Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	heart_n	sorrow_n	tear_n	3,398	5	8.0837	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42547	God's soveraignty displayed from Job 9. 12. : Behold he taketh away, who can hinder him? &c., or, A discourse shewing, that God doth, and may take away from his creatures what hee pleaseth, as to the matter what, the place where, the time when, the means and manner how, and the reasons thereof : with an application of the whole, to the distressed citizens of London, whose houses and goods were lately consumed by the fire : an excitation of them to look to the procuring causes of this fiery tryal, the ends that God aims at in it, with directions how to behave themselves under their losses / by William Gearing ...	Gearing, William.; Gearing, William. No abiding city in a perishing world.	1667 (1667)	Wing G435A; ESTC R18630	101,655	265

did deny my Lord and Master Such a mourner was Mary Magdalen who washed the feet of Christ with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head so David made his bed to swim and watered his couch with tears Psal 6.6 Again such as mourn for sin not only because it doth terrifie the conscience but because it doth pollute and defile the soul who mourn for sin not only because it is a soul-damning evil but because it is a God-dishonouring evil these are true mourners Thus David mourned Against thee against thee have I offended Psal 51.4 This was that which troubled his spirit that he should off●nd a gracious God a loving Father and dishonour his holy Majesty and violate the holy Law of God Moreover such as mourn for sin and repent for sin that bewail and forsake sin these men are sorry after a godly manner 2 Cor. 7.10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation never to be repented of These holy tears are very acceptable unto God when our sins are put into the morter of our hearts and there pounded with the pestel of compunction and so brought into dust and moistened with the waters of our tears then is there made thereof a sweet smelling Oyntment and sacrifice unto God as one well noteth The Angels in heaven do rejoyce over one sinner that repenteth Luk. 15. They much rejoyce to follow such a sinner carrying the tears of godly compunction in his eyes and of godly sorrow in his heart Which is not unaptly figured Luk. 22. where the Disciples of Christ went after the man which carried the vessel of water and in that house prepared the Passeover of the Lord so in a spiritual sense the man carrying this vessel of water is the penitent sinner whose heart and eyes are full of tears of godly sorrow whom the Angels following do enter the house of his soul and there do prepare an holy banquet for the Lord for which cause St. Bernard saith The tears of holy penitents are the sweet wine of Angels because in them is the savour of life the taste of Christ the smack of pardon the health of the returned the joy of reconciliation and the sweetness of conscience Bonaventure saith this is one reason why God made Paradise that our first Parents might hate and detest sin the more hainously and eagerly which had cast them out of so pleasant an habitation God would therefore that Adam should feel what hee had lost by his sin that he might seek to regain another Paradise by repentance that he who had lost paradise on earth should more earnestly seek after that heavenly Jerusalem so my Brethren you that have been lately driven out of your houses by that lamentable Conflagration God thereby sheweth you that he would have you to hate and detest sin the more vehemently which hath cast you out of your pleasant habitations God would have you to feel what you have lost by your sins that ye may seek to regain better Mansions by repentance that you who have lost your houses on earth may more earnestly seek after a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens CHAP. IX SECT I. LOok to the ends that God aims at in taking away this or that from you his ends in it are diverse 1. One end is to teach you that there is nothing in any man nor of any man that you can safely trust unto Man hath nothing in him that he may rely upon his best abilities will fail him in time of his greatest need 1. For bodily strength take the example of Sampson Judg. 16.20 21. when he had dealt treacherously with God in discovering to an Harlot the strength he had received as a Nazarite he awaked out of sleep and said I will go out as at other times but the text saith he wist not that God was departed from him then the Philistines took him and bound him and put out his eyes and made him to grinde in a Mill his strength now failed him when he had need to make use of it now he found he had no strength of his own to trust to and was left wholly to the will of his enemies if the Lord leave a man to himself his strength will soon fail him whatsoever his strength and abilities bee So it is in multitudes of men and combinations of men who more vigorous than David and his men of war yet when he would have the people numbred to see the number and multitudes of his people the Lord in three daies space cut off seventy thousand men by the Pestilence to shew him the vanity of trusting in numbers of men There is no King saved by the multitude of an host a mighty man is not delivered by much strength an horse is a vain thing for safety neither shall he deliver any by his great strength Psal 33 16 17. 