Fathers and I said I will never break my covenant with you and ye shall make no league with the Inhabitants of this land c. but ye have not obeyed my voice why have ye done this c. And it came to pass when the Angel of the Lord spake these words to all the Children of Israel that the people lift up their voice and wept Secondly Very scandalously The scandalousness of your miscarriages is another aggravation of them Had all the forementioned abominations been committed in Defarts and Holes of the earth where none had been privy to your irregularities you had had no sin in comparison of what you now stand justly charged with If you had been only rotten hearted that would not have been under the eye and censure of the World Religion would have had no blemish no loss no considerable loss thereby But men have looked to your hands and feet whilst God to your hearts and finding so many defilements on you hereby the Name of God hath been blasphemed God is spoken evil of whilst you have done evil before men You knew the world was an observing world greedy to espy all the Errata's of your lives you knew spots in Cambrick would sooner be marked than in course cloth you knew how apt the world was to condemn all Saints for the miscarriages of a few pretenders to Christianity you knew how the world lay in wait like the Arabian for his prey waiting for somewhat to calumniate Christ and his followers with you knew the tongues that are set on fire of Hell would belch out their emnity upon the sight of your sins you knew how apt they were to be prejudiced against you and as the people in Elies dayes from the miscarriages of them that pretended to draw near to God would by your occasion abhorre the Offerings of the Lord. 1 Sam. 2.17 1 Pet. 3.16 2 Sam. 12.14 2 Tim. 2.26 You should have walked with such a good Conscience that whereas the world would speak against you as evil-doers they might be ashamed But insteed of this you have opened the mouth of Blasphemy you have gratified the Devil exceedingly were he capable of joy you have furthered it by being contented to be winnowed by him and to be led captive at his will The scandals of men reputed for holiness have been his greatest Harvests his greatest advantages He hopes by the falls of Cedars to break down and crush the Shrubs and tender plants that grow nigh God alone knows what mischief you have done to Religion already and where the mischief will end Jeroboam made Israel to sin many years after his death Whereas ye should have left a precious Name behind you holy exact copies of Righteousness for succeeding generations to write after you have laid the stumbling block of your iniquitie before the faces of hundreds and thousands to cause them to fall Give over wondring that for these last ten years the Gospel hath had a a miscarrying Womb and dry Breasts know you have like the Serpent the Dragon stood as in the place of bearing you have hindred the Birth or devoured the Child as soon as Born you have been of the old generation of Gods Curse you would not to Heaven your selves Luke 11.52 and hindred others that would if you had not laid your offences in their way Perhaps some of you may think to relieve your selves that you know none are taken in these Gins and Traps you will know shortly that he that tempteth to evil commits an hainous sin though his temptation prove not effectual God will not reward men altogether by the event of scandals but by the tendency of Scandal in its own nature Others not sinning after your example will not excuse and lessen your faults which were so apt to lead them into sin Matth. 18.17 Wo saith Christ to him by whom the offence comes Wo to them that take offence but greater wo to them that give it If God threatned Eli to take him up by the roots for not punishing Scandals in his Sons 1 Sam. 3.13 because his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not What dreadfull judgements are we exposed to who are the offence-givers Wonder not if having caused many to stumble at the Law that God will make us contemptible and base before all the people Ye are departed out of the way Mal. 2.8 9. ye have caused many to stumble at the Law ye have corrupted the Covenant of Levi saith the Lord of Hosts therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people How oft have we been as unsavoury Salt Mat. 5.13 and is it any wonder if we be cast out and thrown to the Dunghill O that you would remember David take him into your Closet with you he was scandalous in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba it is true he repented in dust and ashes he abhorred himself made his bed to swim the sin was pardoned the guilt thereof removed a solemn absolution was sent him by a Prophet and yet how did God follow him with misery upon misery He might in the death of the Child in the defilement of his Daughter in the murder of Ammon and in the treason of Absolon in his weeping and going barefoot in his Concubines being defiled and his own Crown and Life jeoparded in all these things he might see the woful fruits of Scandal 2 Sam. 12.9 10 11 12 13 14. Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandement of the Lord to do evil in his sight Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the Sword and hast taken his Wife to be thy Wife and hast slain him with the Sword of the Children of Ammon Now therefore the Sword shall never depart from thine House c. Behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own House and I will take thy Wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy Neighbour and he shall lye with thy Wives in the sight of the Sun For thou didst it secretly but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Sun And David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David The Lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not dye Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the Child also that is born unto thee shall surely dye If David repenting of his Scandals be thus punished what will become of you who have made Religion to be abhorred and yet are insensible unbroken and unhumbled to this very day Well may unrepented of Scandals lye in your bones many dayes hence Psal 51.8 Psal 38.8 seeing David's did yea he roared because of his sin Well may you goe drooping to your graves being bereft of all joy and comfortable looks from Heaven whilst repenting David lost so long the joy of Gods salvation Psal 51.12 What shall I say O all ye
the merciful Dispensations of God to them 1 Sam. 15.17 18 19. And Samuel said When thou wast little in thine own sight wast not thou made the Head of the Tribes of Israel and the Lord annointed thee King over Israel and the Lord seat thee on a journey and said Goe and utterly destroy the Sinners c. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord And Nathan said to David c. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. I annointed thee King over Israel and delivered thee out of the hand of Saul And I gave thee thy Masters House and thy Masters Wives into thy bosome and gave thee the House of Israel and of Judah and if that had been too little I would morcover have given unto thee such and such things Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandement of the Lord to do evil in his sight And hath there not been as much disingenuity and unkindness in our Sins The Lord hath given his Statutes to us and his Laws He hath not so dealt with all the Nations under Heaven He hath nourished and brought us up as Children Isa 1.2 3 4. but we have rebelled against him The Oxe knoweth his Owner and the Asse his Masters Crib but Israel doth not know my People my People doth not cousider Ah sinful Nation a People laden with iniquity c. God fetcheth a deep sigh Ah! under the burden of this Ingratitude His Spirit is laden and troubled with it They have provoked the Holy One of Israel Mis-improvements of Mercies are very provoking When God comes for Bread to be sent away with Stones must need vex the good Spirit of the Lord. Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken it Oh for Professours to be worse than Publicans for they will be kind to such as are kind to them Have not we sinn'd against God even with his favours and requited him evil for good May not the Lord say unto us Deut. 32.6 Do ye thus require the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee All the mercies we have received greaten our sins The more richly that God hath heaped his Blessngs upon us the more wantonly we have followed the swinge of our own Lusts and the more contemptuously spurned at his holy Commandements We have great cause to be ashamed for that all our sins have been 〈◊〉 gainst mercy and therefore against the Principle and Law of Nature It is a perpetual Spot not to be worn out by time that of King Jeash that he slew Zechariah the Son of Jehojada the High Priest who had been loyal unto him in the getting of the Kingdom and faithful in the administration of it ◠Chron. 