leaves yet being firmly rooted they keep the Cawsey from decaying and mouldring away thus the holy seed notwithstanding all their failings do support and bear up the Nation which but for them might be suddenly wasted and brought to utter desolation For the sake of the Godly saith Grotius God will not suffer the City to be taken Lastly They are the Pillars and Foundation of Church and State Prov. 10. 25. As the whirlwind passeth away so is the wicked no more but the righteous is an everlasting foundation or the foundation of the world as Arias Montanus hath rendred the words They are the very Atlasses of the world that support and bear it up and keep it from falling upon the heads of the ungodly In Psal. 75. 3. David saith that he himself bare up the pillars of the earth If once these Pillars were removed the whole Fabrick of the world would presently tumble down and be turned into a Chaos of confusion As soon as ever Jesus Christ by the Preaching of the everlasting Gospel hath gathered together the number of the Elect the Elements shall then melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up It is for the sake of Christs little flock of that sorry handfull of sincere Believers who are so much scorned and despised by the unrighteous and accounted the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very filth of the world that the world hath still a being and was not long ere this on a flame as it shall be at that great and notable day of the Lord. The Lord accounts of the world by his Church and upholds it for his Servants sake were it not for Jehoshaphat I would not look towards thee nor see thee said Elisha to Jehoram so may God say to the wicked were it not for my people I would have no regard at all to you Thus you have shadowed forth under several Metaphorical expressions the real serviceableness of righteous ones in order to the exaltation of a Nation I am in the next place to instance in some particular Blessings which Nations have enjoyed for righteousness sake and still may enjoy upon the account of the Righteous And these besides many others which I shall not now so much as name are Truth Peace Plenty Victory over enemies and Preservation from ruine First It is for the sake of his people that the Lord gives and continues the great truths of his Gospel his blessed ordinances the means of salvation to any Nation hence St. Paul was commanded and encouraged of God after his first vision to go into Macedonia in a second to continue preaching the Gospel at Corinth because the Lord tells him he had much people in that City so that it was for his peoples sake that the Lord sent the Apostle to Corinth to preach the Gospel Yea he loved the people all his Saints are in thy hands and they sat down at thy feet every one shall receive of thy words The Psalmist reckons the enjoyment of Gods word and ordinances as the greatest mercy which the Jews were bless'd with above any other people and therefore had more abundant cause to praise God for his great goodness Psal. 147. 19 20. He sheweth his word unto Jacob his Statutes and his judgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his judgments they have not known them praise ye the Lord. There are many 't is to be feared in the Christian world that have no serious apprehension of this singular great mercy but look upon it as an enjoyment that may well enough be spared Preaching is counted but foolishness and all the means of grace are thought to be unnecessary and undesirable yet if it were but well considered that it is not onely a great mercy in it fels which impenitent sinners will not be perswaded to believe but also that this is a blessing which seldome comes alone for where God sets up the light of his Gospel he usnally sends peace and plenty and many other mercies to accompany it so that where the means of grace have been most pure and powerful other outward blessings have been there most plentiful and abounding If this consideration I say was but once well digested in the hearts of the sons of men many that heretofore have had low thoughts of the means of grace might see reason enough to have them in greater estimation for the time to come Blessed are your eyes saith Christ to his Disciples for they see and your ears for they hear And blessed is the people that know the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance 2. The Lord gives that sweet and much to be desired mercy of Peace for his peoples sake thus righteousness and peace have often kissed each other Psa. 85. 10. and 't is promised Isa. 45. 13 14. Great shall be the peace of thy Children When the Prophet Isaiah brought that starâ—tlig news of the Babylonish captivity to Hezekiah the good King comforts himself with this that the judgement threatned should not fall upon the Nation in his dayes Isa. 39. 8. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken He said moreover for there shall be peace and truth in my dayes He firmly believed God upon his word who had already assured him that he would defend this City to save it for his own sake and for his Servant Davids sake It is reported of Luther that he was known to pray often with much earnestness and fervour of spirit That so long as he lived Germany might be quiet and enjoy peace and when he foresaw a black cloud of judgment hanging over that people he told some of his Friends that he would do his best to keep it from breaking in his dayes yea he believed also that it should not and he said moreover when I am gone let them that come after me look to it I 'le conclude this particular with that precious promise Isa. 32. 17 18. And the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places Thirdly The great blessing of Plenty God gives for his peoples sake Thus God blessed Laban for Jacob's sake Gen. 30. 30. It was little said Jacob to Laban which thou hadst before I came and it is now increased into a multitude and the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming Potiphar also prospered greatly whilst Joseph was with him Gen. 39. 5. And it came to pass from that time that he made him over-seer in his house and over all that he had that the Lord blessed the Egyptians for Josephs sake and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field Yea the
TWO SERMONS Lately Preached at the ASSIZES IN St. Maries Church IN LEICESTER The former March 23. 1670. The latter July 27. 1671. By Robert Harrison M. A. late Student of Christ-Church Oxon. now Rector of Wyfordby in Leicester-shire Micah 6. 8. He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Tho. Sawbridge at the three Fower de Luces in Little-Britain 1672. VIRO ORNATISSIMO D. Johanni Hartopp BARONETTO Vice-Comiti pro Tempore COMIT LEICESTER Patrono suo multis nominibus Colendissimo Hasce Conciones binas In quibus de Judicio Justitia disseritur Haud ita pridem In Templo S. MARIAE Leicestriae habitas Gratitudinis Observantiae Ergo D. D. D. ROBERTVS HARRISON Amos 5. vers 23 24. Take thou away from me the noise of thy Songs for I will not hear the melody of thy Viols But let judgment run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream IT is the unspeakable Folly of vain man when he lyes under the pressures or is within the sight of approaching Evils when he 's made sensible of the frowns of the Almighty and comes to feel the effects of his displeasure upon him for sin to conceit that any thing which looks like Duty though never so sleight and formal will serve the turn to smooth Gods brow to turn away his wrath and to take the sinner into favour again As if the holy God who is present every where and knoweth all things was either ignorant or unmindfull of inward dispositions and affections and had respect only to outward actions and deportments in Religious undertakings Men indeed look on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart Surely saith Elihu God will not hear vanity neither will the Almighty regard it To take the estimate of Divine mysteries according to the shallow scantling of common sence and opinion argues gross ignorance and blindness of mind and is a sad indication of a carnal and unconverted estate Thus many in a day of fears as did the sinning Israelites go on blindfold in Duty resting in their outside performances which are no better than the Sacrifices of fools the blind and the lame and that which cost them nought Yet in these vain Oblations they will securely confide and now conclude themselves sufficiently guarded against the loudest thunders of most terrible Comminations But how highly the great God is displeased with such empty insignificant Services we may clearly perceive from the Scripture now before us where he abominates and rejects them and severely prohibites the Formalists farther procedure and continuance in them Take thou away from me the noise of thy Songs for I will not hear the melody of thy Viols c. Which words contain a Prohibition and a Precept The Prohibition in the 23d v. is tempered with Indignation the Precept in the 24th calls for Reformation Or in the Text considered with its coherence we have reported and reproved the great Corruptions and Disorders in Church and State The Church was guilty of Will-worship and Superstition the State of Cruelty and Oppression both these must be removed before God will be intreated Reformation is first to begin at the Church but it is not to end there the stream thereof must run thorow the State in like manner that so it may refresh and make glad the whole City of God The waters of the Sanctuary which were first to the ankles afterward increased to be up to the knees and then to the loins and at the last they became a great River waters to swim in a River that could not be passed over which issued toward the East Country and ran down into the Desart Such should be the stream of Justice it should run thorow the whole Country that none may complain of the want of it but that every one may have a free and easie access unto it that so righteousness and judgment may be executed for all that are oppressed Ps. 103. v. 6. Thus you have the Division I shall now proceed to the Exposition of the Text. And first briefly of the Prohibition Take thou away from me the noise of thy Songs c. These words admit of divers readings which do nothing vary from the sence of our English Version wherefore I need not run out time to repeat them to you There 's a Meiosis in this verse