that he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity that he will wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goes on still in his wickedness If a man will not turn he will whet his sword and bend his bow If a Nation will not repent then smite with thy hand stamp with thy foot and say alas for it shall fall by the sword by the famiâ—e and by the pestilence Now the general inference of all these is still the same this is still the Logick of the Scriptures Our God shall come and shall not keep silence wherefore consider this ye that forget God We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade To this end we find the Lord sometimes disputing logically to convince and sometimes with divine and noble Oratory endeavouring to perswade sometimes by signal instances of pardoning mercies and of avenging judgements to induce men to repentance He speaks to their reason to their affections to their very senses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord if ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land if ye rebel ye shall be devoured Are not my ways equal are not your ways unequal Again He expostulates with them sometimes upon the principles of ingenuity Thus saith the Lord What iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone away from me O my people what have I done unto thee wherein have I wearyed thee Testifie against me O Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee Sometimes he expostulates upon the point of interest How long shall vain thoughts lodge in your hearts How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity what will ye do in the end thereof Again he sets before us a multitude of glorious instances to shew that never any penitent was rejected however heinous however numerous were their sins The prodigal devoured his substance with harlots Mary Magdalen had seven Devils Peter denyed his Master with horrid oaths and imprecations Saul was exceedingly mad against him yet upon their repentance were accepted He had delivered Israel seven times and they forsook him and he said he would deliver them no more but they repented and his soul was straight-way grieved and he delivered them Instead of many consider that one instance of Manasses the evil son of good King Hezekiah He set up altars for Baalim and worshipp'd all the host of heaven Altars in the court of the temple an idol in the very temple he caused his sons to pass through the fire he observed times used inchantments dealt with familiar spirits and with wizards made Iudah and Ierusalem to do worse than the heathen And the Lord spake to him and he would not hear After all this in his afflictions he humbled himself and then God was intreated and heard his supplication His ways are not as our ways He forgave Nineveh and Ionah was displeased exceedingly he taxes him with easiness in relenting he charges him as if he had an ancient known infirmity of flexibility to his veracity and the honour of his Prophets Lord saith he was not this my saying and therefore I prevented it to slee to Tarshish for I knew that thou art merciâ—ul therefore take I beseech thee my life from me His thoughts are not as our thoughts when Nathan had told David a story of a poor man who had his ewe Lamb ravished from him then David was exceeding wroth and he swore As the Lord liveth the man that hath done this thing shall surely dye But when David who had taken Bathsheba and murthered Vriah said I have sinned Nathan said unto David The Lord â—ath put away thy sin thou shalt not dye On the other side we have instances of horrible judgements for Impenitency whereof I shall after take occasion to speak Now considering all these things is it noâ— strange that men should noâ— repent That no consideration of ingenuity or of interest should move them to it That neither the Law written in their hearts nor that which was delivered by the mediation of Angels nor the Gospel given us by the Son of God should bring them to it That neither reason nor experience neither mercies nor judgements neither the sweetness of a good conscience nor the torments of a bad the beauties of vertue nor the deformity of sin the shortness of life nor length of eternity the lightness of things present nor the exceeding weight of those which are to come That neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Trumpets nor things present nor thing to come nor height nor depth nor any other thing should be able to separate mâ—n from the love of sin Is it not strange The Apostles the Prophets were astonished at this nay God himself seems to be affected with wonder Hear O heavens and give ear O earth Be astonished O ye heavens and be horribly afraid they have forsaken me This is that wonder considered in it self according to common reason the object of our first observation drawn from the form and manner of the words by way of Epiphonema expressed by the particle yet yet they repented not II. The second Observation was taken from the matter of the words However such impenitency is very strange to common reason considered in the Theory yet it is too frequent in practice and in common experience The rest of the men repented not This is that grand contradiction that fatal paradox of the life of man His very being consists in rationality his acting is contrary to all the reason in the world Man only was created under the Law of Reason man only maintains a constant opposition to the law and reason of his creation He appointed the moon for certain seasons and the sun knoweth his going down The blustring winds the raging storms the unruly Ocean the Lyon the Tiger and the Bear these all pursue the law of their creation these all are obedient unto his word charmed to it by that powerful voice whereby they were created Man only stops his ears and refuses to hear the voice of this Almighty charmer charm he never so wisely so loudly or so variously The general ways and methods of his charming have been already mentioned I am now to lay before you the general success of those methods The success 1. Of his word and his messengers 2. Of his works of 1. Mercy 2. Judgement Single Intermixed 1. For the success or rather the unsuccessfulness of his word for the entertainment or rather the barbarous usage of his messengers how often do we find God and his Prophets Christ and his Apostles complaining and as it were fretting themselves with indignation As for the word sometimes they will not hear it More â—han seven times Ieremy complains almost in the
