do otherwise How are we fallen from our first love by prophaning the Sabbath either through Schismatical Petulancy or Idleness and Security snorting on a Bed or walking in the fields forgetting that he which on this day gathered sticks was paid home with stones Considering therefore the judgement of God that hangs over our head for this particular sin it is Christian Prudence to pray Lord have Mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law Secondly Another Sin that pulls down God's vengeance on us is that of Pride Boetius sayes excellently well Cum omnia vitia fugiant à Deo sola Superbia se Deo opponit When all Vices flye from God Pride alone opposes it self to God In other vices men seek some imaginary good but in this they endevour to dethrone God it is an opposition to his very Being as he is Alpha and Omega the first Efficient and last End no wonder therefore if he blasts the persons and designs of those that harbour this Monster which beginning first in heaven will never forget its old Attempt And therefore St. Prosper in his Excellent Epistle to the Noble Virgin Demetrias says finely Cum aliae cupiditates ea tantum bona quibus adversantur imminuant haec dum omnia ad se trahit simul universa corrumpit That whereas other Lusts waste only that Good and Virtue to which they are contrary Pride whilest it arrogates all to it self corrupts all at once God therefore scatters the Proud he maketh them like Smoak to speak with the Psalmist which perisheth in ascending and vanisheth in dilating of it self I shall not need to tell you how he hath punish'd it in Wicked men as in Nebuchadnezzar Herod and Antiochus for he will not allow it in his own people And therefore if Corah Dathan and Abiram will be holier than Moses and Aaron and tempt the Jewish Congregation to a Contempt of their Superiours he will presently open the Earth and bury them alive They were ante Sepulti quam Mortui as the African Father Optatus speaks If David out of pride will number the People and sure it was so for the Text saith 1 Chr. 21.14 his heart was lift up to number the People God will send his Plague and sweep away seventy thousand of them 3. A third sin is that Cursed one of Swearing so much in Practice Because of Oaths saith the Prophet the Land Mourneth Jer. 3.10 And how can we but expect that God will send the lightning of his judgements from heaven when we do so thunder out Oaths on Earth This is a Reigning Sin not only amongst the Basest but those that would be thought the Ornaments of the Age as if Gentility consisted in belching out blasphemy If the King be spoken against it is high treason and deservedly punish'd with Death if a Noble man be traduced or slandered it is punishable by the Statute of Scandalum Magnatum yea a private man in cases of Obloquy hath his remedy by Action only the name of God though dear to him is not so tenderly regarded but is most grievously rent and torn by this common and Soul-ruining Sin of Swearing But let me advise the black mouthed Swearer to have a care of swearing in jest as men are apt to pretend lest he go to Hell in earnest for every Oath he swears gives his Soul a wound and that wound will be vocal enough to peirce heaven and call for vengeance on the Swearer Have not many of us uncharitably and blasphemously wish'd that the Plague of God would light upon our Brethren How justly now hath it overtaken us Curses and Execrations have proceeded from us like Arrows shot against heaven and now they are returned back upon our own heads Fourthly I must name that of Vncharitableness to one another upon occasions that should rather administer grounds of Repentance then of Malice The Apostle tells us Charity covers a multitude of Sins but we as if we were true Children of Noah delight in our Relations Nakedness What heart-burnings are between us upon small differences of Judgement The Turk cannot hate a Christian with a more Vatinian hatred then we persecute one another though baptized into the same Faith and equally professors of the same Gospell Is not the Plague come upon us that our Lord foretold that Father should be against Son and Son against Father will an Independant endure a Presbyterian or the Anabaptist and Fifth Monarchist one of the Episcopal persuasion No no we have known to our grief what blood hath been shed upon this account and that their mutual animosities have boyled to as great a height as those at present between Turk and Persian Constantine the Great when he summoned the first General Councel at Nice to extinguish the Arrian Heresie concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Christ with his Father caused all the private Contentions and Strifes that were enflamed