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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	day_n	hear_v	see_v	10,326	5	3.3220	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29931	The wicked mans plot defeated, or, The wicked man laughed out of countenance as it was represented in a sermon preached in St. Mary Wool-Church, London, May 11, 1656, by Thomas Baker.	Baker, Thomas, Rector of St. Mary the More.; Baker, Thomas, Rector of St. Mary the More. Gods provenance asserted in another sermon preached at St. Buttolphs, Aldergate, London.; Baker, Thomas, Rector of St. Mary the More. Christs comming to judgement deciphered in a third sermon.	1656 (1656)	Wing B524; ESTC R28339	42,799	212

of violence to draw near and as it is in the verse immediately following the Text We draw out our Swords and bend our Bows to slay such as are of an upright Cōversa●ion Yea we scoff at the tidings of any other days approach as those in the Apostle 2 Pe● 3 4. at the News of the comming of the Day of Judgment where is the Promise or rather Menace of its coming Or if much ado we will be drawn to heare of any such thing we yet say as those in the Prophet Esay 56. 12. To morrow shall be as this Day and much more abundant Cras Cras procrastinat And still every Day that shineth out upon us shall in our presumptions still be sped of a New and Fresh Morrow to attend it The Spirit of God in the mean time whose peculiar office it is to bring all things to the Remembrahce of these he inspireth Joh. 14. 26. becommeth every where throughout the Sacred Volu●es an uncessant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of another Day the wicked Man is to expect Those that come after him saith Holy Iob of him shall be astonished at the comming of his Day as they that went before him were affrighted Job 18. 20. Remember the children of Edom O Lord in the Day of Hierusalem you know is our Prophets Address unto him in her behalf Psal. 137. 7. how they cried Down with it Down with it even to the Ground I saw is the Lords own word wherin he no less justly then sharply taxeth his people of Israel that in the Day wherein strangers carried away the Forces of your Brother Jacob and Forreigners entred into the Gates and cast Lots upon Hierusalem that you Rejoyced ●ver the childred of Judah in the Day of their Destruction and spake proudly in the Day of their Distress Obad. 11. 12. And it is that other Prophets just Exe●cration upon the Wicked after that hee hath capitulated with the Almighty about their prosperity Prepare them O Lord for their Day even the Day of slaughter Jer. 12. 3. Yea this Day of the wickeds prosperity it pleaseth the same Lord oftentimes to contract and so to speed their Day or rather Nights of Vengeance that their Sun goeth down at Noon and the Earth is Darkened with them in the clear Day as it is Amos 8. 9 Yea when God distributeth sorrowes unto them in his Anger and the Night of their Destruction commeth upon them their Candle that they might now at last hope should afford them some poore weake Light of Comfort is not seldome put out as it is Iob 21. 17. And so as it is 5. 14. of the same Book they meete with Darknesse in the Day-time And then strange may it not seeme to hear that the Knees of this Profligate wretch as Baltasars shall appeare to tremble when he shall now finde this Day or rather this Day made Night as it is Amos 5. 8. unawares to overtake him which he had put farre away from him Especially when hee shall heare the Almighty vying an high Roare of Laughter with his loud-yelling Accent of Anguish of Spirit upon his clear Fore-sight of this Days neare Approach Which is the more Principal cause of the Defeasance of th● the wicked Mans Plot and in the next Place calleth for your consideration The Lord shall laugh him to scorn for he hath seene that his Day is comming The word Is comming you see is of an Indefinite Expression and so far from pointing out the present Minute of this Days Appearance At which whilest debauched Miscreants and to every good worke Reprobate will not unlikely be ready to catch Advantage and shall therefore with the five Foolish Virgins Mat. 25. betake them to slumbrings and sleepings and with that Evil servant in the 24 of the same Gospel to Eating and Drinking and smiting his Fellow servants whom therefore his Master comming in a Day that he looketh not for him and in an Houre that hee is not aware of shall cut in sunder and appoint him his Portion with Hypocrites He that shall but duely poize things in the Ballance of the Sanctuary ●n the Scales of a Religious consideration whose Feare is as his Faith the Evidence of things not seen will look upon this Day of whose Indefinite and Indeterminate Advent hee is here thus cautioned as if he saw and felt it already come At least as Damocles did upon the Pendant Sword which may every Minute drop downe about his Eares and make an immediate Dispatch of him And therefore it is well worthy our best observation that when the Prophet Ezekiel 7th of his Prophesie giveth the Inhabitants of Hierusalem a shrill Allarum of their inevitable Destruction at Hand the Future and Present Tenses he so intortleth and interweaveth as that he seemeth to make both of equal certainty I will shortly pour out my Fury and accomplish mine Anger upon thee vers 8. That you see for the Future And yet vers 6. we hear of nothing else but the found of Present Destruction An End is come the End is come it watcheth for thee Beho●a it is come Nay the Final Desolation of this very Hierusalem though it be not Actually Accomplished until Two 〈◊〉 Forty years after our Saviours 〈◊〉 Yet are the People of that Present Generation Forewarned thereof by him as if it were already put in Execution Behold your Howse is left unto you dese●le Mat. 23. 