perfectly yet it may in some measure be collected It remains that we consider the imprudence of it O foolish people and unwise III. I may not I need not insist long upon this Argument There are as I conceive but these five suppositions which possibly might exempt them from the censure of the text 1. If their God were like the gods of the heathen and did not know their behaviour toward him Or 2. If he were the God of Epicurus and did not resent it Or 3. If they could escape from him Or 4. If they could excuse themselves to him Or 5. If they were able to support themselves against him If none of these were in the case they will stand convicted of horrible imprudence it will then be manifest that they were a foolish people and unwise Of these things briefly 1. Did not God know their behaviour The Psalmist indeed tells of a brutish people which wrought all manner of wickedness and yet they said The Lord shall not see it neither shall the God of Jacob regard it But O ye fools saith he when will ye be wise He that planted the ear shall he not hear He that formed the eye shall not he see He that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth beholding the evil the good For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings He penetrates all things and searches all things If they say peradventure theâ— darkness shall cover them then shall the night be turned into day the darkness is no darkness with him but the night is as clear as the day 2. But it may be though he knew their behaviour yet he did not concern himself about them it may be he did not much resent their dealings with him Neither if they be righteous is he the better neither if they be wicked is he the worse Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art and thy righteousness may profit the son of man but if thou sinnest what dost thou against him and if thy transgressions be multiplied what dost thou unto him Nay but did not he concern himself for them what meaned then the sounding of his bowels toward them what mean such pathetical exclamations as these O that there were such an heart in them that they would keep my Commandments always that it might be well with them and with their seed for ever Again O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end O that they had hearkened what iniquity have they found in me Did not he resent it when they made the calf He said Behold I have seen this people and it is a stiff-necked people let me alone that I may blot out their name from under Heaven When they murmured I will come in the midst of them in a moment and consume them at once When they rebelled against Moses Get you up from among them that I may consume them in a moment When they tempted him and questioned his power He heard it and was wroth and greatly abhorred Israel Many a time would he have destroyed them had not Moses stood in the gap to turn aways his anger 3. But possibly for all this there might be some way to escape from him and to conveigh themselves out of the sphere of his activity There have been those who have conceived the God of Israel to be a topical God a God of the mountains only and that the valleys were out of his power and jurisdiction true but because the Syrians said that he was not God of the valleys he delivered them into the hands of Israel who slew a hundred thousand foot-men in one day Nay but Behold the Heaven of Heavens cannot contein the God of Israel he filleth all things Shall they escape for their wickedness Whither can they go then from his Spirit or whither can they flee from his presence If they could ascend into Heaven he is there if they could make their bed in hell behold he is there 4. But though they cannot escape out of his reach possibly they may plead something in excuse of their doings which may mitigate his indignation perhaps they were ignorant that God was concerned ignorant of his will and of his ways they had no instruction they had no warning of their danger But I say unto them Had they no Caveats Take heed saith Moses keep thy soul diligently lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen When thou shalt have eaten and be full then beware lest thou forget the Lord thy God Had they no memento's How often doth God command them to bind his precepts and his prodigies for a sign and a token and a memorial upon their hands for frontlets between their eyes to write them upon their posts and their gates to teach them their children lest they should forget them Did they not know I call heaven and earth to record this day against you saith Moses that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing Had they no warnings of their danger If thou do forget I denounce this day that thou shalt surely perish and this song was made to testifie against them Had they not heard had they not seen Yes that which had not been heard and seen since the foundation of the world from one side of the heavens to another Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire and live They saw Thundrings and Lightnings Noise Trumpet Mountain smoaking Moses and Aaron Nadab and Abihu the Seventy Elders the Nobles the People saw the Lord and the sight of the glory of God was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel so that they were without excuse 5. And the only remaining consideration is this whether they were able to resist the Lord to support themselves against him or at least wise to endure the utmost of his indignation What is their hope that they behave themselves proudly that they kick against the Lord or wherein lies their confidence that they rebell against him Who art thou O man that strivest against God Canst thou overturn immensity or circumvent omniscience or grapple with omnipotence The Lord is a man of war great and terrible is his name who can stand before him when he is angry Behold the Nations are as the drop of the bucket and are counted as the small dust of the ballance he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing all Nations are counted to him as Grashoppers â—ay less than vanity and nothing Where were they when the foundations of the world were laid and a line was stretched upon it Can they command the thunder or furnish out the
