ENGLAND'S Imminent Danger, AND ONLY REMEDY Faithfully Considered and Represented By an Impartial Hand. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord hath spoken, who can but prophesy? Amos 3. 8. LONDON, Printed for Thomas Dring at the Sign of the White lion next Chancery Lane in Fleet-street. 1671. Reader THe very reading profane books is an unhappiness, but a second perusal, guilt and Approbation: The number of good ones should not discourage, but provoke our writing; He that puts out such, spreadeth nets of Salvation, and adorns the world with none of the worst Furniture. But, time goeth, we turn over leaves, and find ourselves no less ignorant, no more advantaged: reading many books hinders the digestion of one, a due search into the only excellent, and other duties absolutely necessary: which occasioned the composers reducing these memorials into so narrow a compass, as may be reviewed in fewer houres than was laid ou● in gleaning them, that more may be spent in doing, and less in knowing what is required in such a day as this. Eternity pulls us by the sleeve, bids us look at the gliding of every sand in the hourglass of our lives, upbraids us with misspending the former part in vain, fruitless studies, and calls on us to redeem them by some labours for the good of ourselves and others: Thus we wrest the sithe out of the hand of death, and pull the wings from his heels. The public weal not only warrants but exacts the most universal importunate endeavours, suffers none to live in the world, only to fill up the number and tale of it. If the Church of God lye in distress( saith a reverend Bishop) and we stretch ourselves on beds of Ivory; If she mourn in sackcloth, and we riot in soft raiment; If the wild Boar in the forest break in upon her, and we sand not our prayers to drive him away; If there be cleanness of teeth in the poor, and our teeth grinned them still; If their bowels be empty of food, and ours still empty of compassion; If the wrath of God be inflamed against his people, and our zeal remain still as frozen, our charity as could, our affections as benumbed, our compassions as stupefied as ever; If Sion lye in the dust, and we hang not up our harps, nor pray for her peace, we are unnatural members and can expect nothing but the curse of Meroz, Judge. 5. 23 who went not out to help the Lord. How needful Epitomes are, is sufficiently evident, if we consider, the shortness of our time, the variety of our duties, the multiplicity of our affairs, the weakness of our memories, the numerousness, the voluminousness of books, and the fastidiousness that is begot in us by reading them. He that judges Epitomes, condemns himself, the Epitome of the world. God having the first day diffused the light, through the whole hemisphere, contracted it the fourth, within the body of the Sun, and the microcosm into man. He hath Epitomized all practical Divinity into ten heads, our Saviour those ten into two, and those two into one; and all that we can pray for, or against into six. If( as is supposed) Aristotle stolen that which he had from the most excellent of those that went before him, and Virgil drew all his richest inventions from Homer, Hesiod, Theocritus; and Cicero boldly furnished himself with the doctrine of the stoics, academics Epicures; If Zachariah commit to writing that which Jeremiah had preached, and Obadiah what he had penned before; If Saint Mark abb reviate the other Evangelists; and St. judas, St. Peter,& the New Testament, have many things out of the old, if in our nice inquistivestive age much is transcribed out of former ones: If so many have wished for, and others expected a collection from our modern authors, and some endeavoured it; If the spiders web spun out of her own bowels, be not more esteemed than the honey-comb gathered from divers flowers: The Publisher may dread no severe sentence on the ensuing extract for borrowing the materials where he found them fitting, but his unskilfulness in composing it at first to accommodate a private closet, so being designed but for one( and the lighter passages inserted to make it take with those, that serious matters only would beat away) 'tis not expected some of it should please all, nor all of it, any, yet may recompense their pains, who resolve not to trifle away some of their odd hours but of their most retired thoughts and severest meditations in perusing it; and will be but so honest to themselves and charitable to the scribe, as to take every thing in a sense will most profit them. It despises not Dominions, nor speaks evil of Dignities; stands for no party but that where none should be neuters, every one engaged. Complaints are more frequent, more easy than redresses: the making it public calls for many apologies, but its usefulness to those that otherwise might not meet with, or understand what is writ this way, that want money to purchase, or opportunity to red many books, the too great seasonableness and concernment of it, shall stand for all. While so many enjoy the deserved praise of the first invention of things, it shall suffice me( who am not worthy to wash the feet of the meanest of my Lord's servants) if I but be a remembrancer of what hath been formerly met with; without claiming any considerable part of it, or of this epistle as my own but the erratas( the printers excepted) which also, the equal and prudent reader will be easily able to rectify or excuse; and find much to benefit, but nothing that may justly offend any, except those for whose use the publishing hereof was never intended. And if it should but move them also to do it better, I shall think for this, if for nothing else, the tackingtogether( at houres that might have been otherwise lost, or worse spent, or justly given to sleep( tis an honest injury to nature to steal from her some hours of repose) what they may not deem worthy to red) was not to no purpose. So it afford any advantage to an honest mind, or my native Country, I shall cheerfully undergo the scorn of the curious and censorious; aspiring to no more height than the comfort of a good conscience, doing good to some, harm to none. My grief is( with an ingenious author) that the event will prove it impertinent, there being not much hope, that a private whisper should be heard by those, who are deaf not only to those who lift up their voice like a trumpet, but to the loudest calls of heaven; and have made no other use of the various and signal providences we have been under, then to defeat the design of them. But it is an hour wherein Religion seems near a Miscarriage, and it is enough for me that I have appeared thus far for it, in a day of necessity. My willingness, though unable, to contribute any thing( though never so mean) for rescuing it, claims your favourable construction of my pains; That you pass by, small Faults, and pardon great ones; the consciousness of my own, makes me remain Incognito. The general Heads. ENgland called upon, by the difference between virtue and 'vice 1 By the creatures 9 By the scriptures 15 By our civil wars 24 By our peaceable settlement 33 By our foreign wars 36 By the dreadful pestilence 39 By the dismal fire of London 43 And in our Harbour 49 By prodigies and poverty 52 By the parable of a vineyard 58 Our unanswerable demeanour under each of them   signs of the last judgement and of England's ruin 93 To prevent the last( if the decree be not past) 128 The Nobles, the Magistrates 140 The ministers 156 The masters 159 The profane 161 Are called upon, more especially true Christians 163 To eminency in piety and peaceableness 164 An example of it 184 To regard God's displeasure 197 To spend their main censures upon themselves 205 To purity of heart 209 To an humble dress 213 To temperance and sobriety 216 To a sense of sin and judgement 221 One-ness of heart and endeavour 226 Mourning and weeping 233 Fasting and prayer 244 Its prevalency 257 The great advantage good men are to a nation 266 How unworthily requited 276 Their private devotion exemplifi'd in Their Solemn humiliation for the sins of the nation 281 Particularly, those of our Nobles 283 Magistrates, Ministers 284 Hearers 285 Families 286 Lawyers, tradesman 287 Professors 288 Unfruitfulness 289 Sabbath-breaking 291 Covetousness 291 Pride, idleness 292 Surfeiting and drunkenness, uncleanness 293 Swearing 294 profaneness and blasphemies, blood 295 Insensibleness and impenitency under judgments 296 Their earnest pleading with God, by Arguments drawn, from what we have undergone already 298 From our posterity 301 From the multitude and malice of our enemies 302 From former mercies 304 We are his people 306 For the sake of religion 309 From their wonted prevalency 310 From our own weakness 312 From his own bowels, and good pleasure under which also is comprised the matter of prayer. 316 ERRATA. page.. 6. line. 30. red, slain of. p. 21. l. 22. r. decry. p. 26. l. 28. r. furies. p. 40. l. 1. r. above. l. 8. r. some streets p. 43. l. 26. r. Accended. p. 45. l. 6. r. shane. p. 53. l. 2. r. direful. l. 28. r. vie. p. 56. l. 13. r. rob. p. 63. l. 18. r. the. p. 76. l. 18. r. name. p. 81. l. 13. r. and. p. 82. l. 14. r. it. p. 83. l. 32. r. fat overflow's. p. 105. l. 28. r. nice. p. 112. l. 2. r. silly. p. 117. l. 32. r. his. p. 120. l. 4. r. he. p. 143. l. 7. r. wild. p. 156. l. 22. r. wrangling. p. 158. l. 4. r. ill. p. 166. l. 1. r. avowed. l. 16. r. were. p. 176. l. 30. r. worse. p. 184. l. 4. r. times. p. 202. l. 30. r. to bring. p. 204. l. 19. r. upon. p. 210. l. 17. r. but. p. 213. l. 7. blot out, the. p. 214. l. 24. r. only. p. 219. l. 24. r. to be. p. 223. l. 3. r. enough. l. 9. r. sins. p. 224. l. 22. r. we declare. p. 227. l. 10. r. virtues. p. 234. l. 4. r. ingredients. l. 25. r. enemies. p. 240. l. 4. r. chimney. p. 245. l. 24. r. his. p. 246. l. 1. r. mutual. p. 250. l. 10. r. strength. p. 253. l. 7. r. pleasure. l. 33. r. awke. p. 254. 1. l. r. shriek. l. 13. r bowels. p. 255. l. 6. r. this. p. 256. l. ●1. r. sixscore thousand. p. 258. l. 23. r. subject. p. 259. l. 13. r. press. p. 263. l. 22. after( i) r. can no more be expressed, then what they have that keep Gods precepts, Ps. 119. 56. p. 264. l. 33. r. and. p. 266. l. 27. r. judgement is. l. 30. r. see. p. 267. l. 28. r. and. p. 268. l. 1. r. will. l. 30. r. a pernicious creature, and dangerous, a public evil to the place he lives in. p. 271. l. 7. r. the lord of hosts. p. 275. l. 8. blot out, that. l. 16. r. low. p. 276. l. 13. r. administrations. p. 278. l. 25. r. his. p. 288. l. 14. r. detraction. p. 294. l. 14. r. blessings. p. 316. l. 25. r. cry. Advertisement of a Book. The devout communicant Exemplified on his behaviour before, at and after the Sacrament-large, and more practical then any yet extant sold by Tho. Dring in Fleet-street. ENGLANDS Imminent Danger, And onely REMEDY. England called upon. GOD at sundry times hath called England called upon, by the difference between Virtue and 'vice. upon us in Divers manners. His Love and Hatred, an Intellectual eye sees impressed on the native Beauty and loathsome deformity, of good and Evil. Integrity hath such a fairness, lustre, and magnetick power, as by its own worth allures, and wins upon us, out of mere love, to close with such an Amiable object. Among the worst is a kind of natural Awe and Reverence towards Good men; their intrinsic glory darts such rays of outward splendour and Magnificence, as makes them rather envied than hated, feared than disrespected: None neglect, or despise a good name, but he who either despairs of, or resolves against doing any thing that may deserve it; therefore would by his obliquities deprive goodness and virtue of all just Honour, and famed in the world. An unjust Judge, if disinterested in the cause, will give a Righteous judgement, he loves a Bribe, but not injustice. Such who care not to blot their names out of the Book of life, would fain writ them in the Chronicles of famed; and had rather their very graves be butted than their good works. The profane affect to be esteemed Virtuous, but excuse or lay their faults rather on God, Satan, others, their natural Constitution than their own wills; and like Irregular Patients blame their Physician for those ill accidents they know owing only to their own unruliness. Sin hath many Servants but few Patrons; tis in itself so shamefully disgraceful, that such as lodge it in their hearts, would seem to throw it out of their doors, and lay it at any mans rather than their own; nor ever own it except under some other name; to play the Devil they personate a Saint, pursue vengeance under pretence of justice, murder, but 'tis for their oath sake, Mat. 14. and that they may kill Christ, worship him. Mat. 2. 8. Satan would have many wears unsaleable, did not his Broker profit pander, which puts virtues visage on Vices race; casts a Samuel's mantle, over the Devil's shoulders; Christens Covetousness goodhusbandry; Fraud Ingenuity; cozenage Industry; Rebaptizes oppression Equity; and so the Soul embraces those Vices( which naked would be skared at) when found clothed in the Silver vestment of profit. God hath stamped in the cruelest hearts a Reverend respect to his own Image in his people, as at first an awe of man in the fiercest creatures; so as they that hate, do yet honour them. Religion is so excellent, that such who out of passion, or interest condemn, their Reason absolve and give it letters of Recommendation: Their hearts Reverence it, while they lift up their hands to suppress it; they assist oppressed virtue in its appeal, in the Court of Equity, Conscience, where its plea is heard, and righteous sentence reversed; while the Criminal is self accused, when none beside control, many flatter and commend; They inwardly assent to the Justice and Authority of those Divine Rules, which their words and actions most oppugn. There is an early and immediate verdict passed in its behalf, in the esteem and liking, creating an Assent and Veneration, not only when obeied, but from professed despisers, who cannot choose but think well of that virtue they desert, and the necessity of their affairs compel them to speak ill of. The Judge who g●ve sentence against our Saviour, at the same moment washed his hands, and openly professed he found no fault in him. Were our eyes open we should see charms enough in virtue, to procure itself a door without the help of other external Inducements; A Beauty sparkling within its own bosom, rendering it enamoring without the assistance of those foreign aids, that so numerously surround it; and 'tis not only in itself Illustrious, but gilds those that are clothed with it, 1 Pet. 5. 5 with its reflexive b●ames it shines through the coursest sackcloth, and Enamels the garments with so much glory, as adorns all that wear them with a remarkable Beauty and splendour. Did women know how much virtue inhances Beauty, they would be virtuous, that they might be beautiful; and without corrupting nature by paint, would use no other read, but that of modesty; no other white but that of Innocence; no other majesty but that of prudence; no other sweet but that of meekness; no other pomp, but that of humility; for in this clothing, they shine with greater lustre, than in all the well wrought spoils of Silkworms. The very Heathens distinguishing between Imaginary and Real Misery, so preferred suffering before doing Injustice, that they affirmed Injustice the worst kind of suffering; and that nothing hurts a man so much as the doing harm; for when one Injures another, the greatest mischief redounds to him who descends to the meanness of doing such things, as deprive him of the privilege of being( a helpful creature) like unto his Maker; and renders him so much worse than the worst of beasts( whose nature and property it is to persecute and devour their fellow creatures) as he hath means allowed him of being better. Who among them though never so wicked themselves seriously commended another for his rudeness and debaucheries? Or reckoned his Lusts among the Titles of his Honour? who ever raised Trophies to his vices? Or thought to perpetuate his memory by the glory of them? Who ever suffered in his Reputation, by being thought to be Really good? Or where was Sobriety, Justice, Charity, thought the marks of Reproach and Infamy? They accounted it a mans glory to be Vertu●us, and to be vicious base and mean; to be betrayed into sin, weakness; to contrive it, sordid; to defend it, infamy; to make a mock at it, a mark of the highest folly and Incorrigibleness, and the bare suspicion of 'vice in a person, was diminution to an esteem that might otherwise have been great in the world. We decline virtue only because 'tis difficult, the companion of all excellent things; and without which not worthy a recompense. In the service of impetuous lusts is to be undergone far greater pains; the Trouble of being sober, is far less than that of being debauched and intemperate. The pleasures ●f sin must needs offend through the opposite endeavours of Flesh& Spirit,& the bitter remembrance that they must end▪ and yield no more than the Picture of Contentment to that in doing which leads to the right hand of God, where are pleasures for ever more. 'vice is the green sickness of the Soul, which makes her nauseate all substantial food, and long for nought but Trash; she therefore swallows down sensual pleasures with such a delightful gust and Ho-goo, while all rational Spiritual delights leave their bitter farewell behind; let drop a pious discourse to such, and you make music unto deaf Adders; do but fling out the Bait of an obscene story, and you angle their Souls into their ears: They find more pleasure in a Laseivious Poem; than in the psalms of David; the delights of a Jovial Club, more Eligible than those of a Holy Communion; the reason is, their Appetite is woefully depraved, the stomach so surfeited with sensuality that it turns against and instantly vomits up all substantial nourishment; but were it purged from the viciousness wherewith 'tis cloyed and over-loaded, she would loathe the Quails, as much as she doth now the Manna; and in the room of her sensual Bou●imy, where-with sh●'s possessed, would immediately succeed a Sa●red hunger, making her twine greedily about every precept, watch at every opportunity, suck sweetness out of every duty, extract the very spirits and quintessence of every Ordinance. Short fighted Souls look no farther than their senses, grope after Happiness in the Allurements of the flesh, think no Heaven to brave apparel, or Paradise to that of their mistris's embraces; will buy revenge at so dear a rate as the price of Blood, and the damnation of their Souls with the Hazard of their lives and fortunes; they think the of slain Blood is wiped off when their Sword is sheathed, and the noise of murd●r full'd so soon as they have struck down their enemy: But he tortures himself that sins unpunished; And did they experience the uninterrupted delights that arise from the Conscience of well doing, They'd find good men do not serve God for nought; but that it is worth their while setting aside another life, merely to prevent a Hell in this; And that themselves lose the substance by catching at the shadow; seek for peace in wars and fightings, take much pains to gather Grapes from Thorns, and Figs from Thistles; such pleasure from 'vice as only gr●w from virtue. Where Grace hath not put a restraint on the Appetite, stolen waters may be sweet, but not pleasant: A man is Happy or miserable, according to his mind: Poverty with contentment is no great affliction; Riches with greedy desires, with continual cares are a plague and torment; the frolics of voluptuous men that seem to pass away their daies in Mirth and Jollity, are but like the pleasures of a Robber on the Highway, accompanied with fear and constant failing of his heart. We see their great estates, their delicious feasts, their full cups and merry countenances, but not the little Truce they have with misery; what envy, hatred, from their neighbors; what inward Recoylings, Trepidations, and convulsions; what severe smarts, and Cruel lashings; what gnawing gripes in secret; what sad nights after their merry dayes: Their joys which make their neighbors envious, are but as the Tormenting ston, or Gout, stately accommodated, or laid on a Purple bed; those plagues and torments, which we call peace and happiness. O the melancholy intervals they must needs suffer, who are fain to stretch themselves on Couches, to invent to themselves Instruments of music, to drink Wine in Boles, to study for new methods of losing time, that by these Amusements they may put far off the evil day, and be as unmindful of their own, as of the afflictions of Joseph: Am. 6. 1. &c. The morning to them, is as the shadow of death, if one know them they are in the terrors of the shadow of death: Job. 24. 17. conscience they dare not permit to speak, left it should say more than they are willing to hear: It suffers the violence of a prisoner, while it should sustain the place of a Judge; yet while dancing round hand in hand, guilt like the Devil stands in the midst of the circled, and with its flaming eyes often stars them into horror, and looks them into trembling. There are a great deal more pleasures at the Gate than can lodge within the Rooms, and Chambers of iniquity: In the closest retirement they can find to sin, they are not solitary; and in the same hour of their sumptuous fare, a Hand writing so troubles their thoughts, that their countenances are changed, the Joints of their loins loosed, their knees smite one against another Dan. 5. and mars their supper without impairing their dainties; changing the scene of their delights into that of their pangs, and their full Boles into a cup of trembling: even in laughter their heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth, Heaviness. Such as applaud themselves in their privacy to defile their souls, shall be forced in the sight of the Sun to do penance before all the world, men, Angels, and Devils, and find confusion, as sure as late. The sting and shane which accompanies the pleasures of sin, the corners which it seeks, the repentance wherewith 'tis followed, together with its little duration, allow it not worthy to be compared with being innocent and virtuous in the sight of the Sun; debarring from no corporal pleasure that's agreeab●e to reason, and our true interest, and astording delights incomparably beyond these, which strangers cannot understand, doth not intermeddle with Prov. 14. 10. . Disobedient men are self-condemned,& at Christ's Bar shall produce Records of their own keeping, writ as with the point of a Diamond, of all their evil deeds from the womb to the grave. They who hate the light to do evil, are scorched with sparks themselves have kindled, but cannot extinguish the Candle of the Lord, Pro. 20. 27. nor enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, but are gnawed with that worm which shall never die, where the fire is not quenched; the luscious sweets of sin are so dearly reckoned for, and afford so much biterness in the latter end, that their senses sadly convince them of( which their sensuality kept them from believing) the folly of gaining any thing at the rate of losing their souls. Considerate men, not content to inhabit only, By the creature●. but to understand( and so truly enjoy) the creaation, discern a Divine Omniscient, shining through the most despicable object. Such a variety of curious useful creatures is this world adorned with, as may well astonish an intelligent inquisitve Spectator, who traces the Authors exquisite inimitable workmanship; yea amaze and force such as see( not the secret recesses or delicate lineaments) but the surface, to adore the God of nature. Some born blind, restored to sight, have been so ravished at the surpassing Spectacle of so many curious objects, that almost every thing they saw transported them with such admiration and delight, as endangered the loss of the eyes of their minds, by th●se of their bodies. An ability not only to behold and sustain our lives by them, but to consider, compare, alter, assist, and improve them to various purposes, is a prerogative above other creatures, and so far capable of being advanced by industry, as makes some men excel others as much as they do beasts. The more attentively they reflect upon those things it brings to their knowledge, the more they find the world to be an immense volume, which can be never enough studied, or thoroughly red: and the things of consideration which it offers to their understanding, infinitely exceed in number those that are red in the best furnished libraries. To them the earth seems quiter another thing, and in every little particle of its matter( by adding artificial organs to their natural) see almost as great variety of creatures: and in the parts of the most minute, such gildings, embroideries, and curious variety, as others are able to reckon up in the whole Universe. And how delicate a hand must be employed to contrive into so narrow a compass, the several external, and internal parts requisite to make up a little animal, so small that they are all workmanship and not discernible by the unassisted eyes. The numberless kind of birds, beasts, fish, herbs, shrubs, stones, metals, minerals, and every of which endued with all the qualifications requisite to the perpetuation of their species, preservation of their lives, attaimment of the respective ends of their creation, the plentiful and easy provision made them; how many nascuntur Artifices, born their own crafts-masters, Physician, Carpenter, apparrell'd, and armed by nature upon their first entrance; live and sport themselves in their several elements, bring forth young, and provide for them, build, and know their appointed time, every year keep the same course, and order, yet ignorant of what they do, and work for an end they do not understand; Am. 9. 3 in their course fight against the Atheist, who rather ignores the being of God, than denies it; and is little less a stranger to the mysteries of nature, than to the Author of it; being writ in such legible Characters upon every leaf of natures book, that the denial of it seems far more stupendious than those great works that demonstrate it. A studious, diligent perusal of this book of the world discovers to us a ladder, whose top reaches to the foot-stool of the Throne of God; the highest link of natures Chain, tied to the the foot of Jupiter's Chair: God who made all things for himself, loses much of his design in setting forth so famous, so finely drawn, so magnificent, so many ways beautiful, a structure, by those busied only about what serves their own trifling uses; living ignorant of all the rooms of the house, saving that wherein they lurk, minding nothing of the Architecture, proportion of its parts in relation to each other, and to the entire structure; in which is displayed so much workmanship as was never meant for eyes, that wilfuly close themselves, and confront it with the not judging it worthy the speculating; who are more concerned as Citizens of any place than of the world; and live so wholly as Londoners, that they never find the leisure to worship and live as men: that behold so many instructive creatures with no more discerning eyes, than those whom nature hath denied the prerogative of Reason, as they deny themselves the use of it; so taken up with trifles, or the works of mens hands, that they pass by those of nature, and admire every Artist, but the only excellent God, who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the fowls of Heaven, Job. 35 11. yet they( guided by a reason transcending ours) in some operations( by instinct, not imitation, fancy supplying the place of reason) surpass those of the most cunning workmen. Nor can the benefit be any way so much as by promoting our piety. Were we as able to discern the secret workings of nature, as the productions of art,( the Ape of it) managed by Wheels, Engines, Springs, devised by human wit; and had a perfect insight into the subtlety of their composition, structure of their parts, various texture of their matter, instruments and manners of their regular motions, singular uses and properties in their several ranks, orders, times, and seasons, exact obedience, and significant representation of their supreme Maker and governor, the curious and subordinate disposition one creature hath unto another, the exact symmetry and proportion of each part unto the whole; we should find we trample upon many things for which we have cause to kneel, and offer praises to God for his excellent greatness. It may well stop our over bold inquiries to comprehend God, we can't all he hath put in any the least of his creatures. And what we vulgarly call ugly( as a Toad or Serpent) in respect of the Universe are as regular comely parts as any of the rest, their outward shapes suitable to their inward forms, and those purposes they were intended for, by him who hath not only given man a soul capable of enjoying himself, but such an Habitation for it here, as by the curiosity of its contrivance, number and usefulness of its parts, might be a perpetual and domestic Testimony of the wisdom of its maker. And if we compare his munificence in creating so many things( the criers and Heralds of his glory) that never violate the laws of their nature, nor endeavour to disappoint him of his ends, for the necessity and pleasure of rebellious unthankful man( designed to command this lower world and serve the Creator of it) we must resent an ingenuous shane, and noble disdain, that that creature should be of all the least grateful, that hath received the most benefits, that those whom God hath made little lower than the Angels, should debase their nature below the very lowest rank of creatures, be the only jarring string in this great Instrument to discompose this divine melody; become the only unprofitable useless part of the creation, and prove the most unruly who alone is privileged with reason to rule himself, and to refer the creatures that want it, to the Creators glory: to that end hath he placed us here, as well as to prepare ourselves for a better mansion. Even those that have not the Law, not only are a Law unto themselves, Rom. 1. ●●. but have the creation for their Library, Bible and History of the Almighty, already open in all places where they can run and red without a teacher, for, What e're they see, or whatsoe'er they go, They must see God, whether they will or no. In smaller creatures He's set forth, as it were in Short-Hand, in great, in Capital letters; in inanimates is a certain kind of dumb Eloquence, there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard, their line is gone out through all the earth▪ and their words to the end of the world. P●●● 19. ●● To them the whole world is a Pulpit, and all things therein Regii professores, Divinity readers, preachers of the invisible God;& almost every particle suggests an use of instruction, reproof, or exhortation. The M●le-hills inhabitant condemns our improvident forecast; the L●lies of the Field, our distrust of Gods Providence, &c. No chemist can make such a rare extract of the creature as the Christians, they draw medicines for fevers, gouts, &c. He Antidotes against unbelief, &c. Do but ask the beasts, and they shall teach thee, and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee, and the fishes of the Sea shall declare unto thee. Job. 12. 7. 8. Not only Kings of the earth and all people, but beasts, and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowls, dragons and all deeps, mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all Cedars, fire and hail, snow and vapour, storm and wind, praise the Lord, and fulfil his word: Psal. 148. such as honour not God, in naturals, are not sp●●u●ll, nor of their number that worship him who liveth for ever, and ever, and cast their Crowns before the Throne, saying, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Rev. 4. 10 11. By the Scriptures. Addicting ones heart to the knowledge of nature, both invites and recompenses our comtemplation; highly gratifies our intel●ec●ual faculties, without displeasing any of them, being none of those criminal pleasures which injured and incensed consciences very much alloy in the fruition, and turn into Torments after; yet must give way to those wherewith the improved opportunities of serving and enjoying God, are capable of blessing the pious soul. As God, so the knowledge of him is infinitely better than of all things he hath made: And he that hath placed so much delightfulness in a knowledge wherein he allows his very enemies to become great proficients( many of whom are so taken up with Astrological contemplations of Heaven, as they deny themselves time to study in his Book that made it the way of getting thither) hath surely reserved much higher, to sweeten and endear those disclosures of himself, which he vouchsafes to none but such as know and do his will revealed in his Word; in which is such an admirable Harmony and disposition, as manifests it the work of the same wisdom, that so accurately, divinely composed the Book of nature, which leaves all without excuse; but this only able to make us wise to salvation, and affords him that searches for it as for hide treasure, not only light to workby, and a comfortable warmth while he is working, but animates by the hopes it cherisheth in him, that in due season his pains and diligence shall be rewarded. How admirable is infinite wisdom and goodness in so tempering his word, as induces the most learned to implore& depend on him for light by leaving amongst many passages that stoop to our weakness, some that may make us sensible of it, and others in so plain familiar a way, as the illiterate may see they were not forgotten or overlooked by him, places so obscure, as if it meant purposely to pose, teach us humility if nothing else; and give us an happy opportunity to evince how great a reverence we pay Gods word, upon the single score of its being so. We ought to study what we can't understand: By the welcome Christ disposes us to give his word, he saith, what I say thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. John 13. 7. Every new degree of Scripture knowledge, is an Instrument to acquire more; and ignorance of those places whose sense we seek for, makes us more perfect in the meaning of all the rest. Religious Industrious inquirers by experience find, what at a distance deterred them, was not intended to frustrate diligence, but to punish their laziness, who thought not such knowledge worthy studying for; and do now admire what before they could not relish, because they did not understand. What at first through a superficial cursory perusal, appeared barren, useless, or tautologies, their sedulous searching into, hath discovered such pregnant uses, as they have equally admired the riches of those texts, and their not discerning it sooner: Repeated p●ints make heretics blushy to question, and despair to disprove truths attested by more than two or three witnesses; and give Orthodox Believers the satisfaction of having there Anchor tied to a three-fold cord, which is not easily broken. The very words and phrases which cloth the obvious sense, are not only Emphatic●ll, but often mysteri●us and highly instructive; affording not only seasonable fruit, but the very leaves are for the healing of the nations. Rev. 22. 2. The strongest Proficients in Scrip●ure-knowledge, have the keenest stomacks to this spiritual food▪ at what a rate did those purchase the Bible, when 'twas capital to be found possessors of it: Valued we not our bodies above our souls, and inferior things before God; we should esteem the words of his mouth, more than our necessary food; 'twould hugely endear his word to us, that the object of our devotion is the author of it. How could our love to him suffer us from frequent entertaining ourselves with those Leaves which are at once his writing and picture; representing, and refreshing us with the vast unmerited Love▪ and unresembling Idea( in the absence of an immediater presence) of our only desirable beloved, that the Deity hath framed for mortals to apprehended. Some possessed with this servant flamme, placed so much contentment here▪ that no thoughts so sweetly steal away themselves,& time, as those employed in conversing with God on the Horeb of both testaments; the sweetness whereof so affecting them, as they could even beg of an Enemy this leave to be happy; not without much unwillingness obtaining it of their thoughts, to return to sublunary employments; one having tasted was so taken with the lusciousnesse of Christ's doctrine, that before much company could not forbear commending the three for the Fruit sake Luke 11. 27. Sure Atheists only omit frequent perusing these profound contrivances, whose wisdom engages the Attention,& exacts the wonder of Angells, who for all their native abilities, high prerogatives and employments desire, yea, bow to pry into; 1 Pet. 1. 12. disdaining, not to think our Instructions worthy their concern, while we disdain a concern for our own instruction. I appeal to the judgement of any carnal Reader unprejudicated, setting aside the Majesty of the Author, and profitableness of the Subject, whether any History be so pleasant as the sacred or can compare with it for Magnificence, Antiquity of the matter, sweetness of compiling, strange variety of memorable Occurrences; Its Scribes supplying each others Omission, according to Gods decrees, and Seasons in dispensing his mysteries to his Church, that in Writers severed by so many Ages, and Regions, a Harmony whose seeming dissonances seem but to manifest the sincerity, and unconspiringnesse of the Author, their mutual Irradiations, and secret references, persuade their Pens were guided by an Omniscient Hand, and were but the several Secretaries of the same Inditer: where he stoops to our Capacities, is something so awful, so clearly his, as manifests a majestic Prerogative above any others. Eloquent Orators unsatisfiedly traveling through all sorts of human Volumes, have acquiest only in this Divine one: Beginning perhaps to red it out of Curiosity, or to learn some unknown Language 'twas translated into, or some such trivial purpose, have found themselves engaged to continue that exercise out of conscience, having, by the means they elected, their reverence and assent carried away beyond the end they designed, in spite of their indisposition to it, climbing up this Sycomore-t●e● only to see Jesus have passed thence to be his proselyte and Convert, receiving him joyfully into their Hearts, and Houses. Other composures of Devotion still lose with nice senates at second reading; Acquaintance here still endeares; Familiarity breeds not Contempt but Reverence. If we light of the sense, we can't miss of truth, nor be deceived, except we deceive ourselves, by presuming we understand it, when indeed we do not: Therefore can't but prise a Book so comprehensive, which understood, makes it safe for us to ignore others as needless to Salvation, and which ignored, are insufficient: It containing virtually all Divine Precepts, others scatteringly glean out of human Books: and ourselves otherwise affencted to find the world depreciated by him that enjoyed all the delights and Glories of it; then when we meet with the same from some beggarly cynic that never tasted those luscious bewitching pleasures, and need no greater Philosophy to despise a World he judges of by the scanty share, the narrowness of his condition allows him of the joys of it. When God affirms we cant be wise or happy, but by being good, nor avoid the greatest Miseries, but by eschewing evil, it works on us otherwise than the same in human Authors, whose frailties make them obnoxious to mistake, and capable to deceive: Unwise, unthank full they, and as well wrong themselves as the Scripture, who choose to red Gods word rather in any Book than his own; but much more, who make divertisements their Impediment: To gratify their Fancy, more than their reason: despise, neglect reading this( the best way to Justfie itself,& disabuse them) than which, scarce any thing can be more prejudicial, to a Book that needs to be but heedfully observed, and sufficiently understood to be highly reverenced. Their pleasure is so bewitching, so dear to them, that they like nothing that would divorce, or divert their pursuit; whose pride, and laziness dare pled Multiplicity of weighty avocations against the one thing necessary: The importantest employments, are the Study, and Glory of God; and sure they that pretend want of leisure for their neglect of reading the Scripture; must be able to give a rare account of all the portions of their Time, to make that pass for a Misimployment of it, that is laid out towards the purchase of a Happy Eternity. He ever makes an ill Bargain that gets Hell to Boot, who to gain so inconsiderable a possession as the whole world, shall part with his own soul. So earnestly is it enjoined, that scarce any can think the neglect of reading it no fault, save those that are guilty of it, because it prophesies no good concerning them. Their vicious scandalous lives make them deny the Scripture, for fear of being obliged for mere shane to live more conformable to it. 'tis the Interest, not the Reason of these guilty Malefactors that makes them find fault with this Statute-Book, that finds so much fault with them. Their Censures and irreligious expressions are as Apologies they judge necessary to palliate their sins, or as Acts of Revenge for their being exposed in all their deformities to the Eye of the World, and of their own consciences in the Bible, and do rather show what they would have men believe of them, than what themselves believe of the Scripture; by seeming to slight which they hope to have there vices imputed rather to a Superiority of their Reason over that of others, than a Servitude of their Reason to their passion; when cast upon peruseing it, they do it in so perverse a manner, as if they went to revenge themselves on that unwelcome opportunity: Their Observation is worse than their Neglect; They look into it insidiously, not as Disciples, but as spies, not to weigh the obligingnesse, but to quarrel at the unreasonableness, difficulty, impossibility of its Injunctions; not to direct their practise, but to excuse their prevarications: They contrive, not how they may comply with it, but how they may best bend it to comport with them: They rebate its edge, or turn it only against such of their corruptions as they have least kindness for: They weigh its Precepts with no other design but that, of taking the lightest; those to which their constitutions, or other circumstances carry least repugnance: They come unto it, not as to a Law, but to a Market, cheapen what they best like, and leave the rest for other Customers, nor will they take faith's word, that, so it is, unless Reason will be her Surety, and show them bow. Profane Wretches stamp their own Image, and Superscription on Gods Coin; Torture it to confess that which was never in it, and their own wits to pervert the Holy Scriptures expressions to deliver their obscene thoughts; A thing so easy, as almost any man hath the wit to talk at their Profane Rate, that will but allow himself the sawey boldness, and Hellish Liberty to contemn, yea directly and immediately to provoke God, by making him the Subject of their derision, and sport with that word he so solemnly declares his mind by to Mankind, and which shall judge them at the last day. But considering persons will scarce deem him a Wit, that will venture to be damned to be thought one; or admire his plenty who cannot make an Entertainment without furnishing out the table with a John Baptist Head; nor please the Fancy, without offending the Conscience; nor say any thing well, but what is Ill to say: Never using their Wits, but to gratify their own or others Lusts, nor the Bible except in their Tavern-Songs, only as anchovis, to entice the company to drink the longer, instead of employing their parts, in working for the Sanctuary, by clothing excellent thoughts, in suitable winning dresses, the way to have their names written, at once in Heaven, and in the immortal leaves of famed, prostitute them to indite licentious irreligious ones, that argue more a depressed soul, than an elevated Fancy: A sin so unprofitable, as scarce gets them any thing but an ill name amongst good men upon Earth, and a worse place amongst bad men in Hell; by making their Envy and Impiety so malicious and disinterested, that they will endeavour to do religion harm though it be to do themselves no good, and have no excuse of declining their conscience in complyment to their senses: nor will the highest favour of Applaus, and the being cried up for a wit, so repair the punishment of profaneness, but that its wretched sufferers will find but small satisfaction, in having their name celebrated in other Books, while 'tis blotted out of that of life: And can't but think that wisdom the greatest folly, who to tempt praises they seldom hear, provide themselves Torments they shall ever feel; and that that pains and time spent in studying corrupt discourses, was a hewing fuel for Hell flames, where they shall be weeping and gnashing their Teeth, while they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12. 3. A triple portion we enjoyed of Gods mercies, By our late Civill Wars. to mankind in general, to the Christian world in particular; our lines fallen in pleasant places: from our Fathers will in our mothertongue, we might take counsel as a man of his friend: To us chiefly have been committed the Oracles of God; but have been exercised with such strange intermingled providences, as is a theme worthy the best Historian Pen, and choicest Christian Meditation. We have had such unexpected wonderful appearances of a Divine Hand, owning, preserving, rescuing Innocency in such eminent Exigences, as Experience seals that Proverb infallible, In the mount will the Lord be seen. Such remarkable events of mens vain projects, Gods infinite eye so piercing through all pretences, as Justice hath required no other Accuser than their own Consciences, bringing to light ( notwithstanding all possible care used to the contrary) such private consultations, contrivance and practices as evince, there's nothing hide that shall not be known, but what is done in secret shall be published on the House-top. How sad the condition of these discomposed dilacerated nations, what clancular actings of Satans machivals( who cared not to set a whole world on fire, merely to roast their own eggs by, and build themselves monuments of the Churches ruins) how daring the insolences and attempts of unstable minds, acted by the various and quotitidian conduct of changeable and domestical Interests against our Moses and Aarons, hath been so well known at home and abroad, as hath rendered us a shane to ourselves and a Ludibrium to the world? The untimely death of Princes, the frequent expirations and vicissitudes of estates and Governments, servants set in great dignity, and the rich sitting in low places, persons of mean extraction, leaving their Cottages and dwelling in Kings Palaces, while sovereignty forced to take up the Lodging of a Crow: Beggars lifted from the Dunghill to the Throne, while Majesty justled off, and not allowed the Liberty of a Subject: The doleful earthquakes and concussions in Church and State; the wild pernicious Opinions and horrid practices among us, seemed as if the scene of the ten Tribes was translated into these Nations, and we making hast to be a Lo●ru●amah, Hos. 1. 6 surely 'twas through the wrath of the Lord of Host, that our Land was watered with blood. Eze. 3. 26. And the People as the fuel of fire, no man sparing his Brother; Isa. 9. 19. when War was proclaimed in our Gates, and our mighty men awakened, and all the men of war drew near and stood up, Joe. 3. 9. when our Cornets were turned into Fifes, our Dances into Marches, and our Banquets into want of Bread, our Livery-Gowns into Buf-Coats, our suits of Gold into Glittering armor; our Beavers into Helmets; and those into a mitre, and Infallibility inspired with the sound of a Trumpet, the pride of the Cupboard and the Fingers Glory into Souldiers salaries, and the price of Blood, our Walking-Staves into Halberts, our Girdles into Belts, and our Cassoks into Coats of Mail, our Stately structures into Garrisons, our Dwelling Houses into Prisons, our Temples into Stables, Jakes, Places of Stench, and filthiness, the Abomination of Desolation, standing in the Holy place, and the House of prayer a Den of thieves: When our Pruning Hooks were beaten into Spears, and our Plowshares into Swords, sharpened, not among the Philistines, but at Sion, which always makes it cut the keenest. Woe, and Alas to such sad Encomasticks, when men engaged in Designs not on intuition of their lawfulness, but Profit, and never inquired into the Justice of the quarrel but the rate of the pay: when there were such Tigers and friars, as would rifle for drams of Silver, into the Bowels of their own Flesh, and either Kill, or Die for a Day's Wages; Hewing down men like Brambles, and butchering them like Oxen, defaceing Gods Image as if it were but battering down a painted Picture; opening the Conduits of life to gush forth till the last drop were their mirth; wounds their feats of Activity, blood their cordial, crying groans their music, ghastly faces their looking-glasses, shivering bones the relics of their pvissance, and dead carcases the emblems of their glorious Triumphs, when the noise of Drums and Trumpets deafened our ears to the cries and groans of oppressed Sufferers, and regal Laws must give place to private ones: When sate down to meat we suspected the intrusion of armed, uninvited guests; and our next nights lodging to be in Prison, or out of our Beds, when we were rather Stewards than owners of our estates, and had rather the Trouble than Advantage of their Managery, when we striven to supplant, surprise, destroy our nearest Friend, or Kinsman, and our blood was poured out as dust, and our Flesh as the dung; Ze. 1. 17. and widdows increased like the Sands of the Sea, Jer. 15. 8. when members of the same body carried themselves as if of a different world. They who once lay in one anothers bosom, could hardly endure to stand in the same seat, or join in the same Family Duty; praying with, and for one another before, now one against another: Division of Hearts hindered the building of the new Jerusalem; while contending about the Windows, we had almost lost the Foundation of the Church; when pretence of inward Sanctity in some, devoured their outward decency, and was suborned to legitimate those practices, the real solid one forbids and execrates; and God said to be Honoured, and exalted by those ways whereby men would think themselves affronted& vilified, when faith was made subservient to extinguish love, Charity banished to fetch home truth, and a Coal from the Altar to set the Temple itself on fire: When our slightest problems were writ in blood; Thousands made naked to keep the surplice off a few mens Backs; pulling down Churches in displeasure at the Windows: when our minute differences became quarrels, by disputes raised about a Pin, or nail of the Temple, shook and endangered the whole fabric; and robbed the Church of fraternal Unity, the surest Cement and Support: The Laws trampled upon, for the preservation of Right, Justice violated for its own security; Oaths broken for the conservation of Faith; The People oppressed for their Welfare; The Nation enthralled for its Liberty, forced to maintain Tyranny for its freedom. When Christian Religion at once was violated& defamed, not only her Precepts broken, but her self aspersed with the filthy consequences of that disobedience brought in, to abet seditious practices: when men could say Grace over the foulest Crimes, and consecrate them to the use of a good cause, when they should have been doing Gods work, were hiding the Babylonish garment; instead of driving Nails into Gods Temple to 〈…〉 en it, were driving a wedge of Gold into their own coffers: when neither the Command of G●●, the Authority of Laws, the Love of Peace, the Fear of War, the Sacred Unction, royal Crown, nor sceptre itself, could awe the bloody insolent Sword, secure and defend the Soveraign's Head: when men judged of the Justice by the success of their Attempts; and that their cause was approved of God because prosperous, when our Hands were embrewed in our Neighbours blood, Ambitious to be unjust Conquerors, and Honour sought in war, which formerly was not to be crowned with boasting Triumph: Be thou, Oh Charles( the first) added to our deplorable Trophies, who the Fortune of war caused to be esteemed faulty, and was looked upon as a Crime in thee to be overcome. Our War was( both a Sin and a Judgement) like to swallow up the one, and Victory the other, and the public still sure to be a loser: War for the Kingdom against the King; for his Authority against his Person: The sovereign arraigned before his Subjects: Majesty itself accused of Treason, and barbarously slain( with an Axe whetted at Rome,) that they might se●● on his Inheritance; let a Curtain there be drawn over our sorrows, a veil over our shane. Then did royal Majesty descend into the dust, and the Glory, Peace, and Safety of the Nation with him. How then did all loyal Hearts Throb and Tremble? How did all faces gather blackness, that were not steeled with Rebellion, and Impudence? How did the whole Land sit as a widow, desolate, and forsaken? So that our very Victories were tragical, and our Triumphs mournful, and the Conquerors with the Conquered had cause to sit down in Tears; For the Almighty had called for a Sword against us through all the Land, which cut off the righteous with the wicked: The dead bodies of his servants were made bridges over ditches, and given as meat unto the Fowls of Heaven, and the Flesh of his Saints unto the beasts of the Earth; their blood shed like water round about the Kingdom, and none to bury them: So that we were become a derision to our neighbouring Nations, a By-word among the Heathens, a terror to ourselves; Troubled on every side, without were fightings, within fears, and none had Peace or was secure under his own Roof; but every Heart melted, and all hands were feeble, every spirit fainted, and all knees were as water because of the spoilers rapine: and a man was made an offender for a word, Isah. 29. 21. and a Sword was sharpened to make a sore slaughter, and the Lord pleaded against us with blood, and with Fire, and with Brimstone, his fury was upon his face, and a great shaking in our Land: Jer. 1●. 12. ●3. ●●e. 21. And yet the confused noise of battels, and warriors, the rattling of wheels, and of praunsing Horses, the jumbling of chariots, and of the bright Sword, and glittering Spear, the multitude of slain, and the great number of carcases( So that we stumbled upon corpses, nah. 3. 3. and upon garments rolled in blood) Isa. 9. 5. did not awaken us. As to many might it not be said, we are a talking, not a repenting People; if our tongues are better, so are not our Hearts, our Bibles, our Pulpits have taught us little but a Scripture Language, a Sanctuary Phrase; we repent in Adages, or ordinances only, not by ordering our feet; turn from one opinion to other principles, from one faction to another sect, but who from his evil ways: we swim in other Seas, but like the Porcupine, the change of water makes us not lose our prickles; shift places but like Serpents, carry our poison with us wherever we creep; turn proselytes, not to God, but two-fold more the Children of wrath. Were ever so many Pulpits despised? so many unregenerating Sermons? unmollifying Lectures? many watch over souls, but how few win them? many Counsellors, but who is a Father? Our Faith is a distraction, our repentance a contagion, a corruption. We talk much of the Gospel, and reformation, but when shall we once be Evangelicall, and the reformed Church? We are gotten, we say, our of egypt, but do we not carry egypt into Canaan? and make the Land of promise, a Land of provocation? Fled farther from Rome, and gone into Sodom? Left her corruption in Doctrine, but kept those in manners. Oh sad separation, for all the ground we have left behind us, have we left in the read Sea, or in the wilderness, or upon the Bank of Jordan, our evil ways? What reformation to be seen amongst us but beating down Crosses? clashing windows? demolishing a font? new placing a communion Table? plucking off that abominable Rochet? hewing of May-poles? but hath this reformation cleansed away sin; are we made more moral than Turks? more pure than infidels? Is there not as much pride and covetousness, craft and perfidiousness, peevishness and contention, as among Barbarians, and Scythians? And how did that little blood left in others boil up in scum, and rage? we impatiently murmured under those burdens, our sins prepared, and other mens laid upon us; and disclaimed Gods relief, by indirect attempts of our own; yet took it very ill, that he left us to the successses of them, that he prospered not those methods he had interdicted, and made us Triumphant, not only over our enemies, but himself too. We laid boundless expectations upon the Justice of our cause, and as if we had extremely obliged God by not b●ing Traytors, thought he wronged us extremely that he made us not Victors: we seemed to think Loyalty witchcraft; that like a spell it was able to keep us invulnerable, not only against our Enemies, but ourselves; and so countercharm all our Crimes, that they should only be active to please not to hurt us. How many had little private Rebellions of their own, even while they opposed the more public? that owed their zeal to their spleen? and did not so much love those they fought for, as Hate those they fought against. The profession of Holinesse their adversaries had put on, more averted these Libertines from them, than all their real Crimes: Their professing to advance the power of godliness, allarum'd them to contend, not for the liberty of their Country, but their Lusts; so could with no Justice expect a reputation, or success from that cause, which they at once helped to defame and defeat: And the soberer 'tis to be suspected were inspired more by the spirit of opposition than of piety, from whom the Liturgy never had so much veneration, as when the Directory was set up against it: A perverse kind of zeal or devotion, kindled only by Antiperistasis( not of that pure flamme which descends from Heaven) excited by interdict, and deadened by invitation. He then makes Civill wars to cease, and stilleth the tumult of the people Psal. 65. ●. and returns By our peaceable settlement. our Peace, before we had forsaken our sins; As if he meant to try our Ingenuity that we who had been so much worse than Beasts under those former methods, and no stripes disciplined us, might have this advantage to redeem our credit, and be drawn with the cords of a man. After the shedding of royal Blood, to the shane and reproach of Religion and the Nation, and perpetual infamy of the Actors of it. He disappoints our Anointed's Enemies confident Hopes, of finding him among ●●● Slain, or Prisoners; and delivers Good Men of their afflictive fears for his Jeopardy, and of ever seeing him on his Throne; except he swome to it in the blood of his Subjects; makes rebellious Absolons Executioner, our lawful sovereigns Sanctuary; provides him Safety& Favour in a strange Land. And though the dangerous oppositions of our provocations, insolent by contending against Gods goodness, made it far more reasonable to look for a Hand upon the wall, writing a visible irrecoverable sentence of Extirpation, than secretly and powerfully working deliverance behind it: When we had set ourselves in a Defiance of his Judgement, he laid as it were an Ambush of mercy for us; gave a Victory without a war; and surprised us with Safety by such indiscernible ways, turning again our captivity, that we were like them that dream Psal. 126. 1. He bowed the Hearts of England even as one man, so that they sent this word to the King, return thou, and all thy servants, that all the people of the Land may rejoice, and the City may be at quiet; so the King returned, and the Nobles went to meet and conduct the King. 2 Sam. 19. 14. 15. He erects his Thr●ne in as calm a manner, as was the Temple, without the noise of Swords, Guns, Axes, and Hammers, when we had been so long dashing to pieces one against another, and all things reeling, and breaking into confusion, he composes and orders them as before; Every one sitting under his own Vine, and under his own Fig-tree, eating the fruits of his own Labours, and none to make him afraid, nor danger of Sequestration, but from our own Luxury, or of being mocked into his Grave by shows, and Pagantries of Justice that will but keep in the boundaries of known Laws. But no sooner is the sceptre redeemed from Bondage, and restored to its Master, but the whole Nation is made loose; licentiousness invades the People; And we suffer smiling furies; Luxury revengeth weapons, and England wips away war with a lazy peace; giddy headed Liberty breaks its Reins, fumes, waxes hot, burns, and swelling with success tramples on Ordinances with a profane Heel: infected we are with filthiness; and a debauched company of People are inhabitants of a dirty Sty. When he had made Peace within our Borders, and filled us with the finest of the Wheat, Psal. 147. 