sensible of For as in the most admirable Knowledge of his Almighty Hand he took up our Earth and poiz'd it and in the Doing of it did as it were say How shall I give thee up London How shall I make thee as Admah and Zeboim the Cities the Lord overthrew as Jamaica or Port-Royal My Heart is turned within me my Repentings are kindled together I will not execute the fierceness of my Wrath I am God and not Man I will not enter into this City Hosea 11.8 9. as into Jamaica Behold then on Them Severity to Us Goodness if we Turn to him in his Goodness and so abide in it or else according to ordinary Rules we must be cut off also And there is indeed most of the Power and Wisdom of God in doing so much and no more For a rude and unskilful Hand can Throw Down Spoil and Destroy but only an Understanding and Almighty Hand could weigh the Earth as in Scales and as in a Ballance lift up and set down in the very same place and state And how much more of Love and Grace to melt and soften us as if he had said Behold what I am able to do to Ruin you in a moment But I will only shew what I can Do and I will Do you no hurt Oh that this Riches of Goodness Long suffering and Patience might lead us to Repentance who himself staid his own Hand and said to Himself What am I doing when none else could and He did it not I come now to the Second Head I propos'd for the Improvement of our Thoughts on these Earthquakes in general but particularly of that but just a Motion of the Earth in this City and the Royal Camp and other parts beyond the Sea That it is predictive and foretelling of a great Change in the World And of this I give these following Arguments 1. It is beyond all denial most evident that Scripture makes use of Earthquakes as the Conveyance of its Description of the great Works and Changes God will make for the Kingdom of Christ till it appears That course of Earthquakes Providence hath been in of late years is surely a Declaration of those great Changes he is about to make first by the Succession of that Kingdom and then by its own Appearance For if first Christ convey his Kingdom by Earthquakes as Types and Pledges it is but reasonable to expect when he alarms the World with Earthquakes he has something to do more than ordinary in the Advancement of it else his so great use of them in his Word would be but as the sounding of the Mountains and Amuse in vain By the so often use of Earthquakes he teaches us to expect by them Seeing as on one side he uses Earthquakes in his Word to express great Things for his Kingdom by so on the other side he uses Earthquakes that are so in Fact to and in his Providence to foretell some Changes for his Kingdom following them according to his Word 2. The Nations and Places where this Motion of the Earth came are such as are closely concerned in the Change that God is about to make being either of the Protestant Profession or of the Ten Kings that yet give their Kingdom to the Beast That God was pleas'd therefore to guide the Motion of unquiet Vapors over so many Countries and Cities it was like the sending the Cup and Yoke in Jeremy to so many Nations on whom he would execute his Displeasure by Nebuchadnezzar Jerem. c. 25. c. 27. so now he hath sent by this Earthquake as it were by a Messenger to make known to the Nations his Kingdom so near For so mild and gentle a Motion that had nothing of Wrath and execution of Vengeance in its Commission seems entrusted only with so great a Notice And I cannot but hope and am even assured That this City is to bear so happy a Part in the Kingdom of Christ that it shall be preserved for his Servant David 's sake and that God in Christ is the Holy one in the midst of it 3. That which above all assures me so is That Sure Word of Prophecy that Time is so near for the Succession of the Kingdom of Christ which is by Prophecy describ'd by a great Earthquake that I can understand nothing by this Move but that Introducing or Bringing it in with the Call of the Witnesses and the Fall of the Tenth of the Great City For I cannot understand that there is Space or Room for any other Change but of That to the Kingdom of Christ entring into its Succession wherein all shall have the Advantages of Repentance and Reformation by the pouring out of the Spirit and the Preaching of the everlasting Gospel even to all the World and the Converts of that Time shall be as the Drops of Dew from the Womb of the Morning A Change of so great advantages to the World that none have any reason to be offended or to complain of the Tydings except They who hate to be Reform'd I desire no other Beauty of Feet or Face than to bring and pubâ—ish it It is all holy pure spiritual benign and beneficent to those who have but any Desires