thousands hundred thousands Who can express the horror of his execution the terrors and consternations of them that did escape the various complications of anguish and misery torments and deaths of them that fell in the execution How did the city become solitary that was full of people she sate as a widow her children forsook her her friends fled away from her her streets were desolate her houses were full of the noisome carcases of the slain O that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people And now again behold another interchange the goodness as well as the severity of God towards them that fell severity towards us goodness if we continue in his goodness He hath mingled mercy with his judgements he puts the experiment to the utmost to try if yet we will repent He hath not suffer'd us to fall into the hands of man not given us over into the hands of our insolent and barbarous enemies He hath given victory to the King he hath wonderfully preserved the person of his Royal Highness he hath kept our Ships and Navies from destruction In a marvailous way of mercy he hath sheltered our most gracious Soveraign and his Royal Relations and his whole Train and Family Those noble and eminent persons both of Church and State who to make themselves a stay and comfort to the poor and infected of the City cheerfully and constantly exposed themselves to danger he hath deliver'd from the snare of the hunter and from the noisome pestilence He hath given plenty And lastly he hath caused the destroying Angel to sheath his sword and stay his hand And we are met together a preserved remnant of men that have not been killed by these plagues What shall we render O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men Let 〈◊〉 repent therefore and turn from our evil ways let us do no more foolishly lest a worse thing come unto us We have seen the danger of Impenitency after so many Motives to Repentance Behold now wisdom cryes unto us and utters her voice in this great and noble Congregation How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and ye scorners delight in scorning Turn ye turn ye at my reproof for why will ye dye ye house of Israel Never let it be said of us which is here spoken of the persons of the Text that the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands FINIS A SERMON AGAINST Ingratitude Preached at WHITE-HALL Soon after the great Plague By SETH then Lord Bishop of EXON LONDON Printed by E. T. and R. H. for James Collins at the Kings-arms within Ludgate near S. Pauls 1672. Note that the Sermon against Ingratitude ought to have been placed before that of Repentance A SERMON AGAINST Ingratitude DEUT. 32. 6. Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise THese words are part of a Song made by Moses and both the song it self and these particular words are so very considerable that I should think it a disrespect put upon the judgments of a venerable intelligent auditory to be very laborious in gathering arguments to perswade your attention to them the matter the antiquity the penman do all render it considerable For as for the subject matter of the song it contain in it as the Hebrew writers have observed a summary of the law or pentateuch of Moses Consider it as a piece of Antiquity there is hardly any poem so venerable it was written before Homer or Hesiod Orphens or Linus David's or Asaph's poems and except a piece of the same hand it is the most antient song that is extant in the world It was penn'd by one of the most considerable persons look upon him humanely and he was very remarkable for his abstruse learning He was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians for his military conduct for his policy in administration of Government for his felicity in giving a law so suitable to the genius of the people that after so many thousand years it alone of all antient laws continues in veneration to this day But if we look upon him in reference to God there was none like unto him he conversed with God face to face he was admitted to his secrets he was entrusted with the administration of his powers in signs and wonders in the sight of Egypt and of Israel It was inspired and dictated not by the Muses or Apollo but by God himself Write thee this song and he wrote this song the same day whilest he was yet Deo plenus before the divine afflatus before his transport and rage had left him and therefore although he was the meekest and most modest man upon the earth although he resolutely declined his Embassy till God was angry because he was not eloquent but of a stammering speech yet now being conscious of that Spirit which moved within him he commends and justifies this song he undertakes for the fluency and smoothness and the exuberance of it he summons the tribes to record the expressions of his rage he calls upon heaven and earth to hear the verses made by indignation by indignation kindled and conceived by the contemplation of the greatness and excellency of God and his goodness in his dealings with this people of Israel and of the unworthiness of their return Give ear O Heavens saith he and I will speak and hearken O earth to the words of my mouth my doctrine shall drop as the rain c. The song indeed it self is large and very satyrical but the great argument or burthen of it is in the words of my text Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise The words are as I said the burthen or argument of the song applicable to every part of it repetible at the end of every stanza and indeed of every period God is a rock his work is perfect his ways are judgment They have corrupted themselves they are spotted perverse and crooked Do ye thus requite the Lord But more particularly God hath been good to Israel he raised him from nothing he redeemed him from bondage he was his Protector his Guide his Proveditore his food was of the most delicious his drink was generous of the pure blood of the grape and he grew fat upon it But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked Do ye thus requite O popule ingrate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again well but will God endure this base ingratitude doth he not see it or not resent it doth it not move him can he not will he not revenge himself upon them Yes the Lord saw it and was moved to Jealousie a fire was kindled in his anger Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise
purer eyes than to behold iniquity that he will wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goes on still in his wickedness If a man will not turn he will whet his sword and bend his bow If a Nation will not repent then smite with thy hand stamp with thy foot and say alas for it shall fall by the sword by the famine and by the pestilence Now the general inference of all these is still the same this is still the Logick of the Scriptures Our God shall come and shall not keep silence wherefore consider this ye that forget God We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade To this end we find the Lord sometimes disputing logically to convince and sometimes with divine and noble Oratory endeavouring to perswade sometimes by signal instances of pardoning mercies and of avenging judgements to induce men to repentance He speaks to their reason to their affections to their very senses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord if ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land if ye rebel ye shall be devoured Are not my ways equal are not your ways unequal Again He expostulates with them sometimes upon the principles of ingenuity Thus saith the Lord What iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone away from me O my people what have I done unto thee wherein have I wearyed thee Testifie against me O Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee Sometimes he expostulates upon the point of interest How long shall vain thoughts lodge in your hearts How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity what will ye do in the end thereof Again he sets before us a multitude of glorious instances to shew that never any penitent was rejected however heinous however numerous were their sins The prodigal devoured his substance with harlots Mary Magdalen had seven Devils Peter denyed his Master with horrid oaths and imprecations Saul was exceedingly mad against him yet upon their repentance were accepted He had delivered Israel seven times and they forsook him and he said he would deliver them no more but they repented and his soul was straight-way grieved and he delivered them Instead of many consider that one instance of Manasses the evil son of good King Hezekiah He set up altars for Baalim and worshipp'd all the host of heaven Altars in the court of the temple an idol in the very temple he caused his sons to pass through the fire he observed times used inchantments dealt with familiar spirits and with wizards made Judah and Jerusalem to do worse than the heathen And the Lord spake to him and he would not hear After all this in his afflictions he humbled himself and then God was intreated and heard his supplication His ways are not as our ways He forgave Nineveh and Jonah was displeased exceedingly he taxes him with easiness in relenting he charges him as if he had an ancient known infirmity of flexibility to his veracity and the honour of his Prophets Lord saith he was not this my saying and therefore I prevented it to flee to Tarshish for I knew that thou art merciful therefore take I beseech thee my life from me His thoughts are not as our thoughts when Nathan had told David a story of a poor man who had his ewe Lamb ravished from him then David was exceeding wroth and he swore As the Lord liveth the man that hath done this thing shall surely dye But when David who had taken Bathsheba and murthered Vriah said I have sinned Nathan said unto David The Lord hath put away thy sin thou shalt not dye On the other side we have instances of horrible judgements for Impenitency whereof I shall after take occasion to speak Now considering all these things is it not strange that men should not repent That no consideration of ingenuity or of interest should move them to it That neither the Law written in their hearts nor that which was delivered by the mediation of Angels nor the Gospel given us by the Son of God should bring them to it That neither reason nor experience neither mercies nor judgements neither the sweetness of a good conscience nor the torments of a bad the beauties of vertue nor the deformity of sin the shortness of life nor length of eternity the lightness of things present nor the exceeding weight of those which are to come That neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Trumpets nor things present nor thing to come nor height nor depth nor any other thing should be able to separate men from the love of sin Is it not strange The Apostles the Prophets were astonished at this nay God himself seems to be affected with wonder Hear Oheavens and give ear O earth Be astonished O ye heavens and be horribly afraid they have for saken me This is that wonder considered in it self according to common reason the object of our first observation drawn from the form and manner of the words by way of Epiphonema expressed by the particle yet yet they repented not II. The second Observation was taken from the matter of the words However such impenitency is