concerning the truth of the stories of the Scripture then to reject them for want of such evidence is repugnant to the Reason of mankind I proceed therefore to my second assertion that the Belief of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures is most agreable to reason That the Divine Authority of all the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are undeniably concluded from supposition of the truth of the Relation or History of matters of fact in the New Testament I have already shewn And that the rejection of all History is against the Reason of mankind is evident because all mankind receive some History or other wherefore I shall briefly shew 1. That the History of the New Testament hath all those advantages whereof any History is capable 2. That it hath greater advantages than any other History 1. The Arguments inducing men to the belief of any historical Relation are all of them Ab intra Internal from the 1. Credibility and Scibility of the Object 2. The Knowledge and Integrity of the Writers 3. The way and manner of writing Either Ab extra External from the 1. Reception of it in the world 2. Concurrent testimonies of strangers 3. Concessions of Adversaries and the like In all which particulars no History in the world can justly pretend any advantage above that of the New Testament 1. For the credibility of the Object and Cognoscibility of it 1. To say that instances of supernatural Power and wisdom are impossible is to deny the power of God and his providence in governing the world And to say that such things are incredible as are and have been actually believed in all times and by all sorts of persons Jews and Gentiles Christians and Mahometans a few Atheistical persons only accepted is an absurdity The History that we speak of pretends to no intrigues or Cabalistick Counsels or Myisteries of State but conteins it self within the limits of things Visible and Audible things that were done or spoken so that no History can have advantage over it respectu Objecti 2. As for Knowledge in the deliverers I shall shew it by a brief Induction The whole New Testament consists of the Books of the Revelation Epistles Acts of the Apostles and the Gospels The Authors of the Epistles and the Revelation in the Narrative parts of them deliver the things done or spoken to or by themselves and could not be ignorant of their own experiences The Book of the Acts contains some things done by or to the rest of the Apostles but chiefly the concernments of Paul and it was written by Luke who was an individual Companion of Paul and intimately conversant with the rest of the Apostles For the things Related in the Gospel of St. Luke he saith they were delivered to him by those who from the beginning were Eye witnesses of the works and Ministers of the Word and his History agrees with the other Evangelists The Gospel of St. Mark hath nothing which is not in St. Matthew or St. Iohn and was dictated by St. Peter the Head of the Apostles St. Matthew was an Apostle and St. Iohn the Bosom Apostle of Christ. The Apostles were chosen by him for Witnesses of his Words and Actions they were with him from the beginning of his Ministry continued with him till his death couversed with him till his ascension That which they had heard which they had seen with their Eyes which they had looked on which their hands had handled of the word of life that they delivered in writing to the World And more than this no Writer or Relater of History can pretend to 2. For Arguments of their sincerity they have left Precepts of Veracity and prohibitions of lying under pain of Hell torments the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone They have protested that they did not follow cunningly devised Fables that they did things sincerely as in the sight of God They have appealed to the searcher of hearts The God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ knoweth that I lie not The things which I write unto you behold before God I lye not Gal. 1 20. saith St. Paul They have left behind them various instances of their simplicity and Godly sincerity in representing their failings to the world and of candour and ingenuity in distinguishing the dictates of their own Reason from the inspirations of the Holy Spirit I speak by permission not by commandment of the Lord This say I not the Lord Thus it is according to my judgment c. 1 Cor. 7. But besides all this let the matter be estimated according to common reason If these men did devise a Fable and impose it upon the world what end could they propound to themselves in so doing was there any profit in being destitute of all things or pleasure in being persecuted afflicted and tormented or honour in being counted Fools and Mad-men Before they began to publish the Stories whereof we speak their Master was gone and all worldly hopes were gone away with him If they were not bound in Conscience and in Spirit what obligation had he laid upon them to labour and suffer for his honour as they did To omit the severity of his behaviour to them He called them off from their Vocations Peter and Andrew Iames and Iohn from their Fishing Matthew from his Customers place the rest accordingly They forsook their Nets their Ships their Relations and all their interests and followed him And this they did clearly and plainly believing that he was to be a Great Temporal Prince and in hopes of preferment under him In this Expectation they continued to the last minute of his conversation with them upon Earth and he permitted them so to do Their last words to him were delivered in this question Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom unto Israel Of the thing it self they never doubted they only desire to be informed of the time Now after so long expectation Consider his Answer His Answer was this It is not for you to know the times c. but ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses of me unto the utmost parts of the earth and immediately he vanished away Was this an answer to their Question or a satisfaction to their expectation Was this an Obligation laid upon them If he had not sent down the Holy Ghost this would have moved them indeed but it would have been to rage and indignation this would have obliged them indeed but it would have been to detest and abhor the name and memory of him that had abused them But for the honour of his name not their own they did and suffered all things and gloried in it An irrefragable argument of their sincerity in the things which they delivered 3. Of the internal Arguments for the belief of History there remains only the Consideration of the way and manner of
the Spirit So Paul was forbid by the Spirit to preach the Word in Asia II. And for the Conviction of the unbelieving World They had diversities of gifts and different Administrations To one was given the Word of Wisdom to another the Word of Knowledge to another Faith to another the gift of Healing to another Miracles Prophesies Discerning of Spirits The gift of Tongues As it is in the words which I quoted God bare them witness with gifts of the Holy Ghost and with Signs and Wonders and that he did so far that I shall be justified by Christ himself if I shall affirm that the Apostles after his death did greater miracles then he himself did in his life Of the same kind with our Saviours some they performed by means having an appearance of greater strangeness Christ healed by his touch his word his spittle Peter by his shadow Paul by Handkerchiefs taken from his body But one great thing there was wherein they exceeded The Great and Manifest and frequent Effusions of the Spirit the Reception of it upon themselves the communication of it to others by Prayer Preaching Laying on of Hands By these it was that the unbelieving world was convinced and even Simon Magus himself It is by the power and Vertue of those effusions that we are here met together at this time that the World continues Christian at this day And these are some of those standing means and Arguments whereby the proneness