take it was because S. Iohn of all the foure Evangelists did out-live both sorts of the signes for hee was alive in the dayes of Trajan the emperour betwixt whose raigne and the raigne of Titus in whose dayes these signes in my text were exhibited Domitian and Cocceius Nerva did successively raigne over the Romans And it may be S. Iohn did purposely omit the Relation of our Saviours prophecies concerning these signes or prognosticks whether of Ierusalem's destruction or of Christ's comming to judge the Nations because he knew when hee wrote his Ghospell hee was to out-live them and for this reason his relation of them would have beene more lyable to suspition or to the exceptions of the Iewes or heathen than the relations of S. Matthew Marke or Luke were seeing they all dyed before the destruction of Ierusalem But did S. John know or what presumptions have we to thinke he did know that hee was to continue his pilgrimage here on earth untill this prophecy of my text were fulfilled that is untill Christ's comming to give all the Nations of the world as well as Ierusalem a solemne warning of of his power and purpose to judge the world This S. Iohn might know or this he could not but know from our Saviour's speeches to him and S. Peter related by him Iohn 21. v. 18. to the 23. Our Saviour had signified or intimated to S. Peter by what manner of death hee should glorifie God and bid him follow him the meaning is that he should be crucified as our Saviour had beene But Peter not content to know the manner of his own death turned about and seeing S. Iohn saith to Iesus Lord what shall this man doe And Iesus said unto him if I will that he tarry till I come what is that unto thee The rest of the brethren that is of Christ's disciples made a false descant upon this sure ground for they hence collected that S. Iohn should not dye at all but this misconstruction of our Saviour's words S. Iohn himselfe v. 23. of that Chap. plainly refuses Iesus said not unto him he shall not dye but if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee Yet this his annotation or comment upon our Saviour's words did better refute errors past then prevent the errors or misconstructions of times ensuing For surely they erre which interpret our Saviours words as a meere put-off to Peters curious question or as if they contained no such prediction or prophecy concerning Iohn as the former did concerning Peter And there is a medium betweene the construction which the Disciples then made of our Saviours words and that construction which others have made since The Disciples hence collected that Iohn should not dye at all others collect that our Saviours speech was meerely hypotheticall or conditionall yet being proposed by way of interrogation it is equivalent to this assertory or affirmative It is my will that hee should tarry till I come doe not thou grudge at this but follow me Now as you have heard before there is a two fold comming of Christ the one typicall or representative which is the comming here mentioned in my text and meant by our Saviour in his answer to Peter Iohn 21 v. 22. the other reall or consummative to wit his last comming to Iudgement The Disciples did erre only in this that they understood our Saviours words unto S. Peter of his last comming to judgement And if Iohn had beene to tarry on earth till that time the consequence had beene true hee should not have dyed but as S. Paul speakes he should have beene changed But our Saviour speakes of his comming here mentioned in my text of which comming S. Iohn and others then living were to bee witnesses and spectators And of this comming the destruction of Ierusalem was a signe by which his Disciples then alive might prognosticate or expect it before they dyed But of his last comming to judgement at least of the time of the worlds end our Saviour in my text gave no signe but rather inhibited his Disciples to enquire after it seeing it was then reserved to his father only And if any bee disposed to seeke after the signes of that day these he must learne of S. Iohn in his revelation who saw his first comming to judgement in such a sence and manner as he had seene the Kingdome of heaven come with power and glory at his transfiguration upon the mount But though the time of Christs comming to judgement bee uncertaine though wee may not expect that hee should come unto us in such visible manner as hee did to this generation yet hee dayly comes to us in a more reall manner if wee will prepare our hearts to entertaine him For so hee comes to us in his word and in the sacraments and this his comming shall bee unto judgement unlesse wee examine and judge our selves But if wee will judge our selves we shall not bee judged of the Lord yea hee comes unto us in mercy and loving kindnesse One way or other hee comes to all Behold saith hee I stand at the doore and knocke if any man heare my voice and open the doore I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me Revel 3. 20. Yet he which thus knocketh that we may open hath commanded us to knocke that it may be opened to us And indeed the only way by which wee can open the doore to him is by continuall knocking at the gate of mercy that he would open that unto us that hee would come unto us by his grace by the sweet influence of his owne everlasting sacrifice Lord heare us when we call upon thee and open unto us and so come unto us yea so come quickly A briefe appendix to the former treatise of the signes of the time or divine forewarnings OF omnious presagements or abodings good or bad whether given taken or affected and of prodigies or portendments which are for the most part publique signes of the times wherein they are exhibited I had in my younger and better dayes written a large treatise which hitherto I have not had the opportunity or leasure to publish out of which I have borrowed two or three instances in the former treatise But amongst all the forewarning signes given to this land as so many summons to repentance none which have beene given within my memory did make so durable impression upon my heart and thoughts as that late mighty winde which having begun his terrible visitation from the utmost point of the South-west did continue it in one night unto the North-east corner of this Southerne province This was more then a signe of the time Tempus ipsum admonebat the very time it selfe wherein it hapened being the vigils of that great anniversary Novemb. 5. was a signe to my apprehension most significant and doth interpret the meaning of this terrible messengers inarticulate voice much better then any linguist living this day as well as the Prophets were any such now alive could doe Both the messenger and the time wherein he delivered his message doe teach us that truth which hath beene often mentioned in these former meditations more punctually and more pithily than I could then or can yet expresse it Thus much of his meaning the serious reader may understand that albeit wee of this Kingdome were in firme league with all Nations of the earth with whom we have had any time commerce although our greatest enemies should become our greatest freinds yet it is still in the Lord almighty his power and as wee may feare in his purpose to plague this Kingdome more grievously by his owne immediate hand or by this invisible but most audible messenger or by other like stormes and tempests then at any time he hath done by the famine by the sword or by the plague of pestilence to bury more living soules as well of superior as of inferior ranke in the ruines of their stately houses or meaner cottages then the powder-plotters did intend to doe or the powder-plot it selfe had it taken effect could have done God grant every member of this Church and Kingdome grace to looke into his owne heart and purposes and to all in authority whether superior or inferior from the highest to the lowest to looke not only unto their owne but unto others waies of whom they have the care or oversight that these may runne parallel with the waies of God which if we shall continue to crosse or fall foule upon them or his most sacred lawes it is not any parliamentary law not any act of state or decrees of Courts of Iustice that can breake the stroake of his outstretched punishing arme and hand or fend off his dreadful Iudgements threatned from falling more heavy upon us then at any time hitherto his name bee praised they have done Finally although our publique fasts or solemne deprecations for averting his judgements from this land 〈◊〉 or the time being ceased by the same authority by which they were begun yet no authority no act of state doth prohibite any private man to fast upon the daies appointed by the Church whose Canons injoyne though not whole families yet of every family some one or other to resort unto the house of the Lord to offer up prayers and supplications appointed by our Church upon two other speciall dayes in the weeke besides the Lords day Nor are any prohibited upon these dayes to offer up besides their supplications for averting his judgementt the sacrifice of praise and thankesgiving for our many deliverances past unto him to whom all praise power dominion and thanksgiving are due FINIS Lib. 4. num 107. Vid. plura apud Claudianum initio belli Gildonici Rupertus Angelomus Amongst other writers of those times see that noble French Historian Martin Fumèe Lord of Genillè Histor. Hungar lib. 1. pag. 32. Silus Italicus Valerius Maximus The extraordinary blessings which our Saviour prayed for were the visible endowments of the Holy Ghost and that admirable union of soule and mind and community of goods and possessions c. mentioned Act. 2. 3. 4. c. All which gifts were peculiar to these primitive times Iam. 4. v. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 1. comment in Symbolum Apostolicum
joynt or member of the body wherein the Gangrene or other deadly spreading sore hath got possession or roote From this internall imbred corruption he proceeds unto more publique and grievous wounds or diseases usually made by causes externall as when Israel shal be overthrowne before their enemies v. 25. When the heavens shall be shut up and the earth be without raine v. 26. When there shal be Famine Pestilence mildew Grashoppers or Caterpillers When the enemy shall besiege thee in the Cities When they shal be afflicted by any Plague or sicknesse v. 28. The soveraigne remedy for all and every one of these and the like is the very same and it is this v. 20. 21. Then heare thou from heaven from thy dwelling place their prayer and their supplications and maintaine their cause and forgive thy people which haue sinned against thee v. 29. But what if this people should be led captive into a foraigne land not permitted to repaire unto this house where the Lord had placed his name This Solomon foresaw as a matter not impossible how ample soever his promises unto his father David and his seed might in ordinary construction seeme to be is there any possible salve for this possible fore or can this house which he had consecrated to be an house of prayer afford them in this case any remedy when they could not come to pray in it yes the remedy is prescrib'd v. 38. 39. If they returne to thee with all their heart and with all their soule in the land of their captivity whither they haue caryed them captives and pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers and towards the city which thou hast chosen and towards the house which I have built for thy name Then heare thou from heaven c. Soe then both Prince and people were to pray in this house whilst they possest this land and city wherein it stood to pray towards it when they soiourned in forraigne Coasts or were detained in the land of their captivity to pray towards the place wherein it had stood in case it should be demolished So did Daniel after this house which Solomon built was burnt to the ground 3 The prerogatives which he petitions might be bestowed upon this house of prayer were you see exceeding great Was it then any part of his intention in the suite or of Gods purpose in the grant to have this house endowed with such ample priviledges for the use or benefit of Israel only or of Abrahams seede according to the flesh surely Solomon did conceive his prayers out of a perfect and speciall faith yet the specialty of his faith in Gods promises made unto Israell or to Abrahams seede did no way extinguish his charity or abate his good affectiō towards others for he expressely consecrates his house to be an house of prayer for the use benefit of all the nations under heaven though in the first place for Israel Moreover as touching the stranger which is not of thy people Israel but is come from a farre country for thy great names sake and thy mighty hand and thy streched out arme if they come and pray in this house then heare thou from heaven even from thy dwelling place and doe according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for that all people of the earth may know thy name and feare thee as doth thy people Israell and may know that this house which I haue built is called by thy name 32. 