the whole earth And is this matter for you to scorn at Let me further tell you that please your selves in a scornfull spirit and in the out-going of it that delight your selves in your scorning and will not turn at Gods reproof by his Word and by his judgements by both which he loudly cals but ye refuse to answer he stretches out his hand but you will not regard but set at naught all his counsels and will none of his reproofs He also will laugh at your calamity and mock when your feare cometh Prov. 1. 24. and so forward and know as the Lord speaks by his Prophet Ezekiel chap. 7. These things have a reality in them and are not as an eccho the sounding againe of the mountaines While I am declaiming against such a Generation of men as is before mentioned I see cause to be under such a sad seizure as was holy David who gives us this account of himself Psalm 55. Psalm 119. Fearfulness and trembling did come upon him that horrour had taken hold of him and overwhelmed him and wherefore all this what was it that troubled him he tells us it was because of the wicked that had forsaken Gods Law By the way observe what a contrary spirit most men yea men professing Godliness are possessed with and acted by that can see and hear the abominable impieties committed in the Land and not be moved at all and is it not almost grown quite out of fashion to lay to heart other mens sins and high horrid provocations they think its well if they take any notice of their own but this is it I drive at It may well raise up wonder and astonishment to consider that any such persons should be found in this Nation after such a time of Gospel Light and Grace and plentifull means of Salvation which one might think would have levened the land all over and Sainted the whole Kingdom and as after such means so under such dispensations as at this day are ordered out that should bear so high and drive so desperately so furiously as many do in City and Country carring as if they would dare God to his face make a challenge to him and as it s said in Job 15. 20. They stretch out their hands against God and strengthen themselves against the Almighty they run upon him even on his neck upon the thick bosses of his bucklers such are men of high dareing spirits I should think it would do well for them to take up a little and when they are in their fullest career to make a stop and pause somewhat of consideration and moderation would not do amiss nor would I ever wish a man to provoke the Lord unless he first be sure of this that he is stronger then he for so the Apostle Paul argues 1 Cor. 10. 22. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousie are we stronger then he I would wish such kinde of persons to consider o◠Pharoachs case and Gods expostulation with him Exod 9. 17. As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people I will smite thee and thy people with pestilence c. If any shall reply and say but wha◠occasion is there thus to speak I answer it well known observed what cruel actings there are at this day on the part of under-officer against their fellow subjects such as perhaps hi◠Majesty and the Parliament would not so well like of as being supra statutum and that to a high degree But what is the day and dispensations of it that w◠speak of I answer It is not the day of Judgment the Doctrine whereof is the terrour of the Lord 2 Cor. 5. Concerning which I have often thought that arming our selves with that and other weapons of our spiritual Warfare which are not Carnal but Mighty through God we may be bold to encounter and graple with the proudest and stoutest of the sons of men upon the earth This Terrour of the Lord is that which where it comes in the power of it upon a defiled Conscience will make a man to be a Magor Missa bib i. e. a terrour to himself as Jeremiah speak Chap. This day of Judgment we all ought to be perswaded of and to be in a daily expectation of and preparation for But though this present day be not the day of Judgment yet it is a day of Judgment and many Preludiums there are both in Scripture and in the course of Providence which we may look upon as anticipations of that Great and Terrible day We have somthing signified to such a purpose in Psal 50. 3 4 5. verses Our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devoure before him and it shall be very tempestious round about him He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judg his people Gather my Saints together unto me those that have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice Where the Lord calls upon the sons of men from one end of the earth to the other and makes a general citation of them to gather themselves together he himself being upon a solemn appearance with devouring fire As for the present day I call it a day of Judgment the Lord whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem Esai 31. 9. hath kindled his fire and is heating his Furnace in England and London its good for us to strike while the Iron is hot we may be guided so to strike as that our Iron may be turned into Gold and by means of this firy furnace well improved many rusty Vessels may come forth as Vessels for the finer and fitted for the masters use We have these latter years had an account of many terrible Apparitions and Prodigies and other stupendious acts of providence which have caused much amazment and amuzment for the present But the impression of them are almost quite worn out the remembrance of them is past and gone and we are yet to seek as to a genuine interpretation of them There is Mistery Christ Mistery Gospel Mistery Zion Mistery Godliness Mistery Sin Mistery Babylon so is th Mistery Providence that God that hath his way in the Sanctuary hath his way in the Sea and his paths in the great Deeps and his footsteps are not known Psalm 77. the scriptures have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is things hard to be understood so hath the book of Providence there are Misterious Texts in it the holy Prophet found it so Psalm 73. It was dolor in Oculis in the study of which his eyes were made to water his head and heart to ake again And perceiving how apt he was to run upon dangerous mistakes he calls himself a Behemoth a foul beast and acknowledging his Ignorance and folly recovers himself and sees it to be his best course to draw neer to God and so he did and found the benefit and comfort of it to his dying day The sword of Warr hath lately been drawn and
