the ayr fore-runners of plagâ—es and wars c. And so far received he them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Euâ—ebius stiles the Portenta preceding the overthrow of Hierusalem Gods visible Sermons of Repentance that as we are inform'd He wrote a just Treatise lost in his life-time concerning Prodigies or Divine Foremarnings betokening Bloud To all which Testimonies my answer shall be first more General That 't is â—o wonder to see this Opinion credited by some Great names in regard that as in Heresy Populus sequitur Doctiores the People usually follow the Learned as being in a matter more abstract and subtile more apt to believe then to judge so in Superstition Doctiores sequuntur Populum the Learned are not seldom observ'd to follow the People because easily surpris'd into an Opinion that can enter so valuable a plea for it self as common consent This Notion of Presages by Prodigies being so popular and catholick wise men in their first and unwary years when they are discipuli plebis may entertain conceits thereof which shall plead prescription against the strongest reasons to disposess them As Iron in a greater and more massy bodie sequitur naturam communem follows the law of common Nature in all heavy bodies and moves to the Earth but in smaller pieces sequitur naturam privatam it follows its own private nature and directs itself to the Loadstone Thus learned men where they are prest by the force and weight of Education and a common prejudice generally follow common Nature in men which inclines to embrace Society and therefore move in judgment Secundum viam Tâ—rrae but in matters out of vulgaâ— ken and where they cannot be tempted by a common agreement they move secundum viam consilii and periue the dictates of their own private light and understanding Even wise men in many instances held Aâ—â—â— focos their faith and their estates by the same tenure tradition from Ancestours and therefore we may receive their judgements tanquam ex Gathedâ—â—â— as engagements to consider not always tanquam ex Tripâ—â—e as obligations to believe I proceed next to a more distinct and particular answer to the severall Authorities alledg'd And first to the Testimony of Heathens The many places of Scripture where in God hath threatned to issue out a speedy arrest upon Persons deeply indebted to him without so much as warning them by any lesser judgements and signs of Vengeaâ—ce to agree with Him â—â—ile in the waâ— doe sufficiently resolve me of the vanity of that foremeâ—tion'â— assertion of Herodotus Yet because it is deliveâ—'â—â—poâ—â—he â—eemiâ—g faitâ— of a great experience and our Advebâ—aries build so much upon 〈◊〉 I return to it 〈…〉 It is a conclusion which proceeâ—s upon the â—redit of a single instance that of the people of Chios there mentioned whose final desolaâ—ion was usher'd by two very affecting examples One that of a hundred young men whom they sent to Delphos two onely return'd the rest being consumed by Pestilence another but a little aftei the same time the roof of the Schol-house fell so suddainly that of an hundred and twenty children but one escap'd with life Of wâ—ich He saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these signs God â—oreshew'd their approaching fate withall Now with this so shallow and contracted a foundation he ventures the building of his Catholick assertion Quoties ingentes c. A thing not much to be wonder'd at because where men are very fond of an assum'd principle any single example which speaks favour for it shall be more attended unto then a hundred which disparage and â—efute it Besides one Affiâ—â—â—tive especially if plausible as this is doth far moie affect and engage our minds then many more evident Negatives because they are infinite disperse our sight and deliver us to uncertainty 2. It is no wonder at all to meet with such an assertion amongst Heâ—thens and any little Accidents blâ—wn out by a superstitious phancy into thâ— shew and appâ—â—â—â—nce of strange Omens if we consider 1. That they look upon their Gods as a kinde of Fayries which would throw firebrands and furies about the house for the omission of some petty criticisms in their rites and that therefore they gave forth frequent intimations of these impotencies and distasts They thought they were lost with a trifle and won again to a good Opinion of them by paying them the homage of a little crouching and circumstantial Devotion 2. The hopes and fortunes of the Heathens were layd up generally in this world and therefore their fears in reference to it were easily awakened The Heathen Caecilius truly acknowledg'd that all the religious rites instituted by their Ancestours were level'd to no higâ—er an end then the good of this lower life being either intended as gratefull reâ—urns to the Divine bounty forsome temporal favours receiv'd â—â—deâ— ouâ— addresses to divert a feared or appease a felt displeasure of the Dâ—ity And therefore no wonder they were soon awaken'd into a great fear when any strange occurrence of whose end and cause they were unresolv'd fell before their notice least it should