the old worlde was destroyed But this is no more to be feared for God hath promised that the worlde shall no more bee destroyed by a floud and to that end he hath set his rainebow in the clowdes as a signe of his Couenant Gen 19 13. The other general iudgment is by the element of fire 2 Pet. 3 7. The heauens and earth which are now are kept by the same worde in store reserued vnto fire against the day of iudgement and of the destruction of vngodly men And a little after verse 10. The day of the Lord wil come as a theefe in the night in the which the heauens shall passe away with a noyse and the Element shall melte with heate and the earth with the workes that are therein shalt be burnt vp c. But this iudgement god wil not execute til the end of the world whē the sinnes of al mankind shal bee growne to full ripenes The particuler iudgements are of many sorts but heere we wil not meddle with those that concerne particuler persons but such as are inflicted vpon particular Nations Kingdomes Citties Townes And these are either extraordinary and lesse vsual as fire Brimstone wherewith Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed Gen 19 24. and Earth-quakes wherewith Antioch and manie other Citties were brought to extreame ruines as we may read in the Ecclesiastical histories or cōmon and ordinary which are specialy three war famine pestilence Al these are sharpe arrowes which the Lorde shooteth out against particuler Nations and Citties for the punishment of their sinns Of all these together speaketh our Prophet Iere 14 12. When they fast I will not heare their cry and when they offer burnt offring and an Obligation I will not accept them but I will consume them by the sword by the famine and by the Pestilence Now which of all these iudgementes hath the Lord sent vpon this land He hath caused warres to cease he hath not sent a famine amongst vs he hath in mercy laid vpon vs Dauids choise vvho when he had sinned the lord offred him to chose which of these three he wold three months war seaven yeares famine or three dayes pestilence Of three three euils Dauid choosed the last as the least and thus resolued Let vs fall now into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great let me not fall into the hand of man 2 Sam. 24 14. Seeing then we are in the hands of the Lord why shuld we think much with the Lords visitation whose mercy doth euidently appeare in this that vvhen our Sins had long cried to heauen for vengeance yet the Lord stil forbare to punish now when our sins would suffer him to forbeare no longer yet it hath pleased him without our desire or desert to lay on vs the easiest of his iudgementes wherefore he hath not left vs without hope that the same mercy wherby he was moued to deale thus graciously with vs in allotting vnto vs thys kind of punishment the same will also moue him not to be too rigorous in the manner and order of inflicting thereof Oh but you will say that is a fearefull iudgement and we had rather die of any other sicknes then of the plague Oh but I must answere you that you must thanke your selues and your sins for it which haue deserued farre greater iudgements Shal we take liberty to our selues to commit what sins it pleaseth vs and shall we abridge the Lord of his liberty Shall wee not giue hym leaue to punish our sins with vvhat kinds of punnishments it pleaseth him Seeing it coulde not stand with the course of Gods Iustice but that same iudgment must needs come vpon this land how coulde the Lorde send an easier iudgement then this vpon vs Would it not be more greeuous to haue their bodies pinched with famine that for the satisfying of your hunger ye shoulde be forced to eat the flesh of your ovvne children as came to passe in the siege of Samaria 2 King 6 29. Would it not be more grieuous to see your houses burnt your goods spoyled your wiues daughters rauished before your faces and afteral this your selues to be slain with the sword of the enemy Al vvhich calamities besides infinit mo are incident to the broyles of Warre What thing could haue hapned more grieuous to Zedekiah King of Iudah then beeing taken by the hoast of the Chaldaeans to see his sonnes slayne before his eyes and all the Nobles of Iudah putte to death and after that to haue hir own eyes put out and after all that to be bound in chaynes carried captiue to Babel Ier 39. Al this might the Lord iustly haue brought vpon vs and therfore haue not we good cause to admire and magnifie his goodnes in taking the Chastisement of our sinnes into his owne hands and not deliuering vs ouer to the will and pleasure of our enemyes And yet it cannot bee denyed but that this is also a grievous iudgement though easie in comparison of the other two for it is