and yet you dare even then be vain and frothy you know the Lord is much grieved at the backslidings of his people and yet you have lost you antient faith love tenderness zeal publick-spiritedness and communion with God yea you have not only known these to be sins but you have spoken against them as evils you have told men how hainous a thing it is to sin against the Lord and yet you your selves have added iniquity unto iniquity What cloak have you for your sins And very impenitently Fourthly You have sinned impenitently notwithstanding all means for your repentance and reducement which God hath most wonderfully vouchsafed you The Lord hath for many years striven with you to put a stop to your sins and to reclaim you from your miscarriages Sometimes God hath gone up to Mount Ebal and threatned you with Sword Famine Fire and Pestilence and yet you have refused to hear from thence he hath leapt up to Mount Gerazim and allured you by all kind of blessings and yet you have carried your selves stoutly and impudently towards all the offers and tenders of grace for your recovery Jer. 3.4 7. God would have healed you he hath said wilt thou not from this time cry unto me my Father thou art the guide of my youth turn thou unto me yet you returned not You have had many of the Lords faithful Ambassadours who have laid siege at you hearts to engage them to the Lord and to take you off from your sinfull wayes but alas all the glad tidings of mercy have not affected you have not won you all the Ordinances of Jehovah have found little place in you have left no impre â—ion upon your Souls Ezek. 16.51 Hos 4.17 You have justified Judah and Samaria in all their stubborness and rebellion against the Lord. How righteous is it with the Lord to call upon the Ministers Let them alone threaten them no moâ—e promise them no more Rev. 22.11 Let him that is filthy he filthy still you have broken through Armies of Ordinances to commit sin therefore Gospel and Gospel-Ministers let them alone judgements overtake them my plagues my curses seize upon them Let them suddenly be destroyed Prov. 29.1 and that without remedy because they have hardned their necks though often reproved God hath waited more than three and three years on you expecting fruit but he sees little save the Clusters of Sodom upon you he hath born with you so long he hath held his tongue and said nothing so long that you have wickedly thought God to be such an one as you Psal 50.21 So that God must needs be a swift witness against you for the vindicating of his great and glorious Name unless you speedily repent and seek the Lord Zeph. 2.3 if perhaps he may be found O! how long hath God commanded you every where to repent not only by his threats but by his judgements which have begun at the House of God What lowd calls have we had Joel 2.11 1 Pet. 5.6 Turn to the Lord with weeping Let your laughter be turned into weeping Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God and yet how stupid how insensible how impenitent have you remained to this very day though you have felt the Arrows of the Lord stying amongst you yea though you have been told Jer. 18.8 If you repent it shall repent the Lord of the evil he had thought either to continue upon you or to bring down on you yet alas where are the stirrings of your affections the soundings of your bowell the meltings and relentings of your repenting hearts O what marble breasts and hearts of Adamant have you How few are there mourning for all the wrongs they have done to the Majesty of God Evidenced in their being infensible of their own sins for all the abuses offered to the grace of God Perhaps the fear of Hell and so indeed self-love hath humbled some Ahabs and made them crouch because they would not be miserable But how few are humbled for their abuse of the love and grace of God by their great offences Whaâ— the Lord complains of by the Prophet Ezekiel Ezek. 3.8 of the house of Israel that they would not hearken to the Messengers be sent them but were impudent and hard hearted may be again renewed against England and all its dominions the heart of stone is not yet taken away where is the man almost that can say God hath made mâ— heart soft Job 2â— 16 Though you have born arms against God though you have sinned against the Lord with an high hand though upon self-tryal you may sind those very sins amâ—ngst you which brought Fire and Brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah Psal 42.3 and desolation on Israel yet alas when were tears thy drink When didst thou make thy Bed to swim Is thy beauty gone away for trouble Dost thou abhor thy self in dust and ashes before the Lord Know Reader that the Authors Pen had proceeded thus far before he heard of the late dreadful Burning of London the following lines shew thee what impressions it made