Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	place_n	see_v	2,893	5	3.1798	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85208	The sacrifice of the faithfull. Or, A treatise shevving the nature, property, and efficacy of zealous prayer; together with some motives to prayer, and helps against discouragements in prayer. To which is added seven profitable sermons. 1. The misery of the Creature by the sinne of man, on Rom. 8. 22. 2. The Christians imitation of Christ, on Ioh. 2. 6. 3. The enmity of the wicked to the light of the Gospel, on John 3. 20. 4. Gods impartiality, on Esay 42. 24. 5. The great dignity of the saints, on Heb. 11. 28. 6. The time of Gods grace is limited, on Gen. 6. 3. 7. A sermon for spirituall mortification, on Col. 3. 5. / By William Fenner, minister of the Gospel Fellow of Pembrok Hall in Cambridge, and lecturer of Rochford in Essex.	Fenner, William, 1600-1640.; Stafford, John, fl. 1658, engraver.	1649 (1649)	Wing F699; Thomason E1241_1; ESTC R210449	136,683	333

of vertue Learne then the more you are reviled the more to make your light to shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie your Father which is in heaven No man yet ever lived though never so worthy but of some he hath beene despised Fourthly Know this in conclusion that you that are thus despised it is a part of your worth For when all men speake evill of you then blessed are you This speakes terrour to the wicked who wrong Vse 1 the children of God either with tongue or hands either by themselves or by others either by nick-naming them or by circumventing them this I say speakes terrible things against them Will you offer to speake against personages of great worth against the children of a King will the King endure that thou shouldest speake against the bloud royall no no he will be revenged on them that doe so dost thou now wrong a godly man thou shalt one day smart for it for God is able to punish thee yea and he will doe it unlesse thou speedily repent When Saul Acts 8. persecuted the Church of Christ Christ called from heaven and said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me I speake to those that are wicked men and I speake in the bowels of Christ if you did know them you would not doe it for had they knowne the Lord of life they would not have crucifyed him 1 Cor. 2. 8. so if such as doe persecute Gods children did but know their worth and that they were his children they would not doe it Let us esteeme godly men and women as persons Use 2 of great worth the Saints of God have alwaies done so Saint Lawrence being demanded by his persecutors wherein the worth of the Church lay the storie saith he gathered a companie of poore people together and pointed at them and said there lies the worth of the Church so I have read of an ancient King who made a great feast and invited a companie of poore people which were Christians and he bade his Nobles also now when the Christians came he had them up into the Presence-Chamber but when the Nobles came he set them in his hall Being of the Nobles demanded the reason he answered I doe not this as I am their King here for I respect you more then them but as I am a King of another world I must needes honour these because God doth most honour them and then they shall be Kings and Princes with me soe do you esteeme of them according to their worth and shew it If they be persons of such great worth Vse 3 here you may be directed how to get a name of worth in the world to be honoured of God This is the way labour to be beleevers serve God and close with the godly be of one minde and of one heart with them Honour is the thing that all desire according to that of Saul to Samuel Honour me before the Elders of my people so we are all readie to say oh that I could be honoured in the heart of those that I converse with all I say then thou must labour to serve and honour God in thy heart let that be thine honour It is a meere follie for men to think to get honour by swearing by lying by cutting and slashing and drunkennesse c. The sweete ointment of a good name is not compounded of stinking ingredients This should serve to comfort the godly Vse 4 that seeing they are of so great worth what though they be disgraced here let this suffice thee God that knowes the true worth of everie thing he accounts thee worthy what though doggs barke and crie out against thee for thy holinesse let them alone and know thou this that the time will come when never a curre of them all but wil wish oh that mine end might be like his and that they might goe as thy dogge to heaven with thee when they shall see thee sit at his right hand where are pleasures for evermore Lastly you that approve your selves to be Vse 5 of the number of the godly labour to walke worthy of the Lord. Colos 1. 10. Doth God thus advanced you then strive you to honour him with inward and outward worshippe God hath not done these things for you that you may live as you list no you are a chosen generation c. 1 Pet. 2. 19. Ergo you must shew forth the vertue of him that hath called you You that are parents of children the more you doe for them the more you looke they should honour you the more God hath done for you the more you ought to feare him God hath drawn you out of darkenes into a marvellous light and will you yet walk as vassalls of Sathan This was that kept Joseph from committing adulterie even the favour of advancement and how then can I doe this great wickednesse saith he so thou art advanced to honour from a childe of the devill to be the son of God how then canst thou commit wickednesse Consider I say how God hath advanced thee from being a slave of Satan to be his adopted son and shall I now become a covetous person shal I be a companion of Gods enemies when you are enticed by the divell or wicked men to any sinne say what shall such a man as I consent shall I flie from my coulors what a Kings son and flie Consider this THE TIME OF GODS GRACE Is limited GEN. 6. 3. The Lord said my Spirit shall not alway strive with man because he is but flesh and his dayes shall be a hundred and twenty yeares IN this Chapter is continued the History of the decay of the World wherein is described Gods purpose of destroying mankinde in which are these two parts First the meritorious deserving Cause wherein God gives an account what he doth how inexcusable the world is and how just God is unto the 14. vers Secondly a Direction unto Noah to make an Arke where we may see that God in his judgement remembers mercy The meritorious deserving cause is described first from the quantity of those persons in those evill daies a great many vers the first men began to multiply in places populous where there are some good there are many bad Secondly by the quality of those persons the Sons of God when they saw the daughters of men the sonnes of God viz. the posterity of them that maintained Religion they began to be carelesse and carnally confident they did looke after the profits and pleasures of this life and then it was high time for God to enter into Judgement Thirdly by the kind of sinne They lusted after unlawfull Marriages c. and the root of this was originall corruption the Imaginations of mans heart was onely evill and that continually verse 5. These words are a Proclamation of Gods purpose to bring it to an end in which are foure things First the Lords complaint in these words the Lord said Secondly the

