may it be for a Lamentation that there is price upon price put into the hand of Fools and they have no heart unto them and we may reckon upon it that the many precious Sermons and Treatises which are abroad will come up in judgement against the men of this Generation and condemn them for that such blessed light hath been as by Preaching so by Books and Sermons Preached and published being conveyed into the world and especially into this Land and Nation and the community of people love darknesse rather then light for my own part I have been a poore Prophet of Anathoth a Preacher of the Gospel partly in the Country partly in and about the City of London between Forty and Fifty years most of my time even to above Forty years I have spent in and about London continuing in the City all the time of the great PLAGUE Anno 1625. and from that time having obtained help from God I have continued my relation and the exercise of my Ministery ever since in one place till an Act of Parliament put a stop endeavouring by plain and profitable Preaching by quiet and peaceable living to shew and set forth the glorious Gospel of the Great God and our Lord Jesus Christ by whose Death and Resurrection death and darkness and Mortality which the first Adam by sin had let into the World and opened a doore unto is swallowed up in Victory and Life and Immortality is brought to Light and is performing glorious Tryumphs in and by the Lord Jesus I have reduced the Main of my Preaching to the Apostle Pauls Dichotomy Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ yet not baulking other Doctriner that are superstructory and necessary to be built on these Foundations as in particular obedience to Kings and Magistrates and that for Conscience-sake persuading and provoking people to pray for Kings and all in Authority under him that we may live under them a peaceable and quiet life in all Godliness and honesty So that I bless the living God I have no regret in my Conscience for having first or last driven in a way of Preaching or Praying any either Treasonable or Disloyal designs nor am I Conscious to my self that any thing hath been performed by me to the imbassing of the Spirits of his Majesties Subjects or debauching them or drawing them from their Duty and Allegience knowing how my Commission runs and what of the Counsel of the most high God is held forth in Prov. 24. 21. Rom. 13. v. 1. 2. Titus 2. v. 1. 1 Pet. 2. v. 17. But Knowing withal that it concerneth Magistrates and Rulers that they Rule in the Fear of God as King David acknowledged they ought to do 2 Sam. v. 23. And that they be not a terrrur to good works but to evil works Rom. 13. That they set themselves to punish evill doers and to be for the praise of them that do well and truly it is sad when such as are be trusted with Magistratical Power shew more severity against such as are Judiciously Consciencious and out of a Judicious and well-informed Conscience are a little crossing the Magistratical Impositions and Injunctions then against men of Grosest Immoralities openly Flagitious Profligate and Naught and run to all excess of Wickedness It were to be wished that in all Kingdoms and Common-wealths Drunkards and Swearers and Whormongers and Sabboath-breakers and unjust Dealers with all other of that black and ragged Regiment which is headed by the Devil the Prince of Darkness might feel the sharpest of the Magistrates Severity while Sober Judicious and Consciencious Christians partake of the benigne influencies of Magistratical Power and Goverments and sit quietly under their own Vines and Fig-trees and drink the Waters of their own Cystern They the mean while setting themselves to studdy their Duty and in Faithfulnesse to perform it There are the Duties of particular relations wherein and in the due management whereof the Beauty and the Power of Godliness doth very much discover it self as in the Relation between the Husband and the Wife between the Parents and their Children between the Master and the Servant between the Pastor and the People so are there between the Magistrate and the Subject The well answering of which will conduce very much unto the more comfortable enjoyment both of one and other and as it is much to be wished that Kings and Magistrates may have the Honour and Obedience performed to them which is their due So it is likewise much to le desired that the Subjects under their Government may have the Ease Freedome and Refreshment which is justly to be expected by them I live in the comfortable Hope and joyfull Expectation of a Time wherein the Church and People of God shall have a more Free and Comfortable Enjoyment of themselves then ever yet not Oppressions Persecutions Oppositions hard Usages as all along almost ever since the fall of Adam Surely the Godly shall not alway be under Hatches and Harrows and Wicked and Prophane Men that neither Fear God nor Reverence Men Ruffle and Rant it and poure out Scorn and Derision upon others that are as good as they yea it may be farr their betters in worldly respects but be sure their betters in Grace and Godlyness such shall not always behave themselves in such a manner Surely the wicked shall not alwayes lift up their Horn on high and push at the Godly with side and shoulder but the Lord will and we have his Faithfull Word and Promise for it lift up the Horn of his People keep the Feet of his Saints when the Wicked shall be silent in Darkness he will exalt the Horn of his Annointed whether Godly Kings or Godly People 1 Sam. chap. 2. Kings have in a civil way their anointing with material Oyle which the Subjects partake not with them in and in that respect they are peculiarly the anointed Ones but such as are really Religious and Godly have a spiritual annointing the Scripture speaks much of it 2 Cor. c. 1. 1 Joh. 2. ad fine You have an unction faith the Apostle from the holy One which unction as it is a teaching unction and conduces much to the accomplishing of the Saints as they are Prophets as there the Apostle expresses for faith he You have an unction from the holy One and ye know all things v. 20. And again v. 27. The annointing Teachers so is it a priviledging unction and conduces very much to the promoting of their Spiritual and Corporal Ease and Freedom from sore Burthens and Oppressions and accomplishes them for the Kingly Dignity understand it in the Mystery not in the Letter which the Lord Jesus hath by his blood purchased for them and hath raised them up unto us Rev. 1. v. 6. He hath loved us and washed us in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God our Father This ease and freedome from what is Oppressive whether Imprisonment Impoverishment
