GODS CALL TO Weeping and Mourning.  
Set out in a SERMON BEFORE The Honourable House of Commons Assembled in PARLIAMENT, at their late solemn Fast, january, 29. 1644. BEING, The day before the TREATY( at Uxbridg) began.  
BY JOHN WHINCOP, D. D. Late Fellow of Trin: Coll: in Cambridge, now Rector of the Church of Clothall in Hartford-shire.  

Published by Order of that House.   
They that sow in tears shall reap in ioy.  Psal. 136.5. 
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Mat. 5.4. 
Sicut Paenitentiae Comes dolor est, Ita Lachrymae Testes sunt doloris.  Aug. 
Apud Deum non tam valet mensura Temporis quam doloris, non Abstinentra tam Ciborum quam mortificatio vitiorum.  Hieron. 
LONDON, Printed by ROBERT LEYBURN, for SAMUEL MAN, dwelling, in PAULS Church-yard, at the sign of the SWAN. 1645.   

To the honourable House of Commons Assembled in PARLIAMENT.  
HOw unwillingly I am drawns to expose these my homely thoughts to public view, my former silence in this kind,( ever till now) may bear some testimony unto others. And certainly had not an higher Power over-swaid my natural inclination, I had chosen rather to have butted them in silence, then run such an hazard of proclaiming mine own weakness.  
But your Commonds( Honourable and Worthy Senators) the Desire of Friends and Hopes of doing some good, by pressing a Subject so necessary and so much wanting in these sad and secure days of ours, have persuaded me to cast in my Mite( such as it is) God's blessing upon it I know can make it useful to some, which is all the aim I have, or am Ambitious of.  
It has often troubled me( notwithstanding all your pious Injunctions, and frequent Exhortations, both by former and late Orders, Notwithstanding all the Judgements of God daily growing upon the Land) to see the most, every where, so little moved, so little humbled as they are. And( I confess) there's nothing sads my heart more, and makes me fear an heavier judgement towards, then this, to think how little men are moved, how little bettered by all that hitherto has befallen us, 
a Gerson Parisiensis part. 1. de signis Ruinae Ecclesiae.   
It is one of the symptoms( among divers others) that great chancellor a of Paris makes, of the ensuing downfall of a Church, Fastus& superbia Ecclesiasticorum, and it holds as true likewise of a declining State, the want of Humility, and being sensible of the Rod of God upon it. To be sick and not perceive it, to be wounded and not feel it, to be in imminent Danger, and not to heed it, is the next step to ruin and Destruction.  
Oh that I could say this distempered Nation of ours, were not so sick, not so in danger, as( God knows) it is! or if it be,( as it's too manifest it is) at least it were more apprehensive of its Malady, and more deeply affencted with its own misery.  
I must aclowledge your care ( Honourable and Beloved) in prescribing many wholesome Remedies for our Cure, and Recovery: but I can never clear our negligence and stupidity, in not using those good means both God and You have prescribed as we should.  
I thought it therefore my Duty( by your example in your public places, so I in mine,( especially being called thereunto) as a poor Watchman of Israell, to give warning, and in this Sermon, to tell England what I see: namely this, That the Reason Why it is not delivered is, because it is not sufficiently humbled, Why God does not show Mercy, and put an end to our woeful distractions is, because we are not yet fit enough to receive it.  
I have prest the Duty with as moving an Argument as can be, viz. the Manner of God's dealing with us, and because he himself requires, and calls for it. What I preached to you that were present, I have faithfully beer published for the use of those, that( upon emergent and weighty Occasions) were absent, not altering any thing, the better to silence all mistakes.  
What ever it be, it is your own, the fruit and issue of your own Commands: the Lord bless it to you all, and You in all your great endeavours for the public, that if it be his blessed will, Truth and Peace may at last, by your means accrue to this unthankful, 
Esay 49.5.  unworthy Nation: However, though Israel be not gathered, yet that you may be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and your God may be your strength.  
This is the prayer of 
 your most humble servant in the Lord, 
 John Whincop.   

A SERMON Preached before the Honourable House of Commons, at their last solemn Fast, january, 29. 1644.  
Being the day before the TREATY.  JSAIAH, 22.12. 
In that day did the Lord God of Hosts, call to weeping and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth.  
A Sad Text and sad times suit well together; It hath pleased God out of his infinite providence in this latter age of the World, to cast us into weeping and mornefull times. I have therefore thought fit to present you with a Subject answerable, and call you this day to no other then what God himself calls you to in my Text, to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth.  
And now, what the Orator( being to treat of an heavy Subject) wished of his Auditors that they were all Animis simul ac Oculis materiaepares, answerable both in hearts and eyes to the matter he had in hand; so could I wish of all you that hear me this day, that I might have your eyes and your hearts too, your eyes to run over with tears whiles I speak of weeping, and your hearts too, to overflow with grief while I discourse of mourning, and of that which is the cause of them both, the troubles and perplexities of poor distressed Zion.  
Nor is it a thing so unequal I sue for, 
Nazien.  if good Nazienzen was so deeply affencted at the Lamentations of jeremy, that he profess of himself he could not forbear weeping when he did but read them, what think you would he have done had he beholded with his eyes those things he red of there. And yet this, this is your heavy lot this day, not to read the stories of our mournings, with the sad Causes and Occasions of it( those future ages will do, I dare say, not with dry eyes) but, to hear with your cares, and see with your eyes, those things which may justly make you wish with the Prophet jeremy, That your heads were waters, and your eyes fountains of tears, 
jer. 9.1.  that you might weep day and night for the slain of the daughters of your people.  
In that day( says my Text) God calls for it, 
Luke 4.21.  and as our Saviour said in another case, so do I say unto you, even this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears, for this, even this very day of solemn fasting and humbling your souls,( as a proper duty of the day) does God call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sack-cloth.  
I will hold you no longer when you are called( it is no good manners) especially when Gods calls.  
Attend therefore I beseech you to your Summons, for such is my Text, I can term it no other then  
Gods Call or Summons of a rebellious and stiff-necked people: wherein are 4 particulars observable.  

1 Quis, the Summoner, or party calling, expressed by three Titles. 

Lord,  
God,  
of Hosts.    
2 Quid, the Summons itself, and that is by way of Call, The Lord, &c. did call.  
3 Quando, the time of the Summons set down very punctually, to a day, In that day.  
4 Ad quid, the subject, or what summoned to, viz. to 

1 Weeping,  
2 Mourning,  
3 baldness.  
4 Girding with sack-cloth.     
But before I come unto particulars as Geographers use to do, first, take a perspective or general view of a town or country with the bounds and limits of it, then afterwards describe every street in the one, and enclosure in the other: So shall I crave leave to raise one Observation in general, containing the sum of all, thereby to show you the Text in perspective, as it were, at first, then afterward proceed unto particulars. The general observation is this.  
That there are some peculiar Times wherein God calls for a more extraordinary measure of Humiliation then otherwhile. 
Obs.   
In that day( says my Text) and what day that is you shall hear by and by.  
It is true, God expects humility and lowliness at all times, 
Matth. 11.29.  according to his own example, learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. 
Micah 6.8. Chrys.  
Discite à me non mundum fabricare, non cuncta visibilia& invisibilia creare non in ipso mundo miracula sacere,& mortuos suscitare, said quoniam mitis sum& humilis, Aug. de verbis Dom. Frustra appellamur Christiani, si imitatores non sucrimus Christi, &c. lo in Serm. de Nat. Dom. 1 Pet. 5 6. Luke 14.11.  And what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to do Justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God. A Christians life is a mere pilgrimage, {αβγδ}: wee are all strangers and pilgrims here, and the path wee walk in must be humility. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, says the Apostle Saint Peter, and Christ has annexed a promise unto it, He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, No such way to be high as to be low, to be exalted as to be humbled. 
Omnes delectat celsitudo said humilitas gradus est, quid tendis pedem ultrate? cadere vis? non ascend, à gradu incipe& ascendisti, Aug. Cogitas magnam constituere fabricam celsitudinis? de sundamento prius cogita humilitatis, Aug. de verbo Dom.  What Tertullian says, 
Tertul. lib. de poenit. c. ult. locl 2.11, 12, &c.  Necullae rei quam poenitentiae natus sum, our whole life should be nothing else but a continued act of Repentance and Humiliation, is true, yet this hinders not, but that there may and ought to be degrees, and according to the occasion requiring it should be more intense sometimes, and extraordinary.  
Take but three instances for all.  
The day of the Lord is very great and terrible says the Prophet Joel, there's the foundation laid, what must be done then when that day comes? it follows in the 12. ver. turn ye unto me with all your hearts, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning,( the very words of my Text) and so goes on, Rend your hearts and not your garments, &c. but who is this that must do it? each one a part in a corner? No, it follows in the 15. ver. Blow the Trumpet in Zion, sanctify a Fast, call a solemn Assembly, it must be an Assembly, and a solemn one too, the people must be gathered, the Congregation sanctified, &c. Yea, but though it be so, may not some be exempted? great men? and children? and such like? No, in the 16. ver. They must assemble the Elders too,( not the greatest exempted from humbling themselves,) no nor the least neither, Gather the children, and those that suck the breasts, yea, let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet,( all chambering and merriment must be laid aside that day) nay, the Priests must not be exempt, but they, the Ministers of the Lord must weep between the Porch and the Altar, and say, Spare thy people o Lord, and give not thy Heritage to reproach. An extraordinary humiliation, suitable unto an extraordinary occasion.  
An other is Lament. 2.18. speaking in the former verse, how God had thrown down and not pitied, and caused the enemy to rejoice over them, &c. Therefore says the Prophet in the 18 verse, Let tears run down, but if they do, will not a few serve the turn? no, they must run down like a river,( it must be a great many tears must make up a river) but say they do thus all the day, I hope wee may take our rest at night and be quiet, no let them run down like a river day and night too, and give thyself no rest, let not the apple of thine eye cease.  
The last is Levit. 23.27. On the tenth day of the seventh month shall be a day of atonement, what then? ye shall afflict your souls, a low degree of humiliation, yet affliction of soul must go before atonement: and it follows in the 29 verse, Who so that shall not be afflicted in the same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.  
Examples would be infinite to produce for the truth of this, Joshua upon an extraordinaty occasion, viz.( in Israels fleeing before the men of Ai) rent his clothes, 
josh. 7.6.  and fell upon the earth on his face until even-tide, he and the Elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.  
Job in the day of his heavy affliction, Rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped. 
job 1-20.   
David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the ground: the day would fail me to tell of Ezra, Nehemiah, 
2 Sam. 12.16.  the Ninevites, Hezekiah with infinite more, who upon extraordinary occasions were humbled extraordinarily.  
And not without good reason.  
1 Because God at such times draws nigher and comes closer up to a man or Nation, then otherwhile, 
Math 3.10.  the axe is laid to the root of the three, says John the Baptist, so long as it did but lop off some of the outer-branches there was no danger, but when once it comes to be laid to the root, then it is high time to look about.  
When a great Army keeps at a distance from a town or City, the inhabitants are not much troubled, but when once it draws nigher, makes approaches, begins to entrench, and raise batteries about it, then every man therein bestirs himself,& betakes himself to his weapons. Thus God sometimes keeps at a distance, far off in other Countreys, then men count themselves secure, but when he draws nigh, makes approaches, to our very houses, Towns, Cities, raises batteries, of plague, famine, sword, &c. to break a kingdom in pieces withall, and environs it round with his Judgements, then every one had need bestir himself, betake himself to his best weapons, Christianorum arma sunt preces& bachrymae, such as heer in my Text, Weeping and mourning, and baldness, and girding with sackcloth, extraordinary expressions of dejection, 
Gravissima peccata, gravissimis lamentis indigent, Aug.  answerable to Gods extraordinary approaches in his judgments.  
2 Because sins have been more extraordinary, else things had never come to this height: Judgments make the breach, but sin first raised the battery;& how great soever thy plagues are thou mayst thank thy great sins that swelled them to such a bulk.  
Now by the rule of proportion, as thy sins have been extraordinary which have caused thy judgments, so must thy humiliation be, 
Vniuscuiusquemens tantumpoenitendo compunctionis suae bihat lachrymas, quantum se à Deo meminit amisisse per culpas. Greg. in pastor. Exod. 5.2.  if ever thou wilt answer Gods call, for in that day he looks it should be so.  
3 Because thats the onely way to find comfort and succour, there are but two ways of meeting God in his judgments, either by rising up, or falling down.  
