Die Mercurii 29. Novemb. 1643.  
IT is this day Ordered by the Commons assembled in Parliament, that Mr. Stephens do return thanks to Mr. Mew for the great pains he took in the Sermon he preached this day at St. Margaret's in Westminster at the entreaty of the House of Commons, being the day of public Humiliation. And it is Ordered his said Sermon be printed.  
H. Elsing. Cler. Parl. D. Com.   

I Authorize Christopher Meredith or his assigns to print my Sermon.  
WILLIAM Mew.   

THE ROBBING AND SPOILING OF JACOB and ISRAEL: Considered and bewailed, in A SERMON Preached at Westminster before the Honourable House of Commons, at the late solemn Fast, Nov. 29. 1643. BY WILLIAM Mew B. D. Rector of Eastington in the County of Gloucester and one of the Members of this present Assembly of DIVINES. Published by Order of that House.  ECCLES. 4. 1. 
I considered all the oppressions that are done under the Sun, and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no Comforter, and on the side of the oppressors there was power, but they had no Comforter.  
2. Therefore I praised the dead which are already dead, more than the living which are yet alive.  
Printed at London for CHRISTOPHER MEREDITH dwelling at the Crane in Paul's churchyard. 1643.   

TO THE HONOURABLE HOUSE OF COMMONS, now assembled in Parliament.  
YOur reverend attention during the length of this service, together with a deportment suitable to the duty of the day, and matter in hand, gave me to conceive that your hearts were kindly warmed by a better spirit than yours or mine; and because you command a farther impression of this work, I ●●amfther instructed to conceive; 1. that besides the hearing ear, 
Prov. 20. 12.  there is (you know) to be employed A seeing eye, both which are the gift of the Lord; 2. that having bought the truth as tried gold, the filings are not to be be lost; 3. that upon your trial (what ever some say) you are willing the wise should judge whether you are taken with sounding brass, or any thing rather than Crown gold.  
These reasons (besides your command) are pressing arguments with me to make this Sermon public to the whole (as well as to the representative) body of our Commonalty, and now I leave it to God's blessing and your patronage, which I may the rather expect, because I have prayed for the former, and the latter is employed in your command, to which I owe (and will yield) this kind of obedience though I were sure to be made a Sacrifice.  
Upon your summons (Noble Senators) I appeared, knowing that God and his Vicegerents can make use of mean Instruments for high employments, whereof had I not been convinced, I should have fled (with Jonah to my Country gourd, 
Amos 7. 14.  with the hazard of a storm; or (with Amos) disavowed my function, rather than speak (so freely as I did) in the herdsman's language, and tell this (my) mother City, that for three great oversights, and for four, (to say no worse nor more) God hath a few things against her, which I complained of in this sad message.  
As first, though she professes to hate the works of the Malignants, yet there are those (if not in her bosom, yet) on her skirts, that say they are true to Church and State, but are indeed of another Synagogue, and by their blasphemy proclaim it loud enough, that either they went out from us, or were never of us; and when the wine hath lightened their brains, they make light of our parent's nakedness, discover it without shame or sorrow in the streets at noonday; where the sad spoils and robberies of our Nation, are made matter either of sporting Pamphlets, or merry discourse; to meet with these, I made it my first work to tell you in sadness, that the plundering and spoiling of a people was a sad and shameful penalty.  
Secondly, (though she own not the doctrine of Baal) yet she harbours such Doctors as Baalam, that peep, and mutter, and would amuse the Land with tales from the stars, and old-wives-fables, 
Esay 8. 19  as if the Planets had met in a counsel of war, and (by an Arbitrary power of their own) condemned our present State to a fatal desolation; to meet with these, I was to give you Information from the judge of all the world (speaking to the case, and concluding) that what was done he did it, and did us but right in it.  
Thirdly, though she have many golden heads, that appear active in subtle contrivances, she hath more leaden hearts, and (setting aside the great council) hath too few of those that consider her case aright, and lay it to heart: to meet with these, the last part of my message was to put home Christ's counsel to that Church of Sardis that had a foot in the grave, yet a step there was betwixt death and us, if we timely took her cordial (viz.) to remember what we have heard and received. This (if any thing) would quicken us to give the Lord a meeting, and thereby prevent the wrath to come.  
These things (worthy Patriots) you have heard, and that you might the better reform them, and know how to behave yourselves in God's method, beginning with his own house, you have chosen an Assembly of such Counsellors as you and all may confide in: (To whom I should have thought it honour enough for me to have been a doorkeeper) their peaceable conflicts and pious debates want nothing but his majesty's ears to make them hear well throughout the Land, being indeed a precious reserve, (such as the Lord promises to leave for hot service in the most conflicting times, Zeph. 3. 12. who doubtless will come up in the Rear, and do worthily in Ephrata.  
Former times have made a great noise about the Church or place of God's worship, but these later (with God's blessing upon your endeavours) may produce the power and purity of it. I shall pray that our Dread sovereign may live to see and say of God's house (as that Emperor did of room, Invenit lateritiam & reliquit marmoream) he found it thacht and overtopped with Laud's, Wrens, cousins, &c. but will leave it adorned and paved with whitaker's, preston's, and Sibses, cum multis aliis— The work is great indeed, but there is a great God that hath a great hand in it, and (as you have been told by a good providence more than once) will send Auxiliaries from heaven, proportionable, at least, to the strongest oppositions. To this purpose the God of the heaven return an answer to your prayers, for the peaceable return of our sovereign, which is or should be the daily suit of those that wish well to our public welfare, and resolve to live or die in the pursuit of this blessing; Amongst whom you have to command, the end avours, and prayers of  
Chancery-Lane this 19 of Decemb. 1643. Your humble servant in Christ's work, WILLIAM Mew.   

A SERMON PREACHED AT THE late Fast before the Honourable House of Commons.  ISAIAH 42. 24, 25. 
Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord, he, against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his Law.  
Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, and he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.  
WHich words (as you may perceive Honourable and beloved) are a text so sadly opened to our hand, a prophecy so clearly fulfilled in our eyes, that he which runs may read it, as an handwriting upon our walls, 
Dan. 5 5.  foretelling the ruin and period even of our Israel also, unless it please the Lord graciously to step in betwixt us and the wrath to come.  
I shall not need therefore by way of clearing a passage to the words, to say much, more than what our Saviour did in opening a prophecy in this book, which (after reading the words) he closed up again and told them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears, 
Luke 4 18.  and they all bare him witness. Nor shall I need by way of preface, to say more than the Prophet here doth immediately before the Text, to quicken up your attention, Who amongst you will give ear to this, who will harken and hear for the time to come? where he lifts up his voice like a Trumpet to make way, & then follows the Lord's Declaration in the words which I have read. Who gave Jacob for a spoil, &c.  
Briefly (to come in upon them with the best speed I may) this whole Sermon of the Prophet (beginning at the first v. of this chapter, and ending at the 13. verse of the next) is a Prophecy so strangely enterwoven with threats and promises, that it appears as so much Checker-work of Judgements and mercies; hear a little of the one, then as much of the other, with line upon line, judgement upon mercy, very suitable to his hearers, which we may conceive to have been a mixed number, for it is well known, that the sinners in Zion, and mourners in Zion in those days were so blended and mixed together that there needed a Divine hand to mark the one from the other. 
Ez●k 9 4.   
In the former part of this chapter we have the Lord Jesus exhibited to us as one most eminently set off with all the gracious endowments that might win upon the hearts of the worst of men; to this purpose the Prophet tells us ● 
ver. 12.  Negatively, what by his office he was not; and then Positively, what he was; 1rst no quarreller or striker, so far from that unpleasing work, that he was not to cry, nor, lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets, v. 2. so far from raising uproars or tumults, that he appears not in the strong wind, or Earthquake, or fire, but in a still voice, 
1 King. 19 12.  which should neither break the bruised Reed, 
Mat. 10. 34.  or quench the smoking Flax, v. 3. That sword which he brought into the world with him, 
Zach. 9 10.  was not to be drawn, if peace spoken to the heathen might prevail: his meaning is, he would not by force of arms drag or drive his conquered number into obedience, this was not his office; but 2ly the course of his office, positively, was to find eyes and feet for his followers, or at least to knock off the bolts and chains that they might be at liberty to follow him freely and faithfully, v. 7. Now if (notwithstanding all this) there should be a perverse party amongst them of the sons of Belial, that would refuse his gentle yoke, and break his bands asunder, close up their eyes against the light and fight it out in the dark, the Lord will see the quarrel of his son, (or as he calls him, ver. 1. his servant) revenged to the full upon that people, ver. 13, 14. If the Prince of peace were silent, the Lord of Hosts would speak in his cause, yea and fight too, very severely; not only cry and roar, but destroy and devour at once; yea, the longer he held his peace, the louder he would be when he comes to complain; the farther he drew back his hand, the deeper would be the wound when he comes to strike.  
Which (by the way) may serve as a warning caution to that Nation or people (suppose it be ours) that have had more of Christ's company than they care for, more of his proffered Grace than they are willing to accept or acknowledge; when God comes to reckon for this, though that Nation were as near and dear to him as Jacob, or Israel, of whom he speaks with honourable mention, Hos. 12, 45. one that was excellent at the duty wherein we are now employed, could weep and make supplication, and by his strength had power with God; Yet if the prevailing party amongst them were strong enough, to trample down those Honourable Laws, 
ver. 21.  which he had magnified on purpose for the advantage of his people; when he is thus provoked by a lawless number, he professes openly he will have an holy (though an heavy) hand in the ruin and spoil of that people; and when he hath done, leaves it with the world to judge, whether there were not all the reason in the world for what he did, when he gave Jacob to the spoil, and Israel to the robbers, &c. and thus we are come through the context to the words.  
Which being very clear and plain, I conceive it would be time impertinently spent to give account what Interpreters say of the words, or dash their judgements one against the other; this (I take it) were but to strike fire and light up a candle at noonday, to seek for that which is neither hid nor lost, this is no time or place to be luxuriant in criticisms; and as for parts, if I had not learned that [Aeque confusa est divisio nimia ac nulla] I would spare divisions, were it not to prevent confusion? briefly therefore to help our memories you may cast up the full sum of the words into these three general parts.  
1. A penalty inflicted; Jacob, & Israel, given to the plunder, & spoil; the robbers and spoilers have it in Commission under God's hand to plunder him; this is the penalty, and (as we shall see) a very sad and shameful one.  
