THESE words were spoken by our blessed Saviour, to one whom he had rescu'd from a troublesome Infirmity, which (otherwise than by Miracle) seem'd to be incurable. But as all the Actions of his Life were general Ex­amples, so all the Words of his Mouth were universal Precepts; none of them being so narrowly restrain'd [Page 2]to that particular occasion, as not to be applicable to others attended with the like Circumstances: I shall not therefore fear to over-strain the Sense of my Text, by making use of it upon the present occasion; and addressing my self to those who now hear me, as he did to the Man whom he had healed; Behold, thou art made whole; Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

And indeed if we would employ our selves accor­ding as we ought, upon this Solemn Day of Fasting and Mortification; if we would strictly examine our Souls, and nicely pry into the secrets of our Consciences; I fear there would be found but few amongst us all, whose murmuring and repining under the Judgments which hung over them, whose carelessness and impenitency upon their being withdrawn, whose ingratitude and presumption under the blessings they have received, may not justly call for the caution contained in my Text, Be­hold, thou art made whole; Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

Since then it has pleased the Divine Goodness, by the repeated Mercies which have been extended towards these Nations, almost to change our Days of humiliation, into solemn Festivals of Thanksgi­ving; I shall therefore endeavour in my following Discourse, to follow this Method of the Divine Providence, by intermixing with our penitential Acknowledgments, some Hymns of Praise and Songs of Deliverance.

In pursuance of which Design, I shall insist up­on five Particulars: Whereof the two former are implied in the Text, and the three latter expresly deliver'd in it.

1st. I shall reflect upon the dangers to which we have been expos'd; the State of weakness and affliction, which we formerly lay under; implied in these words, thou art made whole; which plainly suppose an antecedent Infirmity.

2dly, I shall consider the Cause of those Dan­gers, and source of that Affliction, Sin; implied in these words, Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee; which clearly intimate, that Sin was the occasion of the former Evil.

3dly, I shall lay before you, the wonderful Mer­cy of Almighty God, in rescuing and releasing us from those Dangers and Afflictions; Behold, thou art made whole.

4thly. I shall examine the caution and advice here given us, how we ought to comport our selves under such blessings; Sin no more.

5thly, And lastly, I shall urge the threatning or commination, added to this Caution, to strengthen and enforce it; Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. Of these briefly in their Order.

1. Then, we are to reflect upon the Dangers to which we have been expos'd; the State of Weakness and Affliction which we formerly lay under; implied in these Words. Thou art made whole; which plainly suppose an antecdent Imfirmity.

I do not love to open those wounds which are but just skinn'd over; and by rubbing the Sores which are beginning to be healed, to revive their smart and renew their anguish: But, as a skilful Chirurgeon will rather search a Wound, than suf­fer it through carelessness to mortifie and gangreen, the great advantage of such a proceeding, making large amends for the painfulness of the Operation; so shall I, by laying open to your view the Troubles and Afflictions which lately threatned you, (however uneasie the remembrance of them may be) endeavour to prevent your forgetfulness of His Mercy, who has graciously been pleas'd to deliver you from them, a greater Evil than any you have suffer'd, or were in danger to have undergone.

And I cannot do this more fully or effectually, than by giving you a short Draught of those Miseries and Afflictions, which your Protestant Brethren in Ireland did actually sustain; part of weich Hardships your selves have felt, and the rest of which most assuredly were intended for you.