after God Christ and Goodness both in inward and outward Bounties There is greatest reason it should be daiâ—y prayed for and daily it is to be praised Verily It may be said Many Kings Prophets and Righteous Men have desired to see the Things that shall then be seen and have not seen them and to hear the Things that shall then be heard and have not heard them Oh therefore that this may be what this gracious Heave of the Earth does presage as I have great Assurance it does That there is no more danger by it than this That we should take notice This Earth with great Sedateness gave a Motion with joy as John Baptist in the Womb to foretell It is with all its Kingâ—oms soon to become the Kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ wherein Righteousness shall dwell That soon after upon a Purification from all Defilements the Heavens over it and it self may become a New Heaven and a New Earth and the Will of God done as in parallel as in that Heaven and upon Earth But though I have endeavoured to make good my way all along yet I would in the Conclusion give a more solemn Answer to the chief Objections I have taken notice of Objct. 1. Some of the sagacious Observers of Nature have so trac'd extraordinary Events to their Causes that they have foretold particularly Earthquakes by observing the Ripeness of natural Causes for them Answ 1. Whatever Observations the wisest of Mankind have made they are not able so far to penetrate the Screws of Natural Causes fitted to the necessitating one another to such Effects but that supernatural Agents may give a Lift to the Wheels of Second Causes that usually move but on Earth viz. in a natural way to move much above Earth that
Instruction c. 33 16. c. 36.10 This is that earnest motion of Natural Conscience to take fast hold of Repentance to return all it can after it hath lost its Inocency Purity and â—erfection of Righteousness and Obedience even as it should have mov'd first powerfully and effectually against sin and to good and the same motion of Natural Conscience that is to the one is to the other also when it is stirr'd up by further Gâ—ace from the Spirit of God and there are generally such motions as argue this work in the Heart when the Conscience is not depriv'd of sense Feeling Vigor not twice Dead pull'd up by the roots deliver'd up to a reprobate sense and when God hath given so great and gracious Aussrance that Repentance shall find Plâ—ce for it self That this state is not Hell either in regard of the height of Wickedness or unpardonableness it is an easy and very Intelligible Declination of Conscience from the Azimuth the highest point of Innocency to the next point Repentance which by the righteousness and obedience of the Redeemer shall transcend the very first heighth But that indeed is known by Revelation and not by Natural Light But take Repentance as it is the necessary reserve after sin and that God hath provided it a Place so it is near and even next to Natural Conscience Posit 2. The second position I lay down concerning Repentance and that gives the truest degree of its Elevation through the Redeemer is That the word of God in the Old and New Testament gives the clearest and fullest knowledg of Repentance and of the Divine Spring of it the grace of God in Christ and the blessed operation of the Holy Spirit through his Redemption Repentance therefore is found to be one of the principal Doctrines of Scripture whein it is conveyed unto us under all the variety and complex of Notions that can express so great a point to us viz. remembring bethinking turning converting renewing amending searching and Trying our ways turning to the Lord bringing forth fruits meet for Repentance The Revâ—lation of the word of God beyond all expression excells Natural Knowledg concerning it It opens to us the great Prince the Redeemer and Mediator who gives it a place a possibility he is the Prince whom God hath raised up to make this supreme Donation Acts c. 5.35 c. 3.26 repentance and forgiveness of Sins and blesses in turning us away from every one of our Iniquities Scripture opens to us that great and blessed Spring â—â—d â—fficient of it viz. the true grace of God and the blessed Spirit is the efficient of it It lays before us the great motives of it the sense of the favor and goodness of God who will have mercy Esa 55.7 Heb. c. 12.24 v. 29. and abundantly Pardon seal'd to us by so great an Attonement as the Blood of Jesus speaking better things than the Blood of Abel and on the other side a dread of him who is a consuming fire the living Gâ—d into whose hands in his wrath and displeasure It is a dreadful thing to fall the wrath that is to come 1 Thes 1.10 and ever to come it gives us all the