the cries of a wounded Spirit. As the Jews when they sacrificed their children to Moloch, had their loud Instruments of Music, lest they should perchance hear the out-cries of their perishing Infants, which might force their obdurate hearts into tender and compassionate resentments.  
But when the hand of God over-reaches him, and affliction sits close upon him, this embitters his delights, damps his jollity, dissolves the curious Fabric of his imaginary enjoyments, renders all his most exquisite pleasures toothless and insipid. None of these things can then stand by him to rescue him from his miseries, or give any sweetening to the bitterness of his Cup. And thus when God hedges up his way with thorns, and stops him in the pursuit of his brutish and sensual satisfactions, than there lies a necessity upon him to descend into himself, when he cannot look abroad, to turn his eyes inward, to take an exact view of his own heart, and discover the greatness of his iniquity: 
Job xxxvi. 8, 9  When he is once bound in fetters, and holden in the Cords of affliction, then will he see his work, and his transgressions that they have exceeded. For the mind of man is active, and restless, it will always be employed one way or other. And when it has no outward objects to exercise, or divert it, than self-reflexion takes place, and the voice of Conscience will be heard.  
How stupid and senseless was Pharaoh before God's judgements fell upon him! He has no sense at all of God or a Providence, of sin or the wages of it. 
Exod. v. 2.  Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. But when the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground, 
ix. 23.  his stomach comes down, his proud heart is a little humbled, the voice of God in the thunder is more effectual, than by his Prophet. For then Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said unto them, I have sinned this time, 
xxvii. 28.  the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Now therefore entreat the Lord, that there be no more mighty thandering and hail, and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.  
When Belshazzar sees the hand-writing upon the wall, his countenance is changed, 
Dan. v. 6.  his thoughts trouble him, the joints of his Loins are loosed, and his Knees smite one against another.  
And let Nabuchadnezzar be never so puissant in defying the threats, and the Omnipotence of God, yet that sad calamity of eating grass with the beasts of the field will bring him upon his knees, and force him to acknowledge, that the inhabitants of the world are reputed as nothing in comparison of God, 
iv. 35.  and that as he doth according to his will in the Armies of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, so none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what dost thou? The wound of Conscience is not perceived at first any more than a wound in the body, as long as the man continues in the same briskness of motion, which he was in, when he first received it. But when the judgements of God stop him in his career, force him to sit down and rest himself a little, he than gins to cool, and consider, to feel his wound, and recover the unwelcome sense of the extremity of his pain.  
2. The judgements of God are in their own nature apt to take us off from Carnal confidence and security, and to fix us in a closer dependence upon God. When men's houses are safe from fear, 
Jo2 xxi. 9  neither is the rod of God upon them, they are apt to say to the Almighty Depart from us, to centre in themselves, and ascribe their prosperity to their own conduct and contrivance. 
Hab. i. 16.  When their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous, than they sacrifice to their own net, and burn incense to their drag. It is a great vanity in a manner rooted in the nature of mankind, to affect an absoluteness and sufficiency in themselves, and an independence upon any superior Cause. They think it too great a disparagement to them, an upbraiding of their weakness (as if they were unable to help themselves) to be a burden to Providence, and live in a precarious dependence upon him that made them. And therefore so long as succour and relief can be expected from Power or Policy, from Horses or Horsemen, from any thing within them or about them, from Foreign Interests, Domestic Treasures, or even Idolatrous compliances, they will keep their distance, stand at defiance with the Almighty, and never think of placing their trust upon the hope of Israel, upon him who is the confidence of all the ends of the earth, 
Jer. xiv. 8. Psal. lxv. 5.  and of them that remain in the broad sea.  
Jeroboam was sensible enough, that the Law of God would not countenance his usurpation, and thereupon sets himself to contrive how he might live without him, and stand in no need of the influence of his Providence. He makes two Calves at Dan and Bethel, and then grows confident and secure, that the work of his hands would Establish him in his Throne. And therefore God Almighty often finds it necessary to frustrate the Counsels, blast the designs, and curse the Policies and attempts of all such as usurp upon his Prerogative, and aspire to an absolute Sovereignty of their own. 
Exod. xiv. 25.  He takes off Pharaohs Chariot-wheels, puts a hook into the nose of Sennacherib, 
2 King. nineteen. 28.  crushes the impious Politician upon the very brink of his designs, 
Job v. 12.  disappoints the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. This is dignus vindice nodus, he is as it were concerned in point of honour to vindicate his Authority and government, to make them know that they are but men, and that the most high ruleth over all. He cuts off all their Provisions at home, and stops all succours from abroad, distresses them on every side, that so he may convince them of the vanity and madness of their presumption, that he is a refuge when all else fails, and that there is no Sanctuary but in his protection. We read in the xxxiii. 
