A GOSPEL-GLASSE Representing the MISCARRIAGES OF English Professors BOTH In their Personal and Relative Capacities for which God is contending with them by the Sword Plague c. and since the writing of the greatest part of the following Treatise for the Press by the dreadful Fire in London OR A CALL FROM HEAVEN To SINNERS and SAINTS By Repentance and Reformation to prepare to meet God Levit. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him Jer. 2.35 Yet thou sayest Because I am innocent surely his anger shall turn from me Behold I will plead with thee because thou sayest I have not sinned LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXVII THE Authors PREFACE WHEN it is a day of darkness and of gloominess a day of clouds and of thick darkness then saith the Prophet Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion Joel 2.1 2. and found an Alarum in my holy Mountain Let all the Inhabitants of the Land tremble Lam. 2.1 How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of Zion with a Cloud in his anger and cast down from Heaven unto the Earth the beauty of Israel and remembred not his Foot-stool in the day of his anger He hath violently taken away his Tabernacle as if it were of a Garden V. 6 he hath destroyed the Places of the Assembly The Lord hath caused the solemn Feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion and hath despised in the indignation of his anger his Priests V. 7 Yea the Lord hath cast off his Altar he hath abhorred his Sanctuary the Law is no more her Prophet also find no Vision from the Lord. O that now mine eyes could fail with tears V. 9 and my bowels were more troubled within me O that my Liver were poured upon the Earth for the destruction of the Daughter of my People V. 11 because the Children and the Sucklings swoon in the streets of the City We see not our Signes there is no more any Prophet Psal 74.9 neither is there among us any that knoweth How Long. When we 2 Sam. 6.1 2. like David were restoring the Ark of God I mean the presence of Christ in his Worship and Ordinances what Stumblings of the Oxen have we seen What miserable Disappointments have we met with And what sad breaches have there been made How hath God stopt our way and branded our Enterprises with wonderful remarks of his sore displeasure Hear therefore the word of the Lord Hos 4.1 ye Children of Israel for the Lord hath a Controversie with the Inhabitants of the Land We poor Ministers have pleaded with you till we can plead no more the Lord hath bid us stand by whilest he himself takes up the Controverste O is it not a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Hebr. 10.31 Are you not sensible what Arrows God hath begun to shoot amongst us How many thousands Psal 58.9 Isa 5.25 and ten thousands hath he taken away as with a whirlwind by the Pestilence For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still How hath God shaken our Heavens Hag. 2.6 and our Earth the Sea as well as dry Land How doth he contend still by the Sword And how much precious blood hath the Earth and Sea drunk up For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still O! Come Psal 46.8 Behold the works of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the Earth Every Providence of God especially his more notable Acts hath a reason written upon it could mans eye read it When the Church complained that God was as a stranger in the Land Jer. 14.8 10. and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night The Lord replyes to them Thus have they loved to wander c. The Controversie began on their side they may see their Sin in the Punishment as in a Glass Do they winder I grow strange to them The estrangement began on their part Nothing appears more our instant Duty than to enter a serious scrutiny What have we done Wherein have we offended Lam. 3.40 41 44. Let us search and try our wayes saith the afflicted Church of Judah upon this very occasion of the Lords covering himself with a Cloud that their Prayers could not pass through and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the Heavens O! Hag. 1.5.7 Consider your wayes The Lord doubled it Your iniquities have seperated between you and your God Isa 59.2 and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear I find men will easily subscribe to this that Sin is the procuring cause of all misery but I find an aptness to transferr the guilt from one to another from one party to another and though people do even sell themselves to work wickedness yet so predominant is Self-love that it sees no spots in it self Ahab is not the troubler of Israel but Elijah Nay a good man Aaron excuseth himself Exod. 32.22 and layes the blame on others The Sin is theirs not mine Men have a natural desire to justifie themselves and their desire is so strong that they care not whom they bespatter or burden so they may but ease and acquit themselves And indeed Sin is such an ugly Monster that no man will own it if he can choose but had rather lay this Child of Darkness at any mans door yea at Gods than Father it himself My Design in this Enterprize is to obviate this Distemper and to bring you all of you to own your iniquity that you may say resolve upon it that you will confess your iniquity Psal 32.5 that so God may forgive the iniquity of your sin My Place and Duty as a Minister though wholly unworthy of that Relation to God and you binds me to cause Jerusalem to know her abominations Ezek. 16.2 and therefore I have descended to Particulars that if it be the will of God I might hit the humour 1 Kings 8.38 and shew to every man the plague of his own heart The Lord knoweth I take no pleasure to rake in these Dunghills I dread the ill uses that the Sons of Belial may make of this Enterprize I expect various Censures from them who should be otherwise minâ—ed but my record is on high that the great Design of this Publication is to reduce Professours to a more aweful humble serious Repentance towards God and singular Conversation before men I thank God for the freedome that a Reverend Brother hath taken with the ejected Ministers Vox clamantis in Deserto and I must profess that since the perusal of that most seasonable Piâ—ce I have had no quiet in my Conscience till I entred upon this Labour Though my bodily Distempers pleaded loud for my silence though I was
shall eat their Bread with carefulness Ezek. 12.19 20. and drink their Water with astonishment c. And the Cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste Therefore thus saith the Lord God As the Vine-tree among the Trees of the Forrest which I have given to the fire for fuel so will I give the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Ezek. 15.6 7. And I will set my face against them and they shall goe out from one fire and another fire shall devour them Such ruines were to attend them that Ezekiel though the Messenger of them yet must sigh Ezek. 21.5 12. with the breaking of his loynes and with bitterness yea he must cry and howl and smite upon his thigh You may easily imagine if God were so angry with Judah for their insensibleness of his wrath when it hung in the cloud of threatnings and Types How much more will he be provoked to fury if we lay not to heart those fearfull signs and tokens of his wrath now that the cloud is dissolved into the Pestilence Sword and Fire Is 16.11 O that my bowells may sound like an Harp for England O that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears Jer. 9.1.11 that I might weep day and night O that for the mountains I could take up a weeping and wailing because they are burnt up because Jerusalem is made heaps because Gods fury went out like Fire and burned that none could quench it because of the evil of their doings O ye Sons of men Jer. 21.12 Ezek. 24.2 write you the name of the day even of the same day the God of Heaven set himself against Jerusalem this same day How oft did we profane that day by gluttony exâ—essive