manifestations of himself in a co-ordination with that principle And therefore we find him still pressing the Iews with this that if they did believe the Writings of Moses and their other Scriptures they must of necessity believe him also Moses wrote of me saith he wherefore did ye believe Moses ye would believe me The Scriptures testifie of me therefore search them diligently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the attaining of everlasting life he refers the Lawyer to the Law What is written in the Law how readest thou For the avoiding of the place of torments he makes Abraham refer the Relations of Dives to Moses and the Prophets In all his disputations with the Pharisees and Sadduces the Lawyers and the Scribes he makes his appeal to the Scriptures of the Old Testament And lest any one should think that in all this he did only argue ad homines that disputing with the Jews he only proceeded upon their own Hypothesis we find him in the course of his Ministration posiâ—ively asserting that the Scriptures must be fulfilled that they cannot be broken that he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil them and that Heaven and Earth shall pass away before one jot or title of these should perish until all was fulfilled Thus he asserted the Authority of the Old Testament before his death And after his Resurrection he made a real demonstration that the Old Testament was given by inspiration of God for on the day of his Resurrection falling into company of two of his Disciples going to Emmaus He began at Moses and all the Prophets and expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself And afterward when the Eleven were come together as a recapitulation of this his method and that he might instruct his Disciples in it he said unto them These were the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which were writâ—en in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psams in the Volume of the Old Testament concerning me He opened their understandings and said thus it is written and thus it beâ—oved And as a short Idea of what they were to do he tells them and ye are Witnesses of these things 2. In pursuance of this method we find the Evangelists very curious and very frequent in observing the accomplishment of the predictions of the Old Testament reciting sometimes the speeches of Christ saying that he did such or such a thing to the end that the Scriptures might be fulfilled I will not eat of the fruit of the Vine till all things be fulfilled Sometimes in their own Persons observing the accomplishment of particulars and noting either particular portions of Scriptures which were fulfilled or the fulfilling of the Scriptures cited at large without any particular Quotation Thus the Evangelists writing of the Conception Nativity Name of Christ of his coming out of Egypt dwelling at Nazareth migration to Capernaum riding to Ierusalem Say that these things were done that the Scriptures or the saying of the Prophet at large might be fulfilled So likewise for the circumstances of his Passion the flight of his Disciples casting lots upon his Garments Vinegar given him to drink piercing his side bones remaining unbroken c. Other times they note the particular Prophet Christ healed Diseases spoke in Parables that the saying of Isaiah the Prophet might be fulfilled When Herod slew the Children then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Ieremy the Prophet Rachel weeping for her Children c. and once we find a quotation of the second Psalm and the like This for the Evangelists 3. Lastly the Divine Authority of the Old Testament is asserted by the Apostles Whom we find every where in their Writings citing the Testimonies of the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms appealing to them what saith the Scripture the Scripture hath concluded so or so Arguing out of them oft times directly thus not only the Apostles but Apollos mightily convinced the Iews sometimes ab absurdo do ye think the Scripture speaks in vain In a word the Apostles followed the way and method which their Master tâ—ught them they aâ—serted that the Gospel was promised by the Prophets witnessed by the Law and the Prophets by all the Prophets Affirming of themselves that they believed all things written in the Law and in the Prophets and that they continued testifying and saying no other things than the Prophets and Moses did say should come Finally lest any place should be left for doubting concerning any part of the Old Testament the Apostles have expresly asserted concerning the Law that it is holy just and good that the Prophets are holy and the Scriptures holy that they are the Oracles of God lively Oracles that God spake by the Prophets that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost Lastly in the Text that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein Timothy had been instituted by his Mother were gived by inspiration of God This is the sense of the New