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<DATE>2014-04-14</DATE>
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<NAME>Amanda Flynn</NAME>
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<P>A SERMON PREACHED Without a TEXT, At the Inner-Temple, March the 12. Anno Dom.1643. By John Freeman, B. D.</P>
<Q><L>Cum legas, Mome, noli ridere,</L>
<L>Sed gemens di&s;ce fata deflere</L>
<L>lugenda furentis Angliae,</L>
<L>Quae male vi&s;a e&s;t retro-movere,</L>
<L>instar ruentis HiBerniae.</L></Q>
<P>LONDON Printed in the Yeere 1643.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
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<HEAD>To his friends, &amp;c.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Sirs,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>UPon a time it plea&s;ed the Cini&abque; hu|mor of <HI>Diogenes</HI> before a great a&s;|&s;embly of people to goe backward, the people &s;miled, he was angry; thinking he might with as much di&s;cretion goe backward with his body, as others goe backward all dayes of their lives in their actions, not doing what rea&s;on dictates to be done. In this di&s;cour&s;e there is &s;ome re&s;emblance of the Philo&s;ophers motion, but with a di&s;&s;imile, or different event, for from his motion, onely &s;miles or laughter, but from this di&s;|cour&s;e frownes and &s;candals did ari&s;e, &amp;c. (but whether or noe ju&s;tly, the Pre&s;&s;e grants liberty of judging to the <HI>Cen&s;ors</HI>) many whereof <HI>(I am con|fident)</HI> will deale candidly, namely &s;uch as have a <HI>coidentity of fancy</HI> with the Authour, and of others not a few there will be found, to whom this treati&s;e will give &s;ome content, if not for &s;ub&s;tance, yet for Methods &s;ake, viz. becau&s;e it cro&s;&s;eth the cu&s;tome of Antiquity, and Popi&s;h practi&s;e, <HI>Which was and is,</HI> Fir&s;t to prefix and read a Text, and then to di&s;cour&s;e an houre on it, a thing AS u&s;ed of old, &s;o NOW at <HI>Rome,</HI> good&s;ooth at <HI>Rome</HI> to this very day.</P>
<P>Willingly this tractate would creep under the
<PB REF="3"> Patronizing wings of &s;ome <HI>Particular One,</HI> by who&s;e influentiall favour (<HI>ever &s;ince the generall &s;uffering of the</HI> Prote&s;tants <HI>under the Rebellious</HI> Iri&s;h) I have &s;ub&s;i&s;tance, but it will not be permit|ted, by rea&s;on of its mon&s;trou&s;ne&s;&s;e of &s;hape; having <HI>Caput in cauda,</HI> the Text in the <HI>Conclu&s;ion.</HI> And therefore <HI>Alla ventura;</HI> I &s;end it naked into the world without a protection.</P>
<P>As for the <HI>Epigraphe</HI> or &s;uper&s;cription expre&s;&s;ed in the&s;e words <HI>(A Sermon without a Text)</HI> &s;ay tis an odde one, &s;ay tis an ab&s;urd one, &s;ay tis a fal&s;e one, (con&s;idering this di&s;cour&s;e (as a ver&s;e on many feet) runs upon eleaven &s;everall Texts to find out the <HI>twelfth</HI>) call it what yee will, tis none of mine; it had its Originall from the <HI>Painters</HI> plea&s;ure, or <HI>Printers</HI> capriccious conceit, who thinks, (that in the&s;e times) tis lawfull for every one to appeare in his owne humour; for my part, I had no acquain|tance with it, till I met it in the front of the <HI>Prin|ted</HI> Copies, and therefore if you plea&s;e, write a <HI>delea|tur</HI> upon it, onely excu&s;e me, and for once be intrea|ted to &s;pare the <HI>Printer,</HI> that he may with the more alacrity &s;end forth the &s;ermon preached on the Text, which <HI>onely</HI> here was found in the la&s;t periode of the houre, and &s;o &s;ilently pa&s;&s;ed over, with a re&s;ervati|on to the next occa&s;ion. <HI>So &s;hall I re&s;t</HI></P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><HI>YOURS</HI> mo&s;t ob&s;ervantly <HI>Joh. F.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<HEAD>A SERMON Preached without a Text.</HEAD>
<P>_I Have turned and turned over and over and yet that Text which you expect (as the &s;ubject of an houres) di&s;cour&s;e pre&s;ents not it &s;elfe unto my view; ye may imagine that this Text was in the Apocrapha, for to you it is <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span">, yet I am &s;ure it lyeth in the canonical Scripture, and that in &s;ome part of the old Te&s;tament, and though preci&s;ely I doe not tell you the place, yet where|abouts it is I can declare, it is in &s;ome of the Prophets, and that among&s;t tho&s;e which are called <HI>Prophetae minores</HI> le&s;|&s;er Prophets, in &s;ome of their bookes or writings it lieth; and &s;ince it doth not yet appeare, give me leave to make &s;earch and inqui&s;ition for it among&s;t them: I'le begin my &s;earch at the fir&s;t of the&s;e Prophets and &s;o hold on in the &s;earch till I find it out: the &s;ub&s;tance of it I well re|member and can tell you what it was about, it was a me|nacing and threatning Text and &s;poke of Gods wrath and di&s;plea&s;ure again&s;t proud and wicked ones; and therefore where ever I meet with a place of Scripture &s;peaking in
<PB N="2" REF="4"> language, I &s;hall look on the place and then pa&s;&s;e on along in &s;earch of what we de&s;ire to &s;ee; and let me entreat you to accompany me in my &s;earch with patience and attenti|on; for if in the &s;earch ye find not the thing de&s;ired, yet I am &s;ure we &s;hall find many ob&s;ervations re&s;ulting from the &s;everall places through which we pa&s;&s;e, that may (if not delight the eare of the curious) yet may profit the heart of the humble hearer.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t we will begin with <HI>Ho&s;ea</HI> the fir&s;t of the &s;mall Prophets. And here looking, I find not my Text; yet I find a place which hath a great Analogy with it, for it is a me|nacing place, and mentioneth Gods di&s;plea&s;ure again&s;t offenders; yee may plea&s;e to &s;ee it, <HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 4.3. <HI>Therefore &s;hall the Land mourne, and every one that dwelleth therein &s;hall lanqui&s;h, with the bea&s;t of the field and the fowles of Heaven, yea, the Fi&s;hes of the &s;ea &s;hall be taken away.</HI> Here is a place much re&s;embling the place &s;ought for, and indeed 'tis worth looking on it, though we &s;pent the whole hour in looking on this onely: but fora&s;much as I have a pur|po&s;e to find out the expected Subject; therefore I will onely look a while at this, and &s;o pa&s;&s;e away to the next Prophet in &s;earch of the Text. Now in this ver&s;e I &s;ee three things, <HI>Fons mali, malum fontis, &s;ubjectum mali. Fons mali; A Fountaine of evill, and the wor&s;t Fountaine in all the world.</HI> Hi&s;torians tell of &s;trange Fountaines, being noxious to tho&s;e that ta&s;te of them; but none &s;o bad as this, which is commonly called by the name <HI>Peccatum, &s;in:</HI> this word <HI>&s;in</HI> is onely contained in this ver&s;e inclu&s;ively, and that in the fir&s;t word thereof, <HI>viz. therefore;</HI> which word by its reflection on the former ver&s;es, doth plainly in|timate to us, the originall of all the en&s;uing evils to be &s;in and onely &s;in, that is made the Fountaine; and, as above &s;aid, the wor&s;t Fountaine that ever was, it &s;endeth forth the wor&s;t waters; the waters of <HI>Marah</HI> were bitter, but the&s;e waters are a thou&s;and times wor&s;e then tho&s;e of <HI>Marah,</HI>
<PB N="3" REF="4"> for the water flowing from this Fountaine is a venemous water, a poy&s;oning water, 'tis a wormie water, that breeds wormes in tho&s;e which drink of it; living wormes, &s;ting|ing wormes, knawing wormes, &s;uch as will be knawing the con&s;cience, knawing of the &s;oule to all eternity, un|le&s;&s;e there be a timely cure; and yet &s;illy Mortals will &s;till be about this Well? about this Fountaine, bibbing and &s;ipping, till like birds with cocculi-Indie they are in|toxicated, or like men in an epilep&s;ie, fall a turning and tumbling, till they tumble and turne into perdition. The &s;econd is, <HI>malum Fontis, The evill of the Fountaine:</HI> There are many evils flowing from it, &s;ome I named, and could to tho&s;e adde a hundred more; but tho&s;e evils which are mentioned in this ver&s;e are onely two, <HI>viz.</HI> expre&s;&s;ed by the&s;e generall words of mourning and langui&s;hing, in which two words, are included multitudes of evils.</P>
<P>The third thing is <HI>Subjectum mali, The &s;ubject of the evill,</HI> or (to follow the Metaphor) the Channell of the evill; or of the evill water flowing from the Fountaine; this is a broad and a very broad channell, it's as broad as a whole Nation, yea, a whole Land, with the Bea&s;ts thereof and the Fowles of Heaven and the Fi&s;h of the &s;ea, for it overfloweth all, and runneth over all, for&s;omuch is declared whil&s;t it is &s;aid, <HI>Therefore &s;hall the Land mourne, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Oh what is this, I read of mourning and lanqui&s;hing, and 'tis a &s;trange mourning and lanqui&s;hing here mentio|ned; often have I heard of mourning of &s;inners, of lan|gui&s;hing of wicked, but here I read that the earth is to mourne, and the Bea&s;ts of the field to mourne, the Fowles of Heaven to mourne; they are threatned, they are menaced, the earth &s;hall mourne, the Bea&s;ts of the field &s;hall mourne, Fowles of Heaven &s;hall langui&s;h. Alas what a thing, what a &s;trange thing is this, that evill &s;hould come on them: The earth it is a harmle&s;&s;e thing, the Bea&s;ts, Fi&s;h, Fowle, they are <HI>Innocentia animalia,</HI> innocent crea|tures;
<PB N="4" REF="5"> and why mu&s;t they be brought into this &s;ad conditi|on, what have they done, whom have they offended? What is the Earths offence, the Fowls crime, or the Fi&s;hes tran&s;|gre&s;&s;ion, that they are to &s;uffer, with the Inhabitants of the Earth; I read not, I find not any thing that they have done worthy the evils which are to come upon them, the Scripture layeth nothing to their charge: Read your &s;elves and &s;ee what you can find; well, ye have read, and what find ye, ye have found that there is lying in the Land, cruelty in the Land, ignorance in the Land, &s;wearing in the Land, &s;tealing in the Land, killing and murthering and effu&s;ion of blood in the Land, and all the&s;e things com|mitted by the People of the Land; &s;till I find nothing that the Earth is accu&s;ed of, or that the Bea&s;ts are accu&s;ed of, or the Fi&s;hes or Fowles of heaven are accu&s;ed of; and yet it is here &s;aid that <HI>Terra lugebit, &amp;c.</HI> The Land &s;hall mourne and lanqui&s;h, the Bea&s;ts &s;hall mourn and lanqui&s;h, the Fowles of heaven &s;hall mourne and lanqui&s;h, none of the&s;e creatures are accu&s;ed, onely the Children of men are accu&s;ed and condemned: and &s;o here menaced or threatned with &s;orrow and lanqui&s;h, and the poore and innocent creatures are wrapt up together with them in this threat|ning; &s;o that though the Children of men are &s;inners onely, are tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors onely, are offenders onely, and &s;o onely worthy of puni&s;hments; yet the harmle&s;&s;e crea|tures are to &s;uffer with them, for &s;o here it is &s;aid: <HI>There|fore, viz.</HI> becau&s;e of tho&s;e &s;ins and abominations of men, the Land it &s;elfe &s;hall mourne and lanqui&s;h, and the Bea&s;ts, &amp;c. The words in the original for <HI>therfore</HI> are <GAP LANG="heb" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span">, which interpreted, is <HI>Super &s;ic &amp; &s;uper ita.</HI> Therefore upon this ba&s;is or on this foundation which is laid in the former ver|&s;es, is built this horrid &s;tructure of mourning and lanqui&s;h|ing, <HI>viz.</HI> Upon &s;innes and tran&s;gre&s;ions of the people, which are the &s;ole and proper props, pillars, ba&s;is and foun|dation whereon God buildeth his judgments, for &s;o much