14. our Late unhappiness nor present favour prevailed with us: for his blessings we rejoiced, but grew rather wanton than thankful; we entertained the change with a joy too profuse, but not enough religious. We saw that great things were done for us, wherefore we were glad, but did not so much consider that the Lord had done them; Psal. 129. 2, 3. and so were rather affencted with the rarity and profitableness, than mercy and kindness of the dispensation. Our transports were such as exhausted themselves in their noise. We expressed our joy in bonfires, and it vapoured away in the smoke; there wanted that mixture of Piety, which should have fixed that volatile passion. We noted and surfeited on his blessings, feasted our lusts on his favours, dishonoured, spurned, kicked against him in the face of all his bounties. The Oil of his mercy made us more nimble, and active in feats of Impiety, and his creatures mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink; Isa. 5. 22. our requital to him for composing our national intestine Broils, were to give Reins to our open Rebellion against Heaven; for restoring our sovereign to rise up against our God, for removing the Disorders of Church and State to bring them into our Hearts and Lives; we put off not only Piety but Humanity, from the most benign purposes, extracted nothing but our own mischiefs. We were the poorer for his Liberalities, and the worse for his goodness. Our sins by being common, made us approve them by being successful; because God kept silent, we thought he was such a one as ourselves Psal. 50. 21. undervalued, or denied a deity; thinking nothing to be sin, but what hath punishment for its consequent, no fruit in the Garden forbidden, if a flaming Sword secure it not. Having chastised and tried to reduce us by inferior Instruments and Lictors among ourselves; making one mans sin the punishment of another, as if he had the same jealousy for his Honour, which Joab had at the siege of Rabah for David; 2 Sam. 12. 28. and feared to be rival'd in the Glory of our ruin; He takes us into his own Hand; marks us out as he did Pharaoh to be the Trophies of his own peculiar Vengeance; appearing signally against us in all the dreadful Solemnities of an enraged Enemy. Three years he waited seeking the fruit of his providences, and found none; yea granted one year more, to the intercession of his own goodness. To testify then our ways did not please him, he makes a Nation at peace with us, become our Enemy. Pro. 16. 7. Where if he delivered us from their Fury, and prospered our Forces with remarkable success, yet prevented a total Victory over them; as if he designed to hold this Rod over us, till we gave some better proofs of our being Humbled, and Reformed by it; and that which cost so much Blood and Treasure, must be accounted( as 'tis threatened Lev. 26. a Judgement for our abuse of peace, and incorrigibleness under former Judgements: As there's required for war a lawful Authority▪ a just Cause, and a right intention; so it must not be out of Hatred, but with a desire to preserve life in the height of Battle. The lives of the vanquished are not wholly at the mercy of the Conqueror, who had need to distinguish well between a Conqueror and a Cut-throat vindicative War, must be moderated, that a man be not a too severe righter of his own injuries; he ought to be satisfied with the Victory, and as much as may be, leave revenge to God. The principal Authors ought to be slain, and not the generality which are drawn in to be Parties; yea killing is allowed, but only against obstinate and desperate Adversaries: Conquest must end▪ with the least damage both of the Enemies and inhabitants; for the Community cannot be touched without the Hazard of many Innocents. 'tis no little misery to be necessitated by Arms to maintain our own right; for w●● is the extreme act of vindictive Justice; not approvable to God, for any other than a desperate Remedy. As it is sometimes necessary, so mostly unjust, always evil, and fighting is public murder, if so constituted that there is a culpable scruple in the close, and any other end be proposed besides Peace. Therefore Noble Dispositions have still shewed their propensions to Peace( though Victors) calling for a cessation of Arms( whereas necessity wrung it from the overmastered) letting pass no opportunity of making spare of blood, and have deemed it an inhuman cruelty to shed it, where they have not first proffered fair conditions of Amity; the refusal whereof is justly punished with the Sword of Revenge; or one drop more than that which was necessary out of insolency, and bloodthirstynesse. Pestilence, and Famine frequently follow this sore Judgement. Ezek. 14. 21. Slaughter is not the only effect of war, It destroys the lives of many, but blasts the joys and supports of more. The Land is the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness yea, and nothing shall escape them. Joe. 23. Ours was war upon war; foreign upon civill, not against strangers, but Allys; not with Pagans, Papists, but Protestants; what will the Heathens say? what ever either nation gains, Reliligion is like to be a Loser. It may well break our hearts, that so many are destroyed, whom Christ purchased with his own blood, and the Ocean turned into a read Sea, by that of Israel. Victory lies not in the cause but in the God that owns it. Many a just business is crossed, for a punishment to the Agent. Gods people for the accursed thing, may be defeated by the Benjamites Jud. 20. Jos. 7. and fly before the men of Ai.( v) Tis no strange thing to see Israel troubled by an Achan, or the Ark taken captive from off the shoulders of H●pni, and Phineas. If we waged war for reparation of public wrongs, and its ground not only policy, but religion, yet while some had rather been destroyed by the Enemy than live to see their Prince have the Honour of saving, and defending them, others strive to disoblige and incense him to whom we appealed, and seemed to enter prohibitions in Heaven against our desired enjoyment of success. By nourishing our Lusts from whence cometh wars Jam. 4. 1. we fought against ourselves, put a Sword into our Enemies Hands, and provoked God to destroy us; as if our notorious fighting against him by our Trespasses, would oblige him to right us, and that when our Host goes forth against our Enemy, we ought to keep to every wicked thing. Deu. 2●. 9. And lest this alone should not be physic enough for our maledy, Comes forth a destroying angel, pouring out off his full viol such a Horrid Infection into our air, as scarce we or our Forefathers ever tasted of. whilst busied against men Abroad, God takes us into his own hand at Home, and surprises us with new fears from himself by the noisome pestilence, which Cut off, from one City, in Less than nine months about 100000 Inhabitants, and Chased away more from their Habitations; So that we had something of a wilderness, in a City, The streets formerly thronged with strangers, now destitute of Neighbours; When few to be met but such, as looked wan with grief, fear, or sickness; when as many dead carcases hurried along the streets ith' night, as living persons walking in the day; Habitations made both hospitals and Charnell-houses; where the sick without hope, for want of Help, die without Comfort, Consume without interment, or are carried away without Sheet or Coffin save their clothes; Thrown by Hundreds into a pit, and not a friend following to shed a Tear at their funeral, except at a distance crying: pray Bury my Dead, when such noise of Bells; Complaints for loss of friends; The living labouring night and day, scarce enough, and new ground must bee purchased to Bury the Dead, heaps upon heaps. The mother perhaps must Carry her Tender Infant to the grave, the Husband the wife of his bosom, and a nearest Relation forced to be both priest and gravesman; scarce determinable whether the Drops that fell from their faces were the sweat of their brows, or Tears of their Eyes. The Diseased groaning for Extremity of their pains, and rejoicing exceedingly if they could find the grave. The sound weeping for the miseries of the sick; longing for deliverance of their Family from the Burden of the flesh; some Eating their Bread with Quaking, and drinking with Trembling and Carefullness, for fear 'twould be their last, whilst others perishing for want of it▪ The sight of this weekes Bill, appearing to many, but as A Repreive till the next; So that they had no Rest, but the Lord gave them a Trembling Heart, and failing of Eyes, and sorrow of mind, and their life did hang in doubt before them, and they feared day and night having no Assurance of their Life; Deu. 28. 65. 66. How then did the City sit solitary that was full of people; and became as a widow that was great among the nations; she wept sore in the night, and her tears were on her cheeks; Among all her lovers she had none to Comfort her, all her friends had dealt treacherously with her, and by leaving her became her Enemy. And yet in our Blackest Bills, God writ but 50 for 100. How came it that our Houses were not all disinhabited, or one wherein not one dead, That our City was not turned into a very golgotha,( and our fields into graves,) for the wickedness of them that dwelled therein: For though Death surprised all Conditions, in all places, at all Times, in our streets, at our Labour, in our sleep, at our meat, in our closets, alone, in Company, some in the very Act of sin, others dead before they thought themselves sick, dreaming of nothing less than dying, the Bell Touling constantly, carrying some of our Fellow-servants to Gods Bar, yet the mouths of so many graves, the sad Charrecters writ on our neighbours doors, the sight of so many carcases Death led in Triumph before our own, did not preach us into Repentance, but even Extinguished Humanity, brought in a kind of freity and barbarousness among us, rendering us vilinous to men, and Blasphemous against God; desperate upon the prospect of our danger, or presumptuons on remedies, or Contemplation of our Escape. The very greatness and commonness of our misery, made us so Careless, stupid, senseless, that we could sleep amid dying groans, dance amongst graves, Revel at funerals, drink healths on Coffins, be obscene among the Dead, steal winding sheets out of the very Chambers of death, Eating and drinking, swearing and Rioting, marrying and giving in marriage, while the flood was sweeping nigh all away, and at the very pits brink thought not of death, but lived, as if by that Time all mortals were hurried out of the world, and that none were left standding there that should taste of death. Even in the height of it, we mis't not to be as Luxurious as we were able; and if some of our Lusts were at all less raging, t'was only because they were starved into a Little Tameness; the supplies and Conveniences cut off which should maintain our Riot. Those public Humiliations and Intercessions recommended to the Country, as well by the Command of Authority, as the Common distress, were cast off without the substraction of either of those motives; so unmindful of the Afflictions of Joseph, that we could not afford one day in a month for a solemn Reflection on them; and sure we are not less wanting to ourselves, than others in such neglects; the office being no less designed for Antidote than Cure, to prevent a judgement where it is not, as to Remove it where it is; and if we will neither deprecate on our own behalf, nor Intercede on others, we are as Improvident, as uncharitable, and may justly expect the fatal event of both; so that the Rest of the men which were not killed by the plague, Repented not of their murders, nor of their Fornications, nor of their Thefts, nor of the works of their Hands. Rev. 20. 12. This judgement being thus forced to raise its siege; at the heels of it marches devouring By the late dismal fire of London. Flames. For ere the destroying angel had finished his work here, and was raging in many parts of the nation, as though the Infected air had been too kind and partial to us, and had only destroyed the vile and Refuse, and spared the greatest of the people; As though the grave had surfeited with our dead bodies and was loth to go on in the execution of Gods displeasure: He employed a more furious Element which might in a more lively manner represent to us, the kindling and Continueing of his wrath against us which was Attended to a very Excessive Heat, that thus poured out itself not only like La. 2. 4. but in fire: In so stupendious a manner desolating the glory of our land, that no human fury could have procured or even wished the like vastation and Ruins; and what neither foreign nor domestic Enemies could in a succession of many Ages effect, one blast of the breath of his displeasure who is a Consuming fire, performed in a moment: Those whom the King of Terrors frighted from their Habitations, had not been long returned full of Resolves to Redeem by double diligence, their loss of Trades and Time, but a dreadful fire ceases upon our great Metropolis, defaces the Beauty and splendour of England, wherles into flames that glorious mart of Trade, and covers that Queen of Cities with its ashes, making her both funeral pile and urn to her self; Consuming in 4 days above 13200 of our Houses, the price of many years Labour, more wealth than an ordinary Arithmititian can numerate; with those public monuments and ornaments, which had out-lasted the Injuries of many hundred years, in the space of far less hours. The detriment sustained in our Civill interest, nothing but time and Experience can give a full estimate of. Its sad Consequences are unknown, clouded in its own smoke; yet must needs Cast forth some of her ruins, desolations, want of Trade, and poverty upon the neighbou● Towns and whole nation. A fire which began with that unexpected violence, and spread with that Horror, and raged with that fury, and Continued so long with that irresistible force, esteeming Brick as stubble, ston as straw, and Brass as Rotten wood, that laughed at the shaking of an Engine, and despised all Resistances in its way; that made the streets to Boil like a pot, and the Houses like a pot of ointment; that made a path to shine after it; one would have thought it a Type at least of the universal Conflagration: so full of Dread and Astonishment, that nothing less than Hell flames can awaken him, who by it is not wrought upon to lie down in his shames, and his Confusion to cover him; because God hath Covered the daughter of Sion with a Cloud, and cast down from Heaven unto the Earth the Beauty of Israel, and remembered not his foot-stool in the day of his Anger, La. ●. 1. Laying in Ashes such a City, as I expected not to see on this side the Heavenly; making our magnificent Temples, not Habitations for owls, but Ruinous heaps, and spectacles of desolation. Had only the scenes of our Luxury and fraud been destroyed, this might have sent us with more fervency to the places of our Devotion; and we might have frequented Gods house the Better for being destitute of our own; but when these also are made parts of the Common heap, when our holy and beautiful houses, where our fathers praised him, are burnt with fire Is. 64. 12▪ , 'tis a sad Testimonial that our very Religion was provoking, that the pageantlike piety that we deposited in our Churches only to make a show with on holidays, served only to defile those holy places, and render them so polluted, as required no slighter purgation than that of fire: Of our comely hospitals, stately halls and palaces, nothing remaining, but a strange mass and Labyrinth of naked steeples, useless Chymnies, fragments of Ragged walls, amid heaps of stones and Rubbish. In stead of sweet smells a stink; burning for well set houses, ashes for Beauty, a spirit of Heaviness for the garment of praise. Yet while most were only amazed and Terrified, others in stead of letting go, increased their sins under the judgement; using it as a Happy opportunity to steal, while the judge himself before their faces was doing Execution, and were glad of Satan's Commission to carry away their neighbours goods, while the fire of God was falling upon them, Job 1. 16. 17. and entered into the Houses of his people to lay hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. Obad. 13. Their designs of advantages took all thoughts off their own turning; employing them to gather up the relics of others ruins; the spoils of a common wreck to increase or Repair the breaches of their own fortune; so they esteemed it not as a judgement, but kindness of Heaven, to advance their own private interest; and interpnted those loud calls to repentance, invitations to eat, drink, and be merry; because they had more goods laid up for them. And others turned not to him that smote, because they saw an advantage arising from the blow, for they said in the pride and stoutness of their hearts, the bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn ston, the Sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars; Is. 9. 9, 10. and not a few, in requital to God for their preservation, evil entreated, yea raised themselves on those whom God had cast down; By their mercyless cruelty adding affliction to the afflicted; by their rigorous exaction of rates for carriages, houses, provision, and withholding contribution from them to whom it was given, beyond the laws of reason, equity, conscience, or common humanity: By shutting up their bowels against those whom God had stripped naked, they took away the sheaf from the hungry, and caused the naked to lie without clothing, that they had no covering in the could: so that men groaned from out of the City, and the soul of the needy cried out, yet they think God layeth it not to their charge. And those compassions which the novelty at first gave us to sufferers in this kind, seems now quiter extinct; so unconcerned are we grown to every thing that touches us not in our individuals, as if we owned no relation to the species of man-kind, though backed also with that closer tie which the spiritual consanguinity hath superadded. Those that escaped, had an equal share in the procuring cause of the judgement; their great Insensibleness of what others groan under, is not only a dangerous symptom, but a probable means of drawing the like calamity on ourselves; when God sees we will suffer nothing by way of consent and sympathy, 'tis but equal we have our part in a more direct and immediate infliction; and feel what we would not compassionate. How few eye the primary efficient, meritorious cause, or mortify the main incendiary; but throw the desert off themselves, on other persons, or such a party, whom they would punish, if in Gods stead; as if they must needs displease him, which doth themselves: so tossing the guilt from one another, it remains among us all; none amending himself, while he expects it only from those, for whose sake we say, this evil is come upon us. What industry so ever hath been used to entitle the negligence or designs of men unto our overthrow; yet sure, never any judgement had more Legible marks of Gods immediate hand; such as show he meant to revenge the abuse of his former gentle methods; that those who would not be reformed by smaller corrections, might find a judgement worthy of God. By how much the more there is not an apparent author of so vast a ruin, by so much the more evident is the power of his Almighty arm. Its raging fi●rceness, quick dispatch( a parish for every hour) spoils, destructiveness, duration, time( when few friends at home, and many enemies abroad) day, and place it began, dryness of the season, standing and increase of the wind, irresistableness even against it, and all other oppositions, unexpected stop, infatuation of the people, &c. are so many dreadful remarkable evidences of divine wrath. Quis talia fando temperet àlachrymis. To what purpose do we rail against obscure authors of our destruction, since our sins have spread abroad the flames, and added nourishment to their furious heat? although extravagant suspicion make not many of us guilty, yet if we confess the truth, all had a hand therein, and we but act against ourselves, by complaining of what we deserved. Oh! England, thou long since owed this Burnt sacrifice to Heaven: nor are thy crimes yet expiated; unless by good actions thou cancel former pretermissions, in vain thou hopest incensed anger is appeased. One would have thought our hive being burnt, By the fire in our Harbour. the Bees our Lusts should have been smothered in the smoke; but in stead of that, they fly Humming about our streets in far more numerous swarms than ever. We stumble at the old ston; burn our fingers in the former Flames; Run into the Pest-bouses where we Catched our first plague sore; fall a stealing when the branding-Iron newly taken from our Hands: to Forgeries, so soon as Come down from the pillory. Our seeming sorrows of Repentance restrain not future viciousness; but we defile ourselves with disclaimed Impurity; we lick up that we had disgorged; soil our skin in the old puddle; with the Dog return to the vomit, and with the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the Mire; we come cankered Mettle out of the furnace, and Leprous out of Jordan. This judgement being defeated; he then Reaches the Rod out of his own hand, into our Enemies. Such an infatuation falling on our Senators, as they neglected those Counsels, obvious to the commonest person. His Providence as well as our carelessness, lets loose that belgic Lion upon us, to enter into our very entrails, and burn our strength in our own harbour; Exposing our Houses to be made our Shambles or Prisons: pulling down those Brazen walls that for more than a hundred year rendered us terrible and impregnable to all nations round about us: which judgement, if mercy to a miracle prevent not, is like to prove but a prologue to a more fatal Tragedy. Thus ready to be straitned in all our Interests; scarce possible for us to flee any way but to himself; Imprisoned in our native country, and environed round by Insulting foes, we were minded to surrender our lusts( which provoked him to make war upon us) and ourselves to him, that we might gain a Title to his Rescue and Deliverance. We called our Moseses to Improve their Interest; we let down our alms Basket of repentance, looked out at our prison grates, and cried, Lord remember the poor prisoners: He pitied, and took compassion &c. and as he passed by, dropped in an alms of mercy and deliverance. When we stood upon the brink of destruction, and ripe for ruin; when vengeance even knocked at our door, and the sword at our breast, he held his hand, offered violence to his own justice, and called upon us, Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die! He put us once more into the hands of our own counsel; set life and death, Blessing and Cursing before us, yet to choose and make our own fortune. We cannot have forgotten the fears, losses, mischiefs, o● our late war, especially that dread, consternation and shane we were affencted with, when our enemies did distress us in our very gates. But neither did we set our hearts to this also; no sooner was the present smart and sting of that judgement abated, but we began to cast up new Trenches of security; to fortify our old Lusts with thicker Rampants of a more Resolute impenitency; great Amazement, some Humiliation, but no amendment: we turn into a Temple, into a closet, into a Counsel Chamber, turn to device new platforms, but not from our evil ways. We soon forgot the promises made in the day of our distress: our Devotion abated with our fears; and our piety ceased with his Rod: God no sooner held his hand, but we held our tongue: He forbore plagueing, and we forbore praying; and greedily again sucked in the poison, we had only laid down while we were begging for our lives. We soon grow weary of our own rest, and make war upon our own peace, and become cruel to our own mercies. As if we were so enamoured of destruction, when prevented of it from our Enemies abroad, we( by duels and divisions) seek it from one another, and find or make Enemies at home: As if we thought public peace intolerable, that when it is cast upon us we are fain to take in private quarrels as our rescue from that dull quiet, and court the utmost mischiefs to avoid the oppression of the greatest happiness. That we might be prepared if attempted by others, we try and exercise the Acts of war( lest we forget them) on ourselves. We dread the reproach of vain Impotent men, yet confidently encounter the anger of the omnipotent God. Thus perversely do we countermine his purposes of kindness, and when he hath secured us, solicitously seek to be delivered from our safety; project new dangers, and dare his power with a yet harder task, the delivering us from our selves as well as our Enemies. Thus one Rod swallowed up another: And the Lord hath come with fire and with his Chariots like a whirlwind, to render his Anger with fury, and his rebuk with flames of Fire; for by fire and by the sword hath he pleaded with us, and the slain of the Lord have been many 〈…〉. 1●. ●●. . Nor hath he been silent by Extraordinary admonitions, Bl●zing Stars, and prodigies in nature, the usual Tokens and Comminations of his Anger, Trumpets and Instruments of judgement, Portenders, and Anticedents of mundane Catastrophes. He with whom it is free to do or forbear, usually thus shakes his Rod before he strikes a nation, threatens to try, and when iniquity abounds, by th●se fore-runners makes an out-cry to Alarum us by repentance to meet him;( so will avert the evil or provide it shall not be evil to us) who is marching on in fury after them; and that steps not out of his ordinary road, besides the order of nature, but for special ends and designs. To declare to the world they are insignificant, is to cast a veil upon the face of providence, to put out the eyes of most men living, and ●o raze the records of all past ages, and our own experience, who have seen and felt their doubtful effects. ( h) And although he hath not hitherto 〈…〉, 2●. Act. 〈…〉. sent famine amongst us, yet this calls as loud because so deserved though at present not inflicted. He gives us bread, that we may live to see ourselves miserable. Yea, there is much of famine in our very plenty; with our store of Corn, so great a national poverty if not occasioned by, accompanied with it; that he seems to have over-blest us with Abundance, and made us unhappy by his mercies; we want by having much, fullness of bread is our sin and punishment. Thus by all means manifesting himself, he hath not left himself without witness, but us without excuse, who resist all advertisements, and by kindnesses will not be courted into Amendment; we even provoke the day of the Lord, and insult over his vengeance, and offend notwithstanding, nay the more for such terrible judgments, as appall and strike us into terror and confusion: No nation was ever more signallized by Gods goodness, or its own perverseness. It being hard to determine, in which of these respects it is most eminent. But we still Affect prodigies, take a kind of wanton joy in defeating his designs; and as if we aspired to use miracles with him, have made our returns as unparralleld as his mercy: and would strive whether he should be first weary of smiting, or we of Sinning. We look up to heaven with as black Brows, and walk the Church with as Crooked feet as before. He that was filthy, is filthy still. What Adulterer hath yet unclaspt his hands with his courtesan? what drunkard hath drawn his lips from his intemperate cups? what proud person shifted himself from his fantastic garbs? what swearer latcht his tongue, or miser opened his coffer? what man given to appetite hath put a knife to his Throat? or scoffer ceased to blaspheme? such as observe us, cannot conclude we are so modest as to stick at saying the worst we can think, or suppress any thing as too ill to be acted or spoken. And if our noon-day sinners be so unreformed; could we search the blind corners, prie what the ancients do in the dark, and look through the hole of the wall, what strange chambers of imaginary, and creeping things, and fourfooted beasts, might be there discerned F. Z. 8. 7. &c. ; how many black-nighted birds appearing upon the walls? but what then is seen by the all-seeing eye? The Times, the face of things turn, there are several variations and changes in human affairs, but not in human actings, men are resolved upon their paths, constant in their extravagances; their necks are as Iron: They sweat and ride post in their ways, that an Angel with a naked sword in his hand can scarce make them give a check with the bridle; so degenerate we are, and habituated in vicious courses, that if Enoch again walked with God upon earth, he should scarce draw us to walk after him; was Noah to preach over his old notes, we would mock at him, rather than listen to him; not a man more would be saved, but leave him to ship himself and family only in the Ark: was Elijab to prophesy to this age, himself might be carried up in a fiery chariot, but leave Ahab and Azuriah to plagues and vengeance: were Christ once more to take flesh on him, he might sooner be lead again to be crucified, than crucify our unmortified lives: The most perverse Jews, obstinate Scribes and Pharisees, were never hardlier to be converted than we. 'vice goes strutting to and fro our streets in its gaudy bravery, while despised virtue hangs her drooping head; as if to make an open show of the spoils of goodness we led our lusts in triumph. We engross and set up a Monopoly of 'vice, and have made this land the Cut-purse Hall of the earth, the stews of the whole world; as if all Miscreants were here met as at a general rendezvous. How have the filthy streams and Channels of all nations round about us, emptied, and disgorged themselves in this common-shore of iniquity: we may here behold the old worlds oppression; the fullness of Bread and idleness of Sodom; the pride of Jerusalem; the drunkenness of Holland; the vanity of France; the uncleanness of Spain; the Iron yoke of Egypt; the furnace of Babylon, &c, The land is covered with filth, and a dunghill lies at each man's door. We are building up to such a prodigious height, the confused Babel of our own sin and guilt, that we seem to threaten heaven itself; as if we meant to make war upon God to invade his territories, to pull him off his Throne, and prescribe Laws to him for Agreement; our daring lusts bid battle to all the Artillery of the almighty, meet him in his Loudest thunder, and venture on destruction in its dreadfullest form; we love our sins, even when they threaten us ruin; and serve them assiduously, while they promise no other wages but utter overthrow. Oh! what balm is there in Gilead for this wound? what Jordan to cleanse this leprocy? what can we presage from execrable courses but a desperate end? what do our monstrous impieties, but foretell prodigious punishments? that sin will at last rap us in her fatal rope. If nothing but bearing fruit will save this figtree that cumbers the ground, it is in great hazard to be cut down, and this kingdom in the broad way, the high road to destruction. There may be threshing mountains, beating hills as chaff, shattering gates of brass, cutting asunder Bars of Iron, giving people as dust to the sword and as driven stubble to the Spear, turning, Cities into a Heap, and Eden into a wilderness, sweeping away the valiant men, and causing the carcases of the dead to fall as the dung, throwing down golden Candlesticks, and bringing a famine both of bread and of the word upon a Nation, that hath been full fed with the ordinances; for there is no reformation to preserve a falling Church, to rescue a perishing Kingdom. We have all reason to expect God should exert his power as eminently against us, as he hath done for us, unless perhaps that he sees that is not necessary for our ruin. For indeed let him but stand by, and not interpose his Omnipotence for us, he may trust us to be his Executioners, our vices having a natural, as well as moral efficacy to destroy us; and▪ we have cause to fear that's the reason of his seeming connivance, that he forbears to strike us, to give us up to those more fatal wounds, we inflict on ourselves. 'tis not our innocency that gives us impunity, but( more than probable) our incorrigibleness that God gives us over, with a Why should you be smitten any more? will not prostitute his judgements; but as the basest of Malefactors, leaves us to the basest of Executioners, and let our iniquities become our ruin: the severest purpose God can entertain towards us, and to avert it our most important concern. And oh! that we who have so perversely resisted all the designs of his love, would now try to defeat that of his anger, rob him of those intestine avengers within our own breasts; 1 Pet. 2. 11. which not only provoke, but execute his wrath, and make us more miserable than Hell itself could do without them. 'tis more than time for us to seek to escape from so formidable mischiefs; O let us not contract one minutes delay; let's cast ourselves at the feet of our offended God, and beg that he will please to think us worthy his own correction; that whatsoever we suffer from his hand, we may not( like Herod) be delivered up to the loathsome fortune of being devoured by our own putrification, but may fall into the hands of God, and not into the hands of men, at least, not of ourselves, who are more to be dreaded than all our other enemies. Now will I sing to my well beloved, a song By the parable of a Vineyard. of my beloved touching his Vineyard; Isa. 5. 1. &c. Mar. 12. 1. &c. [ my beloved planted a Vineyard in a very fruitful Hill] on which his paths dropped fatness. To secure it from invasion of foreign Enemies,[ he fenced it] with water. His Providence, and Protection encompassed about, and hemned it in, as a garden enclosed, appointing Salvation for walls and bulwarks. It's invincible strength put despair into the fainting Hearts of Forragin Monarchs, all their rage unable to bring: mischief upon it;[ he gathered out the stones thereof] throwing out the Heathen Psal. 4●. 2. Idolaters, or whatsoever might prove snares, stumbling blocks to annoy, or hinder its fertile prosperity; delivered it from Hellish cursed conspiracies of traitorous Papists,( men of bloody principles and practices, oh my soul, enter not thou into their secrets) and plucked it as a fire brand out of the fire. He[ planted it with the choicest Vine] richest means, and such excellent ones Psal. 16. 3. as he choose to be a special people unto him, above all upon the face of the earth, ( o) and out Deu. 7. 6. of his special love gave them Kings for their nursing Fathers, and a Queen their nursing-mother. Isa. 49. 23. To spy and see what returns it would make, and for its Beauty and Strength He[ built a Tower] erected his worship[ in the midst of it, Isa. 6. 27. Mich. 4. 8. giving such frequent, plain, awakening, vehement, alluring, passionate instructons, invitations, pleadings, admonitions, promises, threats, solicitations, expostulations,& warnings by his watchmen, that every one was ashamed not to own Religion, or pretend Ignorance of his duty, or despair of his reward, or to want obligations to bring forth much fruit. To distil the spiritual juice of grace which cheers God and man,[ He hewed out a winepress in it] making our plagues wonderful, and us a Theatre of his providences, mercies, judgements, and disquieting prodidies. His Heralds having worn and wearied themselves out of Breath, with crying, and displaying the Banner of Peace, he came himself in the fierceness of his wrath, with a flaming Sword in one hand, and a bosom of destruction in the other; and he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a Helmet of Salvation upon his head, the garment of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak Isa. 59. 17 : for he called for a domestic Enemy to be the Hammer wherewith he might break us, for a foreign nation to be the arrows of his quiver wherewith he might cleave us, for death to be his sith to mow us down like grass, for the fire to be his glittering Sword wherewith he might terrify and destroy us, plying us so close with his judgements that the Land itself mourned for her houses and inhabitants Ho. 4. 3. who did not for themselves. And after so much cost, pains, and means, I might well[ look that it should bring forth grapes;] for though none expect a Vintage from a wilderness, yet who plants a Vineyard and eats not of the fruit thereof? 1 Cor. 9. 7. or sows wheat and reaps only Tares? the earth gives seed to the sour, the Harvest-man gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arms, the mower filleth his hand, and he that bindeth up sheaves his bosom: Psa. 129. 7. And in the nobler cultures of the mind, men justly expect of their Pupils that their manners attest the discipline they have been under; His expectation from it could not but be very high, there being no place under the Sun whom he hath more signallized as his own immediate care, on whom the Divine economy hath more constantly, and even solicitously attended in all the variety of seasonable and powerful applications; but such a strange unhappy propriety there was in the soil, that after all this culture, it produced nothing but[ wild grapes;] answered all his care and kindness in husbanding it, with an ungodly prodigious wickedness. The plentiful Showers, and Sun-beams of his blessing, drew from them the more filthy stenchful lusts, and noisome vapours of their corrupt lives. The sweet dews of Hermon, made the Hill of Sion fruitful only in unfruitful works: whether God strike or stroke, the obstinate grow more rebellious by correcting, and untoward by indulgence; they harden under the shine of his mercies, and hammering of his judgements; any wind will serve his turn that's sailing to the Land of darkness.[ And now Oh inhabitants of London and men of England] I summon you into the Court of Conscience, and arraign and pled against you, like a wronged plaintiff at your own Bar. I empanel no Jury, but your own consciences, nor condemn you by any other verdict, but that out of your own mouths: Judge I pray you between me and my vineyard, to evince the equity of my proceedings; I refer the controversy to any rational mans decision; I appeal to your own Testimony; be yourselves Judges in your own case; tell me what yourselves would do, if so served as I have been, or[ what could have been done more for my Vineyard that I have not done:] Indeed God can do more ●●●n he doth or will do; he is not bound to 〈…〉 he can, and if he did, he could not 〈…〉, but doth all in number weight a 〈…〉 re, as pleases him, and seems most agr 〈…〉 to that infinite eternal wisdom that gove 〈…〉 nd regulates all his Actions. He can overturn the order of nature, enlighten the world without a Sun, and command corn to spring forth of the earth for the use of man, without ploughing, sowing, Sun, or showers, with as much ease as he upholds second causes in an ability to produce those effects; but he ordinarily will n●t; the established order of nature, is the orb wherein his power moves. He hath chosen and pitched on this way of governing and maintaining the world by the ministry and Agency of second causes, without which he seldom works, even miracles to give an alloy to mere and pure omnipotency; Exod. 10. 3. Mar. 8. 23. he carries on his work in a way of wisdom, tempers his omnipotency according to the nature and necessities of man; puts forth so much of an omnipotent power, as serves to bring about his own ends, and uses it in such a manner& not ordinarily to over-power his creature by irresistible force, nor show any more of his omnipotency than the condition of man-kind requires. He had done all for it that he could suitable to the Law of human nature, wherein he hath established such a liberty of will, as is steered by the compass of reason, managed by the force of moral Arguments and inducements; not hailing in chains of violence, or draging forcibly as slaves, but drawing by the Bands of a man, and cords of Love, he works in such a manner as is fit for reasonable souls, by overpowering our Judgements with such clear convictions of the beauty, excellency, and necessity of Divine things, as may in a manner sweetly and gently ravish our wills into the embraces of them; not by any force of coercion, but of persuasion and conviction, and by the same principles in man that the devil did with his first temptation, self-love, and self-interest, a desire of preferment and bettering our condition. Gen. 3. 5. &c. The grace of God was never intended to supersede but encourage mens endeavours; so that if we be not saved we may thank ourselves; 'tis not because he doth not vouchsafe us a sufficiency of grace for that end, but because we abuse the liberty of our wills in hardening ourselves against that grace that is tendered to us; bolting and fortifying our Hearts,& making them impregnable against all his assaults. He that shows a man that precipice upon whose brink he stands, that entreats, importunes, nay, bribes him with the greatest rewards, to retire from danger, and choose safety, hath done all that can be expected from a friend, or charitable man●; and if after all, the wretched person so advised shall cast himself headlong upon ruin, no inquest surely would return his murder in any other form than Felo-de-se. He had done so much for them as were proper, and abundantly sufficient to have wrought repentance in the most obstinate; but yet success and efficacy answered not the sufficiency and probability of the means. Now hear O House of England, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Ezek. 1●. 25. Have not I wooed thee with tears of love? wrestled by my Ambassadors? trained thee up in the school of my providences? sent thee to it with a rod at thy back, a Garland over thy Head; using there all means to learn thee righteousness; trying smiles and frowns, courting with all the Arguments drawn from the topics of promises, and threatenings, judgements, and mercies; waiting with unwearied patience; all the day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a rebellious and gainsaying people Rom: 10. 21. And if the day be not long enough, I have stood till my head hath been filled with due, and my Locks with the drops of the night. Can. 5. 2. How many plasters have been laid upon our sores, yet the Ulcer as bad as ever? How many Ministers Heart-strings have been broken, and sent into their graves with our impenitency, to afflict their dying spirits? We weary God with expectation; the eye of Heaven aches to see this nation humbled. We hear many clocks strike, yet do not believe that the hour is yet come that we should fall to our work. All the Watchmen upon the walls cannot give us warning. All the clouds of Heaven gathered together, cannot water our dry consciences. All the Hammers of the Temple striking in their order, cannot break our stony-Hearts. The whole college of Physicians cannot cure us: myriad of Preachers, that have been in this Nation have not been able yet to convert us. We come away dry from the purest springs; poor from the richest Mines, unregenerate from the most soul saving Fathers. If the presence of one Minister contemned will make men one day know and feel that there hath been a Prophet among them; Ezek. 2. 5. what a judgement doth this Nation ly under, for vilifyand nullifying so many seraphical Sermons. Whole Nineveh turn penitent by one Jonab, and the cry of one days journey, but the zeal of many Teachers, and Gods patience for many years, leave us impenitent.[ And now go too, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard] seeing it hath defeated all my attempts of mercy, vanquished all the stratagems of my love, frustrated all my expectations,[ I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up,& I will break down the walls thereof,& it shall be trodden down,] and destroyed by Hostile invasion; for I will leave off to help, succour, and defend it, and lay it open to the rage, and fury of its enemies; so that all that pass by the way shall pluck it, the boar out of the wood shall wast it, and the wild beast of the field devour it Ps. 30. 13. :[ And I will lay it wast] turning it from a Vineyard into a desert, without any inhabitants:[ It shall not be pruned, nor digged,] seeing my former husbanding it was but lost labour, and cost cast away, I will hold my Hand; and[ there shall come up briars and thorns;] It shall be overgrown with Idolatry, superstition, errors, abominations, and such noxious weeds. Its very root also shall whither; it shall be no more comforted and refreshed by my Ministers, whose Doctrine used to drop and distil on it as the due; for[ I will command the Clouds that they rain no more upon it:] Howl for her, take Balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed; we would have healed her, but she is not healed; Forsake her, and let us go every one to his own place, for her judgement reacheth unto Heaven, and is lifted up even unto the skies: ye. 51. 8. ●. Gods promise of cohabiting and residence is limited to those who own themselves his people; therefore, when so many of us have openly renounced that relation we cannot justly expect the blessing appendent to it, that he should longer reside among those, who so avowedly disclaim him. And though this seem to some no formidable thing; God's withdrawing himself, is but agreeable to their wishes, a kind of quitting the field to them, and so rather matter of complacency than regret; but there's another presence of God that will infallibly succeed this: When he removes that of his grace, 'tis to make way for that of his anger, and we shall know the God of Israel is among us by his plagues; 1 Sam. 5. And like the damned in Hell, discern his presence only in the punitive effects of it, and red his nearness in our sufferings. And those that have most despised or loathed the soft breathings of his word and spirit, shall find it yet harder to endure the whirlwinds of his wrath, which will snatch from us those secular advantages, for whose pursuit we have neglected the better part; Lu. 10. 42. And leave us as little of worldly enjoyments, as we desired to have of spiritual.[ For the Vineyard of the Lord of Host, is the house of England, and the men of London his pleasant plant. And he looked for judgement, but behold oppression, for righteousness, but behold a cry] nothing but fraud, and force; pinching, and biting; supplanting, and circumventing; prosecuting, and persecuting; glozing, and varnishing; suffisticating, and adulterating; lengthening, and spinning out suits and quarrels; dreadful decrees in the Court of Conscience, and horrid orders in the Courts of Justice; as if oppression and tyranny were a trade, and the Poets Iron-age, a type of ours. O where shall the wronged seek for relief, or the innocent find a bar of Justice? 'twould perplex one to think how many writs are fil'd, records entred, bills preferred, Judgments and executions passed; how many regiments there are of Serjeants, and bailiffs, how many brigades of attorneys, and counsels in this little Kingdom? were not violence predominant, what need there be called in so many necessary Agents to restrain it? were not the house ruinous, what need of so many Masterworkmen to repair it? O! when will the whip depart out of the Kingdom? when will the wild beasts teeth fall out of their heads? when will the hammers leave beating? when will the millstones leave grinding? when will repentance so reduce us to equity, that there need neither tribunal to rectify injuries, nor Pulpit to touch consciences for extortion? How can a man desire God to remove Judgements, when he removes Land-marks? or to cast away his rod, when himself chastises with Scorpions? or to have a taste of free mercy, when he eats the bread of others without money? shall he repent with his Bears teeth in his head? or his Lions skin upon his back? 'tis in vain to sigh for compassion, where the sighs of the poor cry for vengeance; or think to pacify God, till he hath pacified the world; or to look up to Heaven for pardon, till cured of his blood-shotten eyes, or to strike his hands for mercy, till he hath quit them of violence. 'tis much men can take their nights rest, for they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge; Mic. 2. 8. or joy in their dwellings, for their stones are hewn out of a rough quarry; their houses are built by unrighteousness, and their chambers by wrong; Je●. 22. 13 or that they can walk the streets, the cries of the oppressed are so shrill against them, that they can eat their meat, when they find so much strange flesh in the cauldron, or comfortably enjoy enjoy their estates, when they know by what an Ahab's evidence they hold the Vineyard; that they can make their wills, when they feel on their death-beds, they are but to give away ill gotten goods for legacies. O how many seek places to suck the veins of the people? buy Offices, to shark upon the Nation? Turn Informers, Promoters, waiters, searchers, not to discover, but to distil; not to punish, but to prey upon errors? so many wild beasts, and ravenous Serpents rang, that one would think this Land were the forest of tigers, and dragons: Men enjoying preys with as much inward satisfaction as birthrights, and possessing rifles with as quiet a conscience as just earnings. Digging of pits, taking up all with the angle, swallowing people alive as the grave, enjoying fruit without money; breaking the arms of the Fatherless, afflicting. Gods heritage. Aegypts Iron furnace is even amongst us. How many roaring lions, and Wolves of the evening, devouring with such fury, that they leave not the bones till the morrow? Some with Felix gripping for bribes; others with Naash require mens right eyes to condescend to a peace; some with Jezabell's Judges pronouncing sentence of death upon a framed information; others running greedily after the error of Balam for reward: Should men demand according to Gods Law Ex. 21. 24. hand for hand, what a dismembered Nation would there be? how many houses and estates are built with crying stones? Cemented with bloody mortar? Grounselled with damages? Roofed with detriments? plastered with the brains of widdows? Hung with the skins of Orphans? that keep a shambles of butchers meat,& have their cauldrons boiling with the limbs and quarters of the poor, chopped in pieces with their cleavers? people generally will scarce take notice of their cruelty, or feel their rough hands, much less take away the crimes, or turn from the violence of their hands: Instead of emptying their houses of preys, cleansing their estates from injustice, and casting away their illgotten goods over their neighbours thresholds, they will finger more, snatch at the rest, and make a perfect rifle of the remainder. Do you thus requited the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee, and divided thee thine inheritance? Remember the daies of old, concerning the years of many generations: Ask thy elders, and they shall tell thee what deliverances he hath wrought for thee; and how he kept thee as the apple of his eye; and was thy rock and mighty deliverer, when the Sea overwhelmed thy enemies; Heaven even bowed down unto thee, and under its protection thou wentest as under a canopy of State; He made thee to ride on the high places of the earth, that thou mightest eat the increase of the field; the fat of lambs, and of the kidneys of wheat, and of a land flowing with milk and honey; and thou didst eat the pure blood of the grape. Deu. 32. 6. &c. Psa. 78. 53. But thou forsookst God that made thee, and lightly esteemedst the rock of thy salvation. Oh unkind people! were it a nation I had not been acquainted with, had it been an enemy, I could have born the affronts you put upon me, but, what you my familiar? what thou my son? is this thy kindness to thy friend? hast thou no bowels to spurn against, but his that yearns in compassion; no breasts to shoot at but his that burns in affection towards thee? Art thou resolved to make God to serve with thy sins? His providence to be a purveyer to thy Lusts? a Chamber-maid to thy pride? a Cupbearer to thy intemperance? a Groom to thy luxurious desires? and divine patience to Lacque it, to run still at thy heels? to be a sinning stock, a pack horse for impenitent souls: loading, and forcing him to cry out, Ah! I will ease me of mine adversaries? will you extract the rankest poison from the most sovereign cordial? and kindle hell out of a spark of heaven? will you nurse the brats of your lusts, at the breasts of divine bounty? while he is smiling upon you, spit in his face? and be sticking daggers in his heart, while opened to let you in? do you spend the time of your reprieve, in plotting treason against your sovereign, in forging weapons against him, who stands beckoning to you at the gate of his promises? why throw you the plaster the physician offers, in his face? and fling out of the arms of mercy? scorning, trampling her invitations under foot, that sets out, pursues, and overtakes you, spreads all her treasures at your feet, and on her knees entreats you to return and live? do you nauseate your present state? and desire a change? are you satiated with comforts? and sick of happiness? do you loathe mannah, and grow weary of your welfare? have you dwelled so long in Canaan, that you know not the worth of a land of promise? do you all you can to grieve providence? and to exasperate a blessing God, to make gaps in your own hedge? to pluck down the sticks of your own nest? to drive him away from watching over you? and force him that hath thus long dwelled among you, to turn his back upon you, and to leave your cost with distaste and displeasure? and invite in, the destroyer? Is this the way to preserve blessings, or to wast them? and to compel those mercies to forsake you, that you would be glad with wringing hands, to recall and regain? wretches, I might have shut you up in the dungeon of desperation, with the silly heathens groping in darkness, without the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes unto me, but by him, neither is their salvation in any other Joh. 14. 6. Act. 4. 12. 1 Tim. 2. 5. : How be it I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; so famous that you might well question whether you had Angells, or men to preach unto you, and more truly say, than the people of Lystra, that God was come down unto you in the likeness of men: Here one speaks like an orator, there another like a Logician; Here one by rhetoric endeavours to charm and persuade, there another, by reason to convince; here one shows an Almighty arm to save, there another his hand to revenge; here one comes with tears and terrors, there another with tokens of love and kindness; here one offers an ark to such as desire salvation, there another rains down floods of curses upon refusers of it: These lights spend their own oil to light you to Heaven; and like silk-wormes spin out their own bowels to cloath you with the garment of Righteousness; and lo they are unto you, but as a very lovely song, of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for you hear my words, but you will not do them: You were still talking against them by the walls, and in the doors of the Houses; and spake one to another saying, come I pray you and hear, what will this babbler say? you were readier to lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate Is. 29. 21 than to doubt of any snare coming upon yourselves. Princes writ such crimes, as contempt and abuse of their ambassadors, in the blood of the guilty, unless where an arm of power is wanting to wield the sword of justice, because it reflects on him that sends them Lu. 10. ; Jerusalem stoned the prophets so long, till she had not one ston left upon another; they mocked the messengers of God, and misused his prophets, till there was no remedy; and when this cometh to pass,( lo it will come) then shall you know that a prophet hath been among you Ex. 33. 30, &c. : wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the Towns of England, and in the streets of London, and they are wasted and desolate as at this day: for I sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt; your young men have I slain with the sword; I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as firebrands plucked out the burning, yet have you not returned unto me saith the Lord; Am. 4. 10 11. you make a mock at Heaven, and slight, and contemn that power that strikes you, by continuing in sin under judgement; and put the greatest affront and indignity upon God, and all his attributes: carrying his Judgments in triumph, and hauling them at the chariot-wheels of your Impenitency; you proclaim to all the world, you have conquered the Lord of Host, defeated his power, vanquished his vengeance, stood out the siege and shock of his omnipotent fury, daring Heaven to do its worst upon you, and charge thorough whole squadrons and troops of divine threatenings and Judgments; telling him you are resolved to shelter his enemy, to interpose your own breasts as shields between his sword and your lusts, and to make your houses and hearts their sanctuary and refuge, manger all his revenges? O desperate souls! do you provoke the Lord to jealousy? are you stronger than he? do you fling down the gauntlet to omnipotency? and challenge him into the field, that can easily vindicate himself in your confusion? against whom no rebellion can be longer prosperous than he willingly permits? Come sinner, gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee in Gods name, and answer thou me Job. 38. 3 : Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds? or hast thou an arm as long as Gods? art thou able to wrest the sword out of his hands? and make infinite vengeance fly before thee? canst thou stand the shock of his fury, and bandy back his thunder-bolts? and encounter the violent torrent of his indignation? O prodigious folly! to contend with one that can look thee into atoms, beckon thee into ruin, wink thee into nothing, point thee into destruction, and kill thee with a single frown. Tis your sins have made havoc of the church and state. The security and Licentiousness of your prosperous dayes, made the first breach in your walls; and now your impenitency, profaneness, incorrigibleness, cry, down with them, down with them even to the ground. Will you be so cruel to yourselves, as by your persevering Impieties to smite and destroy those feeble and faint remaines of your former Felicities? and not only curse, but destroy your common mother and native country, to abet and maintain those troops that defy and invade them? O! why should you not at last recall your exiled piety, and assume a holy and becoming indignation against those your cruel and implacable enemies? Know you not that England is destroyed? Are not your estates wasted? your splendour eclipsed? your families broken and scattered? your dignities trampled on? And is it not time to dismiss the author of all, your sins? which are also not your slaves, but task-masters, that set you to the most servile, vilest drudgery; and are so far from bringing you in profit, Ro. 6. 