feastings gossipings within dores by unnecessary walks and sports without dores How did we cry when will the Sabbath be gone Amos 8.5 8 9. that we may attend our callings Shall not the Land tremble for this and every one mourn that dwelleth therein Your Sun is gone down at Noon-day God hath turned your Feasts into mourning and all your Songs into Lamentation How dare you now make mirth What Now drink Wine in Bowls The Lord take away the heart of stone and give us hearts of flesh The Lord powr out a spirit of mourning upon all the Land that we may lay to heart the wonderfull effects of Gods sore displeasure Wo to them that are at ease and are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph Shall not the Isles shake at the sound of thy fall Amos 6.1.6 Shall not the Princes of the Sea come down from their Thrones and lay away their Robes and put off their broidered garments and cloth themselves with trembling Ezek. 36.15 16 17 18. and sit upon the ground and be astonished at thee and take up a lamentation for thee and say how art thou destroyed thou that wast inhabited by Seafairing men the renowned City which was strong in the Soa She and her Inhabitants Now let the Isles tremble in the day of thy fall Come behold the works of the Lord Psal 46.8 what desolations he hath made in the earth Desolations by the Sword Desolations by the Pestilence and desolations by Fire Some smart that others may Fear Now all these things happen for examples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the World are come 1 Cor. 10.11 God means not only to punish but to teach and not only the present generation but all generations to the end of the World O the much precious blood that the Sword hath devoured How many thousands hath the Pestilence swept away And now one of the most flourishing Cities of the Christian World famous for the Gospel famous for frequence of Traffick in a few days lyes buried in Ashes or Rubbish If we have any bowells of pity let us weep with them that weep let us commiserate the grievous sufferings of multitudes of Men Women and Children It is certainly now a time to weep Eccles 3.4 Jer. 7.28 and not to laugh And must our Jeremiah's complain of England This is a Nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God nor receiveth correction If some amongst us are sensible of the heat of the Fire and other plagues yet we mourn not Isa 28.21 we do not habitually mourn for those sins and provocations which have moved God to do this work this strange work upon us and against us Possibly some cry and howl for the Goods and Houses that are consumed by Fire and for their Friends whom the Sword and Pestilence have devoured But how few are mourning in secret for their contempt of Christ and his Gospel for controlling and checking the Spirit of God for their spending away so much time and strength to get a little money and neglecting to give all diligence to make their calling and election sure you have mourned for your silver shrines but not for the pride carelesness and covetousness of your hearts you fear poverty and reproach will be your portion but why do you not fear what will be the issue of the hardness of your hearts Hear ye the Word of the Lord They are not humbled unto this day Jer. 44.10 11. Jer. 23.39 40.29.17 18. neither have they feared nor walked in my Law therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Behold I will set my face against you for evil and to cut off all Judah I even I will utterly forget you and I will forsake you and the City that I gave you c. and will bring an everlasting reproach upon you c. And if you will not after all this turn unto the Lord read your doom I will make them like vile figs that cannot be eaten they are so evil c. I here publish my fears to all the World I am afraid that our view of the desolations that God hath wrought are too short and transient and that some want humanity in their being insensible of the plagues and miseries of their Brethren and more want the spirit of mourning for their own and other mens sins Nay are there none of the Race of Ammon left Ezek. 25.3 6 7. Prov. 17 5. Luk. 13 2 3 4 5. Ezek. 25.8 9. Psal 137.7 Ezek. 12.13 14. who say Aha against Gods Sanctuary when it was profaned and against the Land of Israel when it was desolate at least rejoyced in heart Behold God will stretch out his hand upon such a people He that is glad at calaâ—â—ities shall not be unpunished The Tower of Silo fell to lead others to repentance If any will scoff and blaspheme as the Moabites by saying the House of Judah is like unto all the Heathen who have not suffered more nor so much as they God knows how to open the side of Moab and to let in the Sword and ruine upon their strongest Cities And if the Children of Edom who were long ago for
never desire any privacy between God and thy Soul a Saint and yet find no errand to invite thee to speak with God alone Sure thou rather seekest to approve thy self to men than to God Thou mayest for a time be the worlds Saint but God will at last un-case thee and present thee before the eyes of all the world for an Hypocrite Mat. 6.5 6. The trâ—e Lover delights to visit his Friend when he may find him alone like that good man who when the set time for his closet-Prayer was come would break from any compony he was in with this handsome speech I have a Friend that stayes for me Farewell Others put off this duty by pretending they pray alwayes every hour they are darting up Ejaculations to Heaven As the pretence of every day-day-Sabbath saith one comes just to no Sabbath so the continual Prayâ—â— of some carnal Professours is not Praying aâ— aâ—â— Eâ—aculatory Prayer should not hinder but rather fit for solemn set Praying Fire must be kept upon the Altar continually but that must not hinder the Morning and Evening Sacrifice True Christians cannot be satisfied with a bit and away but they must â—â—ve their set meals Others look at Closet Prayer to be at the best but a Free will Offering as they term it which they may offer if they will but will not own it a duty Surely such are little sensible of their heart-plagues or else they would alone one by one make Prayers 1 Kings 8.38 39. Zech. 12.10 11. and Supplications Such either have 〈…〉 Spirit at all or else but little very little of the Spirit or else they would be Praying apart In all my observation â—â—e raines of Christians have begun in their Closeâ— neglects either by omitting the duty totally or by â—areless formal customary management of it The truth is saith a late neat Writer this is the first step towards Apostacy Back-sliders grow first out of acquaintance with God in secret then delight in this duty declineth by little and little then are they less frequent in their visits upon which followeth a casting off the duty and yet they may appear great sticklers and zealous in publick Ordinances but if they recover not what they have lost in their secret Trade they will ere long break here also No surer sign of an Hypocrite than to neglect secret Prayer it turns thee into a Nebuchadnezzar into an Heathen nay into a Nebuchadnezzar Jer. 10.21 a Beast They are become bruitish and have not sought the Lord. Thou pretendest a love to God didst thou love him thou wouldst love to be with him yea lovers covet to be alone where they may more freely impart their mutual affections perhaps in thy family Religious worship of God by Prayer is yet kept up to keep up thy credit with men that thou mayst not be thought an Atheist that thou mayst be trusted an hundred things may keep thee and hold thee to publick duties but herein is the tryal of thy uprightness what thou dost in secret for God and with him when the Masters part the two great ones God and World then is the trial of thee whose Servant thou art but oh when the Master is alone then he is mostly neglected When alone thou art fittest for this duty of calling upon God when the World is shut out then thou hast a