<PB N="5" REF="5"> is intimated in the&s;e words. <HI>Therefore &s;hall the Land mourn, &amp;c.</HI> From whence ob&s;erve: Doct. <HI>Through the &s;innes of men, the creatures, the harmle&s;&s;e creatures are &s;ub|jected to &s;everall evils.</HI>)</P>
<P>This we may &s;ee in the fir&s;t beginning of the World, <HI>Gen.</HI> 3.17. For after that <HI>Adam</HI> had &s;inned, pre&s;ently God is angry, and in his anger fals upon the Earth, cur&s;eth the earth, the innocent earth, &s;aying, <HI>Cur&s;ed is the ground for thy &s;ake (Adam)</HI> why mu&s;t the Earth be cur&s;ed, what had the Earth done? I heare of no evill, for the Earth obeyed its Creator in &s;upporting <HI>Adam</HI> and the re&s;t of the crea|tures which trod upon it; and in bringing forth Herbs, Flowers and fruits, for the &s;everall creatures which fed on them, and &s;o kept the cour&s;e pre&s;cribed by the God of Nature; and yet for all this, here we read of a cur&s;e com|ing upon the earth: The &s;inle&s;&s;e earth mu&s;t be cur&s;ed, and not for its offence, but for the offence of man that had wandred from his cour&s;e, <HI>Cur&s;ed is the ground for thy &s;ake:</HI> &s;o that wheras the earth might have abounded with al plea|&s;ant fruits, now it mu&s;t bring forth bryars and thorns and thi&s;tles. This was a &s;trange change for the earth, in re&s;pect of what it was in the time of mans innocency; &s;uch a change, though &s;omewhat of another nature, was there of a &s;udden in <HI>Ireland;</HI> for I know when it might have been &s;aid of <HI>Ireland,</HI> that it was <HI>Terra florida,</HI> a verdant and flouri&s;hing Land; but of a &s;udden it was changed, that he which had looked on it would have &s;aid of it, that it was <HI>Terra torrida &s;imul ac horrida:</HI> torrid being all &s;corch|ed with devouring flames, and horrid by rea&s;on of the un|couth &s;pectacles of de&s;olation appearing in every County. So I may &s;ay of <HI>England,</HI> there is al&s;o a &s;trange change in it, and &s;o &s;trange a change, that <HI>England</HI> &s;eemeth not to be <HI>England;</HI> the people of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> were promi&s;ed to be called <HI>Ammi,</HI> my people; but in re&s;pect of their &s;innes, they de&s;erved the name of <HI>Loammi, i. e.</HI> not my people; &s;o
<PB N="6" REF="6"> <HI>England</HI> by rea&s;on of her change de&s;erveth a new name, &s;ometimes it was called <HI>Albion,</HI> as it were the <HI>Alba terra,</HI> the white Land, but now whil&s;t we looke on the confu&s;i|on that is in it, we may fitly call it <HI>terra nigra;</HI> or while&s;t we con&s;ider the effu&s;ion of blood on this <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> &s;oile we may (with &s;orrow be it heard) call it <HI>terra rubra,</HI> the red Land, or rather the bloody Land; &s;uch changes have our &s;innes brought upon the&s;e two Kingdomes now of a &s;udden.</P>
<P>Againe, to further your &s;ight of the creatures &s;ubjecti|on to evill through the &s;innes of man, &s;ee <HI>Job</HI> 25.5. where ye may read how that the Starres are not pure in Gods &s;ight, <HI>the Starres not pure nor plea&s;ing to the &s;ight of God;</HI> the words may be taken and expounded <HI>comparative</HI> to God and his purity, and &s;o al&s;o they may be taken <HI>decla|rative</HI> to &s;hew what they are now; and what are they now? why now they are impure, foule like him that hath breathed on them even man, &s;infull man: what is this? are the Starres impure? Tis pitty, there was a day when it was not &s;o with the Starres of Heaven, when there was no &s;taine nor &s;pot of impurity in them. In <HI>Gen.</HI> 1.31. We read how that in the fir&s;t creation, God having made his creatures did looke upon them to &s;ee how they were, it is &s;aid that he found them to be good and very good, the words in the originall <GAP LANG="heb" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span">, that is, very good, very tifull, very faire to looke on; for in that &s;en&s;e the word is taken <HI>E&s;ter</HI> 2.3. Where coun&s;ell is given, that faire Virgins be &s;ought for the King; the words in the origi|nall for faire are <GAP LANG="heb" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span">, good to look on, that is, faire, beautious, &s;uch a kind of goodne&s;&s;e was in every kind of creature at the fir&s;t, then every created &s;ub&s;tance was a faire object and plea&s;ing &s;pectacle. God looked on the earth, it was good, that is, faire and beauteous; he look|ed on each creature of the earth, as Stones, Herbs, Trees, and each &s;tone was faire, each herb was plea&s;ing, each tree
<PB N="7" REF="6"> beauteous. He lookes againe, on the Sunne, Moone, and Starres; in each of them he beholds a beauty, the Sunne faire, the Moone faire, and each Starre faire and beaute|ous in the appearance of it to the eyes of the Almighty. But behold upon a &s;uddain there was a change in all the&s;e creatures, and &s;o among&s;t the re&s;t, in the &s;tarres, for &s;oone they became impure, foule, polluted. How came this to pa&s;&s;e? What could maculate the glorious Sunne and Moone, or be&s;pot the radiant and bright&s;ome Starres of the Firmament? will ye know what it was, it was &s;inne, &s;infull man breathed upon the heavens and by the breath of &s;inne did make the very Starres impure, uncleane and ugly in the &s;ight of God. Oh! the penetrant and infectious power of &s;inne, that pa&s;&s;ing forth from that &s;illy worme which creepeth on the earth (<HI>viz.</HI> man) could &s;o &s;ud|denly infect the creatures as high as heaven.</P>
<P>Againe, yet to give you a clearer &s;ight of the power of &s;inne in &s;ubjecting the creatures to evill, &s;ee <HI>Rom.</HI> 8.22. where the Apo&s;tle &s;peaking of the creation, &s;aith, that the whole creation groaneth to be delivered. What maketh it groane? It is a burthen, a heavy burthen, a burthen of vanity, a burthen of corruption lying on it; &s;ee <HI>Rom.</HI> 8.20.21. who laid that burthen on the creatures? It was one that &s;ubjected him&s;elf and the creatures together in hope, ver. 20. in hope of &s;ome great matter; &s;o <HI>Adam</HI> by eat|ing the forbidden fruit, had a thought of attaining &s;o high a degree of knowledge, that he thereby might be like God him&s;elfe; and &s;o a&s;piring too high, fell downe full lowe, and with him&s;elfe brought downe the whole creation to|gether with the heavy burthen of corruption upon their backs, under which ever &s;ince it groaneth in hope of de|liverance, that &s;o with the &s;onnes of God, it may be deli|vered into a con&s;imilitude of their glorious liberty: the Earth is one of tho&s;e which groaneth for deliverance un|der her heavy burthen; the Heaven is another of tho&s;e
<PB N="8" REF="7"> that groaneth for deliverance under the heavy burthen; and &s;o I may &s;ay of each part of the whole creation for all creatures are in hope of a happy change. Not that there &s;hall be <HI>terra nova et coelum novum</HI> but onely <HI>terra novata, novatum Coelum;</HI> not a new earth, but this earth renued and made new: Not that there &s;hall be a new heaven, but this heaven renued or moulded a new <HI>i. e.</HI> brought into a more glorious forme, into an incorruptible, unchangeable, and eternall forme; 'tis for &s;uch a change that heaven groa|neth and that the earth groaneth with the re&s;t of the crea|tures here below; you will &s;ay how can they groane, they have no &s;en&s;e no rea&s;on in them? I an&s;wer, that this is but a metaphoricall expre&s;sion, whereby life and &s;o &s;en&s;e is attributed to inanimate things and yet there be &s;ome Phi|lo&s;ophers will tell you, if you plea&s;e to beleeve them, then the earth is <HI>Grande animal,</HI> and the &s;ea is <HI>Grande ani|mal;</HI> and &s;o the &s;unne, moone and &s;tarres all being &s;o many living and rationall creatures, but I cannot &s;tand to pa&s;&s;e cen&s;ure on their opinions.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg" TYPE="runSum">U&s;e.</NOTE>Thus beloved, you &s;ee the power of &s;inne in hurting the creatures in provoking and &s;tirring up God to cur&s;e his creatures; man &s;inneth and God is angry, and his anger is exalted <HI>ad talem gradum</HI> to &s;uch a degree that pre&s;ently he fals a cur&s;ing; he cur&s;eth the Sunne, he cur&s;eth the Moone, he cur&s;eth the Starres he cur&s;eth the earth, he cur&s;eth the &s;ea, and all the creatures with that heavy cur&s;e of corrupti|on; he cur&s;eth the earth it groweth barren and brings forth nothing but bryars thornes and thi&s;tles; he cur&s;eth the cele&s;tial orbs and the meteors of the ayre and pre&s;ently they &s;end down their malignant influences; and &s;o he cur|&s;eth the creatures living in their &s;everall elements, and pre&s;ently they begin to mourne, lanqui&s;h and pine away. Heare this O &s;inners and tremble, if for the &s;inne of man, the innocent creatures be &s;ubjected to a cur&s;e; oh then how heavy a cur&s;e will fall upon the &s;inner him&s;elfe. Here
<PB N="9" REF="7"> I have occa&s;ion to &s;et forth the horrid cur&s;es and fearfull evils, whereunto poor &s;inners are liable; but I mu&s;t not now dwell on this part of <HI>Ho&s;ea,</HI> my purpo&s;e being to travaile further in &s;earch of my Text.</P>
<P>The next Prophet whereof I enquire is <HI>Joel,</HI> and here I looke on his writings, but find not the thing enquired for, but yet here is one place much like it, ye may &s;ee it, <HI>Joel,</HI> 1.15. <HI>Alas for the day, for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a de&s;truction from the Almighty &s;hall it come.</HI> Here &s;tay and look a while, 'tis worthy a ca&s;t of your eye, what &s;ee you here? but tell mee your vi&s;ions another time, and I'le tell ye mine now: I &s;ee here two things: fir&s;t, a Pro|phet, and he is in a pa&s;sion, and 'tis <HI>Pa&s;&s;io doloro&s;a,</HI> a dolo|rous pa&s;sion: I looke againe and &s;ee here a day, and 'tis <HI>Di|es luctuo&s;a,</HI> a &s;orrowfull day, which is the cau&s;e of the Pro|phets pa&s;sion: the Prophet here appeareth but all in mour|ning, and in the depth of his &s;orrows he cryes out, <HI>Alas for the day, &amp;c.</HI> Why, what is the matter? what hath hapned? Oh beloved! the Prophet &s;eeth a day (as a threatning cloud in the Ayre) a certaine day, but 'tis a gloomy day, 'tis a terrible day; which he &s;eeth comming upon the people of God, and the &s;ight or the vi&s;ion of this day &s;o worketh on him, that it makes him cry out, <HI>Alas for the day, &amp;c.</HI> why doth he cry? what, can a day of de&s;truction hurt him? what if it were the la&s;t of dayes, (when as there &s;hal be a ge|nerall quaking and trembling over all the world) &s;uch a day as that cannot hurt a Saint or a Prophet, &s;uch an one as <HI>Joel</HI> was; what then makes him cry &s;o pa&s;sionatly? Oh! 'tis not for him&s;elfe, but for others he is &s;o affected; as ye may &s;ee <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 16.17, 18, 19, 20, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> the people of God are in danger of being uttterly de&s;troyed, that makes him cry: Whence ob&s;erve, <HI>Doct. Good men are afraid of evill dayes for others &s;akes:</HI> &s;o <HI>Paul</HI> &s;eeing an evill day comming toward <HI>Ephe&s;us</HI> through fal&s;e Teachers, which &s;hould ari&s;e in that City, was &s;o affected, that he went