38. So that then see I Uncleanness Excess Sacriledge Barbarisme Cruelty Blasphemy Hypocrisie all manner of Iniquity to abound in an Age and yet not to scape with Impunity onely but to be sped of all manner of successfull Prosperity shall I now conclude that they shall finally escape for this their wickedness as it is Psal. 56. 7. No I look upon their Destruction as undoubtedly to come upon them as if I saw it Actually overtaking them Nay Ye say It will be Fowle weather to Day you know is our Saviours words to the Pharisees for the Skie is Red and Lowring Mat. 17. 3. See I Men to look with Red and Lowring Countenances portending nothing but Bloudy and Destructive Practices I justly conclude that there is a present Storme of Fowle weather that boadeth not others onely from them but even themselves Nay as the Floud commeth upon the old world and sweepeth them all away whilest they are Ea●ing and Drinking Building and Planting Marrying and giving in Marriage Matth. 24. 38. See 1 Men securely promising themselves an happy continuance and prosperous successe in their never-so Irregular Courses upon this Security of theirs I look as upon an undoubted Harbinger of the Day of their Destruction hard at the Doores But be it that it shall please the Lord for a time to suspend the Execution of his Vengeance upon these High-grain'd and Deep dy'd Sinners So that the Day thereof he yet seeth every Day nearer Aproaching may for some short space be forborne the Observation may in no wise escape us that the Hebrew word

〈◊〉 Hhavar signifieth as well to be Angry as to Forbear When the Lord heard this he was wroth saith our prophet Psal. 78. 22. Vatablus readeth Audivit Dominus Distulit The Lord heard and forbore Thou hast Abhorred and Forsaken thine Anointed saith the same prophet Psal. 89. 37. St. Hierome readeth 〈◊〉 Thou hast Forborn him Gods Forbearance of a Sinner in his wicked wayes for a time is so far from being a Testimony of his Favour that it is rather an irr●fragable Argument of his highly incensed Displeasure What if God willing to show his wrath saith the Apostle and to make his Power known endured with much Long-sufferance the vessels of wrath fitted to Destruction Rom. 9. 22. So that then see I Men to despise the Riches of Gods Goodnesse and Long-sufferance which should lead them to Repentance whilest hee is Patiently Bearing with them in their Horrid and Execrable Impieties I now assure my selfe that God intends to shew his Wra●h and to make his Power eminently knowne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as upon vessels of wrath that all this while have beene fitting themselves to Destruction If a Man will not turn saith our prophet then will he Bend his Bow and make ready his Arrows against the Persecutours Psal. 7. For though a Sinner do Evil an hundred times and his Days be prolonged yet at last the Preacher is peremptory it shall not go well with him Eccles 8. And therefore however you may observe the Almighty to dance Attendance upon wicked Miscreants a long time in a continued expectance of their Conversion and no lesse Passionately then Compassionately to debate the reason of their Remissnesse in Turning unto him Turne yee turne yee from your evil ways for why will you Die O yee House of Israel Ezek. 33. 11. Thou gavest them place of Repentance saith the Wiseman of the People not being ignorant that they were a Naughty Generation that their Malice was bred in them and that their Cogitation would never bee changed Wisd. 12. 10. Yet if now at last after his long exercised and so abused patience he can discover no semblance of turning then doth he no longer forbear to let flye the Arrows of his vengeance For whose drawing up to the head though hee may take some time as St. Hierome to give them fair warning that they stand within the reach of his Arm yet when he letteth loose from the string he striketh home indeed and pierceth to the very heart Sera tamen tacitis Poena venit pedibus God when he cometh with Leaden Heels to strike striketh yet with Iron Hands when he commeth The further back a Blow is fetched the Deeper it woundeth And when Gods judgements are furthest adjourned for point of Execution they still leave when they come to be executed the most deadly Scar behind them He that is of Purer eys then to behold Iniquity will not suffer such Iniquity for ever to escape as not undiscovered so neither unpunished But as we say of a skilful Fencer that his Hand and Eye still go together upon the sight of the ungodlies courses contumatiously continued he taketh the matter into his own Hands as it is v. 16. of this Psalm And then woundeth to the purpose the Hairy Scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his wickedness as it is Psal. 68. 