21. that the only account, you can bring in of your harvest, is but the inventory of your miseries? many houses and temples they have laid wast and demollisht, but you have no structures of theirs to show, but a babel of confusion. Would you yet fain feel the weight of an Almighty arm? and force him to pour forth judgement without mercy? may it not suffice to have sinned away your plenty? and so many thousand souls, and such a city into their graves? no sooner is one plague removed, but do you lay hands upon Heaven, by the mighty cart-ropes of your iniquities, to pull another down on your own head? Must you yet stir up a consuming fire? have you not drunk deep enough already? do you long to see the bowl going round again? and to kindle the oil of mercy, and the heat of wronged love into everlasting flames? Are you resolved to try what Omnipotency can bring upon you, how far divine vengeance will pursue you, how low it is to the bottom of misery? what! call you for more plagues, and direful curses? do you cry out for the sharp scourge to sting your backs? and the cup of astonishment to be thrust to your lips? that the line of confusion might be drawn over all your cities? and the stones of emptiness might be found in your streets? that you might be made as Admah, and set as Zeboim? that head and tail branch and rush might be cut off in one day? that there might be none but wild beasts in stead of living men to inhabit them? a possession for the bittern, screech-owle, Zijms, and Sijns? that you might be smitt till none remain? that your land might be blotted out from under Heaven? that not a Town, palace, or ruin of a porch, might be seen? but breeding of saltpits, nettles, and a perpetual desolation? that your city might be made a heap, a burying place, a dunghill, a shambles? that the day of our slaughter and dispersions might be accomplished? Ah sinners! are these your bloody designs, and endeavours? the Kingdom might stand long enough, if you weaken not its foundations: If it fall, we know whose hands to charge for pulling it down; not the hands of justioe, but of your own Transgressions: 'tis they that plot treachery, and combine to work your ruin; that open your gates; that call in Judgments to slaughter on the right hand and on the left; yea so enrage them, that they will not leave wasting, till made you utterly desolate. O England, thou hast destroyed thyself; methinks I see you bringing fasting-days to dig down your own walls, springing mines to blow up your own houses, kindling sparks that will set all in a flamme, barring up your Havens, unrigging your ships, building block-houses against yourselves: Therefore now, thus saith the Lord, wherefore commit you this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling out of England, to leave you none to remain; in that you provoke me to wrath with the works of your hands; that you might cut yourselves off,& that you might be a curse,& a reproach among all the nations of the earth ye. 44. 7. ● . And yet, as if he only spake big words,& all his threatenings were but mere bravadoes of Heaven; you slight& contemn both his golden sceptre, and his Iron rod: you laugh at the shaking of his spear,& account his darts as stubble; you mock at fear,& at the alarum of war cry, ha, ha Job, ●9. 25. . What, will you not turn to that great sovereign, who hath invited you by more than six score thousand warnings, which cannot discern between pity and forgiveness, and also much forbearance? were ever people so prodigiously besotted, as to think God will see himself thus infinitely provoked? out-brav'd and defeated by a handful of dust and confronted by a skin-full of wormsmeat? As I live saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner, much less of a people; Wherefore turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die? 12: 18. 31& 33. 11 Can you tell why or wherefore? what people ever perrished being innocent, or where were a righteous nation cut off? or who hath hardened himself against him and prospered? But go ye now unto my place which is in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the iniquity of my people Israel ye. 7. 12. . When Pharaohs throne confronted Heaven, saying, who is the Lord? God clothes him with darkness, to convince him of his blindness; turns his waters into blood, to mind him of his oppression; pours in armies of vermin to mock his numbers, death to destroy them; and when he still drives on furiously in his sins, takes of the chariot wheels, and stops both them and him together. Belshazar while securely carouzing between the cup and the lip is surprised with a hand on the wall, that shook him and his kingdom into a convulsion. nabuchadnezzar while boasting of the babel he had built, by the greatness of his power, and for the Honour of his majesty, is forced to lay down that and his humanity together, sent to graze in the field amongst beasts, and condemned for derogating from the power of Heaven, to have too much of its influence; To speak of more the time would fail; and will you dance upon the brink of ruin? and rock yourselves asleep in the cradle of security, while the hasty tide of divine vengeance is flowing towards you? Ask Athens, Sparta, Babylon, Nineveh, Carthage, Sodom, Gomorah, jericho, Corinth, Galathia, Philippi, Ephesus, Smyrna, Nice, Laodicea, Antioch, Constantinople, Tyre. Yea all the Eastern and African Churches( who have no other defence, but paper walls, to keep their memories, and are set up, as night-lights to warn all, of those rocks and Quick-sands that ruined and destroyed them) whether sin doth not ring your funeral knell in their ruins; you may find enough treasure there, if well employed, to redeem you out of present hazard, and future miseries. Oh the tender mercy's of our God! should he take our first refusal, and writ every breach of his law in the blood of his subjects; should we bear no more from him upon our refusing his first call; and go away when we thrust him away, who then could be saved? but he pittys our weakness, over looks our infirmities, provides for our necessities, encourages our frail endeavours, accepts of our sincerity, and remembers we are but dust. He doth not examine by scourging Act. 22. 24. , nor( as Zedekiah did Micaiah) strike, and speak after. He lies not at catch to trepan us into ruin; nor suddenly stirs up all his wrath; or immediately hurries from sentence to execution; he tries, many hours Belshazzar, Da. 5. 30. and the Rich fool Luk. 12. 20. forty; days the men of Nineveh: three years the fruitless figtree; forty years Jerusalem, and the people of Israel; a hundred and twenty the old world; four hundred the Amorites: And though we can pluck down 20 houses in less time than we can build one, God was but 6 days in making the world, and yet seven in destroying one city; longer in razeing the walls of jericho, than in raising the fabric of heaven and earth. He stoops to court the sinner to his own happiness; rifles the creation for arguments; and wrestles with him only that he would accept a blessing; gives us good examples, burning and shining lights; that he may thereby discover our deformity, and kindle our devotion; overthrows them on whom the Tower of Siloam fell, that being dead, may yet speak in its ruins; mingles others blood with their sacrifices, that by a coal from their Altar, we may purge away our iniquities, or copy out our ruin; gives us the fatness of the earth, that we may purchase the due of Heaven; the upper and nether springs to quench our thirst, to mind us of the Fountain of living water; sends Nineveh a Preacher to forewarn them of their destruction, furnished not only with arguments from their condition, but an experiment of his own, able to convince them, both by the vengeance he denounced, and the punishment he had suffered: forbore the old world all the while the ark was preparing, which had they well considered the design of it, though it saved but eight, might have preserved them all. He hangs out articles of agreement, before his black ensigns of death: warns, and whets his sword Is. 26. 21. , before he smite; and lays the axe at the root of the three, ere he take it into his hand, to hue down, and cast into the fire. Even the last day's tempest, is conspicuous in the black cloud of the threatening. If he use martiall Law, and hasten on to final execution, he steps out of the common road of justice; when he executes that, is said to come out of his place, Is. 26. 21. , puts himself out of his usual posture, and forsakes his center as't were, when he rises out of his mercy seat, to punish the inhabitants of the earth. His mercy is over all his works, he prefers it, and gives it a place above them; and exercises it, though with some present disadvantage to his glory; the world suspects his being, the saints quarrel with his justice, and question his love ps. 7●. : When Jonah had done his errand, free-grace seemingly made him a liar Jo●. 4. 2. . Judgements are the reserve, which he will not have fall on, till mercy is defeated, as all other means prove unsuccessful, to revenge the quarrel of his abused darling attribute. He admonishes chides, expostulates, threatens. How many pauses doth he make, ere he take the rod in hand, and sand us to his house of correction, and then, how leisurely doth he lift it up; he will not lash, not lay it on, if shaking it over us will amend and bring us on our knees: nor punish till there be no remedy. How many warning-peices doth he shoot against us, ere he shoot oft his murder ing-peice? Justice goes a foot's place gen. 18. 21. ; mercy hath wings ps. 57. 1. ; he waits that he may be gracious: instead of bringing in an extinguisher, he lights up a candle ps. 18. 28. . In encountering a rebellious people, he sends forth smaller partys of Judgments, to prevent a more solemn ruin; if they be vanquished, he rallies into battle array a whole army of Judgments to root out and destroy Lev. 25 . He would fain have us reform, not at so dear a rate; chaps, prunes, lops, before he lay the axe to the root of the three: Lighter evils are sent before, that if they dispatch their errand, their whole army yet behind, may be disbanded or turned another way. Would words work us to his will, he'd spare his blows; would lancing heal the wound, he'd not chop of the head. He threatens, that he may not punish; afflicts, that he may not destroy; and when determined to cut off a people, he knows not how to sign the warrant for execution, while mercy stands up pleading their cause. It fetches tears from his eyes, to give way to justice, before he shed the blood of his enemies Ho. 11. 8. Lu. 19. 41. : He doth but shake the candlestick, to settle it; his hand trembles, when he must remove; and when he sees we will not be ordered, he breaks out into a deep sigh, with an, O that my people would have hearkned unto me, and Israel walked in my ways, &c. Ps. 81. 13 &c. . No nation is the root that bears mercy, but 'tis that bears up all human conditions, which hangs like a ball in the air, supported by infinite kindness. It is the great miracle we are preserved, not that we are in distress, being so apt to danger that we are crushed before the moth, so worthless, that we perish by multitudes, without any regarding it; so guilty, that all creatures in heaven and earth give their applause to divine Judgments upon us; which are unwilling to proceed, till the stones cry out of the wall, and the beams out of the timber answer it Hab. 2. 11. : till the most insensible things, are ready to join with, and even provoke them up. Indeed, 'tis inconsistent with those methods and contrivances he sets on foot for making us happy, to circumvent his creatures, with ambushes of unwarned judgments; or execute his revenge, by sly unexpected stratagems. He makes not the sword the judge, but first weighs things in the balance; and ever lays judgement to the line, before he draws the line of confusion. But, though God be long suffering, he doth not tell us how long: Though infinite mercy will not be conquered, nor endless goodness admit of bounds, and mercy rejoices against judgement Ja. 2. 13. ; yet he doth not forget, though he stay long: and the longer he forbears the interest, the greater sum, the principal of his vengeance will amount to. He is Just, as well as gracious: his truth obliges him to make good his threatenings against an unreforming people, and not to alter the word that is gone out of his lips. Sin may cry so loud, as to fetch him down with a vengeance Ge. 18. 20 &c. ; and be so importunate, as it seems to say to the just judge, aveng thee of thine adversary; I will not leave, not let thee go, until thou hast punished this people, and quenched the fire of sin, with a shower of blood. For, so states are dashed in pieces like a potters vessel, and kingdoms translated from one people to another. Whosoever harbours sin, is still unfortunate. A land spew's out its polluted inhabitants, when they have filled up the measure of their sins: put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe, come get you down, for the press is full, the fats over-flow, for their wickedness is great Ge. 15. 16 I●●. 1●. ●●. J●r. ●1. 13. 〈…〉. 12. Z 〈…〉. 17. 〈◇〉. ●z. ●1. 2●. 〈…〉. . Lo, he hath come year after year, with patience seeking fruit; but found none, yet while the axe of his justice was at cutting down such cumberers of the ground, mercy interposed, Lord let it alone this year also. And when his hand hath been stretched out to strike, his dear children clunge about, ketched hold, and would not let him go; so that he could not sling them off, till weary of repenting. Now after his yearly drawing nearer and nearer, to bewail our sin and forewarn our ruin, my heart trembles, lest I behold him in a relenting posture of human despair, and like one with blubbered eyes, smiting his breast, tearing his garments, standing in funeral weeds, over his languishing, dying patient; with whom no means are left unattempted, but now finding her marked with the tokens of stupidity and death, giving her over for lost) to take his final solemn farewell, expressing his sad Resentment, and compassionate relenting thoughts, weeping out the fatal period of an obstinate, incorrigible, self destroying people, saying, O my people! what have I done unto you, wherein have I wearied you? what fault can you find with me? testify against me. Have I been a barren wilderness, or a land of darkness unto you? of dread, or of the shadow of death? what iniquity have you found in me, that you are gone far from me? How often would I have gathered thy children as a hen gathers, her brood under her wings, and you would not 〈…〉. 1●. 34 . O[ if thou] that art the wonder of the world, the holy and honourable nation, the delight of Heaven, the desire of the whole earth[ even thou] that hast on thee such peculiar obligations, for whom I have had so much kindness, to whom I have sent so many Messengers, for whose sake I have rebuked so many people, of whom I have taken so much care, to whom I have preached so may I sermons, among whom I have wrought so many wonders, from whom I have received so many affronts and injuries, with whom I have been at so much cost and pains, and so long gone about doing thee good, teaching thee by my word, loading thee with my benefits;( at least in this thy day) and happy season, while the treaty of peace, and offers of mercy are yet on foot, while the silver trumpets of Heaven and watch-men of Israel, rack and stretch their voices with rueful eulogies, so passionate, as might wring a stream of tears, from an heart of Iron. Even after thy so rudely treating my former messengers, killing so many prophets, openly, scornfully rejecting me their Lord, I yet made a pause, stood still, knocked, called, looked back; thought I, well, I'll stay a little longer, peradventure this sleeping church may yet awake: O that there were such a heart in them, that it might be well with them; O that they would yet take up the controversy; that I might put up my sword into the scabbard, and my arrows into my quiver; run ye to and fro through the streets of London, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad paths of England if you can find a man ●● 5. 1. that taketh hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me. Will none pled for a reprieve? Will none interpose for pardon? Will none mediate for reconciliation? O my bowels, my bowels, must I lose my dear son? Must I leave off my pleasant child; what shall I do unto thee? Which way shall I heal thee? How shall I part with thee? What more can I do for thee? Is all in vain I have done to thee? will nothing prevail with thee? must I now quiter destroy thee? O London! what shall I do unto thee? O England! what shall I do unto thee? how shall I give thee up London? how shall I deliver thee England? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my Bowels are kindled together. O if at length thou[ hadst known the things that belong unto thy peace] and wisely improved the advantages, that might have settled thee on lasting foundations! But it's too late[ now they are hide from thine eyes] The glass of divine patience is run out. Thy rocky heart hath barred up the door of mercy; Ordinances, Providences, let her alone, to sleep on now. Though heaven thunder above, hell flamme beneath, Judgments roar round about, they shall but Lull her into a senseless slumber, till destruction wake her; for the day shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a Luk. 1●. 14. &c. Trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in, on every side; and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one ston upon another[ Because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation] ( r) Thou misimprovedst thy day of Grace and space of repentance. O Repentance! Thou joy of Angels, thou glory of man, thou Crown of nations, thou Clarifier of hearts, thou refiner of lives, thou great Almoner of the world, thou nurse of orphans, thou patron of all goodness. O Repentance! that art able to transnature, and translate a people, to purify them in life, and pacify them in death, and justify them at the Throne; that canst unlock the gates of heaven, put the triumphant palm in the hand,& set the Crown of immortal glory upon the head; that saved 8 persons in the flood, A family at the destruction of Sodom, a mighty nation at the slaughter in Egypt, a great City, when after a thousand years Triumphant state, she had but 40. days respite to repent or be destroyed; Nineveb had fallen, if thou hadst not supported it, and perished, if thou hadst not protected it; 'tis thou that wert her cure and covert, her shadow and shelter, her buttress and buckler, her breastplate and head-peice, her shield and custos, her target and propitiatory; 'tis thou that taughtest her the art& mystery how to prevent an eminent danger, to preserve her self at an exigence; that she stood still upon her old basis, when her grounsel was sliding and Cracking in pieces; That her fabric remained firm, when the whole structure was dropping down, and not one ston ready to be left upon another. O Repentance! how hast thou saved a flourishing City? kept every pillar unshaken, every limb unshivered, ratified their liberties, confirmed their immunities, renewed their charter, continued them proprietaries in all their fees, Lords of all their Royalties, secured their authority and Jurisdiction, opulency and Affluency, C●lsitude& sublimity, power and pomp, principality and pre-eminence, procerage and peerage, crown and crown-land: 'tis thou that heldst the crown upon the Kings head, preservedst the Nobles in their court Equipage, the Merchants in their splendid traffic; palaces, and banqueting houses, statues and sepulchres, Exchequers and wardropes, Coverts and arsenals, magazens and records, Laws and lives, by thee were safe; not a three blasted, not a ston cast down, not an Image defaced, not a creature destroyed, not the least damage or detriment sustained; vengeance took not from them a shoo-latchet. O Repentance! how may we honor thy succouring bowels? and kiss thy securing hand? O great is thy potency, yea, a kind of omnipotency is bestowed upon thee, to rescue a people from greatest flatteries; O repentance! In the crowd of our scuffles and contentions, whither art thou escaped? A midst our could entertainment into what quarter art thou stolen? which way art thou gone? to what region art thou fled? in what unknown country dost thou reside? tell us, that we may go and seek thee. O all hail Repentance! Turn in unto us, be thou visible in this nation, that art able to repair the mischiefs, recall the vital spirits, reunite the scattered limbs of this mangled body, and in thee such an omnipotency as to effect a resurrection; weep so long over its ashes, till that moisture hath rendered them prolifical, and thou see it spring out of its urn; prepare us such a mercy-seat for God to appear upon within our walls. Let us be Ninevites, till thou canst make us the new Jerusalem; open our Ears to listen to our prophets, that we may not have the Thunder of a confounding God; lend us faith, that we may believe God, that trembling at his threatenings, we may not feel the Terrors of a perishing decree executed; cloath us in sack-cloth, that we may not be stripped of our gorgeous raiment, sprinkle us with ashes, that the smell of fire may no more be felt within our walls; enjoin us to fast, that we may ere long be set down again at our spread tables; make us cry mightily, that no other cry may be heard in the City, but those of devotion; turn us from our evil ways, and from the violence of our hands, that they may not expose us to all manner of evils and the violence of Incensed justice; that thou mayest be as Exemplary as our crimes are Exorbitant. Whither can we go, O miserable people, but unto God? when we are in sickness, whither can we fly, but unto the fountain of health? when in want, whither but unto that treasury of fullness? when human strength fails, whither can we go, but to omnipotency? when human wisdom is baffled, whither can we go, but to omnisciency? God sometimes is out of sight, but never out of hearing: our sins may drive him away so far, that we may not be able to see him, yet they can never drive him so far( though in the belly of Hell, wrapped within the horrid womb of despair Jon. 2. 2. but he will still be able to hear us. Gather yourselves together, O nation not desired; before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lords anger come upon you Zeph. 2. 2. . O, I beg of you by all that's dear and precious to you, for your own sake, for your dear Relations sake, for your native countrys sake, by all the hopes you have of future happiness return; else, whatsoever is set on foot for your preservation, God will blast and curse it; and his vengeance pursue you wherever you go, why will you expose yourselves to the fury of a conquering foe? why will you necessitate your little ones to wish, you and they had never been born? and your posterity to curse you when laid in the dust, for leaving them only the guilt of your sins, and intayling upon them nothing but misery? if you neglect to be holy, you are base Traitors to your King and country; you sell your souls, wives, children and nation to satisfy your lusts; you betray those brave persons lives, that venture them to preserve yours. Stay not for a public reformation, but every one endeavour to reconcile himself and the nation to God: one wise man may save a City Eccles. 9. 15. . By this may you lay a foundation for the future happiness of a sinking people, and those yet unborn, bless you. Come then my brethren, while our superiors are consulting our welfare, let us back their endeavours with our prayers; now wrath is approaching, and heaven marching out against us, now judgement is at the threshold, and vengeance at the door, drawing the latch, ready to come in, now the neck of our native country seems to lye upon the block, and the fury of heaven to be lifting up its Axe, ready to strike some more fatal blow than ever we have yet felt; let us betake ourselves to our closet devotion, let us besiege and environ the throne of Grace with our sighs and groans for mercy, and never cease ringing out a loud peal of cries and moans in Gods ear, till he pitty, compassionate, and deliver us; those prayers that make the longest voyage, will at length make the richest return; Therefore, though God delay us, yet pray, though he deny us, yet pray; who can tell, but that we may wrest the falling thunderbolt out of Gods hand,& pull the axe out of the arm of Almighty vengeance, and yet prevail for a Reprieve for our native country. There is no way to conquer heaven, and to put vengeance upon a retreat, but to fight upon our bended knees with tears in our eyes: Who knows, but that he whose Bowels our sins have shut, may have his bowels opened by our means and supplications, and his outstretched arm embrace us; That God, who hath been our Enemy, may at last be made our friend, and then, no matter who is our Enemy. Can we conquer him by our prayers, he will conquer them by his power. If but our ways please the Lord, he will discover or disappoint their plots, scatter them like dust before a while-wind, and confounded or make them to be at peace with us: such a change in us works another in him; turns all his frowns into smiles; his fury against us, into Zeal for us; the thunder of his threatenings, into the sounding of his Bowels; his compassions and Repentings will be kindled in him, in stead of kindling the fire of his jealousy. And then, after the Dresser of the vineyard hath pulled up our pales and fences, and flung down our walls round about, and laid us wast, and torn us up; he will at length return, dress, prune, and cut us into fine knots and borders; and this poor kingdom, now floating like a little spot in the midst of a sea of misery, become a fortified iceland, encompassed found with golden streams of blessings, and in our laps descending showers of mercy. So, me thinks I see his compassionate eye, looking upon this Renewed face; fire from heaven falling upon this acceptable sacrifice; tears quenching all Indignation, reformation( as Rahahs thread hung out of the window) keeping the house in safety; judgement drawing back; the destroying Angel called off; the arrows taken off the string; the viol of wrath set by: So long as we are peccant, God cannot but pardon sin, so soon as penitent, he cannot punish Repentance; shall not I spare Nineveh? Signs of the last judgement, &c. THis know that in the last daies perilous times shall come; for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to Parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affections, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God: False Christs, and false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many; and soul-deluding seducers shall led captive and draw many Disciples after them; and shall show great signs and wonders to seduce; insomuch, that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect; and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax could. And you shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars; Nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against Kingdom; and great earthquakes shall be in divers places. And there shall be famines and pestilences on earth; and fearful sights, and great signs shall there be from Heaven. But before all these( beginnings of sorrow) they shall lay there hands on you, and persecute you; you shall be beaten, and brought before Rulers, and Kings for my sake; and they shall deliver you up to be afflicted; and you shall be betrayed both by Parents and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends: And some of you shall they cause to be put to death; the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son: and children shall rise up against their Parents, and shall cause them to be put to death: and you shall be hated of all men for my names sake. Men shall not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables; when it shall be a perilous thing to lay down the symptoms of perilous times; and Micaiah seem as one that mocketh Gen. 19. 14. ; and be rudely interrupted and smitten on the cheek for prophesying the truth 2 King 22. 24. ; when resolute prophets shall stand upon precipices, unable to keep their ground, if they discharge their consciences; when venerable true religion shall grow out of credit, and disguised upstart errors and profaneness, waited on by insolent attendants, shall be all in fashion and favour, when Dagon shall be brought into the Temple, and set above the Ark, and Jeroboams calves have more worshippers than the God of Israel. When the Vultures shall drive the Doves from their houses, and the Wolves contend with the Sheep for the Fold; and the Prince of darkness, Captains of his Train-bands, shall captivated by stratagem many of Christs Subjects, who in their Baptism received press-money, to fight under his Banner to their lives end. When those that should be healers of their nation, shall wound it by their transgressions. When there is poison in the plaster, and the Physician himself hath the plague upon him. When the proud Philistine shall defy the army of the Israelites, the Host of the living God, and Saul with his men of war stand by and look on. When Piety shall be hist from the Court, and iniquity abound in the Camp. When thieves and robbers shall be as quietly permitted in stealing and robbing, as faithful shepherds in watching their flock, and painful labourers in working in the vineyard. When plague-sore-men shall have freedom to walk the streets, and our enemies liberty to impoyson our springs. When the beasts of the field shall defile the waters of the Sanctuary, and filthy swine trample down the green pasture, wherein the Shepherds of Israel are wont to feed their flocks. When those shall be admitted as stewards of Divine mysteries, who put poison into the meat of the Kings children, and impudently challenge the Churches dowry, merely for violating her chastity, or falsely accusing her to be an Harlot. When avarice shall put on the canonical habit, and twist itself not only with the practices▪ but doctrines of the Church. When Articles of religion shall be esteemed by their profitableness, and ecclesiastics dispute as Lay-men for money, unanimous in nothing so much as a joint-reference to profit. When men shall cast dirt into the Galleries and Chariots of the great King, and disgrace the Throne of his Glory, and foot-stool of his anointed; vilify the Lords Tabernacle; spit in the face of the beauties of holinesse, and cast stones at the windows of the Sanctuary, by which the Son of righteousness sheds forth his beams of light upon the children of Sion. When all degrees of men shall have corrupted their ways, the bounds of sin even removed, and the world groaning under a second deluge of profaneness. When iniquity walks hand in hand,& to be a real Saint, the object of hatred. When men shall carry it towards professors of religion, as if they were their professed enemies, and to be a friend to God, shall be esteemed to be an enemy to Caesar. When the oppressors hand shall be full of spoil, the extortioners of rapine; and Christs little flock surrounded with troops of wolves, and a land-floud of abomination, shall look round about and none to deliver them. When the Harlot shall be bolder than the inn●cent, and most professors lukewarm, key-cold in the cause of Christ. When inodesty must go for want of breeding, and honesty for want of wit. When men shall dissolve themselves into sensual delights, eating, and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage; as in the daies when Noah entered into the ark, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. And there shall be great tribulations, and distresses, and afflictions, such as were not from the beginning of the creation. And immediately after the tribulation of those dayes, there shall be signs in the Sun, and in the Moon, and in the stars; the Sun shall be darkened, and the Moon shall not give her light, and the Stars shall fall from Heaven,& upon the Earth distress of nations and perplexities; the Sea and the waves roaring, mens hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers that are in Heaven shall be shaken; and then shall appear the signs of the son of man in Heaven: and the tribes of the earth shall mourn; and shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven, with Power, and great Glory; and he shall sand his Angells with a great sound of a Trumpet, and they shall gather together his Elect from the four winds; and the gospel must first be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the End come. The maturity of our sins, the face of our distempers, and tokens of Gods displeasure, so far threaten us in this nation, that 'tis to be feared he's even weary of repenting, and after so many despised methods, and bills of inditement, will refuse to pass us by any more. Instead of forsaking or diminishing, we have increased the first heap, and put out our sins to usury, to reap our punishment with increase. How are we swelled with pride, blackened with malice, pined with envy, fretted with animosities, vexed with whisperings, mad with jealousies, puffed up with ambition, overflown with drunkenness, deluded with profaneness, polluted with adulteries, inflamed with fornication, infamous by perjuries, stigmatized with oaths and execrations? we not only neglect and deny God, but reproach and vilify him by daily assaults with our bold and insolent blasphemies, making him the mark all our wild passions are shot at; we presently question his providence or goodness, if we want any thing for our use or delight; Accuse or disclaim against him as impotent or illiberal. He stands obnoxious to all the displacencies we receive from men, nay from inanimate creatures: his sacred name must be profaned, if they vex or disquiet us: we account our fiercost reviling of men faint and Insignificant, if not inspired with the most dreadful horrid oaths. If a die or carded run amiss, our profane, vile resentments are presently vented on him, as if he was the cheat that rookt us of our money, because he secures us not from those losses to which we wantonly expose ourselves, not only our eager warmer passions, but our pleasanter moods do thus invade us, and we blaspheme by way of advertisement: Every impertment story or insipid jest, or incredible narration must be attested and recommended by an oath; That Hellish piece of oratory so over-spreds their language, that it's become the most Remarkable part of it: What profane Atheistical discourses about God and religion? what bold and insolent abuses of his word in public houses? How are our ears in the streets grated and pierced with horrid Oaths and imprecations? enough though guilty of no other crime, to sink a nation: Yea, how many solemn deliberate perjuries suborn Gods venerable dreadful name to be the Engine of our fraud and malice: And as if we thought he would for-swear as well as we, we bring him to countenance those crimes he hath vowed to punish. Thus do we with a prodigious impiety, contaminate even divinity itself, make it the sink of all our puddles to run into, and prostitute that name which is great wonderful and holy, to all the unholy purposes, our passion, interest, or fancies can suggest. What preciousness licenced in playhouses, where wantonness is more effectually Taught than decried in the pulpit, and Scurrility preferred before what is sacred; while personated religion is laughed at on the stage, it loses its due fear and Reverence in our lives. Besides the vanity, frothiness of mind, disfitting for religious duties plays naturally produce, and precious time misspent, in seeing and talking of them; what real good is learnt there, I appeal to the lives and consciences of those that pled for, and haunt them. O sinful Allurements, when wicked Actors have learned thee by counterseiting, or learned to counterfeit by custom, virtue in the mean time glides away, and the applause of spectators bring what is nought into Imitation. From hence Cupid sharpens his pierceing arrows, and the Devil erects so many Brothel-houses, where unlanful gain is spent, and punished with poverty: our courage is overcome with Wheredom: nor is youth brought up in marshal discipline, under such kind of Tyranny. Ensigns and Trumpets( men of war) grow cowardly, and luxury effeminates our swords; from whence our enemies without wonder Triumph over us, an easy prey to every foe; nor have our victories deserved praise: O once renowned natios, in whom now, the very vitals languish and decay, and hath utterly lost its pristine vigour and activity. To how brutish an impudence is uncleanness grown? we need not trace men into their privacies and recesses, themselves willingly proclaim their guilt, and dread nothing so much, as the opinion of being Innocent; not to have a paramour, is as much as not to be a Courtier. He who hath the greatest interest to debauch, is accounted the bravest man: And those who in other cases are most tender of their own honour, labour to prostitute it here, and then glory in their shane. By immodest obscene talk, breath infection on their hearers; disperse and scatter their own impure fires, to the inflaming others; and make no other use of their Eyes than of a burning-glasse merely to set their unclean hearts on fire. Yea, so out-dated a virtue is modesty become now, that the sex to which it was once accounted the greatest ornament, have put it off; look on it as a piece of Rusticity and country-breeding. That free and confident behaviour in use is, not only apt to invite assaults, but takes off all that extenuation of crime, which was wont to be allowed that sex, upon the supposition of their being seduced; and this pulling down the fence, is too often an indication they are willing to lye common: Decency is little regarded; and Irreparable time insensibly passes away, while the head is adorning, the hair curling into lascivious wreaths, and a youthful countenance disguised with patches: much cost and pains in attires to court the eye; the naked breasts and lascivious dresses, more plausible kind of pandors, Trapans and snares for the wanton behoulder; by Ambiguous habits adding fuel to unlawful flames. A confidence in wit incites them to scoffing, and indecency; They despise the company of their own sex, and are desirous to traffic away their own reputation. Clownishness is aimed to be shunned by stuperous actions; and whatsoever is of force to prevail for the staying of a mistress, is looked upon, as that which will abandon Modesty; Yea Marriage, the remedy God hath Assigned, with many serves only to exasperate the disease, and advance simplo fornication to Adultery, and superadd perjury to uncleanness. Those sacred Bands are broken like Sampsons withs, upon every assault of the philistines; and the very thoughts of being confined, makes men more apt to range; their only quarrel to their wives is, that they are their own. 'tis not their need but fancy they must provide for, and gratify two sins at once, their vanity, as well as their Lust; their complacency in undermining the Husband, as great as that of enjoying the wife. Conjugal honour is violated; and Hymen conceals forbidden love, which is by consent cast underfoot; and those solemn covenants, but cloaks to cover adulterous actions: Nor is it enough to be Evil by Imitation, but exemplary in that which exceeds the sin of Sodom and whoredom of Gomorah. repined not O England, but esteem the anger favourable, which goodness hitherto hath overpoysed, and put a Restraint to thy desert; since those exceed thee in punishment, whom thou outviest in sin. Ah! sinful nation, steeped in iniquity: into which the deadly serpent hath set at liberty his hellish furies; on which the bottomless pit breaths with a poisonous breath, infecting the very entrails with mortal fumes. 'tis well, if among all other projects for promoting of holy church, this be not one, to debauch our gentry, the better to dispose them for embracing that Religion which can afford them indulgence at so cheap a rate. The whole species of Real friendship seems to be extinguished, since the ficititious took place; and is become only a confederacy in sin, a combination and league against what they account the common enemy, God and virtue. 'tis a rarity, almost a prodigy, to find( even among those that profess the greatest dearness) any that hath the courage to give, or humility to receive an Admonition. But in stead of the wounds of a friend, give the kisses of an enemy prov. 27. 6. such mutual soothings in ill, as render it inveterate and incurable; nay, not only nourish those vices they find already planted, but sow new seeds; communicate their personal ones to each other: as if the community of friendship obliged them mutually to diffuse their poison; and he that hath arrived to the more elevated mysterious part of wickedness, would lose much of the gust, if he should not get some confident, to whom at once to boast and propagate his proficiency. So reproachful is Sobriety with them, as even those that value it, dare not own it; but are driven to preserve it by shifts and Artifices, or choose to Abandon it rather than Hazard the scandal: So base, that they are ashamed both of piety and humanity, and had rather cease to be men, than appear to be Christians. They think it enough to damn themselves with their friends, and all their combinations are transmuted into that of sin; which they not only commit themselves, but laugh at the scrupil●s●ty of those that dare not, or do it with a blushing countenance, and a trembling Conscience, as the reproach of the school of wickedness; because not yet attained to those heights of impiety they Glory in, who have subdued their conscience much easier than others do their sins, which they boast of and defend with as much greediness as they commit, unto whom no sin is so unpardonable as the thinking there is any at all; The utmost they will allow in the description of sin, is, that it is a thing that some live by declaiming against, and others cannot live without the practise of; That clap a fools coat on all that are not of vices train& retinue; As if no Art were proper for gentlemen, but to swagger, wanton, and rant it in the mode, and none fit for their company, but such as can talk profanely, with a Boone-grace, and swear in the newest fashion. As if he that will pocket up a wrong, and take a lie any other way than upon the point of his sword, were a dastard, and deserved not the honour of any noble society; to be hooted at as a most unpardonable Coward, that will not die for his Mistress, sooner than for his God, and Country. And as if all the Snakes that hang in Envie's perrewig were twisted about their rankarous souls, Holiness can no sooner appear in sight, but they craul up into their tongue, thrust forth their heads at their mouth, and fall a hissing at, and stinging of it, as it passes by. How are we ready to be born down by that spiteful enemy of all virtue and goodness; the Impudence of such, who 'tis hard to say, whether they show it more in committing sin, or defending it; of so bad manners, that scarce any thing can be Imagined worse, unless the wit they use to excuse them with; that take the measure of mens perfections downward, and the nearer the approach to Beasts, the more they think themselves to Act like men. O unfortunate times! wherein wickedness is so encouraged, approved, connived at, that 'tis a wonder we do not Establish it by Law, and make some Act of Parliament to continue it in fashion for ever: when, he that speaks against sin, becomes more odious than he that acts it, and he that reproves, must expect the unjust retaliation of being reproved for his pains; and a man may with less peril of Scorn appear in the most superannuated dress, than own the qualities of meekness, poverty, sobriety, &c. Virtue bears the blame of vices faults, and ●ice the credit of virtues goodness; drunkenness is accounted good fellowship; Swearing and cursing, a gentle dialect, or extravagant speeches; Covetousness, frugality and thriftiness; Pride is but decency; Fornication, an harmless pleasore; Adultery, but a frolic; Flattery, civil deportment; Cheating and cozening, ingenuity; Jesting with scripture, is wit; Oppression is exacting no more than ones due; Filthy talk, is but honest mirth; atheism, but ralary; Killing a man in a Duel, is gallantry; and Revenge, but a point of honour; Close-handednesse, good-husbandry. He passes for a considering-man, that desputes principles; and is thought most to own his r 〈…〉 n, that least owns his faith. Nothing mo 〈…〉 us, but what courts our senses; and what is 〈…〉 t gross enough to be seen, we think too wise to be considered. A serious man is accounted an Humorist. He that dares reprove for sin, is a peevish fellow. He that complies not with others in 'vice, is conceited: and he that cares not for vain and idle discourse, is an Ill-bred Clown, fitter to live among Hermits, than ingenious men. He that cannot away with the Hellish rhetoric of damning and sinking, is a precisian; and he that mourns for sin a melancholy person. Forgiving injuries, is a principle of cowardice, that Emasculates the world, gratifies Enemies, and loses the satisfaction of Revenge. Patience in adversity, is Stupidity. Humility, a symptom of a leaden spirit. To love our enemies, a piece of spanil 〈…〉 e-fawning: To turn the check not only to hazard, but invite new injuries, by owning them as benefits. Temperance, is branded for ill nature and dullness of humour. Chastity, unnaturalness. Zeal, passion. Modesty, a foolish Bashfulness. Strictness in religion, is nothing but Hypocrisy. To be meek is to be servile, a temper fit only for the abject. Paying blessings for curses, kindnesses and good turns for hatred, a Ridiculous patience, that exposes to the insolences of many, the scorn and derision of all men, and they will be no such fools for Christs sake. Selfdenial is a vowed open madness, to part with real pleasures for an empty name, or profit, for that bankrupt thing, called conscience. Charity is arraigned of robbery, and stigmatized as a thing that picks the purse, and rifles coffers. The christian precepts of meekness, long-sufferance, and forgiving injuries are despised as rudiments of cowardice and pusillanimity. Men tear off the Signatures of honour God himself hath impressed, vilify those he hath dignified Prov. 18. 32.& 19. 11. ; cansel his patents by whom Kings reign; and mark them out, as the objects of scorn, to whom God gives so glorious atestimony. Goodness is of so old a date, and constant to one habit, that it agrees not with our Athenians, while nothing is so A-la-mode as 'vice, dressed in several shapes, and appears new, though it be as old as the Devil; and gains not only strength but impudence: We are become witnesses against ourselves; of declaring our sin as Sodom Isa. 3. 9. and have forced God to attest against us in a manner as conspicuous: We seem to be advanced beyond a common degree of Hostility with God; subjoin malice to licentiousness, and project not more to please ourselves, than displease him. We profess a contempt, not only of his commands, but of himself; and seek no less to dethrone him, than to abrogate those. By our infamous Crimes we do open violence to heaven; make it a kind of personal quarrel, and dare( as it were) the divine vengeance to vindicate itself. As if we would tempt the proof of a deity in our own destruction; and our onely design were to be famous for our wickedness. Armed with despite and contempt we summon heaven and earth to take notice of us, as if he would not or durst not punish us. When the Lord of host is fearfully and continually provoked; not only robbed, but mocked; used contumeliously, as well as unjustly, 'tis high time for him to arm himself with vengeance, and come forth to cut off a rebellious people: gross sins commonly, openly committed, are as so many cords to pluck down judgement; yet men set themselves as it were on purpose to provoke his anger; join with their deliberate sins, a visible contempt, scorn, and defiance of Gods commands; They sin with a high hand; and not only break the law, God and nature have laid upon them, but do it to show the bravery of their spirits; to let the world see what stout and gallant persons they be; to demonstrate what courage they have; that they are the men that dare storm the gates of Hell, and valiantly, violently rush on their own damnation: So unwilling are the gallant spirits of our days to go to Hell in the old way, that it cannot consist with the greatness of of their spirits to be wicked at those low rates their silly Ancestors were. In all they do, they would be taken notice of; appear above the vulgar, and proclaim to all men, that they are none of those Melancholy, weak brained, mean-spirited persons, who are so awed with the apprehension of a deity, that they dare not sin freely. They pay so little of reverence due to God, that at last they turn their impiety into argument; and infer him not to be, whom thy treat so unlike one; and they will not thank his charity, that will not hope better of them. To them Davids Atheist is a modest puny, and deserves the epithet of a fool that would not own, what would now adays so certainly denominate him a wit, and master of reason: Though at first prompted by their interest to take up the tennet, as a buckler against the unwelcome invasions, and checks of conscience; for the more plausible enjoyment of their lusts: but when they find their necessity made a virtue, and themselves struck into the repute of a wit by all but those that have none; they doubt not but their famed will increase with their irreligion; so make themselves its avowed champions; seek to win it proselytes; not only use, but love it; and appear so zealous for it, as if they made it their religion to have none. How many such reverse kind of Evangelists, who with as great design unteach Divinity as the first propugners taught it? Satan now may leave his toilsome labour of compassing the earth, men do his business for him. Are there not new arts and schools of sin daily invented and erected, where the art of sin is delivered by Rule, and men taught how they may wisely damn themselves, most effectually provoke God, and curse themselves into his displeasure? To put their own damnation in their prayers; instead of imploring Gods grace, beg of him to damn body and soul for ever? How many endeavour to put profaneness into rhetoric? and to teach blasphemy to speak with eloquence? That know no other breeding, but to sin with impudence; or bravery, but to be brave against God; and to charge upon their own ruin? That have so conquered those prejudices they had conceived of virtue and 'vice, sin and shane, that they dare in the open Sun commit those sins, Cowards run into the dark for. So superlatively, prodigiously wicked, that former times brought forth but Puny's to our Anakims in wickedness; notorious fighters against God, professors of 'vice in the Devill's Academy; improving their ingenuity to search out diligently new ways of iniquity ps. 64. 6. , and to device oaths that shall be Al-a-mode, unknown to the less studied sinners, and bunglers in wickedness. As if a consultation had been had with the French, Italian, and all the out-landish devills, to advice us of all their several modes of 'vice; we are so good at following, that we are more complete than our pattern. How dreadful, that in a nation professing christianity, among a people, whose genius inclines them to civility and religion; that have the greatest advantages of behaviour and education, and who are to give Laws of civility to the rest of the nations, there should be found so many, who deride religion, make sport with their own profaneness, and so light of nothing as being damned, a thing not to be regarded whether they be eternally happy or miserable; and never think of it, but when they call upon God to damn them; for fear he should not do it time enough for them. But t'will be no comfort to them in another world, that they were accounted wits for deriding those miseries they then feel and smart under the severity of; nor mitigation of their flames, that they go laughing into them; nor will they endure them the better, because they would not believe them. Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines and of the uncircumcised rejoice and triumph. Isa. 1. 20. The enemies of our peace have no greater encouragement against us, than to see and find us at open wars with God. Their sins( say they) will provoke him, when he is provoked, he will desert them, and when they are deserted by him, then shall we prevail against them. Our hearts full of impiety, is vented in atheistical drollings at whatsoever is sacred; Religion made the sport of entertainments, the common subject of plays and comedies. O! is there nothing to trifle with but God and his service? Is wit grown so schismatical and sacrilegious, that it can please itself with nothing but holy ground? and find nothing to carovie in but the vessells of the temple? are profaneness and wit grown such inseparable companions, that none shall be allowed to pretend to the one, but such as dare be highly guilty of the other? that scoff at past promises, as antiquated stories, tales that never had accomplishment; and endeavour to impose upon the secure world, a disesteem of all the threats of God, as the troublesome dreams of some melancholy hungry Priest, who divines for a reward, and whose trade is to inveigh against sin: deeming them causeless curses that never come; and the passionate rants of weaker persons, who would terrify where they cannot persuade, and frighten whom they cannot force: Decrying it as the greatest folly and most unmanly submission to yield them any consideration; a project of imposing upon credulous souls, and of gaining real advantages to the managers, while they feed the City proselytes with imaginary ones. That temperance, chastity, mortification &c. were but the creations of melancholy reclusiv'es, who would enviously impose those bands upon others, wherewith they had foolishly fettered themselves. That God is more indulgent to mens appetites, which they may satisfy here as they please, without those future dangers preachers fright them with; which thoughts suggest to them a more than vulgar wisdom, not to be shaken as fools, with words and a mistaken courage, which is but obstinacy; nor to be hectored out of their carnal satisfactions. That God is not extreme to mark what is done amiss. To all declarations of future judgement, they oppose his goodness and mercy, that so gracious a God cannot appoint eternal torments for the temporal transgressions of finite creatures; thus, as if he could not be just without being cruel, they baffle his veracity with his clemency, and make his long-suffering to wear out the sense of his justice. Scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying, where is the promise of his coming, &c. 2. Pet. 3. 3 such wilful ignorance makes these unfaithful stewards argue from their Lord's delaying to come, that either he will not call them to account, or that they may have leisure enough to beat their fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunken; and thereby povoke the hand of God to take away his mercies, by their sacrificing them to their idol lusts, while Christ in his poor members goes hungry and naked. Their tongues set on fire of hell, shoot their poisoned arrows of oaths and blasphemies at the face of God; such as the deeply damned in the bottomless pit, could never be guilty of worse: as if they'd curse away all his blessings from the land of their nativity, and press the divine vengeance to set on fire the whole course of nature. O what rivers, what ocean of tears are competent to bewail such unutterable evils? These are such sad, such direful transmutations, as excite not so much wonder, as grief and lamentation? shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord, and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this ye. 5. 3. ? when such monsters appear, they presage a storm in the state. When the blasphemies of the profane, sensuality of the voluptuous, and mockeries of the hypocrite, sand daily challenges to heaven, we cannot but look it should at last overcome its long suffering, awaken God to vindicate the honour of his name, and not suffer it any longer to be thus prostituted and polluted; nor sit still unconcerned when so many indignities are continually offered him. Such exasperating crimes we cannot expect should be wholly respited to another world; but in all probability awaken his fury, and pull down present judgments. Such national impieties are sad indications and fatal symptoms, that we have nigh filled up the measure of our iniquities, and are ripened for the woes denounced against those, who call evil good, and good evil Isa. 5. 20. : That his justice will multiply our miseries, to a proportion with our sins, which are also increased by our unprofitableness under foregoing corrections,& so many methods to make us serious if any thing would. Had we slighted God and religion, under the abundance of peace and plenty, and saw no severities of Gods justice upon such as made a mock at sin; it might well have interrupted our peace, and destroyed that plenty, which made us out of the greatness of our pride and wantonness to kick against Heaven. But to do it in despite of all Gods judgments; to laugh in his face when his rod is upon our backs; when neither pestilence, nor fire can make us more afraid of him, when we dance among naked swords; defy and reproach Heaven in midst of a citys ruins, and over the graves of those whom the arrows of the Almighty have heaped together; what can be thought of us, but that nothing will make us serious but eternal misery? The proper effect of religion is safety and security: the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever Isa. 32. 17. ; when a nation is deprived of these Blessings, 'tis a sign, it is defective in the means of them; and we may judge of the degree of the sin, by that of the punishment: that 'tis no ordinary defect in religion, that hath exposed us to so many sore judgments following so close, one upon another, not to be pararell'd by any History or example; such unusual provocations, as former times have not been guilty of. Other ages have been careless in duties of religion towards God, and of Justice and charity towards one another, but still there was a reverence paid to the very profession of religion; and those who had little of the truth in the power of it, thought it an honour to pretend to it. But was there ever any time, when the very form of religion was out of fashion? when men arrived to that impudence, as to dispute against the very being of God, and future state of rewards and punishments? and made it their business to bring the very profession of religion into contempt? when every frothy wretch who hath not seriousness enough to consider, wisdom nor grace enough to distinguish, shall be set up for a wit by his scoffing at virtue? And if this be our case, what can any( who believes a deity, concerned for human affairs) expect to be the fruit of our irreligion and unrighteousness? but that the jealous God should in some extraordinary manner, be revenged on such a sinful people: nor is there any thing more equal, than that those who would bring religion into contempt, should suffer under it themselves. Injuries done to the truth, and gospel, are sad forebodes of ruin. The ministry of Christ dishonoured was a just preparation, and justification of that so severe stroke Jerusalems destruction. The gospel honoured, is as a wall of fire for defence, and breaks outward upon the enemies of a nation; when despised it burns inward. It is a Pillar of fire, and a cloud of protection, when observed; but disregarded, it is a cloud troubled with a thunderbolt, rolling up and down, and at last flashing out in lightning to destroy. Nothing delivers the history of any time so fair to posterity, as an honourable entertainment of a pure and unmixed religion, giving it the utmost freedom to shine as the Sun, to communicate itself as the air; and to run like the fountains without any interruption. The Gospel of Christ, is the common happiness and necessity of the world, from no nation, of which, where ever it had place, hath it used to remove, but it carried the honour, and peace residing there, with it: as the gl●ry together with the ark, departed from Israel, leaving it as naked of present happiness, as of the hopes of eternal. The horror of any punishment inflicted by God, argues the offence proportionably heinous; his ways are equal, and his Judgments never exceed, but are beneath the transgression. Therefore he so severely punishes our not amending after Judgments, because impenitency is a most horrid provocation; being a contempt and despite of all his gracious and glorious attributes; for we having both tasted sin, and felt punishment, yet think the former worthy the hazard of the latter, and that one is a cheap purchase for the other; reproach and affront infinite wisdom, of having not sufficiently provided for the attaimment of his end, by inventing the consequence between sin and punishment; that men might be advised not to dote upon sin, which draws after it such an inseparable throng of miseries, assuring the more sensual part, that there are just and solid comforts in obedience, and that to disobey shall be neither safe, nor pleasant. Yea, we thereby rudely scorn the Divine kindness by which we are saved from a total excision, and reject the Court-ship to a more endeared love; our being not shut up in the pit, where there is no remembrance of him, argues he reserves us for his service and embraces. We slight and undervalue his power, and brave his omnipotency, and affront him to his face, after escaping one stroke; which argues this vile esteem of God, as if he had wasted all his thunderbolts, emptied his quiver, and broken his Sword in the first encounter. When hardly come off from one overthrow, we challenge him to another, renewing the controversy by repeating our sins; we must be concluded to think he cannot triumph as gloriously in the valleys as on the Hills, nor have strength enough for a fresh Victory 1 King 20. 23. 