discharge from the cumbers of the Earth an Heathen Scipio will tell the I have never better company than when I have no company for then can I freely entertain my own thoughts and converse with all the learned that have been in former ages But thou art called to greater honour to improve thy solitude Joh. 16.32 to converse with God when alone to have thy Father with thee Yea God like a modest lover communicates most of his affections to his people when they are in secret Psa 63.6 when David was in the night watches then his Soul was filled with marrow and fatness not that he wanted Gods presence in the day for seven times a day he praised God but his day-sacrifices yielded him not that marrow and sweetness as he tasted in the night when he was sequestred from all company and business O! the hidden Mannah is the sweetest Cant. Hos 2.14 The Church leaneth on the breast of Christ in the Wilderness and there he speaks to her heart Unhappy Soul innumerable are thy losses by neglecting Christs calls Come my Beloved Cant. 7.12 let us goe forth into the Fields there will I give thee my loves That God should so lovingly invite thee to take a turn or two with him every day inorder to his opening his breast to thee and yet be denied Again When alone and not with God thou art lyable to Sathans foulest Temptations to Atheism Discontent or Pride of heart When the Devil finds the house empty he will furnish you with company enough seven other worse Spirits if worse may be you shall be employed Fear a Rape at least if God be not engaged to be a little Sanctuary in thy Closet and retirements Sathan frequents the high wayes and that Robber takes men aside into a corner and then pillageth them of their treasure He thought so to have dealt with Christ and therefore takes him into a Mountain alone Mat. 4.8 When alone your dangers are greatest therefore should your cries to Heaven be most vehement How few Professours have observed the fittest time for secret Prayer Not early enough in the Closet Mark 13.33 God would have us in this sense Watch unto Prayer God would have us early to tell the world whose Servants we are and that we dare not undertake any business without first engaging God with us Mark 1.35 that we dare not enter on Sathans territories without Christ our great Champion with us This Post should be sent to Heaven in the beginning of the day for no sooner in the morning do we begin to live and stirr but we need fresh succours and Auxiliaries from Heaven True Christians count that the sweetest air they breath in which is the fruit of Prayer and all things relish well with him that 〈◊〉 through this golden Pipe of Prayer and therefore he is up early in his Closet that 〈◊〉 may receive all this way from the Lords bounty and faithfulness Therefore 〈◊〉 sooner doth he open his eyes but he opens his heart to God and before he puts onâ— ragg he must to Heaven in secret Ejaculations at least before he goes to his Closet to pour out his Soul more plentifully before God He expecteth no good day unless iâ— be begun with a good duty and therefore my voice shaleâ— thou hear in the morning Psa 5.3.119.147 in the morning will I direct my Prayer unto thee David prevented the dawning of the morning naâ— he prevented God i. e. his Providences and Favours which he expected he loved to have them in the Channel of Prayer But alas how do Professours shuffle
possible when the Storm is over So many Professours will part from all the practice of sin throw all over-board as the Marriners did Jonah though much against their wills in hopes of riding out the storm 2 Pet. 21.22 and then wish for their lusts again yea with the Dog return unto the Vomit and with the Sow to wallow in the Mirc Doubtless many like him who had a mind to his Kinsman's land and would have paid the purchase-money but liked not the terms of marrying Ruth They would have Christ buy the purchase of their duties they hope by the Stock of Prayers Tears and Obedience to purchase Christ but will not match with Christ and have the Inheritance by that way of conveyance That man liked Ruth's means but not Ruth's person and many like somewhat of Christ but not his Person not all of Christ they like Christ's pleasant Summers but not his pinching Winters love and like his Heaven but not his severe Commandements they like his Sacrifice but not his Service Many Pedling Customers Christ hath but few very few who will come roundly up to Christs offers and take all off his hands They would take off his Mercy his Peace his Righteousness but not his Spirit his Grace his Holiness c. What saith Christ If you will have my Comforts you must have Me too if my Pardons my Person too you must take Me as well as Mine you must have Me as well as my Heaven This makes many go away sorrowfull Again If you will have me saith Christ you must be at some cost at some pains and trouble to enjoy me nothing of Me or Mine is got without difficulty and industry your cold Prayers must not suffice your lazy hearings are not enough you must watch your hearts all the day long you must make a Covenant with your eyes and keep your lips as with a bridle Are ye so contented Oh! no saith the slothfull Professour I would go to Heaven on a Feather-bed I would be contented to Pray now and then Morning and Evening so I may be at my own dispose all the following hours Hearken O Daughter and consider and encline thine ear Psal 45.10 11. forget also thine own people and thy Fathers house So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord and worship thou him Three All 's I expect you part with saith Christ 1. All your sinfull lusts all the wayes of the old Adam Our Fathers house Ever since Adams apostasy God and man have parted houses Ever since our Fathers house is an house of ill manners Isa 55.7 an house of sin and wickedness Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon 2. All your worldly advantages By faith Moses when he was come to years Hebr. 11.24 25 26. refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward If any man come to me Luk. 14.26 and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple He that hath all these must be ready to part with all they are joyn'd not disjunctively but copulatively 3. All self self-will self-righteousness self-sufficiencies self-confidences and self-seâ—sings But Oh! how do many pretenders to Christ hate these Proposals I can tell you what many of your tearms are I will have a Christ if I may live as I list and love as I list and walk as I list I le indent with Christ to make much of him when my Conscience gnaws and troubles me so I may but dismiss him when I have sung Lullaby to Conscience CHAP. VI. Their delays to close with Christ 4ly Many delayers to believe HOw many do delay in their coming to Christ And O! what indignities are herein put upon Christ How long doth he stand at the dores of sinners ere they let him in Cant. 5.2 Hebr. 3.7 Jam. 4.14 Mark 16.16 2 Cor. 6.2 Gen. 6.3 My head saith Christ is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night Though he limit linners to a day To day if ye will hear his voice c. Though our life be even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away ready every moment to expire though we must needs perish and be damned if we believe not in him before we dye He that believeth not shall be damned though now is the accepted time though the Spirit may never invite more My spirit shall not alwayes strive with man though we are not sure of one day of grace more yet how do many hazard their eternity rather than they will be yet beholding to Christ for Life and Salvation Though they may have his Righteousness his Redemption his Spirit his Image his Heaven his Glory his Love his Honours his Inheritance by coming to him yet what trifling delays are mens hearts filled with Though they are actually condemned by the Law for their Capital Offences for high Treason against the Majesty of Heaven and pardons be