21. And that Dreadful Day of vengeance the Hand of his Justice will at last be sure to bring on which the Eye of his omniscience hath foreseen and that perhaps for some long time a comming The Lord shall laugh him to scorn for he hath seen that his Day his comming Indeed as we say of the Papists that in the Sacrament he is every Day Making his Maker we in semblance will needes be making us a God of such a composition both for Hands Face and Eyes as best pleaseth us all of Sweetness and Grace but of Justice and Rigour nothing Nothing of him will sink with us but that his Mercy is great and that he will be pacified for the multitude of his sins as it is Ecclus. ● 6. That vision in the mean time that Ezekiel in the first of his Prophesie seeth of four several creatures appearing each having four several Faces is well worth our best Heeding whereof the first is of a Man the second of an Eagle the third of an Oxe and the fourth of a Lion And to every of these Faces hath the great God of Heaven and Earth eyes sutable He hath the eyes of a Man the eyes of his Providence He ●uleth all things with his Power for ever saith our Prophet his Eyes behold the people Ps. 66. 6. He hath the eyes of an Eagle his eyes of simple Intelligence as the School speaketh wherewith he beholdeth all things To his Eys are all things Naked open saith the Apostle Heb. 4. 11. He hath his Ox Eys Eys not of compassion onely I have seen is his own word the Affliction of my People that is in Egypt Exod. 3. 7. But of Approbation to The Eyes of the Lord are over the Righteous saith our Prophet Psal. 34. 14. And he hath his Eyes of a Lion likewise his Eyes of Indignation And for the sharp edge of these to be darted out upon the Proud the picture of Patience cannot forbear to be instant Job 40. 12. Look upon every one that is Proud saith he and bring him L●w. And with these by our Prophets verd●ct answering that Holy Mans Desire as he beholdeth the Proud a far off Psal. 138. 6. so doth he see the comming of the Wicked Mans Day The Lord shall Laugh him to scorn for he hath seen that his Day is comming It is the saying of the Lord to Samuel now by a Commission from 〈◊〉 being to annoint one of Iesse's sons for King over his People he is now fixing his Eyes and upon the point of laying his Hands upon Eliab The Lord seeth not as man seeth 1 Sam 16. 7. The Apostle 1 Cor. 13. 12. giveth us as clear a Representation as may be of the different Edge of either of their Eye sights 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we see sa●th he as in a Glass Darkly A Glass Qualia sunt Perspicilla sinum seu Speculum oculere saith a learned Interpreter upon the words such as are old Mens Spectacles or Prospective Glasses to Old or Young 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it followeth in a Dark Mysterious and Ridling Representation Yea and not onely so but for the General we look upon any evil to come as at the wrong end of a Prospective and so as those in the Prophet above praised put it far away from us Nay finde we not what ever Evil to make winged speed after us Wee finally put off all thoughts thereof as those in that other Prophet above praised Is not the Lord amongst us None Evil can happen unto us Yea whilest through our weak Perspicils wherewith we look upon the Aspects and Influences of the Heavens wee will

THE Wicked Mans Plot DEFEATED OR The Wicked Man laughed out of Countenance As it was Represented in a SERMON Preached in St. Mary Wool-Church London May 11. 1656. By THOMAS BAKER Rector of St. Mary the More in EXON Gal 4. 16. Am I therefore become your Enemy because I tell you the Truth Aug. Vis nunquam Tristis esse Bene vive Printed for the Author 1656. The Epistle to the Reader COURTEOUS READER FOr with the present untoward Generation I have not yet so far forfeited my charity but that I shall still proclaim thee ●or such as far as the infirm legs of these cripled lines shall carry them until thou shall appear signally to deserve the contrary we are faln upon an Age thou canst not but be tenderly sensible wherein not onely those Courtly spirits that are exquisite Gleekers or Cribbagers but even every Country Bumkin that can but play at plain Trump or Noddy cannot but clea●ly discern the Knave every day to turn and appear in his orient colours yea in value to ou●vy not the King onely the supreme Magistrate but all that is called God And then the less strange may it seem to observe not onely that all Kingly Authority is laid aside but that all manner exercise of the Priestly function is suspended amongst us So that now not