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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	day_n	die_v	year_n	8,996	5	5.0082	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A87806	Five seasonable sermons. As they were preached before eminent auditories, upon several arguments. / By Paul Knell Master in Arts, of Clare-Hall in Cambridge. Sometimes chaplain to a regiment of curiasiers in His late Majesties Army.	Knell, Paul, 1615?-1664.; Knell, Paul, 1615?-1664. Israel and England paralelled.; Knell, Paul, 1615?-1664. Looking-glasse for Levellers.	1660 (1660)	Wing K678; Thomason E1766_2; ESTC R209658	76,872	199

vengeance against sinners though for number they be many though for Power mighty Jonah here threatneth Nineveh though an exceeding great City Nineveh I say a great City Little Zoar we know was spared Great Nineveh must be overthrown God regardeth not so much the goodliness as the goodness of a City Nay the greater it is if wicked the greater punishment he still layeth upon it For it is with sinfull places as with sinfull persons the mor● famous the one the more infaemous the other Nineveh-sins London-sins City-sins these are exemplary leading sins they may do a great deal of mischief in the Countrey the Ninevites sins were aggravated from the greatness of their City Again Nineveh is intepreted Speciosa fair or beautifull An Epithite given also to Jerusalem which was indeed called beauty in the abstract the perfection of beauty the joy of the whole earth as may be easily gathered from Lam. 2.15 And yet as beautifull as these Cities were there was neither of them spared What became of Ierusalem ye have heard And though Nineveh scaped awhile yet she went not still unpunished but returning to her old sins Nahum's prophecy fully came to pass and this likewise of our Prophet Jonah here Nineveh was overthrown God regardeth no beauty but the beauty of holiness beauty in the Abstract without this it is no Beauty but deformity Nineveh though never so beautifull yet God threatneth this very Nineveh to overthrow it And so I pass from the fourth part of the Text the place of Jonah's preaching the City Nineveh to the fift and last which is the Time when his prophecy or preaching was to be accomplished and fulfilled and that was within fourty dayes And he cryed and said yet fourty dayes and Nineveh shall be overthrown Fourty but why so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet three dayes so it is in the Septuagint and how come they to fall short of the Original seven and thirty dayes The ordinary gloss answereth it thus Sive per quadraginta dies sive per triduum idem Christus significatus est whether it be fourty or three dayes the same Christ is hereby signified who was three dayes in the grave and afterwards fourty dayes conversant with his Disciples But this seemeth to me a very affected and far fetcht answer Hugo Cardinalis will have a further mysterie in it Tres dies saith he Fidem Trinitatis quadraginta poenitentiae tempus significant the three dayes in the Septuagint saith he point at faith in the holy Trinity the fourty dayes in the Original point at time of repentance and therefore as he thinketh was this voluntary mistake and difference between the Greek and Hebrew to signifie that faith and repentance are the way to avert Gods Judgements But whether the one of these by three dayes aimed at such a faith I will not say that the other by forty dayes aimeth at repentance this is somewhat probable For Numerus quadragenarius poenitentialis est saith Rupert the number of forty is a penitential number it is said therefore to these Ninevites here Adhuc quadraginta dies yet fourty dayes to let them know that there was yet time of grace and repentance for them and to admonish them that they husband well this time of their visitation For as other dayes so even the day of grace and repentance hath an end Esau found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with Tears Heb. 12.17 The very time of repentance lasteth but for a time according to that of the Angel which sware by him that liveth for ever and ever that there should be time no longer Rev. 10.6 Let this accelerate our repentance while there is time for us to repent while there is Adhuc quadraginta dies yet fourty dayes Ye may remember how our Saviour bewaileth Jerusalem for trifling away this precious time Luke 19.41 He beheld the City and wept over it saying If or O that thou hadst known even thou at lest in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes For the dayes shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation It is most dangerous brethren to trifle away the day of grace and mercy Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation It will be too late for us to knock when the door of mercy is shut to day if we will hear Gods voice harden we not our hearts God suffered the manners of the Israelites