2. The abilities of the soul whether natural or moral abilities are not to be trusted to Eccles 9.11 thus saith Solomon I returned and saw under the Sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong nor bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor yet favour to men of skill but time and chance hapeneth to them all 1. Time Notwithstanding all their skill and cunning unless God go along with them they cannot bring their enterprizes to pass be they never so wise and skilful unless God go along with rhem they cannot take the fittest time to accomplish their ends and desires And on the other side Time happeneth to them that is such a time happeneth to them that casteth them into such straits and exigences that all their wit and skill and understanding cannot help them Some think they have so much wit and so much forecast so much understanding skill and foresight as that they can shift and provide for themselves in the worst of times as it is said of Cato hee was suae fortunae Faber let him live in any time or Common-wealth he would make shift for one but Solomon here tells us that favour shall not be to men of skill notwithstanding all their wit and understanding they shal not be able to get the favour of those they do desire and notwithstanding all their understanding though they think they shall lay up wealth and riches to sustain them in a time of trouble yet riches shall not be to men of understanding neither shall they have bread to eat in a time of Famine thus Time happeneth to them all 2. Chance also hapneth to them no chance hapeneth to God for he ordereth all things by his providence no contingency hapneth to him but many chances and occurrences happen to men beside their expectation many things happen to them above and below their expectation contrary to their own wills to their own waies and means to their own ends to their own thoughts projects and designs Achitophel relied much

ugly how deformed how polluted and abominable their souls are in the sight of God As God complained of the Jews Is it time for you to dwell in your seiled houses and this house lye waste Hag. 1.4 So God may complain is it time for the daughtets of England for the daughters of London to be haughty and walk with stretched out necks and wanton eyes walking and mincing as they go when the Lord is pouring out his fury like fire upon them and marring the pride of England and the great pride of London as sometime he threatned to mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem Jer. 13.9 Ah! how do many people spend more precious time in dressing their bodies than in trimming their souls and delight more to see their faces in a glass than to view their hearts in the glass of the Word Oh what will become of their souls when God shall strip them of their gaudy cloathes and pampered bodies What confusion will fall on them when their souls shall appear naked before the Lord Then they will cry out the joy of our heart is ceased our daunce is turned into mourning the crown is fallen from our head wo unto us that we have sinned Our crown of honour our crown of pleasure our crown of pride is fallen from our heads wo unto us that we have sinned and walked in pride Pride is the usher of ruine Pride goes before destruction Prov. 16. 18. One asked an Heathen Philosopher what God was doing hee answered Totam ejus occupationem esse in elevatione humiliū in dejectione superborum It is Gods whole business to exalt the humble and to abase and cast down the proud Behold the day cometh that shall burn like an tven and all the proud c. shall bee as stubble Mal. 4.1 Though now they are like iron and steel yet then they shall bee like stubble before the fire of his devouring wrath CHAP. VIII HAving discovered those Capital sins for which we have just cause to think God hath been pouring out his anger against City Country let me now in the next place Exhort you to mourn bitterly for these and for all your sins It is not enough that you mourn for the loss of a Husband of a Wife of a Childe of your Goods of your Estate of your houses this sorrow is that which the Apostle calls worldly sorrow 2 Cor. 7. and it is so far from working comfort in the end that it worketh death not only death temporal but also death eternal if this sort of men weep their eyes out and their hearts out for these carnal things yet shall they no more partake of divine joy than the tormented Glutton doth of heavenly comfort David's mourning for his son Absolom was carnal and did no way tend to his true