one Glance from thy Turrets upon these Spirits and remember in what State they once lived In a City built and furnish'd as Richly as Infinite Power and Wisdom could contrive and expend for its Glory The very Gates of Pearl and the Streets of pure Gold An House made with no other Hands than what a God hath Yet from all that Heighth and Magnificence Pride has tumbled them down into a Tophet whose Chambers are deep and large too but whose Fire burns and is enkindled by the Breath of an incensed God into a streaming Flame for ever And are you sure Sir that your Walls are strong enough to secure you from the like Tragedy 'T will be a dreadful Change to pass out from your Stately Pallace into a scorching Hell. But what must we pity Devils then No but our selves rather who in a dreadful Fearlesness are merrily passing on to the same Misery and sure they Merit little Pity from us who lay so many Trails of Ruine for us to drag us into the Sorrows themselves endure and would but Mock and deride us if in Torments with them Nor have I the Charity of Origen to believe that all the Flames in which they Suffer will ever prevail to Purge out the Malignity of their Poisonous Natures nor refine them into Purity Truth it self hath averr'd that their Fire shall never never be quenched and if it were not so he would have told us No Reader no Pride hath done their work for them to the purpose and thoroughly fix'd them the open avowed Irreconcilable Enemies of God and all Goodness yet still methinks to see these Great and Mighty Princes footing it as Servants upon Earth or wandring in the Air with the Shackles of Vengeance at their Heels for these Principalities with the Fingers and Toes of their Native Royalties cut off to be banish'd into the place of Dogs to pick Scraps from under the Table and to swallow the Bones of Eternal Affliction with no other Drink than the Poison of Dragons and the Dregs of the Wrath of the Almighty cannot be in the sense of all but a sad and deplorable Spectacle And though we cannot so Pathetically commiserate their Degradation and Sorrows yet are we more senceless and hardened than they if when after God hath hung them up before the Sun in the Fetters of his fiercest Anger and made them the lasting Monuments of his fiery Indignation to all Generations If I say while we Gaze on Them we do not Compassionate our selves and fortifie our Spirits by all imaginable Care against the Mischiefs of Sin that of Pride especially which hath brought all these Plagues and Judgments upon them Buoys of dire Vengeance chained here To raise up Vniversal Fear To Quash the Mountains and melt down The Pride of each Terrestrial Crown Rattle your Fetters into th' Ears Of a Deaf World that laughs at Fears While yet You Tremble These Secure As if as Innocent as Pure As once were you themselves Immure Methinks an Hierarchy in Hell Might sink the Tumour thô it swell If not the Baffle will soon appear All on Themselves not Me when There Adam's Tragedy Brethren in the Common Nature however distinguished by Accidents of Life The Progeny of the first Adam subjected by Him to Sin and Death Redeemed from all by the Blood of a Saviour Were there in you an Heart agreeable to that Grace Do not Baffle the Project of the Trinity to save you nor Frantickly Tear off the Plaister designed to Heal you Heaven is no place for unsanctified Flesh stand to the Tryal if you dare The Judge is at the door that will more sensibly convince you who hath sent you word before-hand That without Holiness no man shall see God. Hast out of the Rotten House of your first Father and while Vengeance pursues you you are Mad indeed if you fly not to the City of Refuge 1 COR. XV. 22. In Adam all dye SIN having made this havock above and glutted it self with Angels Blood let us now pass on to take a view of the direful Desolations it hath wrought below 'T will fight neither against Small nor Great but only against Kings for having already destroyed these Spiritual Princes it still pursues the High Game and now le ts fly at the first and Greatest on Earth When the Eternal Word spake things into Being that had no Pre-existence and commanded admirable Order and Form to start up out of Confusion and Chaos He not only gave a Naked Life to his Creatures but cloathed them with unexpressible Beauty and Ornament each Creature richly garnish'd in his Natural Dress that was meet and proper to it But to Man the Lord of all did he reserve a double Suit He designs him the Epitomy of the whole Creation and to participate of both Natures His Better Part the Soul he Enamels with the sparkling Beams of his own Divinity and Cloaths it in no other than his own Livery and Creates it a Spirit like himself Glorious in Holiness This inestimable Jewel he wrap'd up in a Casket the Body very curiously and wonderfully wrought to become a Chariot for the Noble Soul to move in And this very Case he fashioned into such excellent Symmetry of Parts and Perfection