of War Famine and Scarcity The design of all this is to stirr thee up whosoever thou art to consider well the Plague of thy own Heart to understand how destructive it is to thee There will be great hopes of thy wellfare if thou once throughly knowest thy danger Dost thou then desire to be delivered from thy body of sin Is it a body of death unto thee Is it heavy uneasie and burthensome to thee 't is a sign it begins to mortifie Art thou so sensible of thy sin that thou hatest it with a perfect hatred and even loathest thy self for the commission of it Art thou willing to be ruled by the Spirituall Physitians and true Lovers of Souls who advise thee to beware of sin and call upon thee and beseech thee not to drink poyson for it will be thy death In a word Art thou sensible of thy sickness and malady and hast thou attained to this piece of knowledge namely to understand that thâ—u canst not cure thy self Let that of the Prophet or of God rather by his mouth perswade thee of the truth of this Aphorism Oh! Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help This also let me add That delays and demurrs are unspeakably dangerous in this affair Alas poor souls now is the time for you to see your Plague and understand your misery for if you stay till death then indeed will you see it with a witness Oh! then the guilty soul will know what it is to be void of grace and holiness but it will not know how to help and recover it self So it is that one minutes delay may cost thee thy life Look out then for a Physitian presently Naaman when he had the leprosie repaired to the Prophet Some there are that nominate a particular Saint as a proper Physitian for every distinct disease and St Sebastian hath the Plague for his charge belike Sure it is that there are Quacks and Empricks enough in the world who can palliate the disease and skin over the wound but know not how to cure either There are Doctors who prescribe Physick which leavs the Patient as sick as it found him he is sick at Heart still I there indeed lies the distemper at the Heart the cure must be wrought within the applications must be such as are able not onely to stint and silence the pain for a while to mitigate and asswage the grieved part but to remove even the very cause of the distemper Wine and merry company the pleasures and entertains of the world their jollities and catches may sing the mans sorrow asleep and flatter his disease for a time but haeret lateri lethalis arundo the poysoned Arrow sticks fast in him and the disease by such methods as this is not eradicated Thus there are Physitians of no value miserable comforters to the sick sinner who with the Woman in the Gospel may spend all he hath upon them and yet be never the better But there is balm in Gilead there is a Physitian there Whether should we go but unto Christ he hath the words of eternal life But be sure you be not defective in these following things 1. Have a good opinion of Him great hopes may be conceived of thy doing well if thou likest thy Physitian 2. Despise not the meanest advice if it be but wash and be clean hearken unto it The cheapest Medicine may be the best But 3. If it should be chargable and must cost thee pains refuse not the Physick upon that account Or 4. If it seem strong and bitter no ways pleasant and toothsome take it down thankfully as we take common Physick and are content to be sick that we may be well Thou being thus prepared before-hand and answering affirmatively to that question which our Saviour put to the diseased Wil t thou be made whole I commend unto thee these following Preservatives and Antidotes against the Plague of the Heart The first is a holy fear of the Spirituall Plague Be affraid to offend God Ioseph made use of this preservative when he was set upon and assaulted by his lascivious Mistress How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God So true is that of Solomon A wise wan feareth and departeth from evill That we may then avoid the infection of sin let us be working out our salvation with fear and trembling let us sanctifie the Lord of Hosts and let him be our fear and let him be our dread And let Christ his Advice to his Apostles prevail here Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell The second rule for preventing the Spirituall Plague is that we shun all Infected places and persons 1. All places and dwellings where sin takes up it's abode and keeps open house for the entertainment of all comers Such are those Schools of Vice Shops of Sin and Nurseries of Prophaness and Lewdness which generally are erected in every City and great Town We must be carefull that we Walk not in the counsel of the â—â—godly nor stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of the scornfull or in the chair of Pestilences as the Septuagint render it But the places are to be avoided 2. For the persons sake You are therefore to reckon notorious sinners as those that have the Plague-sores upon them by associating with them you partake of their sin your commerce with them draws the infection to your selves This is the