coming along with a cruel War we lay under the Discouragement of not knowing whether it was not in order to a final Excision we knew not whether the door of Mercy was not altogether shut upon us But now we see That temporal Chastisements are Mercies or at least tenders of Mercy though not made use of but in great Extremities when Men will not be otherwise persuaded but by the Terrours of the Lord for he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men. And all the distance of time between one Judgment and another the tender of Mercy continues and ought to be the more efficacious upon our Minds insomuch that the forbearance and long-suffering of God to us-ward is like to be of a shorter continuance by how much it hath had hitherto no very good effect upon us Wherever there is Sin there must be Repentance or Punishment following and if the use of temporal Punishment is to prevent eternal Why may we not as well take warning by Judgments already past as by those to come Why not much better since we know that they were sent to Reclaim and we don't know but others may be sent to Destroy us We may flatter our selves That when a Judgment is turn'd into a seeming Mercy the Offended Party is then Reconciled That God hath then repented him of the evil and all is well again But let us not deceive our selves the most we can make of such a Dispensation without our Repentance is That God will vindicate his Justice when he comes to pour out the dregs of his Wrath by such a variety of means first made use of and such tenders of Mercy in order to our Reformation After that the Temple of Jerusalem had been destroy'd it was rebuilt again and the Work carried on and improved for many Generations to the great admiration of all Beholders as appears by the Remarks that were made to our Saviour and this Prosperity made 'em put so much Trust in the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord nevertheless that second Temple was scarce quite finished when a final Destruction and utter Desolation came both upon the Temple and all the City insomuch That one stone was not left upon another that had not been cast down The long-suffering of God to usward therefore ought to excite not only our Love but our Fear of God instead of making us presumptuous and unmindful of his former Judgments For Secondly If we continue unmindful of former Judgments inflicted on us and the plain Reasons for which they were inflicted if all that hath been done is ineffectual Why should we be stricken any more Why should we expect any other but a final Dispensation of God's Anger We were in a dangerous Case sure when the tender-hearted Physitian came to such Extremities as to apply an actual Cautery upon so noble and so sensible part of the Body Politick and if that hath done no good but we grow worse and worse what can be expected but a Cutting off Our Reformation began with Fires of Martyrdom let the Proselytes of that Persecuting Church disown it if they can with the same Confidence as they seek to Evade other Charges of that Nature And those cruel Fires did indeed Reform our Religion and Purifie our Liturgy but neither they nor any other Fires have been able to Reform our Lives to Purisie our Manners We seem resolv'd to continue a wicked People as we are and why then should we be tried any more till the great Conflagration of all things when the Almighty shall sit as a Refiner to separate the Silver from the Dross God's Spirit will not always strive with Man The whole World had but One hundred and twenty years given 'em to Repent in before the Flood came and swept all away except Eight Persons and can our little corner of the World expect a quarter of that time That great and populous City Niniveh had but forty days of trial given it and may we not say to this City as the Prophet Nahum said to Niniveh Ch. 3.8 Art thou better than populous No that was situate among the rivers whose strength was infinite Yet she was carried away she went into captivity her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets and they cast lots for her honourable men and all her great men were bound in chains Had one of the old Prophets been alive he would perhaps have gone farther and said Art thou better than Sodom and Gomorrah is thy Pride thy fullness of Bread and the abundance of thy Idleness less than theirs And indeed Isaiah 1.9 If the Lord had not left us a remnant we as to our City should have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah It was easier for us at that time to have believed our Sins deserved it than it is now though our Sins are not at all less for then we were humbled as far as we are capable of Humiliation But it is not the greatness of the impression that Judgments make upon us which is to be consider'd but the durableness of it it may be said of us as it was of the Jews Chap. 26. ver 18. Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them but as soon as the fiery trial was over Jer. 6 3â— we appeared again reprobate silver What are we the better for this Judgment Hath it consumed any of the Fuel that feed our Lusts Hath the Burning of the City lessened our Heart-burnings towards one another Have its Flames overcome those of Lust and Wine Are not our Tongues as much set on Fire of Hell as ever Don't the sulphurous stench of Oaths and Curses and all manner of Prophanation reak up to Heaven still Is not Pride sprung up out of Ruin and don 't we appear dress'd up and garnish'd for a New Sacrifice And if we are ever stricken any more 't will be I fear with such a blow as used to fall upon the head of the Victim 't will be as an Holocaust offered up to Divine Justice How can we expect otherwise if after the severest manifestations of a Divine Providence we shut our Eyes as if the flashes of Vengeance had blinded instead of enlightned our Understandings Is it not just that God should make bare his Arm and reveal Himself in something worse than hath yet befallen if there are found divers among us that will believe no other sort of Revelation Strange obstinacy of Heart that this Generation labours under One Bush on Fire reveal'd God Almighty to Moses and yet all the Flames we have seen and felt have made no impression upon us unless it be that we seem more hardened than ever Unless it be that we are grown more presumptuous and continue in Sin that Mercy and Grace may abound I appeal to any sensible and religious Man that is acquainted with the World and knows
CLARKE Major Jovis xxiii die Septembris 1697. Annoque Regni Regis Willielmi Tertii Angliae c. Nono THis Court doth Desire Dr. Prat to Print his Sermon Preach'd on the 2d of September last at the Parish Church of St. Mary le Bow before the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of this City Goodfellow A SERMON Preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor THE ALDERMEN AND Citizens of LONDON At St. Mary le Bow On Thursday Sept. 2. 1697. By SAMUEL PRAT D. D. Chaplain to His Highness William Duke of Glocester and Minister of the Savoy In the SAVOY Printed by Edw. Jones for Samuel Lowndes over against Exeter-Exchange in the Strand 1698. A SERMON Preached before the Lord-Mayor c. In the first Chapter of the Prophecy of Isaiah the former part of the 5th Verse Why should ye be stricken any more Ye will Revolt more and more THIS Prophecy begins with the Burden of Judah and Jerusalem in the days of King Vzziah and the Condition of the People at that time was this In the Reign of Joash the last King save one the People of Judah notwithstanding the great Prosperity with which God Almighty had Blessed 'em Revolted and turn'd back from the Service of God to their Old Sins This Joash had been wonderfully preserved out of that fatal time of Destruction in which the whole Royal Family had like to have been extinguish'd the Light of Judah almost quite blown out by the tempestuous Cruelties of Athaliah And the remembrance of that Deliverance had wrought so upon the King and People that for a while they betook themselves to Acts of Piety and Devotion The House of the Lord was repaired and the Church-Service restored to Decency and Order for those Sacrilegious Times had alienated the Holy Things so you find 2 Chron. 24.7 They had broken up the House of God and also all the dedicate Things of the House of the Lord did they bestow upon Baalim But after the Restoration when Peace and Prosperity had produced Luxury and Wantonness the Princes and the great Men Ver. 17. followed their own Lusts and flatter'd the King into a liking of their way of living So the King and all the People in general Revolted from God and return'd to their former Sins notwithstanding all that the Prophets and Preachers could do For when Wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for their Trespasses God Almighty sent Prophets to 'em to bring them again unto the Lord and they testified against them but they would not give Ear Ver. 19. Therefore God Almighty deals with 'em by Judgments to see if that will Reclaim ' em They were once Spoil'd by the Syrians and afterwards by the Israelites and humbled one would think very severely but all this would not soften 'em their Hearts were hardned and Judgments could work no more upon 'em than Mercies had done The Prophets therefore seem to be at a stand What will the Denouncing of Judgments signifie when the very Execution of 'em hath had no good Effect Thus we find the Prophet Hosea speaking as from God about this time to both the Nations of Judah and Israel chap. 6. v. 4. O Ephraim What shall I do unto thee O Judah What shall I do unto thee For your goodness is as a morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away They had had Warnings and Threatnings enough by all the Prophets of those days thus we find the Prophet Amos in his 2d Chapter For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof but I will send a fire upon Judah and it shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem But after all the Denunciations and Executions of God's Anger there was still no Amendment The Prophet Isaiah therefore here in the beginning of his Prophecy having call'd Heaven and Earth to witness concerning God Almighty's dealing with 'em Hear O Heavens and give Ear O Earth and having Exprobrated their Sins and their Backslidings instead of Denouncing any more Judgments he Expostulates the Case with 'em as if they were past all the ordinary disciplining of Providence Why should ye be stricken any more To what purpose would it be if God Almighty visit ye with any of those Dispensations of his Anger which he never makes use of but in order to Reclaim and you alas seem to be past all Reclaiming Let him do what he pleaseth and repeat never so many Judgments upon you you will still be a sinful Nation c. Ye will Revolt more and more So that the words of my Text seem to infer this Proposition That the Nation or People who when God Almighty by manifest and sufficient Signs and Tokens of his Anger hath visited 'em frequently with Calamities and Judgments will not Repent but go on still in their Wickedness are not to expect any other Overtures till an utter Ruin and final Destruction comes upon ' em And this Proposition which needs no other Illustration but the Words of my Text nor any other Proof but the Reasonableness of the Thing I shall betake my self forthwith to apply to this present Occasion We are met here together this Day to Rememorate a very remarkable instance of God's Displeasure against this sinful Nation exercised upon this most sinful City as the Head or Chief-Member of our great Body Politick And such a Rememoration is perhaps much more seasonable now at this long distance of time than it was formerly whilst the impression of it was more recent and fresh upon our Minds because through the long-suffering and forbearance of God that which was doubtless designed for a Judgment or at least warning to flee from a greater Vengeance hath now changed its Aspect and put on the appearance of Mercy whilst we behold our City to have Risen out of its Ashes in greater Beauty and Splendor than ever so that we can scarce believe that to have been a Judgment which hath conduced so much to a present show of Prosperity But as those among us who were sorrowful Spectators of that dismal Conflagration we that saw the Terrours of the Lord set in Array against us cannot but call to Mind the manifest appearance of the furiousness of God's Anger then poured out upon us So they who now seriously consider the outward Grandeur and Felicity we at present enjoy and at the same time the great unworthiness in which we enjoy it all cannot but be as much afraid of the consequents of all this long-suffering and forbearance as we have been apprehensive of former Chastisements I have not met with many Periods of time in History in which this Nation and particularly this City hath been so long free from a publick Visitation Either Plagues or Famines or Invasions or Fires or Civil Wars or Persecutions did for many Ages together Discipline at shorter distances of time this Revolting and Back-sliding People Innumerable Methods hath Divine Providence made use of to Reclaim us till at last the
whole Quiver of Temporary Vengeance seem'd to be shook out at once upon us After a long devouring Civil War here happened a most consuming Plague a terrible foreign War and a dismal Conflagration to fall out all within a small compass of time one of another And if we seriously reflect withall that having return'd back again to our Sins and Impieties in as heinous a manner as ever the Rod of Vengeance hath of late years been shook over our Heads and by means of a dangerous War abroad and of Dissentions and Distractions at home somewhat like those which were the fore-runners of the utter Destruction of Jerusalem we have seem'd a while to be near a final Overthrow yet now at last all these Clouds begin as it were to blow over and upon the prospect of a comfortable Peace and returning Plenty and the cicatrising of those Wounds which Parties and Distinctions had made we seem without Repentance to be restored to Heaven's favour Who I say cannot but be afraid that the Expostulation of the Prophet Isaiah is at this time applicable to us Why should you be stricken any more Ye will Revolt more and more Why should Go. Almighty be at the Expence of more Judgments to Reform you Why should ye be Probed and Scarified and Cauteris'd any more Since the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint From the sole of the foot even unto the head ver 5 6. there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores We mistake generally I am afraid the Nature and Ends of occasional and temporary Judgments They many times carry more of Tenderness and Compassion along