amongst the Bishops themselves to be drawn up into a Compendium of Articles before they should deliberate about that grand Affair which being done he sealed them up with his own Royal Signet and kept them in his bosome for a while as a Secret afterward in his Speech exhorting them to unity of Spirit and a serious discussion of those things that concerned the Cause of Christ he burnt all those envious Libells together Car. in Nice Conc. Appar pag. 45. in 16. Ne innotesceret ulli odium sugillatio Sacerdotum as Caranza informs me Let us that serve at the Altar imitate this Pious Prince and if there be any unchristian uncharitable fends amongst us bury them in Eternal Oblivion left they hinder us in the prosecution of the Cause of God and not only prove our shame but a stumbling block of Offence to the Enemies of the Faith Our Lord and Saviour at his departure left us this New Commandement that we should love one another but we have so affronted this Injunction that it is no marvel if he says he is come not to send Peace but a Sword a Sword that shall draw out our vitals and render us the victims of his fury Fifthly That Rebellious murmuring humour with which we have outraged Prince and Priest The Sacred Scripture never gives us an Account of Murmurers but it tells us likewise their Punishment Pharaoh murmured at the Israelites and God entombed him and his hoast in the Red Sea Joseph's Brethren murmured at him and their reward was vassalage they became his Servants Saul murmured at David's ten thousands and God left him to be his own Executioner Judas murmured at the Box of Oyle that was poured on his Masters head and what was his reward he hang'd himself And is not this our Case When King Charles the first lived though we may say of him as Homer said of Greece that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pap and Dug of the Earth He the Cream and Excellentest of Princes how did our ungodly and malicious humours load him
Vmbra viri facies haec est Surgentis in altum Effigiem melius pagina culta dabit Ingentes animae superant virtutibus Artem Vostermanne tuam vel Titiane tuam PILLVLAE PESTILENTIALES OR A SPIRITUAL RECEIPT for Cure of The Plague Delivered in a Sermon Preach'd in St. Paul's Church LONDON in the mid'st of our late Sore VISITATION By Rich. Kingston M. A. and Preacher at St. James Clerken-well Numb 16.46 There is wrath gone out from the Lord and the Plague is begun Numb 16.48 And Aaron stood between the Living and the Dead and the Plague was stayed LONDON Printed by W. G. for Edw. Brewster at the Crane in St. Pauls Church-yard 1665. To the Right Honourable Sir JOHN KEELING Knight and Baronet Lord Chief Justice of ENGLAND Right Honourable WHen I lift mine Eyes from the low and humble valley of my obscure fortunes to that bright shining and Eminent hill of Honour on which the Favour of His Majesty the Nobleness of Birth and your many Excellent Virtues have seated you I cannot but lay a sharp and rigorous Censure upon my own Presumption that I so much a stranger to your Lordship should thus boldly adventure to press into your presence and to crave your Honourable Patronage of so mean a Work but when your Honour is pleas'd to consider that Divine Truth 's are Subjects worthy of acceptation though presented in an Earthen Vessel and David's comfort in rescuing his Wives and recovering the spoils from the Amalekites was no whit the smaller although a young man of Egypt made way for the discovery I hope to obtain what I humbly beg your Honours Pardon My Lord this Sermon was Compos'd and Preach'd in the very height of our late dreadful Visitation when Thousands dy'd on our right hand and Ten Thousand on our left at which time my imployment by day was visiting the Sick and by night burying the Dead having no time allowed for study but what I extracted from my natural rest which may make this Tract more guilty of failings than at another time my humble request therefore to your Lordship is that you would be pleased to lay the finger of a charitable construction upon the Scar of my imperfection and favourably accept this first fruit of my labours So in all humility imploring the God of Majesty and Mercy to Sanctifie your Heart Rectifie your Hand Justifie your Soul and lastly Crown your Head with eternal Glory I take the honour to Subscribe my self Your Lordships daily Oratour Rich. Kingston To the Right Worshipful Joseph Ayloff and George Walsh Esquires two of his Majesties Justices of the Peace for the County of Middlesex And to the Worshipful Henry Dacres and William Cole Esquires as also to his much respected friend Mr. Henry Knight R. K. wisheth the dew of Heaven and the fatness of the Earth Right Worshipful