Testament concerning the Old Testament supposing therefore the Truth of the New Testament the Divine Authority of the Old Testament is to be acknowledged contrary to the first Opinion of the Antiscripturists II. The Second Antiscriptural Opinion is of those who pretend to believe the Truth but they deny or doubt the Divine Authority of the New Testament either of the whole body of the New Testament or at least of that part which delivers the Speeches and Writings of the Apostles Of this sort there are said to be many who by the power and influence of their Education are restrained from denying or dis-believing the Truth of the New Testament and yet through the infelicity of corrupt conversation are fallen from that Veneration which is due to writings supposed to be of Divine Authority For the History of the New Testament they have the same respect which they have for Tacitus or Sallust or some such other History for the Mystery of the Gospel the same which they have for some part of Plato or remnants of Pythagoras for the practical parts the same which they have for some parts of Cicero or Seneca or Epictetus All which writings they believe to be true but no man believes them to be Divine And some there are who pretend a great veneration for the speeches of Christ but have a meaner esteem for the words and writings of the Apostles In opposition to these opinions I shall shew that supposing the words of Christ and the Apostles to be True it will follow that they are to be esteemed to be of Divine Authority Because Christ and the Apostles did profess and declare that what they delivered to the world was of
concerning the truth of the stories of the Scripture then to reject them for want of such evidence is repugnant to the Reason of mankind I proceed therefore to my second assertion that the Belief of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures is most agreable to reason That the Divine Authority of all the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are undeniably concluded from supposition of the truth of the Relation or History of matters of fact in the New Testament I have already shewn And that the rejection of all History is against the Reason of mankind is evident because all mankind receive some History or other wherefore I shall briefly shew 1. That the History of the New Testament hath all those advantages whereof any History is capable 2. That it hath greater advantages than any other History 1. The Arguments inducing men to the belief of any historical Relation are all of them Ab intra Internal from the 1. Credibility and Scibility of the Object 2. The Knowledge and Integrity of the Writers 3. The way and manner of writing Either Ab extra External from the 1. Reception of it in the world 2. Concurrent testimonies of strangers 3. Concessions of Adversaries and the like In all which particulars no History in the world can justly pretend any advantage above that of the New Testament 1. For the credibility of the Object and Cognoscibility of it 1. To say that instances of supernatural Power and wisdom are impossible is to deny the power of God and his providence in governing the world And to say that such things are incredible as are and have been actually believed in all times and by all sorts of persons Jews and Gentiles Christians and Mahometans a few Atheistical persons only accepted is an absurdity The History that we speak of pretends to no intrigues or Cabalistick Counsels or Myisteries of State but conteins it self within the limits of things Visible and Audible things that were done or spoken so that no History can have advantage over it respectu Objecti 2. As for Knowledge in the deliverers I shall shew it by a brief Induction The whole New Testament consists of the Books of the Revelation Epistles Acts of the Apostles and the Gospels The Authors of the Epistles and the Revelation in the Narrative parts of them deliver the things done or spoken to or by themselves and could not be ignorant of their own experiences The Book of the Acts contains some things done by or to the rest of the Apostles but chiefly the concernments of Paul and it was written by Luke who was an individual Companion of Paul and intimately conversant with the rest of the Apostles For the things Related in the Gospel of St. Luke he saith they were delivered to him by those who from the beginning were Eye witnesses of the works and Ministers of the Word and his History agrees with the other Evangelists The Gospel of St. Mark hath nothing which is not in St. Matthew or St. Iohn and was dictated by St. Peter the Head of the Apostles St. Matthew was an Apostle and St. Iohn the Bosom Apostle of Christ. The Apostles were chosen by him for Witnesses of his Words and Actions they were with him from the beginning of his Ministry continued with him till his death couversed with him till his ascension That which they had heard which they had seen with their Eyes which they had looked on which their hands had handled of the word of life that they delivered in writing to the World And more than this no Writer or Relater of History can pretend to 2. For Arguments of their sincerity they have left Precepts of Veracity and prohibitions of lying under pain of Hell torments the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone They have protested that they did not follow cunningly devised Fables that they did things sincerely as in the sight of God They have appealed to the searcher of hearts The God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ knoweth that I lie not The things which I write unto you