reason of St Pauls counsel which he gave his Ephesians Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darkness And of Solomons dehortation Enter not into the path of the wicked and go not into the way of evill men avoid it pass not by it turn from it and pass away And more particularly he guards us against the strange Woman as if she as well as others of her wicked profession were Infected Remove thy way far from her and come not nigh the door of her house for as he adds Whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent The Psalmists practice and resolution should be our pattern I have not sat with vain persons neither will I go in with dissemblers I have hated the Congregation of evill doers and will not sit with the wicked and it follows I will wash my hands in innocency and so will I compass â—â—ine Altar O Lord. The Good man washed his hands before he conversed with God but had he come just then out of wicked company he had had much more reason to have done so The Church Story reports that St Iohn and Polycarp his Scholar made all the haste they could out of the Bath when they espyed Câ—rinthus that Arch-hereâ—ick to be there as if they feared infection from the very water that mans limbs were washed in And concerning that Martyr and Disciple of St Iohn even now
which the Wise man knew well when he said of sinners they lay wait for their own bloud they lurk privily for their own lives And this madness is long and lasting as the same Preacher delivers it the heart of the sons of men is full of evil and madness is in their heart while they live I might add another Symptome near of kin to this which sometimes attends the Bodily Plague but always the Spirituall I mean a strange vertigo and meagrim which every wicked man is troubled with else he would not stagger so shamefully as he doth and decline his duty and giddily rush into evil company and suffer himself to be shaken from the truth and as the Apostle phrases it be carried about with every wind of doctrine Again look as when the Poyson hath seized on the whole mass of bloud and got possession of the heart the usuall and equall mixture of the bloud is spoiled and thence followeth a coagulation and stagnation of the spirits so is it in the Spirituall Plague which makes the sinner cold and dull benummed and indisposed to every vertuous action his heart like Naballs dyes within him and he becomes as a stone The Holy Spirit is stifled then it is no wonder that the man grows stupid that his pulse is so low and languide swoonings and faintings are no unusuall things in the Plague But then in the next place the bloud being putrified and invenomed and it's motion retarded we see that boiles and swellings spots and the like tokens discover themselves in the outward parts And are there not as sad breakings out of sin are there not fouler blemishes and spots upon every wicked man else what mean those palpable risings of lust and uncleanness What are those swellings and tumours of pride What are those dismall characters and worser sort of Carbuncles in the intemperate person and common drunkard What are those lamentable and apparent marks those blows and bruises which oppression and cruelty are the cause of What are those curses and oaths which I hear from the swearers mouth such breaking out at the lips is no good sign in the spirituall patient Alass how many ways doth a naughty heart discover it self How many Plague-sores doth the sinner carry about with him Upon this must follow another effect and consequent namely Filthiness pollution and noisomness but of this loathsome attendant on the Spirituall Plague I shall speak some what when I come to consider the cure of it The next sad companions of the Plague as of most sicknesses are anguish and aches pain and disease Sure I am they are the inseparable associates of the Plague of sin out of the corruption of mans heart is soon bred the worm of conscience Horrour and a certain looking for of judgement a sting and tortures these are things that flagitious sinners know at the first naming and as wounds and sores do usually prick and pain most towards night so when death approaches the guilty conscience finds it's torments doubled and redoubled upon it I might add another Indication and Symptome which is common to the Plague with all other sicknesses and that is a certain nauseating and refusing of food as it must needs be when the pallate is out of taste and cannot relish and the corrupt matter hath infected the stomach Thus is it with a sick sinner he hath lost his spirituall taste and cannot savour the things of God but in the mean time the sweets and delights of the wicked world strike briskly upon his vitiated pallate and are taken down with a huge complacency But to leave these more common Signs I pass to another direct and proper Symtome which is the Pestilentiall malignity and Contagion which ever waits upon the Plague it is of that ill nature that it propagates and derives it self from one to another Adam was the first that had the Spirituall Plague and he got it by eating the forbidden