with 'em than they do of the deepest Displeasure or Resentments God Almighty is not at the height of His Anger His Indignation is not then hottest when he punishes Men so with National Calamities as to give 'em time and opportunity afterwards of Amendment He suffereth not at such a time His whole Displeasure to arise but He seems to have some hopes of a People whilst He is using Means and Remedies tho' never so severe for their Recovery But when He lays aside all such means when He lets 'em settle upon their Lees when He seems to give 'em over to do what they will to fill up the measure of their Iniquity and to work all manner of Unrighteousness without Restraint then they are in a fearful and desperate Case then have they cause to wish for Judgments and to call upon the Rocks and Hills of Calamity to fall upon 'em and to hide 'em from a greater Wrath to come And God grant that this be not the present Case of this sinful People who after a long forbearance are now entring upon a New Scene of Worldly Prosperity who have been so long without any sad effects of God's Wrath that we can but just call 'em to Remembrance But the remembrance of former Judgments inflicted upon us then when we less expected them than we have cause now to do may be still I hope of use to the amendment of our Lives and the preventing of a final Destruction which may otherwise fall on us Nor would there be any need of fresh Judgments if former ones were so remembred as to bring us now at length to that Repentance for which they seem'd to have been designed And in the First Place If Chastisements or Judgments will or can work any good effect upon us Why should we be stricken any more Those which we have seen with our Eyes or heard with our Ears are great and many enough to be a warning to us We know the Causes that brought 'em And the Hand that inflicted 'em And the Terrours that accompanied ' em Every one that knows any thing that allows there is any such thing as Knowledge will easily confess that Sin is the cause of all Evil. The Words of the Prophet Jeremiah to Jerusalem may be applied to this People Chap. 4. Ver. 18. Thy way and thy goings have procured these things unto thee this is thy wickedness because it is bitter because it reaches unto thine heart And as the Cause of 'em is plain so is the Hand from which those Judgments came It hath been curiously enquir'd and sometimes controverted by what Instruments or what Accidents this great Conflagration came to be so fatal I would we had been half so busie in finding out by what Sins it came to be inflicted But as to the former Enquiry the Discovery is soon made I can tell ye of a certain Truth That the Destroying Angel was most concerned in it He had the greatest Hand in it that hath a Hand in all the National Calamities in the World the Plagues the Earthquakes the Famines the Wars by what Accidents do all these things come to pass Who are we to look unto for these and such like Afflictions Are we yet to learn Why is there any evil in the City the evil of Punishment that is to say and the Lord hath not done it that mighty God whose Eyes are open upon all the ways of the Sons of Men To give every one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings Jer. 32.19 Nor is it any harder to call to Mind the Terrours that former Judgments that of this day particularly brought along with ' em There is none here present of us that were Eye-witnesses and then of any years of Discretion but have some dismal Impressions still seal'd upon our Minds if we will turn to 'em And they who were at the greatest distance then may easily trace out at this day the stupendous Circumference of those Ruins So they who know the History and see the footsteps of that Judgment may make the same use of it if they please to the amendment of their Lives as if God Almighty for their Sakes should repeat it again And as for the City's being Rebuilt in such Pomp and Magnificence as creates Wonder and Amazement in all that pass through it This ought on the one side to excite our Obedience to God upon the Article of Gratitude for his Power alone has been as Visible in the Rebuilding as his his Anger was in Destroying it And on the other side to excite our Caution and Fear lest that which is now more valuable to us than heretofore should ever again by our Provocations fall under an untimely Fate Therefore Why should we be stricken any more Why should we provoke Almightiness to extend its self farther since returns of Judgment and returns of Mercy have been as sufficient Memento's of bringing us back to our Duty as any Nation or People ever had Surely If ever the Judgments of God have been visible upon a City before its utter Desolation this Day brings to our Remembrance a very great One upon us And there is I think a greater Use which may be made of it now than could have been immediately after it for then it following a mighty Plague and