24.22 23. Thus Joash the King remembred not the kindness which Jehojada his Father had done to him but slew his Son and when he dyed he said the Lord look upon it and requite it And it came to pass at the end of the year that the Host of Syria came up against him and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the Princes of the people from among the people But alas What Engagements could Zechariah possibly lay on Joash that may weigh with the Mercies of our God to us And yet how have we made his choicest Favours as Arrows to shoot at the God that sent them What wretched Prodigals have we been to wast all in the service of Hell which were conferr'd with so open an hand to draw forth our time strength and spirits in the praises and services of God For this our Ingratitude Ezra 9.13 14. the Lord may justly be angry with us till he hath consumed us so that there shall be no remnant nor escaping O that you would remember the Lord from Shittim to Gilgal Mica 6.5 i. e. from the beginning of Mercy to the end of it And you will hardly find that you any of you have been the better for it but many Jeshurun-like have waxed fat and kicked God is this day calling out of Heaven to England and to each particular person in it Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise I could even wish for the thousands of our Israel that they had received fewer Privileges or had had the grace to serve the Lord in the abundance of all things better than they have to this very day If ever you purpose sound Repentance then take a view of all the Mercies of God towards you Goe back to the time when the first stone was laid yea goe back to the eternal projects of God to make thee out of nothing and to redeem thee when worse than nothing Review the upper and lower Springs with which Soul and Body have been refreshed Remember how many eminent Deliverances and Salvations God hath wrought for thee And if at any time thou hast been straitned in outward comforts yet remember how thou hast been enlarged with spiritual graces if God hath denyed thee in one kind of mercy he hath supplyed it by a gracious wonderfull commutation in another in a better if thou hast been denyed the fleshpots of Egypt and the land flowing with honey yet it hath been all made up in the bread the Mannah that fell from Heaven if thou hast had sometimes bodily infirmities yet thou hast been strengthned with all might in the inward man if thou hast been denyed thee the gold of the earth yet God hath supplyed thee in making thee rich in faith If sometimes Friends have been unfriendly inconstant or treacherous yet God hath stood by thee when all left thee God hath dealt with you as with Sons your gleanings are better than the Vintage of the world Having laid these and innumerable such mercies in one Scale now lay in the other Scale thy soul ingratitude not only that particular sin of unthankfulness that thou hast been guilty of of which before but the ingratitude that hath been in all thy sins in thy pride hypocrisie formality self-love self-seeking impatience neglect of duty to Superiours Equals and Inferiours profaneness intemperance unrighteousness c. that Remembring the Lord and his goodness towards thee together with thy cursed returns thou may'st yet abhor thy self in dust and ashes Take words and say My Salvations are more than I can number Blessed be God the Father of all mercy But my sins also are innumerable I cannot recount them shame upon me O! how vile have I made my self whilst by abuse of rich mercy Mat. 5.47 Isa 1.3 I have lived below the ingenuity that is found in Publicans and Beasts O that God would give me the success that the Angel had on such a sinfull people as you are Judg. 2.1 2 3 4. And the Angel of the Lord come up from Gilgal to Bochim and said I made you to go up out of Egypt and have brought you into the land which I swear unto your
that thou art guilty of so much sin but it is no shame to acknowledge it Only in your Confessions take this advice Set your sins in order enumerate the several sins you have been guilty of and though every numerical thought and Act of sin is not possible to be cited yet give diligence to find out as many as thou canst and spread them before the Lord. Bring forth especially that sin or sins All your special sins which are thy special sins whereby thou hast most provoked God David gave a touch at his Sins in the beginning of his Penitential Psalm but his Adultery and Blood-guiltiness lay most upon him and he is never at ease till he hath vomited them up in confession Be sure then that Of all of them upon a review of this or any better Catalogue thou cry unto thy heart as Samuel to Jesse Are here all thy Children Are here all thy sins He that doth not confess a sin hath a mind to commit to that Sin again An hypocrite will confess some nay many sins but there is one sin he is loth to bring forth it is a Jacobs Benjamin Job 20 1â— they would keep it back one sweet bit is covered under the Tongue But certainly it is extreme folly to impose upon God for he knows every thought of thy heart yea he knows thy thoughts before thou know'st them he knew what thoughts Israel would have in the Wilderness David lay somewhile under this piece of Hypocrisie he kept silence a long time which made his bones wax old his moysture was turned into the drought of Summer Psal 32.3 4 5. But at length though it was long first his sin came out I acknowledge my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my Transgressions unto the Lord. Be not like Judas he confesseth his betraying of Christ but there was a close sin which he would not uncover viz. his covetousness I meet with many who will confess such sins as are most in fashion viz. their dulness under Ordinances their formality their vain thoughts in duty c. But when did you hear Professors confessing their envy at the gifts graces and privileges of their Brethren Paul's sin was persecuting Gods Church and how ready is he to tell God and all the world of it A good Copy to write after Bring forth the aggravating circumstances With all their aggravations and lay them before the Lord. Some confess sin but their confessions are accompanied with strange excuses and extenuations viz. it was done through the instigation of the Devil it was done inconsiderately c. Such are not for shaming themselves before the Lord but like Lawyers plead as well as they can for a bad cause Avoyd all extenuating Confessions Father not thy Brats upon the Devil lest thy account swell even for wronging Satan when indeed thou wast inticed and drawn aside by thy own lust Beware of this folly for know that extenuating sin aggravates it and aggravating extenuates sin before the Lord. Let thy Confession be ingenuous and free Freely Sometimes Conscience like an over-charged Stomach doth so over-press men that they cannot hold but must out with their uncleanness c. Thus it is especially when the Horrours of Death have compassed them round This confession of sin proceeds not from hatred of sin and displicence with it but from fear of punishment they hope if they confess sin any how any way they shall obtain mercy and this makes many throw up what otherwise they would hide for ever But O! that you would be more ingenuous in your acknowledgements than Pharaoh and Judas were who should say something upon the Wrack when Gods Hand and Conscience prest them down I know what you will do upon the perusing this sad Catalogue if God do not sanctifie the book unto you you will confess sin but not your own you will fall a censuring the person or party you do not love crying out O! how guilty are such and such before the Lord O! how is God dishonoured by them how doth Religion suffer by them yea but how much hath Gods Name suffered by thy lightness frothiness pride sensuality back-sliding c. O! run with tears and confess all thine own sins before God God requires it Only acknowledge thine iniquity Jer. 3.13 that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God And God tells you it is a means to obtain remission 1 John 1.9 If ye confess your sins he is just and faithfull to for give Some say confess and be hang'd but I say confess or you 'l be damn'd If you had rather be damned than be shamed thou lovest thy Name better than thy Soul The Lord be mercifull to thee or else thou wilt lose both when Christ shall come to Judge the Earth for then whatsoever is hid shall be published Let your Confession be frequent Frequently yea constant until at least God hath done away thy sin It may be you may fear your heart is so hard that you shall but sin by a formal dull confession or enumeration of your sins But yet do it as well as thou canst and if thy heart be hard go and complain of it to God and beg him to take away the heart of stone let the sight of this hardness drive thee the soonner and the oftner to the Throne of Grace and there lye before the Lord till he cleave the Rock that the waters gush out till thy tears vye with thy sins Do as our English Martyr who ceased not his Confessions till his heart was melted and broken for his sins 3. Contrition Labour to get your hearts broken for all your Rebellions against God for all the impurities of your hearts and lives Son of Man Ezek. 21.9 10. Prophesie and say thus saith the Lord say A Sword a Sword is sharpned and also furbished it is sharpned to make a great slaughter it is furbished that it may glister should we then make mirth Heb. 12.25 Ezek. 22.19 20 21. Even our God hath been a consuming fire and shall not we mourn The house of Israel is become dross even the dross of silver and therefore God hath gathered them into the midst of Jerusalem as they gather silver and brass iron and lead and tin into the midst of the Furnace to blow the fire upon it and hath blown upon them in the Fire of his Wrath and they have been melted in the midst thereof and shall not we lament Yea God hath been exceedingly dishonoured by Hypocrisie falshood breaking of Vows Murmurings cruelties neglects of his Worship c. Should we then make mirth Have not we great cause even more cause than ever any people had to tremble not only at the dreadfull Judgements of God that are already upon us and that hang over our heads but at the hellish impieties that swarm in our hearts View not only this imperfect Catalogue but look
of your provocations humbled in the very dust be sure to keep Conscience tender Let not your convictions dye strike again and again smite on the thigh again and again whilst the Iron is hot This fire may be kept alive by bringing new fuel to it Labour exquisitely to afflict your Souls that you should be so foolish so vile as under Christs Livery to commit so great and so hideous abominations Take words and say O the Light that I have abused O the means of Grace that I have slighted O the little service that I have done to Christ O the many dis-services Let these things cut and grave and afflict and humble thy Soul exceedingly from morning to evening and from evening to morning till God be pacified towards thee beware lest the motions of a lazy heart cause thee to desist sooner A patient that hath had a long disease must continue in the use of the prescriptions till the ill humour be purged away 4. Indignation Let your sorrow be accompanied with detestation See all your sins and loath them and your selves too This is promised they shall loath their ways and doings which are not good O! how much sin have we confessed which yet we have secretly hug'd in our hearts Labour to have your hearts rise against your pride hypocrifie c. Hate sin not only for Hell but as Hell yea hate your selves for your sins yea hate your selves that you can hate your sins no more O that my hatred of my Lusts might be greater than ever my love was unto them I wish from my Soul Professors were more apprehensive of Gods Judgements that are upon them and the Nation for their sins I wish many of us were come up to the frames of the hard-hearted Jews and expressed so much tenderness as they did