lightnings or bring to their assistance the stormy wind and tempest Can they Marshal out the host of heaven or put the Constellations in array or command the stars in their courses to make resistance for them Can they bind the influences of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion or bring forth Mazzaroth or conduct Arcturus and his sons Are they able to stand before a jealous God and to support themselves in the presence of a consuming fire When a fire is kindled in his anger and shall burn to the lowest Hell and shall consume the earth and set on fire the mountains Are they able to sustein the fierceness of his anger Who among them can dwell with the devouring fire who among them can dwell with everlasting burnings Briefly and plainly to lay the case before you This people had heard with their ears of the drowning of the old world Their fathers had told them of the fire and brimstone which devoured the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrha They had been witnesses of the plagues brought upon Egypt They beheld the fire that consumed Nadab and Abihu They stood by when the earth opened and swallow'd up Dathan and covered the congregation of Abiram Thousands had fallen beside them and ten thousands at their right hand for their ingratitude and rebellion and yet they behave themselves so as hath been represented Judge in your selves was it wisdome thus to requite the Lord Were they or were they not a foolish people and unwise We have now seen the case of Israel the wickedness of their folly and the folly of their wickedness hath been in some measure displayed before us And who is it that doth not feel his indignation rise against this people Ah sinful people ah people laden with iniquity ah Seed of evil doers O ingrateful stiff-necked brutish nation do they thus requite the Lord that made that redeemed that established them Shall not his soul be avenged on such a nation as this Let God arise let his enemies be scattered It is but just and equal That he should consume them in a moment and blot out their remembrance from under heaven Nay but who art thou O man that judgest another and dost the same things thinkest thou that thou shalt escape the judgment of God Alas how easy is it in a figure to transfer all that hath been spoken to our selves to our selves of this Auditory to our selves of this Kingdome in every capacity private and publick Ecclesiastical and Civil 1. Hath not God dealt with us as he dealt with Israel 2. Have not we requited him as they requited him come now and let us briefly reason together For Gods dealing let us examine our selves upon the heads of enquiry here propounded by Moses in this song Hath he not 1 made 2 redeemed 3 established us in every sence and every capacity 1. Hath he not made us is not he the Creator and preserver of every individual person is not he the disposer of nations the ordainer and orderer of Governments the framer of Churches in the world In every one of these respects it is evidently true which is delivered by the Psalmist It is he that hath made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture As for our personal being and better being was it not from him that we received our bodies our Souls our Christianity all things pertaining unto life and Godliness His eyes did see our substance yet being imperfect and in his book were all our members written He poured us out like Milk and curdled us like Cheese cloathed us with skin and flesh fenced us with bones and sinews he breathed into us life and spirit saying unto us Live he stamped his Image upon us and made us live the life of men he commanded and we were born of Christian Parents and baptized and regenerated into the life of Christians Hath he not made us Nay doth he not make us and that every moment by susteining and upholding our being by the word of his power by reteining our spirits and preserving our souls and life by his perpetual visitation by his protection and by this provision There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retein the spirit All the wit and industry and ability of all men upon earth nay of all creatures in Heaven and earth cannot make one grain of any one of that infinite variety of things which are of necessity or of convenience to the being or preservation of men And this is so evident upon the shallowest consideration that S. Paul at Lystra when the Priest of Iupiter supposing him to be Mercurius would have sacrificed to him appealed to this instance as Gods witness against the depth of heathenish darkness He left not himself without witness in that he gave rain from Heaven filling our hearts with food and gladness So that in this respect our case is parallel Hath not God dealt with us as with Israel Hath he not made us as to our personal and private condition Again if we consider our selves in our national publick capacity in reference to the political frame of our Government Civil and Ecclesiastical hath he not made us It was in reference to this that Moses asked this question and to help their understandings in the consideration of it for an answer in the words immediately following he calls upon them to search into their antiquities to reflect upon their original and their progress Remember saith he the days of old and consider the years of many generations Ask thy Fathers and they will tell thee thy Elders and they will shew thee And now I say unto you Have you not heard long ago how he hath done it and of ancient days how he hath formed it How he hath formed the state of this Island and reformed it how he never gave over working hewing and fabricating the inhabitants thereof till he had framed them into a