the Scholar of those Notions which he affects and valueth Haven ot our hearts cryed out many times unto the Bible depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of Gods wayes either as to worship or manners and that because knowledge is an obligation yea a provocation to duty and a sting in case duty be neglected What things we prize we search into Not searching the Scriptures Jo. 5.39 But how little have we searched the Scriptures as diggers in Mines do search for gold and silver in the Earth as the Word signifieth And this leads me to those two main Evidences of our slighting the written Word of God our not reading and not meditating upon it Not reading them Dent. 31.11 Matth. 12.3.5.21.16 Luk. 10.26 Deut. 17.19 as we ought which I shall a little enlarge upon How have we been guilty of not reading the Scriptures as we ought That every one ought to read them is so evident that there is no way for the Papists to keep men from believing this truth but by keeping of them from reading the Scripture No business can discharge any from this duty and yet how is this evident duty neglected Some have not been so farr wrought upon as from sense of their own ignorance and blindness in the things that concern their Everlasting welfare and from conviction that they can know such things only by the help of the written Word of God to take up firm resolutions to undertake the study of the Scripture Others notwithstanding their resolutions never set upon the reading of the Bible over At all They have seen no excellency in this book they have seen more in a piece of Philosophy in a rational discourse of Divinity in an ingenious History in a politick discourse yea in a Romance or in a Play Polititian-like who preferr'd an Ode in Pindar before all Davids Psalms How many read the Bible too seldome Oft enough thinking it too much to read it dayly to spend one hour therein every day Have not some spent several hours in a day in reading some good books of mens inditing but not a quarter of an hour in reading Gods-book I even hate mine own works said Luther and oft times wish they were burnt because I fear lest they should withdraw men from reading the Scriptures How much greater is the Number of those Aright not reverently 2 Sam. 7.18 that have not read the Bible aright Are not all of us in this number When have we prepared for the reading of the Scriptures as becomes those that are going in unto God so going into the Sanctuary where the Word of God was kept is tearmed Have not we read fearlesly Tremblingly When we were going to take the Bible into our hands have we trembled at the Word Isa 66.2 lest we should not sanctifie the Name of God yea lest we should take the Name of God in vain in our reading Have not we read heedlesly Attentively Not diligently marking the Duties commanded the Sins forbidden the Rewards promised and the Punishments threatned therein Have not our thoughts been wandering and gadding and not fixed upon what we read When did we attend to Scripture words as heedfully 1 Kings 20.33 as Benhadad's Messengers did to the words of Ahab Have not we read unbelievingly Believingly Deut. 29.9 Rom. 15.4 Josh 1.5 compar'd with Hebr. 13.5 Conscieneiously For right Ends Not believing that the Scripture is the Word of God that whatever we read therein is true and good that the Spirit of God the Inditer of every word in this Book did particularly intend our good in every Verse that in the Scripture Life and Death is set before us yea that Scripture words are our Life Have not we read out of custome and not conscienciously in obedience to the command of God Have not we read for wrong ends Either to satisfie our curiosity and not to regulate our hearts and lives or to have matter of discourse but not matter of practise to have Scripture at our tongues end not at our hearts or only to know being ashamed to be ignorant of those things which all Christians know and to be able to say nothing of such matters which we cannot but have occasion divers times in company to talk of but not to do When did we read the Scriptures with this particular intention that they might be a Lamp unto our feet Psa 119.105 and a Light unto our paths That we might thereby be help'd to order our conversation aright When did we read the Bible with the same attention reverence Quid est Scriptura Sacra nisi quaedam Epistola Omnipotentis Dei ad Creaturam suam Greg. Hos 8.12 and resolution to follow every rule therein as we think we would if we had lived when Christ was upon Earth received a Letter from him directing us what to believe and do that we might be saved Or as we think we should a Book writ immediately by the singer of God as he wrote the Ten Commandements in two Tables Why the Bible is Gods Letter to every one of us in particular written by himself though mediately I have written to him the great things of my Law To him it is in the singular number because to every man and woman particularly When did we read the Bible as Children read the last Will and Testament of their deceased Parent Have not we read the Scripture With Prayer without begging of God his Spirit to help us to understand what we read and to practise what we understand at least not so importunately as we would if we had been begging for our Lives at the Barr of a Judge Have not we sown this seed among thornes in unplowed hearts Jer. 4.3 and have not so much as prayed to God to take away the heart of stone and to give an heart of flesh a teachable plyable tractable spirit ready to receive every Divine impression O! when shall we make conscience of reading the Scriptures daily as we ought The Emperour of Heaven saith Gregory the great the Lord of Angels and Men hath sent to you that which concerns your life and will you still neglect to read it with a fervent and zealous Spirit How guilty have we been in not meditating in the Word of God as we ought How little Not meditating if at all have we dwelt in our serious thoughts upon the matters contained in the written Word of God to the end we might understand how much they do concern us and that our hearts may thereby be raised to some holy affections and resolutions Though meditation be commanded as a chief means sanctified by God for the keeping of his Word Josh 1.8 Psa 1.2 though we cannot be holy and happy without it altogether though it be one of the Profitablest duties of a Christian the Reader and Studier of Scripture may see the beauty and smell the sweetness of the flowres that grow
dung of hell devoured and swallowed How few see sin to be contrary to the works of God although God had no sooner perfected the goodly faâ—rick of Heaven and Earth but sin gave a shrewd shake to all it shook and dis-joynted all and had it not been for Christ the great Mediatour it had ruined the whole frame of Nature How few see sin to be contrary to the will of God God saith I will have this done I 'le not do it saith Sin I 'le have this suffered saith God I 'le not suffer it saith Sin Nay so great is the contest betwixt Sin and God that if it could it would unbee God How few take notice of its contrariety to the very nature of God God is good Sin is evil God is pure Sin is impure How few believe sin to be universally evil that there is no good in it We cannot perswade men that there is good in poverty good in disgrace good in reproaches with the tongue and persecutions unto death but easily are men perswaded there is some good in sin How few are convinced of the miserable effects and consequences of sin The wrath of God is not revealed against their unrighteousnest and ungodliness so as to make their knees to tremble The hand-writing on the wall is not observed They are still alive We cannot for our hearts perswade men to goe up to heaven to see what spoyles it made there could we herein prevail then would they inferr that there is more evil in the least sin than there is good in all the Angells of heaven for that one sin conquered them and spoyled them of all their beauty and made them of glorious