qualifications of it Repentance with the whole Heart turning from all our evil ways and all the evil in our evil ways it moves us with all manner of Applications that may stir us up to it commands exhortations counsels Threats it never leaves speaking Ezek. 18.30 and crying out to us Repent it says to us Repent and turn your selves Matt. 4.17 so Iniquity shall not be your Ruin It preaches Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Ezek. 18.30 it even weeps over us that we would do it Luke 19.42 Turn you turn you for why will ye Die It weeps when we have not known even we in our day the things of our peace It offers it as the only remedy against Eternal Misery Repentance is advised expresly to five of the seven Churches Revel c. 2. c. 3. to shew the universality and necessity of its use It is one of the great principles of the Doctrine of Christ Heb. 6.1 and thus Repentance is the most Native Domestick Doctrin of the Word of God and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that what is found in the Light of Nature serves to these lower purposes only 1. It serves to the purpose of Human Order Government and preservation of the World from falling into a perfect Hell for were there not some sentiments of God of his Mercy and readiness to forgive tending to make men better were there not a sense of the goodness of Righteousness Temperance Mercy and of all Virtue not only as what we should first be but also what we should endeavour to return to when we have Fallen were there not such a thing as Vicious Men being restrain'd from running into utmost excess and extremity and as being reclaimld corrected reform'd moderated and cultivated by precepts of Natural Religion Wisdom add Morality all which flow from and are specimens of the Scripture Doctrin and grace of Repentance the World would be a stye of sensualists and impure Creatures wallowing in bruitish and worse than Swinish Lusts And did not this Notion sweeten men one to another the World would be a Desert or Wilderness of Savage and Wild Beasts tearing in peices one another and both ways a Hell of a World 2. Hereby God will justify himself in the condemnation of the Pagan World that they have not only the Law Written in their Hearts but so much of the Gospel also as this great notion of Repentance Teaches For when the Respit of forty Days imported it to the King and City of Nineveh why should not that Patience wherewith God governs even the Pagan World Preach Repentance to it Why should they not be led to Repentance by the Witness they have of God and of his goodness in giving them fruitful times and seasons and silling their Hearts with food and gladness which he would not leave himself without in his great Wisdom and Righteousness as well as Mercy and Grace How does this riches of Goodness Long-suffering and Forbearance Rom. 2.3.4 if not lead them to Repentance justify their Condemnation who after their hardness and Impenitent Hearts Treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath So that as Niniveh shall rise up in Judgment with those who repented not at the Preaching of Christ the greater than Jonah so it shall rise up in Judgment with other Heathen Nations Cities and People who might by the same proportion have been argued to Repentance so that tho God hath in his supreme Dominion and Justice thought fit to deny them what Christ says They would have repented in Sack-cloth and Ashes upon yet even by the standard of Nineveh's Repentance they 'r not Repenting by that Light they have will be Condemned at the manifestation of that righteous Judgment of Gâ—d the Apostle speaks
and Zeal not only ought but must be reduc'd and redress'd in Towns and Cities and in all our Villages and most particularly in our Camps and Navies where they more than any where else if possible abound and where there ought to be greater Guard and Watch against them than any where else according to that Great Precept Deut. 23.14 2. If this be not done It cannot be except God hath left the Earth more than ever yet he hath done and forsaken it and walks in the Galleries of Heaven without Regarding but that there must be a Visiting for these things and that his Soul must be avenged of such a Nation as this Jer. 5.9 whether by Plague or Famine or War or evil and noisome Beasts or by a Complication of these Four yea though it be by a Fire yet unblown that is ready to flame out or by an Army of Wounded Men that our Destruction must come and much the more because the Light of his Truth is so open and clear among us because his Mercies and Deliverances have been so-Great and the Methods of his Providence so unusual in his unhinging for us the General Laws of Nature in Dethroning and setting on the Throne for our preservation Now if These his Great Acts and Wonderful Doings do not work to Reformation They certainly shall justifie God in our Destruction And yet we daily see our sins and Transgressions Growing up to the very Heavens so that that our Destruction cannot but be speedy 3. Except the Kingdom of Christ be as I have declared very near us And that we are not yet under some most dreadful Judgments it is an argument to me it is certainly so that the Kingdom of Christ is very near us when he will take to himself his own great Power and Reign and Reform by a through Purging his Floor either by pouring out his Spirit and perswading by his everlasting Gospel Malach. 