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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	lord_n	sin_n	3,005	5	4.4939	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53265	New-England pleaded with, and pressed to consider the things which concern her peace at least in this her day, or, A seasonable and serious word of faithful advice to the churches and people of God, primarily those in the Massachusets Colony, musingly to ponder, and bethink themselves, what is the tendency, and what will cetainly be the sad issue, of sundry unchristian and crooked wayes which too too [sic] many have been turning aside unto, if persisted and gone on in delivered in a sermon preached at Boston in New-England, May 7, 1673, being the day of election there / by Urian Oakes ...	Oakes, Urian, 1631-1681.	1673 (1673)	Wing O21; ESTC W23179	65,078	72

He could have made them wise and understanding and considering men and women if it had been his good will and pleasure How can wishing and woulding be attributed to God in respect of those things which are never accomplished How can such a ●elleity be ascribed to God without the impeachment of his wisdome and power and constancy and blessedness Ans. This and the like expressions are spoken of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of men and must be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a manner becoming the glorious Nature and Being of God It is manifestly an expression borrowed from the manner of men lamenting the rashness the folly the inconsiderateness of their Children and their want of understanding their wayes and the issue of them And yet we must understand and take it up in a manner becoming and comporting with the perfect nature of the blessed God The Lord doth not really and properly carry himself as a Father that stands wringing his hands over a prodigal Son and saith O that thou wouldst be wise that thou wouldst understand thy self that thou wouldst consider what these prodigal courses will come to at last what will be the end of thy Drunkenness thy Laciviousness thy Company keeping thy great Idleness and vain expence of precious Time Estate and Strength in this manner O that th●u wouldst bethink thy self and consider what will be the issue of these lewd wayes and courses the poor afflicted Father may wish and desire it but hath not power to give such an heart but God alone can do it If the Lord had willed properly with the will of purpose or decreed that Israel should be wise to understand and consider their latter end be both could and would have conferred upon them that wisdome and prudent consideration of it and that without any impeachment of or de●●iment to the liberty of their wills It is at first sight a strange expression which we meet with Deut. ● 29 O that there w●re such an heart in them that they would fear me c. In the Original it is word for word Who vvill give that their heart may 〈◊〉 such in them as Mr. Ains●orth reads it Why doth God need to ask the question who will give them such an heart He knows that none but himself can give such an heart and that he can effectually give it and he knows whether he hath determined to give it or not And therefore the expression must be understood after the manner of men It is evident to any under standing man that these things cannot be spoken of God properly and rigorously as the Arminians absurdly strain them salva Ma●●●tate Divina But we must say cum toto Th●ologorum Choro as judicious Am●s speaks that God in such forms of speech that he may commodiously treat with man doth induere se homine put on Man as it were or vest himself in the condition and properties of man and propose his counsels to us in such a way wherein we may best apprehend them and they may be most familiarized to us The Lord in his Scripture treaties with the Sons of men very frequently applies himself to them in such a form or mode of expression as is best suited and accommodated to their understandings because most familiar to them and that which they are well accustomed unto The great God in this querimonious form of speaking resembles himself to a Father the Father of Spirits imitates and likens himself vnto one of the Fathers of our Flesh as the Apostle phraseth it Heb. 12.9 mournfully complaining of the folly of his Prodigal Son running out to excess of riot and not considering what the end of such vicious ri●●ous courses will be And yet it doth not argue nor may we imagine that God was willing but unable to give his people of Israel this grace and wisdome without impeachment of the Creatures native liberty or any violation of order setled and prefixed by himself God doth not do and undo and thereby contradict and deny hims●lf He doth not Decree not to confer this wisdome and then wish there had been no such Decree to hinder the communication of that wisdome He doth not give the Rational Creature such an absolute and uncontrolable