wracked desires after grace and holinesse and yet is held by discouragements yea many a Christian heart lieth a long time under it wrastling and striving under its wants and yet kept out from grace and from growing in grace because of discouragements yea the best and strongest of Gods Saints have been kept off and have hung much on discouragements Feare not saith God to Abraham Genes 15. 1. So feare not Joshua saith God to Joshua Josh 1. 9. Intimating that both Abraham and Joshua were afraid of discouragements they were afraid that many evils would befall them that they should meet with many rubs and difficulties that would be too hard for them therefore the Lord calls to them feare not be not dismayed nor discouraged Thou saidst feare not Hence observe That God would not have any Christian Doct. ● soule to be discouraged in praier Thou saidst feare not For our clearer proceeding herein first let me shew you what discouragement is and secondly how it comes to be dangerous and hurtfull in praier What is discouragement Quest Answ It is a base dismayment of spirit below or beneath the strength that is in a man vnder the apprehension of some evill as if it were too hard for him to grapple with it There be foure things in this diffinition First I say it is a base dismayment of spirit and so I call it to distinguish it for there is an humble dismayment which a Christian is commanded A man is bound to be dismayed for his sinnes Isay 32. 11. Tremble ye carelesse women that are at ease be troubled ye carelesse ones these carelesse ones went on in their sinnes and feared not God calls to them and bids them to be dismayed But the dismayment and the discouragement I speake of it is a base dismayment of spirit which is either when he is dismayed that ought not or he is dismayed at that whereat he ought not to feare where no cause of feare is As Vitello his man thought his Master had got skill in Optickes he riding along upon the high way spying a mans shape thought it was some Spirit and thereupon he sickened and died So many a poor soul looking in the perfect Law of God and seeing his owne uglinesse and filthynesse he is discouraged and thinkes himselfe undone his heart waxeth cold within him and he begins to feare that he is but a dead and damned man Secondly it is downe beneath the strength that is in a man that man is properly said to be discouraged not that he hath no strength at all in him nor no courage at all for such a one is an infeebled man not a man discouraged but a discouraged man is a man put besides the courage that is in him when a man hath strength enough to grapple with the evill before him but through dismayment of spirit he cannot put it forth Have not I commanded thee saith God to Joshua Be strong and of a good courage be not afraid neither be thou dismaied Josh 9. God had given Joshua strength enough whereby he was inabled to observe and do according to all that Law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded him God had now doubled his Spirit upon him yet he commands him be not afraid neither dismayed as if he had said Joshua if thou beest dismayed and discouraged though thou hast strength and power to go through the businesse that I have called thee unto yet thou wilt not be able to use it nor to put it forth if thou beest discouraged Thirdly it is at the apprehension of some evill I say not at the sight of some evill for a man may be dismayed at the apparition of good as Mary when she saw nothing but a good Angell Luke 1. 29. she saw nothing but a glorious Angel neverthelesse she was afraid and discouraged Why because she had a secret apprehension of some evill either of some evill proceeded in the salutation or some unworthinesse in her selfe to receive such a gracious salutation it cannot be the apprehension of any good that discourageth a man but the apprehension of some evill Fourthly not of every evill neither for if the evill be but small courage will stand it out but it is of such an evill as he feares he is not able to grapple withall If the evill before him be inferiour to him he scornes it as the barking of a toothlesse Dog If it be but an evill equall to his strength then he makes a tush at it because he knowes or thinkes himselfe able to encounter with it But if it be an evill above his strength then his spirit melts and droops before him See this in Saul 1 Sam. 17. 11. and his people When they saw the Champion of the Philistims comming against them when they saw him so hugely and mervelously armed and heard him speake such bigge words they thought they were not able to stand and to encounter with him and therfore saith the Text when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistim they were dismayed and greatly afraid Thus you see what discouragement is such discouragements the Lord would not have our hearts to be in when we pray unto him For first God cannot give care to that man that is out of heart in his prayers Thou canst never pray if thou beest dismaied in prayer When the soul begins to feare and reason O I am so unworthy that God will not looke at me I am so sinfull so blockish so dead and dull to all good that God will never regard me thou canst never pray Rom. 10. 14. How shall they call on him in whom they have not beleeved If thou dost not believe that God will heare thee if thou dost not beleeve that thou shalt prevaile that God will deliver thee out of these corruptions and that lust that thou praiest against that God will give thee this grace or that grace if thou dost not beleeve that God will owne thee if thou hast these doubtfull discouragements O he will not grant me I shall never get this or that how canst thou call on him thou mayest call so and so but never canst thou call to any purpose if thou dost not beleeve in him A begger though he be never so well able to begge yet if when he comes to the House-keepers dore he be perswaded that he shall not speed that let him beg as long as he will he shall get nothing this blunts his begging and makes him give over his suite without any great importunity So it is impossible that ever a soule should hold out and pray that is discouraged in prayer Secondly thou canst not pray unlesse thou use all thy strength in prayer If thou be discouraged thou canst not use thy strength A discouraged man his strength melts into feare and whatsoever strength he hath he cannot put it forth How came Jacob to prevaile and to have power with God Why he used all his strength with God and so prevailed

