matter Thus we are by nature of no more reason than a wilde Ass and yet as unturnable as that Creature The old Man is proud and wilful yea presumptuous yea of enmity and despight if resisted as Lions and Dragons are spitting their some and poison as Cats in the face of all that contradict 'T is said of Judas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he became head-long Act. 1.18 He was so in his life for he would on in his work of betraying Christ though convinced by Christ's own preaching and told to his Face that he should betray him And so are the ways of corrupt nature carried head-long He taketh the wise in their own craftiness and the counsels of the froward are carried head-long Joh. 5.13 And all this continually as the Blackamore that cannot change his skin No place better sets out the bad property of natural corruption then that Gen. 6.5 God saw that the wickedness of man was great and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was evil and only evil and that continually For such a visible as well as audible Sermon as Noah preached of 120 Years long would surely have turned them from their sins had they not been desperately obstinate and so continually of which God was sensible and complain'd and was grieved at his heart that he made man And shall God so much lay to heart the depraved state of a man and man himself not lay it to heart at all Fourthly We should be deeply sensible of natural corruption in the consequence of it It is a body of death a body of this death that is it disposeth us to all the wrath of God both in this World and in the World to come And therefore doth the Apostle cry out here in my Text as one utterly loft O wretched man that I am Who shall deliver me c. And they likewise who were prickt at heart by the Apostle Peter's preaching with the sense of their sinful state Cryed out Men and Brethren What shall we do to be saved Which are Scriptures of purpose to shew that we should be deeply sensible of the evil consequence of corrupt nature as it will destroy Soul and Body Judas is called a Childe of Perdition and so are we called Children of wrath by nature that is such as are not under mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not pitied as the expression is rightly rendered in the Queens translation 1 Pet. 2.10 Now how are Malefactors affected with the consequence of their evil way when they are going to the Gallows especially when they have no hope of mercy when they be not under talk of mercy and pardon Now our natural state is death without all mercy that is the sentence pronounced upon it if the state so abide a carnal state it is death without all mercy and every carnal man should speak of himself as the Apostle Peter doth as one not under mercy or as one that hath not yet obtained mercy but lies lyable as a Prisoner condemned every hour to Execution I take it that their attonement day spokeâ— of Levit. 23.27 Wherein they were to afflict their Souls upon pain of death had principal reference to their state of sin by nature that body of sin which they brought into the World with them which exposed them and us all unto death and all misery in this World and that to come and if it be so then you have the Point in hand proved and the reason of it why we should be deeply sensible of corrupt nature as well as of all that flowes from it because God commands it and commands it upon great penalty We die for it else unless we afflict our Souls under the sense of our fallen state and Gods displeasure belonging thereunto that Soul which doth not so well die for it their afflicting day was a day to go to the Root and to cast salt and brine upon the springs of wickedness which if they did not the wrath of God seized on their Roots Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade Men saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.11 We perswade Men. To what Answ To look well about them that they be not found in their carnal state when Christ cometh to Judgment So that the deepest sense of this thing should be upon us that can possibly be as if we were now going before the Judgment of quick and dead and all in our sins or as if we were going to the Wedding of a great Prince and had not one rag on our backs to cover our nakedness Vse I Learn from hence that if we should be sensible of natural corruption then of all actual transgressions which are but as streams from this Fountain If we should mourn over the evil Womb then over all the evils which this VVomb brings forth And yet what twins and what tens and what great man-sins and provocations doth this evil VVomb bring forth every where at this day and yet who lays to heart either Mother or Children I hearkned and heard but they spake not aright no Man repented him of his wickedness saying What have I done every one turns to his course as the Horse rusheth into the Battel Jer. 8.6 Vse 2 Woe and alas how much are the most liberal reproved who are past feeling as to both natural corruption and all actual transgressions yea even the fowlest and greatest Giving themselves over to lasciviousness to work all iniquity with greediness and