liberty of will that he cannot bend and encline their wills to what he will and then repent and wish that he had otherwise constituted the frame of their Rational Faculties But if you d●vest the expression of that Anthropopathy that is in it there are these and such like things imported therein 1. A Graphical and Emphatical Expression of their want of wisdome and counsel understanding and consideration They were not spiritually wise nor was it in their power to understand aright or consider duely their latter end Gods lamentation of their folly and inconsiderateness argues their lamentable condition in that respect 2. That it was their duty to be so wise as to understand and consider their latter end Gods wishing this doth not necessarily import and argue the Creatures power but their duty not that they can of themselves but that they ought to be thus wise Their duty is hereby indigitated that they ought to wish and desire and aspire after those things which God speaking after the manner of men wisheth for them and that it is their great fault if they neglect their duty herein 3 That it is their interest and the wisest course they can fix upon wisely to mind and consider their latter end It would be really good for themselves and the best way to prevent misery and ruine It would have been a very beneficial course and turned to their great advantage 4. It imports God approbation of and complacency in this wisdome and wise consideration That it would have been a very pleasing thing to him as things wished for by men are wont to be unto them As it wou●d have proved their advantage and consolation so when God speaks so pathetically he seems as Mr. Caryl observes from a like Scripture to include his own consolation in it as well as theirs Oh that the●● vvere vvise c as if he should say as it would be good for them so it would be highly contentful to me and for my great satisfaction It is acceptable to God and pleasing to him to see this wise consideration in a people so circumstanced as Israel was It doth not argue that God was pleased to give them wisdome to understand and consider their latter end for then what should have obstructed the communication of it but that it would have pleased God if he had observed it in them he would have liked and approved it as agreeable to his Will The Lord would have greatly delighted in such a frame and practise of his Covenant-people and abundantly rewarded it 5. That the want of this was the great cause of their rushing on prodigiously in a course of sin into misery The Lord sufficiently intimates thereby that all the mischief among

were too hard for Moses and Aaron being Princes of the Assembly Men of Renown and Famous in the Congregation God Himself took them into his own hands and d●stroyed them in a stupendous and dreadful manner Contempt and ill usage of the Lords Messengers and Idolatrous practises ruined the State of Israel and Iudah Contempt of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Messengers and putting away the Gospel brought unparalleld Calamities upon the Iews Nay call to mind all your own experiences Have you not known or heard of these and those Professors abroad that in the time of their liberty and prosperity were wanton proud worldly despisers of Gods Ministers contentious and quarrelsome And do you not know the end of it such Examples are instructing and for our Admonition 3. Consider wisely the natural Tendency of the wayes themselves Some wayes of sin do in a way of Physical efficiency directly and in their own natural Tendency lead to misery and ruine as Intemperance to the Destruction of Health and Life Prodigality to Poverty and Misery that it comes on like an Armed man violently and irresistably And so Idleness and Neglect of a mans Calling and Business naturally works that way and hath the like issue So Divisions among a people lead the way to ruine It is a proverbial expression of our Saviour a Kingdome divided against it self will not stand So any Common-wealth where the Leaders and People are divided any Church or Churches divided any Societies divided they must fall cannot stand Not only Because God is angry with them but also from the nature of the thing it self Divisions pull down Societies open a Door and make a Gap for Adversaries and Oppressors to break in at that are watching all Advantages En quò Discordia Cives Perdu●it Miseros The fall of Schools and contempt of Learning will make way for Rudeness Ignorance Want of able Instruments to manage Church and State Affairs Irreligion and Ruine to this poor Country This or that miserable Event and End lies in the Womb of these and those wayes Some wayes of sin naturally breed are pregnant and will in time travel with and bring forth this or that woful-issue Oh Read your End in your way You may do it certainly in some cases As there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 6.9 things that accompany Salvation and