Minus dicitur plus intelligitur for we are not only to understand the Lords dislike of their Ceremonies and Superstitious Services though that be sad enough seeing it is his approbation and acceptance that makes our performances of any worth or significancy but also his exceeding hatred and abhorrence of them as things which he could no longer endure nor would he any more be burdened with them and therefore he bids them take away these provocations from him viz. the noise of their Songs and the melody of their Viols Which expressions do figuratively include all the Israelites Festivals Incense Sacrifices and external Services spoken of in the foregoing verses where the Lord by his Prophet declarâ—h his great displeasure against them and in this verse his utter rejection of them But it may be Quaery'd Why would God cast off and forbid the offering up of those Sacrifices and the performance of that Service which he himself had commanded To this I answer 1 Negatively God doth not here simply and absolutely reject the Sacrifices and Service of his own institution but together with these he requires a due administration of Judgment and Justice and if either may be omitted and put off he had rather it be Sacrifice than Judgment according to Drusius upon the place who hath therefore rendred the following verse Potius volvatur ut aqua judicium rather let Judgment roul down as water q. d. rather then with the neglect of this you presume to draw nigh to God though in the wayes of his own appointment And in this sence is that Scripture to be understood Mat. 9. 13. I will have mercy and not Sacrifice i. e. mercy rather then Sacrifice The Lord preferrs justice mercy and peace before Sacrifices the substance of the second before the ceremonies of the first Table and is graciously pleased that his own immediate Service should stay for these as you may read Mat. 5. 23 24. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift Nor 2dly were all those external Rites and Ceremonies observed by the Israelites I mean the ten Tribes whom our Prophet here all along chiefly reproves complexly considered of Gods Institution and therefore the Lord calls them their Songs and the melody of their Viols
they had foisted in many things of their own invention and so became guilty of Will-worship yea and of cursed Idolatry Neither lastly did they frequent the publique place viz. the Temple at Jerusalem which the Lord had then chosen to himself for an house of Sacrifice partly to shadow forth the great mystery of their Salvation by Christ and partly to preserve the whole body of the Jews in unity of Faith and Religion and that there might be no rents and divisions among them But they like men transgressed the Covenant and Commandments of their God and worshipped the golden Calves which Jerohoam that none-such for impiety had set up at Dan and Bethel Thus did they provoke the Lord to anger with their High places and moved him to jealousie with their graven Images Now when God heard this he was wrath and greatly abhorred Israel But then Positively their Sacrifices and Songs were rejected First Because they put so much confidence in them as to think to set off with God and to expiate for their sins by their outward Forms and Ceremonies though they neglected the substantials and vitals of Religion the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weightier matters of the Law viz. judgment Mercy and Faith Hence it was that their Oblations became vain their Incense an abomination to the Lord and their solemn meetings which they themselves were very highly conceited of he could not away with Sordet in conspectu judicis quod fulget in conspectu operantis That which was fair in their eyes was filthy in the sight of God 2dly Because they were a wicked people which even hated to be reformed and to such God saith What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldst take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee The Sacrifice of the wicked is abomination how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind Prov. 21. 27. The sweetest melody hath but an harsh sound in the ears of God when wicked men make it Singing must be with grace in the heart And the Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise This for the Answer of the Quaery The Note from the words take thus Meer outside formal performances are so far from procuring the Lords acceptation that they provoke him to indignation against all Hypocrites in Religion To offer many Sacrifices with the Papists without obedience is no better in their own Tostatus phrase than studium nequitiae a kind of devotion by which a man takes much pains to offend his Maker And however men cry up their own way yet they will find that want of a divine approbation will undo all If we search the Scriptures we shall find several Instances which may sufficiently serve for the proof of this startling Inference of so great an heap I shall gather sparingly We read Gen. 4. 4 5. how that God had respect to Abels offering and not to Cains the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives the reason hereof Heb 11. 