drink in all abominations as the Fish doth Water So far from sense of all sin either in the heart or in the life that all such frame of spirit is scoffed at If a man do but cast the least discountenance on the greatest sin What you are a Phanatick and ready as Swine to turn and tear and rent such as cast such Pearls before them as wholesome and seasonable reproofs and are as the wilde Ass that snuffeth up the wind and in the heat of her lust cannot be turned away Febris accedit the mad Feavour will and must have its course though Heaven or Hell bear upon breaking off or going on They say in the pride and stoutness of their hearts to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant To talk of a body of death Lord what strange language would this be now adays and if a Man should chance to sigh as the Apostle O wretcheà man that I am What will become of me that Hellish cordial I doubt would be readily administred God dam-me thou wilt do well enough Never was it such a God-daring time for wickedness If it be such a God-damning time as persons pâ—ay Hell will be full of Souls indâ—ed for many Ages surely as this Men have made their hearts as an Adamant that they may not repent and seared their Consciences with a hot Iron that they may be sin-proof and not fall before the greatest wickedness nor the greatest judgment of God That capital curse I fear is inflicted
Famine then I conclude that general Mortality should be generally laid to heart for the Prophet did thus complain to God to affect all Men that they might so complain to God as he did how sadly matters went amongst them Take one Scripture more Lam. 1.6 And from the Daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed her Princes are become like Harts that can finde no pasture and they are gone without strength before the Pursuer This Prophet layeth to heart particularly the distresses of Princes and great Men and alass what are all these to the distresses and death of the righteous and holy and merciful Men which proves that we should lay to heart the common strokes of God as the Sword and Pestilence take away one as well as another bad and good high and low I will prove this Point more particularly and distinctly to you First We are to lay to heart Mortality by the Pestilence I have sent among you the Pestilence after the manner of Aegypt your Horses have I taken away and have made the stink of your Camps to come up into your Nosthrils and so killed you with Plagues and Diseases attending the Sword and yet ye have not returned to me Amos 4.10 that is you have not laid things to heart throughly to be ashamed of your evil ways and to turn from them The death of Men nay the death of Horses as such deaths not long since were amongst them we are to lay to heart and so to lay to heart as to prepare to meet God then the death of good Men by the Pestilence we are surely to lay to heart From above hath he sent a Fire into my Bones and it prevailed against them he hath made me desolate and faint all the day Lam. 1.13 The Prophet in these words as in all the rest personateth the state of the People generally and much laid to heart GOD's immediate strokes upon the Persons of Men by many mortal fierce Diseases without sparing any From above hath he sent Fire into my Bones and it hath prevailed c. Secondly Mortality by Famine is to be laid to heart The Prophet Joel speaketh of this stroke which indeed is great The Land is as the Garden of Eden before them and behind them a desolate Wilderness and nothing shall escape them speaking of Vermin so devouring all Man's Provision Joel 2.3 at the 12th vers of this Chapter the Prophet telleth us what effect this should have Therefore now also saith the Lord turn ye to me with all your heart and with fasting weeping and with mourning rent your hearts and not your Garments for he is gracious who knoweth if he will return and repent By which of these strokes either Pestilence or Famine the godly were taken away no Man can say for by Pestilence Famine and Sword did the Lord contend with that People That he contended with them by Famine the Prophet Joel and also the Prophet Jeremiah testifieth They have sowen Wheat and shall reap Thorns they have put themselves to pain but shall not profit thus doth the Prophet poscere aciem bid battel and ye shall be ashamed of your revenue because of the fierce anger of the Lord Jer. 12. 13. But most plain in Ezek. c. 4. 