advantage and the very next night after his departure he appeared to the Bishop delivering the Bond cancelled and fully discharged thereby acknowledging that what was promised was made good It is probable that the relation is fabulous But this is certain viz. That one dayes being in Heaven will make us a sufficient recompence for whatsoever we have given or do give or shall give in this world But Thirdly If the constant frame and disposition of your hearts be to do as much good as ever you did or more good than ever you did then you may be confident that the Lord accepts of your will for the deed 2 Cor. 8. 12. For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not God prefers a willing mind before a worthy work God measures all his people not by their works but by their wills When thâ— will is strongly enclined and byassed to works of charity so that a man would fain be a giving to the poor and a supplying the wants and necessities of the needy but can't foâ— want of an estate in this case God accepts of the will foâ— the deed David had a purpose and a will to build God a house and God took it so kindly at his hands that he dispatches 2 Chron 6. 8 an Embassadour to him to tell him how highly he resented his purpose and good will to build him a house The Widows will was in her two mites which she cast into Gods Treasury and therefore Christ sets a more honourable Mark â—2 41 42 43. 44. value upon them than he dos upon all the vast summs that others cast in Many Princes and Queâ—ns Lords and Ladies are forgotten when this poor Widow who had a will to be nobly charitable has her name written in letters of Gold and her charity put upon record for all eternity The King of Persia did lovingly accept of the poor mans handful of water because his good will was in it and put it into a Golden Vessel and gave the poor man the Vessel of Gold And do you think that the King of Kings will be out-done by the King of Persia Surely no. But Fourthly and lastly As there are more wayes to the Wood than one so there are more wayes of doing good to others than one If thou canst not do so much good to others as formerly thou hast done by thy Purse yet thou maâ—st do more good to others than ever yet thou hast done by thy Pen thy Parts thy Prayers thy Gifts thy Graces thy examples Though thou art less servicable to their bodies yet if thou art more serviceable than ever to their souls Thou hast no reason to complain there is no love no compassion no pity no charity no mercy to that which reaches immortal souls and which will turn most to a mans account in the great day of our Lord Jesus I would justifie the Lord I would say he is righteous though Object 3 my house be burnt up and I am turned out of all but God has punished the righteous with the wicked if not more than the wicked this fiery Rod has fallen heavier upon many Saints than upon many sinners c. How then can I justifie God How then câ—n I say that the Lord is righteous c. In all the Ages of the world Gods dearest children have Answ 1 been deep sharers with the wicked in all common calamities Abraham and his Family were by Famine driven into Aegypt Gen. 1. 12. Gen. 26. as well as others And Isaac and his Family were by Famine driven into the Philistins Countrey as well as others And Jacob and his Family by Famine were driven into Aegypt Gen. 42. 2 Sam. 21. 1. 1 Kings 18 2. Matth. 5. 4 5. as well as others And in Davids time there was a Famine for three years And in Elijahs time there was a sore Famine in Samaria The difference that God puts between his own and others are not seen in the administration of these outward things All things come alike to all there is Eccles 9. 2. one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and Communia esse voluit c. commoda prophanis c. Incommoda suis Tertul. to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an Oath The priviledges of the Saints lye in temporals but in spirituals and eternals else Religion would not be a matter of faith but sense and men would serve God not for himself but for the gay and gallant things of this world But Secondly There are as many Mysteries in Providences as there are in Prophecies and many Texts of Providence are as hard to understand as many Texts of Scriptures are Gods way is in the Sea his paths are in the great waters and his footsteps are not known His judgements are unsearchable and Psalm 77. 19. Rom. 11. 33. Psalm 97. 2. Psalm 36. 6. his wayes are past finding out And yet when clouds and darkness are round about him righteousness and judgement are the habitation of his Throne When his Judgements are a great deep yet then his righteousness is like the great Mountains There are many Mysteries in nature and many mysteries of State which we are ignorant of and why then should we wonder that there are many mysteries in Providence that we do not understand Let a man but sâ—riously consider how many pâ—ssible deaths lurk in his own bowels and the innumerable Hosts of external dangers which beleaguers him on every side how many invisible Arrows fly about his ears continually and yet how few have hit him I have read of a Father and hâ—s Son who being shipwrackt at Sea the Son sailed to shoar upon the back of his dead Father What a strange mysterious Providence was this Plâ—â— Nat. Hâ—st lib. 2. cap. 51. and that none hitherto have mortally wounded him and it will doubtless so far affect his heart as to work him to conclude that great and many and mysterious are the Providences that daily attend upon him Vives reports of a Jew that having gone over a deep River on a narrow planck in a dark night and coming the next day to see what danger he had escaped fell down dead with astonishment Should God many times but open to us the misteriousness of his Providences they would be matter of matter of amazement and astonishment to us I have read that Marcia a Roman Princess being great with child had the Babe in her killed with lightning she her self escaping the danger What a mysterious Providence was this Gods Providence towards his Servants is as a wheel in the midst of a wheel whose motion Ezek. 1. 16. and work and end in working is not discerned by a common eye The actings of Divine Providence are many
Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours But how come they to be interested in this large Charâ—er the Apostle answers it in ver 23. Ye are Christs and Christ is Gods All comes to us by Jesus Christ All the Corn in Egypt came through Josephs Gen. 41. hands So all we have be it little or much we have iâ— through Christs hands upon the account of our marriage union with Christ We may say as Hamar and Sechem said to their people Shall not all their Cattel and substance and Gen. 34. 23. every beast of the field be ours So being married to Christ and become one with him all comes to be ours through him who is the heir of all By vertue of our marriage union with Christ our title to the creatures is not only restored but strengthened That little we have is entailed upon us by Christ in a more firm and bâ—tter way than ever In the first Adam our Tenure was lower and meaner and baser and uncertainer than now it is for our Title our Tenure by Christ is more honourable and stronger and sweeter and lastinger than ever it was before For now we hold all we have in Capite Christ is our head and husband and by him we hold all we have But now wicked men by the fall of Adam have lost their Original Patent and Charter which once they had to shew for the things of this life By Adams fall they have forfeited Gods primitive donation of all right in the creatures every wicked man in the world has forfeited his right to the creatures in Adam and lies under that forfeiture But to the glory of divine patience be it spoken God has not sued out his forfeiture God has not brought a Writ of ejection against him and by this means he comes to be lawfully possessed of those earthly blessings he dos enjoy As a Fellon though he hath forfeited his life and estate to the Kings Justice and is still subject to ejection at the Kings pleasure yet while the King forbears him his possession is good and lawful and no man may disturb him Wicked men are lawful owners and possessors of the good things God hath given them Numb 22. 30. Am not I thine Ass Whence you may observe 1. That the silliest and simplest being wronged may justly speak in their own defence 2. That they who have done many good Offices and fail in one are often not only unrewarded for former services but punished for that one offence 3. That when the creatures formerly officious to serve us start from their former obedience man ought to reflect upon his own sin as the sole cause thereof 4. That the worst men have good title to their own Consult these Scriptures Deut. 32. 8. Acts 17. 26. Luke 3. 14. goods For though Balaam was a Sorcerer yet the Ass confesseth twice that he was his Ass Luke 12. 33. Sell and give are words of propriety And God hath set the eighth Commandment as a hedge as a fence to every mans possession Dan. 4. 17. This matter is by the Decree of the Watchers and the demand by the word of the Holy Ones to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the Kingdoms of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and setteth up over it the basest of men He that gave Canaan to Jacob gave Mount-Seir to Esau and did not Jacob Gen. 23. 3. 4 5 9. Gen. 42. 3 5. buy a burying place of the Sons of Hâ—â—h and did he not buy Corn of the Egyptians by all which they did acknowledge that those wicked men and Idolaters had a lawful Title to those temporal blessings that they did enjoy Now mark God as he is the God of Nature by common Providence alloâ—s to wicked men their lawful possessions and this is the best Tenure they hold by O bâ—t now that little that a child of God has â—he holds it by a more glorâ—ous tenure and honourable Title and therâ—fore his mâ—te is bâ—â—ter than a wicked mans millions But Secondly That little a righteous man hath he hath thâ—ough the Covenant and through precious promises Now 2 Pet. 1. 4. a little mercy reacht out to a man through the Covenant and as a fruit of the promise is more worth than a world of blessings that flow in upon a man meerly by a genâ—râ—l Providence There are no mercies so sweet so sure so firm so lasting as those that flow in upon us through the Covenant of Grace O this sweetens every drop and sip and crust and crum of mercy that a godly man enjoyes All the paths Psalm 25. 10. of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as keep his Covenant This is a sweet promise a precious promise a soul satisfying promise a promise more worth than all the riches of the Indies Mark all the paths of the Lord to his people are not only mercy but they are mercy and truth that Consult these Scriptures Josh 23. 14 15. 1 Tim. 4. 8. is they are sure mercies that strâ—am in upon them through the Covenant Well Sirs you must remember this viz. That the least mercy the least blessing flowing in upon us through the promise is more worth than a thousand blessings that flow in upon us from a general Providence the least blessing flowing in upon us through the Covâ—nâ—nt is better than ten thousand Talents that are the meer products of a general Providence For First Such as enjoy all they have only from a general Providence they enjoy their mercies from that common source or Psalm 145. 15 16. pring that feeds the Birds of the Air and the beasts of the Field The same common bounty of God that feeds and clothes the wicked feeds the Birds and Beasts that perish But Secondly There is no certainty of the continuance of such mercies that are only the product of a common Providence Isa 33. 16. But now the mercies that flow in upon the Saints through the Covenant of Grace they shall be sure to us so long as the Chap. 55. 3. continuance of them may be for our good and Gods glory Now the least mercies held by Covenant are infinitely better than the greatest riches in the world that only drop up on us out of the hand of a common Providence Thirdly The Righteous man hath his little from the special love and favour of God All his little flowes in upon Psal 146. 8. Prov. 15. 17. him from that very same love which moved the Lord to bestow Christ upon him All the righteous mans little is from the good will of him that dwelt in the Bush his little comes Deut. 33. 16. from a reconciled God as well as a bountiful God from a tender Father as well as a merciful Creator A Dinner of Dan. 1. 12. green Hearbs Daniels Pulse Barley Loaves