comfort Joab did justly blame him for his bellowing and howling for the death of Absolom This mourning may be found in Pharoah such was Esau's mourning for the loss of his Fathers blessing The Prophet Hosea tells us that wicked men will howl upon their beds for corn and wine for the want or loss of temporal goods Hos 7.14 They can lament for these things but cannot lament for their sins or lament after God the loss of God and of Christ is not such a matter of mourning to them Neither is it available to mourn meerly for the Judgements of God inflicted upon us Oh how did Cain mourn when the wrath of God was upon him So did Pharoah under Judgements and Ahab humbled himself greatly so do the damned mourn to eternity in hell The wicked mourn not because they have sinned but because they are punished God no more regardeth the howling of sinners under Judgement than we regard the howlings of dogs when they are beaten Neither is all sorrow for sin godly sorrow yet this is an high degree of mourning Pharoah lamented his wickedness I have sinned Judas also lamented his grievous sin I have sinned in betraying innocent blood Mat. 27.3 and now he mourneth in hell for his sin and we have some examples of men who sin and mourn and then sin afresh and mourn afresh crying out O my pride O my drunkenness O my swearing O my uncleanness that the beholding their bitter mourning would make a tender heart to mourn with them many such there are that mourn on earth for a fit and mourn in hell for ever Prov. 5. 11 12 13. Death-bed lamentation and mourning for sin is not alwaies repenting mourning Neither are all that mourn under dreadful apprehensions of Gods anger against them and terrours upon them arising from their sense of sin and apprehension of Gods wrath true mourners yet this like the former is an high degree of mourning yet below holy mourning such a mourner was Cain the load of terrours upon his heart pressed forth all his tears and complaints There are such examples still of men who in their fears of death and judgement and agonies of conscience do weep confess their sins resolve to forsake sin and yet when they have ease do sin again and they are again as prophane as irreligious as they were before nay they become more hardned in sin and opposite to God and godliness than they were before Neither do all who mourn after grace and pardon truly mourn yet this is one of the neerest degrees to spiritual mourning that is found in hypocrites An unregenerate man may feel such a load of guilt upon his conscience as that he may mourn after grace and pardon yet not be comforted as there is a temporary sorrow for sin so there is in th●m a temporary desire after ease and deliverance from it But all such as mourn in bitterness of spirit under their spiritual wants Mr. Cartwright gives this as a reason why in the Beatitudes our Saviour addeth mourning next to poverty of spirit because the want of grace and Gods favour is such a lamentation that nothing quieteth them so long as they are without it And though God by the hand of his bounty give them all outward things liberally as health strength riches friends yet still they mourn over their spiritual wants these are the true mourners that complain for the want of spiritual riches What is this worlds goods if I have not the grace and favour of God As Moses said What is the presence of an Angel if we have not the presence of God with us so what is any thing what are all things if I have not Gods favour I am undone for ever Again such as mourn bitterly for sin they truly mourn Lam. 5.16 Wo to us for we have sinned Woe is the time that ever I sinned against God Wo is me that ever I did curse swear and blaspheme the holy name of God wo that ever I was drunk wo that ever I sinned against the Lord such a mourning was that of St. Peter he went forth and wept bitterly wo is me that ever I

heart by the searcher of the heart Doubtless then both had sinned but their sin was not the cause why he was born blind what then ut manifestent●r opera Dei that the works of God might be manifested Thus far Augustine upon the same place He saith opera Dei the works of God saith Calvin because as his work of judgement had been seen in his blindness which was opus solitudinis a work of solitude so his mercy might appear in his recovery which was opus reparationis a work of reparation Itaque oum latent afflictionum causae cohibenda est curiositas ne Deo faciasimus Therefore saith he when the causes of afflictions are not manifest curiosity is to be restrained lest we both do injury to God and become cruel toward our Brethren This was manifest in Job a work of power in taking away all his children and a work of his clemency in restoring him so many again and in suffering him to live to see the fourth generation of them and afterward to die old and full of daies for God is able even out of stones to raise up children to Abraham to Job to every true believer When God takes from us those things which