of our hearts to infidelity may be overcome and faith may be begotten confirmed recovered at this day These are therefore to be revolved Exhort one another dayly To come therefore to a Conclusion My text it self is an Application by way of Exhortation Exhortations are enforced by Reasons of Duty and Concernment and these I have hitherto endeavoured to lay before you If indeed there were no Sinfulness in Infidelity Or if in such times as ours it were excusable If there were no danger of falling into it or no means left to remedy or prevent it it would then indeed be to little purpose to Exhort men to beware But if the state of all these things is otherwise if that be plain and evident agreeable to Scripture to Reason and to Experience if the Speaker hath not beaten the Air nor the heaâ—ers been careless and inattentive I know not what can be required to enforce and sharpen the exhortation If the time would suffer it and I were speaking to a Common or Injudicious Auditory I might think my self concerned after all that hath been spoken to the understanding to Apply my discourse to your affections I should take unto me the various forms of Application used in this Epistle I would Reprove Rebuke Exhort I would cry aloud and would not spare I would liâ—t up my voice like a Watchmans trumpet warning you from the Lordâ— concerning the Spirit of irreligion and infidelity which is said to have overspread the land I would take to my self a Lamentation yea it should be for a Lamentation for the Professors of Infidelity and the Infidelity of Professors every where But I may not now be permitted to enlarge upon these things I may only pray to God to give you understanding in all things and beseech you earnestly to consider what hath been spoken Concluding in the words of the Text Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Exhort one another dayly FINIS Die Jovis 11 o Octobris 1666. ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled That the thanks of this House be given to the Lord Bishop of Exon. for his Pains in the Service he performed in Preaching a Sermon before the Peers in the Abby-Church at Westminster yesterday being the day appointed by His Majesty for Fasting and Humiliation in consideration of the late Dreadful Fire which wasted the greater part of the City of London And that his Lordship be and is hereby desired to Print and Publish his said Sermon John Browne Cler. Parliam A SERMON Preached before the PEERS IN THE Abby-Church at Westminster October 10 th M. DC LXVI BY SETH then Lord Bishop of EXON LONDON Printed by A. C. for Iames Cellins at the Kings Arms within Ludgate near St. Pauls 1672. A SERMON Preached before the House of Peers AT WEST MINSTER ECCLES xi 9. But know that for all these things God will bring thee to Iudgment Rejoyce O young man c. THE great and general design of the Ministry and preaching of the Gospel is to bring men to Christianity not in the outward profession but in the true spirit and power thereof to the end they may be justified and sanctified and finally saved through Christ for ever The Particular design of this Dayes Observation is to humble our selves under the mighty hand of God in Consideration of his Judgments especially that late one in consuming with Fire the Ancient and noble Metropolis of this Nation and to endeavour to appease the wrath of God gone out against us To compass both these designs whereof the later is subordinate to the former I know no better expedient than to reason a while upon that important argument suggested in the Text. Who can think upon the Conflagration of our late Glorious City and not call to mind the great and terâ—ible day of Judgment Who can think seriously of Judgment and not be compelled to come in driven to Christianity that he may be saved from the wrath to come The great Instructor and Example of Christian Preachers he who saith of himself that Christ sent him to preach and not to baptize found no means so powerful to perswade men to Christianity as to reason upon this argument as first to lay before them the terror of Judgment and then whilst that was warm upon their hearts to make them a tender of the Gospel This is the great advantage and use the Apostle makes of the Doctrine of the Text. We must all appear saith he before the Iudgment-seat of Christ Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men Upon these Considerations I shall hope for the pardon of this Noble Auditory if without affectation of Science I shall in a practical and familiar way of reasoning indeavour to imitate our Apostle in this particular If in the mean time it will be irksome and unpleasant to hear of the Judgment to come we shall do well to consider what it will be to undergo it we shall do well to reflect upon our Souls and search out the ground of this aversness Is it because we do not believe a Judgment to come or that we our selves shall be brought to Judgment Is it because we never consider who it is before whom me must appear or what things will be charged on our account Is it because we are so far gone in our arrears that it is to no purpose to call these things into our remembrance What ever it
wrestle and strive with our Redeemer and not let him go until he bless us Until he open our eyes to see the dangers we are in and through his mercy shew us a way to escape them Till he quicken us up to resolutions of amendment and carry us strongly through these resolutions Until he heal our backslidings and make up our breaches Until he save our souls from death and our Nation from destruction To work our selves to these Resolutions and to fix us in them to make them abide upon us all our days let us remember what hath been spoken and let us frequently meditate upon that Sarcastical Concession of the Text Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth walk in the ways of thy heart and the sight of thy eyes But know that for all these things God will bring thee to Iudgment FINIS A SERMON CONCERNING The Strangeness Frequency and Desperate Consequence OF Impenitency Preached at WHITE-HALL April 1. 1666. Soon after the great Plague BY SETH then Lord Bishop of EXON LONDON Printed by E. T. and R. H. for Iames Collins at the Kings-Arms within Ludgate near St. Pauls 1672. A SERMON Containing The Strangeness Frequency and Desperate Consequence OF IMPENITENCY Revel 9. 20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by the plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands ALthough I am not without apprehension that the frequencie of penitential discourses and the seeming easiness of repentance may indispose some persons for such an attention as is necessary both to speaker and hearers for a due performance of the Offices which we are about yet I shall not spend time in making Apologies for the Argument which I have chosen Among all the aggravations of our sins there is none more heinous than the frequent hearing of our duty Among all the errors of our lives there is none more fatal than that concerning the easiness of the duty of Repentance To discover the fallacy and to prevent the dangerous consequences of this imagination I have chosen at this time to treat of this instructive instance of the Text. If Repentance were so easie as is imagined why did not these men repent that are mentioned in the words which I have read They had not only the Dictates of Nature and the advantage of the Scriptures to move them to it they had the Ministry of Angels to perswade them they had Thunders and Trumpets to awaken them and rouze them up they had signs and wonders in the heaven above and in the earth below they had providential instances of prodigious judgements and wonderful mercies They were spectators of grievous Plagues brought upon their neighbours they were Monuments of singularâ— mercies and deliverances a long time continued to themselves When thousands fell beside them they were a remnant kept alive when others were destroyed they were preserved for experiment to try whether yet they would repent I say the persons in the Text