fruit and since it hath sadly spread and descended from one to another All sin to this day is Epidemicall and catching we are corrupted our selves and we corrupt others How many are there that take a course to damne themselves but that is not all they must damne their friends and neighbours too This this is the nature of sin it diffuses it self in a large circle it runs as in a train and doth mischief on all sides it over-runs the whole man soul and body Our Inward man that is first depraved and infected Alas the brain is faulty the understanding blind and dark it is dull to conceive what is good and vertuous but it pursues vain unprofitable and fruitless notions it is stuffed with carnall reasonings fleshly wisdome fond disputes pride and false principles there is errour folly rashness and unbelief raigning in the judgement We are vain in our imaginations and our foolish heart is darkned We are wise to do evil but to do good we have no knowledge In the affections too there is inordinacy coldness and inpotency a loving of what we should hate and a hating of what we should love The infection seizes also on our memories as Thucydides tells us of some persons who were infected in that great plague at Athens that by reason of that sad distemper they forgot themselves their friends and all their concernments Most certain it is that by the Spirituall infection men forget God and their duty and their memories are onely tenacious in holding what is evil especially vanities and injuries The will likewise receives no litle damage by the contagion it being made weak and feeble and wholly indisposed to good it draws back at the proposall of vertue but is resolute obstinate and stubborn in the ways of unrighteousness The conscience is dull and dead and as the Apostle well expresses it is seared with a hot iron it discharges not it is office aright either in acquitting or condemning but is sadly insensible presumptuous and desperate I might proceed to shew you how all the parts and members of the body are tainted and infected and are in the Apostles words instruments of unrighteousness unto sin But I will say something of the adherency and pertinacy of this Spirituall disease the infection sticks close and cleavs to our nature it is like the fretting leprosie in the wall the wall must be pulled down before it can be extirpated We must be striving every day against our lusts but they will not be quite rooted out the leprosie of the soul will not wholly be removed till the wall be thrown down till the house be dissolved even our house of clay And as we see the Pestilâ—nce lyes still and dormant for a long time and then breaks forth more furiously being rouzed as it were from sleep it gets up and spreads it arms wider to take in greater numbers into it's fatall embraces so is it oftentimes with this Spirituall distemper it seems to be quelled and conquered but soon after it regains it's
the Plague of Sin Afflictions are designed by God for our amendment Let that designe take effect upon us let those terrible Thunder-claps clear and purifie the air As Naturalists observe that one poison is an Antidote against another So let this grievous Pâ—stilence which is now upon the Land and upon this Town drive out the Plague of the Heart Ringing of Bells they say is some ways serviceable to remove the Infection Oh! let every sad toll for our deceased Brethren put us in minde of our Mortality and promote the death of sin in us Lastly Keep a diet in order to the preserving of thy self from the Souls Plague Too high and plentifull a feeding increaseth any disease in us see that thou be moderate in the use of the creatures Take heed to thy self least at any time thy heart bâ— overcharged with surfetting and drunkeness and cares of this life Indulge not an intemperate course of living for death is in the pot which is set on by luxury and wantoness If thou callest thy self a Christian be content to be diâ—ted kept in and confined by the stricter rules of the Gospel And now what ever effect those usuall Medicines and Receipts may have for the curing of the Bodily Plague I am sure these that I have named are approved by Christ and his Apostles that great Colledge of Physitians you may take them safely and with confidence of success and I pray God give a blessing unto them And thus having insisted on the Metaphor in the Text I shall now treat more at large and descend to some plain Dirâ—ctions for our better behaviour in these sad times both in reference to the present visitation of the Plague and the sad concomitants of it poverty and necessity And the first Direction is this Be sensible of Gods Judgments now upon you and tremble at them Know therefore and see that it is an evill thing and bitter that you have forsaken the Lord your God This was the use which that Holy man made of Gods dismall providences My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am affraid of thy judgments And again Thou even thou art to be feared Who knows but that these present calamities are prologues and presages of far worser Certain it is