33. He knew the gracious goodnesse of his God to be in it selfe so great so truly infinite that it could not be a whit lessoned towards Israell how farre soever it were extended towards others as it is extended to all men without exception insensu divise though not in sensu composito it is thus far extended unto all to the end that they might come to the knowledge of the truth but not extended not communicated to such as love darknesse better then light and falshood then truth It was then well with Israell when their charity towards others was like their heavenly fathers love without factious partiality or respect of persons It was their seeking to ingrosse Gods promised blessings unto mankind which twice brought that greivous curse upon them under which at this day they sigh and groane Now if all the nations on earth had this interest in Solomons Temple shall we deny any one of what Nation soever the like interest in Abrahams seed concerning whom the Lord had sworne that in him should all the nations of the earth be blessed Thus much of the generall scope or view of this Chap to retire my selfe unto my text which is as the center or fittest Angle for taking the exact survey of this long and fruitfull field 4 To give you then a briefe comprehension of the principallest and most fundamentall truths either directly incident into or naturall emergent out of it First it is taken as granted by Solomon and it is to us a point of faith that as well the Calamities as the Prosperities of states and kingdomes are from the Lord It is he that giveth life as well to bodyes politique as to naturall It is he that woundeth and it is he that maketh whole Secondly no Calamity or wounds of state are in their nature incurable if this remedy be sought in time they grow incurable only by neglect of the medicines in Gods word prescribed Thirdly the only Soveraigne remedy for restoring states and kingdomes diseased and wounded by the hand of God unto their perfect health is prayer and Supplications to the King of Kings The last must be the conditions of the prayers or qualification of the Supplicants by whom such prayers as may prevaile with God must be made Vpon this point Solomon often toucheth in severall passages of this Chapter Such of the heathens as were alwayes ready to sacrifice unto their owne right armes for victory inbattle and unto their owne wit in policy for the sweet fruits of peace did often observe certaine surplusses of successe good or bad which they could not account to be the naturall issue either of their industry or contrivance and whatsoever fell without the mould of their hopes or feares was attributed to fates if it were disastrous to fortune or chance if it were good now whatsoever the heathens did ascribe to fortune to chance or fate or to any other supposed guide of nature or intermedling power in humane affaires all these the wise king ascribes wholy unto his God he is the God of peace and yet the God that maketh warre the Lord of hostes the God of plenty and yet the God that sendeth scarcity The God of our health and life and yet it is he which punisheth with plague and sicknesses Nor are we bound only to derive all extraordinary successe which the heathen gave to fortune and fate but ever even the usuall successe of ordinary endeavours be it good or bad from his providence That the
whatsoever is done with doubt or scruple is not of faith are oftner wrested sometimes to abette presumption in respect of God sometimes disobedience towards his vice-gerents than any other maximes in sacred writ besides For this present the limitation of them is briefly this Whensoever the doubt or controversy stands betwixt a mans belly or purse and his soule or conscience the Apostles rule whatsoever is not of faith is sinne is universally true whosoever doth any thing for his belly or purse or matters of such temporall consequence which he probably doubts may wound his soule or conscience his action or choice is not of faith is truly sinfull In other cases he that intends to doe much good must resolve to doe many things whereof hee cannot but doubt whereof hee cannot bee resolved but by the event or successe yet not sinne Thus these Ninevites were uncertaine or doubtfull whether the Lord would repent or no of the evill threatned against them and yet notwithstanding this doubt they did well exceeding well to fast and pray that hee might repent and in thus doubting and thus doing they declare not their workes only but their divinity to have beene much better than theirs who condemne the like actions of heathen men for sinfull because their persons were not sanctified by saving faith As for these Ninevites they had a true notion of that truth which the scripture teacheth to wit that as God is often said to repent so some speciall cases there be in which hee doth not in which hee wil not upon any termes repent and of which the Prophets saying is most true He is not as man or the sonne of man that hee should repent And such for instance was the case of Saul the first King of Israel in the issue though not from the beginning of his raigne or from that point of time wherein God revealed that branch of his will to Samuel 1. Sam. 15. It repenteth me that I have set Saul up to be King for he is turned backward from following me and hath not performed my commandements And he that turnes his backe from Gods commandements shall be sure to meet his judgements in the face But this heavy sentence against Saul as it there followeth grieved Samuel and hee cryed unto the Lord all night but his cryes were not heard for so it followes v. 35. that Samuel came no more to see Saul untill the day of his death neverthelesse he mourned for Saul and in the 1. v. of the 19. chap. Samuel is expressely forbidden to mourne for Saul and if hee might not mourne for him hee might not pray for him A lamentable case that so great a Prophet so good a man as Samuel was might not pray might not mourne for his soveraigne Lord whom by Gods speciall command he had anointed but the cause is intimated v. 28. 29. For when Saul by seeking to hold the Prophet from departing from him had rent his coate he returnes this heavy message unto him The Lord hath rent the kingdome of Israel from thee this day and hath given it to a neighbour of thine that is better then thou and also the strength of Israel will not repent for he is not as man that he should repent And Samuel had no reason to mourne for him or to pray to God for reversing this sentence after he knew the Lord would not bee intreated to recall it But here the Aliens from the common weale of Israel or men of Iultans disposition would object is the God of Israel no otherwise affected towards his people towards Kings of his own making then the Gods of the heathen whom ye despise were towards kingdomes or Monarchies which served them Doth hee give his people iust cause to complaine of him as the heathen Poet did of his Gods when he saw Rome so rent and torne with civill warres that it could not long stand Heu faciles dare summa Deos eademque tueri Difficiles Will the strength of Israel advance a man to a kingdome which never sought it but had it put upon him whilst hee was seeking his fathers Asses And will he not be intreated to keepe him in it after long possession after many adventures of his body and effusion of his blood for supporting it Will he repent of the good which he had purposed to doe for Saul and will he not repent of the evill which he had denounced against him Thus uncatechised flesh and blood or men not instructed in the waies of God would repine Now it were an easie answer to say that God did thus peremptorily deale with Saul because it was his absolute will to depose him and to chuse David in his place But this or the like answere would make a foolish heathen starke mad and move a man that hovered betwixt heathenisme and Christianity to fall quite from us whereas we are bound by the Apostles rule to give no offence not only to the Church of God but neither to the Iew nor to the Gentile whereas this answer gives just occasion of offence to them all For sure the scripture is plaine and I thinke no Christian will in the generall deny that Saul did at this time much better deserve to be deposed than either hee or David did to bee elected King his sinnes were the meritorious cause of his rejection but what sinnes in particular is not so apparent Saul as some ancient interpreters observe was once little in his owne eyes and then he was a great man in Gods sight but hee grew great exceeding great in his owne eyes and the greater he thus grew the more hee waned in Gods favour whose eternall will and pleasure is to give grace unto the meeke and humble and to resist and bring downe the proud All this is true but too generall to give satisfaction to the doubt proposed For God doth never so peremptorily reject any lawfull Prince as hee did Saul without hope of repentance or reversing the sentence denounced against him unlesse it be for some excessive multitude or full measure of sinne or for some ominous or prodigious sinnes We read only of two remarkeable sinnes committed by Saul before his rejection the one was for offering a burnt offring and for his intendment to offer a peace offring before Samuel came unto him 1 Sam. 13. 19. 20. And for this transgression Samuel saith unto him v. 30. Thou hast done foolishly thou hast not kept the commandement of the Lord thy God which he commanded thee For now would the Lord have established the kingdome upon Israel for ever Saul then had Gods promise before for the continuance of his kingdome But of this good truely intended to him the Lord from this time repents as it followes verse 14. But now the kingdome shall not continue Yet upon this fact it is not said that the Lord would not repent of the sentence denounced against him But what was Sauls folly in all this or was it any for as it is
