their distractions and they 'l no longer take Heaven and Hell for jesâ—ing matters This is not a time Sirs to be ashamed of Religion now if ever Holiness will be in request and boldlie shew it self Afford your Neighbours then all the helps you can for their precious souls Go to their Houses and lend them good Books and discourse of those matters that you may easily perceive do most concern Dying men And let that be your direction for the future in this work which I would never have you cease whil'st your selves and those about you are mortal men whose Eternity either of happiness or woe depends upon their well or ill improvement of this uncertain moment And Lastlie All you Holie Souls be encouraged chearfullie and confidentlie to receive the Sentence of Death within your selves Let your spirits revive within you when you shall see the Waggons that come to fetch you to your Joseph even your Lord who is gone before to prepare a place for you Let those that have lived estranged from God careless of his Service mad of the World and running after their pleasures let them be dejected at the News ef Dying the sad News that they must leave all their Treasures and their Joyes and be carried into a state they thought not of nor prepared for there to be reckoned with for their worldlie loose and jollie Life and to bear the effects of their follie for ever But all you to whom Sin hath been a burden and Religion your work and pleasure whose hearts have been taken up with Gods dealings with mankind and deeplie affected with his mysterious Love in Christ who have taken it for the business of your Lives to work out your salvation In a word who have chosen God for your portion and lov'd him more than all things here below and closed with Christ as your onlie Saviour to deliver you both from Sin and Hell and have taken the Holie Spirit for your Sanctifier and Guide not allowing your selves in known sin but labouring in all things to approve your selves to God Now lift up your heads and comfort your hearts when you see the day of Death approach Let not Carnal ones see you dismay'd for this will make them suspect Religion to be a fancie so much doth it contradict your Profession and disgrace both it and you 〈…〉 kind of Death by which you may be sent for hence be 〈…〉 ground of your trouble and fear Why should not God 〈…〉 Death for you as well as all other things And let it be of 〈…〉 it will you have very great reason quietly to submit to it Let 〈…〉 welcome and there is nothing in a Plague that can hurt you 〈…〉 daunt you Be very sensible of Gods hand now stretcht out 〈◊〉 us and so far manifest a reverence and awe and with a reliance â—n him use all due means for self-preservation But for your selves dread not a Plague nor any thing it can do upon you it can but kill your Bodies and help your Souls out of their prisons and is there any hurt in that Let the Spots when you see them be regarded by you as no other then Tokens of your Fathers love which he hath sent to shew he is mindful of you and hath now sent to fetch you nearer to himself What though it be a rough Messenger as Jaylours use to be yet the Message may well make you entertain him with smiles If it came to lead you forth to Execution indeed you might well tremble though not so much for its self as the errand it came on Oh the stark madnesse of those blind and miserable ones that are afraid of a Plague and not of Hell that run away from the Sicknesse and run on in Sin But talk not you of loathsome Sores Why Sirs do they go any deeper than your flesh Let those that have made their Carcasses their care be troubled for this Why what have you any thing more for your bodies to do Any service for which you shall need them And need you care how the old clothes are rent and torn so long as you shall never wear nor need them more Part willingly with your rags you have clothes a making which shall soon silence your complaints Swell and break and stink flesh if thou wilt I shall not be troubled with thee long When thou prosperest most then I was at the worst thou hast been so much my enemy that I cannot but rejoyce in thy ruines If my tongue must needs complain and my sight and smell be offended with my self all this shall not reach my heart What care I for thy Sores and Pains so long as my Souls in health Go make hast and get thee to thy Grave and there turn to Rottenness and Filth I pity thee not nor will ever sympathize with thee more Nor yet complain of the Suddennesse of this Death Leave this to them that would serve God when they had nothing else to do that put off all to a Lord have Mercie upon me and a few good Prayers at their last gasp But what Death can be sudden to you who are not unprepared for Death but have made it the businesse of your lives to fit your selves for it Nor let this be your trouble that your Friends forsake you and are all afraid to come nigh you Why what would you have them do they cannot rebuke your Disease or delay your Death or doing any thing for you in the world you are going to nor do you need they should Councel I hope you have given them in time of Health and therefore it may the lesse trouble you that you cannot speak to them now To take a solemn leave of them is a poor formality to trouble the thoughts of a dying man Whatever help they could afford you 'l quicklie be past all need of it or them Bear the want of their companie or assistance a day or two and you will never desire or want it more Wherefore chear up your Spirits and be not cast down but to the Rock of Ages betake your selves who never fail'd you nor anie that placed their confidence in him hee 's a present help in time of trouble hee 'l come in to you when your doors are shut up hee 'l stand by your beds-side when no other friend dare Now Sirs what 's your God your Saviour worth A God to support you when the world fails you A Saviour to relieve you when you leave the world Now is not an holy life comfortable to your review Do you now repent of the cost and pains you have been at or the sufferings you have under-gone for God Was it not worth while to be laught and wondered at for your holie diligence which laid in store for such a day as this and brings you support when the hearts of others sink for fear Now Sirs you are come to the end of your Pilgrimage the long-long-lookt for day is come Sin and Satan the world and the