24. , else we should certainly hear his first rod;( who can punish yet seven times more) and be ashamed that our Father hath spit in our face, and not weary him till he smite us with greater and other sorts of punishments, with an utter disinheritance, and our land be no more in remembrance, except in the stories of its sin and ruin. As if our space of repentance were given us to revenge ourselves upon him, and to make him rue the wounds he hath given us; how do many of us dip our tongues as 'twere in our blood, and spit it in his glorious face? O how doth this debauched age anticipate the miseries of the place of torment by continueing in sin under affliction? Moab settled upon her Lees, is at ease indeed, but not when emptied from vessel to vessel. Did Sodom and Gomorrah so provoke God, while the fire and brimstone was showering on their heads, pass over the Isles of Chittim and see, and sand unto Kedar, and consider diligently; ask ye now among the Heathens, and see if there be such a thing: can the most savage Pagans pararell the crimes we glory in? that have been a people of wrath, and seem to have been born, to be as fuel for Judgement, and summoned upon the stage of the world, to come and behold what desolations God can bring upon a land, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. For those plagues and miseries which were wont to be divided among several ages, and to fall singly and in certain periods of time, have all befallen us at once, and come upon us with the speed of hasty messengers, one treading upon the heels of another; so that we have had scarce time to survey the wasts and spoils one hath made, ere another came to call for our tears and wonder. Let us sit down upon our ruins, and recount them if we can: for Re. 6. 2. &c. he that sate on the Whitehorse hath shot at us, and the read Horse hath marched furiously before, all blood with the effects of Civill war,& the Pale Horse hath followed with death upon his back, and the grave at his heels, and after them those out of whose mouth issued fire and smoke and brimstone, with the innumerable series of their miseries, and sad consequences, bringing so much poverty and desolation on the whole Kingdom. Every stroke at the magazene of life is much more dangerous, than heavier downfalls upon less noble parts, and speak severest intentions of that displeasure that cut us so deep in that one neck. The three late Judgments making up to the very head and top of the Nation, where they fixed themselves as if they had that commission to fight neither with small nor great but the Metropolis, which also descended upon the whole; the Issue of all, we have just cause to fear, if it be not our speedy amendment, will be our ruin. For we are not amended, though we are already punished not to correction only but to a terror and example, for he hath called Heaven and Earth to witness; the world rings with the sound of our ruins. He hath cited all nations to judge between him and us, and hath pleaded against us in his Judgements, and discovered our nakedness; putting us to an open shane; for all the world knows, the Judge thereof will not deal unrighteously;& our sins therefore were very grievous, and the cry of them waxed great, because he hath so destroyed us. For, where Judgments are engraven on the Reverse, Iniquities are inscribed: there needs no more to declare the guilt of Sodom, than to tell the travellers as they went a long, there once was a City, where is now a pitchy lake; and when the mariners shall sail by our shores, and say, how is the joyons City become a desolation? they will soon subjoin how was the faithful City become a harlot, and unrighteousness lodged in her? And that now there remains nothing, but that it should punish us to excision and vengeance( though he only knows how soon, and by what ways,) ourselves may guess by our sins and terrors, that it is not far off. When judgments tread on the heels of one another, and hang together in so long a line, when God speaks once and twice, when he is not quiet with us but importunes and solicits to a sense, and we regard it not, he intends something great and considerable. For, he doth not fight as one that beateth the air; but having entered into particulars, at last sums up all, in a perfect effect, and lesser Judgements are but the beginnings of sorrow. When our Physician purges, and the distemper continues, the blood still corrupt after frequent Plebet●mie, and impurity still swims up after all evacuations, 'tis deadly; for it argues the whole mass is corrupted, and nothing to be purged, but what is itself; God is weary of striking impenitents in order to a cure, and they must do as those in whom nature hath no resistan●e to make against the prevailing distemper; the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint, and those powers perished that should be aided by medicine: The princip●es of recovery, that are as the handles by which God apprehends the soul, are lost, by great obduration in sin, and men die like beasts under those stroke, of which they understand no more than that they oppress them. Things continue to contest( when they are in it) till one of them desert its own mode, and station; this cannot fall on Almighty Justice, a broken melted heart running out of its fo●mer shape, ceases the controversy between God and man, but an hardened Pharaoh, holds Judgements play, till they accomplish their own. God will not be guilty of vain acts, nor punish for our reformation, and then remove those punishments before we reform, except he abandon us the care of his providence, and reserve his displeasure for our final destruction; what shall we say? when we can play with the effects of his anger and the fierceness of it will not melt us; incapable of impression under all his stroke, and sleep under the noise of present and approaching Judgement, that infinite wisdom can scarce invent such as will awaken us, when by a people professing true religion and godliness those sins are daily multiplied, that provoke him, so that he is weary of correcting us and of his own repentings. If some branches of the great three of a Kingdom be barren, or bear evil fruit, he may in mercy prune it with some smaller Judgement, to make it bring forth good fruit; but when he is tired out in waiting for fruit, and both body and boughs be corrupted and rotten, He'll destroy it root and branch, and not suffer it longer to cumber the ground. When false fires appear, and the fire of the Altar goes out, sure God is departing from his Temple. When the locusts and Caterpillars swarm in the field, and the Frogs croak in every corner of the house, the judgement of God is already upon the land. When the Idolatrous nations join in confederacy, and the Canaanites are combined against the Israelites, and the Israelites are divided among themselves; when the hand of Moses falls in prayer, and Amalek prevails in battle, we must needs expect it should go ill with Israel. When the Preachers mouths are stopped, and Players opened; when a nation is sick of a spiritual pluresy, and surfeit upon the bread of life; when God sees his mercies lying under the table, 'tis just with him to call to the enemy to take away. When wickedness shoves itself on, settles and grows to a head, and the age we live in, seems the drain and sink of the sins and evils of former times, it argues our iniquities grow full, which have been some ages in filling, and we hasting to destruction. Of such a generation shall be required all the blood that was shed from righteous Abell, to Zacharias. When the Lord of the whole earth hath fenced a land about, for a Vineyard to himself, and hath done so much to it, that no more can be done, yet for grapes brings forth wild grapes, let himself( as true in his threats as that he is) tell you what he will do to this Vineyard Isa, 5. 5. ●. . When men are not separated from their dross, not softened by the fire of affliction, what may we expect, but that he should turn the whole Kingdom into a furnace of judgement, and heat it seven times hotter, till he hath utterly confumed us. When the field is overgrown with thorns, and a whole land is sown with 'vice, the Harvest time must be a day of destruction; even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same Job. 4. 8. . The much to be feared, many ways threatened, every way deserved ruinous condition of England; while some presage from Signs in the Heavens, unusual apparitions, and great mutations in that course and order God hath appointed in nature, others expect from former predictions of persons endowed( as supposed) with a prophetic spirit, But we have a more sure word of prophesy. I am no Prophet, nor the Son of a Prophet, but I will stand upon my watch, and set myself upon the Tower, and will watch to see what the Lord will say unto me, and the Lord answered me and said Ha. ●. 12. ; Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed but understand not, and see indeed but perceive not; make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and convert, and be healed: Then said I, Lord how long? and he answered, until the City be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed man far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land Is. 6. 9. &c. ; ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes, in the land of egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land. The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles; yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear unto this day Deu. 29. 2, &c. : The bellows are burnt, the led is consumed of the fire, the founder melteth in vain, for the wicked are not plucked away: reprobate Silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them Jer. 6. 29, 30. . Thou hast strike them but they have not grieved, thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction, they have made their faces harder than a rock, they have refused to return; wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them ye. 5. 3, &c. : Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your Heart; for consider how great things he hath done for you, but if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye, and your King 1 Sam. 12. 21, 25. Isaiah 1. . Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation; therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them, I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath Ez. 22. 24, 31. . For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts; therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel, head and tail, branch and rush in one day Is. 9. 13, 1●. Zep. 3. 1, &c. . Thou hast forsaken me, thou art gone backward, therefore will I stretch out mine hand against thee, I am weary with repenting ye. 15. 6. Am. 4. 11, 12. . She hath wearied her self with lies, and her scum went not forth out of her, her scum shall be in the fire. In thy filthiness is lewdness, because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee Ez. 24. 12, 13. . red Lev. 26. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come 1 Cor. 10. 11. Jud. 7. . Whatsoever were written aforetime, were written for our learning Rom. 15. 4. : God is the same& our sins are more heinous than theirs in former ages. He deservedly suffers, that falls by stumbling at the same ston, at which he dashed who went before him. More exactness in walking and working become us who have more light to guide us. The sins of a Church, as the fruit( that hangs in the Sun) of a well ordered garden, ripen faster than those of a wilderness Am. 3. 2. . We may expect the same Judgments threatened, where such sins reign: Even the general denunciations of the wrath of God against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; attested unto by so many several instances of such as have fallen under this wrath, leave every man to conclude Gods anger against his own particular sins, as certainly as if a Prophet had been sent on purpose unto him; for, as 'tis not the appearance of a Prophet, nor his particular application, that makes the threatenings of God effectual, because all were not prevailed upon to repent, to whom the Prophets addressed themselves, so neither, more certain; for no one particular Prophet can possibly have so many evidences of his being sent from God, as there are of the whole Scripture, of Christ himself, and all the Prophets, who spake by his Spirit. Thus many, prudently comparing the word of God, with his usual providences, and applying them to the times and lives of men, have been able to fore-see and declare those future events, which have as certainly come to pass as if a present inspiration had enabled them to prophesy. general denunciations, may by prudent observation be fixed to particular times and persons: 'tis as possible for us to know the Signs of the times, the approaching of Judgement, as what weather the face of the Sky will wear the next day Mat. 16. 8. Lu. 12. 56. . For there are some previous circumstances in the states of affairs, in the conversations of men,( as their general debaucheries, impudence, obstinacy in sin, notwithstanding Gods word, and rod, &c.) in which the approaches of common distresses are as conspicuous, as a following storm or tempest is in the gathering together of the blackest clouds. When Amaziah was so strangely infatuated, as to forsake the God who had given him a wonderful victory, and to worship those of his defeated enemies, which could not deliver their own people out of his hand, and was so obstinate in his folly, as to terrify the reproving Prophet, he concludes from thence his approaching destruction, for he forbore and said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not harkened unto my counsel 2 Chron. 25. 14, 15, 16. : Judgments may intermit and suspend themselves, though they intend their own retrieve; as a snare is taken up, that hath taken nothing, that it may be more conveniently placed, and at a better time. And if we can neither deny those several sad appearances of judgement, nor say that God inflicts any with a design, or not out of infinite counsel, nor pled our own reformation, how can we but expect the succession of judgement, till there be some evident determination of things by them, which yet may be concealed in a present truce. As the great complaints of the human nature against itself, argue it all in a lapse, so the general out-cries of the several parties of a nation against one another, and all against the whole, concerning the inefficacy of Judgments, are strong arguments we are unreformed. And if we appeal to the prognostics of the most sober breasts upon the present scheme of our condition, would they not be very trembling? seeing besides the uncertainty what a day may bring forth, we look more like a people reprieved than restored, and settled. The great symptoms of danger, are those our sin discover upon us, and they, not softened or mitigated with those things that may stay off the blow, so much as from our own days. If one sinner destroys much good, and we see them with their sins by multitudes, thronging into the broad light, while in public appearance, we have very little of the preservations against Judgments, or the usual reasons of their suspensions; how can we but fear, the clouds should return after the rain; till we are punished to seven times more, and judgement cease in destruction; when God shall begin, and also make such an end, that affliction shall not rise up the second time. Englands only Remedy. YEt because there are better hopes, though retired into closets, and secret corners, we may not despair a preservation from utter ruin; through that mystery of providence to be observed in the government of the world; whereby God, without desolating states, totally redeems their converts with the righteousness and judgement he executes, purges away their dross and tin by the spirit of burning, exciting the fire to a just intention to such an end, purifies them seven times, in the seven fold punishment, and then reinstates them in glory, and over that glory creates a defence: A lengthening of our tranquillity, is only a speedy breaking off our transgressions Dan. 4. 27. , by a personal public reformation: God may deliver us from one judgement to reserve us for another, but no striking off the score, till the Creditor is satisfied; nor keeping off judgement, but by driving away sin. There's never any sword drawn on earth, till first drawn in heaven; nor sheathing it, till God be pacified, by our laying down the arms of our rebellion that are taken up against him; nor appeasing his wrath, but by withdrawing the fuel of the fire of his indignation. If the flag of defiance be taken in, he presently listens to an accommodation: And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not. Jon. 3▪ 10 God cannot turn off suitors, nor despise suppliants; nor profess enmity, when men have taken away the ground of discord: He cannot di●grace men with their errors, nor put them to the blushy▪ where they are ashamed of their iniquities Ez. 43. 10 : Nor march out with his Trained bands, when they prepare to meet him Am. 4. 12. ; at what time I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a Kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy: If that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them ye. 18. 7● . Will God insult upon the prostrate? and set his face against them, that seek it? will he wring the sin-offering out of the sacrificers hand? and kill them at the sides of his own Altar? will he try m 〈…〉 ries with them that submit? or ●y them gasping for life, who are already half dead in spiritual anguish? will he lay his Axe at the root of the fruitful three? and make a wast upon the ground, that brings forth herbs meet for the Dresser? God resiprocates with true penitents; if they turn, he doth. He baths a sword in heaven against contemners; and waters a nation with blood, where live his professed enemies: But he cannot fight with sighs and tears, bended knees, wringing hands, pacifying lips. There's nothing left for the Hammer of judgement to bruise or break, if the heart of ston be turned into a heart of flesh. God hath no Rods, but for the disobedient; nor Blood-axe, but for Malefactors. If repentance have shaved us, there's no other sharp razor to come upon the head. God cannot strike where the penitent hath given the first blow. The very standing up in the gap, fences out all judgments. Had England been soaked in tears, it had not wallowed in blood; nor felt the violence of avenging justice, if forsaken the violence of their hands. London had not been so crowded into the grave, if we had known the plague of our own hearts; nor lain in ashes, if it had been clothed in sackcloth. Repentance discharges from deserved judgement. God hath no sword for the yielding, but obstinate: He can fight with his Enemies, not with those that sue for peace: Reconciliation would redress all sad accidents. O that there were such an heart in us, that it may be well with us. Magistrates, maintain and vindicate the veneration The nobles the Magistrates called upon. of religion; the whole design of which is nothing else but to procure the private and public happiness of man-kind, and restrain them from whatsoever would make them guilty and miserable to themselves; unpeaceable, and troublesone to the world. 'twill requited all the kindness you can do it, by the advantages and blessings it draws down upon civil government, from him, who is engaged to honour those that honour him, but delivers to infamy and contempt those that lightly regard him. Righteousness establisheth, exalteth a nation Pr. 14. 34. ; whose mighty success and prosperity hath been a reward given by God for their eminent justice, sobriety, &c. Is. 32. 17. . The Roman empire was strong as Iron, while their virtues remained firm, but upon dissolution of their manners, mixed with miry day, and the feet upon which that empire stood, to be broken. public bodies and communities of men as such can only be rewarded and punished here. The general and crying sins of a nation, unless prevented by a general repentance, though they may stay till their iniquities are full, never escape public judgement, for the present vindication of the divine majesty and Laws, and to give some check to the overflowing of wickedness. The greater and more numerous offenders are, the more his justice is concerned to vindicate the affront; when a whole nation combins against him, when hand joins in hand, they shall not go unpunished. He turns a fruitful land into barreness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein Ps. 107. 3●. ; take away the wicked from before the King, and his throne shall be established in righteousness Pr. 2●. 5. . The wisest magistrates have ever thought themselves concerned to cherish religion, without which government wants its firmest foundation, it being the greatest and constant obligation upon conscience, to all civil and moral duties. Such are not to be tempted from their obedience, by any worldly consideration, knowing, he that resisteth authority, resisteth the ordinance of God, and shall receive to themselves damnation Ro. 13. 2 : while subjection for fear of the magistrates power; will cease, when men can rebel with safety and to advantage. He that is conscious to himself of so great an injustice, as the neglect of his duty to God, cannot rationally be fidelious to any other parts of righteousness; or religiously revere one commandment, who despise the other nine. 'tis not probable those should have any great sense of duty to their King, that have none to their maker; or be subject for consciencesake, who have none. 'tis religion plants in men those qualities that dispose to peace and amity, fills men with a spirit of kindness and universal charity; secures every man's interest, by doing as we would be done by; and exterpates pride, covetousness, injustice, hatred, revenge, cruelty, peremptoriness in a mans own opinion, peevishness, uncompliance of humour in things lawful and indifferent, all those passions and vices which render men unsociable and burdensome to one another. It heals mens natures, sweetens their spirits, corrects and mortifies those lusts and passions that make the world so tumultuous& disorderly, troublesone and tempestuous, which were religion conformed to, would be a more lovely desirable quiet habitation: But for those small remainders of virtue left scattered in it, human society would soon disband and run into confusion; the Earth would grow mildred, and become a great forest, and men turn beasts o● prey towards one another. Chastity, temperance, Industry, in their own nature tend to health and plenty; truth and fidelity in our dealings, create love; confidence and good will among men, the greatest bands of peace: While wickedness naturally produces public mischiefs; intemperance and lust breeds infirmities and diseases, which being propagated spoil the strain of a nation: Idleness and Luxury bring forth poverty, this tempts men to injustice, that causes enmities and animosities,& those strife, confusion, and every evil work Ja. 4. 1. . One would think then, virtue should find itself a seat, where ever human societies are, and religion be owned and encouraged in the world, until men cease to be governed by reason. Come then ye Heroes of our nation, see after the observation of our Sabbaths; upon this God often hung the glory or desolation of the Princes and people of Judah( though an extern rite of religion, because it carried so much of the reverence of divine worship,& acknowledgements of God)& still suspends the greatness or depression of nations, to whom the notices of himself and Jesus Christ are given, upon their subjection to those sacred principles, and the Institutions wherein they are concerned: our Christian Sabbath being slipped out of the shell of a Jewish ceremony, into the spirituality of the Lords day, and the morality of a rest, for the public and private Exercises of Religion, our obligations to it still continue with those advantages wherein it was made for man: all contemptful disenclosures or unworthy prostitutions of it, must needs therefore Imply, not only a great restlessness of God and his glory, whom we would dispute into the narrowest room, but too much of an Irreverence of him, if not a defiance to him. Make your sword a shadow to the innocent, a terror to evil doers; root out the common eormities of our age, with utmost industry. Burn the Golden Calf in the fire, grinned it to Powder; strew it upon the water; abolish all the memorials of those things, which have been occasional to the sins and sufferings of the times. Arise ye generous spirits, and divert destruction from your habitations, one famous city is reduced to ashes, up and be doing, to drive away threatening flames from the rest: Like offences will bring on them the same judgement, unless deserved punishment be inflicted on wicked conspirators, and justice bring into light the authors of our slaughter. Those laws will be dreaded and obeied, when put in execution, which are disregarded for want of it. The heinous offences which have provoked God to anger, by exemplary punishment may be speedily amended, the frowns of heaven diverted, an incensed deity appeased, before he again burst forth and there be no remedy. By the most prudent and effectual means endeavour the kerbing those bold and insolent defiers of heaven, who take a pride in being Monsters, and are come to that degree of impudence, as to boast themse●ves in the follies and deformities of human nature. Those frequent profane scoffings at piety among us, are but as so many blasts of malevolent vapours, to nip and destroy the practise of it, among those, whose greener resolutions set them not above their malignant influence. Nothing can be matter of greater wonder, than that among a grave and sober people( none more generally indisposed to, and can worse brook it, seriousness and zeal in religion being almost the natural temper of the English) profaneness should be permitted to gain so much ground, and the most excellent and reasonable religion, made the scorn of fools, and profaned by the unhallowed mouths of any who will venture to be damned to be accounted witty: A thing never suffered in any nation; whatsoever was their religion, the reputation of it was always preserved sacred. God himself would not suffer the Jews to speak evil of other Gods, though they were to destroy all those who tempted them to the worship of them; The Heathens would not suffer their Gods to be reviled, which yet were no Gods; and shall it among observers of the true God, be allowed by any man, to make a mock of the maker of heaven and earth; and to breath out blasphemies against, him who gives us life and breath and all thing? That religion should be made the object of their rallery, who make it not their care and business to search into it, yet throw out their bitter scoffs and profane jests against it, doth not become the gravity of a nation professing wisdom to permit, much less the sobriety of a people professing Christianity. Those whose first approaches to goodness were mercenary and out of compliance to others, may, by coming within view of it, discern it so Amiable, that they may after love it for itself. 'tis scarce Imaginable, the vulgar( considering their rude Ignorance) should embrace it upon the strength of speculation, therefore must be alured by the bait of secular invitation. What weight soever they, that advance not higher than the mere form of Godliness, may add to their own doom, yet is it less mischievous to the world than the contrary extreme; hypocrisy being a sin that cannot well set up for proselytes, because it never owns itself of a distinct party from true piety; it shows some reverence to religion, and so far owns its worth and Excellency, as to acknowledge, it deserves to be counterfeited. The example of a feigned Christian may teach others to surmount their copy, and be that in sincerity, which he is but in appearance; whereas profaneness pretends to no such possibility, breaths nothing but contagion, and like a Pest infects communities: It openly declares against religion, and endeavours to make a party to drive it out of the world. O Be Her●icall not Dastards in doing Justice. Stand in the gate of the camp, and do execution upon the master offenders▪ Put your hands with all earnestness to manacle& ham-string those mighty men in outrageous wickedness, who are engaged in a continual and open Theomacy, as if they would proceed in affronting God, till earth were turned into Hell. timorous, cowardly Magistrates, are Slaves to their Superiors, Sycophants to their equals, Tyrants to their inferiors; like a Hare in a lions Seat, the frown or check of a great one, frights him from his conscience. public miseries are taken as reproaches of those who are in power to prevent public sins; give some reverence to religion, punishing severely our atheistical profane scoffers, that deride, scorn, cast reproach upon righteousness which establishes a nation, as the worst sort of seditious persons, open rebells against the God of Heaven, unprofitable noxious burdens, enemies to the public peace and safety of a nation,& pernicious to Civill Government. The most plausible offender is secretly seditious, and stirs up quarrels in Heaven: There's no such Traitor to any state, as the wilfully wicked; notwithstanding all their pretences to public worship, they contribute more to our public calamities, than the plots and oppositions of our open enemies. Connivance, or neglect makes personal sins public, and brings their guilt on the nation, but is taken off when punished 1 King 2. ●1. by doing that which Gods vengeance is coming to do. None are so good friends to the state as courag●ous, impartial Magistrates, nor procure so much credit to Government, as their strict execution on great and noble offenders. Those whom their crimes have debased, deserve no favour in their punishment. God makes difference of sins, none of persons. Some crimes are restless suitors, and will not leave clamouring for judgement, till its mouth be stopped with revenge. Favour to the offendor, is cruelty to the Favourer; patronizing evil, instead of avenging it; not only command, consent, countenance, but very permission Feoffts public persons in those sins they might and will not prevent; and in Gods account stand guilty of all those crimes they have received power to restrain, or punish, but do not exercise it; malum qui cum potest, non prohibet, facit. How many sober, seeming religious Magistrates, shall be indicted, and condemned at Gods tribunal, as the greatest swearers, drunkards, sabbath-breakers in the land: both enmity and safe-guard is from God; 'tis the surest policy to conciliate, and have peace with him. Sin only ruins Kingdoms. goodness hath been ever a stronger guard than valour. Nature swells out of its place to prevent a vacuity. When the seats of dignity are empty, that is, not filled with good Government, who is not ready to press into them? when the Prophets chairs are unfurnished by persons of graver investiture, naked Sauls crowd into them. Now the foundations of religion are shaken, and profaneness with a bold assault like a fatal flood threatens to overturn us, where are ye the sons of the Highest? ye deputies of Moses, ye Magistrates put in power, not only to lament our sins, but to take away the cause of our Lamentations. In vain you inquire into other causes of our great decay of trade, while you neglect the grand one, the decay of piety. In vain you go to free us from other grievances, unless you pull down the grand one of all, Sin: It's not conspiraces abroad, but our scandalous lives; reform that, and you reform all; and till you do that, you do nothing: consult good laws, and see them executed. In vain we make peace with foreign enemies, so long as we nourish these Regicides, and murderers in our own bosoms. May it then be the happiness of our times and nation, to be rescued from the further pursuites of Divine displeasure by your mediation for reformation, by an efficacious interposall against licentiousness of practise, which grows speedily to an height, when those whose honour and gravity forbids them to stoop to those meanesses of 'vice which others fall down to, have not yet that zeal against it; but either draw too nigh the circus or Ring of the disorders, or entertain the actors of them with familiarity, which gives a boldness to wickedness, that soon espies its own advantages, and grows insolent upon them, ready not only to rise with violence against common opposition, but to dismount authority itself, which hath no greater security than its own virtue enstamped upon those under it. Be not over much wicked, hath a larger place upon states than persons; for besides that Justice makes more hast to punish a combination in evil, the fury of contrary passions and lusts is so outrageous, that they violate all things in their mtuuall encounters, and the inundation grows so strong through the meeting of so great a body of evil, that the destructive force runs into sudden confusions, and is more impatient of those abatements a single wickedness must admit, and so more leisurely brings forth death. There are few instances of any who have been the notorious debauches of their time, but have been exemplary for the fate attending them, except prevented by a sudden return to a sober mind; but not any of an extremely corrupted age, but unhappiness, if not ruin hath road along with it. Do not recede from the interests of your calling, nor do vulgar things to lessen your reputation; but prenoble your priority with honerable actions: Let your lives▪ be as sacred as your laws, that men may prise these, and not dare to violate those; that if wicked men will not love religion, yet they may pull in their heads, and not dare to despise it: If their hearts will not renounce their lusts, let it not be safe to act them but in disguise and darkness, not in the face of the Sun. Consult the honour of your station; let the births of your actions be answerable to the dignity of your callings; do not pejorate your degree; nor ripp the fur off of your cap of maintenance. Those that would command the hearts of men must show them God in their faces; so irradiate their Thrones by being like him, that men may gaze with adoration, and obey with reverence. How can they blushy at those vices they observe placed with thee in the chair of Dignity: Guilt quells the courage of the bold, ties the tongue of the eloquent,& makes greatness itself sneak and lurk, and behave itself poorly. They that sit in Thrones of judgement, should be able to scatter away evil with their eye, by their very presence, to look and strike an awe in offenders. If they dart nothing but malignant influences, who are placed as Stars in our Firmament, no wonder if an universal Pest ensue. 'tis they have brought 'vice into countenance, advanced it to this repute, made it the mode and fashion of the times; that people dread the singularity of being innocent. What can be more persuasive to the vulgar to embrace virtue, than to see it made the election of those, w 〈…〉 ey suppose have most judgement to discern 〈◇〉 value; so fall not on it blind-fold, and who have all the contrary pleasures of sin within their reach, nay, prostrate at their feet sueing for entertainment; so are not cast on it by impotence? And what a temptation to them to run to all excess of riot, when they see their superiors have beaten the path before them, immersed in the most brutish sensuality? which of them will endure to be sober, when drunkenness shall be accounted so dignifying a quality, that it makes a Peasant company for a Lord? When Gentlemen are atheistical, Clowns will think themselves very modestly wicked, if they be but profane. And when they hear their betters discharge loud volleys of oaths, they will soon find they are as well qualified for that part of greatness as the best, their tongues are as much their own Psa. 12. 4 ; and will be glad that by such an easy employment, they can be Gentlemen so good cheap. The body follows the head, their vices commend and countenance it. Miserable that people, whose Rulers instead of making up the breaches, enlarge them; instead of punishing, pled for 'vice; by their scandalous viciousness, discountenance not, but animate, and encourage it. When a distillation of evil falls from the Head upon the lungs of any state, there must needs follow a deadly consumption. The sovereign sometimes is smitten in his Subjects; neither is it otherwise than just, that the arraignment of many malefactors run in the style of wrong done to Kings Crown and dignity. Eminency of virtue,( in meanest persons, commands an awful respect) casts a lustre upon your very places; and by a strong reflection, doubles the beams of Majesty; while impiety strangely lessons greatness, secretly and unavoidably derives some weakness upon authority itself. When persuasions of reformation find freest entertainment with those that have most power to promote it, and Princes are not only Philosophers but Divines, publishing repentance and amendment of life by those sovereign documents; the face of their authority and example shining upon holiness; how orderly doth this reformation descend from the superior regions, without that tumult and suspicion of design, that usually accompanies popular attempts therein; and the greatest honour; for such being nearer God, the original of all, we accept from them recommendations of goodness as acts of bounty, with thankfulness; but not without disdain and regret from them below us. How hard is it for they that wear soft raiment, and are in Kings courts, to see Heaven through the palace casements. The rich man's wealth is his strong city Pr. 12. 1● . There lies hide a kind of sorcery in the throne: The rob is a kind of enchanted vesture. How many have lost their sight, with glaring too much on the glittering heap, and their senses by drinking too deep out of the intoxicated cup of abundance: so infatuated with their chariots of glory, as if they should out run all miseries: because they have such greatness to trust to, distrust not to be happy against all accidents. The throne and rob, have kept them from being arrayed in the pure and white linen, and sitting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The crested worlding cannot endure a check, but conceives himself superior to all Reproofs. God draws few servants from Mammons thresholds; not many noble are called 1 Cor. 1. 26. . Rich merchants who are bartering for so many jewels, seldom purchase the pearl of price; or seek for durable riches, that lay up Gold as the dust. Great ones are seldom good leaders: They who should appear in the front, come in the rear: they that should be exemplary, think themselves exempted. He that hath great adventures to put in his ship, sails last. The Devills prison is filled chiefly with persons of high birth and fortunes: he hath in fetters honourable slaves; his captives go in scarlet, wear golden chains ride in coaches, lie upon Beds of Ivorie. These lofty pines are most barren. How many had been humbled to the Earth, but that their grandeur would not suffer them to come on their knees. But, the cry from heaven ought to be as shrill in their ears, as of the most despicable. Greatness must stoop and listen, as well as penury and indigency. O now God denounces destruction, Trample on pomp, slight splendour, be as active to quiver up Gods arrows, and to sheathe▪ up his sword, as he that grinds at the mill, or crutches for a piece of silver in the streets; for word came to the King of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his rob from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes Jon. 3. 6. : Forgetting all dignity and grandeur, he not onely moves with the rest, but rises up with the first: He sits, not like a King, but a Minor, one under authority, or an head-servant( at best) among the rest of the attendants, and bows before his master. The Cedars should have their Judgment-fraies, shiver and break at the voice of the Lord. Gods lightning strikes upon the highest mountaines. There is no preservative against divine wrath, no antidote against Caesar. Have great men no soul nor Superior? What is a throne of state, to him that hath Heaven for his? Or a scarlet rob to him that is clothed with jealousy as with a garment? Is an embroidered nightcap, a head-peice, or a velvet jacquet, a breastplate against his blows? Can a golden sceptre fright away judgement? Or all the jewels of the crown redeem from vengeance? Shall the munition of rocks be a safe defence? Shalt thou reign because thou dwellest in Cedar? God takes Kings by the collar, and hurls them under his feet; he smites the great ones with breaches, and makes the house of Ivory to perish. Those crownes that now sit light on their heads, shall ere long lie heavy on their consciences, that think it beneath them to ownreligion, any further than 'tis subservient to their civill interest; set up the Kingdom of Christ no faster than they can rear their own, and had rather themselves should reign in a corner, than their master rule in the whole world. When Emperors and Kings shall be brought, not in chains of gold about their necks, but in fetters of Iron about their heels. When the peers and powers, and potentates of the Earth, shall hold down their heads and hold up their hands, and cry guilty. When most of all the mighty, and all the almost Almighty, that have disrobed Christ of his title, and robbed him of his honour, shall be led up and down this court, to be gazed on, and hooted at by all the saints, as prisoners of Law and prizes of Justice. Ps 149. 6. &c. 1 Cor. 6. 2. The ministers called upon. Watchmen, cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, show your people their sins. Is. 58. 1. Mistake not your commission which is not that of an herald, to make a party, or proclaim war among men, but of an Ambassador, to reconcile them by holiness to God. One soul gained to piety, will more promote your account than many thousands sccured to a sect. Be devoted to get God, not yourselves proselytes; to correct exorbitant crimes in others, not to propagate your own nice and subtle disquisitions. O how wounding a spectacle! to find those Christ hath made fishers of men, entertaining themselves like children with picking up shells and pebbles on the shore, nay angling about them too; no wonder if they make the disciples complaint, we have toiled all night, and have taken nothing. Luk. 5. 5. That were designed for the highest abridgement, the pu●ling down Satans kingdom, yet devote themselves to ignoble contests▪ and account their conquests, not from the number of souls won to God, but of opposers worsted in an argument: fear not faces, nor spare offences; but with all authority rebuk and warn them night and day; by passionate, powerful arguments compel them to come in, lest their blood be required at your hands Ez. 3. 18. . How many consume in the flamme of their own vicious courses, because none pull them out of the fire, nor convert them from the Error of their ways? sin would never flourish with such a green top, were wicked men hewn by the prophets Ho. 6. 5. , and smitten with the rod of Gods mouth Is. 11. 4. . But alas, the priest puts honey into the sacrifice, and saves the soul alive that should die. Ez. 13. 19 He limbs all his pictures, as may best please the eye; and dishes out his sipits according to the palate of the age; so, conscience is not awakened, but cast into a sleep, because the noise of their sins doth not tingle in their ears, and souls go fettered to hell, because their chains are not shaken about their heels. O bear them on your breasts at continual sacrifices. Weep before the porch and the altar. And do not unhallow the consecration of the Lord upon your foreheads. Live not, as if you thought to go to heaven some other way than that you teach the people. Though your uncleanness pollute not the offering, for its virtue is not from the agent, but institution; and therefore to abhor it, is to make holy things guilty of our profaneness, to contemn heavenly dainties, because administered by a Raven; to fa●●●ut with God, because we find cause of offence from men, and to despise him, because he is offended: 'tis no miracle to see a man raised to life by a dead prophet: yet by drowning your sermons in pots and impurities, makes so many atheists, and men nauseate what comes out of your nasty filthy fingers; and fortifies profane wretches. He that with never such pierc●ing arguments dehorts from that sin h●mself commits at next opportunity, may be supposed to have no real opinion of it, but rather so passionate a love, that he is Jealous any but himself should have its embraces; and so, will not avert, but excite others appetite to taste of that, they see is thought so desirable as to be monopolised. How ill doth your ruby colours suit your white clothing; your noses died with grapes, and your faces with their clusters, carbuncles: how sad, to hear belches proceeding from yesterdays wine mixed with what is sacred, your tongues heard in the tavern, which ought to be in the pulpit? that gravity which holy precepts require is despised or disaffected; levity of speech detracts from the weight of words; so are had in odium and undergo the contempt of the world: public worship is abandoned, ancient customs disregarded, and reverence due to the whole clergy fades away; their words being contradicted by an unanswerable life: and whilst one prefers his teacher for conformable manners, the common sort dislike such kind of discrimination. How can you expect to be believed by others, who●e actions so confute your words, that 'tis plain you do not believe yourselves; or be regarded by those that hear you; that have nothing in your manners( whose calling is so holy) different from others: but are religious in, and other men out of the pulpit: as if the house of God were a theatre only to act in, and you are, what men ought to be in your lives. You are debtors both to the wise and unwise Ro. 1. 14. . God will not brook the defilement of the Priest-hood Num. 12. 1. Nene. 13. 29. . Woe to the idol Zec. 11. 17. wicked Shepherd Is. 5 6. 10. . A Prophets punishment there shall be, as well as a Prophets reward, to him, who knew every thing but how to keep himself happy. Governours, see you& your house serve the Lord The Masters called upon. Jos. 14. 15. , who hath committed them to your charge; and unto whom for them you must give an account. Every Master hath so much of the prophet, that he is set as a Watchman Eze. 3. 17. over his Family; and ought as jealously to observe the approach of any 'vice towards it, as a Centitinel doth that of an enemy. They with theirs are common servants to the one great Master of the world& the subordination of the one to the other, is but the wise economy of their Lord, who hath constituted the one as stewards, or Supervisors to regulate the rest: To neglect this charge, is a piece of inormous unfaithfulness: To avoid which guilt, have a sedulous care over, and make strict inspection into the manners of those entrusted to you, and accordingly apply instructions, admonitions, reproofs or encouragements. Avow such a love to piety and detestation of 'vice, that your servants may see, there is but one way of approving themselves both to their earthly and heavenly Master. Let not your actions give your edicts the lie. In vain you advice against your own practise. Conscience of your own crimes chokes the accuser. With what face or heart can you punish your own sins in anothers person? We make ourselves ridiculous, to leave our own house on fire, to go quench our neighbours; and rebuk those sins abroad, we tolerate at home. Every notorious 'vice, is destructive against the spirit of Government, and debases the man to an evenesse with common persons. led the way in an holy life, so may you challenge to be followed. Innocency gives an artificial and advantageous authority over our brethren, and casts a more dreadful, awful, dazzling lustre than any other accomplishment. The foyls and scandals of a public governing man, destroys the efficacy of that authority that is just and natural. You authorize the evil you commit, ●bis peccat, qui exemplo peccat: for you teach evil by doing it, and do evil by teaching it. Superiors are their families Looking-glasse, by whose President most dress themselves. Corrupt Patrons shall find an unanswerable Inditement for the foul copies that have been taken from them: By conniving at 'vice you nourish it, and by sparing it, commit it. What is not by you punished in others, is made punishable in you. He that favours present evils, entails them on his posterity. O! how happy are many Children whose Progenitors are in Heaven, being left an Inheritor of Blessings together with their estates; while wicked Ancestors lose● the thanks of a rich Patrimony by the curse that attends it. In vain we look for good from those children we have neglected; or grieve for those miscarriages in elder ages, our care might have prevented betimes. The way to make a good Kingdom is to have a godly family, a nursery of piety, and to walk in it with a perfect heart Ps. 101. 2. . He not only obliges the common wealth, but is as 'twere a Patriot to Heaven itself: provides it with inhabitants, and helps to secure it from that emptiness and depopulation, wherewith the general wickedness of men seem to threaten it. You that hate the name of Christians be The profane called upon. royalists; though you value not your souls, be loyal to your King; put yourselves into such a posture, as with the reason of men you can affirm, will be most advantageous to the good of your sovereign. 'tis not your Dam●me's your Sink●me's will do it; these are the secret Fireballs that have blown up our prosperity; the cursed incendiaries, that have set Heaven against us, and alarmed Almighty vengeance thus far to pursue us. Fancy not from his great longanimity that you have vapoured God( as you are used to do men) into a tameness: mistake not impudence, or desperation for courage; frantickly defy not that omnipotence which you cannot resist. You dare to humour or win a fantastic Mistris, venture upon the wrath of your maker; your neck to the Halter and your souls to the devil, for the wall or a wry word: such true sons of valour, as even in could blood, and upon sober deliberation, damn yourselves for fear of being abused, or called coward, for passing by an injury; you will draw at the least affront, and 'tis present death for a man, to throw a ly or a glass of liquour in your face; and is it nothing you do daily the same to God, by giving him the ly, and pouring down your superfluous glasses? Are you so tender of your honour as rather to violate the laws of the great God, than the least Punctilio of it? and will he be careless of his? Do you dread the reproach of vain impotent men,& confidently encounter the anger of the omnipotent God? O stop in your careir: do not so madly affect a full Pararell with Sodom and Gomorrah, as to force him to destroy that remnant; which alone distinguishes our case Is. 1. 9. . You durst, to gratify a lust one hour, hazard lying eternally in fire unquenchable, and when your credit lies at stake, rather lose your life than that, though you go with reputation to Hell. Yet brave souls have public spirits; having now an opportunity, show yourselves true Lovers of your King, and Country; be not instrumental to ruin them; hold your hands from pulling down vengeance as it were with Cart-ropes, though it be but until this calamity be over-past. Seeing 'vice is so common, use it as you do your fashions, and leave it off( if for no better reason) for its being vulgar. Drink for your own health, and pray for the Kings. For thou shalt then be one of those honourable Nobles that build the wast places, that raise up the foundation of many generations; and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in Is. ●8. ●. &c. . True Christians Duty. PIety and morality are the interest and peace of every single person; and, to be his care in his retired administration over himself: next; of families, and the economy therein, the most likely, kindly, and compendious way for reformation: lastly, of great communities and the rulers over them, to whom is committed the custody of these two tables. When these are obliterated, or exaucterated by sin, God publishes them afresh from the dreadful mount, and engraven with his own finger in Judgments, that they may still be preserved in full force; he promulgates them with that Trumpet with which they were at first given; the sound of which having increased louder and louder to this nation, should awaken us to receive them with a new Devotion, that we die not. And having invited the Magistrate, the Minister, the Master, the H●ctor, shall we now draw in the Lawyer, to solicit the highest Court for relief? Shall we summon in the whole college of Physicians, to prepare an Elixir out of their suppled eyes, rent hearts, extracted consciences to preserve at this exigence? Shall we call upon the Trades men to set up an exchange of prayers and tears, to negotiate and strike up a bargain and agreement between Heaven and us? shall we sand to our particular Counties to congregate together, or to sand their faithful substitute and proxy, their conversion, to associate for us with their humiliation and reformation? But because the most proper cure is that which is personal; and knowing both the malady, True christians called upon. medicine, and how to prepare our antidote; what need we trouble others, when we are able if we will, Christians, to do the work ourselves, and to be our own Physician. And O, that we would unanimously unite our endeavours to keep off judgement, and to bring in fashion, solid and substantial christianity. Come then my brethren, live up to the Essential and fundamental Laws of religion; for so is the will of God, that with well doing you put to silence the ignorance of foolish men; having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you, as of evil doers, they may be ashamed, that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ 1 Pet. 2. 15.&. 3. 16. . Translate your creed into practise. By an exemplary reverence, redress the scandal of your former profaneness. Confute not your holy profession, which while strangers contemplate, they will be apt with some confidence to conclude Christendom to be the Goshen of the world, not only for its light, but immunity from those locusts and caterpillars, swarms of mean and sordid vices, which cover and devour the rest of the Earth. But what terms of wonder or grief can be sufficient enough to express or bewail so strange, and perverse degeneration; that christendom should be as much Heathen as America; that the Light of the world should thus darken it; the salt of the Earth be the means of putrefying and corrupting it; that those who were by God drawn out from the heathen world, should so outvie the Gentiles crimes, as if they had forsaken them only because they were too innocent. So universal a depravation is there among us, that we have scarce any thing left to distinguish us from the most barbarous people, but our better name and worse vices. We ridiculously contend for the title of the best Christians, but such acts denonominate us none at all; and make that sacred name serve only to upbraid the contrariety of our practise. That which was once the index to point out all moral and divine virtues, now marks out that part of the world where least of them reside. Yet, while we damn heathens for their moral virtues, we are so stupid, as to hope ourselves to be saved by their worst vices. True practic virtue, which once made such victorious salleys on the heathen world, is now baffled in its own quarters, beaten from its works, and driven to seek shelter in obscure corners; immures itself in some private breasts, and like an exiled Prince, makes only shift to live, when it should reign. 'tis one of Satan's doest stratagems, to fill Christ's camp thus, with his souldiers; by whose intestine treachery, he hath been more triumphant than by all his open assaults and arrow'd Hostilities. 'tis too evident how much Christianity loses, by the miscarriages and contests of its professors, which while they pretend to guard, do indeed invade her under her own colours. Christian religion hath always had the hap to suffer, what was once the fate of the great author of it, crucifixion between two thieves: Irreligion on one hand,& contention on the other;& while they two have been spitting their venom in her face, her professors have been behind her with thorns, and nailes, and spears; and the injury she hath received from her professed enemies, have been far exceeded by those of her own house. As long as the lives of Christians where the transcripts of their doctrine, they rendered it venerable to all; and gave a presumption, there was some thing more than human in it, that could work such signal effects, and so transform men, as to make the adulterer chast, the drunkard temperate, the covetous liberal, the contentious peaceable. So long as Christianity waged war only with foreign enemies, she never missed to be victorious; for while she was persecuted, she was victorious; they were enamoured on her when besmeared with blood, courted her in the flames, bowed to her on the Gibbit. It hath always been invulnerable against all darts, but what have been taken out of her own quiver, and could never have sunk to such a despicableness by any endeavours, but our own: of which the primitive times were pregnant testimonies: where all the most weighty cruelties, and bloody persecution never made any breach in her, but she stood firm for all those batteries; and like an arched building, became more strong and compact by all that weight that was designed to crush her. But, the vices of professors undermine her very foundation; and as much exceed the destructiveness of the most hostile assaults; as intestine treachery is more ruinous and fatal, than foreign violence. This sacred gourd, throve and flourished so long as watered with its martyrs blood; in absence of which, the devil prepared those two worms, contention and profaneness, that hath smote the root of it, and made its branches to fade and whither. The persecution of Christians being ended, the martyrdom of Christianity began when, they had done suffering for the faith, the faith began to suffer by them: and it hath lost much of its famed and repute in the world, ever since its face hath been soiled with the debauchery, and its garments torn with the divisions of its professors, exposed to ruin and contempt. Ah me; what a slaughter of souls hath been in this Age? Whilst the wandring and only flock of Christ is divided into parties, the devouring wolf lies ready to destroy the scattered fold: this runs away, because the pipe plays an accustomend tune, because it must feed with a bended knee, because the shepherd wears a linen garment,& differs the innocent fleeces with a scandalous brand; and that brings his Lambs to the fountain, and they wantonly wash( drown) themselves: one prefers this, another that, a third neither, and the greater part none at all; but had rather have a freedom in the field, rages against folds, and leaps over them; until driven about with errors, drops into the Roman fold; so, what he foolishly feared, is hurried head-long into, by seeking to avoid. The wild-fire of passion, hath nigh consumed brotherly love; that fire is almost out, and scarce a spark of it appears. Many live as if they had been born on the mountaines of Bether and baptized in the water of Meribah. Were mens reprobates, Gods reprobates, all the world would be damned. So, while he that is without hears each Sect thunder out damnation against each other, he cannot but be startled at the danger of adhering to the wrong; and though that may a while excite his diligence, to discover the right; yet when he comes to that inquisition, he meets with so many polemic intricacies to entangle him, that after many turns from one side to another, he'l be apt to think, the onely clew to extricate himself out of this Labyrinth of many religions, is to abandon all. Nor can any take a more malicious and effectual course to disgrace, reproach, and do Christianity the greatest despite and mischief than to profess it, and live contrary: It more discourages others from embracing than the highest character we can give of, can persuade them to it: And while we would gain them to become Christians, by telling them of our holy precepts and hopes, of an undefiled state, what a Holy God we serve, what a perfect pattern we imitate, what a holy spirit guides, directs, strengtheners, assists us. Their wicked lives who profess themselves Christians( and so to have supernatural principles, to be Sanctified, washed, regenerate, born of God,) loudly proclaim; that either 'tis our religion to sin, or that Christianity is a barren, unfruitful, weak, powerless, ineffectual thing, or we ourselves secretly believe it to be a ly, that without holinesse we may see God; and Heaven, if there be any such place, is an inheritance among the unsanctified; that God is pleased with any thing, and glad of any company; so we cannot reasonably expect they should believe us, when they see we disbelieve ourselves. A Jew, or Turk is not so great an enemy to the cross of Christ, as a sensual, earthly Christian Phi. 3. 