abode the running of that vessel upon rocks wherein theiâ— hopes and happiness were imbark't Men are apâ— to entertain great fear in reference to that wherein they apprehend themselves greatly concern'd To the testimony of Fathers I answer in General that ' tâ—ere no wonder to find them living so near the times of Gentilism speaking in favour sometimes for some of the Doctrines thereof the main trunâ—k and body of the Gentile superstition was indeed hewâ— down in their minds but still there were some small roots and fibres remaining which are observ'd to spring up ever and anon and trouble their writings But however we shall I believe seldom find them expressing any great regard to this grand doctrine of the Gentile Theology As for Tertullian howsoever he may seem like some carved images about houses to support and grace our adversaries building yet he will prove in truth to be like them barely forc't and fasten'd on and to lend no strength at all thereunto for 1. the Father writing to the Heathens there might lawfully discourse with them Ex hypothesi Ethâ—icae Theologiae for they regarded those mighty Vulcâ—nos as the courts of Pluto and a kind of testimony or fit emblem of the fires and vengeance in another state 2. He stiles these fires eruptions but testimonium exemplum a testimony and example of the Divine judgment which in a laxe sense he might well doe these seeming to be set forth by the Divine wisdom as glasses and pictures to convey to the duller world some weak images of the horrours of those everlasting burnings in another world 3. These durable fires are alledged not as any signs of an everlasting burning but as the best argument Nature afforded to prove the possibility of such a burning against the sons of Nature who thought a fire which consumes not to be a great contradiction And to a like
forth Mazzaroth in his season or canst thou guide Arctiorus with his sons Knowest thou the Ordinances of heaven canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth In Arithmetick who can number the clouds in wisdom In Natural History knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth c. God will have some things in Nature unsearchable to hide pride from man and to discover himself to him for it must needs be presumed that all these mysteries came forth from and are comprehended by some First Mind and mighty Wisdom We are urg'd next with the words of the Prophet Ioel. chap. 2. 30 31. I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the Earth bloud and fire and pillars of smoak The sun shall be turned into darkness and the â—oon into bloud before the great and terrible day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is near the Sun and the Moon shall be darkned and the Stars shall withâ—raw their shineing From which words those Act. 2. 19 20. are borrowed To which may be added because of a likeness of expression that place Luk. 21. 25 26. And there shall be signs in the Sun and in the Moon upon Earth distress of Nations with perplexity the sea and the waves roaring Mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken In which former scripture by the Day of the Lord we are to understand some special day of vengeance it being usual in sacred Writ as some of the Hebrew Doctours observe to intitle days eminent for any unusual expressions of Divine favour or displeasure Days of the Lord whereas we find this day prefac'd and foretold by such prodigious occurrences as easily resolve themselves into causes natural I answer First Learned expositors generally understand those places not in any literal sense but receive them all as so many prophetical schemes of speech instances whereof are of most familiar occurrence in the Prophets expressive of some wonderfull evils shortly to afflict the world as they do also on the contrary the promises of a new heaven and a new earth the increase of the light of the sun and of the moon c. but as so many figurative expressions of some white and gladsom days shortly to succeed Particularly the learned Grotius is so secure of a figurative sense of such places that he tells us they are never to be expounded in all scripture to any other And indeed should we expound them literally we should soon honour the falls of great men or destruction of cities with greater or as great wonders as attended the crucifixion of our blessed Saviour Besides what Histories ever mention any such astonishing alterations in the frame of Nature as the literal sense of these places would introduce a faith of Now the Prophets chose thus to deliver themselves for some or all of these Reasons 1. Because it was the custom of the Eastern Nations to describe great and mighty storms and troubles in a state in such phrases as these the darkning of the heavens falling of the stars shaking of the earth flying away of the Mountains c. 2. Because these being the most remarkable and glorious bodies in the world terrible alterations in them seem the most proper representatives of mighty changes and alterations in kingdoms 3. Because the terrible judgements of God upon the Babylonians Egyptians