on his thoughts and should on thy Soul Perhaps in Rama there is a voice heard Lamentation and weeping and great mourning Rachel weeping for her children that dye by the Sword or Pestilence or are burnt in their beds Perhaps in London and throughout the Land there are some tears shed for the Coals of fire that God hath scattered the last week over that famous and antient City But how few are mourning for their pride worldliness contempt of the Ministers and Apostasies for which God seems to be contending not only by the Sword and the Pestilence but by Fire with us where are the Dovâ—s of the Valleys all of them mourning every one for his iniquity A â—haraoh may so far repent as to say Take away the Plague but few cry out Take away iniquity Few detest their sins few loath them few are so burthened with them as that they desire heartily to have them taken away Possibly Sin in its effects in its sad consequences as it consines men to the Pest-house as it endangereth health and life as it is the founder of graves and hells as it burns up your houses and goods is someway burthensom but few are troubled with it Ezek. 10.2.7.16 Hos 14.2 as it grieves resisteth and quencheth the Spirit of God as it is a piece of the highest ingratitude and as it kicks against the breasts of mercy And therefore no wonder if Few are to be found mourning for other mens sinnes Though Jesus Christ be crucified afresh Of other mens sins and put to open shame though the blessed Spirit of our God be always vexed and resisted though there be so much Atheism Epicurism contempt of God and his Ambassadours and Gospel Blasphemy Violence Falshood Pride Adultery Sodomy though there be setting up the posts of men with an apparent contempt of Gods holy
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
low-spirited and selfish we are Are not we exceedingly pleased at the flowers that are spread upon our dead Corps Though the praises be not due to us yet how do we drink them in as the Hart doth water 19. How Magisterial have we been Being Dictatours to others What great Dictatours to others as if all were bound to dance after us We will not abate at all but every poor Mordecai must do obeysance to our opinion 20. How are we guilty of despising Despising others yea scorning those that are as we think below us in Birth in Estate in Power in Parts and Gifts yea in graces Isa 58.9 How do we evidence our slighting of them in our looks in our words in our gestures and behaviours Pride saith one is a bad Mother of many bad Children these three especially boasting of our selves contending with and despising of others Job 35.6 How unlike are we herein unto God Behold God is mighty i. e. most mighty most great the positive is put for the superlative degree and yet he despiseth not any i. e. any of those who have no might no greatness yea how do we herein reproach our Maker God saith one made every man an object of respect or pity 't is Pride that makes any the objects of contempt Prov. 17.5 and in them their Maker Who so mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker 21. unwilling to confess their faults unto others How few will confess their faults unto others Perhaps they will reform but hate it to the death to go and acknowledge their trespasses to others whom 't is clear and proved they have trespassed against How many have you injured by tale-bearing backbiting c. Must not God work a miracle to perswade us to make reistitution to go to the parties wronged and confess the wrong there and then to go from house to house to vindicate and clear the party there where before we had wickedly stained and aspersed him This makes me cry out Lord who shall be saved Lord many are called but few are chosen 22. Reproving haughtily Isa 3.5 When we go about that too too much neglected duty of fraternal correption how loftily do we manage it How do our words yea looks and gestures evidence our haughtiness The Child behaveth himself proudly against the Ancient Vindicating themselvs maliciously 23. What a stirr what a noise do we make to vindicate our selves when aspersed and calumniated Whereas the humble Soul would never stirr to clear himself as knowing how much guilt and sin there is within were it not for the honour of God and the edification of the Lords people which may be hindred if prejudices and unjust reproaches be not removed Alas most men study revenges and like the Grave are unsatiable in their malicious vindications 24. Being bloudily minded toward their dissenting Brethren How bitter have we been against dissenting Brethren Would we not have cast them out of the Land if we might have had our wills Did not we talk of shipping away all that would not submit to our way of worship Did not we count them who were divided in circumstances and ceremonies from us like Dogs and Pagans