praiers did David pray Psal 130. 1. Out of the deepe places have I called unto thee O Lord Lord heare my prayer as if he should say Lord I am even in the depth of miserie plunged over head and eares so that now I sinke and perish if thou helpe not Lord hear my praier This desperation a Christian must have this quickens up his Spirits and puts life into him but take heede of the desperation of Infidelity Saint Austen saith it is the murtherer of the soule the spice of it will eate out the heart of a man and kill the strength of all his endeavours I should now come to apply this doctrine but I feare me there be many amongst us that never come so farre towards heaven as to know what these discouragements meane This is lamentable It is true discouragements are hideous cases in praier and a man may perish and goe to hell that hath them but yet they are some-what profitable signes that a man doth at the least looke a little towards God or else he could not know what they are But there are abundance that never have attained so farre in religion as to understand what they meane but goe on in drinking whoring carding and dicing hating and malicing fretting and chasing mocking coveting swearing and blaspheming in security in hardnes of heart and impenitencie they are more carefull for their doggs for their potts and for their tables and for their shops then they are of their soules And which is enough to astonish any that is godly these men scarce finde any discouragements in praier O they have a good courage to pray at all times O say they God forbid that any man should be discouraged in praier I thanke God I have a good hope in God God hath given me a good heart of grace to call upon him and I make no question but that God heares me God would never bid us to pray if he did not meane to heare us Beloved these men that are so bold in the goodnes of their hearts to call upon God they never as yet praied in all their lives all the praiers of the wicked are indeede no praiers Daniel confessing the sinnes of wicked Judah saith though all this evill be come upon us yet made we not our prayer to turne from our wicked wayes Dan. 9. 13. all the time of those seventy yeares Daniel saith they never made praier to God yet they fasted every yeare and praied every day twise every day at the least which would amount in that time to 50000 and 100 prayers how then could Daniel say they never made one praier I answer and pray marke it because they never did quite turne from their evill waies Though thou makest never so many praiers though thou boastest of the goodnesse of thy condition and snatchest at the Promises of God yet if thou turnest not from thine iniquities thou never as yet mad'st any praier by the Judgement of God himselfe Paul made many thousand praiers before his conversion he could not have beene a Pharise else but they were never accounted praiers to him therefore as soon as ever he was converted behold saith God he prayeth Acts 9. A wicked man a carnall Christian though he have the righteousnesse of Saint Paul before his conversion of living blamlesse unreproveable in respect of the outward righteousnesse of the Law yet he can never make an acceptable prayer till he be truely converted his praiers are no better then howling of dogs or lowing of Oxen yea the Lord abhorrs them O what poore incouragements canst thou have seeing the Lord never tallies downe any of thy prayers wicked men are like ulysses who wept more for the death of his dogge then of his wife so wicked men weepe and mourne for the losse of their corne and their cattle hawkes and houndes cardes and dice but never for the losse of their praiers So long as thou continuest in thy prophanesse and impenitency thou losest all thy praiers there is not one of them that God tallies downe or reckons for a praier Here we might have a great deale of matter if time would suffer me But it will not onely let me tell you I speake onely to those whose hearts God hath awakened out of their sinnes but who are oft discouraged take heede of these discouragements For first they will drive thee to melancholy Beloved there are a great many melancholy men in the world and this is the cause of it men are contented to be converted by halves because they are discouraged in the worke If thou suffer thy selfe to be discouraged it will eate up thy spirit and thou wilt be like a silly dove without a heart Prov. 7. 11. A dove is a melancholy creature that hath no heart to any thing so Ephraim hath no heart to call upon God no heart to returne unto God and this is the cause that men and women goe whineing and mourning under the burden of sin and are not able to come out because of discouragements all the policie of hell is lesse then this policy of the divell in driving men to despair or discouragements this doth more hurt then al the rest of hel besides Secondly if you doe not take heede of them they will bring you to speake against God I have prayed but the Lord will not heare me I have called and the Lord will not answer but hath turned away his eares from me Now thou speakest against God Num. 21. 4 5. The soule of the people was much discouraged and the people spake against God and against Moses saying Wherefore have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wildernesse for here is neither bread nor water and our soule loatheth this light bread So beloved if we suffer our soules to be discouraged we shall soone come to murmure against God wherefore hath he brought me up to this strictnes and precisenesse when I was a drunkard a worldling when I followed the lust of my flesh and liberty then I enjoyed onnions garlicke and the flesh-pots of Egypt pleasures and delights for my soule then I had a good hope in God and a good perswasion that my soul should goe to heaven and then Preachers told me that if I would give over such and such sinnes and looke after Heaven a little more and doe such and such things O then I should come to a Land flowing with milke and honey then I should not misse of glory and salvation But alas I see nothing but Gyants and Anakims I am in a wildernesse now now I see a man may have a great deal of repentance and yet be a cast-away A man may have a great deal of faith yet be but a reprobate A man may give over a great many sins and yet perish in hell now I see a man may live civilly and well and have do a great many good things and yet be damned when he hath done all A man may even goe to Heaven Gates

and yet the gates be shut against him and he turned into hell Alas my poore soule is in a wildernesse now I know not which way to goe I am ready to lose my selfe I see nothing here now but huge Gyants the sonnes of Anack strong corruptions inclining and forcing me to evill most fearefull and violent suggestions and temptations of the Devill ready to thrust me into the gulfe of wickednesse and despaire And now the soule begins to thinke that it is good for it to returne again into Egypt to fall to its old courses againe for certainly God lookes for no such matter he requires no such strictnesse and precisenesse And so it falls a whining and repining at the Word and Ministers of God that have call'd men to it and laid it upon them and hath no heart now to do thus and thus any longer And thus it falls into discouragements because of the way and into a thousand quandaries whether it may not goe back againe or no. And all these murmurings and repinings are because men suffer themselves to be discouraged Thirdly discouragements will cause thee to thinke that God hates thee When the soule like Baals Priests hath been crying from morning to noone ten twenty thirty yeeres it may be and yet hath no answer now it will begin to thinke if God did love me then he would grant me my petitions Then hereupon comes into a mans secret thoughts and feares that God hardly loves his soule So was it with Israel when they were discouraged they said because the Lord hated us therefore he brought us out of the Land of Egypt Deut. 1. 