Ezekiel xxxiii.  of Ezekiel of a very severe threatening of misery and desolation, Verse 28. I will lay the Land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease, etc. And the result and issue of this severity is mentioned, Verse 29. Then shall they know that I am the Lord. The same is assigned for the end and reason of God's judgements in several other places of this Prophecy, that they may know that I am the Lord. 
seven. 27. xxiv. 24. xxx. 8.  As if it were such a difficult matter for a people to know, and to trust in God, till all other support were taken from them, till they had nothing left to lean upon of their own.  
When Ephraim saw his sickness, 
Hos. v. 13.  and Judah his wound, than went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to King Jareb, Menahem makes a Confederacy with Pul. 
2 Kings xv. 16.  Hosea gives presents to Shalmaneser, and Ahaz sends an Embassy to Tiglath-pileser, 
xvii. 3.2 Chronicl. xxviii. 20.  and sacrifices to the gods of Damascus. But alas while they endeavoured to avoid the smoke they fell into the fire. These were so far from curing of their wound that they both made it deeper, and increased the smart of it. And the gods which Ahaz went unto for succour, proved the ruin of him and of all Israel.  
But when God takes the matter into his own hands, becomes a Lion both to Ephraim and Judah, blocks up all their passages, leaves no way open to Egypt or Assyria, to Idols or Confederates, they then begin to think of returning unto God. In their affliction they will seek me early. 
Hos. v. 15.   
III. The Judgements of God upon a Nation conduce very much to take us off from too great an over-valuing of the Honours, Riches, and Pleasures of this world. Though ordinarily in our sober judgements we set a greater value upon the everlasting concerns of another world, than upon all the splendid gaieties, and delights of this, yet they lie under this great disadvantage, that they are future and at a distance, and by that means unable to make so deep an impression upon the mind as these temporal enjoyments, which are present and continually in our eye. And this makes most men so very fond of the world, so eagerly desirous of building Tabernacles here, and strangely indisposed to seek a better Country, to reach after their everlasting hope, and the price of their high calling.  
But when God Almighty in the course of his Providence sends his judgements and calamities upon a people, devests them of their possessions, degrades them from their honours, puts a fatal period to their choicest pleasures; How effectually must this needs convince us of the transitory and perishable nature of all creature enjoyments, and strip them of those deceitful disguises, under which a deluded fancy is so apt to represent them!  
When Baruch was sent upon a message, which he foresaw was likely to abridge him of some of his former satisfactions, he grows melancholy and disconsolate at the news, and cries out, Woe is me, for the Lord hath added grief unto my sorrow, I fainted in my sighing and find no rest. But thus shalt thou say unto him (saith God by the Prophet Jeremy) the Lord saith thus, 
Jer. xlv. 3, 4.  Behold that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted will I pluck up, even this whole land, and seekest thou great things for thyself▪ seek them not. As if he should have said, Wouldst thou live at ease in Zion, when Zion is to be Ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem to become a desolation? Wouldst thou swim in affluence, and enjoy thy pleasures in a Land now ready to be overspread with Plagues and Vengeance? Wouldst thou build thee a stately Palace over the blood and bones of thy slaughtered brethren? What preferment canst thou promise to thyself in the ruins of thy Country? Wouldst thou make a purchase when the world is at an end?  Ludicra ergò publica Trever petis? 
It was Salvians expostulation with the Citizens of Treves, when immediately after the sacking of their City, they petitioned their Magistrates that the Stage-Plays might be restored. In like manner does Jeremy here control Baruch for his now unseasonable desires. And may not the same serve as a check to those amongst us, who in such times as these are scraping up all that they can lay hands on, making all the sordid advantages of the world that they can, as tenants do of an Estate, when their Lease is expiring. Soul, take thine ease (said the rich fool in the Gospel) thou hast goods laid up for many years, eat, drink and be merry. But surely he had quite other apprehensions, when he heard that dismal and surprising voice, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee.  
iv The judgements of God upon a people are apt to unite their hearts in Love and Charity to one another. When men are at ease in Zion, 
Amos vi. 1.  and trust in the mountains of Samaria, When they lie upon beds of Ivory, and stretch themselves upon their Couches, and eat the Lambs out of the Flock, and the Calves out of the midst of the Stall; When they chant to the Viol, live merry, and are full, as they are described, Amos vi. It immediately follows, that then they are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph. But when we begin to have a sense and feeling of God's judgements upon ourselves, this must needs (one would think) forcibly engage us to Charity and Compassion to our Brethren. We shall be sure to remember those that are in bonds, when we ourselves are bound with them, and to help those that are in adversity, when we find that we also are but flesh.  