TUtelar Angels are a controverted Theme amongst Schoolmen but the favourable influence of a just defence from your Worships hath been an unquestionable matter of my experience which transcendent favours if buried in Oblivion would be an high impeachment of veracity and not to acknowledge them having this occasion could plead for no distance from down-right sordidness and plain Ingratitude The Work is too small and the Author too mean to equalize your worth or merit your Patronage only 't is the height of my Ambition to let the world know that your favours which as far excel my deserts as my power to retaliate have not been bestowed on an ungrateful Servant I am not ignorant that cunning Bezaliahs and Aholiahs may carve and pollish the Temple yet I am glad that I can but lay one little stone though men of brighter Souls bring their Gold and Jewels to it yet I hope God will accept of my young Pigeons and Turtle Doves I may say with St. Peter Silver and Gold have I none but what I have I give you in all humility beseeching you to consider my years which are but few and the time I had which was but short and my many other sad occasions wherewith in the mean time I was interrupted and then accept of this for tryal as if it were the extract of some purer and better wit The Lord prosper your days direct your hearts and bless all your undertakings to the glory of his Name and your own eternal felicitie So ever Prayeth Your Worships in all Duty and Service Rich. Kingston To the Church-Wardens of the Parish of St. James Clerken-Well for the time being and to the rest of the Officers and Inhabitants of the same Parish R. K. Wisheth health and happiness in this life and Eternal blessedness in that to come Loving Friends IT pleased the wise Disposer of all things to cast my lot among you in one of the most dreadful Visitations that ever England knew when the black Horse of the Pestilence with Pale Death on his back pranc'd our Streets at Noon day and Midnight at which dreadful and never to be forgotten time our sense of Seeing was well-nigh glutted with beholding the sight of our Diseased and Deceased Friends enough to have extinguish'd the optick faculty No Papers then over our Dores were set With Chambers ready furnish'd to be Let But a sad Lord have mercy upon us and A Bloody Cross as fatal marks did stand Presaging th' noisome Pestilence within Was come to take revenge of us for Sin And as our Eyes might well be dim'd so might our Ears be deaf'd with the doleful cryes of the Poor for Food to keep them from Starving of the Sick for Physick to keep them from Dying and of them that were Marked for Spiritual helps to preserve them from Perishing We well might hear of Death there was such plenty One Bell at once was fain to Ring for twenty No Clocks were heard to strike upon their Bells Cause nothing Rung but Death-lamenting knells Which dreadful noises so terrified some and affrighted all that men knew not what course to steer to preserve themselves from this wounding shaft Some by their fear to go to Church deburr'd Anon are carri'd Dead into the Yard And Churches new with too much Burial fed Fear'd they should have no meeting but of Dead This Poyson'd Arrow of the Pestilence especially when it was first foot among us wounded so suddenly and sharply that we could scarce be resolved whether 't was Sickness or Death it self that assaulted us for many lying down to repose in the Evening made their sleep true kin to Death by dying before the Morning Ah who would then defer A preparation for this messenger But not to detain you longer with a large Epistle to a little Book be pleas'd to accept thereof as a Testimony of my sincere love to you which shall always be accompanied with my hearty Prayers for you that our merciful God would be pleas'd to withdraw his Sin-revenging Scourge which is still amongst us and charge his Angels to guard your persons from future dangers and give you
The Cause of the Disease Sin implyed in these words and turn from their wicked ways Thirdly The Medicine to be used which is Compounded of three Ingredients 1. Humility 2. Prayer 3. Repentance Fourthly The Physician prescribing this Medicine God I will hear from heaven c. I begin with the Disease of which I need say but little since it speaks so much for it self But something I must say lest I seem to pass that over that passeth by few in a house or City where it comes The word is sometimes rendred Pestilence and sometimes Plague from the Latine word Plaga which signifies a Stroke but by reason of the Streightness of our English Tongue they are promiscuously taken The Plague in other Languages extends further and notes any extraordinary Stroke that comes from