2. The cause alleged, together with the vindictive party that appears in it, let me put them both together for better expedition and satisfaction, in case it be demanded, Is this legal? shall not the judge of all the world do right? will the King of Kings leave such a precedent upon record to his vicegerents to plunder their own subjects? to which he answers, there was a cause, and there was this cause, upon which he avouches the fact under his hand, (in words at length, and not in figures) Did not the Lord? which with the Hebrew Emphasis doubles the Answer (●q. d.) I did it, and will justify it.  
3. The acknowledgement required with the most serious consideration that may be, as appears partly by the quickening preface, wherein the Prophet summons all those that have ears to hear, or hearts to consider, that they would have a care of this duty: Partly by way of exprobration, charging home the neglect as a great delinquency, Yet he knew it not, Yet he laid it not to heart.  
The parts thus set, and the words clear enough, those that are wise and judicious may read God's meaning in them (as good Textmen can the original) without points, but this being not every one's gift, I shall ta●e leave to condescend to the capacities of the meanest, and point out the full scope of the Prophet in these 3. conclusions.  

1. The robbing and spoiling of a Nation is a very sad and shameful penalty.  
2. The Lord seldom or never inflicts this but upon great and weighty considerations.  
3. He takes it very ill if these be not rightly weighed and well considered.   
This first Truth will appear by that time we have observed it, 
Doct. 1.  to be God's usual course (when he means his rods shall smart to the quick) to brine them in shame; 
Suffu●dere mavult sanguinem quam effunde●e. Tertul. Apolog.  and if shame will serve turn and spare blood, he stays there and proceeds no farther. As indulgent parents deal with ingenuous children that blush to hear of the Rod, it is thought enough to show it or shake it, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Chry. in Gen. Hom. 22.  or at most to stick it at their girdles; Look how the Father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him, Psal. 103. 13. Yet rather than fail of Reformation, he makes them (when occasion serves) blush, & bleed at once. Thus he dealt with those that dealt falsely with him in the Covenant, he threatens to make them greatly ashamed, verse 17. meaning he would strip them naked when he strikes them, their penalty was to be aggravated with infamy; to this purpose we find them pointed at, as the ignominious captives of wanton conquerors, that gloried as much in their vassalage as in their ransom, 
verse 22.  verse 22. This is a people snared in holes, &c. their friends were either ashamed or afraid to come at them; They are for a prey, (saith the Prophet) and none delivereth, for a spoil, and none saith, Restore; an hard case, when friends shall not own each other, when a common calamity sets them at such a shameful distance.  
Now when the Lord deals thus with a people, he would have you know by that token, that he is angry indeed; and expects that in their humiliations, besides their sighs and tears, they should express a shame that accompanies their punishment as well as their sin, which they were wont in such case to acknowledge, Ier. 3. 24, 25. Shame hath devoured the labours of our fathers, we lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us; or in case they did not speak out, their Ministers were to do it for them: As Ezra very feelingly, Cap. 9 6.— I blush and am ashamed to lift up mine eyes to thee, O my God,— Why? it follows; beside the sin acknowledged, there was a shame treading upon the heels of it, verse 7. We are delivered up to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day: As their sin was shameful, and deserved a shameful punishment; so it was a burning shame (he thought) that God's Inheritance should be robbed, & spoiled, cowed, & conquered, by his and their enemies; and it must needs be so if we examine the grounds, 
Grounds.  and to that purpose consider first the parties, secondly the penalty.  
1. For the parties; 
Parties.  whether patients, or agents, spoiled, or spoiling, God clothes them both with shame; and if God's anger be the rule and measure of the shame, (as will appear) it will be hard to say for the present, which of the two are worst to pass; for whilst God's anger is smoking, and both under the fury thereof, it is not easily discerned whether he be more angry with the rods of his fury, which are his enemies, or the people of his wrath, which may be his own; Indeed when he hath done striking, it is well known, but not before, as we find in the 10. Chap. of this prophecy, comparing the 5. verse with the 12. At the first, God's anger seems strongest towards his people, but when he hath done with them, than he faces about, and gives fire upon his enemies, verse 16. So that look how far God's anger smokes upon a Nation in general, or any person in particular, so far they may hang the head for shame, as the Lord himself intimates in the case of Miriam, Numb. 12. 14. If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days. Surely thus hath the Lord dealt with the daughter of his people amongst us; he hath not only spit in our face, but cast the excrements of our Nation, the robbers, & spoilers, over the surface, of our Land; In which case we may take up the prophet's complaint, Ier. 14. 1, 2, 3. Our land mourns, the gates thereof languish, and are black to the ground, their Nobles were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads; The truth is, both noble, ignoble, agents, patients, amongst us may well be ashamed, the one for being so weak as not to maintain their own right, the other for being so powerful to do the other wrong, Psal. 52. 1. That tyrant did but glory in his shame, that boasted how mighty he was to do a mischief. The oppressed may be ashamed to deserve it so justly, the oppressor for doing it so injustly; Divine justice frowns on both: now the frowns of a King are the shame of the subject, whether he be a favourite, or malefactor, especially when he is known to have been both; In the mean time God is righteous, and will not foul his hands with the sin of either, but glorifies himself in the just-deserved shame of both: The wanton spoiler drives, & drags his captive in triumph with bloody face, and bare feet, nothing to cover his shame, but his eyelids closed up, and his head hung down, to think that no less penalty would answer his deserts, as that good Emperor Mauritius, 
Calvi● in locum.  overpowered and villainously abused by his servant and successor Phocas, sighs out his shame in the words of the Psalmist, Justus es Domine, &c. Righteous art thou O Lord, &c. But that excused not the ingrateful Tyrant, Indignus ille qui faceret, he might be ashamed to deal so barbarously with one that deserved it not of him; as the one was ashamed to know he had deserved no less, so might the other to do so much. In the mean time God's anger soots them both, and their faces gather blackness, 
Joel 2. 6.  so that the parties, whether agents, or patients, whilst they are in the smother of his displeasure, have a sad and shameful time of it.  
2. Consider the penalty, 
Penalty.  and then the truth will further appear; To be made a prey, and spoil, is the doom of the beast; therefore when the Apostle would shame certain graceless men to the full, he calls or compares thento brute beasts made to be destroyed, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Ch●ysost. Hom. in asce●. D●m.  2. Pet 2. 12. And of all men, none more sensible of this then holy men; Sapiens miser est plus miser, &c. such as have been in honour with God, and such honour have all his Saints. Mark therefore how sadly they complain in this case, Psal. 79. 1, 2, 3. It was much that their dead bodies should be beasts meat, and their blood run down the channel; but that which they felt most in this misery was the shame of this penalty, verse 4. We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a shame and scorn to those about us; and had it been in their choice, would rather have fallen under thunder-strokes, or plague-stroaks, any judgement from heaven would have been more welcome then to lie at the mercy of men, vilder than the earth, whose tongues, hands, and hearts were set on fire from hell. No plague like that of a plundering enemy, that delights in war; so David thought that knew them of old, and in his choice prefers the plague before them, 2. Sam. 24. 14. He could never think of them without an imprecation, Psal. 78. 30. Rebuke, O Lord, the multitude of spearmen, together with the bulls and calves of the people,— Scatter thou them that delight in war; When God gathered these rods and bundled them together, he suspected the fury of his anger, and strength of battle; and if God will honour him with the choice of penalties, he will not consult so much shame to himself and family, as to fall into their hands. It grieves not an ingenuous child so much to be scourged immediately by the Parent, as to be turned off at the second hand to a base and merciless groom; the plague-stroke comes from God's hand, and here we commonly cry, Lord have mercy on us. But who can find in his heart, upon his knees, to ask his life & liberty at the hands of a merciless plunderer? or if he do, who can be sure to speed, that knows he shall lose his suit & breath together? since God and their consciences give them no quarter how can we expect that from them, which they have not received?  
But of all spoiling penalties none like that of a civil war: if a malefactor must die, better by any hand then his own; and if a Nation must needs bleed to death, better any do it, than they of their own blood and bowels, for there is much of God's anger, and consequently much more shame in such a misery. God was too angry with the Israelites to let them die by the strength of battle, and therefore expresses his fury more, in consecrating their brethren's swords to do execution upon them as so many condemned malefactors, Exod. 32. 29. To have a mother sentenced to death by the wanton cruelty of her own children, is such a shame and misery, as goes beyond the penalty in the Text; and yet this being our case, it will be worth our labour to pause upon it a while, and make the truth our own by way of application.  
This being so, 
use 1. Information.  that the robbing & spoiling of a Nation is actively a sin, and passively a shame, this will concern us all, before we pass forward, to consider what we have to do or suffer in this case: To this purpose it will be worth the while to take notice of this penalty, and consider these robbers, & spoilers, as they fall under a twofold cognizance; for they may be viewed as a double-faced piece; look one way, and you see a beautiful face, on the other side a deformed monster: So if we consider them efficienter, you may see more of God then man in them, but if you view them instrumentaliter, you shall see more of the devil then either; and both these ways we shall do well to view them for our better information.  
Consider them in God's hand, gathered and bundled up for his own ends, 
Efficienter.  which are ever high and holy, viz. his own glory, and his Churches good: here we may call them (as David doth) the men of God's hand, 
Psal. 148. 8.  Psal. 17. 14. 
Nec operis sunt conscii, ●●rn. de great. & lib. arbitr.  for though their will be their own, and that be bad enough, yet their power is God's, and therefore good; so that if he commands us to kiss these rods, no child of wisdom will refuse it; if he command us to spare and forgive these, it may, it must be done; David was wise that did it; even whilst he smarted under the shame, he looks upon the Act as God's doing, 2 Sam. 16. 10. Who then shall say, Wherefore hast thou done so? Here we have nothing to say, much less to do, but something to suffer, as we shall see in the next point, when we come to view these rods in God's hand.  