very strange to common reason considered in the Theory yet it is too frequent in practice and in common experience The rest of the men repented not This is that grand contradiction that fatal paradox of the life of man His very being consists in rationality his acting is contrary to all the reason in the world Man only was created under the Law of Reason man only maintains a constant opposition to the law and reason of his creation He appointed the moon for certain seasons and the sun knoweth his going down The blustring winds the raging storms the unruly Ocean the Lyon the Tiger and the Bear these all pursue the law of their creation these all are obedient unto his word charmed to it by that powerful voice whereby they were created Man only stops his ears and refuses to hear the voice of this Almighty charmer charm he never so wisely so loudly or so variously The general ways and methods of his charming have been already mentioned I am now to lay before you the general success of those methods The success 1. Of his word and his messengers 2. Of his works of 1. Mercy 2. Judgement Single Intermixed 1. For the success or rather the unsuccessfulness of his word for the entertainment or rather the barbarous usage of his messengers how often do we find God and his Prophets Christ and his Apostles complaining and as it were fretting themselves with indignation As for the word sometimes they will not hear it More than seven times Jeremy complains almost in the very same words
be collected It remains that we consider the imprudence of it O foolish people and unwise III. I may not I need not insist long upon this Argument There are as I conceive but these five suppositions which possibly might exempt them from the censure of the text 1. If their God were like the gods of the heathen and did not know their behaviour toward him Or 2. If he were the God of Epicurus and did not resent it Or 3. If they could escape from him Or 4. If they could excuse themselves to him Or 5. If they were able to support themselves against him If none of these were in the case they will stand convicted of horrible imprudence it will then be manifest that they were a foolish people and unwise Of these things briefly 1. Did not God know their behaviour The Psalmist indeed tells of a brutish people which wrought all manner of wickedness and yet they said The Lord shall not see it neither shall the God of Jacob regard it But O ye fools saith he when will ye be wise He that planted the ear shall he not hear He that formed the eye shall not he see He that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth beholding the evil the good For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings He penetrates all things and searches all things If they say per-adventure the darkness shall cover them then shall the night be turned into day the darkness is no darkness with him but the night is as clear as the day 2. But it may be though he knew their behaviour yet he did not concern himself about them it may be he did not much resent their dealings with him Neither if they be righteous is he the better neither if they be wicked is he the worse Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art and thy righteousness may profit the son of man but if thou sinnest what dost thou against him and if thy transgressions be multiplied what dost thou unto him Nay but did not he concern himself for them what meaned then the sounding of his bowels toward them what mean such pathetical exclamations as these O that there were such an heart in them that they would keep my Commandments always that it might be well with them and with their seed for ever Again O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end O that they had hearkened what iniquity have they sound in me Did not he resent it when they made the calf He said Behold I have seen this people and it is a stiff-necked people let me alone that I may blot out their name from under Heaven When they murmured I will come in the midst of them in a moment and consume them at once When they rebelled against Moses Get you up from among them that I may consume them in a moment When they tempted him and questioned his power He heard it and was wroth and greatly abhorred Israel Many a time would he have destroyed them had not Moses stood in the gap to turn aways his anger 3. But possibly for all this there might be some way to escape from him and to conveigh themselves out of the sphere of his activity There have been those who have conceived the God of Israel to be a topical God a God of the mountains only and that the valleys were out of his power and jurisdiction true but because the Syrians said that he was not God of the valleys he delivered them into the hands of Israel who slew a hundred thousand foot-men in one day Nay but Behold the Heaven of Heavens cannot contein the God of Israel he filleth all things Shall they escape for their wickedness Whither can they go then from his Spirit or whither can they flee from his presence If they could ascend into Heaven he is there if they could make their bed in hell behold he is there 4. But though they cannot escape out of his reach possibly they may plead something in excuse of their doings which may mitigate his indignation perhaps they were ignorant that God was concerned ignorant of his will and of his ways they had no instruction they had no warning of their danger But I say unto them Had they no Caveats Take heed saith Moses keep thy soul diligently lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen When thou shalt have eaten and be full then bew are lest thou forget the Lord thy God Had they no memento's How often doth God command them to bind