accompanyed with terrour danger great discomfort When we consider how men and Women that were lusty and strong are suddenly laide along in the dust of the earth Oh this is terible and fearefull to those that be liuing When we consider how the infection is deriued from one to another by waies and meanes neither visible nor sencible that no man knowes where he shal bee safe Oh this makes the sicknes exceding dangerous when we consider the misery of such a time how euery man will bee doubtfull to accompany with hys neighbor for feare to take harme and carefull to shun those that bee infected Oh what great discomfort is this to the visited persons and what increase of feare to those that be well And heete you may consider the state of those that be infected when this coutagious sicknes shal enter vpon any of your bodies First it fils the head full of paine and then it weakneth the stomacke and makes it able to hold nothing And after when it hath by little and litle ouercome nature being not longer able to withstand the force thereof it doeth as a Captaine who having won a City forth with he spreads his Banners and displaies his ensignes on the top of the wals in token of victory So this cruel Tyraunt when hee hath gotten the maistery displayes his Ensignes on the Wals of our bodies He fils the skin full of spots as the tokens of death which at the first are red shewing his cruelty then they are blewish shewing death to approach And lastly they grow black wherby wee are put in mind of those horrible tormēts that followe after death in the fire of hel And when they are dead hovve shal yee bee buried Which of your neighbors vvil accompany your corpes to the graue And thus by the iust iudgement of GOD those that haue sinned wilfully are buried shamefully What profit haue ye had then of those
things vvhereof yee are now ashamed the end of those things is death Rom 6 21. This methinkes shoulde strike your harts vvith remorse moue you to crie and cal vpon god for mercy and pardon of your heynous sinnes vvith teares of true repentance But hath the Lorde brought vpon vs such a lamentable time See then what alteration the lord can make Before nothing was heard in this Citty but myrth and melody musicke and dancing nothing was vsed but feasting and banquetting quaffing and carowsing Come where shall wee drinke the best wine where is the strongest Ale to be had But now no speech but where is the Sicknes What fresh houses bee visited Howe many are dead Loe this is the change that the Lord hath made Before we followed Sinne because we wold not avoid it but now we avoid sin because we cannot follow it Before we spent the time in committing Sinne but now is the tyme come to suffer punishment for your sinne What will now the Adulterers doe They must leaue hunting the Harlots houses least the Angell of the Lord meet them by the way What wil now the couetous Vsurers do Let him humble himselfe in prayer and fasting let him cry and call to God for mercy Let him do as Zachaeus did Luke 19. euen restore that which hee had wrongfully gotten that GOD may bee mercifull vnto hys soule O wretched man what will thy vvealth profit thee or thine when the Lord shall take avvay both thee and thine and giue thy substance vnto strangers Oh vvell had it beene for thee if thou hadst never taken penny Vsury in all thy life When you were before admonished of these Iudgments in the name of the Lord you thoght it came but from men speaking out of the heate of their owne affections but now the Lord hath ratified and confirmed by his owne hande from heauen that the threatninges denounced by hys faithful Ministers against the impenitent are not of man but of God This is the note that Moses giues whereby a true Prophet may bee discerned from the false When a Prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord if the thinge followe not nor come to passe that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken c. Deut 18 22. But when the word of the Prophet shall come to passe sayth Ieremy then shall the Prophet be known that the Lord hath sent him Ier 28 9. That some fearefull Iudgement was like to fall vpon the lād euery man mighr see that had but a hart to consider the ordinary proceedinges of Gods former Iudgements and the horrible sins that were euery where committed But what manner of iudgement it would proue flesh and blood could not discerne till nowe the Lord hath reuealed the same And the iudgment we see is the iudgement of a plague which yet is not alone I would it brought not pouerty and famin with it You are almost as a Citty besiedged and there be many flee from you but who comes in The Countrey is now as much affraid of you as you haue beene heeretofore affraide of others