S. Of the Sabbath Prophanation of the Sabbath brings the judgment of Fire pag. 137 138 139. Twelve Arguments to prove that God hath been very just and righteous in inflicting the late dreadful judgment of Fire upon those that prophaned his Sabbaths in London pag. 139 to 149. Six Arguments to prove that this abominable sin of prophaning the Sabbath cannot with any clear evidence be charged upon the people of God that did truly fear him within or without the Walls of London pag. 150. Burnt Citizens should sanctifie the Sabbath all their days pag. 232. The first Part of the Application Fourteen ways we should sanctifie the Sabbath pag. 233 to 263. Of the Sins of the professing people of London There were seven sins among the professing people in London that ought to work them to justifie the Lord though he hath burnt them up and turned them out of all pag. 55 to 63. The first Part of the Book Of the several Sins that bring the fiery Judgment upon Cities and Coâ—nâ—â—ies First Gross Atheism practical Atheism brings desolating judgments pag. 67 to 75. Secondly Intemperance pag. 75 to 84. Thirdly The sins that were to be found in the Citizens Callings pag. 84 to 92. Fourthly Desperate incorrigibleness and unreformedness under former wasting and destroying Judgments brings the Judgment of Fire upon a people pag. 92 93 94. Fifthly Insolent and cruel oppressing of the poor brings desolating Judgments upon a people pag. 95 to 100. Sixthly Rejecting the Gospel contemning the Gospel and slighting the free and gracious offers of Christ in the Gospel brings the fiery Dispensation upon a people pag. 100 to 104. Seventhly A course of Lying a trade of Lying brings desolating Judgments upon Cities and people pag. 112 to 128. The eighth sin that brings the Judgment of Fire is mens giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh pag. 128 to 133. The ninth sin that brings the Judgment of Fire upon a people is profanation of the Sabbath pag. 137 to 151. Tenthly The prophaneness lewdness blindness and wickedness of the Clergie brings the Judgment of Fire pag. 151 152 153. Eleventhly Sometimes the sins of Princes and Rulers bring the Judgment of Fire upon persons and places pag. 153. Twelfthly The abusing mocking and despising of the Messengers of the Lord brings the fiery Dispensation upon a people pag. 153 154. Thirteenthly Shedding of the blood of the just is a crying sin that brings the Judgment of Fire and lays all desolate pag. 154 to 168. Of Sin and of Gods Peoples Sins By fiery tryals God will make a fuller discovery of his peoples sins pag. 34 35. By fiery tryals God designs the preventing of sin pag. 35 36. By fiery tryals God designs the imbittering of sin to his people pag. 36 37 38. By fiery tryals God designs the mortifying and purging away of his peoples sins pag. 38 39 40. 41. Sin in the general brings the judgment of Fire upon a people pag. 64 65 66 67. Twelve obâ—ervable things about sin pag. 218 219. The first Part of the Application Thirteen â—upports to bear up their hearts who have either lost all or much or most of what they had in this World The first support is this the great God might have burnt up all be might not have left one house standing pag. 57 to 60. The second support is this viz. That God has given them their lives for a prey pag. 60 to 70. The third support is this viz. This has been the Common Lot the common Case both of sinners and Saints pag. 70 71. The fourth support is this viz. That though they have lost much as they are men as they are Citizens Merchants Tradesmen yet they have lost nothing as they are Christians as they are Saints as they are the Called of God pag. 71 72 73. The fifth support is this viz. That the Lord will certainly one way or another make up all their losses to them pag. 74 75 76. The sixth support is this viz. That by fiery Dispensations the Lord will make way for the new Heavens and the new Earth he will make way for the glorious deliverance of his people pag. 80 81 82. The seventh support is this viz. That by fiery Dispensations God will bring about the ruine and destruction of his and his peoples enemies pag. 82 83. The eighth support is this viz. That all shall end well all shall work for good pag. 83 84 85. The ninth support is this viz. That there was a great mixture of mercy in that dreadful judgment of Fire that turned London into a ruinous heap pag. 85 86 87 88 89 90 91. The tenth support is this viz. That there are worse judgments then the judgment of Fire which God might but has not inflicted upon the Citizens of London this is made good five ways from pag. 91 to 99. The eleventh support is this viz. Your outward condition is not worse then Christs was when he was in the world pag. 99 100 101. The twelfth support is this viz. That your outward condition in this world is not worse then theirs was of whom this world was not worthy pag. 101. 102. The thirteenth support is viz. There is a worse fire then that which has turned London into a ruinous heap viz. the fire of Hell which Christ has freed Believers from pag. 102 to 125. T. Of the Text. The Text opened pag. 1 2 3 4 5. The first Part of the Book Of Thankfulness Six Arguments to encourage Christians to thankfulness and cheerfulness under the late dâ—solating Judgment of Fire pag. 179 180 181. The first Part of the Application W. Of Divine Warnings and the danger of slighting them Ten Arguments to work men to take lâ—â—d of slighting Divine Warnings pag. 23 to 28. The first Part of the Book Of the Wicked The Wicked are compared to four things in Scripture pag. 82 83. The first Part of the Application Of the World and the Vanity of it and of a worldly Spirit The Vanity of the World discovered pag. 184 185 186 187. Ten Arguments to prove that a worldly spirit still hangs upon the burnt Citizens pag. 187 to 193. Ten Maxims for the burnt Citizens seriously and frequently to dwell upon as they would have their affections moderated to the things of this World pag. 193 to 216. How we may lawfully desire the things of the World exprest in three Particulars pag. 216 217. There was a great deal of Worldliness among the professing people of London pag. 58 59. The first Part of the Book An inordinate love to the World will expose a man to seven great losses pag. 59 60 61. ISAIAH 42. 24 25. Who gave Jacob to the spoil and Israel to the Robbers did not I the Lord he against whom we have sinned for they would not walk in his ways neither were they obedient to his Law Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battel and it hath
shall devour the bryars and thorns and shall kindle in the thickest of the forrest and they shall moont up like the lifting up of smoak So the burning lust of uncleanness Rom. 1. 27. They burned in lust one towards another So 1 Cor. 7. 9. It s better to marry then to burn And so Sodom was fiâ—st in a flame of burning lusts before it was burnt with fire from Heaven But this is not the fire that is here meant in the Proposition that we are upon But Fourthly Premise this with me fire is sometimes taken for the blessed Angels Psal 104 4. Who maketh his Angels Spirits his Ministers a flamâ—ng fire Hence it is that Heb. 1. 7. the Angels are called Seraphims which signifies burning or flaming ones and they are set forth by this name to note Isa 6. 2. their irresistable power for as there is no withstanding of the furious flames so there is no withstanding of these burning or flaming ones Jerom Musculus and several others are of opinion that the Angel that destroyed of Sennacheribs Host 2 Kings 19. 35. a hundred and fourscore and five thousand in one night that he did it by fire burning their bodies their garments being untoucht But the fire in the Proposition cannot be understood of the blessed Angels for several reasons not here to be alledged But Fifthly Premise this with me fire in Scripture is sometimes taken for Wars The fire of thine enemies that is the Wars that shall be amongst the Nations shall devour them Isa 26. 11 12. Chap. 29. 6 7. Thou shalt be visited of the Lord with a flame of devouring fire but the Nations that fight against the Altar shall be a dream Now fire in this sense is not to be excluded out of the Proposition But Sixthly Premise this with me fire sometimes notes the special presence of God in a way of special love and favour to his people in Exod. 3. 2. you read how the Lord appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a Bush and he looked and behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed here was a representation of the Churches affliction that was then in Egypt a house of bondage Deut. 4. 20. in the midst of a fiery furnace But now the Lord was in the bush while the bush the dry bush or the Bramble-bush as the Hebrew word signifies was in a flaming fire In Seneh that Deut. 33. 16. you read of the good will of him that dwelt in the bush God was there in a way of merciful protection and preservation they were in the fire but the Lord was with them in the fire in all their fiery tryals God did bear them company But Seventhly Premise this with me in the blessed Scriptures we read of supernal fire of fire that came down from above and that 1. as a sign of Gods anger so fire came down from Heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 19. 24. Also fire Numb 16. 35. came down from Heaven on them that offered incense in the conspiracy of Korah And so fire came down from Heaven 2 Kings 1. 10 11 12. 2 Chron. 7. 1. 2 Kings 18. 38. on the two Captains and their Fifties Secondly we read of fire that came down from Heaven as a sign and token of Gods favour And so fire came down from Heaven on the Sacrifice of Solomon and on the Sacrifice of Eliah God in those times did delight to shew his special love and favour to his precious servants by fire from Heaven But in the Proposition we are to understand not supernal but material fire But Eighthly and lastly Premise this with me fire is sometimes taken literally for that material fire that consumes Houses See 2 Chron. 36. 19. 2 Kings 19. 18. Chap. 21. 6. Psal 74. 7. Deut. 13. 16. Towns Cities and the most stately Structures Jer. 21. 10. For I have set my face against this City for evil and not for good saith the Lord it shall be given into the hand of the King of Babylon and he shall burn it with fire 2 Chron. 35. 13. And they roasted the Passover with fire Nehem. 1. 3. And they said unto me the remnant that are left of the Captivity there in the Province are in great affliction and reproach the Wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the Gates thereof are burnt with fire Chap. 2. 2 3. Wherefore the King said unto me why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick this is nothing but sorrow of heart then I was very sore afraid and said unto the King Let the King live for ever why should not my countenance be sad when the City the place of my fathers sepulchres lyeth waste and the gates thereof are consumed with fire Now this material fire is the fire that is meant in the Proposition O Sirs God is as much the Author or Efficient cause of this Judgment of fire as he is the Author or Efficient cause of Sword Famine and Pestilence This I have in part proved already but shall more abundantly make it good in â—hat which follows But you will say Sir we know very well that God is the Author or Efficient cause of this dreadful Judgment of Fire as well as he is the Author or Efficient cause of any other Judgment that we have either felt or feared But we earnestly desire to know what the ends of God should be in inflicting this sore and heavy Judgment of Fire upon his â—oor people and in turning their glorious City into ashes This we are sure of that whoever kindled the fire God did blow the coal and therefore we shall not now consider what there was of mans treachery concurring with Gods severity in that dreadful Calamâ—â—y by Fire but rather inquire after the grounds reasons or ends that God aims at by that fiery Dispensation that has lately past upon us Now here give me leave to say that so far as the late Fire was a heavy Judgment of God upon the City yea upon the whole Nation the ends of God in-inflicting that Judgment are doubtless such as respect both sinners and Saints the righteous and the wicked the prophane and the holy the good and the bad Now such as respect the wicked and ungodly I take to be these that follow First That he may evidence his Soveraignty and that they may know that there is a God The prophane Atheist saith in his heart there is no God but God by his terrible Judgments Psal 14. 1. Psal 10. 4 5. Psal 50. 21. Eccle. 8. 11. Psal 24. 1. Dan. 6. 25 26 27. Isa 45. 9. Psal 2. 9 10 11 12. Hos 2. 8 9. startles and awakens the Atheist and makes him unsay what he had said in his heart When God appears in flames of fire devouring and destroying all before him then the proudest and the stoutest Atheists in the world will confess that there iâ— a God yea