his precepts and his prodigies for a sign and a token and a memorial upon their hands for frontlets between their eyes to write them upon their posts and their gates to teach them their children lest they should forget them Did they not know I call heaven and earth to record this day against you saith Moses that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing Had they no warnings of their danger If thou do forget I denounce this day that thou shalt surely perish and this song was made to testifie against them Had they not heard had they not seen Yes that which had not been heard and seen since the foundation of the world from one side of the heavens to another Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire and live They saw Thundrings and Lightnings Noise Trumpet Mountain smoaking Moses and Aaron Nadab and Abihu the Seventy Elders the Nobles the People saw the Lord and the sight of the glory of God was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel so that they were without excuse 5. And the only remaining consideration is this whether they were able to resist the Lord to support themselves against him or at leastwise to endure the utmost of his indignation What is their hope that they behave themselves proudly that they kick against the Lord or wherein lies their confidence that they rebell against him Who art thou O man that strivest against God Canst thou overturn immensity or circumvent omniscience or grapple with omnipotence The Lord is a man of war great and terrible is his name who can stand before him when he is angry Behold the Nations are as the drop of the bucket and are counted as the small dust of the ballance he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing all Nations are counted to him as Grashoppers nay less than vanity and nothing Where were they when the foundations of the world were laid and a line was stretched upon it Can they command the thunder or furnish out the lightnings or bring to their assistance the stormy
in his actions and if so he deserves either good or evil and if there be deserts there must be rewards and if there be rewards there must be a Judgment So then so sure as thou art an understanding creature so sure there is a Judgment to come Once more Reward is answerable to desert and desert is only in what is free and what is free in man is the ways of his heart wherefore they are to be brought to Judgment and if any then all for no reason can be fancied why some should be brought to Judgment and others not Wherefore if it be sure that God is in Heaven and that Man hath an understanding soul then it is also sure that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment that God shall bring to judgment every secret thing And now how sure and evident are these things more sure and more plain if we will attend than any other truths in the world for there is not any known truth which doth not evict the truth of these things We know a truth because we plainly and evidently understand the composition or division of the notions in a Proposition or the Deduction of a Proposition from some others therefore if we know any truth we presuppose that we have souls which understand the notions of things and if souls which understand these notions then to be sure they are not bodies no combination of fire and air and earth and water no disposirion of insensible atomes can cause the subject to apprehend and judge to reason and discourse and if they be no bodies then they are not subject to corruption It is evident therefore that our souls are understanding and also immortal deserving and capable of future Judgment And as evident it is also that there is a soveraign Power a God that governs and will Judge the Earth This is not a Rhetorical undertaking but a just and measured truth there is not anything in the world from whence these two may not be plainly and evidently evicted viz. a Godhead from the Creature and thine own Immortality from the discovery of a Godhead The world which thou seest had it a beginning or had it not if it had a beginning he is thy God that made it if it had no beginning then there are past as many myriads of years as minutes of time which is infinitely more absurd to grant than to say thou hast as many hands as fingers as many wholes as parts If then at any time we find our selves to doubt of these things it is not because we are the beaux esprits or forts esprits our doubting proceeds from dulness and the want of that strong reason to which we do pretend the things are certain in themselves and evident He is not far from any one of us in whom we live and move and have our being and the Light of nature discovered our Immortality not only to Philosophers but even to the Heathen Poets to him that fung to us that We are also his off-spring So that now thy pretences are all taken off and every imposture of the heart discovered Return then once again into thy bosome and take account of thy apprehensions The day of the Lord is coming and stealing upon thee as a thief in the night the day of Judgment the great and terrible day A day of darkness and of gloominess a day of a whirlwind and a tempest a day of anguish and tribulation Where wilt thou hide thy self O that 's impossible Where shall we go then from his presence shall we call to the Mountains to fall upon us How wilt thou appear O that 's intolerable for our God is a consuming fire What wilt thou do when the day of Judgment comes and this may be the hour this minute thou mayest be smitten and hurried hence to Judgment Thousands have fallen besides us and ten thousands at our right hand and why may not we be next The time of our particular Judgment cannot be far away and