fourty years in the wilderness and he would have suffered the manners of these Ninevites fourty days in the City but I am sure he hath no where promised to bear with us so long he hath promised no years nay he hath promised us no dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even this very next night our souls may be required of us Let us not then despise or abuse Gods goodness and long-suffering let us not drive off our repentance till the nine and thirtieth day we have a common saying that we were better leave than lack the Ninevites here seem to have made good use of it for they repented as soon as the word was out of Jonab's mouth though they had Adhuc quadraginta dies yet fourty dayes But here ariseth a question that must needs be answered namely Why Gods threatnings come not to pass for we read Gen. 20. That God threatned Abimeleck with present death Thou art but a dead man for the woman that thou hast taken yet we know that Abimeleck died not at that time So likewise God threatneth Hezekiah with death 2 King 20.1 Set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live yet we know there were added unto his dayes fifteen years In like manner God threatneth Nineveh to overthrow it within fourty dayes and yet when these fourty dayes were expired Nineveh was not overthrown And how cometh this to pass that Gods threatnings should not take effect I answer as Gods promises so his threatnings likewise are not absolute but conditional for there is a twofold Will in Almighty God Voluntas signi and Voluntas beneplaciti the Will of the sign or the sign of Gods Will which is the revealed Will of God and the Will of the good pleasure or the good pleasure it self which is the secret Will of God Now to instance only in the case of Nineveh for one answer may serve for all objections of this nature that Nineveh should be overthrown within fourty dayes this was voluntas signi the will of the sign the revealed Will of God but that Nineveh should repent so not be overthrown this was voluntas beneplaciti the Will of the good pleasure the secret Will of God Neither were these two

Wills contrary but the one of them wrought for the effecting and bringing about of the other The revealed Will of God his threatning of the Ninevites within fourty dayes to overthrow them this brought them to repentance that so his secret Will might be fulfilled in sparing of them Though Nineveh therefore were not overthrown yet God might safely threaten so to serve it yet fourty dayes and Nineveh shall be overthrown And so I have gone thorow the parts of the Text severally Let us now put them altogether again and see what general instruction they will afford us The proposition for our instruction may be this That God usually lets off a Warning-piece before a Murdering-piece seldome executing any Judgement either personal or national but he sends some kind of Herald or other to give warning of it And God hath both an extraordinary and ordinary way of threatning and giving warning of Judgement either of which is twofold First his extraordinary way is either immediate or mediate private or publick Private by inspirations Publick by apparitions First God threatneth and giveth warning of Judgement with an Adhuc qua●ragintadies as it were Yet fourty days by private inspirations Thus he gave Noah warning of the flood Thus he gave Abraham warning of the destruction of Sodome Thus he gave Samuel warning of the destruction of Elie's house And thus he warned all his Prophets of his approaching Judgements according to that of the Prophet Amos Surely the Lord will do nothing but he revealeth his secret to his servants the Prophets Amos 3.7 Secondly God threatens and giveth warning of Judgement with an Adhuc quadragintadies as is were Yet fourty dayes by publick apparitions Thus he gave the Jewes warning of the destruction of Jerusabem and that by two very prodigious signes the one tendered to their eares the other to their eyes the former was an hideous voice heard often in the siege of Jerusalem Linquamus has sedes or Migremus hi●● Come let us be gone let us leave this cursed place thought by some to have been the voice of the tutelar and protecting Angels thought by others to have been an extraordinary voice of Almighty God himself The other was a prodigious blazing star which Josephus telleth us stood many moneths together right over Jerusalem And thus likewise shall God give warning of the general and last Judgement When there shall be signes in the Sun and in the moon and in the stars Luke 21.25 And as God hath an extraordinary so he hath an ordinary way of giving warning of Judgement And this likewise is two-fold Domestick by the preaching and ministration of his Word Forreign by the executing and administration of his Justice First God threatneth and giveth warning of Judgement with an Adhuc quadraginta dies yet fourty dayes by the ministration of