that this is the duty incumbent on us at present to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear seeing our God is a consuming fire Here then you are to be called upon to acknowledge that it is Gods Hand that is now heavy upon you Shâ—ll there be any evill in a City and the Lord hath not done it No surely there is no evill in the great City of this Nation no evill or Plague in the Countrey but God must be acknowledged the author and disposer of it This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that divine superintendency in all our calamities which Hippocrates speaks of and frankly acknowledgeth in all diseases And Christians should much more allow of it looking beyond second causes to the first and chief of all Say not then that the influence of the starrs and heavenly bodies or the late glaring Comets which appeared were the causes of the burning feavers and malignant distempers and even of this fatall Pestilence which sweeps so many into their graves blame not this or that Indeed as Philosophers and Naturalists you are permitted to search into the secondary and physicall causes of this dreadfull distemper but as Christians and those that live by higher principles you are first to look up unto God and then down into your selves and there behold the Hand of the Lord stretched out against you God is the great Soveraign of the world the wise disposer of the Universe who doth what seemeth good unto him both in heaven and in earth If he shall please to correct and chastise us all naturall causes shall give way to his providence which can find us out though we labour to run never so far from it The Plague can climbe over walls never so high and strongly built it can come in at the windows though they are made never so fast it can make it's passage through the doors of the house though they are never so closely lockt and bolted Labour then to be convinced of this that there is a God that judgeth in the earth that you are in his hands and that whatever you suffer is by his disposall I even I am he and there is no God besides I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand The Lord killeth and maketh alive he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up And it is clear from Davids Choice that the Pestilence is more remarkably the Hand of God Let me fall now into the Hand of the Lord saith he and by Davids Seer it is stiled the sword of the Lord. The present Arrows of the Almighty are not like that with which Ahab was wounded which the Story tells us one shot at a venture No chance and fortune have nothing to do here Apollo was fitly feigned by the Poet to have sent the Pestilence into the Graecian Army no less then a God in their Divinity could do it But I pass to The second Direction Be more sensible of your sins then of the punishments that are upon you be more fearfull of the Plague of the Heart then of the present contagion that raigns in your streets be much more troubled in your souls to have committed a sin against God then to have it punished by him and for the future choose rather to undergo any suffering from men then to dishonour God Avoid that which grieves the Holy Spirit rather then what troubles and afflicts thy outward man How timorous are we and dejected at the thoughts of the Plagues approaching near us We have much more reason to be fearfull of sin which is the sting of all judgments We are apt to sit down and bemoan our selves after this manner Alas our condition is very sad the place we live in is Infected we see whole Families drop away here Parents are bereaved of their Children there the Children survive their Parents but alas are left shiftless to the wide world Many houses are shut up and onely sickness and death are Tenants there Neighbours are affraid of one another and it is not Trading but poverty and want which bring them to the sight of one another How many are buried as it were while they live and when they are dead they can hardly finde any one to befriend â—â—em with a Grave What cryings and complainings are there in our streets and if Gods Hand should continue on us longer it will be hard to tell whether scarcity or the Sickness be the worst Plagues After this sort do we bemoan our selves under Gods judgments but where is the man among us that cryes out of his sins his sins Where is the spiritual mourner that lays