were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rest of the men that were not killed by those Plagues And the rest of the men that were not killed yet repented not of the works of their hands My endeavours at this time will be by shewing the danger and fatal consequences of impenitence to move my self and others to repent And to determine precisely who these persons were of what Nation of what Church of what condition in what time they lived what were the Plagues brought upon them when and how they were executed and such other particulars I am no way obliged by the design which I have propounded About these particulars Expositors extremely differ in this they all agree that they had the advantage of the Scriptures to bring them to repentance Whatever is the exact either liberal or mystical meaning of this vision of the seven Angels and the seven Trumpets and of that lofty tragical Scheme wherein it is represented thus much is evident that notwithstanding all Gods dealings with men to bring them to repentance they will sometimes continue in impenitence and that this is an horrible provocation The words which I have chosen contain the sad result of the labours of six Angels the warning of six Trumpets the operation of six Plagues and six Deliverances And they are the common node or term connecting the Antecedent parts of the vision beginning at the 8 th Chapter with the Catastrophe thereof delivered in the 10 th They are to be considered two ways 1 Absolutely where we have 1 Matter containing the character of their persons described by 1 Gods dealing with them not killed remnant of others killed killed by grievous plagues 2 Their dealings with Godâ—repented not not of the works of their hands worship of Devils Idols first Table Sorceries Murthers Fornications Thefts second Table 2 Form and manner in the form of an Epiphonema express'd by the particle yet repetible upon every part of their character not killed yet repented not yet repented not of the works of their hands Yet is vox Admirantis Accingenâ—is advindictant It first implies the strangeness of the case and secondly the desperateness of the provocation for the words are to be considered not only absolutely but also 2 Relatively as they look backward and forward and are the connexion of the Antecedent parts of the Vision with the Catastrophe Six Angels sounded six Trumpets and executed six Judgementsâ— yet they repented not They repented not and the seventh Angel sounded and swore that time i e. Time of repentance respite of vengeance should be no longer The words thus resolved would afford many considerable observations I shall take up three that lye uppermost 1. From the form and manner of the words as they are an Epiphonema expressing a kind of wonder and admiration I shall observe the strangeness of the impenitency of such men as these considered in common reason 2. From the matter of them I shall observe the frequencie of such impenitencie in common experience 3. From the relative consideration of the words as they connect the Catastrophe of the Vision with the Antecedent parts of it I shall observe the lamentable consequence of this impenitency And 4. Conclude with a few words of Application I. First then to bring to our apprehension the strangeness of impenitencie of such men as these considered in Thesi and in Theory it will be needful only to reflect upon the causes of admiration and to lay before you some of their advantages and Motives to Repentance Things wonderful in their nature are those whose causes are unsearchable things strange and admirable to common reason are such as happen contrary to the Laws of Nature and of Reason From the former cause the motion of the heavens is wonderful from the latter it was prodigious and admirable that the sun stood still in Gibeon and the moon in the valley of Ajalon That God should take advantage upon the lapsed Angels that upon their offence
power of the Sanhedrim either their original power or the power left them by the Romans They sit in Moses Chair c. Whatsoever therefore they bid you do do it Matth. xxiii 2 3. And so likewise the Apostles they seem to be unconcerned as it were in the governing part of Civil Policy No word is found in all their Writings enquiring into the Rights of the Roman Emperours who were sovereign or limiting the Exercise of their Power Only thus much they take for certain such as they were they were ordained of God And they spend all their labour in founding deeply and firmly establishing that other part which concerns Obedience From this Observation it will follow That whatever Things or Persons were not before the times of Christ and his Apostles exempt from the power of the Magistrate are not by the Foundations and Principles of Christianity exempted Non eripit mortalia qui regna dat coelestia And it will only remain for us to enquire what was the manner of the Nations of the World and of God's peculiar people in reference to these Particulars before and at the times of Christ and his Apostles To which if we shall add the practice of the best and most ancient Christian Emperors I know not what more can be desired to clear the present Argument I suppose it needless to put in a Caution that while we speak of the Magistrate's power to order matters of Religion we do not entitle him to the Priest's Office the Spiritual Function or the Execution of it in preaching the word administring the Sacraments exercising the power of Ordination or of the Keys c. Blessed be the Lord God of our Fathers who hath put it into our Sovereign's heart to be tender of the rights of the Church as of the Apple of his Eye This is a Calumny insisted on generally by almost all our Adversaries but it is too rude and gross to be spoken to in this place Rather let us see whether the Sovereigns among all people Heathen Jews Christians have not claimed and exercised power in all Causes over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil 1. For Causes The New Testament sometimes divides the Gentiles into Greeks and Barbarians sometimes into wise and unwise according to which division the Romans are I suppose reckoned under the Greeks from whence they were mostly extracted and with whom they contended in Civility Briefly 1. the Greeks 2. the Romans 3. the Barbarous Nations did always exercise such a power 1. Aristotle the greatest among the Greeks tells us that the first and principal thing in a Common Wealth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And accordingly if we consult the Fragments which are left us of the Laws of the most antient Grecian Common-Wealths we shall find nothing so frequent as the Ordinances concerning their Religion 2. Amongst the Romans Cicero the wisest saith that Religion is the Foundation of Humane Society as in truth it is To say nothing of the Ordinances of Numa the Ius Pontificium c. the Titles of the Twelve Tables are many of them concerning Religion 3. As for the Barbarous Nations I shall not multiply Testimonies nor go beyond the line of Scripture In the third of Daniel we find an Edict of the King of Babylon enjoyning all People Languages and Tongues to commit Idolatry Vers. 4. 