4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more acceptable Sacrifice than Cain Abel offered by faith and Cain without faith and therefore God accepted Abels Sacrifice and rejected Cains Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire and by fire from heaven they were consumed Levit. 10. 1. 2. Forasmuch as the Lord was not sanctified by them in their approaches to him therefore he would be sanctified upon them in their destruction Mal. 1. 14. There 's a curse upon the deceiver which hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing And how many dreadfull woes no fewer then seven in one Chapter doth our blessed Saviour thunder out against the hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees who did all their works Theatrico more that they might be seen of men and have a plaudite Many more proofs might be added but these may suffice And if it was seasonable to enlarge here I might give some Reasons of the Point taken from the greatness holiness and justice of God who will not hold them guiltless that take his name in vain But I cannot stay upon these briefly to apply First This reproves our Adversaries the Papists and overthrows their rotten doctrine of resting in opere operato of ascribing merit to their own works to their Fastings Prayers Penance Pilgrimages Almsdeeds and the like neither will their quaint distinctions of first and second justification and of works before and after conversion make a sufficient prop to shore up their doctrine of merit and to keep it from falling to the ground forasmuch as the sacred Scriptures fully inform us that there is no other name or merit whereby we can be saved then by Jesus Christ. Hence the great Apostle counted all things loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord Phil. 3. 8. When we have done all we can we are to acknowledge our selves to be unprofitable Servants The bloud of Christ and that alone is remedy for the killing of sin so said Mr. Bradford that holy man of God And it was a pious expression of devout Bernard Lavat nos lachrymarum imber magis autem lavat aqua illa preciosa quae de fonte pietatis i. e. latere Christi emanavit We are not saved then for our good works and yet God will not save us without them they are via ad regnum non causa regnandi as the same Father observes Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour This reproves all Formalists and hypocritical Professors who draw nigh to God with their mouth and honour him with their lips but their heart is far from him Now the heart is that which God chiefly requires and looks for in duty Prov. 23. 26. My Son give me thine heart q. d. Let thy mind be wholly intent and applyed to me renounce thy self and set thy love only and wholly upon the Lord. The heart of man is Gods best Temple where he dwels with delight if it be beautified and adorned with humility charity and righteousness It is the heart that makes every Religious performance medullatum Sacrificium a marrowy Sacrifice well-pleasing and acceptable unto the Lord. Among the Heathens it was a Custom when the Beast was cut up for Sacrifice the first thing which the Priest look'd upon was the heart and if the heart was naught the Sacrifice was rejected So 't will be here in the worship of the true God Heart service is the best service Lastly Let us all hence be exhorted to be sincere in the service of our God to adorn our Profession by an Holy
on high made honourable and happy This this is the way and means to make that people the Head which were formerly the Tail to make them stronger than their enemies and more excellent than their neighbours Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life saith the merciful God to a repentant resorming people Isa. 43. 4. And Ezek. 16. 14. Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty for it was perfect through my comliness which I had put upon thee saith the Lord God Thus you see what is that righteousness that exalteth a nation and what is meant by the exaltation of a nation I am now to confirm the Assertion which indeed stands not in so much need of proving as of improving however I shall omit neither Righteousness exalteth a Nation or a Nation is greatly blessed by the means and for the sakes of Righteous ones who diligently perform the duties of their places to the glory of God and in the right of those with whom they have to do Righteousness is not to be taken here only in the abstract but with relation to the subject in which it is inherent the concrete is included in the abstract as it is often to be found in holy Writ where the names of Virtues and Vices are put for the persons to which they are adjoyned as wickedness for the wicked Job 5. 16. St. Paul was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Pest for a pestilent plaguy fellow thus pride is put for the proud Jer. 50. 