1 By rising up, and standing out with God, and thus never did any prosper, never was any thing got by that but, ruin and desturction; what got Pharaoh by his sullen stubbornness, when in the pride and haughtiness of his heart, he cried out, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice, I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israell go. No? Yes, but ere long Pharaoh shall know the Lord, and shall let Israel go, when Lice, and Murrain, and Flies, and Hail, and Thunder, and Lightning, and all those ten plagues of Egypt come pressing upon Pharohs head; then, I have sinned, entreat the Lord for me, and afterwards how was he and his mighty host all drowned in the read Sea, and made a spectacle of pride and baseness to all posterities for evermore? So what got Rabshaketh by all his railings? Who is that God that shall deliver out of my hands? 
Isai. 36.20.37, 36.  bravely spoken proud dust and ashes! and yet how soon was he brought down? and one angel in one night slue an hundred and fourscore and five thousand of his mighty host, that in the morning they were all deadcorps? So what not the old World by their monstrous uncleanness, but an universal Deluge? What Sodom and Gomorrah but fire and brimstone from heaven? It were endless to mention Manasses, Nebuchadnezar, Julian, and others, who paid dear for standing out against God. No, Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker, saith the Prophet Isaiah, 
Isai. 45.9.  Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth, but if with God, know that he is able to shiver the sturdiest oaks, and bring the tallest Cedars down.  
No good then to be done this way.  
2 There is no way left then but by falling down, 
Esto parvus in oculis tuis, ut sis magnus in oculis Dei, tanto enim eris apud Deum preciosior, quanto fueris in oculis tuis despectior. Isiod. Psal. 95.6.  Come, let us worship, says David, and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker: thus did Moses, Joshua, David, Israel, Job, Ezekiah, &c. and prevailed.  
These are Reasons sufficient to show why at some peculiar times God calls for a more extraordinary measure of Humiliation then at other.  
Give me leave only to apply it to two sorts of men, and then I'll proceed.  
1 By way of Reproof to all such as make no distinction of times at all. In that day, says my Text, God calls, in this and the like solemn days of Humiliation, You and the Laws of the Land call, to Fasting, Weeping, and Mourning; And would you think it possible,( notwithstanding all your strict Orders and Injunctions) that there should be a generation of men found that neither heed God calls nor yours? that make thoice of this day, not to work and labour in( necessity and want of daily bread might be pretended for that,) but to hunt, and hawk in, to game and sport in, to drink and be drunk in? Pardon me ( Honourable and beloved) I speak so plainly, I would to God I did not speak as knowingly, that at the same instant when you and other penitent souls through the Land, have been mounting your prayers up to heaven, they have been mounting their Hawks, running their Hounds, as if they contended on purpose, which should obtain their aim, or mount up to heaven fastest, the cry of your prayers or their sins. When you have been prostrating yourselves, and grovelling upon the ground before the Lord, others have been stretching upon their beds of Ivory, weltering in chambering and wantonness, 
Saecus criminum stimulus libido, quae nunquam quietum patitur manner affectum, nocte servet, die anhelat, &c. Ambros. de Abel& Cain. Illecebrosa voluptas est, adulterina incunditas quae mell habet in ore, fel in cord, aculeum in dorso. Beda.  or else contending too, but at Cards and Dice, at unlawful Games and Sports,( especially on such days as these) though three Kingdoms lay at stake, they would not leave their game or dalliance to save one.  
Nay, when you have been all locked up here in Gods house, or in your private closerts, powring out your cries and tears before God, Are there not some( it may be at this very instant) who make choice of this, as the surest time to lock themselves up in Taverns and Alehouses, powring out their oaths and blasphemies: and in their healths and intemperance, wallowing 
O ignis infernalis luxuria! cuius materia gula, cuius flamma superbia cuius scintillae prava colloquia, cuius fumia infamia, cuius cinis immundities, cuius finis gebenna. Hieron. jer. 48.6.  in their own vomit, as the Prophet speaks, as if they strive, who should poure fastest, you out, your prayers and tears: or they in, their healths and drunkenness.  
O blessed God! that ever there should be such in these times of Reformation? whose delight it is, to wallow in excess and riot, while their native Country, and it may be nearest friends, are wallowing in their own blood: how need had the sword of justice search every comer, out for these( and if they did, I am confident, they might find store of them) whose work it is to ravell out as fast as you do, men of profane minds, who like those Ciclops in Euripides, Hand ulla numina expavescunt coelitum: neither fear God nor man, or those ancient Germans, who thought themselves, securi adversus deos, adversus homines; exempt from fear of either, much of the same opinion with that impious Devonax, who being threatened with hell for his villainies, made a mock at it and said, Tunc credam cum illuc venero, I'll believe there is a hell when I come there and not before: Impious wretches! who may too-soone feel to their eternal cost, what here in time they would not believe; 
{αβγδ}, Clem. Alex. Revel. 3.16.  {αβγδ}, as Clem. Alex. calls them, à salute alienos, far from the thought or hopes either, of salvation, who if they fall not under judgement here, will never be able to escape the judgement 
Sic pectora magis obsessa malis, ictu non sunt ferienda levi. Seneca.  hereafter.  
2 It would not be beside the purpose if I should name another sort not so bad as these, yet worthy of reproof, who do observe both Gods Call and yours, and take notice of this day, but in such a could, perfunctory, sleighty, superficial manner, as may justly provoke God, 
Revel. 3.16.  to spew both them and there lukewarm devotions out of his mouth, that come and present a body here {αβγδ} as Chrysost. speaks, their soul is abroad upon their shops, their sports, their lusts and pleasures, that come with no preparation, are here with less attention and depart hence with no gain or profit at all, save onely this, that they have gained one step nearer their condernnation then before.  
I forbear to mention such as sleep away, or talk away these employments so, that they cannot hear God when he calls; who may rightly say as Aristotle did( after a long Oration, being asked how he liked it) that he did not hear it, for he was thinking of another thing all the while; or if they do mind it is to carp, or carry away something to make sport withall when they come home, if there be any such here, I desire them to take this home with them, and make sport with it if they please: That every Sermon they hear, if they be not better by it they are the worse, and nearer their condemnation then before, and that this and other Sermons they hear and scorn, shall rise up in judgement against them another day, without true and timely repentance.  
3 I shall not need to speak any thing of a thind sort till by and by, who do hear, and attend, and humble themselves, and in an extraordinary manner too, it may bee for a day, hanging down their heads like a bulnish, as the Prophet speaks, but turn to their old sins all the month after. 
Isai. 58.5.  And( God be merciful to us all in this one thing) God has looked, and called, and looked again for above these three yeares for some fruit of all our extraordinary humiliations: And there is not a Fig-tree in this Vineyard of the Lord, but he hath diged about it, and dung'd it, and watered it, and hath come in an extraordinary manner( as you shall hear by and by) these many yeares seekin for fruit thereon, and can find none, none did I say? yes too much bad fruit, besides leaves and blossoms of outward profession, wild figs enough, wild opinions and wild fancies, wild errors and blasphemies broached every day, that the soul is mortal and sleeps with the body, that men may put away their wives and take new at pleasure, that the Law is no rule to walk by, that a man may be saved without either faith or repentance, That 'tis as impossible for a child of God to sin, as it is for Christ himself, that the Church of England is no true Church, The Ministry no true Ministry, the Scriptures no Scriptures, nor the infallible Word of God but inventions of men, I forbear to go farther, I dare not, such blasphemies against the son of God, against the blessed Spirit of God, &c. as I profess I dare not mention: and wild wicked lives, and conversations answerable thereto, and is this all the fruit God shall have?  
We all talk of Reformation, and from our souls wee desire it, but still where is it? show me one lust thou hast mastered, one passion thou hast conquered, one darling bosom sin thou hast mortified of late more then before: talk not of Reformation onely but show it. Was there ever morelying, cozening, malice, oppression then now? nay,( God be merciful unto us) I know not what kind of new cheat and hypocrisy the father of falsehood hath taught some kind of men, whereby to cloak all their fraud and villainies, by a new way of pretending they are for the Cause, then they think all is well, thereby discrediting a good Cause, dishonouring a good God, abusing your good intentions, to work their own sinister ends by: Let not men talk onely of Reformation but show it in dead, and in truth: show how much better thou art for all those extraordinary dayes? nothing but bad fruits, or at the least barrenness after all?  
My soul trembles within me to think what will be thy doom if thou goest on, surely no better then what there is pronounced in the parable, Cut it down, why cumbers it the ground? 
Luke 13.   
I have held you too long under reproof, I pray God it may be as Solomon speaks,( Prov. 6.23.) a reproof of instruction, which may be the way to life.  
2 Give me leave in the second place to turn my speech to you( men, brethren, and Fathers) of whom I hope better things, though I thus speak, thereby to stir up you to the prosecution of this duty. It's that God calls for, It's that the bleeding condition of this kingdom cries for, It's that this ensuing Treaty pleads for, It's that you are all met here together for, in an extraordinary manner to humble yourselves before the Lord this day.  
I need not use Arguments to press it, cast back your eyes onely to the reasons I mentioned before, and let them work kindly upon you, then I fear not the good success they may have with you.  
1 Have you not observed God coming nearer and nearer every year then other. There was a time, when he kept aloof off beyond Sea, in Germany many yeeres together, England all that while was fast asleep, then he stepped over into Ireland, and they drunk deep of poor Germanies cup, a cup of trembling and blood even to the very dregs, England thereby was roused in dead, but as a man newly awaked, scarce sensible or apprehensive of his danger, was so long a stretching and getting up to their help, that mean while they were beaten down, poor souls slain and butchered without compassion, and as little lamentation made here fore them.  
Well now of lateer yeeres God has come nearer, over to us, with his bright sword brandishing in his hand, laying heaps upon heaps, heaps upon heaps, in most of our quarters. blood, ruin, and destruction, has been the sad portion of too many, and God knows on whou next the Lot may fall. A man would think by this time sure England should be awaked, and its high time( God waken us all in his mercy, the storm beats very fierce upon us) howsoever sure this is enough to rouse an ingenious spirit, God is drawn nigher to thee in his judgements.) O that it may be thy care, in a more extraordinary manner to draw nigh him by true and unfeigned repentance, and the rather:  
2 Because it is manifest the provocatious have exceeded, else it had been impossible things should have come to such a height as now they are. Sins against mercies, sins against Judgement, against grace, and the light of the Gospel. Oaths and blasphemies, superstition and Idolatry, oppression and injustice, bloodshed& cruelty, lust and uncleanness, profaneness and ingratitude, gluttony and drunkenness, in a word, contempt or neglect of God, of Christ, of mercy and all, these have wound up the string so high, that without letting it down again by an extraordinary humiliation, wee can expect nothing but breaking and destruction: 
Math. 27.24.  And let none heer( with Pilate in the Gospel) wash his hands and say, I am free from all such iniquities. 
In tribunal mentis tuae ascend contra te,& reum te constituto ante te, nolite ponere post te, ne Deus te ponat antete, Aug. de util. paen.  Let me tell thee whoever thou art, there's not a man or woman either, that hears me this day, but they have had a share in filling up the measure of poor Englands sins, and consequently of its Judgements.  
Oh! it was thy pride and ambition( whoever thou art, that art guilty of such sins) that hath caused this pride of heart amongst men, these risings and swellings in the commonweal: It was thy excess and riot, that hath robbed and plundered thousands, and left them not worth a bit of bread: It was thy wallowing in lust and uncleanness, hath made others wallow in their own gore: Thy error in life and judgement, that hath broached so many disingenuity errors in the Church and kingdom: Thy disorderly affections within, that hath made such broils and stirs without. Here, here's matter enough of humiliation and dejection. This may press the duty home, especially, if;  
3 Lastly, you consider, there is no peace or safety to be expected any other way. The Parliament hath done what it can, councils have done what they can, friends, and assistants have done what they can, Armies and Commanders have done what they can.( I recall myself, I wish they had, if so, in all probability it had been better with us all then now it is) but to go on, ordinary sleighty fasting and pray in and humbling have done what they can, and yet his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still,  
Now try then, what extraordinary prayers and tears, and humiliation 
O vera paenitentia quid de te novi referam? omnia ligata tu solvis, omnia clausa tu referas, omnia adversa tu mitigas, omnia comtrita tu sanas, omnia consusa tu lucidas, omnia disparata tu animas. Cyprian. de laud paen. Psal. 51.  can do: to stand out with God any longer, 
Isai. 5.25.  I have shewed before, is desperate madness; no way in the world left now but this, to cry mightily unto God, with the poor prodigal, Father, I have sinned against heaven and thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: with Job to roll thyself in dust and ashes, and sit down astonished at the goodness of God, that all this while thou wast not consumed: with David, to cry out( in another case, something inverted) if he have any delight in me, he will accept( not for mine, but for my Saviours sake) my broken heart and dejected Spirit, A broken and a contrite heart, o God thou wilt not despise. But if otherwise, He say I have no pleasure in him, behold here I am, here our poor kingdom fainting and bleeding before thee is, here the representative body of it, weeping and mourning is, behold! here we all are, do as shall seem good in thine own eyes.  