In the mean time we shall consider them as unlucky Instruments fallen out of his hand, 
Instrumentaliter.  and such as have gone beyond their Commission; as an axe or edge-tool falling from a shelf, 
I●s●ctantur vos & in vobis Deum● Salvian. de Pr●vi. li. 8 c 4.  hath weight and sharpness enough in it to do a mischief without a guiding arm; so it is certain, that though these rods can do nothing beyond permission, yet beyond their commission they may; and so much the Lord himself observes of them, Esay 10. 5. You shall find that God had given a large Commission to the Assyrian, the rod of his fury, to plunder and spoil this people very severely, but yet with a purpose to leave in the midst of them a poor and afflicted people that should trust in the name of the Lord; 
Zeph. 3. 12. Zach. 1. 15. Prov. 11. 27. Psal. 37. 12, 13. Es●. 41. 11. 12. Zach. 12. 2. Ibid. 3. Zach. 12. 6. Gen. 34. 2. 2 Sam. 13. 19 Judges 19 29.  God hath some merciful purposes to reserve a number, and to let the proud conqueror know that his Commission was limited under pain of his displeasure. Howbeit (as God observes of him, ver. 7.) he thinks not so— but it is in his heart to destroy, and on he goes with this resolution to the 15. ver. where the Lord takes him up with indignation, Shall the Axe boast itself, or the rod shake itself against him that lifts it up? In doing thus God leaves them to be dealt withal as those that have gone beyond Commission, Esay 47. 6. If they be such as show no mercy, we may be sure by that token they are beyond commission, and we have leave in this case, to say and do something too, and are to blame if we do not; we are not in this case to conceal our rapes & wrongs as Dina, but to complain as Thamar, and (though it be with blushing) to let our Father know what folly (or fury rather) hath been committed in Israel; yea, to send out hue and cry after them as the Levite did the quarters of his Concubine through all the Tribes, and make out for right against them, or at least for a just hearing of our complaints.  
This then being an hearing day, 
use 2. Oth●●●●liatiō  I shall make it my next work to move you all that have ears to hear, and hearts to consider, and tongues to complain, to join with me in this duty of the day, to join our humble complaints, and order them so, that God may know we are sensible of our sufferings, and sins that caused them; and in special manner it concerns you (Honourable Senators) that have a double interest in this duty, as you are God's 
* {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Psal. 758. Psal 8●7.  deputies that must hear our c●mplaints with an endeavour to help us; and as you must die like men, and may come to suffer with us, suffer your remembrancer to do his office, and mind you of our spoils, & robberies; and tell you that we have been robbed of our God, & King, Justice, & Mercies; of all that made our Nation glorious, have we been robbed, & spoiled, and it is a standing Miracle that in these dreadful losses we have a nail in the holy place▪ a little reviving in our miseries: 
Ezra 9 ●.  A privilege which God vouchafes his own in evil times, 
Mala. 3. 16.  to speak often to each other, which we shall do well to improve, that God may harken and hear, and a book of remembrance may b● written of what the enemy hath done and we have suffered, for God records both when he affords days for the gathering his jewels together, that they may speak often to each other, and all join to put up their complaints (as we shall do) and tell him—  
We have been robbed of our God, or the enemy at least hath done reason to make us believe so; 
robbed of our God.  there be those up in arms at this day, that have cast it as a common reproach upon the towns and houses they have robbed and spoiled, 
Ps●l. 42 10.  Where is now your God? as if they meant to rid us of him with a word and a blow, Down with them— even to the ground, and then the word was, Where is now your God? An old blasphemy newly revived, and yet had we as much cause to believe it as the Prophet that first spoke it. For our enemies proved it with as strong arguments as his did, Our Tabernacles they defiled; we could not call them Sanctuaries, for there was no safety, or protection in them, either for Minister or people that take them for their lives, the shepherds being smitten, the sheep have been scattered, the lamps being drowned in their own oil, the lights hid under their own bushels, Ministers and others in their own Churches where they preached & heard Christ freely, these profane insolences gave the people to suspect they should be robbed of their God as well as of their goods. Briefly (to omit those shameful reproaches, wherewith they clothed them from head to foot that did but set their faces heavenward) Pious people were fain privately to steal that communion with their God, whereof they were publicly robbed & spoiled, these times of hostility; and men of blood having been such backfriends to all pious and public duties.  
Next to him we have been robbed of our Commander in chief, 
robbed of our King.  one that was valued (in David's time) at many regiments of the vulgar, 
2 Sam. 18. 13.  Ten thousands of others, one whom the Scripture calls the breath of our nostrils, 
2 Sam. 21. 17.  and shall not the body struggle for life when this is stopped? we might as well call him the light of our eyes, and shall we then suffer that Ignominy (which Naash would have put upon the men of Iab●sh Gilead) to have our right eye thrust out? which if we do, 
1 Sam. 11. 2.  it is to be feared, the other will go out for anguish, and then farewell government, and in stead thereof, enter confusion. To be sure, he is called the light of Israel, 
Lam. 4. 20.  alluding to the Sun in the firmament at least, (to go no higher) let us take him so, and surely our loss hath been great, our case sad, like those shipwrecked persons we read of in Paul's dangerous● voyage, where the Sun was not seen in divers days together, 
Acts 27 20.  and withal no small tempest lying upon us. If this Sun of ours had been only eclipsed for a while, keeping his Chamber without his Bride, we could have held our peace, 
Esther 7. 4.  though we might have said as Esther, the Enemy could not countervail the King's damage: Or if he had but stood still, 
Ios. 10. 13.  {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, indifferent between East and West, whilst the enemies of Church and State were in chase, and the great quarrel disputing betwixt truth and appearance, our loss doubtless had been less: Or if he could have been brought back by those degrees from whence he was declined from us, 
2 King. 20. 10.  our sick State might hope for long life, and sudden recovery by that good token. However I beseech you, let him not set in a cloud, (if our prayers and tears can help it) let him not be turned into blood or darkness, 
A●ts 2. 20.  for that bodes a terrible day indeed. Lose him, lose all; In this case who can justly upbraid our passions? If any churlish trooper of Dan shall demand what ails us, as they did of Michah when they had robbed him, may not we answer our plunderers, 
Judges 18. 24.  as he did his, judges 18. 24. Have ye robbed us of our God, and King, and do ye ask what ails us? mock our humiliations? have ye robbed us of our bread, and then scoff at our fasting? well, losers will have leave to speak, and if earth hear us not, heaven will.  
We have been robbed of our justice, the best flower in our Crown, 
Rob●d of our Justice.  so the wise man valued it in his account; that it was both Columna & corona R●ipub: the pillar that supports, the Crown that adorns the Church and State: upon these terms we find he commends it to us, Prov. 16. 12. 
Prov. 6. 12.  The throne is established by justice; yea and advances it too, 
14. 34.  Prov. 14. 34. Justice exalts a nation, but (mark the antithesis, for it comes up close to the point in hand) sin is a shame; What sin doth he mean? doubtless oppression, the sin most opposite to justice: this sin is a shame to any people, so that when the soldier shall cut the girdle of authority, 
Jo● 12. 17. 18.  (as God threatens, solvit cingula regum) the loins and strength of that State must needs be loose and enfeebled: There's no argument more certain to evidence a sad and decrepit State, then to have the watercourse of justice stopped, 
A●●os 5. 24.  or the waters so troubled and embittered, that the thirst and the taste are of the same danger. 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Plut. ad praef. Ind●ct.  This hath been our sad case for many a day, and month, and quarter-sessions together, where in most places we have had none (or some as good as none) in the place of Judicature, either for sentence, or assistance, 
Iudex injustus lat●o cum privil●gio, est sicut medicus imperitus homicida. Co●um. lib. 1.  in so much that the insolences of the oppressor, and injuries of the oppressed, have been unsufferable, and the cries have been so many and loud, that if there were an unjust judge in heaven, yet the sad importunities of his plaintiffs cannot but awaken him at length; in the mean time we have been robbed and spoiled of that which should right us in our spoils and robberies.  
We have been robbed of our mercies too; Those amongst the rest, 
robbed of our Mercies.  which were left us as so many golden Legacies ●y that Mother in our Israel, of ever blessed memory, upon whose tomb you may find them engraven, in these golden particulars; Religion reformed, peace well grounded, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Arist. Laert.  honour at sea restored, rebellion extinguished, England long and well governed, Scotland freed from the French, Ireland pacified, the Netherlands supported, and Spain awed: So that our national mercies than concured with our justice to exalt our Nation, Prince and people then having but one heart and mind, contested in nothing more than to outvie each other in their mutual offices of love on the one side, and obedience on the other; a friendly part indeed. That was the time when the shepherd could drive, and fold his sheep, the Clothiers carry their woven fleeces for the common good and their private gain, without fear of Troopers; then might Ministers preach the word with boldness, and study the truth without interruption, that have of late been fain to hide themselves and their books, and glad to escape so; then might the Husbandman plant and plow, sow and reap, and grow honestly rich without danger, whereas now it is guilt enough to have any goods found in their houses; glad they have been to fling the plough into the hedge, and think it well to part with their horse and harness upon condition they may be favoured so far as not to drive and draw away their own goods. O sirs! To be robbed and spoiled of such mercies, (as it is our shameful misery, so) a just requital of their abuse, which God hath threatened to a people in our case, 
2 Chro. 15. 6. 7  2 Chron. 15. vers. 6. 7. In those times there was no peace to him that went out, or to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the Countries, and Nation was destroyed of Nation, and City of City, for God did vex them with all adversity. Who can say, Blessed are the people that are in such a case? Or if any should be so far a Laodicean, as in this nakedn●sse and misery to think so, who (that hath his senses) could believe his report?  
That which seals up our misery, 
robbed of the Remedy.  we have no redress for the present on this side heaven, when Authority hath been solicited with tears, and prayers, Answers have been returned that have begotten more tears. Froward children will cry when they draw more blood than milk, yet hard to say, which suffers or sorrows most, the nurse or suckling. This sad Assembly hath heard with both ears the common voice of our complaint, That the summer is ended, 
Jer. ●, 20.  the harvest past, and we are not saved: to which answers have been returned that savour of sorrow rather than anger; 
2 King. 5 7.  Not like that of the King of Israel in Naaman's case, rending his clothes, and suspecting a quarrel, but when he put forth a better passion and more suitable to the plaintiffs case, 
● King. 6. 27.  that moved him for justice in the siege of Samaria, (at what time they made eating of children by first and second courses) this wrought upon him rather sadness than wrath, and accordingly he answers, If the Lord help thee not, how can I help thee out of the barn-floor, 
Gen. 21. 19  or the winepress? But the while what shall we say next? It is pity to draw too violently at a sore breast, our next work must be to lie as quiet as we may, until the Lord open the eyes of our State to see a fountain, (which we are to hope is a● hand) though we see it not; In the mean time we should do well to pity those tender breasts that have been drawn out to the full for our sakes, and to give in our discharge, as far as in us lies, (what concerns the great account is above us) but for our parts we may, and must give up a free and humble discharge, as Saint Paul to the Church at Corinth, 2 Cor. 7. 11. The self same thing that you sorrowed after a godly sort, 
2 Cor. 7. 11.  what carefulness it wrought in you, y●a what clearing of yourselves; &c. In all these things you have approved yourselves clear in this matter.  
