to reject them for want of such evidence is repugnant to the Reason of mankind I proceed therefore to my second assertion that the Belief of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures is most agreable to reason That the Divine Authority of all the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are undeniably concluded from supposition of the truth of the Relation or History of matters of fact in the New Testament I have already shewn And that the rejection of all History is against the Reason of mankind is evident because all mankind receive some History or other wherefore I shall briefly shew 1. That the History of the New Testament hath all those advantages whereof any History is capable 2. That it hath greater advantages than any other History 1. The Arguments inducing men to the belief of any historical Relation are all of them Either Ab intra Internal from the 1. Credibility and Scibility of the Object 2. The Knowledge and Integrity of the Writers 3. The way and manner of writing Ab extra External from the 1. Reception of it in the world 2. Concurrent testimonies of strangers 3. Concessions of Adversaries and the like In all which particulars no History in the world can justly pretend any advantage above that of the New Testament 1. For the credibility of the Object and Cognoscibility of it 1. To say that instances of supernatural Power and wisdom are impossible is to deny the power of God and his providence in governing the world And to say that such things are incredible as are and have been actually believed in all times and by all sorts of persons Jews and Gentiles Christians and Mahometans a few Atheistical persons only accepted is an absurdity The History that we speak of pretends to no intrigues or Cabalistick Counsels or Myisteries of State but conteins it self within the limits of things Visible and Audible things that were done or spoken so that no History can have advantage over it respectu objecti 2. As for Knowledge in the deliverers I shall shew it by a brief Induction The whole New Testament consists of the Books of the Revelation Epistles Acts of the Apostles and the Gospels The Authors of the Epistles and the Revelation in the Narrative parts of them deliver the things done or spoken to or by themselves and could not be ignorant of their own experiences The Book of the Acts contains some things done by or to the rest of the Apostles but chiefly the concernments of Paul and it was written by Luke who was an individual Companion of Paul and intimately conversant with the rest of the Apostles For the things Related in the Gospel of St. Luke he saith they were delivered to him by those who from the beginning were Eye witnesses of the works and Ministers of the Word and his History agrees with the other Evangelists The Gospel of St. Mark hath nothing which is not in St. Matthew or St. John and was dictated by St. Peter the Head of the Apostles St. Matthew was an Apostle and St. John the Bosom Apostle of Christ. The Apostles were chosen by him for Witnesses of his Words and Actions they were with him from the beginning of his Ministry continued with him till his death couversed with him till his ascension That which they had heard which they had seen with their Eyes which they had looked on which their hands had handled of the word of life that they delivered in writing to the World And more than this no Writer or Relater of History can pretend to 2. For Arguments of their sincerity they have left Precepts of Veracity and prohibitions of lying under pain of Hell torments the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone They have protested that they did not follow cunningly devised Fables that they did things sincerely as in the sight of God They have appealed to the searcher of hearts The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ knoweth that I lie not The things which I write unto you behold before God I lye not Gal. 1. 20. saith St. Paul They have left behind them various instances of their simplicity and Godly sincerity in representing their failings to the world and of candour and ingenuity in distinguishing the dictates of their own Reason from the inspirations of the Holy Spirit I speak by permission not by commandment of the Lord This say I not the Lord Thus it is according to my judgment c. 1 Cor. 7. But besides all this let the matter be estimated according to common reason If these men did devise a Fable and impose it upon the world what end could they propound to themselves in so doing was there any profit in being destitute of all things or pleasure in being persecuted afflicted and tormented or honour in being counted Fools and Mad-men Before they began to publish the Stories whereof we speak their Master was gone and all worldly hopes were gone away with him If they were not bound in Conscience and in Spirit what obligation had he laid upon them to labour and suffer for his honour as they did To omit the severity of his behaviour to them He called them off from their Vocations Peter and Andrew James and John from their Fishing Mattbew from his Customers place the rest accordingly They forsook their Nets their Ships their Relations and all their interests and followed him And this they did clearly and plainly believing that he was to be a Great Temporal Prince and in hopes of preferment under him In this Expectation they continued to the last minute of his conversation with them upon Earth and he permitted them so to do Their last