That this dreadful death of all others should befall them That they should be left thus desolate and forlorn forsaken of all abandoned of their nearest relations in this time of their greatest extremity when they most need succour and comfort Thousands such hearty groanings and bitter wailings may you hear but had you come in amongst these people a few days since oh what quite other kind of men were they How jolly and secure following their pleasures or businesse and would it's like have laught at him that should have told them of a death so near or of the Judgment that follows after How few alas how very few should you have then found amongst them who did at any time cry out oh blind mind that is so ignorant of God! Oh earnal heart that is so averse from his Laws Oh how unevenly do I walk Base treacherous wretch that I am thus to depart from God! Vile and unthankful creature that ever I should offend a God of such mercy and love Oh that I was delivered from the power of my lusts the temptations of Satan and all the diseases of my soul Alas instead of such becoming language as this you might from the most have heard swearing and cursing idle songs filthy and ribbald speeches or at the best frothy foolish or worldly unprofitable discourse Poor stupid sinner then thou wast stabbing and destroying thy self then thou wast seiz'd with the most deadly Infection Then had it been no uncharitablenesse nor absurdity to have set a Lord have Mercy upon me in Capital Letters on thy forehead yea wise and holy men saw it there in that wickedness that broke out in thy life and lookt on thee as fitter for a Pesthouse than converse as one not to be accompanied with except in order to thy Recovery Now must we not all in general say that it is tender compassion in the great Benefactour to mankind that he will so farre concern himself with us in our miserable estate as by any means to awaken us to a sense of it whilst there is any possibility of a Cure Sottish wretches that measure all events by their correspondency to flesh and blood will not believe there can be love in such sore Afflictions They to whom Sin was sweet will hardly be brought to like well of those potions which are administred on purpose to make it bitter How will they loath the Physick who love their very Sicknesse But all whose eyes God shall open by his Providences will see abundant cause to blesse and praise him for his Love in working them to a timely apprehension of that which otherwise had been their ruine Tell me man Is it not a wonderful mercy to be awakened on this side Hell let the means be what they will If thy present smart makes thee judge otherwise couldst thou but come to the speech of those undone souls whose hopes are perisht for ever they would soon satisfie thee that every thing is tendernesse and very great mercy that comes to discover Sin and prevent everlasting misery Oh lay this to heart in time man and stay not too long till feeling give thee a too clear and undeniable demonstration of this Truth If now thou criest out thou art undone because thy Trading's gone thy Friends dead or thy Self in danger of Death and lookst not about thee to find out and be affected with greater Evils than all these and so to escape much greater Sufferings than yet thou hast felt 't is but a little while before thou shalt find Arguments reaching to thy very soul which will make thee acknowledge what I now say Oh then when thou findest thy self under the vials of divine vengeance and hast taken up thy residence amongst the Devils and damned Ghosts in the midst of the burning Lake what slight inconsiderable things not worth the mentioning will all the miseries thou underwentst in thy life-time appear to thee What desirable things will the most pinching Poverty the most grievous Pain then seem compar'd to what thou wilt endure What very trifles meer flea-bitings wilt thou then judge Famines Plagues and heaviest Judgments that can light upon men whilst in the body Oh what wouldst thou then give to be where thou wast when thou thoughtest thy self at the worst And wouldst thou entertain such a state with joy and thankfulness which before thou thoughtest the most miserable that a man could possibly be cast into Then thou wilt confess that to be Shut up from the Society of Men hath nothing of dolefulness in it compar'd to thy being Shut up under the burning wrath of an unreconciled God Then at length whether thou wilt or no thou shalt see sin and cry out of sin and acknowledge 't is thy sin that hath ruin'd thee Now thou canst in thy cold faint manner by rote say thou art a great Sinner and perhaps maist cursorily cry God mercy but then from the very inwards of thy soul shalt thou repent of sin with such a kind of hellish repentance as is proper to those damned Spirits in the midst of their Tortures Such an one as thy Predecessour Judas felt the beginnings of when he ran to the halter for comfort Then thou shalt not only with those Rev. 16. 11. pour out thy blasphemies against God the breath of whose fury like a stream of brimstone kindles and keeps alive those unquenchable flames but thou shalt also load thy self with heavier accusations than ever any of Gods Ministers did whilst thou wast upearth Then thou shalt feelingly confess thy self stark mad and besotted and wonder at thy own stupendious folly that ever thou shouldst so wilfully and resolutely plunge thy self into that place of woe And this will be none of the least aggravations of thy torment to reflect upon those many ways which God us'd with thee to have convinc't thee of thy sin and danger before it had been too late of all which thou mad'st light and wouldst not be taught by them when the hand of God here was lifted up thou wouldst not see but then thou shalt see thou shalt know Then thou wilt easily grant that the sharpest suffering that had so shewn thee sin as to have sav'd thee from this wrath had been the happiest providence that ever befell thee Would any man that hath not lost his wits as well as his gratitude take it ill from his neighbour that should waken him out of his sweet sleep when the house is on fire over his ears yea though he pinch and beat him black and blue that he may speedily rouze him Now from all I have said then I would gather That the heavy hand of God upon a Nation as it is laid on for sin so for the most part not meerly for punishment and destruction but to discover to us the evil of our doings that they may be repented of and put away And so there is much mercy in the midst of these Judgments if they be improv'd to those eads to which their