<PB N="10" REF="8"> weeping and crying up and down, and warning every one night and day with teares, <HI>Act</HI> 20.21.30. And &s;o <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;eeing an evill day comming on <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> &s;tood in the gap with prayers and teares of &s;orrow, to keepe out that evill day from the heritage of God: Oh, the &s;tupidne&s;&s;e of tho&s;e that are not affected with the evils comming on their own heads, when as Saints are &s;o affected with others mi&s;eries; there is now a day, and a cloudy day comming on <HI>England,</HI> comming on <HI>London</HI> the glory of <HI>England,</HI> and yet there be full many that lie at ea&s;e in this our <HI>Sion,</HI> never crying <HI>Alas for the day;</HI> &s;uch as the&s;e may take them&s;elves for Angels of light, yet they come &s;hort of the likene&s;&s;e of Saints, who&s;e nature is like <HI>Joels,</HI> being ready upon the &s;ight of an evill comming towards others, to &s;igh out, <HI>Alas for the day.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Alas for the day,</HI> what day is this? Tis a &s;ad day, 'tis a cloudy day, 'tis a de&s;troying day; who brings in this day, <HI>Joel</HI> tels us here, 'tis the Lords day; that is, a day of the Lords bringing in, a day of the Lords fetching in; the day commeth from him even as de&s;truction from the Almighty, whence ob&s;erve, <HI>Doct. God hath his de&s;troy|ing dayes, his killing times.</HI> There be certaine dayes, where|in God u&s;eth to walke abroad and de&s;troy people, to ru|ine people, to kill people &amp; therfore 'tis &s;aid, <HI>Eccl.</HI> 3.3. <HI>That there is a time to kill;</HI> God hath a time to &s;ave, &s;o he hath al&s;o his times of killing; and &s;o in <HI>Pro.</HI> 16.4. mention is made of a day of evill, that is, of a certaine day wherein God will kill an evill man; will &s;lay a wicked man; however &s;inners and wicked ones may e&s;cape for a &s;ea&s;on, yet there is a day wherein if God meeteth them in the way of wickedne&s;&s;e, they are gone, cut up and de&s;troyed without all mercy: A&s;trologers tels us of good dayes, and of evill dayes according to the dominion of benevolent or malignant Planets; &s;o God hath his good dayes and his bad dayes, not <HI>re&s;pective ad &s;e,</HI> but <HI>relative</HI> to his ef|fects,
<PB N="11" REF="8"> and influences upon us mortall creatures; but you will &s;ay, which are tho&s;e bad dayes, tho&s;e killing dayes of God, that wee may know them and take heed of them to avoid them.</P>
<P>I'le tell ye, fir&s;t <HI>Negative,</HI> they are not dayes of repen|tance, nor dayes of purity, nor dayes of righteou&s;nes, &amp;c. no: no: the&s;e are none of the&s;e killing dayes, the&s;e are holy dayes, ble&s;&s;ing dayes, wherein God ca&s;teth his fa|vours upon the &s;ouls of &s;uch and &s;uch a kind of men. The Penetentiall day is a day of healing, a day of curing; not of bru&s;ing not of wounding, not of killing, <HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 6.1. So the pure dayes, the dayes of purity; they are dayes of vi|&s;ions, for in tho&s;e dayes. God u&s;eth to walke abroad, and &s;hew him&s;elfe to his holy ones that are of a pure heart; on &s;uch times he u&s;eth to come out of his &s;ecret Pavilion, and appeare in &s;ome gracious manner, in &s;ome irradiant manner, to his people, (as Princes to their Subjects, on &s;ome fe&s;tivals) &s;ee <HI>Mat.</HI> 5.8. and &s;o in <HI>John</HI> 14.21. He promi&s;eth to the keepers of his Commandements, that is, to the generation of pure ones, to manife&s;t him&s;elfe. The word in the originall is, <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span"> which &s;ignifieth, to &s;hine upon them, to lift up the light of his countenance upon them, as <HI>David</HI> &s;peakes <HI>P&s;.</HI> 4.6. That day is not a day of harming, or of hurting; and &s;o the dayes of righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e, they are not the dayes of killing, or of de&s;troy|ing, but dayes of fea&s;ting to the &s;oule, wherein God feeds the &s;pirits of godly men, with the ble&s;&s;ed fruits of the Trees of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, <HI>I&s;.</HI> 3.10. Which fruits are peace of con&s;cience, joy in the holy Gho&s;t, a&s;&s;urance of Gods favours; and the&s;e fruits are farre more beauteous, more amiable, and more to be de&s;ired, then that fruit our fir&s;t parents &s;o much longed for, <HI>Gen.</HI> 3.6.</P>
<P>But now to tell yee <HI>affirmative,</HI> what the&s;e dayes are, briefly thus, the&s;e de&s;troying dayes, the&s;e killing times, wherein God u&s;eth to come forth and kill, to walk abroad
<PB N="12" REF="9"> and &s;hoot his arrowes of death, to draw his &s;word and cut off the &s;onnes of men from the Land of the living; they are dayes of &s;inne, and to particularize they are dayes of pride, on &s;uch a day I well remember King <HI>Herod</HI> was &s;laine, <HI>Act.</HI> 12.22, 23. And dayes of murmuring again&s;t God and his anointed ones, and on &s;uch a day <HI>Corah, Dathan</HI> and <HI>Abiram</HI> peri&s;hed: and dayes of lying again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t, for on &s;uch a day <HI>Ananias</HI> was de&s;troyed: Dayes of &s;ecurity, for on &s;uch dayes the old world peri&s;hed, &amp;c. &s;ince then, there be &s;uch dangerous dayes as the&s;e, let's looke to our &s;elves, and not &s;tirre abroad in &s;uch dayes, in &s;uch &s;tormy and tempe&s;tuous dayes, lea&s;t we be blowne into confu&s;ion. Tis, true there may be &s;uch dayes and yet God may forbeare to come forth, or if he doth come forth, yet he may (in his great mercy) forbeare to kill every &s;inner he meeteth, and every wicked one he findeth in his way, for though his Ju&s;tice would have him kill all that he &s;eeth, of the evill ones on &s;uch a day; yet oft mercy &amp; long-&s;uffering doe crave &s;o hard, doe beg &s;o violently, that ma|ny a time the wicked are &s;pared for a &s;ea&s;on, to &s;ee if they will amend, if they will repent; but 'tis very perilous to venture on &s;uch a hazard; for tho&s;e are his killing dayes, and &s;o he may or may not kill; the wicked have no promi&s;e, no word of comfort for their &s;ecurity, or &s;afety: there may be <HI>Mors in pane, &amp;c.</HI> Death may lye in their bread, or in their meat, or in their cloathes, or in their walkes, or in their chambers, or in their beds, &amp;c. And therfore 'tis great wi&s;dome to prevent the wor&s;t, and keepe none of the&s;e dayes of &s;in, but rather to ob&s;erve and keep tho&s;e cele&s;tiall holy dayes of Repentance, tho&s;e &s;weet holy dayes of purity, tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed holy dayes of righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e: and then though God killeth hundreds on our left hand, or thou&s;ands on our right hand, yet he will give his Angels charge over us, that nothing &s;hall come neere us, but onely &s;uch things as &s;hall be for our good, <HI>Rom.</HI> 8.28.
<PB N="13" REF="9"> Now I would runne a little further on this place of <HI>Joel,</HI> but I mu&s;t away I have &s;taid over long, and therefore in &s;earch of the Text I come to the next Prophet, which is <HI>Amos.</HI></P>
<P>And now looking about here, in the writings of this Prophet, I find not the Text yee looke for; but though I find it not, yet here is a place that hath the &s;ame voice, and &s;peaks in a menacing manner, ye may heare it, <HI>Amos</HI> 1.6. <HI>Thus &s;aith the Lord, for three tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions of Gaza, &amp; for foure, I will not turne away the puni&s;hment thereof be|cau&s;e they carried away the whole captivity to deliver them up to Edom.</HI> This place is worth a pau&s;e for the ob&s;erva|tions which are lying in it, here it is &s;aid by God him&s;elf, <HI>I will not turn away the puni&s;hment;</HI> it &s;eemeth therefore he could if &s;o plea&s;ed his wi&s;dome, <HI>Doct. Pun&s;hments are in the hands of God.</HI> As rivers may be altered, changed &amp; tur|ned by &s;everall inlets and outlets by the hands of men, &s;o God hath a turning power, whereby he can turne <HI>mala paenae,</HI> evils of puni&s;hments, and cau&s;e them (like &s;o many Rivers or &s;treames) to runne where he plea&s;eth; &s;ome|times he turneth one of the&s;e Rivers through <HI>Egipt,</HI> &s;ome|times he cau&s;eth one to &s;treame through <HI>Babylon,</HI> &s;ome|times he brings the&s;e Rivers through <HI>Greece, Hungary, Germany,</HI> or makes them overflow this or that City; as proud <HI>Nineve,</HI> or &s;tately <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> (when ruined by the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Conquerour) and therefore, when&s;oever yee chance to be in a Kingdome, or in a City of any King|dome, and &s;ee one of the&s;e Rivers of judgements running through the Kingdome, or overflowing the wals of the City, yee may &s;ay there is <HI>Digitus Dei,</HI> for none could bring the waters in without the peculiar warrant and licence of this God of Ju&s;tice <HI>Amos</HI> 3.6.</P>
<P><HI>For three tran&s;gre&s;ions, &amp;c. I will not turne away the pni&s;hment therof, &amp;c.</HI> Here again ye &s;ee that God is re&s;olved not to turne away the judgements, they are comming; and
<PB N="14" REF="10"> God &s;eeth them and can &s;top them, but will not, decreeth that he will not? Why will he not &s;ave <HI>Gaza,</HI> pre&s;erve <HI>Gaza,</HI> and keepe off tho&s;e evils from <HI>Gaza?</HI> Yee &s;ee the rea&s;on, becau&s;e of the &s;innes of <HI>Gaza,</HI> and tran&s;gre&s;&s;i|on of <HI>Gaza, Doct. Sinnes are the cau&s;e why God turneth the rivers of his judgements through this or that Land, this or that other Country:</HI> For though God hath &s;treames of judgements and rivers of puni&s;hments, which he can turne this or that other way. Yet he keepes the&s;e waters in their bounds, in their limits, and &s;uffers them not to pa&s;&s;e into, or through any place, but where &s;innes and tran&s;gre&s;sions are croaking and crying, and where iniqui|ties beare &s;way and dominion, the&s;e are the <HI>Operarij,</HI> or the <HI>Engineers</HI> and <HI>Workemen,</HI> that makes the <HI>Channels</HI> for Gods rivers of anger, and &s;treames of wrath to runne in; God hath the&s;e at his will, but yet never doe they flow from the maine Ocean of his fury, till &s;inne digges and makes a channell, a bed or pa&s;&s;age for them to flow through. Oh! that the&s;e Kingdomes of <HI>England</HI> and <HI>Ire|land,</HI> had not had &s;o many of the&s;e workers, of the&s;e channell-makers in them; for then we &s;hould not have &s;eene &s;o many rivers of blood, and rivers of &s;orrowes, rivers of tribulation, as our eyes have lately &s;eene in an overflowing manner, &s;treaming through the&s;e &s;i&s;ter Kingdomes.</P>
<P>Againe in this place of <HI>Amos,</HI> you &s;ee Gods anger a|gain&s;t <HI>Gaza,</HI> but particularly for their cruelty again&s;t his people, in being &s;o ready to deliver them up to the <HI>Edo|mites,</HI> their mortall enemies; and for that rea&s;on among&s;t others, if the judgements will come they &s;hall come, if the channell be made, and the water of his wrath begins to pa&s;&s;e out of the Ocean of his indignation, and &s;o to de|&s;troy <HI>Gaza,</HI> he will not hinder, becau&s;e of the barbarous u&s;age of his children: No, he hath borne long with <HI>Gaza,</HI> yet now he is re&s;olved to &s;uffer <HI>Gaza</HI> to be overthrowne