behold before God I lye not Gal. 1 20. saith St. Paul They have left behind them various instances of their simplicity and Godly sincerity in representing their failings to the world and of candour and ingenuity in distinguishing the dictates of their own Reason from the inspirations of the Holy Spirit I speak by permission not by commandment of the Lord This say I not the Lord Thus it is according to my judgment c. 1 Cor. 7. But besides all this let the matter be estimated according to common reason If these men did devise a Fable and impose it upon the world what end could they propound to themselves in so doing was there any profit in being destitute of all things or pleasure in being persecuted afflicted and tormented or honour in being counted Fools and Mad-men Before they began to publish the Stories whereof we speak their Master was gone and all worldly hopes were gone away with him If they were not bound in Conscience and in Spirit what obligation had he laid upon them to labour and suffer for his honour as they did To omit the severity of his behaviour to them He called them off from their Vocations Peter and Andrew Iames and Iohn from their Fishing Matthew from his Customers place the rest accordingly They forsook their Nets their Ships their Relations and all their interests and followed him And this they did clearly and plainly believing that he was to be a Great Temporal Prince and in hopes of preferment under him In this Expectation they continued to the last minute of his conversation with them upon Earth and he permitted them so to do Their last words to him were delivered in this question Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom unto Israel Of the thing it self they never doubted they only desire to be informed of the time Now after so long expectation Consider his Answer His Answer was this It is not for you to know the times c. but ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses of me unto the utmost parts of the earth and immediately he vanished away Was this an answer to their Question or a satisfaction to their expectation Was this an Obligation laid upon them If he had not sent down the Holy Ghost this would have moved them indeed but it would have been to rage and indignation this would have obliged them indeed but it would have been to detest and abhor the name and memory of him that had abused them But for the honour of his name not their own they did and suffered all things and gloried in it An irrefragable argument of their sincerity in the things which they delivered 3. Of the internal Arguments for the belief of History there remains only the Consideration of the way and manner of
the Spirit So Paul was forbid by the Spirit to preach the Word in Asia II. And for the Conviction of the unbelieving World They had diversities of gifts and different Administrations To one was given the Word of Wisdom to another the Word of Knowledge to another Faith to another the gift of Healing to another Miracles Prophesies Discerning of Spirits The gift of Tongues As it is in the words which I quoted God bare them witness with gifts of the Holy Ghost and with Signs and Wonders and that he did so far that I shall be justified by Christ himself if I shall affirm that the Apostles after his death did greater miracles then he himself did in his life Of the same kind with our Saviours some they performed by means having an appearance of greater strangeness Christ healed by his touch his word his spittle Peter by his shadow Paul by Handkerchiefs taken from his body But one great thing there was wherein they exceeded The Great and Manifest and frequent Effusions of the Spirit the Reception of it upon themselves the communication of it to others by Prayer Preaching Laying on of Hands By these it was that the unbelieving world was convinced and even Simon Magus himself It is by the power and Vertue of those effusions that we are here met together at this time that the World continues Christian at this day And these are some of those standing means and Arguments whereby the proneness of our hearts to infidelity may be overcome and faith may be begotten confirmed recovered at this day These are therefore to be revolved Exhort one another dayly To come therefore to a Conclusion My text it self is an Application by way of Exhortation Exhortations are enforced by Reasons of Duty and Concernment and these I have hitherto endeavoured to lay before you If indeed there were no Sinfulness in Infidelity Or if in such times as ours it were excusable If there were no danger of falling into it or no means left to remedy or prevent it it would then indeed be to little purpose to Exhort men to beware But if the state of all these things is otherwise if that be plain and evident agreeable to Scripture to Reason and to Experience if the Speaker hath not beaten the Air nor the heaâ—ers been careless and inattentive I know not what can be required to enforce and sharpen the exhortation If the time would suffer it and I were speaking to a Common or Injudicious Auditory I might think my self concerned after all that hath been spoken to the understanding to Apply my discourse to your affections I should take unto me the various forms of Application used in this Epistle I would Reprove Rebuke Exhort I would cry aloud and would not spare I would liâ—t up my voice like a Watchmans trumpet warning you from the Lordâ— concerning the Spirit of irreligion and infidelity which is said to have overspread the land I would take to my self a Lamentation yea it should be for a Lamentation for the Professors of Infidelity and the Infidelity of Professors every where But I may not now be permitted to enlarge upon these things I may only pray to God to give you understanding in all things and beseech you earnestly to consider what hath been spoken Concluding in the words of the Text Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Exhort one another dayly FINIS Die Jovis 11 o Octobris 1666. ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled That the thanks of this House be given to the Lord Bishop of Exon. for his Pains in the Service he performed in Preaching a Sermon before the Peers in the Abby-Church at Westminster yesterday being the day appointed by His Majesty for Fasting and Humiliation in consideration of the late Dreadful Fire which wasted the greater part of the City of London And that his Lordship be and is hereby desired to Print and Publish his said Sermon John Browne Cler. Parliam A SERMON Preached before the PEERS IN THE Abby-Church at Westminster October 10 th M. DC LXVI BY SETH then Lord Bishop of EXON LONDON Printed by A. C. for Iames Cellins at the Kings Arms within Ludgate near St. Pauls 1672. A SERMON Preached before the House of Peers AT WEST MINSTER ECCLES xi 9. But know that for all these things God will bring thee to Iudgment Rejoyce O young man c. THE great and general design of the Ministry and preaching of the Gospel is to bring men to Christianity not in the outward profession but in the true spirit and power thereof to the end they may be justified and sanctified and finally saved through Christ for ever The Particular design of this Dayes Observation is to humble our selves under the mighty hand of God in Consideration of his Judgments especially that late one in consuming with Fire the Ancient and noble Metropolis of this Nation and to endeavour to appease the wrath of God gone out against us To compass both these designs whereof the later is subordinate to the former I know no better expedient than to reason a while upon that important argument suggested in the Text. Who can think upon the Conflagration of our late Glorious City and not call to mind the great and terâ—ible day of Judgment Who can think seriously of Judgment and not be compelled to come in driven to Christianity that he may be saved from the wrath to come The great Instructor and Example of Christian Preachers he who saith of himself that Christ sent him to preach and not to baptize found no means so powerful to perswade men to Christianity as to reason upon this argument as first to lay before them the terror of Judgment and then whilst that was warm upon their hearts to make them a tender of the Gospel This is the great advantage and use the Apostle makes of the Doctrine of the Text. We must all appear saith he before the Iudgment-seat of Christ Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men Upon these Considerations I shall hope for the pardon of this Noble Auditory if without affectation of Science I shall in a practical and familiar way of reasoning indeavour to imitate our Apostle in this particular If in the mean time it will be irksome and unpleasant to hear of the Judgment to come we shall do well to consider what it will be to undergo it we shall do well to reflect upon our Souls and search out the ground of this aversness Is it because we do not believe a Judgment to come or that we our selves shall be brought to Judgment Is it because we never consider who it is before whom me must appear or what things will be charged on our account Is it because we are so far gone in our arrears that it is to no purpose to call these things into our remembrance What ever it
that he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity that he will wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goes on still in his wickedness If a man will not turn he will whet his sword and bend his bow If a Nation will not repent then smite with thy hand stamp with thy foot and say alas for it shall fall by the sword by the famiâ—e and by the pestilence Now the general inference of all these is still the same this is still the Logick of the Scriptures Our God shall come and shall not keep silence wherefore consider this ye that forget God We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade To this end we find the Lord sometimes disputing logically to convince and sometimes with divine and noble Oratory endeavouring to perswade sometimes by signal instances of pardoning mercies and of avenging judgements to induce men to repentance He speaks to their reason to their affections to their very senses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord if ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land if ye rebel ye shall be devoured Are not my ways equal are not your ways unequal Again He expostulates with them sometimes upon the principles of ingenuity Thus saith the Lord What iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone away from me O my people what have I done unto thee wherein have I wearyed thee Testifie against me O Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee Sometimes he expostulates upon the point of interest How long shall vain thoughts lodge in your hearts How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity what will ye do in the end thereof Again he sets before us a multitude of glorious instances to shew that never any penitent was rejected however heinous however numerous were their sins The prodigal devoured his substance with harlots Mary Magdalen had seven Devils Peter denyed his Master with horrid oaths and imprecations Saul was exceedingly