Unless the usualness and familiarity of lamenta­ble Accidents, as in the Great and dreadful Plague [Page 5]of Athens, has harden'd us against the sense of them in others, or the apprehension of them in re­lation to our selves; we cannot but call to mind with a tender resentment, the Miseries and Cala­mities which those our Brethren underwent. When, as in the ancient Roman Saturnalia, the Servants took upon them to act the Masters; and kept up that Character with all the insolence, that usually attends so preposterous a Change: When by new and unheard of Politicks, the Con­querors were disarm'd, and the Sword put into the Hands of the vanquished Nation: When, besides, the apparent dangers which threatned their De­struction, so that (with David) they might be said to hold their Souls continually in their Hands; their lives were made so uneasie to them, that Banish­ment was look'd upon as a favour to be begg'd, as a purchase to be bought; yet neither way could be obtain'd, by such as wish'd for and desir'd it: When the colour of Law, and Authority of the Go­vernment, like to the pillar of cloud and fire, was to their Adversaries light and brightness, to direct them in their ways of Cruelty and Oppression; but unto them darkness and obscurity, to cover their Enemies from their search and prosecution: When the two-edg'd Sword of pretended Justice cut but one way; and was blunt to those, who chiefly deserv'd to have felt the edge of it: When there was nothing but leading into Captivity and complai­ning in their Streets: When they eagerly hearkn'd out for Sounds of Joy; and yet every Intelligencer, (like Job's Messengers) brought a fresh account of [Page 6]Miseries and Afflictions: But far beyond all this, when the Lord seem'd, to cast off his Altar and abhor his Sanctuary; when prosperous Error and Superstition, prevail'd against suffering Truth and Religion; when the misfortunes of the Pro­fessors, were made a scandal to the Profession it self; so that their Enemies did daily cast them in the Teeth, Where is now your God? The Scene is too dismal to dwell long upon; I shall therefore shut it up with the words of the Prophet in his Lamentations, Judah was gone into Captivity, because of Affliction, and because of great servitude; she dwelt among the Heathen, she found no rest, all her Persecutors overtook her between the Straits; all her Gates were desolate, her Priests sighed, her Virgins were afflicted, and she was in bitterness; her Adversaries were the chief, her Enemies pro­sper'd; the reason follows immediately after, for the Lord afflicted her for the multitude of her Transgressions. Which leads me to the consideration of my

2. Particular, namely to enquire into the Cause of these Dangers, and source of those Afflictions to which we were expos'd, Sin; implied in these words, Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee; which clearly intimate, that Sin was the occasion of the former Evil.

It is very usual, even with the most faulty, to shift off the guilt from themselves, and endeavour to fasten it upon others; and they are apt to im­pute [Page 7]their Sufferings and Afflictions, rather to the Injustice and Malice of their Enemies, than to any Demerits and Transgressions of their own: But this is a very fallacious way of arguing, with which we too often deceive our own Souls; for the Inflicters of God's vengeance may be very ill Men, and yet they who bear the Infliction not a whit the more Innocent; the Hangman may be a most profligate Villain, and yet the Felon or the Traytor suffer justly under his Hands: Never was there any Man yet in the World, he only excepted who was God as well as Man, that could with confidence propound this Question, Which of you convinces me of Sin? Every one's own Conscience, unless sear'd or stupified, is a thousand Witnesses against him in this case; and we cannot but joyn with the Prophet in his Confession, O Lord, righte­ousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of Faces, because of the Trespass which we have tres­passed against thee.

For let me, I beseech you, ask you a few Questi­ons, and let every one's own Soul silently give an Answer.

What effect had that long Peace and Plenty upon us, with which it pleased God to bless these Nations, when the whole Christian World besides felt the Sword and Scarcity, but Chambering and Wantonness, Rioting and Drunkenness, Strifes and Envyings? What use did we make of that abun­dance of good things, which the giver of all good Gifts imparted to us, but to make provision for the [Page 8]Flesh, to fulfil the Lusts thereof? How little was the Name of God thought upon amongst us, unless to dishonor it with an Oath! Or his House fre­quented by us, unless to pass away that time, which would otherwise have lain uneasie upon our hands! How empty and superficial was our de­votion grown! How mere a Form of godliness without the Power of it was our Religion become! How earnestly did we contend for the things of this World, and how little did we seek those things that are above! God therefore as well in Mercy as in Justice, awaken'd us by his Judgments from this provoking Security; and like a careful Phy­sitian to a Lethargick Patient, recover'd us with Causticks and with Scarifyings, from a sleep which else would have been unto Death. Let us not then, in the Name of God, look abroad for the Causes of our Sufferings; let us not flatter our selves by imputing them, to the Ambitious Con­trivances of Foreign Princes, or the inveterate Ma­lice of our Designing Neighbours; since the main Spring and Original of all, every Man may find at home, within his own breast: Our Sins cried out to Heaven for Vengeance, and God who is Infinite Justice could not but inflict it; our Offences were hurrying us on to unavoidable ruine, and God who is Mercy in perfection, could not but use the rough­est Methods to reclaim us, since we would not be wrought upon by milder dispensations.