have a coherence with it So there are also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things that have connexion with Destruction not only in respect of the positive constitution of God but also in regard of the Nature and Frame of the things themselves The due consideration whereof may be of great use in your passing a Judgement upon the end of your wayes 4. Beg of God to make you wise in this matter and to give you understanding and considering hearts God only hath a perfect and infallible knowledge of events and of the latter end of things It is his Prerogative Royal which he assumes to himself as his own peculiar Isai. 41.22 23. Oh therefore rest not in your own Guesses and Conjectures and weak apprehensions but Address your selves humbly to the God of Wisdome and Knowledge who gives liberally to such as ask him for thi● understanding and judicious consideration that you may be able to make a true judgement of your Latter End The Lord saith in the Text Oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter End Now the best Reply and Return that can be made to it is O Lord that we were so wise indeed Dost thou wish it for us So do we through thy Grace wish it for our selves But thou alone art able to make us wise and thou givest wisdome and grace with a liberal hand and upbraidest not O make us wise indeed in this matter and help us to an understanding serious consideration of our Latter end Da quod jubes Give us that Wisdome and Understanding-Consideration thou requirest of us Let thy Word be Operative to Work it as well as Optative to wish it in us And now much Honoured and Beloved Let me tell you plainly that the great sense I have of the Displeasure of God against us and the sad Apprehension and Ab●ding of approaching calamities unless speedy Repe●tance and Reformation of our wayes obviate and intercept them hath opened my mouth to you in this manner God is certainly angry with New-England Thence many wise men are infatuated many good men are become perverse and froward Counsels carried headlong all manner of good almost obstructed in all Societies our Chariot Wheels are taken off we d●●ve heavily along scarse any thing goes forward as it was wont to do among us As if no longer the Light but now the ●ark and black side of the Cloud were turne● towards us and the Lord were casting such a dreadful look upon us as he d●d upon the Egyptians in the morning-watch when he troubled them Exod. 14 2● 24. And which is worst of all there is no A●pearance of any Help or Remedy Oh the Depth of the Counsel and the Eff●cacy of the D●●●●● of God! When misery is determined nothing shall intervene or stand in the way to hinder it Verily unless the Lord help us to Consider our wayes and repent and return to him from whom we have deeply revolted and recover our standing under the wonted ●nfluences of his Favour and pleasant Beauty that hath been upon us we may certainly look for sad Times What should I say then But Rejoice Oh you Adversaries of the Cause and Interest of Iesus Christ of the Liberties and sweet Enjoyments of the people of God in New-England We are doing your work for you we are putting a Staff in your Hands even the Indignation of the Lord Isai. 10.5 which is kindled against us by our sins We are making God our Enemy our Defence and Glory is departing from us that strong hedge of Protecting Providence that hath been about us is breaking down we are pulling up the Stakes of it with our own Hands and saying our selves open to your In●odes and Incursions The day of Edoms Sons who would not only deface the beauty break down the ba●tlements and uncovert●● Ro●f of our Sion but ras● our Ierusalem to the ground even your day which you have looked for plotted for longed for is now coming apace wherein you shall mo●k at our Sabba●hs break down the carved work of our Sanctuary roar in the midst of our Congregations spread out your Hand● upon all our pleasant things and say Aha thus would we have it Yet rejoice not against us Oh our enemies For when we ●all we shall arise and when we s●●th Darkness the Lord shall be a Light unto us And when he shall have performed his whole work upon our Mount Sion and Ierusalem He will arise and awake to our judgement and plead our Cause and punish the Fruit of the stout heart of Adversaries But Oh you dear People of God in New-England however