when Gods hand was heavy upon them their sins also were an heavy burden Hos 7.14 In their affliction they sought God early they mourned and humbled themselves very much though with the removal of their trouble their sorrows wore away However be not satisfied with this sorrow but labour for such sorrow as David had when he was wounded in his heart for sin though Nathan told him his sin was forgiven yet he continued his sorrows for his great transgressions Labour I beseech you for tears of hatred and indignation be greatly displeased with your selves because you have so foolishly and wretchedly dishonoured God and ventured your eternal undoing and if yet thine eyes be not like the Fish-ponds of Heshbon for thy sins take words and sament before God thine hardness of heart that thou shouldst so grievously offend and provoke God so good so gracious a God and that notwithstanding thine heart should remain unbroken 5. Supplication Let there be added hearty cries to God for pardon of all these and all other abominations Who forgives him that scorns to sue for Remission Here is your work in this day the Devil and a false heart will put you upon other work but this is your present work Cant. 1.6 They made me the keeper of the Vineyards but mine own Vineyard I have not kept But O! do not leave the work that God sets you about I know it is your duty to provide for the bodies of your Children but consider the danger of thy Soul what guilt thou art under and give the Lord no rest till he hath blotted out all thy sin and art assured that he will remember it no more Relieve not thy self with the general bounty of God or with the free grace and rich mercy of God whilst thou neglectest to cry to God for grace and mercy He will be sought unto by the house of Israel Prize thy condition that thou art alive to pray thou mightst have been in Hell there to howl for ever and ever Seek the Lord whilst he may be found Seek in time before it be too late And if thou doubtest whether thou hast an interest in Christ and the promises because of thy hideous transgressions yet remember the gracious words that tell once from the mouth of Christ to the Samaritan John 4.10 If thou didst know the gift of God thou wouldst have asked and he would have given thee living water Though thou art unworthy of Childrens bread and hast deserved to be cast forth among the dogs yet thou hast to do with a bountifull and mercifull Lord and therefore be not cast down so as to be discouraged from waiting on the Lord. It was ill said of him why should I wait on the Lord any longer There is no hope I would have thee take better words into thy mouth and say Lord I am unworthy to be the object of thy mercy unworthy to live worthy to be denyed because thou didst call and I did not hear therefore if I call thou mayst justly turn me off in thy fury thou mightest answer me by terrible things in righteousness But deal not with me according to my deservings O! make me the great instance of the power of thy grace let thy mercy in pardoning be great exceeding great O God! Do not delay the suing out thy pardon Without delay away quickly to the Throne of Grace Remember Faelix put off his work till some other time There is danger in delays lest your sense of sin and sorrow for it vanish and decay blow up the first sparks of grace lest they go out and dye again take the first advantages of the grace of God Hast thou an inclination to humble thy self to pray to seek Gods face improve it quickly lest the wrath of God who is nighly provoked already against thee break form upon thee and there be no remedy Do not you know that you have lost the sense of the love of God But have you also lost all sense of Gods wrath Do not you wonder you escape that you are yet alive that you are not free among the dead incorporated with the Hypocrites and damned crew Will you dare you go on in your hardness of heart Will you treasure up wrath against the day of wrath O! God forbid Lay by the world thy false friend thy treacherous Joab that hath smitten to the earth with its kisses and its smiles Here is a business on which thy life the life of thy precious Soul depends Prepare to meet thy God wrath is gone out from the Lord howl weep cry it may be you shall be hid is the day of the Lords wrath it may be your sins shall be forgiven Though the law be a looking-glass to shew you your spots the Baver under the law was made of looking-glosses yet it cannot cleanse you it is the Gospel alone that pardons Away ye wandring Sheep to the great Shepheard of your Souls Hebr. 13.20 great he is in affection and love to his flock he hath laid down his life for you he hath purchased you with his own bloud Nathans parable of the Ewe-Lamb is most true of Christ and
misdemeanours were they convinced of the body of sin within them their greatest sorrows would be for their sinful propensities Neither would you wonder at any impieties and enormities in the Earth but would admire at the restraints of Heaven that they are no greater Alass If the Reader were left to himself he would presently lay hands on his nearest relations and on himself Certainly the reason why we turn not Cannibals why every man is not a Sodomite a Murtherer an Oppressour c. is because God hath a rein on the heart and curbs it for the continuation of mankind that otherwise would soon be destroyed The great boundary of the Seas and of the Ocean of corruption is the Soveraign above But O! how do we commend Nature such a man hath a good nature such a man you may trust him he will never commit such abominations You may as well believe a Toad will not poyson or the Sea will not overflow the Earth if God leave it to its self But to descend to particulars 1. Few convinced of the minds corruption Rom. 8.7 How few see the corruption of their mind How few are convinced that the carnal mind is enmity against God and is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be How are our minds delighted with tales and toyes more than with the serious mysteries of God How few are sensible that they are as foolish and mad as any Bedlams in that they please themselves with that which should be their greatest burden namely Sin They are worse than the Bee or Ant for these prepare for a severe hard Winter these provide for hereafter whilst most people mind present things present pleasure present profit c. with the neglect of heaven and future glory They mind more what to eat and drink here what to have at present for this life than what to lay up for eternity They busie themselves to know what is of no consequence but careless of momentous and eternal matters How few employ their minds to know God and how he is to be worshipped and pleased but employ themselves in needless and unprofitable speculations in this like fools and children who preferr painted glass before jewels of value they more set by a little mirth and pleasure than the matters of their salvation How are our minds enslaved to our affections to the more bruitish inferiour and ignoble parts of the soul and we love to have it so Through this corruption of our minds how do we justifie sin excuse it and plead for it Hence also there are swarms of idle confused impertinent foolish ridiculous thoughts that fill our souls and duties seldome in the day week or year any conceptions of God suitable to his majesty and holiness How unstable are our minds and judgements so that we are as reeds shaken with every wind now for duty then soon wheel'd off again now for repenting and humbling work then tired and soon diverted And if we know the out-side of truths yet how often is that a barr to our closing with Christ and walking in him And yet though these poor blind deluded Bartimeus's fill all our wayes and paths so that where ever we goe we meet with them yet how seldome are any convinced of this how seldome do any cry for eye salve that they may see 2. Few convinced of the corruption of the Conscience Tit. 1.15 And though not only the mind but the conscience is defiled though there be a blindness upon it whereby it mis judgeth and calleth darkness light and though it be senseless and stupid as a stone yet few do believe this corruption hence they take sanctuary in their consciences their consciences bear them witness though it be bribed and corrupted and they have a good conscience though they know not what conscience is 3. How few are convinced of the corruption of their Will Few convinced of the corruption of their Will How do they wish that drunkenness uncleanness c. were no sins How do they choose to live a merry rather than an holy life to be the servants of the Devil rather than of God to commit sin and thereby hazard their damnation rather than to suffer and through many tribulations to enter into the Kingdom of God And how gladly would most Professours enter and take up their rest in somewhat below God if they could but enjoy the world according to their will Few convinced of the corruption of their Affections 4. Few are convinced of the pollution of their Affections Though they hate what they should love and love what they should hate though they love sin which they should hate and hate and slight God to whom they should give the precedency of their love though all be in disorder all be mis-placed though God be dethroned and Sin Sathan and the World be set up above all that is called God yet few do really believe that such a miserable Chaos is upon them 5. Few convinced of the corruption of their Memories How few are sensible of the corruption of their Memory Though they are especially charged to remember God and how to get a possession of him and to remember duty and how to practise and to remember sin and how to shun it yet how soon do they forget such truths and lodge in their memories injuries that they may avenge them and vanities foolish jests unprofitable toâ—es and tales to please themselves therewith You can remember how merry you were such a time how vain how your sensualities were abounding but you soon forget a Sermon or if you remember any thing delivered by the Preacher it is that which either concerns others conditions rather than yours or which yields you the least advantages heaven-ward We can remember the fall of Peter much easier than the repentance of Peter than his bitter weepings we can remember David's Adultery but not his Repentance and how it broke his bones and made his bed to swim Few convinced that sin iâ— the greatest evil Secondly How few have been convinced that sin is the greatest evil How few have seen it in its perfect odiousness in its naked face as that which makes Men Devils fighting against God How are most strangers to its pedigree Joh. 8.44 and consider not the Devil to be its Father We would be thought to have nothing to do with the Devil nor that he hath any thing to do with us we can live in sin and yet hypocritically enough defie the Devil and all his works We can make more moderate constructions of our sins and call them the frailties of our flesh but he that commits sin is of the Devil i. e. the Devil's drudge Sathan works in him and by him If men were convinced of this they would not drink in the Devil's piss Sin it comes from the Devil it is the Devil's excrement and yet this is rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel O! with what greediness is the