27. Because that they were discouraged and because that their Brethren that went for spies had disheartned them therefore they were apt to say the Lord hated them Beloved it is a miserable thing when the soule calls the love of God into question Consider that as thou canst not have a friend if thou beest suspitious and jealous of his love to thee So thou canst never have the love of God settled on thy heart so long as thou art jealous of his love to thee Fourthly If thou root them not out it is to be feared that they will bring thee to despaire M●lancholy thoughts and feares and discouragements drive the soule to despaire For when the soule sees it selfe still disappointed of its hopes at the last it grows hopelesse If it have waited one day and the next day too if it have praied this weeke this month this yeare and yet still it seeth it selfe held off and disappointed it will at last grow hopelesse Take heed therefore I beseech you of all needlesse discouragements to fear be ause that thou findest not that that thou wishedst or prayedst for to day or to morrow in thine own time that therefore thou shalt never get it that now thou shouldest for ever despaire of the grace and love of God and thinke that now God will never heare thee that thou shalt never get grace and power over thy corruptions Men thinke that the preaching of the Word of God brings men to despaire the preaching of such strict points and the urging such precise doctrines makes men despaire men are loth to be at the paines to root out their discouragements It is rather a cold or dead preaching of the Word that is the cause of this for when the soule is instructed by holinesse humbled by holinesse converted by holinesse at the last when it comes to be thorowly awakened when it sees that this and this is required in a true conversion of the soule to God that herein true repentance must declare and demonstrate it selfe by these and these fruits or else it is but false and rotten Why now the soul must needs be brought to despaire because it seeth that though it have been thus and thus humbled though it have praied fasted and mourned in this and this manner yet it sees it hath not a soundnesse of grace There is such a grace in it such a worke and such a fruit of Gods Spirit in it that yet he could never finde in himselfe this makes the soule to despaire Indeed Preachers may be too blame if they speake and preach onely the terrours and condemnations of the Law without the promises of the Gospel for these should be so tempered that every poore broken soule may see mercy and redemption for him upon his sound and unfeined repentance and humiliation But if men doe despaire they may thanke themselves for it their owne sinnes for it their owne discouragements for it because they suffer these to continue in them Cain his heart grew sad his countenance fell he was wroth and disqui●ted in his minde and heavily discouraged why Gen. 4. Sin lay at the dore what dore the dore of his conscience rapping and beating upon his heart Beloved when the soule lets sinne lie at the dore drunkenesse pride and worldlinesse security hardnes and deadnes of heart lie at the dore when a man lets his ne gligent and fruitlesse hearing of the word lie at the dore when a man lets his vaine and dead praying his temporizing and fashionary serving of God lie at the dore of conscience to tell him that all his hearing of the word of God profits him nothing that his praiers are dead and vaine that his mourning fasting and all his humiliation is counterfe●t and rotten and that he hath no soundnesse of grace in him but that for all this he may fall into hell when sinne lyeth thus at the dore thus rapping at the conscience it is no wonder if the soule fall into desperation Cain let his sinne lie at the dore there it lay rapping and beating and told him that his carelesenesse and negligent sacrificing to God was not accepted and therefore no marvell if Cain be so cast down in his countenance and that he fall to despaire O beloved when sinne lieth bouncing and beating at the dore of thy heart when thy sinne whatsoever it is search thy heart and finde it out lies knocking and rapping at the dore of thy conscience day by day and month by month and thou art content to let it lie and art unwilling to use meanes to remove it and art loth to take the paines to get the bloud of Christ to wash thy soule from it or the Spirit of Christ to cleanse thee from it then thy soule will despaire either in this world or in the world to come But let us take heede then that our conscience condemne us not in any thing or course that we allow in our selves for if that doe then much more will God who is greater then our consciences and knowes all things The Apostle hath an excellent Phrase Rom. 8. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus c. As if he should say there is not one condemnation there is none in Heaven God doth not condemne them there is none in earth their owne heart and conscience doth not condemne them

teares for your sinnes if you can but sorrow not with nothing but sorrow be not discouraged suppose that thou hast a dead heart that thou art an hypocrite that thou hast a rotten heart it is a heavie thing and a fearefull case indeed for which thou hast great cause of humiliation and sorrow but yet sorrow not desperately as men without hope be not wholly discouraged but as you sorrow for your sins so also labour with incouragement to get out and be rid of your sins Fifthly discouragements breed and procure a totall perplexity They leave the soule in a maze that it knowes not whether to turne it selfe When men come to be discouraged Oh what shall I doe saith one I am utterly undone saith another I know not what will become of me saith a third Oh I am utterly lost I shall perish one day one day God will discover me and be avenged on me for this and that sin I were as good go to hell at the first as at the last for that will be the end of me I have gon to Prayer but that doth not helpe me I have gone to Sacraments but I finde no helpe still my soule lies under the power of sinne still my sinnes are as strong in me as ever Thus the soule is discouraged and cryes out Oh what shall I doe I know not what to doe What shall I doe sayest thou Alas thou hast things enough to doe if thou wert not discouraged Utterly undone ● No man thou mightest see that thou art not utterly undone but that thou art discouraged Dost thou not know what will become of th●e yea poore soule there is mercy grace and peace for thee if thou wilt not be discouraged Sixthly discouragements whisper within a man a sentence of death and an impossibility of escaping As far as the discouragement of life goeth so farre goeth the sentence of death We despaired of life and had the sentence of death in our selves saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 1. 8. 