5. Where the Prophet is commanded to make Bread with Beans and Fitches and to eat this by weight and to mix dung with it And must this be laid to heart Yes much How can any do otherwise Thus saith the Lord smite with the Hand and stamp with the Foot and say alass for all the evil abominations of the House of Israel for they shall fall by the Sword by the Famine and by the Pestilence Ezek. 6.11 Then they fell by all these and then it is probable that the righteous fell by all these as others then we should lay to heart Mortality by all these we should smite with the Hand and stamp with the Foot and say alass What great abom nations have caused all these great Judgments God's temporal strokes and judgments which kill and slaughter all sorts should much be laid to heart by all sorts But you will say Q. What is it to lay to heart the mortal strokes of GOD in a Nation I answer A. It is to be deeply sensible of the cause as it may be in our selves or in the Nation wherein we live Observe how the Lord counselleth Ezekiel to carry it in the day of their dreadful misery Thus saith the Lord smite with thine Hand and stamp with thy Foot and say alass for all the evil abominations of the Land of Israel He doth not barely bid him to say alass for all the evil punishments of the Land as Sword Pestilence and Famine but alass for all the wickedness of the Land which hath caused these He that is far off shall fall by the Pestilence and he that is neer shall fall by the Sword and he that remains and is besieged shall die by Famine Ezek. 6.11.12 So that to lay to heart mortal strokes in a Nation is to be deeply affected with the cause of them in our selves or in others If you ask me further where we have found out causes in our selves and in others quos accidam as Salust saith To whom shall I turn and prostrate my self and say I have sinn'd Q. and done this evil abomination Answ To God in the Name of Christ A. Therefore thus saith the Lord turn you even unto me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning Joel 2.12 And to do this forth-with presently without all delay or else to be sure it is not turning to the Lord with all the heart To lay to heart God's willing Discipline is to be full of deep sorrow for sin in our selves and others as the proper causes of all sorts of deaths and deaths of all sorts of Persons good and bad and to turn from these to the Lord and to believe on Christ that the Lord for his sake will be pacified and turn away all his displeasure and not make us a reproach unto the Heathen as it is in that Chapter Joel 2.17 Having thus proved and opened the Doctrin I will shew you in the next Place Vses what Use may be made of it First This Point is profitable to teach If we are to be deeply sensible of temporal strokes such as refer to the death of our bodies then much more are we to be sensible of spiritual strokes and eternal strokes which refer to the death of our Souls I will send a Famine not of Bread but of hearing the Word of the Lord. And they shall wander from Sea to Sea and from the North to the East they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and shall not finde it Amos 8.11 12. How diligently we get the Bills of Mortality now and being come up to Thousands O how we lift up our hands but who brings in Weekly Bills of
Fountain open for sin and for uncleanness is very precious to that Leper which indeed and from his heart cryeth out unclean Vse 4 The last Use of this Doctrin is for Exhortation Be at this practise with this Apostle of panting and groaning under the Body of Death when the poor Woman with the Bloody Issue saw that she was not hid she came trembling to Christ Luk. 8.47 and confessed her condition and how long it had been so with her and what ineffectual means she had used and yet wasted all on them Though your corrupt nature be hid from the eyes of men and from your own eyes much to much yet not in the least hid from the eyes of Christ and therefore come trembling to him and confess all your vileness to him as far as you are able but alas what a hard task do I mention 〈◊〉 and how long you have layne in this forlorne state and do as Beggars by the High-ways sides pull off all Plaisters from every soar and take heed of hiding any sin with Fig-leaves as your Father Adam let the great Physician see and know all every putrefied soar that is not bound up nor mollified with oyntment and who knoweth but his eye may move his heart towards you to pity you and to play the good Samaritan and to dress your filthy souls and soars and to anoint them and mollifie them This I think is the meaning of the Prophet Isa 42.18 Hear ye deaf and look ye blinde that ye may see This is a proper work for every sinner to be at to bleed and mourn inwardly for the Fountain of sin that is in him and to bewail the many springs of wickedness which boil up bad matters Night and Day in his Soul to the grieving of the Holy Spirit Hearken to me ye that follow after righteousness ye that seek the Lord look to the roots whence ye were hewen Isa 51.1 to the hole of the Pit whence ye are digged meaning Abraham who was an Idolater and dead in trespasses and sins as well as others The Body of Death is the hole of the Pit out of which cometh all the Frogs and Locusts which crawle and swarm in your lives Many Professors not bewailing this well and throughly as they should build a brave House to look on but on the Sand which with storms falleth and the fall thereof is great The time of loss is to be lookt into and considered Damni dati tempus inspicitur And how old is our loss of God's Image How inveterate is our wound How old is the old Man as old as Methusalah The old man came into the World with you and a Miracle it is that it had not with its great weight like a Mill-stone about your Necks pressed you to your place long ago yea the old man came