matter Thus we are by nature of no more reason than a wilde Ass and yet as unturnable as that Creature The old Man is proud and wilful yea presumptuous yea of enmity and despight if resisted as Lions and Dragons are spitting their some and poison as Cats in the face of all that contradict 'T is said of Judas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he became head-long Act. 1.18 He was so in his life for he would on in his work of betraying Christ though convinced by Christ's own preaching and told to his Face that he should betray him And so are the ways of corrupt nature carried head-long He taketh the wise in their own craftiness and the counsels of the froward are carried head-long Joh. 5.13 And all this continually as the Blackamore that cannot change his skin No place better sets out the bad property of natural corruption then that Gen. 6.5 God saw that the wickedness of man was great and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was evil and only evil and that continually For such a visible as well as audible Sermon as Noah preached of 120 Years long would surely have turned them from their sins had they not been desperately obstinate and so continually of which God was sensible and complain'd and was grieved at his heart that he made man And shall God so much lay to heart the depraved state of a man and man himself not lay it to heart at all Fourthly We should be deeply sensible of natural corruption in the consequence of it It is a body of death a body of this death that is it disposeth us to all the wrath of God both in this World and in the World to come And therefore doth the Apostle cry out here in my Text as one utterly loft O wretched man that I am Who shall deliver me c. And they likewise who were prickt at heart by the Apostle Peter's preaching with the sense of their sinful state Cryed out Men and Brethren What shall we do to be saved Which are Scriptures of purpose to shew that we should be deeply sensible of the evil consequence of corrupt nature as it will destroy Soul and Body Judas is called a Childe of Perdition and so are we called Children of wrath by nature that is such as are not under mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not pitied as the expression is rightly rendered in the Queens translation 1 Pet. 2.10 Now how are Malefactors affected with the consequence of their evil way when they are going to the Gallows especially when they have no hope of mercy when they be not under talk of mercy and pardon Now our natural state is death without all mercy that is the sentence pronounced upon it if the state so abide a carnal state it is death without all mercy and every carnal man should speak of himself as the Apostle Peter doth as one not under mercy or as one that hath not yet obtained mercy but lies lyable as a Prisoner condemned every hour to Execution I take it that their attonement day spokeâ— of Levit. 23.27 Wherein they were to afflict their Souls upon pain of death had principal reference to their state of sin by nature that body of sin which they brought into the World with them which exposed them and us all unto death and all misery in this World and that to come and if it be so then you have the Point in hand proved and the reason of it why we should be deeply sensible of corrupt nature as well as of all that flowes from it because God commands it and commands it upon great penalty We die for it else unless we afflict our Souls under the sense of our fallen state and Gods displeasure belonging thereunto that Soul which doth not so well die for it their afflicting day was a day to go to the Root and to cast salt and brine upon the springs of wickedness which if they did not the wrath of God seized on their Roots Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade Men saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.11 We perswade Men. To what Answ To look well about them that they be not found in their carnal state when Christ cometh to Judgment So that the deepest sense of this thing should be upon us that can possibly be as if we were now going before the Judgment of quick and dead and all in our sins or as if we were going to the Wedding of a great Prince and had not one rag on our backs to cover our nakedness Vse I Learn from hence that if we should be sensible of natural corruption then of all actual transgressions which are but as streams from this Fountain If we should mourn over the evil Womb then over all the evils which this VVomb brings forth And yet what twins and what tens and what great man-sins and provocations doth this evil VVomb bring forth every where at this day and yet who lays to heart either Mother or Children I hearkned and heard but they spake not aright no Man repented him of his wickedness saying What have I done every one turns to his course as the Horse rusheth into the Battel Jer. 8.6 Vse 2 Woe and alas how much are the most liberal reproved who are past feeling as to both natural corruption and all actual transgressions yea even the fowlest and greatest Giving themselves over to lasciviousness to work all iniquity with greediness and drink in all abominations as the Fish doth Water So far from sense of all sin either in the heart or in the life that all such frame of spirit is scoffed at If a man do but cast the least discountenance on the greatest sin What you are