they have been found amongst them But at another time so great and general were the Sins of the Jews That God tells this Prophet Though Noah Samuel and Daniel were there they should only deliver their own souls Ezek. 14. 14. Ordinarily 't is an Humiliation in some competent measure proportion'd to the sin which must appease the wrath of God broke out upon a people When all Nineveh had sinned and was threatned it must be a general Repentance that could prevent the Execution of those Threatnings 2. Though particular Persons may not by their Reformation procure mercy to a whole Land nor yet free themselves from the outward stroak which lights upon the Body of the Nation yet shall not their labour be lost but God will have a special eye to them in the common Ruin and what is in wrath to others shall be in love to them They shall have either such preservation from or deliverance out of the temporal Calamity or such support in and advantage by it that they shall have abundant reason to acknowledge that their Repentance and Supplications were not in vain Fear not poor Christian if thou be but a mourner in Zion one whose heart bleeds for thine own and others transgressions though thy Dwelling be in the midst of profane rebellious Sinners yet thou shalt not be lost in a croud It is not the Oaths and Blasphemies and Crying Sins of those about thee that shall drown thy Prayers but God will hear and one way or other graciously answer them If thy Soul thy everlasting Life be given thee for a prey as a temporal Life was promised to Ebedmelech Jer. 39. 19. and to Baruch Jer. 45. 5 thou hast sure no reason to complain What though the same Disease and Death seize thee as doth them It comes not for the same Reason nor shall it have the same effect What though thou wast carried in the same Ship with Traitors into another Countrey where they are to be executed and thou advanc'd to the highest Dignity was this any hurt to thee If Death take thee from the pressures of all sorts under which thou maist now groan and from the Evil to come and translate thee into the glorious Presence and full Fruition of the Ever-blessed God this is sure a different thing from being snatch't away from thy happiness into the society and torments of the Devil and his Angels Wherefore thou hast good reason to acknowledge Gods distinguishing mercy in those his dealings with thee which to sense may be the same with what others meet with I might add also the spiritual advantages which accrue to the Godly by Afflictions sanctified but the other contains this in it and much more 3. Thy Afflictions may perhaps be more for Trial than Punishment and so may be continued notwistanding thy endeavour to find out and forsake sin but when they have wrought that particular End for which God sent them they shall be removed Or they may befall thee for the Cause of God and a Testimony of a good Conscience and then thou hast more cause to rejoyce in them than impatiently to seek their removal Whatever they be see thou make this use of them to be more deeply humbled for and set against sin which is remotely at least the cause of all Suffering and to demean thy self patiently and submissively under the mighty hand of God and in his due time he will exalt thee It being then evident That the knowledge of Sin is so necessary to the removing the heavy hand of an offended God from off an afflicted Nation Surely the great Work we are all call'd to in this day of our sore Visitation is to give all diligence to know why it is that God contendeth with us and wherein we have incenst him thus to pour out his wrath upon us that so we turning from our particular sins he may turn away his anger and comfort us And in order to this it is the duty of every one who is an Inhabitant of the Land in the first place to call himself to a strict account and impartially to look into his heart and review his life and see what he hath done towards the hastening these Judgments upon us and accordingly apply himself to God to do his utmost for their removal Every man hath brought a faggot to the kindling of the Common flame wherefore every man should bring his bucket to quench it And here let me warn every soul to beware of a most dangerous temptation wherewith its like they 'l be assaulted to wit to think but very meanly and sleightly of their own particular sins as if they had little or no influence to the bringing on us such grievous Calamities and that partly out of self-love which makes us very tender how we accuse our selves and ready to extenuate all our own faults partly because we may yet be free from the smart and therefore take but a cold superficial view of our selves and partly because when we look upon the evils in grosse under which the Nation lies we can discern no proportion betwixt them and our personal offences and this comes much from our ignorance of the hainous nature of the least sin Now reflect on thy self Reader and tell me Hast thou not been very ready in the general to cry out That 't is for the sins of the Nation we are now afflicted and to flie out very bitterly against this party or that this abuse and the other corruption in Church or State but in the mean time hast been very backward to charge and accuse thy self as thou oughtest as if thou wast not a member of this sinful and suffering Nation Let thy Conscience answer whether this hath not been thy way and judge whether this be a just performance of thy duty If every person thus shift it from himself where will Repentance be found and what 's like to become of us If there were an Army to go forth against the Enemy and one person should draw back and say what can he do He cannot be mist in such a Multitude nor can he do much against such a numerous force and therefore desires he may stay at home and another come and use the same excuse and so a third and at length all that have the same reason which indeed every man may pretend to what 's like to become of the War And yet alas how doth this senselesse Objection generally prevail in the World in a case somewhat different from this viz hindring that couragious Zeal and Industry for the promoting of Religion and for the destruction of the Devils Kingdom which beseems every Member of Christ hat is listed into his service by the Baptismal Covenant wherein he was engaged to fight under the Banner of Christ and that without putting in this Condition that he should have good store of Company to joyn with and back him for without this he may come off a Conquerour But yet now cries one What can I do