the edification of his Church and Kingdome Roote out good Lord we beseech thee all Iewish affections and Iewish opinions out of the hearts of thy people that so our prayers and supplications for the prosperity of thine inheritance and thine Anointed may be ever acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength and our Redeemer AMEN THE SECOND SERMON VPON 2. CHRON. 6. 39. 40. COncerning the second generall proposed two points there be which require discussion or declaration The first whether this petition which Solomon here preferreth to the King of Kings were granted according to his desires The second how farre the grant made to him or how farre the practices or experiments answerable to his petition during the time that this temple stood may concerne us or the times wherein we live That Solomons petition was fully granted first the equity of the matter contained in it may perswade us for hee requests nothing at Gods hands which is for substance altogether new nothing but that which out of his free mercy and bounty he had granted unto his people before though not supplicated unto in such a solemne manner as Solomon now useth and prescribes as a patterne for others to use When Israel was in his infancy not able to speake the language of Canaan much lesse to frame his petitions according to the stile and forme of the Sanctuary the God of his father did understand his cry and was alwaies ready to give him a better answere then he could desire The cry of the children of Israel saith God is come unto me and I have also seene the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppresse them Exod. 3. 9. Might they have spoken for themselves the utmost of their request had beene only for some ease or mitigation of their present servitude and grievance but God so gracious is he sends them full deliverance and of slaves makes them a free state a royall nation Vpon the sight of Pharaohs hoste pursuing them after they had been set free the extremity of feare makes them desirous rather to returne unto their wonted thraldome then to hazard their lives for attaining that liberty whereunto God by Moses had called them Whilst thus affected they cry unto the Lord and he heares their cry although it were mingled with murmurings against Moses Exod. 14. v. 10. 11. True it is that Moses prayed whilst they murmured but God was more ready to heare then Moses to pray and therefore he saith v. 15. wherefore cryest thou unto me speak unto the children of Israel that they goe forward But for a master to redeeme his owne servants from foraigne oppression is not so strange or out of course Did God then at the prayer or instance of his servants heale his people whom he himselfe had wounded When the people complained it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt amongst them and consumed them that were in the utmost parts of the campe Numb 11. 1. The disease was acute and made quicke dispatch the medicine was as swift and speedy Then the people cried unto Moses and when Moses prayed unto the Lord the fire was quenched v. 2. One branch of Solomons petition is that when Israel should goe forth to battaile against their enemies by the way which he should send them that he would then heare their prayers and supplications and iudge their cause A lively pledge of Gods favour answerable to this branch of the petition and of the immediate dependance which successe in battaile hath on faithfull prayers we have in that story Exod. 17. v. 9. 10. when Iosuah was sent by Moses appointment to fight with Amalek It came to passe when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed and when he let downe his hand Amalek prevailed Another branch of Solomons petition in this place is v. 24. That when Israel should be put to the worst before their enemies that God would be mercifull unto their sinne when they should turne againe and confesse his name and pray This was Israels case in the siege of Ai Iosuah 17. v. 7. 8. Iosuah upon the sight of this wound flies for succour to that medicine which Solomon happly from his practice prescribes For he rent his clothes and fell on his face to the earth before the Arke of the Lord and cried alas O Lord what shall I say when Israel turneth their backe before their enemies God heares his prayer before he was willing to make an end of praying Get thee up wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face and instructs him for restoring Israel to his wonted estate and condition by recompencing the way of the wicked upon his owne head First he makes Achan confesse his sinne and give glory unto God and so removes the sinne from Israel by execution of iustice which in like case is equivalent to prayer at least a necessary condition of successefull prayers for the publique weale and safety of kingdomes 2 If after Iosuahs death we were to give a generall title to the sacred history of ensuing times for almost foure hundred yeares or make an Epitome of the booke of Iudges it could not be more briefe then this Israel sinnes and is given up into the hands of the oppressor Israel cries unto the Lord and he sends him a Iudge and a deliverer And yet as the sacred pen-man of that story observes Israels repentance alwaies died with the Iudge which God did send them and could not be revived againe but by renewing of affliction One and the same affliction was commonly the effect of Israels sinne and the meanes of Israels repentance his sinne was the efficient and repentance the finall cause of their oppression And so gratious was God towards them so ready alwaies to heare their prayers that he seemed not to punish them so much for sins past as to continue his punishment untill they repented Among other calamities of estate whose cure or remedy Solomon here seekes the plague of pestilence is one v. 28. with this the land was grievously smitten even from Dan to Beersheba in his Father Davids daies by the immediate hand of God and in particular for his Fathers sinne in numbring the people Yet when David confessed his sinne and thus prayed Behold I have sinned yea I have done wickedly but these sheepe what have they done Let thine hand I pray thee be against mee and against my Fathers house v. 17. the Lord was appeased towards the land and the Plague ceased from Israel So ready was God alwaies to heare the prayers of this people when they turned unto him before this Temple was built The sumâ—â—hen of Solomons petition is that rhe Lord would be pleased to give his people some particular or new assurance for continuing his wonted mercies or blessings unto them that this house which he had built might be as a publique Court of audience a place wherein it might be free for every man and for all
the same branch of the same article It is he that made us which only can preserve us and whiles we professe that it is hee that made us and not wee our selves that he is the maker of all things visible invisible we include as much as the Apostle saith somewhat more then he expresseth in these words In him we move live and have our being which containe the three speciall branches of Gods power Miracles properly so called consist in some extraordinary manifestation of Gods power either adding somewhat unto or subtracting somewhat from the ordinary efficacy of instrumentall causes or observable course of nature All miracles may be reduced to such manifestation either of Gods creative or his conservative or cooperative power Sampsons strength or archievements were truely miraculous and did suppose an addition of force supernaturall to his native activity or extraordinary measure of Gods coworking power The victory which Iosuah got over the Amorites was after this manner miraculous There was a power more than naturall as well in the motion as in the making of those great stones wherewith the Amorites were beaten downe The three Children againe were preserved untoucht in the midst of the flaming furnace by true miracle or extraordinary manifestation of Gods power But this consisted not in the addition of any supernaturall forces unto it but in the meere subtraction of Gods co-working power without subtraction of his creative or conserving power for so it had ceased not only to burne but to be fire The suddaine withering of Ieroboams hand was a true miracle but did consist in the subtraction of Gods preserving power that is that branch of his power in which as the Apostle speakes all things live that are endowed with life That God hath thus wrought the safety of his servants and yet is able to worke by these or the like more miraculous meanes wee doe believe in that we believe he is the Almighty maker of heaven and earth But besides that absolute dependance which every particular creature hath on these branches of his power by which their severall efficacies may be extraordinarily increased or diminished there is an essentiall subordination of all the severall rankes of his creatures with whatsoever strength or efficacy they be endowed unto his providence as in wisdome he made them all so in wisdome he marshalleth and ordereth them all Now the contrivance of meanes or agents for their nature or kinde but ordinary may be more admirable than miracles properly so called that is than his particular workes of wonder Miracles are in their nature more apt to affect the sence but the sweet contrivances of Gods wisdome and providence doe more affect the understanding The one workes astonishment the other admiration For this reason were miracles more frequent in the infancy of the Church as an awfull kinde of discipline to inforce unbeleevers to give audience unto the word of life and to take Gods promises which would otherwise be sleighted into serious consideration But the wayes of Gods wisdome or sweet disposition of his providence are more apt to cherish the seed of life being sowen in mens hearts Miracles by continuall frequency would cease to be miracles would not be wondred at whereas the unsearchable wayes of Gods wisdome or his indissoluble contrivances of extraordinary successe by meanes ordinary will uncessantly breed in us matter of admiration His wayes and contrivances are still in one kinde or other most admirable but we want eyes or will to contemplate or observe them Yet let us see whether the greatest deliuerances which God wrought for his children of Israel besides that one in bringing them out of the land of Egypt were not wrought by meanes ordinary and usuall if we respect their particular or severall agencies and admirable and extraordinary only for their combination and contrivance When the Lord turned againe the captivity of Sion we were like them that dreame Then was our mouth fill'd with laughter and our tongues with singing Then said they among the heathen the Lord hath done great things for them yea the Lord hath done great things for us already whereof wee reioyce Psal. 120. v. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. This was indeed a great deliverance and so to be acknowledged by all posterity For so the Prophet had foretold Ier. 23. 7. Behold the day is come saith the Lord that they shall no more sya the Lord liveth which brought forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt But the Lord liveth which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the North country and from all countryes whether I had driven them and they shall dwell in their owne land Not to make comparison betwixt the mighty workes of God or not to question whether according to the literall meaning of this Prophecy the fame or fresh memory of this second deliverance out of Chaldey should eclipse the fame of the former out of Egypt This is certaine aud unquestionable that this latter deliverance was a most exact parallell to the former And yet if we could exactly calculate all the particular meanes which did concurre to the surprisall of Babylon by Cyrus or to Cyrus his setting this people free we should not finde one miraculous effect among them And yet if wee would but seriously compare all the circumstances and concurrences of second causes which Herodotus and Xenophon relate with the sacred predictions concerning Cyrus his good successe against Babylon the intire contrivance of them is most admirable and such as would give us a more pleasant view or modell of Gods infinite wisdome then miracles can doe of his infinite power Againe in that deliverance of the Iewes from Hamans conspiracy there is no extraordinary manifestation of Gods power no particular cause or agent was in it's working advanced above the ordinary pitch of nature and yet the contrivance or suiting of these ordinary agents appointed by God is more admirable then if the same end had beene effected by meanes truly miraculous For a King not to take kindly rest by night though in a bed of ease is not unusuall For a King againe to seeke to solace his waking thoughts by hearing the Annalls of his kingdome or the journalls of his owne reigne read unto him is more commendable then rare But that King Assuerus should lye awake at that time specially when Haman did watch and plot the destruction of the Iewes that causing the Chronicles of his Kingdome to be read the reader should light on the place wherein Mordecai his unrewarded good service in discovering the treason intended against the Kings person was recorded this was from the keeper of Israel who neither slumbereth nor sleepeth and who was marveilous in his peoples sight It was his doing likewise that Hester though by Mordecai's advice should conceale her nation and parentage untill she came in such high favour with the King That Queene Vashti should be displaced and she preferred