Iews and obstinate Gentiles set forth in such expressions were but supremi judicii specimina little images and types of the last and dreadfull judgement and therefore not unfitly character'd by the terrours and horrours which shall usher that last and great Day 4. Because these are expressions mighty and vehement and so very expressive of and sutable unto that hot and vigorous impression which the Spirit of Prophecy made upon the minds and imaginations of those holy men which were acted by it 5. Because that anxiety and perplexity of mind which should attend the plagues coming on men should be as great almost as if they saw the eye of heaven the sun put out and the earth to tremble under them c. Now in this figurative sense the words were accomplished in their first and original intention when that great misery was brought upon the earth by Nabuchodonosor and they receiv'd a further degree of accomplishment as S. Peter intimates Act. 2. 19. under the Romanes when the land which was but shaven before by Gods hired Razor had an utter baldness brought upon it to use the expression of the Prophet and it shall have its fulfilling in the outmost latitude of its sense at the day of judgment of which some Interpreters solely understand it Propecies have their Gradus Scalus compleâ—enti as the Lord Bacon speaks the last day only is that true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fulness of time wherein they shall be completely fulfilled God often draws similar and parallel lines of confusion over different times and places whips many stubborn children with the same rod and therefore prophesies of the same vengeance may have their repeated accomplishments Secondly Some learned men understand in these places a real and literal darkning of these great bodies of light though arising not from any common and natural but an extraordinary and supernatural cause The reasons of which exposition I shall remit to their proper place which if they appear satisfactory nothing can be thence concluded in favour of presages by these Prodigies which are but some more unusual effects lying hid in the powers of natural Agents and sometimes exerting themselves There is one place of Scripture more which may seem to some to require perhaps to refuse an answer viz. that Luke 21. 11. where our Blessed Saviour foretelling that large line of confusion to be stretched out upon the Holy City and whole nation of the Jews as as a precedent signe thereof tells his Disciples Great earthquakes shall be in divers places and famines and pestilences c. now earthquakes have been numbred with Prodigies natural I answer First When God hath once sealed them by his sanction and institution Prodigies natural may be regarded as the signs of events arbitrary and supernatural Gods bow without a string in the heavens is to us a signe that the world need never fear perishing by any such fatal arrow as once was shot out of the clouds A universal deluge although it be owing to a natural and necessary cause as being by Gods institution advanc'd to the dignity of a signe of grace and favour Thus when God had told the people that as an expression of his great displeasure against them for asking of a king He would send thunder and rain things in themselves natural except it be said that the peculiar condition of that season and climate made them approach to a miracle it was a religious fear with which the people
hath had peaceable possession of the common faith for so many ages for to say no more 't is in many regards an example extraordinary and 't is a good maxime examples extraordinary neither break a rule nor make one Upon which account alone I have no great fear that the other instance wil much prejudice our cause though I allow both a truth and a significancy to that apparition though perhaps I should not have judg'd so much in favour thereof had I not been brib'd by the authority which the suffrages of so many wise men and the antiquity of the Authour seem to drive upon that Apocryphal writing wherein it is found Thirdly There appears not now any ground at all to receive any such apparitions in the ayr as the certain signs and monitours of any calamities to ensue upon a Nation and that First Because we have no warrant from the Book of God so to regard them having no precept at all to oblige us nor yet any example therein to encourage us The signs of future events which we sometimes find God making use of were such as out of their institution were no way apt to foreshew any any such event they were most commonly signa ad placitum such as carried no similitudes of the things whereof they were signs as the apparitions of armies in the air seem to do of some succeeding battel that so none might be encouraged afterward to regard them as Omens when again occurring and fancy that they ministred at all to the vanity of any such observations Now a negative argument from Scripture seems conclusive enough in a matter wherein the faith of a Divine prescience and providence and mans dutifull observance of God in the way of his judgements appear so much concerned and assisted as we are told they are in the religious observation of such things as these Secondly Such kinde of signs would lay men naked and exposed to perpetual delusions and impostures for how often do the antick shapes of the clouds serve the imaginations of dragons and armies in the air That word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zech. 10. 