And yet even when we thus lay under his chastisements, how little did we take the Advice [Page 9]of the Prophet, hear ye the Rod, and who hath ap­pointed it? Did we not rather give occasion to God to upbraid us, as he did heretofore the House of Israel; and I said, after I had done all these things unto her, turn unto me, but she returned not? In those Days did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping, and mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with Sackcloth; and behold joy and gladness, slaying Oxen and killing Sheep, eating Flesh and drinking Wine; as if we had seriously made that absurd conclusion, Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die! These serious Truths may perhaps be uneasie to us, but I am sure they are most abundantly necessary, that we may not be tempted to justifie our selves, or to ascribe our deliverance to our own righteousness; but only to the bowels and compassion of him, whose Mercy towards us en­dureth for ever, and whose hand is mighty to save, and this leads me to the

3. Particular of my Text, namely, to lay be­fore you the wonderful Mercy of Almighty God, in rescuing and releasing us from those Dangers and Afflictions; Behold, thou art made whole.

This first word, in the Original [...], is always rendered by Lo, or Behold; and is used, either to usher in something amazing and astonishing, or to prepare our attention for something eminently instructive; and it always stands in the Writings of the Evangelists, as a Hand in the Margent, to point out somewhat more than ordinarily consi­derable. [Page 10]And certainly, if ever any thing deserv'd to be thus usher'd in, our releasement from the Dangers to which we were expos'd, may justly challenge such an Introduction, Behold thou art made whole.

When the Lord turned again the Captivity of Jacob, then were we like to them that dream: The greatness and the suddenness of the Alterati­on, made it rather seem a fancy, proceeding from the fumes of a distemper'd Brain, than a Truth, that carried with it what was real and substanti­al. When we were so near the brink of Ruine, that there was but a bare possibility of our esca­ping; then God, who is a help in time of need, snatch'd us from the precipice into which we were falling, and set our feet upon a Rock and order'd our goings: When we lay (like Isaac) a destin'd sacrifice, and the Knife was just at our Throates; then an Arm (as it were) out of the Clouds, arrested the Hands of our Executioners; and a Voice as if from Heaven gave command, Lay not your Hands upon them, neither do any thing unto them: So that our Soul escaped as a Bird out of the Net of the Fowler, the Net was broken and we were deliver'd.

I might endeavour to set off the greatness of this Blessing, by comparing it with those Miseries which we lay under, and with those much grea­ter ones which threatened to overwhelm us; but this was a Mercy of the first Magnitude, which [Page 11]will sufficiently affect our Souls with gratitude, if we set it in a true light, and consider it by its self: How, by this, True Religion, the way which those our Enemies call Heresie, but wherein we wor­ship the God of our Fathers, was again restor'd to its Ancient Splendour! Our Temples which they had destin'd to Foppery and Superstition, were happily continu'd in the possession, of unadulterate Worship and a reasonable Service! The Laws which had been warped to serve the worst Ends, were again reduc'd to their Primitive Use, for the Pu­nishment of wicked Doers, and the praise of such as do well! The just Prerogative of the Prince was vigorously asserted, and yet the Liberty of the Subject not at all infringed! The Church and State, which like ill-yoak'd Oxen drew different ways, now proceed lovingly in the same Track, and strengthen and support each other mutually! Peace and abundance begin to efface the Memory, of the War and the necessities under which we lately labour'd! Our Dangers and Apprehensions are vanished and removed; and if any Scars re­main of our former Wounds, whilst they put us in mind that we have been hurt, they also assure us that we are in a way to be healed! Happy are the people who are in such a Case, if they make a right use of the Mercies they have receiv'd; yea, blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God!