SOLOMON'S PRESCRIPTION For the Removal of the PESTILENCE OR The Discovery of the PLAGUE of our Hearts in order to the Healing of that in our Flesh By M. M. LAMENT 3. 39 40 41. Wherefore doth a living man complain A man for the punishment of his sins Let us search and try our wayes and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the Heavens PSAL. 106. 29 30. Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions and the Plague brake in upon them Then stood up Phinehas and executed Judgment and so the Plague was stayed LONDON Printed in the Year M. DC LXV The Preface to the Reader Reader I Had more Objections in my own thoughts to the sending forth this Paper and can fore-think more faults like to be found with it when sent forth then I shall now stand to tell thee of or make any answer for But because amongst all those Objections I met not with this That it was impossible it should do anie good I thought the rest answerable and because amongst all its faults thou canst not trulie find this That it was not intended for anie good I perswade my self all the rest are pardonable What the design of it is if thou art in haste the Title will tell thee if thou art at leasure and think'st it worth thy while thou may'st find it in the Book it self so either way I might be excused from saying ought of it here But somewhat for thy satisfaction know when I considered the sore Judgment wherewith we have been visited which so evidentlie declares Wrath to be gone forth from the Lord against us I thought it might be an Essay verie acceptablè to God and profitable to our selves to do the best I could to make the voyce of the Rod Articulate that in the print of its lashes not onlie Gods Wrath but the sin he scourgeth us for and the duty he would drive us to might be found in legible Characters that even he that runs may read them When I lookt on Affliction as a Medicine for a distempered Nation I thought it was exceeding necessarie in order to its kindlie working with us to tell the nature import and use of it and to give directions how it ought to be received And though I acknowledge my self the meanest of Ten thousand for so great a Work yet when I saw or heard of nothing so particular and distinct as I thought the matter required humblie depending upon and imploring Divine assistance I made this attempt wherein whil'st I have guided my self by the Physitians own Rules and an impartial consideration of the nature of the Patient I hope I have made no material I am sure no wilful mistakes This then was my great desire and hope to be by this undertaking a worker together with Gods Providence for some good to the Nation And surely no man hath cause to be angry with this intention or with any thing that flows sincerelie from it Had anie man though the meanest among the People in the time when Nineveh was threatned with destruction given in a Catalogue of those sins they were guiltie of the removal of which could onlie prevent their Ruine I am perswaded his endeavours would have been grateful to the Prince his Nobles and the People though he had spoke to them all with more plainness and boldness than I have done And I dare confidentlie expect the same if our Fasting and Prayers be not onlie for fashion-sake but in as good earnest as theirs Two great miscarriages moreover I was prone to fear the most would be guiltie of which I have especiallie consulted against The first of being swallowed up so much with a sense of their Suffering as to be indispose for all profitable Reflections and therefore fain would I turn mens eyes and thoughts from off this to the sin that brought it and have them onlie to consider the former so much as to inform themselves more clearlie of the evil of the latter Oh what Out-cryes we may hear up and down what doleful times these are So manie Thousands dead this Week so manie another The Plague got to this Town and then to that All Trading as well as Persons dead and gone But were People formerly thus affected whilst we were bringing this upon our selves Did they cry out then Oh how manie Thousand Oaths are sworn in a Week And how manie Lyes told How manie Thousands Drunk and how manie commit Lewdness Had we had Weeklie Bills of such Sins brought in they would far have exceeded the largest Sums that ever yet the Mortalitie made But alas these with the most were light matters Not half so manie groans and tears for these nor anie such complaints of them nor did the consideration of them make anie sensible alteration amongst us Now this I would fain obtain to have those dayes thought as much worse than these and those actions as much worse than these sufferings as the Disease is worse than Physick and a Childs disobedience to his Parents worse than his being Whip't And he that should weep out of pitie to the Child when he sees it lash't and yet could be content to hear him revile and abuse his father I should think to be a person of more Fondness than Discretion and for him to be more concerned for the Childs Smart than the Parents Honor argues him to have no true love for either And here by the way let me give a Caution viz. That no man bewray so much follie as to argue That because in mercie God may abate and remove his heavy Judgments before manie or perhaps any of these sins I have mentioned are put away from amongst us and because we may have our former health and plentie restor'd whilst there is no such Reformation of disorders as I have exhorted to that therefore our Sufferings were not intended to chastise us for those sins nor to bring us to this Reformation If thou be an Atheist or Infidel that makest this Argument who believest not there is a God or that he concerns not himself with our Affairs but that all things come by Nature or Chance or I know not what I shall then leave thee to receive satisfaction if nothing sooner will give it there where all such as thou by the feeling of Divine Vengeance are at once convinc't what the sin is which hath deserved it and that there is a God who inflicts it but if thou be a Christian then I would wish thee well to examine the nature of the thing that I mean which thou thinkest God hath not punish't us for because it is yet continued and upon the issue of that examination pass thy judgment It 's much to be feared thou wilt see Drunkards and hear Swearers after the Plague may be ceas't and wilt thou think therefore that these and the like Wickednesses did not provoke God to afflict us But rather stay if thou art in doubt till the