we not flattered him with our lips and dissembled with him in our double heart Do we not despise our very Manna and wish again for the Garlick of Egypt ready to change our glory for the Calves of Egypt or the confusion of Babylon In a word are we not a sinful people laden with iniquity as ingrateful and Nabalistical as Israel a foolish people Again for matter of imprudence wherewithal can we purge our selves from it Doth not God know our miscarriages also doth he not understand us ourways and doth he not interest himself in us doth he not resent our provocations can we escape for our wickedness With what apologies shall we come before the Lord and bow our selves before the high God Have we had no caveats from the Ministers of God no warnings no Alarms from God himself have we not heard have we not seen hath it not been told us The thunders and the lightnings the trumpets sounding the mountain smoaking the Angel destroying the Sword devouring Are we able to contest with a jealous God are we stronger than he are we able to tear him out of his Throne or to devest him of his Thunder or to stand the storm of his fiery indignation Have we not been a foolish people unwise What then remains but that God should execute upon us the sentence which we our selves have been ready to pass upon the people in the text that he should do thus and thus unto us that he should consume us in a moment and blot out our names from under Heaven Nay rather it remains men and brethren lest he should do thus and thus unto us that we prepare to meet the Lord our God that we rouze up the spirit of our minds and discuss and scatter that Lethargic stupor that is upon us Awake awake Deborah and arise Barak the son of Ahinoam Who can tell but God may yet have mercy upon us may have mercy upon our souls and speak peace to our land When I say to the wicked thou shalt surely dye if he turn from his wickedness and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die he hath done that which is lawful and right he shall surely live Wherefore let every one of us examine himself and find out the plague of his own heart and be deeply sensible of his own ingratitude let us search and try our ways and turn again unto the Lord let us make haste to escape before the decree bring forth and we be surprised by the stormy wind and tempest let us lose no longer time but make haste in this our day before the things belonging to our peace are hid from our eyes Let speaker and heaâ—ers O let my self and all this assembly let every soul here present let all the people of the land turn unto the Lord with all our hearts with fasting weeping mourning And let the priests my brethren the ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the alter and say spare thy people O Lord be favourable O Lord be favourable O Lord deal not with us after our sins nor reward us according to our iniquities though we have thus requited the Lord being a foolish people and unwise FINIS Some Books Printed for and sold by Iames Collins at the Kings-Arms in Ludgate-street 1672. OBservations upon Military and Political Affairs by the most Honourable George Duke of Albemarle Folio Price 6. s. A Sermon preached by Seth Lord Bishop of Sarum at the Funeral of the Most Honourable George Duke of Albemarle Quarto Price 6. d. Toleration not to be abused or A serious question soberly debated and resolved upon Presbyterian Principles viz Whether it be adviseable especially for the Presbyterians either in Conscience or Prudence to take advantage from his Majesties late Declaration to Deny or Rebate their Communion with our Parochial Congregations and to gather themselves into distinct and separate Churches By one that loves Truth and Peace Quarto Philosophia Pia or A Discourse of the Religious tendences of the Experimental Philosophy to which is added a Recommendation and Defence of reason in the affairs of Religion by Joseph Glanvil Rector of Bath Octavo Priceâ— 2. s. The Way to Happiness represented in its Difficulties and Encouragements and cleared from many popular and dangerous mistakes by Joseph Glanvil A Praefatory Answer to Mr. Henry Stubbe the Doctor of Warwick by Joseph Glanvil Octavo Price 1. s. 6. d. The Life and death of Mr. George Herbert the excellent Author of the Divine Poems Written by Iz. Walton Octavo Price 1. s. A Discourse of the forbearance or penalties which a due Reformation requires by Herbert Thorndike one of the Preâ—endaries of Westminster Octavo A Private Conference between a rich Alderman and a poor Country Vicar made Publick wherein is discoursed the Obligation of Oaths which have been imposed on the Subjects of England 8 o 2. s. The Episcopacy of the Church of England justified to be Apostolical from the Authority of the Primitive Church and from the confessions of the most famous Divines beyond the Seas by the Right Reverend the late Lord Bishop of Duresm with a Preface written by Sir Henry Yelverton Baronet Octavo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divine Goodness explicated and vindicated from the exceptions of the Atheist Wherein also the consent of the Gravest Philosophers with the holy and inspired Penmen in many of the most important points of Christian Doctrine is fully â—vinâ—ed by Richard Burthogge Doctor in Physick Octavo FINIS * Psal. ii 2 Expl. Object Sol. Heb. 10. 29. Obj. Sol. Matth. 26. 53. * Apolog. § 37. Maâ— xii 25. 1 Cor. xiv 33. Rom. i. 14. â—olit lib 7 cap. 8. Ephes ii 12. Deut. 33. 1. Joâ—h xxiv 29. 1 Sam. xiii 14. 2 Chron. ix 22. 1 Kings xv 14. 2 Chron. xvii 3. 2 〈◊〉 2â— 2. 2 Chron. xxxiii 13. 2 Chron. xxxv 26. Deut. xxxiii 5. Vers. 12. Vers. 13. Vers. 14. 2 Chron. xxix 25. 2 Chron. xxxv 15. Noâ—el Coastiâ— 131. Mat. xix 8. 1 Kings ii 27. â—oid 35. Joh. vâ—â—â— Rom xiii 1. 2 Cor. xii â— 3. Heb. â— 3. Matt xxii 21. Matâ—h viâ— 1â— â— Tim. iâ—i 1. Ibid Verse 4. 5. 2 Pet. ii 1. Ibid. Verse 10. Jude 19. Verse 9. Verse 11. 12. c. Verse 14. Verse 19. Psal. ii 10. 11. 1 Kings xxi 25. 1 Sâ—m xiii 1â— Chap. xvâ— 12. Chap xvi 13. Ibid. Vers. 18. Chap. xviâ— 5. 2 Sam. i. 21. Exod. iv 16. Acts vii 35. Deut. xxxâ— i. 4. Num. xvi Psal. cvi 16. Numb xvi 32. Appl caâ—ion Rom. iii. 31. Lam. ii 9. Matth. xviii 7. Ibid. Verse 6. Ezek. xxiâ— â— Gal. 1. 23. 3. 25. Rom. 12. 6. Tit. 1. 4. Jud. 3. Luk. 24 44 Joh. 5. 16. Joh. 5. 39. Luk. 10. 26. Luk. 6 â—9 Mar. 14. 49. Joh. 10. â—5 Mat. 3 31. Maâ— 5. 18. Lâ—k 2â— 27. Veâ—se 4â— Maâ— 1. 22. Maâ— 2. 15. Maâ— 2. 23. 4. 14. 21. 4. Mat. 〈◊〉
fell asleep all things continue as they were before And for the manner and Apparatus of his coming Our God shall come saith the Psalmist and shall not keep silence there shall go before him a devouring fire and a mighty Tempest shall be stirred up round about him Behold the Lord will come with fire saith the Prophet and with his Chariots like a Whirlwind to render his aâ—ger with fury and his rebukes with flames of fire The streams of Zion shall be turned into Pitch and the dust thereof into Brimstone the Earth thereof shall be burning Pitch the smoke thereof shall ascend day and night and shall not be quenched compare Revel 6. with Esai 34. The Kings of the Earth shall tremble the Captains and the mighty shall be horribly afraid the great men and the rich men shall hide themselves all the bond-men and all the freemen shall fly to the Rocks of the Mountains And soon after all this The Heavens shall be rivel'd as a scrowl the Earth and the Elements shall melt away for God shall arise to judge terribly the Earth Have not all these things come upon us the men of this Generation Is it weakness is it a vain and superstitious scrupulosity to call these things to our remembrance Have we no reason at all to apprehend the approach of a General Judgment either upon the World or upon our sinful Nation Do we not now envy those despised souls which have made their accounts ready We thought it madness to see them pine away with poenitential exercises and macerate themselves with mourning We thought it folly which they called Conscience for which they denyed themselves the pleasures and enjoyments of the World We fools counted their life madness and their latter end