<PB N="15" REF="10"> for this their offence, <HI>Doct. God is a foe to tho&s;e which harme his people:</HI> &amp; therefore he is a foe to <HI>Turkey,</HI> for the wrongs done the Chri&s;tians in <HI>A&s;ia</HI> and <HI>Europe;</HI> and he is a foe to <HI>Rome,</HI> for the harm done by her, to his heritage in <HI>Germany,</HI> and in <HI>Ireland;</HI> and though they e&s;cape for a &s;ea&s;on, yet not for ever, for God will undoe tho&s;e that afflict his flocke; he will not onely la&s;h them, &s;courge them, but totally undoe them, as 'tis &s;aid <HI>Zeph.</HI> 3.19. When his time of de&s;truction commeth, when his day of killing commeth, oh! then the&s;e foes of God are undone, &s;o when God ari&s;eth in his anger, his enemies will &s;oone be &s;cattered: he will roare out of <HI>Syon,</HI> and make them tremble; repentance I confe&s;&s;e may doe wonders, and &s;top an evill, cha&s;e away a cloud (if &s;ound if &s;ea&s;onable) but otherwi&s;e without all contradiction, the enemies of Gods people will peri&s;h: and though for a time, they afflict <HI>Jo&s;eph,</HI> and laugh at <HI>Jo&s;ephs</HI> afflictions; yet but a little while, and there will a noi&s;e be heard, founding in the eares of the foes of Gods church as in <HI>Nahum</HI> 1.3. <HI>The Lord revengeth, The Lord revengeth;</HI> and &s;uch a thun|dering from the Throne of his heavy di&s;plea&s;ure, as &s;hall make their hearts melt away with terrour to the great a|mazement of tho&s;e, which behold the wonders that God doth for the Saints of <HI>Syon,</HI> and for all tho&s;e that tru&s;t in his holy name. I would willingly &s;tay with this Prophet <HI>Amos</HI> a little longer, but the de&s;ire of my Text urgeth me to pa&s;&s;e unto the next Prophet in &s;earch of it, and that is <HI>Obadiah.</HI></P>
<P>Now here I have &s;oone ca&s;t an eye over all his prophe|&s;ie, and here is none of the Text, but a place that hath &s;ome relation to it, for 'tis full of threats, &s;ee <HI>Obadiah v.</HI> 4. the&s;e words <HI>Though than exalt thy &s;elfe as the Eagle, and make thy ne&s;t among&s;t the starres, thence will I bring thee downe, &s;aith the Lord.</HI> Though thou doe&s;t thus and thus exalt thy &s;elf, yet I will downe with thee even to the
<PB N="16" REF="11"> ground: there ob&s;erve, <HI>Doct. God can ca&s;t downe and over|turne the mightie&s;t things;</HI> for indeed there is in him a fulne&s;&s;e of power, an omnipotency of doing; the tale&s;t Cedars of <HI>Lebanon</HI> are overturned with the &s;malle&s;t bla&s;t of his anger, the mightie&s;t trees of the Forre&s;t of this world, are rooted up with a pluck of his power; he that reads the &s;tory of <HI>Daniel,</HI> will find what a va&s;t bodied tree, or what an overgrowne oake <HI>Nabuchadnezzar</HI> was; and yet God did but blow upon him and downe he fell, <HI>Dan.</HI> 4.30. we read of <HI>Senacharib</HI> he was a mighty tree in the Forre&s;t of this world, he, becau&s;e he had conquered the people of <HI>Amath, Arphad</HI> and <HI>Sepharvaim,</HI> therefore thought to conquer the God of <HI>Ieru&s;alem</HI> with his cho&s;en people; but worme that he was; what did he doe? No &s;ooner began he to bla&s;pheme the God of <HI>Ieru&s;alem,</HI> but God &s;ent (and that but one of his Army, to the like where|of he had millions of millions) namely, one Angell, and immediately the Army of <HI>Senacahrib</HI> was de&s;troyed and totally routed, with the death of an hundred four&s;core and five thou&s;and, <HI>I&s;.</HI> 37.35, 36. Let none therefore think him|&s;elf &s;afe, by rea&s;on of any Arme of fle&s;h which doth &s;up|port him, or becau&s;e he &s;its under the &s;preading bowes of &s;ome mighty tree, for the&s;e cannot &s;ave him from the power of the &s;torme when once it begins to blu&s;ter; the &s;acred tree of Gods providence may and can &s;helter a man, but all the trees in the world be&s;ides cannot &s;ecure us.</P>
<P>Againe, once more looke on the&s;e words, and here yee may &s;ee in what a ca&s;e <HI>Edom</HI> &s;tood; <HI>Edom</HI> thought his &s;elfe &s;afe, and as &s;afe as if his habitation had been placed above in the ayre, as high, as the Eagle flieth, or among&s;t the &s;tarres, whereunto the &s;hort hand of mortals could never reach; and therefore ble&s;&s;ed him&s;elfe in his pre&s;ent fortunes and pro&s;perous &s;ecurity, never thinking of the power of the immortall God, who all this
<PB N="17" REF="11"> while lay in &s;ilence, &s;ecretly preparing engins to fetch downe <HI>Edom,</HI> and to pluck downe <HI>Edom</HI> from his lofty habitation of promi&s;ing &s;ecurity, <HI>Doct. men oft flat|ter them&s;elves with hopes of happine&s;&s;e, when the greatest dangers are at hand:</HI> We find the truth of this by daily experiment; we of <HI>Ireland</HI> were crying peace, peace, when de&s;truction was at our heeles, and ruine hovering over our heads: we read of the people of the old world, how they were fea&s;ting and merry, marrying and giving in marriage, little dreaming of any flood, of any deluge; while&s;t God in the meane time was very bu&s;ie in devi|&s;ing their ruine, and to that purpo&s;e had imployed &s;everall agents; &s;ome were &s;et at worke in the &s;ea to convey the waters over the face of the earth, while&s;t others were as bu&s;ie among&s;t the clouds, and in opening the windowes of Heaven, that the waters might overflow the world: yee that heare this, con&s;ider and make an application to your &s;elves, and &s;pare me in that worke, having now a motion to pa&s;&s;e on further in &s;earch of what you de&s;ire to behold.</P>
<P>The next prophe&s;ie I meet withall, is that of the Pro|phet <HI>Ionah,</HI> and he is &s;oone overviewed; but yet in all <HI>Ionah</HI> the Text appeareth not; yet here is a ver&s;e that doth in &s;ome part re&s;emble that which we enquire after, for here is a mention of wickedne&s;&s;e, and an intimation of Gods di&s;plea&s;ure again&s;t it, appearing in this, <HI>That God &s;endeth</HI> Jonah <HI>to cry again&s;t the City, for the wickedne&s;&s;e thereof;</HI> yee may &s;ee the ver&s;e <HI>Ionah</HI> 1.2. the words of the ver&s;e are the&s;e; <HI>Ari&s;e goe to</HI> Ninive <HI>that great City, and cry again&s;t it for their wickedne&s;&s;e is come up before me.</HI> Here &s;ee a wonder, wickedne&s;&s;e goeth into Gods pre|&s;ence, we would not have imagined that God would ad|mit of &s;uch a thing; &s;uch a Serpent, &s;uch a Toade to come into his &s;ight; indeed purity admits it not, but abhorres the &s;ight of it, yet Gods Ju&s;tice admits it into his pre|&s;ence
<PB N="18" REF="12"> and &s;uffers it, as he doth the devils to come into his courts of Judgements, to heare their accu&s;ations and com|plaints again&s;t &s;inners: but beholds them both, no other|wi&s;e then with the eyes of dete&s;tation; this they know, yet &s;uch is their envy and malice again&s;t poore men, that they will ru&s;h into the&s;e courts of God, to accu&s;e and ca|lumniate. Come here, come here ye &s;inners of the world, and &s;ee your folly, your wickedne&s;&s;e; yee nouri&s;h wick|edne&s;&s;e, yee feede wickedne&s;&s;e, and lodge it in your bo|&s;omes; yee thinke it a faire creature, and a pretty friend, but &s;ee her actions; &s;he betrayeth you to the court of Ju&s;tice, tels all before the terrible Judge of the &s;oules of men; and is &s;till yellowing and howling for judgments and executions again&s;t yee, longing to &s;ee your ruine; which your gracious God is loath to behold (as formerly he was unwilling to &s;ee the perdition of <HI>Ninive</HI>) and therefore &s;ent his Prophet to cry again&s;t it, as here it is declared; <HI>Ari&s;e, goe to</HI> Ninive <HI>and cry again&s;t it:</HI> what was he to cry? de&s;truction, &s;ubver&s;ion, (and that &s;ubitaneous) for within forty dayes, it was to come upon them; <HI>Yet forty dayes and</HI> Ninive <HI>&s;hall be &s;ubverted, Ion.</HI> 3.4. <HI>Ninive</HI> was then to be overthrowne; yet God will give the <HI>Ni|nivites</HI> forty dayes &s;pace of repentance: <HI>Doct. God warns before he wounds;</HI> he u&s;eth to give notice of his comming in judgement; but in mercy God &s;eizeth upon a &s;oule, &s;urprizeth it in the armes of love before it is aware, and while&s;t it thinks not of him, <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> 65.1. but giveth warning of the comming of his wrath, that people may runne from the wrath that is to come: Oh happy we in &s;uch a God! if we knew our owne happine&s;&s;e; for before he &s;ends evils to devoure us for our wickedne&s;&s;e, he &s;ends &s;ome or other to cry again&s;t our wickedne&s;&s;e, as here again&s;t <HI>Ninive.</HI> I could &s;hew yee more things in this gla&s;&s;e, but I mu&s;t away to behold the prophe&s;ie of the Prophet <HI>Micah.</HI></P>
<PB N="19" REF="12">
<P>In this booke, I find; what? not the Text; but yet I find a place that hath a corre&s;pondency with it, you may &s;ee it <HI>Micah</HI> 3.12. the words are the&s;e, <HI>Therefore &s;hall Sion for your &s;ake be plowed as a field, and Ieru&s;alem &s;hall become heapes, and the mountaine of the hou&s;e as the high places of the Forrest.</HI> What is this I heare of <HI>Sion</HI> and of <HI>Ieru&s;alem,</HI> why! 'tis reported that <HI>Sion</HI> mu&s;t be plowed and that <HI>Ieru&s;alem</HI> mu&s;t be turned into heapes, that is, in a more plain and naked expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>Sion</HI> mu&s;t be ruined and <HI>Ieru&s;alem</HI> be de&s;troyed; and yet the&s;e were the beloved habitations of the God of <HI>Iudah:</HI> hence, <HI>Doct. God &s;ometimes vi&s;iteth his owne habitation with judgements.</HI> This <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> well knew, and therefore in a &s;orrowing manner he cryed, <HI>Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the City where David dwelt, I&s;.</HI> 29.1. This <HI>Antioch, Corinth, Ephe&s;us, &amp;c.</HI> (&s;ometimes glorious Churches, now dens of <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> Ly|ons) have experimentally proved; and many hundreds of Church-a&s;&s;emblies in <HI>Ireland</HI> with weeping eyes can confirme this truth; and I pray God, that ere long <HI>Eng|land</HI> be not brought in for a witne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>At this in&s;taint we have <HI>Templa Domini, templa Domi|ni,</HI> Churches for God to dwell in: but how long he will &s;tay among&s;t us, how long he will be wor&s;hipped by us in the&s;e Temples, who can tell? for he is not tied to ma|teriall Churches, be they never &s;o beauteous, he is not taken with the beauty of them, nor will he &s;hew him&s;elfe in them to his people, unle&s;&s;e they them&s;elves be beau|teous in the beauty of holine&s;&s;e: if a Temple or the outward forme of wor&s;hip in that Temple, would have prevailed to have held God, with his favouring influences in a Land, then had this threatning never had a being, and we &s;hould not have beene reading this day, <HI>that Sion &s;hall be plowed, and Ieru&s;alem be made heapes.</HI> Alas! what is the rea&s;on? Why yee heare that it is for the peo|ples &s;ake, &s;omething they had done which angred God