why may we not reasonably apprehend the approach of the General Judgment either of this World or at leastwise of this sinful Nation Our Lord Christ indeed tells us that of the day and hour of the final Judgment Knoweth no man Yet he hath given us the signs of his coming The Apostles have left us Characters of the last days the Prophets have declared the manner and apparatus of the coming of the Lord to Judgment We read that when the Disciples admired the stones and the buildings of Herod's Temple at Jerusalem Christ told them That the day was coming when there should not be left one stone upon another upon this the Disciples ask him privately three Questions 1. When shall these things be 2. What shall be the sign of thy second coming And 3. of the end of the World As for the precise moment of these things he denies to tell it them Nay he professes that as he was the Son of Man he did not know it But for the other two he condescends to their curiosity he tells them the signs of his coming and of the end of the World and that they shall be such as these You shall hear saith he Matth 24. of Wars and rumours of Wars Nation rising against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom There shall be Traytors and false Prophets Saying Lo here is Christ Behold a new Messias in the Wilderness Lo there is Christ Behold he is at a Conventicle in the secret Chambers He tells us that iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall wax cold that he shall hardly find faith on the earth as it was in the dayes of Noe they ate they drank till the floud came and swept them all away so shall the coming of the Son of Man be He tells us Luke 21. there shall be Famines and Earthquakes Pestilence and fearful sights great signs from Heaven in the Earth distress of Nations great perplexities the Sea and Waves roaring Mens hearts sailing them for fear looking after those things that are coming upon the Earth Concerning the last dayes St. Paul tells us that there shall be perilous times that on one hand there shall be a sort of men that shall be lovers of themselves Covetous Proud Boasters Ranters and Blasphemers On the other hand there shall be a Race of heady high minded Traytors having a form of godliness creeping into houses leading captive silly women They shall despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities they shall be Separatists from the Church and false pretenders to the Spirit These saith St. Jude are they that separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit St. Peter tells us that in the last times there should be a loose prophane a bold Atheistical Gigantick race of scoffers walking after their own lusts saying Where is this God of Judgment let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it Where is the promise his of coming since the fathers fell asleep 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
not convert them nor six Trumpets awaken them nor six Judgements subdue them nor six preservations allure them to repentance Then John beheld and he saw another mighty angel cloathed with a cloud and he set his left foot upon the earth and his right foot upon the sea and he cryed as when a lyon roareth and he lifted up his hand to heaven and sware by him that liveth for ever That there shall be time no longer APPLICATION I Have now done with the persons in the Text and the observations arising from them Suffer me for a word of Application humbly to pray that ye will come near and consider the things that have been spoken That ye will search the Scriptures and see whether it be as you have heard or no that you will ponder the matter and weigh the concernment of it that ye will not hear it as a song or slightly pass it by Is it nothing unto you O all ye that pass it by I shall not undertake to make a precise Interpretation or Application of this Vision of the seven Angels and seven Trumpets I know the destiny of the bold expositors of the Apocalypse He frustrateth the tokens of the lyars and maketh diviners mad The Vision indeed speaks of Angels and Trumpets Gods Messengers and his loud alarms of plagues and prefervations of a remnant kept alive It tells of extraordinary thunder and lightning of blasting of grass and of trees of the death of hoves and cattel of part of the Sea turned into bloud of mountains of fire cast into the Sea and a third part of the Ships destroyed Of two unusual Stars or Comets of smoke issuing from the bottomless pit it may be groundless fears and jealousies of Locusts which sometimes are said to have no king but in this place to have Abaddon or Apollyon for their King It tells us of men killed by fire and by smoke and by brimstone by gunpowder Yet all these things shall not extoit from me a literal and particular Application of this Vision to our selves I know there are many things which cannot I trust the sad Catastrophe shall not be so applyed However methinks it may be lawful in a general way to quicken my self and all that hear me to examine our selves touching the considerations laid before us in reference both to our personal and our national concernments Is there any one person that hears me this day upon whom God hath not called aloud and often that they would repent with whom he hath not contended sundry ways and in divers manners to turn them from the evil of their ways By powerful instructions and personal experiences by signal mercies and wonderful deliverances by checks of conscience by happy diversions and wholesome disappointments by a well-timed sickness by the wind which bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof and knowest not whence it cometh For God speaketh once yea twice though man perceiveth it not