4.1 and sitting as by a Refiners Fire and Fullers Soap throughly to purifie that Baptism with Fire or by the Day that shall burn as an Oven and consume the Wicked Root and Branch and because of this notwithstanding our great Transgressions and mighty provocations even though he hath lifted up his hand that he would destroy us yet he hath wrought for his Great Names sake that is his Kingdom 's sake and hath done nothing yet so remarkable against us Let us then that fear the Lord speak often one to another that a Book of Remembrance may be writ for us as for them that have feared the Lord and thought on his Name and that we may be spared in the day when he makes up his Jewels and gather'd as Wheat into his Garner when he shall burn up the Chaff with fire unquenchable Mal. 3.16 Matth. 3.12 Infer 9. Seeing Nations and Persons are under so strict Commands to Repent with that Repentance to Salvation the contrary whereof is expressed by Death There is therefore in the Kingdom of Christ a City of Life and under it a City of Death a City of Salvation whose Walls and Bullwarks are Salvation and a City of Destruction distinct from it and opposite to it Esay 19.18 c. 26.1 The one is the Residence of those who have Repented with that Repentance to Salvation not to be Repented of The other is the dark and dismal Receptacle of those who have either been wholly dissolved into the worldly Laughter and Mirth or been Sorrowers only after the worldly Sorrow that worketh Death The New Jerusalem is the City of Life and Salvation the City that hath the Tree of Life and the River of the Water of Life and the Nations of the Saved walk in the Light of it and are healed from any possibility of Dying by the Leaves of the Tree of Life and the Living are written in it Whatever liveth in it shall live even for perpetuity The Second Death hath no power over them Esay 4.3 Revel c. 20.6 c. 21.24 c. 22.1 2. On the other side there is the City of Destruction Esay 19.18 when Five Cities shall speak the Language of Canaan being of the Nations of the Saved There is one City that shall be called the City of Destruction the contrary to Salvation being of those appointed to Death This is the Congregation of the Dead Prov. 21.16 This is the City of Gog that is of the dead slain with the sword of Christ's mouth who hath a place of Graves the Valley of Hamon Gog of the Multitude of Gog. Ezek. 39.11 c. These though they are the dead that is slain with the sword of Christ's mouth yet they are as in a Community in a Polity for though they are condemn'd by the Word and Sentence of Christ they are yet the Wicked rais'd to Condemnation and so are in the State of Living but of a Living Death Therefore these dead have a City and the Name of it is Hammonah as the Name of the New Jerusalem is Jehovah-Shammah the Lord is there so the Name of this City is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 its multitude or a multitude is there For broad is the way and wide is the Gate that leadeth to this City of Heres to destruction and many there be which go in thereat Matth. 7.13 These are the multitudes that are gathered together to the Battel of Armageddon the Day of God Almighty shaded by a Battel the multitudes in the Valley of Jehoshaphat the Valley of the Judgment of Jehovah the Valley of Decision of the Doom and Sentence of Christ as the Sword of his Mouth and the Valley of Excision of Destruction Joel 3.74 Revel c. 16.14 16. Now these dead in their City of the dead lye dead during the Thousand Years bound Hand and Foot for that space The Rest of the Dead slain with the Sword of Christ's mouth But when the Thousand Years are expired they are let loose into the Appearance of Life Motion and Action They whose multitude are as the Sand of the Sea under their Name Gog Magog come up against the Beloved City and the Camp or Tower and Castle of the Saints and cover the breadth of it shewing themselves the same Impenitents they were and had been before the Thousand Years began the Never-Repenting Enemies of God and of Christ and of his Kingdom So they are finally judg'd Ezek. 39.11 c. Rev. 19.21 c. 20.5 to the end cast with Sathan who had alway deceived them with Death and Hell into the Lake This is the second Death Thus in the opening this dark Scripture Behold in these two Cities the Repentance to Life and Salvation never to be repented of the Impenitency to Death and Destruction never also to be repented of that we may chuse the first perswaded by Eternal Grace and Love and abhor the other as the Black Mark of being the Esau hated by God who found no place for Repentance as the Vessels of his Wrath the Border of Wickedness against whom he hath Indignation for ever