<PB N="20" REF="13"> &s;o much, that therefore <HI>Sion mu&s;t be plowed, &amp;c.</HI> What did they doe? yee may read of their doings in the 9.10. and 11. ver&s;es; there yee may read how the Princes. Coun&s;ellours of &s;tate, and Judges of the Land were cove|tous, abhorred Judgement, perverted Equity, and built up <HI>Sion</HI> in blood, and <HI>Ieru&s;alem</HI> in iniquity; Prie&s;ts and Prophets joyning with them for &s;ome &s;ini&s;ter ends of their owne, as for money, and preferment, and &s;uch like things; but God hereby the Prophet &s;ends them word, that their devices are vaine, their projects fooli&s;h, their de&s;ignes and doings wicked, and therefore they &s;hall come to ruine; they may be building and building, rear|ing and rearing the wals of <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> but becau&s;e they build in blood, becau&s;e they build in iniquity, therefore all &s;hall tumble downe againe; hence <HI>Doct. It is an un|profitable thing to build upon an ill foundation.</HI> The Jewes here you &s;ee were building up <HI>Sion,</HI> but they did build it on an ill foundation; they laid the foundation of it in &s;inne, in iniquity, in oppre&s;&s;ion, in covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, in lying, in cruelty, in blood (the wor&s;t lime and &s;tone that ever man can build withall) and what is the end of it? it wil tumble downe upon their owne heads, and kill the very builders of it.</P>
<P>So <HI>Rome</HI> buildeth up many churches (as in the Ea&s;t and we&s;t Indies) but they will never &s;tand long, becau&s;e the foundation of them is laid upon lying miracles, fal&s;e doctrines, covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e and blood (many hundreds, many thou&s;ands of tho&s;e poore Indians being wilfully murthered by the <HI>Spaniards, Romes</HI> Admirers.)</P>
<P>So <HI>Mahomet,</HI> he plants Churches in the <HI>Levante</HI> (Chur|ches after his owne humour) but the foundation of them is bla&s;phemy, blood (and that the blood of many thou|&s;ands of holy Martyrs) the&s;e Churches may &s;tand for a while, but ere long they will totter. for the gates of hell will prevaile again&s;t them; God abhorreth them and all
<PB N="21" REF="13"> &s;uch buildings, with their builders; and therefore pray we, that our builders and planters, may labour to reare up the wals of our <HI>Sion,</HI> in truth in meeknes, in equity, in mercy, in compa&s;&s;ion, &amp;c. If thus they goe about, the workes and buildings of God, then Chri&s;t the corner &s;tone, and foun|dation of all foundations, will pro&s;per their handy workes.</P>
<P>Beloved, I have &s;ome &s;mall skill in Atchitecture, (for it is my trade;) and therefore I would willingly &s;ay &s;ome more things unto you, touching the building, rearing, or &s;upporting of our <HI>Engli&s;h Sion;</HI> but truth it is, I cannot now doe it, for I mu&s;t hence to vi&s;it <HI>Nahum,</HI> and enquire of him for my Text.</P>
<P>Upon <HI>Nahum</HI> I looke, but this prophe&s;ie conteineth not that place, yet here is one place of great affinity with it, yee may read it, <HI>Nahum</HI> 1.8. <HI>But with an over-running flood, he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkene&s;&s;e &s;hall pur&s;ue his enemies.</HI> He tels us here two things; fir&s;t, what he will doe with <HI>Ninive,</HI> &s;econdly, what he will doe with the people of <HI>Ninive.</HI></P>
<P>As for <HI>Ninive</HI> he will de&s;troy it, <HI>An over-running flood &s;hall come upon the place thereof,</HI> upon the very place where <HI>Ninive</HI> is &s;eated or &s;cituated; what will he de&s;troy <HI>Ninive,</HI> that mighty City? yes! it mu&s;t be de&s;troyed, how? with a flood, with an over-running flood, that &s;hall flow over the wals thereof; a flood of &s;ubver&s;ion, here &s;ee <HI>Doct. Gods judgements can enter the &s;tronge&s;t holds</HI>) Witne&s;&s;e towring Babylon, <HI>who&s;e wals were once the wonder of the world:</HI> and populous <HI>No, Na.</HI> 3.8. And here proud <HI>Ninive,</HI> all now lye under water, being overflowed by the water of de&s;olation: Hence may we &s;ee what folly it is to tru&s;t in &s;trong places, or to place confidence in wals, bulworkes, fortifications or deep water|trenches, for they cannot keepe out Gods judgements; were a Kingdome &s;urrounded with the &s;ea as populous <HI>No,</HI> or encompa&s;&s;ed with hils and mountaines, equall to
<PB N="22" REF="14"> the Alps, Atlas, or lofty Cauca&s;us, or encircled with bul|workes of iron, or wals of bra&s;&s;e, reaching up to the very clouds, yet judgement will pa&s;&s;e through, or runne over all, if God but give them a commi&s;&s;ion; if God but once bid them goe and enter, goe and de&s;troy &s;uch a City, &s;uch a Kingdome, it is &s;uddenly done, if he require &s;uch a &s;ud|den expedition.</P>
<P>What &s;afety for us then here on earth? Yes, there is &s;ome kind of wals; &s;ome kind of trenches that are of notable &s;trength for keeping out of evils; the&s;e are the wals of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and trenches filled with penetenti|all waters; the&s;e will be a defence when Cities, like tho&s;e of <HI>Canaan,</HI> will fall downe and crumble into du&s;t. Oh! that our <HI>England</HI> were encompa&s;&s;ed with &s;uch like wals, and in&s;tead of the Ocean, were &s;urrounded with a river of penetentiall waters, &s;treaming from humbled &s;oules; then might <HI>England</HI> enjoy the pre&s;ence of God in mercy, whereas now God appeareth here in <HI>England,</HI> all clad in fury and indignation.</P>
<P>Againe, as you &s;ee the threatned ruine of <HI>Ninive,</HI> &s;o here behold the tragedy of the Inhabitants; what &s;hall become of them? It is told us, that darkne&s;&s;e &s;hall pur&s;ue them; what darkene&s;&s;e? darkne&s;&s;e of affliction, and if that bring them not back (as it did <HI>David, P&s;.</HI> 119.67.) then followeth darkene&s;&s;e of judgement in this or that degree; &s;o that they fall upon the beliefe of lies and fal&s;e delu&s;ions, 2 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 2.9, 10. And after the&s;e follow darke|ne&s;&s;e of death; and la&s;t of all the darkne&s;&s;e of damnation, plagues enough, evils enough to fright men from fight|ing again&s;t God; heare this yee &s;inners, and reconcile your &s;elves unto your God; heare this yee &s;onnes of re|bellion, and reconcile your &s;elves unto your King, even unto your gracious King Je&s;us, God ble&s;&s;ed for ever; but if you doe not doe this, then <HI>Actum est de vobis,</HI> yee are an undone people; for ere long, God will &s;end one
<PB N="23" REF="14"> of his Armies again&s;t you, even this here called by the name or darkne&s;&s;e; &s;omewhat more for illu&s;tration &s;ake, I would have &s;aid of this darkne&s;&s;e, of this pur&s;uing dark|ne&s;&s;e, to have &s;hewed yee the horridne&s;&s;e of it, but I am in pur&s;uit of another thing, and therefore at pre&s;ent I am urged to leave <HI>Nahum</HI> and pa&s;&s;e over hence to the pro|phe&s;ie or <HI>Habacuck.</HI></P>
<P>This prophe&s;ie like &s;ome of the re&s;t is very &s;hort and &s;oone overlooked, but without effect in re&s;pect of the text: for here likewi&s;e it is not found, but here is a part of the prophe&s;ie that appeareth in a menacing forme, cor|re&s;pondently to the place I enquire for, read it <HI>Hah.</HI> 2.8. <HI>Becau&s;e thou ha&s;t &s;poiled many Nations, all the rem|nant of the people &s;hall &s;poile thee, becau&s;e of mens blood, and for the violence of the Land, of the City, and of all that dwell therein.</HI> Here is a burden for <HI>Caldea,</HI> a de&s;tru|ction for <HI>Caldea,</HI> for it mu&s;t be de&s;troyed and &s;poiled, but why mu&s;t <HI>Caldea</HI> be &s;poiled? the rea&s;on is given, becau&s;e <HI>Caldea</HI> hath &s;poiled many Nations by pillaging their goods, ruining and burning their Cities, murdering the in|habitants; and therefore now <HI>Caldea</HI> is cited before God, cen&s;ured, condemned to ruine, rapine, &s;poile by a Law called <HI>lex talionis:</HI> hence, <HI>Doct. (Spoilers mu&s;t be &s;poi|led)</HI> this is not alwayes done <HI>de &s;ubito</HI> at an in&s;tant, but God tarieth a &s;ea&s;on, but at length will come; and though <HI>&s;ero</HI> yet <HI>&s;erio,</HI> if not this way, or that way, yet he findeth &s;ome other way to de&s;troy them; &s;o that the murtherer &s;hall be de&s;troyed, the cruell one de&s;troyed, they which love blood &s;hall ta&s;t of blood, if not here yet hereafter; they &s;hall have ful bowls of blood of wrath powred down their &s;oules, &s;o the oppre&s;&s;our, the pillager, the plundrer, &s;hall here of his doings to his owne terrour.</P>
<P><HI>Object.</HI> Why may not one kill, &s;poile, de&s;troy, pil|lage, plunder? &amp;c.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> Yes, where men have Gods warrant for it;
<PB N="24" REF="15"> Gods commi&s;&s;ion for it: the <HI>Iewes</HI> &s;poyled, pillaged, and plundered, the plea&s;ant Land of <HI>Canaan;</HI> and &s;taid not there, but killed and &s;layed the people, men, women and children, even the very bea&s;ts of the Land; and they did well in it, they had Gods command for it, and therefore properly could not be called murderers, pillagers, &s;poylers, &amp;c but rather ju&s;ticers, executioners, of the will of God. Mercy in &s;uch a ca&s;e had beene as bad as cruelty, pitty had beene equall to murder in &s;ome degree: you &s;ee that <HI>Saul</HI> &s;pared, when God commanded to kill; and what did God thinke of him for it? he called it di&s;obedience, and counted it as a &s;inne of witchcraft, (1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 15.3, 9, 10, 11. and &s;o to the 24. &s;o in all &s;uch ca&s;es, when we have com|mi&s;&s;ion from heaven, to ruine or de&s;troy this or that per|&s;on, this or that City, this or that Kingdome, then we are bound upon paine of damnation to kill and &s;lay (without pitty or compa&s;&s;ion) man, woman, child, father, mother, wife, brother, any one, every one, &amp;c. (if the commi&s;&s;i|on cometh forth in &s;uch a forme.) But if wee goe, without commi&s;&s;ion, or without a &s;ure warrant from Gods Word, then is our killing murdering, our pilla|ging &s;tealing, and he will &s;end after us, &s;uch as &s;hall &s;poile and pillage us; fir&s;t of our goods, after that of our lives, and la&s;t of all of our &s;oules, unle&s;&s;e we returne from &s;uch doings with teares of repentance before the decree com|meth forth: I could mo&s;t willingly here propound and re&s;olve &s;ome que&s;tions touching this point, but the de&s;ire to comply with my pre&s;ent intentions, forceth me from hence to the Prophet <HI>Zephan ah.</HI></P>
<P>I here behold <HI>Zephaniah,</HI> and &s;ee him pa&s;&s;ionate in his expre&s;&s;ion of Gods wrath again&s;t &s;inners and ungodly ones: but yet in no part of that prophe&s;ie doth that lodge which I &s;eeke, but yet here is &s;omewhat of the fame na|ture, &s;ee it <HI>Zephaniah</HI> 1.2. <HI>(I will utterly con&s;ume all things from off the Land &s;aith the Lord)</HI> God here &s;aith