thought worthy to lye under the Rich mans table but now he is taken into Abrahams bosom So true is that of the Sweet Singer of Israel Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace but the transgressours shall be destroyed together the end of the wicked shall be cut off Another duty that I must direct you unto and desire you to be servent in is Seeking of God by Prayer This is seasonable at all times but now more especially in the needfull time of trouble When should we with greater importunity make our addresses at the Throne of Grace then when we are in the jaws of death and are like to be swallowed up hourly When thou canst do nothing else thou mayst pray and cry mightily unto God in behalf of thâ—s distressed Land Oh! labour to extort mercy from God by a holy violence do thou with Moses stand in the gap and turn away Gods wrath take this holy censâ—r of Prayer and with Aaron stand between the living and the dead God is our refuge and strength a very present help in time of trouble And to God the Lord belong the issues from death To him therefore do thou lift up thy soul begging earnestly that He would fit thee for trouble sorrow and sickness that he would strengthen thee upon the bed of languishing and make all thy bed in thy sickness then be sure 't will be soft and easie that he would remove his stroke or Plague away from thee and from the place where thou livest Is any among you afflicted let him pray This is St Iames his Catholicon or Vniversall remedy this is that powerfull key which heretofore hath opened the windows of heaven and made a paessage from the belly of the whale and this is the key which still opens the doors of mercy Open therefore with Prayer in the morning and shut up with it in the evening have frequent recourse to him that heareth prayers make thy complaint to God when none else will hear it send up strong crys and groans to Heaven and be sure to remember this that 't is not fluency but fâ—rvency 't is not â—loquence but importunity 't is not many words but the Spirit which God most minds and will answer thee for To Supplication thou must add Thanksgiving bless God therefore for his sparing thee and this Land so long bless God this sad season that thou enjoyest any mercy it is Gods goodness patience and long sufferance that we are engaged unto for so long a respite and freedom from the Pestilâ—nce It is many years since this noisome disease hath made any considerable inroads upon us and now that it is broken out amongst us those of you my Beloved who by divine providence watching over you are wholly shielded and secured from this grievous Plague and Sickness so that it neither touches you nor your Relations those of you I say are more especially bound to praise and magniâ—ie the singular goodness of God And you have all of you without distinction abundant cause to praise and extoll the Lord of heaven and earth that though the Plague walks through your streets and poverty like its companion goes along with it yet he hath not wholly taken away his mercies from you The generality of persons in this place are as healthful now as heretofore The staff of bread is not broken God crowns the year with his goodness and makes his paths drop fatness But be thy case never so mean be thou and thine reduced to never so great straits be thy condition worse then I can express thou hast still reason to praise God He hath not dealt with thee after thy sins nor râ—warded thee according to thy iniquities Thou art not worthy of the least mercy thou deservest nothing at Gods hands but Hâ—ll and therefore thank God heartily that he hath not crushed thee to pieces and caused the pit to shut its mouth upon thee The next thing I would commend unto you for the upholding of your spirits in sad times is that in imitation of the best and holiest servants of God you would make use of former experiences Remember the days of old look back and consult the mercies you have received heretofore Do you not observe that in this time of Sickness persons ask after the old Plaguâ—-water the antiâ—nt Antidotes and Electuaries used in former years of Contagion Let us in like manner call to minde those former gracious Instances and Experiments of Gods loving kindness to us Oh taste and see that God is good Labour to regain that excellent taste and rellish which you once had upon your souls They that know thy name will put their trust in thee â—aith the Psalmist Your experimentall knowledg and observation of divine goodness in times past should be used as an argument to induce you to trust in God for the future So it was in St Pauls Logick Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us As there are some who have nothing to live upon these sad times but what they have laid up before so let me desire you in another and better sense to spend now upon the stock that is remember how good God hath been to you and do not look upon the mercies already received as so many sad omens and forerunners of your ruine but rather as pledges and earnests of greater blessings And as you must look backward unto Gods former mercies so look forward and prepare for further afflictions Lay in yet a larger stock thou wilt have need of it all when thou art sick and in sorrow Provide then for affliction by meditating on it before hand make it now familiar to thy thoughts and so it will be entertained with contentment when it comes Ask thy self thus How should I bear it if God should cast me on a bed of sickness What if I should go down the wind if my credit should crack and my friends fail me What if God should take all my outward enjoyments from me stripping me naked and turning me so into the wide world I have received good things at Gods hand how shall I do to receive evill things Thus by putting these demands to thy own soul and by conversing as it were with the cross thou doest take it up by little and little thou bowest thy neck and fittest it for the yoak Oh then fail not to parly thus with afflion at a distance for thou knowest not how soon it may enter thy doors break into thy family and lodg with thee and thine whether thou wilt or no. Prepare for Gods hand provide for thy departure think that thou hearest those words spoken to thee which were once to Hezâ—kiah Set thy house in order for thou must dye Be not afraid to take Death by the cold hand and go along with him and lye doâ—n in the dust Being prepared