1. which we render clouds the LXX by a verbal mistake of the radix translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apparitiones and a melancholy fancy is as subject to this real mistake the translating of clouds into apparitions of Churches or castles or armies Can any serious Person then believe that God would have us apply our selves to such a Proteus as a cloud is for a solution of any doubt de futuro which can shift into any shapes and forms of things Hath he not all along appear'd to value our understandings at a higher rate then to require them to a regard of things so exposed to suspicion and the conceit of some imposture Thirdly Such kinde of apparitions in the air have been known not succeeded by any black and tragical Event The truth is Wisdom which useth to draw her lines by the steady and even rule of some well assumed principles hath not appear'd so critical an observer of such accidents and their Events as folly hath been and therefore we are not so well provided of examples to reprehend this vanity as otherwise we might be I must therefore satisfie my self with a single instance which occurrs in a learned and sober Writer who delivers it as a matter reported to him by Persons of good credit how that in the year before he recorded that relation there were seen two opposite Battalions in the air lancing out their spears and discharging as it were their muskets victory now reeling and in the end one side giving chase to the other Whereas all these things proved but è vitro fulgura being followed onely with jubilees and the voice of joy and peace in our dwellings for many years Nor can they be with any colour of reason presumed to foreshew our succeeding civil wars being removed by the distance of so many years Now one negative instance in such cases is of more force to unfix and discredit a pretending rule then two affirmatives to establish it because the latter the world being so full of evils may fall out by a kinde of chance or the agency of seducing Spirits whereas the former seem to proclaim some necessity of the Event in nature and the no purpose at all of God to give notice of any of his counsels by any such emergencies as these Fourthly I doubt not but many of these aery apparitions might be solved by a natural cause To let pass the conceit of real armies somewhere fighting on earth reflected in the clouds as in a glass as at best but an ingenuous vanity the supposed firing of Ordinance and muskets is I believe generally nothing but the coruscation of some incensed exhalations breaking forth by pauses and intervals from the clouds and as thunder doth with the noises and terrours of those military engines The running to and fro of hors-men and companies may be represented to an active fancy by the clouds carried by the unconstant force of the winds to very giddy and unequal figures and motions The stands of pikes and spears may be but the ragged and deformed protuberances of the disturbed clouds Onely I am apt to believe that Nature draws the images of these things in such rude and imperfect figures that men are forced much to assist and quicken the dulness and defectiveness of the type by the fictions of imagination Fifthly Some of these aery apparitions and noises are managed with that method and artifice come forth in such chosen seasons if we credit relations that I doubt not to intitle them to the power and operation of the Aery Principality Impure Spirits like juglers may oft do strange tricks to call upon themselves the regards of the world and when they see causes big with their effects may by such signs foreshew them to derive upon themselves either the Opinion of prescience or of some great affection to men whom they awaken though indeed it be but as Delilah did Samson when the Philistines some great evils are just upon them or else as S. Austin speaks noxiae curiositatis retibus implicare to fly-blow the minds of men with curious and impertinent enquiries into times to come Sure I am we finde the Appearances of armies and the noise of arms and trumpets in the air found among such bad company so many hatefull Omens and Prodigies observed by the Heathen as is sufficient to blemish them and to give suspicion that the observation and production of both was owing to the same Father of lies Ovid having mentioned the noise of armies and trumpets heard in the clouds relates as presages of equal place and repute the weeping of Statues the wandring of Ghosts the odd figures and colour of the Sacrifice and the like doth Virgil in that place so often cited The Devil well knew that without the maintaining of some Opinion of his foresight in the minds of men the
