or displeased We must dye said one of the Heathen so say I whether God be pleased or displeased with us to speak with reverence we must believe as the Cananitish Woman did when Christ called her Dog or else we sinck and perish Vse 4 Wherefore my last Use is to exhort you to seek this grace of faith that you may be able to believe God because of his own Word Job 4.41 And so to set your Seal to his Word and Works and by this be able to espy light in darkness which God is most ready to give Righteousness shall go before him and he shall set us in the way of his steps Psal 85. ult Truth shall spring out of the Earth and Righteousness shall look down from Heaven which words surely point at Christ and the Gospel by which God trains up sinners to believe in him to their Salvation in this World and in the World to come God preached Christ to Adam and taught him to take hold of him to his temporal and eternal Salvation Adam named his Wife Eva or Life And the promise is that we shall all i.e. Jew and Gentile be taught of God to this thing to glorifie the word of the Lord that is the essential word Christ and the written word the Scriptures God taught Noah to build the Ark concerning which one thing is most remarkable that the Door into the Ark was in the lowest story and so was under Water all the time of the Flood which surely was done on purpose to make and exercise faith purely in him which shut him in Seek faith in this height which my Text and Doctrin spake of 1 That you may be able in the greatest darkness to make light and sight The Jews in their daunces would say Blessed be thou O my Youth which hast not shamed my old Age and these were called Men of Performances Others would say Blessed be thou my old Age which hast gain-said my Youth and these were called Men of repentance Both would say Blessed is he that hath not sin'd and he that hath sinn'd and is pardoned Seek such a faith that thus you may see cause to bless God in every condition in Youth in Age in sickness in health when down and when risen again when you do not sin and when you do sin as being able to apprehend Christ and your pardon Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is pardoned blessed is he to whom the Lord will not impute sin surely his Salvation is neer them that fear him that glâ—ry may dwell in our Land mercy and truth are met together righteousness and peace have kissed each other Psal 58.9 10. What this kissing of Righteousness and Peace means you may see Vers 2. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy People thou hast cover'd all their sin Selah The Psalmist by faith saw peace in Heaven towards the Lords People and that peace i e. All good should be on Earth to them also which keeps the heart in a ready chearful frame to serve God and to bless him in every state and therefore such a faith should be sought for Watch to preserve your faith who have this grace of graces How careful we are to preserve our eyes and much more to preserve our lives Faith is your best eyes by which you are able to look out of every hill into Heaven and faith is your best life by this we live spiritually and by this we have all the joy of our life that is worth any thing He that never saw the rejoyceing of drawing of Water never saw joy in all his life saith the Jewes so he that never saw the joy of faith which is called unspeakable and full of glory never saw joy in all his life and therefore you that have this faith and the great and unspeakable benefit of it preserve it all you can and make no shipwrack of faith and conscience and there you save all though you lose all beside Hence it is that David begs that God would draw out his loving kindness to them that knew him and his righteousness to the upright in heart with thee is the Fountain of Life and in thy light we shall see light Psal 36.9 10. By which he means that God would more reveal Christ to him in his word and works for the better establishing of every grace and thus let us pâ—nt all our days that in his light we may see light and have our faith and integrity preserved for they live and dye together He that did bring the World by the Flood in oâ—ics first Chaos covered all with VVater he can and is ready to bring our faâ—len state by Christ the greatest piece of which is unbelief to some degree of restoration and bear up the Pillars thereof faith and every grace and all by his own hand And he that enabled Noah in Seven Days to furnish the Ark with all Creatures for a whole Year both for nourishment anâ— for sacr fice to weather it in all that dark time he can quickly inable us to store our Souls in this dark day with every grace to weather well this evil time and to stand compleat in all the will of God The Motives which may be used are these your own matters are or may be suddenly very dark most Mens sun claps in in this hour and every one either in point of estate or liberty or life begineth to walk in the Vally of the shadow of Death it would be well now in such times to have such a frame of spirit to keep up and to fear none ill to be able to say as David The Lord is my light and my Salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid though an Host encamp against me my heart shall not fear though War should rise against me in this will I be confident for in time of trouble he shall hide me in his Pavilion in the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me and now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about Psal 27.1 2 3 Many Clouds are up and more still arising and some are already over-shadowing you Would it not be well if you were able indeed to say thus Though Waâ—s be though Famine though Pestilence though Imprisonment Banishment yet in all these will I be confident over these shall I be a Conqueror for in the times of these troubles the Lord will hide me and it may be now as dark and as dismal as things look shall my head be lifted up above all mine enemies round about God promised after the Flood was over that Day and Night should no more cease Gen. 8 22. which intimateth saith one upon that place that during the Forty Days Rain which made the Flood that the Day was as it were ceased and turned into Night by the great and thick Clouds and Tempests which were all over the World and Clouds and Darkness are usually
which I observe to prosecute from these words is this That Christ is the proper remedy of natural corruption I thank God through Jesus Christ c. He whom God the Father hath sealed sanctified and sent into this World for this end to Cure natural corrupâ—ion is Jesus Christ our Lord as the Apostle here calls him The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty unto the Captives and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound Isa 61.1 By Captives and such as are in Prison is meant sinners in their unregenerated condition who are under the power and slavery of sin and carried Captive by the evil one at his will and by broken hearted and poor he means such as are deeply affected and afflicted with the body of death natural corruption in the guilt and pollution of it these is Christ anointed with the Spirit of the Lord to relieve and help to bind them up and all their wounds and putrified soares and to heal them and to preach liberty to them and to bring them into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God and such as are shut up under the power of sin and Satan as in a Prison to break down these strong holds and to open the everlasting Doors to himself the King of Glory to make a Prison a Palace a Slave a Son and Heir with him of all with this compare Isa 32.2 And a man shall be a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as Rivers of Water in a dry place as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land and the eyes of them that see shall not be dim and the eares of them that hear shall hearken the heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge and the Tongue of the stammerer shall be ready to speak plainly Men in their natural condition may be in a calm as long as the strong Man ruleth all is at peace but these will be in a tempest and a terrible one first or last when their Consciences come to be convinced as the Apostles here was And then who is able and who is appointed to allay these storms To this the Prophet answers A man shall be a hiding place and a covert from wind and rain but so a Man that he is also God or else he could do nothing at these winds and storms That these things are thus spiritually to be understood appears by the next words v. 3 4. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim c. So that it means heart-storms and tempest and heart-help and Christ God-Man that is to be the helper and the great Covert in these storms and tempests and the great Rock for shade where the poor Soul is so scorched with the heat of God's wrath that he is ready to faint and die Blindness and deafness and rashness they all speak one thing the ill state we are in by nature blind deaf dumb and yet rash and mad and confident enough and the Man Christ Jesus who is called Emanuel God with us he is the appointed curer of all these Maladies This is a proof of the Point in hand in general I will descend to particulars of our fallen state and shew you that Christ is the appointed and proper remedy of all the diseases of our Souls There are three things complain'd of and supposed in the Apostles complaint in my Text one is a body of death that is our natural depraved state which is the filth of sin Secondly He complains of the Body of this Death that is the obligation of sin to the wrath of God temporal and eternal which we call the guilt of sin These two are expressed in his complaint Now there is a third thing supposed in these complaints of a bad state which is that he would fain have a better or else he would not have complained of this no more than other unregenerated Sinners do Now as to all these three Christ is the proper and appointed remedy and relief of miserable and wretched Man First As to the Body of Death i e. as to the fiâ—th of sin the depravation of our nature of which I spake in the other Sermon Christ is the remedy of this root and branch see Isa 51.9 10 11. Awake awake put on strength O Arm of the Lord Awake as in the ancient days in the Generations of old Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon Art thou not it which hast dryed up the Sea and the Waters of the great deep that hast made the depths of the Sea a way for the ransomed to pass over Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion and everlasting joy shall be upon their head and they shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and mourning shall flee away Now put all these borrowed words into plain English and what deep must this mean the drying up of which maketh the way to Zion where everlasting joy is obtained This deep must necessarily mean the bottomless Gulf of natural corruption shadowed fitly by the deep that hath in many parts no bottom and as Christ was he that went before our Fathers and dryed up that deep Sea and made it a way to go through to Zion and to the holy Land So it is he that dryeth up the deep Sea of sin in our nature and so maketh way to the holy state and the holy Church the true Zion in which is everlasting joy Now forasmuch as corrupt nature puts forth under some chief head and grand lust which is as King to all the Châ—ldren of pride as Pharaoh and his Princes to all the Body of Egypt Who fighteth against these Ans Christ He is remedy for root and branch of the Body of Death Art not thou it which hath cut Rahab and wounded the head of the Dragon The Prophet speaketh still in allusion to Pharaoh and his Princes which he calls Crokâ—dile or Dragon that is a Sea-Dragon wherewith Egypt abounded This Sea of natural corruption hath some Sea-Dragons great Soul-devouring Monsters swimming and playing in it And who deals with these Ans He that dries up the deep that is Christ Art not thou he that hath cut Rahab and wounded the head of the Dragon This Text leadeth us by the hand to that first promise made to Adam The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head which means our state of sin as headed and organised by Satan through any particular prevailing lust whatsoever our state of sin is there spoken of as headed by Satan who organiseth the old man as Christ doth the new And this surely is that great slaughter and the Towers falling which the Prophet especially pointeth at upon the fall of which the light of the Moon becometh as the light of the Sun and the light of