his word Thus he warned the primitive disciples by St. Paul who ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears Acts 20.31 Though we have no Urim and Thummim as they had under the Law though Ministers are not acquainted with Gods purposes by immediate inspiration yet notwithstanding we may in some sort prognosticate a Judgement and may speak in a strict sense as the Oracles of God For if every man can discern the face of the sky as our Saviour speakes why may not Ministers the signes of the times yes without Question we may do it when the heaven is covered with black clouds we may conclude there will be a storm so when the earth is clouded with horrid sins we may conclude there will be a judgement by comparing of spiritual things with spiritual by looking into Gods ancient wayes and considering how God hath dealt with sinners heretofore though we cannot absolutely determine yet we may give a near guess when a storm is impending when Judgement to the uttermost is coming on a Kingdome Secondly God threatneth and giveth warning of Judgement with an Adhuc quadraginta dies as it were yet fourty dayes by the administration of his Justice by the Judgments which he executeth upon others Their harms are our warnings Nam tua res agitur paries cum proximus ardet We have a common saying that the burnt child dreads the fire In malice we should be children but in this we should be men to dread the fire before ever we are burnt the destruction of others should be instruction for us I conclude this point briefly with that in the phecy of Zephaniah c. 3. v. 6 7. Where God telleth Jerusalem That he had cut off the Nations so that their towers were desolate he had made their streets waste that none passed by their Cities were destroyed so that there was no man there was no inhabitant And wherefore was all this done why did God so miserably overthrow those other Nations Why only to give Jerusalem warning lest she were served so too I said Surely thou wilt fear me thou wilt receive instruction And so ye have briefly the several wayes how God giveth warning of and threatneth Judgement With like brevity ye shall have the principal reasons why he doth it And these are of three sorts The first concerneth all men The second concerneth the righteous The third concerneth the wicked The first reason is extended unto all men which is this God letteth off a warning-piece Adhuc quadragintadies yet fourty dayes that hereby he may bring sinners to repentance For Ad poenas tardus Deus est ad praemia velox saith the Poet God is flow to anger and of great goodness saith the Psalmist he desireth not the death of a sinner but rather he should turn from his wickednese and live why will ye die Ohouse of Israel seeing I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord. It was once the policy of the King of Syria suddenly to surprize the King of Israel But the King of all Kings goeth not so covertly to work for being desirous of prevention he usually acquainteth men with his intention hereby if it be possible to bring them to repentance to see if there be any hope of their conversion that so he may never bring them to confusion This was his manner of dealing with the people of the old world He sent not the flood upon them of a sudden but threatned them with it an hundred and twenty years had they repented all that while the flood had been prevented had they wept in so many years the heavens had not wept fourty dayes all those sixscore years the goodness of God waited for their amendment he spake but in the future sense I will destroy man whom I have created But when once he perceived that his warning-peece was slighted then have at them in good earnest a murdering-peece goeth off he proceedeth then to a speedy execution of his Justice and speaketh in the present tense I even I do bring a flood of water upon the earth to destroy all flesh This was also his manner of dealing

trumpet Psal 47.5 As for his Humamity our Saviour seemeth to say that this was in heaven before Ioh. 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came downe from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven But to these and all other such objections I answer with Theodoret the Divine and Humane nature of our Saviour being Hypostatically united into one Person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those things which are proper to either of his Natures are attributed and communicated to his whole Person Thus St. Paul saith that God was manifested in the flesh and that God was received up into glory 1 Tim. 3.16 Notwithstanding therefore these objections the Person that ascended was Christ Iesus according to his Humanity He was taken up He it is not said She was taken up The Papists have Ascension or rather Assumption-day for the blessed Virgin Mary which they annually celebrate upon the fifteenth of August whereon they say She was taken up