for the worst thou needest not fear any thing Walk in Gods ways and they will be thy guard and security God will protect thee in doing his work Trust in the Lord and do good so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed Wait on the Lord and keep his way and he shall exalt thee to inherit the Land He shall give his Angâ—ls charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways But then thy ways must be Gods ways or else that promise of being in the custody of Angels doth not concern thee Be about thy Masters business and he will look to thy maintenance And beside our general Calling as we are Christians there are particular Callings and Places in which we are set and must serve our Master in Lâ—t every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called This was an Apostolical rule and command and it holds row as well as in St Pauls time for we serve God by being diligent in our secular affairs by faithfulness in our several vocations and profâ—ssions The Magistrate is to keep his station and act in that higher sphear in which God hath set him this will yield him comfort when God shall please to call for him hence that he is found doing his Lords work The Minister hath his place and peculiar calling and it will be well for him to be found in the faithfull discharge of it as that good Bishop made answer when he was desired once to return home as he was going to Preach It best becomes a Bishop to dye Preaching And it was the like pious wish of St Augustine that when Christ should come he might be found either Praying or Preaching The Tradesman too and every one whom God hath set in any lawful employment for the use of men must be diligent in it and as it is a known Maxime amongst them Keep your shops and your shops will keep you so it is true in a higher sense if they be careful in their callings that carefulness will prove their guard and protection In a word every one in his own Orb wherein Divine Providence hath placed him must move shine and act with all his might This is Christianity and this will convey a blessing unto thee Moses put his hand into his bosom and when he took it out it was leprous as snow Let me apply it thus the sloathful man that as Solomon sets him forth hideth his hand in his bosom may justly fear that some contagious disease some Plague may light upon him This life is a warfare we are like to meet with many hardships and dangers many a brush and skirmish but as we are spiritual souldiers we must not dare to leave our station or quit the ground our great General hath set us in No no if we are shot in Gods service we can not suffer if we are taken off by the Arrows of the Almighty our end will be unspeakably comfortable if we are snatched away with the common calamity even then we are safe and secure The righteous pâ—risheth â—aith the Prophet he may seem in the eye of man to fare very ill but he adds The righteous is taken away from the evil to come he shall enter into peace Come my people â—nter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment untill the indignation be over-past The deluge is approaching and so the righteous are taken into the Ark they are locked up safe there and the floud shall not come nigh them The storm is coming and so the Bees hasten to their hive God plucks his out of the fire and it is no wonder if in that plucking they have a little wrâ—nch and pain such pain is the greatest courtesie for they are snatched from future dangers and secured from national calamities No evill shall befall them no Plague shall come nigh their dwelling no Plague that hath evil with it they shall be freed from whatsoever there is of judgment in the stroke There was a great deal of difference between the death of Sampson and the Philistinâ—s though they perished with the fall of the same house Gods children may dye of the Plague but that Plague is not sent as a curse but a blâ—ssing for it improves their graces prepares them for heaven and inhanses their reward it carrys them from an evil and unkind world to the company of Saints and Angels from a Prison to a Palace from a wilderness to a Paradise from a valley of tears to a mount of joy Thus it shall go well with thee oh Christian whatsoever sort of death thou meetest with the Bell that tolls for thee is but to call thee to the Church triumphant thy friends that weep if they consider aright what they do grieve and lament that they cannot go along with thee and thou mayst be comforted by that revenge which is