give him a stone This is reason But much more can faith help it self by experience I am a man in authority and I say to one man go and he goeth and I say to another come and he cometh c. This is experience and faith is wonderful weak indeed when it cannot thus help up it self experiences are such sensible and such impressive things upon all powers within and without O ye of little faith do ye not remember the five loaves and how many Baskets ye took up Mat. 16. Christ takes it for granted that faith is very little and very weak indeed when it cannot help it self by experiences things which the Man hath had done for him in his wants He delivered me from the Lyon and the Bear and he will deliver me from this uncircumcised Philistim The Lord even Jesus who appeared to thee in the way he hath sent that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost Act. 9.17 Doubtless that experience which he had of such an escape going to Damascus advantaged his faith all his days to look thorow and to run thorow all the storms and perils which afterward he met withall Some great sickness the Apostle Paul had by the ill usage of Men who oppressed him and yet God preserved and how he raised faith by experience to look thorow all evils present and to come see 2 Cor. 1.9 10. We would not have you ignorant of the troubles which happen'd unto us in Asia how that we were pressed out of measure above strength insomuch that we despaired ever of life but we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God that raiseth the dead who deliver'd us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us Mordecai is called Pethakia because saith the Jews he opened and expounded all matters and understood 70 Languages Experience may be called Pethakiah it doth so interpret all Ridles and dark matters both of the word and works of God it explains and interprets 70 and 70 Languages if there be so many worth the interpreting it makes a Man with ease and triumph to look thorow and over all before it though never so dark and difficult as David over Goliah and Zerubabel over that great Mountain which was before him and Joshuah the High Priest over sin and Satans occasions Is not this a brand pluckt out of the Fire Fourthly By Prayer doth a believer come to this good eye-sight to look thorow all dark and difficult matters When I cry to thee then shall mine enemies turn back this I know for God is for me Psal 56.9 David had cryed to God as one once did a little before an engagement and he knew he should have the day and that his enemies would turn their backs great clearing of fight is made by prayer and tears in dark days to see thorow matters A little wind overthrows not only Houses but States and Kingdoms saith Seneca A little of this wind I mean the pantings and prayings of God's People to Heaven overthrows Persons and Nations indeed and is a sure prognostick of good to whom a praying spirit is given and makes in the heart an assurance of good coming My soul followeth hard after thee thy right hand upholdeth me then observe what he saw Those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the Earth Psal 63.8 9. Whether that were Hell or the Grave or both 't was well the Church and David were rid of them Prayer is an Ordinance by which the Soul goeth to Heaven and then gets a new life and strength before it comes down again Christ found the blessing of this Ordinance oft and hath surely sanctified it to all his for the same end to lift up their heads and hearts above all troubles He shall cry unto me thou art my Father my God the Rock of my Salvation and I will make him my first born higher than the Kings of the Earth Psal 89.26 The whole course of Nature began with the motion of the Heavens and continues still vigorous according to the continued motion of them Now as the motion of the Heavens is to the whole course of Nature so is Prayer to all the graces of the Soul and to the whole course and state of the new World it is this that sets all graces a going and going true and strong let weather be what it will Hence are those pertinent words of David Trust in the Lord at all times ye People pour out your hearts before him God is a refuge for us Selah Psal 62.8 He maketh these subservient one to another faith to prayer and prayer to faith as indeed they are Would you trust in the Lord at all times then pour out your souls to God Would you pour out your souls to God and pray alway then trust in the Lord at all times Hence it is that the Apostle Paul when he had spoken at a great height of faith Who hath delivered and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver c. You also helping together for us by Prayer 2 Cor. 1.11 Prayer mounts faith upon its high places and faith mounts prayer and makes one pray in his praying Unbelief is soul-fainting and prayer is a fetching fresh life from the Fountain of Life Have mercy upon me O Lord consider my troubles which I suffer of them that hate me thou that liftest me up from the gates of death Psal 13. that is Soul and Body Vse 1 Learn from hence that if faith looketh through the most dark and difficult things then where faith is not troubled People and distressed People must needs be at a great loss especially in great distresses yea the truth is in every little distress every little tryal will sinck them in whom is no faith I cannot well give the reason of it some things contemptible are very vertual to cure great diseases of which none are able to give a reason Unless this that faith twines it self with God to do for Man and all other natural abilities bear up little because they lead not the sinner out of himself but to trust in some thing of the Creature and very little burdens will break the back of a meer Man though his reason and parts and outward helps may be many Saul was bid to stay till Samuel came to him and Samuel stayed but a little beyond his time consequently his tryal was but little and he falls upon things and ways unlawful to his ruine He that believes not will make hast because he cannot see through any strait The Philistines were neer and thou didst not come and therefore 't was in vain for me to wait so Saul reasoned within himself and so will every Man that is destitute of faith Achan having no faith could not forbear but would be providing for himself when as God was before them and
A MEMORIAL OF GOD'S JUDGMENTS Spiritual and Temporal OR SERMONS To call to Remembrance First Preached and now Published for Publick Benefit By Nic. Lockier Minister of the Gospel A Psalm of David to bring to Remembrance Psal 38. 70. Title And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led thee these forty Years in the wilderness to humble thee to prove thee to know what was in thine heart whether thou wouldst keep his Commandments or no. Deut. 8.2 Veteris incommodi reminisci Caes Tempus illud reminiscitur moerens Ovid. London Printed for Dorman Newman and are to be Sold at his Shop at the Kings Arms and Bible in the Poultry 1671. To the People of God and to the Readers of the following Tract Grace and Mercy by Jesus Christ Reader THese Sermons were preached when God's Judgments were destroying these Nations by Sword and Pestilence to second the works of God with the word of God for the saving edification of the punished Now because we are apt to forget the Rods of God and his words and our duty urged by them both I have thought it might be profitable at least to some to publish these Discourses such as they be and leave them to the blessing of God and the good and candid acceptation of such as shall please to peruse them The Sword and Pestilence were not strokes of God which only concern'd the City of London but the whole three Nations and therefore these Instructions are due and proper to all the People of God and to any that have a heart to make use of them Our Fathers went under five Miracles saith One through the Wilderness the Cloud the raining of daily Manna the following of the Waters from the Rock Horeb the continual newness of their Cloaths and the untiredness of their Feet The People of God in these Nations have gone under many wonderful Providences to that state of tranquility wherein now they are this among them all is a standing one that the Bush hath so long burned and yet is not quite consumed neither by Plague nor Sword nor any other hard things done unto them How the late Judgments were ushered in amongst us with signs in the Heavens in the Earth and in the Seas we cannot quite forget Several blazeing Stars in one Year's space the like scarce not known and other multiplyed Prodigies many ways and how they are all gone off with heightned security and multiplied prodigious wickedness may justly affect us much to consider and affright us more to think what worse things may quickly come upon us Our lives during the late Judgments did hang in doubt from God and man whether God would spare us from the Pestilence or Man spare us from the Sword The dread of the Sword was not small when the Seas did roar and the Rivers also at our Doors The dread of the Plague was many Plagues I am sure the best Christians that felt it will say that spiritual stroke not to have been small though their lives since I fear may more than say it to be so The destroying Angel passed over few Houses and some he swept clean and no Lord have mercy on us heard for so much as one Other Houses had some spared but with Hezekia's mark a Plague soar on their Bodies and a worse upon their hearts both which continue to this day Under all this dreadful Discipline what was done then and since to shew repentance reformation thankfulness for such great escapes may well cause great and deep thoughts of heart From Adam to Moses were Twenty-Six Generations and accordingly doth the Psalmist praise God six and twenty times according to the numeral letters of the word Jehova who did all the wonders for that People which are mentioned in that 136 Psalm And surely six and twenty times over hath the Lord merited praises and all worthy walking at all our hands high and low for the many great things he hath done for us at Sea and Land but I pray God we be not found six and twenty times worse than then we were Some remindings of God's great works amongst us by his word I think all will grant are therefore needful and pitty it is but the word of God should go freely forth over the Nations for such great ends to preach over the punishments of God afresh unto us If the punishments of God must repeat and preach themselves again for want of the word that will not be so pleasing nor it may be not so profitable for us Many thousands were killed by the Sword and Pestilence but few I fear made spiritually alive by either The word O the powerful preaching of the word of God This this kindly convinceth and converteth yea and diverteth Sword and Pestilence and Famine with all other judgments as all experience and divine History sheweth What prosperous times for health and wealth peace and plenty were in Juda when they were zealous to promote the word and true worship of God! when we fall out with these God he falls on upon us with one judgment or other If men do not believe this they may feel it seven times more Our nature is enmity to all good some thing is treated of this and its cure in this tract which indeed is the cure of all evils for whence come Wars and contentions Come they not from our unmortified lusts which war in our corrupt hearts Death whether by Sword or Pestilence or any how is no good friend to an ill life some thing also is said of this in this Tract to make us remember our later end to live and die well In miseries of all sorts we need friends mercy from Men as well as mercy from God some thing therefore is said in this Tract to quicken to this to be pitiful and tender hearted one to another Clouds return after rain and make more and greater storms some thing is said of this too and much more may be felt if we do not repent Kadesh Barnea was so called from a double punishment which was there inflicted GOD may sanctify Himself upon Us because he is not sanctified in Us. And he may make us wandering Sons because we still wander much from Him It was called Kadesh because there the Lord sanctified himself upon the People for their corporal and spiritual Whoredomes with the Midianites And it was called barnea or the wandering Son because there was the Decree made for their long wandering in the Wilderness Pray God we be not called Kadesh Barnea too for our making so little good use of former punishments God's double punishments and troops of calamities even all his waves may pass over us justly some thing of this also is said in the last part of this Tract the Lord bless all to all that peruse these things The People of God loving one another fervently profiting one another with their Gifts Graces Estates being sober sound in the faith holy heavenly and about