he formerly gave us as our habitations food rayment health wealth if any man being thus emptied complain of Gods dealing with him cannot God reply justly to him I owe you nothing what I gave formerly impute it to my meer love My gifts are free I take them now away that you may know whence you had them not that I am any wayes obliged to you hitherto I have shewed my liberality and bounty toward you if I now please to continue so no longer toward you what Law have you to recover upon me May I not do with mine as I please Friend I do thee no wrong take what is thine and depart S. Augustine explaining Gods equity saith thus God takes away from us sometimes things necessary and so fretteth us that we may know him our Father and Lord not only pleasing but sometimes likewise squeezing us And who dareth or can object the least injury done unto him And if God take away necessaries from us yet we cannot accuse God of injury if he taketh them from us even for his own Honour and Majesty and to shew his power and Authority over us let us then cease complaining we are his subjects and must be his Clients SECT III. It may be God in taking away our health wealth honour houses possessions from us intendeth to bestow better things upon us and then we are no losers but great gainers if God take away our goods and give us more grace if he take from us things necessary for our bodies and gives us things absolutely necessary to salvation as pardon of sin peace of conscience assurance of his love and favour what have we lost thereby It is too low to say saith one these are equivalent to temporals they are transcendently more excellent than all temporal goods the whole world is nothing to the grace and favour of God and to pardon of sin if wealth were as necessary as grace every Childe of God should have it therefore godly men have great cause of contentment if God for reasons best known to himself doth either deny them or take from them the things of this life That Christian is not poor that is rich in grace that man is not miserable that hath Christ for his portion though he hath no house to put his head in yet he hath a Mansion in heaven provided for him though he hath no food for his body yet he hath meat to eat which the world knows not of he hath Manna for his soul though he hath no rayment for his body yet he hath glorious robes for his soul What kind of injury is that to take from one a thread-bare out-worn Coat and to give him a new one that is far better It is an excellent change to lose temporals and get spirituals and eternals We many times think that a great estate is best for us but God our heavenly Father both knoweth what we need and what is best for us were we to be our own carvers as to our worldly estates and outward comforts we should do as the young Prophet who being sent to gather herbs gathered poysonous weeds instead of wholesome herbs therefore in all Gods Dispensations toward us 't is good to submit to the wisdome of God who could make all his Children rich and great in the world but doth not because in his wisdome he thinks a meaner portion of the things of this life to be better for them than a greater To have lectum stramineum cibum gramineum straw for our beds and herbs for our food may be better for us than with the rich Epicure to be cloathed in fine linnen and to fare deliciously every day In fine every Christian shall conclude that estate God allotted me was best for me and the poor Christian shall say as Luther did it was better for me that I was a poor Clown and a Christian than if I had been great Alexander and an Infidel SECT IV. Behold another cause of Gods taking away from us 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 surprized with death and that a bloody one even in the act of Gods service but Jesus answered Suppose ye these Galileans were greater sinners than all the other because they suffered such things I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luk. 13.1 2. And he confirmeth it by another parallel to it of the men upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell here you see punishment for other mens instruction and example ut aliorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that other mens scourges should be our warnings Let every one consider saith Cyprian not what another hath suffered but what even he himself deserveth to suffer In this we may say as he doth Plectuntur interim quidam quò caeteri corrigantur Some are suddenly punished to the end that others may be amended It is a common disease among men saith Calvin to be severe Censors of others when we see the scourge of God upon them and to flatter themselves if they escape unpunished whereas thus they ought to consider First that they ought to behold their own sin and to examine whether they have not deserved the like punishment Secondly in that the Lord in his mercy spareth them and chasteneth others before their faces to magnifie his name in their own behalf and to betake themselves unto speedy repentance Caecus ergo pravus Arbiter est qui hominum peccata ex paenis praesentibus astimat Therefore he is a blinde and perverse Judge who taxeth mens sins from their present punishments Neque enim ut quisque deterior est ita primus