into the World with this world that now is and with the other world that is drowned and it will bring this to the Fire at last and from burning to burning it is very proper work to be casting tears upon such sparks as will burn to the lowest Hill Secondly 'T is needful work this to know every Man the Plague of his own heart To know it that is to sigh and groan under it as here the Apostle Paul doth When Daniel had received that sad Vision of Nebuchadnezar's ruin the lopping down of that tall Tree which reached to Heaven and the sad condition of a beast which he was to be cast into Daniel remained speechless for one hour and his thoughts troubled him and he was not able to say a word to the King but sighed and lookt sad Dan. 4.19 And an hour more it may be he would have stood sad and sighing before the King and silent if the King had not forced matter from him And this carriage was very needful to set home things upon the King's heart and to make him look about him well And would I could so preach to all you this Day and in this place who are in your natural condition If I were silent now for one hour more and did only sigh over all you carnal and unregenerate Men and Women and look sad and sometimes mourn would it not be very needful as hearts are now heardened well and deeply to affect you Certainly it would so make you look about you well before the great Lopper death come 'T is very needful work for you and me to be at this oft-bewailing our fallen state and the body of this death because we are become as Nebuchadnezar by his fall Beasts that perish even we that were in honour in higher honour than Nebuchadnezar was before his fall We are become as Beasts in some respects and much worse than Beasts in other respects We are in this state without Christ aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel strangers from the Covenant of Promise having no hope and without God in the World which he calls upon every one to remember Ephes 2.11 12. Wherefore remember that ye in times past were thus and thus c. Thirdly This is to go to the Root of our Disease to lay an Axe to the Root The Apostle was wise when he fell upon the main body of wickedness in him Son of man cause Jerusalem to know her abominations and say Thus saith the Lord God unto all Jerusalem thy Birth and thy Nativity is of the Land of Canaan thy Father was an Amorite and thy Mother an Hittite and thy Navel was not cut nor salted c. Ezek. 16.2 3. You cannot know your abominations as you should that is be affected with them as you should unless you look to the Root from whence they all spring and fix your eyes and your hearts there well according to this wholesome instruction of the Lord. We are by nature Amorites and Hittites as wilde as any Children of wrath as well as others and in us i.e. In our nature dwelleth no good but the seeds of all wickedness and until we thus go to the bottom we do in our humiliations but skin over soares and not search and cleanse them well This this Apostle calleth for 1 Cor. 5.7 Purge out therefore the old leaven what a deal a-do there was to search out leaven and to get totally rid of it among the Jews much is said of it the Apostle would have us as industrious about corrupt nature which he calleth old leaven in all our humiliations wherein there should be soul-examinations that we should fall close upon our evil hearts and state within and smite upon them and cry out much upon them Damni dans causam damnum ipsum dedisse videtur The old leaven is the cause of all the sins and miseries we daily fall into This this therefore we should especially bewail and labour about to pluck up the root of bitterness Fourthly There is no dealing with any actual sin without effectual dealing with the body of sin To go to lave a Pool and not first to deal with the
they see that they escape as well as others and live as long as others The World is drawing on apace to Atheisme and the providence of God seems to rock the Cradle The Idolater and the sincere worshiper the superstitious and the truly tender conscience Nabal and the merciful Abigail all die promiscuously Why who can tell now which to prefer to follow That one may think his Religion as good as the other the the Papist and Protestant both die of the Plague and that the ceremoneist may think as well of his way as the strict Non-conformist they both die of the Plague and this is a Plague indeed to some this is raining snares upon Men which are willing to slumber in their own ways Some are afraid to be over-righteous and over-strict and the judgments of God falling so promiscuously will make such very temperate in their Religion If this be the import of God's destroying righteous and wicked to harden slight and loose Professors we had need look well to it who profess the Gospel that we be very substantial and real and that we be not catcht with this snare of judging by outward appearance but look to the Word what that requires This snare the Prophet Malachy speaks of Mal. 2.17 Ye have wearied the Lord with your words and yet ye say wherein have we wearied him When ye say that every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the