glorious Christian Kingdom from a most barbarons savage scattered heathen people How oft did the Almighty Potter bring the stubborn matter to the wheel overturning overturning overturning To civilize the Britains he brought in the Romans then tried the Britains again When that would not frame to his hand he brought in the Saxons and upon them the Danes then tried the Saxons again and lastly he brought in the Normans nations oâ— various tempers customs religions languages caused nation to rise against nation c. he committed them one with another and among themselves he mixed and blended them by many a terrible combat and collision he polish'd the roughness of them by the leaven of the Gospel he fermented and matured and sweetned them till by his powerful word light was brought out of darkness out of a multitude of disorders and confusions sprang forth a noble well-tempered form of Government System of Laws Civil Ecclesiastical equal at least to those of any other people harmoniously conspiring if
out how could he have been restored not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of our God It may be this was done that we might say no more The Lord liveth which delivered us from the Treason of pretended Catholicks but The Lord liveth which hath delivered us from the Tyranny and blood rage of the wild Fanatical Enthusiasts Surely all these things have been permitted that the Stone which the Builders refused might be made tried and precious and that his Patience his Piety his Constancy in Religion his Christian Magnanimity being manifest to all the World by the impatient desire of all Nations he might become the head of the Corner Surely these things were suffered that the Faith and Patience and Loyalty of the Church of England might be made bright and glorious by the Flames of Persecution and that in the day when God shall have given our most Gracious Sovereign the hearts or necks of all his Enemies it may not repent him of the Kindness he hath shewn to Religion and Government in lifting out of the dust the despised Head of that only Church for ought I know which makes Obedience without base restrictions and limitations an Article of its Religion Lastly these things it may be have been permitted that by the Triumph of this day and by the vengeance lately executed in the sight of this Sun the Atheistical world might be convinced that the Powers that be are ordained of God and that though the wicked do evil an hundred times and God prolong their days yet Vengeance is his and he will repay it and They that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation FINIS Against the Antiscripturists A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL February 20. 1669 70. BY SETH Lord Bishop of Sarum Printed by His Majesties Special Command LONDON Printed by A. C. for Iames Collins at the Kings Arms within Ludgate near St. Pauls 1672. Against the Antiscripturists 2 Tim. iii. 16. All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God IN the verse preceding it is said concerning the Scriptures of the old Testament that they are able to make a man wise unto salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the faith which is in Iesus Christ And it follows immediately All Scripture c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Faith is often by a Metonymy taken for the Gospel which is the Object of the Faith of Christians We read often of the Preaching and Hearing of Faith of the Analogy of Faith the common Faith which was once delivered to the Saints in the preaching of Christ and the Writings of his Evangelists and Apostles and so I conceive it is to be taken in this place So that the meaning of the whole is this The Old Testament understood and expounded according to the Analogy of the New is able to make a man wise And the Pen-men of the Canonical Books of the Old Testament wherein Timothy had been instructed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of the Books of the New Testament which except those of St. Iohn were extant before the writing of this Epistle were inspired and directed by the Spirit of God The words of the Text are an entire Proposition asserting the Divine Authority of the Canon of Scripture and my endeavour shall be at this time to prove the truth of that Proposition Wherein that I may proceed with all plainness and clearness I shall premise two words by way of Petition Precaution 1. By way of Petition I suppose and take for granted 1. The great principle of the power of God and his providence in governing the world 2. That our Body of Canonical Books of the Old Testament is the same with that which was in Use in the time of Christ and his Apostles And our body of the New Testament the same which was anciently received in the Church So that what shall be proved of those is applicable to the Original Scripture used in our time 3. That those Books of New Testament whose Authors were not anciently questioned were written by those Authors whose name they bear And that those few others which were sometimes questioned by some particular Churches and afterward Universally received contain in them no one point of Faith or Manners dissentient from the Contents of those Books which were never questioned 2. By way of Precaution and Admonition I must intreat you to take notice that I shall not now meddle with the Controversies concerning Apocrypha Translations Keri and Chetib Hebrew points various Lections dubious Authors or parts of Scripture But my endeavour at this time shall be to Assert the Divine Authority of the body and substance of the Original Books of the Canon of the Old and New Testament And this not in the way of common place but