5. And by and by another Edict that no man should speak amiss of the God of Shadrach Mesech and Abednego Vers. 29. In the sixth we find Darius the Persian by the advice of his Council signing a Decree against petitioning for thirty days any God besides himself Verse 9. and shortly another that all men should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel Verse 26. In the third of Ionah the King of Nineveh and his Nobles proclaim a publick Fast. In the first of Ezra Cyrus puts forth an Edict to build the Temple at Hierusalem In the fourth Artaxerxes reverseth it In the sixth Darius re-inforceth it I suppose it is now evident that Greeks and Barbarians did exercise this power To think to elevate the force of these Instances because all these were Strangers from God and aliens from the Common-Wealth of Israel is to mistake the purpose for which they are alledged However it was not thus among the Kings of the Nations only but among the holiest and wisest of the Governours and Kings of Israel and Iuda who for abolishing false Worship and ordaining the true are often highly commended by the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures The time would fail me to speak distinctly and particularly of the Ordinances concerning Religion which were made by Moses Ioshua David Solomon Asa Iehoshaphat Hezekiah Manasses also and Iosiah concerning whom the Scripture gives these Characters Moses was the man of God Joshua the servant of the Lord. David a man after Gods own heart There was none like unto Solomon Asa his heart was perfect with the Lord. The Lord was with Jehoshaphat Hezekiah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Manasseth was heard of God Josiah did that which was right and his Goodness was recorded Now the Acts of every one of these concerning the Worship of God and matters of Religion are recorded and applauded in the Scriptures For these all ordered and regulated Services and Sacraments and Covenants with God they erected Altars and Tabernacles and Temples and dedicated them unto the Lord they destroyed Idolatry reformed abuses in Gods Worship settled both the standing Worship of God and occasional Thanks-givings and Humiliations to omit other matters The whole Aaronical Ministery which consisted in ceremonies and Sacrifices Typical and Carnal Ordinances was not ordered by the hand of Aaron but of Moses who was King in Iesurun The Tabernacle and Temple-service which beside the Mosaical Institutions consisted of Spiritual abiding Ordinances was instituted by David who being the sweet Singer of Israel and acquainted more then ever any man for ought appears with the ways and helps of lifting up the Heart to spiritual intercourse with God to that end appointed the use of Musick in the Church and without fear of stinting the Spirit he prescribed Set-forms of Praise and Prayers for the use of the Temple and ordered the service for every day A Psalm consisting partly of the one hundred and fifth ninety sixth and one hundred and eighteenth he first delivered to Asaph and his Brethren at the reduction of the Ark from the house of Obed-Edom 1 Chron. xvi 7. And divers other Psalms were composed by him for the Service of the Church And what he had ordained Solomon put in practice In the fifth Chapter of the second Book of Chronicles we find the pattern of the Service of this Time and Place the Sons of Asaph Heman and Ieduâ—hun arrayed in white Linen with musical Instruments praising the Lord saying For he is good c. viz. reciting the one hundred and
that in the last days perilous times shâ—â—ld come that there should be heady high-minded Traytours having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof Saint Peter that there should be false Teachers which should privily bring in damnable heresies presumptuous self-willed not afraid to speak evil of Dignities Now if all this be not sufficient Saint Iude hath taken up this Prophesie of Saint Peter and given us two clear Characters of these Persons whereby they might be known He tells us 1. That they shall be Separatists from the Church and 2. false-pretenders to the Spirit These are they which separate themselves being sensual having not the spirit I shall say no more to the Pretences relating to that Head which concerns the matter of Religion 2 ly Neither shalll I enlarge upon that other Head referring to matters Civil where I instanced in two Pretences taken from I. Harsh Administration in the Magistrate II. Competition as to power in Subjects I. Neither the Time nor the Design which I have propounded nor indeed my Profession nor Abilities do allow me to enter into the depths of the Politicks or to discourse of the limitations of Sovereign Powers Thus much is obvious to every man That there is no Cruelty so great as laxness of Government nor any Tyrany in the World like the rage of Subjects let loose and that the little â—inger of Licentiousness is harder then the Loyns of the severest Laws and stâ—ictest Government I shall briefly shew that the Scripture foreseeing the easiness by reason of the Self-love and partiality of men of this Pretence and the danger of it hath directly opposed it self against it I shall not mention particular Commands let us have recourse to the main Foundations the Body and Substance of Christianity the MISHPATHAMELEK the Ius Regium the Fundamental Law of the Kings of Israel 1. Christianity obligeth us to believe not only that Christ is God and that the Gospel is from God but that all the Circumstances of the Ministery of Christ and his Apostles were ordered by his Providence Why then were the times of Tiberius and Caligula and Claudius and Nero out of the Series of the Time spun out from the Creation chosen and selected for the promulgation of the Doctrine of Obedience If harsh Administration of Power will exempt men from Obedience at that time when Claudius or Nero was Roman Emperour why should the Holy Ghost move Saint Paul to write to the Romans They that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation So much briefly for the Gospel 2. As for the Ius Regium in the eighth of the first Book of Samuel we find the Israelites desiring a King and God though rejected by this motion commands Samuel to hearken to their voice Yet that they might know what they did and not be surprized believing they might cast of again their King at pleasure he charges him to protest solemly and shew them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Translation renders it The manner of the King The Septuagint and all ancient Eastern and Western Translations render it by words of signifying the Law or the Right of the King Ius Regium This saith Samuel shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall take your Sons and Daughters your Vine-yards your Fields and your Flocks c. He tells them of harsh Administrations Was it the meaning of the Holy Ghost that 〈◊〉 â—ure Princes ought to do or that it was lawful for them to do after the manner there described In the seventeenth Chapter of Deuteronomy we find the Duty of the Kings of Israel described in a way directly contrary to this they were to fear the Lord and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left from his Commandments Bewise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Iudges of the Earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Was it a Prediction of what would be their condition what would be the manner of their Kings Not that neither We do not read of any of the Kings of Iudah or Israel that proceeded to the height there expressed Even Aâ—ab who sold himself to work wickedness did not take Naboth's Vinyard by force he would not seise on it till Iezebeâ— had brought about the pretence of a Legal Forfeiture What then is the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Surely it imports thus much that if all this hard usage should come upon them they might cry unto the Lord Verse 18. but that it would not dissolve Ius Regium the right of Sovereignty or enable them to resist their Kings or rebel against them II. There remains yet one Pretence to speak to it concerns Competition of Power either on 1. Pretences of Succession into the Magistrate's place in case of failour of Duty or upon supposals of forfeiture of Power 2. Pretences of the last resolution of Power into the people the diffused multitude or the peoples Representative and the like Concerning which kind of Pretences I must repeat what hath been said of the other If they be admitted they are destructive to Magistracy If they be encouraged by Religion there will be reason that Magistrates be jealous over it But now is the Spirit of the Scriptures and the tendency of it entirely bent another way The New Testament affords no Instance in this kind As to the Old I shall desire that two Instances may be considered 1. The Case of David and Saul 2. The Case of Corah and Moses which two Instances if the time would bear it would