little other than the Soul and this he groans and sighs under O wretched man that I am c. And this written for our Example Take another instance in this Apostle as soon as converted And Saul arose from the Earth and when his Eyes were opened he saw no man but they led him by the Hand and he was three Days without sight and did neither eat nor drink Act. 9.9 Why did he neither eat nor drink for three Days Doubtless he was in a deep sense of his lost condition as one in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity both by nature and practice That his natural corruption was so great a weight upon him afterward as we here see it was by my Text it was much more heavy upon him at first view when this bottomly gulf was first opened to this self-conceited Pharisee what I say is very likely by the three Days horror and astonishment wherein he lay starving himself Doubtless he thought himself as unworthy to eat or drink so unworthy to live as the poor Publican which smote his breast and would not look up to Heaven as not judging himself worthy to go upon the Earth The eating of the Pass-over with sower Herbs might point at this for their coming out of Egypt snadowed their coming out of spiritual bondage and misery in which they were And so the miseries of natural bondage by sin and our fall and then their sower Herbs might well teach them as to keep a sense of their bodily slavery and misery so especially to keep a deep sense of their soul-slavery and misery and all the sower things and conflicts of their inward condition The poor Jaylor may be a further authority for this Doctrine which I have observed His eyes being some thing opened to see what a wretched Man he was by his nature and practice trembled and would have made away himself and came and fell at the Apostles Feet with a great out-cry What must I do to be saved Act. 16.30 And whereas I make the Proposition Universal saying That we all ought to be deeply sensible of natural corruption I ground it upon my Text and the Example that is given to follow in such an eminent Man as the Apostle Paul was That the Apostle Paul was not exempted from natural corruption nor from this duty of deep-laying it to heart neither are others But then the Question will be by what Rule the Apostle Paul did this for he himself saith that we should follow him no otherwise than as he followed Christ By what Rule then did the Apostle thus lay to heart his fallen state And was his Rule universal that is for all the fallen Sons of Adam For this see 1 King 8.38 When the House for communion between God and Man was made and consecrated this is the great Law of fellowship and communion between God and Man That even every one should know the Plague of his heart Now by the Plague of the heart is meant saith Interpreters principally our fallen and corrupt state of Soul by nature and then such particular special ebullitions thereof in act to open scandal and provocation And this one Law is for Jew and stranger And by knowing this Plague of the heart which every one was to do means that they should be well acquainted with their natural corruption and actual transgressions and deeply bewail them and truly as having to do with an All-seeing and All-searching God who searcheth the heart so it follows in the next words Vers 39. What Prayer or Supplication soever be made by any Man or by all the People of Israel which shall know every Man the Plague of his own heart and spread forth his hands towards this house then hear thou in Heaven thy dwelling-place and forgive and do and give to every one according to his ways whose heart thou knowest for thou even thou knowest all the hearts of the Children of Men. The New Testament concurreth to this in as much as John the Baptist thus began the Gospel by calling upon all to repent and so Christ himself called upon all his hearers to repent Mat. 4.17 The other of John the Baptist is Mat. 3.2 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand This is the Power of God by the Word to change your hearts and to open the everlasting Doors By repenting he means what he saith further in his Sermon Mat. 5 3 4 5. Poor in spirit mourning for sin attended with a desire of relief a hungering and thirsting for a better state That is Repentance is that sinners be throughly convinced of their lost condition by nature and of their utter inability to make their own relief and escape from the displeasure of God due unto them by it and therefore hunger and thirst that is earnestly desire relief from God in that way which he hath appointed in Christ through the Gospel for the Salvation of sinners Thus and in this Path the Publican was taught to come begging mercy for a sinner He smote his breast as that where he felt the Plague lay and said God be merciful to me a sinner I purpose to say no more to prove the truth of the Point For the Explication of this Doctrin these things may be said wherein the further confirmation of the Point will arise First We should be deeply sensible of natural corruption in its being simply considered Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive me Psal 51.5 David had fallen into great actual transgressions of Murther and Whoredom and he that he might practice repentance according to the rule thereof took to heart how he came into the World Behold I am an old sinner so born shaped in iniquity in the Womb and out of this shape I cannot change my self and therefore I complain to thee O God Do thou wash me throughly and cleanse me throughly that is justifie and sanctifie me with the Blood and Spirit of thine anointed one on whom thou hast laid my help So in Psal 8. What is sorry man Enosh or wretched man as the Apostles Epithet is in my Text that thou art mindful of such a forlorne Creature which words also shew that we should be sensible of our natural state in the Being yea in the first being of it in us Our Saviour in his Sermon to the Woman of Canaan confirmeth this that I am upon that we should all Jew and Gentile be sensible of corrupt nature in the being of it But he answered I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel by these words he names the Jews state by nature to make this Gentile reflect upon her own state as also such and lost Then came she and worshiped saying Lord help me As if she had said with much sorrow of heart if there be any lost Creature in the World surely I am one Then Christ replies again It is not
Spring as it is foolish so it is an endless work How can a clean thing come out of an unclean If the heart remain still filthy How is it possible to make the life holy Hence it is that the heart is so much called for to be cleansed and that sinck to be well lookt after because there is the seat of natural pravity and the very Core of all corruption Cut off branches as you would lop a Tree cut them off all and leave the roots through the sent of mud they will grow as Job saith every occasion and temptation so long as the nature remains unrenewed and unlookt to will make sin break out afresh and the Dog will return to his own vomit The Queens Daughter is therefore called upon to forget her Father's House or else she would be hankering to be there again They which came out of Egypt in body and did not come out spiritually as to their souls how unsteadfast were they and their righteousness as the morning dew and in their hearts went back again to Egypt If any Israelite having taken in War a Heathen Woman and beautiful that he had a desire to marry he was first to bring her home to his House and shave her Head and pare her Nails and was to put off the raiment of her captivity and then she was to bewail her Father and her Mother a full Moneth c. That is her Heathenish state wherein born and bred she was to bewail and taught by this paring of her Nails and changing the Raiment of her Captivity to look after deliverance from her inward captivity and for a new state a new Father and Mother and all new her hands yea her very Nails and all this but little enough to make her forget her Father's House and to forsake old haunts and customs and ways Who knoweth not but that Nails and Hairs and such excrements are most apt and ready to grow again and yet not more apt and ready than sin is though pared and shaved if it be not dealt throughly with in the heart and in the root Finally Without this deep sense of our natural condition Christ will not be precious to us nor indeed desirable who is the only Physician for this great cure We shall be righteous in our own eyes as the Pharisee and not care for any righteousness else but our own though we may talk of faith and of the righteousness of Christ as many Christians do We shall be as Country-people which are whole as a Fish and laught at all Physicians Till the Apostle Paul was smitten down from Heaven and his eyes opened to see this body of death of which he complains in my Text he was alive and brisk and who but he for a holy and a happy man But when the Commandement came in Authority upon him which he thought he had perfectly kept sin revived and he died 'T is the poor and blind and wretched and naked that Christ counsels to come and buy of him Eye-salve and Garments to cover their nakedness Rev. 3.17 18. As we are Proselites i.e. Comers to Christ so we are cured of our spiritual Leprosie and such Proselites we will never be but as we see and feel our lost state by nature and our great necessity of him Who looks after the things which they do not need Ho he that thirsteth c. and such will prise Milk and Water I cannot get a House in this Town wherein to leave drink-silver in my Masters name saith Mr Rutherford There is no sale for Christ in the north meaning at Aberdeen he is like to lie long on my hand ere any accept him Thus it is with all unsensible and unheart-broken sinners though at the brink of Hell yet will not come unto Christ that they may be saved from their sins and from the wrath of God FINIS THE REMEDIE OF NATURAL Corruption Being A SERMON ON Rom. vii xxv I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. vii xxv I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. THese words are an Answer to a sad Question the Question is in the words foregoing Who shall deliver me from the body of this death v. 24. That is from natural corruption the guilt and the dominion and Power of it This Apostle was at an utter loss in himself and as to all others and then God revealed an able Physician to him as these words of my Text tell us I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ is revealed to Sinners which dispair of all help in themselves or in any other Creature Such will thank God for him as here this wretched Man doth Mr. Rutherford speaketh of a sorrow that hath no eyes This Apostle's sorrow was such for a time Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death He knew not of any deliveâ—er and then God became eyes to the blind and helped the sorrowful sinner and the blind sinner to eyes to see a Saviour and an All-sufficient one I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. When Isaac was at a loss for an offering and Abraham also when the sorrow of both had no eyes God was sight and help to them both Here is the wood but where is the Sacrifice i. e. One to die My Son God will provide And he did so Donatum non petitum gratius est saith the Civilian A gift not asked is the most free So did God provide that offering for Isaac and so did he provide this offering for this Apostle and wretched Man and so he doth for every wretched Man which hath the benefit of him he is Donatum non petitum to every fallen Son of Adam that is raised by him He was found of him that asked not after him Secondly This may be further observed in these words That God doth not barely shew us the means of our good the proper means of our Souls good but enable us to make effectual use of them to that end If I should paraphrase upon this Text it would be to this effect Wretched man I am burdened much with a body of sin and death which is so heavy that I think oft it will one time or other sink me to the lowest Hell and I am as helpless as to all â—thers as impotent and miserable in my self O doubly wretched man that I am and am like to be who will who can deliver me Yet I have some help shewed to me I thank God but no body else he hath in my blinde and wretched conditiâ—n shewed me an able Physician by name Jesus Christ our Lord anointed and allowed under his own hand to help all such wretched Creatures as I am and he doth enable me to make use of him to my burdened Souls ease and rest This Scripture and such like shew that there is full and effectual relief for all burdened sinners who are ready to sink under the burden of their sin and misery Doct. The Doctrin