the conclusion without tasking them to a tedious consideration of the value of the premises and lift them up into the Tree of knowledge without any industrious climbing of their own But certainly God who bade us buy the truth never intended it should be got upon such cheap and easy terms men may suspect their wares to be nought if they cost no more then an idle attendance to such fantastical measures as these generally are 4. Gods particular judgements as to the special ends and intendments of them are generally inscrutable We commonly set so high a price upon our causes parties and opinions that we easily imagine the biggest end Gods judgements can be directed to is the bearing witness to the truth and righteousness of them By which fancy we become a kinde of spiritual Anthropomorphits shaping out a God like our selves and laying out the counsels of heaven by the poor short and often peevish thoughts and models of a man If we consult Scripture we shall seldom or never finde a person onely of a corrupt judgement in reference to some Doctrine of religion if otherwise of a blameless life smitten with any great plague from heaven but often persons of corrupt and depraved manners because all the laws of righteousness carry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a demonstration within themselves and stand in so full a light that like the Sun beams they bear testimony to themselves Whereas matters of faith and doctrine appear not before the minde in so great an evidence Men indeed are apt to follow a little difference of Opinion from themselves in religion especially with thick Anathemas and quickly to blow it out into a schism or heresy because such differences seem to dispute the strength of their Arguments but are easily inclin'd to look upon even a great miscarriage in life through the other end of the prospective and to shrink it to a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bâ—â—e humane infirmity Gods honour onely being concerned in that Whereas on the other side Divine goodness makes a large allowance for a well-meant errour because the understanding like the eye cannot so easily see its own blemishes but is severe against even a little crime men being more enabled for a discovery of that To say therefore that Aâ—ius who in the manner of his death seem'd the Antitype of Iudas his bowels gushing out when he went to serve the necessities of Nature proclaim'd the displeasure of God against his doctrine or that that house in Black-Fryers which sunk down under the weight of those many Papists there assembled with their Priest to attend the offices of their Religion and buried them in its ruines was Gods warning against Popery or that the births though granted monstrous beyond the possibilities of Nature which Mrs Hutchinson and Mrs Dyer the two great Prophetesses Leaders to the Anabaptistical faction in New-England were delivered of singled out their Opinion and were visible reproofs from heaven of Anabaptism it self is to interpret the voice of Gods rods by blinde and uncertain ghesses and to repeat the vanity of that Emperour who would fetter the sea for we hereby determine the large and deep thoughts of infinite Wisdom by those little maxims short thoughts and ends our selves usually attend unto God never menac'd any such reproachfull judgement against any such errours as these in Scripture and if he had if found in conjunction with great crimes it may be more reasonably presum'd that it was directed rather against the wickedness of the heart then the weakness of the head If I would advise with my eyes in the choice of my party or Opinion I should rather observe as I could what parties of men are most delivered to the judgement of a cruel and unquiet spirit to a giddy motion from one fond notion to another who they are which seem most forsaken of vertue and true goodness For these are spiritual judgements and so more suitable to the condition of that spiritual Oeconomy the appearance of our Saviour hath now put us under Besides the Spirit of truth may nay usually doth dwell with great sufferings but great sins give suspicion of its departure But even this also upon trial will approve it self but the beâ—â— of bad rules to proceed by in the trial of causes for the enormity of mens lives like dirty hands may soyl and blemish the jewel of a good cause not lessen and sink its intrin sick worth and value and indifferent men will be ready to conclude it a falling cause which catcheth at such weak and unfaithfull holds A good cause like a souldier not well appointed receives more hurt from the reggs of its own rotten armour then the bullet of an Adversary is more disparag'd I mean by a weak and insufficient defence then a strong and subtile argument which is often thought to hold more of the pregnancy of the disputant then the cause Secondly Iudgements extraordinary overtaking persons evidently guilty of extraordinary crimes are to be regarded as the evidences of Gods providence and high displeasure against those sins God generally commits all spiritual judgement to his Son and all temporal judgement to the Magistrate who therefore hath Gods title and is said to judge