That which hastened, and precipitated the destruction of Jerusalem, and made their final ruin, the more dreadful when it came, was the factions, and animosities which at that time broke forth among them, which engaged them in such incredible slaughters and murders of one another, that they never put themselves into a posture of resisting the Romans, but when they saw them approaching their Walls. Which they did then, lest their enemies should come and take the work out of their hands, and so deprive them of being the sole Authors of their own destruction.  
And this I think to be the saddest symptom of approaching vengeance, which is this day visible upon this sinful Nation.  
The modern Romans can hardly in all probability ever enter in upon us, but at that door, which we ourselves set open by our wide breaches and divisions. And O that we could all be effectually persuaded in this our day, to know the things that belong unto peace before they be hid from our eyes, to lay aside all names of parties and distinctions, and mind the true interest of the Protestant Religion, which now lies at stake, and which I am sure aught to be dearer to us, than all other concernments whatsoever.  
It was once the fate of two Reverend Martyrs for the Protestant Religion in the time of their prosperity to be uncharitably disunited, and alienated to a greater height in their affections, than in their judgements. But when the fiery trial in Queen Mary's days (which for the time it lasted, raged more terribly than any of the Heathen Persecutions, except that of Dioclesian) had so desperately threatened the Common Faith, they mutually condescended, quitted their animosities, and both laid down their lives for their undaunted profession of the Faith of Christ.  
And surely this would be one happy effect of the judgements of God upon this Nation, if the fears, which we lie under from our enemies abroad, would engage us to join as one man for the composing our differences, and dissensions at home. And unless this be done we have great reason to fear, that God will be so far provoked by our divisions, as to give us up to be united in common sufferings, who would not be persuaded upon any other terms to be reconciled to one another.  
Let us consider how the Romanists triumph in our quarrels, and how active and industrious they are in fomenting our differences, and adding fuel to our flames. When the Kingdom of Israel was divided by the revolt of Jeroboam, then was the time for Shishak the King of Egypt to forage the Land, 
2 Chronicl. xii. 9  and take away the treasures of the Temple of the Lord.  
And O that God would give us all hearts to consider this, to be sensible of our own interest, and true to it, that so we may no longer expose ourselves and our Country, our lives and fortunes, and the best Religion in the world, to the advantages of bloodthirsty, and deceitful men, who have at this day conspired against us, to take away both our place and Nation. And assure yourselves (for he who is truth itself hath spoken it) that a Kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, but is brought to desolation. And while Ephraim stands divided against Manasseh, and Manasseh against Ephraim; and every one eats the flesh of his own arm, 
Isa. ix. 12.19, 20, 21.  and that, at a time when the Syrian is before and the Philistim behind, and both ready to devour Israel with open mouth, we have good reason to conclude that through the wrath of the Lord the Land is darkened, and infatuated, that gods anger is not yet turned away, but that his hand is stretched out still.  
These are some of those ends for which Almighty God sends his judgements upon a Nation. I proceed in the next place to show  
The contrary effects which they often have upon a secure and a sinful people, which is to make them the more incorrigible, and obstinate in their sins. And here we meet with some who grow worse under the rod, though they feel the smart of it, yet they will not hear the voice, and as they have heretofore turned God's Grace, so they will now turn his Judgements into wantonness.  
It was a dreadful sight in the City of Lions when they were so infested with the Pestilence, ut tota civitas bustum, that the whole City seemed to be but one Grave, the Soldiers in the Garrison daily issued forth, and committed all sorts of uncleanness with the dying and the dead. The like stupidity we find in Salvian charged upon the Carthaginians, who were wholly set upon their luxury and intemperance in the midst of their City's ruins, and among so many deaths, which they daily beheld in the slaughter of their fellow Citizens had no apprehensions of their own.  
However they saw God's hand lifted up to strike, it had no effectual influence upon them to turn to him that smote them, unless it were, by the increase of their provocations, as far as was possible, to smite again. Like those whom we read of, Revel. xuj. 11. that blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains, etc. Assiduitas calamitatum augmentum Criminum. A certain argument of the desperate condition of a people, and that they have already begun their hell, where at the same time men suffer, and blaspheme their God.  
And this was the state, and constitution of the Christian world, at that time when the Vandals, Goths, and Hums, and other Barbarians overran it. So notorious were the Characters of Divine vengeance in the suddenness of their coming, the number of their Armies, and the invincibleness of their strength, that we are forced to leave off all enquiry into second causes and human designs, and conclude them to be nothing else, but (what one of them called himself) the scourges in the hand of God to punish a licentious and a back sliding people. And yet notwithstanding this, they daily increased in their old sins of Uncleanness, and Adultery, Atheism, and Profaneness, as Salvian has left upon Record, who is not half so Tragical in the description of the greatness of their Calamities, as of the iniquities that survived them.  