5. Hos 2. 6 7. burnt child dreads the fire Sin is but a bitter sweet 't is an evil worse then Hell it self Salt brine preserves from putrefaction and salt Marshes keep the sheep from rotting and so sharp Tryals severe Providences preserve the Saints from spiritual putrefying and from spiritual rotting The Rabbins to keep their Scholars from sin were wont to tell them that sin made Gods head ake and Saints under fiery tryals do find by experience that sin makes not only their heads but also their hearts ake and by this means God preserves his people from many sins which otherwise they would certainly fall into Beloved God by his fiery Dispensations has destroyed many or most of your outward comforts but little do you know the horrible sins that by this means the Lord has preserved you from A full Estate lays men most open to the greatest sins the worst of shares and the deadliest temptations The best of men have fallen foulest under their highest worldly enjoyments witness David Solomon Hezekiah c. Under your outward fulness how low was your communion with God how languishing were your Graces how lean were your Souls and how was your spring of inward Comforts dryed up How little had God of your thoughts your hearts your time your strength O Sirs how bad would you have been by this time if God had not removed those things that were but fuel to your lusts and quench-coals to your grace Well often think of this 't is a greater mercy to be preserved from sin yea from the least sin then 't is to enjoy the whole world But Thirdly By severe Providences and by fiery Tryals God designs the imbittering of sin to his people When God shall come and burn up mens comforts round about them then they will cry out Ah what a bitter thing is sin that puts God upon burning work then they will speak that language to their own Souls that the Prophet once spake to the Jews Jer. 2. 15. They made his land waste his cities are burnt with fire Vers 17. Hast thou not procured these things to thy self Vers 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy back-slidings shall reprove thee know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God and that my fear is not in thee saith the Lord God of Hosts So Chap. 4. 18. Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee this is thy wickedness because it is bitter because it reacheth unto thy heart Yea now they will say that sin is bitternesses in the abstract and in the plural number also according to that of the Prophet Hosea Hos 12. 14. Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly or with bitternesses as the Hebrew has it Relations and friends may tell us that sin is a bitter thing and conscience may tell us that sin is a bitter thing and good books may tell us that sin is a bitter thing and men under terrours and horrours of spirit may tell us that sin is a bitter thing and the fore and heavy Judgments of God upon others may tell us that sin is a bitter thing and the Spirit by his secret whispers may tell us that sin is a bitter thing and Ministers may tell us that sin is a bitter thing they may tell you that 't is bitter to God it being the only thing in all the world that he has revealed his wrath from Heaven against and that is contrary to the Nature of God the Law of God the Being of God the Glory of God and the grand Designs of God They may tell you that 't is bitter to Christ witness his crying out in the bitterness of his Soul My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and witness the sorrows and heaviness of his Soul and his sweating clods of blood When he hung upon the Cross they gave him gall and vinegar to drink but no gall was so bitter to him as your sins They may tell you that sin is bitter to the Spirit of God Gen. 6. 3. Eph. 4. 29. for nothing grieves him and provokes him and vexes him but sin They may tell you that sin is bitter to the good Angels every sin that you commit is as a dagger at their hearts there is nothing in all the world so bitter to them as to see their Lord and Master daily yea hourly crucified by sinners fins They may tell you that sin is bitter to the evil Angels it being the only thing for which they were banished the Court of Heaven and turned down to the lowest Hell where they are kept in chains of darkness to the Judgment Jude 6. of the great day They may tell you that sin is bitter to the worst of men witness Adams hiding of himself and Gen. 3. 10. Math. 27. Gen. 4. 13. Rom. 8. 20 21 22. Judas his hanging of himself and Cains crying out My burden is greater then I am able to bear They may tell you that 't is bitter to the Creatures who groan under their burdens and who long to be delivered from that bondage that the sin of man hath subjected them to and yet for all this we will not feelingly affectionately experimentally say that sin is bitter till God comes and burns us up Lam. 4. 11. And gives us gall and wormwood to drink Chap. 3. 19 20. Remembring mine affliction and my misery the wormwood and the gall My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me O Sirs how bitter should sin be to you who have seen London all in flames Certainly God by burning up your sweet pleasant and delightful things would teach you to taste a greater bitterness in sin then ever O happy Fire that shall render God and Christ and Heaven and Promises and Ordinances more sweet and sin more bitter to poor sinners Souls Doubtless one of Gods great designs by this late Judgment of Fire is to imbitter sin to all sorts of men When Judgments imbitter our sins to us then they work kindly powerfully effectually and then we may conclude that there was a hand of love in those Judgments and then we shall justifie the Lord and say with the Church Lam. 1. 18. The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against him or as the Hebrew runs Because I have imbittered him he is righteous in all the sore judgments that he hath inflicted upon me for I have imbittered him against me by my most bitter sins But Fourthly By severe Providences and fiery Tryals God designs the mortifying and purging away of his peoples sins Isa 1. 25. And I will turn my hand upon thee to wit to correct or chastise thee and purely purge away thy dross or drosses Dan. 11. 35. Mal. 3. 1 2 3. Gods fire is in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem Isa 31. 9. and take away all thy tin or tins in the plural number Some by dross understand gross
issue we shall find that God will turn Heb. 12. 11. them to the internal and eternal advantage of our precious Gen. 42. 36. But yet as old as Jacob was he lived to see all those things work for his good which he concluded were against him Judg. 14. 14. Phil. 1. 19. souls We may in a pang of passion say as Jacob Joseph is noâ— and Simeon is not All these are against me children are not honours are not riches are not habitations are not credit is not All these are against us but in the close we shall find that promise made good in power upon us Rom. 8. 28. We know that all things shall work together for good to them that love God to them that are called according to his purpose O Sirs all the power of Heaven stands ingaged to maâ—e good this promise to you And if you would but live in the daily actings of faith upon this blessed promise you would then be able to bear up bravely under all the troubles and tryals crosses and losses that you meet with in this world and you would then experience the truth of Samsons Riddle Out of the eater came meat and out of the strong sweetness What Paul said of his fiery tryals viz. I know that this shall turn to my salvation that may you safely say of all your fiery tryals We know that they shall work for our good we know that they shall turn to our salvation Though wicked instruments might design our destruction yet the wise God that sits at the Helm will turn all into our Salvation Those severe Providences which for the present may seem very prejudicial in the issue shall prove very beneficial Josephs Brethren threw him into a pit after wards they sell him then he is falsely accused and as unjustly cast into prison Psal 105. 17 18. Gen. 50. 20. Chap. 41. 40. and laid in cold Iron Yet all this issued in his good his abasement made way for his advancement for his thirteen years imprisonment he raigned fourscore years like a King David you know had seven years banishment yet it ended in a glorious Raign of forty years continuance Job lost all that ever he had in one day he was a man under great calamity he was a spectacle of the highest misery he abounded only in boils and sores and rags but all this issued in the tryal of his grace in the discovery of his grace and in the improvement of his grace and in the close God did compensate his very great losses by giving him twice as much as ever he Job 42. 10. had before Dear friends that by all severe Providences and fiery Tryals God will turn your spark of grace into a flame your mites into millions and your drops into Seas is and shall be the hearty desire of my Soul O Sirs if Christ be even ravished with one of his Spouses eyes and Gant 4. 9. with one chain of her neck with the least grains and drams of true grace how will he be taken with abundance of grace how will he be ravished with the flourishing estate of your Souls in grace Well remember this the more under all your fiery tryals grace is increased the more God is honoured Religion adorned the mouths of the wicked stopped the hands and hearts of weak Saints strengthned and encouraged the smarting Rod sweetned and threatned Judgments prevented O that those two Prophesies might be made good in power upon all the burnt Citizens of London That 32. Isa 15. Vntil the Spirit be poured upon us from on high and the wilderness be a fruitful field And that 35. Isa 1 2. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them and the desart shall rejoyce and blossom as the rose It shall blossom abundantly and rejoyce even with joy and singing the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it the excellency of Carmel and Sharon they shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God Thrice happy will the Pliny speaks of a golden Vine which never withereth but is always flourishing O that this might be the mercy of all those Christians who have been burnt up burnt Citizens of London be if under all their crosses and Iosses they grow into a more deep acquaintance with God the world and their own hearts with God and his holiness with the world and its vanity mutability impotency and uncertainty and with their own hearts and the deceitfulness vileness baseness and wretchedness of them If under fiery Dispensations we grow more holy then ever and more humble then ever and more heavenly then ever and more meek and lowly then ever and more tender and compassionate then ever and more faithful and fruitful then ever and more patient and contented then ever then we may be confident that the grand design of God in bringing all that evil that he has brought upon us was his glory and our own internal eternal good and accordingly we may rejoyce in the Lord though we have nothing else to rejoyce in Hab. 3. 17 18. But 4. Fourthly and lastly By severe Providences and by fiery Tryals God doth design the tryal of his peoples graces and the discovery of their sincerity and integrity to the world Deut. 8. 2. And thou shalt remember all the way which the 1 Pet. 1. 6 7. Rev. 3. 18. Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart whether thou wouldst keep his Commandments or no. God knew them well enough before without any experimental tryal of them but that he might the better make a discovery of themselves to themselves and to others he led them up and down in the Wilderness forty years Psal 66. 10 11 12. For thou O God hast proved us thâ—u hast tryed us as silver is tryed thou hast brought us into the net thou hast laid affliction upon our loyns thou hast caused men to ride over our heads we went through fire and through water God proves his people not thereby to better his own knowledge of them but to bring them to a better knowledge both of their own vices and graces It is not known what Corn will yield till it come to the flail nor what Grapes will yield till they come to the press Grace is hid in Nature as sweet water in Rose-leaves but fiery tryals will fetch it out Fire and water are merciless Elements and they note variety of sharpest tryals Now through these â—od led his people that so he might discover to them and others both the strength of their graces and the strength of their sins God many times exercises his dearest Children with fiery tryals that he may discover the sincerity and integrity of his people to the world The prophane Atheistical world are apt very boldly and confidently to conclude that the people of God are a pack of Hypocrites and Dissemblers