onely those his immediate Vicegerents a●e grown strangers to their Princely thrones but we his voices become hoarse not with clamour so much as silence yea our Tongues with standing still so long within the stables of our Mouths no better then resty yea as by the hearing of an Hiena's voice st●uck dumb no marvel if we be driven I say not with Zachary in sac●ed page so much to call for writing●Tables as with Io in the Poet having our Hands and Tongues at least our Tongues which should serve us as Hands for the holding of the Pens of ready Writers cut off and so by consequence our Teeth knocked out to try the extremest of conclusions of making our Feet our Minds interpreters And so as they put us upon the exigence of leading Poetical lives so enforce they our Lines to tread the measures of Poetick feet Nay the more surely to muzzle the mouths of us that are the Analogical oxen for the bearing of the Ark deny us utterly the use of these very feet of ours wherewith we ought to tread out the spiritual grain of the Word Nay now at l●st when pos●ibly with the improvements of our utmost skil and industry we may have arrived to some good measure of perfection in the New and untroden Path of Pedography even in these very feet of ours by the good Angels of our Times as Iacob by the Angel in his Thigh are we rendred so lame that by them we are denied all manner License of giving out the sad Print of our though never so pressing necessity That Liberty under the notion of Begging Schollers and other vagrants is I know not by what law interdicted us However when for these things sake our souls at times cannot forbear weeping in secret places ●or my particular Relation to thee since my address speaketh mee so charitable towards thee thou shalt give me leave to minde thee that even in civility as well as conscience thou art bound to do me so much justice as that what ever it be that I shall offer thee with the Right Hand thou be far from receiving much more rending with the Le●t Which right shalt thou do me thou shalt still encourage me to go on to be what yet no discouragement shall ever take me ●ff from being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 T. B. Psal. 37. 13. The Lord shall laugh him to scorn for he hath seen that his Day is comming AS the whole Psalme may not amiss be stiled a Caveat entred in the behalf of the righteous and that in the nature of an Apology of Gods providence which not unlikely may be quarrelled for his prospering of the wicked in their enormous courses yea whose sharp sight and sense may possibly affect the hearts of the righteous with such a sting of envy as so far to startle their confidence in this providence as to justle them to a foul Apostacy from the Kings Highway of righteousness they may more then probably have proposed unto themselves to measure So is this verse now read with the preceding nothing else but a Prolepsis or Preoccupation of an Objection may be framed against the course of this providence of his The Objection we have in the preceding verse strange it may not seem that the righteous mans confidence in this Providence at times appear to be shaken for that the ungodly man ceased not to seek counsel against him and to gnash upon him with his teeth as if he had him now already within the reach of his cruel mercy and were upon the point of tearing him in pieces The anticipating Decision we have in the words now read which point out unto us the Almighties scornful Defeasance of all these his jewelled but abortive Projects and practises The Lord shall laugh him to scorn for he hath seen that his day is comming The Text then you cannot but clearly see what jus● reason I shal have to term the Destruction of a Bibel or the Defeasance of a Wicked Mans Plot. Yea whereas in the practice of our Common Law we every day hear distinctly of a Judgement and a Defeasan● the one still voiding the other in this branch of Go●s Law we here meet with a Defeasance which is not without the At●endance of an heavy Judgement Wherein not to perplex your memories with any intricate Divisions I shall only charge them with the recognition of these two special Observables The Manner of thi● Defea●anc● Cause The Manner of all th● most scornful and opprobrious The Lord shall laugh him to scorn The Cause two fold The One Subalternate Other Principal The Subalt●●nate is the near approach of this day His Day is comming The Principal Gods foresight of this dayes near approach He hath seen it These the Par●s Of these plainly o●derly and briefly as I may And first are we to begin with the Manner of the Defeasance of this the wicked mans Plot which we see here is of all the most scornful and opprobrious The Lord shall laugh him to scorn There is a Fable amongst the Poets of Iupiter that having married Metis and devouring her being with childe by him himself is at last delivered of an armed Pallas out of his head And such Fables may you observe more then a good many men in the world to frame fashion to themselvs They will needs dream them into a love like omnipotency and then must they marry Metis wed themselves to a sad and serious consultation for the succesful accomplishment of their what-ever intended designs Which having greedily devoured thorowly digested their Brains must now be brought a bed of an armed Pallas of such a well-hatched plot as can in no