9. he despaired of life in himself and therefore had the sentence of death in himselfe this was good but he did not despaire of life in God for then he should have had likewise the sentence of death from God in his conscience If you despaire in the Lord you have the sentence of death and damnation from God in your conscience take heed of this my beloved be not discouraged in God do not despaire in the Lord that will worke a miserable effect in your soules it will secretly whisper a sentence of damnation in your soules It is strange to consider how many poore soules rub on with these whispering sentences in their bosomes suffering their consciences day by day to tell them that they are rotten to tell them that they were never yet converted to tell them that they are yet in the state of damnation and yet they will not root out these discouragements O goe to the Throne of grace beg for grace and for mercy and for power against sinne and be not discouraged What wilt thou carry thy owne sentence of death in thy brest if thou wilt not rouze up thy soule and pray with more affection and confidence and shake off discouragements take heed lest thou carry the sentence of thy own death and damnation in thy bowels O therefore once more let me beseech you to take heed of these discouragements and now hearken to the voice of God which calleth upon you feare not Thou drewest nigh in the day that I called upon thee thou saidst feare not FINIS THE MISERY OF THE Creatures by the sinne of Man ROMAN 8. VER 22. For we know that every creature groaneth with us also and travelleth in paine together unto this present THe Heavens and the Earth and every creature in both have a threefold goodnesse created in them by God First they have a goodnesse of end God made every creature for his owne glory for the setting forth of his owne praise the Lord hath made all things for himselfe Prov. 16. 4. that is that himselfe might be honoured and glorified by all Secondly a goodnesse of nature as God made all things to a good end ●o he made them of a good nature fit to attaine to that end for which h● made it God saw every thing that he made and behold it was very good Gen. 1. 31. very good for that end and fit for that purpose for which he made it Thirdly a goodnesse of use as God created every creature for a good end and made every creature fit for that end so he hath given every creature to men to use them to that end to have dominion over them Gen. 1. 38. that is take them for thy use and imployment and according as I have made them to set forth my glory and made them set forth that end So see thou use them to that end God hath appointed man that he should be the creatures mouth and their heart and their reason to praise and magnifie the Lord in them and by them and with them and for them that man being set in a course to serve God should have the use of all the creatures as under-helps unto him as the Sunne to shine on him the aire to breath in the 〈◊〉 to refresh him the earth to beare him the trees to feed him the whole world for to be Gods Looking-glasse for him wherein he might see the in●●sible things of God But behold man rebels against God his Maker and brings a curse upon himselfe Gen. 3. 19. and upon all his posterity ver 16. and upon all the creatures vers 17. and this curse lieth so heavily upon them that they all groane unto this day under the burthen namely because man hath violently wrested them from the goodnesse of their end and villanously poysoned the goodnesse of their nature and basely perverted the use of their service as Jerome said concerning Arrianisme the whole world groaneth under it Yea saith S. Paul it travels in paine till it be delivered for so the word signifieth as much as a distressed woman in travell It is a figure which we call Prosopopeia whereby a Person is feigned to the creature as though it had will desire sorrow groaning It is a Metaphoricall speech for we know that the whole creation groaneth with us and travelleth in paine unto this present The words now read containe in them these foure particulars First the agony of the creature under the slavery of sinne the whole creation groaneth Secondly here is the agony of the Saints it groaneth with us we groane together with it and it with us Thirdly here is the continuance of both till now Fourthly here is the certainty of the thing we know it to be so ● we know that the whole creation groaneth and travelleth in paine together with us till now There be foure severall evills saith Peter Martyr under which every creature groaneth under the hand of man First the continuall labour the creature is put too

things to them but the Ministers of God are bound to preach so as they may discover mens particular sinnes not so as people may point one at another but so as every conscience may feele its owne sinnes Thirdly particulars are most sensible If the Minister preach home in particular there is not a false heart then in the congregation but he will finde it out if he preach in particular he will discover every mans corruption ●ling wilde-fire in every wicked mans face and throw balme of comfort into every godly troubled spirit As King James saide well of a reverend Prelate of this Land Me thinkes this man preacheth of death as if● death were at my backe so should Ministers preach as if Heaven were at mens backes or as if hell were at mens backes When he preacheth of mens sinnes and corruptions he must preach so that their consciences may see that the word of God lookes into the very thoughts and hearts when he preacheth of the wrath of God and of condemnation c. he must preach so that the conscience may feele even the fire of hell flaming in it this is the way to teach the people the good knowledge of the Lord as it is called 2 Chron. 30. 22. every Minister may teach the knowledge of the Lord but not the good knowledge of the Lord. There is great difference betweene teaching of the knowledge and of the good knowledge of the Lord. Men may know God and his word and their sinnes but if they goe on in their sins it is not good knowledge then indeede a Minister teacheth good knowledge when he makes his people so to know sinne as to loath it and to come out of it so to know repentance as to repent indeed Secondly Discrimination As if he should say there are some that are in him and some that are not in him if any man say he abideth in him he ought himselfe to walk even as he walked so that here the Apostle would put a difference betweene the sound and the rotten-hearted in his congregation Hence observe this point That every Doct. 2 Minister is bound to preach so as to make a difference betweene the precious and the vile Saint John preached so as that his hearers might say the Spirit of Christ is in me or the Spirit of Christ is not in me that themselves might know whether indeede they were true members of Christ or but hypocrites This is the duty of Ministers Ezek. 44. 23. They shall teach my people the difference betweene the holy and prophane and cause men to discerne betweene the cleane and uncleane Here is two things First they shall teach them the difference betweene the holy and prophane Secondly they shall not onely shew it before them but if they will not see it they shall cause them to see it that is they must beate it into them and rubbe it into their consciences it may be when men may see they will not then he must make them to see If there be any prophane person any lukewarme or dead-hearted professor or close hypocrite in the congregation the Minister must make him see his prophanesse his deadnes and hypocrisie in Gods worshippe or if there be any godly soule or broken heart the Minister must make them to see that they have a broken heart First reason because else a man defiles the Reas 1 pulpit and prophanes the holy things of God Ezech. 22. 