take in the Substance of all that may be alledged in this kind 1. It is I conceive impossible to carry the first sort of Pretences higher then they were stated in the Case of David and Saul Saul was at first declared and constituted King by Samuel acting in the Name of the Lord and when he had reigned two years the same Samuel in the Name of the same God before the same people denounces publickly that his Kingdom should not continue and that God had sought a man after his own heart because he invaded the Priests Office After this he limits a certain day he tells him This day the Lord bath rent the Kingdom of Israel from thee and given it to thy neighbour because of his rebellion against God in the Case of Amalek The pretence of Failour and Forfeiture can go no higher Now for the pretences of David to step into his Government and wrest it from him He was anointed by Samuel for ought appears without reservation for the life of Saul He was qualified for Government a valiant man a man of War prudent in matters a comely Person and the Lord was with him He had received Testimony from God of his Election the Spirit of God departed from Saul and rested upon him He had power in his hand he was set over the men of War accepted by all the people all Israel nd
who yet have been offended at the dogmatical parts of the Gospel and concerning the Faith have made shipwrack In Opposition to these I shall endeavour to demonstrate that Supposing Matters of Fact to be truly related in the New Testament it is unreasonable to suspect the truth of any of the Doctrines delivered by Christ or his Apostles Amongst the various fancies concerning Religion wherewith the whole world hath been always embroiled Two things there are wherein all the Sons of Adam have agreed namely 1. That that is to be believed which hath received the testimony of God And 2. That this Testimony is to be gathered from instances of supernatural Wisdom and Power In the study of natural and Philosophical Theology the Speculativi amongst the Greeks and Romans and other Nations sought after wisdom Reason and Demonstration But to reduce the People to the forms of religious Rites and Sacrifices prescribed them they were made to believe the Epiphanies of the Gods and the manifestations of their Wisdom and Power by Oracles and Works supernatural To these even Mahomet pretended though his great Argument was from the Sword and of the Jews I need not speak For a Foundation of Religion and in our inquisition after that short of this Testimony we ought not to stay further we cannot go And herein is the utmost of humane wisdom to consider well those Evidences upon which we adventure the interest of our eternity To this evidence therefore we appeal in asserting the Doctrine of our Lord Christ and his Apostles Namely to the instances of Supernatural Knowledge and Supernatural Power whereby their Doctrine was attested I shall not here wave the force but I shall decline the repetition of what I have formerly spoken concerning the attestations given to it by Visible Signs Audible Voices Apparitions of Angels Fulfilling the Prophecies Evidences of Christs Resurrestion Mission of the Holy Ghost In Ioh. 7. 15. the Jews wondred at Christ that he knew any thing How knoweth this man Letters seeing he never learned them but if we mark the Scriptures we shall find that he knew all things and that nothing was withdrawn from the reach of his understanding He knew the sickness and death of Lazarus though absent and at a distance He saw Nathaniel under the Fig-tree and convinced him that he was the Son of God and the King of Israel Come see a man said the Woman of Samaria which told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The secret murmurs at his hard sayings the inward desires to ask him Questions the Reasonings and dialogisms of the hearts of his Disciples the secret Councils of the Scâ—ibes and Pharisees their evil surmisings their treacherous intentions to intrap him their mental Blasphemy were all naked and manifest before him He knew what was in man and needed not that any one should tell him He knew the various Kinds of Devils and how they were to be ejected This Kind cometh not out but by Prayer and Fasting He knew the Fishes of the Sea and where they were and what was in them He knew not only things past and present but to come He foresaw all things that were to come upon him who it was that should betray him he foretold his Disciples all the circumstances of his Passion how he was to be Betrayed Condemned delivered to the Gentiles mocked scourged spit on kill'd and Crucified at Ierusalem Behold saith he I tell you before Let this saying sink into your hearts He forewarned Peter of his denyal and the Disciples of their flight He foretold things to come after his death the time and manner of the destruction of Ierusalem The success of his Gospel the Effect unlikely of his Crucifixion that it should draw all men after him that it should be preached and believed in the whole world spreading it self like Leaven and like a grain of Mustard-seed that Satans Kingdom should be destroyed suddenly like lightning notwithstanding the false Christs and false Prophets which should arise These and many more were instances of the supernatural knowledge of Christ And for his power the time would fail me to insist upon the many and various instances mentioned in the Gospels I shall omit the exercise of his dominion over the Sun Moon and Stars Plants and Animals Earth and Water the Wind and the Sea and briefly mind you of those which concerned the bodies of men how he 1. Fed their hunger 2. Healed their distempâ—rs 3. Raised their dead and 4. Cast out Devils He fed 4000 at one time and 5000 at another with 5 or 7 Loaves and a few little Fishes He healed the blind lame deaf dumb maimed feaverish hydropical paralytick leprous and lunatick persons He cured not green wounds only but ancient inveterate Maladies of 12 of 38 years continuance one that was born blind He used no Plasters nor Poâ—ions no Telesmans or other Charms but performed all these things by a touch of his Hand or of his Garment He healed absent persons as well as present he spoke the word only and they were healed He raised to life the Daughter of Iairus the Widows Son at Naim his Friend Lazarus and many bodies of the Saints Many of which healed and raised persons lived till about Trajan's time as Quadratus a Disciple of the Apostles affirmed in his Apology to Hadrian the Emperour Like a strong man armed he cast our Devils whatever kind they were of he quickly disloged them that foaming and tearing Devil which withstood the power of his Disciples and threw down and â—ore the possessed person even as he was yet coming to Christ himself he presently rebuked and healed the child and delivered him to his Father Neither their long possession nor their numbers could secure them he cast seven at once out of Mary Magdalen and an whole Legion out of a certain man of the Countrey of the Gadarens who had been possessed by them a long time Moreover for attestation to the truth of his Gospel he delegated all this power to others to the 12 Apostles to the 70 Disciples He bequeathed it to Believers at his death and they also received and exercised this supernatural power I have given a few instances of the Supernatural Wisdom and Power of Christ solitarily considered The History of the Gospel affords us many Examples wherein they were gloriously combined By his Knowledge he foretold his Resurrection he performed it by his Power By his Divine Understanding he foresaw his Ascension and by the Power of his Divinity he ascended He ascended and by his power he fulfilled the Predictions and Promises which he had made He sent down the Holy Spirit and