Briefly to close up this point, That which concerns all, both Prince and people, Magistrate and Minister, is to consider what we have to do, and suffer in our several capacities. That we have been robbed and spoiled, is granted on all sides, and the calamity being common, the mischief of plundering is made matter of merry discourse. But I beseech ye, let us be better advised by the Prophet, Isai. Cap. 8. 11, 13. 
Esay 8. 11.  not to say as some say, or to do as others do, but to sanctify the Lord in our hearts, and make him our fear; which if we did, we shall then be ashamed of this national sin, and penalty of ours. When a captive or malefactor, come to caper in his chains, and play with them, he gives his keeper's occasion to double the weight of them. I beseech ye, let these we have, keep us low, and lower yet at the throne of grace; and as we have sent some hue and cry after these robbers, and spoilers, so let us send up as many sighs and tears, to think that no less penalty would serve our turns, then to be made the scorn of our enemies, and the pity of all good men. And surely the Wiseman wanted not for wisdom, and pity, when he speaks of a case directly like ours, 
E●cles. 4. 1, 2, 3  and prefers death before it, Eccles. 4. 1, 2, 3. So I returned and considered the oppressions, and beheld the tears of the oppressed, that had no comforter, &c. And hard case, when the distressed soul shall cry for more weight, that he may be rid of his life and burden at once. This shall suffice for the penalty, which we see is very sad, 
Penalties, distinguished into  and shameful.  
From the penalty inflicted, we proceed to the cause alleged, 
Ordin●ry.  and the point thence arising is this:  
The Lord seldom or never inflicts these but upon great and weighty considerations. 
2 Doctrine.   
To conceive aright of these, we must know▪ there are some ordinary penalties, whereof (as man makes not, so) God gives not any special account; these we may call, Mala quotidianae incursionis, penalties of course, but not causeless; Our just God inflicts them, 
Prov. 24. 16.  and the just man may fall into them seven times a day, 
Psal. 12. 5.  (like gold into the furnace seven times tried) and arise with advantage. These come and go de facto, without any other remarkable note upon them, beside the general rule, and end of all, (viz.) God's glory. Of this kind our Saviour speaks, Joh. 
Ioh. 9 3.  9 3. when his Disciples took it for granted, that the blind man, or his parents, were extraordinary delinquents, to which Christ answers, nay, as elsewhere in the case of the Galileans, 
Luke 13. 1.  Luke 13. 1. Giving them and us to know that it is not safe to make any sour or severe comment upon the dark passages of his providence, unless he please with his own finger to point at them; his interpretation being only safe and sound: and where he denies, 
Eccles. 7. 14.  and doth not distinguish, we are to rest in the wise man's rule, Eccles. 9 1, 2. 7. 14,  
2. There are extraordinary penalties, wherein God appears, 
Extraordinary.  and takes occasion to open and expound some kind of sins with suitable judgement, and then expects we should read our sin in our punishment; 
〈…〉,▪ prae. cent. 5. Mi. ●9.  this I take to be his meaning, when he commands to hear the rod and who hath appointed it; and that neither of these should be questioned here, he gives a clear and a full account of both; I. if being blind (as he complains they were, v. 18. 19) he doth not baffle them in their blindness, 
Psa. 107. 43.  give the blow and start aside, 
Jer. 9 12.  but if they ask who smote them? 
La●. 3. 40.  he tells them plainly, it was the Lord's doing, 
Fid●● verbis ve●be●a faciunt Gr●g. in Exa●. 37.  expressed with the Hebrew emphasis, which by way of demand doubles the answer (q. d.) I did it and will justify it.  
2. 
Jo● 10. 2.  If they would know why? he stands not upon his royal p●●rogative, 
〈◊〉 p●ccto●em se non s●●tentiat, cogn●sct pro qu● specialiter culp● perc●ti●ur, 〈◊〉 〈…〉 ●rvi, G●eg▪ Mo● lib 9 cap. 34.  (which is sovereign reason) but gives them satisfying reason suitable to their own principles, wherein he refers himself to their consciences, if there were not all kind of reason for what he did, and they suffered, there was a cause and there was this cause; I●● their sin in gross (crowded into the b●llance by the lump) was the common cause; and then 2ly certain provoking sins in particular (most intrinsically cross to the covenant) were the special cause, so that both put together and so solemnly charged upon this people, clear the truth propounded, That when God inflicts such extraordinary penalties (as they then, and we now groan under) he is very willing we should (not guess at adventure, 
Jer. 5 7.  but) know for certain that he is necessitated to do this; and so he tells them, Ier. 5. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this? (q. d.) Set me in a way how it may be done with the safety of mine honour, and command me, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Chrysoft. Tom. 6. Se●m. 87.  if not, excuse me if I strike home for this. Now by that time this is seen and acknowledged, we are past the hardest propositions of agreement; and he calls us to a Treaty upon these terms, Amos 4. Tells his people there what he had done, and they had suffered, v. 10, 11. He was fain to deal with them as Absalon with Joab, 
● Sam. 14. 30.  that could not get speech with him, till he fired his corn: so he dealt also with these in the text, fired them round about: the cause was apostasy and obstinacy. They had started off from their God, and would not return upon summons, therefore he wils them to consider where the difference lay, and mind it, or he would proceed from one penalty to another, until they give him a meeting to the purpose: something he had done, 
Quid sit facturus tacet ut poe●itentiam agant ne inferat quae minatur. Hier. use 1. Information.  ver. 10, 11. but that was not all. Some more dreadful penalty there was behind, which he leaves a blank for, in the 12. ver. This I will do— he saith not what, but let them suspect the worst, if they prepare not to meet the Lord.  
This being so, there is yet hope in Israel concerning this, Ez. 10. 2. there is yet some life in our case, a step at least betwixt us and death, there is space enough for mercy to come and warn, if grace foresee and prevent the wrath to come, so that before we come to the last and great duty of consideration, we have by way of inference a twofold Information; which I shall commend to you in a twofold co●sectary, viz.  
1. God neither smites nor spoils a people without a cause, 1. 
Consectary.  nor yet for every cause.  
2. He is willing we should consider what sins of all others are the robbing and spoiling sins.  
For the first, know for certain, that neither Jacob or Israel as then, 
God smites not without cause.  nor England or Ireland now, are robbed and spoiled by fatal necessity, by any malignant influence of the stars, or conjunction of the planets; (as some that have nothing else to say, or do, would amuse the world withal) No verily, 
Sapiens dominabitur astris. Es. 27. 4,  our Church and State have those stars within them, (and O that we were so wise to get above them) those stars, I say, that have fought in their order against us, 
Deus bonus de suo, saevus de nostro. Tertul. de Resur.  and without which God uses not to fight with us; the Sun shines naturally, but is eclipsed accidentally, so God loves his own freely, out of his gracious inclination, but his frowns are forced, 
Jer. 7. 19 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Gr. Naz. Ora. 6.  and his strokes are constrained, (like fire out of the flint) not without provocations, nothing can anger him but sin that fights against his will, nor any thing please him again till he hath his will of it, to this purpose he must and will smite, that is certain, but never without a cause.  
2. Nor yet for every cause: He is not so hot in the quarrel of his Covenant, 
Nor for every cause. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Basil, Sel. Hom. 11.  that every sinful unkindness should kindle him into a flaming passion, and make him pour out the fury of his anger, and strength of battle upon a people. No, no, it is granted on all hands (not only by us who are here humbled under his mighty hand, 
Jer. ●0. 14.  but even by those that are blaspheming his name in the camp) that God hath cause enough to be angry; 
Lam. 3. 40,  or if it were denied, this great Assembly, this grand Jury of our kingdom, hath bills enough upon the file to testify against us; so many that it is thought they will not all be found & charged home until the Judge of all the world come to right himself. In the mean time we are here this day before the Lord, to do him right in two particulars, viz. 1. Acknowledge the cause. 2. Accept the penalty. In each of these let us be free and faithful I beseech you.  
do this Sirs, or there is nothing done in the way of reconciliation. 
Acknowledge the cause.  I hope there are none here so well conceited of our Nation in general, or themselves in particular, to say or think, that God might have better spared this blood that hath been spilled amongst us; or that it might have been shed more justly elsewhere. If any of those that stand in the gap this day (to pray, and plead for his people, or to judge betwixt him and his) harbour any such thoughts, let me bespeak you in the words of the Lord, 
Jer. 4. 14.  O wash thine heart from this great wickedness, that thou Mayest be spared, and let not these vain thoughts lodge within thee. Indeed time was when we might have pleaded pity, upon better appearance of reason then now we can. For instance; ● in the time of our Marian persecutions, about 90. years since, our Nation then was in the first heats of its love, and it was pity then, that Christ's Lambs (that fell into so hard a time) should be so butchered, and Bonnered as they were, weltering in their blood: that was a time of love, and for the elects sake those bloody days were shortened. So again in the year 88 Our Nation was unanimously agreed, Prince and people both, upon a course of reformation, to purge out the Romish poison from the Church, and work the Spanish leaven out of the State, & then it was thought pity that those pirates, and robbers (that brought a floating island by Sea, to overpower ours by land) should have their will of us; that design was blasted, and we in pity spared for that time. So again, in the beginning of our late sovereign's days, both King and Parliament were not only strongly united in themselves, but were upon the work of uniting three kingdoms into one, to make a threefold cord not easily broken, and it was pity then the Powder-plot should burn those bands at the first tying, all this while though there were cause enough, yet there was not this cause, but now our sins coming to those bounds where God bids stand, and like the raging sea dashes against those white rocks of our kingdom, which are set to keep it off, it is now at that high tide, and so out of measure overswoln, that it is too much for the Land to bear it, or God to forbear it; so that the least we can do is to take unto us words and acknowledge the cause. Dan. 9 7, 8.  