Now is the time for you that bee rich to make you frends with the vnrighteous Mammon forsake not your poore neighboures flee not from them in their greatest distresse At least if you flee releeue them with your purses and cease not to pray vnto God for them Spend something for his sake that spent his bloude for you But as for you vpon whom the charge of Gouernment doeth lie whether you bee the chiefe Magistrate or such as are Assistants vnto him the Lord hath tied you to residence Your Christian Charity to releeue the disstressed your prouident care to prevent daunger your Godly wisedom to ser downe good orders your paines and industry to see the same obserued and your Authority to punish the disobedient was neuer more needefull then at this time And if any of you depart be sure the hand of the Lord can folow you whethersoever you go And well may you feare that rather then ye should escape death wil enter in at your Windowes as our Prophet saith in the one and twenteth verse of this Chapter The children of the Prophets said vnto Elisha 2. King 4. 40. Mors in ollâ vir Dei O thou man of God death is in the pot But wel may you fear that there will be Mors in domo mors in ollâ mors in lecto mors vbique Death in the house death in the pot death in the bed and death euery where If it bee Gods will you shall bee safe any where if it be not Gods will you shall be safe no where Well may you hope of Gods preseruation and blessing if you faithfully serue him in the place where he hath set you And well may you feare his wrath vengeance if ye flee from the charge which he hath laid euen in this time of visitation vpon you But what need haue I to admonish you whose wisedome and godly care doth evidently shew it selfe this distressed time I will onely say this and so conclude If you would haue your Citty flourish bee carefull to furnish it with store of Gods Preachers For assure your selues that the more the Gospell is sincerely preached the more wil sinne decay and the more will the true knowledge and feare of GOD be planted grafted in the hearts of the people And this will be the onely meanes to remoue the iust vengeance and wrath of God from this Citty and procure his blessings to bee powred vpon you Thus much I thought good in discharge of the duety and loue I beare this Citty as a Neighbor child to deliuer vnto you The Lorde blesse the good meanes ye vse for preseruing your City grant a gracious successe thereunto that the infection if it be his will may spred no further If ye presently repent and that vnfainedly I doubt not but God in mercy will remoue the plague if not yet will I not cease to weepe for you Ephesians 3 20. 21 Vnto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly aboue all that we aske or thinke according to the power that worketh in vs be praise in the church by Christ Iesus throughout all generations for euer Amen
the daughter of my people There is a time to laugh and a time to Weepe a time to sow and a time to reape a time to commit sinne and a time to be punished for sin The Iews had laughed a long time in security but afterwards they mourned a long time in misery They had a long time sowne the Tares of disobedience but now they were to reape the fruite of wrath and vengeance And as they had spent a long time in running the race of sinne so the Lorde at length found out his time to breake off their course by powring his heauy iudgements vpon them The prophet heere bewayleth the slaughter of the people he makes no mention of their sins which were the cause thereof But in speaking of the effect hee implyeth the cause for had it not beene for theyr sinnes the hoast of the Chaldaeans had not come amongst them and then that slaughter had not bin committed Hereby he teacheth them that it had beene in theyr power to haue preuented this lamentable effect if they had repented of theyr sinnes and accepted the time of Grace when it was offered vnto them but when they had despised mercy had chosen to wallow still in theyr sinnes now was the dore of mercy shut and nothing but miserable destruction to fall vpon them This was the cause that our prophet ceaseth to bewaile their sinnes and insteed thereof he bewaileth the punishment which their sinnes had produced That I might weepe for the slaine He saith not for those that were dead among the people for then he might seeme to insinuate that this destruction should be by some natural cause But when he saith for the slaine he shewes it was by violent death vpon the sword of their enemy And heere consider the destroyers and the destroyed The destroyers are described Ier 22 23. Beholde a people commeth from the North-countrey and a great Nation shall arise from the sides of the earth With Bow and