nature is fitted for and which we are commanded to make of them The greatest of these Calamities to those that remain are but like the sounding of a Trumpet the giving an Alarm the shooting off a Warning-piece the hanging forth of a white Flag and all speak to this purpose That though the Sins of a Nation have been exceeding great and provoking whereby the Anger of the most holy God is justly kindled against them which he sends these his Judgments to testifie that yet he is willing to put up all former affronts that have been offered if now at length they will become a reformed People and with detestation of their sins turn from them unto God and his holy Ways but if not that his anger shall not be turned away but his hand stretched out still till he hath made a full end of them and will follow them with judgment after judgment till they are cast into the lowest hell So that you see plainly the Rod hath a voice and is a kind of Sermon but comes nearer to the sense and will force an observance more than meer words could do We could chuse whether we would read a Bible or good Book or regard a Minister or godly Neighbour giving us this very Lesson as plainly but in a more gentle manner We could stop our ears or turn our backs or harden our hearts against all the most awakening startling Truths We could make a pish of the most dreadful threatnings in the Book of God denounc't against those very sins we committed we could laugh at our Teachers and Reprovers and scorn at the offers of their love for our recovery And when we were sunk into such a deplorable estate wanting nothing of falling head-long into Hell but the withdrawing of that miraculous patience which kept us out every moment then in infinite mercy did our God who like a wise Physitian suits his potions to the nature of the disease and temper of his Patients make bare his Arm and reveal himself and his pleasure to us in a way most likely to affect us if we who yet survive be not obstinately bent upon our own destruction Let us not then murmur or repine for if our disease be grown to such an height that without stronger medicines it would be our death Is it not all the reason in the world that we should submit to those prescriptions which are proportion'd to it Whoever thou art that sufferest thou hast reason to be content for it s thy own doing thou mightst have hearkned in time to the plain Word of God and so have escap't this severer discipline Thou who wast wilfully deaf to the still voice Is it not of thy self that a Message is delivered to thee in such terrible thundrings If thou hadst not clos'd thy eyes against the gentle light they had never been so forcibly held open by the hand of God to see those things which are as clear as the Noon-days Sun If the Word of God had sunk into thy soul thou hadst not thus felt his arrows in thy flesh nor been taught thus with briars and thorns like them Judg. 8. 16. God delights not in the smarting and roaring of his creatures but yet he that hath bidden Parents by the rod of correction to drive out the folly that is bound up in the heart of a Child so he loves the sons of men that he will not spare his rod when it may and if it be not mens own fault will conduce to their advantage When there is no way but either the gangren'd member or the life must go who would not lose that to save this Still then here is mercy Afflictions beside the frightful noise have a clear sense and meaning beside the heat that scorcheth they have an informing light God might in a moment have snatch't thee from Earth to Hell and there have convinc't thee in such a manner as leaves no room for thy Reformation when as now he hath taken away thy Neighbour and but threatned thee with death and afforded thee some breathing-time for thy preparation and for the prevention of the endless death Thou who art reading these lines mightest have been the first at whom God had level d his arrows thou mightest have been snatch't out of the World suddenly without any other warning than the Word had given thee as it may have hapned to others But since it hath not thus befaln thee whatever thou maist feel or fear further thou canst not but acknowledge God treats thee very graciously Whilst thou art on this side Hell thou maist learn much by the severest Dispensations and though this seem a cutting piercing way of teaching yet is it as I said before best suited to thy dulness and senslessness and most likely to prevail with thee as not needing so much the pains of a particular Application to thy self which thou wouldst not be brought to in the hearing of the most searching Sermons 'T was but forgetting them and there was an end of all but now God speaks words which may be felt that shall stick longer by thee and upon which he will keep thy most serious thoughts whether thou wilt or no. It did require indeed deep and frequent consideration to convince thy self of thy lost undone estate by reason of sin whilst thou wast swimming in plenty and prosperity and couldst bid thy soul take its ease Alas what was it to hear of the wrath of God a never-dying worm an unquenchable fire whilst men felt all well with themselves and lookt upon those very sins as essential to their happiness which the Word represented as their misery They were not then likely to think very ill of them whilst they perceiv'd no hurt they did them but now when God shall manifest his hatred and consequently the evil of sin by demonstrations reaching to