unfit to subsist among us No wonder if for these things God make us a shame and a derision a Proverb and a by-word to all the Nations round about us O! our Pride testifies to our faces we are guilty of what brought down fire on Sodom This is the sin that God setteth himself in battel-array against Jam. 4.6 so the word for resisting in that Scripture God resisteth the proud signifieth 'T is that which makes God abhor us and our offerings Prov. 16.5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Believe it Gods eyes are upon the haughty that he may bring them down and he watcheth his opportunity to do it Psa 38.6 The Lord knoweth the proud afar off When God meets with a spectacle that he cannot endure to look upon he turns from it whilst it is afarr off What shall I say Pride is the first of those seven things Prov. 6.17 which are an abomination to the Lord. And no wonder that God so loatheth it whilst it crosseth the great design of God in the Gospel which is to humble the mountains 1 Cor. 1.29 31. that no flesh should glory in his presence but that he that glorieth should glory only in the Lord. CHAP. XXII Their Intemperance in Eating THough Pride was the first spark that blow'd up the glory of Sodom Professors Fulness of Bread yet there was also Fulness of Bread that made the flame the greater Behold This was the iniquity of thy Sister Sodom Ezek. 16.49 Pride Fulness of Bread c. Their Pride was evidenced in their Fulness of Bread as the Cause in its Effect The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to be temperate is as one well observes applyed frequently to the Mind in opposition to Pride because Sobriety proceeds from an humble sense that nothing is ours but all that we have is Gods and all Intemperance is commonly the issue of a proud Spirit which makes men look on themselves as Owners and all Creatures as their proper Goods which are perfectly at their disposal Hence the Crown of Pride Isa 28.1 3. and the Drunkards of Ephraim are both names for the same persons And is not our Pride evidenced in our Fulness of Bread Sodoms intemperance in eating not to insist on intemperance in drinking was very great but I fear Englands hath exceeded Sodoms I will not say all your labour is for the mouth Eccles 6.7 as Solomon complains and yet the appetite is not filled but this I say that some live to eat some sacrifice all to the belly to some the belly is a God Few can displease their appetite like prophane Esau they part from their heritage from the blessing of the first-born for a mess of pottage for a little pleasure to the taste How will we deny our selves in respect of Life when we cannot deny our selves in respect of a little Meat As Heaven and God are low very low with them that cannot deny themselves in a little Iudian-Smoke in a Pipe in a cup of Liquor but will be immoderate in these though thereby they hazard the displeasure of God So are they very low with us if we cannot deny our selves in our Morsels All our ruine came in at this door that Adam ventured the displeasure of God to eat a little pleasant Fruit. A man would think Evidenced in their much eating that the wounds we received by the mouth should make us check our appetite all our dayes 1. How have we been guilty of eating too much A little would content Nature which hath therefore given us a little Mouth and Stomach to teach us saith an Ancient Moderation How have our hearts been overcharged with surfetting whilst wicked men with
own our Sins to be the Incendiaries Jer. 8.6 saying What have I done And What have I done to stop the mouths of so many of Gods faithful Ministers to unsheath the Sword to bring forth the destroying Angel to kindle the dreadful Fire in London Are there not such sins amongst us for which God hath plagued much people If secret sins of particular Persons have drawn down wrath on whole Nations Why not thy scandalous sins Say no more Such Opposition Oppression Idolatry uncleaness c. will bring in misery as an armed man but say there is danger lest God should make an utter end of poor England for my pride for my unthankfulness for my trusting in an Arm of flesh for my back-slidings O! how many have I caused to fall by the Sword and how many by the Pestilence And how many have I caused to be ruined by the Fire Verily if thou art guilty of no other sin save pride yet thou canst not clear thy self from being one of Englands Incendiaries O! how was the wrath of God upon Jerusalem and Judah because Hezekiah's heart was lifted up But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him 2 Chron. 32.25 for his heart was lifted up therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem 3. No Repentance no returns of mercy but more wrath Should not your hearts be broken for and from your sins seeing without repentance the mercies you are deprived of because of your sins will never be returned or not in mercy yea greater judgements will follow Unless you return unto God from whom you have departed God will not return unto your Souls If ye forsake him 2 Chron. 