hath done great Execution much Protestant blood hath been shed when it will be quiet and fall a sleep again after its awakening who can tell The terrible sword of Pestilence is also now awakened and it is acting its part according to the Commission granted unto it how high this may rise how farr it may reach how long it may continue and what may succeed and come after it who can tell These things are laid up in store with God and sealed among his Treasures to whom Vengance and Recompences belong who will make the feet of his Enemies slide in due time for the day of their Calamity is at hand and the things that shall come upon them make haste t. 32. v. 34 35. As touching the Pestilential Contagion now amongst us it hath a very formidable aspect and begins to open its mouth wide and to devoure on every side many are possessed with fear and trembling to think what will become of them and are ready to cry out with Balaam Wo and alas who shall live when God doth this and well may sinners in Zion be afraid and fearfullness surprize the hypocrite in heart Esai 33. And such as are of guilty consciences as not being able to dwell with devouring fire and with everlasting burnings It s a becoming thing for such to let fall their spirits to come down from their grandeur to turn in upon their own hearts and humble themselves under the mighty hand of God who though fury be not in him yet if any will set himself against him he will be sure to finde that God is more then his match and will be as a devouring flame to a bush of dry thorns and stubble and will in a moment burn them up It s their wisest course to make peace with God and take hold of his strength and they shall make peace with him as the Prophet speaks Esai 27. 4 5. It s not for any to turn Quiritants and Plaintiffs against God who is sufficiently able to shew cause for what he doth and give a reason of all his actings though he be not bound to do it Nor is it fit to say unto him what doest thou its proper for us all to put our mouths in the dust and now that his hand is lifted up to see it submitt to it and learn righteousness by it knowing that they that will not see it shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people Esai 26. And that they that will not fear with a fear of duty shall fear with a fear of punishment in a judicial way and if men will deal proudly against God he will be found to be above them yea in the very things wherein they do deal proudly against him It s holy Counsel and never more proper for men to take then at this day which Jeremiah gives us in the 3. of his Lamentations 40 c. Wherefore doth the living man complain a man for the punishment of his sin every word hath its weight and is emphatically argumentative Its man and not God and shall man complain against God it s a living man and that speaks Gods patience and forbearance he might have struck him dead and sent him to hell but he lives and is it fitting that he should complain and not rather magnifie Gods patience and goodness and say it s of the Lords mercies that we are not utterly consumed It s a man for the punishment of his sin that which he suffers under and complains of is of his own procuring he eats the bread of his own bakeing drinks the drink of his own brewing reaps the harvest of his own seed nay nay it is not for the living man to complain but as the counsel is there given to search and try his ways and turn to the Lord his God to be humbly inquiring into the Reason into the very Reason why God is fallen out with England and London that have been good friends so long Why he hath taken his Rod into his hand and gives us such heavy blows that he fetches blood from us and strikes us dead And indeed let this be our business at this day to know and find out the Proper Reason of this present Plague To find out the causes of a Disease we count hath a great tendency to the Cure but who and where is the wise man that may understand this and who is it to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken that he may declare it for what the Land is Plagued and in a way to perish and to become as a wilderness that none passeth through they are Jeremiah's words Jer. 9. verse 12. If such a course be not taken and vigerously prosecuted without partiality and an ingenuous acknowledgment made that to all other our sins we have added these or these till we find out the Jonah that makes the seas tempestuous the Achan that troubles the â—and the Sheba son of Biory which makes the disturbance and so must be beheaded and his head cast over the wall Till this be done it will not be well with us but we may even call for the mourning women as it follows in that place To take up a wailing and to make bitter Lamentation for death is come into our windows and is entred into our palaces to cut off the children from without and the young men from the streets I hear that diverse of our Preachers have been performing somthing to such a purpose improving the Scriptures and giving account from them what particular sins have formerly provoked God to send the Plague upon a people this is somthing to the purpose But what if there be some or other abomination committed in the Land which lyes heavy on it and the cry of it is heard in the eares of the Lord of Hostes that till it be found ouâ— the mouth of it stopt and it self removed some or other sin which the Scripture doth not so clearly and in terms make mention of for I suppose it may be so that sins may be committed that have scarce ever been heard of before as God somtimes bringeth to light strange punishments and armes himself with weapons of his Indignation which he hath not formerly made use of as we have it in Job 31. v. 3. Is not destruction to the wicked and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity So there may be uncooth unheard of sins Now this I drive till this or that particular evil be found out Confessed Repented and Reformed till the proper vein be opened and the singer laid upon the very sore we may pine away and perish in our iniquity and the Land become desolate without Inhabitant Nathan said unto David thou art the man David said of himself I am the man this is my sin I have madâ— some observation in my daily Course of reading Scriptures of that passage in Eze. 15. 8. I will make the land desolate because they have committed a trespass and the like you find in