<PB N="25" REF="15"> God here faith that he wil con&s;ume, not &s;ome things only, but all things of the Land of <HI>Judah,</HI> and if he will doe it, if he hath a mind a purpo&s;e to doe it, I am &s;ure he can doe it; for the <HI>P&s;almi&s;t</HI> telleth us <HI>P&s;.</HI> 115.3. <HI>Our God is in hea|ven, he hath done what&s;oever he plea&s;eth:</HI> hence <HI>Doct. God hath a con&s;uming power</HI>) he that reads and beleeves the Scripture, cannot doubt of this propo&s;ition; for as there is in God a creating power, a &s;upporting power, &s;o al&s;o is there a con&s;uming power, and a de&s;troying power: and when he hath a will to con&s;ume he can doe it, and mo&s;t ea&s;ily he can doe it, even with the &s;haking of his hand, with a bla&s;t of his breath, with a call for the &s;pirits of vengeance; a &s;haking of his hand over a Nation un|doeth it: &s;o we read <HI>Zach.</HI> 2.9. <HI>I will &s;hake my hand upon them, and they &s;hall be a &s;poile to their &s;ervants.</HI> They that are mighty on earth, Rulers, Commanders over o|thers &s;ubjected to them in va&s;&s;aladge, the&s;e on a &s;udden, upon the &s;haking of Gods hand over their heads, fall downe and become a &s;poile to their va&s;&s;als, &s;laves and captives; &s;o he can doe with a bla&s;t, great power is in the breath of the Lord, he did but breath and out of nothing came a world; he did but breath, and man was in an in|&s;tant framed out of the earth; he did but breath, and in a moment a &s;oule i&s;&s;ued out of nothing into that forme of earth; he doth but breath, and ble&s;&s;ings (like <HI>Aprill</HI> &s;howres) fall from the clouds of his mercies; but then onely thus it is, when he breatheth in love: but when he looketh on creatures in anger, and breatheth on them in di&s;plea&s;ure, then death and de&s;truction is in his breath; then he bla&s;teth, when he bloweth; <HI>Haggai</HI> tels us, that the people of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> looked for much and it came to little, they looked for great encrea&s;e of fruits, and they came al|mo&s;t to nothing; what was the cau&s;e? it was Gods bla|&s;ting of the fruits, he did but blow, and they were bla&s;ted and blowne cleare away, <HI>Haggai</HI> 1.9. he can &s;oone blow
<PB N="26" REF="16"> a creature into a con&s;umption, into ruine, into death, yea and into hell it &s;elfe.</P>
<P>Againe, it is ea&s;ie with God to con&s;ume all creatures that are upon the face of a Land, or upon the face of a Kingdome, becau&s;e at his call, all the &s;pirits of vengeance come with all readine&s;&s;e to execute his commands.</P>
<P>'Tis &s;aid in <HI>Zach.</HI> 10.8. <HI>That he will hi&s;&s;e for his peo|ple, and &s;o they &s;hall be gathered;</HI> &s;o he may but hi&s;&s;e for the de&s;troying creatures, and they will come, &s;uch as Froggs, Locu&s;ts, Caterpillers, Haile, Snow, Fro&s;t, Mi&s;ts, Foggs, Raine, Warre, Plague, Famine, Di&s;ea&s;es, Windes, Stormes, Earth-quakes, Lightnings, Thunder, Fire and Brim&s;tone, Good and evill Angels, and all &s;tanding in a moment before him, &s;aying, what &s;hall we doe? whom &s;hall we de&s;troy? what Nation &s;hall we ruine? what Kingdome &s;hall we devoure? the&s;e are the &s;pirits, the&s;e are the Gue&s;ts which the Lord oft biddeth to a fea&s;t of his wrath; and they are &s;trange gue&s;ts, they have hungry &s;tomackes, devouring &s;tomackes: Once God &s;et before &s;ome of the&s;e a City, a great and faire City, and all on a &s;udden it was devoured; it was no le&s;&s;e a City then <HI>Ba|bylon.</HI> Another time he &s;et before the&s;e Harpies, or the&s;e O&s;triches, a whole Kingdome and they devoured it; it was the plea&s;ant Kingdom of <HI>Egypt;</HI> and now lately, God being in <HI>Ireland</HI> and there walking up and downe, and &s;eeing the &s;innes of the Land, and the ripene&s;&s;e of them, waxeth angry; and on a &s;udden hi&s;&s;eth for &s;ome of the&s;e hungry Spirits, and &s;uddenly they came and devoured up mo&s;t of all the Prote&s;tants of that Land, and &s;poiled the forme and beauty of the whole Kingdome, within two or three dayes.</P>
<P>So God being in <HI>England,</HI> and looking about, ob&s;er|ving and &s;eeing, that &s;innes like Gra&s;hoppers were skip|ping up and downe in every place, or like Froggs croaking in every ditch; at the &s;ight fell into a pa&s;&s;ion of wrath
<PB N="27" REF="16"> and hi&s;&s;ed, and at his hi&s;&s;e there came one of the&s;e Spirits, <HI>viz.</HI> Warre; and hath &s;poiled our Kingdome, and falling upon the inhabitants, hath fed on their fle&s;h, and carou&s;ed in full bowles of their blood; and where it did lea&s;t harme, it gnawed, if not devoured the e&s;tates of the mo&s;t part of the &s;urviving people: But what tell I you of a City, or of a Kingdome; why among&s;t the&s;e creatures, there are &s;ome that can devoure or ruine a world in a ve|ry &s;hort &s;ea&s;on, as ye have heard was done in the dayes of <HI>Noah</HI> by Raine.</P>
<P>Henceforth I &s;hall not wonder to heare it &s;aid that God hath a con&s;uming power, whereby he is able to con|&s;ume all things as here is &s;aid, <HI>I will con&s;ume all things from off the Land. &amp;c.</HI> All things, what! mu&s;t all goe? mu&s;t all peri&s;h? the People of the Land, the Bea&s;ts of the Land, the Fruits of the Land, &amp;c. Yes, all mu&s;t goe, all mu&s;t be con&s;umed, for &s;o it is &s;aid, <HI>I will con&s;ume all, &amp;c.</HI> Then hence, <HI>(Doct. All creatures are &s;ubject to a con&s;umption;)</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span"> here is an evill, and horrid evill; a di&s;ea&s;e and a con&s;uming di&s;ea&s;e, like <HI>&s;cabies volatica,</HI> it runneth up and downe upon all the creatures of the world, as on the Heauen, the Earth, the Men, the Bea&s;t, the Fowles, the Fi&s;h, &amp;c. they are all &s;ubject to this di&s;ea&s;e, to this con&s;umption, <HI>Zach.</HI> 1.3. But &s;ince it is a di&s;ea&s;e, &s;o &s;preading, &s;o common, &s;o uni|ver&s;all; 'tis our wi&s;dome to labour to prevent this con|&s;umption, (if po&s;&s;ible we may) or at lea&s;t procure &s;ome Elixirs that may cure us, (if we find it be once on us) and nothing can doe the cure but grace; a few graines, nay, one graine of &s;aving grace will cure out bodies and &s;oules; though it be true the body will be long a curing, <HI>viz.</HI> till the day of doome, yet it will doe the deed; this medicine of grace, will at length perfectly cure the body, and cau&s;e it to ri&s;e out of A&s;hes, out of Du&s;t, out of A|tomes into a mo&s;t glorious body againe, fit for the glorifi|ed
<PB N="28" REF="17"> &s;oule to lodge in for all Eternity; Happy are tho&s;e which have &s;ome few grains of this mo&s;t precious Elixir; I might here more fully &s;et forth before you the nature of this di&s;ea&s;e, of this con&s;umption, but time alloweth me not, and therefore I'le hence to <HI>Haggai.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Haggai</HI> is the next Prophet, but yet for any thing I &s;ee, here is not the object of my inqui&s;ition, but here is that which is not much unlike it, &s;ee it <HI>Haggai</HI> 2.23. <HI>I will overthrow the throne of Kingdomes, and I will de&s;troy the &s;trength of the Kingdomes of the heathen, and I will over|throw the Charets, and tho&s;e that ride in them, and the Hor&s;e and the Rider &s;hall come downe every one by the &s;word of his brother.</HI></P>
<P>Here in this ver&s;e, God threatneth to overthrow and to de&s;troy the Kingdoms &amp; the &s;trength of the Heathens; here he decreeth to bring in judgements upon them; and what judgements? de&s;troying judgements, &s;o that they &s;hall fall one upon another; not onely one Nation upon another nation, one Kingdome upon another Kingdome; but tho&s;e of the &s;ame Nation, of the &s;ame Kingdome, &s;hould ari&s;e one again&s;t the other, <HI>brother again&s;t brother,</HI> and &s;heath their &s;words in one the others bowels: this was the cur&s;e, this the de&s;truction, that God would &s;end among&s;t the Heathens; what is this? God is angry with the Heathens; and &s;ee his way of puni&s;hing, he will de&s;troy them: and how? by infatuating of them in &s;uch a manner, <HI>That brother &s;hould ri&s;e again&s;t brother, brother kill brother;</HI> this is the Heathens judgement; ah me! is it not thus now even now in <HI>England;</HI> doth God take <HI>England</HI> to be a Heathen Land, and the Inhabitants to be Heathens? that we are puni&s;hed after the way of Hea|thens; that we are &s;o be&s;otted, &s;o infatuated in our under|&s;tandings, that we mu&s;t ri&s;e up and kill one another, mur|ther one the other, embrew one the others hands in blood of our brethren, after the manner of the Heathens;
<PB N="29" REF="17"> whence commeth this evill among&s;t us? &s;urely we have communicated with Heathens in &s;innes, or el&s;e we &s;hould never participate with them in judgements, accor|ding to that in <HI>Reve.</HI> 18.4. And what a &s;hame is this for <HI>England,</HI> where the Go&s;pell hath &s;hined &s;o gloriou&s;ly, to be taken with &s;uch like &s;innes as the Heathens (which &s;ate in darkne&s;&s;e) have committed.</P>
<P>Againe, here &s;ee Gods &s;everity: the Kingdomes are to be de&s;troyed; what Kingdomes? the mighty King|domes of the Heathens? Alas, alas, the Heathens they are ignorant, they might &s;ay, <HI>Domine non novimus te, &amp;c.</HI> Lord, we know thee not, nor thy Lawes, nor thy will; we have no Seers, no Prophets, no lights, no vi&s;ions, no revelations among&s;t us? why then wilt thou be angry with us, ignorant and blinded creatures; thus and thus might they have pleaded their excu&s;e before God; but &s;uppo&s;e they had, yet had it beene in vaine, the plea had not beene good in <HI>curia Coeli,</HI> for it was decreed that judgements &s;hould come upon them, though Heathens: whence <HI>Doct. The plea of ignorance is not &s;ufficient to ex|cu&s;e a people before God.</HI>) The plea of ignorance will not excu&s;e ill deedes, ungodly deeds, the mo&s;t that it can doe is but to excu&s;e a <HI>Tanto,</HI> but it doth not excu&s;e a <HI>Toto:</HI> &s;ome &s;tripes are due to the ignorant <HI>Luke</HI> 12.48. <HI>Tyre</HI> and <HI>Sydon</HI> may doe better then <HI>Corazan</HI> and <HI>Beth&s;aida;</HI> but &s;till though they &s;ate <HI>(in tenebrie)</HI> in darkne&s;&s;e of igno|rance, yet a woe will fall on them, <HI>Mat.</HI> 11.21.22. If God dealeth thus with Heathens, and tho&s;e which know not his Lawes; Oh! then what heavy judgements will fall on their heads, that have the Law and the Prophets, the Go&s;pell and the Apo&s;tles daily &s;et before them, as we of <HI>England</HI> have: Here I &s;hould di&s;tingui&s;h of ignorance <HI>vincibilis &amp; invincibilis,</HI> of <HI>ignorantia purae negationis &amp; pravae dispo&s;itionis,</HI> and &s;o &s;hew you what kind of igno|rance (and in what ca&s;es) ignorance is excu&s;able, and how
<PB N="30" REF="18"> farre excu&s;able, but the time ha&s;teth and &s;o mu&s;t I, or mi&s;&s;e of what I aime at, and therefore hence I pa&s;&s;e to the Prophet <HI>Zachariah.</HI></P>