mad against him yet upon their repentance were accepted He had delivered Israel seven times and they forsook him and he said he would deliver them no more but they repented and his soul was straight-way grieved and he delivered them Instead of many consider that one instance of Manasses the evil son of good King Hezekiah He set up altars for Baalim and worshipp'd all the host of heaven Altars in the court of the temple an idol in the very temple he caused his sons to pass through the fire he observed times used inchantments dealt with familiar spirits and with wizards made Iudah and Ierusalem to do worse than the heathen And the Lord spake to him and he would not hear After all this in his afflictions he humbled himself and then God was intreated and heard his supplication His ways are not as our ways He forgave Nineveh and Ionah was displeased exceedingly he taxes him with easiness in relenting he charges him as if he had an ancient known infirmity of flexibility to his veracity and the honour of his Prophets Lord saith he was not this my saying and therefore I prevented it to slee to Tarshish for I knew that thou art merciâ—ul therefore take I beseech thee my life from me His thoughts are not as our thoughts when Nathan had told David a story of a poor man who had his ewe Lamb ravished from him then David was exceeding wroth and he swore As the Lord liveth the man that hath done this thing shall surely dye But when David who had taken Bathsheba and murthered Vriah said I have sinned Nathan said unto David The Lord â—ath put away thy sin thou shalt not dye On the other side we have instances of horrible judgements for Impenitency whereof I shall after take occasion to speak Now considering all these things is it noâ— strange that men should noâ— repent That no consideration of ingenuity or of interest should move them to it That neither the Law written in their hearts nor that which was delivered by the mediation of Angels nor the Gospel given us by the Son of God should bring them to it That neither reason nor experience neither mercies nor judgements neither the sweetness of a good conscience nor the torments of a bad the beauties of vertue nor the deformity of sin the shortness of life nor length of eternity the lightness of things present nor the exceeding weight of those which are to come That neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Trumpets nor things present nor thing to come nor height nor depth nor any other thing should be able to separate mâ—n from the love of sin Is it not strange The Apostles the Prophets were astonished at this nay God himself seems to be affected with wonder Hear O heavens and give ear O earth Be astonished O ye heavens and be horribly afraid they have forsaken me This is that wonder considered in it self according to common reason the object of our first observation drawn from the form and manner of the words by way of Epiphonema expressed by the particle yet yet they repented not II. The second Observation was taken from the matter of the words However such impenitency is very strange to common reason considered in the Theory yet it is too frequent in practice and in common experience The rest of the men repented not This is that grand contradiction that fatal paradox of the life of man His very being consists in rationality his acting is contrary to all the reason in the world Man only was created under the Law of Reason man only maintains a constant opposition to the law and reason of his creation He appointed the moon for certain seasons and the sun knoweth his going down The blustring winds the raging storms the unruly Ocean the Lyon the Tiger and the Bear these all pursue the law of their creation these all are obedient unto his word charmed to it by that powerful voice whereby they were created Man only stops his ears and refuses to hear the voice of this Almighty charmer charm he never so wisely so loudly or so variously The general ways and methods of his charming have been already mentioned I am now to lay before you the general success of those methods The success 1. Of his word and his messengers 2. Of his works of 1. Mercy 2. Judgement Single Intermixed 1. For the success or rather the unsuccessfulness of his word for the entertainment or rather the barbarous usage of his messengers how often do we find God and his Prophets Christ and his Apostles complaining and as it were fretting themselves with indignation As for the word sometimes they will not hear it More â—han seven times Ieremy complains almost in the
and a â—y-word and a reproach among all their neighbours round about Cursed shall they be in the wife of their bosom and cursed in the fruit of their body The Lord shall smite them with a consumption and with a feaver with an inflammation and with an extreme burning He shall smite them with the botch of Egypt and with the Emerods and with the scab and with the itch with â— botch that cannot be healed from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head Their carcase shall be meat for the fowls of the air and for the beasts of the earth and no man shall fray them away 2. Moreover he shall pour out spiritual judgements upon them he shall give them over to the wickedness of their hearts he shall let them aloneâ— that they may commit sin with greediness He shall send upon them a spirit of blindness and hardness of heart a spirit of slumber and carnal security Then when they have filled up the measure of their enormities he shall smite them with madness and astonishment with terrours of conscience and desperation His arrows