the very bone he that groans under these loads may very readily infer that surely sin is an exceeding great evil which pulls down such Judgments from a compassionate God which yet at the highest are but forerunners of infinitely worse to follow even everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord without timely Repentance And when thou hast so far made advantage of thy afflictions as thence to inform thy self of the evil of sin in general and of thy particular sin to know that sin is a Plague and to know what is the Plague of thy own heart then thou art in a very fair way towards deliverance and healing And this is made evident to us by the words of Solomon which we propounded at the beginning which I intend not particularly to insist on but to make them the foundation of a more general and laxe Discourse The Import of them seems to be this That any man under any Calamity whatever that should be sensible of the Sin that procured it and betake himself to God by Prayer and true Repentance for him the wise man Prays that he may have audience and Mercy For such a
against an overflowing torrent of wickedness what can I a weak and single person do for the advancement of Holiness against a wicked raging multitude what canst thou do why thou canst strive and dye canst not But what then shall no-body do any thing because every man is but one and hath many difficulties to encounter Or wilt thou therefore do nothing because thou canst not expect a successe answerable to thy desires Or may we not joyn and unite our strength and all set to a shoulder for the carrying on of the work of the Lord Be sure thou shalt always have difficulties to try thee for 't is thy heart God calls for he needs not thy hands Why Man if thou wast alone in all the World having such a Leader and Captain as Christ wouldst thou not stick to his Cause and keep to his Colours and die fighting If not thou deservest not the name of a Christian And if there be so few who seek the things of Christ with how much more vigour and resolution ought those few to bestir themselves and not also forsake their Lord because the rest of the world do but still they should imagine they hear the awakening words of Christ to his Disciples sounding in their ears What will ye forsake me also But this was a digression Let not then I say the consideration of thy being a single person abate any thing of the measures of thy Sorrow for Sin for if all do thus as all may have the same ground there will be none found to charge sin on themselves and acknowledge Gods Justice in all his sharp dispensations Wherefore whoever thou art into whose hands these lines may fall my earnest request to thee yea my strict Injunction is this that thou presently get alone and soberly sit down to the intent study of thy self Beg of God to help thee in this work and do thou endeavour with all faithfulnesse as in his sight who will shortly Judge thee before all the world to rip open to thy self all the baseness that hath been lodg'd in thy heart all the lusts that have been entertained there And Consider well thy Life what known Sins thou hast been guilty of what Duties thou hast omitted And then with all speed and seriousnesse betake thy self to God acknowledg thy own vileness plainly confess that 't is this or that thy sin thy loosness thy covetousness thy pride idlenesse or voluptuousnesse that may have helpt forward his anger And own it as a token of undeserved Grace that all manner of woes have not seiz'd upon thee in thy own person that whilst so many are Afflicted and taken out of the world before thee thou hast warning and leave to prepare for what may befall thee And see that thou labour to represent sin to thy self with all its heightning circumstances and aggravations that the review of it may more deeply affect thee help thy Meditations with those doleful miseries so many now lie under and that in part for thy sins which yet are but the beginning of woes to the impenitent and then think if these are no jesting matters what is the sin that procur'd them Think of that matchless Love that continued Patience that clear Light those great Engagements Purposes and frequent Promises that thou hast sinned against till at length these Considerations work thee to such an apprehension of sin that thou canst not conceive of any suffering suited to its demerit but the everlasting wrath of the most dreadful Majesty and till thou acknowledge not only thy contributing to the present calamity but that if the rest of the Nation had been like thee it would surely have been all in flames before now Be sincere and thorow in this humiliation of soul and take heed of neglecting any such Consideration as may help on the same Review thy Self thy Place and Relations and what in them was expected from thee which thou failedst in performing and accordingly lay it to heart and judge and condemn thy self and behaviour If in any place of Honour and Service thou hast not improved thy interest for the rooting out of Sin and advancement of Holiness account thy negligence aggravated by the greatness of the Talents thou wast entrusted with Wast thou a man of Wealth Wit Power a Magistrate a Minister a Master of a Family Take a strict account of and humbly bewail thy unfaithfulness to thy several Trusts and thy carelesness of those duties which thy place did peculiarly engage thee to And do not think when thou hast discovered and confess'd sin that then thy work is over as if by thy formalities thou hadst purchased to thy self a dispensation to continue in it like many that think they serve God sufficiently by going to Church and saying their Prayers and in the mean while make this their serving him but a kind of indulgence for their sinning against him But when thou hast made this progress thy next work in order to the obtaining of a Pardon is seriously and deliberately to resolve upon the putting away far from thee every known sin upon mortifying thy dearest lusts and upon a faithful performance of those duties common to all Christians and those thy Talents or Relations call for If thou hast been a debauch't or covetous Person a careless Mispender of thy money or time an Extortioner or Oppressour a racking Landlord or