26. Her Preists have violated my law and prophaned my holy things they have put no difference betweene the holy and prophane neither have they shewed difference betweene the cleane and uncleane Those Ministers prophane the holy place of God when they make not mens consciences know which is holy and prophane when prophane persons may come and goe from Church and have not their prophanesse discovered to them a drunkard a swearer c and hath not his sinnes laide open to him Is there any prophane person here that hath not an arrow shot into his heart but he can goe away and not take any comfort from the Sermon these men prophane the holy things of God When God gave Benhadad into the hands of Ahab and Ahab spared him and let him goe 1 King 20. the Prophet tells Ahab ver 42 Thus sayth the Lord because thou hast let goe a man whom I appointed to utter destruction therefore thy life shall goe for his life c so if there be any Minister over any congregation in which there is any drunkard any swearer or whoremaster or worldling or lukewarmeling or any other that lives in such sinnes which God hath appointed and decreed to eternall destruction in hell if we tell them not their sins and make their consciences feele them then our life shall goe for their life our soule for their soule for we might have given them such a wound as might have beene a meanes to have cured their soule Secondly We are not the Ministers of Reas 2 Christ if we preach not so as that men may know that they are not converted if they are not c. God sayth to the Prophet Jeremiah if thou take forth the precious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth Jer. 15. 19. Jeremiah could not be Gods mouth to the people unlesse he would divide betweene the precious and the vile Vnlesse Ministers preach so as to make the consciences of their hearers feele in what state they live in they may be Ministers of Sathan Idoll shepheards but they are not the Ministers of Christ Thirdly because otherwise they can doe Reas 3 no good Ezek. 34. 17. and as for you O my flocke thus sayth the Lord God behold I will judge betweene cattell and cattell c. as if he should say woe unto the shepheards will they not preach so as to make a difference betweene cattell and cattell woe unto the Preists will they not preach so as to feede my flocke I will require my flocke at their hands and now sayth God will not the shepheards of my people doe it I will now doe it my selfe I will convert those that are to be converted c. I will feede and provide for my flocke my selfe Austin notes that after that Peter had smote off Malchus his eare Peter came to be a shepheard and an Apostle of Christ after Paul had persecuted the Church he came to be a Preacher and an Apostle of Christ so after Moses had killed the Egyptian God made him the Captaine and Deliverer of his people Austin observes from this that God appoints none for his Ministers but Smiters such as be men of blows men that will smite men home to the heart men that will wound the consciences of their hearers This I speake that you may not be offended at the Ministers of Christ when they apply the word of God to your severall consciences and whensoever you have the truth of Christ preached to your soules let your hearts make use of it for if thou apply not

the Author of all punishments then this may make their haire to stand upright upon their heads That God whom thou hatest is the punisher of thee even he whose-Sonne thou despiest and whose Sabbaths thou prophanest He is able if his wrath be kindled to consume thee in a moment Oh if thou haddest not an adamant heart this would daunt it and dissolve it into teares of bloud God will infinitely punish thee who is a consuming fire but if thou wilt not be daunted there is nothing but fearefull looking for of fire and brimstone for ever in hell When God punisheth his children it is in mercie but to the wicked his wrath is punishments and his Judgements is anger and great wrath and therefore when he punisheth thee thou mayest say a just Judge brandeth me in the hand Is it so Then when Calamities come Use 3 let us not so much stand upon men or upon the helpe of them but let us looke to God as David did it may be the Lord sent Shimei to raile on me and so did Job the Lord gives and the Lord hath taken away The Caldeans did it but they were Gods Instruments We should not doe as doggs that gnaw the stones that are throwne at them God takes stones as it were and throweth them upon mens heads and sometimes whips them by wicked men Now the wicked are but Gods rod and when he hath scourged thee he will cast the rod into the fire Therefore goe unto the Lord make peace with him and he will remove it The wicked I confesse are in fault but God is the Author of all and he will deliver you in his good time Secondly wherefore will God deale thus with Israel because they have sinned with a rebellious spirit not by infirmity but in disobedience Whence you may learne this point of Instruction That sinne and disobedience against Gods Law is that which brings downe punishments and judgements upon a Nation or a people or Church Sinne is the brooder and hatcher of all judgments and the very spawne of all punishments Ah this sinne and disobedience and willfull rebellion against God it will bring sw●rd and famine amongst us and let in the enemie and send out God from amongst us and stoppe the mouthes of his Ministers and breake off the Parliament Another cause why God sends punishments amongst us is this because Kings will not be subject to the Lawes of God and Queenes will doe what they list when Bishops and all people will have elbow roome to doe that which seemes good in their owne eyes as giving toleration for the prophanation of Gods Sabb●ths that the people may dishonour the Lord and runne headlong to hell this and such like sets up wickednesse and brings the wrath of God upon us and his vengeance upon our Land and Kingdome when thus sinne gets the upper hand and day of the word for which I cannot chuse but pittie our poore Land neither could you doe lesse if your hearts were not as hard as an adamant and your eyes glued together Ah poore Nation now thou liest a bleeding and drawing to an end and the bell now tolls for this Nation and the Lord is a going from this Land and her punishments and judgments are comming on apace so that all Nations may say Wherefore hath the Lord done this unto this Land what meaneth the heat of his anger then shall men say they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord God of their Fathers and served other Gods Judges 4. 2. When they forgatte the Lord their God then he sold them into the hand of Jabin King of Canaan this was the ground why the Lord drowned the old world Genes 6. 12. because they had corrupted all their waies this was the cause why the Lord burned S●dome and Gomorrah with wild-fire from heaven this was the cause the Lord destroyed Jerusalem forty yeares after Christ because they would have none of the offers of Christ and of grace and mercie And thus much for proofe Good Lord what a poore weake Land Use 1 have we if sinne and rebellion be the cause of all punishments then in what a poore case is England how weake are we our hearts may shake within us and our knees may knock together to consider of it having so many sinnes of all sorts of all degrees and committed with so high a hand and in most fearefull manner We are sicke from the Crowne of the head to the soale of the feete there is no soundnesse in us we are sicke in head sicke in heart sicke in stomacke we have had peace and that hath surfeited us and now we have gotten the plurisie and nothing but letting of bloud will cure us God grant the Lord let us bloud in our hearts also God must purge and physicke us and fetch out the drosse which we have gathered by our disobedience If sin and rebellion will doe it we have given God cause enough so to plague us Is it so Then we see who are the