in his stead But sometimes as Kings who yet have their Vice-gerents he is pleased to sit as it were in open judicature himself and to correct a high and daring crime with his own immediate stroke Which he doth either when the sword of justice is permitted to rust in its scabbard and the Magistrate neglects to put open wickedness to shame or when perhaps he is unable through a want of knowledge or power to reach the criminal or in his total absence thus in the primitive times when the Magistrate being Heathen thought not any sin against the Gospel to be fori sui he invested his publick Ministers with a power which reach'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the affliction or destruction of the flesh upon bold and hopeless offenders Now these judgements extraordinary are Vocal and Emphatical and call for our more serious notices in three cases especially 1. When the judgement bears upon it the evident pour traitures and figures of the sin The cross men bear like that of our Saviour often carries the inscription of the crime in such plain and legible characters that he that runs may read it There are some herbs which bear upon them Naturae signaturas certain signatures and marks stamp'd upon them by the hand of Nature serving as a kinde of native labels to tell us what vertues they contain and whereby it may be known even upon sight to what diseases or parts of the body ill affected they are proper and usefull because bearing some figures or colours analogous to them thus punishment sometimes carries signaturas peccati and proclaims by its very make and fashion what sin it is intended to discover and cure in us And this it doth either when there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
in the cause because that is displeasing to God thus Iosiah fell in the expedition against the King of Egypt so sometimes the cause may fall in the person because he is displeasing to God as the Israelites in the controversy with the men of Benjamin Besides we are to presume that God speaks to us more plainly by his providence then by his word wherein he hath permitted some lesser matters to stand in a very doubtfull light to engage us to an exercise of our understandings to find the truth and of our charities to those who having not such strong and excercised senses as our selves chance to mistake it It were therefore heartily to be wisht that men had that largeness of heart as not to think heaven and earth concern'd in the standing or falling of their little interests and perswasions that they would leave off that worst kind of enclosure the entailing salvation solely upon their own party and not goe about to hedge in the Holy Dove by appropriating the graces and influences thereof to themselves For then men would not be so prone to believe Gods judgements design no higher then the service of their little passions and animosities and that he is as little able to forbear and make aâ—lowance for the mistakes and infirmities of men as themselves Personal judgements extraordinary are to be regarded as Gods visible sermons of repentance to a multitude under the guilt of the same or greater sins The great Lord of Hosts sometimes decimates a multitude of offenders and discovers in the personal sufferings of a few what all deserve and may without repentance expect Now as the ends of brands are noted to shed forth their tears in a kind of sad seâ—se of the loss of those parts which the fire hath already seaz'd thus they which are in the phrase of scripture as brands piuckt for the present out of the fire should express a christian sense of the falls and of the sins of those persons which God was pleas'd to make their proxies in correction Great judgements are not to be interpreted so much the signs of our brothers sins as the reproofs of our own Because the pregnant example of the Gaiileans occurring Luk. 13. may lend a great light and strength both to the particular conclusion before us and our general argument it will be no unâ—ervaluing of our pains to paraphrase a little upon our Saviours words upon the occasion Vers. 1. There were present at that time some that told Him of the Galileans whose bloud Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices 2. And Jesus answering said unto them suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things 3. I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words I choose with Grotius to render ad modum â—undem after the same manner for I conceive our Saviour doth not vary his speech vers 5. when discoursing of those which perisht by the tower of Siloam thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye shall perish ad modum similem in a manner like them but upon some reason of moment which I thus explain These Galileans were a faction of Iudas of Galilee of whom we read Act. 5. 