<P>This prophe&s;ie containeth many notable things, yet herein is not enclo&s;ed the Text &s;o much &s;ought, but how|ever here you may &s;ee a menacing and a threatning expre&s;|&s;ion, &s;ee <HI>Zacha.</HI> 7.13. <HI>Therefore it is come to pa&s;&s;e, that as he cryed, and they would not heare, &s;o they cryed and I would not heare, &s;aith the Lord of Hosts.</HI> Here is &s;hewed the ju&s;t proceedings of God again&s;t fooli&s;h men; God &s;ent his &s;pirit in his Prophets, as it is ver&s;e 12. And he cryeth unto men in this or that other way, and &s;inners re|gard it not; and when God &s;eeth their carele&s;&s;e negli|gence in hearing his &s;pirit, then waxeth he wroth and will not heare them in their cries powred out before him; God &s;ent his &s;pirit in the old Te&s;tament, and then the cry was commonly like that in <HI>Ezek.</HI> 33.11. <HI>Turne, turne, for why will ye die, oh hou&s;e of I&s;rael?</HI> or like that in <HI>Amos</HI> 5.4. <HI>Seeke ye me and yee &s;hall live;</HI> or that in <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> 1.19. <HI>If yee be willing and obedient, yee &s;hall eat the good of the Land, &amp;c.</HI> He &s;ends his &s;pirit now under the Go&s;pell, and it &s;oundeth commonly of faith and repentance, as in <HI>Mar.</HI> 1 15. <HI>Repent and beleeve the Go&s;pell.</HI> Or of Love and Charity, as in <HI>Mat.</HI> 5.44. <HI>Love your enemies, ble&s;&s;e them that cur&s;e you, doe good to them which hate you, pray for them which despitefully u&s;e you and per&s;ecute you.</HI> Such are the cryes and &s;ounds of the &s;pirit. Now when men hear not the &s;pirits voice, &s;peaking in this kinde and graci|ous language, then God calleth away his &s;pirit; commands it to cry no more, but &s;ends others to cry, and the&s;e cryers are judgements; &amp; the&s;e roare &amp; yell &s;o loud in the eares of the people, that they beget an horrour in their &s;oules, and make them heare them with a king hearts? their cries, their &s;ounds are of another kind, they &s;peak in a new man|ner, to &s;inners &s;aying, we are judgments, judgments &s;ent
<PB N="31" REF="18"> from the living God; to you we are come to torture and torment you, to feed on yee, to ruine yee to take yee and teare yee with the teeth of perdition, and we will not pitty, nor &s;hall our eye &s;pare you. At &s;uch a &s;ound the people &s;tart and tremble, and then they can find eares to heare, and mouthes to open, and tongues to an&s;wer the God of Heaven, &s;aying, <HI>Quid vis Domine, &amp;c.</HI> what wilt thou Lord that we &s;hould doe; we under&s;tand by the voice of thy judgements crying in our eares, that thou art angry with us, becau&s;e we have not done thy will, nor li&s;&s;ened to thy &s;pirit; we are &s;orry for the fault, <HI>Nunc jube quid vis,</HI> now command what thou wilt and it &s;hall be done, <HI>Nunc mirte spiritum, &amp;c.</HI> now &s;end down thy &s;pirit, and we will heare and hearken to the cry; but oft times in &s;uch ca&s;es it proveth too late (as to the <HI>I&s;ralites</HI>) for God &s;eeing they would not heare his &s;pirit, crying in his Pro|phets, he now will not heare them crying for feare of judgements; as here it is &s;aid; as he cried (that is) as his &s;pirit cryed and they would not heare, &s;o they cryed, <HI>and J would not heare &s;aith the Lord of Ho&s;ts.</HI></P>
<P>Beloved, ye here &s;ee how the ca&s;e &s;tandeth, how dan|gerous it is not to hearken to Gods &s;pirit crying in your eares; and therefore have a care of the danger: as there is a &s;pring time, &s;o there is a hearing time, and that is <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Nunc hodie,</HI> to day, even whil&s;t the &s;pirit is crying to day, heare his voice, <HI>Heb.</HI> 3.13. Me thinks I hear how the &s;pirit of the Lord running up and downe this King|dome of <HI>England</HI> is crying in every County, in every City, in every Congregation, repent ye people of <HI>Eng|land,</HI> repent ye inhabitants of <HI>England;</HI> repent ye of your pride, repent you of your covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, repent ye of your oppre&s;&s;ion, repent ye of your chambering and wanton|ne&s;&s;e, repent ye of your rioting and drunkenne&s;&s;e, repent ye of your &s;trifes and envyings, repent ye of your divi&s;ions and contentions, or el&s;e the God (to whom
<PB N="32" REF="19"> vengeance belongeth) will come again&s;t yee, and fall up|on you with more violence then as yet hath beene u&s;ed, and cau&s;e your land to overflow with blood, and your Ci|ties to appeare in flames, or bring in famine to kill her thou&s;ands, and fetch in a plague to kill ten thou&s;ands; &s;o that there &s;hall be <HI>(Luctus crudelis ubique)</HI> &s;orrow on all &s;ides, dread on all &s;ides, death and de&s;truction on all &s;ides round about ye, and then may ye cry, Lord we are in mi&s;ery, have mercy upon us; Lord we are in di&s;tre&s;&s;e, have mercy upon us; Lord we are in tribulation, have mercy upon us. And what an&s;wer will there be given? perchance &s;uch a one as this, hence, away, God cares for yee not, heares ye not; goe cry to your &s;innes, goe cry to your plea&s;ures, goe cry to your Mammons, (as the <HI>I&s;rae|lites</HI> were &s;ent in <HI>Judg.</HI> 10.13, 14. Oh! this would be a di&s;mall an&s;wer for <HI>England,</HI> and yet &s;uch an one mu&s;t <HI>England</HI> expect from God, unle&s;&s;e <HI>England</HI> heare God crying to her in the language of <HI>John</HI> the Bapti&s;t, <HI>Repent (Matth.</HI> 3.2.)</P>
<P>Now beloved I could here pro&s;ecute this &s;ubject, and cry unto you, to heare the voice of God now crying in a lou|der manner then u&s;ually yee have heard him cry in <HI>Eng|land:</HI> but I mu&s;t on forward to <HI>Malachy</HI> in &s;earch of the Text expected, &amp;c.</P>
<P>Now having pa&s;&s;ed through &s;everall Prophets, I am ar|rived at the prope&s;ie of <HI>Malachy</HI> the la&s;t of Prophets, and here in the la&s;t chapter of this la&s;t Prophet I find the Text couchant in the fir&s;t ver&s;e of the &s;aid chapter, the words are the&s;e, <HI>For behold, the day commeth that &s;hall burne as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that doe wickedly, &s;hall be stubble, and the day that commeth &s;hall burne them up, &s;aith the Lord of ho&s;ts, and &s;hall leave them neither root nor branch, &amp;c.</HI> Here is a Text and a mo&s;t ob&s;ervable Text, for the things inclo&s;ed in it, and &s;ince I have travelled &s;o much in &s;earch of it, you may expect
<PB N="33" REF="19"> &s;ome &s;trange rarities from it, but what ever is in it, or deducible from it; I cannot at pre&s;ent &s;tay to &s;hew it unto you, for I &s;ee that now, ju&s;t now, as I read the Text the gla&s;&s;e is runne; with reading of the Text, the houre is expired; but what time doth not allow me now to do up|on the next occa&s;ion I &s;hall performe, and &s;o for this pre|&s;ent, I leave this Text as I found it untoucht, unhandled.</P>
<P>Craving of your patience &s;ome few minutes of time, to plead my excu&s;e for bringing in the Text, in the ulti|mate conclu&s;ion, and finall period of the Sermon.</P>
<P>I know there are &s;ome that will cen&s;ure me deeply for it, while&s;t they let many pa&s;&s;e without a frowne, that read their Text and never come neere it an houre after; yet I may be excu&s;ed in part, for if the hearers had not this one Text at the fir&s;t, yet in&s;tead of this one, they have had the liberty of looking on eleven other Texts for this one; but brethren be yee not cen&s;orious, 'tis true, that the houre is out, and ju&s;t at the la&s;t of the houre I read the Text, while&s;t others, fir&s;t reade the Text and then di&s;cour&s;e an houre: in this yee will &s;ay, I have gone <HI>(retro)</HI> backward, to common u&s;e and cu&s;tome, walking in a new and unu&s;uall path; but herein is your error, for 'tis no novelty, no new invention to goe retrograde, for in this cro&s;&s;e and back-moving motion; I am but an imita|tor, imitating the whole world in generall, and <HI>England</HI> in particular.</P>
<P>The world is on her journey, and whether is the world journing? to Heaven, to Heaven, to bli&s;&s;e, to happi|ne&s;&s;e, to the fruition of that which is, <HI>&s;ummum bonum,</HI> for at the&s;e things all Nations, all Sects, all Religions aime at; but marke how the world goeth, re&s;pectively, to the generall of the Inhabitants: It travaileth <HI>(retro)</HI> it goeth backward, for the way to Heaven, &amp;c. is a way of 1. Truth, 2. of Holine&s;&s;e, but the world goeth in the way of errours (Ethnicall, judaicall, malnimeticall,
<PB N="34" REF="20"> hereticall and &s;ei&s;maticall) and in the way of prophane|ne&s;&s;e, ungodline&s;&s;e, licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, &amp;c. and is not this <HI>iter retrogradum,</HI> is not this a cro&s;&s;e going, a backward travailing, judge yee.</P>
<P>So I may &s;ay of <HI>England</HI> in particular, <HI>England</HI> is now in a journey; and whether is <HI>England</HI> going? It is tra|vailing to find out <HI>Terra pacis</HI> a Land of peace; and the way leading to that Land, to that happy Land; is there, directly, there &mdash; &rindx; Ea&s;twards; but <HI>England</HI> is now walking We&s;tward, in an occidentall path, and marching <HI>in Campo martio,</HI> even in the blood of her people; &amp; is not this <HI>Iter retrogradum,</HI> &amp;c. I know a man may &s;aile to|wards the we&s;t, and yet arive in &s;ome Iland of the Ea&s;t; but he mu&s;t make a <HI>Drakes</HI> voyage of it then, he mu&s;t goe with a &s;trange compa&s;&s;e, not (without many perils) &s;o a man may come to this <HI>Terra pacis</HI> by marching through the field of warre; but it is a great compa&s;&s;e a|bout, and thou&s;ands of dangers in the way, and very few of &s;uch travailours come &s;afe to their journeys end; &s;ome lo&s;e their Armes, &s;ome their legs, &s;ome their eyes, &s;ome their e&s;tates before ever they come there, and mo&s;t lo&s;e their heads or their bodies, peri&s;hing in the way.</P>
<P>Againe, <HI>England</HI> is now on her journey; and whether is <HI>England</HI> pa&s;&s;ing? towards a place called <HI>Terra pro&s;pe|ritatis,</HI> &s;he hath a great de&s;ire to have all her children &s;ea|ted in a Land of plenty and pro&s;perity, that they may not behold the face of want and mi&s;ery: but marke how &s;he goeth backward, &s;till backward doth &s;he goe; the direct and &s;traight way, to this Land of pro&s;perity is that there&mdash;&rindx; But now <HI>England</HI> goeth in a path where there is nothing for the generall but force, violence, fire and &s;word, compelling and borrowing, pillaging and plundering, &amp;c. and what thinke you, is not this <HI>Iter retrogradum, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Againe, <HI>England</HI> is now a journeying, and whether
<PB N="35" REF="20"> doth <HI>England</HI> travaile? towards a place called <HI>terra veri|tatis,</HI> a Land of truth, for <HI>England</HI> is much in love with truth, (if you will beleeve her) and de&s;ireth to have truth planted and e&s;tabli&s;hed; and to have all her children live in a Country of truth, that they may not be in danger to be &s;wallowed up by the devouring jawes of errour; Well, 'tis a good de&s;ire, and travaile for &s;uch a jewell is highly commendable; but now marke the way <HI>England</HI> taketh, the way to this land of truth lieth there, directly there &mdash;&rindx; But <HI>England</HI> goeth in a way cleane back|ward, for in this way where <HI>England</HI> now goeth, there is a <HI>tacite licentiation,</HI> or permi&s;&s;ion of errour, as of Popery, of Seperati&s;me, Anabapti&s;me, Browni&s;me, &amp;c. And the&s;e by the &s;ilent influences of <HI>England</HI> upon them, doe &s;o bud, &s;o bloome, &s;o pro&s;per, &s;o &s;pread abroad, that ere long (without Gods preventing mercy) they are like to over&s;haddow tho&s;e tender plants of truth, which are alrea|dy planted in this <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> &s;oyle, and what thinke you; is not this <HI>iter retrogradum?</HI></P>