them before they di● Nay those that have afflicted the Righteous man self-convicted of the guilt of these their barbarous and savage practices and knowing that the time is at hand when they shall see him stand with great confidence before their faces as it is VVisd 5. may you heare in great anguish of spirit antedating their owne sad Destiny and wailing out their own dolefull Elegie This is he whom we had sometimes in derision and a Proverb of reproach we fools accounted his Life madness and his end without Honour now is he numbred amongst the children of God and his lot is amongst the Saints whilest we in the mean time have in vain wearied our selves in the wayes of wickedness and destruction we have erred from the way of Truth and the Sun of Righteousness is not Risen upon us We say in our ordinary proverb that he Laugheth well that Laugheth at last Indeed the success of a wicked Man whilest hee groweth Elated with his politick and mischievous practices upon the Righteous prospered may afford him such a kinde of Superficiall Merriment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as may wet the Mouth but hath little of vertue in it for the warming of the Heart Yea and minister unto them such matter of Flickering Laughter as that like that of the Preachers fool Eccles. 7. 6. it shall make a crackling Noise as Thornes under a Pot. But or ever the Pots of their Hearts be made hot with th●se thornes Indignation our Prophet is peremptory Psal. 58. 8. shall vexe them and lye heavy upon them as a thing that is Raw. Or as our New Translation readeth it God shall take them away from this their Ioy as with a whirlewinde Their Laughter shall in conclusion appear to be no other then Risus Sardonicus as the Laughter of those that have eaten of the Herbe Sardoa whose forced Merriment though it may outwardly set them a Grinning yet is inwardly still Griping and Galling them Continua Anxiet as nec mensae tempore cessat to make the Poet speake the Language of Canaan Even in the midst of Laughter their hearts are sorr●wful and the end of such mirth is always heaviness Prov. 14. 13. So that then just reason may St. Iames seem to have for the Allarming of the Rich Men of his time those that by unjust practices have heaped them up Riches Go to now ye Rich men weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon you you have lived in Pleasure on the Earth you have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter you have Condemned and Killed the Iust and none resisted you Jam. 5. But Mourn you shall and Weep your Laughter shall be turned into mourning and your Ioy into heavines Jam. 4. Yea the Lords own word it is to those that forsake him forget his Holy Mountain and prepare a Table for their Troopes Esa. 65. My Servants shall Rejoyce but you shall be ashamed my Servants shall Sing and Laugh for joy of Heart but you shall Howl for vexation of Spirit And then as the Preacher Eccles. 7. 3. Sorrow is better then Laughter sarre better shall it in conclusion appear for the Righteous to live for a time in a sad condition under their Enemies persecuting Hands being fully assured that the time is at Hand that their Hearts shall so Rejoyce as that their Joy no Man shall take from them as our Saviour sometimes to his Discipes in the like case Joh. 16. 22. Then with their Persecutors that may perhaps for some short space Revel in all manner of jollity and exercise an uncontrouled Tyranny upon them when at last yea perhaps suddenly they shall become sensible that the Lord all this while Laugheth at these their unhallowed practices clearly discovering his Day of Sadness to be at hand Which fitly bringeth us to the view of the sec●nd Observable in this Defeat of the Wicked Mans Plot the Cause thereof which we may here see to be two-fold The One Subalternate Other Principal And first are we to begin with the Subalternate the near approach of this his Day His Day is commeng In the 19 of St. Luke's Gospel a clear intimation have we that what Hierusalem there had every sinner still hath a twofold Day a Day of Merciful visitation and a Day of Drereful Vengeance A Day of visitation O that thou hadst known in this thy Day A Day wherein as God visited Hierusalem for three continued years by the preaching of his Sonne so doth he sinners still by the voice of his Successors his lawfully ordained Messengers and Ministers And a Day of vengeance Behold the Day of the Lord God of Hosts the Day of vengeance commeth wherein he will Avenge him of his Enemies Jer. 46. 