Spiritual Whoredom and Carnal abound and the latter too much unpunished Though open and avowed Idolatry we may thank God is not tolerated amongst us as a few Years since Yet Covetousness and Worldliness are also called Idolatry and by Luxury and Intemperance Men make their Belly their God And for carnal Whoredoms the Impurities of the Flesh and the Lusts of Uncleanness and that which contributes to them Luxury and intemperate Drinking No Time or Place can be named since the Reformation wherein these Sins ever prevailed to that Degree or rose to that shameless Height as of late Years in these Islands and this under Gospel-Light to confront it Which is an high Aggravation it being the great Design of the Knowledg of Christ by the Gospel to help our Escape from these worldly Pollutions Wo be to such a People whose Magistrates connive at such Offences and overpass the Deeds of the Wicked Shall I not visit for these things Shall I not be avanged on such a Nation saith the Lord Jer. 5.28 29. I cannot but acknowledg with Thankfulness to God and to the just Honour of the Magistrates of this City that there hath been much done this last Year to suppress and punish these and other scandalous Crimes But what Opposition and Discouragement have they met with Inferiour Officers especially in their Endeavours of Reformation How hath the Attempt been ridicul'd and their worthy Zeal been mis-interpreted nicknamed and reviled How few have done what they might and ought to strengthen their hands How backward are the Generality even of good Men to assist the Magistrate by giving notice of the Guilty that they may be punish'd Though they know there are such in Commission as would be a Terror to Evil-doers and not bear the Sword of Justice in vain Few have the Heart or Courage or Honesty to endeavour the Punishment and Suppression of Debauchery and Prophaneness though the Instances be such as pollute the Land Jer. 23.10 and make it mourn They think it beneath 'em as Gentlemen or Citizens or Neighbours to be any way concerned But ought not every one to do what he can to prevent and purge out Wickedness from the City and Nation by endeavouring the exemplary Punishment of notorious Offenders Is it not by this means that the fierce Anger of the Lord kindled against a People is to be turned away Numb 25.3 4 11. And from themselves too If a Soul sin and hear the Voice of Swearing and is a Witness of it whether he hath seen or known of it if he do not utter it then he shall bear his Iniquity Levit. 5.1 and 24.14 He that heareth Cursing and bewrayeth it not is Partner in the Sin Prov. 29.24 And they shall share in the Punishment of such Sins It is reckoned among the Iniquities that separate between a People and their God and cause him to hide his Face that none calleth for Justice nor any pleadeth for Truth Isai 59.2 4. Thanks be to God there be some Gentlemen and others though of different Perswasions in some lesser Matters of Religion who yet heartily agree in a Publick Spirit as to these things To these the City and Nation are obliged and God I hope will reward them and increase their number But if private Persons in their several Places would have done what they could to assist the Magistrate in this Work of Reformation where one Malefactor of either Sex hath been punish'd this last Year there might have been twenty And so good a Beginning this Year might probably have been carried so far as that not only succeeding Magistrates would find it less difficult to carry it further but obtain likewise that other Towns and Cities throughout the Nation might imitate their Example with the like good Success 2. Are not many Parents amongst us too much like Jezebel in bringing up their Children in educating them in Rebellion against God in Pride and Vanity and fleshly Lusts instead of endeavouring to save them from these How little care is there in most Families to instruct reprove and admonish Inferiours or use the Authority God hath given Parents to restrain their Children from Sin So shameful is the Neglect of Parents in this kind that it abates our Wonder to find so many Complaints of wicked disobedient Children for Parents themselves are greatly accessory to the Wickedness and Ruine of their own Children How little is done by them to save them from the Sin of Pride to antidote them against the Impurities of the World How seldom do they put them upon secret Prayer and reading the H. Scripture and other good Books as soon as capable How little care to teach them the strict Observation of the Lord's Day by their Counsels or by their own Examples And is it any Wonder when these Children come to set up for themselves and have Families of their own if they do not pray in their Families or sanctify the Sabbath when they knew little of any such thing when they lived with their Parents Many a damned Wretch will curse the Day of his Birth for