THE Argument of this Chapter is much of the same nature with the foregoing, only with this difference, that in that the Pro­phet directs his speech against Judah, in this against the Ten Tribes. And because in the end of the former Chapter he had given the Jews some hopes of their return from Captivity, he proceeds in this, and those which follow to lay open the sins, and aggravate the guilt of the people of Israel, and [Page 6]thereby to cut off from them all occasion of com­plaining against God, as if he had adjudged them to too severe a doom in not affording them the like promise of a Temporal restitution.

He makes a distinct discovery of the sins and provocations of all orders and degrees of men amongst them, not only of the common people but of the Princes and the Rulers, not only of the lesser and inferior Cities, but (and that prin­cipally) of Samaria the great Metropolis of their Nation. And this seems to be the design of the Prophet in almost every Verse of this Chapter: First, to lay before them the sad calamitous con­dition whereto their sins had brought them: Secondly, their senselesness and stupidity which increased upon them in proportion to their mi­series, and grew the more incurable by the me­thods of their recovery.

Thus we read Verse 7. They have devoured their Judges, all their Kings are fallen, there is none among them that calleth unto me. By which words, as I conjecture, the Prophet endeavours to represent to them those Treasons and Conspiracies, and horrible Butcheries of the Kings of Israel, which are more particularly described, 2 Kings xv. and which at last determined in the utter destru­ction of their Kingdom.

And yet notwithstanding the posture of their affairs was so dismal and amazing, though there [Page 7]appeared among them such visible tokens of the Divine vengeance in so many revolutions of their Government, so many changes of their Kings, who all succeeded one another by Sedition, Trea­chery and Murther, yet (which is the more dreadful prospect of the two) there was no man among them so far wrought upon by the sense of the publick calamities as to humble himself be­fore God, to reform his life, or to implore the Divine assistance for repairing the breaches, and restoring Peace, and settlement to a perishing and distracted people. The like argument with some variety of expression is again repeated in the words of my Text. In which we find re­presented to us,

1. The misery of Ephraims Captivity, Prov. xviii. 11. strangers have devoured his strength. By strength here we may understand first that which the Wise man calls a Defence, a High-wall, Eccl. vii. 12. and a strong City, the Wealth, Treasure and Riches of a people. And how far this had been impaired together with the occasions of it, we have a very large account from the xiii. to the xvii. of 2 Kings. Under Jeho­ahaz the son of Jehu they were so thresht, and worn out by the King of Syria, that there re­mained to Jehoahaz of all the people but fifty Horse­men, 2 Kings xiii. 7. ten Chariots, and ten thousand Foot. And though afterwards under Jeroboam there began to appear some glim ps of settlement and restaura­tion, [Page 8]yet these glorious hopes were soon defeated by the Invasion of Pul the King of Assyria, who forced Menahem the King of Israel to a composi­tion of a thousand Talents of Silver, xv. 19. that so his hand might be with him to confirm the Kingdom in his hand. And in this state they continued wasting and consuming till the coming of Salmanasser, xvii. 3. who like an insatiable gulph devoured and ex­hausted all.

Or, II. By strength here may be understood that wherein the true safety of a Nation doth con­sist, which is the Divine Providence, and Pro­tection. Without this the Fortifications of Ci­ties, the Courage of Souldiers, the multitude of Counsellors, the vastness of Revenues are of no avail at all to the defence and security of a people. For when ever God withdraws his pre­sence and favour from a Nation, he dismantles their Fortresses, Isaiah xix. 3. mingles a perverse spirit in the midst of their Counsels, makes the heart of a people to melt, and their spirit to fail within them, he curses the Treasures of the wicked, and makes the increase of his house to depart and flow away. Job xx. 28.

And as Ephraims strength in the former accep­tion had been devoured by strange men, so in this by strange gods. 2 King. xvii. 12. For they served Idols of which the Lord had said unto them, ye shall not do this thing. And what more likely course could they have taken to cut off all their claim and interest [Page 9]in the Divine favour? They chose new gods, Jud. v. 8. then was war in the gates.