10. Even of those that as we may not amiss Gloss this of the Prophet by that of the above-praised Evangelist in the 44 of the above praised Chapter that shall appear such Enemies not to him onely but themselves as to have neglected the Day of their visitation The first of these is the Day wherein God vouchsafed us a fair opportunity of walking even of walking in Newness of Life Are there not twelve houres in the day saith our Saviour Joh. 11. 9. if any Man walk in the Day he stumbleth not because he seeth the Light of the world And yet who seeth no● how far even the best of us are from being such good Husbands of this Day as according to that our Prophets Euloge of Man Psal. 104. 23. to go forth to our work and Labour even this our work and Labour of Newness of Life untill the Evening and therefore to say to our Couches of Idlenes as the Angel sometimes to Iaob Gen. 32. 26. Let me go for the Day breaketh that we are rather so farre prone to turn the Day into Night as to trifle away every hour of this Day in stretching us upon our Ivory Beds in Dreaming them out in secure slumbers in drawing down Deep Carouses in wantonning in Lustful Embraces in studying of politick Contrivances how we m●y rea●iest swallow up the Estates and so suck the Bloud of our innocent Neighbour And yet the Light of this Day like those Northern people that have the Equinoctial for their Horizon we will needs have as have they in their proper seasons still Lasting And as those that labour of a Vertigo conceive all things to Run Round by reason of the Dizziness that is in their Brain for that we are Idly disposed we will needes have the Time of this Day so far from passing that we will neede● perswade our selves that we have a like command upon it as had Ioshuah sometimes upon the Sun and Moon Josh. 10 12. Stand thou Sun in Gibeon and thou Moon in the Valley of Ajjalon so that at our words it shall stand at a stay to keep us company in th●s our Idleness And for any other Day we put it far away from us as it is Amos 6. 13. and cause the seat

needs bee taking upon us a faculty of Divining of things to come and hereupon cheer and courage up our selves in the most Mischievous practices as did Zedekiah Ahab 1 King 22. 12. Go on and prosper who seeth not what just reason the whole world shall have to cry out of us as those in that other Prophet Zach. 10. 2. The Diviners amongst us have seen a ●ye and told false Dreames It is otherwise with this All-seeing God In the Infallible Glass of himself he contemplateth all things whether Past or Future or Present Yea and when he pleaseth seeth not onely but calleth for t●ings that are not as if they were Rom. 14. 17. And therefore pregnant is that the Prophets words of him Esay 7. 18. Hee shall hiss for the Flye that is in the uttermost parts of Egypt and the Bee in the Land of Assyria and they shall come and rest in the Desolate Valleys The very Poet can say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath an Eye armed with Revenge Yea Oculos Emissities saith the Comick Eyes that dart out Dead-doing Rayes Nay Eyes as Thunderbolts and those Right-aiming saith the Wiseman which discharged from the Clouds as from a well-drawn Bow readily flye to the Mark Wisd. 5. 21. Nay as his Hand draweth up these Thunderbolts of his judgments to the H●ad and dischargeth th●m upon the wicked so do●h his Eye looking as at the Right End of a Prospective draw them near home and so speedeth the Executi●● of them I will ba●●en my word is his own word to p●rform it Jer. 1. 12. And this time of his Acceleration of vengeance upon a ●e●ple far is hee from being so reserved but that still hee preacquainteth his Prophets therewith Shall I hide from Abraham is the same Lords solemn debate with himself about the destruction of Sodom that thing which I intend to do Gen. 18. 17. No! the Prophet maketh a present and positive Answer to this the Lords Quere Amos 3. 7. Surely the Lord will do nothing but that he Revealeth his Secret to his Servants the Prophets And this you may see to be the Ground of our Saviours own Addresse to his Father after that he hath denounced Vengeance against Bethsaid● Chorazin and Capernaum I thank thee Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast Hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast Revealed them unto B●bes M●t. 11. 25. O! the marc●lesse Priviledge of a right Prophet of the Lord yea but of a Child of God! of a very Babe in Grace That when Franticke Enthusiasts shall vainly and groundlesly boaste them of their Brain-sicke Revelations and Worldly Wise-men of their full Magazines of Understanding and Knowledge shall onely indeed have the Honour vouchsafed them of being Privy Counsellours to the great King of Heaven It is one special Article of Precedence I finde given to the Study of History in General beyonde all other Studies Lectores suos vates reddit That it rendereth its Reader● Prophets The observation of the successe Designes have b●en sped of in Times past may well enable the observers to Presage how the like shall succeed for the Time to come But then the Reading of Holy Histories of Divine Records must needes much more be of signal vertue to inspire the Reader● with a Prophetique Spirit And then just reason may St. Paul seeme to have for the magnifying of his Timothy that from a childe he● hath studied the Holy Sciptures which are able to make him wise unto Salvation 1 Tim. 3. 