to be without honour But the time is coming when they shall be comforted and we shall be tormented Because he hath called and we have refused he hath stretched out his hand and we have not regarded He will laugh at our calamity and mock when our fear cometh When our destruction cometh as a Whirlwind when distress and anguish comes upon us May we not therefore give up our selves to the torments of our hearts and surrender up our souls unto Despair so Israel said there is no hope we will follow every one the devices of his heart after 20 30 or 40. years continuance in our courses 't is in vain to think of turning from them Our arrears are so far gone that there is no hope to discharge them and why should we trouble our selves with the thoughts of our Account Nay that which must come let it come and what is a few days respite to Eternity Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye Let us go forth as at other times and shake our selves and scatter these troublesom apprehensions of future Judgment What if we should drink a little to drive away Melancholy Yes and fall perhaps and spew and rise no more Nay but I beseech you stay a little and consider consider at least in this your day the things which belong to your peace It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Who among us can dwell with a devouring fire Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings Such careless and desperate resolutions are the advantages which the Devil aims at that he may â—ear our Consciences and seal us up in a final obduration But there is another kind of advantage which God and our Lord Christ and the Holy Spirit and the Gospel and the Ministers aim at That advantage which I told you of in the beginning of my Discourse That knowing the terror of the Lord they may perswade men And now what is it that they would perswade us that we will be contented to part with the tormenting fears of Judgment that we will condescend not to be miserable to all Eternity That we will accept of deliverance from the wrath to come that we will not neglect so great salvation nor trample on the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Behold God calls upon us Turn you turn you at my reproof why will you dye O House of Israel As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of siâ—ners Our Lord Christ calls upon us Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you In the last day of the Fâ—ast of â— abâ—â—â—acles he stood and cried Saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink The Spirit sayes come and whoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely The Gospel assures us That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life Behold I â— set before you this day life and death blessing and cursing and as an unworthy Ambassadour in Christ's stead I pray you be reconciled to God take his yoke upon you his yoke is easie and his burden light embrace now the tender of the Gospel only repent and believe in the Lord Jesus accept him for your Saviour and your Lord. Your Prophet to instruct you your King to govern you your Priest to save you and you shall be saved Saved from the fears and horrours of a Guilty Conscience condemned by its own witness Saved from the wrath of God and of the Lamb. You shall meet the Lord with Confidence We shall be able to stand with boldness in the Judgment to lift up our heads with joy because our redemption draweth near This is the way to save our own souls from perishing which is the General design of all our Preaching And this is the way to appease the wrath which is gone out against us and to preserve our Nation from destruction which is the particular and more immediate end of our present Humiliation whereof I am yet to speak THe hand indeed of the Lord hath been heavy upon us his wrath hath been kindled it hath waxed hot against the Sheep of his pasture and he hath plagued our Nation very sore His Judgments have been multiplied his strokes have been redoubled and for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still Wars and Pestilences and those other fore-runners of Christ's coming to Judgment have been seen and felt amongst us and now when these have not been able to prevail To awaken a drowsie people to rowse up a Lethargic Nation to ferment a people setled upon their Lees God has made a new thing in the midst of us he hath wrought a work in our dayes which makes the ears of all that hear it to tingle A work not to be parallel'd perhaps in all the circumstances since the Creation of the World How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of our Zion with a cloud in his anger and hath cast down from Heaven to Earth the beauty of Israel and remembred not his footstool in the Day of his Anger
of men is into reasons of Duty and of Interest If there be Wickedness in Infidelity it is matter of Duty if there be Danger in it and Danger of it it is matter of Interest and Concernment to Beware of it This Heart of Unbelief is an Evil heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is Wickedness in it It grieves the Spirit of God It provoked him so that he sware in his wrath that he would take Vengeance for it there is Danger in it Yet it was a thing Ordinary and common amongst the Fathers of these Hebrews it was neque Novum neque Rarum there is Danger of it It is the Duty and Concernment of every one Professing Christianity to take heed lest there be in them an heart of Unbelief and to use all means to prevent it This is the Antecedent Wherefore take heed brethren c. which is the Exhortation by way of Caveat Exhort one another dayly c. which is the way to prevent it So then for the enforcement of the exhortation upon the whole matter I am to speak I. Of the Evil of Infidelity II. Of the Danger of falling into it III. Of the means of preventing it And then to conclude with IV. The Exhortation of the Text. In speaking of the Evil of Infidelity I shall not discourse at large but confine my self to an enquiry into two pretences Which having been broached in the late times of Infidelity towards the King are said to have operated very far towards a general Apostacy from the faith and the production of Infidelity towards God both which appealing to the tenor of the Scriptures must be examined by them The first is of a famous Author and it is this That the Scriptures do not make Infidelity to be a Sin at the time of the delivery of the Scriptures The second is of a Writer more obscure but in it self so agreeable to the disposition of the present generation that it hath possessed the minds of many it is this that Although Infidelity according to the Scriptures in the times of Christ and his Apostles were sinful and inexcusable yet in our times it is excusable These are the pretences to be examined The Substance of the Gospel as it immediately relates to Christian duty is summarily reduced to the Doctrines and Injunctions of our Lord Christ and his Apostles The Author of Leviathan cap. 42. pag 286. tells us in plain terms that We do not read any where in the Scriptures that they which received not the Doctrine of Christ did therein Sin And again that the Injunctions of Christ and his Apostles men might refuse without sin Now concerning this assertion I cannot chuse but say that had I not been acquainted with the works of that