31. Behold I am against thee O thou most proud or O pride as it is in the margent of your Bibles which is to be understood of the lofty and proud City of Babylon So here Righteousness being inclusive of Righteous ones the Inference is clear that it is for the sake and by the means of such who endeavour to walk in all the Commandments and Ordinances of God blameless that a Nation comes to be exalted and blessed of the Lord. Consonant hereunto is that saying of an ancient Author whatever good thing is bestowed upon the sons of men it is given on the account of the righteous for the sake of those that faithfully preach and diligently hear the Gospel and call upon God the unrighteous do not believe this neither do they acknowledge it therefore they evilly requite the people of God If any shall be offended with this doctrine we need not much wonder at it for they who have no love for Gods people will not acknowledge that they are beholden to them The poor wise man that delivered the City by his wisdom how quickly was he forgotten the Text saith that no man remembred that poor wise man This is merces mundi the worlds wages as one loves to phrase it to be so blind as not to see or so ungratefull as not to own their best friends I mean sincere Christians upon whose account and for whose sake the Lord is pleased to conferr many great and endearing mercies upon an undeserving yea upon an ill-deserving people The truth of this Proposition will be sufficiently evidenced 1. By the Examination of those allusive metaphorical expressions which are aptly applied to righteousness or to righteous ones 2. By an Induction and Enumeration of particular blessings which the men of the world have enjoyed for their sake and upon their account 3. By the Consideration of those wasting Judgments which have presently taken place after their Removal By these steps we shall proceed to bring in such clear proofs of the Wise mans Assertion as may procure at least the assent of unprejudiced Readers and will be deny'd by none besides inconsiderate or resolved sinners I must not be long in my passage through these particulars To begin with the first we shall find upon enquiry Gods people to be compared First To the Bulwarks of a City which keeps off the Enemy and will not suffer desolation to enter Thus Nazianzen calls Athanasius the Bulwark of Truth When Sin hath made a breach for the Divine vengeance to take place God presently seeks for these to stand in the gap to prevent an Inundation of misery from rushing in upon unarmed naked sinners as you may read Jer. 5. 17. Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof if ye can find a man if there be any that executeth judgment that seeketh the truth and I will pardon it You see here what great account the Lord makes of his Servants when as he will pardon a whole Nation for one righteous mans sake So in Ezek. 22. 30. And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the Land that I should not destroy it but I found none And because he could find none behold how suddenly winged destruction overtakes them in the following verse Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath their own wayes have I recompenced upon their heads saith the Lord God 2dly The Righteous are the Chariots and Horsmen of a State thus Elisha cried after Elijah when he was taken from him by the spirit and mighty power of God My father my father the Chariot of Israel and the Horsmen thereof They are the very strength of a Nation where they live and have prevailed more with their prayers and tears then a thousand times as many could do with their weapons of War One of these have chased a thousand and two have put ten thousand to flight Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake saith God to his Church Isa. 54. 15. and in the 17. verse No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord. 3dly They are as Stakes to an hedge or Trees to a Cawsey that keep it from falling down and from being broken up thus we read Isa. 6. 13. In it shall be a tenth and it shall return and shall be eaten as a Teil tree and as an Oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof or the substance of the people as some have rendred the Text. The Prophet here alludeth to a long Cawsey or Terrass supported on either side with great Trees strongly rooted which reached from the Kings Palace to the Gate Shallecheth on the West-side of the Temple which Gate you find mentioned 1 Chron. 26. 16. Now the Righteous are these Trees on either side the Cawsey which have life and substance in them and though sometimes the Trees may cast their
whole land of Egygt fared the better for Josephs sake for when there was a Famine over all the face of the earth there was bread enough and plenty of corn in Egypt which by Josephs wise forecast was laid up in Store-houses against that time Fourthly Victory over Enemies is another great mercy which the Lord of Hosts often giveth for his servants sake and by their means What a great conquest did the Heathen Emperour obtain through the means of the thundring Legion of Christians who by their fervent prayers prevailed with God to discomfit an huge army with thundring and lightning And Aurelius by experience found that Christians prevailed more with their prayers then others could do with their arms for the good of the Empire and therefore he desired the Senate to cease the Persecution lest the Christians should turn those spiritual weapons against the Empire So then the Race is not to the Swift nor the Battle to the Strong But thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all thy people as David acknowledgeth 1 Chron. 