dung of hell devoured and swallowed How few see sin to be contrary to the works of God although God had no sooner perfected the goodly faâ—rick of Heaven and Earth but sin gave a shrewd shake to all it shook and dis-joynted all and had it not been for Christ the great Mediatour it had ruined the whole frame of Nature How few see sin to be contrary to the will of God God saith I will have this done I 'le not do it saith Sin I 'le have this suffered saith God I 'le not suffer it saith Sin Nay so great is the contest betwixt Sin and God that if it could it would unbee God How few take notice of its contrariety to the very nature of God God is good Sin is evil God is pure Sin is impure How few believe sin to be universally evil that there is no good in it We cannot perswade men that there is good in poverty good in disgrace good in reproaches with the tongue and persecutions unto death but easily are men perswaded there is some good in sin How few are convinced of the miserable effects and consequences of sin The wrath of God is not revealed against their unrighteousnest and ungodliness so as to make their knees to tremble The hand-writing on the wall is not observed They are still alive We cannot for our hearts perswade men to goe up to heaven to see what spoyles it made there could we herein prevail then would they inferr that there is more evil in the least sin than there is good in all the Angells of heaven for that one sin conquered them and spoyled them of all their beauty and made them of glorious creatures to become such loathsome and hideous spectacles neither can we prevail with any almost to take a journey to Paradise to see its venome there or to goe to the Garden or to Mount Calvary to see what work it did there or to goe to hell-gate to hear the doleful shrieks and cries which it hath caused there though God hath said Psal 68.21 God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses though there is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isa 57.21 though sin be the sole object of Gods hatred for God loved the whole Creation till its beauty was blasted and stained by sin though sin only seperates between God and souls Isa 59.2 though in the belly of it be found all miseries deaths and hells though it be the founder of all graves and of Tophet though it fill the conscience with terrours and hell with fire and brimstone yet few are affected with the evils of it but they drink in iniquity as water Thirdly Few sensible of being under the wrath of God John 3.28 36. Eccles 8.11 How few Professours are sensible that they are cast by an holy and righteous Law that they are condemned creatures that the wrath of God abideth on them Few have seen the black cloud full of woes brim full of wrath ready to empty it self upon their souls they take no notice that though the sentence be not executed speedily yet it is given forth and there may be but a little breath and they are gone to perish for ever How many senseless souls are there in our Parishes whose consciences were never shaken whose spirits were never wounded who never received the spirit of bondage to fear who never knew what a fearfull expectation of judgement meant who go dancing to hell in the Devils chains and yet count themselves the noble and gallant spirits and flatter themselves in their own eyes and say we shall have peace though we walk in the imaginations of our hearts Deut. 29.19 Rev. 3.16 17. These are Laodicean-like rich and full and needing nothing when God is about to spue them out of his mouth as we discharge our stomacks of some loathsome surfets Pro. 26.16 These are wiser in their own conceit then seven men that can render a reason Though one Minister at the heels of another endeavour with Scripture upon Scripture to convince them of and to prick them at the heart for their sin and danger yet they are boysterously confident and presumptuous that they shall to heaven as soon as any Precisians in the Country Never did many break one nights sleep upon the consideration of their sinfull and lost condition by nature never did they loath their ordinary food or feel the smart of broken bones as David did though they have sinned at an higher rate never did they know what a wounded spirit meant what anguish of soul was never did they feel Gods wrath or sin a burthen insupportable they were never pricked at the heart so as to cry out What shall I do to be saved What shall I do to have me sins pardoned Would you know the reason of all this security Alas they are dead in sins and trespasses A dead condition is an insensible condition death deprives of sense as well as life the dead are not frighted with the swords and pistols at their breasts the dead fear not though threatned with fire and brimstone the dead hear not though God be on Mount Ebal thundering curses upon curses the dead see not though sin be so ugly a monster and hell so frightfull a place the dead smell not though sin stinks worse than the vomit of dogs 2 Pet. 2.20 than rotten Sepulchres or than the corrupted matter of the most nasty disease it offends not the dead to have this stinking Carrion alwayes in their bosomes the dead feel not though that which is heavier than montains of lead be lying on their backs they grown not neither do they complain so much as Cain did they do not go softly in the bitterness of their souls by reason of their sins Many cannot say with Hannah that ever they were of a sorrowfull Spirit Though there be so many curses upon the heads of all natural persons though there be an entayl of wrath upon the heads of the very sins they live in though their sins are or may be circumstantiated to a greater degree than any of the Scripture-Offendors that we read of as being committed under the open Sun of the Gospel though Hell be open to receive them every moment whilst impenitent whilst hardned though the Valley of Hinnom is making room for them to entertain them with the vengeance of a justly-provoked God yet few fear few work out their salvation with weeping eyes and trembling hearts they are still alive without the Law they never walked softly with Ahab or were under Soul-trouble with Judas they fall short of the pangs and sense of Hypocrites Oh! Oh! Oh! I pitty these secure souls how short will they fall of their hopes and how farr short of Heaven Fourthly Few sensible of Sathans working in them Eph. 2.2 How few are sensible that all this while the Devil works in them as in his
and neglect the one thing necessary Fool that I was to set my thoughts and affections on things below none of which now give me a drop of water to cool my tongue and to neglect the things above O! If I had never heard of Christ and Glory I had been more excusable for my earthly prolings Psal 69.6 O! How have I disquieted my self in vain I have heaped up riches and know not who shall gather them Had I been as faithful to Christ as I was to Mammon O! with what joy might I have removed hence What abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdome might I have had O! Labour to prevent the horrours of Death and the gnawing Worm of Conscience It is sad when the Sting of Death and the Worm Conscience Prov. 11.4 bite the man together Riches avail not in the day of wrath but righteousness delivereth from death Believe it it will cut you to the heart to think that less pains might have served for eternal Life than you have bestowed for temporal Goods This plague attends the covetous man the more he desires and heaps up the less he is desired and the less he is lamented when he dyes He is like a Swine that is good for nothing whilst he is alive not good to bear and carry as the Horse nor to draw as the Oxe nor to cloath as the Sheep nor to give milk as the Cowe nor to keep the house as the Dogg but ad solam mortem nutritur fed only to the slaughter So the covetous man doth no good with his riches whilst he liveth but when he is dead his riches come to be disposed of Prov. 13.22 The riches of a sinner are laid up for the just How can you choose but tremble at Dooms-day You cannot desire the comming of Christ If the Church cries Come Lord Jesus come quickly you cannot joyn in that Prayer for that your hearts are glued to this present World You preferr Paris before Paradise It is to the Saints loss to be kept so long from Heaven but you count it not so You cannot say Thy Kingdome come What will you do in that day when all the Estate and Friends of Dives cannot relieve with a drop of cold water Riches are like bryars and thornes good to stop gaps but not to lay in our beds and set our hearts upon lest we lye down in sorrow Few remember the Devil's offer All these things will I give thee is the last temptation that old Professours are baited with Take heed therefore and beware of Covetousness CHAP. XXVII Their Envy ENVY is a Sin seldome confessed Professoss Envy James 4.5 but yet much diffused among Professours The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to Envy And indeed Covetousness and Envy are never asunder they are sins against the same command Such as long that what is their Neighbours should be theirs envy to him that which is his and such as envy to him that which is his long to have it to be theirs How desirous are Professours to grasp all to themselves And therefore how apt are the very best to be envious at the power greatness riches if not goodness of others Doth not the experience that you have of your own hearts if you be not strangers at home testisie that this Spirit is stirring and acting in you The poor envy the rich the base the honourable as if they had the less because others have so much Some think that this was the sin that threw down