of Godliness when the Kingdom of Heaven suffered violence and Religion was the great buisiness and All in a manner of such as had given up their Names to God and subscribed with their hands unto the Lord cannot but easily discern a sad alteration of the state of things among Professors that much of our silver is become dross and our wine mixed with water and that the Daughter of Sion hath contracted filth that had need be purged away Oh where is that Sense of the evil of sin that Dread of the Majesty and Terrour of the Lord that Fear of the wrath to come that care and vigorous endeavour to secure an happy condition in the next World where are those fervent Prayers unutterable groans invincible wrestlings with God that serious and frequent meditation that trembling at the Word making hast and not delaying to keep the Commandments of God are not the wise as well as foolish Virgins slumbring and sleeping As the Spouse saith I sleep but my heart wak●th Cant 5.2 They are in a great measure opprest and overborn with security And others fast asleep their eyes closed and hearts asleep too Hence so many Dreaming Professors among us Do not men too generally turn Religion into a Formality and keep up a gaudy pageant of Religion in a course of Profession that hath no life nor soul in it Professors do not walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with that accurateness and circumspection that they were wont to do● but are grown careless and sleepy because the Bridegroom tarrieth and wax weary of well-doing and suffer their love to grow cold and stumble at such stones as are commonly laid in the way of a long profession do not some of them begin to eat with the gluttonious and drink with the drunken and smite their fellow servants because their Lord delayes his coming verily the hearts of men generally are not lift up in the wayes of the Lord 2 Chron. 17.6 nor engaged throughly to seek after him but they walk at all adventures with him Levit. 26.21 And there are a Generation of heedless Professors among us that take no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord with all their heart●● which was the Character and Brand of Iehu for all his high profession of Zeal for the Lord of Hosts 2 King 10 31. what settling and thickning upon the lees of security and sensuality sloth and ease doth the Lord Jesus observe among us that searcheth Ierusalem with Candles Zeph. 1.12 what a deal of Dross cleaving to men doth He take notice of whose fire is in Sion and furnace in Ierusalem Here is much precious Wheat but what a deal of Chaffe will be found when Christ comes to sift and win now and purge his floor throughly When the Apostle gives us the Character of those last and perilous times that should overtake the Church of God he reckons up sundry evils that too many Professors in those dayes should be addicted to And I wish his prediction were not verified among us in all the particulars of it Men saith he shall be lovers of themselves pursuing their own interest with th●● neglect of the good of others Covetous or Lovers of Money Po●sters insolent and vain glorious Proud supercilious vaunting or flaunting Profession Blasphemers scu●●ilous and abusive revisers of others Disobedient to Parents that is Despisers of the lawfull Authority not only of natural Parents but of Civil and Ecclesiastical Rulers and of superiours in all Societies Families Churches Common-wealth Vnthankful that are not to be won by any kindnesses but are ungrateful to men of worth and usefulness that have obliged them by all manner of Civilities and Services Vnholy or Prophane spirited men without natural Affection Truce-breakers or Perfidious that mak● no Conscience of words and covenants but violate their promises and engagements False Accusers Devils the Original word is or Make bates and Calumniators Incontinent or intemperate that are buri●d in flesh and drowned in sensuality Fierce men of savage and bruitish dispositions that will admit o● no moderation Despisers of those that are good such as cannot love good men but despise them be they Magistrates or Ministers men of Piety and great Worth Traitors perfidious to the cause and interest of Christ to their best friends that repose confidence in them Heady violent men that are not to be check'd and restrain'd by Reason or Conscience within any bounds of sobriety but are precipitately carried on as their blind affections and passions hurry them High-minded they are Lords and Reign as Kings and have an high Opinion of themselves an over-weening conceit of their own excellencies Lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God preferring their own carnal pleasures before the holy will of God And the Close of all is Having a Form a shew appearance or vizor of Godliness but denying the power thereof I need say nothing more by way of Application only mind that the Apostles Exhortation is from such turn away 1 Tim. 3.1.6 And therefore we may well conclude that Jesus Christ will turn away from them and have no pleasure in them This this is the sad Apostacy that many in New-England are guilty of A visible decay of and declension from the practise of piety and power of Godliness seizing upon a very considerable part of the professing party of these Plantations as to personal holiness and zeal for the precious interest of Jesus Christ among us An Hour of Temptation is come upon us the desperate effects and issues whereof are plainly seen in the Decay of Love the subversion of the Faith and partial