15.2 he will forsake you imports as much as if you continue to forsake him he will continue to forsake you If you repent not God will not return your liberties your trade his own Ordinances in purity and power or at least he will not return these or any other mercies you have sinned away in mercy But you may expect greater judgements than ever yet you saw to fall not only upon your selves and families but upon the Land Think not that they were the greatest sinners in England upon whom the Sword or Pestilence or Fire fell Remember Christs I tell you Nay Luk. 13.3 5. Luk. 6.25 but except you repent you shall all likewise perish Wo unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep And will you run the hazard of this dreadful Wo Will you run the hazarding of perishing all and altogether Is it not better to mourn now than to cry and howl in the pit of Hell for ever God hath determined within his own breast nay he hath expressed this to be his pleasure to the Children of men that sooner or later all shall mourn for sin either in this life or in the next And is it not better to feel the weight here than on a death bed or in Hell What said a Ruffian once when in the midst of his jovial Companions he clapt his hand on his breast and cryed out well one day I must know what a wounded Conscience meaneth God is resolute in this you shall one time or other find it an evil and bitter thing to provoke him And shall this consideration nothing move you I know this should not be the chief ground of your sorrow But yet Christ was no legal Preacher when he cryed out sin no more least a worse thing happen to you Go thou sluggard to the Ant provide in Summer for the Winter But O the great cheats that poor souls put upon themselves they hope though they repent not though they remain careless worldly c. yet others are not so careless as they though they fast not yet they hope some do though they spend not days in prayer they hope others do and they hope to fare the better for them This is like the Doctrine of Rome the Romanists teach that there are some opera paenalia some penitential works that you may have others to do for you and yet fare as well as if you did them your selves But for my part I shall as soon believe that I shall be cured of the stone in the bladder or of a filthy Leprosie by anothers taking Physick for me as that I shall be saved by anothers repentance O! what folly is this to take relief and sanctuary in others fervent Petitions and deprecations of wrath whilst thou thy self cryest out Soul take thine ease store is laid up for thee by others Alas how dost thou know what others are a doing Doe they blow the Trumpet when they go to fast the more likely it is that they be Hypocrites But hath not God said Ezek. 9.4 Go through the midst of the City through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark only upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof and again Son of man when the Land sinneth against me by transgressing grievously then will I stretch out mine hand upon it and will break the staff of the bread thereof and will send a famine upon it Ezek. 14.13 14. and will cut off man and beast from it Though these three men Noah Daniel and Job were in it they should deliver but their own Souls by their righteousness saith the Lord God 4. Impenitents lose all they do and suffer for God Should not your hearts be broken for and from your sins seeing so long as you are impenitent all you do and suffer for God is abominable in his sight Hardness of heart is a nasty disease it is like a Leprosie that makes all to shun a man If you had such a disease that all would abhor you would it not humble you to the very dust your impenitency makes you neither fit company for God nor his Saints you are loathsome in the sight of both whilst you are under so much guilt and yet insensible of it A tender broken hearted Christian is lovely in Gods and his peoples eyes but how ugly a sight is it to see a daring bold insensible sinner persisting in a course of sin without repentance If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes c. in his righteousness that he hath done shall he live c. But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness Ezek. 18.21 22 24. 2 Ep. of John v. 8. Gal. 3.4 Their persons are loathed and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned And is it nothing to you to lose the things you have wrought Is it nothing to suffer and to suffer so many things in vain 5. Should not your hearts be broken for and from your sins seeing so long as you are impenitent God doth not only