of deep Tribulation and Temptation such as none ever was before to All but the Servants of God and Christ Dan. 12.1 Mat. 24.21 Rev. 3.10 c. 7.14 Now therefore It becomes him by whom are All things and for whom are All Things seeing he hath determined so great an Earthquake at last to give such Terellaes of it such little Parts Pieces and Models of it that might Inlighten Awaken and Assure the World concerning it and to have set up such a Pyramid of it by the Flood in general to all the World and to Sodom and the Cities about it in more particular in the Beginning of the World and to speak in the Eloquence of what he will do on every occasion of a greater Judgment on any Nation or People and to ioyn with it the Thunder and Lightnings of his Power and Voice that are as the Shakings of Heaven and generally fall in with the Shaking of the Earth And thus we find all along the Scripture and with great Relation to this very Earthquake ushering in the Kingdom of Christ and the Destruction of Babylon the great Symbol of his Enemies so Psal 18.7 Esay 13.13 with very many Pieces more And this is to make the Thoughts of it familiar to Men and to acquaint them throughly with God's great purpose herein for hereby a short Work will God make on Earth yet every Man Woman and Child shall be rais'd on purpose to see this great Sight and to feel it The Earth shall cast out her dead for it and no more cover them This is that Earthquake in which God arises to shake terribly the Earth Esay 2. wherein it shall be indeed as a chaâ—ed Roe and as a Sheep no man cares to take up tho now they are so greedy of it Then the Lord will make it empty and under the great Desolation overthrowing and turning upside down Persons and Things and all distinction of Servants Masters and Mistresses Purchasers Sellers Lenders Borrowers as is describ'd Esay 24. which shall end in the Sun 's being confounded the Moon asham'd when God comes to Reign before his Ancients in Glory And in the New Testament we find at the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ Mat. 27.50 when he gave up that mighty Breath and with that loud Voice commended that immortally blessed Spirit into the Hand of God There was a Great Earthquake and the Rocks rent and the Graves opened and after his Resurrection many Bodies of Saints came forth and appeared to many in the Holy City a most admirable Type of the Last Great Earthquake At the Resurrection of Christ there was again an Earthquake Matth. 28.2 At the Pouring out of the Spirit Acts 2.1 There was from Heaven a mighty rushing Wind that fill'd the House and so must needs shake it and as the Appearance of Fiery Tongues when the Apostles Pray'd after that solemn Conference with the Elders of the Jews the House shook c. 4. When Paul and Silas had praised God in Prison there was an Earthquake and the Foundations of the Prison were shaken the Doors opened and the Chains of every one were loosed Acts 16.25 All these were real Historical Earthquakes or Matters of Fact and they are also great Types and Emblems with Relation to what shall be at the Kingdom of Christ and even Predictions and lively Assurances thereof In the Revelation that most August Prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ we read of Four great Earthquakes that were so many Advances of the Kingdom of Christ 1. That grand Deturbation of or dismounting Paganism or the casting down the Dragon or Devil inhabiting it from Heaven who was worshipped in Paganism as a God and all his Host in the Fourth or Roman Empire were cast down with him when that Empire in Constantine became Christian And this was celebrated by those lofty Expressions concerning it as a great Shaking even of Heaven and Earth Rev. 6.12 c. 12.5 as shall be at the Kingdom of Christ. 