very Condemnation So expresly is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delivered to us by Causal and Identical propositions in the Scripture Who is it now that can perswade us that the Scriptures do not affirm any Sinfulness to be in Infidelity Yes verily the Scriptures not only teach us that unbelief is a sin but they teach us likewise 6. The Heinousness and Aggravation the Sinfulness and Punishment of this Sin It was this that brought all other sin into the World and every Premeditated sin arises from it It hardens the heart and sears the Conscience and makes it bid defiance to the Lord of Glory Concerning David we read in the Psalms that once he said in his haste that all men are lyars did he revoke it when he was at leisure No the more he thought of it the higher he proceeds and becomes the more assured in this charge Surely saith he Men of low degree are Vanity and men of high degree are not lyars but a Lie Yet if one gives the lie to one of these lyars it is the utmost provocation it is the stated word of defiance concluded fit to justifie the Duel or the Stab On the other side God glories in this that he is not a man that he should lye that the strength of Israel will not lye yet infidelity gives him the lye He that believeth not God makes him a Lyar. 1 John 5. 10. 7. I desire to know what is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby the Heinousness of any sin is to be estimated Is it the denunciation of Future Vengeance The Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance upon Vnbelievers and they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the presence of his power Is it Old or New Past or Present Instances of Vengeance Were not the body of this people newly cut off for unbelief And of ancient days whose were the Carcasses that fell in the wilderness and to whom did God swear in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest but to them that believed not Consider but the story from whence the Exhortation of the Text arises How God was provoked through unbelief The text tells us that he was Moved he was Tempted he was Grieved he was Provoked till he sware in his wrath The words are taken out of the 95 Psalm to which the 78. is parallel They were saith the Psalmist a stubborn and rebellious Generation They tempted God and spoke against him Therefore the Lord heard this and was wroth So a fire was kindled against Iacob and anger against Israel Because they believed not in God and trusted not in his Salvation When God heard this he was worth and greatly abhorred Israel he gave way to his Indignation wrath anger displeasure and Iealousy I conceive now the first Question to be stated viz. Whether according to the tenor of the Scripture Infidelity were sinful and dangerous in the time of the delivery of the Scriptures I proceed to the second Question viz. However it was in ancient times 2. Whether Infidelity be not in such times as ours Excusable My meaning is this Whether speaking according to the Scriptural grounds and reason Now that Miracles extraordinary gifts and Prophesies are ceased Infidelity be not become Excusable however it might be Sinful and inexcusable during the time when Prophesies and Miracles were in use The first verse of this Epistle to the Hebrews tells us what powerful and noble motives to believe God had afforded to the Fathers God himself was pleased to speak to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at sundry times and in divers manners In the times of the Patriarchs Judges Kings and Prophets by the ways of Visions Dreams Voices Similitudes Urim and by divers miracles and wonders So likewise for those that are here exhorted About the time of the Writing of this Epistle God had spoken to them by his Son the brightness of his Glory the image of his person And by the Apostles to whom also he bare Witness by mighty signs and wonders by divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost Now that such men as these who had so great advantages to bring them to believe should be severely punished for Infidelity I am perswaded there is hardly any man but thinks it very just and reasonable That such as had seen the wonders of God in Egypt and the Wilderness so manifestly miraculous so often repeated and yet for all this would not believe that their Carcasses should fall in the Wilderness That Ananias and Sapphira who had known the miracles which had been done by the Apostles should think to Cousen the Apostles it deserved the Judgment that befel them As for our selves had we lived in times of Miracles or Prophesies we doubt not but we should have believed Or as Philip said shew us the father and it sufficeth Could we but once see a miracle or talk with one returning from the dead it should suffice we would believe But seeing it is now many hundreds of years since these things are ceased and we have nothing left us Praeter miraculorum famam If we shall not believe the Gospel by some it is openly pretended and by many it is secretly imagined that in this case we may be Excused I could wish that the time would serve clearly to rid away this phantasm In order to it I shall briefly doe three things 1. Shew that this Phantastical imagination is no new invention but that it hath of old been the conceit of abominable Hypocrites 2 ly I shall inquire a little into the grounds of this Conceit and shew the mistake of those suppositions into which it is resolved 3 ly I shall shew that our Saviour Knowing the thoughts of men hath taken particular care to prevent this Imagination and hath clearly decided the matter in Question 1. Though the present age be fruitful in inventions tending this way yet this hath been Anticipated by the Wits of former times In the 11 of Luke 47. We find the Scribes and Pharises building the Sepulchres of the Prophets whom their fathers had killed If we would know what they pretended in so doing we shall find it in the parallel place of Matthew They said if we had been in the days of our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets That these men did not believe the Prophets it is manifest Christ tells them if they had believed the Prophets they would have believed him for they wrote of him But that they would have believed the Prophets and not have murthered them had they lived in their times this they pretended and it is very probable they had that opinion Yes Verily had they lived in the days of Miracles and Prophesies they would have believed the very conceit which is now Pretended But the Truth is these men were
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
not insuperable difficult but not to be despaired of Concerning Ierusalem burned and laid wast by the Assyrians Daniel foretold that the streets and the walls thereof should be rebuilded even in troubleous times and when the time came that they were reedified we read in Nehemiah that the labourers in one hand held the trowel and the other held a weapon one half of the people laboured in the work and the other half held the Spears and the Shields the Bows and the Habergeons because of their cruel enemies on every side If God shall be pleased to give us a spirit of Understanding and teach our Senators Wisdom If he shall pour out a publick spirit upon our Councils a spirit of tenderness and compassion of Justice and Equity Temperance and Frugality Fortitude and Magnanimity If all Orders and Degrees amongst us Civil and Military and Ecclesiastical shall take to themselves the spirits of Christians and of men If our Counsels and endeavours shall be answerable to the care and benigâ—ity to the fervour and â—trenuous industry of our gracious Sovereign and to the alacrity and magnanimity of our couragious and generous Country-men then speaking humanely and abstracting from our Deservings we need not greatly fear but we may yet subdue the pride and insolence of our barbarous Enemies we may yet behold our City rising out of its ashes in greater splendour than we have seen it heretofore Wherefore arise and gird your selves O ye Princes ye Nobles ye Rulers of our Israel Consult Consider and give sentence Men Brethren and Fathers let us arise and labour let us up and be doing be strong and of good courage and the good hand of our God shall be upon you he shall give you the honour to be the defenders of your Country he shall make