about the same time wherein Haman was advanced and by his advancement enabled to doe a remedilesse mischiefe to the Iewish nation had not the Lord as the wise man speakes made one thing against another If we would rightly survey that rare deliverance of Iehosaphat and his people before mentioned the particular meanes by which it was wrought were but ordinary not miraculous but the coincidence or concurrence of such meanes was more then miraculous Seeing the spirit of Godhath concealed the particular occasions of that unexpected hostility betweene the children of Ammon and Moab and the Edomites we have no reason to suspect them to have beene any other then such as the Lord heretofore hath wrought and yet may worke betweene the confederate enemies of this kingdomes peace for our good if we shall be thankfull or betweene our freinds or confederates for the advantage of the enemy if we shall continue enemies unto our God In a word in that rare and admirable deliverance there was no particular rare or unusuall in respect of those times unlesse it were Iehosaphats and his Nobles firme reliance not to the arme of flesh or probable appearance of meanes ordinary but upon the mercy and loving kindnesse of the Lord in whose wisdome they knew was treasured up variety of meanes ordinary unknowne to them as all sufficient to save as if the whole armory of his power by working miracles had beene used for their defence If Christian states would throughly parallell Iehosaphat and Iudah in this God in this age would parallell the successe by the like extraordinary disposition of meanes ordinary As his mercy endureth for ever so the treasure of his wisdome for effecting their good which love him is inexhaustible It is not necessary that he should interpose his creative power or worke miracles for bringing forth successe extraordinary and miraculous For of meanes ordinary whereof he hath infinite store already created a small number by his all-seeing disposition may suffice for any purpose He can without miracles save with a few as well as with many The letters or elements of all speech or language are not many few more in number than the yeares of our youth or non-age yet the possible compositions of these few are so various and copious as to afford severall words sufficient not only to signify the diversity of things that are by name but to expresse their natures and properties enough to decipher all the actions or undertakings of men throughout all ages How unsearchable then are his wayes how incomprehensible the secret courses by which he brings calamity or prosperity upon any nation who can with greater facility compose the severall rankes of his creature even all things that are then the Printer can doe his few letters And albeit all the visible meanes which may bee thought to conspire for our woe or for our weale may be to mans apprehension apparently the same which have beene manifested in former times yet his wisdome by secret addition or subtraction of some petty occurrences may quite alter the successe which from some former models wee feare or hope with lesse adoe than a critique permitted to correct a presse can doe the sence and meaning of the exactest writer by the dispunction or inversion of points or letters How many devices soever there be in man's heart yet as Prov. 19. 21. Solomon saith there is a counsell of the Lord and that must stand It was a grave Christian-like advice which the heathen Cambyses from some broken apprehensions of the great wisdome of his Gods or divine powers did give unto Cyrus his sonne when he first undertooke that quarrell with the Armenians which gave occasion to that great warre which by the counsell of the Lord he happily accōplished against Babylon The summe of his advise was this That hee should run no hazard either of his owne person or of his charge without sacrificing to the Gods and receiuing directions from them For men saith he in the choise of their actions or undertakings doe but rove by guesse not acquainted with the fountaines whence true goodnesse must be derived or the secret issues by which it runnes Many instances hee there brings of men which had wit or power to compasse the particulars which they most affected which yet have strangely miscarried in the maine chance and as it were ran counter from that end or marke at which all men by nature make ayme The resultance of his many instances or his experiments to this purpose is That humane wisdome at the best hath no more skill to chuse what is best for it selfe then as if a man should come to a lottery where hee must bee content with the lot which he drawes he hath a freedome of will or power to chuse this before that but none to make the prize of what hee chuseth that was set before But as for the immortall Gods they know all things as well past as to come and will direct their friends being consulted to chuse that which is good and decline evill But as for such as are not their friends there is no necessity that they should take the like care for them We may adde though all men by nature be enemies unto the true and only God yet is there is no necessity laid upon any so to continue All the nations of the earth have better meanes of reconciliation unto God then the Temple of Hierusalem or the service of it was unto the nation of the Iewes wherein it stood God saith the Apostle was in Christ reconciling not this or that man but the world unto himselfe All the nations of the earth as you heard before had their interest in the Temple built by Solomon The demolishing of it or the 2d Temple built by Zerubbabel reedified and adorned by Herod can be no prejudice to any particular nation of the earth much lesse to any christian nation least of all to this most orthodoxall nation But what Is that way or meanes of reconciliation unto God which we now have more excellent then the Iewish nation had whilest Solomons Temple stood Certainly the Sonne of God did use no Sophisme or aequivocation He spake more then Metaphors even sacred mysteries when he said unto the Iewes Destroy this Temple and in three daies I will raise it up Iohn 2. 19. For albeit his words as the Evangelist instructs us were literally meant of the Temple of his body and though the Iewes did pernitiously erre in not construing them so yet the same words had a farther emblematicall mysticall or spirituall sense importing thus much that the Iewes by destroying the Temple of his body should destroy that very Temple wherein they trusted and that within three dayes it should be raised with him to a more excellent state or manner of being than it had The materiall Temple was signed or marked unto destruction by the rending of the vaile at the houre of his death and though the visible building or so much of
and praying Every coward is capable of the former and he is a very foole that when other meanes faile cannot practice the later Must we then decline all triall of his wisdome by the received rule of humane policy This wee might doe but this we need not doe For the depth of his wisdome and policy will appeare if wee measure it by that rule or scale of that policy which the wisemen of this world hold in greatest admiration For so a great master of the art of policy tels us that when any state or kingdome is either weakened by meanes internall as by the sloath the negligence or carelesnesse of the Governours as diseases grow in mens bodies by degrees insensible for want of exercise or good dyet or whether they be wounded by causes external the only method for recovering their former strength and dignity is ut omnia ad sua principia revocentur by giving life unto the fundamentall lawes and ancient customes As for new inventions what depth or subtilities soever they cary unlesse they suite well with the fundamentall lawes or customes of the state wherein they practice they proove in the issue but like empiricall Physick which agrees not with the naturall disposition or customary dyet of the party to whom it is ministred Of the former aphorisme you have many probatum's in the ancient Roman state So have yee of the later in the state of Italy about the time wherein Machiavel wrote if we may believe him in his owne profession Admit then the rule or method were as for ought I have to say it is without exception yet the successe of the practice how conformable soever to the rule must still depend on that measure of goodnesse which is contained in the fundamentall lawes or primevall customes of every Nation If these be but comparatively good the successe of the practice cannot be absolute If they be but seemingly good or mixed with evill the great Philosopher treating of this subiect hath foretold the successe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever is either falsly or but seemingly good will in revolution of time bring forth effects truly and really evill If the fundamenmentall lawes of any state be not firme or sound whatsoever else is laid upon them there lyes a necessity of finking with their owne weight Where the basis is but narrow the fastigium or roofe cannot be high Or where the foundation is both firme and spatious yet if the structure be set awry with every degree of height it gets there growes a parallell degree of inclination to its sudden downefall Now if Hezekiah in making choice of prayer before any other meanes of policy did practice according to the former rule that is as the ancient lawes of that kingdome and rules of goverment prescribed by his Ancestors did direct him he was more politickly wise than any Prince of other Nations in these times could be than any at this day can be besides such as have the like fundamentall lawes or take his practice in like exigence for their patterne For the fundamentall lawes of his kingdome were absolutely good as being immediately given by God himselfe The best lawes of other Nations were but the inventions of men Hence saith the Psalmist Psal. 147. v. 19. Hee sheweth his word unto Iacob his statutes and ordinances unto Israel Yet Moses presumed that other Nations which had no knowledge of their lawes in particular should from the happy successe which was to attend their due observance acknowledge in generall that their lawes were more righteous and able to make this people wiser than other Nations could be For so Moses had said Deut. 4. 5. Behold I have taught you statutes and Iudgements even as the Lord my God commanded me keepe therefore and doe them For this is your wisdome and understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall heare all these statutes and say surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding people And what Nation is there so great that hath statutes and Iudgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day Amongst other Nations some had lawes in their kinde good for warre others for peace few or none good lawes for both none absolutely good for either No such lawes as their strict observance might secure them from their enemies They could not be so wise in projecting their owne future prosperity but their enemies might bee as subtile in contriving their adversity They could not bee so strong in battaile but their enemies and their Allies might be as strong as they They could not bee so industrious or vigilant for recovering the strength or dignity of their weakned estate but their enemies might be as vigilant to defeate their intentions Or albeit one Nation had so farre overtopped another as well in councell of peace as strength of warre as to be able to keepe them perpetually under yet no lawes no inventions of men could ever secure the most potent Nation on earth from such dangers as accrue from the host of inanimate or reasonlesse creatures albeit all Neighbour Nations were at peace with them or sworne confederates for advancing their state and dignity Against the hosts or armies of men some preparations may alwaies be made because they come not without notice or preparation but the severall hosts of the reasonlesse creatures come upon men for the most part without observation or fore-sight And one of them can execute anothers office or charge or every one accomplish that worke which the Armies of men did intend but could not execute That scarcity of bread or other calamity which sometime suddainly ariseth in some limbe or corner of a kingdome by want of trade or by shutting up too great a multitude of ships for a long time in one harbour whilst the enemy or Pirats annoy the coasts how easily might it be much increased if he that keepes the windes as in a treasure house should shut up a greater multitude of ships for a long time in the same harbour by a contrary winde albeit their enemies in the meane while become their friends albeit they were provided of an invincible navy at an houres warning Or in case they did know whence the winde commeth or whither it is going or could so covenant that it should blow where and when they listed yet if the Lord of hosts be so pleased he can bring a greater dearth and scarcity upon the most fertile provinces of the land then either the enemy or contrary windes can occasion either by withdrawing the sweet influence of the heavens or by corrupting the seed lately sowne or corne ready to be reaped with abundant moisture Or admit any people or Nation by miracle or divine dispensation might have authority not over the windes only but over the clouds the raine and dew or such a power of shutting and opening heaven as husband-men have of letting in brookes upon their medowes and taking them off againe at their pleasures so as they