And certainly, so many visible appearances of the Divine favour, have entitl'd God to the sole [Page 12]Honour of our Deliverance; that it would be a direct robbing him of his Glory, to give the praise of it to any other: He having acted for us in this Case, as he testifies of himself by the Pro­phet Isaiah; and I looked, and there was none to help, and I wondered that there was none to up­hold; then my own Arm brought Salvation. The Lord indeed looked down from Heaven, and beheld from the Habitation of his Heliness and of his Glo­ry; his Zeal and his Strength, and his Mercies, and the sounding of his Bowels towards [...] were not restrain'd; He saw our Miseries, and turned away his Eyes from our Transgressions; or if he viewed them, it was only to use other Methods to withdraw us from them; and to attempt the reclaiming us by his Mercies, who had formerly been incorrigible under his Judgments. Thus God arose, and his and our Enemies were scattered; and they that hated both him and us fled before him. Therefore Not unto us, O Lord not unto us, but unto thy Name give praise; for thy loving Mercy, and for thy Truth's sake.

And now wherewithal shall we come before the Lord, and bow our selves before the high God? What retribution shall we make unto the Lord, for all that the Lord has bestowed upon us, according to his Mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses? The Answer to this Question, which every devout Soul is oblig'd to make, is the subject of my

4. Particular, in which I am to examine the Caution and Advice here given us, how we ought to comport our selves under such blessings; Sin no more.

The Mercies of God are design'd for our amend­ment, and his Goodness leadeth to repentance; if therefore we answer not this intention of his, we go about as far as in us lies, to disappoint the gracious Methods of his Providence, and as it were to counterplot his Omniscence. But God forbid, that where his Grace has so signally abounded to us, there Sin should abound so much more! God forbid, that we should continue obstinate and incorrigible, against all that an All powerful and All-wise God can do for our amendment! If Judgments could not frighten us into Obedience, yet let Blessings allure us; and like the Man in the Fable, who held fast his Cloak against the blustering Wind, but parted with it to the gentler Rays of the Sun; So let us, if we have kept our Sins close to us in the Storms of Adversity, dismiss them when we are warmed with the Beams of Prosperity. Ingratitude (we know) is stiled a complication of all Wicked­ness; and no Title is so reproachful, as that of an unthankful Person; but how deeply shall we be liable to this imputation, if we will make no re­turn for such inestimable advantages? And yet how easie is the Tribute which God expects at our hands! He only requires of us, that we should Sin no more; That instead of provoking him to new Severities, we should put our selves into a con­dition [Page 14]of recieving fresh Blessings: Had some­thing very difficult been exacted of us, when we lay expos'd to the Oppression of our insulting E­nemies, would we have scrupled to perform it for our releasement from them? And shall we now startle at that which is both easie and beneficial? God's Yoke is easie, and his Burthen is light; his Com­mandments are not grievous, neither does he delight to afflict the Sons of Men: And yet how few are obedient to such equitable Injunctions! How few submit entirely to so mild an Authority! Is not the same Profaneness and Debauchery still rife amongst us, which drew down those Judgments we formerly groan'd under? Do we not still use the same false balances and deceitful Weights? Do we not still practice the same over­reaching subtilties, in our usual Dealings and mutual Commerce? Is not all the Violence and Injustice, for which we were wont to blame our Enemies, still exercis'd amongst our selves, and ag­gravated by the profession of a better Religion? So that I may say, in the words of the Prophet, the Lord looked for Judgment, but behold Opressi­on; for righteousness, but behold a Cry! Do not those that seem'd to lament and bewail, the Dan­ger of loosing the Publick Assemblies; absent them­selves too often from the Great Congregation; and leave the House of God, at the ordinary times of Divine Worship, much more unfrequented than it need or ought to be? Do not those who apprehended a Dearth in the Land, not a Dearth of Bread, but of the Word and Sacraments, withdraw too fre­quently [Page 15]from the Bread of Life, end Starve their own Souls in the midst of Plenty? Let us judge our selves, my Brethren, that we be not judged of the Lord; and let us consider, that the caution here given, Sin no more, is not a bare Advice, that may be taken or rejected without any consi­derable Consequences; but that in the