the Angels from Heaven that they envied Adam's glory in that he was made after Gods image and that they relinquished their glory to divest Adam of his To be sure the Devil was restless till he had implunged Adam in the same sin and misery that he was brought into Sure maligning the prosperity of others is not from the Spirit of God He that giveth freely to all would not have us to envy those to whom he gives more freely than to our selves and he that giveth us more doth not envy us for what we have If you have not so much as others it is because you are unfit to receive not because God is unwilling to give Do not we see how this poyson diffuseth it self An early sin it was if not in the Angels as some think yet it was in Eve She envied the all-knowledge of God and must forsooth have at least an equality with God himself It was also strong in the first man that was born of a woman and we still suck it in with our Mothers milk and it seldome dyes till we dye This sinne is commonly among people of the same Profession One Mechanick envies another one Merchant another one Scholar another one Gentleman another one Commander another as Saul envied and hated David because the Women sang that Saul slew his thousands and David his ten thousands one Minister another as those in Paul's dayes that envied him and affected an high strain of eloquence on purpose to obscure that reputation which Paul had got among the Churches And happy had it been if this cursed sinne had dyed in that age but it hath been still working in all ages of the World Is there not a greater promptitude in us Evidenced in detracting from others worth to detract from mens worth than to credit and exalt them To write down their blots and imperfections than to set forth their due vertues and graces If we cannot reach others by imitation we will by calumniation and therefore Luther saith Envious men feed upon the dung of other men They are like flies that love to be upon sores It is admirable to see how dull sighted we are as to the vertues and graces of our Brethren but quick sighted as Eagles to discern their imperfections Mat. 7.3 The beams of Vertue are not seen i. e. not taken notice of but a mote in a Brother's eye is soon espyed Are we not more greedy to receive and spread any thing Readiness to receive and spread defamations whereby our Neighbour is infamed and obscured than we are to entertain and diffuse what tends to his praise and glory And is not this the reason hereof viz. the great desire we have to shine alone and that we would none to vye with us in glory much less to excell us therein Is there not oft-times a secret gladness in our hearts Gladness in their being brought lower when some sad Providences afflict others in their Names Goods Health and Relations that thereby they may be brought to a level with us or to an inferiority in a lower estate When you have seen some Congregation wedged in with a concourse of hearers and yours thin and naked and when some have been cryed up for their purity gravity activity and zeal and when others have greatened their parts or estates and yours rather have been impaired have ye not been ready even to burst with Envy Have you not been glad when some blot hath
in telling them their faults We are so over-run with self-love that we think no stander by can discern so much as we and we are so unwilling to be censured that we stand aloof from having such a Looking glass near us to reflect our spots to us Few with David would count it a kindness for the righteous to smite them How few do amend upon a solemn serious reproof How few retire to their Closets Not obediently and there upon their knees bless God for emboldning any to tell them of their Sins and there beg pardon and strength to reform and enter into a religious vow by the grace of God to amend whatever is amiss 5. Minding only the plâ—â—â—ing of â—â—â—mselves Rom. 15.1 2 3. Most Professours seek to please themselves and not their Neighbour A man would think they never read we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves Let every one please his Neighbour for his good to edification For even Christ pleased not himself c. Pâ—ofessours are self-willed they will walk to the utmost of their liberty and if others be offended they little care for grieving and stumbling their weak Brethren They will tell you in the pride oâ— their hearts and loftiness of their Spirits the weak must be satisfied But what if they cannot O! how opposite are Professours to the Apostles condescending frame They think that in different câ—â—cumstantial things the weak should sollow the strong and therefore slight what they think of their actions Gal. 5.13 1 Cor. 8.1 But what saith the Apostle Use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh Knowledge puffeth up but Charity edifyeth A firm and full knowledge of our liberty in things indifferent saith a learned man if it be seperated from Charity is apt to swell the mind with Pride and make men to despise and set at naught weak doubting and scrupulous Brethren but Charity is carefull to avoyd what may stumble the weak and cause them to fall into Sin and therefore judge this 〈…〉 Rom. 14.13 22. that no man put a stumbling or occasion to full in his brothers way by the use of â—â—differerts Hast thou faith concerning the â—â—â—ullness of the use of things indifferent for of them the Apostle speaks have it unto thy self before God make not a vain publication thereof to the exasperating grieving or stumbling of the weak who may by thy example even against Conscience use the same liberty that thou dost and so through thy knowledge shall thy weak Brother perish 1 Cor. 8.11 i. e. thy using this liberty hath a tendency to destroy him You may think this is no great matter But the same Apostle informs you 1 Cor. 8.11 12. Rom. 14.20 that you hereby sin against Christ you destroy the work of God the Soul of thy Brother and no man on earth can priviledge you from the wrath of God if you destroy them with your meats with the use of your â—iberty for whom Christ dyed and therefore the Apostle professeth 1 Cor. 8.13 if meat make my Brother to offend I will eat no flesh while the world standeth lest I make my Brother to offend O! that men were sâ—â—â—uole as Paul in the condescention of their Charity But alas All men seek their own things if they are satisfied concerning the lawfulness of the things they look no farther they little mind the souls of their Brethren but are securing themselves some outward peace and earthly advantages Few naturally care for the good of others for the glory of God and the edification of their Brethren 6. Valuing Christians by externals How are Christians valued and preferred by externals rather than by internals By gold-rings by outward honours and privileges rather than by their graces They who should have most oâ— your esteem love and respect have least A rich Formalist's company is more prized than an humble mortified poor Christian 's The miscarriage that was in the Apostles dayes is descended to this age and is a blot upon many of the Professours of it Jam. 2.1 O my Brethren Have not the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons How are mens judgements blinded by some external glory and appearance so that a little in a great rich honourable man is counted much and much grace in a poor man is despised 1 Cor. 11.22 over-looked and accounted but littieâ— How do the rich contemn the poor How are the poor neglected in visits But a rich though formâ—l Professour shall have many Friends How common is it for the rich to enjoy Ordinances together and exclude the poor You goe to the houses of the rich but seldome goe over the threshold of the poor and yet what said Christ to him that bade him Luke 14.12 13 14. When thou makest a Dinner or Supper call not thy Friends nor thy Brethren neither thy Kinsmen nor thy rich Neighbours lest they also bid thee again and recompence be made thee but when thou makest a Feast call the poor the maimed the lame the blind and thou shalt be blessed for they cannot recompence thee but thou shalt be recompenced at the resurrection of the just You do not value men by their eminency in grace but in parts and worldly endowments as if gold did set men off more than grace Those who have most of Caesar's Image are held in higher reputation than those who have most of God's Image What a reflexion is this upon the great and blessed God 2 Cor. 5.16 Paul durst know no man after the flesh yet dare you esteem men by their fleshly greatness in the world When you should fix your affections where you see most grace you are taken where you see either most of the world or most gifts prudence learning or most morality You know 1 Cor. 12. that you bestow not most honour on the uncomely parts on them who have least of worldly Privileges though the Apostle yea God expects it How rough and rigorous are you to poor men if over-taken in a fault how is his offence aggravated how severely is he censured But if a rich mans transgression be the same or more to be aggravated from the light it hath affronted and from the danger of its scandal yet how is it past by extenuated if not excused and pardoned O! This having mens persons in admiration over-reverencing men for worldly things is a great disparagement to the grace of God as if riches and honours were more excellent than Religion and Grace They who are highly descended or who relate to the Courts of Princes or who have their stores in their houses are in greater esteem than others who are descended from above who are related to the God of 〈◊〉 who are Favourites in the New Jerusalem and who have store of grace in their hearts O my Brethren Jam. 2.2 3 4 5. If there come into your