Not only so, but accept the Penalty too, Levit. 26. 41. do this also, 
Accept the penalty.  or we have but dallied in all our humiliations, it is in vain to pretend sackcloth and ashes, 
Lev. 26. 41.  if we clothe not ourselves with shame, 
Jer. ●0. 19  lay our hands upon out mouths, and our mouths in the dust, and sigh our condition in the church's words, 
Mich. 7. 9, 10.  Micha 7. 9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him; Now by that time this is done feelingly, and faithfully, than we shall have leave to throw off our mourning garments, and cast them upon the back of the the scarlet whore, as is intimated in the next ver. 9 Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is now the Lord thy God? mine eyes shall behold her, when she shall be trodden down like the mire in the streets. In the mean time, it is a sad case I confess to be robbed and spoiled. But is it not a heavy case to rob our God? Who began first? God acknowledges plainly what he hath done in the case, and why he hath done it, yet the proud sinner being charged in this case, boldly denies, Mal. 3. 8. and when convinced, yet argues the case, ver. 13. thinks he hath hard measure: God forbid there should be any of that temper amongst us, that shall deny or distinguish: we are come to acquit the Lord, and to accept with all humility this just deserved penalty. It is a shame to be stripped naked, but it is worse to deserve it; It is a sad case to have such as Job speaks of, such striplings as we would have been loath to set with the dogs of the flock; 
Job 30. 1, 2. 3, 4, 5. 8.  (for they were useful creatures, but these the burden of the earth, and viler than the earth, ver. 7, 8.) that such as these should not only quarter, but wholly Lord it in our houses, command what they please at bed and board whilst they stay, and take away the rest at parting; it is an hard case (we think) to hear and bear the lashes of such rods, but what is it to provoke that God to wrath, that might justly turn us out of our houses into hell the same hour; well, it is his mercy we are on this side of it, though for the present likely to be overwhelmed with miseries, yet must our uncircumcised hearts relent, accept of the punishment, and acknowledge there is a cause.  
But that is not all, we must put the finger upon the sore place, 
Consectary. What are those robbing and spoiling sins.  and see and say, There is this cause for it, so that now we are come to the second branch of Information, to take notice of those robbing and spoiling sins, which we shall find couched in the words, and refer to those that are specified in the context, and complained of in this prophecy as sins most intrinsically cross to the Covenant; these must be singled our, or we shall not know where to begin or where to end in the duty of humiliation. Briefly therefore (because generals work not so well in public acknowledgements) we are to inquire what special sins the Lord points at as robbing & spoiling sins, 
Genera nihil agunt.  which if they be not looked to in time, will not only lengthen out that misery under which we groan, but make way for a worse thing that may befall us; 
Ezek. 〈◊〉. 22. 24, 25, 26.  Now, though it were fitting that these should be discovered to the full, yet being in hast I can but show them at a running view (as he that paints out an Army of enemies at a distance, 
Deut. 32, 47.  thinks it enough to show the heads of some Commanders in the Van, together with the tops of their colours, and points of their spears) so this that I shall say concerning these must suffice to conjecture of the rest that you may meet with in the conflict.  
For the general, take in our Gospel sins that fight against the remedy, 
Gopel sins  and lay a people open to wrath without a covering, 
Rom. 13. ult.  Io 15. 22. Now have they (Says Christ) no covering for their sin, having refused to put him on, who was the white-raiment, which he counselled them to buy for that purpose, Re. 3. 19 When a people are so high-mounted in the seat of the scorners, 
Psal. 1. 1.  that the most precious treasures of the gospel, & the dreadfullest terrors of the law, are belched out of their mouths into customary oaths and imprecations (viz.) As they hope to be saved, or Dammy if they do not that which they never intended; when men make no better account of faith, then to swear by it, and of Repenpentance, then to scoff at it as a thing hidden from their eyes, when these graces of the new Covenant are trampled under feet, 
Heb 6. 10.  and blood of the Covenant accounted as an unholy thing, when they crucify to themselves the Lord of life; if Grace and Salvation itself be thus abused and turned into wantonness, who or what shall save them from the wrath to come? This we find to be the generall● complaint of this Prophet against this people in his time, a warning given them 60. years before the robbers & spoilers were fully let in upon them; given indeed, but not taken, till they had scoffed away their God and Covenant, their liberties and lives, and came to lie under the fury of his anger and strength of battle.  
Next to these were the sins of those, whether Priests or Prophets, 
S. S●n●turay sins.  which were by their office nearest to God, and should have been farthest from provoking him. When it came to pass that the sins of these (setting aside their personal aggravations) were the same for number and nature with the basest of the people, the same pride and profaneness, the same cruelty, 
Jer. 23. 11.  and covetousness, the same excess, 
Esay 56. 11.  and uncleanness, &c. and by these means so strengthened the hands of the wicked, 
Ez●k. 34. 4.  that they came forth in a full strength to make a Covenant with death and hell, 
Jer. 23. 1●.  and to break all Bonds and Covenants with God; it was then high time for God to look to his honour, being (in good earnest) driven from the place where his honour dwelled, which ●e was resolved to visit with a vengeance, the first place he began withal, Ezek. 9 6. Mal. 3. 3. It were too large to bring in the several complaints put up against these Sanctuary sinners by those of their own Tribes; Wolves and mastiffs may be alike in hair and colour, but differ much in their respects to the fold, the one watches over it for good, the other for a mischief; this the Lord saw, and therefore as there was no remedy when the bad people abused the good Prophets, 2 Chron. 36. so when the bad Prophets abused the good people, there was no remedy but ruin, God calls in all the robbers and spoilers round about, to make a prey of Priest and People in this case, Es. 56. 9 19 11, 12.  
Such I mean whereby Priest and people joined hand in hand together, 
epidemical sins.  to make a faction of hell strong enough to overpower both the word and sword, when it comes to this pass that Magistrates and Ministers (God's faithful witnesses) are not able to make a considerable party to deal with these, than no remedy, but this penalty: thus was it with them, (and how much better of late with us) when those Priests were the only men of worship that could silence their brethren in a Lordly tone, and courtly scoff. As Amaziah did, Amos 7. 11. O thou man of God— Fly thy way, &c. when these could by an Arbitrary power of their own, dispense with the power of godliness, and the honour of God's days; and in their rare and solemn Sermons discourse the people into a dream of wine and strong drink, Mich. 2. 11. (as ours did into whitson-Ales-Lords-day sports) and this so pleased the people that they were resolved (as most of ours are) to engage their lives, liberties, to maintain these pleasing devotions; this the Lord saw, than (and we may see now) to be an horrible thing, vid. Ier. 5. ult. An horrible thing, &c. shall I not visit saith God for these things, &c. Yes, doubtless in this very way that he now goes in, to let in the robbers and spoilers, and tells what they shall do, v. 17. eat up thy harvest, thy flocks and herds, &c.  
More particularly, the despising of God's word and messengers, 
Word despising sins.  dared the Lord to spoil them. David could do no less in point of honour, 
2 Sam. 10. 4.  then pour out the fury of his anger and strength of battle upon the Ammonites, 
2 Chr. 36. 16.  when his gracious message and messengers were so shamefully entreated; and what remedy but ruin to that people that shall deal thus with their God? This spoiled all, and brought in the final plunder upon that state 2 Chron. 36. 16. and so doubtless it will upon ours, if not prevented; when a people shall so far undervalue the word and Ministers, that either they are not heard at all, or (which comes all to one) for mere custom, the auditories either thin or thronged, according as times and persons are pleased; when we shall make a mere thoroughfare of divine ordinances, and take them in the way to our profits and pleasures, Feasts and Fairs, as the Lord intimates with complaint, Es. 33. 31, 32. when men shall come with the same affections to the Temple as to a tavern, call for what they please, and like nought but what they call for! Thus did these, as this Prophet complains, Es. 30. 9, 10, 11. Prophecy to us pleasing things: which when the good Prophets could not in conscience do, but told them of their sour grapes & bitter clusters, they flung these reports into their faces with indignation, and added this above all, to thrust them into corners, v. 20. it was time for the Lord to pay them in their own coin, 
jumentorum est eos calce ●orsuque app●tere, a quibus eorum vulnera curanda contra●●antur. A●g. Ep. 10.  and deal with them as they dealt with his servants, and let them see how good it was to be snared in holes, and prison houses, v. 22. how they liked bolts and chains, slanders and scoffs; this had they done to men of the most noted ability and fidelity in God's work, and this such a provoking and spoiling sin, that God reads their doom in the prophet's curse, Ier. 18. 20, 21, 22. the very judgement in the text.  
add to this their dalliance with God in holy performances, wherein they were content to be costly, 
Self-deceiving sins.  so God would value their service at their own rate; they could talk of thousands of Rams, and ten thousand rivers of oil, but if God had took them at their word, & told them that he required these things at their hands, he should have been charged as an hard taskmaster, imposing impossible services: But when (in stead of these vain thoughts, which he could not think of with patience, Ier. 4. 14.) he requires real duties, 
Micah 6. 8.  to do justly, love mercy, & walk lowly with their God, here they started off like broken bows drawn beyond their strength; their fastings and prayers, services and sacrifices, were such noisome formalties, that the Lord starts off from them as so many dead and rotten carcases, that had neither life nor soul in them, professes his loathing detestation, Es. 1. from 12. to 21. And whereas against this they pleaded, that God did them not right, in not regarding and rewarding his own ordinances, Es. 58. 4. he there turns them inside outside to the world, and lets them know, they were not the services he disavowed, but the hypocritical & superstitious additions, the formal performances, for which he threatens not only to loathe them, but his own sanctuary which was polluted by them, Ier. 7. 12. 14. and resolves to destroy all their wise contrivances, whereby they deceived themselves, abused the world, and provoked him to wrath, isaiah. 29. 14. Mark what a plundering youth, what a merciless robber and spoiler he sends in upon them, for this very sin, Esay 10. 5. O Assyria, the rod of my fury, I will send them against an hypocritical nation, a people of my wrath.  