in a particular Examination or Refutation of the most dangerous Opinions of the Antiscripturists which are these I. Of those who pretend to believe the truth of the New Testament and yet they deny the Divine Authority of the Old II. Of those who pretend to believe the truth but deny the Divine Authority of the New Testament III. Of such as pretâ—nd to believe matters of Fact to have been truly related in the New Testament but do not believe the truth of the Doctrinal parts relating to Faith and Manners IV. Such as deny the truth of the Relation of matters of Fact in the New Testament and in consequence reject the whole Body of Scripture Of these as briefly and plainly as I can I. The first Opinion is of those who pretending to believe the Truth of the New Testament deny the Divine Authority of the Old Testament The Severians and the Manichâ—es Basilides and Carpâ—â—rates of old The Catabaptists of later times some Anabâ—ptiâ—ts is Antinomians and other Fanatical Sectaries amongst our â—elves In opposition to these I shall shew that supposing the truth of the New Testament the Divine Authority of the Old Testament is to be acknowledged Because the Divine Authority of the Old Testament is asserted by Christ and his Evangelists and Apostles in the New 1. Next to the Redemption of the world the great business which Christ had to do upon Earth was to Convince men that he was the Messias and so to assert his Legislative Authority And the great Argument which he used for the conviction of the world was this All the Marks and the entire Character of the Messiah and of his Actions and Passions were prefigured and foretold by the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms i. e. in the Volume of the Old Testament And all things foretold or prefigured concerning the Messiah were accomplished by himself So that though the great Works of Christ and the purity and excellency of his Doctrine and of his Life were of themselves sufficient to justifie the Introduction of his Law into the World yet he was pleased to resolve as it were his own Authority into the Divine Authority of the Old Testament and to make use of those otheâ—
honourable women against them The instances of their malicious opposition in all ages of the Church are so many as are not to be numbred in a few Minutes but would require many days only to name them They first stirred up Nero to persecute the Christians they contrived the death of Polycarpus they stood by and insulted over the dying Martyrs in a word whoever shall read the stories of primitive times he will find that the Jews were generally the Setters and Informers against the Martyrs and the Brokers for their Goods after execution And the Histories of our own and other Nations will shew us the height of their malice and the continuance of it Now beside the little Nation of the Jews the rest of the whole world when this History began to be published and the Books written were Heathen universally devoted to the Devil whom therefore our Saviour styles the Prince of this world And now that feud which had depended betwixt the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the woman 4000 years was by the preaching and writing of these things brought to a Crisis The professed and declared design of the Gospel was to drive the Devil out of his Dominion notwithstanding the antiquity of his possession theuniversality of his Church and the consent of all Nations whereby he held his title Notwithstanding his Empire was supported by Governours and Laws and fortified by the Arms and actual strength of all the world he saw that if the Gospel were not suppressed a little time would spoil the pride of all his glory that in a moment he should fall like lightning from Heaven That he should be exorcised out of the bodies which he possessed That his famous Oracles should soon be put to silence his gorgeous Temples and Images should be torn down his Mysteries and lying wonders set at nought That Prayers and Vows would be made to him no more and he should cease to be celebrated in the Songs of his Poets and Hymns of his Hierophantae That his revelling Festivals would be turned to mourning no more gifts would be presented no beasts nor children women or men sacrificed upon his Altars The Contention was de rerum summa pro◠aris focis and his rage was kindled accordingly He summons together all his wiles and stratagems he musters all his forces he sounds an Alarm to the world stirs up young and old rich and poor all ages sexes conditions the people wise and unwise the Common Souldiers and Commanders Counsellors and Judges Senate and Emperors by suppressing these Books and destroying the Believers of them to erase the memory of the Gospel and abolish it for ever The people were enraged against the Believers as against the common Enemy of mankind and pro solenni suo they slandered them with unthought of wickedness they imputed to them all the calamities of the world And required them to death Si Tiberis ascendit in moenia Christianos ad Leones Against these Books the Learned employed their Learning and the Witty employed their Wit Celsus Porphyrius Iamblichus Hierocles and other Philosophers endeavoured to dispute them out of the world Symmachus and Libanius and other Rhetors to declaim them away Iulian and Lucian and other Scoptick wits endeavoured to jeer and droll away the credit of them Mean while the Senators and Lawyers employ themselves to destroy the Books by stretching against them the ancient Laws against bringing in Foreign Religions and against Magical and Fatidical Books and to destroy Books and Believers by New Laws made for that purpose against Combinations Hetaeriae