might have seed time and harvest as seasonable their fields as fruitfull the Sea as open as their hearts could desire yet the very freedome of commerce and traffique whether with foraine Nations or with other members of the same Nation may bring in a greater inconvenience which no plenty can hold out then the enemy then unseasonable winde or weather could threaten Want of trade and want of victuals are plagues or punishments sent by God but the plague of pestilence which is oft times the companion of peace and plenty the usuall effect of free trading or traffique is more terrible then either of the former wants And thus may every part of the reasonlesse host accomplish what another had omitted Now with turbulent spirits or unruly men good lawes duely executed may take some order but against unseasonable weather against unruly or incommodious windes no law of man no act of Parliament can provide Against the plague or pestilence no councell of state or warre no host or army can secure themselves much lesse others Though they that besiege and are besieged doe keepe watch and sentinell day and night yet the arrowes of this dreadfull messenger flye more certainly to the marke whereto they are directed though at mid-night then their bullets doe at mid-day As there is no counsell against the Lord so there is no policy that can prevent the execution of Gods judgements upon mightiest kingdomes by the meanest of his creatures besides that policy which his lawes given to Israel did prescribe One speciall branch of that wisdome which Moses ascribes unto these lawes was they taught their observers not to trust in bow or shield not to put any part of their confidence in the strength or wit of man no not in their owne observation of these very lawes or reformation wrought by their rules as it was theirs but only in the Lord of hosts Hee was their wisdome and he was their strength whensoever any danger did approach whether from men or from other creatures their lawes did teach them that he was absolute Lord over all that the hearts of Kings and Governours were under his governance that he could dispose turne them as it seemed best to his heavenly wisdome And that alwaies seemes best to him which is for the good of such as repose their whole trust and confidence in him When Israels enemies displeased him more then Israel did he made them stronger then their enemies and when their waies did please him he made their enemies as Solomon speakes to be at peace with them Whilst they faithfully served this Lord of hosts they knew hee could command the whole host of the reasonlesse or livelesse creatures to doe them service From this knowledge of God and his lawes did Solomon gather these unerring rules of sacred policy whose observation at this time did and might for ever have preserved this kingdome There is no inconvenience of peace no mischeife of warre no kind of calamity which can befall any state or kingdome against which the fundamentall lawes of this Nation and the rules of policy gathered from them by Solomon did not sufficiently provide The soveraigne remedies for every particular disease or kind of calamity are set downe at large 2. Chron. 6. v. 22. to the 40. The remedy against the calamity of war v. 24. 25. against the calamity that may come by drought v. 26. 27. against famine pestilence and blasting of corne or other inconvenience from the host of reasonlesse creatures you have the remedy v. 29. 30. against captivity in a foraigne land v. 37. 38. The soveraigne remedy against all these and other like inconveniences and calamities is for substance one and the same with that which good King Hezekiah here used to feare the Lord and pray unto the Lord either in the Temple when they had opportunity to resort unto it or towards the Temple or the place wherein it stood when they soiourned 〈◊〉 were detained Captives in a foraigne land And who so would diligently peruse the sacred story from Solomons time untill this peoples returne from captivity and the building up of the second Temple shall finde a probatum of this Catholique and soveraigne medicine in respect of every branch of calamity mentioned by Solomon at the consecration of the first Temple I must hold to the instance of my Text. Another branch of that which was contained in the fundamentall lawes of this kingdome and which goes a great deale deeper than the fundamentall rules of any other policy was this that of all calamities which did or could befall them their sinnes and transgressions were the prime causes and whatsoever afflictions were laid upon them for their sinnes could not bee taken off without the humble supplication of the sinners Vnto a lower ebbe then King Ahaz did leave it at the kingdome of Iudah had not beene brought by any of his Predecessors or by any other in their dayes Now of all the miseries which at any time befell it by the famine by the enemies sword or by the pestilence the only cause which the rule of faith assignes was their forsaking of the Lord their God and the transgressing of his lawes But to prevent the perpetuity and continuance of such calamities as king Ahaz and his Adherents had by their foule transgressions involved this kingdome in no attempt or practice of Prince or people whether joyntly or severally did ever finde successe untill they put Solomons rules of sacred policy in practice as good king Hezekiah did Did hee not feare the Lord and prayed before the Lord c. The fruits of his prayer and the reformation of those corrupt times by giving life unto their fundamentall lawes were two First his prayers procured an healing of the wounds which by negligence of his Predecessors had beene given to the State Secondly he prevented the execution of those terrible Iudgments which in his owne dayes did hang over this land and people specially over their Heads and Rulers The kingdome of David had sometimes exceeded the most flourishing neighbour kingdomes as farre as the Cedars of Libanus did the ordinary trees of the forrest but was now brought low That height which was left her but as a decayed tree markt to the fall Hezekiah by zealous prayers removes the axe from the roote after it had made such deepe incision that it was scarce able to beare its stemme though dispoiled of his top or principall branches it nearely concerned every one which hoped for shelter under its shade to pray for gentle winds and comfortable weather that shee might recover root and branch againe But so Hezekiah's and his peoples Successors did not Manasses his sonne found a people not untoward as being in some tolerable sort reformed by Hezekiah but he himselfe a most untoward King able by his authority and bad example to undoe what his good father had well done to spoile and marre a greater people than he was Lord of though better reformed in Iosiah
reward and the Priests therereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof divine for money Now untill these greedy hopes of unlawfull gaine were abandoned they could not pray in faith The ministration of publique Iustice for private reward the Priests teaching for hire and the Prophets divination for money would respectively turne their very prayers into sinne Now what meanes could be more effectuall for abandoning these and the like sinnes then the iudgement which the Prophet there threatned from the Lord Therefore shall Sion for your sake be plowed as a field and Ierusalem shall become heapes and the mountaine of the house as the high places of the forrest Micah 3. 12. If the heads of the house of Iudah and Princes of the house of Israel to whom this message is directed did sincerely and truly beleive him that sent it they could not but feare least without their speedy repentance the Lord would quickly accomplish whatsoever the Prophet in his name had threatned Now hearty and unfained feare that Sion should be plowed as a field that Ierusalem should become a heape would move all such as had not their habitation only but the very roote of their livelyhood in them to lay a better foundation of their owne and of their posterities welfare than bloud and violence It would incline the hearts of their Rulers and Magistrates to breake off their iniquity by sincere administration of Iustice by almes-deeds and workes of mercy Feare againe least the mountaine of the house that is the Temple or whose flourishing estate the livelyhood and welfare of Priests and Prophets did so depend as the Passengers life doth on the safety of the ship wherein hee sailes would worke their hearts to an observance of the properties or qualifications to the performance of all the conditions which are required to faithfull and effectuall praiers But of the conditions of successefull praiers and of the qualification of good Suppliants fitter occasion will offer it selfe hereafter Thus much towards this purpose wee have gotten from these generals that the hearts of men which have been long accustomed or hardened in perverse courses of grosser sinnes will hardly be new moulded or refashioned according or wrought unto the temper and modell of Hezekiah's heart until they be made to melt with feare of such Iudgements as Micah here theatened against Iudah Ierusalem and Sion For producing this melting or mollifying feare the considerations are specially three First the consciousnesse or apprehensions of such sinnes as specially provoke Gods anger or sollicite his Iudgments Secondly a faithfull recounting of divine forewarnings or monitions past especially if they have been grossely neglected or usually sleighted Thirdly the Inspection of the instrumentall causes or meanes in probability appointed for the execution of Iudgments threatened or a diligent observance of the signes of the time As these be the speciall meanes for begetting unfained feare so the best method for nurturing up such feare begotten that it neither grow slavish nor wilde that it end not in desperation is to know in what sence the Lord is said to repent For the sinnes which specially provoke Gods fearefull iudgement against any land or people wee cannot have a more distinct view of them in breife than from the Prophet Micah in the forecited place Bribery and corruption in the seates of Iustice oppressions and cruelty in the mighty and wealthy mercenary temporizings in the sonnes of Levi every one of these diseases is dangerous though alone but when they all meete in any state or kingdome they grow deadly Or if Micah may be no further allowed of than of a single witnesse we may adde unto him the like testimonies of the Prophet Isaiah who lived in the same time with him Corruption in the seate of Iustice did in his time taint the service of the Temple turned the prayers of the Rulers into sinne and made their sacrifices become abominable Esay 1. 14. The very aversnesse or unwillingnesse of such Rulers and oppressors as these were to have the law laid unto them by the Prophets was a prognostick of suddaine Iudgements approaching Isaiah 30. 