on our left But thou hast not consum'd us all A Remnant thou hast kept Who trembling stood to see thy Wrath Thus to break forth and burn Not knowing but into th' same path With others they may turn But some from stroke of Pestilence Wholly preserved were Others who of thy stroke had sense From Grave thy Hand did reare Let such thus say with thankfull hearts Thy Fire Lord have we felt From being consum'd are set apart Us let it try and melt It 's meet for us to say to God Chastisement we have bore And having sinn'd have felt the rod Now we will sin no more What yet we know not teach us Lord And having sinn'd before To this we gladly will accord Hence forth to sin no more Thou Lord hast us delivered From Death and deadly thrall Our moistened Eyes from Tears we shed Our slyding Feet from fall When we did say our foot did slide We now are like to fall Thy goodnesse Lord did so provide To stay us up with all Except thou Lord hadst been our ayde Deaths darknesse to dispell Our Life and Soule had now been laid Almost as low as Hell And now our Souls since you are safe Return unto your Rest For largely lo the Lord to you His bounty hath exprest Before the Lord we in the Land Of Life will hence forth walk Submitting to his ruling hand His Laws we will not balk Among the Dead none doth none can Remember him one whit To sing his Praise there 's not a man in the Infernal Pit The living yea the living shall Him praise and eke his Truth The Fathers to their Children all Shall shew with Heart and Mouth The Lord was ready us to save And we our Songs will Sing And to his House being kept from Grave Our Offerings we will bring Amen To the Reader THE Author of this Letter hath expressed in one part of it that that which doth more specially concern the Families and Persons under the Pestilential stroke might be extracted and by one means or other transmitted to them and so coming in conjunction with Mr. Baxters papers might through the co-operation of divine Grace contribute somewhat to the promoting of their Spiritual and Eternal welfare We to whom the Letter was principally intended have judged it worthy in the whole to appear in Publick hoping it will have the same blessed effect upon others as upon our selves For the Author himself he is at a point not passing for mans day knowing that he who judgeth him is the Lord If the Letter had been circumscribed within the compasse of that number to which it was principally intended it would have pleased him well enough as for others who probably will frown upon it and lade it with their censures as he makes account they will Con him little thanks for it so he is not so low brought as to think himself beholding to them for their thanks And so if it must out out let it go and that 's all he hath to say C. B. S. H c. Amos 3. 8. THe Lion hath roared who will not fear the Lord God hath spoken who can but prophesie Micha 6. 9. The Lords voice cryeth unto the City and the man of wisdome shall see thy Name Hear yee the rod and who hath appointed it Prov. 11. 19 As righteousness tendeth to life so he that pursueth evill pursueth it to his own death Numb 32. 14. Behold you are risen up in your fathers stead an increase of sinfull men to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord towards Israel Numb 32 20 to 23. If yee will doe according to that which the Lord hath commanded this land shall be your possession before the Lord but if ye will not do so ye have sinned against the Lord and be sure your sinne will finde you out Levit. 26. 23 24 25. If ye will not be reformed by these things but will walk contrary to me then will I also walk contrary to you and will punish you yet seaven times for yours sinnes And I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrell of my Covenant and when ye are gathered together within your Cities I will send the Pestilence among you Read further vers 40 41 42. Esay 27. 4 5. Fury is not in me who would set the Bryers and Thornes against me in battell I will go thorow them I will burn them together or let him take hold of my strength that he may make peace with me and he shall make peace with me Heb. 10. 31. It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God Psal 116. 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are yours and yee are Christs and Christ is Gods Jerem. 15. 15 16. Take me not away in thy long suffering Know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke thy words were sound and I did eate them and thy word was to me the joy and rejoycing of my heart The Plague Check't OR Piety will either Prevent Or alter the Property of the PLAGUE Held forth together with Sundry other things in a Letter VVritten by a Friend to a Friend pouring out himself into his Bosome and opening his heart unto him concerning the present Times and Providences c. SOlomon tells us Prov. 19. v. 22. That the desire of a man is his kindness and that a poor man is better then a lyer A poor man that hath a reall and cordial desire to express his love to shew kindness to another but hath not power in his hand so to do is better then a rich man that doth perform according to the power that is in his hand somwhat that is beneficial to another but it is not from an inward affection and desire the actings of his hand are not from the inlarged desires and affections of his heart such a one is a lyer Give me leave to accomodate this to my self I am one of the poor men of Anathoth that have but little in mine hand two Mites or so to cast into the Treasury but have an enlarged heart and a lively desire to contribute to the Promoting of the Good and Welfare of all Why should not this be reckoned to me as my kindness and my self and actings in this way be accepted of you and others of my antient and dear Friends to whom I apply my self now in this Epistolary way according to what I have and not according to what I have not I do not now present you with a curious and finely composed Sermon nor with an elaborate Treatise the World is full of such Oh! that there were better use made of them more and better fruit springing up from them then appears at this day but this is a Lamentation and well