it Luke 10.42 This worlds goods will do you good no longer than you live in this world but godliness will make you happy and the fruit of it will remain with you when the goods and the world it self shall have an utter end Leave then this worlds goods to the children of this worlds whose names are written in the earth they are the only portion of worldly men So Abraham said to Dives Son remember thou in thy life time hadst thy good things God gives unto Esau's the fatness of the earth but denies them the dew of heaven Indeed God sometimes promiscuously scatters these outward things upon the godly and the wicked he gives the wicked some share of his goodness yet it is worth your observing that Isaac would not vouchsafe to call Esau's Portion a blessing yet he gives him the fatness of the earth the worlds goods are the influences of Gods Providence not of his love only the riches of his Grace is the influence of his love and favour Ah! what pity it is to see how Satan layes upon many men a burden of cares above a load and makes a Pack-horse of their souls when they are wholly set upon the world we owe the Devil no such service it were wisdome then to throw off that heavy load into a mire and to cast all our cares upon the Lord Oh never seek warm Fire under cold Ice this world is not a field where true happiness groweth CHAP. VII THe work which now remains to use 2 be done is the application of this to the distressed Citizens of London in special many of whom have had their goods and houses taken away and consumed to ashes by that late sad and raging fire that hapned among them 1. I beseech you enquire into the procuring cause and that you will find to be sin if sin be in the City and in the house vengeance may quickly be seen at the door and at the gate sooner or later God will visit iniquities sin shall never go unpunished This was Davids resolution when God took away his subjects Behold it is I that have done wickedly but those sheep what have they done 2 Sam. 24.17 This was Hezekiah's confession for his own life I have cut off like a Weaver my life Isai 38.12 Thus did that godly Widow of Zareptha acknowledge at the death of her Son What have I to do with thee O man of God art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son 1 Kings 17.18 She verily thought that either some of her former sins or else the not using of so holy a man according to his place was the cause of this present punishment A harsh string to be touched but will be tuneable enough in the ears of the Childe of God that is already touched with the feeling of sin whose heart is still rather in the house of mourning than in the house of mirth it is the Unison of Gods people We have sinned and dealt wickedly Our Saviour prophesied Mat. 24.12 that iniquity shall abound c. and do not the times wherein we live tell us that iniquity doth abound It hath abounded and doth abound exceedingly among us in all our Country Towns and Villages but I had almost said it cannot abound more than it hath among you in London I wish I could draw a veil over the sins of these times and cover the iniquities of the City and Country as Constantine did over the errours of learned men in his daies But the sins of our times and the iniquities of your City cannot be hid they are too publick too common among us See whether all manner of sins do not abound among you the iniquities of the head the iniquities of the heart iniquities of the tongue iniquities of the life do abound in the midst of you have not the streams of all iniquities fallen into your City as all waters and rivers run into the Sea There are some particular sins for which God threatens to poure down fiery showres of wrath and indignation upon a people 1. The first I shall set before you is Sabbath-breaking the profanation of the Lords day Jer. 17.27 See how God threatens the City of Jerusalem for this sin But if you will not hearken to me to hallow the Sabbath day and not to bear a burden even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof and it shall devoure the Palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched Examine now whether there were not many among you that neglected and despised the publick worship of God and others that as soon as they came out of the House of God laid aside all thought of the Word preached to them either spending the rest of the day in the Alehouse or in some idle recreations yea many suffering their children and servants in the close of the Publick Worship to turn Gods Ordinances sc prayer singing of Psalmes hearing the Word into shouting and clamors idle sports and foolish loud laughter and that in such a rude manner as if they would profess themselves open despisers of God