Sacriledge Treason the Law that none should buy or sell or draw water without Thurification to the Gods and the like By force of these they persecute the Believers as Enemies to the Commonwealth and Traytors to the Emperour as sacrilegious persons and contemners of Religion The people sometimes rising upon them without any edict sometimes by virtue of Edicts Imperial or Proconsular From the beginning of the Gospel to the end of Dioclesian and Maximian this was the state of Believers Their Scriptures were forbidden to be read and required to be burned their Oratories and obscure Churches were pulled in pieces their Estates were plundered and confiscate their bodies were imprisoned and tormented Fire and Sword hot Iron Chairs and Coffins Gridirons◠and Cauldrons Hooks Stakes and Gibbets the Teeth of Lyons and Tygers c. were their portion It cannot be shewed that ever any Book or story met with equal Opposition 2. Consider then how it prevailed how quickly and largely how deeply and effectually although the Precepts were not contrived to sollicit the Affections nor the Doctrines to court the Reason of men At one Sermon of Peter three thousand at another five thousand were converted Within a few years after the Death of Christ we find by St. Peter that the Gospel was preached throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia Bithynia and Paul had planted it from Ierusalem round about to Illyricum Besides what was done by other Apostles in the Provinces assigned them at the Council of Ierusalem Within sixty six years this grain of Mustard seed was become a Tree Pliny Proconsul of Bithynia to whom the care of Religion ex officio did appertein appointed by Trajan to suppress the Christians he writes to him that this Belief was Longè lateque diffusa Civitates Vicos Agros impletos Christi cultoribus During the second Century it had shot out great branches the boughs of this Tree were stretched out Hesterni sumus vestra omnia implevimus Tertullian reckons up the known parts of the World in quibus omnibus Christi nomen regnat and concludes ubique porrigitur creditur colitur regnat adoratur And lastly During the third à morte Christi the Fowls of the air and Beasts of the field lodged under the shadow of it The Net drew good and bad to shore the Roman Emperour and Empire declared themselves Christians i. e. Believers and Assertors of these Books So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed It went on conquering and to conquer not by the Spirit of the Sword but by the Sword of the Spirit the powers of the Earth and the gates of Hell could not withstand it it drove the Devil away with all his Temples Idols Oracles Priests Sacrifices Services like lightning So fell the Dragon◠the old Serpent that deceived the World he was cast out with all his train So fell Lucifer the Son of the morn his Friends and his Followers lamenting How art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer the Son of the morning Desolata Templa rarissimus Victimarum emptor Some complain of people forsaking of the Gods others of the Gods forsaking their Oracles and Temples and becoming useless to the World He said I will ascend into Heaven and exalt my Throne above the Stars but he was soon brought down to Hell For the Gospel like Leaven or Fire
be we may perhaps hear of that which may meet with and remove the prejudice and imposture that is upon us It is neither our Negligence nor Infidelity that will make void the Truth of God Whether we will hear or Whether we will forbear the Words which I have read remain firm and unalterable and they clearly contain these Propositions 1. There is a Judgment to come 2. Thou shall be brought to Judgment 3. God will bring thee to Judgment 4. God will bring thee to Judgment for these things the ways of thy heart c. 5. God will bring thee to Judgment for All these things 6. All this is certain and evident for it is not think or believe but Know that for all these things God will bring thee to Iudgment I. First then There is a Iudgment to come This is no Politick invention found out to fright thee from thy pleasures this is no Engine of State devised to keep you in a subordination to your Brethren this is no vain Thunder or foolish fire to affright you in to a blind obedience but it is the Tenor of the Scripture of the voyce of God King Agrippa believest thou the the Prophets I know that thou believest saith St. Paul Brethren do we believe the Scriptures I hope we do believe them This we do all profess to believe so often as we repeat our Creed and I hope the dissolution of our times has not yet shatter'd that foundation of our faith the ground work of our hopes even the Salvation of our souls Surely there are rewards for men doubtless there is a God which judgeth the earth What though the foundations of the world be out of course the pillar of Faith remains unshaken the Rod of the ungodly shall not for ever rest upon the back of the righteous I desire to make a little use of your faith for that which anon will be obtained from your reason There is a Judgment to come it 's as sure as death nay far surer they shall be judged which shall not dy they have been judged which could not dy the one at the end the other at the beginning of the world There is a Particular and a General Judgment the one at the dissolution of the lesser the other of the greater world the one at the hour of death the other at the day of Judgment A Judgment I say a strict examination an exact account a severe sentence words which make no thundring noise or tragical sound and so they may pass our hardned hearts without any motion wherefore let us judge of the tenor and moment of them by their antecedent