15. So that then if the Jews by the Fig trees putting forth her Leaves could Divine of the Summers neare Approach Matth. 24. 32. perhaps out of these sacred Records some Prognosticks not improbable may bee collected of the neare approach of a Wicked Mans Day And upon these our parts it shall be to looke as upon Red Crosses set on the Doors of Infected Houses seasonable Items that wee come not near And as upon Boighs cast out neare the Anchors of Ships fair Monitours that wee dash not upon them Of many being loath too far to exercise your Patience I shall onely name a few The first as already you have had an intimation Security You hear in the Gospel how suddenly the Rich Co●morants pleasing Lullaby hee singeth to his Soul Soul th●n hast much Goods laid up for many years is by the Almighty himselfe intterrupted with a Dolefull Dirge Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soule be required of thee Luke 12. 20. And the Apostle taketh it for an irrefragable conclusion that when Men cry Peace and Safety then sudden Destruction commeth upon them like as Travel upon a woman with child and they shall not escap● 1 Thes. 5. 3 And if when God calleth to VVeeping and Mourning to Baldnesse and Sack●loth there shall bee flaying of Oxen and killing of Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine this Iniquity is the Lords owne expresse word to his people shall not be purged until yee Die and Perish Isa. 22. 14. A Mans secure enjoyment of himself especially in wanton and Lawless Practises is as certaine and immediate a Fore●●unner of D●struction as is the Day 〈◊〉 of the Suns Appearance The second Pride An Haughty Spirit goeth before a Fall is a Maxime the Wise man taketh fo● indisputable Prov. 16. 18. So that then wher Pride shall o●ce be seene as a Captaine to March in the Van little question is there to be made but that Destruction as the Lievtenant will still be sure to Bring up the Rear And then if Men shall once begin to say to themselves as Babylon Isa. 14. 13. I will ascend up above the Heighth of the Cloudes and will be like the Most High and so shall arrogate unto themselves a Power of being Lords Paramounts of the whole World and give it Lawes though as those of D●aco written in Bloud and shall therefore make no Bones of provoking their most Potent Neighbours to take up Armes for their Defence the next Newes to be expected is a like Fatall Doom upon the● with that upon Babylon Thou shalt be brought down to Hell and to the sides of the pit The third Hardness of Heart When neither Mercies nor Judgements can reclaim Men from their Enormous courses but that they shall still resolve to go on as if they would dare the Almighty to execute ve●●eance upon them it is too app●rent a symbole that they are given up to a Reprobate sense and are all this while treasuring up themselues wrath against the Day of wrath and the Revelation of Gods Righteous judgements Rom. 2. 5. If all the plagues wherwith God visiteth Pharaoh and all the Qualifications of Long-sufferance hee sweetly tempereth with them can at last make no impression upon him then justly doth t●e same Lord take up a Resolution that in his Destruction he will get him Honour Exod. 14 The ●ourth Fain●ness of Spirit which hath commonly Destitution of Counsel for its inseparable Companion It is one special Presage of Aegypts

if Men will not Beleeve Signes what can they be concluded for other then meer Infidels And with these Signes having laboured as your Remembrancer to Awake you as as St. Iude in the 17. of his Epistle to save you with Fear and to pluck you out of the Fire before the Flames of Gods Anger grow so intense that there be none to quench them however some amongst you may look with a Prejudicate Eye upon and turn the Deaf Ear unto such Plain dealing Tell-Troths Ora Dei jussu non unqu●m credita and so by Gods just judgement shall have your Eares heavy and your Eye ●hut up lest seeing with your Eyes and Hearing with your Eares you should bee converted and H●aled as it is Esa. 6. 10. just reason in ●he mean time I take up a confidence that what St. Paul some●times to his Ephefian Elders Acts 20. I am Pure from the Bloud of all Men for that I have not s●unned to declare unto you the whole counself of God And then as our Prophet Ps. 55 O! that I have wings like a D●ve for then would I make haste to escape because of the stormy Winde and Tempests What great reason that our soules look out for Doves wings Radit iter liquidum wherewith we be farre from Hovering over out old sensual lusts but flying away with all possible speed that as the Apostle 1 Thes. 5. 4. that Dreadfull Day overtake us not as a Thie● Certainly high time can we not but conclude it for us to run as the same Apostle adviseth Heb. 12. 1. with Patience and yet with cheerfulnes too the Race that is set before us At least as is the word of him that is the Light of the world Joh. 12. 