sabbaths to be a sign between me and them that they may know that I am the Lord that sanctifie them The singular blessings that the right sanctifying of the Sabbath will bring upon us are 1. Spiritual they that conscientiously sanctifie the Sabbath they shall see and know the work of God the work of Grace upon their own Souls There are many precious Christians that have a work of God a work of Grace upon their own Souls who would give ten thousand worlds were there so many in their hands to give to see that work to know that work Oh but now they that sanctifie the Sabbath they shall both see and know the work of God upon their own Souls And they shall find â—he Lord carrying on the work of Grace and Holiness in their Souls they shall find the Lord destroying their sins and filling their hearts with joy and with a blessed assurance of his favour and love Isa 56. 6 7. Also the sons of the stranger that joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the Name of the Lord to be his servants Every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold on my Covenant Even them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my Altar for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people So Isa 58. 13 14. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own ways nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord. Now in the second place the other blessings that the right sanctifying of the Sabbath will invest us with are temporal blessings for so they follow in the Scripture last cited And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth here is honour and esteem and safety and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father Now the Land of Canaan was the Inheritance Gen. 28. 13. And Chap. 48. 4. which God promised to Jacob. Hereby is noted that comfortable provision that God would make for them that sanctified his Sabbaths Such as make the Sabbath their delight they shall never want protection nor provision God will be a Wall of fire about them and a Canaan to them But Fifthly Consider that our Lord Jesus who is the Lord of the Sabbath and whom the Law it self commands us to Math. 12. 8. Deut. 18. 18 19. hear did alter it from the seventh day to the first day of the week which we now keep For the holy Evangelists note that our Lord came into the midst of the Assembly on the two first days of the two weeks immediately following his Resurrection and then blessed the Church breathing on them the Holy Ghost Joh. 20. 19-26 Then the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them Peace be unto you And after eight days again his disciples were within and Thomas with them then came Jesus the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said Peace â—e unto you Look as Christ was forty days instructing Moses in Sinai what he should teach and how he should govern the Church under the Law so he continued forty days teaching his Disciples what they shoult preach and how they should govern the Church under the Gospel Acts 1. 2 3. Vntil the day in which he was taken up after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the Apostles whom he had chosen To whom also he shewed himself alive after his Passion by many infallible proofs being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God And it is not to be doubted but that within those forty days he likewise ordained on what day they should likewise keep the Sabbath and 't is observable that on this first day of the week he sent down from Heaven the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles Acts 2. 1-4 And when the day of the Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance So that on that day they first began and ever after continued the publick exercise of their Ministry Christ who was Lord of the Sabbath Mark 2. 28. had a soveraign right to change and alter it to what day he pleased But Sixthly Consider that according to the Lords mind and Commandment and the direction of the Holy Ghost the Apostles in all the Christian Churches ordained that they should keep the holy Sabbath upon the first day of the week 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Now concerning the collection for the Saints as I have given order to the Churches â—â— Galatia Even so do ye upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gathering when I come In which words you may observe these five things First That the Apostles ordained this day to be kept holy therefore 't is of a Divine institution Secondly That the day is named the first day of the week therefore not the Jewish seventh or any other Thirdly Every first day of the week which sheweth its perpetuity Fourthly That it was ordained in the Churches of Galatia as well as of Corinth and he setled one uniform in all the Churches of the Saints therefore it was universal 1 Cor. 14. 33. For God is not the Author of confusion but of peace as in all Churches of the Saints Fifthly That there should be collections for the poor on that day after the other Ordinances were ended Now why should the Apostles require collections to be made on the first day of the week but because on that day of the week the Saints assembled themselves together in the Apostles time And in the same Epistle he protesteth that he delivered them no other Ordinance or Doctrine but what he had received from the Lord 1 Cor. 11. 23. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread 1 Cor. 14. 37. If any man think himself to be a Prophet or spiritual let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the Commandments of the Lord. Now mark he wrote to them and ordained among them to keep their Sabbath on the first day of the week therefore to keep the Sabbath on that day is the very Commandment of the Lord. But Seventhly Consider the Apostles on that day ordinarily dispensed the holy Ordinances
which he presently began to do but God soon cut him off Thomas Blavar one of the Privy Counsellors of the King of Scots was a sore Persecutor of the people of God in that Theatrum Historicum Land when he lay on his dying-bed he fell into despair and cryed out that he was damned he was damned and when the Monks came about him to comfort him he cryed out upon them saying That their Masses and other trash would do him no good for he never believed them but all that he did was for love of money and not of Religion not respecting or believing that there was either a God or a Devil a Hell or a Heaven and therefore he was damned there was no remedy but he must go to Hell and in this case without a sign of repentance he dyed A Popish Magistrate having condemned a poor Protestant to death before his execution he caused his tongue to be cut out because he should not confess the truth but the Lord did retaliate it upon him for the next child he had was born without a tongue Cardinal Crescentius was a most desperate Persecutor of the people of God he was the Popes Embassador to the Anno 1552. Council of Trent and being one night busie in writing to his Master the Pope a huge black Dog with great flaming eyes and long ears dangling down to the ground appeared to him in his Chamber and went under the Table where he sate Upon which the Cardinal was amazed but as as soon as he had recovered himself he called his Servants to put out the black Dog that was come into his Chamber but they lookt round about his Chambers and the next Chambers but could find no black Dog upon which the Cardinal fell presently sick with a strong conceit which never left him till his death still crying out Drive away the black Dog drive away the black Dog which seemed to him to be climbing up his Bed and in that humour he dyed After the Martyrdom of Gregory the Bishop of Spoleta Flacchus Phil. Lonicer the Governour who was the Author thereof was struck with an Angel and vomited up his entrails at his mouth and dyed Mammea Agrippitus when he was fifteen years old because Cent. 3. cap. 12. he would not sacrifice to their Idols was apprehended at Preneste and whipt with Scourges and hanged up by the heels and at last slain with the Sword in the midst of whose torments the Governour of the City fell down dead from the Tribunal-seat Gensericus King of the Vandals an Arrian was a most Sigeb in Chron. cruel Persecutor of the Orthodox Christians he was possessed of the Devil and dyed a most miserable death in the year 477. Herod the Great who caused the Babes of Bethlehem to be Euseb Hist. slain hoping thereby to have destroyed Christ shortly after was plagued by God with an incurable disease having a slow and slack fire continually tormenting of his inward parts he had a vehement and greedy â—â— fire to eat and yet nothing would satisfie him his inward bowels rotted his breath was short and stinking some of his members rotted and in all his members he had so violent a cramp that nature was not able to bear it and so growing mad with pain he dyed miserably Herod Antipas who beheaded John Baptist not long after Euseb Hist falling into disgrace with the Roman Emperor with his incestuous Herodias the Suggester of that murther they were banished and fell into such misery and penury that they ended their wretched lives with much shame and misery Herod Agrippa was a great Persecutor of the Saints he was Acts 12. Joseph Antiq. lib. 19. cap. 7. eaten up of worms in the third year of his Raign as Josâ—phus observes He went to Caesarea to keep certain Plays in the Honour of Caesar the Gown he was in as the same Author relates was a Gown of Silver wonderfully wrought and the beams of the Sun reflecting upon it made so it glister that it dazled the eyes of the Beholders and when he had made an end of his starched Oration in this his Bravery his Flatterers Acts 12. 21 22 23. extolled him as a God crying out 'T is the voice of a God and not of a man Whereupon he was presently smitten by the Angel of the Lord and so dyed with worms that eat up his Joseph Antiq. lib. 18. cap. 13. entrails the blow the Angel gave him was an inward blow and not so visible to others and his torments more and more increasing upon him the people put on sack-cloth and made supplication for him but all in vain for his pains and torments growing stronger and stronger every day upon him they separated his wretched soul from his loathsom body within the compass of five days Euseb Hist Caiâ—phas the high Priest who gathered the Councel and suborned false Witness against the Lord Christ was shortly after put out of his Office and one Jonathan substituted in Euseb Hist lib. 2. cap. 7. his room whereupon he killed himself Not long after Pontius Pilate had condemned our Lord Christ he lost his Deputiship and Caesars favour and being fallen into disgrace with the Roman Emperour and banished by him he fell into such misery that he hanged himself Oh the dreadful Judgments that were inflicted upon the chief Actors in the Ten Persecutions Shall I give you a brief account of what befel them Nero that Monster of men who raised the first bloody Persecution to pick a quarrel with the Christians he set the City of Rome on fire and then charged it upon them under which pretence he exposes them to the fury of the people who cruelly tormented them as if they had been common burners and destroyers of Cities and the deadly enemies of mankind yea Nero himself caused them to be apprehended and clad in wild beasts skins and torn in pieces with Dogs others were crucified some he made Bonfires of to light him in his night-sports To be short such horrid cruelty he used towards them as caused many of their enemies to pity them But God found out this wretched Persecutor at last for being adjudged by the Senate an enemy to mankind he was condemned to be whipt to death for the prevention whereof he cut his own throat Domitian the Author of the second Persecution against the Christians having drawn a Catalogue of such as he was to kill in which was the name of his own Wife and other friends upon which he was by the consent of his Wife slain by his own Houshold-servants with Daggers in his Privy-Chamber his body was buried without Honour his Memory cursed to posterity and his Arms and Ensigns were thrown down and defaced Trajan raised the third Persecution against the Church he was continually vexed with Seditions and the vengeance of God followed him close For first he fell into a Palsie then lost the use of his senses afterwards