creatures to become such loathsome and hideous spectacles neither can we prevail with any almost to take a journey to Paradise to see its venome there or to goe to the Garden or to Mount Calvary to see what work it did there or to goe to hell-gate to hear the doleful shrieks and cries which it hath caused there though God hath said Psal 68.21 God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses though there is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isa 57.21 though sin be the sole object of Gods hatred for God loved the whole Creation till its beauty was blasted and stained by sin though sin only seperates between God and souls Isa 59.2 though in the belly of it be found all miseries deaths and hells though it be the founder of all graves and of Tophet though it fill the conscience with terrours and hell with fire and brimstone yet few are affected with the evils of it but they drink in iniquity as water Thirdly Few sensible of being under the wrath of God John 3.28 36. Eccles 8.11 How few Professours are sensible that they are cast by an holy and righteous Law that they are condemned creatures that the wrath of God abideth on them Few have seen the black cloud full of woes brim full of wrath ready to empty it self upon their souls they take no notice that though the sentence be not executed speedily yet it is given forth and there may be but a little breath and they are gone to perish for ever How many senseless souls are there in our Parishes whose consciences were never shaken whose spirits were never wounded who never received the spirit of bondage to fear who never knew what a fearfull expectation of judgement meant who go dancing to hell in the Devils chains and yet count themselves the noble and gallant spirits and flatter themselves in their own eyes and say we shall have peace though we walk in the imaginations of our hearts Deut. 29.19 Rev. 3.16 17. These are Laodicean-like rich and full and needing nothing when God is about to spue them out of his mouth as we discharge our stomacks of some loathsome surfets Pro. 26.16 These are wiser in their own conceit then seven men that can render a reason Though one Minister at the heels of another endeavour with Scripture upon Scripture to convince them of and to prick them at the heart for their sin and danger yet they are boysterously confident and presumptuous that they shall to heaven as soon as any Precisians in the Country Never did many break one nights sleep upon the consideration of their sinfull and lost condition by nature never did they loath their ordinary food or feel the smart of broken bones as David did though they have sinned at an higher rate never did they know what a wounded spirit meant what anguish of soul was never did they feel Gods wrath or sin a burthen insupportable they were never pricked at the heart so as to cry out What shall I do to be saved What shall I do to have me sins pardoned Would you know the reason of all this security Alas they are dead in sins and trespasses A dead condition is an insensible condition death deprives of sense as well as life the dead are not frighted with the swords and pistols at their breasts the dead fear not though threatned with fire and brimstone the dead hear not though God be on Mount Ebal thundering curses upon curses the dead see not though sin be so ugly a monster and hell so frightfull a place the dead smell not though sin stinks worse than the vomit of dogs 2 Pet. 2.20 than rotten Sepulchres or than the corrupted matter of the most nasty disease it offends not the dead to have this stinking Carrion alwayes in their bosomes the dead feel not though that which is heavier than montains of lead be lying on their backs they grown not neither do they complain so much as Cain did they do not go softly in the bitterness of their souls by reason of their sins Many cannot say with Hannah that ever they were of a sorrowfull Spirit Though there be so many curses upon the heads of all natural persons though there be an entayl of wrath upon the heads of the very sins they live in though their sins are or may be circumstantiated to a greater degree than any of the Scripture-Offendors that we read of as being committed under the open Sun of the Gospel though Hell be open to receive them every moment whilst impenitent whilst hardned though the Valley of Hinnom is making room for them to entertain them with the vengeance of a justly-provoked God yet few fear few work out their salvation with weeping eyes and trembling hearts they are still alive without the Law they never walked softly with Ahab or were under Soul-trouble with Judas they fall short of the pangs and sense of Hypocrites Oh! Oh! Oh! I pitty these secure souls how short will they fall of their hopes and how farr short of Heaven Fourthly Few sensible of Sathans working in them Eph. 2.2 How few are sensible that all this while the Devil works in them as in his
Conscience as soon as the guilt of sin is removed as they hope their mourning ceaseth though the strength of sin be as greatas ever 5. Few seek comfort aright Among the multitudes professing Religion how many seek for grace in order to their comfort Joy Peace Comfort being their great end but how few seek for comfort in order to grace 6. Few mourn for unbelief How few mourn for their slightings of Christ It is more natural and so more easie to mourn for sins against the Law than those again Christ and his Gospel Therefore if there be many tears shed for neglect of Prayer for Theft Perjury c. yet how few are found mourning for undervaluing and rejecting Christ and his Tenders whose Soul cries out O! how unkind have I been to Christ O! that he should come out of his Fathers Bosome for me come under the Law yea Dye for me and yet I should keep him out of dores that the Son of God that the brightness of the Fathers glory and the express Image of his person the upholder of all things by the word of his power Heb. 1.3 when he had by himself purged our sins and sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high should stoop so low Rev. 3.20 as to stand at the door and knock and yet that I should not let him in break heart break into small dust be trembling all over for thy unkindnesses to so great so rich so good a Friend O wretch that I have been What! more kindness to my Dog my Cat. c If my Dog be whining at the door he hath admittance and yet thou shut out O. I abhorr my self in dust before thee I meet with few of these mourners CHAP. V. Their ignorance of Christ their serving their turns of Christ their making base capitulations with Christ 1. HOw many are ignorant of Christ Too too many Ignorant of Christ and of what use he is to perishing Souls They know no more the Gift of God than the Samaritan Woman did they know not what an excellent gift Christ is John 4.10 that he is the Fountain of living Water and therefore ask nothing of him It is one thing to hear of a Christ and another thing to know Christ How few know Christ to be their only Life If you did believe that he that hath the Son hath life 1 Jo. 5.12 and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life And that who so findeth me Christ findeth life and shall obtain favour of the Lord Prov. 8.35 36. But he that sinneth against me Christ wrongeth his own Soul all they that hate me Christ love death Upon such a Conviction what would you not give for Life Esau will part with his Birth-right to preserve his Life The Woman will part with all her Estate to recover health and to secure her self from the grave Of all blessings we value Life mostly but few have such esteems of Christ Few can say as Paul What things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ Phil. 3.7 8 9. yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ 1 Cor. 2.2 the righteousness which is of God by faith I determined not to know any thing save Jesus Christ and him crucified Psal 73.25 Or with David Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Few look on Christ as the Original