cheating Tradesman a Sabbath-breaker and Neglecter of Duty to God publick or private or hast liv'd in any the like sins enter now into a solemn Covenant with God that by the assistance of his Almighty Grace thou wilt never more allow thy self in such a course of Impiety If thou hast abused thy Riches and laid them out only in making provisions for thy own or others lusts If thou thoughtest thy Dignity above others did dispense thee a liberty of sinning without controll and accordingly hast misimprov'd it If thou hast been unfaithful in the execution of Justice with which thou wast entrusted neither looking after sin to punish it nor punishing it when it was revealed to thee but hast rather been a Terrour to good works than to evil If as a Minister thou hast been regardless of the souls of those committed to thy oversight only striving to enrich thy self not better thy people practising those sins thou hast preach'd against Or if as Ruler of a Family thou hast been negligent not setting up the Worship of God in thy House but gone from one day to another without so much as a serious Prayer nor hast instructed thy Children nor Servants in the fear of the Lord whatever in a word thy trust and unfaithfulness to it hath been confess and lament the same and resolve for the future to do thy utmost to discharge thy duty to answer and fill up thy several Relations And here again let not any insist on that silly Objection before mention'd What can my repentance do to the diverting of Judgments that flow in upon us like a deluge
Daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with stretch'tforth necks and wanton eyes Therefore will the Lord smite with a scab the crown of the head of the Daughters of Zion And have we not had multitude such walking in our streets Read on that Chapter from the 16 verse to the end and tell me then whither God take not notice of and is not displeas'd with this vanity and curiosity in apparel Is not this indeed to be proud of our shame since cloaths themselves had not been us'd but for that shame which sin introduc't And I may well annex this to the sin of wantonnesse both as discovering and promoting it For what 's the design of all that art cost and pains that persons bestow upon attiring themselves but to appear handsome and well set out And what 's this for but to couch others eyes to be fixt on them what are naked breasts and painted and spotted faces design'd for but as trapans and snares for the wanton beholders And the dresse it self by the lascivious is made but a more plausible kind of Pander It may be worth the noting that the word rendred effeminate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 6. 9. is joyn'd with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifies soft clothing Matth. 11. 8. which may intimate to us that there is some relation betwixt such clothing and effeminency And whereas by the Texts above mentioned it seems that women only were wont to be guilty of this folly the delicate Youths of our time will not suffer that Sex to engrosse this sin and shame to themselves but are resolved to go sharers Oh the intolerable expence of money and time for the satisfaction of this base monstruous Pride How many naked backs might be cloathed with half that cost which is lavish't to put a man in a fools coat or to hang about them such baubles as may serve people to stare at and let the guilty bethink themselves how to answer this their Liberality upon their Lusts in the day of severe account when all Talents shall be reckoned for By that time at the farthest if they be not convinc't that persons of Honour and Estates had been better distinguish'd by their Examples of Charitableness than by gaudy Garments or rich Jewels let me pass for a false Prophet Though I speâ—k not this of those Robes and Ornaments of the Magistrate which are necessary for distinction sake and to acquire greater reverence to his place and person But let all those who are at so much charge in their Attire to let the World know they are Some-body remember this That God entrusted them not with Estates for them thus to make shew of but to use for his Service And I think any body will say that he 's an unfaithful Steward with a witnesse who when his Lord hath given him money to lay out in necessary uses shall throw it about streets to let people know what store of money he hath the keeping of Thou who canst condemn such an one see thou do nothing like him Whoever thou art that hast been guilty of this fault surely thou wilt acknowledge this is a day that calls for the laying aside of thy braveries and ornaments and rather to cover thy self with Sackcloth and Ashes But if yet thy Pride will not suffer thee to part with them bethink thy self what thy naked Soul shall wear in that place whither God hath expresly threatned to turn the proud Dives there must not have his Silk and fine Linnen but instead of them the purple flames are his unchangeable cloathing Is it any wonder then if as the Israelites were plagued for worshipping the Idol which was made of their Ear-rings and Jewels Exod. 32. 3 35. We meet with the same punishment for a sin not much different even for making such Toyes themselves our Idols Strange judgments may well follow strange apparel yea such that wear it God hath plainly threatned Zeph. 1. 8. And what strange apparel for both men and women have the Devil Pride and Fraunce help't us to And they who caught this sin one of another pleading Fashion for their Justification are they not justly afflicted with a Disease that is Contagious too The Spots which Pride and Wantonnesse those plagues of the heart sent into the face before are they not fitly punish't with Spots of another hue Is it not exceeding just that they who were so far fal'n in love with their comely Carkasses that they were wholly devoted to deck and trim them should have such loathsom Botches and noisom biles and Risings upon them as might convince them how little better than Carrion is that flesh they so much pamper and adorn And let them now think what pleasure or ease is to be had from putting on their splendid finest Array when the Plague-Sores shall be running upon them even much-what the same that Herod had from his Royal Apparel when he was eaten up of Worms Acts 12. 