God the Prophets under that Word contain these four Famine Pestilence Wild Beasts and the Sword which per eminentiam are called the four plagues of God 'T is true God creates every thing both light and darkness Isa 45.7 good and evil as the Prophet speaks but because Strokes if they be private particular or ordinary have no great operation on us we observe their second and not their first causes and so we neither reverence God's Justice nor discern his hand nor fear his power Upon this Score when mens sins cry aloud and peircing the Heavens mount to the very throne of God it is fit likewise that God's loud Justice should peirce the heavens Heb. 1.21 descend upon man and like the voice of Sinai make poor mortals quake and fear The plague is a Stroke able to extort from any man the confession of Pharaoh's Enchanters Ex. 8.19 This is the Finger of God It 's an Arrow of his own shooting 2 Sam. 24.15 and may better be called Morbus Sacer then the Falling Sickness And therefore in our Language we style the Pestilence the Visitation of God and the Tokens thereof God's Marks and upon our Dores write LORD HAVE MERCY VPON VS By which we clearly confess whilest the Angel executeth divine wrath we all stand at God's Mercy And thus I come from the Disease it self to the Cause of it which is God's anger enflamed by Sin I know there are some that following the Sentiments of Physicians will needs ascribe it to the Infection of the Aire to gross and unwholsome Diet or to the predominancy of corrupt humours But Physicians may be excused if they say something when they see an Angel As I will not deny but in all Diseases there may be something of natural so I may likewise affirm there is in this something divine and above nature 1. For the natural part First The Infected Aire may contribute very much and therefore we read that by casting the Ashes of the Furnace towards heaven Ex. 9.8 the Aire became Infected and the plague of Botches and Blains spread it self over Aegypt Secondly Corrupt humours may do the like for to them doth King David ascribe the cause of his Malady when he complains that his Moisture in him was corrupt Psal 32.4 dryed up and turned into the drought of Summer Thirdly The contagion comeing from the Sick Thus we see by the Jewish Law the Leprous person for fear of Infecting others was commanded to cry aloud Vnclean Lev. 13.45 46 52. Vnclean by which he gave the Sound warning they should not approch nigh for fear of Contagion He was besides to have his dwelling alone and the garments he wore were to be washed and if the plague was spread in them the Priest was to burn them Yea the very house walls in which the Leper dwelt were to be scraped and in some cases the house it self to be pulled down The Learned Fernelius more judiciously confesses this Disease hath a hidden beginning some secret principle that occultly wounds and we may assure our selves that though things ab extrâ contribute to its progression yet the real cause is the latent Corruption within us Sir Tho. More Epigr. Nugamur mortemque procul procul esse putamus At mediis latet haec abdita visceribus But let us come to the supernatural Cause of this Disease and that will not require a Physician so much as a Divine And I suppose many of them think it a difficult point that they go into the Country to study it and by their absence expound S. Paul's words thus We preach not our selves i. e. our Curates or who else will preach for us But to the supernatural Cause the Scripture observes it as a crime in King Asa that in the time of his Sickness he look'd more after the Physician than after God He did not consider the Infirmity of his Soul was to be healed as well as that of his body and therefore look'd for natural remedies only But if we would avoid his fault we must acknowledge the hand of God in this Sickness and something above nature For if we observe the way of inflicting it we shall find it oftentimes done by Spirits Thus we see an Angel a destroying Angel in the plague of Aegypt Exod. 12.13 Another in the plague that destroyed the host of the Assyrians under Senacherib We find a third in the plague at Jerusalem under King David and St. John in the Revelations brings in a fourth pouring his Vial upon Earth Rev. 16.2 and there fell a noisome plague upon Man and Beast So that God is the great Agent in this Calamity But how Not willingly his anger must first be enkindled by our Sin for as the Psalmist saith Psal 106. They provoked him to anger with their Inventions and then the plague brake in amongst them Thus Deut. 28.21 God says Because of the wickedness of thy doing whereby thou hast forsaken me the Lord shall make the Pestilence cleave unto thee And