Lastly, that which sealed up the Ephah, was their apostasy, starting off from the holy Covenant, 
God-deser●ing  and from the pretended heats of their first love; A sin so often mentioned and threatened, that the Prophets were as weary of speakiug, as the people of hearing God's complaints in this case, therefore the Lord in pity to his Prophets, and displeasure to this people, gives them a discharge, either of praying for them, Ierem. 14. 10, 11. or preaching to them, Hos. 4. 17. Let them alone, saith God, (q. d.) they are joined to their idols, wedded to their ways, and it is in vain to forbid the bains between them and their new-chosen deities; let them take their course, I shall reckon with them once for all. The thing that grieved him, was their forwardness to strike Covenants, and their readiness to break them. In the times of their reforming Magistrates, (when Piety was in fashion at Court) than they will wade through blood to get to the Temple, their canceled covenants shall be renewed, and new covenants sealed and subscribed, yea heaven and earth shall be called to witness, what fast friends they were to God and their guides; hands, and seals, and oaths, and all that could be said and done to make sure work, and all this lasted very hot, (how long?) for a slaying time, whilst the sword was at their throats, the pestilence in their houses, the famine in the fields, so long, and not much longer, vide Psal. 87. 34, 35. When he slew them, they sought him, &c. This provoked the Lord exceedingly, as it doth a workman to have his work seem to fadge, and then to fail him; or a suitor to have his beloved accept of a ring, and break a piece of gold, and then to deceive trust; this gauls worse than if there had been a churlish refusal at the first proffer. The first and sudden dislike of a man is imputed to strangeness, but a dislike upon knowledge charges the party repudiated with unworthiness; in this case, all kinds of revolts are grievous, but those that are reiterated are insufferable. So to know God's Name, 
Psal. 9 10.  and not to trust him, is a deserting with a witness, which he takes so unkindly, that if the whole flaming Army of his wrath can express the fury of his anger and jealousy, the provoking party in this case must look for it. It was for this that the Lord discovers so much passion by his Prophets, and tells them, their desolation should be so great, that other Nations should raise the wonder, and say. Wherefore hath the Lord done thus, to this great City? Why, what had he done? vide Ier. 22. 7. Prepared destroyers (not weaponless, but) well armed, able and resolved, not only to abridge them of their fuel, (which we now find to be a great strait) but to make fuiell of their farest houses, and then to give satisfying reason for what was done, v●●. Because they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord their God. 
Jer. 22. 7. 8 9   
To these might be added many more, but these enough to let us know that when God gives up a people to robbing and spoiling, they would but look inwards, and if they find not these sins making way for this judgement under which we suffer, let them argue the case with the Judge of all the world, and plead with him, that he works not by precedent; but if they find these fore-running sins, and this judgement (of robbing, and spoiling) following at the heels of them, they need no more wonder in this case, then to see the Sun rising in the East, and putting forward like a Giant in his wonted course, 
Quid miramur si paria perpetimur qu● paria perpetramus? Bern. de consid. lib. 2.  until he sets in the West, which being ordinary, is not ordinarily regarded: But those amongst us that are wise, and would be glad to know (what's a clock by our dial) how our time goes, it is fitting they should observe it, and to this duty we are called in the last place, being now come to the consideration required, partly by way of a serious acclamation in the scope of the Text and preface, partly by a severe objurgation, charging it as the great delinquency in Jacob and Israel, who though he were set upon by robbers, and spoilers, yet he was not gagged: yea they came not like thieves in the night, preventing all complaints and succours, but coming with such warning as they did, the wonder is, that God hears not of them either by outcries, or at least by sighs and groans; this moves the Lord by his Prophet here, to express himself with this wonder in the preface, and complaint in the closure of the words, Yet he knew it not, yet he laid it not to heart.  
And was not this strange? to be robbed, and spoiled, and not to know it? 
Hos. 7. ●.  The Prophet (Hos. 7. 9) thought it strange, That grey hairs should be here and there upon them, and ●hey not know it; that there should be any symptoms, or evidences of a declining State, and they not foresee it, but to have the death-stroaks, and tokens of God's wrath upon them, and not to mind it; to be fired round about and scorched, and to be insensible of all this? If there were any thing left of the man, or the beast, in this people, it could not be but they must feel it as beasts, and know it as men; and doubtless so they did, the Prophet Hos. 5. 13. 
Hos. 5. 13.  bears them witness they did, Ephraim saw his sickness, and Juda saw his sin. They did so, but how? confusedly they did, but composedly they did not; they knew what ailed them well enough, what their sin was, and what their suffering was, in sensu diviso, but to put these together, in sensu composito, as the cause and effect, and to lay them so to heart as God required, this they did not.  
And this sealed up their misery, and lays them before us, as the sad patterns, and precedents of God's wrath upon a brutish people, that only knows he is angry, but not why; This he takes to heart, because they did not, and gives us to know, that  
God takes it ill, 
3. Doctrine.  when sins and sufferings are not rightly put together, and his meaning known.  
Briefly, these things were written for our admonition; so much the Prophet implies in the preface, where he lifts up his voice to this purpose, that posterity may hear him, verse 23. Who will harken and hear for the time to come? Or if that reaches not home to us, the Apostle takes it from him, and stretches it even to our days, and beyond, 1 Cor. 10. 6, 10. Now these things were our ensamples, and are written for our instruction and admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come: So that unless we mean to be made pillars of salt, to season succeeding generations, unless we mean to be made examples to others, let us take examples by others, and be made wise at the best hand, and cheapest rate we can; to this purpose give me leave to put home the serious consideration of these things premised, and lay them to heart, as a gracious duty which the Lord calls for at our hands, 
The duty of laying to heart opened in five Acts. viz.  and hath set apart this day to put forth the acts of it, being indeed such a work of the day, as will employ all the powers and faculties of the soul, and is to be expressed in some especial acts, which I shall briefly open to you, for the clearing of the truth, and so fasten it upon your hearts by way of application: As first it implies,  
An act of the judgement, 
An Act of the j●dgement.  commonly called the minding of a thing, when the understanding is seen in its office, to weigh things aright in the balance of the Sanctuary, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Pro. ●4. 15.  and judges of them not according to appearance, but with righteous judgement, lays the sin in one scale, and the judgement in another, and never gives over until it hath the just weight of what God hath done, and we have suffered. Thus David, that at first had no more leisure but to cast his sin into the scale in the gross, 2 Sam. 12. 13. I have sinned, comes at better leisure to weigh it more distinctly, Psal. 51. 3. I know mine iniquity, &c. (q. d.) now I know what I have done, and what I deserve to suffer. This the Scripture calls The returning of a man to himself, as Christ expresses it in the case of the prodigal, that had lost himself, by not considering his ways in his heart, 
Luke 15. 17.  did at length return to himself. No doubt but before his return he knew what his folly was, and felt his misery, and hunger, (and so did the swine he fed) but when he laid these together, and considered what his father was, and minded his return, than was he uncharmed from his swinish disposition, changed in the renewing of his mind; 
Rom. ●2. 3.  and he that is brought to this, may be said, to lay things to heart.  
2. An ●ct of the will, which is the first chosen principle, (My son give me thy heart) and the first choosing principle, 
An Act of the will.  whereby we choose what to do, or suffer in a strait, commonly called, a resolution upon a debate, when in evils we choose the least, and in good things the best. Thus David in the choice of three evils of penalty, chooses the least; and Paul in a strait between two good things, chooses the best, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Epci●ar apud st●b. c. 1 Jer. 8 8. 9  and in this deliberation, may be said to lay it to heart: According to the wiseman's advice, (Prov. 4. 25, 26.) after the pondering of our paths, to look upon the right way, and pitch there. Thus did not these do, and therefore were rather wilful than wife; as the Lord upbraids them by the brute creatures. 
Jer. 8. 6. 8.  They stand not to deliberate whether they were best sin on and suffer, or return and be saved, but there they lie like so many blocks, under a two-handed Saw, (the robbers, and spoilers) if God will snatch them like so many firebrands out of the fire, well and good; if not, there they lie ready to be sawen and cleft out for the fire, smoke and smother out in a careless neglect: Contrary to this, is a fair warning willingly chosen; and resolved on, to flee from the wrath to come.  
3. 
An Act of the affections.  An act of the affections, as sorrow, grief, care, &c. whereby sad and passionate men are said to lay things to heart, as we find it expressed to the life, in Zach. 12. 10, 11, 12. where they take themselves apart, every family apart, and person apart, and look upon him whom they had pierced, as one that had little deserved this cruelty at their hands, and fix their eyes upon that sad spectacle of their injustice; and at the sight of this they pour out their tears and passions, as the parent that weeps for his own child, or as he that is in bitterness for his first-born.  
4. 
An Act of the conscience.  An act of the conscience, which we commonly call the pricking of the heart, when the judgement rightly enlightened, reflects upon itself, and upon cle●● evidence of the fact, takes God's part against itself, accuses, judges, condemns, and executes sentence upon itself, smites upon the thigh: As God observes it in Ephraim's case, when he heard him complaining of his own foul misdemeanours; 
Jer. 31. 18, 15.  Ah, I was an untamed heifer, therefore ashamed and confounded to think of his youthful miscarriages. This the Lord takes as laying his case to heart, and finding what carefulness it wrought in him, what clearing of his God, and condemning of himself; what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, yea what zeal, and what revenge, the Lord pronounces him clear in this matter, and gives in his discharge, and absolution in the next words; No longer a beast now, but his dear son, and pleasant child, ver. 20. So that when the soul is brought to this temper, that the sin works upon the conscience, more than the suffering doth upon the outward man, and can freely acquit God in his righteous proceedings, as Ezra did, in the behalf of this people, that after all that these robbers, and spoilers had done to them could say, verse 13. After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, 
Ezra 9 13.  and our great trespass; Thou O God, hast punished us less than our sins deserve; so when our conscience is rightly informed, by laying our sin and sufferings together, that God hath done us nothing but right; and in weighing the case do so determine it, that passion gets not the upper hand of our reason, to say, O how severe hath God been! But, O how rude and ignorant was I, and in that point a beast! Psal. 73. When judgement is thus brought to victory, that God's proceedings are clearly discerned, and our deserts faithfully acknowledged, and the right use made of all, then are these things rightly laid to heart.  