as should shew in each Lineament and Proportion the unparallell'd Wisdom and Power of its Maker and was so far from needing a Mantle to cover Defects as Nakedness it self was its best Ornament and Innocence its Natural Robe God himself delighting to see him in no other Vesture and himself not blushing to appear before his great Creator in it All the Creatures did their Homage to him in no other Dress when they presented themselves so humbly to take Name which He as their God on Earth gave Wisely and Suitably to their Natures The Loss of a Rib was so far from being any Blemish to his Person that he soon finds it again wrought up into the Perfection of a Delicate Lady as Beautiful and Entire as Himself And being but himself divided renders him still more compleatly Perfect And thus the Lord of the Creation receives his Stately Bride from the immediate Hands of his God and is Bessed in the Fruition of a Princess Congenial to his Nature and Honour When in a Paradise of unspeakable Pleasures did this High and Happy Pair deliciously enjoy themselves and their Maker with all the Reciprocations of the Dearest Love and Joy. Now to Consummate this Happiness the Perpetuity of all is kindly offered them on the Easie Condition of a Thankful Obedience Alas 'T is but the Rent of a Pepper-corn for so vast a Revenue The Great Landlord will reserve to Himself a Propriety but in one Plant which by no means he must Encroach on under the Penalty of certain Death while the Fruition of all the Rest shall be Sealed to him by Another which is Hallowed into a Sacrament for immutable Confirmation to him He humbly Bows and is content to live no longer than
think is troubled with the Vapours while he Builds himself into perfect Poverty Let him go on say they Experience at last may make him Wise when we shall have time enough to Ridicule his unparallel'd Folly. The Merchants and Traffacking Companies distracting themselves in the Croud of their Forreign Concerns are in earnest Expectation of those happy Returns that they think cannot fail to Enrich them The Poor Mechanicks Sweating as hotly in the hasty Pursuit of their meaner Accrewments and promising themselves a Brisker Trade in the ensuing Years The Laborious Villagers Manuring their Acres in the confident Hopes of Perpetual Harvests which alas they will never Reap and all without the least Eye or dependance on the Blessing of Heaven to Ripen them Imaginations forg'd in every Brain of an endless Prosperity which they take care to make sure to those Heirs which are never likely to Inherit it Courtships are made with as Flagrant Pretences of Love to Young Ladies as now in hopes of Establishing the Families into future Successions of Honour and Estate when alas they are rouzed from the Bed of Fondness and Delight when nothing remains but the Poor Complacency of Dying in each others Arms. Projects are contriv'd to Assign Children to this and that Employ that in greatest Probability may make them Happy The Toiling Hirelings are flattering themselves with the hopes of deliverance into better Services from the wearisome Tasks they at present Groan under The very Beasts are fattening up to the Yoke and Shambles when alas they shall never approach to either For the Women the Sources of this Plague their Provocations were so many and Great that my Pen in despair to number them up takes the wisest course to let them alone while their Minds are wholly Immers'd in Vanity they make up too great a Part of the Tragedy and I leave them to Skreak together at the approach of their Ruines O learn hence what the destructive end of Sin is that hath brought so Tremendous a Perdition on all the World And if such were the Havock by the Inundation of Water what will the Streams of Brimstone in Hell do and what the Flames of the last Conflagration How terrible is God in his Executions upon Sinners how Scorching his Justice and Vengeance Upon the Wicked He shall rain Snares Fire and Brimstone and an horrible Tempest This shall be the portion of their Cup Put them in fear O Lord that the Nations may know themselves to be but Men They are gone Reader and as of all things else that are past there is nothing remains of so Tragical a Story but the bare remembrance of it that hath so weak an Influence upon the Spirits of Men at so remote a distance of time that it hath lost its operating Virtue and Power and retains not the least Efficacy to deterr us from the Sin for which they perished If when the Earth opening her mouth to swallow up Corah and all his Confederating Rebels the surviving Thousands of Israel gave a Screek only and returned the very next day to the same Murmurs for which They died Nay if the very Children of Noah had so little sense of it that while himself lived his own Eyes were so unhappy to see them so early revolting into the very Provocations and Idolatries that brought the Flood first upon the World How should we hope that our Selves upon whom the Ends