37. whose great doctrine it was that it was unlawfull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pay tribute to the Romanes or to acknowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any mortal Lords after God had been their King or to offer sacrifice for the Romane Governours Now Pilate provokt by the dishonours or the dangers wrapt up in this doctrine stains the Altar with the bloud of these seditious sacrificers setting upon them now come to Hierusalem to attend the religion of the paschal rites Now this personal judgement was a little Map wherein the lines and figures of that terrible calamity which afterward fell upon the whole Nation were excellently represented some of them perishing ad modum â—undem and others ad modum similem For as these Galileans perisht on the feast of Passover in a sedition varnisht over with the specious colours and pretences of religion and conscience so did a great part of the Nation afterward fall in a rebellion against Caesar for Gods sake pious pretences that they especially were Abrahams children God's free people and to pay no sanctuary shekel to a Heathen Ruler and that on the very passover day in the Temple the place of sacrifice And the persons upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell were a kind of type of the many thousands besides which perisht in the ruins of the City of which that Tower carried the image and representation in which they were surpriz'd by the Roman army so that they did perish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a manner similar unto them Concerning which strange examples I must confess I see no reason to receive them with the Reverend D. Iackson absolutely and in themselves consider'd as any intended signs of the time to that Generation nor doe I think the Jews had any ground to think those sad accidents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 happened unto them as any true and proper types and figures of an analogous destruction to fall upon themselves in the revolution of a few years for could any mere man certainly foresee or but suspect that any such storms and shours of evils would suddainly fâ—ll upon the Jewish state upon the rising of this cloud no bigger then a mans hand the death of a few private and inconsiderable persons As a forain Divine speaking of the English art of preaching said truly plus est in Artifice quam in arte it derives more from the Artist then any set rules of art so we may say upon our Saviours prophecies and foresight exprest upon this occasion plus fuit in significante quam in signo His prophetick paraphrase upon that sign gave it that significancy and expressiveness whicâ— of it self it had not the type speaking no more without the divine gloss and sanction then the smiting of any King upon the ground three times with an arrow now signifies that he shall smite his enemies three times because the the instance was once by Gods appoyntment a happy Omen of such a blessing to a King of Israel But howsoever the Jews ought to have seen the sword of God in the hand of Pilate in that sad example to have consider'd that while he like the leech drew all this bloud to serve his own bloudy and revengfull Nature the great Physitian intended it as meâ—icinal to the body of the nation to teach them the wisdom of a speedy repentance therein least a like or greater judgement should surprize themselves and the rather because so guilty of the same sin the hiding of the sword of sedition in the Ephod of religion and conscience toward God and not seeing their fellows secur'd from the arrest of Judgement by the religion of an Altar and the prerâ—gative of a Temple All
Gods judgements upon others come forth upon purposes of grace and are intended but as the cutting and lancing of one member to draw away the corrupt humours from the rest Fifthly Lesser national judgements are to be regarded as the signs of Gods present displeasure and as his summons to repentance Scripture makes mention of Gods cutting of a Nation short 2 Kings 10. 32. and of his cutting of them off Jer. 44. 11. the instruments whereby he doth the former are very intemperate seasons murrains of cattle Epidemical diseases long dearths great defeats of Armies c. For as there are Vitia Hominum vitia Temporum the vices and follies of men taken asunder and of men consider'd as a body and under such common and moveable circumstances so there are Mala Hominum the evils which fall upon the lots of private men and Mala temporum the evils of the Times the Judgements which ceaze and touch men as united and meeting in one common body and interest and under the guilt of some publick and National impiety Now these are I say to be received by the common sense of a Nation as Gods warning pieces to come in and submit themselves to him by repentance least he storme them by some more black and terrible judgement For God sometimes deals by Nations as with persons who are first brought to a Council next to a Iudgement then to hell-fire The great day of destruction from the Almighty foretold by the Prophet was usher'd by these lesser evils the cutting off â—he meat from before their eyes the rotting of the seeds under the clods c. And before God layd the Axe to the root of that fair tree the Jewish Church he was pleased many years to chop and prune it by those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many little and prelusory Judgements that its unfruitfulness might be corrected And that showr of vengeance which at last overwhelm'd the Romane Empire was prefac'd by some smaller drops It lay long in the fire of many heavy afflictions but like the clay whereby it is emblem'd Dan. 2. 