of their Life that they must live move and have their being in Christ and from Christ alone that they are dead without him and hence their desires are not after him If you knew that you want Christ more than Bread and Water then would you cry out Lord give me Christ None but Christ None but Christ in him is my help in him is my salvation He is the Authour of all our good affections and of all our gracious abilities but alass blind man sees him not in his usefulness Cant. 5.9 What is thy Beloved more than another Beloved He hath no form nor comeliness Isa 53.2 3. and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him He is despised and rejected of men Men must dye and be damned without a Christ but they know it not they know no good that Christ is and no good that Christ brings Secondly Many serve their turns of Christ How many serve their turns of Christ close with Christ for their own ends When men have served their turnes one of another away they goe so these troubles they have and ease they would have they have stayed off from Christ as long as they could they have tryed worldly Comforts they will not do they have tryed Duties they will give no rest and therefore in the terrours of their Spirits they must have Christ so much of him as may give them quiet and rest Men are weary of the bands and setters wherein they are held under the Law they would fain be delivered from Sathan that torments them and from the sins that now stare them in the face they groan under the weight of the wrath of God but not under the body of sin Sathan as a Tormentour is un-welcome but as a Tempter is still liked well enough O! I am afraid I shall to Hell O! if there be no other way to escape but through Christ O! then for a Christ then Sermons and Ministers are welcome in hopes of bringing in not so much a Christ as peace and comfort to the troubled Spirit So that men use Christ as sick men take meat not for love of it or liking to it for their Stomachs rise against it but for fear of death which makes them force themselves to eat Though many come to Christ it is by constraint not willingly not with delight not as an healthy man comes to a full table to feed with pleasure Many to avoid a greater mischief to avoid damnation to avoid eternal torments will to Christ in their sore extremities they will then make large confessions take up great resolutions against their sins pray to God and with vehemency and constancy so as they never prayed before but upon ease to the impostumed matter upon recoveries out of their troubles they become if not profane yet worldly and negligent of Christ his Person his Laws his Concernments They have of Christ what they came for They come to Christ as some come to Shops not to have all in the Shop but what they immediately want They want comfort and therefore they venture as the Leapers to the Camp of the Syrians they had no love to them they counted them
loves O! I hate my self whilst writing this that I love the Lord so little so seldom It was he that made me and not I my self He hath wonderfully formed me and wonderfully preserved me and shewed many wonders in the deeps to me O! what shall I do to love the Lord with a superlative love O I am ready to say Let me love nothing if I love not thee nay love nothing till I love thee O that you would grieve abundantly for want of Love to God! You have past as through the Red Sea you have been as the flaming Bush God hath looked after you as if he minded none but you you have been as the Signet on his right hand nay more you have been engraven on his Palmes and what not love the Lord Shame upon you that you can dote upon the dark filthy dirty World and neglect the Lord of Glory All the Affections you have God gave them when he gave thee a reasonable Soul but for this end that you should place them on himself and not on his Enemy Is it not hard measure that God should be denied Love when he gave you power to love If a Friend sends you Bottels of Wine it is hard that when he comes to you you should deny him a taste of his bounty Believe it Sirs whatever you do for the Lord unless you Love him yea unless you Love him more than any thing else it is not accepted 1 Cor. 13.3 Though you give your Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth you nothing Though you bring forth Fruit yet you are empty Vines Hos 10.1 because you eye Self not God Your most exquisite Services are but pieces of dead Carrion unless they be seasoned with the Salt of Love This People draw nigh with their lips but I abhorr them and their Duties because the silly Dove is without an heart Whatever a man gives me if his heart be not in it I slight it God much more What shall I say The Holy Apostle counts him worthy of a Curse that loves not Jesus Christ If any man love not the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 16.22 let him be Auathema Maranatha And is it not sad to be cursed to the coming of Christ He deserves it that loves not Christ and he must and shall be forced to own the Righteousness of God in sentencing him to Eternal flames who might have been secured against them had he but loved Christ more than a base dunghill Lust CHAP. XI Their evil surmises of God 4ly Their evil surmises of God EVil surmises of God is another piece of ungodliness found too frequently among some of the more raised Professours even such as have the root of the matter in them I shall the rather insist on this sin because right thoughts of God are the fuell which maintains the fire of Religion without which it soon decayeth and is extinguished 1. Miscalling his love-to-kens Do not we miscall Gods love-tokens Hath not God sent thee many love-tokens by his Spirit to assure thee that he owns thee and delights in thee as his Spouse For thee to question thy relation to him upon every turn must needs be grievous to him how grievous then is it for thee to deny all his tokens of grace and love to thy Soul and to count them but delusions but the works of the Infernal Spirit transforming himself into an Angel of Light To call light darkness good evil sweet bitter the work of Christ the Devils work is ill resented by the Lord it goeth unto his heart You that are Husbands Wives Parents Children cannot endure to have your love and fidelity suspected upon every base suggestion and whisper Believe it God takes notice and laies to heart all your jealousies of him all your base unworthy censures of him 2. How ill are Gods Providences resented III resenting Gods Providences 1 Cor. 3.22 Rom. 8.28 Although God hath told you there is a beauty in their contexture that things present and things to come are yours that all shall work together for good that your Providential losses as well as your Providential enjoyments that your changes as well as your setlings your wants as well as your abundance shall all be Sanctified to you yet how few with that blessed man bless the Lord Job 1.21 Rom. 5.2 3. when taking away And with Paul rejoyce yea glory in tribulations God assures you that your sicknesses reproaches wants shall do you good yea death shall do you good all shall be good or do you good all shall be food or physick out of the eater shall come forth sweetness even from Gods desertions you shall have advantages your very thorns shall drop honey shall bear grapes yet notwithstanding what hard thoughts have you of God under such dispensations Didst thou onely accuse thy self judge thy self abhorre thy self it were well but in speaking against thy self thou fallest foul upon God himself by questioning his love from these providences Deny thy self what thou wilt but beware of a denial of Gods love and of the Spirit of grace that hath taken up his lodgings within thee O that all melancholly doubting Christians would consider of this too seldome suspected provocation and unkindness of theirs towards God! O! take up and keep up better thoughts of God what ever his carriage be towards you Though he slay you yet trust in him When will you be as David who though beleaguered