Author especially those relating to religion I should exceedingly wonder at it because it supposes men never to look into their Bibles which is the thing it would perswade In the 21. of Matth. Our Saviour askes the Jews this question Did ye never read in the Scriptures such a thing a question which I must repeat to the Assertors of this doctrine Did they never read in the Scriptures the Sinfulness the Danger the Heinousness of Infidelity Surely he that runs may read it Our Saviour Christ before his death did oftentimes vehemently rebuke his Disciples for Infidelity O faithless and perverse generation how long shall I endure you Quousque tandem abutemini patientiâ nostrâ And after his Resurrection he calls them fools and slow of heart for unbelieving Did they never read these Increpations The Author of this Epistle and the rest of the Apostles do every where vehemently and earnestly dehort from Unbelief Did they never read these Dehortations In the 8 of Iohn Christ tells the Jews that if they believe not they shall dye in their Sins That the wrath of God abideth on them that he that believeth not is damned already Did they never read these Denunciations Yes these last it seems this Author had read and as his manner is thinking he could accomodate an answer to these he hath pronounced securely of all the rest To these he saith that they import only a non-remission of the sins committed against the Laws of their Countrey that they should dye in them but that they do not evince any sinfulness to be in Infidelity Wherefore I must crave licence to proceed The Apostle in the 21 of the Revelations gives a Catalogue of such sinners as are of the highest rank Such as are most abominable in the eyes of God Such as are to have their portion in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone and he puts Unbelievers in the head of this Regiment The fearful and Unbelievers and Abominable and Murtherers and Whoremongers and Sorcerers and Lyars shall have their portion in that lake But it may be perhaps that the Scripture doth not in plain and express terms affirm Infidelity to be Sinful The Text tells us plainly and expresly that an heart of unbelief is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not incommodious but wicked But Philosophers and Mathematicians pretending strictness and demonstration in discourse regard not general words but have recourse to the Definitions of things and from thence proceed to affirm or deny the Attribution which is under question Let us therefore have recourse to the definition of Sin Those who have spoken most accurately concerning the nature of Sin they have resolved that the formal notion of it consists in a departure from God It is Aversio à Deo Conversio ad creaturam In the second of Ieremy and the twelfth we find the Prophet as it were in furore sacro in a prophetick rage breaking forth into this Exclamation Be astonished O ye heavens be ye horribly afraid be very desolate saith the Lord What ailes the Prophet to cry so loud to make the heavens resound his Exclamation My people saith he have committed two Great evils they have Forsaken me that 's the first An heart of unbelief is an evil heart in departing from the living God It is true that the Spirit of God in the Scriptures doth not usually descend to Logical accuracy to the quatenus or Causality to the observation of the rules of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this makes it oft◠times harder to deal with men of perverse minds then many do imagine But the more rare this is the more you will take notice of the Providence when you shall consider how accurately and how fully the Scripture hath determined that which is in Question In the 16. of Iohn v. 8. our Saviour tells them that the Spirit shall rebuke the world of Sin of righteousness of judgment Of Sin Because they believe not on him Joh. 3. 18. he that believeth not is Condemned because he believeth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rejection of the Gospel is said to be the
the Spirit So Paul was forbid by the Spirit to preach the Word in Asia II. And for the Conviction of the unbelieving World They had diversities of gifts and different Administrations To one was given the Word of Wisdom to another the Word of Knowledge to another Faith to another the gift of Healing to another Miracles Prophesies Discerning of Spirits The gift of Tongues As it is in the words which I quoted God bare them witness with gifts of the Holy Ghost and with Signs and Wonders and that he did so far that I shall be justified by Christ himself if I shall affirm that the Apostles after his death did greater miracles then he himself did in his life Of the same kind with our Saviours some they performed by means having an appearance of greater strangeness Christ healed by his touch his word his spittle Peter by his shadow Paul by Handkerchiefs taken from his body But one great thing there was wherein they exceeded The Great and Manifest and frequent Effusions of the Spirit the Reception of it upon themselves the communication of it to others by Prayer Preaching Laying on of Hands By these it was that the unbelieving world was convinced and even Simon Magus himself It is by the power and Vertue of those effusions that we are here met together at this time that the World continues Christian at this day And these are some of those standing means and Arguments whereby the proneness of our hearts to infidelity may be overcome and faith may be begotten confirmed recovered at this day These are therefore to be revolved Exhort one another dayly To come therefore to a Conclusion My text it self is an Application by way of Exhortation Exhortations are enforced by Reasons of Duty and Concernment and these I have hitherto endeavoured to lay before you If indeed there were no Sinfulness in Infidelity Or if in such times as ours it were excusable If there were no danger of falling into it or no means left to remedy or prevent it it would then indeed be to little purpose to Exhort men to beware But if the state of all these things is otherwise if that be plain and evident agreeable to Scripture to Reason and to Experience if the Speaker hath not beaten the Air nor the heaâ—ers been careless and inattentive I know not what can be required to enforce and sharpen the exhortation If the time would suffer it and I were speaking to a Common or Injudicious Auditory I might think my self concerned after all that hath been spoken to the understanding to Apply my discourse to your affections I should take unto me the various forms of Application used in this Epistle I would Reprove Rebuke Exhort I would cry aloud and would not spare I would liâ—t up my voice like a Watchmans trumpet warning you from the Lordâ— concerning the Spirit of irreligion and infidelity which is said to have overspread the land I would take to my self a Lamentation yea it should be for a Lamentation for the Professors of Infidelity and the Infidelity of Professors every where But I may not now be permitted to enlarge upon these things I may only pray to God to give you understanding in all things and beseech you earnestly to consider what hath been spoken Concluding in the words of the Text Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Exhort one another dayly FINIS Die Jovis 11 o Octobris 1666. ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled That the thanks of this House be given to the Lord Bishop of Exon. for his Pains in the Service he performed in Preaching a Sermon before the Peers in the Abby-Church at Westminster yesterday being the day appointed by His Majesty for Fasting and Humiliation in consideration of the late Dreadful Fire which wasted the greater part of the City of London And that his Lordship be and is hereby desired to Print and Publish his said Sermon John Browne Cler. Parliam A SERMON Preached before the PEERS IN THE Abby-Church at Westminster October 10 th M. DC LXVI BY SETH then Lord Bishop of EXON LONDON Printed by A. C. for Iames Cellins at the Kings Arms within Ludgate near St. Pauls 1672. A SERMON Preached before the House of Peers AT WEST MINSTER ECCLES xi 9. But know that for all these things God will bring thee to Iudgment Rejoyce O young man c. THE great and general design of the Ministry and preaching of the Gospel is to bring men to Christianity not in the outward profession but in the true spirit and power thereof to the end they may be justified and sanctified and finally saved through Christ for ever The Particular design of this Dayes Observation is to humble our selves under the mighty hand of God in Consideration of his Judgments especially that late one in consuming with Fire the Ancient and noble Metropolis of this Nation and to endeavour to appease the wrath of God gone out against us To compass both these designs whereof the later is subordinate to the former I know no better expedient than to reason a while upon that important argument suggested in the Text. Who can think upon the Conflagration of our late Glorious City and not call to mind the great and terâ—ible day of Judgment Who can think seriously of Judgment and not be compelled to come in driven to Christianity that he may be saved from the wrath to come The great Instructor and Example of Christian Preachers he who saith of himself that Christ sent him to preach and not to baptize found no means so powerful to perswade men to Christianity as to reason upon this argument as first to lay before them the terror of Judgment and then whilst that was warm upon their hearts to make them a tender of the Gospel This is the great advantage and use the Apostle makes of the Doctrine of the Text. We must all appear saith he before the Iudgment-seat of Christ Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men Upon these Considerations I shall hope for the pardon of this Noble Auditory if without affectation of Science I shall in a practical and familiar way of reasoning indeavour to imitate our Apostle in this particular If in the mean time it will be irksome and unpleasant to hear of the Judgment to come we shall do well to consider what it will be to undergo it we shall do well to reflect upon our Souls and search out the ground of this aversness Is it because we do not believe a Judgment to come or that we our selves shall be brought to Judgment Is it because we never consider who it is before whom me must appear or what things will be charged on our account Is it because we are so far gone in our arrears that it is to no purpose to call these things into our remembrance What ever it
not insuperable difficult but not to be despaired of Concerning Ierusalem burned and laid wast by the Assyrians Daniel foretold that the streets and the walls thereof should be rebuilded even in troubleous times and when the time came that they were reedified we read in Nehemiah that the labourers in one hand held the trowel and the other held a weapon one half of the people laboured in the work and the other half held the Spears and the Shields the Bows and the Habergeons because of their cruel enemies on every side If God shall be pleased to give us a spirit of Understanding and teach our Senators Wisdom If he shall pour out a publick spirit upon our Councils a spirit of tenderness and compassion of Justice and Equity Temperance and Frugality Fortitude and Magnanimity If all Orders and Degrees amongst us Civil and Military and Ecclesiastical shall take to themselves the spirits of Christians and of men If our Counsels and endeavours shall be answerable to the care and benigâ—ity to the fervour and â—trenuous industry of our gracious Sovereign and to the alacrity and magnanimity of our couragious and generous Country-men then speaking humanely and abstracting from our Deservings we need not greatly fear but we may yet subdue the pride and insolence of our barbarous Enemies we may yet behold our City rising out of its ashes in greater splendour than we have seen it heretofore Wherefore arise and gird your selves O ye Princes ye Nobles ye Rulers of our Israel Consult Consider and give sentence Men Brethren and Fathers let us arise and labour let us up and be doing be strong and of good courage and the good hand of our God shall be upon you he shall give you the honour to be the defenders of your Country he shall make you repairers of the breaches restorers of our City to dwell in Yet I cannot I may not forbear to put you in remembrance of this one thing Except the Lord build the City their labour is but lost that build it It is not our wisdom or industry much less our confidence that will do it unless God be for us neither will God be for us unless we turn from the evil of our ways except we repent we have reason to fear that what we have seen hitherto will be no more but the beginning of our sorrows The Prophet Esay tells us That the Lord sent a word unto Iacob and it lighted on Israel and all the people shall know that say in the pride and stoutness of their hearts the Bricks are fallen but we will build with hewn Stones the Sycamores are down but we will change them into Cedars Therefore the Lord will set up their adversaries and joyn their Enemies together the Syrians before and the Philistims behind and they shall devour Israel with open mouth Because this people turneth not to him that smiteth them Wherefore turn you turn you every one from the evil of his ways Let us search our hearts and try our ways and turn to him that hath smitten us Turn unto him with all our hearts with fasting and with weeping and mourning he hath smitten us and he will heal us because his compassions fail not Come and let us reason together saith God though your sins were as scarlet they shall be white as snow There is yet a way open to take away the terror of our Particular Judgment and to prevent a final Judgment from falling upon the Nation We are yet in the Land of hope and space is given for Repentance the door of mercy is not yet shut upon us nor the ears of our Judge sealed against us O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his Goodness and declare the wonders that he bath done for the children of men that hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our Iniquities that hath not cut us off in the midst of our sins nor in the height of our impenitencies snatched us away to Judgment that hath not dealt with us as with the Apostate Angels and with Thousands of our Brethren who were better and more righteous than we Let us once more then return into our selves Let us consider our condition let us veiw over and ballance the grounds of our hopes and the reasons of our fears Let us take an