I am sorry I have been so long upon the general( though close and genuine, and the sum of all) I must be the briefer in the particulars.  
And first, to begin with that which is the beginning of all, the Quis, the party summoning or calling, expressed by his three titles, Lord, God, of Hosts.  
1 Sometimes we read in Scripture of Lord alone( Gen. 4.4.) The Lord had respect to Abel.( 12.17.) The Lord plagued pharaoh. The Lord said, who made mans mouth?( Exod. 4.11.) The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee, &c.( Numb. 6.24.  
2 Sometimes of God alone( Gen. 1.3.) God said, let there be light,( ver. 6.) God said, let there be a firmament, &c. God said to Abraham,( Gen. 17.6.) God said to Jonah,( 4.9.) God spake unto Moses,( Exod. 6.2.) God spake in time past,( Heb. 1.1.) &c.  
3 Sometimes both Lord and God,( Gen. 2.7.) The Lord God framed man of the dust,( ver. 8.) The Lord God planted a garden, so The Lord God of your fathers,( Ex. 3.15) The Lord God of the Hebrews,( ver. 18.) Thus saith the Lord God,( Exod. 12.20.) The Lord God hath spoken,( Amos 3.7.) &c.  
Here all three, as in divers other places, 
Isai. 10.23.22.5. Psal. 69.6.80.4.89 8. 2 Sam. 5.10. 1 King. 19.10. &c.  to move the more awful Reverence and Attention.  
I shall not insist long, onely give a touch of each and so proceed.  
1 Lord, {αβγδ} my Lords, so {αβγδ} Basis quia Deus est basis& fundamentum omnium creature arum, because God is the Basis and foundation of all his creatures 
Ex quo omnia, per quem omnia, in quo omnia. Aug. Conf. l. c. 2.  Hereupon {αβγδ} Dominus cvi rei domesticae cura incumbit, a Master who takes care and provides for all his household, upholds, provides for, and maintains them all.  
This is he that here Calls, even the Lord thy Master, All this vast Universe that here thou seest before thine eyes is but his house, All creatures in heaven and earth his domestic servants, he keeps them, he finds them 
Ex perpetuitate creaturarum intelligitur Creator aeternus, ex maguitudine oimpotens, ex ordine& dispositione sapiens, ex gubernatione bonus. Aug. in johan.  he feeds them, he clothes them, O what a house-keeper heer is? How many Tables doth he spread every day? How many beds doth he make every night? How many Servants doth he keep continually? Wilt thou not answer when this great Master calls?  
Disobedience and want of attendance in some servants have procured the frowns of their Lords, and turned them out to shane and beggary. O! what wilt thou do if this great Lord frown upon thee? If he turn thee out of doors whither wilt thou go? let me tell thee this, thou wilt never get so good a Master again; this is the first title, he is thy Lord and Master.  
2 It is God too that calls, {αβγδ} he who is an eternal being of himself, who was and who is, and who is to come, 
Summus es& non mutaris, neque peragitur in te hodiernus dies,& tamen in te peragitur, quia in te sunt& ista omnia. Aug. Conf.  God blessed for 
Revel. 1.8.  evermore.  
The God in whom all other beings begin and end, 
Ante primordia seculorum,& ante omne quod vel ante dici potest, tu es,& Deus es, Dominusque omnium, quae creasti:& apud te rerum omnium instabilium stant causae,& rerum omnium mutabilium immutabiles manent origines,& omnium irrationabilium& temporalium sempiternae vivunt rationes, &c. Aug. Conf. l. 1. c. 6.  the eternal Creator, he who has made the Heavens by the word of his mouth, and all the host of them, by the breath of his lips; The Sun to 
Psal. 136.8.  rule the day, the Moon and the Stars to govern the night, who thundereth 
job 37.5.  with his voice, yea, and that a glorious voice, He who hath made the Earth to hang upon nothing, 
jussit& extendi campos subsidere valles frond tegi silvas, lapidosos surgere montes, Lactant.  and all creatures therein by the word of his power. he who hath made the vast Ocean, and set bounds and limits to its proud waves: 
job 38.11.  Who hath made Leviathan to take his pastime therein, who maketh the Sea to boil 
job 41.31.  like a pot, the Sea like a pot of ointment. This is that God, and this is his name. He who hath made all, preserves all, and can as easily destroy all again. He who is {αβγδ} the Al-seeing God 
Deus totus oculus est quia omnia vidit, totus manus est quia omnia operatur, totus pes est quia ubiqueest, Aug. in  whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the Sun, which run too and fro 
2 Chro. 16.9  through the whole earth, who 
job 31.4.  sees all thy ways and ponders all thy paths, beholds thy lying down 
Psal. 139.2.  and rising up, looks upon thee in thy private 
Nesciunt quod ubique sis, quem nullus circumscribit locus:& solus es pres●ns, etiam his quae long siunt à te. Aug. Conf. l 4. cap. 2.  Closet, in thy bolted Chamber, under thy drawn curteins, in the dark and black night, sees all thy secret villainies and stolen embraces, beholds all thy lusts and wantonness, all thy plots and villainies: This is that God that Calls, whose dreadful power thou art never able to withstand.  
3 If this will not move thee, take in one Title more, he is not onely Lord, and Lord God, but Lord God of Hosts.  
The Lord is a man of war, 
Exod. 13 9.  sang Moses of old, the Lord is his name, and he had need be a man of war, that hath so many hosts under his command.  
It may be it will be demanded, how is he said to be the Lord of Hosts? I answer, in a word, As all creatures in the world visible and invisible, are at his command, he made them, and he is the great governor over them all. Nor is it one host alone that he is commander of, but many are his Hosts, search from the heavens above, to the valleys of the depths beneath, and you shall find all full of Gods Hosts.  
Under the earth, floods and waters, stones and minerals, the crooked serpents lurking in their dens, and monsters hidden in their holes, are all Gods Hosts, ready to come out at his command.  
Above the earth, Beasts and all cattle, fish and feathered foul: nay, the least and basest of the creatures, Frogs, caterpillars, lice and flies, what hosts of them did God bring upon one of the proudest Tyrants that ever the Sun beholded, and subdued him withall. Exod 8.  
I need not mention here Hostes of men, most properly said to be the Lords, because of the particular visible influence and disposal he has of all armies in the world, they move not without his warrant, they stir not without his command, not a stroke struck but God guides it, not a bullet let fly but God directs it, How mighty a Prince count you him, that hath three or four huge Armies on foot at once? The Lord hath more, All the hosts and men in the world, he's Lord general over them all, and leads them forth, and draws them in whither for mercy or for iudgement, as seemeth good in his own eyes.  
Will you go higher, into the air, and see what Hosts he hath there? 
Psal. 146.8.  Fire, hale, snow, vapours, winds and storms, all fulfil his word,( yet higher) the Heaven, the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and all the hosts of them.  
Yet higher above the heavens Angels and archangels, glorious Cherubims and Seraphims, standing all ready to to obey his word.  
O! what a Lord here is indeed? the Lord God of Hosts.  
1 What Terror should this strike into every rebellious sinner, into all the enemies of Gods Church and children, while they consider they do nothing but kick against the pricks, wage war against the King of Kings, against the Lord God of 
Insectantur& oderunt servos Dei et in eis Deum. Salvian. de proved. l. 8.  Hosts.  
O! think on it sadly by thyself alone sometimes, and say, whom is it that I revile so, by my oaths and blasphemies? Whom is it I buffet by my injustice and oppression? whom is it I so oft out dare by my incorrigible stubbornness? whom do I thus persecute by my rage and malice? but this Lord, even the Lord God of Hosts.  
O blessed God! that ever dust and ashes should be so audacious thus to contend with its maker? did an ordinary Lord or King, come against thee but with a few thousands, how wouldst thou fear and tremble? what horror and amazement then should possess thy soul, when thou considerest the Lord, the Lord God of Hosts is coming against me with all his hosts, with all his judgements, and then think. if the least of them all was able to subdue so mighty a Monarch as I mentioned before, what is the greatest, and the great God of them all able to do? When thou crushest a gnat or fly in thy window with thy singer sometimes, think, with thyself, thus and far easier can God presently crush me to pieces! when thou creadest( as thou walkest along) upon a poor worm or Ante that lies in thy way, say, thus, and ten thousand times easier, can God trample me into dust, and tread me into nothing.  
Tremble thou earth( says David) at the presence of the Lord, 
Psal. 114.7.  at the presence of the God of Jacob; If the earth, that vast and durable body, that never was capable of sinning against its maker( onely clogged and stained with thy impurities) must tremble so, what need hadst thou dust and ashes, lighter then vanity itself, to quake and dread to offend so high a God, that can soon resolve thee and all the world into their first principles, and tumble all into its first Chaos again.  
Nay, let not desperate sinners onely, but even all the Nations of the world, yea, you righteous of the earth, 
Psal. 4.4.  Stand in awe and sin not, commune in your own hearts and be still, let all dread and and reverence before his presence, 
Isal. 2.19.  before he comes to shake terribly the earth.  
2 mean while lift up your heads o ye gates, 
Psal. 124.1, 2, 3.  and be you lift up ye everlasting doors, lift up your heads o ye righteous, and be joyful all you that be true of heart, why? For he who is your Saviour is mighty, even the Lord God of Hosts.  
What is it that you fear? what is it that you are afraid of? If the Lord himself were not on your side, If the Lord himself were not on your side when men rise up against you, indeed then you had cause to fear, to fear that they might swallow you up quick, when they are so wrathfully displeased at you. But when you consider that The Lord is with you while you are with him, and if you seek him, 
2 Chron. 15.11.  he will be found of you: Why then are your hearts cast down, and heaviness takes hold upon you? do but you keep close to this God, 
Psal. 46.11.  walk in his ways depart not from under his banner, then for thy comfort know, there are more with thee then can be against thee so long as the Lord of Host is with thee, and the God of Jacob is thy refuge.  
3 Let the consideration of all this( in the last place) command attention from the deafest ear; Shall thy Lord speak and thou not hear? Shall thy Lord God call and thou not answer? The Lord God of Hosts, and thou not regard? what running and striving there is, who can come first, when a King or Lord calls? o let not the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings call so oft, and thou slight or neglect it. speak Lord( says young Samuel) 
1 Sam. 3.9.  for thy servant hears; speak Lord( say thou) 
Dic ainae m●…, salus tua ego sum: sic dic ut audiam: ecce aurese, ●dis mei antete Domine, aperi eas,& dic ainae mea, salus tua ego sum: curram post vocem hanc& apprehendam te. Aug. Conf. l. 1. c. t.  speak to my ears that they may hear, speak to my memory that it may retain, speak to my heart and affections that they may be obedient, speak to my life and conversation that it may be answerable, then shall thy servant hear a right, 
Quam velox est sermo, ubi Deus magister est? Cito discitur quod docetur, &c. lo. Exod. 20. 1 Sam. 3. Act. 9.  and not before, onely let it be thy care to listen, and give ear when God calls, and that's in the next word the second general part of the Text.  
II The Summons itself, by way of call, In that day does the Lord Call.  
It will not be amiss in the first place to inquire what is meant by, or how God is said to call, for to expect that he should appear as he did to Moses, and speak face to face, or to call by a vocal Summons as he did Israel from Mount Sinai, or Samuel in the Temple, or Paul from heaven, &c. were madness in any now, and beyond either warrant or example.  
There are some other ways then, how God is said to call, and they are divers I'll onely mention four.  
1 Spiritu, Inwardly by the motions and inclinations of the Spirit of God in the soul of a man, Verbis mentalib●s( as Bernard speaks 
Igne invisibili,& voice fine sonitu docentur ●… rda, foris est ignis, said intus qui scientiam dat. Greg. in Moral. Bern. ) by a voice within, when a man hears as it were, a voice speaking in his bosom, sometimes sweedy breathing good motions good desires, into his soul, putting him forward to virtue and holinesse, 
Sanctum semper opus in me spira ut cogitem, compelle ut faciam: suade ut diligam: confirma me ut teneam te, custodi me ne te perdam. Aug. in Epist.  as David,( 1 Chron. 17.1.) to build the Temple and Israel to turn unto the Lord, ( Hos. 6.1.) Other while checking and pulling a man back from the ways of sin and wickedness,( as Joseph, Gen. 39.9.) How can I do this great wickedness and so sin against God? Answerable to that gracious promise of his( Isa. 30.21.) Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way walk ye in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left.  
I need not explain it further, it may be the same spirit within you( at this present) prompts you to the remembrance, what this call is and how oft God hath called this way, and you have neglected it.  