Hosea cries Hos 14.6 O Israel return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine Iniquity The perdidit te in the Prophet doth not proceed from neighbours become Enemies or from the Locust Caterpiller Mildews and such other things as cause Famine and Pestilence but from the corruption and Sin hatch'd in these Israelites and therefore in the second verse he counsels them as the only way to recover their former happiness to Take with them words and turn to the Lord and say unto him take away all Iniquity and receive us graciously So that sin which is the plague of the Soul begets the Plague of the Body This viperous Mother brings forth a child so like it self that it 's hard to know the one for the other I shall shew you in a few particulars their Similitude and Agreement First They are alike in Nature The Corporeal Pestilence aims not at the more ignoble parts of the body but at the very Source of Life the vital Spirits and by its contagious quality oppresses them The like doth Sin by its secret Malignancy to the Soul It blinds the understanding
with all those Obloquies and Reproaches which St. Paul would not have flung even at Nero himself And what I pray was the Issue of this These discontented murmurings begot a Rebellion and that Rebellion though it occasioned the Ruin of the most blessed Prince yet by God's just judgment disgorged its Venom upon our own heads from being free Subjects to a King of a Glorious Race it made us vassals to one of low degree and took from us the felicity they enjoy whose King is the Son of Nobles The same we may affirm of the Church of England When was it so flourishing as in the aforenamed Prince's Time Yet either our discontentedness at his Fatherly Indulgence to it or our Avaritious designs to engross its Patrimony brought us to that Insolence that we must needs make her the Young Whore of Babylon and under pretence of correcting her Errors not only commit the greatest Sacriledges and Rapes upon her but fling down all her Fences that the Wild Bore of Schisme and Heresie might root her up And God knows at this very day the dismal Effects of murmuring are too too visible although our now Gratious Prince endevours to his utmost the extinguishing these unhappy differences that like so many Phaetons if not stopp'd in their Motion will burn both Church and State An hour is too short a time to discourse of the Sins that swarm in this Land What Mercy do we shew to our Poor doth not the Extortioner take damnable Interest and the Oppressor use violence Do they not eat like a canker into the Reversions of the Poor The Italians proverbially say of the Viceroyes of Naples and Milan that the one fleeces and the other fleas the Subject I am afraid we have too many amongst us that put this in practice and make it their only study to be Ingenious in oppressing and ruining their poor neighbours What temperance do we practice in the use of the creatures How many are there that study to be nothing more then accurate Gluttons They cannot dine or sup except they rob the Aire of its rarest fowle and the Rivers and Seas of its most exquisite Fish and yet will scarce afford the Poor those living Temples of the Holy Ghost a Morsell of Bread to keep them from Starving they can swallow down whole flaggons of the richest Wines and yet have scarce a thimble full of cold water for their thirsty neighbour And indeed if ever drunkenness had an impunity it is in these days although it be a most detestable Sin and so prolifical that it begets a thousand others yet it is now so much in vogue that I am afraid reeling in the Streets will be al'a mode and this Vice which metamorphoseth a Man into a Beast rather be the Subject of Mirth then detestation But let these bon-companions know there was a curse long ago pronounced against those that are strong to drink and that God is now putting it in Execution Since with their Teeth they will be digging their own graves and pour down into their Throats like sluces floods of Liquor to drown their Souls it is but Just the Pestilence should save them a labour and give them a quick dispatch And as with Excess in Eating and Drinking we have provoked God so likewise in our Apparel and Cloaths The Garments which God made our first Parents were to hide their shame but ours are so fantastically shap'd that instead of covering they discover it In a word There is nothing We have endevoured so much as the advancement of the Kingdome of Satan Our Eyes have wholly been employed upon lustful Objects and lewd Women Infelicissimae publicarum libidinum victimae those unhappy Sacrifices of common Lust as Tertullian speaks more grateful to us than virtuous Company The debauchery of Vnclean