exact account of our whole estate and interest in reference to all our concernments National and Personal Temporal and Eternal Let us deliberate and advise what is to be done and what is to be avoided Did I say deliberate Whether we shall save our souls from utter darkness and everlasting burnings Whether we shall save the Nation from final ruine and desolation Nay rather Let us break off our sins by repentance and our Iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor Let us make our selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when we fail we may be received into everlasting habitations Let us lend unto the Lord that we may have treasure in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt nor thieves break through and steal Let us fast the fast that the Lord hath chosen Loose the bands of wickedness feed the hungry cloath the naked he that hath two Coats let him give to him that hath none and he that hath meat let him do likewise Such an occasion scarce happens in many hundreds of years and for motives to charity they are all comprised in that great argument of the Judgment to come When the Son of Man shall come to Judgment and shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory When all Nations shall be gathered before him and he shall set the Sheep on his right hand and the Goats on his left This shall be the mark of their discrimination He shall say to those on his right hand I was hungry and ye fed me thirsty and â—e gave me drink naked and ye cloathed me sick and in prison and ye visited me Come ye blessed of my Father receive the Kingdom prepared for you And he shall say unto them on the left hand I was hungry and ye fed me not thirsty and ye gave me no drink c. Wherefore go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels The way is short and compendious to save all our interests What doth the Lord require of us but to do justly to love mercy to walk humbly before the Lord our God Let us be merciful therefore as our heavenly Father is merciful and let us humble our selves under the Almighty hand of God as we pretend to do this day Let us betake our selves afore-hand to our Judge and pour out our complaints before him Let us confess our wickedness and be sorry for our sins Let us lay hold on the feet of our Blessed Redeemer and give him no rest till he hath sealed our pardon Let us bathe with our tears the wounds that we have made Let us cry mightily to the Throne of Grace Let us
he should bind them up in chains that he should exclude them from the benefit of Repentance and reserve them to the Judgement of the Great Day That he should allow this priviledge to lapsed men that he should reveal himself to them that he should make them understand their duty and their interest that he should set before them good and evil happiness and misery the desire and the detestation of humane nature that he should by all means court and wooe them to that which all men naturally desire and discourage and divert them from that which they naturally abhorr That after all this he should not prevail in such a case as this that they should scornfully reject the end of all their hopes that they should studiously pursue the object of all their fears This is that rational wonder that I am now to lay before you To manifest this wonder a little more explicitely let us consider the advantages of Nature and the Motives from Scripture to bring men to repentance The grounds and fundamental elements of the Doctrine of Repentance are these The Being Attributes of God The immortality of the Souls of men The principles of Synteresis The terrours of natural Conscience The forâ—casts of vâ—ngeance The apprehension and desire of an Attonement And all these are manifest from the Dictates and discoveries of the Light of Nature The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work They speak it loud they spread it largely they proclaim it constantly Their sound is gone out into all the world there is no speech or language but their voice is heard among them The invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen even his eternal power and God-head Concerning his providence in governing the world St. Paul tells the men of Lystra and the Priest of Iupiter that he did not leave himself without witness amongst the Heathen The whole earth is full of his righteousness and all the people see his glory So that a man shall say Verily there is a reward for the righteous doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth He is not far from any one of us in whom we live and move and have our being He is the Father of Spirits and we are his off-spring Surely there is a spirit within a man and that spirit immortal deriving from Him who only hath immortality And these things have asserted themselves with so great evidence that they have been generally acknowledged by all sorts of heathen Authors Philosophers Historians Orators and Poets Moreover they shew the Law of Synteresis written in their hearts they have consciences accusing or excusing they find themselves concluded under sin and are perplexed and tormented under the apprehensions of an offended God For Conscience condemned by its own witness is very timorous and always fore-casteth grievous things The starting of Alexander when he had killed his friend and of Nero when he had destroyed his mother The confusions of Tiberius when he wrote from Capreae to the Senate concerning the death of Sejanus The foretastes of an avenging Nemesis described by heathen Orators and Histoâ—ians The passions ascribed to Medea and Hercules and Orestes c. by the Poets The Rites and Sacrifices of all the Pagan world The prodigious ways of expiations devised to make their attonement with their imaginary Deities offended They were all of them the products of natural Conscience exerting it self in such a disquisition as is delivered by the Prophet Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord or bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt offerings with calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oyl shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul All these and many more are the Indications of Nature the incitements and provocations of natural Conscience to bring men to repentance But beside these common Motives the persons of the Text whether they were the Jews and Inhabitants of Ierusalem at the time of the destruction of it by Titus and Vespasian or any that called themselves Christians they had a clearer and more glorious light to guide them they had far more efficacious and noble Motives to lead and urge them to repentance the Light and Motives of the Holy Scriptures There it is that the Power and Wisdom and Goodness and Severity of God are gloriously displayed the immortal Nature and sinful condition of the souls of men the rewards and punishments of this life and of the world to come are clearly discovered The elements of the Doctrine of Repentance the Motives to it are there explained and applyed mixt and combined a 1000 several ways The Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament are nothing else but a Systeme of various powerful Methods to bâ—ing men to repentance This is the general aim and common scope of all the Doctrines the Histories the Logick and Rhetorick of the Book of God This