greatest Use 2 traytors in the Kingdome and what they are that pull downe punishments upon a Kingdome they are disobedient rebells and traytors full of sinne I protest the greatest traytors King Charles hath this day are the prophaners of Gods Sabboths and such as doe give liberty to prophane them and to sweare and be drunke these are the plague sores of this Kingdome and bring downe heavie judgements upon us yea of what place or dignity soever they be It is not onely poore drunkards but silver and velvet Coate drunkards even the Lordly men of this Kingdome who give libertie to sinne for the greater the men are the greater are their sinnes and they are the most dangerous even as great Cut-purses doe more harme then little ones for as Haman was hanged before the Jewes saw good daies and the seven sonnes of Saul were slaine before they could have any peace in Israel So while these rebells be not hanged what peace can be expected while Jonah was in the ship there could be no qu●etnesse so whilst these rebells and vile wretches live and have favour and are respected and goe on still unpunished they are in the Land as Jonah was in the shippe and so long there can be no quietnesse in the Land One Achan did plague a whole Land but here are many Achans in this Land Oh poore Land thou art wonderfully laden by every ungodly person both in Countrey and City O let us begge of God that these may be hanged and dispatched or that God would turne their hearts Is it so that sinne is the brooder of all Use 3 punishments O then let it teach every one of us to s●t heart and hand and all to worke to joyne all our forces of prayers and teares against these enemies and labour for the reformation of these When Jonas was in the shippe the Marriners came about him and asked him from whence comest thou So if ever we would see good dayes we must joyne

our prayers and all our powers against our sinnes and the sinnes of others When the Philistins saw that the Arke was the cause of the punishments that befell them then they never rested till they had sent it away so let us ship and packe away our sinnes if ever we would have our punishments removed from us Say Oh mine enemie have I found thee thou art the enemie of King and Countrey and Parliament and Gospell and thou art he that brake the last Parliament thou art he that lost the day at the Isle of Ree thou art he that sent so many poore Rochellers to the grave with famine and thou art he that makes division betweene Kings and Commons The Lord give us power and courage for if ever we had neede now we have and let us bestirre our selves and pray that God would be pleased to stirre up the heart of the King and other Magistrates against these sinnes O that Magistrates in their places would set their hearts and hands against all these sinnes but light execution is done and most Magistrates stand for ciphers in their places and onely take up a roome and doe nothing We cannot draw them with all the arguments we can use to punish these sinnes We have cause to mourne for they stand like scare-Crowes with a peice in their hands but never shoote and the birds may picke the straws from their heads so that Magistrates doe nothing But to you I speake that are Chiefe in Townes and chiefe Officers you should all joyne hand in hand and heart in heart to pull downe these al●houses hell-houses and nurseries of the devill and to supplant wickednesse We must not be one for them and another against them for in so doing we shall never see good dayes And you Gentlemen where are your hearts and hands against them when did you ever speak or write against them when did you ever set foot in striving to have them supprest men stand with their fingers in their mouthes and their hands in their pockets and dare not stand for God and good causes The Lord be mercifull unto us we doe not joyne our forces prayers and powers that we can make for Gods glory Oh that the Lord would be pleased to put his Spirit into our hearts that we may be all of one minde So you Gentlemen in your places and we Ministers in our places and all of us we are with all the strength and courage and mettle that the Lord hatth put into us to crie and pray and preach downe sinne And all you Masters and Dames you are to reforme your Families for these sinnes bring downe punishments upon the Land Therefore labour to finde out the wickednes of your Families and admonish them and reprove them plainely and shew them from Gods word the punishments that are due to them If you would doe these things then there might be something done and if reproofe and admonishment will not serve the turne then expell them and banish them as Abraham did Hagar and Ismael You Christians mourne for your sinnes and joyne your hearts and prayers against the sinnes of the place where you live If any house be on fire others will come with water to quench it as if it were their owne so here is a flame of fire kindled in this Kingdome of England and the wrath of God is like wild fire comming downe upon us from heaven therefore let every one of us bring some water or other to quench this fire that is round about us in every place and almost upon all hearts Let every man sweepe his owne doore and the streetes will be cleane so if every one would purge his owne heart what reformation would there be in every place then God and Christ and Gospell might be here still and the enemies might be kept out still which if we doe not who knowes how soone the enemie may rush in upon us but alas we harbour these traytors in our bosomes I protest against every man that harbours sinne in his owne house or soule that he is a traytor to the Kingdome whatsoever he be if I knew the man I would fasten mine eyes on him and tell him Oh thou vile Achan doest thou harbour these sinnes and traytors and keepe these sinnes and then crie out of the dangerousnesse of the times If a man did know certainely that the dogge that he keepes in his house would one day pull out his throate would he keep him fatte that he might the better doe it no sure he would rather hang him Or if a man did know that the fire that burnes upon the hearth would burne him would he blow it or if a man did know that the knife which he hath would one day cu●●e his throate would he sharpen it no surely Beloved this is the case of all us poore wretches that live in sinne they will be the cause of all the punishments that God sends upon us all Now therefore I charge you all men and women and every one of you to make a Covenant and enter into an Oath and a curse to search out every sinne and finde them out in your families wife and children and servants and doe what you can to quench them These Townes and Countreys are on fire O that the Lord would be pleased to send his word home to every one of your hearts you I meane that I love as well as mine owne soule my deare people I would spend and be spent for you if God would give me strength and though I speake plaine it is for your everlasting good What are those punishments that he threatned to poure upon them in the furie of his wrath He poureth full battails and the strength of battails all this was upon his owne deare people Israel even those people the Lord so severely threatens Hence observe this Doctrine That the Doct. 2 Lord often times brings fearfull and unavoydable judgements and punishments even upon his owne professing people even they that offer sacrifice and that pray and call him Father and fast and pray even upon these people he doth often times bring these punishments Amos 3. 2. You onely have I knowne among all the Nations of the earth therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities See the whole currant of Gods word did not the Lord punish the Children of Israel in the time of their Judges they had many sore enemies as Eglon and Sisera The ten Tribes they sinned and were carried into captivity and these were Gods professing people And afterward the other two Tribes Iudah and Benjamine were carried away captive into Babylon and there they were seventy yeares Forty yeares after Christ the Romans came against them and burnt all their Cities And these were Gods owne professing people The Churches of Asia were famous Churches but now they are overthrowne with Turkes Now our sinnes give God just cause to make him come against us with punishments and judgements upon this Land If a man