or total Apostacy of many persons Our vain janglings and contentions and strifes and debates those Sucker● that draw away all the nourishment from the substantial parts of godliness are an evidence that we are grown carnal that once were a spiritual people 1 Cor. 3.3 We have many fearful instances tremendous Examples of backsliding so that the goodly profession of many persons expires in sad revolt from the Truth to vile Opini●ns or from the power of godliness to loose and licentious courses I have against thee much against thee may Christ say to New-England as he said to Ephesus Rev. 2.4 because thou hast left thy first love And what will be the Latter end of this but the removing of our Candlesticks the loss of the presence and ●avour of Christ the departure of the Glory of the Lord from us the casting away of the Salt that hath lost its savour 2. Consider what ●ill be the latter end of the great contempt of and unfruitfulness under the Dispe●sation of the Word and Ordinances among us Do not your own Consciences tell you that the Market and Price of Ordinances is very low at this day Houses and Lands Lots and Farms and outward accomodations are of more value with many people then the Gospel and Gospel ordinances When the Ark of God was taken it was the sad lamentation of that good Woman the Glory

among us as have received their Sop and are going forth to betray Jesus Christ I meane the Interest of Christ here among us with a kisse ●●b●●lous pretences of love and good affection or to force him if need be with swords staves Le● them know that they are hastning their own Ruine it had been better for them that they had never been born Certain●ly they that long for a Change or that would not do all that may be done with a good Conscience to prevent it may have time enough to repent their F●lly I am no States man nor Politician It is neither my Profession nor Ambition nor do I love to Discourse of things that I do not competently Grasp and Comprehend Therefore I shall only say further it hath been very sag● Counsel that hath been often given you Keep to your PATENT Your Patent was a Royal Grant indeed befitting a Great Prince to make and that which our Worthies that are gone to rest have many a time blessed God for and it is instrumentally your defence and security Recede from that one way or other and you will expose your selves for ought I know to the Wrath of God and Rage of Man Fixe upon the Patent and stand for the Liberties and Immunities conferred upon you therein and you have God and the King with you both a good Cause and a good Interest and may with good Conscience set your Foot against any Foot of Pride and Violence that shall come against you I shall only adde that my Hearts Desire and Prayer is that the E●ctors this Day may use their Priviledge well in chusing men fearing God and duely Accomplished for Government acquainted with the Worth Glory of the Interest of Christ among us in Church and Common wealth And that the Elected may have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suitable and seasonable Help and Grace to manage all affairs they are intrusted with to the Glory of God and good 〈◊〉 this Plantation And that the People under them may be so far from weariness of and Disaffection to the G●v●rnment that they may thankfully enjoy the sweet fruits of a good Mag●stracy and that there may be a Covering or Defence upon all our Glory 9. Consider what will be the Latter End of an inordinate Affectation of Liberty I am farre from speaking against due care to maintain our Liberties It is the property of English me● much more of Religious English-men and should be most of all of Religious New English-men to be tenacious and tender of their Liberties Religion doth so ennoble and heighten the spirits of men that a Christian though he can be cont●nt to bear the Yoke and be in bondage when God will have it so yet he cannot willingly prostitute his Liberty and basely enslave himself You are bought with a price Be not servants of men 1 Cor. 7.23 Religious people will bear as long with Tyranny and Oppression as any people but when God and Reason calls for it they are wont to be as stout Assertors of their Liberties as any men I am farre from condemning or perswading to Jealousies concerning men of piety and principles that are sober and modest and conscientious Assertors of their Liberties But I would disswade from an extream and undue affectation of Liberty Here is a grea● Cry in the Countrey as this day about our Civil Liberties these and those in the frightful Imaginations of some men are about to rob us of our Liberties I doubt not but the Jealousy and complaint at least as to many of them that are thus censured is utterly groundless And therefore take heed what you do Out-cries for Liberty are popular and plausible make a pleasant sound in the Ears of Injudicious and unexperienced persons but to those that have been abroad in the World