both as to God and as to his Son but of none as to him I thank God all is in a good way of cure now through Jesus Christ Donatum ob causam non est donatum sed potius permutatio A gift given for some cause is not a gift but rather an exchange of one thing for another but when very costly in it self and yet of no cost to us then it sparkles in the eyes of the receiver such a gift is Christ in this great work of the cure of our carnal state And doth the freeness of this love sparkle in your eyes and lay bonds upon you and make you go bound with holy affection and admiration No man that was ever cured of a desperate disease wherein he gave himself up for death but it was much obliging to him as to the instruments used for his Cure Naaman the Syrian thought himself bound to choose the God of Israel for his God that had cured him of his Leprosie If you be cured of your filthy Leprosie which is Christ's Priestly work and Kingly work too your Cure is between them both Do you choose him and own him for your Jesus and Lord as the Apostle here doth I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ by kindness conquers as Jeptha did If I do thus and thus for you slay your Enemies deliver you from slavery Shall I be your King And will ye chuse me to rule over you and they consented willingly If Christ hath cured your Soul diseases then are you under the Law of this great kindness and willing that he should be your Lord and to Rule you in all things according to his Word Secondly The Apostle was taken as with the love of Christ so with the love of the Father in this matter I thank God he hath found out a way to do me good a new and living way through his Son So the Apostle Peter Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead to an Inheritance incorruptible 1 Pet. 1.3 He saw an abundant mercy in the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as well as in the Son our Lord Jesus Christ That having no more Sons should part with him out of his Bosom in Heaven to lodge Him in a Manger yea worse to lodg Him in Hell nay in a Place worse than that the filthy heart of the fallen Sons of Adam So the Apostle Paul again writing to the Ephesians saith But God who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sin and trespasses hath he quickned us together with Christ that in the Ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus Ephes 2.4 5 6. He saw rich mercy and great love exceeding riches of grace in God that by his own Son and not by any lower hand he should quicken Men dead in trespasses and sins And surely some thing of this is where this great Work is wrought a confessing that Jesus is the Lord To the glory of God the Father Vse 3 The last Use is for Exhortation seeing Christ is the proper remedy of our fallen state let this draw us to him to attend his Word and Ordinances and to attend the Angels stirring of these Waters Christ doth open Prison doors and deliver Captives but he doth it according to his Commission Now well observe the termes of his Commission Is 61 The Lord God hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek To which agrees 1 Pet. 3.19 By the which also he went to preach to the Spirits in Prison which were disobedient in the Days of Noah Preaching how lightly soever esteemed and how much soever opposed and suppressed is the great Ordinance by which Christ frees Captives and Prisoners and therefore this Ordinance which is the most general Ordinance to convince and convert should carefully and tremblingly be attended upon They that make light of preaching make light of their own depraved state of their Captivity to sin and Satan these groan not with this Apostle under the body of death Christ did create every day orderly by his Word he could have done it without but he did all as his Father appointed him and did not Movere per saltum make hast and pursue his own will or his own infinite and absolute Power so he doth in the new Creation and therefore wait upon wisdomes Posts Whoso is simple let him turn in hither where he will have Line upon Line now a little and then a little to touch and turn his heart Presently after the Creation was finished the Creator takes to himself the Title of Jehova Gen. 2.4 These are the Generations of the Heaven and of the Earth when they were created in the Day that Jehova Eloim made the Heaven and the Earth When you do approach to the Preaching of the Word Remember this Name of Christ that he is Jehova and able to give Being to his Word That what he bids you to be that he makes you to be Be exhorted when you attend Ordinances to pant for this thing that Christ as Jehova would Preach to you as one giving Being in your heart to every Word which he speaketh in your Ear That Christ would so speak that you might hear and believe all that he saâ—th as they at Iconium Act. 14.1 Take an Harp go about the City thou Harlot that hast been forgotten make sweet melody sing many Songs that thou mayest be remembred Isa 23.16 This spake the Lord to Tyrus a filthy sinful City and their punishment fore-told and the time for Seventy Years and then counselled to bemoan her self that she might be remembred and it is observable how holy bemoaning our selves is called and holy panting for deliverance from the slavery of sin and wrath it is called sweet melody and singing many Songs So indeed is such panting under the body of death and to be delivered from it as here the Apostle doth The mourning Doves note under the sense of our wretched state with a panting after Christ to cure it no Musick is such melody in the Ears of God to make him to remember us Thus crie and be ye all pained to be delivered Thirdly Take to you words and tell your great Physician how it is with you And if you want words help your selves with those Ephes 4.18 This I say and testifie in the Lord that ye walk not as other Gentiles in the vanity of your minds having your understandings darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in you because of the blindness of their heart being past feeling c. Take up these words and apply them to your own depraved condition saying O wretched man that I am what a vain mind I have and how I walk in the vanity
his bosom then Christ doth the helping of poor wretched burdened sinners the binding up and mollifying their maladies Some are bound fast enough to a business by their word but not at all by their affection and these though they keep their word yet it is in such a rough churlish way as is much discouraging but it is not so with Christ because he is under the bond of his bowels and affections as well as under the bond of his word and therefore trust in him that your case shall be helped and very carefully and compassionately helped Finally Confider the danger of not believing in this able One. You become debtors to the Law to fulfill it and debtors to your own desperate wretched condition as not self murderers to deliver your selves from the body of death in which you are and from the wrath of God to which this obligeth you You frustrate the Ordinance of God which he hath anointed and appointed for your good You cast your selves under the Covenant of works as that young Man which said to Christ What shall I do to be saved As if he could have saved himself and so made himself a debtor to fulfill the Law and Christ put him upon it seeing he would that way be saved and so he will serve you and them Confider whether you be able to keep the Law in every point and so restore your own state some are at the Doctrin of Perfection but they make void the Gospel and Christ and will as the young Man miâ—s perfection in one thing at least one thing will be wanting and he that fails in one Point is guilty of all and will bring the curse of the breach of the whole Law upon him Confider that by nature you are the Children of wrath and Transgressors from the Womb and how soon may the curse of this state be executed Wherefore I conclude all with the repetition of the promise again to you Isa 25.6 7 8. And I beseech you heed it well and take hold of it for your good And in this Mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make a Feast to all People a Feast of fat things a Feast of Wine on the Lees of fat things full of marrow and he will destroy in this Mountain the face of the covering cast over all People and the Vail that is spread over all Nations and he will swallow up death in victory and the Lord God will wipe all teares from all Faces and the rebuke of his People shall he take from all the Earth for the Lord hath spoken it and let me add his heart and soul is in it Jer. 3â— 41 What is the Vail that covereth all Nations Ans The Vail of natural corruption the Body of Death as the Apostle here calleth it and as this Prophet in this place calls it Death and saith it shall be swallowed up in victory yea he hath engaged to wipe all teares from all Mourners eyes who sigh and take on as this Apostle because of their wretched condition and to give them victory over the body of this death and the triumphs of this great victory in this World or in the World to come Comfort your selves all ye that groan under the Body of Death with these words FINIS SERIOUS CONSIDERATIONS OF DEATH Being A SERMON ON Isaiah 57.1 The righteous Man perisheth and no Man layeth it to heart and merciful Men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come Isaiah 57.1 The righteous Man perisheth and no Man layeth it to heart and merciful Men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come THe general Mortality of Man-kind and the Holy Use that should be made thereof by all the living are the two principal things of this verse Death takes away the wicked and doubtless the wicked and others too should lay this to heart for Death is no partial Visitor if it fetch off one wicked Man and send him to his place it will fetch down another nothing is more naturally the wages of wickedness than death and yet no worse enemy to any wicked Man than death therefore one wicked Man should be startled much at the death of another But Death sometimes taketh away all Men and then all Men bad and good should be much moved then all should lay to heart this i.e. should be sensible of their sin and the displeasure of God and speedily make peace with him by repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that so present evils and also future presaged by present strokes may be turned away which thing this People could not be stirred up unto which was the reason of the complaint of this Prophet he preached the Funerals of the dead the best dead to the living good and bad but no man laid it to heart that is not held themselves deeply concerned to look about them to search their Souls to set House and Heart in order to die but kept on every one in his wonted pace of sin and wickedness and formality in Religion and so fell most of them in the common calamity The Doctrines which may be observed in these words are these First That God sometimes by common calamity taketh away the good as well as the bad Moses and Aaron as well as the mixed Multitude which murmured Did the Lord take off and would not let them come in to the good Land The righteous Man perisheth as if the Prophet had said the Lord strikes more mortally than any one is well aware he plucks up the stakes in the Hedg he pulls down the Pillars of the whole Nation and yet Men do not fear that all will fall about their Ears Hence it is that another Prophet calls upon the best People to look about them and to labour to be much better yet gives them but a may be for their safety Seek meekness all ye meek of the Earth ye which have wrought his judgments seek meekness seek righteousness it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's wrath As if the Prophet had said I cannot ensure the life of the best Man because God sometimes destroyeth the righteous with the wicked for ends best known to himself This should make us all fear and tremble much in this dying Day and to give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure and to be getting Oyl into our Lamps yea and to keep them trim'd and to stand guirt and ready to go in with the Bride-groom if call'd at Mid-night by the destroying Angel that is now abroad A Second Doctrin that may be observed in these words is this That gracious Men and merciful are the likeliest to scape best in times of common calamity The Prophet seems to note it in these words of my Text as very severe Justice that gracious and merciful Men should not be distinguished from others in the Day of evil The righteous Man perisheth and
Famine then I conclude that general Mortality should be generally laid to heart for the Prophet did thus complain to God to affect all Men that they might so complain to God as he did how sadly matters went amongst them Take one Scripture more Lam. 1.6 And from the Daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed her Princes are become like Harts that can finde no pasture and they are gone without strength before the Pursuer This Prophet layeth to heart particularly the distresses of Princes and great Men and alass what are all these to the distresses and death of the righteous and holy and merciful Men which proves that we should lay to heart the common strokes of God as the Sword and Pestilence take away one as well as another bad and good high and low I will prove this Point more particularly and distinctly to you First We are to lay to heart Mortality by the Pestilence I have sent among you the Pestilence after the manner of Aegypt your Horses have I taken away and have made the stink of your Camps to come up into your Nosthrils and so killed you with Plagues and Diseases attending the Sword and yet ye have not returned to me Amos 4.10 that is you have not laid things to heart throughly to be ashamed of your evil ways and to turn from them The death of Men nay the death of Horses as such deaths not long since were amongst them we are to lay to heart and so to lay to heart as to prepare to meet God then the death of good Men by the Pestilence we are surely to lay to heart From above hath he sent a Fire into my Bones and it prevailed against them he hath made me desolate and faint all the day Lam. 1.13 The Prophet in these words as in all the rest personateth the state of the People generally and much laid to heart GOD's immediate strokes upon the Persons of Men by many mortal fierce Diseases without sparing any From above hath he sent Fire into my Bones and it hath prevailed c. Secondly Mortality by Famine is to be laid to heart The Prophet Joel speaketh of this stroke which indeed is great The Land is as the Garden of Eden before them and behind them a desolate Wilderness and nothing shall escape them speaking of Vermin so devouring all Man's Provision Joel 2.3 at the 12th vers of this Chapter the Prophet telleth us what effect this should have Therefore now also saith the Lord turn ye to me with all your heart and with fasting weeping and with mourning rent your hearts and not your Garments for he is gracious who knoweth if he will return and repent By which of these strokes either Pestilence or Famine the godly were taken away no Man can say for by Pestilence Famine and Sword did the Lord contend with that People That he contended with them by Famine the Prophet Joel and also the Prophet Jeremiah testifieth They have sowen Wheat and shall reap Thorns they have put themselves to pain but shall not profit thus doth the Prophet poscere aciem bid battel and ye shall be ashamed of your revenue because of the fierce anger of the Lord Jer. 12. 