Lord or Where is the God of judgment Surely the Lord likes our good fellowship and all the latitudes we use and carnal contents and pleasures as well as their rigid strict self-denying conversation or else he would not spare us as much or more than he doth them lay to heart this import of GOD's promiscuous dealing above all how God hardens sinners in their sins by such dealings Or Thirdly and Lastly This promiscuous dealing of God imports that which my Text here tells us that there are greater evils to come which God takes the righteous from and this should be much laid to heart indeed according to the very letter of my Text. So was Josia by a less judgment taken from a greater A praesenti praesumitur circa futura saith the Civilian From present things we may presume concerning future If Lot be warned and pulled out of Sodom there is surely some great and fearful storm a coming If God snatch his People as he did Josia in hast as it were to Heaven we may say with this Prophet in my Text they are taken from the evil to come Lay to heart therefore the hand of God that it slayes so generally one and all and lay to heart the import of it that it boads some greater evil to come There be Serpents which have heads in their tails called Amphisbaenae This stroke of God taking away righteous and wicked hath a head in the tail of it that will make worse work than this head which is now fore-most and yet how many doth this fore-most head now smite and slay and how mortal and tremendous is this fore-head Thirdly Be exhorted to lay to heart this that you may be the next cut off who ever you be seeing the slaughter men in this day spare none young nor old rich nor poor close Lanes nor open Streets righteous nor wicked What should we all then say to our selves but this surely I may be next the mark which God will hit What a trade the Coffin-makers and Grave-makers now have And Hell answerably doubly inlargeth it self as you do now seek out for new Church Yards and should not we smite on our breasts and say O the wonderful mercy and power and patience of the Lord that none of all these have been employed about me yet That so many thousands should be gone before and so many thousands more drawing on and drawing after and I yet not one of these O magnified be the rich and Soveraign mercy of God! Am I more righteous more merciful more useful with my Talent than such and such that are gone O no not worthy to be named in the Day with them and yet that I should be left and they taken that they should have their turn their over-turn before me When I say lay to heart that you may be next I mean more than one thing the admiring of GOD's mercy that you are yet spared I mean this also lay to heart your state whether you be ready I was wroth with my People I have polluted mine Inheritance and given them into thine hand thou didst shew them no mercy upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid the yoke And thou saidst I shall be a Lady for ever so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart neither didst remember the latter end of it Isa 47.6 7. Many parts of the Christian World are given into the hands of Men and they do with them at their pleasure and yet are secure and consider not the end of such ways that it will be bitterness at last I have nothing to do with such but with you Are not you yet in some ways which are not good and yet promise peace to your selves in them yea though GOD's slaughter-men and Fellers be come up to London The Plague was first at South-hampton and at other Countrey-Towns before it came to London yea come up to your Doors and not say rather to your selves I had need look about me I am likely to be next And what if the Fellers fell me Whither will the Tree fall when it falleth Will not the fall of it be very great If the righteous scarcely escape now if the merciful Man scarcely escape now Am I likely to escape Motives to press you thus to lay to heart these things are these First Is this in my Text How few do lay matters to heart now either the matters of his works or words rods or escapes righteous Men merciful Men rich Men and poor Men the Judge and the honourable c. are taken away and yet none lay this to heart If the Prophet had said few lay things to heart I would have kept his phrase but because he saith none I am but too justly lead to say so too Mortality and deadness of Bodies is not yet so general as mortality and deadness of Souls Zion stretcheth forth her hands and there is none to comfort the Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob that his adversaries should be round about him Jerusalem is as a menstruous Woman amongst them Lam. 1.17 We the Lord's People as in every Age have adversaries round about the righteous Man and the merciful Man hath adversaries enough But who of the World nay who of our selves lay this to heart A Second Motive to press you to lay to heart these times is also in the Text. Lay to heart present Rods or it will be an ill presage upon us that worse things Seven times worse are at Door If we be yet senseless and walk contrary surely we shall be