with Enemies yet kept up good thoughts of God he doubted not of Gods pitty of Gods favour and protection and therefore I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Psa 3.6 Psa 27.3 v. 1. that have set themselves against me round about Though an host should encamp against me my heart shall not fear c. in this will I be confident In what Why that the Lord is my Light and my Salvation and the strength of my life God hath not spent all his stores he hath enough for me he will not suffer me to be tempted above what I shall be able to bear but will with the temptation make way for my escape And hath not God told thee that the mountains shall depart Isa 54.10 and the hills be removed yet his loving kindnesse shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of his peace be removed But alas Thou canst entertain good thoughts of God in fair weather Mar. 4.38 but let them fall in a storm then it is Master carest thou not that we perish Thou canst trust in God when he carrieth himself as a Friend and answereth all thy requests and granteth all thy desires but not so when he seemeth an Enemy Canst thou with Paul say I am perswaded that neither Death Rom. 8.38 39. nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
1 Tim. 1.13 I was a Persecutour a Blasphemer and injurious What saith God Remember this day What day The day wherein you were delivered from the house of bondage under Sin the World and Satan O! how have we forgotten that the Lord by a strong and irresistable work of his blessed Spirit translated us out of the Kingdom of Satan into the Kingdom of his dear Son It was he that made Jordan to give back and delivered us from Egypt and the Wilderness that we might inherit the good Land O! what Enemies were we studying to be damned galloping to Hell till God met us How seldome do we look back to the Spring from whence all our Mercy flowes For Election How unthankful have we been for that Original-fountain-Mercy eternal Election Why should God single us out a People for himself Why did Grace blossom from Eternity Why did God plot and study my happiness before I had a beeing What was there that Jacob is smiled upon and Esau not so God might have had his Revenues of Glory out of my ruine O that he should glorifie the riches of his mercy in my Salvation And yet how little is God magnified for this How little do we bless God for Christ For Christ Though he be the Stream that alone refresheth the City of God yet how seldome is his Love his stoops and condescentions for us his bleeding and dying for us remembred by us with hearty Praises and Thanksgivings For the Covenant of Grace and the Spirit How little do we bless God for the Covenant of Grace which Mr. Allen excellently calls The Bow in the Cloud after a Deluge of Sin and Misery the forfeited Lease of Eternity renewed the Magna Charta of the City of God the Hopes of Sinners and the Riches of Saints And in particular for the Promise of the Spirit in all his Offices and Operations for the application of the purchased Possession Ezek. 36.27 For outward Salvations I will put my Spirit within you How little do we remember to bless the Lord for outward Salvations You begin perhaps with a little as Jacob and now behold you have two bands a troop of Children Friends c. and an Estate to maintain them When others have had one Mess you have had Benjamin's Portion the silver cup put into the sacks mouth Riches and God too Estate and Christ too Peace and the God of Peace too the World and a good Title to it and yet do not you seldome cry out Bless the Lord O my Soul and let all that is within thee praise his holy Name How seldome do you consider who hath maintained you all this while Who hath delivered you and pull'd you as brands out of the sire You have had the Sentence of Death in your selves you have been with David and Paul in the mouth of the Lyon and yet saved near to perish by the Bullet Sword Pestilence Feaver and other dangers and yet your Lives given you for a prey But how soon have you forgotten the wonders shewen unto the dead O the many preventing Mercies that you have been made partakers of Hath not God secured you in many travails How many have died much younger than you whilst the Lord lengtheneth out your dayes in order to Repentance How many have died in an instant and been snatch'd away without any warning given of Death's approach whilst you have had many an Harbinger to give you to understand its nearness to you How many have been crush'd by falls from houses and câ—â—oured by beasts and by other accidents have been hastened to their long home whilst God is long-suffering to you How many have you seen drawn on Sleds led to shameful and violent Deaths whilst you have been kept from such dismal ends And are there no thanks due to the Name of God And yet how seldome do you admire at distinguishing Providence and preventing loving kindnesses You have a guard of Angels to attend you day and night to secure you from danger but how little do you bless the Lord for the Heavenly Host And yet if you do thank God for some signal outward Mercies perhaps for ease from the Stone Gout Cholick perhaps for security from the rage of the devouring Pestilence if you thank not God more for deliverance from Hell from the guilt and power of Sin than for outward Salvations you discredit God and his choicest Mercies by under-rating Spirituals to Temporals We should have blessed God for his Rod For sufferings for Christ as well as for his Staffe for both are Mercies but how unthankful are we even for sufferings for righteousness sake God expects that in every thing we give thanks as we should not be partial in our Obedience so neither in our Thanksgiving How little have we imitated the ancient Christians whose mouths were alwayes full of Thanks be unto God They saluted one another with Deo gratias and when they heard tydings of Persecution or Protection of Crosses or Comforts still they cried out God be thanked How unlike are we to famous Bradford If said he the Queen will release me I will thank her if she will keep me in Prison I will thank her if she will burn me I will thank her Thou shouldst say from thy very heart Though sick though scorned though threatned though all the day long counted as a sheep for the slaughter yet blessed be God that I am counted worthy to suffer for his Name Blessed be God that he counts me for a Son and chasteneth me for my profit that I may be made partaker of his holiness Blessed be God that I am chastened that I may not be condemned But how few give thanks alwayes in all things unto God Eph. 5.20 Isa 24.15 1 Pet. 4.16.13 We have been too backward to glorifie God in Zion much more in the Fires The Apostle Peter would not have any man suffering as a Christian to be ashamed but to glorifie God on this behalf and to rejoyce in as much as he is partaker of Christs sufferings But God knows how farr from Praises we have been when the Storms have been high and threatned our Tabernacles How hath God charged us to remember Mercy Confiderations against Vnthankfulness and to praise him for it Ye that fear the Lord praise him Praise him O ye Servants of the Lord Praise thy God O Zion Psal 22.23.135.1.147.12.148.1.150.1 2. Praise him in the heights Praise God in his Sanctuary Praise him for his mighty acts Praise him according to his excellent greatness Doth not the innumerableness of Gods requiries of Praise and Thanksgiving aggravate our neglect of this Duty What Provision hath Christ made against this Sin Hath not he appointed the Sacrament of his Supper on purpose to help us to Remember him and his saving benefits Do this in Remembrance of me But have not many Professours been so resolved to be unthankful that they have neglected this great Ordinance