13. Therefore this iniquity shall bee to you as a breach ready to fall swelling out in a high wall whose breaking comes at an instant Now if the Priests and Prophets whose office it is to discover and repaire such breaches doe but dawbe them with untempered mortar and so hide aud cover them from their sight whom it concernes to beware of them by this doing they draw the multitude within the reach of that ruine and destruction which like a trap or snare was ready to fall upon them Or least any should suspect that these prognosticks did serve only for Ierusalem and Iudah the same Prophet instructs us Isaiah 47. that it was oppression and cruelty towards such as shee had conquered which did draw Gods Iudgements upon Babel But that which made them to fall so suddainly and unexpectedly upon them was the popular and man-pleasing humors of her Soothsayers and Diviners Ierusalem and Iudah were at this time sicke of all those three diseases and therefore had iust cause to feare the iudgements threatned Quid quod hos morbos gravius symptoma sequatur There is a symptome mentioned by the Prophet Micah which was worse then the diseases themselves yet will they leane upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us None ill can come upon us v. 11. Elsewhere we reade this people taxed by Gods Prophets for trusting sometimes in lyes sometimes in oppression or violence oft times for putting confidence in their owne strength or in the strength of their confederates But of any branch of this fault they were not at this time guilty yet taxed no lesse as being no lesse taxe-worthy shall I say for trusting the Lord or rather as the Prophet saith for leaning on the Lord That is for presuming on his favour in the consciousnesse of such sinnes as they now stood charged with That to presume on Gods wonted favours or ordinary protection in the consciousnesse of extraordinary sinnes is a most grievous sinne against God best proportioned by his sinne against Gods Deputy who being infected with some dangerous disease should presume to rest himselfe upon the royall chaire is a truth unquestionable But why this people being thus dangerously infected should at this time specially leane upon the Lord and avouch his warrant upon their protection may well be questioned not unfitting to be inquired after The reason I take it is this These peoples fore-elders or these very men themselves in Ahaz time had usually beene indited of Idolatry and found guilty specially of worshipping in high places aud serving groves and Idols But Hezekiah in the very beginning of his raigne remooved the high places brake the Images cut downe the groves brake in peeces the brasen Serpent that Moses had made 2. Kings 18. v. 14. Nor was hee more zealous in repressing all worships of false Gods or Idolatry then
out present judgement against the Court against the chiefe cities of his kingdome and against the Church established in this kingdome 2 But whether are more faulty Magistrates and Superiours in giving just occasion to bee thus thought of or inferiours in taking occasion where none is given or greater then is justly given this I leave to the searcher of all hearts who hath reserved the judgements of times and seasons and of mens demerits in them unto himselfe alone by peculiar right of prerogative The most usefull point that I can pitch upon will be to discover the errours or fallacies by which we usually deceive our selves even whilst we endeavour to examine or judge our selves 3 Now as into cities strongly fortified well stored with men and victualls the enemy oft times findes entrance either by the negligence of the watch or at some secret places for the time ill manned So into Churches or common weales well grounded in points of faith and Orthodoxall doctrine and abounding with all spirituall foode destruction and ruine such judgement as Micah here threatned finde easie passage by a twofold negligence or incogitancy rather then grosse errour The first incogitancy common to most is that we hold it sufficient to repent us of our owne sinnes or of the sinnes of our owne times The second that even such as are willing to take an accurate view aswell of their fore-fathers or predecessors sinnes as as of their owne sinnes or of the sinnes of the time and place where they live do often use a false or imperfect scale For preventing the first incogitance we are to consider that albeit God do never punish the children for their fathers sinnes yet he usually visits the sinnes of the father upon the children at least with temporall plagues or punishments aswell publique as private And this visitation is sometimes drawne upon posterity not so much by a pronenes to imitate their fore-elders in those actuall sinnes by which they did first provoke Gods wrath as by a promptnesse to maintaine the Arts of their fore-elders without addition unto them especially if they have beene warranted by any kind of legality For children not to confesse the sinnes of their forefathers not to repent of them not to make satisfaction for them so farre as they have beene iniurious to men is by the rule of divine Iustice sufficient to charge the inheritance which descends unto posterity with the punishments due to their actuall transgressions from whom it descends Not to visit the sinnes immediately upon the first transgressions or transgressors but to give them and their successors a larger time for repentance is a branch of Gods long suffring and mercy But to visit the sins not duely repented of by the first and second upon the third and fourth generation is a branch of Iustice declared and avouched by God himselfe in the second commandement But this point will meet us againe in the reformation attempted by the good Iosias The second incogitance is more pertinent to this place and in it selfe more dangerous And it is this Many which carefully endeavour to frame their lives and actions by the propheticall rule are not so carefull and provident to measure theire transgressions by the propheticall scale or by the ballance of the Sanctuary but according to the rate of moderne corrupt language Thus when we heare the Prophets compare the oppressors or corrupt Magistrates of their times to ravenous wolves to brambles or thorny hedges most men instantly conceive that the parties whom Gods Prophets which were no slanderers did thus deepely censure had taken away their neighbours lives or goods by strong hand by some notorious disturbance of publique peace by such palpable facts as with us are said to be contrary to the crowne and dignity of the Prince And by this grosse calculation many Potentates and Magistrates many that take upon them to be reformers of others runne further upon the score of Gods wrath then the Iewish Rulers in Mica's time did before they bethinke themselves of any danger Many againe of tender consciences in respect of divers duties whereof others make no scruple when they heare or reade the woes denounced against hypocrites will with the Poet detest such lying lips even as the gates of Hell which speake well and meane ill which have God in theire mouths and the Divell in their hearts But he that measures this sinne of Hypocrisie by this Heathenish scale may come to make up the full measure of it before he hath charged it upon his accompts or bethinke himselfe to be in such arrerrages for this sinne as deserves to be called for 4 By the same oversight many people which firmely believe the propheticall rules to be most infallibly true make up the measure of their iniquity before they have made up their intended accounts or suspect themselves to be in any such arrerrages as may deserve the Prophets censure or to be called upon by threatning Gods Iudgements The error it selfe is much what the same as if a factor which stands charged with a thousand pounds sterling according to the old hanse or esterling pay should make up his private reckonings according to the rate of pounds or coyne this day currant throughout this kingdome he which thus accompts for any great summe must needs fall into the error of the Church of the Laodiceans Rev. 3. to thinke himselfe rich or well before hand when hee is poore and wretched and lyable to a debt unsatisfiable by himselfe unsupportable by his friends yet our accompts unto God we make up for the most part afthis manner 5. To make these different calculations agree or to reforme or rectify our corrupt language by the rule of the Sanctuary that which wee usually call warrines in dealing or wit to use the benefit of the Law or the advantage of times in making bargaines This in the propheticall language is hunting our brother with a net and whereas the Prophet saith of the Iudges and Magistrates of his times that even the best of them was but a bramble and the most upright amongst them as a thorny hedge This is the very Scantlings of the fayrest course of legall proceedings which poore men in time shall finde The least protection which the customary course of law affords unto them is but like the shelter which silly sheepe in a storme find under a hedge of thorne or bush of brambles However the law may protect them from the violence which other intend against them yet shall they be sure to leave their fleece for this protection It is a thing much to be wish'd that either the courts of temporall law were not so open or the doores of the Sanctuary might be closer shut than they are specially against such as are upon petty occasions farre more ready to spend a hundred pounds in legall vexation of his neighbour or Christian brother than to give an hundred pence for Christ's sake or his Church be the cause never so
ipsam cum ex antiquis tum novis exemplis agnoscere oportet confiteri omnes magnos motus quicunque aut vrbi aut regioni evenerunt vel à coniectoribus vel à revelatione aliquâ prodigijs aut coelestibus signis praedici ac praenunciari solere Matchiav disput lib. 1. cap. 56. But besides the induction made by Herodotus whose works I doubt but know not whether Matchiavel had red many other instances he brings out of his owne observations and experience But some will aske what credit is to bee given to Matchiavel or men of his temper Litle or none I must confesse in point of censure or opinion concerning matter of religion or sacred use But as the testimony of the Iew in matter of fact is the most pregnant proofe that wee Christians can use against the Iewes themselves or for confirmation of our religion so Matchiavels testimony in matter of fact of this nature whereof we treat is most authentique against the Atheists or men of no religion For this great Politician was so farre from being too superstitious or credulous in this kinde that by his writings many have suspected him to have been rather irreligious more inclining to Atheisme then either to the Christian or Iewish nation And whatsoever in this kinde he hath observed as hee himselfe confesseth was in a manner evicted or extorted from him by the evidence of truth The true cause of such prodigious signes or forewarnings he professes he did not know and we have reason to believe him in this because he was ignorant of the right end or use of them But this saith he all we of Florence know that the comming of Charles the eigth French King with a puisant army was foretold long before by Ierome Savanorola and likewise foreshewed by many other signes rife in his times throughout the Dukedome of Tuscany Now this divination of Savanorola was not gathered from any politique observation for Charles his attempt was in all politique esteeme so incredible and rash that the grave Senators of Venice would give no credence unto the first newes of his entring into Italy untill one of their ancients better acquainted it seemes with that French Kings disposition then the rest told them that he could more easily believe this rash attempt of that French King then of any of his predecessors But besides the testimony of Matchiavel for this particular wee have the undoubted testimony of Philip de Comtnes that grave and religious Historian who was then agent for the French King in Italy and relates this prediction from Savanorola his owne mouth with more particulars then Matchiavel mentions for he expresly foretold him of that unexpected successe which Charles at his first comming did finde but this hee foretold with this proviso or caution