commission such a paper to say Peace be unto this House and be sure if the Son or Daughter of Peace be there the Peace shall rest upon it notwithstanding the Plague be in it and whether it come as a tryal or as a punishment I would advise them to bid it welcome accept it kisse the Rod and the hand that holds it drink the cup which though it may be bitter yet may prove wholsome and not poisonous in the least hear the Rod and who hath appointed it quarrel not with it but fall under it study you to please God in what you do or suffer and that God may please you in what he orders out and all will be well I would aske you concerning your Souls and Spiritual Conditions have you not minded God hitherto nor acquainted yourselves with him and the Mysteries of his Will things that concern your Eternal Peace have you not yet believed repented set to it now and make it your businesse you may have but a little time to spend in the world improve it to as good purpose as you can let not a minute run out to waste the nearer you are to your journeys end make the more haste that your work may not be to do when you have no time left to do it in knowing that there is no Believing Repenting self-Humbling and making peace with God No such Work in the Grave whither you are going be deeply humbled for your neglect of Hearing Reading Praying and other Duties of Godlinesse and now cry mightily urge God with his Attributes and plead thus Lord thou art stiled a Father of Lights and wilt thou not send light into my dark soul thou art the God of all Grace and shall I dye in a gracelesse condition thou gavest Christ and that of thine own free accord when there was no moveing of thee in the least to such a purpose and he hath shed his blood pacified thy wrath satisfied thy justice brought in everlasting righteousness and is now at the right hand to make Intercession for poor sinners and shall I that now cry for him fly to him be never the better for him not one drop of his blood to purge my conscience onely by the way let me Animadvert upon that which is the common apprehension and expression of men that one drop of Christs Blood was sufficient to save a world for my part I am not clear in that it must be heart blood life blood that must be shed by him to make an Attonment but to direct your proceed in the way of your Plea Lord thou hast given me a natural life and breath and wilt thou not give me spiritual life and breath I have the natural senses of hearing seeing tasting feeling and so forth and Lord shall I be wholy a stranger to spiritual senses these things am not I able to perform in my own behalf by my own power Oh put forth thine make me such as thou wouldst have me to be and I shall be such it is said of Abraham thou foundst him faithfull and of David thou foundst him a man after thine own heart thou wouldst never have found them so if thou hadst not made them so make me such and thou shalt find me such thy grace is as sufficient to pardon and sanctifie and renew me as ever it was for any poor sinner in the World If I dye and damne and perish there is no profit in my blood the dead praise thee not the damned will not nor can If I perish I shall never love thee and honour thee If thou wilt save me I shall be a lasting Monument of freest love and richest Grace and Mercy Oh then Magnifie thy Mercy upon me and let me not be Fuel for the burning but Timber for the building yet let me further drive and deal with you and use my uttermost to fasten my nails in you you are humane creatures oh see that you be new creatures you are a part of the first Creation that is wofully degenerated and defaced see that you be a part of the second Creation which is performed in Christ Jesus in whom all Gods acts of Grace are performed you have natural understandings pray that God would give you spiritual understandings David fetched an argument from this consideration that Gods hand had made him fashioned him and urged in the strength thereof Oh give me understanding that I may keep thy Testimonies Psal 119. You have bodies but do you not consider that you have souls that are infinitely more to be valued then your bodyes the losse whereof the whole world will not countervail you live a natural life but do not you know that there is a spiritual life which is infinitely better look to live that life you eat and drink daily for the body there is a spiritual meat and drink provided which your souls have as much need of as your bodyes have of the Perishing food oh make out after that You are carefull to cloath your bodies and shall your fouls be naked You prize and study to keep and maintain your outward liberty spiritual liberty is far better and will you please your selves in spiritual bondage to sin and the Devil oh make out after this spiritual liberty knowing that if the Son shall make you free you shall be free indeed You are carefull to maintain your bodily health and is it good that you should have sick souls let me aske you will you love darknesse rather then light sicknesse rather then health bondage rather then liberty death rather then life your disease better then your Cure your Plague better then your plaister will you chose rather to be in the hand of a wounding killing Devil then in the hand of a healing recovering curing Christ will you choose rather to be damned and go to Hell then to be eternally saved and put into the possession of eternal Mansion above you are subject to a bodily Plague which may seize you and it may be hath know you not there is a worse Plague the Plague of the heart you must dye how soon you know not oh look after an interest in Christ which is the best interest look for Faith and free Justification Repentance and Renovation seconded with Real and Universal Reformation get the blood of Christ which is the blood of sprinkling upon your Consciences which will purge away your Guilt bring in Peace and kill the Worm which if not killed will killingly gnaw on you to all Eternity I say again you must dye once take heed of dying twice there is a second death and that is the most formidable you must dy but look to this that death do not kill you do you kill sin and you will kill death too you must dye but let it be your seeing of death as it is said of Simeon Luke 2. Let not death see you with a Mortifferous killing sight you must dye let it be but a tasting of death as the Scripture phraseth it let it