having an Ahab to his Father or a Jezebel to his Mother * See more of this in Three Letters to a Friend of Family Religion 12o. The Son of a Giant the Son of a Murderer the Son of a wicked Woman and the like Expressions in Scripture are not only Reproaches but Reasons why such Children are no better for as a good Son makes a joyful Father so a wicked Parent seldom makes a good Child An Abraham may have an Ishmael and an Esau may spring from an Isaac but usually Religious Families are Nurseries of Religion On the contrary there is an Entail of Vice and Wickedness in Irreligious Families In many Cases the Entail may reach even to Doomsday And then how great is that Wrath which is treasured up from Father to Son and multiplied on still unto the Day of Wrath If it be hard to answer for a thousand Sins how much more for many thousand Souls that have successively miscarried from Age to Age by the Negligence or ill Example of wicked Parents 3. Another Sin observable in Joram was the not consulting God when he was about to engage in a Matter of great Consequence For when he and Jehoshaphat and the King of Edom went to War against Meah 2 Kings 3.10 being in a great Strait for want of Water Joram impatiently complains of God as having brought out three Kings to destroy them together in the Wilderness But says Jehoshaphat who then began to bethink himself Is there not a Prophet of the Lord that he may enquire of the Lord for us Very good but this they should have done before They were now gone seven Days Journey in the Wilderness that present Strait brought this Neglect to the Mind of good Jehoshaphat But we do not find Joram troubled himself with such Thoughts Are not many of you guilty of the like Sin Do you not undertake great Matters of
pleased than I should be with your eating and drinking You might as well have let it alone and bestowed your time otherwise Your very Confession of Sins will witness against you if you do not forsake them To what purpose is your Mourning and Lamentation and hanging down the Head for part of a day Is it unto me saith the Lord. It is not at all unto me except you repent and turn from your evil Ways Your Sighs and sad Looks your Confessions and Deprecations all your Complaints and all your Expressions of Sorrow Mourning and Humiliation without this avail nothing unless your Souls be humbled and broken unless you abhor your Sins and loath them and resolve against them and henceforward be watchful and diligent in earnest to overcome and mortify your Lusts and turn to God and live to him O that some may be able to say that from this Fast-day I began to turn to the Lord with all my Heart and put away the Evil of my doings from before his Eyes Believe it therefore and consider it that unless you put away the Evil of your Doings the Evil that is in your Tabernacles in your Houses in your Trades in your Families c. you cannot expect Peace We may go on lamenting one Calamity after another bewailing this and the other Grievance and be never the better while we neglect the Cause while those Lusts and Vices are still reigning spreading and increasing which provoke God to plague and punish an unreformed People If we would be rid of Judgments or prevent them we must begin where the Judgment begins Our Lord knew this when he saith to the Paralytick who came for Cure of his Disease Thy Sins are forgiven thee Let me urge and inforce this 1. By calling you to consider the Miseries of War and the Blessings of Peace Most of us know little what it is to live in a Country that for many Years is the Seat of War to have a Bloody Enemy at your Gates or rude Souldiers domineering in your Houses or to have them pillaged every Week or laid in Ashes at once to have your Children wallowing in Blood before your Eyes Virgins perishing under the Lusts of profligate Villains Widows mourning for the dead and hardly daring to show they mourn To have no Children left to the Father or Husband to the Wife or Money to the Rich or Clothing to the Delicate and they that were brought up in Scarlet to imbrace Dunghils weltering in their own Tears or Blood You would hardly have Patience to hear the recital of what others have suffered Look abroad and consider the Countries round about us behold and see what sad Characters of Misery and Ruin are engraven or rather plowed on the Persons Houses Fields Vineyards Cities Churches c. of our Neighbours Yesterday or a day or two ago saith one I and my Family were in Peace and Safety and had Food and Rayment Liberty and Plenty I have now no House to harbour me no Food to nourish me or Money to buy it and hardly Clothes left to cover my Shame and Nakedness A few days ago I slept quietly in my own House and Bed but now I have no Place or Pillow but Jacob's Pillow of Stone whereon to lay my Head My Father is kill'd or taken Prisoner saith another my dear and tender Father who nourish'd and