shielde shall they be weaponed they are cruell and will haue no compassion their voyce roareth like the sea and they ride vpon horses well appointed like men of warre against thee O daughter of Zyon And Ier 4 13. Behold he shal come vp as the clowds and his Charicts shall be as a Tempest his horses are lighter then Eagles Woe vnto vs for we are destroyed And Ier 8 16. The neying of his horses was heard from Dan the whole Lande trembled at the neyghing of his strong horses for they are come and haue deuoured the Lande with all that is in it the Citty and those that dwell therein The destroyers then were the hoaste of the King of Babel clad in glitering armor with their bloody weapons their hands vvounding and slaying and killing al that come in their Way their Horsses besprinckled vvith blood trampling vpon the dead Carkasses crushing their flesh and their bones vnder their feet vvhile they lay gasping and panting and breathing out the Ghost The destroyed were the Iewes signified by these Words the slaine of the daughter of my people These are they whome the Prophet bevvayleth hauing theyr flesh mangled their bodies dismembred their limbes scattered vp and dovvne here a legge and there a hand and there a head and their bloud running too and fro in the streets of Ierusalem But is the slaughter among vs such a slaughter Beloued whether our sins may prouoke the Lorde in his vvrath to make such a slaughter of our people I leaue that to your vpright and due consideraon But the svvord of the enemy hath not yet made such hauocke among vs. The Lord hath taken the matter into his ovvne hand He hath sent his Angels to destroy euen from Dan to Bersheba from the one end of the Land to the other and the slaughter they haue made is a great slaghter And the vvrath of the Lord is not yet turned avvay but his hand is yet stretched out still Our sinnes haue made our eyes to see that verified vvhich the Lord threatneth by the Prophet Moses Deut 32 42. I wil make mine arrowes drunke with the blood and my sword shall eat flesh If euer this iudgementwere accomplished in this land it is nowe executed in these our dayes The atrowes of the Lord are drunke with blood and his sword doâ—h not cease deuouring of mans flesh O wretched people that would not be warned in time to escape this fearefull iudgement of the Lord. You therefore that would not followe our counsell when we exhorted you in the name of the Lord to forsake your sins and amend your liues now must you heare vs strike vp the drum of Gods wrath and sound out the Trumpet vnto the Lords battels Oye Angels smite slay pursue till the Lord shall command to make an end of killing and till it shall please him to giue a sign of retrait But so long as your sins strike vp the alarum so long will the Angels of the Lorde destroy First therefore must we sound the retrayte from sinne before the Lord wil sound the retrait from the battell But what shall I put you in hope that if yee presently repent and turn vnto the Lord the lord will forthwith stay his hande and slay no more Beloued I haue no such commission When the Iewes had many yeares taken their full scope to roue and range licentiously in their sinnes despising the admonitions of Isaiah Ioel and the rest of that time our Prophet Ieremiah comming after them finding no better entertainement then they had done in the 4. chap. xii ver hee gyues sentence against them which was too late to bee reuersed And though sometimes hee insert many excellent promises for the comfort of Goddes Church that they might not vtterly despaire of mercy yet those promises wer not to take place till first they had felte the smart of their former contempt as we may see Ier 29 10 c. So the Lord hauing vouchsafed vnto vs the preaching of his Gospell with al temporal blessings accompanying the same so long a time and in so gracious a measure as neuer nation vnder heauen hath beene so blessed of God as this Land and this Citty novv that our sinnes haue as much abounded against GOD as his mercies haue abounded towards vs insomuch that the Lorde could no longer with-hold his iudgements how can we looke that this wrath of the Lord should be so easily remoued which wee our selues haue prouoked til first we haue felt his scourge for our former vnthankfulnes And yet it stands you vpon euen speedily to repent flee vnto the mercy of God in his sonne Christ least you bee not onely cut off by this sword of the Lorde but also perish for euer in the world to come The iudgements of God are of two sortes eyther generall prepared for the destruction of all the world or particuler for the punnishment of certaine Nations Kingdoms Citties or towns The general iudgements are of two sorts Fyrst the Element of Water whereby