you cannot so exhort as Ministers c. But have you not been told that God can work by small means as well as by great and that by things that are not God can confound the wisdome of the flesh and bring to naught the things that are Is not this like the pretence of not being eloquent Do you not know have you not heard that the issue and event depends on the blessng of the Lord rather than on the work it self Is it not all one to the Lord to wound by a short as by a long sword Cannot God bless a few words in thy mouth as he did in Christs and the Apostles Can'st not thou say follow Christ and may not presently a Matthew a Publican leave his sinfull courses and embrace the Christian faith Can'st thou not say Repent and Believe that your sins may be blotted out and may not God concur with thee as he did of old times Is the Lords hand shortned that it cannot help If Israel be not gathered yet thy reward is with the Lord if thine heart were upright and could testifie that night and day thou hast not ceased to warn to rebuke and counsel Certainly your memories are not so bad but you must remember the weight of sin and of the wrath of God you have seen the wonders of the Lord in the deeps you that have escaped to shoar can tell of the Rocks and Shelves and Storms which you have been delivered from and will you set other Shipwrack their Souls rather than hold out your light unto them 〈…〉 may avoyd their ruines What shall I say to humble you There is more 〈◊〉 in Hell than you can afford Blush blush and be ashamed to have less zeal love and pitty to perishing Souls than Dives in Hell had he would have his Brethren saved from the Valley of Hinnom Your silence will make others think that Hell is a tollerable place that sin is not so evil and bitter a thing that to lye under Gods wrath is not so great a misery whilst you are so slow and backward to warn your Friends and Acquaintance that they slee from these and take Sanctuary in the true City of Refuge the Lord Jesus Christ O! If you know the worth of a Soul pitty the multitude with whom the day is not broke whose forlorn Souls are under a continual Massacre from the bloudy Butcher of Hell Besmear your Souls no longer with the guilt of their bloud Let them not starve for want of bread whilst you have to give them I shall bless God for ever and ever if this your negligence of the Souls of those whom you may account without may be cordially bewailed and you for the future double your diligence for their conversion Ministers cannot convert without the Concourse of Omnipotency neither can you Though Satan and thy own lazy heart hath told thee thou art unfit to set upon this work yet better do it meanly than wholy omit it God like Parents on earth loves to see his Children lift at those duties which are too hard for them and then he steps in and is a Co-worker with them What God did by illiterate Fishermen by Priscilla he can do by thee The Lord pardon thy former unmercifulness to the Souls of men But if thou continue careless and cruel if thou wilt not by Prayers for them and counsels to them seek their reducement as sure as thou art reading the voyce of thy Brothers blood is crying against thee from the earth By your example before if not since Profession you have been the cause of the destruction of Souls of how many who can tell And as Jeroboam made Israel to sin many years after he was rotten in his grave so your sin your wicked examples may propagate the trade of sin from generation to generation until Christ shall come to Judgement Tremble tremble at the thoughts of it if thou hast not the heart of a Beast in thee O! how many Souls are crying in Hell against thee cursing the day they knew thee or their Ancestours knew thee for that by thee they learned to sin the more and were strengthned in their wickedness by thy tongue and by thy life And now are not you bound to do your utmost to make restitution to labour to save them that be alive Is it not reasonable that you should labour to win Souls to Gods as you have to the Devils service and to have many blessing God in the Heavens for you that ever they were in the company of such an active zealous Christian who by word and life was instrumental to bring them to the knowledge of themselves and of their God And is it not a glorious work to hold forth such Light to the World that they seeing your good works may glorifie God and you may be Propagators of Zeal and Holiness from Generation to Generation till Christ shall appear to judge the World and to reward you for all the services you have done to his Name O! how welcome shall that man be to Heaven and Christ who hath fed the Souls and clothed the Souls and visited the Souls which he hath purchased with his own precious blood Christ will own thee for his Benefactour CHAP. XXXVII The Dis-ingenuity and Scandalousness of their Miscarriages WHen God had given the Prophet Ezekiel a large Catalogue of Judah's Abominations The wickedness of the former miscarriages Ezek. 8.9 V. 6 13 15. he then shew'd him the Wickedness of their Abominations He said unto me Goe in and Behold the wicked Abominations they do here He commanded him once and again and again to turn him yet again and he should see greater Abominations I cannot indeed promise thee that thou shalt now see greater Abominations than those already mentioned All that I shall now do shall be to represent the former Miscarriages in their crimson dye and scarlet colour And The First Thing I shall mention Commitred against so good and kind a God Eph. 4.30 as making your Sins Professours out of measure sinful is your Dis-ingenuity in so sinning against God O! You have sinned against a gracious God You have grieved the good Spirit of God whereby some amongst you have been sealed to the day of Redemption I am bold to say that one godly man's sinning against light and mercy doth more break the heart of God than the bruitish Sins of a Pagan Kingdom Ezek. 6.9 I am broken saith God with your whorish heart which hath departed from me c. And ye shall loath your selves for your evils which ye have committed in your abominations Amos 2.13 God hath been press'd down with your sins as the Cart with sheaves till he hath even Creak'd under the weight God expected more from the Treet planted in Zion than from the wild ones in the Wilderness Luke 13.9 Grief and Burthen springs much from unexpected Unkindnesses I looked for Fruit and there was none How were David's and Saul's Sins aggravated from
from Genesis to the Revelation and what ever filthiness waâ— found in Men or Kingdoms may be founâ— upon our skirts and shall not we hang up our harps refuse to be comforted shall not we lye down prostrate before God and pour out water before the Lord and weep till we can weep no more Tremble O my heart under all these provocations And let your hearts be as the leaves of a treee that is shaken by the Whirlwind What so many hellish lusts to swarm in thy heart What guilty of so many millions of iniquities against the God of Heaven and yet thou secure light vain and frothy I profess if I did not know what a stone I have within I should wonder all the day long how it is possible we can stand under so much guilt without shreiks cryes and lamentations I should wonder how you eat and drink and sleep how you can laugh or sing whilst God is so provoked Can I think that man lives who is not moved by the weight of a mountain on his back Professour thou hast that which is heavier than Mountains of lead upon thy Soul and yet thou hardly feelest it Thou dost not groan under that which drew not only tears of water but of blood yea clots of blood from the eyes and veins of Jesus Christ I wonder how you continue your claims to Christ how you can call God Father Christ Redeemer whilst you have so little love to him and whilst you were never pricked at the heart for all the injuries that you and others have done him Whom you love you are troubled for if he be injured by your selves or others But where is your Soul-trouble for your own and other mens sins Are not many as sensual as ever as great servants to the flesh as ever Have you not your Feasts and Entertainments as formerly Though it be a day Isa 22.12 13 14. wherein the Lord calls to weeping and mourning to baldness and girding with sackcloth yet behold joy and gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating flesh and drinking wine And hath not the Lord sent you a word that may make your knees to tremble Is not the hand-writing plain It was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you dye saith the Lord God of Hosts O! Fall down amazed fill thy Spirit with horrour away into thy Closet though thou art in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity yet pray to the Lord if perhaps the thoughts of thy heart and the wickedness and prophaness of thy life and particularly thy unseasonable mirth and fleshly indulgencies may be forgiven How can you trade with so much guilt upon you You have had your pleas for your covetousness and inordinate affections to the World that God bids you provide for your own But what think'st thou of thy Soul Is that no part of thine own Is that no piece of thy charge O! Provide for thy Soul Thy Soul cannot be safe whilst stained with so many thousand impurities which were never mourned over to this day O! Let sorrow enter into the very inwards of thy heart and let the insupportable pressures of sin sink thy very Soul Zech. 12.10 Mourn as the tender Mother for her only Son be in bitterness so as thou canst not relish those things which thou hast hitherto followed with so much eagerness Let the loathsomeness of thy sins be continually before thine eyes as thy standing dish So it was with Repenting David Psa 51.3 Lam. 5.16 Lam. 1.1 2 3 4 9 13 21. My sin is ever before me So it was with the Church Woe to us we have sinned It is true they were under fearful Plagues How doth the City sit solitary that was full of people How is she become a Widow She that was great among the Nations and Princess among the Provinces how is she become tributary Among all her Lovers she hath none to comfort her all her Friends have dealt treacherously with her c. She dwelleth among the Heathen she findeth no rest all her Persecutours overtook her between the straits The wayes to Zion mourn c. She came down wonderfully and she had no Comforter c. The Enemy hath magnified himself c. From above hath he sent fire into my bones and it prevaileth against them c. All mine Enemies have heard of my trouble they are glad that thou hast done it Lam. 2.3 15 16. The Lord hath burned against Jacob like a flaming fire which devoureth round about c. All they that pass by clap their hands at thee they hiss and wagg the head at the Daughter of Jerusalem saying Is this the City that men call the Perfection of Beauty Lam. 4.6 11 16. the Joy of the whole Earth All thine Enemies have opened their mouth against thee they hiss and gnash the teeth and say We have swallowed her up Certainly this is the day we looked for We have found We have seen it The punishment of the iniquity of the Daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom that was overthrown as in a moment and no hand stayed on her The Lord hath accomplished his fury he hath powred out