was Noah's Text upon which he preached to the old world 120 years Upon this errand God â—ent all the Prophets rising early and sending them they said Turn again now every one from his evil way This was the message of him that was the voice of one crying in the wilderness Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand Our Lord Christ and his seventy Disciples and his twelve Apostles they all with one voice insisted upon this Theme and when the Holy Ghost himself descended he likewise drove at this conclusion Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. The time would fail me if I should attempt in any measure to lay before you the declarations promises threatnings exhortations dehortations reasonings expostulations instances of mercies and of judgements delivered in the Scriptures to bring men to repentance To this end God hath declared himself slow to anger gracious and merciful He hath said that he would have no man perish He hath sworn that he doth not desire the death of the wicked but had rather that he should turn and live He considers our frame and his ways are equal He is ready to pardon to pardon iniquity transgression and sin though they are as scarlet to make them white as snow if they be a cloud to scatter them like a cloud Wherefore let the wicked forsake his ways and the unâ—ighteous his imaginations and return unto the Lord. On the other side to break the hardness of the hearts of men to rouze them up from their impenitency he declares his justice and asserts his propriety in vengeance Vengeance is mine and I will repay it He protests that he will by no means acquit the guilty
of softning or breaking the hearts of men have hardened them yet more in a course of desperate impenitency Felix trembled and said Go thy way When Belshazzar had plundered the house of God and was making a debauch in the bowls of the Temple the finger wrote upon the wall MENE We read that his countenance was changed and an horrible trembling seised upon him The joynts of his loyns were loosed his knees smote one against another But we do not read that he repented As plagues were multiplyed so Pharaoh's heart was hardned and he vowed he would not let the people go When the King of Moah was in anguish and in great distress it was a warning to repent but he took his eldest son and offered him for a sacrifice upon the wall When the Philistines made war upon Saul and God was departed when he was sore afraid and his heart greatly trembled who would not expect that he should have turned unto the Lord But he betook him to the witch of Endor Of Ahaz it is said that in the time of his afflictions he trespassed yet more this is that King Ahaz And we read that when a great hail fell from heaven Men blasphemed God because of the hail But if single mercies and judgments will not do perhaps an intermixture of them may prevail and indeed for a rational and probable means to bring men to repentance the imagination and apprehension of man can go no higher than to such a case where signal and remarkable judgements are brought upon some and others are reserved and set as it were upon a Scaffold or a Theatre in safety to behold the destruction and plagues brought upon their Neighbours Turbantibus quora ventiâ— Eterra magnum alterius spectare laborem So Israel beheld the Egyptians drowned in the Sea and Corah and his complices swallowed in the Land This is the case of those whom God preserves from plagues and famines and desolationsâ— making them survivors and spectators of the destructions brought upon the world And this was the case of the persons in the Text this one would think should never fail When he slew them then they i. e. the remnant sought him and turned them early and sought after God Nay but even this hath also too often failed for even these did but flatter him with their lips and dissemble The Israelites that were spectators of the drowned Egyptians within three days fell to their wonted murmurings The Spectators of Corah within one day returned to their rebellion The Prophet Amos in the name of God complains of those that had escaped famine and pestilence and sword I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha and ye were as a fire-brand snatched out of the burning yet have ye not turned unto to me saith â—he Lord. And this was the case of the persons in the Text they were a remnant of men which were not killed by the plagues brought upon others yet they repented not Notwithstanding the wonder according to reason we have seen the truth and observed the frequency of such mens impenitency in common experience it remains that we consider the consequence and issue of it observable from the Text as it stands in relation to the Antecedent parts and the Catastrophe of this Vision They repented not And the seventh Angel sware that there should be time no more no more time for repentance no longer reprieve of vengeance III. Such an obstinate impenitâ—ncy is the gâ—eat provocation of the wrath of God such a final impenitency is the certain forerunner of final ruine and destruction Though the Lord be patient he is not of wood or of stone though he be slow to anger yet he can be angry and who can stand before him when he is angry It is true that the Lord is strong and patient and our God is provoked every day he is long-suffering and abundant in forbearance though we do evil an hundred times he prolongs our days He is not extreme to mark what is done amiss He considers that we are but dust and as a wind that passeth away and cometh not again Many and many a provocation on he passes by for He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Bâ—hold he stands at the door and knocks By his word and by his works and by his spirit striving to reclaim the sons of men that he may keep their life from the pit and their soul from perishing But if all this cannot prevail what can reasonable men expect or what would they have him do His Spirit shall not alway strive with men his aâ—used lenity and his affâ—onted longanimity will be turned into jealousie and fiery indignation For to him belongeth venâ—eance as well as mercie and the God to whom vengeance the God to whom vengeance belongeth will shem himself God will arise and his enemies shall be scattered He will awake as one out of sleep he will rouze himself up as a Gyant refreshed with wine He will smite his enemies in the hinder parts and put them to a perpetual shame Thus saith the Lord of hosts the mighty one of Israel Ah! I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies Concerning persons the Apostle tells us of a certain state wherein there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgement Concerning Nations our Saviour tells of a certain measure of iniquity Fill ye up the measure of your fathers so false is that conceit so dangerous is that imagination that men can repent at any time at leastwise whensoever they shall have a mind to it They shall call saith God but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me As I live saith the Lord I will not be enquired of by you Saul enquired of the Lord he answered him not neither by prophets nor by Vrim nor by dreams Esau sought for repentance but he found no place for repentance though he sought it even with tears I gave her space to repent but she repeâ—ted not behold I will cast her into great tribulations This is a case which I tremble to insist upon What tongue can express the misery of such a person or such a people How dreadful is this place surely this is none other than the gate of Hell the entrance of all the miseries of this world and of the world to come 1. Temporal 2. Spiritual and 3. Eternal 1. The Lord shall send upon them cursing and vexation and rebuke until they be destroyed and perish quickly They shall be cursed in all their interests and concernments in their estates in their credit in their relations in their persons Cursed shall they be in the city and cursed in the field cursed in the basket and in the store They shall become an astonishment and a proverb