In a dream in visions of the night Is there any man so stupid as not to have considered national invitations to repentance the Angels and the Trumpets the warnings of Gods Ministers the loud alarms of his Providence the interchanges and intermixtures of National mercies and National judgements which we have had Since the day that he brought our fathers out of Egypt his Book hath been opened his Trumpet hath given a certain sound he hath sent his Messengers rising every day and sending them The Lord gave the word great were the company of the Preachers precept hath been upon precept line upon line Hath any Nation had the experiences which we and our fathers have had Enquire from one end of the heaven to the other My song shall be of mercie and judgement Concerning Gods own people once we read of it as a wonder that their land had rest forty years Twice forty years together God was pleased to deliver the land of our Nativity from forreign invasion and domestick rebellion He put to flight the armies of the aliens he scattered the Armada's that called themselves invincible The virgin the daughter of Sion laughed them to scorn They came forth one way and returned seven He disappointed the insolent invader he said he shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shield nor cast a bank against it The horse and his rider were thrown into the sea He disappointed the plots and stratagems of domestick traytors the gates of hell could not prevail he suffered not their devilish machinations to succeed Peace and plenty and the publick profession of the true Religion flourished there was no decay no leading into captivity no complaining in our streets No! but there was pride and idleness and fullness of breaed the sins of her ancient sister Sodom the cry thereof went up to heaven and suddenly we tasted of the fire of Sodom and the brimstone of Gomorrha The bottomless pit was opened and the smoke arose of absurd and groundless fears and jealousies and the Sun and the Moon were darkned by reason of the smoke And there came out of the smoke Locusts Their faces were as the faces of men they had breast-plates of iron their sound was as many horses running to the battel They had a king which is the angel of the bottomless pit in Hebrew Abaddon in greek Apollyon Twenty years the Nation lav under the dreadful scourge of war and confusion the most horrible kind of war the most lamentable of confusions The fire came out of the bramble and consumed the cedars of Lebanon The anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits the breath of our nostrils our king and our princes were among the gentiles The law was no more the prophets received no vision from the Lord. Hunted we were from form to form emptyed from vessel to vessel scattered like the bones which the prophet saw in the valley which were very many and very dry When behold another interchange of providence sudden and wonderful There was a noise and behold a shaking and the bones came together bone unto his bone loe sinews and flesh came upon them and the skin covered them they were restored as at the first breath came into them and they lived and stood upon their feet and were a great army Five years are not compleated since we are tryed again by such a miraculous restitution indeed by an absolute resurrection And now since that time how various have been the mixtures how quick and sudden have been the changes of his providence Three years he expected fruit of his barren fig-tree he let it alone the fourth also saying If it bear fruit well and if not he seemed to say I will cut it down He called a destroying Angel he put a new sword into his hand and with it a commission to kill and to destroy his thousands ten
wind and tempest Can they Marshal out the host of heaven or put the Constellations in array or command the stars in their courses to make resistance for them Can they bind the influences of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion or bring forth Mazzaroth or conduct Arcturus and his sons Are they able to stand before a jealous God and to support themselves in the presence of a consuming fire When a fire is kindled in his anger and shall burn to the lowest Hell and shall consume the earth and set on fire the mountains Are they able to sustein the fierceness of his anger Who among them can dwell with the devouring fire who among them can dwell with everlasting burnings Briefly and plainly to lay the case before you This people had heard with their ears of the drowning of the old world Their fathers had told them of the fire and brimstone which devoured the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrha They had been witnesses of the plagues brought upon Egypt They beheld the fire that consumed Nadab and Abihu They stood by when the earth opened and swallow'd up Dathan and covered the congregation of Abiram Thousands had fallen beside them and ten thousands at their right hand for their ingratitude and rebellion and yet they behave themselves so as hath been represented Judge in your selves was it wisdome thus to requite the Lord Were they or were they not a foolish people and unwise We have now seen the case of Israel the wickedness of their folly and the folly of their wickedness hath been in some measure displayed before us And who is it that doth not feel his indignation rise against this people Ah sinful people ah people laden with iniquity ah Seed of evil doers O ingrateful stiff-necked brutish nation do they thus requite the Lord that made that redeemed that established them Shall not his soul be avenged on such a nation as this Let God arise let his enemies be scattered It is but just and equal That he should consume them