5th. And last Particular of my Text, there is a Threatning or Commination, and that a very se­vere One, annexed to it, to strengthen and en­force it; Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

A Relapse into any illness, is much more dangerous, than the first fury of a Distemper; and we read of the Man, that washed and swept and garnished his House, and yet admitted seven Devils afterwards, that his last Estate was worse than his first. For God, in his Impartial Justice, proportions his Judgments to our Offences; now every latter Sin is greater than the former, and therefore is liable to a more severe pu­nishment: For either we have repented before the Commission of it, or we have not; if we have, our Sin, besides its own guilt, includes that of breaking our Resolution; if we have not, it is an additio­nal Act of Obstinacy and Impenitency; and ei­ther way, it has a new accession of Guilt and Wickedness.

Nor can we hope to escape from God's just Severity; since Sin, is that dark Body which in­terposes [Page 16]between us and the light of his Counte­nance, and punishment is the Shadow that inseparably accompanies it: Neither will the Faults of those who seem to be the Ministers of God's Vengeance, be any manner of Protection to us; nor must we flatter ourselves, that he will not fight against us on their side: Executioners (we know) are seldom chosen out of the best of Men; and the Rod may be made use of, tho' it be afterwards to be cast into the Fire; Nay even lice and flies, the meanest particles of the Creation, have oftentimes in the avenging hand of God, been dreadful In­struments of his displeasure.

If therefore we are unwilling, to lie under the same or greater pressures, than we lately appre­hended, and were deliver'd from; it we would not run through, the same or a more dismal Scene of Afflictions, than we formerly groan'd under, and had in prospect; if we would not rather, have God act the part of an offended Judge, than that of a tender and Indulgent Parent; Let us follow the Advice prescrib'd us in the Text, and Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto us. God has been pleas'd to Visit us with Judg­ments, and we continu'd incorrigible under them, by which our Sins were highly aggravated; but if his Blessings are in vain employed for our a­ [...]ndment, we offend to a Degree as high as is possible: In the former indeed we sinned against his Justice, but in this both against his Justice and his Mercy: And will not God, think you, [Page 17]vindicate this his Beloved, his Darling attribute, from such a contempt? What will become of us, when his Mercy is turned against us? When that which used to restrain and qualifie the Inflictions of his Justice, shall then exasperate and make them sharper? When that which used to be poured like Balsam into our wounds, shall then be like Oyl to feed the Flames of his Fury, and to make his Vengeance burn more fiercely? When our depraved Natures, like vitiated Stomachs, that convert wholesome Nourishment into the aliment of ill Humors, shall turn Blessings themselves into Curses? Yet thus most certainly it will be with us, if we still remain impenitent; God will be glorified one way or other, either by us, or up­on us.

Let us but seriously meditate upon those sad Calamities, which oppress our Protestant Brethren in distant Countreys; and we shall see in them what our Sins will bring upon us, unless we prevent those Judgments by a timely Repen­tance: We cannot look upon them as more guil­ty then ourselves, nay, I would to God we could vie with them for Innocence! And how then can we escape with impunity, when we see them so severely punished! Some have been forced to sub­mit themselves a long time, to the licentious will of an unbridled Soldiery, and to see and supply those excesses which they detested; to be the Objects of their contempt, when they were used most favourably; and the Subjects of their Cruelty, [Page 18]when Wine or Rage provok'd them: Others have been torn from the Embraces of their Relations, and condemned to the meanest and most labo­rious Drudgery; being chain'd to the Oar as the worst of Malefactors, amongst Stripes and Mena­ces and blasphemous Execrations: Not a few have been call'd upon to resist unto blood, and to suf­fer Martyrdom for the Cause which they defended; being Sentenc'd to the Axe, the Gibbet, or the Wheel, and glorifying God by a variety of Suf­ferings: Multitudes have been driven from their Possessions and their Dwellings; and reduced to seek in distant Countreys, that relief and repose which was deni'd them in their own; being bar­barously Condemn'd to perpetual Exile, only for the discharging of a good Conscience. These are the Tryals which have exercised our Bre­thren abroad, and which we must expect will fall to our share; if Arbitrary Government or the Romish Religion, should (which God avert) as a punishment for our impenitence, ever be established within these Kingdoms.