and of his Ordinances Is this to bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Is this to do like Abraham to command your children servants to keep the way of the Lord Is it a wonder to see Gods Judgments upon your City to see the Plague raging among you destruction wasting at noon-day poverty encreasing and a fire kindled in your Gates and devouring the stately houses and Palaces thereof SECT II. A second sin is a general contempt and rejection of the Gospel and a despising of his faithful Messengers We read Mat. 23.37 38. that our Saviour prophecieth of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem for killing and crucifying and stoning some of Gods Prophets for scourging others in their Synagogues and persecuting them from City to City therefore saith he Behold your house is left unto you desolate His Disciples were troubled to hear that so goodly a Structure should be made a ruinous heap wherefore they shewed him the goodly buildings of the Temple wishing him but to look on them vainly imagining that he could not but admire the stateliness of the house and sumptuousness of the buildings and would call in his threatning and prevent the desolation of it but Christ who regardeth not the magnificence of buildings or persons but will stain the pride and glory of man was so far from revoking his threatning as he doth assure them by an oath that the stately Temple so much admired for its curiousness so strongly seated and enriched should not only be left desolate but should be totally demolished Verily I say unto you there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down Mat. 24.2 This was for their contempt of the Word and their cruelty toward the Prophets This sin God hath alwayes

God removed that plague then he put Pharaoh upon the tryal whether he would be as good as his promise but then he hardened his heart again and would not let them go By this God made a discovery of the grand hypocrisie of his heart hath it not been so among many of you in the time of your sickness in the day of your calamity when you supposed your selves to be very neer to death did you not then promise to let your sins go God was pleased to give you a respite to set you at liberty and have not many of you again hardened your hearts and refused to let your sins go therefore you may think God hath now suffered this late fire that was kindled among you to devoure your habitations Certainly it were better to have no respite given at all than to have it and abuse it it were better to be taken away by the first judgement than to have a respite between judgement and judgement if you repent not for now ye become greater sinners and you treasure up for yourselves more wrath the more respites you have given you and you abuse them the greater will your condemnation be To such the Lord saith Why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more Isai 1.5 They were never the better for all the stroaks of God upon them but encreased their revolts now see what judgement follows hereupon Ver. 7. Your Country is desolate your Cities are burnt with fire and your Land strangers devoure it in your presence Scultetus on this place saith it is Theologica Pictura Germaniae a Divine Picture of Germany I may say it is Theologica Pictura Londini nec-non totius Angliae it is a Theological description of London yea of all England I mean of the wicked in City and Country Isai 26.10 Let favour he shewed to the wicked i. e. let a respite be given him from destruction yet will he not learn righteousness but return to their former wickedness see how God threatens them Ver. 11. The fire of thine Enemies shall devoure them Though thou bray a fool in a Mortar with a Pestle among Wheat yet his folly will not depart from him Prov. 27.22 Though God doth pound them even to powder following them with stroak upon stroak yet their folly remaineth with them SECT V. Whoredome is a sin also which God threatens to punish with fire Sodom and Gomorrha burned with lust and God overthrew and consumed them with fire and brimstone from heaven O how many have been guilty of this sin in City and Country how many are there who have eyes full of adultery 1 Pet. 2.14 How do multitudes of men make lusting after a woman the end of their looking upon them they look in order to their lusts making no other use of their eyes than a man doth of a Burning Glass meerly to set their own hearts on fire of unclean lusting yea many continue looking till their hearts be enflamed with lust after women pulchris vultibus oculos Affigunt they nail their eyes and fasten them to beautiful faces as Chrysostome speaks delighting to feed their eyes with the sight of women and seeking after beautiful faces to feed their eyes with them and as the same Father saith not so much that they would commit corporal uncleanness with them but only that they may lust after them As often as a man looketh on a woman with a fixed eye or a glancing eye it mattereth not much if it