5. An act of the memory, whereby we recall things past and gone, 
An A●t of the memory.  and well-nigh lost, in the tumults and confusions or dangers and fears, (which are no friends to the memory) but when we can return into our fixed thoughts without any longer roving and wandering, and gather them close together to make a good result of them, than the heart takes fire, as David expresses, Psal. 39 3. He was fain to bring many scattered and confused thoughts together, before he could work the right consideration of his case upon his heart; As he that fetches fire from the sun with a burning-glass, gathers the scattered beams into a narrow compass, and there must hold them fixed, before the matter will take fire; so there must be good skill and pains taken to recollect mercies of old on God's part, and as many forgotten injuries on our parts, and when these are brought together by a faithful act of the memory, than the duty works kindly: This David calls the examining our heart upon our beds, Psal. 4. 4. the Prophet Zeph. 2. 12. 
Zach. 2. 12. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  calls sifting and searching over and again, (so the words would be read) Excutite vos, iterumque excutite; Let us sift and search our ways, saith Jeremy, Lam. 3. 40. A duty which the Lord seriously looks for of all those that enter covenant with him of better obedidence, and promises that he will bestow it upon his own, one of the first graces he gives in the new covenant, as we find Ezek. 36. 31. Then shall you remember your own evil ways, and doings, that were not good, &c. And loathe yourselves in your own eyes for all your iniquities, &c. Lay these things together, and we may be said to lay them to heart, more than this God requires not, and less will not serve the turn. Therefore charges home the neglect of this as one of the main causes why he proceeds on in the severity of his purposes, as we find, Ier. 12. 12. The spoilers are come in and made the Land desolate, he grants that the Land mourns, and yet concludes they laid it not to heart. v. 11.  
Briefly therefore let this be my warrant from God to charge home this duty, 
use. For trial.  as ever we look to be 〈◊〉 of robbers and spoilers; or see an end of the fury of his anger which is not yet turned away, 
Es, 10 ult.  but his hand stretched out still; Surely than we may know by that sad token the duty is not yet done which the Lord will have done by us before he hath done with us; 
J●r. 12. 11.  he grants the Land may mourn to him, and yet no man lay it to heart; so that there is something more to be done then hath been done yet, which we shall do well to inquire after; and to that purpose give leave to your unworthy remembrancer in God's name to demand, Is it done? or is it not done? lay your hands on your hearts, and feel and answer whether these sins premised; and this duty required have been laid to heart, do you know what God hath done and our land hath suffered since this great breach hath let in the robbers and spoilers upon us? 
Demand.   
What a strange question (you will say) is this to be put to knowing men? 
Reply.  are the heads of our tribes such strangers in Israel, as not to hear and know that which makes the ears and hearts of our State to glow and tingle? do not they know what multitudes of men and sums of money have been lavished and lost amongst robbers and spoilers? what hopeful plants of our Gentry, and Nobility too, have been either cankered or cropped off in the bud? what deadly feuds are daily increased betwixt family and family, as if lineage and language were to be confounded at once? Can other Nations ring of this, and ours not know it? Can the threats of the sons of violence and the cries of the oppressed scatter the noise of this like so much tempest and thunder, and we not hear of it?  
True, 
Answ.  this is to hear of it by the ear, (and perhaps at an uncertain sound) as many do that having taken reports upon trust, make it matter of discourse, others of gain, and some make it matter of wit and sport, as if fools were seasonab●● in a Tragedy, and might have leave to throw darts, 
Prov. 26. 19  and say, Am I not in sport? Shall I praise them that do this, or those amongst us that like and suffer this? I praise you not. Are national robberies such light matters, that national Mercuries may have leave to jest upon them? It was not the Apostles mind, but the Corinthians Levity, 
2 Co●. 11. 19  to suffer fools gladly. It satisfies not to say, that the Court set the kingdom or city on work; and that the fool must be answered according to his folly; 
Prov. 26. 5.  It were safer far to let that folly rest in the bosom where it first began, and not to suffer those (that should be wiser) to fight with the devil at his own weapons, when doubtless he will have the odds and the last blow: I hope a word in this will be enough to the wise that know this is not the way to lay these things to the heart, by tickling the ear with them; nay, grant we heard these things with the right ear, yet is not that enough to work home this duty, for the ear may hear more than the eye sees, and what the eye sees not (we say) the heart rues not.  
Yea, 
Reply. Plus valet oculatus Test is quam auriti decem.  but some of us (you may say) are more than ear witnesses of these things, we have seen with our eyes enough to make our heartsake, we have seen whole Troops and Regiments of as brave and daring men as the earth bears any (such as would have made our common adversary tremble to see their courage (or fury rather) acted in other kingdoms;) These have we seen to butcher each other in their own countries, soiling their land with their own blood, as if they meant to make a plentiful harvest for the great destroyer, we have seen goodly Lordships plundered and fired upon no greater quarrel, but because their owners could not defend them; Yea, we have seen whole towns (upon the like quarrel) stormed and surprised and fired, because the Inhabitants durst not, or could not be at cost and charges to keep themselves safe within their own walls, these are things we have not taken ●pon bare report, but our eyes (the trustiest sense of all the rest) have seen these things and can speak them feelingly; as those that have heard with our ears, and our eyes have seen them.  
It may be so too, 
Answ.  & yet for all this these things may not be laid to the heart; it is true indeed, the seeing eye and hearing ear are both the gift of the Lord, Prov. 20. 12. but this implies what is said else where, that there is an eye that sees not, and ear that hears not, and yet both wide open, and such as can take in sounds and sights very readily; and what if there should be such amongst us too, that have heard, seen as much as can be spoken or heard, and are hereby ennbled to write stories, and furnish tables with the sad relations of these things? O Sirs, as eating is not health, and drinking is not strength, but the means to procure both, so the hearing and seeing of these things is not properly the laying of them to heart, but the way and means, with God's blessing, to do it; the Priest and Levite that past by the wounded traveller in the Gospel, may be supposed not only to see the bleeding spectacle, but to hear his languishing groans, but it was the good Samaritan that properly laid his case to heart, that laid him upon his beast, poured oil and wine into his wounds, and left him not before some hopes of recovery.  
And hath not our State done this too as far as in them lies? 
Reply.  have not they took full information of our common calamities? sat out many a sad day and night, month, and some years, to consult upon these things, and are able for a need to give the world an account from what quarters this dreadful storm was first blown in upon us; what unhappy constellations and conjunctions are guessed to be the second causes, what damage it hath done by Sea and Land? Yea, they can tell what goodly grounds this Land-flood hath spoiled, and on the other side what dirty dit●●es it hath filled, good for nothing but to breed toads and Efts: In a word they can guess who have been gainers and losers by this sorry bargain.  
And truly this is worth the knowing, 
Ans●w.  the blessing of him that dwelled in the bush be their cloud by day and p●llar of fire by night, 
Esay 4. 4.  that their Assemblies may be directed and protected till judgement be brought to victory. It is good learning to know God's ways in the whirlwind, the outgoing of his displeasure in the effects; and happy they that can make good advantage of them so, but happier they that know them in the right causes: they are wise that know how and where these sad distractions began, but they are wiser that know where they will end, and put forth all within them to be serviceable in that work. It is good that these things be laid to the head, and that there are so many able heads to whom they are now entrusted; But when they are brought from the heads to the hearts of our State, than God hath his end, and if his ends and ours meet, we shall be happy for all this; though this be the day of Jacobs' troubles, 
Jer. 14. 8.  yet the hope of Israel, and Saviour thereof in the time of trouble, will remember Jacob and all his troubles.  
To this purpose I am to bespeak you all (Honourable and beloved) according to the several ranks and files wherein you stand, 
use. 2. Direction.  to express and improve some acts of this duty required, that the Lord may see and say there is many an hearty and affectionate soul amongst us, willing to give him a meeting, as Jacob did, and not let him go without a blessing; to this purpose let me but briefly name some few advertisements that may satisfy you; 
When these things are laid to heart.  1, when it is done; 2. how it may be done; 3. what if it be not; 4. what if it be; and I shall have done for my part, and pray that the Lord would do his and yours for you, and so conclude.  
Know that God takes these things as laid ●o heart when they work in us these two properties, viz. 
A Sympathy.  1. a sympathy; that we can hear of these afflictions of Joseph as if they were our own, though for the present most of us are under safe roofs, many of us under our own, and as yet enjoy as much of our former satisfactions in wives and children; Families and goods, &c. as the course of these times can lawfully afford, if we can bring ourselves to look upon these as if not considerable (as Phinehas wife upon her Ichabod) and set ourselves as near as may be in the case of the distressed families in our kingdom, that are fain to fast upon other terms than we do, because the robbers and spoilers have taken away their children's bread, if we now feeling a little hunger could be more pinched with the thought of theirs, or beholding the sad countenances of each other, could bewail the rueful sight of theirs sitting in sad or forlorn postures, either in their own houses or (which comes all to one) under the dark roof of hungry and dismal prisons; 
Psal, 119. 119, 120.  O it were a brave spirit indeed that could in this case unlord or unknight himself in his heart for a while, 
David though not of that crew was affected.  as good Nehemiah did, who had wine and oil enough to make a glad heart & smooth countenance, yea and (that which is more than the best He amongst us can boast of for the present) he had the King's favour to maintain and increase this; yet as if all this were nothing, 
Ira securae quoquae borrenda m●nti.  all was black and dark with him whilst the sepulchers of his fathers lay wast; surely it would become us well to look upon our land as a Golgotha rather than Bethel, of sepulchers rather than houses, a place that may be called after the na●ue of Isaac's wells, 
Gen. 2. 6.  Esek and Sitnah, strife and hatred, where there hath been great pains taken to dig and keep open the fountain of Justice, 
Soli filii irae iram non sentiunt, nec tristantur in tristibus Bern. Ep 256.  and as much strife and hatred expressed to trouble the waters; if there were no more but this, it might make our hearts bleed and symp●thize with our State. This were enough, to see this representative body of our State, the glory of our Nation, to be accounted as a traitor with the head upon the block, and the hand of many a bloody executioner lifted up to part the head from the body: What living member can choose but sympathize in this case, and by fear and trembling show, he lays it to heart?  
When we can sentence ourselves, 
A self-●udging.  to have as deep a share in the sin as in the punishment; when we can lay our hands on our hearts, and smite upon the thigh, and say, It is I Lord, I know none (in some sense) a greater delinquent than myself, if others have been traitors to our sovereign, I have been so to his sovereign, Lord of lords, and King of Kings, one that hath made me, not his creature only, but his favourite, doubled many a blessing upon me, belonging both to life and godliness; and so much mercy streaming from the fountain of grace, might break my heart if it were not Adamant: They that can say, and do this, feelingly and faithfully, may be said to lay this to heart.  