done upon death Oh death I will be thy Plagues oh grave I will be thy destruction But then remember on the other side how sad and miserable it is to dye in the commission of sin and are there not many persons that instead of being employed in Gods work are wholly taken up with the Devils and go out of the world in that employment Have you not heard of some that have swom out of the world in excessive drink they being in the worst sense of all dead drunk Was not Senacherib slain when he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god Have not some wretches been seized on and apprehended by death in the very acts of uncleanness and loose de bauchery How sad must their condition be which thus leave this world and appear in another How scared and affrighted are their souls in their entrance into that other state This should make all persons especially now at this season to be careful over their ways that Gods judgments may not arrest them in the commission of sin and so their case be unspeakably forlorn this should make us all faithful in our general and particular callings that our Lord when he comes may find us doing his will and then in what maner soever he comes we shall be safe More particularly to reach thy case whosoever thou art that hast or shalt have the hand of God upon thy body and so art shut up and hindred from commerce with the world my Direction to thee is that thou converse more immediatly with God when thou art kept from the society of men Thou art Gods prisoner He hath shut thee up and though thou art never so closely confined he can let in his Holy Spirit to thee and let out thy â—ervâ—nt prayers to Him Christ Iesus will come and visit thee when thou art alone when lovers and friends sâ—and aloof off and thy nearest relations hide themselves This is an unspeakable happiness that thou hast a God to go to who is a rock and place of
your selves for this sinful land for this distressed Town 2. Disingage your affections more resolvedly from the world you see the vanity of it daily you have fresh experiences of the uncertainty of all creature comforts let your hearts be taken off from them even whilest you do possess them and be ready to part with them 3. Act Faith more strongly and trust on God when the world fails you 4. Walk more warily and strictly in your lives throw not away your time so vainly as heretofore be more sober and watchful minding the welfare of your own souls and calling upon others to serve God and credit the Christian Religion by a holy life Act to the utmost of your power in the place God hath set you be not weary in well doing for in due season you shall reap if you faint not And lastly to draw to a conclusion when it shall please God in much mercy to remove the present Plague and judgment from this Town remember that you faithfully keep those vows and promises which you made unto God in the day of your fears and distresses Call upon me saith God in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie mâ— See then that you glorifie God by walking answerably to the mercies and deliverances vouchsafed to you Vow and pay unto the Lord your God When you ate taken out of the Furnace of affliction do not return to your former hardness and inflexibleness If you have laid aside your sins in your affliction do not afterwards take them up again when the affliction is removed Do not as Pharaoh did who cryed out to have the Plagues taken away and withal acknowledged his sin and asked forgiveness and made large promises of amendment but when his request was granted he hardned his heart and returned to his former wickedness 'T was a bad requital Noah made for his escaping the flood to be drowned afterwards in wine 'T will be sad for thee if thy resolutions of living well end at last in forgetfulness of God and dishonouring of his Name by by a most scandalous life Think of it well then and be sincere and cordial in thy purposes and if with Hezekiah thou hast years added to thy life add likewise to thy promises and resolves a holy and blameless conversation If God shall in love to thy soul deliver it from the pit of corruption do thou shew thy self thankful unto him by walking in newness of life If God shall bring thee out into a wealthy place then pay the vows which thy lips have uttered and thy mouth hath spoken when thou wast in trouble If the Lord hath heard thy voice and supplications when the sorrows of death compassed thee and thou dâ—dst finde trouble and sorrow if he hath delivered thy soul from death thine eyes from tears and thy feet from falling break forth into the Psalmists professions of love and duty to God for his deliverance I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thansgiving I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people Of the ten Lepers which were healed by our Saviour there was but one of them returned to give thanks unto Him We are greedy of mercies but how backward are we to acknowledg the receipt of them and to walk worthy of them But let us now at length bethink our selves of our duty and resolve to put our resolutions