be accompanied with a lustful motion this is adultery before God how many such adulterers are there every where And as with the eye so there are many that commit adultery in the heart as by unchaste imaginations and unclean fancies and by lodging unchaste thoughts in their hearts and giving entertainment to them how many are there whose hearts do long lodge dwell and insist upon unclean things which is abominable heart-adultery in the sight of God inwardly wishing to have their lusts and desires satisfied with an actual Commission of carnal uncleanness with those persons they lust after yea many take great delight in such wanton and unchaste fancies and contemplations this is an high degree of adultery in the heart I know it is a question whether every such thought and motion of the heart be a sin as long as a man doth not consent unto them Papists will not acknowledge them to be sins till they are accompanied with delight and consent but Paul determineth the question Rom. 7. who there tells us tha● such motions are sins whether consented to or not delighted in or hated Paul did not consent to them yea Pau● hated them yet he acknowledged then to bee sins whatsoever is a transgression of the Law is a sin now to covet or lust is forbidden by the Law whether a man consents to it or not consents to it hateth or delighteth in it yet because he coveteth he sinneth to consent to them is a higher degree of sinfulness the fuller consent men give the more hainous sins are the more men delight in such lustings it is an higher degree of sinning against God Hence you see the reason why our Saviour doth so much condemn the filthiness and uncleanness of the heart Mat. 5 27 28. Heart-adultery is minoris infamiae of less infamy because it is secret and unknown to any man but it is majoris culpae a greater fault the reasons are these 1. Because heart-adultery argues Atheism and contempt of Gods presence more than the outward act thou actest that in the sight of God which thou wouldest not act before a poor sinful man Moreover 2. Heart-adultery is more directly against a mans own soul than other sins here a man makes his own soul the adulterer and the adulteress the Bed and the Brothel-house the Incubus and Succuba the Agent and Patient the Whore and the Whoremonger 3. Adultery in the heart is far more frequently committed in the heart than the outward act is or can be opportunity can never fail the Adulterer in his heart he can have an opportunity when he will The heart-adulterer can never want an adulterous subject he can frame one in his mind and can with delight commit folly with his own imaginary Strumpet he can do it in every place and company yea though a thousand eyes be upon him and when he wanteth strength and ability of body yet then his will and fancy is strong to act this wickedness sick men old men can then commit mental uncleanness with greediness yea many there are that come into our publick Congregations chiefly to look after and look upon beautiful faces and when they are outwardly conversant in the Worship of God when they are hearing the Word their eyes and heart may then be full of adultery What cause have we all to bewail the woful pollutions of our hearts Who can say my heart is clean Now for corporal uncleanness never was this sin thought to be more frequently

but a few Grapes and those bitter ones but when it hath endured the pruning knife it produceth soft thick clustered and sweet Grapes scarce is it otherwise with man for unless he be daily purged by losses crosses sorrows he runneth out into lewd courses as the Vine into leaves and is hardly reduced to a due conformity to the Will of God but when the hooked Sickle of Calamity biteth him then he bringeth forth the fruits of repentance and mortification Our corrupt appetite alwayes lusteth after forbidden fruit and is by an unbridled itching carried headlong into dangerous precipices here the most wise God represseth the hasty course of this unbridled kicker while he meeteth him with losses crosses and calamitous incumbrances and so this wilde Colt is tamed Now because we are as fearful to meddle with mortification as the dog is to drink of Nilus therefore our most gracious God doth exercise us with losses and fiery tryals that by them we may be the more ready to mortifie our corruptions The Scripture sets it forth by a full expression viz. the crucifying our lusts and the affections thereof Gal. 6.24 in allusion to Christs crucifying observe the manner of his death his hands and feet were nailed to the Cross the Souldiers thrust their Spears into his side it was neer the heart of Christ Thus must we do with our sins we must run the spear into the very heart of sin and we must nail the hands and feet of our lusts Nail the hands 1 The outward acts of sin and nail the feet that so we might not walk any more in the lusts of our flesh as we have formerly done that look as Job after his manifold losses and sore tryals said Lord I have