a Phanatick and ready as Swine to turn and tear and rent such as cast such Pearls before them as wholesome and seasonable reproofs and are as the wilde Ass that snuffeth up the wind and in the heat of her lust cannot be turned away Febris accedit the mad Feavour will and must have its course though Heaven or Hell bear upon breaking off or going on They say in the pride and stoutness of their hearts to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant To talk of a body of death Lord what strange language would this be now adays and if a Man should chance to sigh as the Apostle O wretcheà man that I am What will become of me that Hellish cordial I doubt would be readily administred God dam-me thou wilt do well enough Never was it such a God-daring time for wickedness If it be such a God-damning time as persons pâ—ay Hell will be full of Souls indâ—ed for many Ages surely as this Men have made their hearts as an Adamant that they may not repent and seared their Consciences with a hot Iron that they may be sin-proof and not fall before the greatest wickedness nor the greatest judgment of God That capital curse I fear is inflicted
our Death of Souls by the Famine of the Word of hearing the Word of the Lord in City and Country A great deal of do seems to be about the death of Bodies but ah Lord how many Thousand Thousand Souls have perished in this City and in these Nations in a few years past for want of hearing the Word of the Lord that is able to save the Soul Be not wrath very soar see behold we are thy People Zion is a Wilderness Jerusalem a Desolation and all our pleasant things are scattered Will the Lord refrain for these things Herein the Prophet seems to be toucht to the quick that Zion and Jerusalem was desolate and all these Soul-pleasant things were spoiled whereby Souls starved and perished and Soul-Famine and Pestilence was made a Famine of hearing the Word of the Lord that whither soever they went from one City to another from one Sea to another 't was all alike This this the Prophet laid deeply to heart and so should we I urge it by way of proportion if we should deeply lay to heart bodily death then much more Soul-death and destruction A fide exorbitans puniendus saith the Civilian such as play the wanton from the truth must be punished answerably We have been and yet still are a fide exorbitantes such as play the unruly Persons from the truth Children of Belial which cannot bear Christ's Yoke full of Soul-itch for another Gospel and being thus lewd in spirituals answerably in spiritual liberties and enjoyments hath God punished us it is not a little peril unto us that we meet now although the hand of God affright such as would be looking after us This this we should deeply lay to heart that the Bread for our Souls fails from the House of our God The strokes of God and the strokes of Men together affright away the Pastors and so the Pastures of your Souls and yet all this but the just punishment of much spiritual wantonness and exorbitancy Secondly If temporal strokes which refer to the death of the body should be laid much to heart then Eternal strokes which make the everlasting destruction of the Soul should be deeply laid to heart much more Such a stroke as that Isai 63.17 O Lord Why hast thou made us to erre from thy ways and hardened our hearts from thy fear and such as that Prov. 17.10 A reproof entereth more into a wise Man than an hundred stripes into a Fool. Some Mens hearts are by the inward strokes of GOD made Judgment-proof that Plague Famine and Sword all the Ten Plagues that were inflicted on Pharaoh and Ten more to them will not stir them nor turn them no more than they stopped or turned him nor yet so much And what do you see in this day done on the hearts of Men by the hand of God abroad now of Sword Famine and Pestilence Do these enter the hearts of Men This speaks that Eternal strokes judicial wrath upon the Soul is abroad fiting Men for Eternal death much of which I fear the most of us are little aware O Juresalem Jerusalem how oft would I have gathered thee as a Hen her Chicken and thou wouldst not but now they are hid from thine Eyes This was a Soul-mortal and an Eternal stroke and how Christ laid it to heart how he sighed and wept O Jerusalem And if our Gospel be hid it is hid unto them that perish saith the Apostle and how long hath thâ—s stroke been upon the Souls of most Assemblies in these Nations and else where the Power of the Gospel hid and a spurious efficacy gone forth in the place thereof faithful Labourers fishing all night and can catch nothing scarce covert a Soul and unfaithful Labourers such as come not in by the Door but come in their own name these pervert many yea though they come with never so damnable Doctrines if denying the Lord that bought them yet flockt after O give me leave to tell you in this day of God's sore Visitation Hinc illae lachrymae these are Soul-Plagues which have brought our Bodily-Plagues these are Soul mortal and eternal strokes because we have not received the truth in the love of it and no Man of us have laid these to heart as we should Spiritual Plagues and Judgments have swept away Souls by thousands all the Nations over many years together and who of us have laid this Mortality to heart as we should See how the Prophet Isaiah layeth to heart spiritual strokes Isa 24.16 17. My leanness my