Job lies on its dung-hill London like the Jewes lies Job 2. 8. in its ashes Esther 4. 3. And therefore it highly concerns all Londoners to put on sackcloth and ashes But Ninthly Surely such as have lookt upon London as the City of their solemnities such can't but weep to see the City of their Solemnities laid desolate Isa 33. 20 Look upon Zion the City of our solemnities or meetings Zion is here called a City because it stood in the midst of the City The City of Jerusalem was very large and Zion stood in the midst of it and 't is called a City of Solemnities because the people flocked thither to hear the Law to renew their Covenant with God to call upon his name and to offer Sacrifices O Sirs was not London the City of our Solemnities the City where we solemnly met to wait upon the Lord in the beauty 1 Chron. 16. 29. Psal 29. 2. of Holiness the City where we offered prayers and praises the City where we worshipped the Lord in Spirit and in truth the City wherein God and Christ and the great things of eternity were revealed to us the City wherein many thousands were converted and edified walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost the Acts 9. 31. City where we had the clearest the choicest and the highest enjoyments of God that ever we had in all our dayes the City wherein we have sate down under Christs shadow with great delight his fruit has been sweet unto our taste the Cant. 2. 3 4 5 6. City in which Christ has brought us to his banqueting house and â—is banner over us has been love the City in which Christ has Staid us with flaggons and comforted us with Apples the City in which Christs left hand hath been under our heads and his right hand hath imbraced us The City wherein the Lord of Hosts hath made unto his people a feast of fat things a Isa 25. 6. feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well refined London the City of our Solemnities is now laid desolate and therefore for this why should not we be disconsolate and mourn in secret before the Lord This frame of Spirit hath been upon the people of God of old Zeph. 3. 18. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly who are of thee to whom the reproach of it was a burden By Solemn Assemblies are meant their several conventions at those set times which God had appointed them viz. on the weekly Sabbath the new Moons Deut. 16. the stated Feasts and Fasts which they were bound to observe Now for the want the lack the loss of those Solemn Assemblies such as did truly fear the Lord were solemnly sorrowfull Of all losses spiritual losses are most sadly resented by gracious souls When they had lost their houses their estates their Trades their relations their liberties and were led captive to Babylon which was an Iron Fornace a second Aegypt to them then the loss of their Solemn Assemblies made deeper impressions upon their hearts than all their outward losses did The Jews were famous Artists they stand upon record for their skill especially in Poetry Mathematicks and Musick but when their City was burnt and their Land laid desolate and their Solemn Assemblies broken in pieces then they could sing none of the Songs of Psalm 137. 1 2 3 4 5. Zion then they were more for mourning than for musick for sighing than for singing for lamenting than for laughing Nothing goes so near gracious hearts as the loss of their Solemn Assemblies as the loss of holy Ordinances health and wealth and friends and Trade are but meer Ichahods to the Saints Solemn Assemblies and to pure 1 Sam. 4 17 18. Ordinances When the Ark was taken Eli could live no longer but whether his heart or his neck was first broken upon that sad tydings is not easie to determine When Nehemiah understood that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and that the Gates thereof were burnt with fire 2 Kings 25. 8 9 10. and that the whole City was laid desolate by Nebuzâ—radan and his Chaldean Army he sits down and weeps and mourns and fasts and prayes he did so lay the burning of the City of their Solemnities to heart that all the smiles of King Artaxerxes could not raise him nor rejoice Neh. 1. 3 4. Chap. 2. Jer. 52. 12 13 14. him It was on the tenth day of the fifth moneth that Jerusalem was burnt with fire and upon that account the Jewes fasted upon every tenth day of the fifth moneth Now shall the Jews solemnly fast and mourn on the tenth day of the fifth moneth during their Captivity because their Zech. 7. 3. City and Temple and Solemn Assemblies were on that day buried in ashes and turned into a ruinous heap and and shall not we fast and mourn to see the City of our Solemnities buried in its own ruines But Tenthly and lastly That Incendiary that mischievous Villain Hubert confest the fact of firing the first house in Pudding Lane though he would not confess who set him at work and accordingly was executed at Tyburn for it There were some Ministers and several other sober prudent Citizens who did converse again and again with Hubert and are ready to attest that he was far from being mad and that he was not only very rational but also very cunning and subtile and so the fitter instrument for the Conclave of Rome or some subtle Jesuit to make use of to bring about our common wo. It was never known that Rome or Hell did ever make use of mad men or fools to bring about their Divilish Plots Now who can look upon the dreadful consequences the burning of a renowned City that followed upon the firing of the first house and not mourn over Londons desolations Hubert did confess to several persons of note and repute that he was a Catholick and did further declare that he believed confession to a Priest was necessary to his salvation And being advised by a Chaplain to a person of Honor to call upon God he repeated his Ave Mary which he confest was his usual prayer Father Harvey confest him and instructed him and we need not doubt but that he absolved him also according to the custom of the Romish Church Hubert died in the profession of the Romish faith stoutly asserting that he was no Hugonite I know that men of the Romish Religion and such who are one in Spirit with them would make the world believe that this Hubert who by order of Law was executed upon the account of his own publick and private confessions was mad distracted and what not But what mad men do these make the Judge and Jury to be for who but mad men would condemn to such a shameful death a mad man for confessing himself guilty of such a
visit thee And the most proud shall stumble and fall and none shall raise him up and I will kindle a fire in his Cities and it shall devour all round about him There is nothing more fearfull or formidable either to man or beast than fire and therefore by fiery dispensations God will take vengeance on the wicked This will be the more evident if you please but to consider to what the wicked are compared in Scripture First They are compared to stubble and chaffe which the fire doth easily consume Isa 5. 24. Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble and the flame consumeth the chaff so their root shall be as rottenness and their blessom shall go up as dust Nah. 1. 10 For while they be folden together as thorns and while they are drunken as drunkards they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry Mark that word fully dry and so as it were prepared and fitted for the flames Secondly The wicked are compared to thorns and how easily doth the flaming fire consume them Isa 27. 4. Fury is not in me Who would set the bryars and thorns against me in Battel I would go through them I would burn them together Isa 33. 12. And the people shall be as the burnings of lime as thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire Mark 't is not said as thorns standing and rooted in the earth and growing with their moisture about them but as thorns cut up as dead and dry thorns which are easily kindlâ—d and consumed c. Thirdly The wicked are compered to the melting of wax before the fire and to the passing away of smoak before the wind Micah 1. 4. Psal 8. 2. Fourthly and lastly The sudden and certain ruine of the wicked is set forth by the melting of the fat of Lambs before the fire Psal 37. 20. But the wicked shall perish and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of Lambs which of all fat is the most easiest melted before the fire they shall consume into smoak shall they consume away The fat of Lambs in the Lev. 3. 15 16 17. Sacrifices was wholly to be burnt and consumed Thus you see by the several things to which wicked men are compared that God by fiery calamities will bring ruine and dâ—stâ—â—ction upon his and his peoples enemies Such as have burnt the people of God out of house and home may in this world have burning for burning God loves to retaliate Judg. 1. upon his peoples enemies Sâ—ch as have clapt their hâ—nds at the sight of Londons flamâ—s may one day lay their hands upon their loinâ— when they shall find Divine Justice appearing in flames of fire against them But The eighth support to bear up the hearts of the people of God under the late fiery dispâ—nsation is this viz. That Consult these Scriptures Isa 1. 25. Chap. 27 3 9 10 11. Zech. 13. 9. Heb. 12. 10. Hosea 2. 6. Acts 14. 22. John 16. ult Jer. 29. 11. all shall end well all shall work for good God by this fiery dispensation will do his people a great deal of good God cast Judah into an Iron furnace into a fiery furnace but it was for their good Jer. 24. 5. Like these good figs so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah whom I have sent out of this place into the Land of the Chaldeans for their good Psalm 119. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted Though afflictions are naturally evil yet they are morally good for by the wise sanctâ—fying over ruling Providence of God they shall either cure the Saints of their spiritual evils or preserve them from spiritual evils Though the Elements are of contrary qualities yet Divine Power and Wisdom hath so tempered them that they all work in an harmonious manner for the good of the Universe So though sore afflâ—ctions though fiery tryals seem to work quite cross and contrary to the Saints Prayers and dâ—sires yet they shall be so ordered and tempered by a skilful and omnipotent hand as that they shall all issue in the Saints good At the long-run by all sorts of fiery tryals the Saints shall have their sins more weakned their Graces more improved and their experiences more multiplied their evidences for Heaven more cleared their communion with God more raised and their hearts and lives more amended God by fiery tryals will keep off from his people more tryals God loves by the Cross to secure his people from the curse and certainly 't is no bad exchange to have a cross instead of a curse God lead the Israelites about and about in the Wilderness forty years together but it was to Deut. 8. 2. 16. humble them and prove them and do them good in their latter end God lead them through fire and water that is Psal 66. 12. â—hrough variety of sore and sharp afflictions but all was in order to his bringing them forth into a wealthy place God stript Job to his Shift but it was in order to his clotheing Compare the first and last Chapter of Job together of him in Scarlet he brought him low but it was in order to his raising him higher than ever he set him upon a Dunghil that he might the better fit him to fit upon a Throne Joseph is not and Simeon is not and ye will take Gen. 42. 36. Benjamin away all these things are against me saith old Jacob but yet as old as he was he lived to see all working for his good before he went to his long home Under all fiery dispensations God will make good that Golden Promise Rom. 8. 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God Mark the Apostle doth not say we suppose or we hope or we conjecturâ— but we know I know and you know and all the Saints know by daily experience that all their sufferings and afflictions work together for their good the Apostle doth not say de futuro they shall work but de praesenti they do work All second causes work together with the first cause for their good who loves God and who are called according to his purpose The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 work together is a Physical expression Look as several poisonful ingredients put together being well tempered and mixed by the skill and care of the prudent Apothecary makes a Soveraign Medicine and work together for the good of the Patient So all the afflictions and sufferings that befall the Saints they shall be so wisely so diviâ—ely tempered ordered and sanctified by a hand of Heaven as that they shall really and signally work for their good Those Gen. 50. 20. dreadful Providences which seem to be most prejudicial to us shall in the issue prove most beneficial to us Look as vessels of Gold are made by fire so by fiery dispensations God will make his people Vessels of Gold 2 Tim. 2. 20 21.