shall stick fast in them and his hand shall press them sore there shall be no health in their bodies because of his displeasure nor any rest in their bones by reason of there sin The iniquity of their heels shall take hold upon them the terrours of death shall compass them about and the flouds of their ungodliness shall make them afraid Every man that sees me shall slay me said cursed Cain my punishment is greater than I can bear I have slain a man in mine anger and a young man to my wounding If Cain shall be avenged seven sold surely Lamech seventy times seven Hearken unto me ye wives of Lamech They shall be weary of life and wish for death and hasten sometimes to break off their torments by tragical and fearful ends Fall thou upon me and slay me saith desparing Saul Behold anguish is upon me because my life is whole in me Away with the wages of iniquity cryed despairing Iudas and he betook himself to the fatal halter and the tree 3. Yet all these are to the finally impenitent but the beginnings of sorrow the praeludium to those unutterable miseries which are eternal to the worm which dyeth not to the fire which never shall be quenched to utter darkness and everlasting burnings For they go down quiâ—k into hell As it is with persons so it is with Nations when their iniquitie is full when once they have filled up the measure of their abominations if none of all his methods will bring them to repentance if they will not humble themselves if they will not fear if they will not turn from their evil ways he will set his face against them to destroy them He will pour out blindness upon them also and the things belonging to their peace shall be â—id from their eyes He will do to them as he did to Shilo he will take away their light he will come quickly and remove the candlestick out of its place He will give them over to the career and swinge of their abominations Ephraim is joyned to idols let him alone Though it be with violence to his nature though it be with reluctancy to his inclination O Ephraim how shall I give thee up O Ephraim yet their numbers shall not defend them their privileges shall not excuse them from destruction Though Conâ—ah were as the signet upon my right hand yet would I pluck thee thence Though Ephraim is his dear son though Israel be a pleasant child though Iudah is a pleasant plant yet if they will not frame their doings to turn unto the Lord therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquities and Iudah also shall fall with them Though Noah Daniel and Iob were there they shall deliver neither son nor daughter but their own souls only For unnatural and extraordinary rebellions he hath supernatural and extraordinary judgements The windows of heaven were opened the cataracts were poured forth and drowned the old world Fire descended and brimstone came down from heaven and consumed the Cities of Sodom and Comorrha The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the congregation of Abiram The Sun stood still till Ioshua was avenged of the Lords enemies The stars in their courses fought against Sisera For the usual and ordinary impenitency of Nations he hath his three fold national scourge his judgements in ordinary The famine the pestilence and the sword Sometimes he breaks the staff of bread and they shall eat bread by weight and with care and they shall drink water by measure and with astonishment that they may want bread and water and consume away in their iniquity Their seed shall be rotten under the clods their garners desolate their barns broken down their beasts shall groan their cattle shall be perplexed the flocks of sheep shall be made desolate They shall eat their children of a span long they that did feed delicately shall be desolate in the streets they that were brought up in scarlet shall imbrace dunghils Sometimes he sends forth his Plague 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the raging and the noisome pestilence the pestilence that walketh in darkness the plague that destroyeth at noon day He scatters infection like lightning he casts forth his Contagion and tears them in a moment he shoots his poyson'd arrows and consumes them Sometimes he gives commission to the sword to revenge the quarrel of his covenant by intestine rebellions or forreign invasions He suffers a fawning Absalom to steal away the hearts of the people from their Sovereign or a cursed Sheba to blow a trumpet and cry To your tents O Israel He permits a spirit of giddiness of fears and jealousies and of fanatick wildness to inrage whole Nations to tear the womb that bare them to destroy them and their king He causes nation to rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom He calls in the families of the North he hisses for the Assyrian the rod of his anger Behold saith our Saviour the day is coming when thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee on every side Then all things shall be filled with plunder and confusion and garments roll'd in bloud Her stately Palaces her goodly Temple shall be destroyed The thorns shall come up in her palaces nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof and it shall be an inhabitation for dragons and a court for owls The satyre shall cry to his fellows the owle and the vulture to his mate the scrichowle shall make its nest there Faunes and satyres shall dance there Babylon is fallen it is fallen Ierusalem is a place for dragons Behold the reward of obstinate and final impenitency behold the portion reserved for the persons in the Text. When neither interest nor ingenuity â—udgements nor mercies could