words to him were delivered in this question Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom unto Israel Of the thing it self they never doubted they only desire to be informed of the time Now after so long expectation Consider his Answer His Answer was this It is not for you to know the times c. but ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses of me unto the utmost parts of the earth and immediately he vanished away Was this an answer to their Question or a satisfaction to their expectation Was this an Obligation laid upon them If he had not sent down the Holy Ghost this would have moved them indeed but it would have been to rage and indignation this would have obliged them indeed but it would have been to detest and abhor the name and memory of him that had abused them But for the honour of his name not their own they did and suffered all things and gloried in it An irrefragable argument of their sincerity in the things which they delivered 3. Of the internal Arguments for the belief of History there remains only the Consideration of the way and manner of writing Histories then carry their own credentials in them when the principal parts
of the Church are so many as are not to be numbred in a few Minutes but would require many days only to name them They first stirred up Nero to persecute the Christians they contrived the death of Polycarpus they stood by and insulted over the dying Martyrs in a word whoever shall read the stories of primitive times he will find that the Jews were generally the Setters and Informers against the Martyrs and the Brokers for their Goods after execution And the Histories of our own and other Nations will shew us the height of their malice and the continuance of it Now beside the little Nation of the Jews the rest of the whole world when this History began to be published and the Books written were Heathen universally devoted to the Devil whom therefore our Saviour styles the Prince of this world And now that feud which had depended betwixt the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the woman 4000 years was by the preaching and writing of these things brought to a Crisis The professed and declared design of the Gospel was to drive the Devil out of his Dominion notwithstanding the antiquity of his possession theuniversality of his Church and the consent of all Nations whereby he held his title Notwithstanding his Empire was supported by Governours and Laws and fortified by the Arms and actual strength of all the world he saw that if the Gospel were not suppressed a little time would spoil the pride of all his glory that in a moment he should fall like lightning from Heaven That he should be exorcised out of the bodies which he possessed That his famous Oracles should soon be put to silence his gorgeous Temples and Images should be torn down his Mysteries and lying wonders set at nought That Prayers and Vows would be made to him no more and he should cease to be celebrated in the Songs of his Poets and Hymns of his Hieropbantae That his revelling Festivals would be turned to mourning no more gifts would be presented no beasts nor children women or men sacrificed upon his Altars The Contention was de rerum summa pro aris focis and his rage was kindled accordingly He summons together all his wiles and stratagems he musters all his forces he sounds an Alarm to the world stirs up young and old rich and poor all ages sexes conditions the people wise and unwise the Common Souldiers and Commanders Counsellors and Judges Senate and Emperors by suppressing these Books and destroying the Believers of them to erase the memory of the Gospel and abolish it for ever The people were enraged against the Believers as against the common Enemy of mankind and pro solenni suo they slandered them with unthought of wickedness they imputed to them all the calamities of the world And required them to death Si Tiberis ascendit in moenia Christianos ad Leones Against these Books the Learned employed their Learning and the Witty employed their Wit Celsus Porphyrius Jamblichus Hierocles and other Philosophers endeavoured to dispute them out of the world Symmachus and Libanius and other Rhetors to declaim them away Julian and Lucian and other Scoptick wits endeavoured to jeer and droll away the credit of them Mean while the Senators and Lawyers employ themselves to destroy the Books by stretching against them the ancient Laws against bringing in Foreign Religions and against Magical and Fatidical Books and to destroy Books and Believers by New Laws made for that purpose against Combinations Hetaeriae Sacriledge Treason the Law that none should buy or sell or draw water without Thurification to the Gods and the like By force of these they persecute the Believers as Enemies to the Commonwealth and Traytors to the Emperour as sacrilegious persons and contemners of Religion The people sometimes rising upon them without any edict sometimes by virtue of Edicts Imperial or Proconsular From the beginning of the Gospel to the end of Dioclesian and Maximian this was the state of Believers Their Scriptures were forbidden to be read and required to be burned their Oratories and obscure Churches were pulled in pieces their Estates were plundered and confiscate their bodies were imprisoned and tormented Fire and Sword hot Iron Chairs and Coffins Gridirons and Cauldrons Hooks Stakes and Gibbets the Teeth of Lyons and Tygers c. were their portion It cannot be shewed that ever any Book