13. But most plain in Ezek. c. 4. 5. Where the Prophet is commanded to make Bread with Beans and Fitches and to eat this by weight and to mix dung with it And must this be laid to heart Yes much How can any do otherwise Thus saith the Lord smite with the Hand and stamp with the Foot and say alass for all the evil abominations of the House of Israel for they shall fall by the Sword by the Famine and by the Pestilence Ezek. 6.11 Then they fell by all these and then it is probable that the righteous fell by all these as others then we should lay to heart Mortality by all these we should smite with the Hand and stamp with the Foot and say alass What great abom nations have caused all these great Judgments God's temporal strokes and judgments which kill and slaughter all sorts should much be laid to heart by all sorts But you will say Q. What is it to lay to heart the mortal strokes of GOD in a Nation I answer A. It is to be deeply sensible of the cause as it may be in our selves or in the Nation wherein we live Observe how the Lord counselleth Ezekiel to carry it in the day of their dreadful misery Thus saith the Lord smite with thine Hand and stamp with thy Foot and say alass for all the evil abominations of the Land of Israel He doth not barely bid him to say alass for all the evil punishments of the Land as Sword Pestilence and Famine but alass for all the wickedness of the Land which hath caused these He that is far off shall fall by the Pestilence and he that is neer shall fall by the Sword and he that remains and is besieged shall die by Famine Ezek. 6.11.12 So that to lay to heart mortal strokes in a Nation is to be deeply affected with the cause of them in our selves or in others If you ask me further where we have found out causes in our selves and in others quos accidam as Salust saith To whom shall I turn and prostrate my self and say I have sinn'd Q. and done this evil abomination Answ To God in the Name of Christ A. Therefore thus saith the Lord turn you even unto me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning Joel 2.12 And to do this forth-with presently without all delay or else to be sure it is not turning to the Lord with all the heart To lay to heart God's willing Discipline is to be full of deep sorrow for sin in our selves and others as the proper causes of all sorts of deaths and deaths of all sorts of Persons good and bad and to turn from these to the Lord and to believe on Christ that the Lord for his sake will be pacified and turn away all his displeasure and not make us a reproach unto the Heathen as it is in that Chapter Joel 2.17 Having thus proved and opened the Doctrin I will shew you in the next Place Vses what Use may be made of it First This Point is profitable to teach If we are to be deeply sensible of temporal strokes such as refer to the death of our bodies then much more are we to be sensible of spiritual strokes and eternal strokes which refer to the death of our Souls I will send a Famine not of Bread but of hearing the Word of the Lord. And they shall wander from Sea to Sea and from the North to the East they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and shall not finde it Amos 8.11 12. How diligently we get the Bills of Mortality now and being come up to Thousands O how we lift up our hands but who brings in Weekly Bills of
our Death of Souls by the Famine of the Word of hearing the Word of the Lord in City and Country A great deal of do seems to be about the death of Bodies but ah Lord how many Thousand Thousand Souls have perished in this City and in these Nations in a few years past for want of hearing the Word of the Lord that is able to save the Soul Be not wrath very soar see behold we are thy People Zion is a Wilderness Jerusalem a Desolation and all our pleasant things are scattered Will the Lord refrain for these things Herein the Prophet seems to be toucht to the quick that Zion and Jerusalem was desolate and all these Soul-pleasant things were spoiled whereby Souls starved and perished and Soul-Famine and Pestilence was made a Famine of hearing the Word of the Lord that whither soever they went from one City to another from one Sea to another 't was all alike This this the Prophet laid deeply to heart and so should we I urge it by way of proportion if we should deeply lay to heart bodily death then much more Soul-death and destruction A fide exorbitans puniendus saith the Civilian such as play the wanton from the truth must be punished answerably We have been and yet still are a fide exorbitantes such as play the unruly Persons from the truth Children of Belial which cannot bear Christ's Yoke full of Soul-itch for another Gospel and being thus lewd in spirituals answerably in spiritual liberties and enjoyments hath God punished us it is not a little peril unto us that we meet now although the hand of God affright such as would be looking after us This this we should deeply lay to heart that the Bread for our Souls fails from the House of our God The strokes of God and the strokes of Men together affright away the Pastors and so the Pastures of your Souls and yet all this but the just punishment of much spiritual wantonness and exorbitancy Secondly If temporal strokes which refer to the death of the body should be laid much to heart then Eternal strokes which make the everlasting destruction of the Soul should be deeply laid to heart much more Such a stroke as that Isai 63.17 O Lord Why hast thou made us to erre from thy ways and hardened our hearts from thy fear and such as that Prov. 17.10 A reproof entereth more into a wise Man than an hundred stripes into a Fool. Some Mens hearts are by the inward strokes of GOD made Judgment-proof that Plague Famine and Sword all the Ten Plagues that were inflicted on Pharaoh and Ten more to them will not stir them nor turn them no more than they stopped or turned him nor yet so much And what do you see in this day done on the hearts of Men by the hand of God abroad now of Sword Famine and Pestilence Do these enter the hearts of Men This speaks that Eternal strokes judicial wrath upon the Soul is abroad fiting Men for Eternal death much of which I fear the most of us are little aware O Juresalem Jerusalem how oft would I have gathered thee as a Hen her Chicken and thou wouldst not but now they are hid from thine Eyes This was a Soul-mortal and an Eternal stroke and how Christ laid it to heart how he sighed and wept O Jerusalem And if our Gospel be hid it is hid unto them that perish saith the Apostle and how long hath thâ—s stroke been upon the Souls of most Assemblies in these Nations and else where the Power of the Gospel hid and a spurious efficacy gone forth in the place thereof faithful Labourers fishing all night and can catch nothing scarce covert a Soul and unfaithful Labourers such as come not in by the Door but come in their own name these pervert many yea though they come with never so damnable Doctrines if denying the Lord that bought them yet flockt after O give me leave to tell you in this day of God's sore Visitation Hinc illae lachrymae these are Soul-Plagues which have brought our Bodily-Plagues these are Soul mortal and eternal strokes because we have not received the truth in the love of it and no Man of us have laid these to heart as we should Spiritual Plagues and Judgments have swept away Souls by thousands all the Nations over many years together and who of us have laid this Mortality to heart as we should See how the Prophet Isaiah layeth to heart spiritual strokes Isa 24.16 17. My leanness my leanness the treacherous dealer hath dealt treacherously yea the treacherous dealer hath dealt very treacherously fear and the snare and the Pit are upon thee Treachery swearing for swearing thus in spiritual matters as Judas who betrayed Christ and as much as in him lay the Bodies and Souls of all Man-kind such treacherous dealers were the Jews which the Prophets much bewailed as great spiritual and eternal strokes and so should we as we see these on any Nation for these things are written for our learning that we should follow the foot-steps of the Flock It were well we that live in these last and worst times of the World could with the Prophet for like things sigh and say My leanness that we could sigh our selves lean this day before the Lord because of hypocrisie treachery and all Soul-villany and spiritual wickedness and the hypocrisie and treachery of our own hearts greatest of all and O how should we sigh and lament our selves lean for this ere the Plague sweep us away The next Use of this Point may be for Reproof and it may reprove two sorts 1. Such as are sensible of nothing 2. Such as are sensible of nothing to purpose First This may reprove such as are sensible of nothing or nothing sensible Temporal strokes are thick God and Man upon us Pestilence at home War abroad God and Man killing and slaughtering us one at Sea 'tother at land Is not this general Mortality God shoots his Arrows every where and how great is his dread fallen upon us In what Street of this poor City can one walk but dead Corps and Ghosts walk In what Fields about this City can one walk where death also doth not walk and as God's Bailiff seize and arrest and carry away to the great Bar above and to the Judge of all the World to receive all that they have done here in the Body good or bad At what corner of this City can we that live abroad creep in and not be met and saluted with trains of dead Corps carrying to the Grave to new Church-yards and New-exchanges old Burying-places being over-fatted and glutted and Corps inhumanely crowding one another out of their Places before the time and among all these sad salutations some righteous Men and merciful Men and Women taken away and we can tell their names and where they lived and so ends the story till the next Bill of Mortality come out with more taken away and then they
they see that they escape as well as others and live as long as others The World is drawing on apace to Atheisme and the providence of God seems to rock the Cradle The Idolater and the sincere worshiper the superstitious and the truly tender conscience Nabal and the merciful Abigail all die promiscuously Why who can tell now which to prefer to follow That one may think his Religion as good as the other the the Papist and Protestant both die of the Plague and that the ceremoneist may think as well of his way as the strict Non-conformist they both die of the Plague and this is a Plague indeed to some this is raining snares upon Men which are willing to slumber in their own ways Some are afraid to be over-righteous and over-strict and the judgments of God falling so promiscuously will make such very temperate in their Religion If this be the import of God's destroying righteous and wicked to harden slight and loose Professors we had need look well to it who profess the Gospel that we be very substantial and real and that we be not catcht with this snare of judging by outward appearance but look to the Word what that requires This snare the Prophet Malachy speaks of Mal. 2.17 Ye have wearied the Lord with your words and yet ye say wherein have we wearied him When ye say that every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the Lord or Where is the God of judgment Surely the Lord likes our good fellowship and all the latitudes we use and carnal contents and pleasures as well as their rigid strict self-denying conversation or else he would not spare us as much or more than he doth them lay to heart this import of GOD's promiscuous dealing above all how God hardens sinners in their sins by such dealings Or Thirdly and Lastly This promiscuous dealing of God imports that which my Text here tells us that there are greater evils to come which God takes the righteous from and this should be much laid to heart indeed according to the very letter of my Text. So was Josia by a less judgment taken from a greater A praesenti praesumitur circa futura saith the Civilian From present things we may presume concerning future If Lot be warned and pulled out of Sodom there is surely some great and fearful storm a coming If God snatch his People as he did Josia in hast as it were to Heaven we may say with this Prophet in my Text they are taken from the evil to come Lay to heart therefore the hand of God that it slayes so generally one and all and lay to heart the import of it that it boads some greater evil to come There be Serpents which have heads in their tails called Amphisbaenae This stroke of God taking away righteous and wicked hath a head in the tail of it that will