of the present One are come and which is grown Old in Wickedness and Ripe for a second Destruction should be affrighted out of our long riveted Lusts from any Reflection of our Minds on so Antiquated a Tragedy Yet hath God Enrolled the Execution in the perpetual Records and sent down his Son to take out a Copy of it and commanded him to Post it into his own Journal to give it a new and a fresher Life not without hope that it might Rouze us a little from our fatal Slumbers while the Noise and Horrour of the mighty Waters should sound in our Ears Yet doubted it still while he Prophesies that Himself should find us at his Second Coming plung'd into as deep Perpetrations as They and lock'd up under as perfect Insensibility of our Approaching Ruine from which nothing could awaken us but the surprizing Trumpet of an Arch-angel alarming us to Judgment and the Everlasting Doom For as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be also in the day of the Son of Man They did eaâ— they drank they married Wives they were given in Marriage until the day that Noah entred into the Ark and the Flood came and destroyed them all But what is become of Prides Kingdom now When with the Great Darius she is slown and hath left all the Rich Plunder of her stately and Golden Tents to the Spoil of the Conquerour Alas she has no pity for so many slaughtered Carkasses thrown over into the Ocean of Ruine Nor is it so much her Care to Protect as to Betray her unhappy Subjects She delights not so much in their Safety as Destruction she Dresses them up only for Sacrifice and they have the Pleasure to dye in their Holiday Cloaths She Combs their Heads and Shaves their Beards and Smooths up their rivelled Cheeks to expire with Octavius and lays them asleep on gentle Pillows She Courts them with Jael to come in to her and hides them from the Danger of others but then the Nail and the Hammer is in her own Hand which Pins them fast to the Earth With Alexander she hunts out more Worlds for them to Conquer and with the desperate Pharaoh leads them into the very Bowels of the Sea See how she drives them into Corners first out of Heaven then out of Paradise and now out of the World She is the Devils Spirit employ'd to furnish Inhabitants for the lower Region to an eternal Slavery Behold where she Perks on the Prow of Noah's Ship where she Splits her very sides with Laughter at the Glorious Present she has made to Lucifer What a World of Furniture hath she boarded away at once for his Spacious Palace How will his stately Rooms be hung with the Tapistries of Prides Tragedies What Horrid Stories will they represent of her Cruel Tyrannies And here she waits to drop her Cockatrices Eggs which she knows will Hatch themselves within the very Ark into another Brood for her She thinks not her Case so desperate yet as not to hope she has a Friend in the very Council of Eight One that has Courage enough to own her Principles and doubts not in a little time to grow up into Power and Strength enough advantageously to declare for her Interest Men of Renown Dash'd out of Breath Gigantick Huffs yet Pump'd to Death O Baffling Heaven Mighty Mountains Tumbled into swelling Fountains Lye sprawling there Trophies of strength Divine whose Massy Weight and Length Makes Justice smile A Righteous God Reducing all to Dust and Clod Chaos and Carcasses O Sin How Dismal have thy
Comforts on Earth God had made with him an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure This is all his desire and all his Salvation although he should not make his House to grow Who can see Him rising early to whet the Sacrificing knife that must cut the Throat of his beloved Isaac and giving orders for the cleaving the Wood that must afterwards Burn his dearest Body into Ashes and hastening his Son and Servants to the Journey The Lord hath a Sacrifice to be Offered on the Mount of Moriah how is This Righteous Soul straitned untill it be fullfiled Who can see him thus busie in the Annihilation of his own Flesh without believing that his Affections were all ravished away into Heaven and that Divine Grace had absorp'd him to that degree that he seems to have little of Man or Father appearing in him As Levi he knows not his own Children but packs away the one into Banishment at the Command of God and the other into Death So wholly eaten up by divine Zeal that for three whole days together Travelling towards the fatal Mount he hath both his Eyes so intentively sixt on the holy Commandment that he doth not so much as glance on his Isaac whoâ— he Devotes unto Good and looks on him as nothing but Ashes already The Law of his God that by this Command had dispensed with the very Law of Nature was so strong upon his Heart that he becomes obediently Vnnatural and Cruel not in the least repining as Jacob against God Me hast â—hou bereaved of my Children Ishmael is not and â—ilt thou take Isaac also all these things are against me Not so much as pouring out