2 Verb●, outwardly by his Word and Ordinances, like Arons bells, 
Exod. 28. 3●.  sounding in mens ears, or like Moses Trumpets, 
Numb. 10.2.  calling men to God. Thus spake God himself 
Exod. 20.  once upon Mount Sinai, in a dreadful and terrible voice, which made Moses himself cry out, 
Heb. 12.21.  I exceedingly fear and quake.  
Since by his Prophets, Thus saith the Lord,( Isa. 7. 7.-28.16 Ezek. 2. 4.-5.5. Amos 5.3. Obad. 1.) Thus saith the holy one( Isa. 30.12.) the high and lofty one,( Isa. 57.15.) He are the word of the Lord, ye Rulers( Isa. 1.10.) the word of the Lord o ye Kings( Jer. 22.2.) o ye Nations( 31.10).  
And thus in this later Age does he call by his Ministers,( Heb. 1.1, 2. 
August. ) Audio te loquentem Domine( said Augustine sweetly) in tot libris, in not concionibus, &c. There's not a good Book you red, not a Chapter you lock on, not a Sermon you hear( formerly often, and now at this instant by my unworthy mouth) but every one is a several Call from God, and this is the second way.  
3 Misericordiis, By his Mercies, so Nath●… to David( 2 Sam. 12.7.) Thus( saith the Lord) I anointed thee King over Israel, I delivered thee out of the hands of Saul, I gave thee thy Masters house, and Wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and Judah, and if this had been too little, I would have done more. &c. Wherefore hast thou despised the command of the Lord, &c.  
The last words intimate, how every one of the former, were so many several C●… s from God, to bid David have a care he shew'd not himself unthankful.  
So( Isa. 5.6.) My well beloved had a Vineyard in a very fruitful hill, and he fenct it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest Vine, and built a tower, and made a winepress in it, all this plantain, watering, &c. are so many several calls, for what? it follows in what he looked for, to wit, that it should bring forth Grapes. The like you have( Micah. 6.3.) O my people what have I done unto thee, wherein have I wearied thee, I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, I redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, I sent before thee Moses, Aron, and miriae, &c. all these were as so many Calls.  
So, there's not a Mercy thou receivest, not a blessing thou obtainest, not a danger thou avoidest, whatsoever good befalls thee spiritual or temporal, for Scule, Body, or Estate, all are so many Calls from God, to teach thee to be answerable.  
4 Judiciis, By Judgments, Crosses, and afflictions, so( Micah 6.9.) The Lords voice crieth unto the City, and the man of wisdom shall see thy Name, the Lords voice cry? how does it cry? Ans. in the next words, He are ye the Rod,& who hath appointed it! viz. There is a secret Voice in the Rod of God, in all the Judgments and corrections of God, by that Rod does the Lord cry, and therefore that Voice, his people must hear. hear ye the Rod, &c. 
Etsi non loquatur Dominus, satis tamen flagell's ipsis& plagis vo●at; Vt enim Scripturam nobis omnem, Prophetas, doctors,& Monitores deesse fingamus aerumnis tamen& calamitatibus nos crudit, ut breviter definire possimus, quamvis plagam, vocationem ad poenitentiam esse. Calvin. in loc.  So( Amos 4. from the 6 Verse downward) I have given you cleannesse of teeth, withheld the rain, I have smitten you with blasting and mildew, I have sent among you the pestilence, I have overthrown some as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and what's the burden or under-song, almost of every Verse? Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Intimating thereby, that by every one of these God gave a secret call to turn to him which they not answering, God complains of so often, yet have you not returned unto me saith the Lord. These four several ways doth God call.  
The Question now is which of these is meant here? one or all?  
I answer, God had called often by two of these before.  
1 By his Spirit, often breathing upon them, putting good resolutions, good desires, good purposes into their hearts, as Micah 6.6. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and how myself before the high God? Shall I come with thousands of rams, or ten thousand rivers of oil? shall I give the first born of my body for the sin of my soul, &c. And( Jerem. 31.18.) I heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, turn thou me, and I shall be turned, for thou art my Lord and my God.  
2 By his Mercies, they were his spouse, his darling, his well beloved, his vineyard, nothing too dear for them, they had his laws, his Statutes, and his Ordinances, for no Nation under heaven had he done so as for them: and yet these two voices could do on good, they were a stif-necked and backsliding generation.  
Therefore God tries the other two.  
1 Sending his servants daily, rising up early and sending them, Jer. 7. 25.-25.4.-26, 5. threatening, warning, promising, deterring, using all means possible.  
2 By his Judgements, as in the forementioned place( Amos 4) as likewise all this Chapter over, in those stirs, troubles, and distractions, that were amongst them. These two are especially meant here, when the other two would do no good, and more principally the last of all.  
Whence I shall desire you to observe with me, Gods manner of dealing with a kingdom or Nation.  

1 How he seldom strikes, 
Obs.  but first he calls and gives warning.  
2 How for the most part he begins with the soft still voice of his, Spirit and mercies, then louder with his word, at last, loudest of all by his iudgments.   
I will put both together, and yet dispatch it in a word, because it hath been often largely handled in this place before.  
It were endless to heap up examples for the truth of this.  
Let the old world say how long God bore with them even one hundred and twenty years: Noah preaching, and God way●ing all the while for their conversion. Let pharaoh speak, how long it was ere God destroyed him, not till after ten several warnings, and many more provocations. How oft was Lot grieved with the unrighteous conversation of the Sodomites, and no doubt, warned and preached repentance unto them. How did Jonah go up and down the City crying, Yet 40 dayes and Nineveh shall be destroyed, before God utterly overthrew them?  
Nay, look over all the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the rest, and see, those heathen Nations, how God vouchsafed to warn them. The burden of Tyre, the burden of Moab, the burden of Egypt, of Babylon, of Ammon, of Edom, &c. Thus saith the Lord unto, &c. Thus saith the Lord, &c. heres warning upon warning even unto them.  
But instar omnium, famous is the manner of Gods dealing with this people of Israel above all the Nations in the world, how many warnings they had, how many Prophets he sent, how many means he used, were endless to recite: he that is but ordinarily verst in the story of the Bible cannot be ignorant of this, how many sweet Motions the Spirit of God breathed into them, how by his servants mouths and messengers he sent, warning them by his Word to turn to him. How oft he spoke by his Mercies spiritual and temporal, such as no Nation in the World enjoyed beside, and yet all these would not do: At last, God calls here by his Judgements, every several plague crying to them torepent, every several blow speaking aloud to warn them from their evil ways, and turn unto the Lord.  
And now tell me o ye daughters of Jerusalem, what could God do more to his Vineyard that he hath not done?  
If any convinced of the truth of this  
Demand now, and desire to know what should be the reason why God usually takes this gentle course with his rebelhous and stif-necked people, these four,( midst many more) may abundantly satisfy.  
1 Thou thereby the goodness and mercy of God might be declared to all the world, how slow he is to wrath, how ready to forgive, and how loathe to punish, that as Tamberlane going to besiege a City first hung out a white flag, in token that if they would surrender, there was hopes of mercy for them, if that would not serve, next day a read flag, after a black, to tell them, blood and ruin must be their portion, if they neglected so fair a warning. So doth God likewise, many white flags of mercy, many read flags of blood, many black of destruction and desolation doth God hang out, before he utterly destroys a kingdom or people.  
They that intend ruin presently, give no warning; 
Psal. 7. 1●.  why is a man warned but in mercy that he may take heed? If that Nation will not turn,( saith God) I will whet my sword, 
Lam. 3.33.  and bend my bow,: his very whetting and bending, is, that they might take notice and so prevent him: and again. I afflict not willingly, As a tender Father is hardly drawn to correct his child or cast him off, so God to destroy his poor creatures.  
There are two places wonderful remarkable for this purpose,( Isa. 1.24.) Ah! I will ease me of mine adversaries, I will avenge me of mine enemies, Ah! as if it came from him with regret with much grief and unwillingness. But especially that of( Hos. 11.8, 9.) How shall I give thee up Ephraim, how shall I deliver thee Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah, hov shall I set thee as Zebon? my heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together, and ver. 9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not man, the holy one on the midst of thee.  
Was there ever such expressions? such yearning of the bowels in a tender Nurse or Mother as here are?  
Nay in this very particular Call of God to this Nation, in these words, there are three things observable, every one magnifying the goodness of God exceedingly.  
1 Id●m qui puniturus primus, vocat ad penitentiam, 
M●scu●… s.  he's first in his Call, A man would think it were far more fit, they should Call first, and call again, and again upon him, but contrary to all Reason, He 〈◇〉 who is provok't who is about to strike, first calls on them.  
2 Not once but often, by Spirit, Word, Mercies, Judgments, nay, before and now too, still warning.  
3 Not onely before and now at this time, said in illo ipso die, 
Musculus.  in ultimo die, 
In ●da ipsa die, qua impleta erat& matura illorum iniquitas, tempusque aderat justi Judicii, acsupplicii de impaenitentibus sumendi. Musculus in lo. ( as one says) in that very day, the last day warns still, never gives over so long as there's hopes, never ceases, till there was no 
2 Chro. 36.16 Bernard.  Remedy.  
All these wonderfully magnify the goodness and forbearance of God.  
2 To Melt the hearts of the sons of men, when they shall once reflect upon themselves, and think, What has God called so many times? so many ways? and yet I stop mine ears? these thirty, forty, fifty yeares has God been calling upon me, by his Spirit; Word, Mercies, Judgments, and will nothing melt this hard heart of mine? Ah erubesce pulvis& ●inis( as Bernard passionately) blushy blushy sinful dust and ashes, And thus think with thyself: God might have cut me off in the very act of my uncleanness( if it had pleased him) as he did Zimry and Cosby, and yet how many acts have I committed? God mgiht have stopped my month for ever, with the Oath and blasphemy in it, as he did pharaoh, Zenacherib, Herod and others. He might have struck me dead when I was last drunk, as Nabal, Holifornes, &c. or cut me off in the midst of my rebellion and wickedness as he did pharaoh, absalon, Corah and his company. Well I see God hath not dealt with me as with others, nor rewarded me as I deserved, O melt, melt thou hard heart of mine, for this is that which God expects of thee.  
3 To stop the mouths of all gain sayers whatsoever, should God destroy without call or warning at all, men might have something to pled,( though nothing justly 'gainst God) but some would be ready to complain and say, had God spared me but once or twice, I had never done the like again. If I had but had the least warning, I would never have gone on so far as I did, &c. Well,( rebellious sinner) thou shalt never say, but God hath warned thee again and again, by mercies and judgements, and many ways else, and that thus many years together: Thou shalt never say, that God took thee at an advantage, therefore stop thy mouth, and give God the glory perditio tua ex te, thou hast sinned, and the Lord is righteous.  
4 For the Salvation of his poor creatures, Si quoties peccent homines, sua fulmina mittat Jupiter, &c. If God should smite as oft, as soon as man sins, no flesh were able to stand in his presence: 
Psal. 130 3.  If this Lord were extreme to mark what is done amis, who then were able to abide it? But God does not strike so soon, is not so extreme, why? 
Ezek. 33.11.  that men might be converted and turn to him, for as I live saith the Lord, I desire not the death of a sinner, the salvation of one is more to me then the subvesiron of thousands.  
I need not insist long hereon, the best way will be to bring it close home unto ourselves.  
1 By entering into our hearts, and considering with yourselves, whither God hath not called us thus, yea, or no. To omit those many overtures of peace, of mercy, of reformation, and the like, God hath made to this sinful Land, like so many tokens from the Spirit of God. I dare appeal even to the consciences of you that hear me this day, whether you have not heard Gods first Call many times within your bosoms? It may be in the morning ere the day was light, as soon as ever thou wast awake, whispering in thine ear, this or some such sweet invitall, Return, return, o Shulamite, I say, return, return: 
Cant 6.13.  it may be at midnight, when deep sleep falls upon the sons of men, checking thee for the sins of the former day, warning thee of thy evil ways, moving thee to repentance, cheering thee with hopes of mercy. I am persuaded heres not one present, but at one time or other, may remember and say, thus and thus God hath called me, such a day I could not be quiet, my heart spake so within me, and bad me leave my sinful courses, such a night when I lay waking, the rowlings on my bed were not more then the rolling of my bowels, such pangs and motions, I had in me, well, God did call me then.  