35. to walke while we have Light lest darkness come upon us for that it is but a very little while that wee are to expect this Light with us Yea for that as it is Jer. 6. 4. wee cannot but clearly discover how far the Day even the Day of Grace is spent and how the shadows of the Evening of the Evening of Ignorance yea and Vengeance too are still every Minute stretching them out more signally over us And indeed there are but two Dayes as already you have had intimated or rather a Day and a Night that dichotomize the whole life of Man the Day of Grace and the Day or rather Night of Vengeance And now shall wee so farre turne Gods Grace into wantonnes as to spend the Day assigned unto this Grace in worldly Lusts in sensual Pleasures in the Pressures of our poor Brethren whose cries though they cannot open our Eares yet will they be sure sooner or later to enter into the Eares of the Lord of Sabbath great reason that in Anguish of Spirit we still conceive we hear a voice speaking unto us not unlike that in the Prophet Ezech. 7. The morning is come upon thee the Day of trouble is near at least as that in that other Prophet Esay 21. The Morning commeth and also the Night Let it then be our care to walk in a true sincere and unfeigned Reformation of Life whilst the Light of this Day of Grace lasteth whilest the Sunne of Righteousness therein with the Gladsome though but now Gl●●mering Beames of his countenance shineth out upon us And then whilest Darkness overshadowing the Drowsie and secure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Diogines sometime to his Physitian upon his Death-bed when after a short sleep hee demanded of him how he did one sleep and so Darkness shall prove unto them nothing else but the Fore●runner of another a Spiritual of an Eternal sleep and Darkness the Day of Grace shall we circumspectly walke in the Light thereof we shall finde to be but the Prologue of another unto us and that more Bright and Lightsome Day even the Day of Glory a Day which shall need neither Sunne nor Moon for the Enlightning it but the Glory of God and the Lamb shal● be its Light to the happy contemplation and Fruition whereof in thy good time O LORD bring every one of us and to this purpose grant that the words which we have this day heard with our outward Eares c. FINIS GODS PROVIDENCE As●erted In another SERMON Preached at St. Butt●lphs Aldersgate London near about the same time as the former and by the same Authour 1 PET. 5. 7. Cast all your Care upon him for he careth for you AUG Qui curam tui habuit antequam esses quomodo curam tui non habebit cum sis quod voluit ut esse● Printed for the Author 1656. To the Reader READER SHall I finde thee this in captious Age but un-biassed or unprejudicate I shall look upon thee as upon some Rare Philippian in the midst of a crooked and Perverse Generation If Capricious and Censorious I meet with no worse Measure then I look for in these Dayes wherein Ignorance and its inseparable companion Impu●dence are every Day Riding in their Triumphant Chariots of Countenance and Encouragement whilest Pure Orthodoxe Knowledge is still Quarelled and Censured and therefore is fain as a poor Pedee to stand upon its weak Guard of Vindication And this is the sole Ground of the Publication of these Ensuing Treati●es for that some Black Mouths which have none the l●ast appearance of Ca●dour in them have Eo Nomine Traduced them for that they have too closely Troden upon the Heels of Truth However the observance of the wind of any Mans Breath though never so strong and Poisonous shall in no wise discourage me from sowing me Righteousness however an Harvest of Mercy yea but of Justice may not yet perhaps bee expected by mee Mean while as I know that the Sermons Preached sufficiently justifie God the Father in his Providence and God the Sonne in his Just Proceedings So am I confident that Printed they will vindicate the Author in the Eyes of all Sober-Minded Men against all calumnious Aspersions So that he that by the Malevolo's of the Time whilest he is overshadowed with the Dark cloud of their Black Censure may appear a Monstrous Bug bear shall not unlikely yet in these poore Peices when they shall come to be exposed to the Light of Publike View not be conceived to be of so Dread●ul a shape Who what ever he may appear is far from professing himself Thine longer then thou art Truths T. B. Psal. 147. 9. The latter part of the Verse Aud feedeth the young Ravens that call upon him THis Psalm by the consent of all Interpreters is concluded to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hallelujah for its Title And will wee hear Apollinarius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jointly and entirely chanted out by the Prophets Zachary and Haggee at the Re-edification of the City and Instauration of the Temple at least at their clear prevision and prediction of this so Glorious a work as either Each Verse is as a fresh Incentive to the iteration of this Hallelujah and so to the perpetuation