But I shall not proceed any further to seek instances of this, which is so visible in the carriage of Gods own people. Their whole story is one continued Argument to confirm it. They sinned under their suffering, and sinned after they were freed from it. The use, which they made of their afflictions was to grow more obstinate in the sins that caused them. And as soon as they were delivered, they looked upon themselves only as more at liberty to commit all those abominations, for which they were carried into Captivity. Which strange impenitency under God's judgements does usually manifest itself in these two Cases.  
1. When men have hardened themselves in evil by a long practice, and custom of sinning. Custom we say, is a second Nature, and usually gaineth such strength by time, that it grows more firm than either Nature or Religion. It hardens the Heart, sears the Conscience, makes the man uncapable of the impressions of sorrow, and as utterly unable to Repent, as the Aethiopian to change his skin, 
Jer. xiii. 23.  or the Leopard to be freed from his spots. The judgements of God may raze the skin, but cannot pierce so deep as to would the Conscience.  
It is seen sometimes in Apoplectic Distempers, that they so far stupefy the Patients, that no severities can reduce them to acts of life, and it is said that they have afterwards grown sensible, when they have been laid out, and covered in their Graves, and revived amidst the flames of their Funeral Pile. In the same senseless condition does a Custom of sin place the obdurate sinner, the austerest of the Divine methods, the Sword, Pestilence, and Famine, and all the terrible symptoms of impendent wrath, shall in no wise prevail with him to call his sins to remembrance, or to raise him from his drowsiness and stupidity; so that he never awakes, till he finds the flames of Hell about his ears, nor recovers the sense of his sins, till it serves to no other purpose, but to increase the resentments of his misery.  
The judgements of God quite lose their end upon such a man. He cries perhaps, and roars under his torments, but he has no apprehensions of God's design in inflicting them. Like those of whom it is said, Hos. seven. 14. They have not cried unto me with their hearts when they howled upon their beds. He has felt the pain and anguish in the flesh, but has no sense at all of any impressions upon the Spirit. Like a man in a melancholic, and a troublesome dream, he is scared perhaps and frighted with the terrors of the Almighty, but as soon as the noise is over, he quickly returns to his former slumber, and security.  
This is ordinarily the state of the habitual sinner, placed beyond the possibility of being reclaimed by the Divine corrections, unless God together with his judgements set in with the powerful assistances of his Grace, and Spirit, which that man certainly has little reason to expect, who hath so long grieved, resisted and stood out against it.  
And this consideration suggests a second Case, in which the judgements of God usually prove ineffectual to Repentance, when men have continued in their sins under the plentiful dispensations of Grace and Mercy. Abused mercies are the great aggravations of the iniquities of a people. And this we may be sure of, that whatever tends to fill up the measure of our sins, increases likewise the difficulty of our Repentance. When the goodness of God will not lead men to Repentance, 
Rom. two. 4, 5.  when they despise the riches of his forbearance, and long suffering, their hearts then grow hardened, and impenitent, they treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath.  
And indeed how can it be expected, that thou shouldft comply with this method of the Almighty, who hast already rejected and refused so many? If the Sword of God's Judgements had not yet overtaken thee, yet he has been long fight against thee with the sword of his mouth, 
Rev. two. 1●.  with the tenders of his Gospel and the effers of his Grace. He has been long inviting, importuning, and pursuing thee, with the Preaching of his Word, the suggestions of his Spirit, the blood of his Son, the joys of Heaven, and the torments of Hell, thy own vows, engagements, and resolutions. And how can we then think that the showers of God's judgements should prove more prevalent than the sunshine of his mercies, and outweigh the united force of all these great inducements to move us unto Repentance?  
We have an instance, that speaks home to this, Luke xuj. where the Rich man for his impenitence, and neglecting his day of Grace, being tormented in the flames of Hell, desires Father Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brethren, that survived him, to forewarn them of the consequence of their sins, and what bitterness there is in the end of transgression, lest they should also come into the same place of torment. 
Luke xuj. 28.  But Abraham tells him they have Moses and the Prophets, who have clearly revealed their duty, and their danger upon the neglect of it, let them hear them. Nay Father Abraham, said he, But if one went from the dead, they will repent. And would not any one think, that such a message as this were very likely to produce Repentance? For one coming from the dead would be a visible demonstration of the souls existence after its departure. And Lazus could decipher the joys of Heaven, and give a true account of the sufferings of the damned, as being a person who had a sight of these, a taste and experience of the other. And yet notwithstanding all these high probabilities, of the efficacy of this method, Father Abraham concludes, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded by one coming from the dead. From which we may infer, applying this parable to our present purpose, that those who are not melted by the offers of his Grace, will be the rather hardened by the terrors of his Judgements, and that such as have rejected those former Mercies, if they will not be persuaded by one coming from the dead, they will surely not Repent, though they themselves are going to them.  