in a moment and blot out their remembrance from under heaven Nay but who art thou O man that judgest another and dost the same things thinkest thou that thou shalt escape the judgment of God Alas how easy is it in a figure to transfer all that hath been spoken to our selves to our selves of this Auditory to our selves of this Kingdome in every capacity private and publick Ecclesiastical and Civil 1. Hath not God dealt with us as he dealt with Israel 2. Have not we requited him as they requited him come now and let us briefly reason together For Gods dealing let us examine our selves upon the heads of enquiry here propounded by Moses in this song Hath he not 1 made 2 redeemed 3 established us in every sence and every capacity 1. Hath he not made us is not he the Creator and preserver of every individual person is not he the disposer of nations the ordainer and orderer of Governments the framer of Churches in the world In every one of these respects it is evidently true which is delivered by the Psalmist It is he that hath made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture As for our personal being and better being was it not from him that we received our bodies our Souls our Christianity all things pertaining unto life and Godliness His eyes did see our substance yet being imperfect and in his book were all our members written He poured us out like Milk and curdled us like Cheese cloathed us with skin and flesh fenced us with bones and sinews he breathed into us life and spirit saying unto us Live he stamped his Image upon us and made us live the life of men he commanded and we were born of Christian Parents and baptized and regenerated into the life of Christians Hath he not made us Nay doth he not make us and that every moment by susteining and upholding our being by the word of his power by reteining our spirits and preserving our souls and life by his perpetual visitation by his protection and by his provision There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retein the spirit All the wit and industry and ability of all men upon earth nay of all creatures in Heaven and earth cannot make one grain of any one of that infinite variety of things which are of necessity or of convenience to the being or preservation of men And this is so evident upon the shallowest consideration that S. Paul at Lystra when the Priest of Jupiter supposing him to be Mercurius would have sacrificed to him appealed to this instance as Gods witness against the depth of heathenish darkness He left not himself without witness in that he gave rain from Heaven filling our hearts with food and gladness So that in this respect our case is parallel Hath not God dealt with us as with Israel Hath he not made us as to our personal and private condition Again if we consider our selves in our national publick capacity in reference to the political frame of our Government Civil and Ecclesiastical hath he not made us It was in reference to this that Moses asked this question and to help their understandings in the consideration of it for an answer in the words immediately following he calls upon them to search into their antiquities to reflect upon their original and their progress Remember saith he the days of old and consider the years of many generations Ask thy Fathers and they will tell thee thy Elders and they will shew thee And now I say unto you Have you not heard long ago how he hath done it and of ancient days how he hath formed it How he hath formed the state of this Island and reformed it how he never gave over working hewing and fabricating the inhabitants thereof till he had framed them into a glorious Christian Kingdom from a most barbarons savage scattered heathen people How oft did the Almighty Potter bring the stubborn matter to the wheel overturning overturning overturning To civilize the Britains he brought in the Romans then tried the Britains again When that would not frame to his hand he brought in the Saxons and upon them the Danes then tried the Saxons again and lastly he brought in the Normans nations os various tempers customs religions languages caused nation to rise against nation c. he committed them one with another and among themselves he mixed and blended them by many a terrible combat and collision he polish'd the roughness of them by the leaven of the Gospel he fermented and matured and sweetned them till by his powerful word light was brought out of darkness out of a multitude of disorders and confusions sprang forth a noble well-tempered form of Government System of Laws Civil Ecclesiastical equal at least to those of any other people harmoniously conspiring if duly executed to conserve all estates orders
more considerable Signs and Wonders than before or since that time were ever wrought since the Creation of the world yet all this will not content them Notwithstanding all this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they require a sign the meaning whereof is better interpreted by their Practice and behaviour to our Saviour than by the Dictionary And of this their behaviour I shall only produce two or three instances In the sixth of John we finde that Christ fed 5000 men with five Loaves and two Fishes and when they had seen the Miracle they were so taken with it that they said that he was that Prophet which should come and they would have taken him by force and made him a King But the very next day these very men that had seen and felt and tasted of the Miracle because he told them that they followed him for the Loaves take a miff at him they pirk up themselves and come boldly and malepertly to him saying What Sign shewest thou that we may see and believe What do'st thou