2. The final Extirpation of Paganism or Rooting it out though with that unhappy Revolution of Antichristianism ready to come in with the Barbarous Nations into that Empire and so undermining the Kingdom of Christ. This was at the famous Victory of Theodosius And this was as Church Historians tell us with a very great Tempest of Thundring and Lightning and motion of the Earth in the Letter as well as the Prophetic Representation of the Thunder Lightnings Voices and Earthquake the great Emblems of the Kingdom of Christ 3. The Earthquake that shall be at the Rising of the Witnesses when that Great City whose Emblem is Ten or Tenth in regard of the Ten Kings who give their Kingdom to the Beast that carries it shall fall Rev. 11. cap. 17. 4. The whole Time of the Seventh Trumpet shall in regard of the mighty Effects and Events be a continual Earthquake even till the great and real Shake of Heaven and Earth the once more in the Text that what cannot be shaken may remain as hath been explained Rev. 16.18.20 compared with c. 11. Now that Earthquake nam'd last but this last viz. the Fall of the great Antichristian State I affirm to be so near as 1697. approaching wherein the Kingdom of Christ shall be in its Succession Now what arises from all this Inference but that it may both urge the Necessity and give all Invitations and Incitements to Repentance which cannot be higher express'd than in the Apostle's own Words as 't is us'd in this Context Let us have Grace or rather Take Hold lay earnest Hold of Divine Grace and Power in Christ that we may serve him with Reverence or all Holy Awes of Modesty and Shamefacedness as the Angels that cover Faces and Feet lest we give distaste and with good Heed-taking as the Israelites that kept within bounds lest God should have broken out And this Service of God with holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Modesty and shame of our own Unworthiness and horrid Nakedness This Good Heed-taking not to run into God as a Consuming Fire is most shewn exercis'd and practis'd in timely Repentance For all at that Day of Earthquake Thunders and Lightnings once for All All must be near for God will come near to them as a swift Witness and to All not Repenting and Reconcil'd in Christ he will be a Consuming Fire Mal. 3.5 With this Heb. 12. And to this purpose Let these very late Motions of the Earth be consider'd in all the foregoing Discourse for I cannot but be perswaded they are Pledges of that great Change that shall suddenly be in the World in the Fall of the whole Papal and Antichristian State besides their general strong Motive to Repentance as they speak God both in his Divine Power and Ability to execute Wrath as also in his Goodness Long-suffering and Patience leading to Repentance and how much more if the Approach of his Kingdom it self the greatest Motive to Repentance be by it declar'd so near That I may therefore
Eternal Condition to that Unspeakable Hazard AND A full Resolution of the Case how far a Death-Bed Repentance is possible to be Sincere and Effectual By T. Beverley 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To Day whilst it is called to Day Lest any one be hardned through the Deceitfulness of Sin Heb. 3.7 13. LONDON Printed by R. Smith for William Miller at the Gilded Acorn in St. Paul's Church-yard where Gentlemen and others may be furnished with Acts of Parliament Speeches and other sorts of Discourses and State-Matters as also Books of Divinity Church-Government Humanity Sermons on most Occasions c. MDCXCII THE PREFACE TO THE READER IT may seem unseasonable and morose to deny the value of any kind of Repentance in such an Age as this wherein there is a Generation arisen Oh how lofty are their Eyes and their Eye-lids lifted up with Scorn and Disdain of all Religion An Age so irreligious that it seems necessary to gather up all the Fragments tho but of a seeming Piety and make the most of them rather than to call things to so strict a Ballance A thinner and more dilute Repentance than would formerly have admitted a Man into a visible Church may at such a time as this hope for Heaven To all this I must answer First The Looseness of an Age does not slacken or dissolve Eternal Laws Wisdom abates nothing of its price of that timely and early search after it whether Men think good to give it or whether they will forbear It hath no meaner Esteem of it self because Folly that is simple and knoweth nothing sitteth upon the high places of the City full of Noise and Clamor and entices to its Entertainments the Multitude and Grandeur of the World All the Severities of Scripture that make the way to Heaven narrow and the Gate strait stand like a Rock from Generation to Generation alike in all times Nothing that is prodigally loosed on Earth in compliance with a licentious Age will be therefore loosed in Heaven The goodly price of a Death-Bed Repentance at which God is priz'd by Men even then when Religion is at the lowest is rejected oftest with Indignation and the everlasting State