18. &c. . 'tis really on many accounts better such should abandon their profession, than to keep on a Vizard which should be for no other purpose, but to scar other men from religion. The wicked lives of Christians at this day, is one of the greatest obstacles of the Jews, Heathens, and progress of the gospel, representing it in the world to so great disadvantage, that prejudiced persons mischief their own souls by others examples. Yet why will they fall and break their necks, because others stumble and break their shins? Doth Christian religion any way countenance, patronise, or rather severely condemn the sinful practices of its professors? Is any Doctrine so holy Ps. 19. 8. Mat. 5. 48. ? Are all that profess it, loose and careless? Must the innocent be condemned for the guilty? Do not many in temporal concerns act against their own belief, and though the prodigal knows his estate is ruining, yet will on, through his impetuous lusts, for want of due consideration? If you stay for a religion, which none that profess live cont●ary to, you must set up your ladder, and go to Heaven by yourself. But 'tis not our Printed Apologies for Christianity, but our visible, unblamable lives, is the only way to remove the fatal stumbling-block, and to make it look with so amiable a countenance as to invite others to it. This would carry so much Majesty, as to command reverence from the greatest enemies, and seeing our good works, to glorify our Father which is in Heaven. But while we profess largely, and live at large, we make the profane, atheistical, embitter their spirits against it, inducing them to conclude all professors hypocrites, and religion a mere design and mockery, deceit and cozenage; so keeps them from that, thus made to stink in their nostrils, scorning and abhorring it as a baseness below them, thus to juggle and dissemble with the world; and to say, there's so much difference between that religion in your bibles and conversations, that either you are not evangelicall, or this is not gospel. I tremble to think, God grant this day of blasphemy, be not laid to our charge. That which was designed to perfect and fill up the law, hath by the strange pravity of those that live as if they professed Christianity, merely in spite, to defame it, at once obliterating both law and law-giver, out of mens minds. Feigned piety is the mother of profaneness, and atheism; hence religion itself comes to be questioned and what is true, doubted to be so. And because the outward Habit displeases some, the very face of religion begins to be detested, flouted at, and put to an undeserved blushy; and fears the whole world will be censured for hypocrisy; so hugs itself in its retired life and hermitage. The wits of our age give many a gird, fling many squib at it, for the disorderly actions of Christians; they have procured Christ many a taunt, and flout, put many a mock-robe upon him, many a Reed and sceptre into his hand, set many a Crown of thorns upon his head, calling him Lord, but revile and spit upon him. Thus is Christ wounded in the house of his friends, and hath more reproaches cast on him by those that profess his name, than by the loudest blasphemies of those that oppose it. There are men so irrational, and unjust, that take notice of the better morals of Turks and infidels, not in reproach of ourselves but our religion( than which none makes so much provision for a holy life Tit. ●. 11. 12. . And because we have so many Lepers, think Abanah, and Parphar better than all the waters of Israel. Our very Religion partakes of the infamy of our lives is thought rather a mystery of iniquity than of godliness; for when those that have not opportunity to examine our faith, see the enormousnesse of our works, what should hinder them from measuring the master, by the disciple; it being scarce imaginable, that any one Sect of men, should so universally run counter to all the rules of their profession; for let any sober heathen, look upon Christendom, as it is at this day, weltering in the blood, not of martyrdom, but war, and is it possible for him to think it owns a gospel of peace, or that those who perpetually do those outrages, they are unwilling to suffer, profess obedience to the royal law, of, Love thy neighbour as thyself? Can he see the violences, and oppressions, the frauds and underminings, the busy scrambling for Crowns, and for little parcels of the earth, believe, we account ourselves strangers and Pilgrims in it, and have laid up our treasure in Heaven? Can he observe the strange and almost universal distortion of speech, whereby it hath lost its native proprie●y of being interpreter of the mind, and under intelligible words so far exhibits the babel of confusion, that no man understands anothers meaning, and can he imagine we have any such precept as lie not one to another, or penalty upon the infringer, as exclusion from the new Jerusalem? Shall he hear our God mentioned more frequently and earnestly in our imprecations, than our prayers, and every part of our crucified Saviour recrucified in our horrid oaths, and not think that his second executioners bear him as little reverence as his first; or that he hath given no such command, as Swear not at all? When he descernes self-preservation bowed to as the supreme law, can he ever dream of another so inconsistent obligation, as that of taking up the cross; or that suffering for righteousness sake, is one of our greatest felicities, when he sees, us run so affrighted from it, that, nocrime, perjury, rebellion, murder, is block enough in our way to stop our flight, when he sees how much of our business, is, first to excite, and then to cloy the flesh, to spur it on to riots, even beyond its own propensions, that the whole year is but one mad Carnivall, and we are voluptuous, not so much upon desire of appetite, as by way of exploit and bravery; can he possibly guess our institution directs us to beat down the body, and interdicts us all rioting, and drunkenness, chambering, and wantonness, and all provisions for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof? Certainly when he sees a set of men, that have inhanc't the common human pravity he will be apt to inser, their principles have taught them the improvement; and upon that supposal, he wanted not temptation to his option, that said, Let my soul be with the Philosophers. So hath Christianity been infinitely more oppressed by those that fought for it, than that were in arms against it; breeding aversion and abhorrence of that religion, whose admirers are full of blood, rapine, &c. nor do such attempts gain any thing to the cause, but the infamy of those, used to promote it. And now it amid all our importunate pretences to piety, there be indeed any such thing among us, me thinks it should give us some relenting, make us sadly consider to what a deplorable condition we have brought that very Religion on which we profess to hang all our hopes, our happiness. And oh that our importunate strifes might be superseded, and our numberless mortal enmities, moulded into the one noble emulation, who shall fastest unravell his own mischiefs, and promote that peace he hath hitherto disturbed. That while many of our combatants, in spite of daily repeated calls to peace, still pursue their hostility, we may show more zeal to the obeying our general, than annoying our enemy; and may fight, not against single adversaries, but war itself, and contend against nothing but contentions. The achievements of calm and sober counsels are infinitely preferable before those of strength and power; especially here, where if we fight, we wound our brethren, but if we unite, we destroy our enemy, baffle, and circumvent Satans Master-stratagem; not only worst, but out wit him. Oh if possible retrieve the decays of Christianity, and repair the injuries you have done it, by bringing its precepts into your conversations, and avoiding the doing any thing that may arm or provoke others tongues against your profession, to which your personal faults will be imputed. To what a dismal, forlorn state have we brought that, which was designed to bring us to bliss, far exceeding the barbarity of the brutish Sodomites; they would have violated the messengers of their ruin, but we those of our safety; and have not only neglected, but vilified and reproached the embassy sent us from Heaven,& instead of embracing that purity, and peace, it recommends to us, have done our part to make it forgotten that ever it was sent upon an, such errand. And indeed, so it is like to be, ●f some heroic piety revive not its memory, and teach us to record it, not so much in our books as lives: there only it will be universally legible, and appear to be, what it is in its own nature, the power of God unto Salvation. A Christian pretends not to have a better wit, a more pierceing judgement, but a better rule, more powerful arguments and incentives to be more holy, chast, temperate, just, more master of his passions, more meek, kind, gentle, obliging, charitable, loving, mildred, of a sweeter, peaceable temper, than others. Then will the world believe Christianity powerful indeed, when they beholds its victories written in the blood of our lusts, and our vices lead in triumph, as the Trophies of its conquest; when they see our actions stamped with its sacred impressions, and can red its Precepts in its Professors practices. O save yourselves from this untoward generation Act. 2. 40. . Come out of her my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues; for her sins have reached unto Heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities Rev. 18. 4, 5. . Do you not know, that the Saints shall judge the world? How much more ought your lives to condemn it Heb. 11. 7. O! let not them whom you must one day Judge, justly Judge you now. O! why will you by an ill example 2 Sam. 17. 14. Mat. 18. 7. . shed the blood of their souls for whom Christ shed his own, and be cruel to them, who have found Christ so kind to you? Shall those brought up in Scarlet, that wear Christs Livery( like the Courtiers of Heaven) in their conversation embrace the stinking dunghill of this worlds pleasure and profit. Jerusalem is a lighting with candles to search Hearts; now God is coming to purge his Gold, to prune his Vine; Professors look within you, and look about you. How can you who sin against so much light, resolution engagement encouragement,) abide the day of his coming?& stand when the Sun of righteousness appears; for he is like a Refiners fire, and like fullers soap Mal. 3. 2. . Ah Lord! what blushing will there be ere long? when thou shalt wash off the paint of our profession( which will not endure the water, or Sun) and thy ●ol●owers wear their hearts in their faces? When they that have not the power, and life, shall wish they had not the form, and vizard of godliness, and cease to appear to be; what they really are not? 'tis much more eligible to be an honest Heathen, or Devout Idolater, than a profane Christian. How many see themselves more than infidels? and that the Charter of Christianity hath served them for no other purpose, but to reprove them in the eternity of their pains for the exorbitance of their infamy. Hell is paved with hypocrites skulls, they fall deepest into misery, from the greatest advantages, and opportunities of being happy, have their portion with hypocrites and unbelievers Mat. 24. ●1. . There is one that accuses you, even Jesus in whom you trust. We sin at a greater, but not so cheap a rate as our forefathers: Our crimes are of a deeper die, attended with sadder, blacker aggravations, and capable of more judgement. Remember Capernaum's Doom, and tremble. Weep not for heathens, weep for yourselves; it shall be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgement than for thee. Thou art inexcusable O man, whosoever thou art that Judgest, for wherein thou Judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; and thinkest thou this O man, that Judgest them which do such things, and dost the same, that thou shalt escape the judgement of God Rom. 2. 3. . The Evangelicall Covenant allows no other privilege to the sins of the most knowing Professors, but a pre-eminence in punishment, the being beaten with many stripes. The Son of righteousness, so long shining on the insincere, serves only to involve them, in that most dreadful condemnation, which awaits those who love darkness more than light. But what can we expect, but that Christian religion, crumbled into so many minute fractions, should like dust be scattered, and irrecoverably dissipated. That while she is surrounded with assassins from all quaters, every one whereof with a wanton cruelty are ambitious to inflict new wounds, but that her present languishing should end in death. To preserve that sacred manuscript of Heaven, the gospel, from being lost, or taken away, the way is to transcribe, and copy it out in your lives. That formidable judgement of removing the candlestick( used by Christ as the most awakening menace, Rev. 2. 5. is yet enhanced by doing it with our own hands. When men are come to that insensate obduration, that they court their plagues, become their own lictors,& make their extrinsic punishment their choice, they are certainly too secure of that ruin they call for. And may we not fear it may prove general, and involve us all? That while so many cry out to be delivered from their Christianity, as their load and pressure; and so few express their dissent to that demand, God may in judgement grant it, harken to those that cry loudest, rescue his gospel from our profane and impious violations, and give it to others that may bring forth the fruit thereof. The fawning professions of the demure hypocrite, accelerate, and not avert this fate: He that makes the Golden sceptre in Christ's hand, a Rod of Iron in his own; That thinks his Saint-ship Licenses him to all the severe censures,& the severer( because more effective) oppressions of others, is certainly to be looked on, not only as a Rebel, but Usur●er, and of all others, the highest provoker. He that tramples under foot the son of God, doth not so much violate him, as he that pretends to erect him a throne upon blood and rapine, perjury and sacrilege: nor, he that accounts the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing, so much profanes him, as he that uses it as a varnish to paint over his foulest lusts. There is no concord between Christ and Belial. And can we think he will be patient to be made subservient to his enemy, or suffer his Ark to be set for the support, which should be the confusion of Dagon? Will he, that so severely upbraides the hypocrisy of the Jews, that stolen, murdered, and committed adultery, and swore falsely, yet came and stood before him in his house ye. 7. 9. ? connive at it in Christians? Was it intolerable profanation in them, to account his house a den of robbers, and shall we be permitted to make it so? They are sent to Shilo to learn their own destiny, and sure, we are as like to find ours there too: to be deprived of those advantages we have so unworthily abused. We cannot but expect, that when he sees his light serve only to aid us the more subtly to contrive our deeds of darkness, he should with draw it, smite us with blindness like the Sodomites, whom he finds in such impure pursuites. By our nonconformity to it, we abjure the sovereignty of Christ, and really say, we will not have him to rule over us. And being thus deposed of his regal and derective power, we have reason to believe, he will despise a mere titular Empire, not suffer the sceptre of his Word to remain as an empty ceremony, among those, who pay it no real obedience? To be again clothed with purple, crowned and saluted King, to advance, the triumph of his scorn and crucifiction? Be not deceived, God will not be mocked; nor always stand holding the candle to us, while we do the devil's drudgery. If we make no other use of the waters of life, but to bath and paddle in, we may expect to see them dried up, or turned into some other channel; and the Sun of righteousness no longer to shine upon those who only baske themselves in its rays, grow Ethiops from its neighbourhood, and will not work by its light. A judgement so black and dismal, that our liberty, peace and plenty go with our means of salvation. When with our guilt, we have Exorci● the Gospel from among us, and dispossessed ourselves of it; it will not depart without horrible rendings, tearings, tortoring; nor give over struggling in its passage, till left us dying and weltering in our own blood. O then! for the gospel, the nation, your own, and posterities sake, be prevailed with, to a speedy reformation of your lives. Seriously ponder the excellency of that holy vocation to which you are called, and whether you have walked worthy of it Ep. 4. 1. . Diligently sift out the fallacies and delusions of Satan and your own hearts, as the particulars, so the causes of your miscarriages; not for acquaintance with those malefactors, but for their punishment, and our security. Be engaged in an earnest prosecution of those delinquents you have impeached, and in as earnest endeavours to repair the mischiefs they have wrought, make no delay to rescue yourselves from their treacheries. Manfully break those withes and cords which are too weak to hold any that will but in earnest remember he is a Nazarite, a person consecrated to God. Resolutely resist the insiduous carresses of those Dalilab's, which would deliver, not your selves only, but the Ark to the Philistines. Nor be content with your own single escape, but propagate the deliverance to as many as you can. Blazon and stigmatize those impostors; to conceal them is a combineing with them. Warn and caution others against those juggling artifices, by which yourselves were entrapped; make your own escape a sca-mark for securing the course of other passengers; when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. A piece of this fraternal charity, we all owe to every particular soul, to whom we have opportunity to dispense it; and the only way to take off that scandal we have broughr upon religion; which will no more be removed by a few single, private reformations, than it was contracted by their irregularities. There must be combinations, and public confederacies in virtue, to balance and counterpoise those of 'vice, or she will never recover that pristine honour which she acquired, by the general piety of her professors; when there was such an abhorrence of all that was ill, that a vicious person was looked on as a kind of monster or prodigy, and like a putrefied member cut off, as being not only dangerous but noisome to the body. But alas, the Church is now made up of such, as she then would have cast out: And, 'tis as remarkable to find a good Christian, as there, a bad. Every thing is estimated, not according to its rare and casual, but frequent usual operations. Christianity hath lost as much in its repute, as it appears to have done in its efficacies: nor will there be any way of repairing i●, till we be Generally rendered as malleable to its impressions, that our lives may attest its force and energy. To suppress the operations of our religion, is indeed to extinguish it. And O that men would Generally lay to Heart, the sin and infamy of being promoters of public ruin! and quench that fire with their tears, their sins have kindled. That the fastings and prayers, the sighs and groans of the primitive Christians, may supplant the profane Luxuries, the carnal jollities of the modern. That sackcloth and ashes may become the universal mode, the only fashionable dress among us. But the less there is of this general reformation, the more Jealously ought every single person to look on himself, lest he be one that obstruct it, by staying till it be a fashion, but neglect to contribute his part, to the making it so. O why should we not all emulously contend who should first put off that ugly vizard we have put upon our religion, and restore it to its native form? men are willing to discourage themselves from the attempt; and with an unseasonable modesty reflect, what a nothing one man is to so many millions: When alas, all that vast empire 'vice hath got in the world, is founded in the pravity of single persons, and would certainly be ruined by their reformation. He who considers himself but as One, should not suffer himself to grow into less, to fall from that Unite to a cipher, by permitting sloth or cowardice to enfeeble, and emasculate him; but recollect his spirits, actuate all his strength, and therefore be sure to do his utmost, because that utmost is but little. What wonders are industry and resolution able to effect; and a single courage exerted, hath often without Romance overcome Giantly difficulties. 'tis a prejudice is cast upon virtue, by the pusillanimity of those that like but dare not abet her: when most commit all impieties daringly and openly, and those few that mourn for it, do it but in secret; the example of the one is contagious, but the other hath no means to defuse itself. Would Christians stoutly own Duty, and not follow Christ afar off, they might yet hope to make a party, and gather ground in the world. And how noble an attempt were this, thus to conquer Satan in his highest Triumph, and recover a lost field? Methinks those who have any warmth of piety glowing within them; may easily thus improve it into a flamme, by being, not only devout to God, but zealous toward men: endeavouring by all prudent means to recover them out of the snares of the devil; among which are none more entangling than the creditablenesse and repute of customary vices. Set yourselves especially against that overgrown covering and Ornament, those locks wherein its great, its samson strength lies; and strive to render it as contemned, as it is base. To which purpose is nothing so apt, as the exalting its competitor, affecting virtue out of the Dungeon, that darkness, and obscurity wherein it hath long lain forgotten, and by making it illustriously visible in your own practices, put it into the possibility of attracting others, there only it appears in its true splendour: They are but dead colours the sublimest speculations can put on it: He that will draw it to the life, must imprint it upon his own. And thus every pious person may, nay, ought to The true Christianin evil be a Noah, a Preacher of righteousness; and if it be his fortune to have as imperswasible an auditory, if he cannot avert the deluge, it will be yet the providing himself an Ark; the delivering, yea, advancing his own soul, if he cannot benefit other mens: Nay, this being a Noah may qualify him to be a Moses, give him such an interest with Heaven, that he may be fit to stand in the gap, to be an intercessor and mediator for a provoking people. He so mourns for the sins of others, that he will hardly be taken off, while others mourn not for their own. Hath learnt to deny his private interest for the public good; Moses would not cease praying for Israel, to be made great upon their ruins. He abhors the baseness of serving himself on the evil of the times; by seeking a private gain, by that which will turn to the public loss, and of fearing to adventure a private loss, for that which may turn to the public gain. His zeal i● mixed with love and meekness, to melt, not consume his enemy; apt to pour out his own blood a Sacrifice for truth, than that of gainsayers; far from those that think to propagate religion by arms not only lawful but meritorious; and in order to planting it in a nation, mellow the soil with the blood of the inhabitants. The common errablenesse of mankind urges in him commiseration to the Seduced, to look gently upon others,( on an involuntary error, rather as the disease, than crime of the person), as to reflect impartially upon himself. He considers how possible it is, that even while we condemn others, we may indeed be in the wrong, and then, all the invectives we make at their supposed errors, fall back with a rebounded force upon our own real ones Gal. 6. 1. . Those universal truths to which all parties assent, are the clearest, for their evidence, and most important for their consequence; so should be a more enforcing motive to unite, than the more singular opinions( perhaps fancies) of some men can be to discord, would men as nicely observe the principles of agreement between dissenting parties; and with as much art and care, seek to dilate and spread them, why might not they, as much overwhelm our differences, as they have been overwhelmed by them. Hypocrites are more zealous and earnest for a Ceremony, than for the Sabbath; reverence the Creed, but make no conscience of the Commandements. But a true Christian contests more for the weightier things of religion; than for the lesser, and is charitably affencted to the favourable censures of all usages that are merely indifferent. Prudence often requires as much compliance with our weak brethren as is allowed by innocence. In what he cannot comply with the depraved customs of those among whom, without disobeying him for whom, he lives; or doing what would derogate from the dignity of a person related to such a Master, whose servant he is, he will less consider what may be thought of him by a multitude, than what account he is to render to him, who hath forbid him to follow a multitude to do evil. And as he knows his reward will be much less than he reckons upon, if it were a thing to be received on earth, not in Heaven; so how strange and unfashionable soever his conformity to his own sovereign may appear, he chooses rather to displease him, than God, and acts as both seeing and being seen of him that is invisible. If sin present himself as his Protector from a temporal calamity, reason tells him the proffer is insidious; It exposes him to that which is infinitely more, than what it pretends to save him from, in respect both of guilt and punishment: what a cheat is it to keep me out of the Dungeon, and sand me to the bottomless pit? To save me from a temporal fire, and thereby mark me out as fuel for eternal flames? To take me out of their hands who can kill the body, to put me into his, who can destroy both soul and body in Hell? 'tis folly to wallow in the mire, though it were safe, much less when it is full of Asps, and Vipers, which will infallibly sting me to death. He eyes both the ugliness of sin, and the affrightfull, dismal blaze of those unquenchable flames it kindles. He refrains his tongue from evil, seeks peace and pursues promoting good will among men, healing differences, abating animosities, preferring the public quiet, before his own private ends; Censures not, reviles, nor murmurs against others, for that helps not to better any condition, but rather increases the evil and discontent of it; especially if directed against our Governours; men in private stations can't understand the temptations and difficulties great persons contest with, therefore no fit Judges of their actions; By maligning them, we weaken their hands, and undermine that power, whereby order is to be preserved,& introduces confusion, the worst kind of evils any times are capable of: One tongue set on fire of Hell, may set on fire the whole course of nature Jam. 3. 6. the frame and compages of human Societies, and dissolve those bonds, whereby men are to be united in an orderly association: Even those most prove to discontent, could not with safety sleep or wake, did not the wing of Government hover over them: Were the King a Nero, St. Paul would charge us not to resist, and would charge resistance with damnation Rom. 13. 2. . The peoples sin may cause God to infatuate their Princes Counsel, or leave him to commit such crimes, for which he may punish the nation, and he not deserve to govern, but they not deserve a better governor Is. 3. 1. &c. . He redeems the time because the days are evil; the fire of his zeal is kindled by an Antiperistasis, and burns hottest in coldest seasons; as Spring water warmest in frosty weather. He takes Antidotes in an infectious air, in common contagion, beware lest ye being also lead away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness 2 Pet. 3. 17. . Follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes, not for his fleece, but for his blood, when so few go after him, so many stand still, and most go backward; Apostates are the Devills windfalls, death blows them into Hell. In the darkest night the Firmament of his soul is decked and bespangled in greatest lustre, and then most careful to hang out his light, to stir up, and live in the exercise of his most excellent graces, especially those that stand in opposition to the reigning usages of the age; that he may diminish the darkness of an evil generation, he shines as a light in it Ph. 2. 15. ; is patient among offensive neighbours, chast among lascivious, sober among Epicures, religious in Sodom, upright when the whole earth is corrupted: their worldliness quickens his heavenliness, their Atheism his belief in God, their lukewarmness his circumspectly zeal and strictness Jos. 24. 15. ; Is as active for God, as others are for the world; as truly content with his condition as others are covetous and oppressive, as faithful as others are false; as pious as others are profane; as much excels in Christian moderation, Humility, as others in cruelty, censoriousness, pride. His life is an illustrious Testimony for Christ and his cause against a wicked world. He fears not the reputation of singularity, but had rather go himself alone to Heaven, than to Hell in a crowd of Company. In an epidemic disease, every one looks out for Antidotes for his own peculiar, and doth not acquiesce in that silly confidence, he shall do as well as others: Can numbers outface Damnation? Do men hope that by going in troops to Hell, They shall master the native inhabitants, subdue those Legions of tormentors, and become Conquerors instead of sufferers? He appears in defence of Gods word and ways, with more courage, resolution, and boldness, than others in opposing or pleading against them. 'tis the wisest, safest course to take the strongest side; greater is he that is with us, than they that are with them: When Gods cause and glory suffers, he that is not for God is against him, and he that gathers not with him, scatters abroad; so, by fearing a lesser danger, falls into a greater; to save his clothes, breaks his neck. He is not ashamed of his profession, and dare be religious when it exposes to danger, when nothing is so hard and chargeable to keep as a good conscience; and he that departs from evil, makes himself a prey, and is accounted mad for his pains. His truly generous spirit, not only surmounts the difficulties that attend him, but is raised by them; and turns them into steps to glory. That boisterous breath the profane sand forth to deride and across this skilful Pilot in his intended voyage, by the right composing of his fails, he makes that his greatest furtherance and advantage, which was intended for his ruin. He can with any name, and with any wind go to Heaven, a harbour where he is sure to meet with his name written in the book of life. He cannot think that any debasement of his spirit, which carries him out upon so High and Noble achievements, but an happiness to go into Heaven, though through a read Sea, and a rude wilderness: whilst others( alas) feed so greedily upon the Quails, that they never say grace, but in a murmuring that they have not more and better cheer; he feeds more upon his hopes, than his enjoyments,& blesses his God for both. He converts the peoples froth into Pearl; and will not buy their good word, with the loss of his Lords, well done good and faithful servant. He sticks close to Christ when it is disgraceful or death to wear his colluors, and rejoices he is counted worthy to suffer shane for his name Act. 5. 41. . What the Church loses in the number of formal Professors, is abundantly made up in the vigorous graces of real Saints. He will let go all his earthly preferment, rather than lose his conscience, accounting the enjoyment of what he principally loves, enough to recompense him for all he hath been constrained to part with in pursueing it: That servant is worthy to faint, that holds it not a sufficient encouragement to see the evident proofs of his Masters favour. Let Michal revile his dancing before the Ark, his patience stops all mouths and purchases Crowns. If no cause to blushy for Heaven, why should we for grace? What shall we be adasht at, serving the only potentate, and original of all excellencies? Shamefac'tness is for them, in whose coat of arms they may well put in the Devils cloven-foot; virtue is a thousand escutcheons. He abhors the baseness of being baffled out of a truth or virtue: A good cause divests sufferings( in what dress soever they appear) of their dreadful shape; pulls off the ugly vizard; and shows us a beauty that lay there concealed; wise men may be argued out of a religion they own, none but fools and mad men will be drol'd out of it; sooner laughed out of their estate, than out of their hopes of eternal happiness. He prizes his Masters honour more than his own interest: having fixed his end, he takes his way as he finds it; all weather is fair to a willing mind. 'tis indifferent to him whether he be consumed by Martyrdom, or religious employment, or what manner of death he shall die: If he prise any thing in the world, as his own, 'tis that he hath something to esteem as nothing for Christ. Desire of gain or glory, fear of disgrace or danger, induces not him to pernicious practices; a man can never be undone by the greatest loss he can sustain, for preserving an interest in Gods love and favour. He is rich and happy, whose portion is God, and inheritance Heaven, how great soever his sufferings and losses, while others with their greatest worldly gain or glory are poor and miserable. And yet, here, where the prise is so rich, the terms so easy, the acquest so certain, the detriment of refusing it so inestimable, how many insignificant combatants are there in the Christian camp that only lend their name to fill up the muster-roule, but never dream of going upon service? If we fight not manfully under our Saviours banner against sin, the world, and the devil, 'tis not material what profession we make; we are the same deserters whether we stay in our own camp, or run over to the enemies, throw away our arms, or not use them, renounce our Christian faith, or not improve it. sloth is as mischievous in war as treachery or cowardice And, he that keeps his sword in the sheathe, is as formidable an enemy, as he that brings none into the field. Christianity is our badge or cognizance of the cause and general we fight for; to engage us to all the obedience, fidelity and constancy of Resolute souldiers. They that please not themselves with the empty title, but penetrate the full purport and significancy of their Christianity, will find themselves assaulted by such force of reason, that they must be either very ill Logicians, or very good Christians:&, they that look on the eternal things that are not seen, will through those optics exactly discern the vanity and inconsiderableness of all that is visible, and temporary; and so( while others unworthily desert that cause they find chargeable to maintain, and choose the way of the wicked, whose prosperity they envy) will be equally unmoved with the terrors or allurements of the world, and neither frighted nor flattered off their duty. He would not be saved alone, but is still provoking and winning over others to a love of the truth. When 'tis customary to speak more of persons, than things; and reckoned a piece of ingenuity to raise or improve a story, to wound the famed of an enemy, or play with the reputation of a friend: when blasphemous hypocrites words are stout against God, then they that feared the Lord spake oftenone to another Mal. 3. 16 by way of counsel& encouragement in the ways of God; that the sincerity and eminency of their piety, may be sufficient to overwhelm the contrary perverseness. He hath as many chains to oblige men to his maker, as he hath given him means of well doing. He perfumes every place with his presence, and 'tis hard for any to come from him, no whit holier than he went. While others are drawing in partners of their Damnation, he is pulling them out of the fire: even permission in those things we might remedy, makes us no less actors than consent; some kill as much by looking on, as others by smiting: whosoever gives the blow, the murder may be ours: 'tis all one, to hold the sack, and to fill it: we are guilty of all the evil we might have hindered. Foolish Christians, in stead of vindicating the truth, think it forsooth, discretion and moderation, with a complying silence, and perhaps a smile to boot, tacitly to approve and strike in with the scoffer, and so go sharer both in the mirth, and guilt of his profane jests. He studiously contrives how he may promote his acquaintances advantage, not only outward and secular but inward and spiritual; using all friendly stratagems to recommend and endear virtue to him: He makes his kindness the vehicle wherein the more gratefully to administer whatsoever is most wholesome, even reproofs when they appear so; and yet, by taking his own turn in being the patient, evinces 'tis no assuming humour that creates him a Physician. He feels such an unutterrable complacency in rescueing any man by seasonable advice from a course of sin, that he finds he is kind to himself as well as the other; and hath no temptation to think himself unprofitably employed, though that were to be his only reward. He becomes a Saviour without a across; and pays but a little breath for that, which exhausted the blood of his own. He that by a strict and exemplary conversation sets himself up a Land-mark, to direct men in this turbulent, and dangerous sea, though his light goes forth to others, the warmth and cherishing heat of it remaines in his own breast. What cheerful exulting reflections, may he make upon himself, that can make good Saint Paul's protestation, I am pure from the blood of all men Act. 20. 26. : That he hath not by any scandalous example ensnared any soul; but by illustrious acts of virtue, so adorned his Christian profession, as to draw in proselytes to the obedience of Christ: That hath made it his business to stand in the gap, not only by his intercessions with God against the plagues, but by his endeavours with men against the sins of the nation; and by a steady opposeing himself against the inundation of profaneness and licentiousness, hath invited others to give some stop to those impure torrents. He that aspires to no more than a private innocence, is only on the defensive part, stands upon his guard against Satan: but he that aims at public reformations, maintains an invasive war against him, and so more shakes his kingdom: The reducing any sinner is the dispossessing him of so much of his usurped territory, and weakens his empire in the world. But alas, while we should awaken others, we sleep ourselves: While we should give cordials, to uphold others, we faint, we fall ourselves. Christian, hath Christ cast his cloak of Love over thee, and said unto thee Live, and wilt thou not pitty those that lie dead in their blood? O were the neglect and abuse of religion looked on as a commoninjury, which every one is concerned to vindicate; were there such a combination in order to the nations happiness; would every governor seriously mind his charge, every man his brother, every Christian his particular duty, how much might it contribute to the general good? How soon are the foul streets of a great City made clean, by every mans sweeping his own door. evil men make evil times, they are made good by every mans mending one: No such way of being a public benefactor, as careful endeavours to make the times we live in, better for us. For the kingdoms welfare, it lies upon each particular person, to put out, and faithfully improve his little stock to the public bank, doing some extraordinary worship to God, with a careful circumspection against whatsoever hath any tendency to augment the sins and sufferings of the times. If the foot be pinched, the back bends, the head bows down, the eye looks, the hand stirs, the tongue calls for aid, the whole man is in pain,& labours for redress: being members of the same body, we pray for ourselves in praying for others: Then may we rest satisfied, when conscience tells us we have neglected no means for redressing our miseries; but may look for amendment or patience by the personal performance of our duty: we shall procure to ourselves at least the great benefit that would accrue to the nation, by a general reformation: either the affliction shall be kept or taken off thee, or laid on in so much mercy, that thyself shall bless God for it; whereas the contrary may cost thy temporal or eternal ruin. And though the distribution of rewards and punishments properly belong to those in authority, yet there is one sort of them in the power of private persons i. e. Honour and contempt; every man being obliged to honour them that fear the Lord, and to cast contempt upon those, that would cast contempt upon religion; which if well applied, might prove of great efficacy: Were profane persons used as the lepers under the Law, would men nauseate their company, and avoid all kind of conversation with them, as vile infectious mischievous persons, this might be one good means to work in them some kind of shane and modesty, when they shall see themselves despised and abandoned by all sober men. And now, why should not every one be ambitious To regard Gods displeasure. by all means to make one in this so pious a confederacy? and resolve most studiously to endeavour the composing our discords, and supporting piety: in which he may borrow something of instruction even from his own guilt, and copy out his former industry to this better purpose. But among us are so many humorous and vicious; such a complicated disease of bad opinions, and such a cachexy of evil lives, some half sighted architects, who magnify our virtues, but can neither see errors, nor foresee dangers; other Earthly hearts, hide among the stuff 1 Sa. 1●. 22. , so busied about their worldly designs, as they have no leisure to mind, or propension to be intent upon this solemn subject: and notwithstanding the common safety or ship wrack, that we must sink or swim together, yet in this storm, most passengers abandon or disregard the ship of Church and state, to save themselves in the cockboat of their own fortunes Ac. 2●. 30. that we despair to find the generality apprehensive of disease or cure. 'tis a singular work, and must be engaged by fingular agents, such as are truly religious, that have the Sins of the nation smarting in their hearts, and the safety of it echoing in their ears; that have the most conscience to cure sin, and the most remorse to reconcile an offended God: whose hearts are knit to the nation, and whose tongues soliciting for it: That weep over our sins, and would even sacrifice themselves in expiatory duties to prevent judgement. O Christians, God takes special notice how we behave ourselves, and comport with his dispensations of mercy or judgement. He expects when extraordinary in his providences, that we be so in seeking him. Because they regard not the work of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up Ps. 28. 5. . Trees of righteousness, of Gods own planting, bring forth their fruit in their season Ps. 1. 3. ; They carry suitable spirits under his various actings; and shift their sails according to the several winds, whether North or South that blows upon their garden, that the spices thereof may flow forth. When the Lord comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the Earth for their iniquities Is. 2●. 21. , 'tis not manners for his servants to sit still; they must arise and prepare to meet him Am. 4. 12 . 'tis our grand, important duty, when Judgments are felt or feared, to be sensible of and sorrowful under them: when he was come nigh, he beholded the city and wept over it Lu. 19. 41. . When he Eclipses and over-clouds the day, he expects we put on our mourning garments; and be upon our knees( in the lowest resentment) when he lifts up his hand to strike, as a suitable posture to keep off the storm of his wrath now gathering against us. 'tis high time to betake ourselves to our deffensive arms, when the Lord of hosts is marching against us: And because I will do thus unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel Am. 4. 12. . He smartly, severely resents that most provoking sin, a stupid insensiblenesse& security under judgement, as being a slighting and contemning of his power, and a dishonourable reflection upon his wise management of human affairs; as if the methods of his providence were not worth taking notice of; that the ship driven at random, and things came by hap hazard; Wo unto them that are at ease in Sion Am. 6. 1. ; drowned in sense,& now lie sleeping, unconcerned, at the signs of Gods wrath. The very Romans severely punished one, that shewed himself out at a window, with a Garland on his head in the time of war, when it went ill with the common wealth. Whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in the same day, he shall be cut off from among his people: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you, before the Lord your God Lev. ●●. 28. 29. . Shall the lion roar, and shall not the beasts of the forest tremble? Fear ye not me? saith the Lord, will ye not tremble at my presence Is. 5. 22. ? What not dread such a God as I am? Will not my greatness nor displeasure make you quake and stand in awe? Are ye so sottish, as not to be startled at the voice of the Lord that shaketh the wilderness Ps. 29. 8. ? Will not the apprehension of my approach enforce you to stir? Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob Ps. 114. 7. : Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see, but they shall see and be ashamed Is. 26. 11. . O! who shall not fear thee O Lord, and worship before thee? For thy Judgments are made manifest Rev. 15. 4. . Tremble ye women that are at ease, be troubled ye careless ones; strip ye, make ye bare, gird Sack-cloth upon your loins Is. 32. 11. . Sigh ye Sons of men with the breaking of your Loins, and with bitterness cry and howl and smite upon your thigh Ez. 21. 5. 1●. ; be afflicted and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness; humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, that he may lift us up Ja. 4. 9. 20. : Others sins unmourned for, become ours. O wo unto our hardened jolly Professors! O shall not your hearts be broken, for and from sin, that hath incensed God against the land of your nativity? Can you retire from the world, and seriously consider the prints of his displeasure, and remain impenitent? Is it nothing to you that God hath these many years been withdrawing from his Sanctuary in England? That your Ministers after all their labours, have had miscarrying wombs and dry breasts? That so seldom any are under the pangs of the new birth? and so few added to the Church that shall be saved? That God calls aside so many of his ambassadors? That there is such a spirit of division in the Land? That he hath been so long contending with us by the Sword, by Pestilence, and by Fire? The joy of our heart is ceased, our dance is turned into mourning; the Crown is fallen from our head; wo unto us that we have sinned; For this are our hearts faint, for these things are our eyes dim La. 5. 15. &c. . How unreasonable are earthly prosecutions in this day of wrath? Thus saith the Lord, behold that which I have built, I will break down, and that which I have planted, I will pluck up, even this whole land; and seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not; for behold I will bring evil upon all flesh ye. 45. ●●▪ ; Is this a time to walk with out-stretched necks, and wanton eyes? to be vain and frothy, careless and stupid, carnal and immersed in the world? to receive money and garments, and Olive-yards, and Vineyards, and sheep, and Oxen, and manservants, and Maid-servants? The sins therefore of the nation, shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever 2 King 5. 26. 27. . If the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Why, fast and pray, for the Lord is in his Holy Temple, the Lords Throne is in Heaven Ps. 11. ●. 4. . O! would every one that contributed to the accending, be as industrious to the appeasing Gods wrath, would all that have brought their Fire-brands, bring also their Tears to quench it; as there would be no dry eyes in the nation at present, so might it prevent as great a generality of weeping ones for the future. But who( unless awakened by his personal concerns) seems at all to startle at the noise of public ruin? What sign of remorse? What vanity, nay what 'vice have we substracted upon the sense of Gods anger? What nicety in clothes or Diet have we cut off, in sympathy with the nakedness and Hunger of our afflicted brethren? Does not the unreasonable jollity of too many among us, look as if we triumphed in their miseries, found music in the discordant sounds of their groans and our own laughter? Emulating that infamous barbarity of Nero, who played while Rome burnt. 'tis a kind of impious Solycism, to revel under the menace of judgement. Thus saith the Lord, a Sword is sharpened, and also furbished; it is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished, that it may glitter; should we then make merry Ez. 21. 9, 10. ? With how much more indignation must he resent our perverse contumelious behaviour; against whom he hath not only prepared but used his Sword; and are not only under the threats, but actual execution of his vengeance? This is interpretatively to prompt him to yet sharper inflictions, by showing him that these have not edge enough to penetrate us. And in that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with Sack-cloth; and behold Joy and Gladness, slaying Oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall die; and it was revealed in mine ear by the Lord of Hosts, surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord of Hosts Is. 22. 12. 13. . Every one hath brought a Faggot to increase the common flamme, therefore ought his Bucket to quench it; but so few do, with how much more vigour and resolution should they bestir themselves. England, for many generations hath had in a succession a number of precious ones, who by a keeping close with God, unspotted from the times, were the Atlas's of their several ages, and found favour of God, to beg the life of this nation, when ready to be turned off: when wrath rushing in at the breach its sins( as ordinances) had battered down in the fence and wall of safety that was round about it, have stepped in, stood before him, and stopped his entrance Ps. 106. 23. 30. . Unhappy will the day of your birth be called, if you now coming in their room, should by degenerating from the power of godliness, and earnest endeavours cut the bank, which was their chief care to keep up, and let in an over-flowing desolating judgement. Unworthy that Heir of his Birth and Patrimony, who prodigally loses that estate, which, by the care and providence of his Ancestors, was, through many descents, at last transmitted to him, but together with the honour of the Family, thus unhappily ends in him. Luther foreseing a black cloud of judgement hanging over Germany, told his friends he would do his best to keep it from falling in his days, yea, he believed it should not; but when I am gone( saith he) let them that come after me look to it. God uses rather to spare the offeder, than strike the intercessor; and now seems doubtful whether to destroy for many wicked, or save for the sake of a few righteous. And O Christian! hast thou not often said, this nation must suffer, and that the end of all will be dismal? And dost thou not fear it? Or fear it,& not stand up to save it? O! that thou hadst but as much prevention, us thou hast judgement, or as much conscience, as thou hast a presaging spirit. That thou wert but as true a Saint, as thou wouldest seem to be a Prophet. Can you foretell, but remedy nothing? And foresee perils, yet put to the venture whether you escape or be ensnared in them? Do you dread charging plagues and disregard challenging sins? Do your ears glow, yet suspect no bad news? Do you seem to see nothing but Rods, Razors, Yokes, and Fetters, yet so blind that you cannot see the violating of God's laws? Doth every mechanic talk of the danger of times, and not you cry out of those execrable things which are ready to make the land an execration? Can you dread vengeance with impenitency? And reflect your ruin with stony Hearts? Feel malignant humours rising without taking a purge? And fear sinking, without pumping out the water? You are then rather inquisitors of dangers, than interpreters of them. Your eyes are open, your ears listening, and your hearts asleep. You are fearful yet regardless. Your own predictions, nor convictions, will make you look inward. You are appalled at Gods Judgments, yet s●irt them away, as if the angry and arming God would never smite. You see him displeased without striving to pacify him; and take notice of the sadness of the times, and receive the bruit of impending miseries, and dispose not yourselves to prevent it. God, you say, threatens; but do you believe him? He moves from his seat, do you arise from yours? He puts on Justice like a Cloak, do you cast away your Robes? He is ready to rend your garments from your backs, do you put on Sackcloth? He is blowing up his coals to burn against Jacob, do you sit in ashes? He's calling in variety of Judgments to plague, do you call in Citizens and others to pacify? He's resolved upon dismal things, do you do memorable ones? He frowns, do you weep? He is setting your sins in order before you, do you confess them? He is righting himself for injuries, do you make reparation? He is upon the point of confounding mightily, do you cry mightily? His feet is turning into the visiting way, do you turn every one from his evil way? His hand is laying hold on judgement, do you purge yourselves from the violence of your Hands? O! come ye true mourners in Sion. In the consciences of your own wants and infirmities, To spend their main censures upon themselves. spend your main censures upon yourselves. Effectually work your hearts to a sound Humiliation for your own sins, which contribute to our public stock of miseries. Though every one is not bound to say, he hath deserved those Judgments above all others; yet he must, that his sin hath deserved any judgement, that can befall him: and that what every man is liable to, God may in Justice pick out whom he please, to make him an example of it. Every inhabitant is strictly and impartially to examine himself, and reflect upon the plague of his own heart, what 'tis in him particularly God aims at. How he hath contributed towards kindling his anger; and accordingly, speedily to apply himself to him: doing his utmost to make an atonement. hid nothing from him; from the public guilt who can say his heart is clean? In thy skirt is found the blood of the nation; yet thou saist because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me: behold I will pled with thee, because thou saist I have not sinned ye. 2. 34. 35. . How many can find out the filth of the whole nation, rather than the dunghill at their own doors? And reckon up all the vices of the times, rather than their personal? They can consider their proper rights, but not their proper sins. This clapsed book hath not been opened, to view every leaf; nor this depth of iniquity searched to the bottom this many years. They had rather teacb the world repentance than practise it: And cleanse the age, than purge themselves. To bring forth the prisoners in chains,& accuse them at the bar, they leave this to the last tribunal. We arraign only other mens sins, and leave our own out of the Inditement. We charge our mortal wounds and ruins upon immediate weapons and instruments; not considering they were wielded and whetted by the more general impieties, from whence they borrowed their destructive power. To transfer the guilt here, is but the artifice of slaying Uriah with the Sword of the children of Ammon; which acquits not David from being his murderer. Here lies the carcase of a poor bleeding nation; which of us can say, our hands have not shed this blood, neither hath our eyes seen it Deu. ●1. 7. ? Instead of accusing others as Apostates to truth, condemn yourselves as enemies to peace. Our lusts though they are confessedly the B●utefieus among us, have by I know not what fascination so endeared themselves, that we retain them in spite of all their appendent mischiefs; cherish and foster them under the covert of religion. The less capable you are of washing your hands in innocency, the greater neeed to wash them in penitency. The office of the avenger of blood devolves on you; drag out the criminals which have taken Sanctuary in your own breasts, as in a City of refuge, saying, is here all?& hue them in pieces before the Lord. While others gaze upon, and cry out against the infirmities of others in the market-place, weep over your own in your closet; spend not time in examining the lamps of others, while you neglect to get oil into your own vessels. Exclaim not against the sins of Governours, and Courtiers, rollers, divided parties &c: make them matter of Humiliation, not of Discourse; and recoil upon yourselves, saying what have I done? How have I provoked God as Principal or accessary? O! run speedily unto him with tears; away into thy closet, fall down amazed, fill thy spirit with horror, possess the sins of thy youth as if just now committed; tract the abominations of thy life; hid nothing from him: chew the cud till they break thy heart, and become a burden too heavy for thee to bear Ps. 38. 4. . That he may forgive the iniquity of thy sins (a); confess them frequently, fully, freely, p Ps. 32. 5. with all their aggravations, contrition, indignation, resolutions through Christ of reformation: what have I to do any more with Idols? and give the Lord no rest, till he hath blotted them out of his remembrance. Let the sight of thy hardness( which makes thee fear thou shalt but sin, by their enumeration, or a formal dull confession) drive thee the oftener to the Throne of grace, and there lye before the Lord, till he break the Rock, that the water gush out. Never greater cause to tremble, not at Gods Judgments only, but the Hellish impieties that swarm in our own hearts. How is it possible to stand under so much guilt, without shrieks, cries,& lamentations? How can we eat or drink, sleep or laugh under the weight of that, which drew tears of water and blood from our dear Redeemer? How can we continue our claim to him, call God Father, Christ Redeemer, the Spirit our Sanctifier, and not be pricked at the heart, for the injuries we and others do him? What ever filthiness was ever found in men or Kingdoms may be found upon our skirts. O! hang up your harps, refuse to be comforted, lye prostrate, let your hearts be as the leaves of the three shaken with the whirlwind; tremble O my soul under thy manifold provocation; O! let sorrow enter into thy very Inwards; Let the insupportable pressure of sin, sink thy very soul: mourn as the tender mother for her Only Son; be in bitterness, so as thou canst not relish those things thou hast hitherto followed with so much eagerness; let the loathsomeness of thy sins be ever before thee as thy standing dish; separate some extraordinary times to humble thyself by fasting and prayer, that God would give thee repentance for thy own and others sins; fall down at his foot more solemnly than ever; weep till you can weep no more: And then keep conscience tender; let not your affections die; keep this fire alive, by bringing new fuel to it. Labour exquisitely to afflict your souls that you should be so little serviceable, so foolish, so vile, and commit so great, so odious abominations under Christ's Livery. And let them cut and afflict thy soul exceedingly from morning to evening, and from evening to morning. Let not the motions of a lazy spirit cause thee to desist, till God be pacified to thee. Be pure in heart; sincere conformity to this To purity of heart. one precept of Christ, facilitates and ascertaines obedience to all the rest: were the first sparks of ill quenched, 'tis impossible they should ever break forth into a flamme; How shall he kill, that dares not be angry? Actually commit adultery, that did not first transgress in his desire? Be perjured, that fears an oath? Or defraud, that permits not himself to covet? Divine interposition alone, can possibly secure us; and indeed, the suite for it amounts to no less, than that he will force upon us the blessing, we resist, do us good, against our wills, and not suffer us to acquire those miseries we so eagerly pursue; which is so bold a request, that they had need be more then ordinary favourites, that shall prefer it: Those hands must be very pure that are lift up in such an intercession: and all that undertake it, qualify themselves for it, by purging out the leaven of malice, strife, hypocrisy, and all filthiness of flesh and spirit; and project for the purity, as for the peace of the cbruch; else, 'tis a mockery to pretend such jealous tenderness for her; to deprecate the ruin of Christianity, by the contagions and blasphemies of other men, when ourselves contrive it by some other 'vice of our own; This is not to desire it should live, that none but we should kill it. O search out your own spots, and leave not a slain to be an eye-sore to Heaven. Set apart certain seasons for strict and solemn repentance; weep out all your contamination; pray away all your pollutions; purge away all your defilements; scrape the walls infected with the leprosy; hate the garment spotted by the flesh; mortify your members which are upon the earth; hate all appearance of evil: live as if you conversed with angels, and did but tread below to cleanse yourselves before you put on the white rob: O come out of the fining-pot, without any dross; out of the Lath, without any slain: bring forth the stolen goods, now the thief is sought for: open the castle gates, now God comes to summon the rebel saying, I am the man; rak the Channels, sweep the hide corners, lay open and unravell the secrets of your hearts and lives; disburden your consciences; let no corruption lye ranckled or festered within; let it run out of the mouth of the wound; sensibly tell out all your disordered affections, refractory desires, irregular motions, deviating treads, excursions, exorbitances, aberrations and defections in Gods ear. Abimilech had like to have destroyed his whole Family Gen. 20. 