work As if the former Miracle had not been now a Sign When Christ hung upon the Cross the Noble and the Mighty the Grave and Wise amongst them the chief Priests and the Scribes and the Elders came and offered him a bargain if he would then just then come down from the Cross they would believe but our Lord Christ had just then something else to do In the eighth of Mark the Pharisees came forth and began to question him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cavil and dispute with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 requiring a sign seeking of him a sign from Heaven tempting him They would have and that presently upon the spot a sign not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that which is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not from Winde or Sea or Earth but from Heaven not that they intended to be his Disciples but for a trial of his skill and ability was not this a Gallant and a Wise a Noble and a Worthy Postulatum Could it chuse but move him to a compliance This moved him indeed to comply so far with his own defign as to promise them a sign the sign of the Prophet Jonas that irrefragable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his Gospel which should render them inexcusable But though he was meek and lowly of heart the soft and gentle Lamb of God so that he snffered himself to be accused condemned buffeted and spit upon and yet held his peace as a Lamb that is dumb so opened he not his mouth Yet the nobleness and ingenuity of this Postulatum kindled a fire within him so that he spake with his tongue This moved him to scorn and indignation so that in effect he called them bastards for for their labour telling them that they were no sons of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but a wicked and adulterous Generation and that no sign should be given them but the sign of the Prophet Jonas I suppose I shall need to say no more concerning the absurdity and unreasonableness of the Jewish or Semeiotical Postulatum And I have now done with the former part of my undertaking which was to endeavour to make it appear That the Comtemners of the Gospel have reason to be ashamed of their Prejudices 2. I come now to the second which is the last part of what I have propounded viz. to shew That there is no reason for Christians or for Preachers to be ashamed of the Gospel And that upon two Considerations 1. Propter veritatis Evidentiam 2. Propter virtutis Excellentiam The former of which is implied if it were not the truth of God it could not be the Power of God The later is expressed For it is the Power of God to salvation to every one that believeth The evidence of the Truth is so great that whosoever duly considers it will certainly believe the Gospel The Virtue and Excellency of the Gospel is so great that whosoever truly believes the Gospel shall infallibly be saved 1. First I am to speak of the Evidence of the truth of the Gospel But because it is here only implied and because I have formerly employed my poor endeavours upon that Argument I shall only briefly touch upon it The Mysteries of the Gospel though they are inexplicable and inconceivable yet are they not incredible though incomprehensible yet they are not unaccountable Nor was the Author and Finisher of the Christian Faith so severe upon the understanding of his followers as to exact a Belief without a sufficient proof and Demonstration of the truth of that which he delivered Though he would not offer at the Grecanick way which he knew to be impossible to grant to be absurd and unreasonable to require yet he would afford it that Demonstration whereof it was capable a Demonstration properly so called accommodate to the Understanding of all Mankinde Jews and Gentiles Greeks and Barbarians Noble and Ignoble Learned and Unlearned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that refused to gratifie the impudent Scribes and Pharisees in their way would not leave the truth of the Gospel undemonstrated in his own And of the truth of all the Mysteries which he delivered this is the Analemma Catholicon the Common the Universal the Comprehenfive demonstration He that made himself the Son of God as the Jews express it That said he was one with God I and the Father are one that he was in the Father and the Father in him That declared the Mission and Emanation of the Spirit from the Father and the Son and that always spoke of him as a person distinct And that these three are one In a word He that was the Author of these and all other Mysteries whereof we have been speaking did not put the issue of believing upon his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but upon an undeniable and unrefuseable Criterion If I do not the works of my Father believe me not but if I do though ye believe not me believe the works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ye may know by Demonstration as well as believe that I am in the Father and he in me He did not only bear witness to himself although he died in testimony of his Doctrine He had not only the glorious Company of the Apostles the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs for his Witnesses But he called Heaven and Earth to witness He subpena'd whatever was in Heaven and Earth and in the Sea and in all deep places to bear testimony to him There were three that bore witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit those three which he affirmed to be one The Angels ministred unto him The Devils trembled and fled before him Plants and Animals the Winde and Sea obeyed him The Stars in their courses or rather out of their courses militated for him To give testimony to Consummatum est at the time of his