<P>Againe, <HI>England</HI> findeth her children to be &s;icke of a mi&s;under&s;tanding, and &s;he turnes Phi&s;itian, and for the cure of their di&s;tempers, &s;ets them together by the eares; calls on them to beat out one anothers braines; the &s;trang|e&s;t cure of wit, mi&s;under&s;tanding and di&s;tempers, that ever was heard of. In the dayes of <HI>Hippocrates</HI> and <HI>Ga|len,</HI> they u&s;ed to cure di&s;tempers of the braine, with <HI>Hel|lebore,</HI> and it was thought a violent phi&s;icke: But our phi|&s;icke is farre more violent; happy for us, if we had <HI>Galen,</HI> or <HI>Hippocrates</HI> among&s;t us, to give us of gentle <HI>Hellebore</HI> for the operation of it is gentle, in re&s;pect of the op|peration of the phi&s;icke <HI>England</HI> giveth; happy men if we were all &s;hipped hence to <HI>Anticyra</HI> for cure, rather then follow our Mothers pre&s;criptions here at home; but whether or no, this be not a cro&s;&s;e method, and a retro|grade path to tread in for procuration of health, judge ye.</P>
<PB N="36" REF="21">
<P>Many petitions have the Inhabitants of <HI>England</HI> pre|&s;ented to King and Parliament; I would they would pre|&s;ent one to this effect, namely, that there may be a to|leration for tho&s;e of the Prote&s;tant Religion heretofore, for many yeers fore pa&s;&s;ed, u&s;ed in <HI>England;</HI> as al&s;o a to|leration for tho&s;e that cannot beare the Ceremonies of the Church of <HI>England</HI> for a &s;ea&s;on, even till the Papi&s;ts Separati&s;ts, Anabapti&s;ts, &amp;c. were di&s;po&s;ed of to <HI>Englands</HI> &s;afety, and <HI>Irelands</HI> recovery; and then afterwards (if the&s;e two mu&s;t de&s;ide the quarrell by the &s;word) let them fall to it, and kill and murder one another, without pitty or mercy, to man women or childe (if they have Gods warant for it) <HI>Quis talia fando temperet a lachrymis?</HI> Can truth not grow now in our <HI>England,</HI> till <HI>England</HI> be wa&s;hed with blood? is the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> &s;oyle &s;o barren, &s;o &s;te|rile, that it mu&s;t be fatned with the blood of our bre|thren? to accelerate the production and con&s;ervation of truth? IF SO, 'tis a thou&s;and pitties, is this the way to truth? Oh! it is <HI>iter retrogradum</HI> a cro&s;&s;e way; 'tis con|fe&s;&s;ed that this is a way through which <HI>England</HI> (po&s;&s;ibly) may come to truth, but 'tis <HI>via flebilis,</HI> a mournfull way, a lamentable way, and tho&s;e which walke in it, may chance never behold the face of truth, but God <HI>(qui &s;o|lus facit mirabilia)</HI> who alone worketh wonders, can draw light out of this darkne&s;&s;e and I hope he will; other|wi&s;e we may &s;ay with the Apo&s;tles, <HI>Lord we peri&s;h.</HI></P>
<P>Thus briefly I have pre&s;ented ye with the worlds and <HI>Englands</HI> cro&s;&s;e motions, &s;omething more I would have &s;aid, but it would have ended as in a mi&s;t, and therefore Ile not name it; onely thus much I have &s;aid to &s;hew you that I am only an Imitator and not an Inventor of moti|ons <HI>Retrogade,</HI> but in the&s;e motions happier then my na|tive Countrey, for I went <HI>(retro)</HI> backward in my me|thod in re&s;pect of cu&s;tome; but I am at an end of that journey, and now though with a compa&s;&s;e have I arrived
<PB N="37" REF="21"> at my text, but the Lord onely knoweth when <HI>England</HI> will be at an end of her mi&s;erable and toyling journey, for he that lookes on the concurrence of evills, and at the intertexture and complication of the&s;e concurrent evills, would almo&s;t conclude <HI>(Quod regni jam fatae jubent)</HI> that <HI>England</HI> &s;hould be ruined, for &s;he fetcheth &s;uch a a compa&s;&s;e about her in pa&s;&s;age to the land of peace, plenty, and truth, and pa&s;&s;eth through &s;o maey dangers and perills; of fire &s;word warre famine plague, pe&s;tilence, that it is an hundred to one, a thou&s;and to one, but poore <HI>England</HI> will peri&s;h before &s;he arrive at her journies end) but let us hope the be&s;t, pray for the be&s;t but in the meane time prepare with patience to endure the wor&s;t.</P>
<P>Now beloved you &s;ee the occa&s;ion of my motion, and I hope you will excu&s;e me; but &s;ome will &s;ay, I did not lodge the Text in the conclu&s;ion out of any intent of imitation for &s;ome exemplary purpo&s;e, but rather that this happened out of forgetfulne&s;&s;e, as if I had forgot the Text; well &s;ay I had, yet might you pa&s;&s;e over the fault in &s;ilence, for if you blame a Preacher for this, if &s;uch an act be meritorious of cen&s;ure, then how ju&s;tly may you hearers be acu&s;ed and cen&s;ured: I forgat the Text count you this &s;o &s;trange a thing? why, 'tis famili|ar for people to come to Church, to heare Sermons, and forget to bring their eares, I meane their obedientiall eares, and is not this as &s;trange a thing.</P>
<P>I forgat the Text, count you this &s;o &s;trange a thing? why 'tis familiar with people to come to Church, to draw the water of life at the well of Gods Ordinances, and yet oft they forget to bring the ve&s;&s;els to hold that water; I mean their hearts, for the&s;e are left at home, or &s;uffered to wander or rove abroad among&s;t the bagges of gold, or flockes of Cattell, or gardens of plea&s;ure, &amp;c. Is not this as &s;trange a thing.</P>
<P>I forgat the Text? &s;ay I did, count you this &s;o &s;trange a
<PB N="38" REF="22"> thing? why, 'tis familiar with the people to goe into the Temple to wor&s;hip God, and yet full oft they forget God is there; witne&s;&s;e their carele&s;&s;e preparation for that wor&s;hip of God, and their unbe&s;eeming irreverence of ge&s;ture in the Temple of that glorious God; and is not this as &s;trange a thing? But &s;ay I did forget this place, yet at length I found it; but you will &s;ay, I found it not till the gla&s;&s;e was runne, even cleane runne out, well 'tis granted, yet herein you may excu&s;e me, for I have done but as others doe, as I &s;hall in&s;tance in &s;ome particulars: There be full many that &s;eeke for that <HI>Bonum,</HI> or that good thing, that is, in Temperance and Cha&s;tity; yet never find it, till the gla&s;&s;e of their health be clean run out, through their chambring and wantonne&s;&s;e, whereby they bring di&s;ea&s;es upon their bodies, and &s;o become fit &s;ub|jects for Chirurgions to worke upon in Ho&s;pitals.</P>
<P>So there be many that &s;eeke to find out that <HI>bonum</HI> which is in <HI>providence</HI> and yet never find it, till the gla&s;&s;e of their e&s;tates be cleane runne out, through their prodi|gall rioting and di&s;orders, and then like Gra&s;hoppers, they are forced to skip about the meddowes of this world, <HI>&s;ub forma pauperum.</HI></P>
<P>So there are many that &s;eeke to find out that <HI>bonum</HI> which is in <HI>Grace,</HI> but never finde it till the gla&s;&s;e of their life is almo&s;t cleane runne out; and then when they are upon their death-beds, ready to breath out their la&s;t, and con&s;ider the excellency and nece&s;&s;ity of grace, then they begin to prize it and cry out for grace, for grace, nothing then is cared for but grace, then a Kingdom, then a world for a graine of grace would they give, were it in their power, if &s;o they could purcha&s;e that cele&s;tiall gem.</P>
<P>So many there be that &s;pend &s;ome thoughts to find out the nature of this world, but never find it, till the gla&s;&s;e of their life is almo&s;t cleane runne out; and then when they are upon their dying beds, and &s;ee how their riches take the
<PB N="39" REF="22"> wing and flye away, how their honours take the wing and flie away, how their plea&s;ure take the wing, and fly away, and &s;o leave a dying man naked in his bed, as naked as he came into the world; then he begins to &s;ee that the world is vanity, and then &s;eeing nothing certaine before his eyes, but death and another world, he begins to cur&s;e his folly in admiring the world, and to cry out a|gain&s;t him&s;elfe, <HI>quid mihi &s;uperbia, &amp;c.</HI> what hath pride profited me, what hath riches honours &amp; plea&s;ures advan|taged me, &amp;c. that now I am left here all alone, all naked, having no heavenly trea&s;ures, than I can challenge for mine owne, in Chri&s;t Je&s;us in the other world; at this he begins to mourne, to weepe, and weeping dyes, whom we leave in the hands of Gods mercy.</P>
<P>Here beloved yee have &s;everall in&s;tances of late finding, &s;o that I am not alone in finding when the gla&s;&s;e is runne; I would I were in &s;uch a ca&s;e alone, but there are too many of the&s;e late finders; and I feare, I feare it much, that one more there is, that is to be in&s;erted into this number, and to be placed in this catalogue, and this one is <HI>England</HI> in which one are many thou&s;ands, &amp;c.</P>
<P><HI>England</HI> is now &s;eeking for peace, but I feare &s;hee will not find it till her gla&s;&s;e be runne, <HI>i. e.</HI> till it be fir&s;t de|&s;troyed by warre, and woefull is that peace, which i&s;&s;u|eth out of the bowels of warre; I count it an unhappy peace, for the children, which is conveyed unto them, through a flowing &s;treame of the Parents blood.</P>
<P><HI>England</HI> is now in &s;earch of truth, but I feare &s;hee will not find it, till her gla&s;&s;e be runne, <HI>i. e.</HI> till &s;he be ob&s;cured if not de&s;tryoed by the increa&s;ing errours difu&s;ing them|&s;elves throughout our Land.</P>
<P><HI>England</HI> is now &s;eeking for plenty, but I feare &s;he will not find it, till her gla&s;&s;e be runne, <HI>i. e.</HI> till &s;he be &s;tarved; and de&s;troyed by famine.</P>
<PB N="40" REF="23">
<P><HI>England</HI> is now in a con&s;umption, &s;icke and very &s;icke, and &s;eeking for health, &s;eeking for a Phy&s;itian to cure her malady and procure her health, but I feare &s;hee will not find it till her gla&s;&s;e be runne, <HI>i. e.</HI> till &s;he pine, langui&s;h, and con&s;ume away.</P>
<P>But you will &s;ay, the&s;e are but feares, but jealou&s;ies, true they are no more, I would there were no occa&s;ion for tho&s;e, but however I hope to &s;ee the day, that God will blow upon the cau&s;es and occa&s;ions of tho&s;e feares and jealou&s;ies: and then you &s;hall &s;ee them vani&s;h into Aire.</P>
<P>I hope ere long to &s;ee the day, that God will blow up|on this mon&s;ter Warre, and cau&s;e it vani&s;h into nothing, and that he will blow upon the&s;e errors, and make them vani&s;h into nothing, and that he will blow upon our pre|&s;ent wants, and make them vani&s;h into nothing; I hope to &s;ee the day, that he will breath with the breath of &s;al|vation on our <HI>England,</HI> and &s;o cure the con&s;umption, cure her afflicting, malady; that &s;he may recover and ari&s;e out of the bed of her &s;ickne&s;&s;e: and &s;o in her conclu&s;ion <HI>Eng|land</HI> being healed, I hope that God will by his providen|tiall di&s;po&s;ing of things here, &s;end &s;ome Phy&s;itians from hence into <HI>Ireland</HI> with Balmes, Elixirs, tinctures, for the curing of the mortall wounds, and de&s;perate impo&s;turnati|ons of that bleeding, dying, and peri&s;hing Kingdome; <HI>Hoc &s;pero, &s;peran&s;que ono,</HI> for this I hope, for this I pray, (as one of the &s;onnes of that dying mother,) and I doubt not but yee have the &s;ame hope, now to that hope &s;uperadde, your prayers, &s;upplications, teares and humiliati|ons, and the Lord of mercy from his habitation in the highe&s;t looke upon us, and lift up the light of his counte|nance and be mercifull unto us, and ble&s;&s;e us now and for ever. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