signs Before one of them the evil days come The other is called the evil day Before one Solomon tells us that the Sun and the Moon and the Light and the Stars shall be darkned Before the other a greater than Solomon tells us that the Sun shall be turned into Darkness and the Moon into Bloud and the Stars shall fall from Heaven Before one the Keepers of the House shall tremble and the Strong men bow themselves Before the other the Mountains shall quake and the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken Before one we shall rise at the voyce of the Bird Before the other at the sound of the Trumpet Before one the silver Cord shall be loosed and the golden Bowl broken and the Pitcher broken at the Fountain and the wheel broken at the Cistern Before the other the silver Zone of the ecliptick and the golden Globe of the Sun the Orbs and the Vortices shall be confounded the wheel within a wheel the Heavens shall be rivel'd as a scrowl of Parchment and the Earth and the Elements shall melt away with fervant heat In the one the dust shall return to the earth as it was and and the spirit to God that gave it At the other the dust shall return from the earth to be as it was and the spirit from God that gave it Come now and let us reason together Are all these the fore-runners and symptomes of approaching Judgment then why art thou so drowsâ—e O my careless soul and why are thou so secure within me What strange Lethargy hath seised on thee Awake thou that sleepest and Christ shall give the light The time of thy dissolution is coming and after death the Judgment Retire therefore a while into thy self and commune with thy heart Enter thou into thy Closet and shut thy Door upon thee Let us examine our selves before we come to that strict Examen Let us make a Judgment of our expectation before we come to Judgment Do we believe a Judgment will come Then how are we provided against that Day Are our accounts ready Art thou able to stand in Judgment Shalt thou be clear when thou art judged When Paul reasoned before Felix concerning the Iudgment to come Felix trembled and because it was an unpleasant argument he put him off to anâ—ther time There is no doubt but our treacherous hearts would gladly put off these Considerations and deferr them to a more convenient season Nay but there is no time so convenient as the present when we are wrought into some apprehension of Judgment if we stay till our present thoughts are over we shall again be brought to lose the apprehension to forget the import and moment of the Judgment we shall come again to hear the Name thereof and to neglect it as an idle Noise and empty Sound Let us therefore not neglect this opportunity Let us search our seleves to the bottom Let us make a discovery of our final Resolution and secret Reserves in reference to Judgment We profess openly to believe that Christ shall come with Glory to judge both the Quick and Dead What are our inward thoughts in that particular and how are we provided against the Day of Judgment There is a Judgment to come that Judgment terrible the Examination strict the Condemnation insupportable and most of us utterly unprovided yet for all this it 's possible it may be avoyded All these things are true in Judgments here below and we see the proof of them at every Assizes yet all Offenders are not brought to Judgment but many Thieves and Murderers escape it It may be thus in the Judgment to come it 's possible it may be avoidable A miserable hope if this be all for Thon shalt be brought to Iudgment That 's the second Proposition And it contains the Universality or Particularity of the Judgment which you please thou and every man singuli generum genera singulorum all sorts of men and every man of every sort from Him that sitteth on the Throne to Her that grindeth in the Mill For we must all appear before the Iudgment-seat of Christ. It is appointed for all men once to dy and after death the Iudgment Death shall deliver up our Souls to the first and death shall deliver up our Bodies to the second Judgment The Grave shall deliver up her
freedom in his actions and if so he deserves either good or evil and if there be deserts there must be rewards and if there be rewards there must be a Judgment So then so sure as thou art an understanding creature so sure there is a Judgment to come Once more Reward is answerable to desert and desert is only in what is free and what is free in man is the ways of his heart wherefore they are to be brought to Judgment and if any then all for no reason can be fancied why some should be brought to Judgment and others not Wherefore if it be sure that God is in Heaven and that Man hath an understanding soul then it is also sure that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment that God shall bring to judgment every secret thing And now how sure and evident are these things more sure and more plain if we will attend than any other truths in the world for there is not any known truth which doth not evict the truth of these things We know a truth because we plainly and evidently understand the composition or division of the notions in a Proposition or the Deduction of a Proposition from some others therefore if we know any truth we presuppose that we have souls which understand the notions of things and if souls which understand these notions then to be sure they are not bodies no combination of fire and air and earth and waâ—er no disposition of insensible atomes can cause the subject to apprehend and judge to reason and discourse and if they be no bodies then they are not subject to corruption It is evident therefore that our souls are understanding and also immortal