leanness the treacherous dealer hath dealt treacherously yea the treacherous dealer hath dealt very treacherously fear and the snare and the Pit are upon thee Treachery swearing for swearing thus in spiritual matters as Judas who betrayed Christ and as much as in him lay the Bodies and Souls of all Man-kind such treacherous dealers were the Jews which the Prophets much bewailed as great spiritual and eternal strokes and so should we as we see these on any Nation for these things are written for our learning that we should follow the foot-steps of the Flock It were well we that live in these last and worst times of the World could with the Prophet for like things sigh and say My leanness that we could sigh our selves lean this day before the Lord because of hypocrisie treachery and all Soul-villany and spiritual wickedness and the hypocrisie and treachery of our own hearts greatest of all and O how should we sigh and lament our selves lean for this ere the Plague sweep us away The next Use of this Point may be for Reproof and it may reprove two sorts 1. Such as are sensible of nothing 2. Such as are sensible of nothing to purpose First This may reprove such as are sensible of nothing or nothing sensible Temporal strokes are thick God and Man upon us Pestilence at home War abroad God and Man killing and slaughtering us one at Sea 'tother at land Is not this general Mortality God shoots his Arrows every where and how great is his dread fallen upon us In what Street of this poor City can one walk but dead Corps and Ghosts walk In what Fields about this City can one walk where death also doth not walk and as God's Bailiff seize and arrest and carry away to the great Bar above and to the Judge of all the World to receive all that they have done here in the Body good or bad At what corner of this City can we that live abroad creep in and not be met and saluted with trains of dead Corps carrying to the Grave to new Church-yards and New-exchanges old Burying-places being over-fatted and glutted and Corps inhumanely crowding one another out of their Places before the time and among all these sad salutations some righteous Men and merciful Men and Women taken away and we can tell their names and where they lived and so ends the story till the next Bill of Mortality come out with more taken away and then they
which God inflicts sometimes upon the Sons of Men yea upon his own Children Secondly This Metaphor is to set forth the numbers and troops of trials wherewith God punisheth his sometimes and the number can as well be numbered as the nature be fathomed you can as well fathom the bottomless Ocean as number the Waves and Billowes which beat up and down in it Thirdly This Metaphor fetcht forth the continuedness of afflâ—ction Deep calleth upon deep or calleth for deep That is one Wave beateth up and beateth on another * Undam undaque pellit or unda sequax as Virgil saith through the Tempests which God raiseth Afflictions unfathomable innumerable and very durable fall sometimes upon the People of God The next thing this Text sheweth to us is the greatness and invincibleness of faith which is set forth unto us by the Person faith taketh hold on in distress and that is God Faith leans on no Creature high nor low for in great distress What can the greatest Man do but God Yet the Lord shall c. Secondly The potency and invincibleness of faith is shewed unto us by that attribute in God on which faith fastens and that is his Soveraignty which commands all other wheels to go The Lord will command his loving kindness c. Thirdly Faith in the potency and invincibleness of it is shewed us by its excellent issues and effect which it doth produce which are two Prayer and Praise and in every dark state And in the Night his Song shall be with me and my Prayer to the God of my life in which is involved peace and joy and all good Doct. The Doctrin which I observe from these words is this That God sometimes maketh all his Waves and Billowes to go over Men yea good Men. The Psalmist thus complaineth not once in my Text but in Psal 69.1 2. Save me O God for the Waters are come into my Soul I sink in deep Mire where there is no standing I am come into deep Waters where the Floods overflow me I am weary of my crying my throat is dried mine eyes fail whilst I wait for my God David was a Man after God's own heart and yet saith he The waters are come into my Soul and I am come into deep Waters which overflow me and I cry to God and he lets me cry till my throat be dryed and can obtain no answer Elsewhere he speaks of himself and others Thâ—u sellest thy People for naught and dost not increase thy wealth by their price alluding to Slaves thou makest us a reproach to our Neighbours a scorn and derision to them that are round about us my confusion is still before me and the shame of my face hath covered me Psal 44 12 13 14. There is a great distance between the Planets they cannot dart one to another saith Seneca But it is not so with afflictions these will dart and reach one to another when pain is on the body it will reach unto the Soul All afflictions for kind and qualities and all for degree and quantity doth God sometimes bring upon Man First All afflictions for kind and quality that is spiritual and temporal Spiritual afflictions GOD brings upon Men yea upon the best Men. The loss of Ordinances When I remember these