7. : david, all his people 2 Sam. 24. 17. : Jonah, those in the ship Jon. 1. 12. . 'tis a dangerous thing to be a stranger to, or hid the iniquity in our own bosom. O! make your work a a peculiarity of devotion, sanctify yourselves with some solemn resolution; enter into a vow not to desert the nation with your repentance and prayers, till a discharge be brought from Heaven, and the nation settled in a condition to be spared. Express your gratitude by pitying and endeavouring to pres●rve alive your nurse, your mother, now upon her sick couch and bed of languishing. Cease not to visit her, till there be some signs of her recovery, open her inward disease, and apply that spiritual remedy, which will certainly, and can only work her proper cure. To endear yourselves to our only Physician, make way by more exact compliances and observance of him. Children when they have a great suite to promote, are double diligent to insinuate themselves into their father's affections. Prudent Hester by degrees sweetens, ingratiates, steals her self into the Kings favour. 'tis this whisperer, sin, that separates chief friends, makes God stand aloof off from his people and their prayers. You leave your Vows as well as your Prayers with God; as you expect he should answer the one, so doth he that you should pay the other; break thy promise with God, and thou discharges him with thy own hand of any mercy he owes thee. Think not to bind him, and leave thy self free. He that's the best man towards God, is the best Magistrate to his Prince and Country. The blind man as blind as he was, could see this for a certain truth, that God heareth not sinners. Kings pardon not murderers at the intercession of thieves. He that would work effectually towards a great deliverance, can be confident of his success, but in the same degree in which his person is gracious. The exemplary piety, zealous and holy prayers of a righteous man, shall save the City and destroy the fortunes of an enemies army; when God sees it good it should be so, for he never denies him any thing, but what is no blessing; and when 'tis otherwise, his prayer is most heard, when 'tis most denied. Strive to be still better, as there is more need and use of you. 'tis a great thing for a man to be so gracious with God, as to prevail for himself, and others. We must not expect such great effects, as to cancel a decree of Heaven gone out against a people, to recover a dying nation, to prevail against an enemy, to blow away clouds of guilt that hangs over our heads, ready to dissolve into showers of vengeance with a good wish. When going upon this noble design you have undertaken, eye nothing but your duty: be full fraught with Ninev●b's qualifications; see what a great measure of remorse and reformation is expedient to redress our present calamities, and avert that final devastation sin hath so long, so loudly called for. You have more to think of, than the frivolous, superfluous cavils, or mundane concerns. Apply yourselves to the right work: fall to down right Christianity; be religious to purpose; serve God in good earnest; single out him for your Leader, to stand in the front of this holy order; let him be the best man who can be most virtuous and zealous in this religious work. And by how much more familiar you are with God, so much more are you to improve your interest for the relief of the distressed nation. They must be Master workmen that can repair the decays of a City grown crazy with sin;( 'tis as hard to preserve, as build it;) that can underprop and keep a tottering Kingdom from an eminent casuality and downfall. Be you never so well prepared, yet you have a task which requires almost angelical purity and perfection to discharge. Have an humble dress. Attire yourselves in To an humble dress. your judgement suits, your visitation Rags, not gorgeous apparel, Beyond that decency, and moderate expense, agreeable to your several ranks and qualities. O! what gaiety of apparel? richness of furniture? Splendour of Equipage? Which hath no propriety to any other sense but that of seeing, and is lost if it be not looked on. Among equals is not only an emulation of pomp and bravery, but those of the most distant qualities; there seeming now no other measure, than the utmost extent of their money or credit, to the ruin of many, who want necessary clothing, only to maintain the superfluity of theirs. We pursue this folly with so great expense of care, time, and money, as if our bodies had been designed only for our cloths; and to be fine and happy were the same thing: never thinking of Dives, who, instead of Silk and Fine linen, has the purple flames for his unchangeable clothing. Our excesses have besides their proper guilt, that of injustice superadded; our superfluities being more the poors right than ours, assigned to them by God the grand propriator; and when their cry shall be joined to those of our riots, they will certainly be too clamorous to let vengeance sleep any longer. O! how many naked backs might half that cost cloath, which is lavished to put one in a fools coat, or to hang about them such babbles as may serve to set out the street, or others to stare at? O now( if ever) cut of luxuriances, strip yourselves of vanities: when the people heard evil tidings they mourned,& no man put on his Ornaments Ex. 33. 4. . What true penitent was ever busy with the Mercers Shop? minded fashions, or the perfumer? God calls to weeping and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with Sackcloth Is. 22. 1●. . 'tis a time this, to rent and not sow Ec. 3. 7. ; admits of no tersing, sprucing, flaunting garbs. The Ninevites repent in penitential apparel, they cast away the rob, and cover themselves with Sackcloth;( this prevailed more with God, than that Quod non poterat Diadema, id Saccus obtinet:) and do we in curious dresses, changeable suits, inlaid with vanity, chequer wrought with pride? If converts, very spruce ones; If penitents, gay, gaudy ones; If suppliants, very trim, gallant ones; If old fashioned Protestants, but new fashioned repentants; fitter for a dance, than dejection; for Jovisance, than repentance; for the stage or tiring room of vanity, than the house of mourning. Already are too many splendid blades, poping-g●ys, fantastic comedians, glistering, loose-fangled professors, that will not loose an Ornament, but renew levity; fitter to curse a nation, than to be instrumental for a pacification; to irritate a patient God, than to assuage an offended; to fright a Country, than to support it. O! our patched faces are enough to make us monsters in Gods eyes: our long tails, to sweep all blessings out of the Kingdom: our powdered hair to fetch Gods razor to shave our besmeared locks. We have brought all nations into our Wardrobe, to act upon the garment stage. 'tis a wonder that the flying roll of curses, hath not already lighted upon this exotic iceland; That this theatre of vanity is not burnt down with fire, and brimstone from Heaven: That Gog and Magog is not called in, to pluck of our antic habi●iments, to flay of those skins, which have clad themselves in such prodigious bravery, disguisements, and embellishments. Refrain from delicacies; eat not the bread of To Temperance and Sobriety. men Ex. 24. 17 . To capacitate you to promote piety and charity, abate, abstain from things lawful. Approve yourselves the servants of God, in watching, in fasting 2 Cor. 6. 5 . As if you had eaten away your right to the creature, and drunk away your Life-plea. 'tis much, that a wounded conscience can have an eager appetite; or watery eyes look out for full spread tables; feeding without fear of Gods wrath, ready to break forth upon us. Penitents must not hunger after the Creature, while soliciting the Creator; or come to thcir appetite, while the stomach is full of the sense of sin, and divine wrath; nor sit down in the banqueting house, while preventing a shipwreck, and averting judgement. Do your work, earn your bread, ere you eat it. You have a diet, a cup; humiliation bread, the pennance goblet, feed upon, drink of that: when preserving of life, mind not nourishing of nature; when flying from destruction, be not intent upon belly cheer. Can the master gorge himself when the tempest is coming? Or the soldier, when the enemy looks him in the face? Can the penitent be at his repast, when vengeance blows her trumpet? Eat not now but abstain; nor feed but fast; 'tis a day of atonement Nu. 31. 50 , not of pampering; of aflicting ourselves L●. 16. 29. , not of satisfying the flesh; of rolling ourselves in the dust Mic. 1. 1● , not of stretching ourselves upon couches, eating the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the stall Am. 6. 4. . Our daily bread is not to be thought on, when begging pardon for our daily Trespasses. We must not belch in Gods face; nor have the crumbs sticking between our teeth, when petitioning for life. Hollow cheeks, sunk eyes, gnawing bowels, macerated sides, fainting spirits, high preparatory fasts, gets admittance to God, rather then swollen faces, soaking gullets, swilling paunches, reeking stomacks, eyes starting out with fatness; as if we would have God to seal our pardon in the Larder-Nineveh seeks not to appease Gods anger by sitting down by her flesh-pots, eating bread, drinking wine to the full, wallowing in her vomit: the dread of Gods judgments, shut all their pantries, locked up all their cellars: the whole City sits like an anchorite; no pleasant food comes into their mouths: To free themselves from stripes, they chasten themselves before the Lord; to procure mercy, they proclaim a fast; half kill themselves with a strict forberance from necessary sustenance. But rather then punish the flesh too much by abstinence, we will hazard ourselves upon all the Judgments of heaven. Cookery is become a very mysterious trade; the kitchen hath almost as many intricacies, as the schools, Our meat is not apportioned to our hunger, but our tastes: the stomach is made merely passive in matter of eating; and serves only to receive the loads we charge it with; whilst its election and choices are forestalled by the p●lat or fancy; nor allowed so much as a negative voice to refuse, what for kind or quantity is destructive to it. With studied mixtures, we force our relucting appetites; and with all the spells of epicurism, conjure them up, that we may have the pleasure of laying them again. So unworthily treacherous to nature, that while we pretend to relieve, we oppress, giving her beyond both her need and sufferance. Our very pride mingles with our gluttony; every thing is insipid, that is not costly; and 'tis thought an ignoble peasant-like thing, to eat a plain meal; and no Gentleman, whose single ordinary costs not as much, as would be a fair exhibition for some whole families. By examining our b●lls of fare, one would think, the dogs-appetite, were our Epidemical disease, if they did not consider, we have eyes to be fed as well as bellies. Lust is increased by art and much charge; whence France hath learnt frugality, to fill their tables rather with dishes, then meat. How many, whose almanacs consist all of read letters, nothing but festivals; their intervals and pauses in their debauches, for study to find out whets and juleps, to provoke, satisfy, enhance and satiate their boundless appetites. That allow themselves no longer intermissions then may just qualify them for a new excess; and recover their wits, to put them in a capacity of losing them again. O England beware, if thou art not conquered by arms, thou lye not overcome with cups! Our Land is seized with the Vertigo of an epidemical drunkenness, and seems ready to reel into its own ruins. How many great families are become such perfect Academies of licentiousness▪ not of piety& virtue) that the most innocent puny will there, in a short time, become proficient? Their houses may well pass for enchanted castles; no man scarce, that comes into them, being able to guide himself out. They keep as't' were solemn justs and tournaments of debauchery to challenge all comers, and variety of champions to deal with combatants of all ranks; as if they affencted to out-bid the tyranny of the Turk, in sending an halter to his vassals,& making them their own executioners; or thought it a disparagement to their quality, to go to hell, without an honourable Retinue. So great a malice do we bear to our reason, that, to opress it, wee are content to expose our darling, and do violence to our very sense. Our hospitality relieves not strangers, but burdens them; cures their wants, by the worse exchange of a surfet. How great a show soever this may have of liberality, he is not be to thought to have drunk Gra●is, that hath paid his reason for his shot. 'tis impossible Bestiality should be so universally agreeable to man kind, that all should pursue it out of appetite and liking; though it hath too many volunteers, yet tis this press that engages many to make up its number. Men strive for the mastery in sinning; as i● some excellency in it; and to be able to drink down others, goes for a manly faculty: Hence fury and anger is produced, and the heart waxes hot with base flames. Drinking of healths, the test of mens Loyalty& respects, to those great ones to whom the beginner shall consecrate his bole; as if a disorderliness( no beast will be guilty of) must show good manners; and no man could be a good subject to his King, which dare not rebel against his God: those that dare, are valiant men indeed, but will, when it comes to trial, do little more for their Prince, than they do for their maker. Our whole Land seems to be nothing but a Huge sty, or victualling house. We out-science all the Artists in voluptuousness and Luxury for Charger-principles. One would think man lives by bread alone, for he is always feeding; or by liquour, for he is more for that, than for the cup of consolation. Did we diet ourselves, we might be healthful, and fit for action. We are so full fed, that our pursy spirits are adapted for nothing that is sacred. So much for the manger, so full of provender, that we even melt in our grease, when we should ride post to stop a judgement. We are tied by the teeth, to hinder us from religious exercises. Our tables are our snares, to enthrall us to misery. Epicures, slow bellies, Gormondizers, are dull agents in a Churches pacification. How many in this Dizzy-Island, drink as if tunnels in their mouths? To be strong to drink wine is become a kind of Chivalry. Men wage battle at their full boles, as in a pitched field; come soaked with wine into the senate house; and in a Drunken humour, consult about the safety of the kingdom, but cannot become sober to preserve it; nor shut up their mouths, to fence out a judgement; nor loose a meales-meat, to obtain a blessing: but will eat and drink away the fear of Gods vengeance, though they die with meat in their mouths. Slaves of the palate mind not Church, nor state, but their own delicious fare. They face off Gods anger, with nourishing their hearts as in a day of slaughter; and will jeopard the loss of privileges and ordinances, rather then forbear from their belly-chear, or eat ashes like bread. Good diet runs more in their minds, than sad accidents to themselves, or their dearest friends; and they will not rise from a banquet to save a kingdom, but sell it for a mess of pottage. Be truly apprehensive of Judgments past, present, A sense of sin and judgement. imminent, and the peril wherein we stand. Sorrowfully take notice of the raging Pestilence, devouring Fire, mutual effusion of so much Christian blood, with the woeful disasters, and inexpressible miseries inevitablely attending them. Nor ought any judgement make so deep impression as spiritual; God's repaying our unfruitfulness and actual rebellions, with a senseless obdurateness, deadness of spirit, spiritual divisions &c. There's nothing more ominous, than a fat heart, a spirit of slumber, an obstinate inflexible mind, for then we seek to outface God himself, and to put his Prophets out of countenance. O go circuit through your own consciences, and then walk the streets from one end of the nation to the other: observe the face and fate of it: Take notice of its maladies and ulcers: Consider what prognosticating symptoms there are of an emigration and examination: Ah feel her weak pulse; touch her could lips, behold her griftly cheeks; mark her bad crasis and sad crisis; look upon the present dangers and disasters: apprehended what a flag of Defiance is hung out upon earth, and what a Sword is bathed in Heaven. Can such sins, and the nations safety; such impenitency and the nations impunity, stand long together? Fear you not some other plagues? Some general massacre? Some coal blown with the great breath of the Almighty, that may sparkle and kindle, and burn us to Cinders, that not a wall or a pillar may be left to testify the remembrance of a nation? Behold they whose judgement was not to drink of the cup, have assuredly drunken, and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished ye. 49. 12. ? Is there more sins: and shall there be less Justice? May not the vial of read wine, be reserved for the lips of this nation? Hath she been so often at her wits-end, and may not her brains at last be crazy, with an inevitable, and inextricable judgement? Vengeance deferred, is not recalled; a forbearing God may double his dismaying and confounding strokes. The twigs are gathering to make the sharper rod; the razor whetting, to shave with the keener edge. O be not blind under so many grievances; deaf, under so many warnings; asleep, under so many Judgments. Believe not your Politicians, if they say, your nation is in no danger; believe not your Pulpits, if they preach you up to be pure against God's examining Justice; believe not your own consciences, if they persuade you, that you are prepared sufficiently against all accidents. Think that you have red Scripture with rechless eyes, if you have not found out curses against such sin: That you have frequented Sanctuaries like fruitless hearers, if they have not taught you repentance for such sins: That you have preached your consciences with partiality, if such trespasses do not drive you into passions: That you were never terrified with your own exigences, if it do not terrify you to see a nation at such a disaster. Consider in what a talking age you live; how religion is little more than argument, profession and discourse; how many are wit-founded with humours, and stare upon themselves as if Heaven must look upon them with enamoured eyes; how hard to get people to confess they are guilty, or that God should visit a place for their impieties. Most dally with Sanctuaries, trifle with Sermons, and make conscience but a mere Sexton to unlock the great doors, to sweep the Church, to ring the Bells, open the Pews, that a company of Formalities may take their seats. When the Lord roars mightily from on high ye. 25. 30. , shall we be deaf below? and not see the whipping Pillar s●t up, when he smites the earth with the rod of his mouth Is. 11. 4. ? When the Heavens writ out our Judgments in capital letters, shall not we red our own fatal condition? When the grievous vision is declared Is. 21. 2. , shall we turn it into a panic fear? and rub off all frights or presages of misery when he hews us by his Prophets Ho. 6. 5. ? Shall we not stand in awe of the Ax, but dream rather of Jollity than judgement, put off the evil day when it approaches, and dance upon the threshold when vengeance knocks at the gate? Shall we expel all dread? And stand in awe of no peril, though smoke and fire predict otherwise? In the greatest tempest drunk, intoxicated against all dangers? And not put on our armor, when the Triumpet sounds away to the march? Do we receive all warnings sitting? our repentance all lies in our ears. Attend to the cry, but not rise from our seats? nor change our posture, gesture, garb, nor countenance? The great God can't make us abate of the Clarissimo: We will lose nothing of the Prince show ourselves penitent; hear much, but moved with nothing: Let God declare what he will, we will declare no astonishment: Our proud hearts can't shrink up: Our stiff Limbs can't arise: Repentance or vengeance can scarce make us veil a hat, or leave a chair empty, or move from a degree, or fly out of a Porch or Belcony, Shop or Counting-house, as people terrified with the sense of sin, and danger. We must keep state and our wonted garb in our most religious work;& act the Prince even in repentance itself: we show neither fear nor express endeavour; but sit till misery must cast us down groveling, or judgement strike us down dead. Never was the Judge nigher to come, and never less preparations for his coming. Christistians have you not closerts to mourn in? Or rather, do you not want hearts to mourn withall? How can Christ wipe tears from your eyes, if you never weep for his absence? Or come to answer your prayers, if you never pray for his coming? We are as stupid as if we had never seen any change, nor ever should: And sit still in a mindless security, notwithstanding the great and various turnings of the wheel of Divine providence, which calls aloud to mind that great work God is doing in the world, and to meet him by repentance, lest he suddenly overturn and crush us in his wrath. Sure so great calamities never made so little impression on the hearts even of good men; as if God had given all over to a spirit of slumber. We put far from us the evil day, and are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph. What a black and dreadful cloud hangs over Christ's little flock, threatening no less than utter overthrow; at least speaking a loud alarum to the sleeping Bride, to call upon and awaken her head, her husband, he that keepeth Israel, that neither slumbers, nor sleeps? Yet how little is the Church of Christ in every place affencted with this Imminent stroke, ready to light on all? while some grieve more for private losses, than public abominations which provoke God to destroy us; others instead of being upon the guard, are helping to make the breach wider at which the enemy may enter: Most quiet and at rest, singing a Requiem to themselves. This deadness, and deep security, when all things speak an approaching storm, as it evidences a great judgement and spiritual Plague from God upon our spirits; so presages no less than remediless ruin. What a dreadful night of confusion and astonishment must be at hand, when such blackness without, deadness and security within, and the only means to prevent destruction seems to be laid aside, or at a stand? Be knit together in an entire affection. Readily One-ness of heart& endeavour. show all mutual respects of Christian observance to each other on all occasions. Let not only your particular safety, but of the whole army of Saints be in your eye and care, to raise or keep them from falls. That soldier which can see an enemy in fight with his brethren, and not help them, makes it more easy for the enemy to slay himself at last: God would not keep him that cared not to keep his brother. Christians are the greatest losers these breaking times, who have lost so much of their love and charity. He is no true Israelite that is not ready to lift up the weary hands of Gods servants. Be kindly, charitably minded to,& lovingly converse with your friends and neighbours, which are not yet so sensible of the just cause of their Humiliation; zealously excite them with yourselves to be passionately affencted with our sad state. Propagate, make a whole City propense to repentance: Let your believing God, beget faith in others: Your standing up from your seats, excite others to rise; Your empty bowels provoke others to fast; your stripped backs cloth others in Sack-cloth; your squalid demeanour set others upon the ash-heap; your moist eyes set others on weeping; your confessing lips stir those tongues that have been silent these many years; your making reparation for errors cause others to deface their memory of foul facts with opposite virtue; your mighty cries fill the land with echoes of Devotion; your turning from your evil ways change the steps of others from exorbitances; your purging your hands from violence procure oppression to ache in the joints of other mens fingers. Be exact in your street, as well as closet work. A defective assistance is next to absolute carelessness. Every one should sand in his supply, where all are interested. A common danger calls for an unanimous prevention. All the children of Israel, and all the people went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept and sate there before the Lord and fasted, and offered burntofferings and peace-offerings before the Lord Jud. 20. 26. . Thus be knit together as one man Jud. 20. 11. ; call upon▪ and serve the Lord with one consent Zep. 3. 9. . So did Esther and her maidens; Mordecay and and all the Jews Est. 4. 10. &c. . Ezra, Nehemiah and all the people gathered together as one man Ez. 8. &c. Ne. 8. 1. The N●neviles even from the greatest of them to the least Jon. 3. 5. . But we think the generality may be spared; so long as some are serious. A small company will suffice to do the Church work, and preserve the land. If our own Babel must be raised, the whole earth can meet to build it. To worship our own calves the people can be gathered from Dan to Beersheba. When we fly about our own projects, the whole flock is upon the wing. The whole Kennel is raised, and on the full cry when we hunt our own game. There is a conspiracy, but it is in evil. We associate to exalt our own design: But to pacify God by mutual Covenant, or turn by solemn league, here we are ill affencted, and clear malignants. There are epidemical diseases, and reigning defections, but no such universal perfections, or conspiracy in that which is good. There are kingdoms sins and scars, but not national graces and lustres; no, here we are in our several classes; divided into parts and partitions: There is a tumult in our humiliation; we repent by piecemeal and as it were in a distraction. We have several breasts and motions, orbs, and constellations. If one side of Gideon's fleece be wet, the other is dry. If there be light in Goshen, darkness is over all the land besides. Rachel is fair, Leah bleer-eyed. If David dance before the Ark, Michal mocks. If some are sensible, others are past feeling. If some lye groveling upon the ground, others stand upon their tiptoes. Our Church looks a squint; the land is splay-footed. Collateral winds, mutinous Souldiers, blowing against, turning our weapons upon one another. O how sad in such a day, that when some are upon their knees, others should be walking after their pleasures? When some are seeking God, others should be seeking their booties? when some are shedding of tears, others should be singing of catches? When some are fasting, others should be junketing? some prostrating themselves to regain favour, others prosecuting their unregenerate desire●? Some appeasing, others incensing. Some quenching the flamme, others blowing up the coals? Some seeking to sheathe the Sword, others drawing it further out of the Scabbard, and whetting the edge of it? Nay, our Devotions are but designs for our own Society, not for the public safety. We pray for strengthening our party, rather than restoring the Kingdom, and wrestle against one another, rather than with God for the peace of Jerusalem. We would fetch in Judgments rather than prevent them; and have fire brought down from Heaven to consume our enemies, but we seek not to destroy his in our own bosoms. O what unclean beasts are there offered up for Sacrifice! What strange fire doth often burn upon the Altar! We rather execrate, than pray; curse than cry. Our petitions smell of brimstone; they seem to be brands that come out of Tophet: Bullets, rather than bills; imprecations than prayers. Instead of just petitions, we insert our own distempered passions. We invent criminal things that God is not offended at; about these exercise our zeal, rather than those sins, that sink states and convert Kingdoms. With the noise of our imaginary crimes, we stop that of our personal, detestable, execrable sins. We endeavour to fetch over Heaven with a circumvention. We cry cunningly, artificially, by parts, and halves, but we can't speak out our proper sins, nor lance the wound to the bottom, when we are begging balsam from Heaven. We are the greatest impostures in our devotions: There is a craft in our prayers; we dissemble in our petitions, as well as in our practices, and in our prayers have the art of conveyance to slip in other mens sins, rather than our own. We make ourselves so much work about others faith, that we are seldom at leisure to regulate our own practise; and so have no way of stating our accounts with God, but by balancing the excess of the one, against the defects of the other. 'tis not seeing men have no religion, but one different from our own, that awakes our indignation. How many who are at odds upon a religious, can unite upon a vicious account; That mutually denounce damnation to each other, with full accord combine in those practices which ascertain it to them both; as if they so much feared to have their prediction, that they would be each others, convoy to the land of darkness. Those that will not by no means meet at the Church, know not when to part at the Tavern; that will not jointly partake of the cup of the Lord, are yet very sociable at the cup of Devils and excessive debauches, which are a most acceptable drink-offering to the infernal spirits. Many, whose distant opinions fasten upon one another the brand of Antichristianism, like Gog and Magog join against the holy City. We justle one another out of the narrow path that leads to life, but can hand in hand run our carrier in the broad way of destruction. We measure our religion, not so much by the opposition it makes to our lusts, as to those whom we first make, and then call our enemies. We make it a part of our religion, to tear and mingle-mangle Christ's body, when heathen souldiers that crucified him, thought his coat too good to be partend. O how can we expect our sacrifices should be accepted, till salted with love? and know no difference between party and party, but own all as fellow-members, that are partakers of the influence of the head. The father will not agree to answer the prayers of his Children that disagree: he will answer the requests of one Child for, but not against another: first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift Mat. ●▪ 23. 24. . To expect that God should answer our divided prayers, is to put a jeer on Omnipotency,& to charge the Almighty with inconsistency: It puts an absurdity on God in making him to please men; nay, an impossibility, to please all men. The divisions of our prayers, may cause some to suspect that God is divided to whom we pray, and in time occasion the world to believe there is no God at all, for God is but one, and not divided. He must frustrate( in specie) many prayers of some Christians, as he will be true to the principles of his own glory: How can he grant all our petitions, and be God? We attempt unlawful means, to force the lord out of his way; and all, that man might not be proved false to his own Interest and be cried up and down for a liar. How many, with Jonah, pray backward? who rather then he would be accounted a false prophet, cared not so much for the salvation of Nineveh, as for his own reputation. Every one that rides in a fiery Chariot, is not an Elias. How can this nation be secure, if we conceal one capital sin? One heinous crime unsuppres'd▪ may break out with a general destruction. O that this nation could but speak out, lament and deplore the grand and horrid guilts of the times, without reservation or partiality. That all our crimes without diminution, retrusion, substraction, could be bewailed with one national yell. O that our tears might cement those breaches which our dissents made, and our separations widen. That there were an harmony in pious intentions: that what one builds, another might not pluck down; what one lays a foundation for, another might not undermine. O when shall we agree indistinctively to procure a General pardon? To make a dominion adulteress to Heaven to be acquitted and accepted? O when shall we be free of the Canaanite and Perizite? And have the Neuters, Libertines, Hypocrites, out of the Land? That the whole nation might accord together in a paci●in● service: that there might be an united dejection: that the whole kingdom might offer as it were the same propitiatory sacrifice: that every heart and spirit might have the same penitential impressions and expressions; that we might leave counterfeiting, falsifying, tergiversating: that we might pour out Hearts like water before the face of the Lord Lam. 2. 19. . That our sins might be drained forth to the last drop: that we might agree in conscience, in longings, as we do in country, in language; and in repentance, as we do in relations. O how powerful is a holy combination in devotion? Where the hazard is public, 'tis time there be a public union to eschew the peril, that the whole nation put all their stock together to purchase a general pardon: that Angels may rejoice at our conversion, and God himself may look out at his Court-gate, and say, behold another Nineveh, this is the nation of penitential converts, I will spare it. Deeply take to heart; rouse up your spirits to a lively Mourning and weeping. piercing sense of and sorrow for our sins,& Gods displeasure. Make an impartial account of, night and day lay open and bewail the crimes and miseries of the times; representing them in their heinous nature. O! our errors, heresies, divisions, apostasies, contradictions, bitterness, malice, animosities, injustice, oppresion, perfidiousness, false-hood, covenant-breaking, hypocrisy, neglect and contempt of Gods word and servants, profanation of Sabbaths, pollution of ordinances, abuse of mercies, stupidity, incorrigibleness under Judgments, pride, luxury, lasciviousness, bloody practices, dreadful oaths, horrid blasphemies, damnable heresies, impieties, and a deluge of profaneness disgorged from the mouth of hell among us, to the high dishonour of God, and shane of the blessed Gospel, require a Catholicon and composition of all penitential Judgments to purge these noxious humours out of this diseased body. O what tears, what ejaculations can be bitter, or loud enough for us who are to lament, not partial and imperfect repairs, but total ruins, and vastations? That see the materials of our Sion now reduced to dust and rubbish, who once saw it happily compacted, built together as a City at unity in itself. Bid a solemn adieu to all entertainments of joy and pleasure; make a strict inquisition; have a heartaking discussion. Consider what hath been done in the quaffing room, the bed of dalliance, the banqueting house, the counsel chamber, the Treasury, the Tribunal, the Parlour, the Shop, and the Street: Ransack all back rooms; search all blind corners; leave not a sin undiscovered, which conscience may ache under, and repentance can mortify. O! for all the cries of our sins, and the calls of the Temple, the stings of guilt, and gripes of conscience, the scandal of our enemy, and the scourge of Heaven, for the pattern at Bochim, the president at Mizpeh, for the example of Nineveh: blushy, and bleed, sigh and sob, wring and wail, help at an exigence; repent when there's nothing but repentance let for an Antidote; repent truly, lest your repentance prove a scandal and curse; repent thoroughly, lest an unmortified sin frustrate the virtue of your humiliation; repent timely, lest not knowing the time of your visitation, the blessing you wish for, be hide from your eyes. O! the nation looks pale, fetch blood into her cheeks by your pity; It shakes, let your hearts prop her up with your pititions; Is sick unto death, cure her with your conversion: your buildings are loose upon the foundation, groundsell them by mortification: your goods are ready to be sacrificed to vengeance, bring forth your sin-offering, before the sparks have taken fire. Sigh in the temple that you do not sob in the streets. Groan in your closerts, that you do not roar in the fields. Wash your Cities in tears, that they be not drenched in blood. Be zealous, to free you from flames; penitent, to prevent ruin; serious solemn converts, fervent petitioners, for so great a Benefit▪ Wear sackcloth, lest you go naked: fast, lest you starve: sit upon the Ash-heap, lest you be brought to an Ash-heap: creep upon your knees, lest you creep into corners: shut up yourselves in your closerts, lest you be shut into dungeons: fly to Heaven, lest you fly out of the land: confess your sins, lest justice red the bill to your faces: condemn yourselves, lest you be sentenced without reprieve. Look on your errors with passions: be humbled with conflicts: repent with agonies: appease with fire: reconcile with ropes: weep with torrents: pray with shriekes: cleanse with nitre, attend at the court of audience: lay it out at Gods judgement seat: wash in Jordan, till the leprosy be departed: wrestle with the Angel, till obtained the blessing. Leave not one grievance in Heaven to prosecute you; not one injury on Earth to accurse you. B● perfectly renewed, that you may be perfectly secured. 'tis a great people, and how many sins are there to be expiated? What a great trespassoffering must there be made for it? What great penitents must there be to preserve it? What great affections, care and pity ought we to use for it? O wail and howl, go stripped and naked, making a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls Mic. 1. 8. . Roll yourselves in the dust, lest your wound be incurable. Let there be a great mourning in England, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon; every family a part, and every person a part Zec. 12. 12. . Lift up your voices and weep until you have no more power to weep 1 Sa. ●●. ● . Let the priests Re. 1. 6. and ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the altar Joe. 2. 17. . Rent your clothes; go up to the house of the Lord covered with sackcloth; spread your case before him, and lift up your prayers for the remnant that are left 2 Kin. 19 1. &c. . When Nehemiah Neh. 1. 4.& ●. 2. heard of the peoples great affliction, he sat down and wept and mourned certain dayes, and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven; and afflicted himself with such vehemency, that his Prince he waited on, observed the anguish o● his spirit which looked out of his eyes, and left a mark of sorrow upon his very countenance. He preferred Jerusalem before his chief joy; and felt the cords of the Chruch's affliction through a bed of down on which himself lay, Oh Compunction! whither art thou fled? O contrition! where shall we find thee? Broken hearts! where shall we feel you? Trickling eyes! where shall we see you? Penitent petitioners! where shall we hear you? O! where is the kingdoms scout? The Citie's remembrancer? The nations solicitor? Where are the Christian bosoms and bowels, groans and cries? O, that we could purify by water; that repentance had not lost her Laver; that our hearts were not made gross; that we were nor turned into pure adamant; that we were not brass and iron! But there's a sad indication of it; here are sins enough to bring down a tempest, to make every trespasser an Heraclitus and the whole Church a N●obe; Alas Alas, might be the tone of the streets, a national wailing might be heard from one end of it to another. But our Hearts seem to have their old fore-skins; they have not yet smarted under the circumcising-knife. A great drought seems to be among us; our land is turned into powder, and dust; for the cloud is not rent under us: The unclean spirit here walks in dry places; indeed, he hath taken away our terrors and our tears too; the water courses of repentance are stopped. O where is that Key of El●ah, that should unlock those clouds? Where is that Moses's rod, which should fetch water out of those rocks? We should weep abundantly, but our hearts are not so soft as to distil or melt into sorrow. Our ears do not tingle; our eye-lids are not sore; we do not seek after the Lord lamenting, we do not bow down heavily: the cry of Jerusalem doth not go up; we look upon our guilts without remorse; we feel our errors with indolency; our sins can strike no tears out of our eyes; we are sinful but not weeping Nineveh: how few can prove, themselves converts, by their penitent eyes? Or bruised under our sins, by their broken hearts? We have many rivers in this nation, and yet we are a dry iceland: many crying inhabitants, but few weeping penitents. The flamme may here rage, for we have no water: the top of Carmel may whither, for the springs are dried up. We are bruised in the temple, yet little moisture is drawn from us: the minister often turns the cock, but the pipes are empty; no water runs forth. Jonah cries passionately, yet cannot raise up the mourners to sigh with the breaking of their loins, that judgement might not break the bones of this nation; to take up a wailing to prevent a kingdom from crying itself dead. The whole nation may perish for want of mourners. The songs of the temple may be turned into howlings, for there is none to wail for the abominations of the times. We are asleep in Dalilah's lap when the philistines are upon us: at ease in Sion, when the gates of it are ready to lament. We have brains and arms, service and sedulity enough for other things; but here we have neither pregnancy nor prowess. We would preserve a nation, only by looking on it, or talking of it, or putting up a formal motion for it. We walk our streets, and discern no breaches in them: we gaze upon our walls, and behold not their sides cracking. We are blind in seeing our sins, and stupid in feeling their judgments: as if we cared not to have this pile of wonder pulled down, this bright Diadem shivered in pieces. All nations admire it, and we only slight and neglect it. This nation wallsin rechless inhabitants; feeds unthankful guests; holds out her breasts to unnatural children, that are neither affectionate for her welfare, nor compassionate over her ruin. Yet forty dayes and Nineveh shall be destroyed; let it be destroyed, for we do not keep it from sinking. Were there here such a Jonah, there would not be such Ninevites. What do we at the cry? How are we frighted at the threatening? It is a great people, but what great insensibleness indolency, indevotion? We think to support a great kingdom without laying both shoulders to it; or calling forth the two masterworkmen, body& soul, to do their utmost for her preservation. We go in the beaten road;& sail in the ordinary current; we fight with the old dugeon dagger, and build after the old fashion. We have nothing but customary wonts, and common usages; we do not exceed, nor transcend. There is no Praestancy to be discerned. The flood of repentance▪ comes not in with a spring tide. Our repentance begins and ends, without any egregious thing in it, to draw the observing eye of the world to look upon us with admiration, or set the whole world in a gaze at the beholding us. No adorning stamps, no beautifying prints are to be seen here. We desire to have every thing else about us choice, neat, and splendid: were repentance our garment, how should it be embroidered? Were it our picture, how should it be limned? Were it our China piece, how should it be engraven? were it our palfrey, how should it be trapped? Were it our linen, our house, how should it be washed, rubbed, and adorned? Only our repentance is abject, despicable and sordid. How doth our art most fail us in that, which should most honour us, and eternally bless us? Can we own it? Or will God accept of it? Or is he not ready to condemn it for our sin? And to judge us as well for a hypocritical conversion, as for an irreligious conversation? O superficial pacification! Is this enough to mitigate an avenging God? To unsnare, to extricate a great people? Will not judgement denounced, quicken you to sincerity? May you not be surprised in your offering to God a counterfeit devotion? Will you dissemble to the last? And jeopard the ruin of a whole nation, in your outside cleansing? How far can you imagine you are off from the collision of Justice? Every corner of your kingdom seems to tremble under the voice of a threatening God: Vengeance is awakened with the noise of your sins: The Heavens are off●nded with you: The earth seems to rise up in tumult against you: Most defy you, few pity you: Many consult sad things concerning you, and would fain be stretching out their hands to shake and shiver you. You have enemies within your walls, and your own consciences: How can you oppose such irresistible forces? Policy may invent many expedients for security, but the preservative is only that of repentance, to prevent a general overthrow, to wash away with tears, what we have deserved from a provoked God. O shall we ever see a general conversion? nothing but that will atone the Almighty. All by-contrivements, are but sinister drifs and bends. O when will men leave their seats of honour, and apply themselves to Sackcloth, and ashes, mighty cries, and turnings from their evil ways, and from the violence of their hands? Among us are some penitents, but how few Ninevites? Are there any alive to God? But how many dead carcases do we walk among? O that we were drawing out to the life Repenting Nineveb in orient colours! That instead of buildings and bulwarks, stately houses, and hoards of treasure, and heaps of ammunition, there were but repentance! that instead of our raptures and privileges, revelations, and curious languages, there were but repentance! that our congregations were so purified, and our Churches so Sanctified, that they might afford such Professors, such Saints, as might be able to bless a Church and save a nation by repentance! But 'tis to be feared that this is but a nation of desires, and that every ston in this City may sooner be altered, and new laid, than mens minds and consciences. In what a forwardness is this great work? Nay, is not the first ston for the generality yet to be laid? Men have not learned Nineveh's initiating, much less her completing graces: We are not yet come to her dejections, trepidations, percussions, astonishments, alarums of conflicts, gravitoned accents of prayer. We nourish the flesh, catch at the world, follow modes, temporize with changes, and leave perils and Judgments to the chance and venture. Happen what will, we have not so much as a wrinkled brow, or a trembling breast. Mirth is now as unsuitable, as Silver Lace on a mourning Suite. A true penitent should be the troubled creature of his age. He is brought to the Altar, and would even make a Sacrifice of himself. He seems to have no more life left in him, but to vent out his own anxiety. The sight of sin daunts, yea exanimates him. The Sun seems not to shine upon the day of his Humiliation; nothing to be discerned but a cloudy sky, a black Eclipse, dark mists, tempest, and thunder: It pierces, pinches, grinds the heart, soakes the eye: contrition is full of collisions and convulsions, rough waves, and rushing surges, sparkling, scalding bosom shrillings, and eye droppings. He is a strange penitent, that doth not change countenance, that hath not every heart-string aching. It would astonish one that among so many celestial shows, there should be so little Heaven, that the Devil should be lurking among so many Angelical reformers. There is some appearance of religion, but what repentance? or if repentance is it that of Nineveh? Angels tongues but the hearts of beasts. The earth never saw greater provocations to overthrow us, but is there so great propitiations in us to have us spared? In what a dangerous deplorable state are we? Full of stupendious sins, yet full of stupid impenitency: A professing people, yet how far from evangelical purity: A corrupt but far from a contrite nation. Was there ever more need to lye in Sack-cloth, than now? this City hath lain in ashes: To shed tears, Than when we have lost so much blood? O! how may our walls shake, and every heart be daunted, expecting some unexemplified judgement for our enormous crimes? Will God be always dared with challenging trespasses? Or mocked with formalities? Will the noise of gospelling tongues, and sound of Sermon-bells, be able to pacify an incensed God? Or a few superficial specious pretences, satisfy the strict examination? 'tis not our prowess, nor profession, our formidable chivalry, nor formal● religion but repentance onely, that will privilege, protect, and shelter us. He may seize upon us in our streets, where we are defying him in our full strength. Or take us at the Church where we are deluding him( perhaps) with our Temple cheats. He may sand a flood in midst of our quaffings and dalliances; or fire from Heaven, when the Sun shines bright in our streets. A great cry may be heard at mid-night, when we are not suspecting the slaughter of the first born. The avenger of blood, may pursue and pluck us out of the City of refuge: yea, God may slay us, while we are laying hold of the horns of the Altar. He may demolish all our fortresses, and our places of oblation be made a Sacrifice to the justice of a provoked God; for that our hearts are as fat as brawn, as hard as the nether millstone, at ease in Sion, settled upon our lees, and frozen in our dregs: our eyes are blind, our ears uncircumcised, our consciences seared with an hot Iron: we answer not crimes, with cries; nor provocations, with vexations; we will perish in our steely and flinty condition. Shall the childrens bread be cast unto dogs? Shall God feed the secure, with the dainties of the perplexed? There are no plasters, but for smarting wounds: no wine, but for the sorrowful: no breast of consolation, but for the crying children; nor garments of beauty, but for the spirit of heaviness. God lights up his candle to none, but those that sit in darkness: nor casts out his anchor to any, but where sensible the ship cracks, and is ready to sink. He lifts up only the hand that hangs down, and strengtheners only the weak knees; he holds only the aching head, and wipes only the bloubered cheeks; he binds up only the broken heart, and sheds consolation in their breasts, which recount their sins in bitterness of soul. paradise is promised only to the penitent thief. The distressed Publican only, departs out of the temple justified. And the Golden thou is set only upon the foreheads of the mourners of Jerusalem. I summon, adjure, and beseech you bethren, by all the worth your names are embellished Fasting and prayer. with; by all the sincerity you seem to have reserved out of the defection and distraction of the times; by all the love you pretend to our church and state: if you have any remnant of grace, any reverence, or regard to God and his command, Ps. 122. 6. any sense of sin, any dread of a confounding majesty, any charity for an undone nation, if any gratitude for your hitherto health and safety, or desire of future comfort, by considering how you sat down and wept when you rememberd Sion Ps. 137. ● , and that your unmindful uncompassionateness hath not occasioned our miseries; if any fellow-feeling as members of the same body; or care to employ the gifts of the spirit, according to the mind and intent of the Donor 1 Cor. 12 7. , or when the Lord shall arise and have mercy on Sion, you would be called to partake of her comfort, rejoice ye with Jerusalem and be glad with her, all ye that mourn for her Is. 66. 10. : Even for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the spirit, that you strive together with me in the prayers to God for this Church and people Ro. 15. 30. . That it would please him at the last to look upon us with a favourable countenance, and cease from heavy displeasure. The spirit of prayer is a public treasure, though laid up in some few hands, distinguished from the vulgar, not by empty names and a●●●ie titles, but real donatives; distributed to them by God as so many distinct advantages, and 〈…〉 ties, towards the bringing him in his expected harvest of honour and glory: nor can he pray or be heard for himself, that is no mans friend but his own; no prayer without faith, no faith without charity, no charity without mutua intercession. God forbid that I should sin against the Lord, in ceasing to pray for you 1 Sam. 12 23. : for I am bound to do it always for you; I thank God, that without ceasing, I have remembrance of you in my prayers night& day 2 Th. 1. 3. 1 Th. 1. 2. 2 Tim. 1. 3. . If I forget thee, O London, Let my right hand forget her cunning: if I do not remember thee O England, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth: if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy Ps. 137. 5. 6. . Save Lord, or we perish. O that all who are concerned in the grant of that petition, would qualify themselves to present it, vigorously undertake this pious work! that God who hears not sinners, may yet hear them. O let no Moses's hand ever wax heavy, but be always lifted up in a devout importunity: transcribe that holy oratory, he so often effectually used; pled to God his own cause, what wilt thou do to thy great name? And when there's nothing in us can pretend to any thing but vengeance, ransack his bosom, rifle his own bowels for arguments of compassion; repeat to him his own titles Ex. 34: 6. 7. , and by those solicit, yea conjure him to pity. O! cry passionately, importunately, mightily; give yourselves unto prayer Ps. 109. 4. ; never hold your peace day nor night ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish England, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth Is. 62. 6. 7. . Let your prayers be doubled and tripled, arise higher& higher as the floods of waters are increased. Being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground Luk. 22. 44. , who in the dayes of his flesh offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared He. 5. 7. . O how great an ardency is required to this intercession? What strong cries must they be, that shall drown so loud a clamour of impieties? How doth it reproach the slightness of our sleepy heartless addreses? Can we think to bind the Almightie's hands with withs and straws? To arrest his vengeance with such faint and feeble assaults? When nature and danger suggest to heathen Nineveh, not onely to cry, but to cry mightily unto God; shall the super-addition of our religion damp ours into a whisper, a soft unaudible sound? No small tempest hath long lain upon us; neither Sun nor Stars in many dayes and yeares appearing Act 17. 20. . Nothing but black and dismal portents of a final wreck, to a poor weather-beaten Church and people: Is it not time to learn so much of instruction from the waves that toss us, as to make our prayers keep place with them, in swift uninterrupted successions, in loud and not to be resisted violence? A storm will teach the profane master to pray in earnest. And though the sky how ever black with clouds, carry no thunder in it; though the impetuous winds that blow from every quarter, should not break out in tempest, and bring shipwreck to us; yet the wicked are likethe troubled Sea that cannot rest: We have within us a principle of ruin, which can operate, though nothing from without excite it. A tempest is not always necessary to sink a ship, one treacherous leak may do it in the greatest calm; and what security can there be to our torn vessel, whose rents, our continual divisions, and prodigious crimes, still keep open and widen? O Christian! canst thou sit still in such a season? Is the Church and Kingdom privileges and liberties nothing? which beg and cry unto thee, if thou canst do any thing come and help us? If thou hast no sense of the desolations of England, no pity to see Sion lye in the dust; but still cherishest those impieties which brought her thither, even they at least will avenge her quarrel, bring thee those miseries, the sense whereof shall be impossible for thee to avoid, or extinguish. Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape more than all the people; for if thou altogether hold thy peace at this time, and be silent, when so much need of prayer for a perishing nation, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Saints from another place; God will bring about his purposes of mercy some other way without thee, but thyself can expect nothing but destruction, thou and thy fathers house, thou and thy family shall smart for it, be destroyed: And who knows whether thou art come to the Kingdom, reserved for such a time ●s this ●●t. ●. 13, 14. ? that this iceland England should be delivered by the pureness of thy hands J●●. 22. 30. ? that thou mayst have the honour to be the Saviour of thy Country? God seeks at such a time as this, for a man among you that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before him for the land, that he should not destroy it ye. 5. 1. Ez. 22. 30. 31. . Perhaps thou( or none) art the man, and if he find not thee, he will pour out his indignation upon us, and consume us with the fire of his wrath. It may be there wants of the number that should prevail with God; who knows what one more may do as to the turning of the scale? And art thou fast asleep in thy own cabin on the side of the ship, which is ready to be broken in this mighty tempest? For ought I know, for thy sake this evil is come upon us; carest thou not that we perish? Yea thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God Job. 15. 4. . The Athenians enquiring at the Oracle of Ap●llo, why their plagues continued so long, were answered, they must double their Sacrifices: nothing more dangerous than a plodding formality, we may as well betray Christ with a tear as Judas did with a kiss, Lachrymae mentiri doctae. May he not sand us to flames below, that only mock him in ashes here? God so delights in the prayers of the upright, that when their devotion is slacken and could, he sometimes brings public Judgments on a nation, on purpose to alarum, rouse, awaken, and kindle their dro●●e spirits, that he may oftener hear the melody o● their voice by earnest importunate prayer, which is sweet, and see their countenance, which is comely, which when effected, they have done their errand, and accomplished their end. What meanest thou O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not Jon. 1. 4. &c. . For the Lords sake, lend a hand to a sinking nation, double your devotion; be much, be mighty in prayer; put coals to the incense Lev. 16. 13. , bring your censer, and step in, that the wrath of the great God may be appeased. O weep and make supplication Ho. 12. 