you repairers of the breaches restorers of our City to dwell in Yet I cannot I may not forbear to put you in remembrance of this one thing Except the Lord build the City their labour is but lost that build it It is not our wisdom or industry much less our confidence that will do it unless God be for us neither will God be for us unless we turn from the evil of our ways except we repent we have reason to fear that what we have seen hitherto will be no more but the beginning of our sorrows The Prophet Esay tells us That the Lord sent a word unto Iacob and it lighted on Israel and all the people shall know that say in the pride and stoutness of their hearts the Bricks are fallen but we will build with hewn Stones the Sycamores are down but we will change them into Cedars Therefore the Lord will set up their adversaries and joyn their Enemies together the Syrians before and the Philistims behind and they shall devour Israel with open mouth Because this people turneth not to him that smiteth them Wherefore turn you turn you every one from the evil of his ways Let us search our hearts and try our ways and turn to him that hath smitten us Turn unto him with all our hearts with fasting and with weeping and mourning he hath smitten us and he will heal us because his compassions fail not Come and let us reason together saith God though your sins were as scarlet they shall be white as snow There is yet a way open to take away the terror of our Particular Judgment and to prevent a final Judgment from falling upon the Nation We are yet in the Land of hope and space is given for Repentance the door of mercy is not yet shut upon us nor the ears of our Judge sealed against us O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his Goodness and declare the wonders that he bath done for the children of men that hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our Iniquities that hath not cut us off in the midst of our sins nor in the height of our impenitencies snatched us away to Judgment that hath not dealt with us as with the Apostate Angels and with Thousands of our Brethren who were better and more righteous than we Let us once more then return into our selves Let us consider our condition let us veiw over and ballance the grounds of our hopes and the reasons of our fears Let us take an exact account of our whole estate and interest in reference to all our concernments National and Personal Temporal and Eternal Let us deliberate and advise what is to be done and what is to be avoided Did I say deliberate Whether we shall save our souls from utter darkness and everlasting burnings Whether we shall save the Nation from final ruine and desolation Nay rather Let us break off our sins by repentance and our Iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor Let us make our selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when we fail we may be received into everlasting habitations Let us lend unto the Lord that we may have treasure in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt nor thieves break through and steal Let us fast the fast that the Lord hath chosen Loose the bands of wickedness feed the hungry cloath the naked he that hath two Coats let him give to him that hath none and he that hath meat let him do likewise Such an occasion scarce happens in many hundreds of years and for motives to charity they are all comprised in that great argument of the Judgment to come When the Son of Man shall come to Judgment and shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory When all Nations shall be gathered before him and he shall set the Sheep on his right hand and the Goats on his left This shall be the mark of their discrimination He shall say to those on his right hand I was hungry and ye fed me thirsty and â—e gave me drink naked and ye cloathed me sick and in prison and ye visited me Come ye blessed of my Father receive the Kingdom prepared for you And he shall say unto them on the left hand I was hungry and ye fed me not thirsty and ye gave me no drink c. Wherefore go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels The way is short and compendious to save all our interests What doth the Lord require of us but to do justly to love mercy to walk humbly before the Lord our God Let us be merciful therefore as our heavenly Father is merciful and let us humble our selves under the Almighty hand of God as we pretend to do this day Let us betake our selves afore-hand to our Judge and pour out our complaints before him Let us confess our wickedness and be sorry for our sins Let us lay hold on the feet of our Blessed Redeemer and give him no rest till he hath sealed our pardon Let us bathe with our tears the wounds that we have made Let us cry mightily to the Throne of Grace Let us
of softning or breaking the hearts of men have hardened them yet more in a course of desperate impenitency Felix trembled and said Go thy way When Belshazzar had plundered the house of God and was making a debauch in the bowls of the Temple the finger wrote upon the wall MENE We read that his countenance was changed and an horrible trembling seised upon him The joynts of his loyns were loosed his knees smote one against another But we do not read that he repented As plagues were multiplyed so Pharaoh's heart was hardned and he vowed he would not let the people go When the King of Moah was in anguish and in great distress it was a warning to repent but he took his eldest son and offered him for a sacrifice upon the wall When the Philistines made war upon Saul and God was departed when he was sore afraid and his heart greatly trembled who would not expect that he should have turned unto the Lord But he betook him to the witch of Endor Of Ahaz it is said that in the time of his afflictions he trespassed yet more this is that King Ahaz And we read that when a great hail fell from heaven Men blasphemed God because of the hail But if single mercies and judgments will not do perhaps an intermixture of them may prevail and indeed for a rational and probable means to bring men to repentance the imagination and apprehension of man can go no higher than to such a case where signal and remarkable judgements are brought upon some and others are reserved and set as it were upon a Scaffold or a Theatre in safety to behold the destruction and plagues brought upon their Neighbours Turbantibus quora ventiâ— Eterra magnum alterius spectare laborem So Israel beheld the Egyptians drowned in the Sea and Corah and his complices swallowed in the Land This is the case of those whom God preserves from plagues and famines and desolationsâ— making them survivors and spectators of the destructions brought upon the world And this was the case of the persons in the Text this one would think should never fail When he slew them then they i. e. the remnant sought him and turned them early and sought after God Nay but even this hath also too often failed for even these did but flatter him with their lips and dissemble The Israelites that were spectators of the drowned Egyptians within three days fell to their wonted murmurings The Spectators of Corah within one day returned to their rebellion The Prophet Amos in the name of God complains of those that had escaped famine and pestilence and sword I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha and ye were as a fire-brand snatched out of the burning yet have ye not turned unto to me saith â—he Lord. And this was the case of the persons in the Text they were a remnant of men which were not killed by the plagues brought upon others yet they repented not Notwithstanding the wonder according to reason we have seen the truth and observed the frequency of such mens impenitency in common experience it remains that we consider the consequence and issue of it observable from the Text as it stands in relation to the Antecedent parts and the Catastrophe of this Vision They repented not And the seventh Angel sware that there should be time no more no more time for repentance no longer reprieve of