purchased by it may be sadly called an Aceldama a Field of Blood If this Severity of Divine Truth offend any one The Resolution is that of our Saviour †Mat. 15.17 Every Plant whether Person or Thing that our Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up 2. It is no improbable way of Contesting against Atheism and general Irreligion by the strict Doctrins of Christianity as well as by Arguments of Reason Nay Authoritative Applications of the Truth of God often strike the Conscience within the Reason sooner and quicker than industrious Attempts upon the Reason as Lightning melts the Steel and neglects the Scabbard Pressings of Faith Repentance Holiness Eternal Judgment make Men even Vnbelievers fall down upon their faces when the Secrets of their Hearts are discovered and confess God is there For the Soul of Man is more easily wrought upon by those domestick Rebukes God gives it by his Word than by more solemn Treaties Especially corrupted Reason takes upon it self to be a lawful Authority when an honourable War is commenced against it by the better Reason on the other side It contemns Laws of Discourse as precarious and makes account it gives Reason for Reason But the Rod of God shaken over it makes it tremble and confess it self a Slave Thus the Slaves in the Story were more easily reduced by the servile Chastisements they were acquainted with than by the force of Armies Atheism grows the prouder generally for being reasoned with It does but dissemble while it pretends its disease to be in the Head which it knows indeed to be in the sensual Heart And therefore is pleased to be struck in the Head but cannot endure to be wounded in the Heart which the Word of God especially aims at Not but that it is indeed a most generous and honourable Atchievement to shew Religion to be the highest Reason and to detect those pretending Sons of Reason of the greatest Irrationality But it is still to be acknowledged the plain preaching of the Gospel which the Apostle calls the Foolishness and Weakness of God is alone wiser and stronger than Men The Reason of that couched under an Heavenly Authority of Truth carries those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those mighty Weapons whereby every high Imagination and Reasoning is to be subdued that lifts up it self against God Vpon this occasion I cannot but bewail those unhappy Divisions that have separated the Preachers of the Gospel one from another and thereby opened a Lane for that Black Troop to advance in and made the Trumpet of the Gospel to sound so incertainly that it hath rather scattered Men than prepared them to the Battel Our Saviour foreseeing the Consequences hereof according to that great Maxim of his ‖ Mat. 12.25 Every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to Desolation did so earnestly command Vnity and Love of one another to his Disciples in general and more particularly to the Ministers of his Word as the most effectual Demonstration †Joh. 17.21 He was sent from God and his Doctrin from Heaven From whence it follows where ever this Vnion is broken Christianity is liable to the Imputations of being a great Cheat and Fraud Vpon which advantage loathsome Irreligion enters and spreads it self in those empty spaces begotten by our Distances and removes from one another All divisions in Christianity are Scandals to it and weaken it This we see verified in our days the differences in Religion and the prophane scorn or stupid neglect of it being alike visible and notorious throughout the Nation Yet upon just Accounts the Irreligion consequent upon Divisions in Religion turns to the advantage of Christianity that thus it must be else how should the Scriptures be fulfilled But this abates nothing of the Sinfulness and Vnhappiness or Necessity of Amendment To guide us then into that It is very observable the venom of this Distemper falls not so much upon the several Parties in Religion as upon Religion it self while we wound one another Religion is the Martyr lies a bleeding and even dying And while good Men lament it the Enemies of it make merry and send †Rev. 11.10 gifts one to another in token of Triumph The method of Cure therefore is not for every Party to weigh up it self and press down others but to buoy up Religion it self and that is best done by Preaching and living the very Thing without distinction of Names If we did but yield it its own Integrity and Vniversal Goodness it would soon rise into that Honour it hath lost by being captivated to Opinions For as our human Nature would be much more beautiful and happy if cemented by that Philanthropy or general love of Mankind so indearingly charged upon us by our Saviour who demonstrated that he embraced within