4. : Stir up yourselves to take hold of God Is ●4. ●. : Wrestle with him in his own strenhtg: Resolve not to let him go until he bless us. O stand up in our defence: open the right arsenal: bring forth your right artillery: make use of your proper weapons: appear in your complete armor on the right hand and on the left: quit yourselves like men in fighting this battle. The stout hearts, and bright armor I call for, are supplicating hands, the complete armor of righteousness, the Captains and Souldiers are Intercessors, and Advocates: not field but Temple ammunition; not camp but closet ordnance. And O! that I could gather these companies together, summon in all the trained bands; see them all stand in battle array; their hearts edged with repentance; their tongues sharpened with devotion: that the ranks of converts would discharge and pierc● the air with these darts, awaken heaven with this gun-shot, and even conquer God with this artillery, and make the spear drop out of his hand, pluck down his standard, unha●ness the Lord of Hosts, draw him to a treaty, and get him sign to Articles of peace. There is not any better countermine to all our outrages acted upon earth, than by making them reverberate in our cries and prayers. O with a holy importunate impudence besiege and lye at the Throne of grace, till you sh 〈…〉 e Heaven the Throne of God under him▪& God in it, that Heaven may suffer violence, and the violent take it by force. Overcome him to be appeased. Go up to him with a trembling heart, as not knowing whether the place and people be not past reconciliation; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sins. Rather than not come away with the pardon in your hand, offer to be slain at his foot to save so many alive, to be sacrificed yourselves, to redeem such a goodly place from an exigence: yea, to have your names and persons razed out of the land of the living, rather than the land of England should be expunged; yet now if thou wilt forgive their sins, it not, blot me I pray thee out of the book thou hast written. Religious inhabitants! you now see what a great task you are to undertake, that you had need lay to your whole strength, to bring forth a right, a happy people. If you fail in this work, the nation is past remedy. Either pled earnestly or the cause is lost; administer the best physic or the patient dyes. God is ready to shoot and fight, to bring up his front and main battle against us, but where is reformation to latch arrows? To break in pieces spears? To meet the vanquishers in their march? and to carry an army of Judgments out of a nation? Go then, gather yourselves together, all that are present in the land: see how many true Ninevites are among you: let them stand apart: look to your qualifications: examine the completeness of your number; the perfection of your gifts and graces: consider, and correct; cry and cleanse; weep and reform. As ever you would seem to have rifled your own hearts; to have dissected your own consciences; to have sent the intelligencer into the land; to have heard the cries of your abominations at Gods ju●gment seat; to have seen the armies that are raised on Earth to assault it: O set the the whole kingdom before you: think upon it with dismayed, perplexed hearts: look upon it with weeping eyes: glow towards it with inflamed zeal: let your vigilancy be quick-sighted; your dread dismaying; your solicitousness anxious; your dejection abased; your meditation vehement; your reformation twice vigorous; your contrition grinding. Turn aside to bemoan apparent perils: fall upon your knees, to mitigate deserved vengeance: make an experiment of your own contrition: ●ry, how you can humble yourselves, to keep your country from curse and confusion: cut off your own fore-skins, and do your best to circumcise others: rent your own hearts, and make a wound in your brethrens, till the blood come. O Bring forth all the water in your heads to extinguish wrath: kindle all the fire in your lips, to put a heat into congealed pity: stretch ou● all the manacles in your hands to chain such an adversary. Fast, as if you dedeserved not to eat bread, till your kingdom be in safety. Weep, as if you had not tears enough in your eyes to lament the afflicted state of your nation. Pray, as if you would not rise up from your knees, till you have procured peace for it in Heaven. Reform, as if you would not leave a guilt behind to curse it. O! fly from all honour: condemn all honours: be strangers for a time to your own chairs▪ kitchings, wardrobes, cellars, porches, galleries, cattle. Converse rather with ashes than thrones; sackcloth, than tissues; biting hunger, than sumptuous banquets; bitter cries, than musical instruments. O think not of the world, think upon judgement: mind not preferment, mind atonement: look not upon the splendour of the Kingdom, look upon the horror of it: eye not your guardians, eye your enemy. Carry the threatenings of Gods law in your ears, and the peril of your country in your breasts. Let your hearts ache, and your lips quiver. So long as people are settled upon their le●s, think that there is some emptying of the vessel at hand: when you are laid in your beds, suppose, that a punishing God may awaken you: when you are at your feasts, that vengeance may bring in the voider: when your are selling your wears, that your l●st burgains are even making: when your are telling over your thousands, that you are but pursing up for a new receiver: when you are looking out at your doors, that you are ready to be plucked over your threshhold: when you are coming from your temple, that their doors are nigh locking up. Expect every hour when your bells should ring Awake: when a skrcek Trumpet should be blown in the streets: when you may inquire for a Gate to sigh at, and find none, or seek for a Pillar to shed tears at, and not one left standing: when nothing shall be heard among you, but tumults and distractions, wailings, and cryings▪ Alas▪ Alas! Would you ●hun this? can you prevent it? Then you must not only remember the nation in your morning and evening devotion; but consider how low you must sto●p; what abjects you must turn; what meditations you must use; what castigations you must endure; what strange backs and bellies, loathings and lamentings, deb●tings and deb●sings; cleansings o● consciences and estates▪ reformings and translatings; separated daies of solemn prayer; all the decrees of violence and earnest addresses; fasting and prayer; alms and prayer; act● of repentance and prayer; prayer alone, and together with united hearts there must be, e're the breach be repaired. You must be all vigour and vehemency, dejection and devotion, solicitousness and sorrow, conflict and conversion, satisfaction and sacrifice, prostration and propitiation, reconciliatio-and reformation, soul and solemnity in so important a work. O th●●e must be strong physic taken, to recover such a patient: a potent friend employed to get such a condemned malefactor reprieved: Princ●ly persons to anticipate or repel vengeance lifting up her hand to strike: great fasting ●n● mourning, weeping and wailing; many lying in Sackcloth and ashes, for reversing the bloody decree ( x). O they must ● I●st. 〈…〉 be Prime Penitents which are engaged in this peerless duty: they must sit upon Nineveh's Ashheap; m●c●rate themselves with Nineveh's Fast; drench our streets with Nineveh's tears; they must have Nineveh's plaster to heal their f●stering wound; Nineveh's solicitor, to procure peace in this Court; they must polish their Diamond with Nineveh's Fire, to make it give the true lustre; they must writ out their repentance in Ninev●e's capital letters, to have it legible in Gods eye. And O that you stood upon equal number, that you were but the third, the twentieth, the fif●i●th, the hundreth part of the nation; that there were but a common Hall of you; that you did but equal the number of your Officers and watches; that your sorrowful accents might pierce the skies; that the skr●●ks of the mourners might awaken Heaven; that there were but enough to take the frowns out of Gods forehead; the menaces out of Gods cheeks; to re●ard Gods f●●●, to bind his hands; to put audience into his ears; compassion into his bowels; reconciliation into his breast, pity into his eyes, pardon into his lips; to keep his Trumpet from our gates, and his Troopers out of our streets! If there be a number among you which hath Nineveh's art, they may have Nineveh's success; they may bury all fears in the ash-heap, and shift off all miseries into the Sackcloth; fast away all perils; and pray away all Judgments. God would pity, would you but soften the bowels of his compassion; he would spare, would you but prepare for mercy; God will not turn upon us with fury, if these turn from their evil ways; nor stretch out his avenging hand, if these forsake the violence of theirs. Who can tell if God will repent and turn away from his fierce wrath, that we perish not. These penitents may sand word to Heaven, that God may forbear smiting, for they have smitten themselves with repentance. They may convey news to all their enemies upon earth, that they may stay at home, for repentance hath reared them up walis higher than the clouds, which no sealing ladders can reach; and mounted ordnaces for them upon their Towers and Fortresses, which shoot assailants to death further than the spires of their steeples can be seen; yea, dispatch away messengers to all plagues and Judgments, that they are not to come nigh to our Kingdom, for repentance hath gotten a warrant of remove to carry and convey them out of the land. Do you thus repent and pled, and you are as safe as Nineveh: God will be your pleader, and against all your adversaries▪ were it Jonah himself) multiply reasons for your preservation. He will draw pity towards you from the most flinty heart. However his own breast will flow with compassion; you shall be precious in his eyes; he will forget nothing that may be an incentive for sparing: Should not I spare Nineveh, that great City, wherein are more than six millions of persons, which can't discern between the right hand& the left, and also much ●attle. But we rather express our judgement than our The prevalency ●f repentance& prayer. Resentment, and make it more our discourse, than our concern, as to the frequency and ardency of our humiliations and intercessions. Our own private interests have been much apt to excite our devotions. Our Resentments have not been proportionable for that which is much better than ourselves. Our Imminent present dangers haue not as much awakened our fervour, given as sharp& piercing an accent to our prayers. We fall short of what we should, and might do towards our rescue. We look for favours without asking, and mighty comforts without mighty cries. We shake not the three that the fruit might fall: We unlock not the treasury that we might carry home handfuls of Bounty. God inclines to an amiable countenance, but there is none to entreat his face: he offers embraces but there's none to spread out hands to Heaven: he is ready to redress misery but there's none to pour out a complaint. He would preserve us as happy creatures, but there's none to speak good for the people. There is an Altar but the Sacrifice doth not flamme upon it. There are golden censors, but the odours do not steam out of them. God listens, and none cries: He sits in his Court of audience, but none make addresses to him. Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Ps. 81. 10. , but we would have it filled without opening If thou wouldst seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty: If thou wert pure and upright, surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness to prosper Job. 〈…〉 . But we would have God to awaken, without calling him up; and the habitation to prosper without building it up with devotion. We have sapless services: our lips and Gods ear are at a great distance. We would have mercy, but we do not set our faces unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplication, with fasting,& sackcloth, and ashes Da. 9. ●. : we perish by silence: zeal seems to be at the last gasp, and giving up the Ghost, for there is nobreathing out of the cry ●a. 3. ●6 . There are no such gusts come out of our lips, as formerly, which were wont to shake the roofs of temples. We rather live by our policies, our brames, than by our petitions, our tongues: we project, contrive, cons●●t, confederate mightily, but we do not cry mightily. We have houses without noise, Churches without orisons, closerts without lamentations, weepings, and wa●●ing. w 〈…〉 sh for pearls, without this dr 〈…〉 would break open the castle, without setting th●● p 〈…〉 to the gate of it. We have much ●●●r and indigency, but little fervency. We scarce consider the project of our requests, our petitions might be taken up for ●tr●yes: we are not intent, but deviating and ●●●●ssant in our prayers. Very drowsi● devotions come from ●●, most of our petitions are in Gods account but wast paper, and at the last day shall never be seen hung on the file in Heaven. The intercession of our Lord Jesus is a confer of gold, and can we desire him to offer up our drowsy prayers for incense? Or expect, they should speed, that are neither worded by the scripture, indicted by the spirit, nor subscribed by a bleeding heart. Our prayers upbraid our spirits, when we beg co●dly for those things, for which we ought to die. We are more rechless than the most indevout: our prayers show what an o●●itant, and ●orp●lent people we are; for, we must carry all at the 〈…〉 charge, or we lay down our weapons: we do not rally our forces, and renew the fight. O! what light skirmishes do we use? How do we retreat upon the first Justs? We do not hold up our hands till they be weary with M●ses; nor with J●c●b, wrestle till we obtain the blessing. We may be sent away with a repulse, for we pierce but faintly; and smitten dead with curses, for we avert judgments in a very languishing manner. O that devotion were but articulate! that repentance could but open her lips! and the penitent draw up all his desires in this short Enthym●m●! what wonders might he work? God repented that he made man, and resolved to destroy him from the face of the Earth, yet when Noah built an altar, and pray●d to him, he smelled a savour of rest and said, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake Ge. 8. 20. 21 . He was once so displeased with his people, that he said flatly, I will deliver you no more▪ yet when they asked a deliverer of him, his soul was grieved for their misery and gave them J●phthah Jud. 10. 13& ●. . Prayer is the p●nitent's b●●●om▪ his chief antidote, his principal engine▪ the belt music in God ear. It hath been the prop, protection, promotion of the saints in all extremities. When nothing could relieve, prayer hath comforted, when nothing could assist, prayer hath supplied. O how hath prayer calmed the tempest of a troubled mind? Put songs into the mourners lips? acquitted the guilty? justified the sinner? set the face whereby the soul might look right upon God? carried it with boldness to the throne of grace? sent up sweet odours into God's nostrils? How many have filled of the fetters of their sins, escaped out of the keepers hands, shut up the mouth of hell, stood spotless among the pure and bright spirits, stilled the noise of thunder at God's judgement seat, unlocked all the chests in God's treasury, frighted devils, exhilarated angels, canceled bonds, cast inditements out of the court, compremis'd differences, reconciled mortal adversaries, cured frenzies, eased conflicts, filled the breasts of disconsolate souls with ecstasies, fetched pensions out of Gods exchequer, drawn the signet off his right hand to seal Church grants to the faithful, by the benefit of prayer? When cities of refuge, the horns of the Altar were never so secure. And what shall I more say, for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Deborah, and of Barac, and of samson, and of Jephtha, and of Hannah, and of Esther, and of Abraham, and of Jacob, and of Lot, and of Moses, and of Joshuah, and of David, and of Solomon, and of Hezekiah, and of Job, and of Samuel, and of Jehoshaphat, and of the Prophets, and Apostles, who through faith and prayer subdued Kingdoms Ios. 12. 1. ; wrought righteousness 2 Ch. 7. 11 ; obtained promises Heb. 11. ; stopped the mouths of lions Iu. 14. 6. 1 Sa. 17. 35 ; quenched the violence of fire Da. 3. 17. 25. ; escaped the edge of the sword; out of weakness were made strong 2 K. 20. 7. ; waxed valiant in fight 1 Sa. 17. 32. 45 &c. ; turned to flight the armies of the aliens 1 Sa. 7. 9. &c. 2 Ch. 14. 11 12. Ex 17. 11. 2 K. 17. 14. &c. ; prevented Ex. 33. 11 &c. Ge. 19. 21 and removed Judgments Ex. 8 9. 2. ●4. 25. ▪; opened the womb 1 S. 1. 1 &c , the grave jo. 11. 4 &c , the prison Ac. 12. 5& cs , and Heaven itself Ia. 5. 17. 18. ; divided 2 Kin. 2. 14. , and healed the waters Ex. 15. 25 ; stayed Jos. 10. 12 14. , and turned back the Sun Is. 38. 8. ; fetched down fire from Heaven 1 Kin. 18. 36. , and water out of the rock Ex. 17. 4. 6. ; infatuated 2 ●. 15. 31. ▪ wounded 2 Kin. 6. 18. , destroyed their enemies 2 Kin. 2. 22. 24. , and turned their wrath and fury into love and amity Ge. 32. 9. &c. ; unlocked such secrets as past the skill of the devil himself Da. 2. 1●. &c. ; obtained wisdom 1 Kin. 3. 9 Ja. 1. 5. , pardon ●u. 18. 13. , and Heaven Lu. 23. 42. 43. ; cast out Ac. 16. 16 &c. , and vanquished the Devil 1 C. 12. ●. ; removed diseases Ac. 3. 6. 7. ; prolonged life Is. 38. ●. ; raised the dead 1 Kin. 17. 20. ; delivered from the belly of Hell Jon. 3. 2. , and was translated into Heaven Heb. 11. 5. . When God is resolved on a nations ruin, he shuts out their petitions, denies their ambassador audience, and will not suffer his favourite prayer to speak with him: usually carries things so in his providence, that the prayers of his ser 〈…〉 so loth is he to go against them) shall be 〈…〉 ng: either removes his L●ts into the mount, leaving not any considerable number to stand in the gap▪ so that no man( comparatively) stirreth up himself to take hold of God: or so withdraws the breathings of his spirit in their hearts, that they are fallen into a stupour, benummedness and deep sleep, when the ship is in greatest danger. He loves prayer for the sake of the advocate, who can do miracles, yet the nation may not be worthy to receive the blessing Ez. 14. 14 . He often makes their intercession the condition of his mercy to others and. 20. 17. 18. Ex. 8. 9. 〈…〉 in. 13. 6 Joh. 〈…〉. Jam. 5. 1●. . Their wanted mercy may be stopped, while thy prayer goes not to Heaven for i●. One saint may obtain that by prayer for us, which sometimes we cannot by our own. Job. 42. 8. 〈…〉 4. 16. 〈…〉. ●1 Col. ●. 3. 〈…〉. 1●. 〈…〉 7. 〈…〉. 8. 2 Ch 18. 3. Act. 8. ●4. ●●. 14. 1●.& ●1. ●●. 2●&. 26. 〈…〉. 1● &c. D 〈…〉. 3●. ●7. 〈…〉 Ps. 10. 17 ● Ps. 66. ●0 ● Jam. 5. 16. Is. 65. ●●. Therefore not only good men in any great straight call in their help, to give a lift with them at this duty ( s), but the wicked have solicited their prayers and company ( t); as trusting to prosper better for their presence, and to find mercy for their sake more than their own. And when God intends to deliver a people, he draws up their hearts to seek him ( v), as the means to effect it ( w). Therefore, when he stirs us up to ask any thing, 'tis a good sign he intends to grant it: when he prepares our hearts to pray, he will cause his ear to hear ( x). When he doth not turn away our prayer, he will not turn away his mercy from us ( y). Prayer rightly managed, was never denied ( z) it shall rather work miracles, than return empty. The svit that's faithfully asked is already granted in Heaven. The spirit which searcheth the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. helps our infirmities, He must deny himself in denying those holy desires himself puts into our hearts. He saith not to the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain Is. 45. 19. . Never any came to his door that went away without an alms: as the word which goeth out his mouth, so that which goeth unto him, shall not return voided but prosper in the thing whereto it is sent Is. 55. 11. . He cannot deny us what our advocate hath purchased by his merit: whatsoever you shall ask the father in my name he will give it you Joh. 16 23. : such must prevail as have propriety in him: I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will hear me Mich. ●. 7. Ps. 6. 8. 9. . One branch of the Covenant is to hear our prayers. He hath sealed and subscribed several promises as so many blanks, giving us leave to writ on them any desire we please Ps. 145. 18. ye. 3●. 3. Mat. 21. 22. Jo. 16. 24. 1 Jo. 5. 14. . What flocking would there be to an earthly Prince that would grant any petition? I am the Lord their God and will hear them Zac. 1●. 6. . If two of you shall agree on earth, as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my father which is in Heaven Mat. 18. 19. . Ask me of things to come, concerning my sons; and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me Is. 45. 11. . How much more prevalent is their importunity, than that of children with their indulgent Father Mat. 7. 11. ? These Heavenly favourites have gained more for themselves and others gratis by a petition to their Prince at Court, in a morning, than many trades-men that work hard all their lives. There's a singular efficacy, potency, prevalency, I had almost said omnipotency in prayer. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much: How much the Apostle tells us not, that's left to God's grace and our own experience; but he adds an instance to confirm the truth of the proposition, Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are( prayers efficacy is not from our worthiness, but Christ's intercession, God's prescribing the use of it, and his promise to it) and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain▪ and it rained not &c. Ja. 5. 16. 17. 18. . Did Christians truly know the Power they have in Heaven and earth▪ nothing could discourage or stand against them. No wonder faith overcomes the world 1 Jo. 5. 4. , if it overcome its maker, and he be outwrestled, and overpowered by it Gen. 32. 26. 28. Is. 45. 11. Mat. 15. ●●. , that making a present closure and drawing near between God and the soul. When their prayers bring not down the express errand for others, God is careful his people should not have the least suspicion, that the denial proceeds from any disrespec̄i he hath to their persons or prayers. He sometimes therefore gives the thing desired, only changes the Subject; or grants to themselves what he denies them for others: what he denies Abraham for Ishmael, he makes up abundantly in Isaac: David's prayer for his enemies, returned into his own bosom Ps. 35. 13. . One generation sows prayers for the Church, and another reaps the mercy prayed for. O the Bounty of our God, who proposes a mercy, and encourages us to seek it; commands us to pray, assists us in it, promises audience, and vouchafes a gracious acceptance; teaches us how, what to say, then gives us a Boon; prepares mercy, disposes our hearts to pray, then causes his ear to hear. He prevents them with his blessing; doth for them before abundantly above what they can ask or think: Is. 65. 20. Ps. 21. 3. 4. so liberal to them that he exceeds their modesty in asking and checks them for it; open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Ps. 81. 10. . Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name, ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full Jo. 16. 24. . He commonly gives them their prayers with an overplus; not only what, but much more than they have faith or face to request. Abraham begs Ishmael's life, God grants him that, and confirms his covenant with Isaac for a numerous posterity Ge. 17. 18. 19. . Isaac preys for a child, God gives him two at once Ge. 25. 21. 22. . Jacob desires but God's pass, under the Protection of which he might go and return safely, with enough food and raiment to keep him alive; God sends him home with two bands, who went out a poor fugitive, having little besides his pilgrims staff Ge. 28. 20.& 32. 10. . Hannah asks a son, God gives her that with three sons and two daughters 1 Sam. 1. 11. 20.& 2. 21. . Hezekiah begs recovery from sickness, God gives him that with addition of fifteen years Is. 38. 2. &c. . Sol●m●n asks wsdom, God gives him riches and honour 1 King 3. 8. &c. . He not only cures the sick of the palsy, but secures him a pardon Mat. 9. ●. . And commends the ( enturion for his faith, besides healing his servant Lu. 7. 9, 10. . The Prodigal desires but to be as a hired servant, the father readily bestows on him the affection and privilege of a son Luke 15. . The woman of Canaan begs a crumb( so much as we throw to dogs) Christ gives her a childs portion; yea, puts the key of his treasury into her own hand, and bids her serve her self, be it unto thee even as thou wilt Mat. 15. 26. . The King asked life of thee and thou gavest it him, even length of daies for ever and ever Ps. 21. 4. . Christ gives his brethren not only as much food as they can carry▪ but their money in their sacks, and also his cup in Benjamin's. His Familiars procure answers, when strangers The great advantage good men are to a nation. stand out, yea even of domestics some are more entire: He that lay in Jesus's bosom could receive that intelligence which was kept from the rest J●. 13. ●3 &c. . The better men, the greater good: such as have great faith, obtain what they will Mat. 15. 28. . They have often met God as Abigail did David, and moved him to put up his Sword. If any thing in the world can persuade him to preserve a nation, 'tis their prayers. If Moses will do according to the word of the Lord, He will do according to the word of Moses Ex. 8. 13. . If you have faith as a grain of Mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you Mat. 17. 20.& 21. ●. . 'tis a very extraordinary case, when such Favourites as Noah, Job and Daniel, cannot deliver a nation, but only their own souls ye. 15. 1. Ez. 14. 14 . So that when he's resolved to punish a people, and judgement's inevitable, he is fain to bid such not to pray ye. 14. 11. ; as if this was the only hindrance could be made, and he could deny nothing to them he loves, nor execute his fierce wrath, unless they let him alone 32. ●. 10. Deu. 9. 13. 14. . He could not destroy Sodom while Lot was in it; not vindicate himself of his enemies, till taken care of his friend Ge. 19. 12. 22. . He hath as it were obliged his Power to their faith: By their prayers the almighty( with reverence) is bound to the peace, when he hath a quarrel with his people. They can overcome him, not only when he's well pleased, when any child may deal with him, but when he thunders from Heaven, cleaves the rocks, when Sea and Land quakes and trembles, and his wrath burns like fire so that no man can come nigh him Ex. 19 . He then seems to indent with them, offers them composition, if they will hold their peace, and say nothing; he hires them to be silent Ex. 32. 10. ; and entreats them to let him alone, but they will not let him go without a blessing Ge. 32. 24. &c. , for as Princes they have power with God and with men, and have prevailed even against a command Ex. 32. 10. &c. : May not we much more, who have no such prohibition, but are bid to pray and promised to speed Chron. 7. 13. 14. ? When the wheels of providence stand still as it were, prayer oils, and puts them in motion. The effusion of the spirit of supplication, is the first happy token, presage and intimation of approaching mercy 1 Chron. 17. 23. , for it gives God the glory of his Mercy, Pity, Power, sovereignty, and universal providence over us and all things; obtains from him such a frame-disposition in the hearts of others, as may qualify them for deliverance; carries him along with the means, that are proper for it, without whom second causes are of no value, but he can make any person a Physician, any means a medicine, where himself still join in the cure. He knows he shall have a revenue of unfeigned thanks and praise for what comes in the way of prayer ( t): And Ps. ●●. 1●. 'tis the way, this, to direct the eyes and hearts of all to the first cause that sends and removes Judgments; to make all that see how open handed he is to his suppliants, turn beggars at his door Ps. ●2. 5. 6.& 65. 2. Dan. 6. 26. ●7. ; yea for the honour of his servants; that the wicked may see what esteem he hath for their prayers, who are the Favourites of Heaven and Pillars of the earth; and how much beholding they are to them for their safety and security; when all worldly wisdom, policy, and contrivances can prevail nothing, for the prayers of a few poor contemptible inconsiderable persons to work deliverance, what an honour doth God hereby cast upon them? How little is their love to their Country, or that beholden to them, who to preserve it, think it not worth their care, pains, or a serious desire? mere burdens and caterpillars of the earth; that have mouths to consume our comforts, not to beg or bless God for them: but that they are good for nothing, is not the worst of them; 'tis a small thing that we want the help of their prayers( their solemnest devotions are an abomination to God) in comparison of the mischief they do us, whose lives a● a continual imprecation of all manner of plagues upon themselves and place of their abode. A wicked man is a wicked creature, and dangerous; a public evil to the state. He deserves ill of those he never lived to see; that he ruins and damns himself, is the least part of his wickedness: By the guilt or infection of his sin,( which is always hurtful to the sinner, often to posterity) he commonly draws vengeance on thousands: 'tis they are the troublers of Israel 1 King 18. 18. 1●. 2. 7. Flabella Diab●li;& Flagella Dei; as studying, endeavouring, acting, meriting, and procuring mischief; blowing the coals of contention among men, and of Gods wrath, till set the Kingdom on a flamme. By the blessing of the upright the City is exalted, but is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked Pr. 11. 11. . scornful men bring a City into a snare, but wise men turn away wrath Pr. 29. 8. . Tis no small advantage and happiness to have interest in God's Favourites; we receive from them true favours though insensibly: next to being good, 'tis best being with those that are so: If we be not bettered by their example, we are blessed by their protection and company. If God smite many for one sinner, he will spare them for a good man. A hypocrite was saved for Noah's sake, but not one righteous swept away for company. God must either separate the righteous from the wicked, or destroy the righteous with the wicked, or spare the wicked for the sake of the righteous. It fares well with others for their sake: Laban for Jacob Ge. 30. 27. : Pharaoh's Court and Kingdom for Joseph Ge. 39.& ●0. &c. : Two families for Noah Ge. 17. : A City for Lot Ge. 19. 16. 21. : The King must see how he's engaged to a Sojourner for himself and his Ge. ●0. 17. &c. . Saints are the honestest debtors we can deal with: They will pay us in our own coin: Those that show them any kindness, are sure to have God for their paymaster; for 'tis their way to turn over their d●bts to God, and engage him to discharge their scores ● Tim. 1. 1●. . The service of our love to God's children, are never thankless: When we are dead& rotten, they shall live,& procure blessings to those that never knew, nor heard perhaps of then Progenitors. I● we sow good, succession shall reap it, and we shall be happy in making them so. God loves to remember his ancient mercies. To be faithful with God, is the way to oblige a world, even those who are unborn, and to entail blessings on succeeding generations. Such mighty charms are there in piety, that even a dead Abraham's bail is taken for a whole Kingdom, when ready to be laid up in the chains of a perpetual captivity. God is said to remember his Covenant with Abraham. Ten would have saved two Cities. Is●ael a blessing in the land of Assyria Is. 19. 21. . There's a time coming when the greatest shall know their worth and excellency, and cleave unto them: It shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, we will go with you for we have heard that God is with you Zac. 8. ●3. . 'tis they are the munition and strength of a Kingdom King 2. 12.& 3. 14.& ●. ; for they seek safety where 'tis to be found 2 Chron. 20. 12. ; they have the greatest courage 1 Sa. 17. 32. , the surest promise● Ge. 12. 23. Le. 26. 73. Ps. 125. 1. 2. and supplies 2 King 6. 17. , for God is with them 1 Sa. 17. 4●. Is 8. 10. , and except he keep the City the states-men counsel, the souldiers fight, the watchman waketh but in vain Ps. 71. 21. . Never any striven with God, and prevailed, except by Jacob's way of wrestling. Such are fenced with divine favour, though destitute of all human succour, while none more naked than their enemies, though clad in armor. What's there adversaries Sword and Spear, to going out against them in the name of Hosts 1 Sa. 17. 45. . David was s●●er with his handful in the cave than Saul in the camp, with his guard and army. Security is, where there is true Piety, though no Souldiers, or though the Souldiers drew not a Sword Ge. 31. 25. . The strength of a nation lies not so much in having prudent counsellors, or mighty armies, as store of such as are the faithful o● the land Ps. 101. 7. . Their cries mount beyond the Stars, pass through guards without resistance, open the gates of Heaven without a linsey-woolsey, get audience when none else can be admitted, press into Gods privy chamber, shake his Throne, bind his hands: They command above, and reign in Heaven; God yields infinitely, if they cry mightily. They have the best weapons, and fight by faith more than others with all their forces: Their silent prayers are more piercing and prevalent, than the most roaring ordnances; their zeal is able to consume Captains and their ●●●tie●; their righteousness to rebate the edge of the sharpest Sword of their enemies. One supplic●tory sh●ft, is better than a quiver of arrows; a single Saint, than an army of Giants: He can do more by an ejaculation, than others by their Spears; and by entreating the face of God, than others by gathering of parties; by looking upwards, than others by plotting beneath, which the land of Judah found true, in the daies of their godly Kings and Prophets. Abraham with his housshold-servants rescues five captive Kings, from four that were conquerors Ge. 14. 14. . How low did he beat the market for Sodom, brought it down to ten righteous. The push of Moses's prayer, did more than all the pikes of Israel: and one Elisha than three armies 2 King 6. 17. . Poor Josiah when he came to the Crown found the Kingdom tumbbling a place to ruin, yet because his heart was set for God, He took his bail for that wretched people, when they were even under an arrest from the Almighty, and almost at the prison door. And their safety was as it were bound up in his life, for soon after his death all went to wrack among them. Rehoboam's walking in the way of David made his Kingdom strong three years,& might longer, if he had not by sinning pulled it down on himself& people; for his unhappiness is dated fom the very time of his departing from God 2 Chron. 11 16 17.& 12. 1. &c: . 'tis state interest to countenance and encourage pure religion, and those that practise it: no forts on the frontiers, or standing armies within are so sure a defence from forregin invasion, and inbred commotions. Their fervent prayers and holy lives do more for us, than our enemies combined powers and policies can against us. Indeed they only have true public spirits. The principal effect of religion upon the soul is, to withdraw us from the love of carnal self( which contracts mens cares and designs to themselves as the center) and whatsoever makes for its gratification; and implants in us a pure and fervent love for the blessed God as the pattern and author of all perfection, and our only satisfying portion, whom to know and love, imitate and obey, is the great riches and honour, good men are ambitious of. Their happiness is placed in that which affords no monopoly, or matter of contention. Hence naturally flow those qualifications which exalt their possessors to unconfined, enlarged spirits imitating their heavenly Father whose bounty and providence is unlimited and universal): longing and labouring to have others possessed of the same felicity they have tasted of, and is not diminished by communication. Their pleasure increases with their participators, and to do others good is one part of their happiness. Their knowledge, love, and comformity of their nature to God, necessary inclines to love his image: those that bear it liveliest, he cleaves to with greatest dearness: is filled with designs for, and delight in their good; and becomes a lover of all man kind, as on them remaines something of God( which calls for our regard) and is sincerely, affectionately desirous they may attain that dignity and happiness their nature is capable of. They take to heart the state of the whole world: how compassionately do they think of the sad condition of poor Heathens that live under the tyranny of the devil; strangers to God and Christ? How do they long and pray for the Gospel among them? How deeply affencted with the Churches miseries in any part of the earth? That groan under the effects of ignorance, idolatry, and cruelty? How hearty do they sympathise with those in bondage to Turk or Pope? How affectionately do they bewail the divisions, disorders, decays of religion here among its professors? These are matter of their daily lamentation; with tears, and groans they represent them before the God of mercy. How much more the miseries and distempers of the land ●f their Nativity, being ever before their eyes, must needs make the deeper impression on their hearts? The sins of all men are their grief, but their righteous souls are especially vexed with their unlawful deeds among whom they dwell 2. P●●. 2. 8 . They have great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart, and are pleading instantly for redressing sin and suffering; and more desirous of their prosperity, than their own▪ ●● 9. 2. 〈…〉. ●2. . Even for the afflictions that come on their neighbors and country m●n they sympathise& are greatly sensible: much more they lay to heart their sins, which they know to be so provoking to God, so fatal to the sinner, and the destruction it merits 〈…〉. O what a burden is it, to their spirits▪ to see a nation ●ver-run with athe●sm●, in●●●●lity, error, and profaneness, fellow▪ cr●●●ur●s endu●d with reason and pro●●●ling religion, living in hatred and strife, oppressing, ●●●ing▪ destroying one another? How ●●in would they such miscarriages were removed, and truth and peace, charity, and Godliness brought in their stead. Others good, is their great pleasure; the conversion of one sinner, is matter of joy to them, as to the angels in Heaven; much more, when the gospel obtains a free course and happy success, the word of the Lord prospers in the hands of his servants, and righteousness flourishes in the holy, peaceable, blameless lives of professors. Yea, so large hearted are that they, as they are solic●tous, not only for the present, but succeeding ages; that the same privileges and blessings 〈…〉 descend and be kept among them. Happy 〈…〉 nation, which abounds with men of this 〈…〉 lent spirit. They're much mistaken, who 〈…〉 chief and only strength to consist in mon●y●, policy of States-men, valour of c●mmanders; and look on good men, in law places, as a contemptible useless sort of persons: they discern not the secret mighty influence they have upon those very affairs, whereof they think themselves sole masters and disposers, and how little good they could do without their concurrence. Had they beholded Elijah walking with his mantle, they'd have scarce thought he deserved that high title the man of God puts upon him, my Father, my father, the Chariot of Israel, and the horse-men thereof 2 Kin. 2. 12. ▪. True Christians, are the best, profitablest subjects, having serious, hearty, constant desires and abilities of doing good, laid out and improved in diligent endeavours. What though they never studied politics, and have too much simplicity to apprehended the deep reasons and intrigues of state, so unfit to be made privycounsellers to their own, or ambassadors to a foreign Prince; yet they know what most Achitophel's little think of, that sin is the most dangerous underminer of the kingdoms safety; that they mightily strive against, and all the fatal effects of it. Their prayers go daily on Embassy in behalf of the land, to the sovereign majesty of all the world, in whose hands are the hearts of Kings, who orders and over-rules all afaires; that he would counsel, direct, and prosper them. The simplest of them, if called to the counsel board, would advice to make Gods glory the end, and his word the rule of all administration, which if put in practise, would be found more advantageous, than all machiavellian subtleties. What though some of them are so weak, that they cannot wield a sword; so poor, that they cannot sand souldiers of their own cost? The very lifting up of Moses's feeble hand, did more to discomfit Amalek, than the strength and weapons of the whole army; and when the little city was so straitly besieged by a great King, one poor man delivers it E●e. 9. 15. &c. How unworthily requited. . How unthankfully doth the world repay this kindness? They scorn, contemn, malign those, to whom they owe their happiness. They can neither abide, nor be safe without them They look on them as their great burden, who are the only bail God takes when their nation is under his arrest, and rail on those who are a wall unto them night and day. They cannot afford them so much as a good word, who are very good to them, and they are not hurt, neither miss they any thing as long as they are conversant with them Sa. 25. 15, 16. . Though they know what one word( Aha!) cost, yet had they rather have the blood of a Saint, than half a Kingdom, Mar. 6. 23. 25. and would pay a great fine( ten thousand Talents) to have them destroyed Est. 3. 9. . The righteous is an abomination to the wicked; 'tis a Sect every where spoken against. Cain will kill Abel to the end of the world. The supports are the troublers of Israel 1 King 18. 17. . Away with these pestilent fellows, it is not fit, not for the King's, profit, that they should live Est. 3. 8. Ac. 16. 20.& 24. 5. &c. . With what wonder and care do we look upon and preserve other things, with what contempt and disdain do we in extremity overlook these? How weary of injuring other things, with what violence do we push at these? Is there a more dying groan among you, than the neglect of these? a shriller yell, than the passionate cries of these oppressed ones? There is Royal blood running in their veins; 'tis dangerous meddling with them, and no better than spilling Christ's blood, is that of his members; his heart is exceedingly taken with them, and set upon them, they are his Jewels Mal. 3. 17. and the nation's; its lustre and excellency, it shines only while they are present. Stately fabrics are but dim and dead ensigns to that beauty and adorn of their innocent lives. profaneness shames and annoys a City more than all its sinks and dunghills; and far worse than breaches in our walls, buildings half leveled, and our monuments defaced But these leave no stench but a blessing behind, and perfume every place where they set their foot. All good things are promised, and primarily intended them; the earth is given to the meek, and Heaven to the poor in spirit; for the wicked what is there own, but hell Ac. 1. 25. ? The Sun shines on the barren ground for the sake of the fruitful the tares are preserved; and watered because of the good seed Mat. 13. 30. . Why then do you strip your rooms of your hangings? Trample upon your treasure? Abase and vilify your stock? Why so malicious and cruel, not to them only, but your nation, and betray and hasten its ruin more than abuse them, who can only resist assaults and purchase redemption? Against whom do you shoot your venomed arrows? Why will ye run the hazard of damning your souls, rather than not fling a dagger at the apple of Gods eye Zac. 2. 8. ? How dare you profess the name of Christ, and hate his nature in the Saints? Call him your head yet rend and tear his body? Your sovereign, yet p●secute his faithfullest subjects? Beat and destroy them as wrapped up in the bare skins of precise fanaticks& c? Bow at the name of Jesus, while you pierce him in the members? Many good works have they done for you, for which of them do you persecute and ston them ●●. 1●. ●●. ? Shall evil be recompensed for good? and a pit digged for them, who stand before God to speak good for you, and to turn away his wrath from you Jo. 18 2●. ? Shall they die who have wrought so great salvation in England 1 Sa. 14. ●●. ? Why must these worthy champions that step into this sinking cave to uphold it with their shoulders, find that to be their Sepulchre, which they supposed should have been their shelter? what frenzy possesses you, to pull away the props, to drain the city of its guards, to destroy the forts and bulwarks of defence when an enemy comes to besiege it? What do men mean to cut down the boughs on which they stand? To hasten their own destruction? Are they weary of their safety? Do they ask to be shaved of their strength? Little do they think that while they injure them, they do the greatest injury to themselves. They are every moment beholden to them; and owe their freedom and reprieve from hell and ruin, next to God's patience, to their prayers. Such as endeavour to destroy their persons and hinder their prayers, do( whatsoever they intend or pretend) what in them lies, to ruin us by pulling down the Pillars that upholds Church and State. To stop, corrupt, or trouble those fountains which are a common benefit to serve a whole Town, is a wrong to all that have thence their water. Take h●e●d of provoking against you their prayers, especially God's Prophets; if their silence had been a sad omen, what are their imprecations? The grieving of Moses and Elias's spirits, cost Israel dear. Zechariah's prayer at shedding his blood, the Lord look upon it and requited it! brought on them the miseries of Babylon, and was not fully avenged till their utter ruin 2 Chron. 24. 21. &c. . Were it not that he regards the presence of his servants that sojourned with us, he would not with any gracious aspect, look towards us, nor see us, 2 Kin. 3. 14. . The loss of a good man, chiefly a good minister, especially, in bad times, is a just ground of deep sorrow 1 Sa. 25. 1 La. 1. 19. Ze. 11. 2. ; woe is me, for the good man is perished out of Earth Mic. 7. 1. 2. ; help Lord for the Godly man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men Ps. 12. 1. : we may well mourn when they are taken away; our glory is departing: there is like to ensue some great evil, on the absence of so great a good 1 Sa. ●. 19 Is. 57. 1. . They are such a blossing where they live, that they seldom fall, but the earth shakes under them. When God chambers his children in the grave, us commonly a prognostic of an approaching storm Is. 26. 20. 21. . 'tis they that continue happiness to a nation, and carry it along with them. When the corn is housed, the beast; are turned into the field, and that into an high way, when the hedge is trodden down or removed. When the building of the Church is finished, this Scaffold shall be taken down; and the Theatre of the world, when they have done acting. God will fire the house about our ears, when completed the number and removal of his Jewels. The pharisees were troubled with christ: they thought him a thorn in their side, and that they should never be well, till he was gone J●. 8. 32. &c , upon which Christ tells them, yet a little while am I with you, and I go unto him that sent me: they needed not to be so hasty, so earnest to get him gone, poor souls, they should want him too soon; and should seek him, but should not find him( though they would gladly); for in their ensuing calamity, they should miss of their promised Messiah. Still the world stands for their sake, for whom t'was preserved; else fire should consume that, which could not be cleansed by water. Were it not for a very small remnant, we should long since have been as Sodom, and like unto Gomorrah Is. 1. 9. . Their presence and prayers, will procure mercy, if there be any place for it Ez. 14. 14 . Solemn humiliation for our nations sins. ANd now my soul what remaines but that thou enter into thy closet; shut the door about thee; set thyself as in his presence who seeth in secret; beg his assistance; with all solemn strictness, faithfulness and brokenness of spirit, ripp open and ransack, deeply inquire into and review the vileness of thy heart and life: so will appear thy own hypocrisy in crying out against such parties or persons, such abuses, or corruptions in Church and state, as the cause of misery, and not smiting upon thy own thigh, saying, what have I done or omitted? represent thy sins with all their heightening circumstances and aggravations, till so sensible of the heinous nature of the least sin, that thou canst not conceive any suffering suited to its demerit, but wrath eternal; and apprehendest not only thy contributing to our present calamities that so many lie under in part for thy sins, but that if the rest of the nation had been like thee, 'twould sure ere this have been utterly desolate. And having judged and condemned, loathed and abhorred thyself, and repented in dust and ashes; and sued out thy pardon; that thine iniquities may not help to fill up the measure of England, s: improve thy utmost interest in God for it, mourning for the sins, and interceding for the safety of it. My bowels, my bowels, I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise within me, I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war, destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is spoiled Jo. 4. 19. 2●. ; the remnant that are left of the plague are in great affliction and reproach; the walls of the city are broken down, and the gates thereof burnt with fire Ne. 1. 3. 4 . I will set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth and ashes I will fall upon my knees, and spread out my hands, and weep and mourn, and pray unto the Lord my God, and make my confession and say D●. 9. 3. 4. , O my God! I am ashamed and blushy to lift up my face to thee, my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespasses are grown up unto the Heavens since the dayes of our fathers have we been in a great trespass, unto this day; and for our iniquities, have we, our Kings and our priests been delivered unto the sword, to the plague, and to fire, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face as it is this day Ezr. 9. 6. 7. . We have reason to fear our end is come before Universality of sin. thee, and that thou wilt destroy us with the land, for all sorts of men have corrupted their ways Ge. 6. 12. 13. . By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery we break out, and blood toucheth blood Ho. 4. 2. . Pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness is in us, neither do we strengthen the hands of the poor: we are haughty and commit abominations before thee: neither hath Sodom or Samaria committed half of our sins; but we have multiplied our abominations more than they; and have justified our sister nations in all our abominations which we have done Ez. 16. 4● &c . Ah! sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupt. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint: from the sole of the foot, even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores; Is. 1. 4. 5. 6. we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags: and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away: and there are none that call upon thy name, that stir up themselves to take hold of thee; though thou hast hide thy face from us, and consumed us because of our iniquities Is. 64. 67. Sins of nobles . Our nobles are rebellious, and companions of evil doers Is. 1. 33. . They bid defiance to thee, notwithstanding all sacred solemn promises, bonds and obligations to obedience je. 5. 5. : yea, they put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; they stretch themselves upon their couches, and spend their time in mirth and vanity, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph Am. 6. 3 &c. ; therefore mayest thou abhor our excellencies, and hate our palaces, and remove our banquets, and deliver up our land, with all that is therein. Our Magistrates bear the sword in vain: they Magistrates sins. are not terrors to evil doers, nor encouragers of those that do well Ro. 13. 4. . All manner of wickedness reigns without restraint, and with connivance. National impieties are not punished by those who are for that purpose entrusted with power and authority. None calls for judgement, nor standeth up and executes it, that our plagues may be stayed Ps. 106. 3●. , but are themselves guilty of God provoking abominations. The wicked walk on every side, for the vilest of men are exalted Ps. 12. 8. . Therefore mayst thou take the sword into thy own hand,& bring upon us our own iniquities, cut us off in our own wickedness; because none riseth up for thee against the evil doers nor standeth up for thee against the workers of iniquity Ps. 9●. 16. 23. . Mine heart within me is broken, all my bones Ministers sin●. shake because of our Teachers: How many of them vicious, brutish, commit uncleanness, fill themselves with strong drink, profane thy holy things, put no difference between the clean and unclean, walk in lies, look to their own way, every one for his gain from his quarter? They have not gone up into the gap, neither made up the hedge for us. Greedy, ignorant, idle, sons of Belial, that know not the Lord; their sins are very great before thee, for they cause the people to nauseate and abhor the offering of the Lord, therefore mayst thou fay, they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered 1 Sam. 2. 17. Is. 56. 10. &c. ye. 10. 21.& 23. 9. &c. Ez. 13. 5. Hearers sins. . The Kingdom of God may be taken from us and given to a nation bringing forth the fruit thereof, for our itching ears, slighting, loathing, prejudices, contempts, scoffings as to thy Word and Ministers. What rovings, lightness, vain discoursings, profaneness, in the place and time of thy worship? neglect of, careless, perfunctory, drowsy, irreverent, unbelieving, untractable addresses to and attendance on thee? with stiff necks, uncircumcised hearts, resisting the Holy Ghost, not examining, remembering, pondering over, talking of, practising what we hear? despising thee, by despising them thou hast sent? not prising, praying, praising thee for them? unhumbled for the want o● them, niggardly to them, not esteeming them for their work's sake? So that the daies may come that thou mayst sand a famine of the word; and we may wander from Sea to Sea, and from the North even unto the East, and run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it Am. 8. 11, 12. . O what failings in our several relations?[ Superiors Families sins. ], not modest, sober, diligent, upright, wise, exemplary in their carriage; not doing so much good as the advantage of their abilities and places require; but abusing them to scorn, pride, oppression &c.[ Inferiors], not humble, dutiful, thankful, submitting for conscience sake; but disdaining, flattering, irreverencing their Superiors. How many come together upon base ends? How few mary only in the Lord? or live together as one flesh? whose only strife is, how they may please thee and each other? What neglects, jars, contentions, blazoning of infirmities, occasions of trouble, jealousy, disaffection in families?[ Husbands], not behaving themselves as the head, to govern instruct, cherish their wives; but churlish, fretful, humoursome, imperious, not rejoicing in the wife of their youth, nor loving them as Christ the Church.[ Wives], irreverent, unquiet, unchaste, forsaking the guide of their youth, and fogetting the Covenant of their God Pr. 2. 17. . despising their Husbands in their hearts 1 Chron. 15. 29. , not helpers but hinderers of their good, not subject in every thing as the Church to Christ, Ep. 5. 22. &c. nor adorn themselves as the holy women in old time 1 Pet. 3. 1. &c. .[ Parents], humoring, cockering, indulgent to their children in 'vice; not educating instructing, chastising, praying, providing for them as they ought.[ Children], not loving, reverencing, submitting, thankful; but disobedient, sto●t, rebellious, unnatural, setting light by Father and Mother Deu. 27. ●●. .[ Masters], not careful in directing, governing, punishing, redressing disorders, examining, confering with, encouraging, rewarding those over whom God hath made them overseers.[ Servants], scornful, saucy, refractory, answering again, disparaging, slothful, improvident, defrauding, unfaithful, eye-servants, not obedient with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ. How few walk with gravity, circumspection, and a perfect heart in midst of their house; but by lightness, vanity, and unseemly carriage make themselves vile, and breed in others contempt of thy ordinance? that labour to bring up in thy fear, those committed to their charge? that resolve and endeavour they and their house will serve the Lord? We have cause to fear thou wilt pour out thy fury upon us amongst whom are so many that know thee not, and families that call not upon thy name. In the law, O the neglects and evasions! the Lawyers, Tradesmens sins. fraudulent tricks and delays! the partiality and injustice! the cruelty and oppression! the lovers of bribes, and followers after rewards! judgement is turned into gull, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock Am. 6. 12. . In our dealings, O the lyings, and deceiving! the unlawful, unmerciful advantages, and over-reaching! the unfaithfulness and dishonesty! the sophistications, adulterations, wicked protestations! we do not as we would be done by; but go beyond and defraud our brother. In our Shops are treasures of wickedness, and the scant measure, the wicked balance, and the bag of deceit, unrighteousness lodges in our land, that was full of judgement; our silver is become dross, and our wine mixed with water. Therefore mayst thou smite thy hand at our dishonest gain, and make us desolate, because of our sins. Yea, amongst those that profess thy name, how Professors sins. few depart from iniquity? O what pride, lasciviousness, unfaithfulness, variance, anger, peevishness, passion, emulation, wrath, envy, hatred, malice, animosities, divisions, mutual upbraidings, slanderings, tale-bearings, defamings, distraction, railing, evil surmisings, perverse disputings, frothy, vain, corrupt communications, despising Dominions, speaking evil of dignities, not of the things that make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another, formality, numbness, hypocrisy, compliance with the sins of the times! How few are crucified to the world? that seek it with a holy indifferency, and reserve their zeal, and hottest endeavours for thee? O where are the humble, meek, patient, self denying, sympathising, submissive, Heavenly followers of our gracious, tender hearted, compassionate Lord? That consider one another, to provoke one another unto love, and to good works? That sufficiently reprove, mourn for, assist against sin? With insensible spirits we complain of the hardness of others, that we are therefore unfit for mercy, not considering, were not our hearts hard, others might not be so; could we bewail their hard-heartedness before thee with broken hearts ourselves, who knows, but thou might mollify theirs, and prepare them for deliverance? How few put on, as the elect of God, bowels of mercy, kindness, charity, giving, forgiving, forbearing one another? We have a form of godliness, but deny the power of it. We bring unto thee vain oblations; and offer the blind and the lame, and the sick for Sacrifice. We fast and pray, hear and receive, but do we do it unto thee? How many take up religion merely to get gain? and pretend thy glory, to accomplish their base designs, by reason of which the way of truth is evil spoken of? We have left our first love, and lost our former fervour, strictness, and courage in thy service. Wo unto us that thus provoke thee to depart from us; to spew us out of thy mouth, and to remove thy candlestick out of its place; for through us, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles. O how much ignorance, error, infidelity, atheism, Unfruitfulness. profaneness in a land of light? We have line upon line, Precept upon Precept, thy word in season and out of season; but we shut our eyes, deafen our ears, mock and abuse thy Ambassadors, loathe our spiritual Manna, cast thy law behind our backs, and hate to be reformed; neglect and abuse thy ordinances, blaspheme that holy name whereby we are called, scandalise our profession, and make it as eminent for 'vice as it hath been and should be for virtue. We call ourselves Christians, and commit such enormous crimes, as are not once name among the heathens. We so little retain the power, that we cast off the very form of Godliness; denying the Lord that bought us; and not only think, but say there is no God. So that thy wrath may arise against thy people, till there be no remedy 2 Ch. 36. 