things I pour out my Soul for I had gone with the Multitude to the House of God Psal 42.4 As the loss of Ordinances So 2. The loss of God in Ordinances Why are thou cast down O my Soul c. O my God my Soul is cast down within me therefore will I remember thee from the Land of Jordan So Job complaineth of the loss of God The Arrows of the Lord are within me and the poison of them drink up my Spirit Job 6. And what a Man was he for integrity I acknowledge my sin and yet mine iniquity is ever before me Psal 51.3 Mine iniquities are gone over my head they are a heavy buâ—den too heavy for me to bear my wounds stink and are corrupt through my own foolishness Psal 38.4 5. A storm cannot raise it self above the Moon much less as far as the Stars saith the Philosopher and yet spiritual storms raise themselves in the Soul above all Sun Moon and Stars above all the graces gifts and endowments the Soul hath and eclipse and darken all My heart is sore pained within me and the terrors of death are fallen upon me fearfulness and trembling are come upon me and horrour hath overwhelmed me Psal 55.4 So Haman whilst I suffer thy terrors I am distracted And then God is gone indeed and Sun Moon and Stars overwhelmed Secondly Temporal afflictions doth God bring upon Men yea upon the best of Men. How our Saviour was afflicted in Spirit we read his Soul was heavy to death how he cried out and roared because of God hideing himself and as to all outward miseries and injuries what was not inflicted on him that Man or Devil yea or the Justice of God could inflict His visage was marred more than any Man's He had no House nor home He was in the Wilderness worried by Devils and wild Beasts He had no Bread no Bed no Friends forsaken of all even of all his Disciples So Haman how he complaineth of Bodily afflictions I am afflicted and ready to die from my Youth Psal 88.14 He had not a well day in all his life as we say and yet lived in an ill time to be sick namely when our Fathers were in their conflicts in Egypt under Pharaoh And yet mark what he saith then Thou hast laid me in the lowest Pit in darkness in the deep thy wrath lieth hard upon me Ps 88.7 and thou hast afflicted me with all thy Waves Sela. As if he had said that it should be done thus to and poor Creatures such a season as this when under the tiranny of a Foreign Enemy let it be wonder'd at by all the Creation Angels and Men. So Hezekiah how afflicted outwardly with a great Army of merciless Men insulting and besieging him and no sooner that over but sick unto death of the Plague and other infirmities as you may read by his complaints Mine Age is departed like a Shepheards Tent it is removed I have cut off like a Weaver my life he will cut me off with pining sickness which is many thousand deaths from Day even to Night he will make an end of me I reckoned that as a Lion so he will break all my bones Isa 38.12 Comets appear in the calmest Ayr and yet are very prodigious things So corporal calamities break out upon Men when in the greatest calm of ease and content When David said his Mountain was strong and that he should never be removed by and by you hear him cry out I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the Day long for my loins are filâ—d with a loathsome disease and there is no soundness in my flesh I am feeble and sore broken I
merciful Men are taken away As if the Prophet had said now the Lord is very angry indeed that he will not spare such as these which are so precious in his eye if any be Noah a righteous Man was preserved from the Flood And Lot a righteous Man preserved and plucked out of Sodom and had there been Ten righteous more the Cities might have been saved for their sake as the Ship full of Passengers for Paul's sake And Ebedmelech the Black more a merciful Man was saved from the destructions which destroyed Jerusalem and so was Jeremiah This should incite all People as they love their lives in this dying day to labour after grace and to be merciful Men and Women yea bountiful in this day of want for such as are ready to yield themselves thus to the Scepter of Christ and to follow him fully with all they have and are will certainly scape best such as yield all to the Lord will save all if any do You that become of prophane righteous and holy Men you take the likeliest way I know to escape well in this mortal time If you get not your lives you will get your Souls for a Prey no Plague shall come nigh that thus are you lodged safe in the Promise as soon as you become gracious and break off from your wicked ways by repentance And you that are gracious and godly think on 't as you love your lives in this day of mortality shew your Faith by your Works abound in this gift also of mercifulness many that are able and carry the Bag are abroad and I fear have carrâ—ed the Bag with them you that are here had need be the more merciful Man's poor will starve else Surely such as are ready to preserve the lives of others God will preserve their lives A Third Doctrin that may be observed in these words is this That times of general security under present lesser punishments are of very evil presage If when God's Judgments are in the Earth righteous Men and merciful be taken away and none lay these drops of the storms to heart it fore-rells surely that the Storm will come and fall hard and Thunder and Hall much Surely some great