Songs and vilanous discourse have been more acceptable to our Ears than a good Sermon or wholsome admonitions Our Smell hath been caress'd with effeminate perfumes Our Tast with luxurious Viands and Sauces made to heighten an Appetite beyond the Necessity of Nature And lastly Our Touch hath been tainted with Lasciviousness With so little care have we guarded these Cinque-ports of our Soul yea rather left them as so many open avenues free for Sin to enter That it is no wonder if death tread upon the Heels of Sin and snatches us away in the flagrant fact Object But you will say Since God is all goodness and cannot be the Author of Evill how comes it to pass that he so severely punisheth Sin and sends such plagues amongst men for it Answ To this I answer with the Learned Bishop of Marseilles Salvianus in his 8 Book de Providentia where he saith A Deo quippe punimus sed ipsi facimus Cui dubium est quin ipsi nos nostris criminibus puniamus vim Deo facimus iniquitatibus nostris ipsi in nos Iram Dei armamus God indeed punisheth us but we cause and after a sort force him to do it God inflicteth stripes but we deserve them God striketh but we provoke God poureth out the Vials of his wrath but we fill them up to the brim by our overflowing Iniquities If we have any thing that is good in us it is from God but in a true sense we make him just even by our Injustice for if we were not unjust in Sinning he could not be just in punishing neither would he desire any way to exalt his glory by the ruine of his Creature Mic. 7.18 Mercy is his delight and goodness is his Nature He therefore never sendeth Evil upon us before we have it in us he never fills a Cup of Red wine before the measure of our Crimson sin is full Let us therefore lay the blame upon our selves and with mournful Jerusalem say The Lord is righteous but we have rebelled against him Let us in flying to his Mercy yet still adore his justice and let the consideration of his unwillingness to punish us so work upon us that hereafter we may not force him to it For he is slow to anger and of great Compassion And thus from the Disease we pass to the Remedy which consists of three Ingredients 1. Humility 2. Prayer 3. Repentance If my People that are called by my name do humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear c. 1. If my People humble themselves It seems God will have humility be the first Ingredient in this Plague-Antidote Lofty Spirits are like wheels St. Basil in Ascet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. in St. Basil's phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They move not to any Spiritual height but run a vain Circle and endless round They are so far from attaining any good end that they embar all the passages to it The old Marquiss of Worcester being asked in Queen Elizabeths Time how he continued Favourite to three Princes of such different humours Answered He was made of a Willow not of
be thus wounded if we consider that the Jews did but once crucifie him but We by the committal of fresh sins and Impieties crucifie him every day and grieve his holy Spirit It is therefore infinitly necessary we should have this due sense this holy wounding of heart if we expect God should repent of the evil done unto us and heal our Land 2. The second branch of Repentance is Confession As we must be sorrowful for sin so we must make a true confession of sin Now in confession we must observe these Rules First Our confession must be humble and self-accusing Non vis ut ille damnet Tu damna Vis ut ille ignoscat Tu agnosce Wouldst thou not that God should Condemn thee condemn thy self Say with the Publican Lord have mercy upon me a sinner Wouldst thou have God pardon Do thou crye guilty We must not imitate our Grandfather Adam that cryed The Woman thou gavest me presented me the fruit and I did eat We must take the sins we have committed upon our selves it being altogether unjust we should file that Evil on anothers score of which we have been the Authors How many are there in these days that when they are accused of any Vncleanness lay the fault upon Nature as St. Austin complains many in his time did and consequently accuse God himself We ought rather with the Prophet David to cry out Lord it is I that have done this Great Wickedness and with Jeremiah confess our ways and our Evil doings have brought all these miseries upon us Secondly We must not put our sins to the Devil's Account He may tempt us but he cannot force us to sin The Devil might have offered Eve a thousand of those beautiful Apples without prevailing had she not been as willing to tast that forbidden fruit as he ready to perswade her it was good If he could force us to sin we