deserving and capable of future Judgment And as evident it is also that there is a soveraign Power a God that governs and will Judge the Earth This is not a Rhetorical undertaking but a just an measured truth there is not any thing in the world from whence these two may not be plainly and evidently evicted viz. a Godhead from the Creature and thine own Immortality from the discovery of a Godhead The world which thou seest had it a beginning or had it not if it had a beginning he is thy God that made it if it had no beginning then there are past as many myriads of years as minutes of time which is infinitely more absurd to grant than to say thou hast as many hands as fingers as many wholes as parts If then at any time we find our selves to doubt of these things it is not because we are the beaux esprits or forts esprits our doubting proceeds from dulness and the want of that strong reason to which we do pretend the things are certain in themselves and evident He is not far from any one of us in whom we live and move and have our being and the Light of nature discovered our Immortality not only to Philosophers but even to the Heathen Poets to him that sung to us that We are also his off-spring So that now thy pretences are all taken off and every imposture of the heart discovered Return then once again into thy bosome and take account of thy apprehensions The day of the Lord is coming and stealing upon thee as a thief in the night the day of Judgment the great and terrible day A day of darkness and of gloominess a day of a whirlwind and a tempest a day of anguish and tribulation Where wilt thou hide thy self O that 's impossible Where shall we go then from his presence shall we call to the Mountains to fall upon us How wilt thou appear O that 's intolerable for our God is a consuming fire What wilt thou do when the day of Judgment comes and this may be the hour this minute thou mayest be smitten and hurried hence to Judgment Thousands have fallen besides us and ten thousands at our right hand and why may not we be next The time of our particular Judgment cannot be far away and why may we not reasonably apprehend the approach of the General Judgment either of this World or at leastwise of this sinful Nation Our Lord Christ indeed tells us that of the day and hour of the final Judgment Knoweth no man Yet he hath given us the signs of his coming The Apostles have left us Characters of the last days the Prophets have declared the manner and apparatus of the coming of the Lord to Judgment We read that when the Disciples admired the stones and the buildings of Herod's Temple at Ierusalem Christ told them That the day was coming when there should not be left one stone upon another upon this the Disciples ask him privately three Questions 1. When shall these things be 2. What shall be the sign of thy second coming And 3. of the end of the World As for the precise moment of these things he denies to tell it them Nay he professes that as he was the Son of Man he did not know it But for the other two he condescends to their curiosity he tells them the signs of his coming and of the end of the World and that they shall be such as these You shall hear saith he Matth 24. of Wars and rumours of Wars Nation rising against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdâ—m There shall be Traytors and false Prophets Saying Lo here is Christ Behold a new Messias in the Wilderness Lo there is Christ Behold he is at a Conventicle in the secret Chambers He tells us that iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall wax cold that he shall hardly find faith on the earth as it was in the dayes of Noe they ate they drank till the floud came and swept them all away so shall the coming of the Son of Man be He tells us Luke â—1 there shall be Famines and Earthquakes Pestilence and fearful sights great signs from Heaven in the Earth distress of Nations great perplexities the Sea and Waves roaring Mens hearts failing them for fear looking after those things that are coming upon the Earth Concerning the last dayes St. Paul tells us that there shall be perilous times that on one hand there shall be a sort of men that shall be lovers of themselves Covetous Proud Boasters Ranters and Blasphemers On the other hand there shall be a Race of heady high minded Traytors having a form of godliness creeping into houses leading captive silly women They shall despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities they shall be Separatists from the Church and false pretenders to the Spirit These saith St. Iude are they that separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit St. Peter tells us that in the last times there should be a loose prophane a bold Atheistical Gigantick race of scoffers walking after their own lusts saying Where is this God of Iudgment let him make speed and hasten his work that wâ— may see it Where is the promise his of coming since the fathers