These are two Cases in which the impenitency of a people under God's Judgements usually happens. I proceed now to some more particular Causes of it, which is the next point to be considered.  
1. And the first cause is a spirit of Atheism and Infidelity, which has possessed the minds of men, which takes their eyes off from God, and fixes them upon second and inferior causes. The Plague is nothing else but some infectious atoms in the air, which in certain determinate periods of time gather together for the annoyance of a City or a Nation. Wars are caused merely by the different interests of States, which engage them in mutual provocations of one another, and by that means dispose Princes to Choler and Revenge. The Revolutions of Government proceed from the ambition and treachery of subjects, who, whenever they find an opportunity, will be ready to break forth to disengage themselves from their subjection, and involve a flourishing Kingdom in blood, ruin, and confusion. It was Jorams desperate resolution in the Siege of Samaria, This evil is of the Lord, wherefore should I wait upon the Lord any longer? But the men whom we now speak of conclude with a little better Logic, but as bad Divinity, These evils are not from the Lord, therefore why should we wait upon him? It is not he that has broken us, neither is it he, that must bind us up.  
It was an error in the Heathens (which their own reason might have corrected) that they ascribed all their ordinary success, or misfortune to themselves, or their enemies, but any great, and extraordinary calamities either to fate or chance. And this engaged them in a great deal of perplexity, so that they knew not which way to turn themselves, when difficulties pressed upon them. But methinks those that live in a Christian Nation and call themselves Christians, should be better taught, who are instructed by the Sacred Oracles to impute all the miseries that befall them to an overruling Cause, to discover the Finger of God in the hand of an enemy, and ascribe all events whatsoever (even such as are brought upon them by the instrumental mediation of secondary Agents) to the Justice, Wildom and Providence of God, the Supreme Governor of the World.  
It is the Lord, 
2 Sam, xuj. 31.  that bids Shimei to curse David, and that raises up to him enemies out of his own house. 
xxi. II. 1 Kings xii. 15.  If King Rehoboam will not hearken to Faithful Counsel, the Cause is from the Lord. And through the anger of the Lord it came to pass, 
2 Kings xxiv. 20.  that Zedekiah Rebelled against the King of Babylon.  
And when Babylon has filled up the measure of her iniquities, it is the Lord that raises up Cyrus, 
Isa. xlv. 4.  that calls him by his name, that marches forth with his Armies to bring upon her, a swift, sudden, and surprising desolation. Can a bird (saith the Prophet Amos) fall in a suare upon the earth where no gin is laid for him? 
Amos iii. 5.  And shall there be any evil in the City which the Lord hath not done? It is God, and not the Air, the Elements, or the Stars, that brings the Famine or Pestilence upon a Nation. It is God, and not man, whether he be the Foreign Enemy, or the Domestic Rebel that overturns a State, and dissolves a Kingdom.  
These instances are sufficient to evince the Divine efficiency in the works of second Causes. And if the infidel notwithstanding will not be satisfied in the Doctrine of a Providence, we must even leave him to be convinced (as he certainly will either in this life or in another) by Gods own immediate stroke. This in the mean time is certain, that this prodigious humour of Atheism, Scepticism, and Infidelity, which so abounds in this Nation, is both a real cause of men's impenitency under Judgements, and a dreadful symptom, that God will go on to judge and afflict them still. And by this means (I greatly fear) our adversaries of Rome are more likely to compass their ends upon us than by any of their other artifices, and stratagems whatsoever.  
II. There is a great indifferency upon the spitits of men, as to the truth or honesty of the Cause that they are engaged in. Which makes them instead of thinking of the proper expedients to save their Country from ruin, to plot and contrive how they may advance themselves in the next turn of affairs, and the revolution of the Government.  
Men that have been used to fish in troubled waters, and by little tricks and devices of their own to wind themselves in with that side that gets uppermost, will never in any National calamity entertain any thoughts of returning unto God, as long as they can have recourse to the same arts to save and secure themselves.  
And this seems to be the Case of Ephraim in the Text. He stood in no great fear of the Assyrian, because he had not concern for his God, and was not at all sensible of his misery in being carried away Captive into a Land of Idols, as long as he was already prepared to worship after the manner of the gods of the Land. Thus we find the people were in the time of Ahab, 
2 Kings xviii. 21.  when they halted between, two opinions between God and Baal. Such were those Nations whom the King of Assyria placed in the Cities of Samaria, 
xvii. 33.  that feared the Lord and served Idols. And the Jews in the Prophet Zephany who could swear by God, 
Zeph i. 5.  and swear by Melchom. Such as these are men ready and prepared for a change, whatever it be, and resolved if the King of Babylon (or whoever else) get the upper hand, that Idolatry and Superstition shall put no stop to their preferment. Men that can counterfeit any Religion are really of none at all. And therefore whatever pretences they may make for the present, what is there that can hinder them (when occasion serves) from making the best advantages they can for themselves, by coupling in with that side, that wins the day.  