offered freely by Jesus Christ unto them if they will but accept of him and them yet so is Christ fall'n in the accompt of them who yet are nominal Christians that they will hazard their Souls rather than they will yet be so much beholding to Christ This desperate enmity against Christ and his offers is the condemning sin This is the condemnation Joh. 3.19 that light is come into the world and men loved Darkness rather than Light because their deeds were evil All other sins are nothing to this what when God hath limited thee to A day wilt thou darest thou carelesly mispend that one day when thou art not sure of another Believe it your trifling delays are more hideous sins do more stain your souls and provoke God than drunkenness and unnatural lusts in such as never had one of your Calls How darest thou having so many wayes transgressed against this God having provoked him to wrath by so frequent breaches of his Holy Law to add to all these iniquities thy trifling delays of coming into Christ that thou maist be pardoned How durst thou when lying under the wrath of a justly incensed God send away Christ as Faeliâ— did Paul with Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee when wretch is that convenient season Is it then when thou hast served the Devil some weeks months or years longer When thou hast spent all the flowre of thy time and strength in the service of Hell Must Then Christ have the dregs of thy time Must he
the chiefest among ten thousand his head is as the most fine gold his locks are bushy black as a Raven his eyes are as the eyes of Doves by the Rivers of waters washed with milk and fitly set his cheeks are as a bed of spices as sweet flowers his lipps like Lillies dropping sweet smelling myrrhe his hands are like gold Rings set with the Berill his belly is as bright Ivory overlaid with Saphires his legs are as Pillars of Marble set upon sockets of sine gold his countenance is as Lebanon excellent as the Cedars his mouth is most sweet yea he is altogether lovely This is my Beloved c. I 'le praise thee with uprightness Psal 119.7 164. Septies i. e. Saepissime Psal 148. I 'le praise thee seven times a day Yea David thought seven times a day too little and therefore he call'd in all the Creatures of Heaven and Earth Air and Sea to praise God the Dragons in the deep must not be silent True Lovers praise God as much as they can they exalt God to the utmost of their power and then from a sense that God is above all their praise they would have every thing that hath breath to praise the Lord yea and inanimates too for to joyn in the Quire Doth Praise wait for God 11. Did you love God Not loving all of God and Christ Jo. 13.34 35. 1 Jo. 4.19 you would love every thing of God Do you love his Omnipresence his Justice his Holiness True love to Christ sticks not barely in the Person of Christ but reacheth to all that have an Union with him Do we love Christ mystical as well as personal Are we of Catholick Spirits The Apostle is peremptory and brandeth them all as Liars that pretend to love God and Christ and do not love Saints 12. Not thirsting after nearer Communion True Lovers of God thirst after nearer Commuion with God My Soul followeth hard after thee The Soul still encroacheth upon God Let me see thy Glory saith Moses though he saw more than Mortals were commonly permitted to behold yet Semper avarus eget Much would have more Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God A true Lover of God is under an holy impatience till he ceaseth to see darkly in a glass He would fain see with open face O! saith such a Soul the distance between Christ and me is too great O! I cannot but groan earnestly when I consider I am absent from the Lord whilst present in the body Lord saith Austin I will dye that I may enjoy thee I will not live but I will dye I desire to dye that I may see Christ and refuse to live that I may live with Christ The broken Rings Contracts and Espousals content not the true Lover but he longs for the Marriage day Here are Clouds that oft pass 'twixt God and my Soul O that I were above them Here if I see and enjoy the fear of losing so sweet a sight abates the comfort of fruition but then welcome an eternal day that shall never have a night 13. Being weary of his Commands If you loved God his Commandements would not be grievous to you Love cannot be easily poised Love hath a kind of Almightiness in it so that heavy burdens are made light 1 Jo. 5.3 and almost impossible things become feasible But of how many things do we say Mal. 1.13 What a weariness is it How are you haled by Governours by Conscience and by the terrours of the Law unto Duties How like Slaves chain'd to Gallies you must work though sore against your wills Did you love God you would count nothing tedious Hebr. 12.1 save dulness in his service Sin would only be the Weight O the burden of Formality Pride c But O the pleasures of the wayes of God! His yoak is easie his burden light 14. Did you love God Not fearing how it goes with Gods affairs 1 Sam. 4.13 you would be jealous lest it should goe ill with Gods affairs The loving Mother trembleth lest the Child should suffer when she is off from it But alas how few Elies are there whose hearts tremble beause of the Ark Do you really fear lest Formality should eat out the Power of Godliness lest Traditions should make void the Commandements of God lest your Trades should spoyl your Communion with God You may easily imagine Considerations tending to humble us for want of Love to God the want of Love to God must needs be a great Provocation O to pretend love and yet Judas-like betray Christ with a kisse to say Hail Master and yet preferr a base Lust before him What an indignity is it to the Husband that the Wife loves the Slave before him The World should be your Slave but it hath got the heart the bosome and Christ must stand without doors till his locks are wet Cant. 5. O that God should stoop so low as to love you as to make you the birth of his everlasting counsels of love that he should carry you long in the womb of his eternal purpose This goodly Fabrick of Heaven and Earth had not been erected but as a Stage whereon he would shew his love to you And did he not in the fulness of time purchase you by the blood of his First-born yea of his only begotten Son and for this very end that he might gain your love as well as reveal his own love And yet that your love should not be like an Eccho which returneth what it receiveth Sure you should cast back Gods beams of love upon himself This is all he expects My Son give me thine heart All the command he layes upon you Mat. 22 36 37. is in one word To Love him God might have commanded our Children to be sacrificed to pass through the Fire O! what a favour is it to love the Lord That God will honour us so farr as to suffer us to love him And yet we love any thing any sordid base Lust rather than God We would count it a favour if a Prince would give us a privy Key to come to him when we please Here is more honour we may have recourse to the bosom of God when we will God would have us to love him with all the heart with all the soul The Lord would not lose one grain of our love O that we should deny him that which he with reverence be it spoken and thought on is so fond of Deut. 10.12 And now Israel what doth the Lord require of thee but to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soul God requires not now Cattle upon a thousand Hills or Rivers of Oyle Only Love me Love me Love me heartily constantly chiefly and yet we deny him our