corporally into heaven But this is as true as that the Disciples stole our Saviour out of his grave I am very sure there is not the least mention of any such thing in Scripture and where the Holy Ghost hath no tongue to speak nor pen to write there must we have no eare to hear nor any heart to believe Not the Woman therefore Christ's mother but the man Christ Jesus himself He was taken up And so I passe from the first part of the Text the Person ascending which was Christ to the second part Quando the Time of his ascension which we are to consider first in reference to his Resurrection forty dayes after that then he was taken up But here two questions may be moved First Why Christ did ascend so soon Secondly seeing so soon why no sooner The first question may be why he ascended so soon after his resurrection why he deferred not his ascension till the last day that we might have been taken up together with him To which I answer two wayes First that Christ should ascend so soon was not convenient in respect of him Secondly That he should ascend so soon was not expedient in respect of us First That he should ascend so soon was not convenient in respect of himself And that first in respect of his glorified body Heaven was the most convenient place for his incorruptible and immortall body Earth is a very Golgotha a region of corruption a place of dead mens skuls Though Christ's body therefore could not have seen corruption had it continued still on earth yet the fittest place for such a body were the incorruptible heavens Again it was convenient that Christ should ascend so soon after his resurrection that he might manifest and declare the truth of his Divinity Earth is a region of death Quocunque aspicias nihil est nisi mortis imago All that ever came hither have or must die once and I assure my self that Lazarus and all the rest that were raised either by the Prophets or by our Saviour or by his Apostles died twice should Christ therefore after his resurrection have continued here longer than he did men would scarce have taken him to be God but have mistaken him for a meer Man and they would have thought that Christ like Lazarus had been to die the second time Thus ye see it was convenient in respect of Christ that he should ascend so soon after his resurrection as he did Ye shall now see that this was expedient in respect of us And the expediency of it we have from Christ's own mouth John 16.7 It is expedient for you saith he and what he saith to them we may apply to us that I go away and he giveth his reason in the very next words If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you And John 7.39 we read That the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified Had there been no Holy Thursday had not our Saviour ascended from his Apostles on the fortieth day there had likewise been no Whitsunday the Holy Ghost had not descended upon the Apostles on the fiftieth day Again Had Christ remained still upon earth he had not been so proper an object of our faith which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 Thy Fides will not well stand with thy Vides we do not properly walk by faith when we walk by sight Apparentia non habent fidem sed agnitionem saith St. Gregory fruition putteth a period unto faith and therefore Credimus ut cognoscamus non cognoscimus ut credamus saith St. Austin we come to knowledge by faith and not to faith by knowledge the nature of faith is to be exercised about things absent wherefore though we have known Christ after the flesh saith St. Paul yet now henceforth know we him no more 2 Cor. 5.16 The second question may be seing Christ ascended so soon why did he ascend no sooner Why did he not make one ascending for all As soon as he rose out of the grave why did he not ascend immediately into heaven To which I return a threefold answer First This was not convenient in respect of Christ Secondly it was not convenient in respect of his Disciples Thirdly it was not convenient in respect of us First that Christ should ascend so soon was not convenient in respect of Himself for we know what a tradition the Jewes have among them untill this day namely that his Disciples stole him away while the souldiers were asleep Had not Christ therefore shewed himsef alive after his passion though not to all the people yet to certaine selected witnesses the tradition of the Jewes might have passed for currant truth it might have been doubted to this day whether he had been risen from the dead or no. Secondly that Christ should ascend immediately after his Resurrection was not convenient in respect of his Disciples whose faith was almost quite shipwrack'd at his death they little thought he would make his word good to rise again and therefore the relation of the woman seemed to them as an old wives tale they believed it not nay when our Saviour himself appeared unto them they would scarce believe that it was he but were terrified and affrighted supposing that they had seen a spirit It was fit therefore that Christ should be conversant awhile with these raw Schollers both to confirm their faith touching that truth of his resurrection and also to instruct them in those things that were pertaining to Gods Kingdome Thirdly and lastly that Christ should ascend immediately after his resurrection was not convenient in respect of us For his Disciples were not properly Apostles till after his resurrection a good while if they were Apostles their Diocess was very narrow though they were Apostles to the Iews they were no Apostles to the Gentiles Go not into the way of the Gentiles said our Saviour