But however such as these by their arts and disguises may make a shift for a while, yet God will not be mocked. The time will certainly come, when the sinners in Zion shall be afraid, when fear shall surprise the Hypocrites. And perhaps it may be no lessening of their miseries, that they are the men to be destroyed last.  
The Gnostics in the Primitive Church, were a sort of Heretics, who professed the name of Christians, and yet held it lawful to Apostatise in time of danger, and comply with the Jews for fear of Persecution. But when the days of vengeance, and visitation came, God makes a distinction between those Carnal pretenders, and such as continued steadfast to the profession of his Truth. He provides a Pella for the Christians, a hiding place for them to retire to in that day of the Lords anger, but leaves those abominable Heretics to be destroyed with the Crucifiers of Christ, and Hypocrites to perish with Unbelievers. And this is said by some to be the accomplishment of that prediction of our Saviour, He that will save his life shall lose it, when the Gnostics who by their compliances expected shelter among the Jews were together with them so signally involved in the same ruin.  
Remember (I beseech you) what the Israelites got by this double dealing with their God, by all their Politic Confederacies with Egypt, and Assyria, and at last determine what you will stand to (whatever comes on't) Resolve with Mattathias in the Book of Macchabees. 
1 Mac. two. 22.  God forbidden we should forsake the Law and the Ordinances; We will not hearken to go from our Religion either on the right hand or on the . I speak to wise men, Judge ye what I say.  
III. There are a third sort of men among us, who though they acknowledge God to be the Author of our calamities, and imquity to deserve them, yet hinder themselves from true Repentance as much by a stiff Zeal for their several Parties, as others do by their lukewarmness and indifferency to them all. It was a strangely confident presumption in the Jews, that they thought themselves wholly unconcerned in the event of God's Judgements, and trusted in lying words, saying, 
Jer. seven. 4.  The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are these. The same Jewish conceits at this day does a fond Enthusiasm nourish in the hearts of men: Which inclines them only to censure others as the causes of our miseries, how loud soever God's Judgements call upon them to accuse, and condemn themselves.  
The fanatics impute our sufferings to the Restoration of the King, the resettlement of the Church, and to the throwing down of the Godly party from their unjust and arbitrary Dominion. And this makes them look upon all public distractions, as designed on purpose to make way for them to return to their beloved Tyranny and Usurpation. And have not others better grounds to reply that God is now making inquisition for blood, and that the murder of our late Sovereign is required, and visited upon this present Generation?  
The Dissenter makes loud out-cries against us, that there is so much Will-worship and Superstition practised in our Church, that Popery when it comes, is very likely to meet with a ready entertainment without any considerable opposition. And have not we far juster reason to recriminate upon them, that their uncharitable Divisions keeping up the interests of their several parties, their refusal of compliance in such things as by their own acknowledgement they may lawfully submit to, and making offences of things indifferent, which the word of God has never declared to be so, have so far weakened the Protestant Interest, as to give encouragement to the Papists in their present attempts against us, and our Religion?  
But surely (which side soever be in the right) this is not the true method to secure us from our fears, or to prevent our dangers. Let us assure ourselves, that no conceited privileges will protect us in our sins from the wrath of God. You only have I known (says God) of all the Families of the earth. 
Amos iii. 2.  It does not follow, and therefore you will I spare, but therefore you will I punish for your iniquities. In the mean time this bold, and censorious charging of others is the ready way to draw down God's Judgements upon us both. And if we would all agree to be severe in judging of ourselves, we should be a great deal nearer to Peace and Union with one another.  
These are some causes of our obstinacy under God's Judgements. It remains that I speak a word or two concerning the greatness of the provocation together with some brief Application to ourselves.  
And indeed what can possibly be imagined of a more daring and provoking Nature than this? What can a people do more to incense the God of Heaven, and cause his anger to smoke against such a stubborn Generation? It directly flies in the face of the Divine Majesty, and casts an intolerable slur upon all his excellent perfections. It tramples upon his Justice, crosses and thwarts the designs of his Mercy. It baffles his Goodness, and defeats the ends of his most unsearchable Wisdom. It affronts his absolute and uncontrollable Dominion, as if he wanted Authority sufficient to vindicate the reputation of his Laws. It defies and braves his Power, as if man were able to contend with his Maker, as if Omnipotence had done its worst, were quite spent, and had no other Judgements in store to vex and consume a sinful people.  