fell asleep all things continue as they were before And for the manner and Apparatus of his coming Our God shall come saith the Psalmist and shall not keep silence there shall go before him a devouring fire and a mighty Tempest shall be stirred up round about him Behold the Lord will come with fire saith the Prophet and with his Chariots like a Whirlwind to render his aâ—ger with fury and his rebukes with flames of fire The streams of Zion shall be turned into Pitch and the dust thereof into Brimstone the Earth thereof shall be burning Pitch the smoke thereof shall ascend day and night and shall not be quenched compare Revel 6. with Esai 34. The Kings of the Earth shall tremble the Captains and the mighty shall be horribly afraid the great men and the rich men shall hide themselves all the bond-men and all the freemen shall fly to the Rocks of the Mountains And soon after all this The Heavens shall be rivel'd as a scrowl the Earth and the Elements shall melt away for God shall arise to judge terribly the Earth Have not all these things come upon us the men of this Generation Is it weakness is it a vain and superstitious scrupulosity to call these things to our remembrance Have we no reason at all to apprehend the approach of a General Judgment either upon the World or upon our sinful Nation Do we not now envy those despised souls which have made their accounts ready We thought it madness to see them pine away with poenitential exercises and macerate themselves with mourning We thought it folly which they called Conscience for which they denyed themselves the pleasures and enjoyments of the World We fools counted their life madness and their latter end to be without honour But the time is coming when they shall be comforted and we shall be tormented Because he hath called and we have refused he hath stretched out his hand and we have not regarded He will laugh at our calamity and mock when our fear cometh When our destruction cometh as a Whirlwind when distress and anguish comes upon us May we not therefore give up our selves to the torments of our hearts and surrender up our souls unto Despair so Israel said there is no hope we will follow every one the devices of his heart after 20 30 or 40. years continuance in our courses 't is in vain to think of turning from them Our arrears are so far gone that there is no hope to discharge them and why should we trouble our selves with the thoughts of our Account Nay that which must come let it come and what is a few days respite to Eternity Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye Let us go forth as at other times and shake our selves and scatter these troublesom apprehensions of future Judgment What if we should drink a little to drive away Melancholy Yes and fall perhaps and spew and rise no more Nay but I beseech you stay a little and consider consider at least in this your day the things which belong to your peace It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Who among us can dwell with a devouring fire Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings Such careless and desperate resolutions are the advantages which the Devil aims at that he may â—ear our Consciences and seal us up in a final obduration But there is another kind of advantage which God and our Lord Christ and the Holy Spirit and the Gospel and the Ministers aim at That advantage which I told you of in the beginning of my Discourse That knowing the terror of the Lord they may perswade men And now what is it that they would perswade us that we will be contented to part with the tormenting fears of Judgment that we will condescend not to be miserable to all Eternity That we will accept of deliverance from the wrath to come that we will not neglect so great salvation nor trample on the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Behold God calls upon us Turn you turn you at my reproof why will you dye O House of Israel As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of siâ—ners Our Lord Christ calls upon us Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you In the last day of the Fâ—ast of â— abâ—â—â—acles he stood and cried Saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink The Spirit sayes come and whoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely The Gospel assures us That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life Behold I â— set before you this day life and death blessing and cursing and as an unworthy Ambassadour in Christ's stead I pray you be reconciled to God take his yoke upon you his yoke is easie and his burden light embrace now the tender of the Gospel only repent and believe in the Lord Jesus accept him for your Saviour and your Lord. Your Prophet to instruct you your King to govern you your Priest to save you and you shall be saved Saved from the fears and horrours of a Guilty Conscience condemned by its own witness Saved from the wrath of God and of the Lamb. You shall meet the Lord with Confidence We shall be able to stand with boldness in the Judgment to lift up our heads with joy because our redemption draweth near This is the way to save our own souls from perishing which is the General design of all our Preaching And this is the way to appease the wrath which is gone out against us and to preserve our Nation from destruction which is the particular and more immediate end of our present Humiliation whereof I am yet to speak THe hand indeed of the Lord hath been heavy upon us his wrath hath been kindled it hath waxed hot against the Sheep of his pasture and he hath plagued our Nation very sore His Judgments have been multiplied his strokes have been redoubled and for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still Wars and Pestilences and those other fore-runners of Christ's coming to Judgment have been seen and felt amongst us and now when these have not been able to prevail To awaken a drowsie people to rowse up a Lethargic Nation to ferment a people setled upon their Lees God has made a new thing in the midst of us he hath wrought a work in our dayes which makes the ears of all that hear it to tingle A work not to be parallel'd perhaps in all the circumstances since the Creation of the World How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of our Zion with a cloud in his anger and hath cast down from Heaven to Earth the beauty of Israel and remembred not his footstool in the Day of his Anger