make worse work than this head which is now fore-most and yet how many doth this fore-most head now smite and slay and how mortal and tremendous is this fore-head Thirdly Be exhorted to lay to heart this that you may be the next cut off who ever you be seeing the slaughter men in this day spare none young nor old rich nor poor close Lanes nor open Streets righteous nor wicked What should we all then say to our selves but this surely I may be next the mark which God will hit What a trade the Coffin-makers and Grave-makers now have And Hell answerably doubly inlargeth it self as you do now seek out for new Church Yards and should not we smite on our breasts and say O the wonderful mercy and power and patience of the Lord that none of all these have been employed about me yet That so many thousands should be gone before and so many thousands more drawing on and drawing after and I yet not one of these O magnified be the rich and Soveraign mercy of God! Am I more righteous more merciful more useful with my Talent than such and such that are gone O no not worthy to be named in the Day with them and yet that I should be left and they taken that they should have their turn their over-turn before me When I say lay to heart that you may be next I mean more than one thing the admiring of GOD's mercy that you are yet spared I mean this also lay to heart your state whether you be ready I was wroth with my People I have polluted mine Inheritance and given them into thine hand thou didst shew them no mercy upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid the yoke And thou saidst I shall be a Lady for ever so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart neither didst remember the latter end of it Isa 47.6 7. Many parts of the Christian World are given into the hands of Men and they do with them at their pleasure and yet are secure and consider not the end of such ways that it will be bitterness at last I have nothing to do with such but with you Are not you yet in some ways which are not good and yet promise peace to your selves in them yea though GOD's slaughter-men and Fellers be come up to London The Plague was first at South-hampton and at other Countrey-Towns before it came to London yea come up to your Doors and not say rather to your selves I had need look about me I am likely to be next And what if the Fellers fell me Whither will the Tree fall when it falleth Will not the fall of it be very great If the righteous scarcely escape now if the merciful Man scarcely escape now Am I likely to escape Motives to press you thus to lay to heart these things are these First Is this in my Text How few do lay matters to heart now either the matters of his works or words rods or escapes righteous Men merciful Men rich Men and poor Men the Judge and the honourable c. are taken away and yet none lay this to heart If the Prophet had said few lay things to heart I would have kept his phrase but because he saith none I am but too justly lead to say so too Mortality and deadness of Bodies is not yet so general as mortality and deadness of Souls Zion stretcheth forth her hands and there is none to comfort the Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob that his adversaries should be round about him Jerusalem is as a menstruous Woman amongst them Lam. 1.17 We the Lord's People as in every Age have adversaries round about the righteous Man and the merciful Man hath adversaries enough But who of the World nay who of our selves lay this to heart A Second Motive to press you to lay to heart these times is also in the Text. Lay to heart present Rods or it will be an ill presage upon us that worse things Seven times worse are at Door If we be yet senseless and walk contrary surely we shall be
punished Seven times more 't is an ill presage as to the whole Nation that God may be laying an Axe to the Root of all My heritage is to me as a speckled Bird the Birds round about are against her assemble all ye Beasts of the Field come to devour they have made it desolate and it being desolate mourneth to me the whole Land is made desolate because no man layeth it to heart Jer. 12.9 10 11. This Text sheweth us the evil to come which my Text speaks but darkly of General insensibility foretelleth general ruine A poor speckled People are most Protestant Churches at this Day and greater spots me-thinks we get still by gadding to change our way which I fear are not the spots of his People For these things Plague and Sword and Famine have desolated much the Protestant Countreys Cities and Nations and we seem now to be drawing after For these things these Nations mourn that is the welfare of many mournes but Persons are still insensible The City being desolate it mourns and the Land being desolate it mourneth but we are jovial and drink Wine in Bowls and stretch our selves on our Beds of Ivory and chant to the sound of the Viol c. which presageth worse still to come than yet we feel You have by your insensible sottish carriage under all the dealings of God made great Graves for a great many good Men and good things and you will make a greater for all the rest that remain and rowl a stone upon the mouth of it that the whole City may be desolate the whole Land be desolate and no remedy If ye do not lay things to heart A Third Motive is this lay to heart present mortal strokes or else you will be surprised with those that are to come else the evils approaching will justly overtake you unawares You will as the fool be singing a requiem to your souls Soul take thine ease and be quiet thou hast got a good Air to dwell in and all Neighbours about us be well yet there is not one sick of the Plague in all the Parish and thou hast got an excellent receit against the Plague such and such used it all the last great Plague and were all well on some such Lees will you settle and so be surprised with God's Visitation I will visit them that are setled upon their Lees saith the Lord and a Visitation when People are thus secure will be a Plague with a vengeance to Soul and Body an Eternal Plague that by dying you will die This Plague is spoken of Isa 29.9 Stay your selves and wonder cry ye out and cry they are druncken but not with Wine they stagger but not with strong drink for the Lord hath poured cut upon the Spirit of deep sleep and hath closed your eyes your Prophets and Rulers the Seers hath he covered and the vision of all is become unto you as the wonder of a Book that is sealed I am afraid that this is the Plague of the Plague that is upon us A spirit of deep sleep is poured upon all ranks wherefore cry out and cry if ye can ye handful which are here this day yet in the Land of the living that ye with all the rest be not surprised with the Evil that is yet to come Fourthly You are the Men and Women which have seen afflictions as the Prophet Jeremy said I am the Man that have seen affliction by the Rod of his wrath Lam. 3.1 You have not only read the Bills but you have been at the Burials you have been of the Mourners that have gone about the Streets You have seen the black trains of dead Corses going by Sixes and Tens to their long home therefore your eyes should affect and afflict your hearts Alass if we here in the midst of so many Thousand deaths be Soul-dead and lay nothing to heart how is it likely that they in the Country which see none of these Sermons should be deeply affected They have scarcely the Word to quicken them in many places and you have the Word and the Rod and the Marks of the Rod upon your Bodies and upon the Bodies of yours the Marks of the Lord Jesus wrath you that have such feeling Sermons and not feel how will this be cryed out upon GOD that is come so neer to judge you that have been so neer the Grave if not Hell that have dwelt in Golgotha among nothing but Tombes Graves Sculs and lean walking Ghostes for so many Moneths this Year when others have been out of the sight and hearing of all these things if you weep not to them 't is very unlikely that they will weep unto you Finally This duty of laying to heart the promiscuous mortal strokes of God is a duty wherein God will help you and succeed you therefore up and be at it God hath promised to take away the heart of stone and to give a heart of Flesh and that with weeping and supplication he will lead us And therefore we should wait upon the Word in these his ways because he will meet us and assist us in the work of this day And God will not only assist but accept and prosper this work of humiliation I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still God doth surely hear all bemoaning penitent sinners and makes a book of remembrance They which go forth weeping sowing precious seed shall doubtless return with rejoycing bringing their sheaves with them And then will you be called the repairers of breaches and the restorers of Pathes to dwell in I conclude all with the saying of one Vt valet quisque accipiat Let every one weigh well what hath been said and receive these things as he seeth good and live in this dying day as he should or as he will FINIS THE DESCRIPTION OF A FRIEND Being A SERMON ON Prov. 17.17 A Friend loveth at all times and a Brother is born for adversity Prov. xvii Vers xvii A friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity THe condition of the Lords People is very necessitous and yet like to be much more it may not be therfore now unseasonable to Preach unto you the Doctrine of neighbourly love that we may be stirred up to become helpsul one to another as the state of times doth or shall call for at our hands The nature of friendâ—hip and the use thereof in distressed conditions are the two main things of this Verse to be lookt into The nature of friendship is to love A friend loveth c. Love is as much the formality of a friend as rationality of a Man Humane nature begets a kind of Kindred between all Man-kind which state supposeth love Cum natura quandam cognationem inter homines constituat alterum alteri insidiari nefas est saith the Civilian Whereas nature makes a certain Kindred between Men for one to betray another is most wicked Now if
yet it doth not denominate the Person which so doth a friend according to the sense of my Text and yet he is a friend in a large sense or rather in a little sense A friend is a Man of a noble Spirit that soares high and far to fetch the biggest and best prey to feed and supply want Hence it is that one compares friendship to marriage because friendly love is stronger than that which runs in any other Channel Now how wonderful for strength and how unexpressable for pleasure and pleasantness Is marriage love as we have some signature of it through Solomon's love-Song where the word Friend is used to express Marriage-love and the highest love which passeth between Man-kind His Mouth is most sweet yea he is altogether lovely This is my beloved and this is my friend O Daughter of Jerusalem Cant. 5.16 And proportionable to such a great love is all industry and expence to help and bless with the best and most precious things As Araunah brought friendships like a Prince to David and yet but a friend and a stranger a Gentile And the wise Men of the East what Presents they made to Joseph and Mary and their Child or else they had had nothing to flee with all into Aegypt to save their lives And our Saviour who was Lazarus's friend how he sighed and groaned to make a Resurrection of Him so that standers by beholding his carriage his sighing his weeping over Lazarus Grave said Behold how he loved him which is written that we might have a right pourtraiture of a friend So Christ called Lazarus Our friend Lazarus is dead And Martha which was Christ's friend What a deal of care and how taken up to provide all that possible could be for Christ and thought she could never provide what was good enough And so Pharaoh when he became a friend to Joseph he thought he could never do enough for him he set him up next to himself over all his own Nation and Relations And so the Persian Emperor advanced Daniel and Mordecai A friend is a favourite and a favourite is a signet set on the heart by the finger of God than which What is of more estcem At such a great and unexpressableness of love as the true form of a friend pointeth that Scripture Deut. 13.6 And observe well the words at what a height a friend is put even by the Lord himself in some sense it should seem above all relations If thy brother the Son of thy Mother or thy Son or thy Daughter or the Wife of thy bosome or thy Friend which is as thy own Soul entice thee The meaning of all these high expressions is that the love of a friend is very strong unexpressable no relation nor thing in this World dear enough nor full enough almost to express it A Brother a Son a Daughter a Wife yea ones own Soul a Friend is as neer as dear as any of these and being brought in in the close when he had named all neer Relations Or thy Friend which is as thine own Soul he would seem to give preheminence of love to a friend and set him as Pharaoh did Joseph next indeed to his own Soul and Life And if of due there go such a deep Channel of love to the Creature O! what an Ocean of love is due to Christ our good friend Fourthly A friend loveth thus as I have before-said and loveth thus not for a spurt and away