And as for Mercies, o what Nation under Heaven, has ever had those strange deliverances, those wonderful preservations; such abundance of mercies, 
Gen. 49.25.  such plenty of blessings, as we have had? Blessings of Heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth underneath, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb? So that what was prophesied of Joseph, has truly proved Englands portion, The blessings of our Fathers have prevailed above the blessings of our Progenitors unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, they have been upon the bead of England, and upon the crown of the head of them, that are separate from their brethren. -That strange preservation in Eighty Eighth, That never to be forgotten Gun-powder Treason, I hope are fresh in your memories still, and shall be in your Childrens after you. The day would fail me, to recount other your preservations from civill Wars so oft, from Plague, Famine, from Enemies, from the worst of all, Popish Superstition and Idolatry: To tell you of the long Peace, Plenty, and Abundance, of all the good Mercies of God, spiritual, and temporal, we have enjoyed, above all our neighbours round about us: None can deny all this.  
Nor has he been unanswerable in his other Call, by his Word and Ordinances, O how many yeers now together has that silver Trumpet of his Gospel, never been still? How long have Arons bells sounded loud in our ears? how long have we been blessed with as able, learned, powerful a Ministry as ever Nation did enjoy? Midst all the rottenness and corruptions of the Times, yet still have wee had some that stood close to God and to his Truth, that like Fish tasted the sweeter, and fresher, in those brackish streams, and like C●… amile trodden down, yielded a more fragrant smell; I dare challenge all the world to equal us in this Call, such plenty and abundance of preaching, as I am confident, no Nation under heaven ever enjoyed the like.  
Nay( lastly) this not doing, has not God endeavoured to reduce us by his last Call frequent Judgments and plagues amongst us? How oft has he sent all his three sore judgements? his flagella aculeata, amongst us in a dreadful manner? to say nothing of the Famine, scarcity and want has been in the country, and in divers Families; what hard shifts many have made,( yea, and in this City too) to preserve their lives with that, which was scarce meat for Hogs, much less for men? Grains having been their daily food for them and their children, and that for divers weeks together, and glad they could get them. How many have died for want of bread? how many have been starved and fallen down dead( I am sorry I can say one within these few days) even at some of your doors in the middle of your streets?  
How ever,( I hope) you have not yet forgot, how oft and loud. God has called by the Plague formerly and of late, what heaps upon heaps, heaps upon heaps, God has laid even in the midst of this royal City: how he has spoken unto you( it may be by the mouths of your nearest friends) S: and off, come not near me, I am infected( with the Leper in the old Law) I am unclean, I am unclean.  
And both formerly, by all those broils in the Barons Wars, in the sad divisions twixt york and Lancaster, and of late, how loud hath God called unto us by the sword, in these bloody, unnatural, civill, uncivil war, both in England and Ireland, every shriek of chased virgins ravished first, and murdered after: every Yell of poor infants stabbed or thrown out to starve and die: every Cry of aged men and women flying for their lives: every Sigh of poor wives that have lost their husbands: every Sob of aged parents that are robbed of their children, every groan of so many bleeding dying men, every one of these, and thousands more( the sad issues of our sad divisions) are like so many mouths& voices from God, calling to, and telling us that he is angry.  
Well, deny nonecan, but that God has called by all these, if any doubt, I'll answer him no otherwise then as death in the fable answered him, whom it promised to give warning to before hand, and yet took him away suddenly, being challenged of breach of promise, answered, it did give him warning: For, do you not remember you had an Ague so many years ago? I gave you warning then: a fever another time? I gave you warning then: a fall off your horse another time? I warned you then: such a time you lost a child? I warned you then, &c. none can deny, but many of these ways God hath warned us all. There's no question of that.  
Onely, here's the Question, how have wee attended to these calls? O my soul trembles within me, to think how many soft breathings, how many sweet motions, how many puttings forward of our spirits to good, we have contemned, despised, or at the least neglected. dost thou not remember how such a time, through the working of thy bowels within thee, thou wast resolved to leave thy sinful courses, to turn unto the Lord and amend thy ways, and yet to this day not amended, but as bad as ever.  
And surely it will be one of the saddest Meditations in hell, when a damned soul shall recall all the good motions and resolutions it formerly had, such a time upon my sick bead, how I vowed if God would spareme, what a convert would I be, and yet( restored to health again) how I fell to be as bad as ever I was before: how another time in a great danger, another time at a communion, at a funeral, at a fast another time: Oh! how was I stung with such a Sermon? how home did the Preacher come to my very heart and inwards? what resolutions then did I make with myself, to live thus and thus, Quantillum abfui? O had I but turned to God then( I was very near it) how happy a creature had I been? how had I escaped these eternal flames? but I would not, I neglected that call, and therefore now too late, too late 
{αβγδ}, Chry soft. hom. Matth. 11.20, 21.  God knows do I bewail mine own folly, and this unavoideable misery is come upon me,  
And for Mercies may not God justly upbraid us as he did the Cities in the Gospel, We unto the Corazin, woe unto thou Corazin, woe unto thee Bethsaida, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon.—  
So if the great things that have been done in England, had been done in Tyre and Sydon in turkey or India, in all probability, they would have repented long ago in Sack-cloth and ashes.  
Certainly never Nation hath been more blessed, yet never Nation more unthankful. O how oft have we surfeited of the good mercies of God, till( like quails with the Israellites) they have come out of our very nostrils; not onely surfet of meat and drink, and other the good creatures of God, but surfet of our ease, of our plenty, of our abundance, of our strength, nay, of our very peace, for which now, God hath justly taken it away from us.  
There was a time,( many yeares ago) when we longed for war, our fingers itched to be fighting, conceiving it would conduce more to our plenty and abundance then a dull retirement, and now God hath given us enough of the former, but an abatement, God knows of the later.  
Nay, are there not some still, who are sick at the very naming of peace, who would fain have the Wars continue, whose onely delight it is like Salamanders, to live in the fire of contention, and fish in troubled waters? sons of the perverse foolish 
{αβγδ}. Insociabilis, scelestm, privatus bomo est ille qui bellum amut in populo mortiferum. Homer. in a Iliad.  woman, jars and dissensions, whose glory it is to spill that blood upon the ground which cost their Saviour his.  
And for the Word of God, how hath it been discountenanced, scorned, contemned, despised? was there not a time( and not long since) when to say a man was a laborious, constant, conscientious Preacher, was enough to hinder him from rising( as we used to say) or all preferment?  
And now that our Church doors are open, that there is abundance of such excellent means, and freedom every where, What means these creepings into comers these frequent conventicles of so many schismatics and Sectaries? grown now so numerous,( through to too long connivance) that they do not onely threaten the overthrow of true Religion, subversion of faith and good manners, destruction of all Order, Discipline, and Charity, but threaten many Godly and Orthodox Divines, threaten the Assembly, threaten the Parliament, nay, threaten both you, and the Government you shall establish if not according to their fancies, while one professes himself for Panl, another for Apollo, a third for Coephas, and few, very few( God knows) truly and sincerely for Christ and his Gospel.  
And of those that do attend our public Ordinances how many itching ears have we amongst them? let a Minister preach the truth of God, as clearly and plainly as any, yet if he be not of their humour, if not just of their opinion,( as the people in the Acts. 22.22.) so cry they out, Away with him, it is not fit such a fellow should live; at least live to have any fellowship or communion with them.  
Ah good Lord! how glad would the poor Protestants in Queen Maries dayes have been of one of those Sermons which we so much pish at, and neglect every day? How glad would the poor Indians in America and elsewhere be( if it should please God once to open their eyes) but to gather up the crumbs that fall from under our Table?  
Nay, take the best, and most constant hearers, and compare their practise with it, I am afraid it would befound far short: so quick and sorward are many to hear, but slow, very slow( God knows) are we all to practise, never remembering that fearful sentence of our Saviours, Luke 12.48. To Whom much is given of him shall much be required, and He that knows his Masters will and doth at not, 
Luke 12.47.  shall be beaten with many 
{αβγδ}, Chrysoft.  stripes.  
Yea,( God be merciful to us all in this one thing) how may each one here present, lay his hand upon his breast and say with himself, How many good Sermons have I lost? How many heavenly lessons have I forgot? How many wholesome exhortations have I slighted? How many blessed Calls from God have I neglected? Then tell me whither he have not cause to weep and mourn, especially when he considers withall how these and the like deafnesses to somier have forced God too  
His last Call,( to wit,) those sore iudgments and punishments that are amongst us.  
I  told you before, God called a great way off in the wart of the Palatinate, germany, Ireland &c. and for these four years and upwards aloud in England, but where now is the hearkening to this call?  
Have we not those are as deaf at their Countreys miseries, as if it never conscerned them? or as if there were no wars in England? 
Quis {αβγδ} illam ubi nullus animam tangit offectus, stuporem innanem, qui nulla prorsus erigatur& excitetur, nullo stectatur atque inclinetur affect is non omuibus vitiu judicet esse peiorem? Ang. Ci. Dei, l. 14 c. 9  I would to God the security, muttering, and unthankfulness in the country; the gluttony, drunkenness, riot and excess, both in meat, drink, and apparel here in the City, did not too manifestly proclaim to every mans face, how little men are grieved for the afflictions of Joseph 
Sisrateres compatere fratri pro te patienti, compunctus pro to qui pro te prior punctus est, si non doles, lugis, plangis; deliras, drsipit belluem sapis, &c. Bern. in Psal. 90.  how little they lay to heart 
Soli filii Irae Iram non sentiunt nec tri stantur de testibus. Bern. Epist. 256.  the sufferings of their brethren in other parts, and how little apprehensive they are of their calamities.  
I would onely desire such whoever they be, that they would often meditate of that Cup of trembling mentioned by the Prophet Isaiah,( 51.17.) and threatened more punctually by the Prophet David( Psal. 75.8.) In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is read, it is full of mixture, and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth, shall wring them out and drink them.  
Such a Cup we cannot but take notice of, that God hath hold out for these divers years together; and the wine hath been read, even as read as blood; yea, and it hath been full of mixture too, firing, burning, plundering, spoiling, ransacking, undoing, &c. have been the sad ingredients in this mixture; nay, and God hath poured it out too, upon many parts of this kingdom, and yet we here,( and divers other places besides) as secure, as careless, and incompassionate as ever.  
I say no more but onely this, other parts in the country have drunk deep of the Cup, I pray God London, and these hereabouts, be never forced to drink of the 
Non quia durum aliquid ideo rectum; awl quia stupidum est, ideo sanum. Aug. Civ. Dei.  dregs.  
Let it teach us all in the fear of God to admire and stand astenished at the forbearance and loving kindness of the Lord our God, Tam piut nemo, tam pater nemo, never so good a God, never so loving and indulgent a Father; that will by no means destroy till he have called and give warning, and waits for the conversion of poor sinners.  
I would to God( mean-while) men would but learn here of God to be more mild, 
Dolenda intueri nec dolere mortis est signum. Bern.  more compassionate and merciful one to another. What means this ranceur? this malice? this hatred and uncharitableness one towards another 
Fermè acerrima proximorum odia sunt. Tacitus. Dilectio sola discernit inter si lios Dei& filios Diaboli. Aug. in 1 joh. Tract. 5. {αβγδ}. Greg. Naz. ubi odium ibi charitas esse non potest, ubi charitas abcst, ibi nile boni. Aug. supper Matth.  was there ever such heart-burnings 
Vitam anima quaelibet culpa polluit, servatus vero dolor contra proximum occidit, mentimamque ut gladius figitur,& mucrone illius, ipsa viscerum occulta persorantur. Greg. l. 10. Mor.  such hardhartednesse, such unsatiable thirst, of ruining and destroying one another, without call without mercy? Suppose God should but so deal with us, and take us at an advantage, for a word for a gesture, for one action many years ago as men now adays seek to take others. O! what would become of the best of us 
O formidulosa sentential Siparva fratribus non dimittimus, magna nobis à Deo, non dimittentur. Hieron. l. 3. supper march.  all.  
learn, learn, I bescech you so to deal with others, as you look God should deal with you another day.  
And last of all in the fear of God, let me so far prevail with you all, as to make you take heed for the future of ever abusing these warnings, and goodness of God any more. Take heed of stopping thine ear: at Gods Call, call he how, or when he will, least God stop his ears at thine another day, as he threatens,( Pro. 1.24. to the 29. ver.) it is a sad place and worth taking notice of. Because I have called( saith God) and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, but ye have set at nought all my council, and would none of my reproof( 26) I also will laugh at your calamities, I will mock when your fear cometh,( 27) when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you,( 28) Then shall, they call upon me but I will not answer, they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.  
Si non audies vocem misericordiae, senties vocem Judicii, si non Deum minantem senties punientem, saith Bernard. It is as a gloss upon this; because I called and you would not hear, you shall, and I will not; and if now you will not hear the voice of my Mercy, you shall ere long feel the voice of my judgement, if you will not hear God when he threatens, you shall feel him when he punishes.  