Evils are at Door when little ones are made light of though I cannot call the taking away of one righteous Man in this day nor the taking away of one merciful Man or Woman in this day a little punishment Dictum cum vulgo I speak after you if lesser Rods make no Body feel great ones surely are a making Righteous Men are taken away and none consider that they are taken from great Evil to come Sometimes with a foolish Virgins slumber the good become bad in this that they lay not GOD's dealings to heart as they should but let Death like a Moth stilly take away one and then another and make no noise in Heaven about it good People are much in a hurry with this World one about his Farm and another about his Merchandise and whilst running here and there hither and thither the King of Syria is gone the matters which should have been close kept to the heart are slipt away out of the mind and made no use of And such a temper among the Lord's People as well as others is a sure fore-runner of some roufing Judgment at Door that may well awaken every Body the Storm begins to come in among you Citizens now I hope you will be awake anon the Plague hath kept in the out-parts a good while O that we in the in-parts within these Walls had been well awake then and laid matters to heart then as we should The Doctrin which I would stand on is this That general Mortality should be generally laid to heart Mortal strokes upon all good as well as bad should much affect all good and bad The Strokes of God in this Prophet's time when he spake the words of my Text began to be general God spared not righteous nor wicked and God thus promiscuously smiting the Prophet was troubled that Men were no more affected as well he might From whence I observe That general Mortality should be generally laid to heart No Man high or low good or bad but should much lay to heart all the strokes of God which bring death that great blow to Man's Beeing Mortality by Plague Sword Famine or any other way or by any other Disease should be well considered and well made use of especially if it reach the righteous as well as others The Lion hath roared who will not fear The Lord God hath spoken who can but Prophesie Amos 3.8 Nature teacheth this in all Creatures that when such Creatures of prey are abroad which they know they are in danger of to be preyed upon to dread and tremble and to take all care they can to shun them and to save themselves The Prophet Mica who Prophesied in the same time with Isaiah which so complained in my Text complaineth just like him and almost in the same words Mica 7.2 The good Man is perished out of the Earth and there is none upright among Men they all lie in wait for blood they hunt every Man his brother with a Net c. As if the Prophet had said Good men perish out of the Earth and this is so far from being laid to heart and lookt upon as any judgment that all violences are used to take away the rest every one lieth in wait for blood yea the blood of his Brother as Cain lay in wait for his Brothers blood And where will this end And by this grief of this Prophet I gather that general Mortality the perishing of good Men and the perishing of others by violences and murders and such like ought much to affect the living and not the lives of all sorts to be taken away and made no more of than of Dogs or Hogs by the death of which there is an advantage By this Prophet Isaiah we may see this Doctrin again confirmed that general strokes should generally affect Isa 64 9 10 11. Be not wrath very soon O Lord neither remember iniquity for ever behold we bessech thee we are all thy People Thy holy Cities are a Wilderness Zion is a Wilderness Jerusalem a desolation the holy and beautiful House our Fathers worshipped thee is burnt with Fire and all our pleasant things laid wast The Prophet â—n these words speaketh prophetically and beholdeth and representeth that which was to be as done namely the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem and that state Persons and things one and all and how doth he speak of this general Mortality of Persons and things good and bad high and low Doth he speak of it slightly O no but with much complaint and strong cry and bemoans to God Be not wrath very sore O Lord be not angry for ever Zion is a Desolation Jerusalem a Wilderness c. In these Desolations as you know by the Scripture there was Death by Plague Sword and
Famine then I conclude that general Mortality should be generally laid to heart for the Prophet did thus complain to God to affect all Men that they might so complain to God as he did how sadly matters went amongst them Take one Scripture more Lam. 1.6 And from the Daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed her Princes are become like Harts that can finde no pasture and they are gone without strength before the Pursuer This Prophet layeth to heart particularly the distresses of Princes and great Men and alass what are all these to the distresses and death of the righteous and holy and merciful Men which proves that we should lay to heart the common strokes of God as the Sword and Pestilence take away one as well as another bad and good high and low I will prove this Point more particularly and distinctly to you First We are to lay to heart Mortality by the Pestilence I have sent among you the Pestilence after the manner of Aegypt your Horses