and neglect the one thing necessary Fool that I was to set my thoughts and affections on things below none of which now give me a drop of water to cool my tongue and to neglect the things above O! If I had never heard of Christ and Glory I had been more excusable for my earthly prolings Psal 69.6 O! How have I disquieted my self in vain I have heaped up riches and know not who shall gather them Had I been as faithful to Christ as I was to Mammon O! with what joy might I have removed hence What abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdome might I have had O! Labour to prevent the horrours of Death and the gnawing Worm of Conscience It is sad when the Sting of Death and the Worm Conscience Prov. 11.4 bite the man together Riches avail not in the day of wrath but righteousness delivereth from death Believe it it will cut you to the heart to think that less pains might have served for eternal Life than you have bestowed for temporal Goods This plague attends the covetous man the more he desires and heaps up the less he is desired and the less he is lamented when he dyes He is like a Swine that is good for nothing whilst he is alive not good to bear and carry as the Horse nor to draw as the Oxe nor to cloath as the Sheep nor to give milk as the Cowe nor to keep the house as the Dogg but ad solam mortem nutritur fed only to the slaughter So the covetous man doth no good with his riches whilst he liveth but when he is dead his riches come to be disposed of Prov. 13.22 The riches of a sinner are laid up for the just How can you choose but tremble at Dooms-day You cannot desire the comming of Christ If the Church cries Come Lord Jesus come quickly you cannot joyn in that Prayer for that your hearts are glued to this present World You preferr Paris before Paradise It is to the Saints loss to be kept so long from Heaven but you count it not so You cannot say Thy Kingdome come What will you do in that day when all the Estate and Friends of Dives cannot relieve with a drop of cold water Riches are like bryars and thornes good to stop gaps but not to lay in our beds and set our hearts upon lest we lye down in sorrow Few remember the Devil's offer All these things will I give thee is the last temptation that old Professours are baited with Take heed therefore and beware of Covetousness CHAP. XXVII Their Envy ENVY is a Sin seldome confessed Professoss Envy James 4.5 but yet much diffused among Professours The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to Envy And indeed Covetousness and Envy are never asunder they are sins against the same command Such as long that what is their Neighbours should be theirs envy to him that which is his and such as envy to him that which is his long to have it to be theirs How desirous are Professours to grasp all to themselves And therefore how apt are the very best to be envious at the power greatness riches if not goodness of others Doth not the experience that you have of your own hearts if you be not strangers at home testisie that this Spirit is stirring and acting in you The poor envy the rich the base the honourable as if they had the less because others have so much Some think that this was the sin that threw down the Angels from Heaven that they envied Adam's glory in that he was made after Gods image and that they relinquished their glory to divest Adam of his To be sure the Devil was restless till he had implunged Adam in the same sin and misery that he was brought into Sure maligning the prosperity of others is not from the Spirit of God He that giveth freely to all would not have us to envy those to whom he gives more freely than to our selves and he that giveth us more doth not envy us for what we have If you have not so much as others it is because you are unfit to receive not because God is unwilling to give Do not we see how this poyson diffuseth it self An early sin it was if not in the Angels as some think yet it was in Eve She envied the all-knowledge of God and must forsooth have at least an equality with God himself It was also strong in the first man that was born of a woman and we still suck it in with our Mothers milk and it seldome dyes till we dye This sinne is commonly among people of the same Profession One Mechanick envies another one Merchant another one Scholar another one Gentleman another one Commander another as Saul envied and hated David because the Women sang that Saul slew his thousands and David his ten thousands one Minister another as those in Paul's dayes that envied him and affected an high strain of eloquence on purpose to obscure that reputation which Paul had got among the Churches And happy had it been if this cursed sinne had dyed in that age but it hath been still working in all ages of the World Is there not a greater promptitude in us Evidenced in detracting from others worth to detract from mens worth than to credit and exalt them To write down their blots and imperfections than to set forth their due vertues and graces If we cannot reach others by imitation we will by calumniation and therefore Luther saith Envious men feed upon the dung of other men They are like flies that love to be upon sores It is admirable to see how dull sighted we are as to the vertues and graces of our Brethren but quick sighted as Eagles to discern their imperfections Mat. 7.3 The beams of Vertue are not seen i. e. not taken notice of but a mote in a Brother's eye is soon espyed Are we not more greedy to receive and spread any thing Readiness to receive and spread defamations whereby our Neighbour is infamed and obscured than we are to entertain and diffuse what tends to his praise and glory And is not this the reason hereof viz. the great desire we have to shine alone and that we would none to vye with us in glory much less to excell us therein Is there not oft-times a secret gladness in our hearts Gladness in their being brought lower when some sad Providences afflict others in their Names Goods Health and Relations that thereby they may be brought to a level with us or to an inferiority in a lower estate When you have seen some Congregation wedged in with a concourse of hearers and yours thin and naked and when some have been cryed up for their purity gravity activity and zeal and when others have greatened their parts or estates and yours rather have been impaired have ye not been ready even to burst with Envy Have you not been glad when some blot hath
affect your hearts as it ought Some there were but very few would say Brown Bread and the Gospel is a Feast Few like the Christians at Constantinople cryed out Better the Sun not shine than Chrysostome be silenced You could bless God for Health Estate c. but not for these great Luminaries of Glory who were appointed to conduct and guide you unto the Heavenly Jerusalem 4. Not praying for 〈◊〉 How little did you Pray for them How little have you prayed for gifts and abilities to goe through their whole work for preservation for them and for a sanctified use of all Gods dispensations toward them How little did you deprecate the stopping of their mouths and supplicate that their mouths might be kept open Eph. 6.19 and that utterance might be given unto them that they might open their mouths boldly to make known the Mystery of the Gospel Have not they oft begg'd your Prayers in the words of Paul I beseech you Rom. 15.30 31. Brethren for the Lord Jesus Christs sake and for the love of the Spirit that ye strive together with me in your Prayers to God for me that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea in England and yet have not you neglected to call upon God for their deliverance How can you tell but their mouths had still been opened had not you neglected Prayer Mat. 7.7 8. Hath not Christ promised Knock and it shall be opened unto you To him that knocketh it shall be opened 5. Making Excuses for not hearing them Have not you made sorry Excuses for not hearing them How little have you believed that Word He that heareth you heareth me And by consequence that not-hearing of them was not-hearing of Christ himself What slight excuses have been deemed sufficient to keep you from the Shepheards Tents The Apostle would have us Swift to hear James 1.19 Swiftness notes diligence in taking the