or story met with equal Opposition 2. Consider then how it prevailed how quickly and largely how deeply and effectually although the Precepts were not contrived to sollicit the Affections nor the Doctrines to court the Reason of men At one Sermon of Peter three thousand at another five thousand were converted Within a few years after the Death of Christ we find by St. Peter that the Gospel was preached throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia Bithynia and Paul had planted it from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum Besides what was done by other Apostles in the Provinces assigned them at the Council of Jerusalem Within sixty six years this grain of Mustard seed was become a Tree Pliny Proconsul of Bithynia to whom the care of Religion ex officio did appertein appointed by Trajan to suppress the Christians he writes to him that this Belief was Longè lateque diffusa Civitates Vicos Agros impletos Christi cultoribus During the second Century it had shot out great branches the boughs of this Tree were stretched out Hesterni sumus vestra omnia implevimus Tertullian reckons up the known parts of the World in quibus omnibus Christi nomen regnat and concludes ubique porrigitur creditur colitur regnat adoratur And lastly During the third à morte Christi the Fowls of the air and Beasts of the field lodged under the shadow of it The Net drew good and bad to shore the Roman Emperour and Empire declared themselves Christians i. e. Believers and Assertors of these Books So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed It went on conquering and to conquer not by the Spirit of the Sword but by the Sword of the Spirit the powers of the Earth and the gates of Hell could not withstand it it drove the Devil away with all his Temples Idols Oracles Priests Sacrifices Services like lightning So fell the Dragon the old Serpent that deceived the World he was cast out with all his train So fell Lucifer the Son of the morn his Friends and his Followers lamenting How art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer the Son of the morning Desolata Templa rarissimus Victimarum emptor Some complain of people forsaking of the Gods others of the Gods forsaking their Oracles and Temples and becoming useless to the World He said I will ascend into Heaven and exalt my Throne above the Stars but he was soon brought down to Hell For the Gospel like Leaven or Fire from Heaven seised upon all that stood before it it leaven'd Cities Islands Castles Councils
the Apostles the Promulgers of the Gospel Wherefore it is to be believed The Antecedent of this Enthymem is the sum of what I shall deliver When the Pharisees said unto Christ thy Record is not true because thou bearest record of thy self I am one saith Christ that bear record of my self and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me Moreover he tells the Disciples that the Comforter should testify of him And ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning So that beside the Witness of the Apostles the Gospel had the Attestation of all the persons of the Trinity viz. of the 1. Father 2. Son 3. Holy Ghost 1. God the Father bore witness to his Son and that he did by 1. Visible Signs and 2. Audible Voices 3. by Mission of Angels 4. by Co-operating in his Miracles c. 1. At his Nativity a new Star appeared At his Baptism they saw the heaven opened and the Spirit sent from the Father in the visible shape of a Dove and lighting upon him Before his Passion he was transfigured in their sight And At it the Sun was eclipsed when the Moon was full the Veil the Rocks rent so that the Centurion said Surely this man was the Son of God Bodies of Saints were seen of many All these were visible signs 2. As for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Daughter of the Voice In his Baptism Lo a voyce from heaven Saying This is my beloved Son At his Transfiguration a Voyce came out of a cloud which said This is my beloved Son hear him A little before his death as he was Praying Father glorifie thy Name There came a voyce from heaven Saying I have both glorified it and will glorify it again 3. For mission of Angels by the Father We find them still ready upon all occasions from before his Coming down to the time of his Ascension into Heaven Before his Conception the Angel Gabriel appeared to Zachary and to Mary before his Nativity to Joseph saying fear not Joseph At the time of his Nativity a whole Chorus appeared to the Shepherds In his Infancy an Angel appeared twice to Joseph admonishing him of his going to Egypt and his return from thence In his Adult age they ministred to him in his hunger Before his death they strengthned him in his Agony After it they rolled away the stone from his Sepulcher They declared his Resurrection and in his Ascension they stood by and foretold his coming again to Judgment Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing This same Jesus 4. The Father co-operated with him according to that of our Saviour The father worketh hitherto and I work c. These are some of the Attestations of the Father 2. Christ bore witness of himself And this he did by proving himself to be the Messiah viz. by fulfilling all the prophesies relating to the Person or Offices the Life and the Death of the Messiah His Generation was such as cannot be declared he was born at Bethlehem of the Tribe of Judah of the Family of David about 490 years after the return from Captivity When the Scepter was just now departed