And surely for the people of Israel, to whom God had made such clear Revelations of him­self, and by so many repeated experiments of his love, an earnest of his assistance, while they continued stedfait in his Covenant; for them I say thus in a plain defiance to their known duty, to forsake the Lord who brought them out of Aegypt, and to fly for refuge to the gods of the Nations; what is this but to distrust the veracity of Heaven, and scorn the Protection of an Om­nipotent Arm, to renounce the Covenant which had Espoused them to their Maker, and conse­quently to proclaim a war with the Sovereign of the world? What in all likelihood can be the consequence of such a daring heinous provoca­tion but what we read, 2 Kings xvii. 20. There­fore the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of Spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. This then is the misery of Ephraims Captivity, strangers have devoured his strength.

2. We have the symptoms of his approach­ing ruin, Gray hairs are here and there upon him. Gray hairs may denote either the intension and greatness, or else the duration of his Calamity. And in either signification the meaning of the ex­pression will amount to this, that the people of [Page 10] Israel had been so long kept under a continued series of pressures and afflictions, that they were in a manner worn out with old Age, ready to give up the Ghost, and to pine away in their Calami­ties; there appeared upon them the constant fore­runners and manifest presages of ruin and deso­lation.

And whenever God decrees the final consump­tion of a people, they may foresee it themselves without the prediction of a Prophet. A general dissoluteness of manners, an impudent boldness in the practice of iniquity, a neglect and con­tempt of all the duties of Religion, the loosing the joints of Government by Treasons and Conspi­racies, divided interests and Dissensions among the people, Confusions and Divisions in the Church are as infallible symptoms of a dying State, of the dissolution of a Common-wealth and the funeral of a Kingdom, as if a flaming Sword had hung over it, or a voice from Heaven had revealed its doom. These are the gray hairs of the people in the Text. And how near we our selves resemble them, I leave you to judg by comparing our condition at present with that of the Ten Tribes before their carrying into Capti­vity.

But III. Which is the worst symptom of all, here is described the general senselesness of that people, notwithstanding all the judgments of God [Page 11]either past or present, a deep sleep that had seized them (like Jonah in the Tempest) none awakening himself to cry unto God, or to pour out his supplications at the Throne of Grace. This is his condition, yet he knoweth it not (that is) he does not consider the greatness of his dan­ger, or he does not discover himself to be serious­ly affected with the sense of Gods judgments, so as to lament, and bewail, and to tremble at them; he does not resolve them into their proper princi­ples, nor acknowledg the Author of them, which was the hand of God, nor the Impulsive cause which was his own iniquity: or lastly he know­eth it not, that is, he does not comply with the end and design of it. Afflictions have not that errand upon him for which they were sent, but he so behaves himself under them, as if he had been wholly ignorant what had been done unto him.

From the words thus explained, I shall consi­der,

• I. The end and design of Gods judgments up­on a Nation, which is, that they may know and consider, that they may be brought to a sense of their sins, to true Repentance and amendment of their lives.
• II. The contrary effects which they often have upon a secure and a sinful people, which is to make them the more incorrigible and obsti­nate [Page 12]in their sins. Gods judgments are upon him, yet he knoweth it not.
• III. I shall discover some Causes of it.
• IV. The greatness of the provocation, Yet he knoweth it not: This Yet hath an Emphasis, an accent upon it, and denotes sins under judg­ments to be exceeding sinful.
• V. And lastly, I shall conclude with some brief Application to our selves. I begin with the first of these which is the end and design of Gods judgments upon a Nation, which is that they may know, &c.

And this will appear, 1. From the intention of God in the threatning and inflicting of his judgments. 2. From the natural tendency of the judgments themselves. God not only threatens but sends his judgments upon a people on the same errand as the Antient Romans did their Heralds, before they actually entered upon a war, not peremptorily to declare our doom but to warn us to prevent it by coming in and sub­mitting to terms of Peace and Reconcilement. At what instant, Jer. xviii. 7, 3. says God by the Prophet Jeremy, I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down and to de­stroy it, if that Nation against whom I have pronoun­ced, turn from the evil, I will repent of the evil which I thought to do unto them. In the xxvi. of Leviticus, God in a Prophetical Scheme represents the sorest [Page 13]judgments which were to fall upon his people in succeeding Generations, he lays before their eyes the Sword, Pestilence and Famine, expulsion from the Lords Land into a Land of Enemies and Idols, the ceasing of the Sacrifices and the solemn Festivals, and even all the utmost mi­series of Captivity and Desolation; and yet in the conclusion of that black Catalogue, which seems rather an inventory of what evils the hand of God was able to inflict, than what a people should suffer, we have room for Repentance and a reserve of mercy, Verse 41. If then their Uncir­cumcised hearts be humbled and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity, then will I remember my Covenant with Jacob, and also my Covenant with Isaac, and also my Covenant with Abraham will I re­member, and I will remember the Land.