sustain'd me and now he is not or is a miserable Captive and hath hardly Bread to sustain himself Or Parents bewail the loss of a beloved Son My Son that was the Staff of my Age the Joy of my Heart and Stay of my Family the Comfort of my Life he is imprisoned by a cruel Oppressor or he is mortally wounded or he is dead The Widow bemoans the loss of a tender Husband made nearer by God than Father or Mother snatcht away by an untimely Death whom she shall see no more So the Brother the Kinsman the Neighbour the Friend each lamenting the Desolation the Sword hath made Let us mix Thankfulness to God for our selves with our Pity and Compassion and Mourning for the Calamities of others who have hitherto suffered more than we We do not hear the Voice of the Spoiler in our Borders We hear not the murdering Pieces about our Ears We see not our Houses and Churches and Places of publick Worship flaming over our Heads We do not behold our pleasant and beautiful Dwellings in Ashes where we traded feasted and slept in Peace nor are turn'd out to the Streets or Fields for Shelter not knowing where to look for Security for our selves or nearest Relations seeing some of them slain before our Eyes or not knowing where they are whether alive or dead hearing the confused Out-cries and Skrieks of our distressed Neighbours mingled with the Noise of French or Irish Souldiers killing or encouraging to kill You have not seen tender Babes snatcht from the Breasts of their Mothers bleeding on the Stones or sprawling and strugling for Life on the Souldiers Pikes and the distressed Mother ravish'd it may be e're she have leave to die You have not seen the ghastly Visage of Death deform'd with Wounds and Men and Horses wallowing in their mangled Blood and the amazed helpless People running to and fro to escape but know not how or whither Others have seen and known such tragical Effects of War let us mourn for them and let us be thankful that as yet we do not Let us improve the Day of our Visitation our Civil and Religious Liberty lest the things of our Peace should be hid from our Eyes 2. Consider that it is God alone that can give Peace Our Business is with God in order to an happy Issue of this War It is he must prevent or conclude and shorten the Miseries of War He that is the Lord of Hosts who makes Wars to cease to the Ends of the Earth He must make our Officers Peace He that works all our Works for us must ordain Peace for us Isa 26.12 that Violence shall no more be heard It is He that strengthens the Bars of our Gates and makes Peace in our Borders Psal 147.14 c. and feeds us with the finest of the Wheat It is He who keeps our City and guards our Island and can prosper our Fleet and Armies He turns Swords into Plow-shares and Spears into Pruning-hooks and sheaths the Sword when it hath done his Work It is by the Restraint of his Providence that the Inhabitants of the Earth learn War no more He sits upon the Floods and stills the Waves and sets Bounds to the Raging of the Sea to the Lusts of Princes and to the Tumults of the People He can take the Obstacles of Peace out of the way when we expect it not He hurles Princes from their Thrones and sets up others in their room He breaks their Scepters in pieces as easily as you can a Venice-Glass He over-rules their Designs he can change their Counsels break their Measures blast
their Power shame their Confidence lessen their Numbers and frustrate their Hopes When God was displeased with Israel for the accursed Thing in the time of Joshua three thousand Israelites shall flee and be smitten before the Men of Ai though but thirty six in number But if God be our Friend though ten thousand of the People set themselves against us we need not fear He is a sufficient Defence we need not fear all the Nations of the Earth if we are at Peace with God and at Peace among our selves which would follow upon it He is the Shield of our Help and can be a Wall of Fire round about us Tho the Enemy come in like a Floud he can lift up a Standard against him and when he comes one way make him fly ten He can show Strength with his Arm and scatter the Proud in the Imagination of their Hearts and turn their Devices backward What deep Designs does he defeat What mighty Projects does he disappoint by taking away Wisdom from the Wise and Courage from the Valiant cutting off the Spirits of Princes by a surprizing Stroke altering their Minds and Purposes or ending their Lives c. Peace and War are in his Hand All the Hosts of Heaven are at his Command and Service to fight his Battels and accomplish his Designs The Stars in their Courses shall fight and the Elements of Heaven shall be muster'd in his Quarrel From the Air he can pour down Hail-stones as on the Ammonites or send an Angel to discomfit a mighty Army as he did Senacherib's or by Fire consume an Enemy's Troops as those which came against Elijah The Water