first occasion but how have you to complement with a Friend to indulge to the flesh for fear of a little rain for fear of wetting your feet for fear of losing a six-penny yea a penny-Customer declined several opportunities of attending the Embassadours God sent you For these things the wrath of God is breaking out upon you the day is come or coming Amos 8.12 Cant. 5.3 6. Their miscarriages before in and after hearing Before Hearing without antecedent meditation when ye shall wander from Mountain to Hill from Sea to Sea and seâ—k bread and find none This very excuse the fear of defiling her feet would not serve the Spouse 6. How did you miscarry both before and in and after hearing How slender was your preparation to attend upon these Deputies of Christ How little did you meditate on the Word you were to receive at their lips Did you thus consider The Gospel that I am about to hear wil be the savour of life unto life or of death unto death I shall be nearer Heaven or Hell by this Sermon I am going to If the Gospel be alwayes hid I am a lost Soul and shall perish is my Soul hungry This is the bread of Heaven Is my Soul thirsty this is the water of life this is the milk whereby I must grow up unto eternal life this messenger of Heaven will be for the fall as well as the rising of many in Israel If he be not instrumental for my Salvation he will be for my Damnation Isa 55.10 11. As the rain cometh and watereth the Earth and returneth not thither c. So shall Gods Word that goeth forth out of this Ministers mouth not return unto him voyd How little did you consider the excellency and necessity of the Word that you were to partake of What â—reasure was afforded you in an earthen vessel That the Truths and Doctrines that your Ministers taught you were of as much worth as your Souls as Heaven as Salvation How little did you pour out your Souls in Prayer unto God before you went to hear your Prayer Ministersâ— Eâ—â—her 〈◊〉 your Ministers that God would open their mouths to speak the word truly sincerely powerfully and seasonably and suitabty to your condition or for your own Souls that God would open your hearts to enteâ—tain the word so as to profit by it that you might not have open ears and shut hearts that you might not have ears Prov. 20.12 and yet hear not as knowing that the hearing ear and seeing eye the Lord hath made even both of them How careless were you to purge your Souls before you came to hear the word Putting off the shooe Moses before he was to hear God speaking put off his shooe to intimate that you should put off your carnal and earthly affections before you come to hear Gods word But have not you rush'd out of your worldly employments to many a Sermon How careless were you to lay apart all filthiness Jam. 1.21 and superfluity of naughtiness that you might receive with neekness the engrafted word Eccles 5.1 which is able to save your Souls If you have not come without habitual have you not neglected actual preparation When you have been actually under the Ministry Have not you heard irreverently In hearing irreverently without awfull apprehensions of Gods Majesty and presence Have you said of the place where any Minister of Christ hath preached unto you as Jacob of Bethel how dreadfull is this place Have you in your hearing Sermons set your selves in the presence of God Acts 10.33 as Cornelius did when Peter was preaching unto him The King of Moab will rise up in judgement to condemn the irreverence of many of our Professours when Ehud told him Judg. 3.20 I have a message to the from God the King arose from his Throne and bowed himself Have not you evidenced your irreverence in hearing carelesly Carlesly dully drowsily sleepily c. Have not you lent a more attentive ear to a Tale to a Fable to a Romance to a Ballad to a Stage-Play of several hours length than to a Sermon of an kour Have not you come to Church as to an Apothecaries Shop for a recipe to sleep Hath not the Gospel come unto you in word only and not in power When the Minister threatened you from the Lord could you say My slesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy righteous judgements How many months and years did Gods Servants threaten you with a Famine of hearing the Word of the Lord but did this Judgement fright you and humble you whilst it lay in the cloud of the threaâ—ning as the least appearances of an outward Famine have awakened you When your Ministers came with the tydings of Peace to you were their feet beautiful May not your Ministers complain of you as Christ of the Jewes John 8. â—â— My Word takes no place in you So careless have you been of any thing that hath been spoken
account He that seeth his Brothers face fowl and tells him not of it hath a mind that others should see his spots as well as himself And is this love to thy Friends O! How have we uncovered that which ingenuous Humanity should have concealed Can you talk so of your Friends that are most dear to you 12. Restraining Prayer for them Have not we restrained Prayer for such Christians as have differed from us Whom we love we pray for But have not our differences been so great that we have excluded one another out of our Prayers unless to reproach each other before the Lord If any man see his Brother sin a Sin 1 John 5.16 which is not unto death he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death How seldome are we very serious and earnest in wrestling with God for others if in some things divided from us Mat. 5.44 If we had counted them Enemies we should have so loved them as to have prayed for them O that Abraham should pray so vehemently for the Sodomites and not we for Saints That Samuel should pray for Saul and not we for the Lords anointed ones Have not our differences interrupted not only civil but all religious communion Yea have not we neglected to pray not only for dissenting Brethren but for the reconciling of them How few are there that pray heartily feelingly believingly for the Peace of Hierusalem though there are many Promises to encourage us therein Zech. 14.19 that his Name shall be one and they shall worship with one shoulder and Judah shall not envy Manasseh Jer. 32.39 nor Manassâ—h vex Ephraim And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever for the good of them and of their children after them should we not also have been encouraged to pray for that which Christ so affectionately desires Will not Petitions be welcome to Heaven for that which would be the joy of all the Heavenly Host to see effecten Peace on earth among the Saints would be the joy of God who is the God of Peace of Christ who is the Prince of Peace May we not confidently pray for what Christ sweat and bleed 13. Not priling their gifts not blessing God for them How unready have we been to respect and value the gifts and enoblements of such Christians We have neither heartily prayed to God that they might be useful with all their Talents for the good of many nor blest the Father of Lights for communicating so much to them 14. Envying them Hath not the Spirit in us lusted to Envy Whom we love we rejoyce at their gifts and enjoyments but hath not a Spirit of Cain prevailed among us Have not we envied if others had greater acceptance with God than our selves Have we rejoyced at the gifts and graces of differently-perswaded Brethren as if they were our own or have not we secretly at least repined at others praises Have not we been afraid that we and our party have been obscured thereby Hath not this been evident in our being more backward to speak of their graces than of their imperfections Doe not we gaze only on the Sun and call in others to be spectators of it when ecclipsed Do not we like Kites pass over the sound sheep and pitch on the weak and dead Carion or like the Butchers Dog not touch the sound flesh but the offals and putrified pieces or like Swine pass over the flowers and wallow in the Mire If we know one of a differing Congregation from ours that hath a blemish our mouths are full of him but