But how may this be done? 
How to do this.  Briefly thus, by putting forth, and stirring up some acts of natural affection, which the Lord commands, 
Consider what ours suffer.  and commends in his own, and charges the contrary as an heathenish vice: Could we to this purpose consider but these two things, viz. 1. How miserable our friends have been made; and 2. that our false and uneven reckonings with our God have made them so: When we hear of such a County, or Town, once the pleasing seat of our habitation, now made a Stage of waters, or cage of unclean birds, where the Ziim, 
Si ●rateres, compater● fratri pro te patienti; si membrum, commorere capiti pro te ●●orienti●si ●on, doles, luge●, pla●gis; deliras, desipis, belluam sapis. Ber. in Ps. 90.  limb, and wild Satyrs play; When some of us may say, There have I left my flock, whereof I was once a Minister, or my family, whereof I was once a Master, (not as the ostrich doth her eggs in the sand, but) as the mourning Turtle, scared from her nest and mate, sits groaning at a distance, to see or hear some bird, or beast of prey, to seize upon the nest and young, and spoil all. If this be not the ●ad case of some of us, it is doubtless of many in our Kingdom, and of some very near in relation to us, and if we could but think, what prayers and tears they have, and do put up for us, and others as yet in safety, that we may be kept from their condition, our hearts would melt into tears to do as much for them. And this is a means to set this passion a work.  
2. What our sins have contributed to their sufferings; who can choose but tremble, 
Consid.  to see his fellow bleed under correction, for the same fault, wherein he knows himself to be (not an accessary only, 
Quid tam perditi luctus, &c. quid amentius quam in malis esse, &c. lugent cuncta; tu laetus es, &c. Salvian. de provid. lib. 6. c. 12.  but) a principal agent. Doubtless there are none of those wasting sins formerly mentioned, whereof this Congregation can freely wash their hands; and shall the Lord be visiting our sins upon our country, and kindred, fire our Nation round about, and we not lay it to heart? Cursed be that opinion of the Antinomists; whoever either maintains it in his thoughts, or takes occasion to start it in so unseasonable a time, is doubtless a great factor for hell, and puts poison into our wounds, 
Da●●. 10. 2. 3.  that they may not heal; Are they greater, or better than our father Jacob? 
Eccles. 9 8.  It is recorded of him, that he wept, 
Neh. 1. 4.  and made supplication; doubtless than his own and others sins were laid to heart, 
Cap. 2. 2.  Hos. 12. And if they think God sees not any iniquity in his own, for which he is angry with them, they may do well to read over this Text once more, and I should think that if there were not one more besides this in the Scriptures, this alone were enough to let them know that he hath just cause to be angry, not only with the sins, but even the persons, and prayers of his people, and when he is so, takes it very ill, if they take it not to heart: A truth so clear, that I am persuaded, there are few or none amongst us Antinomians in judgement, and open profession; but certainly, every remorseless, careless sinner amongst us is such an one in his practice; 
Est. 4. 14. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  and to such as these I have no more to say but this, as Mordecai to Esther, And do you think to escape better than the rest of the King's loyal subjects? Have you any Charter to secure you, 
Menand. apud Plut.  and yours from the common calamities? and to ensure you, that neither you, nor yours have any sins to be prayed out of the sealed Ephah? nor any hand in raising this storm? Well sirs, 
Jonah 1.  do not venture to sleep under hatches, whilst others are sweating, and tugging to get the vessel to shore; It will be in vain for us to work at the pump, if such as these stop not the leaks, and all of us with one heart and mind, 
x a●●orum peccata Deus in aliis videtur ulcisci, ostenditur hoc quanta sit connexio universitatis in populo, tanquam unius corporis membra sunt universi. Aug. in Iosh. quast. 8.  confess and bewail our guilt and interest in these common calamities. I beseech ye therefore; without any more ado, as many of us as mean well to our own souls, and love our Nation, let us yield up ourselves to justice, and accept of this punishment; For if our uncircumcised hearts relent not, to think what others suffer, and what we have contributed to their sufferings, we have not reached the main duty in the Text, for which the dreadful spectacle of God's anger is set up, even like a pillar of fire, either to lead us (if it may be) to repentance, never to be repented of; or if that may not be, it will make us examples to posterity, and it will be written of us, as of these, That the robbers and spoilers were sent amongst them, as the avengers of the quarrel of the Covenant: but there were a generation amongst them, would not believe that God had any such quarrel against them; yea they themselves were some of them scorched with the flames, yet they gave not glory to God, by acknowledging, and bewailing the guilt, and accepting the punishment; therefore the Lord poured upon them the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle, &c.  
But (say some of these looser sort) what if we do not? 
What if not?  what if we cannot do this? it is not every man's gift, to put the finger in the eye for every sin, or to have tears at the finger's end; the task is too harsh for some men's complexions, 
Wipe ●hy mouth, (if not thine eyes) & read, vid.  and therefore the physicians of Church, and State may do well to indulge to some men's tempers, that think this remedy as harsh as the disease; as good (say they) have our houses afire about us, 
1 Sam 4. 3, 4.  as our consciences within us; 
2 Sam. 11. 11.  and it is pity to over-press soul and body at once; 
Esay 5. 11, 14. & 22. 12. 14.  if God take away our states, we have the less to reckon for, and there's an end of their care.  
Say ye so? but what if God will not have it so? he expects the work he is now about should work a carefulness in you, and a clearing of yourselves: but the truth is, it is with many of us, as with Bankrupts, (that had rather be in the Counter then their Counting-houses) So we, as soon enter into hell as into our hearts, to examine what is amiss there, therefore are resolved to let it alone, until God come to reckon once for all: But this will be a sad reckoning, and so we shall see and say, if we come to be judged of the Lord, and condemned with the world at once; it will be a terrible plea, when God shall charge it upon any of us, that he spared our lives and liberties, bodies, and goods on purpose that we should make use of these forfeited mercies, for his glory, and the public good, that we should run into the gap upon these days of public humiliation, and upon our bended knees, say as Ezra 9 8, 9, 10. that we should bring forth that which hath escaped the fire, and give it up to his disposing, not reserving any thing of ourselves, which he would have us deny for his sake. The misery of our times hath taught us in our common discourse to say, We can call nothing our own; Let us learn to speak this in good earnest.  
Nay then (will some say) let him take our lives also, we shall never live merry day more, if we come to yoke ourselves to the strict courses of covenanting, and reforming, as good be robbed, and spoiled by our enemies, as be hampered, and fettered by such precise, and religions yokes as are likely to be laid upon us, which neither we, nor our forefathers were able to bear.  
To which I answer; first, Better so, then be suffered to run wild and loose into hell. But secondly, there is no such matter intended, this is the cavil only of the sons of Belial, that had rather take sanctuary at Rome, then in a reformed Church: Assuredly God intends no bands for us, 
Amantibus facile, amentibus difficile. Ambr. in locum.  but what will be golden, and glorious, even the easy yoke of Christ, hard to none that have their sound minds: It was a yoke to the young prodigal, that his portion should be in his father's keeping, but by that time it fell out of his own into the Harlots keeping, and nothing left of it to keep him, he was brought to think, that the yoke of his father's servants was far better than his miserable freedom: So doubtless, by that time our Nation finds (as it is now in a fair way for it) what it is to waste the public stock in riotous living, and come at length to be beneath the hopes of borrowing, & no remedy but we must hire out ourselves to those that may feed us with husks; it is likely we may be brought at length to think our father's house and home worth looking after, where it is likely he will provide something beyond the bashful modesty of those that think our former commons good enough if they may be got again; but if the Lord provide better, and we thrust off our mercy with a pretended humility, it is possible we may meet with that check which Ahaz had for his modesty, when it was construed infidelity and impiety, Es. 7. 8. 9, 10.  
To conclude, if upon these considerations, we can be persuaded to see and know the day of our visitation, 
What if we do?  if the Lord warning us by a burning shame, hath brought us to that temper, that it appears to him and the world, that his proceedings are laid to heart; there is more comfort belongs to such, than the heart is able to bear, without breaking forth into tears of joy. As it was with Joseph and his brethren, by that time he hears them lay the fact to heart, 
Gen. 42. 21.  and say, Verily we are guilty, &c. he can hold no longer, but must make known he was a brother; So by that time the Lord Jesus hears this Church of ours, (which doubtless is as dear to him, as any in the Christian world) when he is once satisfied, 
Esay 16. 5.  that we have laid the quarrel of his Covenant to heart, 
Esay 21. 14, 15  that we express it in our whole course, 
Heb. 2. 11.  mending our old ways, resolving upon better, 
Acts 9  ³ bewailing what is done, taking the Lord's part and quarrel against ourselves, certainly he can, and will hold no longer from expressing as much mercy, as can be expected from the Captain of our salvation, that is consecrated to our sufferings, that he might be as merciful, as he is powerful and mighty to save. It is as much as ever he can do to hold his hands from striking, and his voice from crying outright against those that are mounted (as Saul was) with Commissions, to make havoc of the Church; These rods of his fury shall be made passively such, by that time they have done his work.  
In the mean time, he cannot hold, neither from whispering in that comfort which doth belong to the reformed number of Israel, even in the next words to the Text, Cap. 43. 1. Fear not, I am with thee, when thou passest thorough the fire, ver. 5. This doth he speak home to the Party in our Israel, whose heart is engaged to be true to him, and right set in the work of humiliation and reformation. Doubtless, the robbing and spoiling by the sons of violence, shall but lay us in the way for the good Samaritan; the poor traveller in the Gospel lost nothing upon the matter but the priest's blessing, (as good lost as found) by that time he was once revived and recovered, he knew his friends from his foes, and so I hope shall we, when the Lord Jesus hath bound up our bleeding wounds, and shows himself good in his office to that purpose, isaiah. 61. 1, 2, 3. Then shall we be able to say, It was good for us, that we have pledged our German Brethren in that cup which hath gone round in most of the reformed parts of Christendom, whereof if we had not tasted, we might have questioned the Fatherly course and ●are of reclaiming his wanton children, whereof we have now a pledge, and withal an encouragement the Prophet Hos. gives in this case, Cap. 6. 2. 3. After two days he will revive us, &c. Then shall we know, if we proceed on to know the Lord, that his going forth is prepared as the morning, and he will come as the former and latter rain upon the earth.  
FINIS.