his fierce anger and hath kindled a fire in Zion and it hath devoured the foundations thereof The anger of the Lord hath divided them c. Lam. 5.2 8 10 11. Our Inheritance is turned to Strangers our Houses to Aliens Our Necks are under Persecution We labour and have no rest Servants have ruled over us there is none to deliver us out of their hand Our skin was black like an Oven because of the terrible Famine They ravished the Women in Zion and the Maids in the Cities of Judah But yet they mind not their misery so much as their sin Woe unto us for we have sinned In order to the promoting of this godly sorrow I do importune thee with the highest fervency I can that thou seperate some extraordinary time to humble thy self by Fasting and Prayer that God would give thee Repentance for thine own and thine other mens sins Perhaps to this day thou hast never observed one in order to the getting of a broken heart O that I could now prevail with thee for this is the means that God hath blest again and again On such dayes God hath softned many an heart and cast out the Devil of security and hardness which could not be cast out in ordinary times of waiting upon God Let thy main request on that day be for a deep consideration of all thy sins with all their several aggravations and a deep humiliation for them O! I beseech you if you have any love to Christ to the credit of Religion to your perishing Souls break through all businesses and impediments and retire your selves and fall down at the footstool of God more solemnly than ever you did If you are by the consideration
his beloved Flock he hath nourished you up and he is willing to lay you in his bosome View your great Surety this day He came under an Arrest for you he hath discharged the debt of all that come by faith to him Rom. 4.25 He was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification He is willing the incestuous when penitent should not have his wounds lye undressed lest Satan take any advantage thereby Act. 20.21 Iâ— there â—e Repentance towards God let there be Faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ If he hath given you the fore-runner you have his pledge his pawn that he will forgive you Do not say God heareth not sinners whilst there is a Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness All thy sins cannot shut it because it is opened to wash away sin 6. Add to Supplication Resolution Resolution How can you pardon your very Child that will not promise to do so no more Let it be in the purpose of your hearts to neglect meditation no more to keep up bitterness among Christians no more c. Enter into an holy Vow against your sins Be a through Protestant protest against the World the Flesh and the Devil It will be thus if your hearts be throughly humbled for your sins and truly inflamed against them O say what have I to do with Idols any more O that you were very resolute come Life come Death come Heaven come Hell yet I will change my course I will not through Gods grace helping me do as I have done omit as I have omitted If you are not very peremptory to resist Satan and Sin not to yeild unto Temptation you encourage the Enemy to tempt you whilst you are not resolved to deny his 〈◊〉 citations That woman is in danger of new sollicitations to uncleanness who doth not resolutely bid defiance to the first Temptation of the Ruffian Perhaps you wonder that after many prayers c. your sin still prevails But know saith one sin will be your Conquerour if you be not resolved to be its enemy Till resolution against all sin be wrought in you God will hate all your prayers for the pardon of your sins He hath an impudent forehead a forehead of Brass that dares go in before God and say O Lord I beseech thee to pardon my worldliness and earthly-mindedness for I am not yet resolved to be Heavenly minded O Lord pardon my envy and I trust thou wilt do it for yet I am unresolved to part from it Pardon my Rebellions for I am not yet resolved whether I shall cease to be a Rebel Believe it whilst you do not resolve to hate sin it is a clear sign you have nor a spiritual knowledge of its evil Did you in the light of the Spirit see sin in its nature and in its bitter effects did you see it as utterly inconsistent with all real happiness and as the infallible and unavoidable precipice of your intollerable and eternal damnation this would make you hate sin and to be irreconcilable to it But here I must give you this caution In the strength of Christ that you raise not your resolutions on your own strength for then you will soon quit them by reason of your own weakness When you bind your self by a Vow against such a sin take Christ into the Bond to be sureâ—y for you to give you help and strength to perform in the hour of temptation Augustine professed that though the thoughts of leaving his sins were once a great burthen to him yet at length being peremptorily Resolved he found it a most easie and delightfull thing to live without them Friends your sufferings may be nearer than you are aware of Your sands I am sure run fast and no stop is put to them you may not expect that the shadow will go backward ten degrees it may rather go forward you may hardly have one hours warning before you must remove hence how suddenly hath God cut down the Cedars and the thistles amongst us O! in that day it will be as scalding lead to thee that death and judgement surprized thee when thou hadst not so much as resolved to leave thy cursed Rebellions against thy God 7. See what becomes of your Resolutions Reformation Psal 119.106 how they are made good thou hast purposed not to offend yea covenanted with thy God for better obedience yea thou hast sworn to keep his righteous Judgements But hast thou dealt uprightly with thy God O! be not satisfied with purposes and resolutions but look to the performances of them Blessed are ye of God if all the sinnes you have been convinced of and have engaged against be now put away if there be no more pride covetousness contention self-seeking c. returning with seven worse Devils upon you I pray God we may see more than Resolution some real and permanent effect of all your Confessions Sorrows and Resolves O! O! O! how would it rejoyce my Soul to see an effectual alteration in the Faces and Lives and Conversations of Professours How shall I bless God for ever if by seeing your Faces in this imperfect Glass you be transformed and your hearts and Eves be put into a new frame of obedience Among all the sigâ—ts in the World none sadder than to see multitudes that had their Faces Zion-wards now facing about to the vanities of the Gentiles O! how glorious how desirable a sight will it be to see these returning with weeping and supplication Here remember your Reformation must be general and special General O! Labour to do as much for God and Grace as you have done for the World and Self As ye have yeelded your members servants to iniquity unto iniquity Rom. 6.19 So now yeeld you members Servants of Righteousness unto Holiness Redeem all former omissions by a double diligence you having idled away much of your time had need spur up your selves See that you walk circumspectly not as Fools but as Wise redeeming the time But it is not only a general Reformation that I advise you to Special Watch also and pray against those sins by which you have most dishonoured God If thou aâ—â— recovered of a dangerous disease thou wilt generalâ—y me a good diet but especially get Antidotes and Preservatives against that diseaâ—e thou wast so lately cured of O where the enemy hath made the greatest breaches there let there be double guards and double â—oâ—â—â—cations Be Tertullians true penitents Nonvult iterum Divinae misericordiae oneri c. Tert. He would not burthen the Spirit of God again to deliver him from that sin Follow a worthy Pattern When David had shed blood and had prevailed with God to pardon that sin afterwards though he longed for the waters of Bethlehem yet he abstains and checks himself because it did but hazard the blood of his Captains CHAP. XL. Motives to make sueh use thereof ANd now to hasten to a conclusion O
that it would please God to make my words as an Hammer Motives to let our hearts be broken for and from our Sins to break the Rocks O that I may be thus usefull to your Souls O that somewhat at last may be hinted that may through the blessing of Goâ— break your hearts for and from sin that may promote your Repentance for your own and your othermens sins And indeed unless your hearts be broken for sin they will never be broken from sin But the more bitterness of Spirit you are in for sin the more probability there is you will not return unto sin When men have furfetted upon a Dish and are greatly afflicted and pained by it the more unlikely they are to return again unto that Dish That is certain saith Mr. Burroughs either a mans sin will make an end of his mourning or his mouâ—ning will make an end of his sin Yea if your hearts be not broken for other mens sins they are not kindly broken for your own sins You will never put it out of all doubt that your sorrow is right and genuine unless you mourn for others as well as your own sins for it will alwayes be objected that if Sin as Sin were your Burden if Sin as dishonouring God as wounding Christ as grieving the Spirit then other mens sins being reslexions on the Authority and Will of the great God Father Son and Spirit should have some considerable weight upon your Souls The truth is others sins become thine if thou knowest them and mournest not for them O then In what a case are all the hardned jolly Professours who can make a sport of Drunkeness Uncleanness Superstition Perjury c. in others Consider therefore by the Help of this Glass others sins as well as thine own to help on thy brokeness of heart for and from sin Psal 119.158 Behold with David the transgressour and be grieved because they keep not Gods word Let your Souls with Lot be vexed there are greater sins found among Professours in England than were in Sodom Let thy Soul be as his was as in Hell as upon the Rack How can you evidence that you are translated from death to life because you love the Brethren whilst you are not troubled to see them wounding and damning their souls by their sins you are grieved to see any Friends of yours in great hazards and dangers by the Sword by Sickness by Fire but the Souls of your Friends are in the greatest danger yet you lament not the sight of these deplorable spectacles God forbid