fear and flattery have soon faced about How will some cry up such and such for most eminent in grace Persons Others and O how doe they love them when all the while self-love acts them and if they gain not by them they will surely have an howbeit to blot them They are as the foreman to praise the rich from whom they hope to squeeze some of their gold but bring up the rear are the last to commend them from whom they expect nothing of advantage by their glavering tongue How much Hypocrisie hath appeared in our declaimings against others sins O! we must not suffer this the House of God must be kept clean it must not be made a Den of Thieves an Hog-sty and cage of uncleanness and all this while their zeal is nothing but revenge a secret grudge there is against the Delinquent and now that an advantage offereth they will have their penny-worth out of him How many are alwayes finding faults Themselves blaming Magistrates Ministers all but themselves This man wants courage and another wants another grace whilst they themselves want all grace as being meer pieces of pageantry How many whining Hypocrites have we that will in all companies especially where Ministers are be crying out against the baseness and treachery of their own hearts and the wickedness of their own lives and rest in their lazy complaints but reform not How severe are some in their censures of sin in others Censuring as Judah against Thamar she must be burnt who will now suspect Judah to be unclean Mat. 7.3 How ready have we been to judge and censure others rather than our selves To behold a mote in others but not the beam in our selves How many censure Ministers for too seldome preaching in private and yet are themselves Sermon-glutted as yet they have not got a stomach so great was their surfeit with the former plenty yea when they have Sermons neglect them or if they attend with their Bodies on them yet have no fellowship with Christ in them We are just like Consumption people apt to be angry and fret if we have not our wonted meals and the Cooks are blamed for negligence and when the meat is brought before us we are even weary of the smell of it How many censure others for being to talk ative Acting better abroad than at home in publick than in seeret ditties and therefore would impose silence upon others because they have neither heart nor tongue to vindicate God and to promote Religion How many are full of perswasions of the love of God and of the grace of God and yet ignorant of the first Principles of Christianity neglecters of Family-Prayer or Closet-Duties They think well of themselves because in their Duties before men they are devout and zealous and carried forth to the wasting of much time but in their Closets they are straightned and put the Lord off with a short Collect. How many like your City Maids goe in their best are neat cleanly and in gorgeous apparel when walking in the views of others but if you follow them home to their houses and chambers how nasty how foul are they How many are there whose Religion lies in their face habit gesture seem demure humble walk with their eyes looking downwards bow with Absolon to the people and yet their hearts full of pride and loftiness How oft even on Fast-dayes have you had sour faces and inwardly light frothy and unserious hearts As an evidence observe when the day ends the Dog returns to his vomit the heart becomes vain or rather the vanity that was smothered and pent up in the day breaks out as soon as the duties are over We can hang down our heads like a bull-rush we can rough cast our faces but it is hardly for a day How hath Hypocrisie followed thee from the corners of the streets to the very closet Seeming to be more in secret duties than they are Thou hast shut thy door as if thou wouldst shut out World and Devils and there hast fall'n asleep or which is as bad hast parlied with the Devil and pampered thy lusts Hypocrisie like the Frogs of Egypt hath crept into thy most secret retirements How few can pretend to Uniformity in their obedience Being not universally obedient Psal 119.6 How many will be ashamed because they respect not all Gods Commandements still they clip the Law still some reserves they will let go profaneness so they may but reserve covetousness they will pray hear c. so they may cheat their Neighbour under a demure behaviour or they will be strict to rules of Justice and equity among men but they will rob God of his honour some of them are punctual to a day to a farthing Blush Reader if thou art short of the Hypocrites stature they will not cheat you with a brasse Shilling but rob God of his due of his due in the Closet and in the Family too How frequently do we hear some desiring to know the least measure of saving Grace Desiring to know the least degree of saving grace and why because they would sit down therewith There is not a surer note of an unsound heart than to be contented with the least degree of grace and not to press forward How generally do men hate to be examined and tried about their state But not to be examined nor to consult with Ministers about their condition much less to follow their directions This is a sure sign of a rotten heart of a painted-Christian paint will not endure the fire Hypocrites hate lancing and piercing work How many continue in a course of Religion and yet their hearts are hardned more and more and they know it and yet will hardly consult with Ministers about their sad condition or if they do yet practise nothing more than before I am confident there are many who make it their business to keep up their reputation among the Saints but have lost and know they have their credit at the throne of grace and though they have their reward the Saints embrace them for Precious yet Christ neglects them and when they spread out their hands all the day long to the Heavens they have no welcome with God Isa 1.11 To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt offerings of the Rams and the fat of fed beasts and I delight not in the bloud of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-goats And when you spread forth your hands v. 15. I will hide mine eyes from you yea when you make many Prayers I will not hear O! Considerations against hypocrifie Isa 48.1 2. What a Controversie hath God with England for its great Hypocrisie We have called our selves of the Holy City and have maede mention of the God of Lrael but not in truth not in righteousness Though you have past for Saints in the account of blind and
Psa 4.4 1 Cor. 11.28 Lam. 3.40 Their omitting the Duty altogether hold intelligence with it Let a man examine himself Let us search and try our wayes But yet notwithstanding these Injunctions 1. How many are there that never set about this Duty They will Pray c. but will not be perswaded to look inward They are as great strangers to their own as to others hearts They are at no pains to try in what state they are They will not try Nor examining their Estates whether they are new-born or not whether sanctified or not whether a saving change hath past upon them or not They will not compare themselves with the Characters which are given by Ministers and Books to see whether they be in the gall of bitterness or not in the bond of iniquity or not They never examine what Justification and justifying and saving Faith be and whether they are justified and shall be saved like Gallio Little caring for these things They examine which way they may be greater in the World how to add to the heap how to load themselves with thick clay how to escape the wrath of man how to prolong their dayes but not how to prepare for Eternity and how to make sure of Heaven You ask one another what news from Navies from Armies from Court from Country but when did you spend one hour to ask your hearts this serious question O my Soul what will become of thee when thou leavest this earthly Tabernacle We travel any where but where we should We are better read in any Book than in the sealed Book of our own hearts We are not at all for a personal treaty with our own Consciences We are too much prying into other mens hearts but our eyes turn not inward We know not how it is with our Souls and what will become of them and we have no mind to know such matters As we commune not with our hearts about our States Nor Actions so we do not commune with them about our Actions neither before nor after the doing of them Before we act we do not advise with our Consciences whether what we be about to do be lawful or unlawful and if lawful whether expedient or inexpedient After we have acted whether our actions be good or evil How many are contented so the matter be good but examine not themselves about the manner principles ends and motives Though the Children of Israel knew by the Word of the Lord and from Abraham their Father that Canaan was a Land flowing with milk and honey yet they sent Spies and searched it and thereby were confirmed If men had never so much confidence of the goodness of their Prayers c. yet for Confirmation-sake they should send down Spies into their hearts to see the Clusters of their Zeal and Affections the utmost of the goodness of them But alas how many wholly neglect this necessary and possible Duty If all were like these God might take up his old complaint No man cryed out Jerem. 