How justly then does the pious Wisdom, of our careful Governours both in Church and State, re­commend to our Prayers and to our Christian Liberality, the distressed condition of these poor Sufferers; whose Afflictions have made an Impressi­on upon all the Protestants in Europe, who una­nimously concur to the Relief of their Necessities. They are some of them such, I mean the Vaudois, as have been forced with a barbarous Inhumanity, [Page 19]to forsake whatever is dear to worldly Men, that they might retain the practice of their Religion in its Purity; a Religion, which by a happy and distinguishing Providence, they have always kept untainted with those Errors and Superstitions, which over-run the rest of the whole Christian World; and which give them a just Title to the Respect and the Assistance, of all such as are Pro­fessors of uncorrupted Christianity. They are all Confessors for the Reformed Faith, having been in perils by Sea, and in perils by Land, in perils from their own Countrey-men, in perils from Aliens; having wandred about in Deserts and in Mountains, being Destitute, Afflicted, Tormented: These are they who have made some Protestant Countreys their Refuge and Sanctuary against all their Mis­fortunes; and yet through their Numbers and the greatness of their Exigences, are in danger of pe­rishing in the Harbor of their Safety. But far be that reproach from Professors of Christianity, a Religion made up of Mercy and Compassion; far from all Members of the Church of England, which is famous for a Charity the most diffusive of any: Let none (I intreat you) of those little preju­dices, which are apt to affect mean Spirits and vulgar Vnderstandings, prevail with Persons of Abi­lity and Sense, to shut up their bowels of compassion from them: Let us not so far remember that they are Foreigners, a word that sounds harshly in English Ears, as to forget that they are Christians and Protestants. It is below the Honour of the Brittish Nation, not to relieve even an Enemy [Page 20]in distress; and yet these have done nothing but what deserves our Friendship; since we are Friends I suppose, to the Cause for which they suffer, and to the constancy which they express in adhering to it: Let us tenderly and considerately reflect within our selves, how like our circumstances might have been to theirs; if the late Designs against our Religion had taken effect, and we had continu'd Stedfast in the profession of it: And let us then practice the great Rule of Justice; and so do to those poor people, as we would that they and other Nations, if we had been driven out, should have done to us.

To look back then to my Text, from which I have so long digressed; and to close up all that has been deduced from it: I beseech you, Beloved, in the bowels of the Lord Jesus, so to reflect upon your own past Sufferings, and the greater Dangers which were ready to over-take you, and upon your Sins which were the occasions of them; as to detest and abominate the latter, for the sake of the two former: So to meditate upon the Al­mighty Goodness, in rescuing us from those Mi­series to which we were expos'd; as to give God the glory of it; by Piety towards him, the bles­sed Author of it; and love to one another, the mutual sharers in it: That so, we who are made whole, by sinning no more, may avoid the danger, of having a worse thing come unto us: That so, we becoming a peculiar People, purified unto God, zealous of good Works; the Lord God may make us [Page 21]plenteous in every work of our Hands, in the fruit of our Body, and in the fruit of our Cattle, and in the fruit of our Land for good; that he may re­joyce again over us for good, as he rejoyced over our Fathers. Which he of his Infinite Mercy grant, through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ; to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be ascribed all Honour, Power, Might, Majesty and Dominion, henceforth and for ever more, Amen.