vengeance III. Such an obstinate impenitâ—ncy is the gâ—eat provocation of the wrath of God such a final impenitency is the certain forerunner of final ruine and destruction Though the Lord be patient he is not of wood or of stone though he be slow to anger yet he can be angry and who can stand before him when he is angry It is true that the Lord is strong and patient and our God is provoked every day he is long-suffering and abundant in forbearance though we do evil an hundred times he prolongs our days He is not extreme to mark what is done amiss He considers that we are but dust and as a wind that passeth away and cometh not again Many and many a provocation on he passes by for He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Bâ—hold he stands at the door and knocks By his word and by his works and by his spirit striving to reclaim the sons of men that he may keep their life from the pit and their soul from perishing But if all this cannot prevail what can reasonable men expect or what would they have him do His Spirit shall not alway strive with men his aâ—used lenity and his affâ—onted longanimity will be turned into jealousie and fiery indignation For to him belongeth venâ—eance as well as mercie and the God to whom vengeance the God to whom vengeance belongeth will shem himself God will arise and his enemies shall be scattered He will awake as one out of sleep he will rouze himself up as a Gyant refreshed with wine He will smite his enemies in the hinder parts and put them to a perpetual shame Thus saith the Lord of hosts the mighty one of Israel Ah! I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies Concerning persons the Apostle tells us of a certain state wherein there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgement Concerning Nations our Saviour tells of a certain measure of iniquity Fill ye up the measure of your fathers so false is that conceit so dangerous is that imagination that men can repent at any time at leastwise whensoever they shall have a mind to it They shall call saith God but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me As I live saith the Lord I will not be enquired of by you Saul enquired of the Lord he answered him not neither by prophets nor by Vrim nor by dreams Esau sought for repentance but he found no place for repentance though he sought it even with tears I gave her space to repent but she repeâ—ted not behold I will cast her into great tribulations This is a case which I tremble to insist upon What tongue can express the misery of such a person or such a people How dreadful is this place surely this is none other than the gate of Hell the entrance of all the miseries of this world and of the world to come 1. Temporal 2. Spiritual and 3. Eternal 1. The Lord shall send upon them cursing and vexation and rebuke until they be destroyed and perish quickly They shall be cursed in all their interests and concernments in their estates in their credit in their relations in their persons Cursed shall they be in the city and cursed in the field cursed in the basket and in the store They shall become an astonishment and a proverb
we not flattered him with our lips and dissembled with him in our double heart Do we not despise our very Manna and wish again for the Garlick of Egypt ready to change our glory for the Calves of Egypt or the confusion of Babylon In a word are we not a sinful people laden with iniquity as ingrateful and Nabalistical as Israel a foolish people Again for matter of imprudence wherewithal can we purge our selves from it Doth not God know our miscarriages also doth he not understand us ourways and doth he not interest himself in us doth he not resent our provocations can we escape for our wickedness With what apologies shall we come before the Lord and bow our selves before the high God Have we had no caveats from the Ministers of God no warnings no Alarms from God himself have we not heard have we not seen hath it not been told us The thunders and the lightnings the trumpets sounding the mountain smoaking the Angel destroying the Sword devouring Are we able to contest with a jealous God are we stronger than he are we able to tear him out of his Throne or to devest him of his Thunder or to stand the storm of his fiery indignation Have we not been a foolish people unwise What then remains but that God should execute upon us the sentence which we our selves have been ready to pass upon the people in the text that he should do thus and thus unto us that he should consume us in a moment and blot out our names from under Heaven Nay rather it remains men and brethren lest he should do thus and thus unto us that we prepare to meet the Lord our God that we rouze up the spirit of our minds and discuss and scatter that Lethargic stupor that is upon us Awake awake Deborah and arise Barak the son of Ahinoam Who can tell but God may yet have mercy upon us may have mercy upon our souls and speak peace to our land When I say to the wicked thou shalt surely dye if he turn from his wickedness and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die he hath done that which is lawful and right he shall surely live Wherefore let every one of us examine himself and find out the plague of his own heart and be deeply sensible of his own ingratitude let us search and try our ways and turn again unto the Lord let us make haste to escape before the decree bring forth and we be surprised by the stormy wind and tempest let us lose no longer time but make haste in this our day before the things belonging to our peace are hid from our eyes Let speaker and heaâ—ers O let my self and all this assembly let every soul here present let all the people of the land turn unto the Lord with all our hearts with fasting weeping mourning And let the priests my brethren the ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the alter and say spare thy people O Lord be favourable O Lord be favourable O Lord deal not with us after our sins nor reward us according to our iniquities though we have thus requited the Lord being a foolish people and unwise FINIS Some Books Printed for and sold by Iames Collins at the Kings-Arms in Ludgate-street 1672. 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The Episcopacy of the Church of England justified to be Apostolical from the Authority of the Primitive Church and from the confessions of the most famous Divines beyond the Seas by the Right Reverend the late Lord Bishop of Duresm with a Preface written by Sir Henry Yelverton Baronet Octavo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divine Goodness explicated and vindicated from the exceptions of the Atheist Wherein also the consent of the Gravest Philosophers with the holy and inspired Penmen in many of the most important points of Christian Doctrine is fully â—vinâ—ed by Richard Burthogge Doctor in Physick Octavo FINIS * Psal. ii 2 Expl. Object Sol. Heb. 10. 29. Obj. Sol. Matth. 26. 53. * Apolog. § 37. Maâ— xii 25. 1 Cor. xiv 33. Rom. i. 14. â—olit lib 7 cap. 8. Ephes ii 12. Deut. 33. 1. Joâ—h xxiv 29. 1 Sam. xiii 14. 2 Chron. ix 22. 1 Kings xv 14. 2 Chron. xvii 3. 2 〈◊〉 2â— 2. 2 Chron. xxxiii 13. 2 Chron. xxxv 26. Deut. xxxiii 5. Vers. 12. Vers. 13. Vers. 14. 2 Chron. xxix 25. 2 Chron. xxxv 15. Noâ—el Coastiâ— 131. Mat. xix 8. 1 Kings ii 27. â—oid 35. Joh. vâ—â—â— Rom xiii 1. 2 Cor. xii â— 3. Heb. â— 3. Matt xxii 21. Matâ—h viâ— 1â— â— Tim. iâ—i 1. Ibid Verse 4. 5. 2 Pet. ii 1. Ibid. Verse 10. Jude 19. Verse 9. Verse 11. 12. c. Verse 14. Verse 19. Psal. ii 10. 11. 1 Kings xxi 25. 1 Sâ—m xiii 1â— Chap. xvâ— 12. Chap xvi 13. Ibid. Vers. 18. Chap. xviâ— 5. 2 Sam. i. 21. Exod. iv 16. Acts vii 35. Deut. xxxâ— i. 4. Num. xvi Psal. cvi 16. Numb xvi 32. Appl caâ—ion Rom. iii. 31. Lam. ii 9. Matth. xviii 7. Ibid. Verse 6. Ezek. xxiâ— â— Gal. 1. 23. 3. 25. Rom. 12. 6. Tit. 1. 4. Jud. 3. Luk. 24 44 Joh. 5. 16. Joh. 5. 39. Luk. 10. 26. Luk. 6 â—9 Mar. 14. 49. Joh. 10. â—5 Mat. 3 31. Maâ— 5. 18. Lâ—k 2â— 27. Veâ—se 4â— Maâ— 1. 22. Maâ— 2. 15. Maâ— 2. 23. 4. 14. 21. 4. Mat. 〈◊〉