from Juda. He performed not only the Substance of the Prophesies but all the Circumstances foretold concerning the Life and Death of the Messiah 1. He was to be a Prophet and so he was The Spirit of the Lord anointed him to preach and he spake as never man spake He foretold many things to come they all bare him witness 2. He was to be a King and so he was His Name was Wonderful his Power was shewen throughout the universal System of the World the Angels good and evil the Heavens Elements Plants Fishes Brutes Health and Sickness Life and Death were all obedient unto his Word 3. He was to be a Priest and so he was He made an Atonement by his Obedience and by his sufferings to the least punctilio to the taking of a little Vinegar and when all things were fulfilled He cryed with a loud voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is finished and he bowed his head and gave up the Ghost Moreover for the Justification of his Gospel and that he might leave no place for Infidelity he rose again from the dead appeared to many convinced them by all their Senses They saw him They heard him They felt his hands and his side They Eat and Drank with him They Conversed with him 40 dayes He was seen by more then 500 at once and lastly in the sight of Many of them he Ascended Visibly into Heaven These were some of the Testimonies which our Lord Christ bare to himself 3 The time would fail me if I should speak of all the Testimonies given by the Holy Spirit In his Conception to Mary fulfilling the Promise of Gabriel Before his Nativity to Zachary and Elizabeth in his Infancy to Simeon and Hanna in his Baptism to John I knew him not saith John but he that sent me to baptize said unto me upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and resting on him that is he and I saw the Spirit descending Throughout his whole Ministry till his Death the Spirit gave witness to him Moreover in his Resurrection he was declared the Son of God with power by the Holy Ghost After his Ascension the Holy Ghost fulfilled all his undertakings in that Grand Manifestation at Pentecost at the time and place which Christ had undertaken for A manifestation made to all the Senses and to men of every nation under heaven Parthians besides a Multitude of other Instances Such were the Attestations given to Christ the Author and finisher of our faith 2. And for the Apostles the Promulgers of it besides the Change of their Spirits from darkness to light Whereby they were led out of Ignorance and Infidelity into all Truth And from torpid and pusillanimous persons during thelife of their Master they became when he was dead the most active and magnanimousin the world I say besides this Change They had bestowed upon them All things necessary either for their 1. Own Assurance or for the 2. Conviction of the World Concerning the truth of the Gospel which they delivered 1. As for themselves besides the Conversation with their Master before and after his Resurrection they had 1. Apparitions of Angels And to one of them Christ himself appeared after he was ascended to his father 2 They had the Bath Kol Voices from Heaven In the 9 of the Acts we find a Voice from Heaven maintaining a Dialogue with Paul and at another time a voice saying to Peter Arise Peter Kill and Eat 3. They had extatical Visions Peter was in a trance Act 10. 10 19. Paul rapt up to the third heaven 4. They had monitory Dreams Paul saw a man in a Dream saying unto him Come into Macedonia and help us 5. They had Impulses of the Spirit So Paul was forbid by
which may meet with and remove the prejudice and imposture that is upon us It is neither our Negligence nor Infidelity that will make void the Truth of God Whether we will hear or Whether we will forbear the Words which I have read remain firm and unalterable and they clearly contain these Propositions 1. There is a Judgment to come 2. Thou shall be brought to Judgment 3. God will bring thee to Judgment 4. God will bring thee to Judgment for these things the ways of thy heart c. 5. God will bring thee to Judgment for All these things 6. All this is certain and evident for it is not think or believe but Know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment 1. First then There is a Judgment to come This is no Politick invention found out to fright thee from thy pleasures this is no Engine of State devised to keep you in a subordination to your Brethren this is no vain Thunder or foolish fire to affright you in to a blind obedience but it is the Tenor of the Scripture of the voyce of God King Agrippa believest thou the the Prophets I know that thou believest saith St. Paul Brethren do we believe the Scriptures I hope we do believe them This we do all profess to believe so often as we repeat our Creed and I hope the dissolution of our times has not yet shatter'd that foundation of our faith the ground work of our hopes even the Salvation of our souls Surely there are rewards for men doubtless there is a God which judgeth the earth What though the foundations of the world be out of course the pillar of Faith remains unshaken the Rod of the ungodly shall not for ever rest upon the back of the righteous I desire to make a little use of your faith for that which anon will be obtained from your reason There is a Judgment to come it 's as sure as death nay far surer they shall be judged which shall not dy they have been judged which could not dy the one at the end the other at the beginning of the world There is a Particular and