and observed or acquainted themselves with the Histories of States and Kingdoms nothing is more suspected Commonly th●y that raise the loudest Out-Cry against Governors for Robbing the people of their Liberties either design or eventually prove to be the greatest Oppressors of them When they come to be Masters The World hath been long imposed upon and accustomed to these Impostures yet is not old or wise enough as to the generality of the Inhabitants of it to be cautious in this matter and to repose confidence in those that they have experienced for Faithful Conductors before the pretended Assertors and Conservators of their Liberties See saith Absalom thy matters are right thou hast a very good cause that would admit a quick and easie dispatch but my Father David is a careless man and minds not the good of his Subjects Thou maist wait long enough for justice to thy great charge and Trouble for he hath deputed none to hear thee Oh that I were judge in the Land I would do every man justice without delay He kissed and courted the people to get into the throne 2 Sam. 15.2 3 4 5 6. But what do you think would that dissolute young man have been in the throne for all his Courtships and flatteries good David with all his partialities Injustices and infirmities was farre better and the deluded people would have found it so then aspiring Absolom with all his Complements and fair promises Nothing is more ordinary with Ambitious men in a Popular State then Affectation of Popularity seeming Sympathizing with the people and complaining of the Defection Apostacy and evil Intentions of their Governors Take heed of such Impostors though Religious in pretence and appearance Acting all with a Theatrical Gravity When you have pious Rulers of whose Faithfulness you have had experience Do nor easily suspect them Verily none are more like to wrest away your Liberties then those that make the greatest Out-cry for them when there is no Reason no greater Engine to embondage and enslave a people then such causless Out-cries for Liberty I would know them very well that I would trust in that Case In Popular States the great danger is of a Licentious Pa●sions Vngovernable Spirit that kicks and spurns at Authority and this makes way for Anarchy and Confusion and that for Tyranny For though it may seem a Paradox to some yet it is an experienced Truth that nothing makes way more for Tyranny and Oppression then an undue Affectation of Liberty This certainly genders unto Bondage Our Liberties are so sweet and precious that its pity we should lose them by needless Jealousies and Murmurings Unthankfulness to God and Men who have been the Custodes and Keepers of th●m or by catching at a shadow instead of the substance There are the same Out-cries in Churches also for their Liberties And God forbid but that our Brethren should enjoy the Priviledge and liberty which Christ hath conferred upon them But take heed Brethren of complaining without cause It grieves my heart sometimes to think how shamefully many good people are cheated and befooled in this matter Many of those Brethren that give out themselves to be the

them was occasioned through the want of a wise and understanding consideration of the event of things This would have prevented it 6. That this is the first and good step towards the repentance and reformation of a degenerous backsliding and rebellious People to consider what they are doing whither they are going and what the end of their wayes will be at last 7 The nature of the Word of God and the dispensation thereof is signified hereby viz. that it doth instantly perswade men to get this wisdom and understanding and considering spirit or wise consideration of the Event and Issue of their ways and doings And that God will in the way of these moral means these pathetical 〈…〉 suited and accommodated to the manner of men effectually 〈…〉 wisdom and serious consideration of their latter end in some 〈◊〉 hearts and that he doth eminently and virtuali quadam ratione as the learned Ames expresseth it will it as to other men ●atenus or so farr forth as he commands and calls for it But I shall not detain you longer in the general Explication of the Text or Solution of these or those Difficulties The sum result of all is Israel was a People of many mercies and singular enjoyments none like unto them but withal of great provocations by their Apostacy Idolatry and other grievous miscarriages and the Lord represents it here as their wisdome to consider rationally and judiciously what would be the sad and doleful issue thereof The Observation is plainly this Doct. That it is the great wisdome of a People that have heen conducted by the Mighty Hand of God to a place of Rest and Liberty and setled in the possession of singular Priviledges and enjoyments to understand and consider or understandingly to consider what will be the latter end of their sinful wayes their unsuitable and unworthy