To that end( and so to conclude the second general part of the Text) if all this will not do, if all these Calls from God will not move thee, I desire thee( whosoever thou art) to know that God has one Call more, besides all these, thou never heardest yet, and that is vocem Tubae, the Call of the last Trumpet, when Christ shall come the second time in glory with thousand thousands of his Angels to judgement in the clouds, 
Esse quoque in fatit reminiscitur afore Temput Quo more, quo tellus, correptaque regia oeaeli Ardeat,& mundi moles operosa laboret Ovid.  when the Trumpet shall sound and the dead shall arise, when God shall call thee out of the dust, to appear before his judgement seat, and there to give an account to him, as of the neglects, so much more of the contempt of all his former Calls: by his Spirit, Mercies, Words, Judgments, &c. You that are High and Noble, in great places and trust in this our Israel who have called so many to your bar,& summoned them before you. Remember withall I beseech you, that there is another Summons, coming out for you too 
Potentissimi quondam reges nudo later palpitabunt, exhibebitur tunc cum prole sua igneus jupiter adducetur cum suis Plato discipulis, Aristoteli argumenta non proderunt, &c. Hieron. ad Heliodor.  and you must all be called to another Bar, to give an account, as of the Trust imposed in you so of all your actions and intentions. And you who have so oft given Judgement in other mens matters, remember I pray you that there is another judgement coming,( that which Saint Paul speaks of( 2 Cor. 5.10.) We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.) There as you have 
Ne minimae quidem cogitationes, aut verba minit ssima indiscussa remanebunt. Greg.  scanned other mens actions, so must yours be scanned with an impartial 
Nec gratiâ praevenitur judex, nec misericordiâ flectitur, nec pecuniá corrumpitur, nec satisfactione mitigatur. Aug.  eye, and you rewarded accordingly; and though you have no higher Court to call you to an account hereon Earth, yet remember there is one in heaven, and to that wee must all stand or fall for ever.  
O think, think therefore with yourselves sometimes, when you see poor malefactors, startled and frighted at your call or Summons and stand trembling at your bar, think I say, thus must I myself be singled out another day, thus must I stand trembling 
Quid mirum tremere homines, cum aspectu judicis tremant Angelicae potestates? Bed. Quid facient Tabulae quando trement Columnae? quomodo Virgula Deserti quatietur cum Cedrus Paradisi concutitur Oreg. 2 Co. 5.10.  before the iudgement seat of Christ to give an account to him of all mine actions, towards others, and judgements here below, and then let the thought of this move thee to deal with others( I say no more) as thou lookest Christ should deal with thee, and not dare to do or say any thing here, but what thou darest avouch as just and right, before the tribunal of the Almighty God hereafter.  
I have been long about the Call( and yet you cannot say but God hath been longer) I pray God make both effectual to you all. I will be shorter in what remains.  
The Time of your summons follows next in order, as the third general of the Text, and that is punctual to a day, In that day.  
In that day? what day is that? we red in Scripture of many dayes, a day of blackness and darkness, of clouds and thick darkness, 
Iocl 2.2.  a day of plague and pestilence, of famine and of the sword a day of fasting and afflicting the soul, of rending the garments, and lying down in the dust. Which of all these dayes is this?  
Ans. Most Expositors hold that it was in Abaz his time: 
Oecolamp.  Quumiam pro foribus, esset interitus, cum perspicua er ant signa Irae Dei, When destruction and ruin was at hand, when appeared manifest tokens of the wrath of God.  
But because I'll bound myself, my Observations shall be confined onely to what I find in the first 15. verses of this Chapter,( the rest being another prophecy,) and therein you may observe four several days, in all which God Calls sadly to the duty of Weeping and Mourning.  
1 In the 1, 2, and 5. verses, What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the house tops, viz. for fear and terror, That they might bemoan their condition there: as by( Isa. 15.3. jer. 48.38.) may appear was the custom. Ver. 2. Thou art full of stirs, a tumultuous City. 
Clamoris plena, Doctrina Hereticorum quae non in sensu, said in multiloquio& clamore versatur. Ob multitudinem deceptorum frequens civitas& exultans propter superbiam appellatur. Hieron. in locum.  Ver. 5. It is a day of trouble and perplexity, &c. And all from the Lord God of Hosts,( all comes from him) therefore in the 4. ver. the Prophet cries out because of such a day, I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, &c.  
Then here is the first day.  
A day of frights and fears, of stirs and tumults, of trouble and perplexity,  
When men are at their wits ends, and know not which way to turn them, when stirs and tumults are in a City and Nation, trouble and perplexity in a State and kingdom, when men are afraid to ly down in the evening, for fear of murdering in their beds, or having their houses fired about their ears dare not go out in the morning, for fear of being surprised or plundered of all before they return: when things are carried in a Tumult, as it is in a distempered body not reason and judgement,( those superior faculties of the soul) bear the Sway, but fancy and frenzy, making a very Bedlam within ones own bosom.  
When a man is not sure of his house, of his estate, of his life of any thing, but all is as a rude multitude will, whensoever thou seest such a day, then I now this is the time wherein God calls.  
And give me leave to apply particulars as I go along.  
Shall I ask you whither your eyes ever beholded such a day or no? the more happy you if you have not: God help those parts of the kingdom that have seen no other day for above these sour years together, whose ears are continually filled with the noise of the drum, and sound of the Trumpet frighted with fears and alarms, whose eyes have beholded such stirs and tumults as their forefathers never saw, stirs in the City, stirs in the country, stirs in the Church, stirs in the State, 
Vide Hierou. in locum, &c.  stirs at home, and stirs abroad, every where almost Tumults and stirs.  
And for Troubles and perplexities. show me that place, or almost that person 
Quem tranquillum qvaese, quem non laboriosum aut anxium diem egimus? Petrarch.  thorough the whole Kingdom, is free from these; King troubled. Parliament troubled, City troubled Assembly troubled, all the whole kingdom troubled out of measure.  
Go into the Army 
Si in forum iveris ibi rixae,& pugnae, si in curiam adulatio, si in domum privatam, &c. Chryso.  there you may hear the soldiery troubled for want of pay, and by reason of other divisions and discontents among them, into the City, all troubled for want of Trade; into the Church, men troubled for want of Discipline and good Government; and in the country a thousand troubles and perplexities there: Heer's one complains he is plundered of all, there an other he's turned out of all, and that wrongfully and unjustly, as he conceives, 
Nemini mortalium iniuriae suae parvae videntur. sallust.  Heer's some complain of their heavy Taxes and Billitings, that they have not bread left for them and their children: there others of wrongs and oppressions from some Committees, and the insolence of Under-Officers( how justly, God knows) but this I'm sure, their's such a loud Cry of this trouble and perplexity, almost everywhere, as( if things be true) cries to Heaven for vengeance against those, who abuse your Authority and good intentions, for their own ends, well worth your notice, and looking after: A day of troubles and perplexities you see it is everywhere.  
And now what doth God call for in this day, but for Weeping and Mourning, to weep 
Quiper poeritentiam peceata diluit argelicae faelic tatis consons in aeternum erit. Aug. I de mirac, S. S.  for the stirs and distempers in thine own bosom, which cause these broils and stirs without. To be troubled for thy sins in thy soul, which have caused these troubles in the State: to mourn for offending thy good God which has caused these offences and perplexities abroad. In a word to weep and mourn, that thou art the Achan that hast troubled Israel, 
Interdum lachrymae ponderavoc is habent. Ovid.  and by thy sins and rebellions, brought these troubles and perplexities upon the kingdom.  
This is the first day.  
II The second day you may red of in the 4, 5, 6, and 7 verse, verse 4, because of the spoiling &c. verse 5, A day of treading down, breaking down the walls, crying to the mountains, v. 6. Elam bare the quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield v 7. Thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.  
So then the second day is  
A day of spoiling and treading down, of breaking down walls, of chariots and horsemen, of shields and array,  
In a word, A day of War, and the sad consequences thereof.  
When former stirs and tumults break out into open rage of robing and spoiling, of treading down all, 
Qualis per arva lo, fulvam minaci front concutiens Iubam. Sen. Trag.  when Horsemen and Troopers, take not whats their own, but what they please, when no man can say, his cattle are his own, his house is his own, his lands his own, his wife his own, his life his own, but all at the mercy of boisterous and cruel men.  
In a word, when all is filled with Souldiers and Armies, with wars and fightings, and what ever are the sad concomitants, of rage fury, and division. This is the other day.  
And would you have me apply it, I confess should you command me to do it with mine eyes, I could do it better then with my Tongue, or did you bid me writ the parallel with my tears, I could do it far sooner then with ink, while my poor country engraves it deep in characters of blood,  
Ah! poor England! not long since thy foes envy and admiration, now the heavy object of thy friends pitty and enemies scorn. Shee that was great among the Nations, and Princes among the people, how is shee now become solitary as a widow robed of her children? and why? Because the Lord hath covered the daughoer of Zion with a cloud in his anger, 
Lam. 2.1.  hath cast down the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger: but hath kindled a fire in this our Zion, and it hath almost devoured the inhabitants thereof. 
Lam. 4.11.   
O blessed God! How hast thou broken us with breach upon breach, and yet our hearts are not broken; we complain of violence and wrong, and yet our lives are full of both, thou hast afflicted us, and we have not received instruction, 
jer. 14.9.  Thou hast wounded us and there is no healing for us. spoiling and treading down, cries and bitter lamentation, father against son, and son against father, brother against brother, and friend against friend, plundering and murders, rapine and villainies, cruelties and barbarism, are spread every where up and down our coasts and yet we are not humbled.  
Tell me all you that pass by, who have been abroad and seen goodly Churches ruined and laid wast, Gods ordinances and Ministers abused, whole Towns plundered over and over, and utterly undone, 
Haec sunt belly decora, profuisse nemini nocuisse quamplurimis, &c. Erasmus.  goodly houses, nay whole streets, all on a flaming fire: You who have seen on your right hands thousands of poor stripped men, women, and children flying for their lives: on the left, thousands nakedlie sprawling upon the ground, some dead, some gasping some groaning out their last: Here one shot all in pieces, joint stomjoynt, and limb from limb, there another nothing but wounds, and mangled all over, there a third weltering in his own gore. You who have seen young Infants snatched from their mothers breasts and brains dashed against the stones, Wives ravished before their husbands eyes after, husbands slain before theirs. You who have heard the shrieks and cries of women and children, and seen hundreds tumbled head-long into pounds and rivers, some sprawling out, knocked downagain, without pitty or compassion, without respect either of sex or age, of young or old 
Arma non servant modum nec temperari facile nec reprimi potest stricta ensis ira: Bella delecta cruor. Seneca in Here. fut. Trag. 1. .  
You that have seen these and a thousand villainies more, say, say, whither this black day hath not befallen us, or at best, a very gloomy morn, God in his mercy sand us a clearer day.  
And now in this day especially doth God justly call for weeping and mourning, thereby to bemoan those jars and oppositions, have been against grace and goodness, which have caused these oppositions one against another: to bewail those disorders in thine affections, which have made these disorders in the Common-weal those jars within, which have caused these without. Every distemper, every cruelty, every outrage and villainy, thou seest or hearest of, is a several call from God, 
job 42.6.  to humble thee and make thee( with Job) abhor thyself in dust and ashes. And that's a second day.  
The third day is a day of human confidence and presumption, Verse 8, 9, 10, 11, Ver. 8. Thou didst look in that day to the armor of the house of the foreste( Verse 9.) Ye have seen also the breaches of the City of David, that they are many, and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool,( ver, 10.) And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall( ver, 11.) Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool. All hitherto is good, lawfvll, and carefully done, but what follows in the latter end of the 11. ver. But ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that had fashioned it long ago: Heers their fault, for men to prepare and fortify and strengthen themselves all is very good and expedient but so to trust in these, as to neglect God and wave him, so to look down upon the earth, as not withall to look up to heaven, so to be busied and to rely upon the arm of flesh, as not at all and principally to look up unto God, here was their fault, and therefore immediately upon it, cries out the Prophet in the words of my Text. In that day, in that day of all others, most cause to call to weeping and mourning, when the creature is trusted, and the Creator neglected.  
And tell me( my beloved) is not this our day? Was there ever more looking to arms, breaches, waters, fortifyings and the like? and all exceeding good and necessary. But the question is, Have we, have not restend heer? in the means? in the outward provision? and strength, and never looked to God the Maker of it? Have we not trusted in our Armies? boasted in the multitude of our hosts? been confident of our strength? prided ourselves in assurance of victory? never looking up to the Lord of Hosts all this while, till God has brought us down, and made us see, and know, that though great Armies go forth, and expectation be raised, 
Prov. 21.31.  Horses prepared for the day of battle, 
O bomo ideo non viristi quia de tuo praesumpsisti, qui prasumit de vicibus suis antequam pugnet prosternitur. Aug. de rebus Apost.  yet the success is of the Lord? And tell me( I beseech you) when had we ever worse success, than when we were most confident, when better than when most diffident of ourselves, and relied only upon God 
Multos impedit à firmitate, praesumptio firmitatis: Nemo erit à Deo firmus nisi qui à se ipso sentitse infirmum. Aug. de V. Dom. c. 14. .  