This is certainly the true intent and meaning of every obstinate sinner's language, who continues incorrigible under the Divine Judgements. And then what can be expected, but, since men thus rob God of his Honour by their impenitence, that he should at last assert, and vindicate it by the just retaliation of wrath and vengeance? He will infallibly get honour upon Pharaoh and all his host, and make a people that have defamed him to be a byword and reproach among the Nations. It is said of King Ahaz, that in the time of his distress, 
2 Chronicl. xxviii. 22.  he trespassed yet more. But God sets a mark upon him: This is that King Ahaz. He points him out with a special brand of reproach and ignominy for an example, and warning to all future Generations.  
We read, Jer. v. 3. O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast smitten, but they have not giveved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than a rock, they have refused to return. And then God proceeds to denounce further Judgements, till it follows, v. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this? There is certainly a desperate malignity in that guilt, at which Divine Wisdom seems at a stand; which has (as it were) exhausted the riches of his Goodness, non-plult and posed him, who is infinite in Mercy, to contrive and find out a pardon.  
And how terrible the wrath of the Lord is, when it is once kindled against an impenitent and obdurate Nation, we have a lively instance in his proceed with the Jews, when he could bear with them no longer, when he quite cut them off from being a people, when they had filled up the measure of their Fathers, and when God visited upon them, together with the blood of Christ, all the innocent blood that had been spilt, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, who was slain between the Temple and Altar. A visitation so dreadful and astonishing, as if God designed in their destruction to show an experiment what an Almighty Arm was able to do, what desolations he could bring upon a Land for the wickedness of those that dwell therein.  
Though in Jury God was known, and his name was great in Israel; though of the Temple at Jerusalem God had said, that he would put his name there, and that his eyes and his heart should be there perpetually; yet he now wonderfully declares to the whole world, that Jerusalem is no longer the place of his rest, that he has forsaken his Footstool, abhorred his Sanctuary, and cast off his Altar. If I had now time to pursue all the fatal circumstances of that dreadful story, what incredible numbers most miserably perished by the Pestilence, and the Famine, how many were destroyed by the Roman Armies, and (which was yet more tragical, and frightful) how many became the executioners of God's vengeance upon themselves, and how visibly the hand of God appeared in all; we should quickly conclude it to be the most fearful calamity, that was ever executed upon a people on this side Hell, so that nothing but the day of Judgement can give us a resemblance of the horror of it. Upon this occasion we may fitly use the words of the Prophet Daniel, Under the whole heavens has not been done, 
Dan. ix. 12.  as has been done upon Jerusalem.  
I have no design to make any Application of this fearful story to ourselves. We have not yet had the voice in the Temple, the terrible Earthquake, or the flaming Sword, and from these late discoveries that have been made amongst us, we have some reason to hope that our destruction is not so near. But though we have no Commission to forebode destruction, yet we have loud Alarms to provide against it. And if our impenitence under God's Judgements continue at the same rate with theirs, what can we otherwise expect, but that we shall also perish in the like dreadful desolation?  
I cannot here pretend to describe the successive advances of afflicting Providences, which God Almighty hath sent upon this unfortunate Generation. How fatal were the miseries of the Civil-war! How sad and dismal the confusions, that succeeded it! We heard nothing among us but the cries of the oppressed, the confused noise of the Battle, of the warrior, and garments rolled in blood. But after we had been long exercised with this severe discipline, God at length turns our Captivity, brings back our Royal Sovereign to sit upon the Throne of his Fathers, and establishes the whole Nation in a full possession of their Rights, and Laws, their Liberties, and Religion. And (which ought the more to endear our deliverance) all this was brought about by a Miracle of Mercy far beyond all our hopes and contrivances, at a time, when we were quite lost, without all visible means of a Restoration.  
And now what ought have been the Natural result of this? What language could have been more suitable for a redeemed people, than those words of Ezra, 
Ezra ix. 14.15.  Seeing thou hast punished us less than our iniquities have deserved, and hast given us such a deliverance as this, shall we again break thy Commandments? But lo! thus has it come to pass, by a prodigy of Ingratitude more astonishing than the Mercy, that we have again provoked the Lord to take the Sword into his Hand, to Commission his destroying Angel to bring the Pestilence into our Streets, to send upon us a raging and devouring Fire, which laid waste the Metropolis of the Kingdom. Together with these Calamities, he raises up against us a Foreign Enemy to make war upon our Coasts, to scoff at Kings, and make Princes a scorn unto them, to break our chains, deride our strong holds, 
Hab. i. 10.  and gather our captivity as the sands.  