a General Judgment the one at the dissolution of the lester the other of the greater world the one at the hour of death the other at the day of Judgment A Judgment I say a strict examination an exact account a severe sentence words which make no thundring noise or tragical sound and so they may pass our hardned hearts without any motion wherefore let us judge of the tenor and moment of them by their antecedent signs Before one of them the evil days come The other is called the evil day Before one Solomon tells us that the Sun and the Moon and the Light and the Stars shall be darkned Before the other a greater than Solomon tells us that the Sun shall be turned into Darkness and the Moon into Bloud and the Stars shall fall from Heaven Before one the Keepers of the House shall tremble and the Strong men bow themselves Before the other the Mountains shall quake and the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken Before one we shall rise at the voyce of the Bird Before the other at the sound of the Trumpet Before one the silver Cord shall be loosed and the golden Bowl broken and the Pitcher broken at the Fountain and the wheel broken at the Cistern Before the other the silver Zone of the ecliptick and the golden Globe of the Sun the Orbs and the Vortices shall be confounded the wheel within a wheel the Heavens shall be rivel'd as a scrowl of Parchment and the Earth and the Elements shall melt away with fervant heat In the one the dust shall return to the earth as it was and and the spirit to God that gave it At the other the dust shall return from the earth to be as it was and the spirit from God that gave it Come now and let us reason together Are all these the fore-runners and symptomes of approaching Judgment then why art thou so drowsre O my careless soul and why are thou so secure within me What strange Lethargy hath seised on thee Awake thou that sleepest and Christ shall give the light The time of thy dissolution is coming and after death the Judgment Retire therefore a while into thy self and commune with thy heart Enter thou into thy Closet and shut thy Door upon thee Let us examine our selves before we come to that strict Examen Let us make a Judgment of our expectation before we come to Judgment Do we believe a Judgment will come Then how are we provided against that Day Are our accounts ready Art thou able to stand in Judgment Shalt thou be clear when thou art judged When Paul reasoned before Felix concerning the Judgment to come Felix trembled and because it was an unpleasant argument he put him off to another time There is no doubt but our treacherous hearts would gladly put off these Considerations and deferr them to a more convenient season Nay but there is no time so convenient as the present when we are wrought into some apprehension of Judgment if we stay till our present thoughts are over we shall again be brought to lose the apprehension to forget the import and moment of the Judgment we shall come again to hear the Name thereof and to neglect it as an idle Noise and empty Sound Let us therefore not neglect this opportunity Let us search our seleves to the bottom Let us make a discovery of our final Resolution and secret Reserves in reference to Judgment We profess openly to believe that Christ shall come with Glory to judge both the Quick and Dead What are our inward thoughts in that particular and how are we provided against the Day of Judgment There is a Judgment to come that Judgment terrible the Examination strict the Condemnation insupportable and most of us utterly unprovided yet for all this it 's possible it may be avoyded All these things are true in Judgments here below and we see the proof of them at every Assizes yet all Offenders are not brought to Judgment but many Thieves and Murderers escape it It may be thus in the Judgment to come it 's possible it may be avoidable II. A miserable hope if this be all for Thon shalt be brought to Judgment That 's the second Proposition And it contains the Universality or Particularity of the Judgment which you please thou and every man singuli generum genera singulorum all sorts of men and every man of every sort from Him that sitteth on the Ihrone to Her that grindeth in the Mill For we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ. It is appointed for all men once to dy and after death the Judgment Death shall deliver up our Souls to the first and death shall deliver up our Bodies to the second Judgment The Grave shall deliver up her spoils and the bodies of all
things continue as they were before And for the manner and Apparatus of his coming Our God shall come saith the Psalmist and shall not keep silence there shall go before him a devouring fire and a mighty Tempest shall be stirred up round about him Behold the Lord will come with fire saith the Prophet and with his Chariots like a Whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebukes with flames of fire The streams of Zion shall be turned into Pitch and the dust thereof into Brimstone the Earth thereof shall be burning Pitch the smoke thereof shall ascend day and night and shall not be quenched compare Revel 6. with Esai 34. The Kings of the Earth shall tremble the Captains and the mighty shall be horribly asraid the great men and the rich men shall hide themselves all the bond-men and all the freemen shall fly to the Rocks of the Mountains And soon after all this The Heavens shall be rivel'd as a scrowl the Earth and the Elements shall melt away