rod of iron and break us in pieces like a potters vessell If a man will not turn he will bend his bow Now the farther back ye draw the bow-string ere ye shoot the more forcibly the arrow flyeth when ye shoot So the longer God delayeth to punish us for our sins the more harshly will he handle us when once he beginneth with us He hath long begun with us I know but without our repentance he will not make a full end if we continue in sin our sufferings shall be of long continuance if we keep not the Laws of God the Laws of the Land shall still be kept from us if we will not suffer Christ to raign over us God will not suffer our Lord the King to raign To summe up all therefore in one word let us repent and be converted or if we do not this for our own sakes yet let us do it for our poor Kings sake who in my conscience hath a long time suffered for our sins Let not us brethren forget God and he will never forget us he will speedily remember King Charles and all his troubles let us by a new life shew our thankfullnesse for Gods former loving kindnesse and this will encourage him to confer new benefits upon us he will be our God We shall be his People as he hath been good to us in former so will he be in after-ages to us and our posterity for evermore he will turn Ours and our Soveraigns captivity as the rivers in the South he will turn our heavinesse into joy he will take off our Sackcloth and gird us with gladnesse he will put a new song into our mouth even a thanksgiving unto our God though the Prologue have been Tragical yet the Catastrophe shall be Comical God will make good to us that promise Zech. 8.19 The fast of the fourth moneth and the fast of the sift and the fast of the seventh month and the fast of the tenth shall be to us joy and gladnesse and chearfull feasts Which God of his infinite mercy vouchsafe to grant unto us for the merits of his eternal Son our blessed Saviour FINIS A LOOKING-GLASSE FOR LEVELLERS A Sermon PREACHED At ST. Peters Pauls-wharf Upon Sunday Sep. 24. 1648. LONDON Printed in the year 1660. A LOOKING-GLASSE FOR LEVELLERS LUKE 20.14 But when the Husbandmen saw Him they reasoned among themselves saying This is the Heir Come let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours THe first particle is discretive and severeth the Text from the foregoing verses wherein our Saviour holdeth forth as it were a dark Lanthorn to the chief Priests that seeing they might see and not perceive and that hearing they might hear and yet not understand Or rather he sheweth them their faces in a glass wherein they might plainly see what manner of men they were The Looking-glass is this present Parable of the Vineyard wherein he insisteth chiefly on three things First He sheweth the Descent and Pedegree of the Priesthood A certain man planted a Vineyard and let it forth to husbandmen Secondly He upbraideth the ingratitude of these husbandmen in abusing their Landlords servants they beat them they intreated them shamefully they wounded them they killed them Thirdly he threatneth a punishment for their ingratitude which is no less than a Re-enter the Lord shall destroy these Husbandmen and shall give the Vineyard to others But more punctually to survey and view this Parable by this Certain man the Planter of this Vineyard we are to understand the worlds Creator God himself By the Vineyard his Church confined for a long time to Judea Isa 5.7 By the Husbandman to whom the Vinevard was let out we are to understand the Chief Priests who by their Doctrine and Example were as it were to prune and dress Gods vineyard that so it might be fruitful in good works By the Servants sent to demand some of the fruit of this Vineyard we are to understand the inspired Prophets who were sent by God to call the chief Priests to repentance to bring forth fruits worthy of amendement of life Trium autem mentiofit c. saith Aretius God is said to have sent severally three Servants to the Husbandmen because three is a perfect number and is therefore used to shew Gods uncessant desire of their conversation Vncessant I say it was for though it knew a little Intermission yet it knew no termination though the word of the Lord were preci●us in the dayes