And give me leave( I beseech you) to deal freely with you I was not called hither to flatter,( with Elihu in Job 32.22. I know not how to give flattering titles unto man, for in so deing my Maker would soon take me away) I am afraid, I say, much afraid, that too much of this untoward Weed grows in all our gardens: too much confidence upon the means and probabilities, upon strength and policy, upon great preparations, and our own endovours: and if so, then in this day God calls to weeping and to Mourning, now to prevent weeping after miscarriages when it is too late. This this alone not taken heed of, will foil all your Armies, break your Navies, mar your Treaty, spoil all your designs. Use all lawful means in Gods Name, but do not trust to any, only to the Lord, in whose hands are the issues of life and death, of war and Peace.  
The fourth day is found in the thirteenth Verse, Behold ioy and gladness, slaying Oxen, and killing sheep, ear-ring flesh, and drinking wine, Let us eat and drink, for to morrow wee shall die.  
A day of joy and gladness, eating and drinking, profaneness and profuseness.  
When midst all the judgements of God, men are secure and careless, serving their lusts and pleasures, 
{αβγδ}. Clem. Alex. Humilis& abiect● animi, Terrae plane filii.  midst all the tossings of the Ship of the Common-wealth, are asleep upon the Mast-top, not awaked with all the waves and billows that roar and swell round about 
Caninae aeqnani mitatis stupor Tertul.  them.  
This is a sad day indeed, wherein no light appears, not of grace or goodness, but not so much as of sense or apprehension, 
Membra putrida& martua quae sensum non habent, Tales sunt Christi. uti qui de alienis aut afflictionibus non dolent. Aug. in Psal. 130.  and yet is not this day with us? have we not those, are as gluttonous and riotous, as drunk and intemperate as ever? midst all the heavy judgments of God upon this Land? heed nothing, regard nothing eat drink and are all merry( I would to God you would take special nottice of these) 
{αβγδ}, qui victum in dies persequuntur perinde ac non victuri. Clem Alex.  To such I say no more, but what follows in the next words, ver. 14. And it was revealed to me in mine ear by the Lord God of Hosts, surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you, till ye die, saith the Lord God of Hosts.  
Mean while, This is the day, wherein God calls for sad thoughts, and deep expressions of grief, to counterpoise that exuberant excess of joy, that is in others, that so, if it be possible the noise of our sighs and tears may ou-tcry their sins, and divert an heavy judgement from us.  
I doubt I have held you too long in the description of this dark winters day.  
There is nothing now behind, but the fourth general part of the Text, the subject matter whereunto you are called, to weeping, mourning, baldness, and girding with saek-cloth, which because I will not be tedious, I will onely tell you what it is, giving you the Theory of it, and leave you unto the practic. Here are you see 4 particulars.  
All the difficulty lies in the explication of them, the two former need none at all, every one apprehending what is meant by Weeping and Mourning, to wit, outward expressions of that grief and sorrow uttered by the eyes, voice and tongue, the root whereof lies hide in the heart and soul within.  
All the Question is, what is meant by the two latter, baldness and Sack-cloth.  
1 For baldness, ad rasur am most red it, to such a baldness as was made on purpose by shaving of the hair of their heads, and sometimes beard, it being the custom 
Haec eo tempore in usu erant Judaeis quum paenitentiam proptebantur. Calv. in loc.  among the Ancients, especially in those Eastern Countreys, upon some great humiliation, to shave of their hair, to cut off that excrement wherein so much pride is taken, the better to make themselves ashamed, and contemptible before men, that so their thoughts and hearts might be answerable, and they ashamed of themselves in the sight of God: So Ezra, 9.3. ( When the people had sinned in mingling themselves with heathen) I rent my garment and mantle, and plucked off the hair off my head, and beard, and sate down astonished. So Job 1.20. having lost all that ever he had, rent his mantle and shaved his head, and fel down upon the ground, and this they used( not as the Popish Priests now adays for distinction of their Orders, and intimation of some strange mysteries I know not what) but an high expression of their humiliation to make themselves ashamed for the evil either they had done, or did befall them.  
And however it was unlawful to do it for the dead,( as Jer. 16.6.) because there was no hopes( as one says) yet in public calamities, where there was hopes of better upon their humiliation, they were commanded this as an high expression of it,( as Mica. 1.16.) Make thee bald and pole thee, for thy delicate children: enlarge thy baldness, as the eagle for they are gon into captivity from thee.  
This is the first, and for Sack-cloth, nothing more frequently mentioned in Scripture. David,( Psal. 35.13) When they were sick I put on sack-cloth. Jonah 3.6. the King of Nineveh put on Sack-cloth. easter 4.1. Mordicai put on sack-cloth. 1 King 21.27. Ahab put on Sack-cloth. Thereby to imitate likewise their dejection and humiliation, counting the roughest garment too good to cover that body that had been the instrument of so much sin and deserved such a judgement. So then take all together, and they make up a full and ample Expression of a general humiliation. For the eyes heres Weeping, for the heart heres Mourning, for the head heres Baldness, and for the loins and whole body heres Sack-cloth, intimating thereby that Humiliation must be universal, over all the parts: not the eyes weep and heart laugh, or the heart sob, and the head device mischief, the head bare, and nearest of the body covered with pride& vanity but it must be in all.  
And, yet this is not all; as the Prophet Isaiah saith( 58.5.) Is it to bow his head as a bulrush, to spread sack-cloth and ashes under him, wilt thou call this a fast, or an acceptable day unto the Lord?  
Nothing less Signa quidom sola non sufficiunt( saith Calvin) 
Signa quidem sola non suffi●… nt, nam conversio à cord miliam habet, non quod signa ●epudiare velit; 〈◇〉 non sufficere, nec Deo per se grata esse estendebat. Calvin. in loc.  outward shows will not serve the turn, and again, Poenitentia non insacco aut cilicio, &c. 
Non ergo paenitentia in sacco aut cilicio, aut alla re externa said in animo consistit. Quos v. rèpaenitet, ij displ cent sibi, peccatum ode●unt,& tam acri doloris sensu punguntur, at seipsos& anteactam vitam exhorreant Calvin. ibid.  Repentance does not consist in sackcloth, or such like outward things, but inwardly in the soul, They who truly repent( saith he) are displeased with themselves, and their former evil ways-Sed cum hoc fieri non potest, &c, 
said cum hoc fieri non potest, quin simul in confessionem erumpant coram hominibus, ideo Vates signa exteriora nominat, quibus conversionem nostram testamur, &c. Idem& ibid.  yet since this cannot be done, without some expressions likewise before men, therefore the Prophet names those outward signs only, whereby we testify our humiliation unto others, these being Symbola& effectus poenitentiae non ver a paenitentia, signs and effects of repentance, not repentance itself?  
So that in a word hereby is meant the whole duty of repentance, expressed only by these outward signs, not as if therein it did consist, but as whereby it most manifests and declares itself unto others; 
Significat ipsos ad paenitentiam vocatos esse ut coram Deo seize deijcerent,& paenitentiae signa praeberent coram hominibus. Idem.  for howsoever its true, there may be these, and yet no true repentance within( an Hypocrite being able to go as far in outwards as any righteous whatsoever yet whensoever their is true: Repentance within, it will show itself in these at one time or other.  
And God rather pitches upon these for mens sake, that they may be Witnesses of this repentance and humiliation. For if there be no expressions without, 'tis true that man may have a good heart within, I'am not to condemn him, but I have just cause to suspect him, On the contrary, if I see another that does express a great deal of sorrow by tears and mourning, &c. 'tis possible that mans heart, may be nought, but I must take heed how I judge it to beso, I not being able to look into the heart, but only to judge by outward signs.— And for his inwards, I must leave him to another, even to his own judge, to whom he must stand or fall.  
This may be sufficient for explication, Time will not give me leave to enlarge myself, I'll only name two particulars( which might be insisted on) and so draw towards a conclusion.  
1 Hereby it appears, that upon a sad and serious occasion, It is lawful to express the dejection of our souls by outward expressions of our body, as Weeping and Mourning, &c.  
But always with this caution, that this be not all, or that we do not content and please ourselves, with outwards only, 
Non loquitur Vates de hypocritico Calvitio& amictu sacci( quibus& reprobi absque paeniten tia non inter Judaeos tantum, said, inter Christianos etiam in speciem uti solent) said de veris verae rescipiscentiae indiciis, quapropter& fletum& lamentum praemisit, testem veri doloris& paenitudinis non fictae. Musculus in loc.  if so hear, what the Prophet Isay saith,( 1-11, 12, 13, 14.) To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of Rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs or of hee-goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hands, to tread my Courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations, incense is an abomination unto me, the new-moones and Sabboths, the calling of Assemblies, I cannot away with, even the solemn meeting. 14 your newmoones and your appointed feasts my soul hateth, they are a trouble unto me, I am weary to bear them, &c.  
Strange! most of these were such things as God himself had commanded, and yet because they contented themselves,( as the Papists now, in opere operato) in the dead done, in the outward performance, and their lives were not answerable( as follows afterward) therefore doth God say, his soul hateth them.  
So with us, to what purpose is it to fast? if not from sin; to weep? if not unto repentance; to mourn? if not unto amendment; to have the head bare, and not the heart? to have sack-cloth without, and pride within? this is but a mocking of God. but where outward and inward go together that is well pleasing to him.  
2 Observe here what it is that God expects upon dayes of public humiliation. 
Hinc collige qui l fit of ficii nostri, quum Irae Dei signa nobis apparent, nempe profitendam esse paenitentiam nostram, non tantum coram Deo, said etiam coram hominibustritus quidem indifferentes sunt, nec iubemur saccum endure, aut evell●re capillum: said veritas horum signorum serio atque ex animo capescenda est. Calvin. in loc. ( I have spoken of it before) to wit, an high expression of humiliation, Weeping, Mourning Baldness, girding with Sack-cloth, what, all outward? no, but strained from within when serrow of heart shall squeeze tears out of the eyes 
Est enim piis affectibus quaedam flendi voluntas& plerumque graves lachrim is evaperat dolor. Ambros. de Obitu Valentini.  sadness of soul for sin, cause sadness and mourning without; when bareing of the conscience before God shall cause, bareing of the head and shane before men; when rough sack-cloth of repentance in the heart shall express itself by Sack-cloth upon the loins, and mourning weeds without. This being certain, That no outward expression, Weeping, Mourning, or the like, is acceptable of itself, 
Non quod Propheta signa repudiari velit, said ea non sufficere, nec Deo pierce grata esse osteadebat. Calvin. in loc.  but either as it shows 
Ita quatenus incitamenta, sunt causae paenitentiae, quatenus vero testimonia effectus dici possuntmam quae gerimus nostri reatus irsignia, nos magis commovent, ut nos peccatores& reos agnoscamus: sunt autem effectus, quia nisi antecederet paenitentia nunquam ad ea ex animo suscipienda impelleremur. Calvin.  whats within, or else fits for it.  
If you demand now why God looks for such serious expressions, &c. I could answer in three several particulars. I will onely name them.  
1 That we might be humbled, Hisce externis signis, quasi stimulis ad detestationem peccati 
Oculi augent dolorem. Cicero Epist. sam.  incitamur, we are spurred up by those outward expressions to the detestation of sin, and ad Calvitium, 
Ad calvitium, ut omnia operamortis radant,& auferant de corpore suo. Hieron. in loc.  &c.( saith Saint Hierom) we are called unto baldness, to stir us up to shave off all the pride and exuberant naughtiness of our hearts and be humbled. God ever expecting at our hands, that outward and inward should be suitable.  
2 That thus we being humbled, God might be pacified, what? with these outward signs?( as the Papists fond imagine) no, by no means, take heed of thinking so: no, nor yet with thy humiliation of itself, not with any of these( I say) as Causes, yet not without them as Duties and Concomitants. We red often that God hath been pacified when he found a soul humbled, but we never red that he was so without any humbling at all,  
3 That( God being thus pacified) man might be saved, that is the chief end of all Gods Calls, for the good and salvation of his poor creatures; humbling our souls, pacifying his wrath, &c. all end in this, that God may be glorified, and man might be saved.  
I shall wind up all with a twofold Application.  