14 &c. , and we reap nothing of our Christianity but the guilt of our apostasy, and that fiery indignation which awaites those that love darkness rather than light, trample under foot the son of God, do despite unto the spirit of grace, and account the blood of the covenant whereby we are sanctified an unholy thing: for the Earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth thorns and briars, in stead of herbs meet for him, by whom it is dressed, is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned Heb. 6. 7. 8. . We may justly fear thou wilt depopulate our Sabbath-breaking. land, that it may enjoy its sabbaths, for our spending thine in sloth and drowsiness, vanity, tedious dressings, idling in our doors, streets, fields, sports, recreations, taverns and ale-houses, bearing of burdens, following our callings, vain d●scourses, tedious longings, saying, what a weariness is it? when will the sabbath be over, that we may buy and sell and get gain? In stead of turning away our foot from the sabbath, from doing our own pleasure on thy holy day, calling it a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and honouring thee, not doing our own ways, nor finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words; but wholly employing and improving it according to the nature, use and ends of it. So that for our not harkening unto thee to hallow thy Sabbaths thou mayst kindle a fire in our gates which shall devour our palaces, and shall not be quenched Is. 58. ye. 17. 27. Covetousness. . For the iniquity of our covetousness was thou wrath and smote us Is. 57. 17. ; yet O how few whose conversation is without it, and are content with such things as they have Heb. 13. 5. ? From the least of us even unto the greatest, every one is given unto it. O! what continual cares, carping and scraping, eager thirstings, studious consultations, earnest prosecutions, unwearied uninterrupted pains after the world? enlarging our desires like hell and the grave, never saying it is enough? worshipping, and serving the creature, more than the Creator, God blessed for ever? What gripping, rigour and oppression? What extortion and unlawful usury? What hard heartedness, shutting up our bowels of compassion, not strengthening the hands of the needy E●. 16. 49. , grinding the faces of the poor, making advantage of their necessities, exposing them to nakedness, in stead of clothing them? The hire of the labourers, and the pay of poor tradesman, which are of us kept back by fraud, crieth, and the cries of them which have earned, are entred into the ears of the Lord of sabbath; so that we may weep and howl for our miseries that shall come upon us Ja. 5. 1. 4. . If pride goeth before destruction and an haughty Pride. spirit before a fall Pr. 16. 18 , ours testify to our face, therefore we shall fall in our iniquities Ho. 5. 5. . O the vain, swelling minds, the lofty eyes, the haughty gallants, the pride of heart, hair and apparel, the painted, spotted, fantastic ladies, walking and mincing as they go, with stretched out necks, wanton looks, and making a tinkling with their feet Is. 3. 16 &c. ! The tender and delicate women among us, which will not adventure to set the sole of their foot upon the ground for their delicateness and tenderness De 28. 56. ! Therefore mayst thou mar the pride of England, and the great pride of London je. 13. 9. ; and it may come to pass, that in stead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and in stead of a girdle, a rent; and in stead of well set hair, baldness; and in stead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth, and burning in stead of beauty; and that our men shall fall by the sword, and our mighty in the war, and our gates shall lament and mourn, and we being desolate sit upon the ground Is. 3. 16 &c Idleness. . Abundance of idleness is in us, as to our general& particular calling. Our land is full of tatlers, idle dames, busy bodies, lazy drones, that labour not with their hands, eat the bread of idleness, worse than infidels, that provide not for their own house. How much precious time and parts are devoured in the bed, at the glass, board, unnecessary, unlawful recreations, vain corrupt communications? Inventing ways to mis-spend time, taking pains to be rich, and to damn our souls; but how little in working out our salvation with fear and trembling, and giving all diligence to make our calling and election sure? So that thou mayst justly cloath the whole nation with rags Pr. 23. 21 , and take us away as thou seest good Ez. 16. 49. 50. . Wo unto us for our surfeiting, drunkenness, and Surfeiting and drunkeenness. fullness of bread. Among us are multitudes of wine-bibbers, and riotous eaters, that live deliciously, feeding themselves without fear, that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink; that gives his neighbour drink, and makes him drunken also; whose God is their belly, who glory in their shane. O the niceness, and daintiness! the rioting and excessive feasting! the chambering and wantonness! the staggering and vomiting! the abuse, and sacrificing of thy creatures to our lusts! making provision for the flesh! living in pleasure and worse than brutish intemperance! nourishing our hearts as in a day of slaughter! The cup of thy right hand may be turned unto us, and shameful spewing on our glory Ha. 2. 13. 16. . O the vain attires and carriages, the wanton Uncleanness. eyes, the speculative uncleanness, the secret pollutions, the obscene, filthy speeches, the toying dalliances, the lustful burnings and heart adultery, the actual uncleanness, which thou art every day witness to, who art of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity! Our land is polluted with adulteries, fornication, horrid abominations; we assemble in the harlots houses; every one neigheth after his neighbours wife. We turn the sanctuary into a stews, and defile the temple of the holy ghost by our lascivious filthiness. So that thou mayst justly abhor and forsake us, who have given ourselves over to work all uncleanness with greediness; and condemn us with an utter overthrow, making us an example to those that afterwards should live ungodly. Because of oaths the land mourns. 'tis a wonder of thy patience, that we have not Swearing. cursed away all our blessing, and prayed down vengeance upon our own head: that so many tongues set on fire of hell have not set the whole nation in a flamme. O! how is thy great and dreadful name which we should tremble at in mentioning, and command our spirits into awe and reverence, taken in vain, and used to witness a lye, or fill up our common discourses? What a hellish noise is heard in our streets and public houses? What volleys of dreadful, prodigious oaths and blasphemies are daily by persons of all ages and degrees, shot in the face of the great Majesty of Heaven and Earth? Whetting our tongue like a sharp sword, we have not feared to wound the name of God, when injured by men. We toss to and fro, tear and rend, the life, blood and wounds of our dear and precious Saviour. Thou mayst well grow jealous for thy great name, and arise and vindicate thy glory, from the contemptuous affronts of such insolent rebels, that dare thee to thy face, and force thee to give a convincing evidence of thy power and being, for the sins of our mouths, for our hideous execrations, perjuries, and profane words of our lips, and for all our hard speeches that we have spoken against thee, and consume us in thy wrath that we may not be. O! how is thy sacred word played and jested profaneness and blasphemies. with, made light and profaned by unhallowed wretches, that set their mouths against the Heavens, and religion itself suffered to be the object of our scoffs and rallery, in a nation professing it? We are ashamed of thee, of thy word and our glory; the name of a Saint or Godly man is ridiculous, laughed at and reproached: the honour of being religious failes, he that departs from evil makes himself a prey, Is. 59. 15. & is accounted mad. O how are the sacred pages themselves, made a theme of wanton drollery; and thy name, being, and honour prostituted to the licentious, irreligious wits of our age: that make a scorn of, and trample upon, all that is sacred and serious. Thou mayst justly bring upon us swift destruction for our mockers, disspisers, revilers of those that are good, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, denying, yea blaspeming the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. The voice of blood cries unto thee for vengeance Blood. Ge. 4. 10. . How many murders are committed among us, out of hatred, revenge, distress of the world, instigation of the devil? Yea we sacrifice one another's lives to our lusts, passions, and pride: So that thou mayst speedily make inquisition for blood, and give us it to drink. We are an obstinate, impudent, stiffnecked, impenitent▪ people: we blushy not, nor are ashamed Insensibleness and impenitency under judgments. when we commit abomination ye. 8. 12. ▪. The show of our countenance doth witness against us: we declare our sin as Sodom, we hid it not Is. 3. 9. . We have been at ease from our youth, settled upon our lees, though emptied from vessel to vessel ye. 48. 9. ; and live secure in the guilt of those sins which hath made thee become our enemy. We have grown worse and worse under all the means of making us better. Thou hast given us fruitful, peaceable seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness, the earth yielding its increase, we eat our bread to the full, and dwelled in our land safely, and none to make us afraid; but we have waxed fat and kicked, abased and were unthankful for thy mercies; have forsook and lightly esteemed the God of our salvation, victories, and mighty deliverances; and knew not that thou gave us corn and wine, and oil, and multiplied our silver and our gold, which we prepared for our lusts. Thou hast hewed us by the prophets, and slain us by the words of thy mouth, and our Judgments are as the light that goeth forth Ho. 6. 7. ▪: thou hast made our plagues wonderful; strike us with the pestilence, but we have not grieved, consumed us by the Sword, and in our estates, but we have not received correction; overthrown some of us, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and we are as fire-brands plucked out of the burning, yet have we not returned unto thee Am. 4. 10. 11. : we have made our faces harder than a rock, we have refused to return ye. 5. 3. , and will not see now thy hand is lifted up, nor be serious though thou seems to be naming us Ichabod& our glory departing 1 Sa. 4. 21. . Strangers have devoured our strength; yea gray hairs are here& there upon us, and we know it not; the pride of England testifies to our face and we do not return unto thee, nor seek thee for all this Ho. 7. 9, 10. . O where are our weeping Ezras, Jeremiahs, Davids &c. Such an universal slumber, and general stupidity hath seized on us, that there is none duly lays to heart the sins, distractions and dangers of the times; or mourns for those abominations, whereby thou art provoked to destroy the land: no man repenteth him of his wickedness saying, what have I done? Or constantly, earnestly seeks thee, now thy wrath is ready to fall upon us: every one minds his own concerns, and not the public, or thy providential dispensations: mirth and jollity, and wine are in our feasts; but we regard not the works of the Lord, nor consider the operations of his hands, therefore mayst thou destroy us and not build us up Ps. 28. 5. Is. 5. 12. . Argumentative Supplication. BUt now O Lord, thou art our Father, we From what we have undergone already. are the day, and thou our Potter; and we all are the work of thy hand Is. 64. 8. ; the effect of thy power and goodness. Remember we beseech thee, that thou hast made us as the day, and wilt thou bring us into dust again Jeb. 10. 9. ? And dash us to pieces as a thing of nought? Wilt thou destroy what thou hast made? And deface the glory of thy creative power? Thou being our founder, knowest our frailty, remember that we are but flesh, a bubble, a blast that passes away and cometh not again; and wilt thou not pity our weak estate? Wilt thou chase the dust? or pursue a leaf driven with the wind? O Let not the God of Heaven always strive and contend with worms lately crept forth out of nothing, what glory in the victory? Lord, though thou punish our wickedness, yet preserve thy own workmanship; thou that hast created the object, create also the act of deliverance; let us live because thou gavest us life; that the praises of our creation may be joined with those of our redemption. Be not wrath very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever; behold see we beseech thee, we are all thy people. Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation our Holy and our beautiful houses where our fathers praised thee are burnt with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid wast: wilt thou refrain thyself, for these things O Lord? Wilt thou hold thy peace and afflict us very sore Is. 64. 9. ? May it not suffice the Divine justice to have brought upon us the miseries we have undergone already? Is our slain, and our ruinous heaps, our poverty, our civil broils and confusions, nothing to our tender-hearted God? Behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto our sorrow, which is done unto us, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted us in the day of his fierce anger La. 12. 1. . And will our God still continue his heavy hand upon us? And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great transgressions, be angry with us till thou hast consumed us, so that there be no remnant nor escape Ezra 9. ●●● 14. ? shouldst thou punish us in proportion to our iniquities, thou might never leave till thou hadst utterly destroyed us. But may not the Judgments we have felt already, show thy Justice and hatred of sin, and by thy grace effect our return unto thee? And is it not acceptable to thee to accomplish it by milder means? O when wilt thou say, it is enough? and restrain the hand of vengeance from further prosecuting us? O turn thee unto us, and have mercy upon us, for we are desolate and afflicted. The troubles of our hearts are enlarged, O bring thou us out of our distresses, look upon our carcases, and our ashes, our affliction and our pain, and forgive all our sins Ps. 24. 1●. &c. . Make us glad according to the daies wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Ps. 9●. 15. O remember not against us former iniquities, let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us, for we are brought very low Ps. 79. 8. . Though our sins should hold all good things from us, and we obstinately resist the means of our happiness, thou canst otherwise secure thy own glory, and raise it even out of our ruins: But thou delightest not in the death of a sinner, much less of a people, but rather, and art very desirous, commandest,& intreatest, they return and live? Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our daies as of old La. 5. 21. . Hast thou utterly rejected England? Hath thy soul loathed thy Church there? O give us not up to our own ways, for so we shall but dishonour and displease thee, till we have destroyed ourselves. And alas what profit is there in our death? Wherein can destruction bring thee praise? What Trophies of honour canst thou raise out of the overthrow of a handful of dust? Will a read field of blood make thy Escutcheon the more illustrious? Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave? Or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness Ps. 88. 10. &c. ? O glorify thyself in working in us what thou requirest of us, in order to obtaining thy favour; so shall our reformation advance thy glory, as well as secure our happiness, and we shall praise thee, both by our obedience, and for our security; as the fruit of thy unlimited bounty. What can be more to thy praise, than that we may be unanimously devoted to thy service? whilst our chiefest aim is, that thou wouldest advance and establish thy own glory among us, and about that glory set a defence; we the more confidently beg it of thee, that thou wouldst do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion, make her a praise in the land, and build up the walls of Jerusalem, repair the sad decays of religion, rouse us out of our stupidity and lukewarmness, assuage and drive back our deluge of profaneness, and so order all events as may be most for the interest of religion, to which the Holy God hath so tender a regard, and to have it rooted out of a nation, is just matter of sadness to thy upright ones. We pled not our own cause only, but our posteritie's; From our Poster. 15. who, if we be destroyed, or have the Gospel put out, will, we fear, be left in the night of sin and ignorance, and involved in our ruin. And how can we but deprecate so sad an infelicity to them, and so much dishonour to thee, as to have our land overrun with barbarism, superstition, impiety, and this propagated from one generation to another would produce? Thy honour being so much concerned, may we not, with hopes of being heard, pray thee so far to continue thy favour to us and ours, that we may convey to them that Gospel we have received from our forefathers, pure and uncorrupted, that there may never fail to be a holy seed, a succession of sincere Christians, who may be the substance of these nations, when we are dead and gone. We beseech thee therefore prevent those calamities, which may either depopulate our land, or may be of so dangerous and extensive an influence, as to threaten to succeeding ages, that they should be wicked and idolatrous here, and miserable for ever. But graciously preserve us, and secure to us and ours the privileges of thy Gospel; so we thy people and sheep of thy pasture, will give thee thanks for ever, we will show forth thy praise to all generations ( l). Ps. 79. 13. Consider our enemies for they are many, and they hate us with cruel hatred: O keep us and Fom the multitude and malice o● our enemies. deliver us, let us not be ashamed, for we put our trust in thee Ps. 25. 19. . How long wilt thou forget us, O Lord, for ever? How long wilt thou hid thy face from us? How long shall we take counsel in our souls, having sorrow in our hearts daily? How long shall our enemies triumph over us? Consider and hear us O Lord, our God, lighten our eyes lest we sleep the sleep of death; lest our enemies say we have prevailed against them; and those that trouble us rejoice when we are moved Ps. 1●. 1. &c. . Will not the adversaries of thy Church and people be emboldened to blaspheme their God, and reproach them? be more hardened, encouraged, and strengthened in their opposition by their success? and interpret it for a justification of their cause? and look on power in their hand, as an obligation laid on them, utterly to destroy all that gainsay them; as if zealously serving thee, while butchering thy servants? And will not profane persons, from permission of such events, deny thy providence and being; and say 'tis in vain to serve, depend upon, and have recourse unto thee, seeing they are not preserved or rescued that do? O let not any that have an ill will at our Sion, have cause to say, ah! so would we have it. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name; and deliver us, and purge away our sins for thy name sake; wherefore should the Heathen say, where is their God? their reformation, their power and purity of religion, the glorious providences and promises they boast of? What are they the better for their prayers and fastings? O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? How long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? Why withdrawest thou thine hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom. Remember thy congregation which thou hast purchased of old, the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed, this mount Sion wherein thou hast dwelled, O deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove unto the multitude of the wicked; forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever. Have respect unto the Covenant: O let not the oppressed return ashamed; let the poor and needy praise thy name Ps. 74. 1. &c. . Consider the quality of those, and impiety of their designs who seek our ruin: Enemies, not so much to us as thyself and gospel, so far as it opposes their interest: Arise O Lord, pled thy own cause, be jealous for thy glory, fight against those that fight against us and thee; is not our quarrel thine? and thy interest ours also? And wilt thou give up thy darling to the dogs? thy only ones to the lions? Or shall any harden themselves against thee and prosper? O deliver us from such whose tender mercies are cruel; who willingly will know no bounds in afflicting us, but our final subversion; when thou art but a little displeased, will help forward the affliction Zec. 1. 15. : rather let us fall into the hands of God, than of men, do thou correct us, but with judgement, not in thine anger, lest thou bring us to nothing ye. ●o. 24. . Let our former mercies move thee to bestow From former mercies. those we want: from our experience of thy readiness to help, we hope thou wilt not be less gracious now; nor deny that assistance so oft afforded us. will God now abandon those who have so long been the charge of his providence, to the lusts and fury of unreasonable men? Shall they turn the work of infinite wisdom, into a Babel of confusion? And scatter those whom God hath gathered together? After so many wonders of mercy that have been shown among us and for us, shall we become the scorn and derision of all nations? Wilt thou cast off those thou hast raised up? Take so much pains, to no purpose? And demolish what might stand as a lasting monument of thy bounty? Is thy goodness abated, that thou wilt not, or thy hand shortened, that thou canst not save? Is not thy readiness and power to do good, and thou the same, yesterday, and to day, and for ever? Thy mercy, O God, is unwearied in stretching out itself for the defence of thy servants: the treasures of thy goodness are bottonles and inexhaustible; thy servants have found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast shewed unto us, in saving us, and we cannot escape without thy caring for us Ge. 19. 19. . O thou that hast done so much for us, and so often come in to our assistance, when all creature helps have failed, forsake us not in this exigence, let not all thy care and cost be lost. O perfect that which concerneth us: thy mercy O Lord, endureth for ever; forsake not the works of thine own hands Ps. 138. 8. . Thou hast wrought great deliverances for us; shall we now die for want of it? And thy servants whom thou hast delivered from the lion and the Bear, fall into the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines? Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord! Awake as in the ancient daies, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the Dragon? Art thou not it which hath dried the Sea, the waters of the greatest deep, that hath made the depths of the Sea, a way for the ransomed to pass over Is. 51. 9. 10. ? Thou art he that took us out of the womb of destruction; thou didst make us hope, when we were upon the brink of ruin; we were cast upon thee from the womb, thou art our God from our mother's belly, hid not thy face from us; put not thy servants away in anger; thou hast been our help, leave us not, neither forsake us, O God of our salvation Ps. 27 9. . Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, thou that dwellest between We are his people the Cherubims, shine forth before England Scotland and Ireland, stir up thy strength& come and save us. Thou feedest us with the bread of tears, and givest us tears to drink in great measure. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbors; and our enemies laugh among themselves. Turn us again, O God of Hosts, and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved. Thou hast brought a Vine out of egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it, thou prepar●dst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it: and the boughs thereof were like the goodly Cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the Sea, and her branches unto the f●●ver. Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way▪ do pluck her? The boar out of the wood doth wast it; and the wild beast out of the field doth devour it. Return we beseech thee, O Lord of Hosts, look down from Heaven and behold and visit this Vine, and the Vineyard which thy right hand hath planted,& the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the Son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself Ps. 80. . Save us or we perish, O thou Preserver of men; since that is thy property let it be thy pleasure: Imprint this thy name in so fair a Character, that all the inhabitants of the land may red and rejoice. With thee 'tis as easy to save as destroy; to raise us to mercy, as drown us in misery. O show forth thy power in attendance on thy goodness; and because God is our Preserver, let England be Preserved; since we call thee our Protector, let us be called thy Protected; since the Lord is our Saviour, let us be the Saved of the Lord; since to believe this, is our duty, let it be our safety also. Let not thy providence be blasphemed, by being disowned among the Heathen; who will conclude because God could not preserve this nation where his worship hath been chiefly owned, therefore he destroyed it ( x). Let not Protestant religion be discouraged, in 1 Num. 14. 15, 16. that the Pr●fessors of it are destroyed; though but Professers, preserve them for the profession sake. May we not represent before thee, the present state and condition of the world? How few enjoy, and fewer embrace the Gospel? And where hath it been more powerfully, successfully dispensed than here? And will the Lord make his poor kingdom the Butt to level his arrows at? and choose us from among the rest, a people called by his name, to pour upon us the hottest of his fury? Must judgement thus begin at the house of God? When there are so few obey the Gospel? Will the Lord root up so many professing Christians when the number is so great of the heathens that know thee not, and of the families that call not upon thy name? Shall such a doleful wound be given to thy Church, which is already sunk into so low, and weak an estate? Will not the maligners of our peace and Gospel, to have their wills of us, endanger the ruin of other Churches also, when their friends are so much lessened and disabled, and their enemies strengthened? And is not this thy own cause and quarrel?& thy glory enfolded in thy Churches welfare& successses, against all that seek to destroy it? Is not the relation& dearness, between Christ& his members the same now, as it was, when to one that with violence pierced him, he cried out, why persecutest thou me? Is not our God struck at by the blows that are given to his Church? And whilst the enraged instruments of Satan, are endeavouring not to leave him a people upon earth, doth not this speak them much more desirous there should be no God in Heaven? Thou O Lord art our Father, Redeemer, thy name is from everlasting, O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our hearts from thy fear? Return for thy servants sake, the Tribes of thy inheritance. The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while; our adversaries have trodden down thy Sanctuary. We are thine, thou never barest rule over them, they were not called by thy name Is. 63. 16. &c. . O the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble; why shouldst thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a way-faring man, that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why shouldst thou be as a man astonished, as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name, leave us not je. 1●. 8. 9 . For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name sake, because it ha●● pleased the Lord to make us his people 1 Sa. 12. ●2. . Were we not in an ill case when thou began to do us good, and to lend us thy gospel? Hast thou not written thy name in fairer characters upon us, than on any other nation? Upon whom the Envy of Papists, and Hopes of the Protestants, are especially set? Art not thou then concerned in our welfare? Thou knewest not onely what we have done, but what we would do; as it hindered thee not from beginning a good work, let it not from perfecting it. O glorify thy name in our preservation, by For the sake of religion. giving the inhabitants, especially the professors of our nation, opportunity and ability of redeeming the honour of religion, so lamentably impaired and forfeited by great pretenders to it. Let there be yet such a generation among us, of those that may abound in holiness, humility, charity, self-denial, undissembled zeal for thy glory, as by their exemplary, unblamable behaviour may adorn the gospel, and wipe of all those foul blots, which hath been cast upon their profession, by the malice and ignorance of those who device faults or aggravate them, or condemn the generation of the just for the miscarriages of professors. Let not religion go down among us, in such a cloud, as their unsuitable behaviour hath brought upon it: but let such sincere lovers, and practisers of it, be raised up, and continued, as may effectually vindicate it, silence and shane its accusers; and make some reparations o● the dishonour done to thy name, even by such as boast a zeal for the Lord of Host. Suffer dust and ashes humbly to speak unto From their wonted prevalency thee from the number of the truly Godly yet among us. Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked Ge. 18. 23 ? Notwithstanding the general corruption of our ways, have we not multitudes that wickedly depart not from thee, but are sted●ast in thy fear? In what nation hast thou a greater number, of holy, humble, sincere people, that go not after the service of their lusts, nor bow the knee to Baal, but daily to the father of mercies, in earnest supplications for thy favour, and are sincerely consecrated to thee? and shall not the voice of their prayers, prevail over the noise and provocations of our crying sins? And their fruitfulness prevent rooting up this thy garden, thy vineyard? Shall not they live before thee, who desire their lives for no other end, but to serve and please thee? Who are still contriveing, which way they may most advance thy honour? We trust, there are many Tens in our city, many Fifties in our country, many Thousands in our Israel, and wilt thou not spare the place for their sake Ge. 18. 2 ? How 〈…〉 ill can thy faithful industrious servants be spared out of the world? O let not such judgments overflow us, as should sweep them away, and make them incapable of doing thee here any further service. 'tis the living, the living shall praise thee; O let them live and they will bless thee, O let not the Sun go down at noon, nor the evening surprise thy labourers, while so much work is before them. Make it appear even to their malicious contemners, how contrary thy judgement is theirs; how precious they are in thy sight; and how themselves are beholden to them, while they undervalue and hate them; how much they contribute to the Kingdome's safety, while accounted the troublers of it. Thou hast said, at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from the evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them ye. 18. 7. 8 ▪. And that, if I shut up heaven that their be no rain, or i● I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I ●end pestilence among my people: if my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land▪ 2 Ch. 7. 1● 14. . And thou hast been prevailed with for mercy and deliverance by a few, yea, a single person for the whole: why then, O our God, hast thou forsaken us? Why art thou so far from helping us, and from the words of our roaring? We cry in the day time, bu● thou hearest not, and in the night season, and are not silent: but thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel: Our fathers trusted in thee and were not confounded; they cried unto thee and were delivered Ps. 22. 1 &c. : And art thou not the same? And is not thine eye still upon the righteous, and thine ear open to their cry? Hast thou not as great an esteem,& art as willing to show favour for them as ever? Sayest thou to the seed of Jacob, seek ye my face in vain? O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayers of thy people Ps. 80. 4. wherewith thou wast wont to be delighted and conquered? Shall those made according to thy will be of no efficacy? Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble, thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear Ps. 10. 17 . O let us, to whom thou hast given no prohibition, but leave, and inclination to come unto thee, experience thee a God hearing prayers. O let thine eyes be open, and thine cares attent unto the prayers that are made in this land 2 Ch. ●, 15 . O turn our prayers into praises for mercy; now we call upon thee in the day of trouble, deliver us that we may glorify thee. So will we not go back from thee; quicken us, and we will call upon thy name Ps. 80. 18 . We would pled with thee from our own From our own weakness. weakness; and so that glory thou mayst get to thyself in delivering and establishing us, which will appear to be the Lords doing and it will be marvelous in our eyes. It is a time for God to work, when men are utterly at a loss, and can only lament, not amend the sadness of their condition. When there is none else in Heaven or earth to help, thou art wont to lift up thyself,& to bring salvation by thy own outstretched arm Is. 33. ●▪ 10. . Thou art not willing to share thy glory with another; or to contribute any thing to men's idolising their own strength, riches, multitudes: Thou choosest to perform thy mighty works, when least danger of ascribing them to any but thyself. We find thee complaining of too many Ju. 7. 2. , but never of too few, lest they vaunt themselves against thee, saying, their own hand hath saved them. Our extremity, is thy opportunity; when thy people are ready to be overwhelmed Mar. 4. 37. ; when thou seest their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left Deu. 32, 39. , when they say our bones are dried, and our hope is lost, we are cut off for our part Ez. 37. 11. ; now will I arise saith the Lord: thou wilt be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble Ps. 9. 9. . O how often art thou seen in the mount, between the knife and the throat, the hand lifted up, and the blow Ge. 12. 10. ? Permitting thy people to be reduced to such streights, as to their plainest sense, omnipotency can only rescue them; for discovery of thy own readiness and ability to save, and to exercise and engage their faith, patience, love, thankfulness, and confidence for the future. And from such signal evidences of Divine assistance, most sensibly we make our acknowledgements, that if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they had swallowed us up quick Ps. 12. ●. 2, 3. . The many great disadvantages we lye under will tend to advance the praise, and discover the power of our unerring Physician, and mighty deliverer, who makes the most hopeless disease, the triumph of his art, and to whom no difficulties are insuperable. Why may we not then turn our very discouragements into matter of confidence; and make the grounds of our fear, motives to our hope, by using them as so many arguments in our petitioning for relief from Omnipotency. We are overrun with such fatal distempers, and so far from being able to heal ourselves, that we can scarce discern which way it is possible; and had we not a God to rely on, should judge ourselves quiter past all hope of help or healing: O then that it might please the most High to undertake our establishment& cure when we seem to be cast off and given up for lost; how exceedingly will the dangerousness of the disease and untowardliness of the patient, discover and commend the compassion and skill of our great Physician? How would all the difficulties, and seeming impossibilities in humbling, reforming, uniting such an obstinate, wicked divided people as we, contribute to the great praises of him that accomplishes it; who purposes and none can disappoint, works, and none can hinder him? We are poured out l●ke water; all our bones are out of joint; our hearts are like wax, melted in the midst of our bowels, our strength is dried up,& thou hast brought us unto the dust of death; we lye open and obnoxious to the malice, subtlety, have power and plots of our enemies, are ignorant of their conspiracies,& have little strength to resist. O our God, wilt thou not judge them; for we have no might of our own, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee 2 Chron. 20. 12. . O be not thou far from us, for trouble is near, for there is none to help, O thou our strength, hast thou to help us Ps. 22. 11. 19. . Attend unto our cry, for we are brought low; deliver us from our adversaries, for they are stronger than we. Bring our souls out of prison, that we may praise thy name Ps. 142. 6. 7. . Save us according to thy mercy, that they may know that this is thy hand, that thou Lord hast done it ( z). And that all the Kingdoms x Ps. 109. 26 27. of the earth may know, that thou art the Lord God, even thou only 2 King. 19. 19. . 'tis to thee the All-knowing& Almighty God we betake ourselves; O make known thy wisdom and power, where the creatureis of so little use, in frustrating and defeating all preparations and devices against us. Help O Lord, or we perish: we are impotent, but thou art Omnipotent; our insufficiency, calls to thy all-sufficiency: If thou wilt, thou canst defend and deliver us: It is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power; against, or without means: with thee all things are possible; thou that shakest the powers of Heaven, canst shake the powers of the earth; thou that broughtest light out of darkness, and order out of confusion, canst create deliverance out of destruction itself. Thou that puttest a hook into the nostrils of the Leviathan, and a bridle upon the Sea, saying, hitherto shalt thou go, and no further; canst restrain the rage of man, and bring back from the brink of ruin. Thou that found out a way to save a world canst also, to save this small remnant of it. Our counsels are confounded and our wits at an end; we see after all our consultations, we have taken the wisest way to ruin ourselves: Lord we appeal from the wisdom of man to thine; we beg thy counsel which never fails; thou canst not be overreached by counsel, undermined with treason, nor surprised by stratagem; but canst take the wise in their own craftiness, and counterplot the policies of all the Sages of the earth. We know not how to get out of this Labyrinth, but all our intricacies are to thee an open path: teach then our Senators wisdom, find thou out a way to save us, and we shall then be wise and saved: be present with, and president among and over them, let nothing that concerns our peace be hide from their eyes. But if thou wilt not save us by others, save us by thyself: let thy wisdom alone work out our deliverance; leading us in the open plains of safety, by what ways seem best to thee: Then will we admire thy wisdom;& out O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom& knowledge of God, how unsearchableare his judgments, and his ways past finding out. Ro. 11. ●3. 'tis of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, From hi● own bowels& good pleasure. and because his compassions fail not. If thou shouldst lay judgement to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, make us as miserable as we have made ourselves sinful, and give us over to all those desolations the present circumstances of things( especially the continuance of our heinous crimes) threaten us with; thou might make thy arrows drunk with our blood, thy anger and jealosie to smoke against us, and lay upon us all the curses that are writ in thy book, and blot out our name from under heaven. But we have heard the King of Israel is a merciful King: cruelty lodges not in thy bosom; thou delights not to bath thy sword in the blood of thy subjects; thou art not pleased in acting tragedies in the world, nor in the torture and ruin of thy poor creatures. The Lord will not cast off for ever, but though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies; for he doth not aflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men La. ●. 31, ●2. . O we appeal to the tender bowels of our God; since mercy is thy name in which thou gloryest, let it be the work in which thou rejoicest; and now we beseech thee, let the power of our Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, the Lord is long suffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. Pardon we beseech thee the iniquity of this people, according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven them even until now Nu 14. 17. &c. . We deserve no mercy, but mercy is shew'd for mercy sake; and thou hast mercy, because thou wilt have mercy, and thy mercy is over all thy works. Is not our God a God of bowels? That hath a sense of the miseries of his people, a great and ready compassion for them? And will he then be hardened against his poor people? Will it consist with his fatherly bowels, to behold us plunged into such doleful straits and perplexities? Will the Lord cast off for ever? Will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? Do his promises fail for ever more? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies Ps. 77. 7. 8 ? Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels, and of thy mercies towards us? Are they restrained? Is. 63. 15. 16. Remember, O Lord thy tender mercies, and thy loving kindnesses; for they have been ever of old Ps. 2●. 9. . O! pity the desolations, and compassionate the ruins of poor England, that hath been the garden of the world; the beauty of Christendom; the defence of many nations, and terror of all; is become despicable as the dust, and trampled on by those, who have owned her very shadow for a sufficient shelter: let thy bowels yearn over her to see her in the dust. Return O Lord, deliver our souls, O save us for thy mercy sake Ps. ●. 4. . Disappoint our fears and dismal apprehensions: O spare thy people, whom thou hast created after thy own image, and redeemed with thy most precious blood, and let not thine heritage be brought to confasion. Nor desire we mercy, only in reference to outward safety, but inward sanctity: we would be saved from sin, as well as from misery; and made holy, as well as happy. Now herein will the glory of thy mercy appear, if thou save our bodies, our estates, our friends, so as withall, to save our souls: hereby will mercy be found in the embraces of justice, and so, both jointly bearing up the diadem of thy glory: justice advanced in the full satisfaction taken from our surety; and mercy exalted, in converting us to him, and saving us by him. Now, if only thy justice be glorified in our destruction, rather glorify thy mercy jointly with it, in our salvation: If mercy must not rejoice over justice, yet at least let mercy rejoice together with it: if both can be glorious in England's preservation, let not only one be glorious in England's perdition. When we have said all, we aclowledge we have nothing to say for ourselves,& that nothing we can say, can in the least prove us dedeserving the mercy we need and sue for; we therefore the more earnestly recommend ourselves to thy free grace, and the more singly depend upon thy goodness, which will be the more manifested and magnified, the less we have to pled on our own behalf, the greater will thy compassions appear, who yet affords us gracious audience: Since then, our chief, indeed our only, discouragement is our wickedness and unworthiness, our abuse of mercies and unfruitfulness under them, our continued senselessness& heinous miscarriages under thy judgments, we thus far pled even our indesert itself, as it will contribute the more to the glory of that grace, which shall hear and help such worthless sinners as we. For thy name sake, O Lord, pardon our iniquities, for they are great. If it be an exaltation of mercy, to show itself in misery, much more to magnify it against sin, that calls for wrath, but misery naturally for mercy; when so marvelously displayed, as when thou sayest to people that are in their blood, and pollution live Ez. 16. 6. ? O give us to possess this land, not for our righteousness, for we are a stiffnecked people, but for the wickedness of those that would drive us out; and for thy glory sake, for vindication of thy honour, which is otherwise subject to be trampled on. O work for thy name, that it should not be polluted before those among whom we were, in whose sight thou made thyself known unto us, in bringing us out of worse than Egyptian darkness Ez. 20. 8. 9. 14. 22. . And what shall we say, when we turn our backs before our enemy? and what wilt thou do unto thy great name? Thou hast seemed to be at a straight between thine anger and thine honour De. 32. ●6. 27. ; do it not for our sake, be we ashamed and confounded for our own ways Ez. 36. 22. 32. , but for thy own sake, for thy free mercy's sake( which hath prevailed with thee for all the great and good things thou hast done for the sons of men) without any other argument than what thou fetchest from thy own bowels. Remember thy word unto thy servants upon which thou hast caused us to hope Ps. 119. 49. . For my names sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it, for how should my name be polluted, and I will not give my glory unto another Is. 48. ●. 11. . Who is a God like thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will subdue our iniquities: and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the dayes of old Mich. 7. 18. &c. . O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our Kings, to our Princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee, thou art righteous in all the evil thou hast brought upon us; but to the Lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him, O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, we beseech thee let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from us, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, we are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayers of thy servants,& cause thy face to shine upon us, for the Lord's sake. O our God, incline thine ear and hear, open thine eyes and behold our desolations, and the people that are called by thy name; for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies. O Lord hear, O Lord forgive; O Lord harken and do; defer not for thy own sake, O our God, for thy City and thy people are called by thy name Da. 9. 8. . Thou hast done great things for those, who have deserved exceeding ill Ezr. 5.& 9. Is. 57. 16. &c. , and made many gracious promises, notwithstanding their manifold transgressions; and not waited for their repentance before thou conferred the intended benefits; but by preventing them with these, hast drawn them unto it, that then( when thou hast dispensed on them those temporal and spiritual blessings) they should remember their own evil ways, and their doings which have not been good, and loathe themselves in their own sight, for their iniquities, and for their abominations Ezr. 20. 23. 24.& ●6. ●2. &c. . Whence didst thou all those great acts for thy people( and first began even our reformation) but from thy mercy which endureth for ever Ps. 136. ? What if England be not Israel, the God of England, is the God of Israel, unchangeable, and hath shown in his word, promises, precepts, examples, what he will do to his Church, in all ages; and whatsoever things were written aforetime, concerning his dealings with his people were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures▪ might have hope Ro. 15. 4. . Hast thou not shown mercy to a vile wretched people? O set the same free love on work, on our behalf; seeing it is in thy power to reform us by mercies as well as corrections, and hast declared thou wilt proceed this way in Gospel times Ezr. 36. Ho. 3. 5. . When didst thou, who art rich in mercy, for thy great love wherewith thou loved us, call the Gentiles to be thy Church, but when we were the wild olive, dogs, sinners, dead in trespasses& sins? by grace we are saved Ep. 2. 45. :& upon the same argument wilt thou call the Jews who have polluted thy name in every place. After thy various methods, they rebelled against thee, yet being full of compassion, thou forgave their iniquities, & destroyed them not Ps. 78. 37. 38. . And though thou art not under any obligation to do thus for this or that particular people, yet neither art thou restrained, and therefore we are not out of all hope, but that it may please thee to take this method with us, who may justly expect to be swallowed up in utter destruction, in that hitherto we are so obstinate, unreclaimed, unaffected with all thy dealings: yet it is in thy power, it may be thy pleasure to work upon, and reform us, by thy signal restoration of mercy to us, when we have no merit to challenge, and less reason to expect it. O since it is the glory of thy sovereignty and Prerogative Royal, to pardon offences, let ours be pardonned, let the sin of England be blotted out, that the name of England be not blotted out. Our sins undermine our safety, that we may be saved, let thy sovereignty tritriumph over them. Our sins are great, but greater is he that pardons. 'tis the glory of a man to pass by an offence, much more thine, whose prerogative principally it concerns Ex. 34. 67. , and art unbounded in acts of grace. Lord glorify thy Prerogative; show thyself to be God, by forgiving our great offences, and to be above sovereign and Subject, by forgiving both. Let it appear that thou art God, and there is none like unto thee, by pardoning those sins and remitting those punishments, that none else can. We are ingulphed in misery, because we are deluged in sin; all our misfortunes proceed from misdemeanours; take away our guilt, and our griefs will follow: let England be pardonned, and then we doubt not but it will be preserved. And do not only forgive, but reform us; let all that have received power,& authority from thee, improve it for his interest to whom all power in Heaven and earth is given. Awaken our Magistrates to greater vigilancy in searching out, suppressing, punishing impiety: against licentiousness of judgement and practise; let holiness have, not only a toleration, but an authority among us, make our Officers peace, and our Exactors righteousness, that we may be an eternal excellency, and the joy of many generations Is. 60. 15. . Let us search and try our ways, and turn unto thee our God; as universally and industriously combine to propitiate, as we have to provoke thee. Make us a Holy people zealous of good works. Let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish thou the just. Give thy people one heart and one way. Let every one that names the name of the Lord live as becomes the Gospel, depart from all iniquity; weep day and night, and give thee no rest until thou have mercy on us. Thou that turnest the rock into a standing water and the flint into a fountain of water Ps. 114. 8. , strike upon these that are before thee. O Father of mercies, pity us who know not how to pity ourselves. Though we have cast of all bowels, let us find them all concentred in thyself; heal our wounds, and which of all others is the most desperate, our unwillingness to be healed: let the spirit of peace overshadow us; and impress on us the dove-like qualities of meekness and gentleness. Rescue our religion from our profanation; not by taking it from us, but by comforming us to it. Do for us not only above what we can ask or think, but beyond what we would wish or choose; and suffer us not to acquire the miseries we so eagerly pursue. Let us be happy in that relation, of having the Lord for our God: save thy people, bless thine inheritance; feed them also, and list them up for ever Ps. 28. 9. . O canst thou see thy Sion a shipwracking, and not lend thy hand? Can the Shepherd be content to see the wolves worry his tender flock? The Father love to behold his children hate one another? Dearest Lord is not thy glory dearer to thee, than to thy spouse? Shall she be solicitous, and wilt not thou seem so to provide against thy dishonour? Is the Crown of Christ glistering enough on his head in the eyes of all the world? Hath our Jesus the full procurement of his blood? Hast thou left thy compassions, as well as the infirmities of thy body behind thee on earth? Is our Joseph in Heaven where there is provision enough, and shall thy brethren starve for want of crumbs of comfort from thy table? Are thine affections altered with thy condition? Dost thou in thy glory trample under foot thy children, whom thou accounted as the apple of thine eye in the daies of thy sufferings? Shall we give over praying for opening the blind eye, and softening the hard heart? Shall we fall asleep and urge thee no more? Shall we pull our hands from thy plough, and our necks from thy yoke? Will the Lord dispense with our lukewarmnese, and wink at our apostasy? Is it not thy burden to see thy spirit so grieved? To see such noisome weeds and errors to grow in thy garden, which thou so much regardest? And so much backsliding after so much profession of reformation? Hath not the Lord said his mountain shall be established in the top of all the mountains Is. 2. 2. Mich. 4. 1. ? And that Jerusalem shall be made the joy of many generations? Is not this thy own hand and seal? How long stay thy Chariot wheels? Is the Lord angry at the prayers of his people, and not at the blasphemies of his enemies? Art thou offended because we pray for Sion, and wilt thou not if we forbear? Have we already the first fruits and shall we never have the harvest? Will the Lord comfort us mourning, enliven us dying, or raise us when butted and in our graves? O Lord, though thou dishonourest thy people, yet wilt thou disgrace the Throne of thy glory? Will not the adversary say, surely if God in love had thus begun to build, he would have gone on to finish? Though we are trampled under foot, must thy Christ also? If his body hath deserved to sit on dunghills,& lye in fetters of Iron, our head hath merited to sit on a Throne,& to have the liberty of his spirit in the world. Though our prayers are rejected, yet wilt thou not fulfil thine own promise? Thou hast a Prerogative to save and destroy, but art thou not bound in Covenant to set up thy Son? And if thou make not hast for his glory, will not the world be ready to say the Lord is gone back of his word? Is it only free grace and mercy, and not also justice and righteousness for our God to justify condemned sinners,& to sanctify profane conversations,& to carry on the building of the new Jerusalem to its desired perfection Doth the Lord seem to cast us off, to see whether we will indeed cast him off? Or hid himself, to see if we will earnestly seek after him? Because his smiles have not caused us to love him, will he now frown on us, to make us to fear him? Are the golden daies of his spiritual presence gone, and not to come, as we hoped they were? That we should rather put mourning on our backs, than take harps in our hands? Because England hath been perfidious and perjurious to God, will God now break his covenant of faithfulness with England? Shall the unfaithfulness of man, make God unfaithful? Did the Lord of old wait to be gracious, and will he now wait till we are gracious? Was the Lord wont to be found of those that sought him not, and will he not be now found of those that seek him? Wilt thou not pardon our hypocrisy, pride, passions, and profaneness till we repent, and is not that, thy gift? Shall disconsolate Sion never be ransomed from her spiritual slaveries, and distractions, till worthy? Is not the price of her redemption already paid? and will the Lord seem to require the debt again? Lord, are we so far gone from thine house, like prodigals, that either we want an heart to return or an hope, if we return, that our father will accept of us? Art not thou the God of peace? Is not thy son, the son of peace? Thy spirit, the spirit of peace? Thy Gospel, the gospel of peace? And shall not thy children, be children of peace? Is Christ in one of his followers, against Christ in another? Is Christ divided? Blessed father, how shall the world know we are thy children, if we have not thy Image? Thy servants, if we wear not thy Livery? Will the world be convinced by our divisions, that thou art love? Thy people see not so much profaneness in the world, as the world sees passions among thy people. We censure and condemn them for not agreeing with thy people, whilst they see thy people agree not amongst themselves. Ah Lord! if charity be the onely badge of thy disciples, how few hast thou in the world? Is this a time to pull down, and not at all to build up? To cast away stones and to divide, and not to gather stones to raise thy temple? Art thou resolved no more stories shall be built in Sion, till one ston be not left on another in Babylon? Are the grounds of our fears, not only from thy secret or open enemies, but also from the vain conversations of the professors of thy name? Will the Lord consume their gold& silver, as well astthe other's hay& stubble? O how hath one form of thy people been trampling& triumphing over another? O how many Sins dowe make, that thou hast not? How many articles do our passions put into our Creed, which thou never enjoyn●d to be believed for salvation? How have we been tithing mint, anise,& cummin, neglecting the salvation of souls,& weighty matters of the Lord? O, when will the candle of the Almighty, shine on the heads of thy people as of old? When shall the name of thy son be poured out as a precious Ointment, that the virgins again may love thee? Lord, let us be thy patients though thou woundest us: under thy rod, rather then we should be out of thy covenant; rather then we should sleep to death, sound thy trumpet, beat thine alarm; rather then we should not have thy presence, let us go into a furnace; thy Son, let us have a storm; rather then we should not be thy Children, whip us; thy servants, beat us; thy spouse, chide us; thy friends, frown on us. O sound a retreat to our disorders; let all thy Saints engage their prayers and endeavours against the common enemy; that Sion may be terrible as an army with banners; that the brats of Babylon may come and worship before her feet, and know that thou hast loved her. If the building of Sion may not go forward in this age, Lord, let it not go backward; if we may not build thy spiritual temple, let us at least lay up stuff for the building it in the next generation. O, how sad is it, that those who have been brought up in scarlet, should embrace dunghills? And that England that was the terror of the Lord, to the nations round about us, should so much be a scorn unto them, and a terror one to another? O make up our breaches, compose our differences, heal our disorders, unite our hearts to thee and one another: Restore, continue our forfeited mercies, prevent and remove our deserved judgments, be no more a consuming fire among us, but a wall of fire round about us to secure us and destroy our enemies; delight to bless us, and to watch over us, and to do us good: let us begin the reparation of our ruins, in the reformation of all our lives. sanctify the various dispensations of thy providence towards us. Turn us unto thee by a speedy and an unfeigned repentance. O let the power of thy arm who art the Lord of Host, and the power of thy spirit, who art the God of all grace, now appear and be exercised for and upon us: let thy power deliver us from the dangers wherewith we are surrounded; and thy grace so sanctify this deliverance, that it may work those blessed effects among us, which no former dispensations have done, even to humble and reform us. Let thy mercies overcome the desert and cry of our heinous sins, and be now manifested towards us for thine own name sake; and let the manifestation of these undeserved mercies, overcome our stubborn hearts; that we may be ashamed, and loathe ourselves when we remember our own evil ways; that ever we should be so basely disingenuous to rebel against a God of such patience and compassion, who notwithstanding all our unworthiness and provocations of his glorious majesty, yet in our low estate, hath pitied, and seasonably relieved us. Wherefore, give glory to thy own name, O God, we beseech thee, give glory to thy own name, in redeeming Israel, England, out of all its troubles, and from its iniquities; that hereby we may be not only engaged, but enabled to serve and glorify thee, as thy redeemed ones for ever. FINIS.