shall bury the Egyptians and rather than fail the Dust of the Earth shall start up into Armies of Flies and Lice and Frogs against Pharoah And he is the God of Peace as well as the Lord of Hosts As 't was of the Lord that the Canaanites did not make Peace with Israel and that Zedekiah rebelled and that Ahab went to War at Ramoth Gilead c. So 't is he that makes Peace I make Peace I create Evil Isa 45.7 I the Lord do all these things He is said to make the Instruments of War to create the Smith that formeth them and to create the Waster to destroy Isa 54.16 Therefore he can stop them hinder them destroy them when he pleaseth To all the Ends of the Earth he is said to make Wars to cease that is Psal 46.8 in all Places in all Countries in all Societies in Families in Churches in Cities in Nations in particular Souls Every where it is his Work to make Peace and every kind of Peace is from the God of Peace 3. If God be angry and bring desolating War on a People Human Help is all in vain and his Anger will make all the Calamities of War to be double If Israel become the People of God's Wrath he lets loose the Rage of Man and then every base proud idolatrous Assyrian shall tread them down as Mire in the Streets Even Sampson shall fall by the uncircumcised Philistines when God departs whereas before he was wont to slaughter them by Heaps If God be angry and send this Judgment of Sword or Famine against a People who can describe the Dread and Horror of such a Calamity Every Battel of the Warrior saith the Prophet is with confused Noise and Garments roll'd in Blood Isa 9.5 but this shall be with Burning and with Fewel of Fire The Wrath of God shall put an unusual Terror on the very Countenances of an Enemy and give an unusual Edg to their Sword The Anger of God will sharpen the Sting and Terror of natural Death it will invenom the Teeth of Famine and make all the Calamities of War unsufferably more grievous than can be exprest There is nothing so base but the greatest Spirits shall stoop to nothing so unnatural but the tenderest of you all may be brought to comply with You think you should part with your own Lives a thousand times over rather than eat the Flesh of your Children I doubt not but the delicate Women in Jerusalem thought so too and yet in Famine they boiled their Children and were glad to eat them Pity shall perish from Parents Courage from the Men of Might Wisdom from the Antients Flight from the Swift and the Strong not be able to find their Hands For it is the Day of the Lord's Wrath and who can abide it You may seek for Death at such a time and not find it and within an Hour Death may offer it self and then you will flee from it and within a few Moments repent and wish you had died Such will be the Distress and Anguish of your Souls between vain Hope and tormenting Fear that your very Lives will be a burden Think what the case would be where the Sword without and Torror within shall destroy young and old the Suckling and the Man with gray Hairs When there is no Peace to him that goes out or to him that comes in but great Vexation on all the Inhabitants Nation destroyed of Nation and City of City for God did vex them with all Adversity Think of these things and repent of Sin for that is the Cause of it 4. We do not know what we may further experience and feel of the terrible Effects and Miseries of War The most are confident that all will quickly be well and the present Cloud vanish There will speedily be an honourable Peace the French are impoverish'd and almost starved Their Numbers are lessen'd and ours encreas'd against this Campagne They must e're long make Peace or we shall force them to it Or if they should not many flatter themselves they have this or the other Project to provide for themselves they doubt not for their parts but to escape well let things be as they will But may not all such Confidence prove a Refuge of Lies Consider what God saith by the Prophet Jer. 37.9 10. Thus saith the Lord to the King of Judah Deceive not your selves saying The Chaldeans shall depart tho you had smitten the whole Army of the Chaldeans that fight against you and there remain'd but wounded Men among them yet should they rise up every Man from his Tent and burn this City with Fire What is there for publick Safety or private Defence that can be Proof against the Anger of God For certain it is not the great Numbers or Riches of a People no advantageous Situation or Strength of Places nor the best prepared Armies and Navies or any Confederacies abroad or Fortifications at home can secure us The best the greatest the most hopeful of all such things have been frequently baffled and sham'd and confounded by the Divine Anger Riches be sure profit not in the day of Evil they rather expose to Envy and Danger than secure against it They who have most to lose are likely to suffer most and commonly are least able to bear