Gâ—colampadiâ—s Capito Their friendship lasted as long as they lived but he loveth thus at all times A friend loveth at all times Cum dives eris plures numerabis amicos Whilst we need no friends we shall have more than a good many But the love of friendship is as the motion of the Sun all the year and in all weathers Winter and Summer Brutes love one another only whilst together and whilst they see one another but when parted they utterly forget one another and thus do most love which sheweth it to be short of the love of friendship A friend loveth at all times when sick and when well when poor as when rich when absent as when present when dead as when alive And Naomi said unto her daughter in Law blessed be he of the Lord who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead Ruth 2.20 yea or any that are of him as David did Mephibosheth the Son of Jonathan He shall eat at my Table and be as mine own Children And Jonathan said to David go in peace for as much as we have sworn both of us in the Name of the Lord saying the Lord be between me and thee and between my seed and thy seed for ever 1 Sam. 20.42 The love of friendship hath a kind of Eternity in it a for ever The Lord be between my Seed and thy Seed for ever 'T is a love like the love of God a kindness like the kindness of God as David expresseth it that lasteth to the Third and Fourth Generation Is there any of the House of Saul that I may shew the kindness of God to him that is an everlasting love 2 Sam. 9.3 'T is noted by Historians of Queen Elizabeth that as she reformed corrupt Religion so corrupt Coin There is nothing so corrupt in these last days as love both towards God and towards Man as appears by the instability thereof towards both which involveth both Tables of the Law and so all Religion and this is above all powers to reform but God Fifthly and Finally A friend loveth at all times that is most tenderly and compassionately and especially in adversity which is the meaning of this significant and emphatical expression which followeth And a Brother is born for adversity The reading should be saith some And he is born a Brother in adversity that is through his exceeding tender compassion he become as the neerest natural relation and so is by his tender love and tryed love born and brought forth as it were a new neer Kinsman on purpose created of God to serve the poor Creature in this strait as a Creature new made and now made which what a great honour it is to him to whom God giveth a merciful heart he is as a Creature then extraordinarily and purposely born for such a great and acceptable service Abimelech the Priest loved David at all times but most especially when David was at a plunge when he and his followers were ready to starve for want of bread then he gave them the Shew-bread which was the Bread out of his own mouth beside the hazard he ran in it of his life and did not only give him hallowed bread on which the Priests lived but observe how he takes his life in his hand and speaks for David to Saul to blunt the edge of his fury against him And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David which is the Kings Son in Law and goeth at thy bidding and is
have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart Psal 38.8 Secondly As God brings all afflictions for kind and quality on Men yea on good Men that is afflictions spiritual and temporal inward and outward on soul and body So he brings all afflictions for quantity and degree that is afflictions very great and of long continuance Were they not great and sore things done against Job Whilst he was yet speaking there came another and saith the Fire of God is fallen from Heaven i. e. A great Fire and hath burnt up the Sheep and the Servants and I only am escaped to tell thee Poor Job now indeed that Fire and Brimstone from the Lord out of Heaven should be rained upon him as upon Sidom that so he might judg himself to deserve no better than the wicked Sodomites did What a degree of high Trial and what a great Twig in the Rod was this Yea God saith of the Devil that he moved him against Job without cause to swallow him up Job 2.3 that is saith the Margent when the Devil had nought against him nor able to bring his own malicious designs to pass against him yet read Satans Second Commission So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his Foot to the crown of his Head and he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withall and sate down amongst the ashes and then his friends poured Gall and Vinegar into his Cup which altogether made his afflictions of the greatest magnitude indeed the greatest I think that ever meer Man had David tells us of the Lyon and the young Lyon upon him Psal 17.12 and of such as did set their mouths against the Heavens and bark and bite all good Persons and things and therefore the Lord's People returned hither that is when they could get no shelter from the wicked and Waters of a full Cup were wrung out to them Psal 73.10 And full Cups of misery speak the greatest punishments for degree and quantity Secondly God brings afflictions upon Men yea upon the best Men as great and sharp so of long continuance It hath been a sharp Winter this and of long continuance so doth God make in other matters some times Some Rivers * As Nilus that ancient River had their beginning with the World and so it may be will have their end not till the World ends And some afflictions have their beginning as soon as we and will have no end till we have yea some Rods extraordinary begin with some good People as soon almost as they begin to be and end not till they end their lives It is God's threat that if all his Laws be not observed and his glorious and fearful Name The Lord thy God be feared and reverenced And who can call God his God but God's Children that then he will inflict upon his People great Plagues and of long continuance and such he did inflict and such he hath said in the new Testament also will fall out great troubles and of long continuance so long as if he heard no Prayers that every ones faith and patience shall faint and fail When the Son of Man shall come shall he finde saith upon the Earth Like a Crane or a Swallow so did I chatter I did mourn as a Dove that is always so the next words expound it Mine eyes fail with looking upward GOD gave no answer that his faith was quite spent O Lord I am oppressed and bear all the burden alone Vndertake for me lend me a hand What shall I say he hath spoken unto me and himself hath done it and therefore it will never be undone I shall go softly all my Years in the bitterness of my soul Isa 38.14 15. That God inflicts punishments great punishments and of long continuance upon good People read 1 Kings 22.27 And the King of Israel said put this fellow in the Prison and feed him with the bread of affliction and the water of affliction until I come in peace His warrant you see had a long date Thus God sometime let loose wicked Men upon the best of his to fasten their teeth and scarce ever let go their hold till they have pluckt out their throats to lay them fast in all extremities like Joseph and there let them lie long till even their skin and bones rot And as God lets Men deal thus with their body so he lets the Devil sometimes deal thus with their Soul worry them and worrry them long even all their days 'T is but GOD's Commission given to the Devil and he will do it as 't is God's Commission given to wicked Men to torment and then they do it and without his Commission a Dog could not bark or shew his teeth against any child of God The Plowers plowed upon my back and they made long their Furrows Psal 129.3 And woe is me that I remain in Meshech and dwell in the Tents of Kedar my soul hath too long dwelt with him that hateth peace Psal 120.5 6. God excommunicated Nebuchadnezar Seven Years and made him a Companion for Beasts and so sometimes he excommunicates his own People and makes them companions as David in Arabia with Black mores with Devils those black Fiends of the lowest Hell and so long The Reasons of this Point are these First That God may shew his Soveraignty I will not say hâ—s Justice We have all sin'd even the best Men and therefore God may bring all afflictions and miseries upon the best But I rather choose to say that God may shew what an absolute Lord of all He is and can set up what Man he will to be his mark to shoot at and then take him down and set up another Mine iniquities are more than the hairs of my head saith David Psal 40.12 Usually less than this number are our afflictions when most and therfore where God shews soveraignty he also sheweth justice Israel would none of me Psal 81.11 Therefore where God pronounced to Ammi I will have none of this People he was just as well as absolute and peremptory in his will Sometimes God smites a sinner as Joab smote Amasia under the fist Rib so as that he smites him not again maketh an utter end at a blow and no cause visible no more than in other of the Sons and Daughters of Men and of his People This properly we call soveraignty Thus may be smite any one for we have not any one of us all the priviledge of Antwarp who have two marts lasting six weeks apiece during which time no Man in his Person or Goods can be arrested No man hath such priviledge for a day in order to God he can arrest Person Goods and Life when he pleaseth and yet in all so that none can charge him with injustice Secondly Doth thus bring all afflictions upon Men yea upon the best Men to try integrity The Sea pulleth up from its bottom all excrements as
the Lord shall help them and deliver them he shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him If giving way to unbelief in the least had been pleasing to God he would not have made the promise first to our Parents before he came to pronounce the curse upon them Now giving way to unbelief consists in two things construing all things in the worst and hardest sense our own matters towards God and God's matters towards us I have been a stubborn rebellious â—retch and surely God will never have mercy upon me Observe Moses upon thâ—s theme Destroy not this People remember Abraham Isaac and Jacob look not on the stubbornness of this People nor to theiâ— wickedness nor to their sin Deut 9.27 Ne respicias ad dutitiem the hardness that is the â—mâ—eâ—â—tency of this People but thy Covenant with Abraham And this is the great thing only to be eyed by poor guilty wretches O sirs such and such sins were nothing if I could be humbled for them but I am of a very hard heart Be it so yet should you believe in the word of promise that is in that God which hath said he will give a heart of flesh This People hath finn'd and they cannot repent saith Moses do not therefore look upon them for there is no loveliness in them but look upon thy promise to Abraham to be a God to him and to his Seed and what cannot a God do to mend the heart of man Lamech having made himself guilty of Polygamie reflected upon the sin of Cain as is thought of which Loin he was and consters himself a far more guilty wretch than Cain for that Cain had only slain one and that only his body but Lamech had destroyed many soul and body both by his evil example which now so generally was followed in the World and a hastner of the worlds destruction so that if Cain was to be avenged seven-fold for his fin Lamech surely for his fin was to be avenged seventy times seven fold this is the sense of this Scripture as an able Expositor judgeth Sure I am that thus do poor guilty wretches please themselves to look upon all their sins in a very multiplying glass and to see them greater than any others and so conclude that if such and such despaired I have much more reason and this is no other but giving way to unbelief The Jews observe much how the providence of God complyed with the fire upon the Altar that it never went out they say that the Rain of Heaven though never so great never did put it out so we should much observe how the Lord by his Providence in his Word and Works complies with the weakness of our faith to strengthen and to preserve it that it go not out quite out and not be severely catching at every thing to weaken and to destroy our faith as if God's thoughts were as narrow as ours Secondly Way is given to unbelief when all wit and parts are used to argue down faith And the Angel of the Lord did wonderously and Manoah and his Wife looked on But the Angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah nor to his Wife then he knew it was an Angel of the Lord And Manoah said to his Wife we shall surely die because we have seen God Judg. 13.19 20. God sometimes doth wonderously own us in all our ways and holdeth up our hearts evâ—n by sense he is so for us in every thing Another while he seems to be as much against us and Manoah that did look on and see God do wonderously seeth him no more and now the improsperous Man concludes that he shall die And just thus do many when God upholds them not by sense but with draws and seems to be as much against them as for them then conclude surely God is our Enemy and will destroy us and all is naught Sineca saith that there is no universal thunder I may say so in morals When God doth most against wicked Men yet some things of kindness he doth as we