Make thy Son dear very dear exceeding dear only dear and precious to me or not at all But do all burnt Citizens lift up such a prayer I suppose you have either read or heard of that rich and wretched Cardinal who profest that he would not leave his part in Paris for a part in Paradise But Fifthly Are there no burnt Citizens who follow the world so close that they gain no good by the word like Ezekiels hearers and like the stony ground Some Writers Ezek. 33. 31 32 33. Matth. 13. 22. say that nothing will grow where Gold grows Certainly where an inordinate love of the world grows there nothing will grow that is good A heart filled either with the love of the world or with the profits of the world or with the pleasures of the world or with the honours of the world or with the cares of the world or with the business of the world is a heart incapacitated to receive any divine counsâ—l or comfort from the word The Poets tells us of Licaons being turned into a Wolâ— but when a worldling is wrought upon by the word there is a Wolf turned into a man yea an incarnaâ—e Devil turned into a glorious Saint Thâ—refore the Holy Ghost speaking of Zâ—cheus whose soul was set upon the world brings him in with an Ecce behold Luke 19. 2. as if it were a wonder of wonders that ever such a worldling should be subdued by Grace and brought in to Christ But Sixthly Are there no burnt Citizens that are very angry and impatient when they meet with opposition disappointments or procrastination in their earnest pursuing after the things of the world Balaam was so intent and mad upon the world that he dâ—sperately puts on upon the drawn Numb 22. 21. to 35. Sword of the Angel Are there no burnt Citizens who are so intent and mad upon the world that they will put warmly on for the world though the Lord draws and conscience drawes and the Scriptures draw their Swords upon them But Seventhly Are there no burnt Citizens who are grown cold very cold yea even stark cold in their pursuit after God and Christ and Heaven and holiness who once were for taking the Kingdom of Heaven by violence who were Matth. 11. 12. As a Castle or Town is taken by Storm so eagerly and earnestly set upon making a prey or a prize of the great things of that upper world that they were highly and fully resolved to make sure of them whatever pains or perils they run thorough Aristotle observes that Dogs can't hunt where the smell of sweet flowers is because the sweet scent diverteth the smell Ah how has the scent of the sweet flowers of this world hindered many a forward Professor from hunting after God and Christ and the great things of eternity The Arabick Proverb saith That the world is a carkass and they that bunt after it are Dogs Ah how many are there who once set their fâ—ces towards heaven who now hunt more after earth than Heaven who hunt more after Terrestial than Celestial things who hunt more after nothingnesses and emptinesses than they do after those fulnesses and swetnesses that be in God in Christ in the Covenant in Heaven and in those paths that lead to happiness When one desired to know what kind of man Basil was there was presented to him in a dream saith the History a Pillar of fire with this Motto Talis est Basilius Basil is such a one all on a light fire for God Before London was in flâ—mes there were some who for a time were all on a light fire for God who now are grown either cold or luke-warm like the luke-warm Laodiceans Rev. 3. 14 19. But Eighthly Are there no burnt Citizâ—ns whose hearts are filled with solicitous cares and who are inordinately troubled 2 Cor. 7. 10. grieved dâ—jâ—cted and overwhelmed upon the account of their late losses and what dos this speak out but an inordinate love of these earthly things When Jonahs Gourd Jon. 4. 6. ult withered Jonah was much enraged and dejected 'T is said of Adam that he turned his face towards the Garden of Eden and from his heart lamented his fall Ah how many are there in this day who turning their faces towards their late lost mercies their lost Shops Trades Houses Riches do so bitterly and excessively lament and mourn Jer. 31. 15. that with Rachel they refuse to be comforted and with Jacob they will go down into the Grave mourning Heraclitus Gen. 37. 35. the Philosopher was alwayes weeping but such a frame of Spirit is no honour to God nor no ornament to Religion One cryes out How shall I live now I have lost my Trade another cryes out What shall I do when I am old another cryes out What shall I and my six Children do when you are dead another cryes out I have but a handful of Meal in the Barrel and a little Oyl in the Cruise and when that is spent I must lye down and dye 1 Kingâ— 17. 12. c. 1. There is a holy sadness which arises from the sense of our sins and our Saviours suffâ—rings this is commendable 2. There is a natural sadness which sometimes rises from sickness weakness and indisposition of body this is to be pitied and cured 3. There is a sinful sadness which usually is very furious and hath no ears and is rather cured by Miracle than precept this usually flows from the loss of such near and dear comforts upon which men have in ordinately set their hearts and in the enjoyment of which they have promised themselves no small felicity Oh that such sad souls would seriously râ—membâ—r that there is nothing beyond remedy but the tears of the damned A man who mâ—y notwithstanding all his losses and crosses be found walking in the way to Paradise should never place himself in the condition of a little-Hell And he that may or can hope for that great-all ought not to be excessively sad for any losses or crosses that he meets with in this world But Ninthly Are there no burnt Citizens who to gain the world do very easily and frequently fall down before the temptations of the world And what dos this speak out but their inordinate love to the world That man who is as Numb 22. 15. to 23. Josh 7. 20 21 22. Jude 11. soon conquered as tempted vanquished as assaulted by the world that man is doubtless in love with the world yea bewitcht by the world The Champions could not wring an Apple out of Milo's hand by strong hand but a fair Maid by fair means got it presently The easie conquests that the temptations of the world make upon many men is a fair and a full evidence that their hearts are greatly endeared to it Luther was a man weaned from the world and therefore when honours preferments and riches were offered to him he despised them So when Basil was
This is spoken of the King of Babylon who though he had gathered to him all Nations and people yea and all their vast Treasures also Isa 10. 13. I have robbed their treasures ver 14. And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of his people and as one gathereth Eggs that are left have I gathered all the earth and there was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth or peeped And yet for all this was his desire enlarged as Hell and could not be satisfied The desires of worldlings are boundless and endless and there is no satisfying of them 'T is not all the Gold of Ophir or Peru nor all the Pearls or Mines of India 't is not Josephs Chains nor Davids Crowns nor Hamans Honours nor Daniels Dignities nor Dives his riches that can satisfie an immortal soul Tenthly The little that the righteous man hath is more stable durable and lasting than the riches of the wicked and therefore his little is better than their much his mite Job 5. 20 21 22. is better than their millions Psal 34. 9 10. O fear the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him The young Lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing Such as are separated from the worlds lusts can live with a little Such as set up God as the object of their fear have no cause to fear the want of any thing When David was a captive amongst the Philistins he wanted nothing Paul had nothing and yet 2 Cor. 6. 10. possessed all things A godly man may want many good things that he thinks to be good for him but he shall never Heb. 13 5 6. Prov. 10. 3 want any good thing that the Lord knows to be good for him We do not esteem of Tenure for life as we do of freehold because life is a most uncertain thâ—ng Ten pound a year for ever is better than a hundred in hand All the promises are Gods Bonds and a Christian may put them in suit when he will and hold God to his word and that not only for his spiritual and eternal life but also for his natural life his temporal life but so can't the wicked The temporal Prov. 10. 3. Psalm 37. 34 35 36. Jer. 17. 11. Job 20. 20. ult estate of the wicked is seldom long-liv'd as you may see by comparing the Scriptures in the Margent together Alexander the Great Conqueror of the world caused to be painted on a Table a Sword in the compass of a Wheel shewing thereby that what he had gotten by the Sword was subject to be turned about the wheel of Providence There is no more hold to be had of riches honours or preferments than Saul had of Samuels lap They do but like the Rainbow shew themselves in all their dainty colours and then vanâ—sh away There are so many sins and so many crosses and so many curses that usually attend the riches of the wicked that 't is very rare to see their estates long-liv'd Hence their great estates are compared to the Chaffe which a puff of wind disperseth to the Grass which the scorching Sun quickly withers to the tops of Corn which are soon Job 24. 24. cut off and to the unripe Grape Job 15. 33. He shall shake off his unripe Grape as the Vine and shall cast off his flower as the Olive Every dayes experience confirms us in this truth But Eleventhly and lastly The little that the righteous man hath is better than the riches of the wicked in respâ—ct of his last reckoning in respâ—ct of his last accounts God will never call his childrâ—n in the great dâ—y either to the book or to thâ— bâ—r for the mercies that he has given them be they few or be they many be they great or be they small Though the Mercer brings his Customer to the book for what he has and for what he wears yet he never brings his Child to the book for what he has and for what he wears Though the Vintner or Inn-keeper brings their guest to the barr for the provisions they have yet they never bring their children to the barr for the provisions they make for them In the great day the Lord will take an exâ—ct account of all the good Matth. 25. that his children have done for others but he will never bring them to an account for what he has done for them Christ in this great day will 1. Remember all the individual offices of love and friendship that hath been shewed to any of his members 2. He will mention many good things which his children did which they themselvâ—s never minded Verse 37. 