deportments before the Lord. The People of Israel were in Covenant with God peculiarly favoured and accepted of him And in pursuance of his Covenant engagements he had delivered them out of hard bondage and carried them in his Arms to Canaan a Land of rest and liberty and glorious enjoyments where they quickly trespassed and rebelled grievously against him according to the prediction of Moses in this Prophetical Song and the Lord in the words of the Text plainly intimates it to be the wisdome of that People and by parity of reason of any other People that may be paralleld with them at such a juncture and in such a condition to understand and consider or to Consider with Consideration as the Original hath it significantly Ier. 23.20 what will be the latter end of their sinful and rebellious wayes The Lord tells that People in the place but now mentioned when he was about to bring a dreadful storm of wrath upon them that in the latter dayes they should consider it perfectly Surely then it would have been their great wisdome to consider it in the former dayes before the storm came and the wrath of God arose against them so that there was no remedy Hence the Lord expostulates with the Iews and calls them to a serious consideration of the end and issue of the general corruptions and great evils found among them Ier. 5.31 The Prophets proph●sie falsly and the Priests bear rule by their means and my People love to have it so And what will ye do in the end thereof when Prophets Priests or Princes and People were so extreamly bad so wo●ully corrupt and faulty it was time for them to look about them and consider what would become of them at last It is the guise and character of a Fool Prov. 17.24 to have his eyes in the ends of the Earth gazing and wandring about looking hither and thither far enough from his own concernments But it is an act of wisdome in any People especially such a People as Israel and the property of wise persons to have their eyes fixed upon the end of their wayes and walkings The only Enquiry here will be Quest. What is it for a Person or People understandingly to consider the latter end of their wayes Ans. It implies evidently these Particulars 1. To pass a right judgement upon it to finde out and fix in their thoughts upon the true end and issue of their wayes according to the nature and tendency of them To pitch upon it and determine aright concerning it For many men deceive themselves shamefully in this matter many bold and presumptuous sinners though they hear the words of the curse of the Law do bless themselves in their hearts saying they shall have peace though they walk in the imagination of their hearts to adde Drunkenness to thirst Deut. 9.19 Though they walk not in Gods ways which are wayes of pleasantness and peace but in the crooked and destructive wayes of their own besotted foolish hearts yet they promise themselves a good issue and vainly imagine that they shall do well enough at last Though they walk in the wayes of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes yet they think to hold up their Heads and look the Lord Jesus with confidence in the Face when God shall bring them into Judgement As a Bird hasteth to the Snare and knoweth not that it is for his life Prov. 7.23 So many a rash inconside●ate deluded Sinner rusheth on headily in a course of Rebellion against God and knows not that the end of it will be destruction Such is sometimes the Blindness and Security not only of particular persons but of the Body of a People that they cry peace and safety and promise themselves Prosperity and a good Iss●e of those wayes that end in suddain and unavoidable Calamity Understanding consideration in the case before us importeth thus much that a person or people syllogize well and conclude aright concerning the end of their wayes and actions that they do not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaks Iam 1.22 reason themselves into a mistake and ●rrour or false conclusion about the end of their deportments towards the Lord and put a fallacy upon their own Souls in this respect 2. To revolve this in their minds and to be frequently thinking of their latter end To ponder it throughly and to have their Souls Judgements and Consciences much exercised with interested and engaged in it Consideration intends more then a transient thought or suddain ●●itting apprehension It imports a fixing and dwelling upon this or that in our thoughts Though sometimes the Object of consideration may be so plain and legible that he that runs may read it yet consideration is not a cursory work or a running cogitation It becomes a people especialy such as are so circumstanced as Israel to be much conversant in this work and duty There must be a Fixing and staying of their minds upon this Subject as it were a steeping and soaking of their thoughts in the daily meditation of their latter End Not only rolling or glancing but fixing the