sinned I will do so no more so do thou say Lord I have a proud heart I have walked within my house in pride and loftiness I have boasted of my great wealth and substance I will do so no more Lord I have bad an unclean heart full of filthy thoughts and affections I will be so no more here is a mortified man If you would have your losses and crosses sanctified consider with your selves whether your earthly members be mortified or do you walk still in the vanity of your minds do you still keep up your former conversation Are your lusts your Centurions still do you obey them if so then have your losses done you no good at all this is the end that God aims at in sending these Visitors to you to clip your wings that you be not as Birds that flee away from their Masters Let these therefore excite you to do with your body of sin as they were to do with the house that was over-spread with Leprosie they were to rase it down to the ground and carry all the rubbish without the City so do you rase down that body of corruption and put away your lusts that abominable rubbish of sin from among you SECT VI. A sixt end is that you may bee the better fitted to compassionate others in the like condition it may be many of you when you were full and knew the want of nothing and had all things about you according to your hearts desire you were then so blinded with your own self-love with your pleasures and inordinate lusts and desires of your own ease and profits that the distressed saints might starve and sigh and mourn and yet you consider'd it not whether others did dance for joy or mourn for grief of heart it was all one to you so long as you could hear the melodious noise of the viol and drink wine in bowls you regarded not the afflictions of Joseph so long as you had your backs clothed with rich apparrel and your bellies filled with variety of dainties and could dwell in your stately edifices and warm ceiled houses you never thought upon the hunger and cold of the poor and needy and the miseries of those that scarce have a hole to put their heads in you were often acquainted with the pinching wants of your miserable brethren yet perhaps your hearts were nothing affected with pitty and compassion toward them you had hearts of stone who could hear the cries of the oppressed and look upon the pale-wrinckled faces of famished persons and hear them sighing and bemoaning their extremities and yet your bowels yearned not over such how many Nabals are there that could see David in hunger and yet their hearts dead within them cursed Edomites who could behold the ruine of Zion and mourn not over it How many were there among you that had abundance of this worlds goods and yet were niggardly in releiving and refreshing the bellies of the poor as for themselves they felt no hunger but had their full tables every day yet suffered they poor Lazarus to go away without crumbs they had changes of apparel and some of them lay by till they were moth-eaten yet suffered they Christ in his members to go naked cursed Chams that would not cover their brothers nakedness How many among you had abundance of all things and yet gave poor pittances God knoweth and that with murmuring and repining hearts parting with their Alms as narrow-mouth'd pots do with liquor with much bubling who like Grapes yield no liquor unless they be pressed Oh how dwelleth the love of God in such saith the Apostle what a Sun in the Heavens and not light what a fixed Star and not shine what fire and not give heat these are strange things in nature So I may say what love to Christ and no compassion to his members no relief no bounty it is as strange as to see the Sun full of darkness certainly the love of God dwelleth not in such flinty hearts Therefore doth the Lord take away our houses our goods our dearest outward comforts sometimes for this end that we may have a fellow-feeling of others miseries They are usually the most pittiful to others who have suffered great losses and miseries themselves He that hath been pinched with poverty will easily be brought to pitty those that are poor and needy he that hath been sick and weak will be ready to commiserate those that are visited He that hath lost all his goods been tossed from post to pillar and stripped out of all his estate will presently relent at others grieved in the same kinde Being diversly afflicted and distressed we learn with that Tyrian Queen to say Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco The sense of evils makes me to bemone And succour them who under suffrings groan You may plainly see there was such bowels of compassions in the Saints in Scripture What is the whole book of Lamentations but a large Commentary or description of Jeremiah's compassion toward Jerusalem though God had provided well for the particular comfort of him yet Jerusalems miseries did embitter his comforts and turned all his wine into water How tenderly affected was Job with every particular mans distress When the ear