for God shall arise to judge terribly the Earth Have not all these things come upon us the men of this Generation Is it weakness is it a vain and superstitious scrupulosity to call these things to our remembrance Have we no reason at all to apprehend the approach of a General Judgment either upon the World or upon our sinful Nation Do we not now envy those despised souls which have made their accounts ready We thought it madness to see them pine away with poenitential exercises and macerate themselves with mourning We thought it folly which they called Conscience for which they denyed themselves the pleasures and enjoyments of the World We fools counted their life madness and their latter end to be without honour But the time is coming when they shall be comforted and we shall be tormented Because he hath called and we have refused he hath stretched out his hand and we have not regarded He will laugh at our calamity and mock when our fear cometh When our destruction cometh as a Whirlwind when distress and anguish comes upon us May we not therefore give up our selves to the torments of our hearts and surrender up our souls unto Despair so Israel said there is no hope we will follow every one the devices of his heart after 20 30 or 40 years continuance in our courses 't is in vain to think of turning from them Our arrears are so far gone that there is no hope to discharge them and why should we trouble our selves with the thoughts of our Account Nay that which must come let it come and what is a few days respite to Eternity Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye Let us go forth as at other times and shake our selves and scatter these troublesom apprehensions of future Judgment What if we should drink a little to drive away Melancholy Yes and fall perhaps and spew and rise no more Nay but I beseech you stay a little and consider consider at least in this your day the things which belong to your peace It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Who among us can dwell with a devouring fire Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings Such careless and desperate resolutions are the advantages which the Devil aims at that he may sear our Consciences and seal us up in a final obduration But there is another kind of advantage which God and our Lord Christ and the Holy Spirit and the Gospel and the Ministers aim at That advantage which I told you of in the beginning of my Discourse That knowing the terror of the Lord they may perswade men And now what is it that they would perswade us that we will be contented to part with the tormenting fears of Judgment that we will condescend not to be miserable to all Eternity That we will accept of deliverance from the wrath to come that we will not neglect so great salvation nor trample on the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Behold God calls upon us Turn you turn you at my reproof why will you dye O House of Israel As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of sinners Our Lord Christ calls upon us Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you In the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles he stood and cried Saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink The Spirit sayes come and whoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely The Gospel assures us That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life Behold I set before you this day life and death blessing and cursing and as an unworthy Ambassadour in Christ's stead I pray you be reconciled to God take his yoke upon you his yoke is easie and his burden light embrace now the tender of the Gospel only repent and believe in the Lord Jesus accept him for your Saviour and your Lord. Your Prophet to instruct you your King to govern you your Priest to save you and you shall be saved Saved from the fears and horrours of a Guilty Conscience condemned by it s own witness Saved from the wrath of God and of the Lamb. You shall meet the Lord with Confidence We shall be able to stand with boldness in the Judgment to lift up our heads with joy because our redemption draweth near This is the way of save our own souls from perishing which is the General design of all our Preaching And this is the way to appease the wrath which is gone out against us and to preserve our Nation from destruction which is the particular and more immediate end of our present Humiliation whereof I am yet to speak THe hand indeed of the Lord hath been heavy upon us his wrath hath been kindled it hath waxed hot against the Sheep of his pasture and he hath plagued our Nation very sore His Judgments have been multiplied his strokes have been redoubled and for all this his anger 〈◊〉 not turned away but his hand is stretched out still Wars and Pestilences and those other fore-runners of Christ's coming to Judgment have been seen and felt amongst us and now when these have not been able to prevail To awaken a drowsie people to rowse up a Lethargic Nation to ferment a people setled upon their Lees God has made a new thing in the midst of us he hath wrought a work in our dayes which makes the ears of all that hear it to tingle A work not to be parallel'd perhaps in all the circumstances since the Creation of the World How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of our Zion with a cloud in his anger and hath cast down from Heaven to Earth the beauty of Israel and remembred not his footstool in the Day of his Anger he hath swallowed