that unlesse the King his master did faithfully execute the worke whereunto the Lord of Lords and King of Kings had designed him he would quickly call in his commission and bring the French armies backe againe into their owne land with disgrace and losse The event did prove both these parts of this prediction to be most true This great alteration of state and warres in Italy as Matchiavel confidently affirmes was likewise portended or foresignified by such apparitions in the ayre as the Authour of the second booke of Maccabees in his 5. chap. mentions that is by apparitions of great armies of men joyning battel over Aretium a Towne in Tuscany The words of the Authour of the second of Maccabees before cited are these And then it hapned that through all the city for the space almost of 40 daies there were seene horse-men running in the ayre in cloth of gold and armed with lances like a bande of souldiers and troopes of horse-men in array encountring and running one against another with shaking of shields and multitude of pikes and drawing of swordes and casting of darts and glitterings of golden ornaments and harnesse of all sorts wherefore every man prayed that that apparition might turne to good He instances in another signe or prodigie well known to all in Florence which did portend or fore-signifie the death of Lorenzo de Medices who laid the first foundation of the present Dukedome of Tuscany in his family being a man who by his wisdome had preserved all Italy a long time in peace For a litle before his death the roofe of their chiefe Church or Temple tooke fire from heaven which much defaced it The banishment of Petrus Soderinus a great peere and pillar of the state of Florence in his time and the calamities which ensued thereupon were likewise fore-signified or portended by the burning of their Guild-hall or Senate-house by lightning or fire from heaven These examples he brings from his owne knowledge another he brings out of Livy of one Aeditius an honest countrey-man who was warned and commanded by a voice in the dead of night more cleare and shrill then the voice of man to tell their Magistrates that the Gaules their enemies were comming to be revenged upon the Romans So hee concludes his discourse as hee did begin it that whatsoever might be thought of such conjectures or forewarnings this is most certaine by experience that some great alterations alwaies follow upon such signes or forewarnings As for Herodotus I like his verdict in this kinde the better because hee refer'd this observation of prodigies or signes of the time unto the Egyptian nation which was the most ancient and most remarkeable Kingdome amongst the Heathens And what reason the Egyptians had to observe these prodigies and signes of the time more than others both Iewes and Christians canno but know or may remember seeing God had shewed such signes and wonders in the land of Egypt as had not beene shewne in any nation before such as can scarce be paralleld in any nation since besides in the destruction of Ierusalem untill the day of judgement or the signes which shall bee given before it come Vnto matters related by the Author of the second book of Maccabees if not for his own esteeme yet for S. Pauls or whoever were the Author of the epistle to the Hebrewes we owe such an historicall beliefe as may ground maters of sacred or canonicall use or application because that sacred Author hath given him credit or countenance in his relations of the persecutions of Gods people long before his owne time which are not registred by any ancient Author now extant besides this Author of the second booke of Maccabees 2. Maccab. 7. 7. Heb. 11. 35. They extend an undoubted truth too farre which make canonicall scriptures to bee the only rule of our beliefe as well for maters of fact as for matter of Doctrine or use For some maters of fact though not related in canonicall scriptures wee may and doe beliefe or know as certainly as those maters which are related by sacred historians Wee all of us as stedfastly believe and know that God hath often visited this land with the
would have but he replying said hee would not reveale his secrets to any but to the King This message was presently caried to the King who understanding thereof sent unto him one of his servants in the best and richest apparell and one who was next himselfe feigning that he was the King commanding him to enquire what this fellow would say This messenger comming before the Ghost and asking him in private what secret he would impart unto him the other denying that hee was King but came disguised to abuse him with a high and loud voice hee said that since the King would not heare him he should shortly perish And so shortly he did with the losse of a great part of the Kingdome of Hungary not recovered by Christians to this day But it is time to come to the use which the Hearthens did and the Christians ought to make of the speciall signes or forewarnings of what kind soever they bee Of the Heathens some in most ages did utterly contemne or scorne all presage from the signes of the time some not so ill dispos'd did slight them others tooke them into serious consideration but for the most part made no right use of them did grossely erre either in practice or opinion The ancient Romans had an accustomed presage of successe in battle by the eating of birds kept for that purpose This kind of presage was so farre contemned by Clandius Pulcher generall for the Romans in the first Punickâ— warre that when the sooth sayers had diswaded him from giving battaile to the Carthaginians that day because the birds would not eat he commanded them to bee cast into the sea to see if they would drinke or no But the ill successe which was conceived to follow upon this contempt did cause the Senate to call in his commission and chuse another generall in his place Howbeit this kind of presage I take it was no signe of the time or forewarning exhibited by the true God but rather effected by superstitious men However the contempt or scorne of superstition or blind devotion unlesse it spring from a sincere and well rooted love to true religion is much worse than superstitious than idolatrous practices Many instances are extant in unsuspected Authors that the irreligious contemners or scorners of false Gods have been remarkeably plagued not by those supposed Gods whose service they neglected but by the true and only God who is the just revenger as well of Atheisme and irreligion as of superstition and idolatry But the Emperour Vespatian though an Heathen was in his way devoutly religious and though no contemner yet a slighter of the prodigies and signes of the time For when amongst other presages remarkeable of his death notice was given him of a comet which then appeared he bid the relaters deliver this message to the King of Parthia Ille comatus est ego autem calvus seeing the King of Parthia did weare long haire it was most likely that this blazing starre or â—rinita stella as the Romans call it should portend his death rather than the Emperour Vespatians who was bald But the course of destiny as the Heathens upon this observed could not be diverted by jerkes of wit for Vespatian died before the extinction of this comet and the King of Parthia outlived both Vespatian perhaps might have lived the longer if upon these summons or forewarnings hee had betaken himselfe to his prayers as Hezekiah in like case did or said in his heart unto the divine power which gave him those summons as David in like case did Behold here am I do with me as it seemeth good in thy eyes But error in opinion concerning the use of the these forewarnings was usuall to the more ingenious and devoutest sort of heathens which did carefully regard them Thus farre they are to be commended in that they thought these forewarnings to bee sent by the Gods or Divine powers as tokens or pledges of their good will towards men some of them expressely say they were sent from the God not from the Gods from coelestâ—â—umen not from câ—â—lesta numina from the power of heaven not from heavenly powers wherein did these men faile or erre In this specially that albeit they did not suspect the Divine power either of hatred or want of good will towards men yet they thought rate and destiny were stronger then this Divine power that the miserable calamity and successe which did commonly ensue upon such forewarnings could by no meanes possible be either prevented or averted hence was that or the like exclamation Heu vani monitus frustraque morantia parcas Prodigia heu superi fatis certasse minores But this was the speech of a Poet and Poets take liberty to be passionate in expressing the dispositions or opinions of men in their times Yet a most sober most ingenuous Roman writer is more expresse to this purpose in prose Câ— etiam Pompeium Iupiter omnipotens abunde monuerat nec cum C. Caesare ultimam belli fortunam experiri contenderet He speakes not of the Gods in generall but of one God whom he characters under the stile of omnipotency who did forewarn Pompey the great not sufficiently only but abundantly not to hazard his fortunes upon a battaile to be determined on one day The forewarnings which he there relates were extraordinary and prodigious some of them portending Pompey's overthrow others Caesars victory His verdict or censure upon them is briefly this they were such à quibus appareret coeleste numen Caesaris gloriae favisse Pompeii errorem inhibere voluisse But if this heavenly power were willing to inhibit Pompey's error how came it to passe that it was not inhibited This is all the reason hee could give â—nvictae leges necessitatis pectus alioqui ab amentiâ remotum prodigia ista iustâ aestimatione perpendere passae non sunt The irresistible lawes of necessity would not suffer this great and otherwise most prudent Generall to weigh these forewarnings aright But if this Iupiter or heavenly power were as he instiles him omnipotent and willing withall aâ— he confesseth to inhibit Pompey's error at this very time what law what necessity or what lawes of necessity could resist or prohibite the execution of his will These immutable lawes of necessity if any such there were might be more truely stiled omnipotent then Iupiter or that great God who gives lawes to man and Angels but it was the want of true Logick which did occasion this errour or ill expression in this heathen writer as it had done and doth the like in the Stoicks The transposing only of one word or placing of one point aright without alteration of any fillable or it's signification would make this heathen's opinion and expression of himselfe exactly paralleld to the rule of faith When hee saith Invictaeleges necessitat is c. would not suffer Pompey to lay these forewarnings to heart he contradicts himselfe and the truth of Divine