1 If it be so, that upon these serious grounds God looks for an entire humiliation, both outward and inward, what shall we think of such( I mentioned before) as will perform neither? They not forbear a meales meat 
Malae dominae servitur gulae quae semper expetit nunquam expletur, &c. Ambros. de leiun.  not a sigh, not a tear not a groan comes from them: The King of Nineveh laid aside his robes, and covered himself with Sack-cloth and sat in ashes. something alike proportionable( sure) though not the same, might justly be expected from Christians now. But to do the quiter contrary, to brave it in apparel, and appear glorious upon such dayes as these: for men and women to sit here before the Lord, upon these mourning occasions, in gorgeous colours, begarded with Silver and gold, with broyded hair, naked brcasts, patched and painted faces, &c. is abominable to God and all good men, And I wonder such can hold from shane and blushing, thus to mock God, as when he calls for sack-cloth and mourning, they are in all their jollity, in all their bravery.  
O consider( my beloved) what you come hither for, is it not for yourselves? for your lives? for your souls? for your friends? nay, for the safety of three Kingdoms? And is this a posture or habit fit for suitors? would any coming into the Church take you for Beggars, that looks upon your gorgeous attire and gallantry? and yet beggars you must be 
Semetipsum abuegat qui mutatus in mell: ora, incipit esse quod non erat,& desinit esse quod erat. Greg. in Ezek. Tanto quisque debetesse bumilior, atque ad servien. dum promptior ex munere, quante in se obligationem conspicit in reddend● ratione. Idem.  if ever you look to have an alms of mercy at the hands of the Almighty.  
O let my soul stand in a begging posture before the Throne of grace and my outward ceportment be answerable thereunto, so shall I hope for a good alms, a good return of all my prayers and tears. It being ever the custom of the great God, to exalt the humble and meek, and the rich and lofty to sand empty away.  
But now secondly( for a conclusion of this long exercise) Let my words( in the last place) be seasonable to you all, to persuade you to this duty of Weeping and mourning upon this proper day, and when God himself calls for it.  
O think! doth God in these sad times call me to Weeping, and shall I laugh and be merry? to Mourning, shall I rejoice? to baldness, and I put on mine Ornaments? doth he call for Sackcloth, and I pride myself in gorgeous attire? 
Non est conveniens Luctibus iste colour.   
I do not say, but there may be a proud heart under a mean habit, and contrary, an humble soul under a rich garment, but be thy heart what it will be, when God calls for the whole man, outward and inward, deny it not: still remembering this Caution, to take heed of resting in any outwards whatsoever, and what outward expressions soever thou makest, that thou have a care they be like water coming out of a Spring or fountain, not gliding of a rock,( that is) from an inward principle of grace within, not an outward conformity onely, and compliance without, from a sad heart grieved for sin; from a troubled soul for offending God; from an inward hatred of every evil way; and a resolute purpose( by the grace of God) to live better; then weep with David( and spare not) till thou canst weep no longer. And let me add one thing more.  
Let it come from a deep affection and apprehension of thy Countreys miseries and thy sins in particular, which have been the causes of it.  
Give me leave ( Honour able and beloved) in the close of all, to leave a Sad meditation upon your thoughts, I say, again and again, Your sins that have been the causes of it.  
Deny it who can your sins, my sins, all our sins have been the Shedders of that blood has been spilled, have been the procurers of those woes and miseries that are upon us.  
There is not a man or woman here present, no nor throughout out the whole Land, but they have helped to make the breach wider, to make the wound deeper, they have helped to blow the flamme higher, Nay, they have brought their Faggot, to set poor England all on fire.  
I beseech you now use all means possible to quench it, you ( Right honourable, the great Senators of the Land) with your advice and council, and the utmost of your endeavours, now that God puts the ensuing opportunity of a TREATY into your hands  

ANd now give me leave( honourable and beloved) to address myself to you, whom God has honoured with such a blessed Opportunity, as neither you nor your fore-fathers ever had before, to save the life of three kingdoms at once. Wee all look upon you, as those who are designed to be our temporal Saviours our temporal Redeemers, as those who are to be the great Umpiers to take up the great and sad Controversies of the Land upon your shoulders, An heavy burden indeed, and too heavy for you to bear alone, yet be not discouraged, There's One on whose Errand you go, and I hope will go-along with you, that has promised to carry the greatest part, nay bidden you cast all upon him( Psal. 55.22.) Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee- It cannot but be a singular comfort unto you, that you have such an one to bear with you, and to ease you-Yet let me tell you, you must bear your share, you must do the utmost of your endeavours, and we beseech you do it faithfully and thoroughly( as we are confident you will) for the recovery and salvation of this bleeding, gasping, dying kingdom.  
Far be it from me ( Honour able and beloved) to take upon me( before you go about this Treaty) to be so presumptuous, as to prescribe rules or give directions to you, whose( both) wisdoms and Fidelities, we bless God for: I never had so good a conceit of myself or so bad of you, as to dare such a thing. Nor did I ever love movere extra Sphaeram, to meddle with State matters, or things above my reach, farther then so, as to pray for, and wish well unto them. Yet give me leave I beseech you, as a Divine, in the compass of my calling, within the bounds of my Text within the verge of the very point I have in hand, and upon occasion of your meeting so suddenly as to morrow, to speak three words in your ears.  
1 Labour I beseech you to carry public spirits with you: by essed with no sinister ends, nor by-respects, no private aims whatsoever, but all public for the good of the Land, 
Omnia quae à nobis veruntur, non ad nostram solutem confer d●bemus. Cicero in 4 Cat l. Nullus est casus pro dignitete& libertate patriae non ferendus. Idem.  for the glory of God, &c. that though some things should not so well suit with your own private either opinions or interest, yet, modo Deo,& Reip: &c, so it may tend to Gods glory, and the poor bleeding kingdoms good, let those oversway all private ends whatsoever, and so may you look for Gods blessing upon you.  
2 keep God always in your Eye, carry God out with you, and whatsoever the issue of this Treaty be, bring God home with you: in all your debates let God go before you, begin with God, go on with God, and end with God: 
{αβγδ}. Hom. in {αβγδ} Iliad. {αβγδ}. Hom. in {αβγδ} Odys.  still keep him in your sight, in every passage of your treating. So If you keep close to God, you need not fear, but God will keeps close to you, but if you forsake him he likewise will forsake you 
Chron. 15.2. .  
3 Take deeply into your thoughts the present sad condition of this wefull kingdom as now it stands, the present condition I say( not as it was) but as now it is( as Pharoahs servants said to him) 
Exod. 10.7.  almost quiter destroyed already, and apply your remedies accordingly, that so, though you do not do so much as you would, yet you may what you can, to save from utter ruin and destruction.  
A physician that comes to a patient desperately ill of a burning fever or the like, doth not go about, or think to make him well presently and as strong and healthy as before: All he aims at in the first place is how to save his life, and abate the malignancy of his disease, then, after by degrees, by the help of good medicines and diet sets him up right again.  
God hath made you ( Right Honor able and beloved) our Phisitians, you have as sick a patient fallen into your hands as ever any had, a poor kingdom, all in a desperate malignant burning fever: we can never look or expect, that at this Treaty you should make your patient sound, and in perfect health out of hand:( no God knows it's gone too far to hope for that) all that we desire for the present is, for Gods sake to save the Life of the kingdom, and we will not doubt but afterward by your good physic and diet, it may recover in time, and grow strong again.  
Mistake me not I beseech you, far be it from me to speak the least word for a daubed, palliated, unsettled peace( with some, let Religion or Laws sink or swim, so wee may have peace upon any terms) no, God forbid, Truth and Peace must go together: and this is a rule may satisfy any sober man, That there can be no good peace with men, where there is no peace with God. But this is that I say, though you cannot fully cure your patient, or do so much at first as you desire, yet aim at this in the first place, we humbly pray you, to save the life of a bleeding kingdom, the life of Religion, the life of Laws, the life of Liberties, &c. save but the life at first, that it perish not, and we will not fear of its recovery by degrees and growing healthier in time then before.  
And let me add one thing more, endeavour it the rather I beseech you, because you do not know whether ever you may have the like opportunity any more: In all human probability, this is one of the last gentle, healing medicines, that ever this Land is like to have: purged( though, I am afraid, not from its iniquities) and blooded it hath been oft before. How many ounces shall I say, or pounds? nay how many floods, how many rivers nay, seas of blood hath poor England lost within these five years?( it is now grown faint, very faint( God knows) a good cordial, an happy Accommodation, were the likeliest physic in the world, to set it right again.  
If this Treaty do no good( I will never question the power of an Almighty God, nor the care of so wise and vigilant a Senate as you are.) But mean-while my soul trembles within me, to think, what in all likely hood will be next: Nothing but bleeding, and bleeding again, till at last I am afraid poor England will quiter bleed to death, unless your wisdoms( which next under God we rely upon) find some happy means out how to prevent it; And God upon your seasonable endeavours, be pleased to show himself in the mount, In acie Novaculae, and make our extremity his opportunity of showing mercy to a declining kingdom.  
O for Christ his sake therefore put to your helping hands( as we doubt it not) to save a poor kingdom, nay,( as I said before) three kingdoms at once: all those men whose lives will be spared by an happy peace will all bless you: all those wives that otherwise will lose these husbands, will all pray for you: all the poor children that( if these wars continue) will lose their parents, and aged parents that will lose their children, will all with one mouth praise God for you: nay we shall all desire God to reward you: do your endeavours therefore we beseech you, and the Lord give a blessing to you.  
And let me tell you one thing more ( Right honourable) to your comfort. You go upon as much Advantage to this business as ever Treators went: Advantages, you will say? quiter contrary: the wound festered, the disease grown desperate, oppositions infinite, distances irreconcilable, are these Advantages? Still I say you go upon as great advantages as ever Treators went, why? You go upon the Wings of so many thousand prayers, you go down upon the full tide of so many millions of tears, you go with the full gail of somany heavenly wishes and ejaculations up to God for you: Here is your advantage.  
Go on therefore in Gods name and prosper, While you treat we will pray; while you debate we will weep; while you demand we will beg; while you parley, we will knock; and cry at heaven gates for a blessing on you, even so Amen.  
The Lord prospar the works of your hands, unto you, the Lord prosper your handy work, the blessing of the God of peace be upon your endeavours, that you may bring an happy peace home with you. And to this, let all those that wish well to this our Sion, lift up their voice and say, Amen.  
And then for all you that stay behind, let me speak one word to you too, that every one help forward to quench these flames. You that are able help with your purses, with your strength, with your abilities, with your friends, and what ever may conduce thereunto: All you that hear me, and every one else with your prayers and with your tears.  
There are but three ways usually to quench an house on fire and preserve it.( 1) By crying out for help,( 2) By fetting up Ladders and etting about it.( 3) or by pouring on water to dead and quench it.  
Use these means I beseech you, to stay a Kingdoms flames. Ah my beloved it s too to manifest that poor England is all on fire,( 1) help, help for the Lords sake, every man help as for his life to quench those flames.( 2) If thou beest not tall enough, mount up the ladder of thy prayers and tears, or climb up upon the ladder of Christs across, by a true and lively faith above it.( 3) And then lastly poure, poure on whole buckets of tears, call to thy kindred, thy friends and all to poure on theirs. However, forget not to cry mightily to Christ thy Saviour and Redeemer to poure on his blood. One drop of thy precious blood( blessed Saviour to make an atonement for this poor Land and Nation) will do it, even so Amen, sweet Jesu Amen.  
However( to conclude with my Text) since God Calls, slacken not thy duty too: perhaps thy tears may help to quench those flames thy sins have made, 
Vtinam quis daret Capiti meo aquas,& oculis meis fontem lachrymarum, fortê enim non reperiret ignis exurens, quod interim fluens lachryma diluisset. Bern.  thy sighs and mourning may help to recall the dying groans of many thousands, thy baldness coverothers heads in the day of battle, thy Sackcloth help to cloath thee, and this Land with a blessing.  
( weep therefore) and mourn, and spare not, but to true and unfeigned repentance( be sure of that) then God himself has promised, he will put all such tears into his bottle.  
Ile hold you no longer. Me thinks with Joseph I see your Hearts full yea and some of your eyes too, 
Gen. 43.30. & defirous to go vent yourselves in a corner, go in Gods name, I'll not detain you. And God in his good time, wipe all tears away from your eyes.  
FINIS.    

Die Mercurii Jan. 29. 1644.  
ORdered that Sir Thomas Dacres and Master Whittacre do from this house give thanks to Doctor Whincop, and Master Walker, for the great pains they took in the Sermons they preached this day, at the entreaty of this House, at St. Margarets Westminster,( it being the day of public humiliation) and to desire them to print their Sermons, and they are to have the like privilege in printing of them, as others in the like kind usually have had.  
H. elsing, clear. Parl. D. come.  
I appoint Samuel Man to print my Sermon.  
John Whincop.