Religion and the things of Eternity and so the Letter turn to a good account This I desire to know He tell you upon what occasion I was told a very few days ago by a sober person that there are many and many of such a Spirit so debauched as that if any thing whether Sermon Treatise or ought else comes out in Print that discovers a friendliness to Religion and the ways of Holiness and gives a check though with much prudence and gentleness to the lusts of men and their sinfull exorbitances and exuberancies any thing that casts a friendly aspect upon the matters of God and Christ especially if it bears the name of such as are counted Fanaticks though otherwise Learned Sober Peaceable men that are devoted to the fearing of God and honouring of the King and are as Cordially and Conscientiously set to promote subjection to Magistrates higher or lower and against whom no thing in the world can be objected but this that they are not conforming they either rise up in strongest opposition to it and explode it or disparage it and lay it by as not worthy to be medled with but rather buried with scorn and contempt in silence adjudging it to perpetual darkness never to see the light Such a spirit of prophaness the Earl in his letter according to my apprehension and interpretation of it seems to be either fore apprehensive of or actually discovering if he were not I know that both he and we all have cause to reckon upon and be in expectation of it that men of such a spirit of prophaness should come both St. Peter 2 Epistle of Peter 2. and St. Jude in his Epistle by a prophetical spirit and by divine inspirment foretold that in the last days should come Scoffers and Mockers walking after their own Lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming such and so spirited from hell and the devil that they neither regard God his Precepts Promises or threatnings nor his judical actings and proceedings when his hand is lifted up they will not see nor minde it the works of the Lord and the opperation of his hands they will not have regard unto so is it prophesied and so is it and must it be fulfilled necessarily and that because it is so foretold and prophesied and I may say upon this occasion as our Saviour speaks Woe unto the world because of offences it is neceessary that offences come but woe be to them by whom they come so it is necessary that prophesies be fulfilled but woe be to them by whom such kind of prophesies are fulfilled for as much as while they not thinking of it fulfill what is foretold in a prophetical way they run quite cross to what is held forth in a preceptive way so run themselves upon eternal ruine as to such whoever wherever they be I shall take the boldness to say to them are you absolute and independent being not at all depending upon God hath he nothing to do with you have you nothing to do with him will you say as they said in Jeremiahs time Jeremiah the second We are Lords we will not come to thee or as Pharoah Who is the Lord that we should obey him are you at a point whether you be saved or damned whether you go to heaven or hell or do you count these things meer fancies that have no reality in them is it nothing to you at once to loose God and Christ your souls and that to all eternity Is it nothing to you of no signification with you to be for ever shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven and to be tumbled into Hell with the guilt of all your iniquities upon your Consciences when your iniquities shall be upon your bones as Ezekiel phraseth it and while others shall be Timber for the Building you shall be fuell for the burning and be sweltering for ever under the unsupportable weight of Gods wrath and endure the gnawing of the worm that shall never dye and the furius flames of a fire that shall never be quenched in a word how will your hearts indure and your hands be strong as Ezekiel expresses himself When the Lord Jesus shall appear with his mighty Angels in flaming fire as the Judge before whom you must be summoned and cited to appear and have the judgment of eternal Condemnation passe upon you by him who came at first cloathed with garments of Salvation with a Golden Scepter of Grace in his hand holding forth a pardon a Free-pardon to all that all might have the benefit of it that would take hold of it Are you resolved within your selves that neither God nor Christ nor Spirit nor Angels nor Ministers nor Scripture Promises nor Scripture Threatnings nor life nor death nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature none of which will separate the Saints from God in Christ Jesus and from his love shall separate you from your lusts and the Devill but you will live and die and damn with them If it be thus with you and that this is the Spirit you doe and are resolved to walk in and that you scorn to be checked and controlled by any man whatsoever neither by word or writing you will doe what is good in your own eyes be it never so evill in the eyes of God or man Then let me propound to your consideration or rather to the consideration of others for if you be so spirited as I have already exprest there is little hope that you will consider what the Lord by the Prophet speakes Isa 28. v. 14. and so forward Heare the word of the Lord ye scornfull men because ye have said we have made a Covenant with Death and Hell are we at an agreement when the overflowing scourge shall passe thorow it shall not come to us for we have made lyes our refuge and under falshood we have hid our selves therefore judgement also will I lay to the line and righteousnesse to the plummet and the haile shall sweep away the refuge of lies and the water shall overthrow the hiding place And your Covenant with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with hell shall not stand when the overflowing scourge shall pass thorow then ye shall be trodden down by it From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you for morning by morning shall it passover by day and by night it shall be a vexation onely to understand the report For the bed is shorter then that a man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower then that he can wrap himself in it for the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim he shall be wroth as in the Valley of Gibeon that he may doe his work his strange work and bring to passe his act his strange act Now therefore be not yee mockers least your bands be made stronge for I have heard from the Lord God of Hosts a Consumption determined upon