see in the example of Pharaoh And so on the other hand there is no universal Sun shine when God doth most for any Child of his yet he shall have exercise and tryal enough one way or other and therefore to argue when things do not run so stilly and calmly as they did that therefore God doth not respect us is to give way to unbelief The people of Israel as they were espying out their way met with many difficulties And they turn'd and went up the way of Bashan and Og the King of Bashan went out against them and all his People And the Lord said to Moses fear not for I will deliver him into thine hand and all his People and thou shalt do to him as thou didst to Sihon King of the Amorites Num. 21.33 'T is just thus spiritually as a tempted Christian is spying out his way to Heaven out starts some Og some strong lust or Devil and then is he ready to fear and despair and mistrust all and conclude all is naught and will be worse and worse which is arguing down faith from sense and giving way to unbelief The High Priest was train'd up against the day of expiation to learn how to take up his handful of Incense and lay it one the Altar and so how to order himself in every thing and was kept in a Room of purpose separated with abstinence so should you rather conster that you are training up to your Priestly work by your tryals how to take up your handful of Incense I mean the Promises and lay them on the Altar Christ and so make a sweet Saviour of rest to God and to your Souls That you may not upon any account give way to unbelief know that you cannot do so and be innocent that is free from sin in so doing There are two things that are indispensable duties as long as we live and that is to wait on the Lord and to keep his way to which the blessing is certainly fixed and no difficulty shall make it void The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him the Lord will not leave him in his hand nor condemn him when he is judged What is the use to be made of this read the next words Wait on the Lord and keep his way and he shall exalt thee to inherit the Land when the wicked are cut off thou shalt see it Psal 37.32 33 34. There are two parts in Religion faith and obedience that we walk in all Gods ways and yet not rest in this but in Christ by faith and this we ought in all weathers to do and the good event of these is certain God will exalt us to inherit the Land flowing with Milk and Hony i.e. All good God will give us a lift to the possession of all that he hath promised And therefore it is to destroy all Religion and the recompence of reward too
and maintaining of a godly life By R. â—llin Heaven on Earth or the best Friend in the worst times to which is added a Sermon preached at the Funeral of Thomas Mosley Apothecary By James Janeway A token for Children being an exact account of the conversation holy and exemplary lives joyful deaths of several young Children By James Janeway Justification only upon a satisfaction By Rob Ferguson The Christians great Interest or the tryal of a savâ—ng interest in Christ with the way how to attain it By William Guthry late Minister in Scotland The vertue vigour and efficacy of the Promises dâ—splayed in their strength and glory By Tho. Herderson The History of Moderation or the Life Death and Resurrection of Moderation together with her Nativity Country Pedigree Kindred and Character Friend and also her Enemies A Gâ—ide to the true Religion or a Discourse directing to make a wise choise of that Religion Men venture their Salvation upon By I. Clappam Rebukes for sin by God's burning anger by the burning of London by the burning of the World and by the burning of the wicked in Hell-fire to which is added a Discourse of Heart fixedness By T. Doolittle Four Select Sermons upon several Texts of Scripture wherein the Will-worship and Idolatry of the Church of Rome is laid open and confuted By William Fenner The Life and Death of Dr. James Vsher Arch-bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland A most comfortable and Christian Dialogue between the Lord and the Soul by William Cooper Bishop of Galloway The Câ—nons and Institutions of the Quakers agreed upon at their General Assembly at their new Theatre in Grace-church street A Synopsis of Quakerism or a Collection of the Fundamental Errors of the Quakers By Tho. Danson Blood for Blood being a true Narrative of that late horrid murther committed by Mary Cook upon her Child By Nath. Partridge with a Sermon on the same occasion by The welcome Communicant Six several Treatises by Nicho. Lockieâ— Minister of the Gospel FINIS Books Sold by Dorman Newman THe present State of Russia in a Letter to a Friend at London written by an eminent Person residing at the Great Tzars Court at Mosco for the space of IX Years Illustrated with many Copper Plates Misterium Pietatis or the mistery of godliness wherein the misteries contained in the Incarnation Circumcision wise Men Passion Resurrection Assention of the Son of God and coming of the Holy Ghost are unfolded and applyed By W. Annand Fellowship with God or 28. Sermons on the 1st Epist of Iohn chap. 1st 2d By Hugh Binning late Minister in Scotland The mystery of Faith open'd or some Sermons concerning Faith By Andrew Gray late Minister in Glasgow Lazarus Redivivus or a discovery of the Trials and Triumphs that accompany the work of God in and about his people with an Essay tending to clear up those mistakes men have about it Laid open in several Sermons By Nicholas Blakit Minister of the Gospel A Token for Children being an exact account of the conversion holy and exemplary lives and joyful deaths of several young Children By James Janeway ERRATA PAge 2. 3. for that read if p. 6. that f. if p. 9. Lord f. law p. 18. most liberal f. most to be p. 19. Root f. roof p. 22. sign f. sight p. 24. roots f. rock p. 26. hill f. hell p. 27. so f. to c. their 's f. others p. 37. threw f. throwes p. 64. with f. wise p. 74. soon f. soare p. 81. willing f. killing p. 81. our f. them p. 104. wonder f. words p. 104. word f. Lord p. 105. of f. if p. 120. Teolin f. Leolin p. 126. man f. more p. 126. best f. left p. 130. our f. the. p. 138. man f. mammon p. 140. fetcheth f. setteth p. 146. 147. Haman f. Heman p. 148. Sidom f. Sodom p. 153. To ammi f. Le ammi p. 153. so f. lo. p. 154. best f. but. p. 157. afflictions f. affections p. 158. bitten f. bitters p. 159. flat f. flote p. 160. discovered f. discord p. 168. preferred f. preserved p. 178. willing f. rebelling p. 180. Book f. Brook p. 187. rain f. men p. 187. ever f. even p. 190. Pethakia f. Pethakiah p. 190. occasions f. accusations p. 195. Saviour f. savour p. 207. Joh f. John p. 213. hill f. hell p. 215. ex anima f. ex animo Then for there and when for where are frequently and mutually mistaken by the Printer which the Reader iâ— desired to rectify as he meets it
merciful Men are taken away As if the Prophet had said now the Lord is very angry indeed that he will not spare such as these which are so precious in his eye if any be Noah a righteous Man was preserved from the Flood And Lot a righteous Man preserved and plucked out of Sodom and had there been Ten righteous more the Cities might have been saved for their sake as the Ship full of Passengers for Paul's sake And Ebedmelech the Black more a merciful Man was saved from the destructions which destroyed Jerusalem and so was Jeremiah This should incite all People as they love their lives in this dying day to labour after grace and to be merciful Men and Women yea bountiful in this day of want for such as are ready to yield themselves thus to the Scepter of Christ and to follow him fully with all they have and are will certainly scape best such as yield all to the Lord will save all if any do You that become of prophane righteous and holy Men you take the likeliest way I know to escape well in this mortal time If you get not your lives you will get your Souls for a Prey no Plague shall come nigh that thus are you lodged safe in the Promise as soon as you become gracious and break off from your wicked ways by repentance And you that are gracious and godly think on 't as you love your lives in this day of mortality shew your Faith by your Works abound in this gift also of mercifulness many that are able and carry the Bag are abroad and I fear have carrâ—ed the Bag with them you that are here had need be the more merciful Man's poor will starve else Surely such as are ready to preserve the lives of others God will preserve their lives A Third Doctrin that may be observed in these words is this That times of general security under present lesser punishments are of very evil presage If when God's Judgments are in the Earth righteous Men and merciful be taken away and none lay these drops of the storms to heart it fore-rells surely that the Storm will come and fall hard and Thunder and Hall much Surely some great Evils are at Door when little ones are made light of though I cannot call the taking away of one righteous Man in this day nor the taking away of one merciful Man or Woman in this day a little punishment Dictum cum vulgo I speak after you if lesser Rods make no Body feel great ones surely are a making Righteous Men are taken away and none consider that they are taken from great Evil to come Sometimes with a foolish Virgins slumber the good become bad in this that they lay not GOD's dealings to heart as they should but let Death like a Moth stilly take away one and then another and make no noise in Heaven about it good People are much in a hurry with this World one about his Farm and another about his Merchandise and whilst running here and there hither and thither the King of Syria is gone the matters which should have been close kept to the heart are slipt away out of the mind and made no use of And such a temper among the Lord's People as well as others is a sure fore-runner of some roufing Judgment at Door that may well awaken every Body the Storm begins to come in among you Citizens now I hope you will be awake anon the Plague hath kept in the out-parts a good while O that we in the in-parts within these Walls had been well awake then and laid matters to heart then as we should The Doctrin which I would stand on is this That general Mortality should be generally laid to heart Mortal strokes upon all good as well as bad should much affect all good and bad The Strokes of God in this Prophet's time when he spake the words of my Text began to be general God spared not righteous nor wicked and God thus promiscuously smiting the Prophet was troubled that Men were no more affected as well he might From whence I observe That general Mortality should be generally laid to heart No Man high or low good or bad but should much lay to heart all the strokes of God which bring death that great blow to Man's Beeing Mortality by Plague Sword Famine or any other way or by any other Disease should be well considered and well made use of especially if it reach the righteous as well as others The Lion hath roared who will not fear The Lord God hath spoken who can but Prophesie Amos 3.8 Nature teacheth this in all Creatures that when such Creatures of prey are abroad which they know they are in danger of to be preyed upon to dread and tremble and to take all care they can to shun them and to save themselves The Prophet Mica who Prophesied in the same time with Isaiah which so complained in my Text complaineth just like him and almost in the same words Mica 7.2 The good Man is perished out of the Earth and there is none upright among Men they all lie in wait for blood they hunt every Man his brother with a Net c. As if the Prophet had said Good men perish out of the Earth and this is so far from being laid to heart and lookt upon as any judgment that all violences are used to take away the rest every one lieth in wait for blood yea the blood of his Brother as Cain lay in wait for his Brothers blood And where will this end And by this grief of this Prophet I gather that general Mortality the perishing of good Men and the perishing of others by violences and murders and such like ought much to affect the living and not the lives of all sorts to be taken away and made no more of than of Dogs or Hogs by the death of which there is an advantage By this Prophet Isaiah we may see this Doctrin again confirmed that general strokes should generally affect Isa 64 9 10 11. Be not wrath very soon O Lord neither remember iniquity for ever behold we bessech thee we are all thy People Thy holy Cities are a Wilderness Zion is a Wilderness Jerusalem a desolation the holy and beautiful House our Fathers worshipped thee is burnt with Fire and all our pleasant things laid wast The Prophet â—n these words speaketh prophetically and beholdeth and representeth that which was to be as done namely the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem and that state Persons and things one and all and how doth he speak of this general Mortality of Persons and things good and bad high and low Doth he speak of it slightly O no but with much complaint and strong cry and bemoans to God Be not wrath very sore O Lord be not angry for ever Zion is a Desolation Jerusalem a Wilderness c. In these Desolations as you know by the Scripture there was Death by Plague Sword and