no warning either from the sonne of God or by the calamities of their brethren Now if any amongst us be as great hypocrites as they were they bee as grievous sinners as guilty of Christs bloudy death and liable to as grievous punishments either in this life or in the life to come as they were A Pharisaicall hypocrite none can be unlesse his soule bee so wedded to some branches as hee conceives them of holy doctrine or zeale to Gods word that he would rather suffer his soule and body to be dissolved then be divorced from his opinions That will not be ready as opportunity serves to persecute all such even unto death as will not comply with him or maintaine his faction And this kind of hypocrisie alwaies presupposeth some other sinnes which breed it alwaies include some other sins or errors which feed and strengthen it That error which breeds hypocrisie is a zealous desire to be extreamly contrary in all or most points unto them whom they undoubtedly know to contradict the truth as well in some opinions as practises Satan may instill other erroneous opinions into his scholars and yet must be inforced to play the sophister before hee can draw them to admit of his intended conclusions that is lewd or wicked practises but if he can once insinuate immature perswasions or strong presumptions of their irreversible estate in Gods favour hee needs no help of Sophistry to inferre his intended conclusions This antecedent being swallowed hee can inforce the conclusion by good Logicke by rules of reason more cleere then any Syllogisme can make it then any philosophicall or mathematicall demonstration For it is an unquestionable rule of reason presupposed to all rules of Syllogisme◠or argumentations that an universall negative may bee simply converted as if no man can be a stone then no stone can be a man the rule is as firme in divinity that if no hypocrite no envious or uncharitable man can enter into the Kingdome of heaven then no man that must enter into the Kingdome of heaven that is irreversibly ordained to eternall life can bee an hypocrite can be an envious or uncharitable man Whence againe it will cleerely follow that if the former opinions concerning mens personall or nationall irreversible estate in Gods favour have possessed mens soules and braines before its due time albeit they doe the selfe same things that rebels doe that hypocrites that envious or uncharitable men doe yet so long as this opinion stands unshaken they can never suspect themselves to be rebellious to be hypocrites or uncharitable That which indeed and in the language of the holy ghost is rebellion will bee favourably interpreted to be the liberty of concience in defence of Gods lawes envy hatred and uncharitablenesse towards men will goe current for zeale towards God and true religion To illustrate or confirme these observations touching the originall Symptomes of pharisaicall hypocrisie by the example practice of these Iewes according to the order in which they have been now proposed The first originall was in the overprising of the rigid reformation of their forefathers prophanesse Their father 's worshipped stocks and stones the images or statues of heathen Gods these latter sought to bee so extreamly contrary to the heathen or to the practises of 〈◊〉 forefathers in this particular that they would 〈…〉 any civill use of pictures and their unrelenting zeale to maintaine this rigid reformation was the originall of that rebellion wherein they perished after they had continued it seventy yeares more or lesse For Herod the great having erected a golden eagle upon the wals of the Temple not with purpose to have it adored but in testimony of his gratitude and alleageance to the Roman Emperour some of their Rabbins or great masters did teach their schollars to deface it though they dyed for it and death in this holy quarrell was accounted Martyrdome Afterwards they were pressed to admit a statue of the Roman emperour in their Temple but not urged as I take it to adore it And this did blow the coales of former dissention and was the originall of that finall rebellion under Nero. Now if they had not apprehended this rebellion as an holy warre or had not affected to become Martyrs in defence of true religion they might easily have deprecated this eye-sore or grievance at the Roman deputies hands as the wiser sort of them sometimes had done But howsoever these latter Iewes almost from the time of their returne from Babilon did increase the measure of their forefathers grosser sinnes by too nice and rigid reformation of them and added pharisaicall hypocrisie unto them as a new disease of the soule scarce heard of before yet this hypocrisy though epidemicall to this Nation had not the strength to bring forth that monster of uncharitablenesse which did portend the ruine of this mighty people untill they were invaded by the Romans For from the time that this Nation was brought into subjection by Pompey the great their Church-governours did allow and appoint dayly sacrifices to be offered for the peace and tranquillity of the Roman empire and security of the emperours But a little before the fulfilling of this prophecy in my text there arose a sect which did condemne this custome after an hundred yeares continuance as unlawfull as contrary to the Law of God as a pollution of the Temple And it is a point observable by such as read the history of Iosephus that of all the iregularities or prodigious villanies committed in the Temple during the time of the siege as the tumultuous deposition of their high Priests and murther of them and others of better place the faction surnamed by themselves the Zealous were the chiefe Authors and a betters The fruit of this their blind and misguided zeale was to misinterpret the murther of their brethren which would not comply with them in their furious projects to bee the best service the only sacrifice then left to offer unto God for the daily sacrifice of beasts did cease for want of provision they having plenty or sufficiency of nothing but of famine Now to parallel the sinnes of our Nation of this present generation specially with the sinnes of the latter Iewes As for sinnes against the second table no man of unpartiall understanding or experience can deny that wee farre exceed them unlesse it bee for murther only disobedience to parents to magistrates adultery fornication theft false witnesse-bearing and coveting their neighbours goods are farre more rife amongst us then they were or could be amongst them at least in the practice The keene edge of some few give us occasion to conjecture what the bloudy issue of misguided zeale would be could it once get as strong a back as it had in these Iewes when there was no King in Israel or in that Anarchy wherein every one did that which was pleasing in his owne eyes Againe no man not surprized with a Iewish slumber but may cleerly see how
bee The same admonitions of our Saviour are related totidem dem verbis Marke 13. v. 14. to the 20. and by S. Luk. 21. 21. to the 26. with some additions Then let them which are in Iudea fly unto the mountaines and let them which are in the midst of it depart out and let not them which are in the countrey enter thereinto For these bee the dayes of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled and they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall bee led away captive into all Nations And Ierusalem shall bee trodden downe of the Gentiles untill the times of the Gentiles bee fulfilled After Gods wrath had once seyzed upon them the execution of it was so nimble quicke that if it had continued but some few weeks or many dayes as it had begun all Isaacks seed according to the flesh had utterly perished But for the elect's sake or such as God had chosen out of that Nation to propagate the Kingdome of his sonne these dayes of tribulation were shortned And however the persecution of both Iewes and Christians did not determine with the destruction of Ierusalem yet the number of Christians did multiply faster then the seed of Abraham according to the flesh had done in Egypt Now all these signes which our Saviour had given of Ierusalem's destruction were fulfilled within forty yeares after his resurrection and ascension and the dissolution of the Temple of the city which these signes or abominations did portend was accomplished in the Autumne following Now after the exhibition of these signes and the tribulation of those dayes the fearefull signes here mentioned in my text were immediatly to follow But how immediatly without any delay or inter position of time of dayes of monthes or yeares this wee may not say this wee cannot safely collect from our Saviour's words These signes were to follow immediatly non immediatione tēporis sed immediatione signorum that is they were to follow immediatly not with reference to the next times ensuing but with reference to the next remarkable signes of the times of which the world as well the Christians then encreased as the reliques of the Iewish Nation as the Gentiles who were the greatest part of the world after the destruction of Ierusalem were to take warning In this sense wee say that one King is another's immediat successor if there be no King betweene them albeit their bee an interregnum either of weekes or moneths betwixt them The vacancy of an Episcopall see for one or two yeares or more doth not make the next succeeding Bishop not to be the others immediat successor albeit there bee an intermediat time betwixt the ones death or removall and the others election or consecration Thus albeit the signes in my text did immediatly succeed the former signes of Ierusalem's destruction yet the world as well the Iewes and Christians as the Romans had a convenient time allotted to pause or meditate upon the strange desolation of Ierusalem and Iudea before the second ranke of signes here in my text were to bee exhibited for they were not exhibited untill the second yeare of Titus his raigne For seeing the Nations would take no notice of Christ's Kingdome or of Gods judgements by the prodigious destruction of Ierusalem it was shall I say his will yea an act of his mercy to give them a second a more solemne publique warning of that great and terrible day wherein that Iesus whom the Iewes had crucified whom the Romans had strangely sleighted and grievously persecuted in his members will come with glory and power to execute judgement upon all ungodly men upon all unbelievers or rebels against his Kingdome But before I come to shew you the particular manner how this phophecy was fulfilled within that age current wherein it was uttered it will be expedient to acquaint you with the strange manner how the Iewes first and the Romans after them did misconstrue or pervert the signes of the time which God had given them for their good The Heathen writers themselves acknowledge there was a constant fame or received opinion throughout the East that the land of Iury in this age should bring forth one who was to be Lord and King over the whole world This generall fame and opinion tooke its originall from the prophecies of the old testament concerning our Saviour's birth and resurrection And unto these propheticall predictions all the signes of the time did fully accord yet seeing our Saviour's Kingdome was not of this world though more universall seeing the authority which hee excercised was meerely spirituall not temporall seeing he would not take upon him to imprison to put to death or to divide inheritances or to manage warres against the enemies of this people they sleited him then as most part of the world have done his true Embassadors since For who is there almost that feares the edge of the spirituall sword unlesse it be backed with the temporall But did the Iewish Nation then take notice of the former constant fame throughout the East concerning the great Lord of Lords which was then to arise out of Iury or had they no apprehension of the signes of the time which did confirme or seale the truth of the prophecies which occasioned this fame Yes the signes of those times did worke very strange though very bad effects even in the very worst of this people Their hearts were so overgrowne with pride vaine-glory and hypocrisy that the abundance of these and the like bad humours did turne good Physicke even the foode of life it selfe into deadly poyson For out of this undoubted prenotion that this was the very time wherein the Lord had promised to deliver this people from the hands of their enemies they became so prone as the event proves they were to take armes and rebell against the Romans partly about the time of our Saviour's birth but especially after his resurrection when his Kingdome began to bee propagated through the world There was no man of greater might or potency amongst them which did not take upon him to promise this peoples deliverance from the Roman yoke with which the more they strugled the sorer it crushed them and the multitude were as prone to believe every one that would take upon him the name or title of a Saviour or deliverer The fore-sight of this pronenesse in great ones to promise salvation to this people and the peoples promptnesse to believe them did occasion our Saviour to give these admonitions to his Disciples Beware of false Christs Mat. 24. v. 4. Mark 13. v. 6. Luk. 21. v. 6. which would arise in Iury before the destruction of Ierusalem with such faire inticeing promises and pretences of deliverance that if it had beene possible the very elect should have beene deceived by them And no question but many of our Saviour's Disciples had followed these false Christs unlesse their master the true Christ had expressely forewarned them to