lie sicke and they see death in his face they call it the foretelling signe so the Ministers of God may foresee the death and destruction of a Kingdome I am sure we have better grounds then the Physicians can have And therefore why may not the Ministers which are Gods Physicians doe it The signes of Gods punishments that are comming upon us are these The first is of Gods Ministers which with one voice doe foretell judgements to come Then this is a signe that God hasteneth to battell Am●s 3. 7. Surely the Lord will doe nothing but he revealeth his secrets to his servants the Prophets but especially when they agree all in one thing then the Kingdome is dangerously gone Luke 1. 70. The Lord giveth one mouth as he spake by the mouth of all his holy Prophets I will say nothing in this but let me appeale to your owne consciences whether all good Ministers in the Church of England have not declared by Gods word that judgements are comming out against this Land and us for many yeares together And as our Saviour saith Whatsoever ye shall binde on earth shall be bound in heaven Secondly when sinnes of all sorts doe abound frequently and with a bold face and a whorish forehead For when the harvest is ripe then commeth so many sickles to cut it downe so when the sinnes of a Kingdome are ripe then it is time to cut that Kingdome downe Gen. 6. 12. The earth was filled with violence all flesh had corrupted their waies therefore make an Arke for the end of all flesh is come God will wash away their filthienesse Consider whether it be not thus with England or no. Was ever drunkennesse and blasphemie and scoffing at religion and prophaning Gods Sabboths nay liberty given so to do was it ever come to that height that now it is were ever great ones as Bishops and Ministers so defiled as now they are our Land hath often beene overcome when men were growne desperately wicked then they were destroyed Now what sinnes what blasphemies what hating of God lyeth raging in our times I thinke there is none in this Congregation but sees and heares how Citie and Countrey are venomed and benummed and defiled with sinnes of all sorts Thirdly when the devill and wicked men cast bones of dissention that is a signe of ruine When there was a disse●tion betweene Rehob●am and the people then God pulled away ten Tribes and much bloud was shed So when King and Commons and all are divided Ephraim against Manasses and Manasses against Ephraim but both against Judab then it is a fearefull signe that that Nation shall be destroied I say to apply this if ever a Kingdome were divided then this is if we could all accord then we might expect something but now our best bloud is gone and our hearts are gone the Lord in mercie raise us up from dead ashes O consider this I beseech you and lay it to heart Will God deceive his Ministers and make them all blindefold no no. When God puts his Spirit into his Ministers and makes them all with one mouth to call and crie desolation and when all manner of sinnes so fearefully abound and when there is such divisions in the State then let us looke for desolation Fourthly the fourth signe of Gods anger on a Nation is when all the hearts of men faile then it is a signe that vengeance is at the doore when there is a kinde of Cowardise through the guilt of the conscience Josh 2. 11. It was a certaine signe of destruction when the peoples hearts failed them thus it is with every man almost amongst us every mans heart is faint and sicke Judges 7. 13. When Gideon was to goe against the Midianites being a wonderfull Army one dreamed that a cake of barley bread tumbled into the hoast and overthrew them Then Gideon said be of good courage for I see that the Lord hath given them into our hands because their hearts were fearefull so he tooke three hundred men and put a Trumpet in every mans hand with empty pitchers and lamps and they all cried the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon and in the twelfth verse see what followed All the hoast ran and cried and fledde Even so it is with us we faint upon every occasion Gods Spirit is gone from England While Sampson had the Spirit of God upon him he was too hard for the Philistins but when the Spirit of God was gone from him he had no heart no spirit no courage then every man was too hard for him and then he was taken and had his eyes pulled out So when the Spirit of God was with this Nation we had courage and got the day but now alas every slavish Nation is too hard for us and every bug beare scares us O poore England heavy is thy case therefore we may expect nothing but miserie one way or another Now I might set downe a Comment or Theame with many teares for this cause that every one may reade his owne destruction from this point I am not a Prophet nor the sonne of a Prophet but from the word of the Lord I speake this thing unto you and upon these grounds I can say so That where these signes are destruction and calamities follow at the heeles of them We having all these signes in our State certainely destruction is at our heeles therefore let me give you some directions what to doe in these dangerous times First let every man knocke off the love of the world of houses of lands and corne and flockes they shortly shall leave thee or thou them O therefore cast them quite out of thy heart I would to God I could bring my heart and yours to this pitch that we could give wise and children and all as lost I confesse it is hard so to doe but God will sire us out shortly from these things if we part not from them in these our deepest afflictions Jer. 45. 5. Baruch was so much glued to the world that he began to feather his nest and therefore the Prophet said seekest thou great things for thy selfe seeke them not for behold I will bring evill upon all flesh So let me say to you as the Prophet said to Gehazi is it now a time to build Therefore at night when thou goest to bed take thy leave of thy wife and children and of thy houses and all and say this house may be mine enemies before the morning or may be set on fire this is not my wife these are not my children As Doctor Taylor said when he was going to his execution when he saw his wife and children he embraced them and blessed them in the name of the Lord and set them downe againe and made no bones of them and so doe you plucke away your hearts from all these things here below and give them all for lost let thy heart be contented that God should doe with thee what he will and submit thy selfe