have I taken away and have made the stink of your Camps to come up into your Nosthrils and so killed you with Plagues and Diseases attending the Sword and yet ye have not returned to me Amos 4.10 that is you have not laid things to heart throughly to be ashamed of your evil ways and to turn from them The death of Men nay the death of Horses as such deaths not long since were amongst them we are to lay to heart and so to lay to heart as to prepare to meet God then the death of good Men by the Pestilence we are surely to lay to heart From above hath he sent a Fire into my Bones and it prevailed against them he hath made me desolate and faint all the day Lam. 1.13 The Prophet in these words as in all the rest personateth the state of the People generally and much laid to heart GOD's immediate strokes upon the Persons of Men by many mortal fierce Diseases without sparing any From above hath he sent Fire into my Bones and it hath prevailed c. Secondly Mortality by Famine is to be laid to heart The Prophet Joel speaketh of this stroke which indeed is great The Land is as the Garden of Eden before them and behind them a desolate Wilderness and nothing shall escape them speaking of Vermin so devouring all Man's Provision Joel 2.3 at the 12th vers of this Chapter the Prophet telleth us what effect this should have Therefore now also saith the Lord turn ye to me with all your heart and with fasting weeping and with mourning rent your hearts and not your Garments for he is gracious who knoweth if he will return and repent By which of these strokes either Pestilence or Famine the godly were taken away no Man can say for by Pestilence Famine and Sword did the Lord contend with that People That he contended with them by Famine the Prophet Joel and also the Prophet Jeremiah testifieth They have sowen Wheat and shall reap Thorns they have put themselves to pain but shall not profit thus doth the Prophet poscere aciem bid battel and ye shall be ashamed of your revenue because of the fierce anger of the Lord Jer. 12. 13. But most plain in Ezek. c. 4. 5. Where the Prophet is commanded to make Bread with Beans and Fitches and to eat this by weight and to mix dung with it And must this be laid to heart Yes much How can any do otherwise Thus saith the Lord smite with the Hand and stamp with the Foot and say alass for all the evil abominations of the House of Israel for they shall fall by the Sword by the Famine and by the Pestilence Ezek. 6.11 Then they fell by all these and then it is probable that the righteous fell by all these as others then we should lay to heart Mortality by all these we should smite with the Hand and stamp with the Foot and say alass What great abom nations have caused all these great Judgments God's temporal strokes and judgments which kill and slaughter all sorts should much be laid to heart by all sorts But you will say Q. What is it to lay to heart the mortal strokes of GOD in a Nation I answer A. It is to be deeply sensible of the cause as it may be in our selves or in the Nation wherein we live Observe how the Lord counselleth Ezekiel to carry it in the day of their dreadful misery Thus saith the Lord smite with thine Hand and stamp with thy Foot and say alass for all the evil abominations of the Land of Israel He doth not barely bid him to say alass for all the evil punishments of the Land as Sword Pestilence and Famine but alass for all the wickedness of the Land which hath caused these He that is far off shall fall by the Pestilence and he that is neer shall fall by the Sword and he that remains and is besieged shall die by Famine Ezek. 6.11.12 So that to lay to heart mortal strokes in a Nation is to be deeply affected with the cause of them in our selves or in others If you ask me further where we have found out causes in our selves and in others quos accidam as Salust saith To whom shall I turn and prostrate my self and say I have sinn'd Q. and done this evil abomination Answ To God in the Name of Christ A. Therefore thus saith the Lord turn you even unto me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning Joel 2.12 And to do this forth-with presently without all delay or else to be sure it is not turning to the Lord with all the heart To lay to heart God's willing Discipline is to be full of deep sorrow for sin in our selves and others as the proper causes of all sorts of deaths and deaths of all sorts of Persons good and bad and to turn from these to the Lord and to believe on Christ that the Lord for his sake will be pacified and turn away all his displeasure and not make us a reproach unto the Heathen as it is in that Chapter Joel 2.17 Having thus proved and opened the Doctrin I will shew you in the next Place Vses what Use may be made of it First This Point is profitable to teach If we are to be deeply sensible of temporal strokes such as refer to the death of our bodies then much more are we to be sensible of spiritual strokes and eternal strokes which refer to the death of our Souls I will send a Famine not of Bread but of hearing the Word of the Lord. And they shall wander from Sea to Sea and from the North to the East they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and shall not finde it Amos 8.11 12. How diligently we get the Bills of Mortality now and being come up to Thousands O how we lift up our hands but who brings in Weekly Bills of