42. it lost nothing of its impure and drossy nature and at last this incorrigibleness brought on its final ruine and execution by the Barbarous Nations of the North. I say not that these instances can warrant us alway to receive all such lesser judgements as the tokens and harbingers of much greater and to borrow the language of the Prophet as the swellings out in a high wall whose breaking is coming suddenly For God often makes great sins the triumphs of his goodness and lays a very sad ground in some lesser evils when he purposeth to lay on his fair colours of peace and happiness He causeth it sometimes at even when darker and blacker times were expected to be light Besides the unchurching or unpeopling of a Nation his greater judgements are ways which under this spiritual Oeconomy the Divine Justice seldom walks in God indeed heretofore when the world in the greener years thereof was most under the conduct of its lower faculties and most apt to be drawn or driven by rewards or punishments temporal singled out the Jewish Nation in whose outward state of prosperity or adversity to read visible lectures of Divinity and obedience to the Nations round about and that the Nations might take the fairer view of their state God tells them Ezek. 5. 5 6 7 8. that he had plac'd Ierusalem in the midst of the Nations round about her and that they might call the eyes of the world the more upon them their plagues were such as scarce admitted their parallel instances But God chooseth now generally to punish incorrigibleness under temporal by spiritual judgements He sometimes delivers a people like Samson to blindness and stupidity who having been often bound by the câ—rds of their Delilah sins as Solomon speaks would never take warning When ever therefore the smoke of Gods lesser judgements speaks his anger to be kindled but a little we are to express a quick sense thereof and endeavour its quenching by a speedy removal of the fuel those National sins which may continue and increase it God will account with men one day not onely for the abuse of National mercies but National judgements And thus by Gods assistance have I issued my meditations upon both parts of the Argument and offered the best defence I could to the cause I undertook too just and good to be lost for a Nihil dicit Upon a review whereof I am not conscious to my self of having trespass'd against the Apostolical precept by returning upon our Adversaries railing for railing and of giving any suspicion of the weakness of my cause or Arguments by calling in passion or reproaches to their relief and assistance They which think an argument pierceth the less because not manag'd with some keeness of style may as well think a rasour cuts the worse for having its rough and grating edge a little taken off The truth is I apprehended not any such mountainous difficulties at any time in my way that I should need like Hannibal in the Alps to force a passage through them with fire and vineger any hot and tart expressions and reflections CHAP. VII The Conclusion The Omission of a particular enquiry into the truth and consequence of some late strange relations excused The undertaking proved needless difficult unprofitable Relations of matters wonderfull why greatly liable to suspicion The Caution of the superstitious Heathens in receiving such stories noted Men most apt to be abused with such relations where Religion is concerned in them The excellent manner of relating wonders in Sacred Writ The conviction of an Enthusiast or a Superstitious person why greatly difficult Projectours almost in every Science Why so readily attended to The Philosophical study of Prodigies commended An acquiescence in the present dispensations of Providence an effectual remedy against curiosity IT might possibly be expected that this discourse should have touch'd more closely upon the occasion and have come to a more distinct view and particular examination of at least some of those strange relations which of late have been prest upon the faith of the Nation with so great a confidence and so troublesom an importunity An undertaking which I purposely declined looking at it as Needless Difficult and Unprofitable First As in it self Needless For besides that I think it hard to finde a faith that can swallow any such Camel-stories as many of them in all the circumstances with which they are swell'd out appear to be there are no relations in the world which we may with greater reason arrest upon suspicion of imposture then such as these are And that 1. Because of the ignorance of the greater part of their Attestours in natural Philosophy Now where men look upon an object strange and prodigious through so gross and thick a medium it is no trespass against charity to believe they sometimes report them beyond their proper and just