Sister Mary was in those times accounted singular Piety even by those Bishops who came to request it 'T is somewhat strange methinks to see even the poor Quakers themselves drag d to Prisons and banish'd the Land whil'st Conventicles more expresly contrary to the Law of God and equally I think to the Law of the Land are at least overlook't Yea let me add this freedom they enjoy whil'st half a dozen of private Christians in all things so far as concerns Laymen conformable to the Church of England cannot have Liberty to meet together for the private Service of God though it were but to join their prayers on the behalf of our Land that it would please God to remove from off us the heavy Judgments we now lie under Could there be no provision made against Seditious Meetings without such Restraints as these Nay and if they take this Liberty by stealth how much more secure are twice as many Drunkards in a Tavern met at one of their Conventicles of Good-fellowship So that the more Politick have found a Tavern the safest place for a Meeting And doth not this abundantly evince how much the humors and private inclinations of men oversway and prevail in their administrations by the same Laws If therefore the spirit of the times and the inclination of inferiour Magistrates lay as much against Prophaneness as what they call Phanaticism that would have no more immunity than this Let none be offended at my Liberty of speech since doubtless these are things that need a Reformation I hope 't is allowable to say so yea and necessary too And as for Popery though I involve not the Magistrate in the guilt of all that Liberty they assume to themselves yet I hope we may have free leave to lay guilt upon It and to charge a most intolerable impudence upon the Professors and numerous Abettors of it How many both openly and closely are hard at work for the propagation of that which is much more hurtful though not so spreading as the Contagion now amongst us And that it is not so spreading we owe not so much to their want of will or pains but to the Goodness of God the Illness of their Cause and the better temper of our Clime fortified with the Truth But surely it would well deserve the care of those in power to do somewhat more to keep the Healthful from the Sick and to order that there might not be so much License given for people to frequent those places where 't is not impossible but some may be Infected even such whose Sense chooseth their Religion who would have their Devotion like their Recreations and a Chappel like a Play-house And I wish too many of our Gallants be not of this disposition but as for others I would have them go to a Mass to be confirmed against Popery It is very notorious what freedom they take for their meetings in many places in the Countrey as well as City besides those that may be priviledged And certainly England is not like to fare the better for being the Stage whereon so much Pious Pageantry and Historical Worship is acted Had Dagon been carried about amongst the Israelites with as much Reverence as the Ark was amongst the Philistines with Rudeness 't is likely That had been attended with as great Plagues as was This. He that considers what Idolatry often brought upon the Jews and shall well contemplate the Popish Devotions and our present miseries may not more clearly discern our punishment like to theirs than a like probable cause of it and look upon us little more beholden to Rome than they were to Baal Peor If these meek Innocents who with much ado bring themselves to talk a little humbly when instead of Fire and Faggot they are forc't to argue with words should Retort that we deal as unjustly with them as the Heathens did with the Primitive Christians who imputed to them whatever mischiefs befell the Empire I shall be brought to think so too if they can as easily evade the charge of worshipping Angels Saints Bread Altars Crucifixes and Images as those first Christians could free themselves from the palpably false Objections made against them but in the mean time I cannot be perswaded but that God is highly provok't with all those mockeries of Worship which they have devised and in the midst of us solemnized And even for these Inventions may the Plague be broke in upon us 12. We may well account amongst our provoking Sins the sad and lamentable Divisions that have been and still are on foot amongst us And whoever have raised and kep't up these have had not the least influence to procure wrath upon us Well may that People be divided from God separated from his love who are so divided one amongst another When one part of the Nation hath suffered then still the other hath rejoyc'd in their Brethrens Miseries as contributing to the advancement of their Cause And successively what the Sufferers call Tyranny Cruelty and Persecution those that inflict it call it a just punishment for their malignity or obstinacy Oh how just is it then That a general Punishment should at length work us into a more general Compassion That at least we may pity each other when we are all in the same Misery that appears to have nothing of a Party in it but strikes down on all sides those that stand before it Many and great Factions in the Western Church did immediately precede its being over-run by the Gothes and Vandals and not only in this but all other Corruptions are we like to them as may be learn'd from the Writers of those days God of his infinite mercy avert the further Judgments which such Disorders presage Such is and long hath been our Case That the loudest and most earnest intreaties for Peace have been drowned with the contrary noise and clamour of the Contentious What comes from the weaker and oppressed Party is still rejected as murmuring and complaining And those that are in Prosperity reject the offers which after they would gladly condescend to Still the Side that rules when they find they can secure their Interests without any compliance partly out of a jealousie of being undermined partly out of a love to to have the preheminence and partly out of a desire of revenge are far from hearkning to the most reasonable motions for Unity and Peace And he that mentions or laments our Divisions with never so Catholick and impartial a spirit and design if he charge not all the blame upon one Party shall scarce receive any thanks from either If he cries out of nothing but Antichristianism Idolatry Superstition and Tyranny then he shall be hugg'd by some And if he inveigh bitterly against Schism Sedition Faction Hypocrisie and charge this upon all that are not just of the humour of the times they live in then he shall please others But if he say some are too imperious and imposing and others too