that any of you should have grounds of hope to gain Liberties and outward Privileges by others provocations whilst all their sins become yours whilst you are not humbled for them But to lay before you some Considerations that may set home by the Spirit draw water out of the Flint 1. God is greatly incensed Should not your hearts be broken for and from sin seeing sin hath so incensed God against the Land of your Nativity Can you retire from the World and seriously consider the Prints of Gods displeasure against poor England and yet remain impenitent Is it nothing to you that God hath for many years been withdrawing from his Sanctuary in England O! Your Ministers have had miscarrying Wombs and dry Breasts Though they rose early and sate up late were much in watchings and in labours for the Conversion and Edification of Souls yet how seldome have any been under the Pangs of the New Birth How seldome were any pricked at the heart How seldome have any cryed out What shall we do to be saved And for others concerning whom we hoped better things How have they shed their Leaf How have they pined and withered away as to Practical Godliness How have they lost that Seriousness that Heavenlyness that Power of Godliness which before they seemed to have had Your Ministers saw this and lamented it they acquainted you with it invited you to remember from whence you are fall'n to repent and do your first works But yet You returned not unto the Lord. Should not this pierce your very hearts Is it nothing to you that not only your selves but so many Professours in England should lose their faithful and painful Ministers Is it nothing to you for God to call home by Death and otherwise so many of his Embassadours whom you have grieved whom you have despised and affronted and who have been more burthened with your Pride Earthliness Divisions Sensuality c. than they are with their present Poverty and Dishonours under which they lye What doth it portend save War and Hostility when Embassadours are called home And may not you fear that the wrath of God is and will be against you till there be no remedy They mocked the Messengers of God 2 Chron. 36.16 and despised his Words and misused his Prophets untill the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy If God will treat with you no more believe it he will fight with you And O! O! O! Who will set the Bryars and Thornes against him He will goe through them he will consume them in his wrath Is it nothing to you that there is yet such a Spirit of Division in the Land O! What heats and heart-burnings what animosities and jealousies are there so that a Brother cannot trust a Brother Is it nothing to you that God hath been so long contending with the Land by the Sword and by the Pestilence and so lately by Fire Is it nothing to you that God permitted that dreadful Fire in London to break forth about Three of the Clock on a Lords Day morning Did he not thereby cause his Sabbath in a manner to cease in London Did not he make his holy Day of Rest a Day of labour and disquiet Did not he hereby as it were anticipate his Peoples conventions to expiate him and so drew them as it were off from the Remedy that his hands being loosened he might punish 2 Chron. 7.12 Deut. 9.14 Jer. 2.2 and not be prevailed with to pardon May we not say with Jeremiah even upon this account The Lord hath swallowed up all the Habitations of Jacob and hath not pittied he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong Holds of the Daughter of Judah he hath brought them down to the ground Is it nothing that at the same time God should send forth such a boysterous Wind to fann and blow up the Fire East West South and North God therein executing the Judgement threatned against Elam Jer. 49.36 of bringing the four Winds from the four Quarters of Heaven c. If the punishment of one Element saith a late Writer be dreadful as the Water was to the old World and the Air is in Pestilential Infections and the Earth was when it opened its mouth to swallow up Corah and his company how dreadful is Gods punishing a Land or Person with double and treble Judgements in one
What vengeance is that like to prove which hath Gods Armies of Fire and Wind united Is it nothing that the Fire burned at some time contrary to the Wind and as it were in opposition to it and was then as uncheckable as when it had the Winds raising and chasing it Is it nothing that in the drought of the season and the want of water God seem'd to hinder the application of Remora's to both Wind and Fire Was not therein the Judgement executed upon England in its heart which God threatned against the Chaldeans a drought is upon her Waters and they shall be dryed up Jer. 50.38 for it is a Land of graven Images and they are madd upon their Idols Is it nothing that the rational and probable anticipations of the constagrating progresses of the Fire which might have been were hid from the eyes of those whose interest it would have been to have improved them Did not God at that time take courage from the mighty and wisdome from the wise Is it nothing that London the great Bulwark of the Reformed Religion against the assaults and batteries of Popery and Prophaness is in a great measure destroyed But above all Is it nothing that generally there is so little sense of any of these Judgements The Wine of Astomshment is given us to drink and we reel to and fro like Drunkards But alas 2 Chron. 7.14 Who humbleth himself and prayes and seeks Gods face and turns from his wicked wayes that God may heal our Land 2. The sins of any one of us may be the Incendiâ— aries Should not your hearts be broken for and from your sins seeing the sins of any one of you in particular may have been the great Incendiary This is certain God hath for the delinquency of one man yea for one sin brought Plagues upon many If any thing will move thine heart this will but nothing will without Gods concurse The Lord fasten this nayl the Lord fix this upon thy Soul and let it be as Frontlets between â—â—ine eyes day and night When Achan was guilty of one sin and that a secret one when he had stoln a wedge of Gold when he had impropriated it to his own use which God had destined to another he troubled the whole Church of God the Armies of Israel fell before the men of Ai the generation of Gods curse yea Joshua their Prince became dejected and his communion with God was thereby for a while broken And the Lord said unto Joshua get thee up Josh 7.10 11 12 c. 22.20 wherefore lyest thou on thy face Did not Achan the Son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing and wrath fell on all the Congregation of Israel And that man perished not alone in his iniquity The iniquity of Peor though committed long agoe yet raised a cloud of wrath which was ready to empty it self upon the whole Church of God for it many years after Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us Josh 22.17 from which we are not cleansed to this day although there was a Plague in the Congregation of the Lord The Gibeonites who had craftily secured their Lives by an exchange for their Liberties got an Oath from Saul and almost 500. years after when this Covenant was broken in the slaying of many of them and Saul was dead the flourishing Church of God suffered three years Famine for this Perjury Then there was a Famine in the dayes of David 2 Sam. 21.1 three years year after year and David enquired of the Lord And the Lord answered It is for Saul and for his bloody house because he slew the Gibeonites Manasseh sinn'd and that cost the Liberties and Lives of many good as well as bad Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great anger 2 Kings 23.26 wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the Provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withall Pharaoh refused to give liberty to Gods Church to worship their God and this brought unparallel'd Judgements and Plagues upon the whole Land of Egypt Amalecks abuse of Gods people was not forgotten for an hundred years but God took up an everlasting quarrel with them till he had rooten them out of the Earth Thus saith the Lord of Hosts 1 Sam. 15.2 I remember that which Amaleck did to Israel how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt Yea the Sins of one good man have brought down Plagues upon many David whether out of curiosity or vain-glory or confidence in an arm of flesh would needs number the people a little sin in comparison of what we are guilty of yet it cost the lives of 70000. by the Pestilence So the Lord sent a Pestilence upon Israel c. 2 Sam. 24.15 and there dyed of the people from Dan even to Beersheâ—a seventy thousand men Solomon was a good Prince and yet by his sins he brought miserable confusions on the most considerable part of the Church of Israel by that great revolt which it occasioned Wherefore the Lord said to Solomon 1 Kings 11.11 For as much as this is done of thee and thou hast not kept my Covenant and my Sâ—atutes which I have commanded thee I will surely rend the Kingdom from thee and will give it to thy Servant Eli a good man and a good Magistrate yet because too indulgent to his Children a Vice common but seldome considered and bewailed what a fearful Plague brought he upon his Posterity as well as himself And the Lord said unto Samuel Behold I will do a thing in Israel 1 Sam 3.11 12 13 14. at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his House When I begin I will also make an end for I have told him that I will judge his House for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth because his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not And therefore I have sworn unto the House of Eli that the iniquity of Elies House shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever Luk. 11.50 51. Mat. 23.35 36. The blood of all the Prophets saith Christ which was shed from the Foundation of the World shall be required of this Generation from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the Altar and the Temple Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this Generation And yet who holds up his hand to Gods Barr and cryes Guilty Guilty Who saith as David when the Angel forraged among the People 2 Sam. 24.17 Let thy hand be against me for these sheep What have they done We are quick-sighted enough yea too much to espye and aggravate the sins of others We expect fearful Plagues for others Adulteries Drunkennesses Swearing and Blaspheming But the Lord hearkeneth when we will