one Prayer to revoke the dreadful Injunction Father if it be possible let this Cup pass away But totally resigning Himself with his Blessed Heir Let thy will and not mine be done O Holy Abraham how Illustriously do the Graces of Him shine forth upon thee that would be Nothing else than what he was unto God! Thou art that Righteous Man of the East that hath learned to fall down and lye thus Submissively at the Foot of God Whither shall we go in Pilgrimage to find out the least Track of thine Obedient Steps there is scarce a little Line of thy Miraculous Devotion left upon the Face of the Earth Though St. Austin and some few more are pleased to give Sarah the Honour of consenting to the Death of her Son at the Will of God yet others more generally deny it and that Abraham afraid that her Faith might be drown'd in the Flood of her Passion very prudently conceal'd the Divine Mandate from her till after the Execution and that possibly he might bring her back a Son preternaturally raised out of his own Ashes for his God was Almighty In vain should he occasion a Precipitation of her Sorrows the woful Tidings would fall too soon as a Talent of Lead to crush and break her miserable Heart 'T is Abraham alone hath that Masculine Spirit to bear up under so sinking an Affliction as this Nor doth the Appearance of the fiery Mountain upon which his Son must be Offered dismay him David piteously lamenting the Fall but of a Friend bitterly execrated the Gilboâ— that had suckt in the Blood of his Jonathan devoting it to the Curse of Heaven for ever But Abraham can view the place where the Fire must consume his dearest Child and yet with Aaron hold his peace And now what his Faith assures him will be acceptable to God his Fear tells him may not be so very Grateful to Men. He prudently dismisses the Servants whose Eyes and Hearts he thinks would not serve them to view what his own unhappy Hands must Act He desires no Witnesses of so Tragical a Sacrifice 'T is enough that he who had set him on the Work and could not but See him should Sign the Certificate of his Faithful Obedience and Service While he Approves himself to God he values not the Testimony of Men He cries not as Jehu to Jonadab Come see my zeal for the Lord. Some fancy that he left them behind least when they should see him doing what he must do they might think that he had left his Wits behind him and so might hinder him of his Duty as once the Good Meaning Friends of Jesus did him on pretence of Distraction and Want of Senses It was not improbable but these young Men might have obstructed his Offering from as Ardent Zeal to their young Master as those afterwards who rescued Jonathan Sworn to Death from the Hands and Oath of his Violent Father But Abraham will not be interrupted by Men in a Duty which is commanded him by God. If he himself will cut the Cords of the Sacrifice and his Isaac's Redemption be wrought by the same Authority from Heaven that his Death was imposed most happy should he think himself but no other Hand shall take him from the Altar than the Divine one that laid him on Whence then is His Authority who pretends a Power to Dispense against the Positive and Absolute Commands of God The Servants and Beasts are disburthened while the whole Load is laid upon Isaac the Son is oppressed and the very Slaves go free yet he Murmurs not Who Sees not here those Innocent Shoulders that once bore our Griefs and carried our Sorrows The Iniquity of us all was laid upon him yet he opened not his Mouth Can we view Isaac bowing under the Wood that is design'd to devour him and not behold our dearest Saviour Fainting under the weight of his own Cross both ascending by weary Steps the very same Mount Abraham and Isaac the Holy and the Spiritual these tug with difficulties and attain to Mount Sion the City of God while the Carnal and the Brutish lag below and perish in the Valley of Darkness and Death where no Sacrifice is offered by them none is accepted for them their Iniquity is not purged by any offering for ever Nor is there any true Son of Abraham but who in this Life divides Himself the Brutish Part is left behind here below while the Aspiring Soul climbs the Hill to meet with God and doth so effectually prevail with him there that hereafter the poor Dust shall be called up too and participate of those Divine Qualities that will fit it for so Glorious a Communion The Ascent to the Mount was the most difficult part of the whole Journey and strong is the Body that bears up it Self against its Proclivity and Steepness Yet must not Isaac be pitied but instead of ease hath an heavy Burthen heaped upon him by a Father that tenderly loves him with design it may be to make him weary of the World and more willing to dye and pass out of it while the Slaves and Brutes are at ease and free from All below If the Cares of Life that are common to all are sound too light to humble the dearest Children of God and keep them low behold God