into action Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee This was the advice of that great Spiritual Physitian thus runs his Bill for that man whom he had formerly healed of a bodily disease Oh! let us have a care of a Relapse for that will prove unspeakably dangerous and destructive to us 'T was a sad aggravation of the Israelites sins acknowledged by the Levites in their Solemn Confession that after they had rest they did evil again before God Sins committed after great mercies are of a Crimson dye and are beyond measure sinful these do cause the fullest vials of Gods wrath to be poured down upon us if there be any sins that escape punishment to be sure these are not they as it follows in that place before-named Therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies Those Cities Towns and Families which are or shall be delivered from the noisom Pestilence may very fitly take up the words of Ezra After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast punished us less then our iniquities deserve and hast given us such dâ—liverance as this should we again break thy Commandments and joyn in assinity with the people of these abominations wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou hast consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor â—scaping Yea the Rod shall go about again the severities of Gods vengeance shall over-take us God will lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lyes and your covenant with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with hell shall not stand when the overslowing scourge shall pass thorow then ye shall be trodâ—â—n down by it from the time that it goâ—th forth it shall take you for morning by morning it shall pass over by day and by night and it shall be a vexation onely to understand the report for the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon that he may do his work his strange work and bring to pass his act his strange act God will not spare neither will he have pity but he will recompence our ways upon our heads He hath variety of punishments he hath a store-house of judgments he hath a bundle of rods he hath several vials of wrath and he will pour them all out upon an ungrateful faithless and perverse people I will punish you seven times more for your sins and I will bring seven times more Plagues upon you according to your sins Nay this numerous curse is twice more repeated and denounced against those that will not hearken unto God but walk contrary to Him And to shut up all after God had smartly reproved and upbraided the Israelites for their incorrigibleness and reckoned up those several judgments which he had inflicted on them amongst the rest the Pestilence and at the end of every one of them had complained that nevertheless they had not returned unto him Therefore in the close of all says he thus will I do unto thee O Israel namely as thy sins deserve and as I have denounced against thee and because I will do this unto thee PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD O Israel Now unto the King eternal immortal invisible the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS Chap. 9. Vers. 3. Veâ—se 37. Psal. 41. 4. 2 Tim. 2. 17. Isai. 1. 5 6. Psal 140. 2 3. James 3 8. Mich 7. 3. Isa. 57. 5. I saiah 57. 20 21. Acts 26. 11. Jer. 50. 38. Prov. 1. 18. Rom. 1. 21. Jer. 4 22. 1 Tim. 4. 2. Rom. 6. 13. Levit. 14. 41. Deut. 32. 5. Jer. 17. 9. Heb. 12. 1. Rom 7. 17. Jer. 13. 23. Isa. 64. 6. Ecclesiastes 9. 18. Mat. 7. 13. Gen. 6. 12. â—os 13. 9. Gen. 39. 9. Prov. 14. 16. Isa. 8. 13. Mat. 10. 28. Ephes. 5. 11 Prov. 4 14 15. Prov. 5. 8. Prov. 6. 29. Psal. 26. 4 5 6 1 Thes 5. 22. Ep. Jud. 23. â— Psal 32. 3 4. Vers. 5. Prov. 28. 13. Isa. 53. 5. Zac. 13. 1. Mal. 4. 2. Acts. 15. 9. 2 Cor. 7. 1. Prov. 6. 21. 22 Heb 4. 12. Act. 22. 37 41. Lam 3. 15. Vers. 19 20 21. Luke 21. 34. Jer. 2. 19. Psal. 119. 120. Psal. 76. 7. Heb. 12. 28 29 Amos. 3 6. Deut. 32. 39. 1 Sam. 2. 6. 1 Chron 21. 12 13. Neh. 9. 33. Jer. 2. 17 19. Isa. 59. 2. Lam. 1. 8. â— Cor. 11. 30. Psal. 103. 3. 2 Sam. 24. 17. Exod. 32. 30 31. 2 Pet. 2. 7. Psal. 119. 136. Phil. 3. 18. James 5. 12. Mat. 5. 34. Josh. 7. 12 13 Josh. â—4 15. Esther 4. 16. 2 Chron. 7. 13 14. Jer. 18. 7 8. Isa. 1. 4 5. â—aâ— 3. 7. â—ev 6. 9. John 14. 1. Psal. 60. 11. Psal. 34. 15. Psal. 38. 9. Isa. 49. 15. Psal. 27. 10. Heb. 4. 15 16. Mat. 8. 17. Isa. 53. 4. 1 Câ—r 10. 13. Psal. 7. 24. Psal. 91. 15. â—at 6. 33. â—sal 34. 9. Psal. 84. 11. Habak 2. 4. Habak 3. 17 18 Luke 12. 15. Deut. 32. 13. Dan. 1. 12 13. Psal. 37. 37 38. Psal. 46. 1. Psal. 68. 20. Psal. 41. 3. Psal. 39. 10. James 5. 13. Psal 103. 10. Psal 9. 10. 2 Cor. 1. 10. Isa. 38. 1. Psal. 37. â— 34. Psâ—l 9â— 11. 1 Cor. 7. 20. B. Iewel Isa. 57. 1 2. Isa. 26. 20. Hos. 13. 14. 2 Kings 19. 37. 2 Chron. 16. 12. Isa. 26. 3 4. Jer. 9. 1. Amos 6. 1 3 4 5 6. vers 7. Ephes. 5. 16. Eccle. 9. 10. 2 Pet. 3. 11. Gal. 6. 9. Psal 50. 15. Psal. 76. 11. Psal. 66. 12 13 14. Pâ—â—â— 6. 9 12 13 14 17 18. John 5. 14. Neh. 9. 28. Ezra 9. 13 14 Isa. 28. 17 18 19 21. Levit. 26. 18 21 24 28. Amos 4. 12. 1 Tim. 1. 17.