others graces and heavenly walks we can pass over in silence 15. Not helping them Have not we refused to help such Christians We help what we can those whom we really love But are not we like Spectators in a Tragedy Austin complains of such in his time who mourn much to see a sad story acted but let the Play goe on True pitifull love would express it self by the hand Heb. 6.10 1 Cor. 13.4 as well as tongue We read of the labour of love love is bountifull We pretend to love all Saints but what do we for those that are of different perswasions from ours If such an one be in Prison do we visit him If Naked do we cloath him If hungry do we feed him If we remember all the Lords people that are in bonds as if we were bound with them then doe we really love them We love our selves and we are liberal to our selves we can bestow time care estate good things upon our selves but not so on divided Brethren We have words at will Oyle and butter in our mouths to supply them Depart in peace be ye warmed and filled but we give not those things that are needfull Love will suffer any pains for the sake of the Beloved So Paul loved all the Saints that he was willing to spend and to be spent like a Candle to wast himself for their good Which of us hath so spent himself Love will counsel the Beloved especially if in any straight But God knows how little others have been beholding to us even this way possibly we have afterwards insultingly told them this you should have done and herein you failed but as we found them in a Ditch so we left them and directed them not to a way of deliverance The best counsel we can give is for the Soul but let the divided parties yea and others consider seriously and sadly how backward they have been and are to this day to advise to the best way for peace holiness and glory If we believe such an undertaking will impair our Neighbours Name estate ro Soul yet how slow are we to interpose for the disswading of him from so unhappy an enterprize I should hardly think that Parent loves his Child well that sees him run over a cliff and with-holds him not what he can 16. Not sympathizing with them Have not we been so far from helping them that we have not sympathized with them Love is pittifull When they have been sick when did we get over our thresholds to enquire how it fared with them How seldome have we felt their pains If they be in an errour in a dangerous one the more we should compassionate them considering our selves also who have the seeds of the same errours within us considering the blindness of our own minds how we also differ from others in some matters how it is the Spirit that leads into truth c. But have not some rejoyced when any of a different perswasion have fall'n into the Bogs of Familisme Ranterisme Quakerisme c. that they may thence draw their absurd inferences against the whole body whereto such an one was related Yea how little have we laid to heart the afflictions of any of Gods people Have not we been as unconcerned in their sufferings in Germany France Holland Piedmont Ireland
Fathers and I said I will never break my covenant with you and ye shall make no league with the Inhabitants of this land c. but ye have not obeyed my voice why have ye done this c. And it came to pass when the Angel of the Lord spake these words to all the Children of Israel that the people lift up their voice and wept Secondly Very scandalously The scandalousness of your miscarriages is another aggravation of them Had all the forementioned abominations been committed in Defarts and Holes of the earth where none had been privy to your irregularities you had had no sin in comparison of what you now stand justly charged with If you had been only rotten hearted that would not have been under the eye and censure of the World Religion would have had no blemish no loss no considerable loss thereby But men have looked to your hands and feet whilst God to your hearts and finding so many defilements on you hereby the Name of God hath been blasphemed God is spoken evil of whilst you have done evil before men You knew the world was an observing world greedy to espy all the Errata's of your lives you knew spots in Cambrick would sooner be marked than in course cloth you knew how apt the world was to condemn all Saints for the miscarriages of a few pretenders to Christianity you knew how the world lay in wait like the Arabian for his prey waiting for somewhat to calumniate Christ and his followers with you knew the tongues that are set on fire of Hell would belch out their emnity upon the sight of your sins you knew how apt they were to be prejudiced against you and as the people in Elies dayes from the miscarriages of them that pretended to draw near to God would by your occasion abhorre the Offerings of the Lord. 1 Sam. 2.17 1 Pet. 3.16 2 Sam. 12.14 2 Tim. 2.26 You should have walked with such a good Conscience that whereas the world would speak against you as evil-doers they might be ashamed But insteed of this you have opened the mouth of Blasphemy you have gratified the Devil exceedingly were he capable of joy you have furthered it by being contented to be winnowed by him and to be led captive at his will The scandals of men reputed for holiness have been his greatest Harvests his greatest advantages He hopes by the falls of Cedars to break down and crush the Shrubs and tender plants that grow nigh God alone knows what mischief you have done to Religion already and where the mischief will end Jeroboam made Israel to sin many years after his death Whereas ye should have left a precious Name behind you holy exact copies of Righteousness for succeeding generations to write after you have laid the stumbling block of your iniquitie before the faces of hundreds and thousands to cause them to fall Give over wondring that for these last ten years the Gospel hath had a a miscarrying Womb and dry Breasts know you have like the Serpent the Dragon stood as in the place of bearing you have hindred the Birth or devoured the Child as soon as Born you have been of the old generation of Gods Curse you would not to Heaven your selves Luke 11.52 and hindred others that would if you had not laid your offences in their way Perhaps some of you may think to relieve your selves that you know none are taken in these Gins and Traps you will know shortly that he that tempteth to evil commits an hainous sin though his temptation prove not effectual God will not reward men altogether by the event of scandals but by the tendency of Scandal in its own nature Others not sinning after your example will not excuse and lessen your faults which were so apt to lead them into sin Matth. 18.17 Wo saith Christ to him by whom the offence comes Wo to them that take offence but greater wo to them that give it If God threatned Eli to take him up by the roots for not punishing Scandals in his Sons 1 Sam. 3.13 because his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not What dreadfull judgements are we exposed to who are the offence-givers Wonder not if having caused many to stumble at the Law that God will make us contemptible and base before all the people Ye are departed out of the way Mal. 2.8 9. ye have caused many to stumble at the Law ye have corrupted the Covenant of Levi saith the Lord of Hosts therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people How oft have we been as unsavoury Salt Mat. 5.13 and is it any wonder if we be cast out and thrown to the Dunghill O that you would remember David take him into your Closet with you he was scandalous in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba it is true he repented in dust and ashes he abhorred himself made his bed to swim the sin was pardoned the guilt thereof removed a solemn absolution was sent him by a Prophet and yet how did God follow him with misery upon misery He might in the death of the Child in the defilement of his Daughter in the murder of Ammon and in the treason of Absolon in his weeping and going barefoot in his Concubines being defiled and his own Crown and Life jeoparded in all these things he might see the woful fruits of Scandal 2 Sam. 12.9 10 11 12 13 14. Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandement of the Lord to do evil in his sight Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the Sword and hast taken his Wife to be thy Wife and hast slain him with the Sword of the Children of Ammon Now therefore the Sword shall never depart from thine House c. Behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own House and I will take thy Wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy Neighbour and he shall lye with thy Wives in the sight of the Sun For thou didst it secretly but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Sun And David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David The Lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not dye Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the Child also that is born unto thee shall surely dye If David repenting of his Scandals be thus punished what will become of you who have made Religion to be abhorred and yet are insensible unbroken and unhumbled to this very day Well may unrepented of Scandals lye in your bones many dayes hence Psal 51.8 Psal 38.8 seeing David's did yea he roared because of his sin Well may you goe drooping to your graves being bereft of all joy and comfortable looks from Heaven whilst repenting David lost so long the joy of Gods salvation Psal 51.12 What shall I say O all ye
that it would please God to make my words as an Hammer Motives to let our hearts be broken for and from our Sins to break the Rocks O that I may be thus usefull to your Souls O that somewhat at last may be hinted that may through the blessing of Goâ— break your hearts for and from sin that may promote your Repentance for your own and your othermens sins And indeed unless your hearts be broken for sin they will never be broken from sin But the more bitterness of Spirit you are in for sin the more probability there is you will not return unto sin When men have furfetted upon a Dish and are greatly afflicted and pained by it the more unlikely they are to return again unto that Dish That is certain saith Mr. Burroughs either a mans sin will make an end of his mourning or his mouâ—ning will make an end of his sin Yea if your hearts be not broken for other mens sins they are not kindly broken for your own sins You will never put it out of all doubt that your sorrow is right and genuine unless you mourn for others as well as your own sins for it will alwayes be objected that if Sin as Sin were your Burden if Sin as dishonouring God as wounding Christ as grieving the Spirit then other mens sins being reslexions on the Authority and Will of the great God Father Son and Spirit should have some considerable weight upon your Souls The truth is others sins become thine if thou knowest them and mournest not for them O then In what a case are all the hardned jolly Professours who can make a sport of Drunkeness Uncleanness Superstition Perjury c. in others Consider therefore by the Help of this Glass others sins as well as thine own to help on thy brokeness of heart for and from sin Psal 119.158 Behold with David the transgressour and be grieved because they keep not Gods word Let your Souls with Lot be vexed there are greater sins found among Professours in England than were in Sodom Let thy Soul be as his was as in Hell as upon the Rack How can you evidence that you are translated from death to life because you love the Brethren whilst you are not troubled to see them wounding and damning their souls by their sins you are grieved to see any Friends of yours in great hazards and dangers by the Sword by Sickness by Fire but the Souls of your Friends are in the greatest danger yet you lament not the sight of these deplorable spectacles God forbid that any of you should have grounds of hope to gain Liberties and outward Privileges by others provocations whilst all their sins become yours whilst you are not humbled for them But to lay before you some Considerations that may set home by the Spirit draw water out of the Flint 1. God is greatly incensed Should not your hearts be broken for and from sin seeing sin hath so incensed God against the Land of your Nativity Can you retire from the World and seriously consider the Prints of Gods displeasure against poor England and yet remain impenitent Is it nothing to you that God hath for many years been withdrawing from his Sanctuary in England O! Your Ministers have had miscarrying Wombs and dry Breasts Though they rose early and sate up late were much in watchings and in labours for the Conversion and Edification of Souls yet how seldome have any been under the Pangs of the New Birth How seldome were any pricked at the heart How seldome have any cryed out What shall we do to be saved And for others concerning whom we hoped better things How have they shed their Leaf How have they pined and withered away as to Practical Godliness How have they lost that Seriousness that Heavenlyness that Power of Godliness which before they seemed to have had Your Ministers saw this and lamented it they acquainted you with it invited you to remember from whence you are fall'n to repent and do your first works But yet You returned not unto the Lord. Should not this pierce your very hearts Is it nothing to you that not only your selves but so many Professours in England should lose their faithful and painful Ministers Is it nothing to you for God to call home by Death and otherwise so many of his Embassadours whom you have grieved whom you have despised and affronted and who have been more burthened with your Pride Earthliness Divisions Sensuality c. than they are with their present Poverty and Dishonours under which they lye What doth it portend save War and Hostility when Embassadours are called home And may not you fear that the wrath of God is and will be against you till there be no remedy They mocked the Messengers of God 2 Chron. 36.16 and despised his Words and misused his Prophets untill the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy If God will treat with you no more believe it he will fight with you And O! O! O! Who will set the Bryars and Thornes against him He will goe through them he will consume them in his wrath Is it nothing to you that there is yet such a Spirit of Division in the Land O! What heats and heart-burnings what animosities and jealousies are there so that a Brother cannot trust a Brother Is it nothing to you that God hath been so long contending with the Land by the Sword and by the Pestilence and so lately by Fire Is it nothing to you that God permitted that dreadful Fire in London to break forth about Three of the Clock on a Lords Day morning Did he not thereby cause his Sabbath in a manner to cease in London Did not he make his holy Day of Rest a Day of labour and disquiet Did not he hereby as it were anticipate his Peoples conventions to expiate him and so drew them as it were off from the Remedy that his hands being loosened he might punish 2 Chron. 7.12 Deut. 9.14 Jer. 2.2 and not be prevailed with to pardon May we not say with Jeremiah even upon this account The Lord hath swallowed up all the Habitations of Jacob and hath not pittied he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong Holds of the Daughter of Judah he hath brought them down to the ground Is it nothing that at the same time God should send forth such a boysterous Wind to fann and blow up the Fire East West South and North God therein executing the Judgement threatned against Elam Jer. 49.36 of bringing the four Winds from the four Quarters of Heaven c. If the punishment of one Element saith a late Writer be dreadful as the Water was to the old World and the Air is in Pestilential Infections and the Earth was when it opened its mouth to swallow up Corah and his company how dreadful is Gods punishing a Land or Person with double and treble Judgements in one