29. 11 12. Lastly Preservation from ruine and destruction have the Righteous obtained for a disobedient and stif-necked people A clear proof we have of this Job 22. 30. He shall deliver the Island of the Innocent or according to the margent the Innocent shall deliver the Island and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands He shall deliver the Island of the Innocent in the Hebrew it is non innocentem he shall deliver the Island of the guilty q. d. a Righteous man that truly fears God shall be instrumental for the delivering of those at least from present ruine who are yet in their sins and have therefore no such interest with God to prevail with him to be thus gracious and merciful unto them Therefore he said he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath left he should destroy them Psal. 106. 23. And Isa. 65. 8. Thus saith the Lord as the new wine is found in the cluster and one saith destroy it not for a blessing is in it so will I do for my servants sake that I may not destroy them all For his Elects sake the Lord in judgement thinks thoughts of mercy towards a very vile and sinful people who cease not to go on in wayes of rebellion against him and herein he deals with wicked men that do but cumber the ground as if one had resolved to pull up a barren Vineyard and quite lay it waste yet should nevertheless refrain in part because of some choice fruitful Plants that are sound in it If there had but been ten Righteous Persons in Sodom the Lord promised his servant Abraham that he would not destroy it for tens sake And it is worth our observation that the Lord never left off granting till Abraham left off asking mercy for that people This may encourage the righteous among us to continue in prayer and not to cease pleading with God for mercy to this sinful land of our nativity Ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence And give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem till he make England a praise in the earth I have done with the two first Heads for confirmation In the next place If we consider those wasting judgments which after the removal of the righteous like a swift torrent have broken in upon the ungodly the truth of the Proposition will yet be more fully manifested No sooner was Noah got into the Ark but God sent such a deluge of water as swept away the wicked Inhabitants of the earth The flood-gates of heaven are set open and the fountain of the great depths broken up and unavoidable destruction rusheth in upon the sinners of the old world In the very same day that Lot set soot out of Sodom came such a storm of fire and brimstone upon those Cities that in a few hours entomb'd them in their own ashes and left them as standing monuments of the Lords wrathful indignation upon ungodly wretches to the end of the world Not long after good King Josiah was taken away the Kingdom of Judah tumbled down apace the people of the Land was carried into captivity and all went to wrack with them thus the Lord in mercy many times takes away the righteous from the evil to come he doth with them as men are wont to do with their corn in the field when it is catching weather they are careful to get it into their barns before the rain fall so God took away Josiah before the dismal destruction of that people as he had promised 2 King 22. 19 20. When the Righteous had left Jerusalem and were gone to Pella as they had been warned of God the City is presently taken and as great wrath is poured sorth upon that people as ever was upon any Nation in the world besides nay none like unto it according to the prognostick of our blessed Saviour Mat. 24. 21. So that they might justly take up the like complaint with their forefathers in their Babylonish captivity and a more bitter lamentation if they could find words to expressâ— it then that we read of Lam. 1. 12. Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger Methuselah the longest-liv'd Patriarch dyed the year before the Flood St. Austin was taken away by death immediately before Hippo was sacked by the Vandals and the death of St. Ambrose was the fore-runner of the ruine of Italy I have somewhere read an observation of Luther that all the Apostles died before the destruction of Jerusalem except John and Luther himself died a little before the wars began in Germany It bodes no good to a State when God picks such choice principal Plants out of it Surely this speaks the Lords intention to take away the hedge of his Vineyard and to lay it waste It was a sign that Sampson meant to pull down the house on the Philistins heads when he attempted to stir the Pillars and when God takes away the Pillars and Supporters of a Nation certainly he intends it no good 't is greatly to be feared that he is already come out of his place to punish the Inhabitants of the Earth for their Iniquity Thus I have given in the proof of the Proposition by some argumentative considerations which being twisted together will make a strong cord sufficient to draw any that have staggered in the belief of this particular to a firm perswasion of the great use and furtherance of Righteousness for the exaltation of a Nation But it may