8.6 What have I done Or O my heart What hath God done for thee 2. The backwardness of the best hereunto How backward are a more refined sort of Professours to a compliance with this Duty How oft have your Ministers invited you beseeched you to hold intelligence with your own hearts and yet cannot prevail How backward are the best to keep a strict eye upon their little house within to see what is done within those doors We are apter to study others lives yea hearts than our own If the best knew how much work lies within doors they would not be so much abroad as they are 3. If we do examine our hearts Not making use of the Word as the Rule yet not by the Word of the Lord. God would have us to try and prove our selves then there must be some measuring Line some Standard some Rule to try our selves by but herein we are hugely defective We try our selves by some sudden pangs or by the good opinion of others concerning us or by the lives of others we being in an Hospital where every one almost is lame and defective or by some other easie Rule that we our selves frame unto our selves and so miserably cheat our selves O! how loth are we that the light of Gods Word should be let down into the dark Cells of our hearts for want whereof there is much dust unobserved and not swept away How loth to try states or actions by the Scripture though thereby they must be tryed at the last day He is a good Text-man that compares Scripture with Scripture and he is a good Christian that compares the Scripture and his own heart together that credits his own heart only when it hath the consent of the Prophets and Apostles making them Umpires in the decision of all his Soul-controversies Have recourse to the Light that shines in a dark place 2 Pet. 1.19 But alas Who obeys this form of wholesome words 4. Being superficial therein How overly and superficial are many in the examining themselves by the Word How few do examine their State or their Actions fully Though our hearts be very great Impostours Jer. 17.9 deceitful above all things great Supplanters full of guile though there be thousands and thousands of Lusts that lye hid in our hearts and Deceits like the Sands on the Sea-shore yet how carelesly do we set upon this work We take no pains in it 5. Being too seldome in it How seldome are we in this work Some deferr it till a Sacrament and then perhaps the house is searched for the leaven whereas we should keep a petty Sessions in our hearts every day and do what we can to know the bottom of the projects devices workings of our heats When going to Prayer we should examine our selves whether we have clean hands and pure hearts whether we are double-minded James 4.8 if so there is no drawing nigh to God And when we come off from the Duty we should conferr with our hearts what enlargements quicknings meltings humblings we had in the Duty what promises what threats were applyed by the Spirit whether we saw the face of our Beloved or not When going to a Sermon we should examine in what posture we are to meet with God what Oyl we want that we may be supplyed When going to our Beds we should examine our hearts how the day hath been spent what sins were committed what Duties and how discharged what temptations were resisted what mercies received and what growth and increase of grace we have obtained When going to Visit this Duty should be taken up before and after Before thus Wherein may I honour the Lord my God in such company what are their wants that I may endeavour to supply them what are their temptations and discouragements that I may labour to support them what are their graces and best attainments that I may profit by them After thus O my
in thy gold or in a golden calf thou art guilty of Idolatry Col. 3.5 of having other Gods besides the true God and so dost as highly offend the true God and God usually gives up such men unto spiritual judgements Rom. 1.21.24 It makes me fear you have not tasted of the upper springs because the puddle of the World is still sweet to your taste Luke 5.39 No man saith Christ having drunk old wine straightway desireth new for he saith the old is better If you had tasted of the joy peace mercy and comforts of Christ your earthly comforts would be disrelished Gal. 6.14 If you did glory in the Cross of Christ the World would be crucified to you and you unto the World The sweetness of Christ would drown all Creature-sweetness But alass Psa 84.10 To which of us is one day in Gods Courts better than a thousand else-where Austin said If one drop of the joyes of Heaven might fall into Hell it would drown all the bitterness of Hell So would it drown all bitterness in the Soul and all the sweetness in the World Worldly comforts would be too course too slat too low to recreate your hearts Did ye but know the honey and milk of Canaan ye would not so much mind the Onyons of Egypt Mat. 6.24 No man can serve two Masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will cleave to the one and despise the other ye cannot serve God and Mammon O! What a surpassing indignity is this to Christ Si terram amas terraâ—es Aug. to set him below the foot-stool to value thirty Pieces of Silver before him to preferr Earth before Heaven present things before future that the love of God the recompence of reward shall not lye nearer the heart than the treasures of Egypt O! What a miserable life dost thou live This Sin brings an Hell with it thou art the Devil's Martyr 1 Tim. â— 9 They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and burtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition Thou enjoyest neither God nor the World Thy only happiness is a fancy And this is thy great misery that thou still desirest that which will never satisfie thy desires The more thou hast of the World the more thou wantest the more thou drinkest the more thou thirstest a Dropser is upon thee Semper avarus eget Hor. Hebr. 13.5 Prov. 23 5. ch 8.21 Eccles 5.1 and thou knowest it not Discontent is alwayes the Companion of Covetousness Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have Why wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Grace and Godliness is substance Why with Esop's Dogg wilt thou let goe the substance for a shadow The things of the World are fancies the things of God realities What good is there to the Owners of riches saving the beholding them with their eyes Do not you all this while bear false witness against God Do not you proclaim to the World that God is not enough to answer to fill your desires and that therefore you goe out after the Creature Is it nothing to you to call God who is all-sufficient who is a fountain of living Water a barren Wilderness Be astonished O ye Heavens at this and be horribly afraid Jer. 2.12 13 31. be ye very desolate saith the Lord for my people have committed two evills's they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisternes broken cisternes that can hold no water O Generation see ye the Word of the