of Eli even then God raised up Samuel to reprove the lewdness of the Priests there was no time there was no place but the Jewish Priests had Prophets sent among them Before their captivity in Babylon they had Isaiah Jeremy Amos Micah Zephany and others In time of their captivity they had Ezekiel and Daniel After their captivity they had Haggai Zachary and Malachy And the last was not the least for among those that were born of women there was not a greater Prophet than John the Baptist But what entertainment found these Servants amongst their Masters Tenants just such as we that will not preach Treason meet with in these dayes just such as the Messengers of Truth have ever found Convitia Verbera Vulnera as Stella speaketh Revilings Blowes Wounds nay very death it self Isaiah was sawn asunder Jeremy and Zechary were stoned Amos had his brains beaten out with a club Micah was thrown down head-long from a rock and all the rest did the Jews either kill or at lest hunt after them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Stephen asked them Which of the Prophets did not their Fathers persecute Acts 7.52 Yet see the never wearied goodness of Almighty God though the chief Priests had killed his Prophets and had stoned them that were sent unto them yet he did so long to do them good that Nullum non movebit lapidem he will leave no stone unrolled no not the Corner-stone he had but one bosome Son and he sendeth him to them for his rent presuming that for shame they would not send him away empty they will reverence saith he their young Land-Iord when they see him But when the husbandmen saw him they reasoned among themselves saying This is the Heir Come let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours The Text then ye see is a conspiracy against Christ where we meet together the four causes of it First here is the Efficient cause or Conspiratours the Husbandmen Secondly the Material cause or person conspired against the Heir when they saw him Thirdly the Formal cause or manner of their conspiracy they reasoned among themselves saying come let us kill him Fourthly and lastly the Final cause or end of their conspiracy which was that they might be Lords of the Mannour that the inheritance may be ours These are the parts of which in order briefly and very plainly I begin with the first part the Conspirators which are Coleni the Husbandmen If the first Man had been a good husband there

grievous famine there was in Germany of late years where men like so many Nebuchadnezzars were fain to eat grass like oxen yea like so many Cannibals were ready to cat up one another We have heard also what grievous Wars have been there and in other Countries and because we were not bettered by their sufferings God hath put England into the Swords commission saying Sword go thorow this land we know that it hath seized on us as well as upon our sister Countries But O thou Sword of the Lord how long will it be ere thou be quiet Put up thy self into thy scabbard rest and be still And that the sword may rest and be still while it is called to day let us desire conditions of peace and the only condition that I know is contrition godly sorrow for our sins For how can we hope for peace with men so long as we are at defiance with Almighty God Can we possibly imagine or can we say we shall have peace so long as we follow the vain imaginations of our hearts No let us not deceive our selves What peace said Jehu to Joram so long as the Whoredomes of thy mother Jezebel and her Witchcrafts are so many So what peace may I say can we hope for so long as our abominations and impieties are so many No there is no peace to the wicked We may flatter our selves and say we shall never be removed the Lord of his goodness hath made our hill so strong But if we turn not from our sins God will turn us up-side down he will drive us out of our land as he drove out the Amorites and he will give it to some Neighbour of ours that is better than we he will take away the Kingdnme of God that is the Gospel of the Kingdome from us and he will give it to a Nation that shall bring forth the fruits thereof For we have heard what he hath done to other Nations by destroying them utterly Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit and shall we be so besotted as still to think we shall escape No If we husband not well this Adhue we must expect a Subvertetur if we despise or abuse Gods goodness and mercy there is nothing to be looked for but judgement severity that which is threatned against the Ninevites shall certainly be executed upon us though not within fourty dayes yet within a short time we shall be overthrown For what if the voice of joy and health be within many of our dwellings yet if we repent not with these Ninevites God will send his pale horse among us pining sickness pestilence and death What if our Garners be full and plenteous with all manner