3 The least and lowest acts of love and pity that have been shewed to Christs suffering servants shall be interpreted Verse 40. as a special kindness shewed to himself 4. The recompence that Christ will give to his people in Verse 44 46. that day shall be exceeding great Here is no calling of them to the book or to the barr for the merciâ—s that they were entrusted with But O the sad the great accounts that the wicked have to give up for all their Lands and Lordships for all their Honors Offices Dignities and Riches To whom Luke 12. 48. much is given much shall be required Christ in the great day will reckon with all the Grandees of the world for every thousand for every hundred for every pound yea for every penny that he has entrusted them with All Princes Rev. 6. 15 16 17. Luke 16. 2. Eccles 12. 14. Nobles and people that are not interested in the Lord Jesus shall be brought to the book to the barr in the great day to give an account of all they have received and done in the flesh But Christs darlings shall then be the only welcome guess Matth. 25. 34. Then shall the King say to them on his right hand come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Before the world was founded the Saints were crowned in Gods eternal counsel Here is no mention made of the book or the Some of the more refined Heathen have had some kind of dread and fear in their spirits upon the consideration of a day of account as the writings of Plato and Tully c. do sufficiently evidence barr but of a Kingdom a Crown a Diadem Now by these eleven Arguments 't is most evident that the little that the righteous man hath is better than the riches of the wicked the righteous mans mite is better than the wicked mans millions But The eighth Maxim that I shall lay down to put a stop to your too eager pursuit after the things of this world is this viz. That the life of man consists not in the enjoyment of these earthly things which he is so apt inordinately to affect Luke 12. 15. And he said unto
Sabbaths more and dutiâ—s more you would then be more early in your communion with God as the Spouse was Mary Magdelen loved Cant. 7. 11 1â— Christ much Luke 7. 47. And she came early to the Sepulchre to seek him She came to look after Christ as soon as it began to down Matth. 28. 1. Mark 16. 1 2. Luke 24. 1. Joh. 20. 1. Men that love the world can rise early to gain the world Now shall nature do more than grace Shall the love of the world out-do the love of Christ the Lord forbid And thus I have done with those Considerations that should quicken you up to sanctifie the Sabbath by rising as early in the morning as your age health strength ability and bodily infirmities will permit But Fifthly You must sanctifie the Sabbath by a Religious performance of all the duties of the day What are they Quest 1. Publick Answ 2. Private What are the publick duties that are to be performed on that Quest day Fiâ—st To assemble your selves with the people of God to Answ hear his Word Neh. 8 1 -9 Mâ—tth 13. 54. Joel 1. 13. 14. Chap. 15. 16. Luke 4. 16 17. John 20. 19 26. Acts 2. 1. 44. 46. Acts 5. 12. 1 Cor. 11. 20. Secondly Prayer Psalm 5. 7. Psalm 42 4. Psalm 118. 24 25 26. Isâ— 56. 7. Matth. 21. 13. Acts 1. 13 14. Acts 2 46 47. Acts 16. 13. Heb. 13. 15. Thirdly The Administrations of the Seals Acts 2. 46. Chap. 20. 7. 1 Cor. 11. 20 33. Fourthâ—y Singing of Psalms Hymns or Spiritual Songs Psalm 92. 1. Matth. 26. 30. 1 Cor. 14. 15. James 5. 13. Heb. 2. 12. Fifthly Works of Mercy and Charity Nehemiah 8. 9 10 11 12. 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Sixthly and lastly The Censures of the Church as casting out of communion the obstinate and in receiving such into communion as the Lord hath received into communion and fellowship with himself 1 Tim. 5. 20 21. 1 Cor. 5. 4. 2 Cor. 2. 6 7. Rom. 14. 1. Chap. 15. 7. c. What are the private duties that are to be performed on that Quest day First Prayer in our Families and Closets Colossiâ—ns 3. 17. Answ Luke 18. 1 2. 1 Thess 5. 18. Ephes 6. 18. See my Treatise on Closet Prayer c. Secondly Reading of the Word Joshuah 1. 8. Deut. 6. 6 8 9 10. Chap. 11. 19. and Chap. 4. 10. John 5. 35. Col. 3. 16. Rev. 1. 3. Thirdly Meditation Psalm 1. 2. Psalm 119. 97. 1 Cor. 14. 5. 1 Tim. 2. 11 18. But on what must we meditate Quest 1. Upon the holiness greatness and graciousness of God Answ 2. Upon the person natures offices excellencies beauties glories riches fulness and sweetness of Christ 3. Upon the blessed truths that we either hear or read 4. Upon our own emptiness nothingness baseness vileneâ—s and un worthiness 5 Upon the works of Creation and Redemption 6. Upon our spiritual and internal wants 7. Upon that eternal rest that is reserved for the people of God Heb. 4 9. Fourthly Instructing examining and preparing of your famâ—lies according to the measures of grace you have received Deut. 6. 7. Deut. 11. 18 20. Gen. 18. 19 20. Joshuah 24 15. Fifthly Singing of Psalms James 5. 13. Coloss 3. 16. Ephes 5. 19. Sixthly Holy Conference upon the Word Luke 14 8 9 10 11 12 15 16. Chap. 24. 14 17 18. Col. 4. 6. Mol. 3. 16 17 c. Seventhly Visiting and relieving the sick the poor the distressed afflâ—cted and imprisoned Saints of God Matth. 15. 34 -40 James 1. 27 c. Now mark when the Publick Ordinances may be enjoyed in Christs way and in their liberty purity and glory it will be your wisdom so to manage all your family duties and closet duties as that you do not shut out more publick Worship It is more observable that the Sabbaths and publick service are joyned together Lev. 19. 30. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary I am the Lord. Now what God hath solemnly joyned together let no man put assunder Every Christian should make it his great care that private duties do not eat up publick Ordinances and that publick Ordinances do not shut out private duties More of this you may see in my Discourse on Closet prayer But God is totus â—culus all eye As the eyes of a well-drawn Picture are fastâ—ed on the which way soever thou turnest so are the eyes of the Lord. Sixthly You must sanctifie the Sabbath by managing all the duties of that day as under the eye of God Gods eye is very much upon his people whilst they are in Religious duties and services Therefore in the Tabernacle the place of Gods publick Worship it was thus commanded Exod. 25. 37 Thou shalt make seven Lamps and they shall light the Lamps that they may give light To teach us that nothing there escapes his sight for in his house there is alwayes light and so when the Temple was built Mine eyes saith God shall be there perpetually It was an excellent 1 Kings 9. 3. saying of Ambrose If thou canst not hide thy self from the Sun which is Gods Minister of light how impoâ—sible will Ambros Offic. l. 1. c. 14. it be to hide thy self from him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the Sun Subjects will carry themselves sweetly and loyally when they are under their Soveraigns eye and children will carry themselves dutifully when they are under their Pâ—rents eye and servants will carry them selves wisely and prudently when they are under their Mâ—steâ—s eye Gods eye is the best Tutor to keep the soul in a gracious frame It is good to have a fixed eye on him whose Job 31. 5 6. Prov. 15. 9. Cha. 5. 20 21. eye is alwayes fixed on thee The best way on earth to keep close to Gods Precepts is alwayes to walk as in his presence no man on earth by day or night can draw a curtain between God and him There is a threefold eye of God that is present in the assemblies of his people As First There is the eye of observation and inspection God seeth what uprightness and seriousness what inâ—egrity ingenuity and fervency you have in his services Mine eyes are upon all their wayes Jer. 16. 17. Psalm 16. 8. I have set the Lord alwayes before me Psalm 119. 168. I have kept thy precâ—pts and thy Testimonies for all my wayes are before thee Jâ—b 31. 4. Doth not he see all my wayes and count all my steps O Sirs whether you are praying or hearing or reading or meditating or singing or receiving the Lords Supper or Mal. 3 17. conferring one with another The eye of the Lord is still upon you But Secondly There is an eye of favour and benediction Amos 9. 4. I will set mine eyes upon them for good 2 Chro. 7. 16. Mine eye and my heart shall be there that is in my house Gods eye is here to approve and to bless and to
33 1. Psalm 32 11. Phil. 4. 4. 1 Thes 5. 16 18. as the garment of gladness God hath laid his royal command upon us to rejoyce on this day Isa 58. 13 14. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight or as the Hebrew runs delights and so Tremelius reads it the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him c. Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord c. Psalm 118. 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made we will be glad and rejoyce therein Now if you compare this Text with Matth. 21. 22 23. and Acts. 4. 11. you will find that the precedent Verses are a prophetical prediction of Christs resurrection and so this Verse fore-tells the Churches joy upon that memorable and glorious day A feâ—st saith Solomon is made for laughter Eccles 10. 19. Now on this day the Lord of Hosts is pleased more especially and more abundantly to make for his people A feast of fat things a feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of Isa 25. 6. marrow of wines on the lees well refined On this day we enjoy the freest and the fullest and the sweetest and the choicest and the nearest communion of Saints And what doth this call for but a spirit of holy joy on this day we enjoy all the precious Ordinances in a most solemn manner and why then should we not be joyful in Gods house of prayer The Isa 56. 7. Luke 2. 