Lord Have I been a Wilderness unto Israel a Land of Darkness Wherefore say my people We are Lords we will come no more unto thee Hereby you break the conjugal Relation God looks on you as Adulterers and Adulteresses James 4.4 Prov. 5.19 and will judge you accordingly God expects that his breasts should satisfie you and that you be alwayes ravished with his love and dare you tell the World that your God hath deceived you and that you were mistaken in your choice of God and therefore after other Lovers you will goe No wonder that for the iniquity of our covetousness Isa 57.17 God be wroth and smite us We are greedy of more but what have we done with our former talents Account we must for one Mat. 25.5 for two for ten talents the more we have the greater still will be our account There is a reckoning day at hand O that our moderation were known to all men Phil. 4.5 because the Lord is at hand If thou art not sincere I am as sure as this Book is in thy hand thou wilt curse the time that ever thou hadst an Estate and wilt wish thou hadst been a Beggar for then thou hadst not so much to answer for before God It is certain though some doubt it that thou shalt carry none of thy estate away with thee 1 Tim. 6.7 nothing is to be carried away save guilt to Hell in case of mis-improvement of an Estate yea if you have not rendred unto God according to what you have received 2 Chron. 32.25 the heaping up of wealth is but the charging of thy account thou must account how thou hast disbursed to a farthing I will suppose thou hast by neglects of thy general Calling and by rising up early and sitting up late gained an Estate thou mayest put all thy gain in thine eyes and never see the worse What will thy Estate advantage thee when the Arrows of the Lord enter into thy Soul What will the World advantage thee when the Gout Feaver burning Pestilence c. are upon thee What hast thou got only that which may stand with Gods eternal hatred Never count thy gains till thou hast got that which is inconsistent with Gods wrath What hast thou got above that which God throweth unto the Doggs Shew me Childrens bread or never boast of thy gains Did you ever find any Child of God worse for afflictions but have you not found many worse for their thrivings in the World Jeshurun waxed fat Deut. 32.15 and kicked Whilst you have Bonds and Bills upon others do not you run into arrears unto God And how will you discharge those Suits which God will commence against you When you lye a dying will ye not wish that your time your strength your spirits had been powred forth upon better things than those of this life That you had traded for Grace and Glory rather than for the Gold of Ophir for a little gilt Clay O ye great Projectours for the World I do even fore-see the troubles and horrours the doubts and fears the anguish and amazements of your Souls which your unâ—â—â—â—â—â—ties as to your future estate will put 〈…〉 into in your dying Rooms How 〈…〉 take up such language as this Fool that I was to cumber my self about many things
the merciful Dispensations of God to them 1 Sam. 15.17 18 19. And Samuel said When thou wast little in thine own sight wast not thou made the Head of the Tribes of Israel and the Lord annointed thee King over Israel and the Lord seat thee on a journey and said Goe and utterly destroy the Sinners c. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord And Nathan said to David c. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. I annointed thee King over Israel and delivered thee out of the hand of Saul And I gave thee thy Masters House and thy Masters Wives into thy bosome and gave thee the House of Israel and of Judah and if that had been too little I would morcover have given unto thee such and such things Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandement of the Lord to do evil in his sight And hath there not been as much disingenuity and unkindness in our Sins The Lord hath given his Statutes to us and his Laws He hath not so dealt with all the Nations under Heaven He hath nourished and brought us up as Children Isa 1.2 3 4. but we have rebelled against him The Oxe knoweth his Owner and the Asse his Masters Crib but Israel doth not know my People my People doth not cousider Ah sinful Nation a People laden with iniquity c. God fetcheth a deep sigh Ah! under the burden of this Ingratitude His Spirit is laden and troubled with it They have provoked the Holy One of Israel Mis-improvements of Mercies are very provoking When God comes for Bread to be sent away with Stones must need vex the good Spirit of the Lord. Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken it Oh for Professours to be worse than Publicans for they will be kind to such as are kind to them Have not we sinn'd against God even with his favours and requited him evil for good May not the Lord say unto us Deut. 32.6 Do ye thus require the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee All the mercies we have received greaten our sins The more richly that God hath heaped his Blessngs upon us the more wantonly we have followed the swinge of our own Lusts and the more contemptuously spurned at his holy Commandements We have great cause to be ashamed for that all our sins have been 〈◊〉 gainst mercy and therefore against the Principle and Law of Nature It is a perpetual Spot not to be worn out by time that of King Jeash that he slew Zechariah the Son of Jehojada the High Priest who had been loyal unto him in the getting of the Kingdom and faithful in the administration of it ◠Chron. 24.22 23. Thus Joash the King remembred not the kindness which Jehojada his Father had done to him but slew his Son and when he dyed he said the Lord look upon it and requite it And it came to pass at the end of the year that the Host of Syria came up against him and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the Princes of the people from among the people But alas What Engagements could Zechariah possibly lay on Joash that may weigh with the Mercies of our God to us And yet how have we made his choicest Favours as Arrows to shoot at the God that sent them What wretched Prodigals have we been to wast all in the service of Hell which were conferr'd with so open an hand to draw forth our time strength and spirits in the praises and services of God For this our Ingratitude Ezra 9.13 14. the Lord may justly be angry with us till he hath consumed us so that there shall be no remnant nor escaping O that you would remember the Lord from Shittim to Gilgal Mica 6.5 i. e. from the beginning of Mercy to the end of it And you will hardly find that you any of you have been the better for it but many Jeshurun-like have waxed fat and kicked God is this day calling out of Heaven to England and to each particular person in it Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise I could even wish for the thousands of our Israel that they had received fewer Privileges or had had the grace to serve the Lord in the abundance of all things better than they have to this very day If ever you purpose sound Repentance then take a view of all the Mercies of God towards you Goe back to the time when the first stone was laid yea goe back to the eternal projects of God to make thee out of nothing and to redeem thee when worse than nothing Review the upper and lower Springs with which Soul and Body have been refreshed Remember how many eminent Deliverances and Salvations God hath wrought for thee And if at any time thou hast been straitned in outward comforts yet remember how thou hast been enlarged with spiritual graces if God hath denyed thee in one kind of mercy he hath supplyed it by a gracious wonderfull commutation in another in a better if thou hast been denyed the fleshpots of Egypt and the land flowing with honey yet it hath been all made up in the bread the Mannah that fell from Heaven if thou hast had sometimes bodily infirmities yet thou hast been strengthned with