his vengeance upon their enemies they wrought a trein of mighty signs and wonders in the land of Egypt for their deliverance And all Israel saw the great works which the Lord did upon Pharaoh and his host and they sang with Moses that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He hath triumphed gloriously the horse his rider hath he thrown into the Sea for â—e brought forth his people with joy because he had a favour for them 3. He was not their maker and their redeemer only but their establisher he perfected deliverance and followed them with all things perteining unto life and godliness He was their conductor in the wilderness in the day time he led them with a cloud and all the night with a pillar of fire He was their Protector As an Eagle flutters over her young ones and spreads abroad her wings so he stretched out his everlasting arms for their defence he suffered no man to do them wrong and drove out the nations before them He was their provider of meat drink and cloathes he smote the stony rock and the waters flowed he gave them Quails and Manna from Heaven so that they did eat Angels food he led them 40 years in the wilderness in all that space their cloaths did not wax old upon them nor their shooes upon their feet And lastly he was their establisher formed them into a Church and State and dictated to them laws for their perpetual establishment he gave testimonies unto Jacob and appointed a law in Israel a law written by the finger of God delivered by the mediation of Angels He set before them life and death he confirmed the Covenant made to their fathers he entred into a Covenant with themselves he spake to them sundry wayes and divers manners and finally to take away all pretences of ignorance or infidelity he appeared often to their fathers by the name of El-shaddai to Moses by his name Iehovah to themselves he came down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai he often filled the Tabernacle with his glory and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people These are some few instances of Gods dealing with this people Now for their requital the Scripture tell us their behaviour toward Moses and Aaron the instruments and toward God himself the Author of all their mercies of their deliverance Many a time they murmured against Moses and Aaron in Egypt and in the wilderness before they were out of Egypt they quarreled at Moses for attempting their deliverance within three days after their triumphal song they murmured at Marach about six weeks after the whole congregation murmured again and wished that they had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt they murmured at their very Manna and cried out in remembrance of the fish that they did eat in Egypt the Cucumers and the Melons the Leeks and the Onions and the Garlick When the spies returned from Canaan they made a down right mutiny they said one to another Let us make us a Captain and let us return into Egypt They sided with Corah Dathan and Abiram in their rebellion and after the earth had opened and swallowed them up they still owned the rebels and adhered to the good old cause on the morrow all the congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron saying Ye have killed the people of the Lord still persisting in an opinion that they were Patriots and godly men But what do we speak of Moses or of oblique and consequential actings against God the Scripture tells us of their stupidity and infidelity they understood not his wonders in Egypt How long saith God will it be ere they believe me for all the signs which I have wrought among them neither signs among them nor signs upon them could cause them to believe He smote them for their unbelief and for all this they sinned still and believed not for all his wondrous works It tells of their forgetfulness they forgot God their Saviour which had done so great things for them they soon forgot his works and his wonders of their falseness and treachery their heart was not set aright their spirit was not stedfast when he slew them they would seek him for a while but they did but flatter him with their lips and dissemble with their double hearts It tells of their base idolatry they changed their glory for the similitude of a calf yea they offered their sons and daughters unto devils of their pride and scornfulness they despised the pleasant land they were a provoking generation a stubborn and rebellious nation How often did they provoke God in the wilderness and grieve him in the desart Many a time did he deliver them but they provoked him with their Counsels He divided the Sea for their passage and clove the rocks for their sustenance and covered them with a Cloud for their protection and they sinned yet the more They tempted him they spoke against him they provoked him at the sea even at the red Sea they turned back and tempted God and limited the holy one of Israel In one word they were a rebellious house a stiff-necked people they kept not the Covenant which themselves had made they would none of his precepts they despised his promises and his threatnings their neck had an Iron sinew and they had a brow of brass This was their behaviour even then when Gods miracles were fresh and Moses was still among them And God foresaw that after his decease they would provoke him yet more This was that requital which stirred and inflamed the spirit of Moses and quickned him to that abrupt Expostulation the first general part of the text whereof I have hitherto been giving an account Do ye thus requite the Lord You have seen some part of Israels ingratitude it follows that we consider the Turpitude and the Imprudence of this ingratitude which gave occasion for the censure here passed upon them O foolish people and unwise And first of the Turpitude of their ingratitude whereby it will appear that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now to set forth the unworthiness of their ingratitude against God in all the aggravations of it it is a task too heavy for me nay even for Angels and Moses when he was inspired and in the height of his rapture did not attempt it but making a chasme and drawing a veil over that part insinuates it to be unexpressible I shall not therefore offer at impossibilities but follow the method which the Scriptures have provided for us in like cases It is the manner of the Scriptures in things concerning God which are incomprehensible to bait the mind and train it on by exercising it in the Analogy of things familiar The love of God to his chosen people iâ— incomprehensible to give us therefore a little notion of it the