10 11 12 13 14. heavenly Host sung at his birth and why should not we sing and rejoyce at his second birth his resurrection from the dead O Sirs Sabbaths are the very suburbs of heaven and who can be in the suburbs of heaven and not rejoyce A beautiful face is at all times pleasing to the eye but then especially when there is joy manifested in the countenance Joy in the face puts a new beauty upon a person and makes that which before was beautiful to be exceeding beautiful it puts a lustre upon beauty And so doth holy joy put a lustre upon the day of God the wayes of God and the people of God It is the duty and glory of a Christian to rejoyce in the Lord every day but especially on the Lords Day God reserves the best wine the best comforts and the choicest discoveries of himself and of his love and of his Christ and of his glory for that day and all to make his people joyful in the house of Isa 56 7. prayer The Manichees were wont to keep their Fasts upon the Lords Day which made Tertullian say that that practice Lect. 15. of theirs was a detestable wickedness To fast on the Lords Day saith Ignatius is to kill Christ But to rejoyce in the Lord this day and to rejoyce in all the duties of this day and to rejoyce in that redemption that was wrought for us on this day this is to crown Christ this is to lift up Christ But Twelfthly You must sanctifie the Sabbath by sanctifying of the whole day to Gods service and not by fits and flashes and sudden pangs O Sirs if the Lord was so strict that he would not lose a moments honor in a ceremonial day of rest Lev. 23. 32. It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest and ye shall afflict your souls in the ninth day of the moneth at even from even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath What shall we think the Lord expects upon this day which is mo-Psalm 92. 1 2. It is good to sing of his loving kindness in the morning and of his faithfulness every night Jer. 17. 22. You shall do no work but sanctifie my Sabbath Now that this may the better stick consider First God hath given you six whole dayes that you may Exod. 20. 9. Chap. 23. 12. provide for your selves and families and therefore do not deny him one day in seven What an unrighteous thing is it to buy by one measure which is greater and sell by another which is lesser Do not rob God of his time who hath been so noble as to give you six in seven But Secondly God rested all the seventh day he had finished the creation in six dayes God did not rest on one part of Gen. 2. 1 2 3. the seventh day and work on the other part of the seventh day but he rested all the seventh day And doubtless it is your wisdom duty and glory to write after the coppy that God has laid before you But Thirdly The Sabbath is not to be an artificial day but a natural day viz. twenty four hours together as you may see in Lev. 23. 32. From even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath The dayes then were so reckoned But Fourthly You would not take it well at your servants hands if they should only work three or four hours in a day and either trifle away the rest of the time or else spend it in doing their own work when they should be a doing of yours and do you think that the great God will take it well at your hands that when you have spent three or four hours in the duties of his day that then you should either trifle away or fool away or play away or sleep away or sin away the remaining part of his day But Fifthly This hath been the judgement of most judicious Divines in all ages In the Counsel of Mexicon there was an Assembly of Ministers out of all Nations in Christendom and they ordained a Canon concerning the Lords Day The Canon runs thus We ordain that people keep the whole Lords Day holy and that they set themselves the whole day to pray to God and delight in God and hear his word and if a Countrey mans servant break this day his punishment shall be to be beaten with severe blows ictubus gravioribus are the very words of the Councel and if a Lawyer offer to plead this day he shall not have the benefit of his pleading or case and if a Minister break this day he shall be excommunicated half a year and thrown â—ut of the Church and shall not be received into the Church again but upon great humiâ—iation It is a good observation of Musculus upon Exâ—d 20. 8. God doth not say saith he râ—member the Sabbath to keep it holy for he that keeps it an hour or two keeps it holy but remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy he will have not a part of a day only but a whole day kept holy And Calvin upon these words Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy saith we are to keep this day holy and not a part of it but all of it I might produce a cloud of witnâ—sses in the case but let these suffice But Sixthly and lasâ—ly Consider that the very Heathen have kept the whole day to their Idol Gods and not a part And shall
and kindness of God towards you manifested in the mighty preservations protections and salvations that he has vouchsafed to you when you were surrounded with all manner of hazzards and dangers O that you would strive as for life to come up to duties which are certainly incumbent upon all those who have escaped the burning flames But you will say What are they Quest These that follow Answ First It highly concerns you who have escaped the fiery dispensation to take heed of those sins which bring the fiery Rod and which have turned many of your neighbours out of house and home What they are I have already declared 2 Pet. 2. 6. Luke 17. 32. Jer. 7. 12. 1 Sam. 4. 11. Psalm 78. 60 at large If those sins that have brought the fiery judgement upon your neighbours are to be found among you you have cause to fear the fiery Rod or else some other judgement that shall be equivalent to it If you sin with others you shall suffer with others except there be found repentance on your side and pardoning grace on Gods The Lord hath punished your neighbours with that judgement of judgements the fire and he expects that you should take notice thereof and be instructed thereby to take heed of those sins that they have been judged for else the same or worser judgements will certainly befall you Because Jer. 3. 8. Obad. 11 12 13 14. Edom made no good use of Jerusalems sufferings therefore the Lord threatens her that shame should cover her and that she should be cut off for ever God expects that the judgements that he hath executed upon all round about you should awaken you out of security and work in you a holy dread of his name and provoke you to repentance for what is past and engage you to a more exact walking with him for the time to come But Secondly It highly concerns you not to think those who are burnt up to be greater sinners than your selves who have Isa 5. 22. 23 24. Chap. 51. 17 22 23. â—er 25. 15. 30. escaped the consuming flames Some there were that told Christ of certain Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their Sacrifices an argument of Gods sore displeasure in the eye of man to be surpised with a bloody death even in the act of Gods service But Jesus answered suppose Luk. 13. 1 2 3. ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish And Christ confirmeth it by another parallel to it of the men upon whom the Tower in Silâ—am fell Luke 13. 4 5. Or those eighteen upon whom the Tower in Siloam fell think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwell in Jerusalem I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Doubtless there are many fifties in London whose habitations are laid desolate who were more righteous than many of those whose houses have escaped the consuming flames Judgements many times begin at the house of God The hand of God is many times 1 Pet. 4. 17. Ezek. 9. 6. Job 1. heaviest upon the holiest of people Job was stript of all his earthly comforts and set upon a Dunghill to scrape his sores with Potsheards and yet Job had not at that time his fellow in all the East Countrey for a man fearing God and eschewing evil Job was a perfect peerless man and yet had his habitation laid in ashes and his substance destroyed when his neighbours round about him enjoyed their all without disturbance Doubtless many of them whose houses are turned into a ruinous heap were good people people of unblameable lives people of exemplary lives yea earthly Angels if compared with many of those who have escaped the fiery Rod. Many have drunk deep of this cup of wrath who are a people of his choicest love and therefore do not judge all them to be greater sinners than your selves that have not escaped the fiery Rod as well as your selves You who have escaped the consuming flames should make other mens lashes your lessons and their burnings your warningâ— You should not so much eye what others have suffered as what your selves have deserved But Thirdly It concerns you to be much in blessing of God that your habitations are standing when others habitations are laid desolate round about you But here look that your thankfulness is 1. Reall 2. Great 3. Cordial 4. Practical and 5. Constant No thankfulness below such a thankfulness will become such whose habitations are standing Monuments of Gods free mercy I have largely prest this duty before and therefore a touch here must suffice Bâ—t Fourthly Be not secure do not say the bitterness of death is past as Agag did when he came before Samuel stately and 1 Sam. 15. 32. haughtily with the garb and gate of a King Many times when wicked men are in the greatest security they are then nearest the highest pitch of misery Is there not guilt enough upon all your hearts and upon all your habitations to expose them to as great a desolation as London lyes under Ans Yes yes Why then do not you get off this guilt by frequent exercises of faith in the blood of Christ or else prepare to drink of the same cup that London hath drunk off or of a worse Ponder seriously and frequently upon these Scriptures Isa 51. 17. Awake awake stand up O Jerusalem which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them out Verse 22. Thus saith thy Lord the Lord and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people behold I have taken out of thy hand the cup of trembling even the dregs of the cup of my fury thou shalt no more drink it again Verse 23. But I will put it into the hands of them that afflict thee which have said to thy soul bow down that we may go over and thou hast laid thy body as the ground and as the street to them that went over Jer. 25. 15. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me take the wine cup of this fury at my hand and cause all the Nations to whom I send thee to drink it Verse 17. Then took I the cup at the Lords hands and made all the Nations to drink unto whom the Lord had sent me Verse 18. To wit Jerusalem and the Cities of Judah and the Kings thereof and the Princes thereof to make them a desolation an astonishment an hissing and a curse as it is this day Verse 28. And it shall be if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink then shalt thou say unto The particular Kings and Kingdoms that must drink of this cup are set down from verse 19. to verse 28. See Lam. 4. 21. Ezek. 23. 31 32 33 34. them thus saith the Lord of Hosts