all might in the inward man if thou hast been denyed thee the gold of the earth yet God hath supplyed thee in making thee rich in faith If sometimes Friends have been unfriendly inconstant or treacherous yet God hath stood by thee when all left thee God hath dealt with you as with Sons your gleanings are better than the Vintage of the world Having laid these and innumerable such mercies in one Scale now lay in the other Scale thy soul ingratitude not only that particular sin of unthankfulness that thou hast been guilty of of which before but the ingratitude that hath been in all thy sins in thy pride hypocrisie formality self-love self-seeking impatience neglect of duty to Superiours Equals and Inferiours profaneness intemperance unrighteousness c. that Remembring the Lord and his goodness towards thee together with thy cursed returns thou may'st yet abhor thy self in dust and ashes Take words and say My Salvations are more than I can number Blessed be God the Father of all mercy But my sins also are innumerable I cannot recount them shame upon me O! how vile have I made my self whilst by abuse of rich mercy Mat. 5.47 Isa 1.3 I have lived below the ingenuity that is found in Publicans and Beasts O that God would give me the success that the Angel had on such a sinfull people as you are Judg. 2.1 2 3 4. And the Angel of the Lord come up from Gilgal to Bochim and said I made you to go up out of Egypt and have brought you into the land which I swear unto your
Fathers and I said I will never break my covenant with you and ye shall make no league with the Inhabitants of this land c. but ye have not obeyed my voice why have ye done this c. And it came to pass when the Angel of the Lord spake these words to all the Children of Israel that the people lift up their voice and wept Secondly Very scandalously The scandalousness of your miscarriages is another aggravation of them Had all the forementioned abominations been committed in Defarts and Holes of the earth where none had been privy to your irregularities you had had no sin in comparison of what you now stand justly charged with If you had been only rotten hearted that would not have been under the eye and censure of the World Religion would have had no blemish no loss no considerable loss thereby But men have looked to your hands and feet whilst God to your hearts and finding so many defilements on you hereby the Name of God hath been blasphemed God is spoken evil of whilst you have done evil before men You knew the world was an observing world greedy to espy all the Errata's of your lives you knew spots in Cambrick would sooner be marked than in course cloth you knew how apt the world was to condemn all Saints for the miscarriages of a few pretenders to Christianity you knew how the world lay in wait like the Arabian for his prey waiting for somewhat to calumniate Christ and his followers with you knew the tongues that are set on fire of Hell would belch out their emnity upon the sight of your sins you knew how apt they were to be prejudiced against you and as the people in Elies dayes from the miscarriages of them that pretended to draw near to God would by your occasion abhorre the Offerings of the Lord. 1 Sam. 2.17 1 Pet. 3.16 2 Sam. 12.14 2 Tim. 2.26 You should have walked with such a good Conscience that whereas the world would speak against you as evil-doers they might be ashamed But insteed of this you have opened the mouth of Blasphemy you have gratified the Devil exceedingly were he capable of joy you have furthered it by being contented to be winnowed by him and to be led captive at his will The scandals of men reputed for holiness have been his greatest Harvests his greatest advantages He hopes by the falls of Cedars to break down and crush the Shrubs and tender plants that grow nigh God alone knows what mischief you have done to Religion already and where the mischief will end Jeroboam made Israel to sin many years after his death Whereas ye should have left a precious Name behind you holy exact copies of Righteousness for succeeding generations to write after you have laid the stumbling block of your iniquitie before the faces of hundreds and thousands to cause them to fall Give over wondring that for these last ten years the Gospel hath had a a miscarrying Womb and dry Breasts know you have like the Serpent the Dragon stood as in the place of bearing you have hindred the Birth or devoured the Child as soon as Born you have been of the old generation of Gods Curse you would not to Heaven your selves Luke 11.52 and hindred others that would if you had not laid your offences in their way Perhaps some of you may think to relieve your selves that you know none are taken in these Gins and Traps you will know shortly that he that tempteth to evil commits an hainous sin though his temptation prove not effectual God will not reward men altogether by the event of scandals but by the tendency of Scandal in its own nature Others not sinning after your example will not excuse and lessen your faults which were so apt to lead them into sin Matth. 18.17 Wo saith Christ to him by whom the offence comes Wo to them that take offence but greater wo to them that give it If God threatned Eli to take him up by the roots for not punishing Scandals in his Sons 1 Sam. 3.13 because his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not What dreadfull judgements are we exposed to who are the offence-givers Wonder not if having caused many to stumble at the Law that God will make us contemptible and base before all the people Ye are departed out of the way Mal. 2.8 9. ye have caused many to stumble at the Law ye have corrupted the Covenant of Levi saith the Lord of Hosts therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people How oft have we been as unsavoury Salt Mat. 5.13 and is it any wonder if we be cast out and thrown to the Dunghill O that you would remember David take him into your Closet with you he was scandalous in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba it is true he repented in dust and ashes he abhorred himself made his bed to swim the sin was pardoned the guilt thereof removed a solemn absolution was sent him by a Prophet and yet how did God follow him with misery upon misery He might in the death of the Child in the defilement of his Daughter in the murder of Ammon and in the treason of Absolon in his weeping and going barefoot in his Concubines being defiled and his own Crown and Life jeoparded in all these things he might see the woful fruits of Scandal 2 Sam. 12.9 10 11 12 13 14. Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandement of the Lord to do evil in his sight Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the Sword and hast taken his Wife to be thy Wife and hast slain him with the Sword of the Children of Ammon Now therefore the Sword shall never depart from thine House c. Behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own House and I will take thy Wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy Neighbour and he shall lye with thy Wives in the sight of the Sun For thou didst it secretly but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Sun And David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David The Lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not dye Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the Child also that is born unto thee shall surely dye If David repenting of his Scandals be thus punished what will become of you who have made Religion to be abhorred and yet are insensible unbroken and unhumbled to this very day Well may unrepented of Scandals lye in your bones many dayes hence Psal 51.8 Psal 38.8 seeing David's did yea he roared because of his sin Well may you goe drooping to your graves being bereft of all joy and comfortable looks from Heaven whilst repenting David lost so long the joy of Gods salvation Psal 51.12 What shall I say O all ye