21 23. And if in such a case they would have little mind to stand tricking and trimming them let them know that the Ulcers and Sores of their polluted Souls and proud hearts call for as speedy and earnest regâ—rd and deep humiliation and were these once cur'd such vanities would be thrown aside The Lord grant all those who survive may take warning in time before their bodies are humbled to the Dust and their Souls to Hell for their daring impudent pride 4. Another heinous sin which hath overspread our Land is Swinish Drunkennesse and Gluttony This also may well be joined with those before mentioned as being the ground and incentive of all other Lewdnesse and wickednesse But alas How hath the Commonnesse of this Vice and mens custom in it taken away those odious apprehensions which Scripture helps us to and all sober men have of it Oh how are our Taverns and Alehouses in all parts of the Kingdom frequented How doth our whole Nation seem even ready to Reel into its own Ruines being seized with the Vertigo of an Epidemical Drunkennesse How Gentile and fashionable a thing is it now grown for men to be drunk in Civility to the Company they are engaged in How many Tricks have they devised for the maintaining of this sin notwithstanding the most expresse Injunctions and Proclamations to the contrary Profane Custom hath so overswayed That drinking of Healths must be the Test of Mens Loyalty and of their Respect to those great Ones to whom the beginner shall consecrate his Bowl as if a disorderlinesse which scarce any Beast will be guilty of must shew good Manners and no man could be a good Subject to his King which dare not Rebel against his God Those that dare are valiant men indeed but such as when it comes to tryal will do little more for their Prince than they do for their Maker So general is this practice of excessive drinking grown that both the Gallant and the Clown Rich and Poor Young and Old yea Women as well as
Satan to God Even the turning the bent of mens hearts and lives from sin and the creature to God by Jesus Christ and to the ways of Holinesse let them be of what opinion they will as to the several forms and modes amongst us Oh how many fewer Drunkards Swearers Whoremongers Oppressors and Cheaters might there have been amongst us had they had their liberty to have preached down these sins whose only study and businesse it was to decry and shame them and bring men from the love and practice of them How many more might there have been who as true mourners in our Zion would have been humbled for their own and the Nations sins and laboured by all means to have prevented Gods wrath had they in all places enjoyed those means for their Conversion which they sometimes did and might yet have done If then the multitudes of provoking sinners and the scarcity of humble holy praying Christians have been any ground of our sufferings can it be doubted whether that which hath been so much the cause of those hath done any thing to the procuring of these Oh for the Lords sake bethink your selves all you that are concerned Was it just and equal Dealing when the Prince of Darkness was advanc'd with all his might into the Field then to Disband and put out of Commission so many experienced Leaders that in their own Persons and by encouraging and guiding the several Companies would have done their best to resist him Did you herein consult the pleasure of the great Captain of our Salvation from whom you own your selves to have received your Offices only for the successful carrying on of his Designs and the fighting of his Battels Nay and all this you have done because they submitted not to some things which you your selves call Indifferent and which they believed were contrary to the former Instructions they had received from their Lord and Master Judge in your Consciences Do you think it is more acceptable to Christ that the Souls of men whom he thought worth his precious Hearts-blood should perish rather than some Ceremony or Injunction of yours be omitted Did he ever in his Actions or Doctrine manifest such a contempt of Souls and such an esteem for a Ceremony Consider his Life and Death and read his Discourses to the Pharisees and then judge Are Salvation and Damnation Indifferent things And shall they be less regarded than such Oh how will you compensate for the Disservice you have already done to the Gospel It is not all your Revenues can do it though your Repentance and Reformation of such miscarriages for the future may do much Be not offended with my freedom of speech for God is my Witness I speak not out of passion nor a desire to make you odious but out of a just zeal for the Cause of our dearest Lord and the Concern of mens Immortal souls What amends will you ever be able to make to the poor Creatures who may now be tormented in Hell for want of those means of prevention which you deprived them of Though they may have had those other advantages which may leave them inexcusable before God yet how will you excuse the denying them the best you might have afforded You may deride storm at on contemn these expoftulations of a poor Worm like your selves but consider I beseech you What answer you will make the great Judge of Heaven and Earth who will come shortly in Glory and Power to plead his own and his Peoples Cause when he will regard no man for the pompous Titles he hath had or great Offices he hath born in his Church for then well fare the Pope and his Clergy but they who have done and taught his Commands let them be of never such diminutive titles and esteem here shall be accounted Great in his Kingdom And That That 's our comfort by his Word we shall be judged at last if here we may not be tried by it Then we shall all stand on equal terms and the arbitrary determinations of frail men shall no more take place but there abide an Inquisition To that Bar we appeal by that judgment let us stand or fall thither we refer our selves and if we may not be heard here we will patiently and chearfully wait that final just decision of our Cause But now hear for your own sakes at least if neither our beseechings and tears nor the cry and blood of souls may be regarded Do you think this