And ever since that time, we have continued under the sad apprehensions of more fearful Judgements than these. There has remained upon the Nation great distress and perplexity, 
Luke xxi, 25.  men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming upon the earth. We have long stood in fear of a Famine of the Word, of the removal of the Candlestick, of the glory of God in his Church ready to departed from us. To be plain, and in a word, we are threatened with the return of Popery upon the Kingdom, that is, to have the practice of the grossest Impiety, Superstition, and dolatry introduced among us, and all the sincere professors of the Truth of the Gospel in every corner of the Land Massacred, Burnt, Racked and Tormented, because they will not receive the mark of the beast in their forehead, nor comply with these abominations.  
This is the Sword which the Lord seems to hang over us this day. And is there any way left to prevent, or stop it from the intended execution? If instead of our gratitude to God for such signal mercies, as he has reached forth unto us, we begin to fret and murmur at our enjoyments, and are ready to make us a Captain to return into Egypt, is it not Just with God to cause Egypt to return to us, and enslave both King and People to the merciless Usurpation of a Foreign Power? If after we have so long lived under a Faithful Preaching of the Word, a sincere Administration of the Sacraments, a liberal provision of all the means of Grace, we have loathed our Manna and despised our Mercies, if we have either quite withdrawn from the Public Assemblies, or not brought forth fruit in any wise answerable to those great advantages, which we have, of being saved; may we not reasonably presume, that we have so far provoked the Lord, as to give us up to a people, who will deprive us of these blessings, who with the cruelty of Dioclesian will kindle a Fire either for our Bibles, or ourselves, who instead of the word of God will obtrude upon us their own inventions, rob us of one half of the blessed Sacrament, and set up the Idol of the Mass instead of the other? 
2 Thes. two. 10, 11, 12.  If we have not received the love of the truth that we might be saved: Is it not greatly to be feared that for this cause God will send us strong delusions, that we shall believe lies; that all may be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness?  
If after all those mixtures and vicissitudes of Providence that we have had (as Salvian says of the Spaniards, Mutata sors sed non mutata vitiositas) there remains still the same senslesness under God's Judgements, the same unthankfulness for his Mercies, the same Atheism, Profaneness and Infidelity, from which God by all this variety of his methods has endeavoured to reclaim us: If the Nation is full of Whoredoms, and because of swearing the Land mourneth: If Treason dares appear with an open Face, and spread daily Libels, and Defamations against the Government: If Schisms and Factions thrive and prosper, and again threaten the best of Churches in the world: surely God will visit for these things, his soul will yet further be avenged upon such a Nation as this. May we not justly fear that God will raise up against us a bitter, and hasty Nation to land upon our Coasts, to march through the breadth of the Land, and possess the dwelling places that are not theirs; that he will henceforth forget to be gracious, and shut up his loving kindness in an utter displeasure, that he will bring upon us that heavy doom which our Saviour of old denounced to his own people, Therefore I say unto you, 
Matth. xxi. 43.  that the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits of it.  
I know but one way left to prevent the approach of these dreadful Judgements, which is, seriously to put in practice that great duty which we are called to this day, to repent and turn from our transgressions, that so iniquity may not be our ruin. This is the only course left us to rescue us from our present miseries, and preserve us from the evil, which is otherwise certainly to come upon us. And how great soever our fears are, we have yet some comfortable grounds to hope, that our day of Grace is not yet past, the door is not shut against us, but that we are still within the possibilities of Repentance. It seems that we are not yet quite cast off, by that wonderful discovery which God hath made amongst us of a Hellish Plot for the Assassinating of our King, and the Subversion of our Government and Religion. And therefore though we might be apt to conclude with Manoah in the Book of Judges. We shall surely die, because we have seen God, so terrible in his Judgements in the midst of us? Yet we may now with Manoahs' wife make a better and more reasonable inference: 
Judg. xiii. 12, 23.  If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have showed us all these things, nor would he (as at this time) have told us such things as these.  
Let us be careful therefore to improve this signal Providence to those serious purposes, for which God intends it, which are to break off our sins by Repentance, to reform and amend our lives: Lest by continuing in our transgressions, we defeat the designs of his goodness, and hinder him from going on to complete our deliverance: Lest this great Mercy prove but a lightning before death, and notwithstanding this, if we still do wickedly, we be consumed, both we, and our King.  
So that (we see) a way still lies open for us to appease the wrath of God and procure his favour; which if we all sincerely resolve to walk in, he will shine upon your Counsels, bless your Erterprises, and prosper your Undertake; he will be a wall of fire round about us, when he is thus the glory in the midst of us, he will heal our back-slidings and make up our breaches, he will defeat the designs of the enemies of our Peace, and he will remember the Land.  
FINIS.