Day that deserves to be wrote in Black Letters in England's Calendar Grant this Oh my God for thy Son Christ Jesus sake I beseech thee and let all that seek thy Glory and the Prosperity of thy Church say Amen If any upon the reading of this should argue me either of too great confidence in making such an attempt or want of judgment to conceive there was any probability of the success when much more likely endeavours have been uneffectual Let such know That when I had designed to do my utmost towards a discovery of those Sins which have provoked Gods anger against us I should have thought my self unfaithful to the Cause I undertook had any fear or pretence of Reason prevailed with me to pass silently over a miscarriage of such a nature as I have manifested this to be so fruitful of and complicate with many others And if any thing unequal to be framed by a Law I hope that alters not the nature of it so far as to make it above a Subject to call things by their own names Had an Act pass'd for the toleration of Drunkenness or any the like Sin I should have taken the boldness to represent the ill nature and consequences of it And though it is not impossible but prejudice may spy out very great faults yet I hope both as to the matter and manner of Discourse I have not transgress't the bounds of sobriety modesty nor that duty which I owe my Superiours Moreover I conceived That now God calls us all to search our hearts and review our ways they who themselves put us upon this work and exhort us to Repentance and Prayer will not be unwilling to reflect upon themselves and their own actions as remembring they are men subject to the same mistakes and frailties that the rest of the sons of lapst Adam are And if indeed it be made evident That amongst other Errands one voice of the Rod now upon us is Let my people go that they may serve me Let my faithful Ministers have liberty to advance my Gospel I hope those who are particularly called to from Heaven will not be disobedient Again I was willing so far as was consistent with my main Design to represent to the World if any yet be ignorant of it the nature of the difference betwixt us however to manifest thus much how willing yea how earnestly desirous some if not all of those suspended from their Ministerial Employments are to be re-admitted to the same and what reasonable terms they beg and readily offer a submission to if they might be heard that so they who are so forward to condemn them all as obstinate and perverse may be more wary of their censures and confine them to those only whom they know so guilty And I hop't I might do something to quicken all those whose hearts are affected with the Concernments of the Church to more earnestness in their Addresses to God That he in whose hands the heart of Kings and all men are would incline our Superious to hearken to the Requests and graciously to regard the Cause of so many of the Servants of Christ who when his Church so much needs their labours and they would so willingly spend themselves in the service of souls are to the sadning of their hearts in a great measure rendered unserviceable in their Generations And lastly Thus much however I shall attain viz the satisfaction of my Conscience in the discharge of my Duty that I can herein approve my self to God and my own soul that I have done what in me lies toward the procuring of my own and others Liberty that if it shall still be denied I may have nothing to charge my self with in this respect and may comfort my self in this that the improvement of such a Liberty shall no more be required of me by the righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth than the improvement of a great Estate or a place of Honour or some such Talent with which I was never entrusted And if I obtain but thus much though I strongly hope for more I shall be far from repenting of my undertaken labour for I must confess that seems not to me a small thing which any way conduceth to my having of boldness before my Lord at the day of his appearing A word or two more I shall take Liberty to add upon this Head before I relinquish it If the removal of so many Labourers out of the Lords Harvest is so grievous a Sin both in its self and the sad consequences of it then all others and even they themselves so far as they have contributed to this their removal or have not since endeavoured to prevent those consequences have cause to be greatly humbled And first Even all the People who have sinned their Teachers into corners by their Pride Wantonness and Unfruitfulness under the Means of Grace But especially those private Persons who by their malice either did or at least endeavoured to contribute to their ejection or to the hastning of it What Volumns might be composed even another Book of Martyrs or Confessors rather of the Sufferings many of these Servants of Christ have met with from the Arbitrary violence of unreasonable men For I speak not of what the Law hath imposed on them How have some been toss't from place to place their Houses searched and they confined and all this either upon groundless suspition or false accusations for where was the man of them that hath yet been proved guilty of Treason or Sedition Oh the notorious gross Lyes and Perjuries that some of their People have been guilty of both before and since their ejection And yet how readily accepted by many And what 's the ground of all Why alas they had got many Hearers the Great-ones especially who were scandalized at the strictness of their Doctrines and Lives and angry that they might not go to Hell quietly who studied to be Revenged on them for the disturbance they had received from them in their Sins Thus I dare confidently say it hath been with many And though such may have thought they have been doing God good service whilest they have been persecuting his Ministers yet believe it they shall have small thanks from him that sent them upon that Errand the delivery whereof may have brought them so much trouble and that they shall find to their smart without true repentance if many of them have not already What could not men be content to reject the Embassy God sent them but they must injure and abuse his Embassadors too Shal not God proclaim war against that people that have thus violated the Law of Nations They would scarce have done thus to an Embassadour sent from the Turk to perswade us to exchange Christ for Mahomet and the Gospel for the Alcoran But Oh let let them alone they are safe enough 'T is the Factious Non-conformist not the Christian Minister they have medled with Not the Holy Jesus that came from