might justly lay the fault at his dore and make the very necessity of sinning our Apology But the Apostle St. James bids us resist the Devil and he will fly from us to teach us we have a power to combat and through Grace baffle his pernicious temptations Thirdly Neither must we make God the Author of our sins He is a God of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and what blasphemy would it be in us when we have committed sins that even some natural men would abhor to father them upon God the source of all purity and goodness The Psalmist steers another course when he says I will confess my sins unto the Lord Psal 32. He doth not say he will accuse God as the author of his Lust to the Wife of Vriah or of his Pride in numbering the people no but I will confess to him against my self he is righteous and I have done wickedly God cannot be tempted to evil neither tempts he any man it is a principle of corruption within us that brings forth this viperous brood and we must wholly acknowledge God righteous when he punisheth for Sin Fourthly Our Confession must be Integra perfecta There are many that will be ready to acknowledge those Sins which they see the best of Men are obnoxious to but their Dallilah's their darling Sins like the true name of Rome they keep concealed But this is not the Confession that will do our work a lame half-confession is no more acceptable to God than if we should offer him half our heart when he requires the whole Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart which he can never truly be said to do that leaves some Sins unconfess'd and as it were hid in the inward recesses of his Soul because God being a profess'd enemy to every Sin such a concealment is a taking part with that which he most hates Thirdly The third part of Repentance is Conversion Now there is a two-fold Conversion 1. A Turning and total Conversion of a Sinner from Sin to God and in this Signification is comprehended the whole work of Grace Psal 51.14 And Sinners shall be converted unto thee this is passive Conversion wherein God is the Chief Agent but our selves by our natural power work nothing unless it be to hinder the work of Grace 2. There is a turning from some particular Sin or Sins whereby we have offended God or Man Luke 22.32 When thou art converted and Jer. 31.18 Convert thou me and I shall be converted This is an active Conversion performed by men who being already renewed by Grace do work together with this Grace Now this conversion is a turning of the heart unto God whereby we contract a perfect aversion to those things which we formerly delighted in and have such an alteration in our will and affections that we desire nothing and affect nothing but what we find agreeable to his blessed will It is not a turning of the Brain an alteration of this or that opinion that is Vertigo Capitis not Conversio Cordis but it is a meer alteration and turning of 〈…〉 of our hearts So that the perfection of this conversion consists in the turning of the whole heart This true turning is a thing no way pleasing to the Devil If he could he would not have us turn at all he sowes pillows under our Elbows and perswades us we are in a blessed condition but if we will needs turn he will persuade us to Turn any whether rather than unto God If he cannot effect this yet his Artifice and cunning is to make us leave our hearts behind Now if that will not do but we will Turn with our heart in Corde yet he labours all he can it may not be in toto he would have us have some private ends some Lusts to gratifie he would have our affections broken and not entirely subservient to the Divine Will But Beloved if we would remove these judgments that lye heavy upon us we must not divide our hearts between God and the Devil but must turn to God with our whole hearts for he is the great Physician that only can heal our diseased Souls And thus I come to the fourth and last Branch of the Text the Physician prescribing the Medicine GOD in these words I will hear from heaven and will forgive their Sin and will heal their Land St. Chrysostome tells us that Christ the second person of the Trinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his death became Physician of the Dead in his very humility and state of Exinanition he baffled Sin and Death and the Balsam of his Blood shed upon the Cross closed up the Serpentine wound received in Paradice If this be true of Christ as without doubt it is whilest he was in the form of a Servant we ought not to question the performance of the promise made us in my Text by the whole Trinity I will hear from heaven c. I God the Father I God the Son I God the Holy Ghost I one yet three at whose presence the