of store what if our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets yet if we repent not with these Ninevites God will send his black horse among us famine and cleanness of teeth in all our coasts our fruitful land God will make barren for the wickedness and unworthiness of us that dwell therein What if our eyes swell with fatness yet if we do but what we list we shall find that God hath but fatted us up against the day of slaughter As for Gods red war-horse we more than hear him dash I am sure we find by sad experience that of Solomon most true that there is a time of War as well as a time of peace Again what if the Sun-shine of the Gospel light our feet now into the way of peace What if the Lord give us the word and great be the company of the orthodox Preachers yet if we repent not with these Ninevites our Candlestick shall be removed there shall be a Famine not of bread only but also of hearing the word of God the time will come when we shall desire to see one of the dayes of the Son of man and shall not see it we shall wander from sea to sea and from the North even unto the East we shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it as the Israelites are threatned Amos. 8.11 12. In a word what if our land for the present were as the garden of Eden yet if we repent not with these Ninevites it shall be turned into a wilderness it shall be an habitation for Ziim and for Jim the Cormorant and the Bittern shall possess it Owls shall dwell in it Satyres shall daunce in it God shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness as the Prophet speaketh he that hath exalted the Kingdome of England up to heaven as he threatned Capernaum will bring her down to hell she that sitteth as Queen of the Nations and Princess among the Provinces that liveth in pleasure and saith she shall see no mourning if she humble not her self in the ashes of humiliation she shall be humbled by some other into the ashes of destruction she shall sadly sit down in the dust and shall no more be called tender and delicate She that hath the noise of harpers heard in her and that in some places yet rejoyceth at the sound of the Organ she that hath in her the voice of the Bridegroom and of the Bride she that is so thronged and crowded with multitudes of people that they go in and out at her gates by hundreds and by thousands as the Prophet speaketh yet if she repent not like these Ninevites she shall utterly be overthrown the dayes shall come upon her when no more pleasant voice shall be for ever heard in her but Lacrymae shall be all her lesson Wo and Alas shall be her note and every head in her instead of perfume shall be covered with ashes every limb instead of silk shall be girded with sackcloth every hand instead of clapping shall be wrung every cheek instead of painting shall be furrowed with tears nay her very gates shall mourn for want of passengers her houses shall drop down for want of Inhabitants and her Temples shall be ruinated for want of Worshippers But why speak I all this while in the future tense for hath not Almighty God begun with us already Yes he hath I am sure the wrath of God hath been long revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men for he hath moved the land and divided it so that out enemies are those of our own house and for these divisions that are among us there are great thoughts of heart many mens hearts fail for fear and for looking after those things that are coming on us Yet as dangerous as our condition is let us not despair of Gods goodness toward us As I would not seem to bring you in fear where no fear is so neither would I have your fear swallow up your hope for if we do but repent of the evil of our sins God will likwise repent of the evil of his judgements We have a most pregnant Text for this with which I conclude Jer. 18.7 8. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them To wind up all therefore in one word of exhortation let us repent and be converted that our sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Let Gods warning-peece reclaim us and then his murdering-peece shall never go off let us repent while there are Adhuc quadraginta dies yet fourty dayes so shall we escape the fatal Subvertetur the overthrow here threatned And let us make no long tarrying to turn unto the Lord let us not put off our repentance from day to day but let this very day present be the birth-day of our new birth I and ye and all that hear me this day let us now turn every one of us from our evil wayes and from the wickedness that is in our hands Which if we do God himself will likewise turn and repent he will turn our calamity and our captivity as the rivers in the south he will turn from his fierce anger that yet we perish not Which we humbly beg of him not for any of our own merits we utterly renounce them all but for the merits of his eternal Son our blessed Saviour FINIS