is a slight matter And that you can easily shift it off if they be required at your hands Did Christ die for souls shall they escape who murder them And do they do any less who hinder those that would run to help and save them If the silent Watchman be so damnably guilty what are they that silence the Watchmen To conclude Whether it had not been more acceptable to God more correspondent to your Commission more beseeming your Places and Profession more for the advancement of Religion and the eternal Welfare of Souls to have continued and encouraged faithful Labourers in the Vineyard of the Lord whose only delight was to be employed in his Service rather than to have offered them such terms which Christ never bid you and then exclude them for not accepting those terms I think your own Consciences may easily determine now be sure the Lord of the Vineyard will shortly 2. Another Effect of their removal from the Ministry is that many Places are left destitute and many are supplied with negligent insufficient scandalous men Had their rooms been fill'd with others as learned pious and industrious as they yet could they who cast them forth hardly evade the former charge except they could manifest that the Harvest was not great enough to have required all their utmost conjunct diligence But it is beyond all contradiction evident That in many Places since their removal there have been no Ministers at all in some as bad as none in others worse than none Let none maliciously interpret my Accusation largelier than I design it which is not at all of the innocent I censure no man as a Conformist but reverence and esteem all those who by their Lives and Doctrines have apparently endeavoured to advance Religion of which number I am confident there are many Conformable men And I abhor that uncharitable censorious Spirit which condemns all that are not just of their own Way But on the other side I think all are engag'd to be as far from palliating the notorious miscarriages of others Oh how many titular Ministers have we got that are far from deserving the name of Christians That should rather be turned out of the Church than admitted into the Pulpit This is so manifest That Sober men though of their own way acknowledge and lament it How many are there that more effectually preach for the Devil all the Week than for God upon his Day whose lives do more to set up Profaneness than their Sermons to
flesh shall never trouble you more for ever Now shall your Prayers at length be all heard your Complainings ended your Expectations and Longings satisfied and accomplished Chear up chear up brave Souls but one step more and then you are at your Fathers house Methinks I see the Arms of Christ stretcht out to receive you and Angels waiting to conduct you to his Arms. Fear not nor be dismaid confidentlie resign your Souls to him who laid down his life for you The darknesse lasts but a little while and presentlie you will come into the open light oh the difference you will in a moment find betwixt your dark and silent room and the mansion that shall be assigned you in your Fathers house To which the stateliest Palace is a loathsom dungeon Oh what Acclamations and Hallelujahs what crying Holie Holie Holie what Glorious Praises and loud noises What Crowns and Scepters what Riches and Beauties will your ears and eyes be presentlie stricken with So that you will be amazed and wonder whether you are come and where you have been all this while that you never heard nor saw these things before So infinitelie will they exceed your highest thoughts when Faith helpt you to the clearest views But all your strangenesse and amazement will soon be over Surprisals of joy will dissipate and succeed them This is the Glorie the hopes whereof upheld you all your daies and the glimmerings and fore-tasts did so oft revive you Now you shall at length see the Lord who lov'd you and gave himself for you and whom your Souls have loved Oh is there not life in his smiles And if he smiles upon you all the Angels and Saints will bid you welcome For his beck and pleasure it is that rules all There you shall be entred into that throng of Blessed Spirits yours shall their Employments be their Priviledges shall be yours Then shall your understandings be enlightened your affections raised and all your capacities widened and all be fill'd with suitable truth and goodnesse the latent powers of your souls shall then be awakened into that high Celestial Life Then shall you be nearer to your Saviour than John when he leaned on his Bosome and shall taste the full fruits of his dear and costlie love Then then blessed Soul thou shalt know and see and feel and enjoy thy God and be brought as near to him as thy Soul can desire and receive as much from him as thy nature is capable The Lord thy Redeemer having by his Blood and Spirit accomplished his whole designe upon thee and fitted thee for will lead thee into the Fathers presence and so thou shalt enter upon the state of constant and full communion with him And shall be always spending an Eternitie in Contemplating and Admiring his Excellencies and Glories and singing his Praises in the warm-breathings and out-goings of thy heart after him and in the ravishments of highest mutual Love and dearest Complacency betwixt thy enlarged Soul and infinite essential goodnesse even the God of Loves This thou shalt have but what this is though I had leasure and skill to say ten thousand times more then I have done thou couldst not know the thousandth part till thou doest enjoy it Wherefore with an holy impatience and eager joy enter upon the possession of all the Treasures of Love which Death comes to Translate thee to Bid it heartily welcome open thy breast and let it strike 'T is but the prick of a Pin the smarts ceast assoon as its in the Pangs of it are gone in a trice See they are over already all pain was expired with that last groan and now thou art entered upon thy Joy Farewell Blessed Souls whom I hope shortly to follow and with you to celebrate an Everlasting Communion in the Presence Praise and Love of the Great Jehovah and his Son Christ Jesus to whom in the Vnity of the Spirit be rendred all Honour Power and Glory now and Eternally Amen FINIS