We read in Joel ii. of a day of darkness and gloominess, such as had never been the like before, Joel ii. 2.10. wither should there be any after it; such Armies and terrors, as should make the earth quake, the Heavens tremble, the Sun and Moon to grow dark, and the Stars to withdraw their shining. And yet amidst all this distress and perplexity the Lord calls up­on his people to return unto him, with an in­timation likewise given that he will return and re­pent, 14 and leave a b [...]essing behind him.

Gods wrath was never so fiercely kindled a­gainst a person or a people, but if true Repen­tance [Page 14]intervened, it has removed his hand or at least abated the fierceness of the blow. Nay the outward and formal humiliation of an Ahab has procured a reprieve, 1 Kings xxi. 29. and suspended the execution. It cannot be denyed but that God sometimes pu­nishes a people in vengeance without any mix­ture or allay of mercy, when he makes a full end of them, and the consumption overflows in judg­ment, as in the Case of the Ten Tribes under Salmanasser, of the Jewish Church at the destructi­on of Jerusalem, when the Kingdom of God was taken from them, 2 Thes. ii. 16. and wrath came upon them to the uttermost; of the seven Churches of Asia, who have had their Candlestick removed, and been swallowed up by the Inundation of Mahumetanism; of the famous Churches of Africa, which once gave light to the whole Christian world, now overspred with ignorance and Barbarism, with a thick darkness that may be felt. But in all these Cases God never proceeds to excision and cast­ing off, till all his other corrections have pro­ved useless and ineffectual, till their iniquities are full, till they are ripe for vengeance, till they have neglected all the seasons of Grace, and out-sinned the day of their visitation. Then indeed God grows weary of repenting being prest with sin as a Cart full of sheaves.

This is the account which the Scripture gives us of the people of Judah when they were carri­ed [Page 15]into Captivity, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16, 17. they mocked the messengers of God, despised his word, and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy, therefore he brought upon them the King of the Chaldces, &c. This is a Course which God then only takes when all other remedies fail. But till then he has mercy in store for a sinful people even in the midst of all his severest dispensations. God shoots out his Ar­rows against a Land as Jonathan shot to David, 1 Sam. xx, 21. with Letters bound about them, not to destroy but to instruct. As Gideon when he vext the men of Succoth, is said to teach them (or to make them to know) though with the briers and thorns of the wilderness. Jud. viii. 16. Mic. vi. 9. Gods Rod has a voice as well as a smart, and if we hear the one we may escape the other.

And upon these grounds we may assure our­selves that in this day of the Lords anger, of con­fusion and rebuke, which now lies upon this sin­ful Land of our Nativity, the Lord has not gi­ven over all concern for our peace and settle­ment. He waits that he may be gracious and stands ready to recal his judgments, as soon as we shall be contented to be saved, to accept of a deliverance. The Lord looks down from Hea­ven this day to take notice of our behaviour under his afflicting hand, how far we are advanced in the practice of Repentance which this day he so [Page 16]loudly calls for. There is not a penitent tear, not a devout sigh, not a mourner in secret for them who have no compassion on themselves, nay not a person swearing and revelling, eating flesh and drinking wine in this day when the Lord calls us to weeping, fasting and mourning, but the Lord observes it, and lays it to the account of this Nation as well on the one side for the engage­ment of his mercy, as on the other for the provocation of the fierceness of his anger.

Tis not our utter ruin, that the Lord aims at. For what profit is there in our blood? He hath set his judgments, as he once did his Prophet, over Kingdoms and over Nations, not barely to root out, Jer. i. 10. and destroy, but to build and to plant, and these ju­dicial proceedings of his are directed to edifica­tion, not primarily to destruction. They are what the Censures of the Church ought to be, severe in the execution, but salutary in the event, 1 Cor. v. 5. delivering up the offender to the punishment of the flesh, that so by Repentance and amendment thereupon probably ensuing the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Job xxxiii. 29. Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living. And God often visits iniquity with Rods, when he will not utterly take away his loving kindness from a people.

But, II. This will further and more distinctly appear from the natural tendency of Gods judg­ments themselves. Which will plainly appear in these following particulars.

1. Then they have a natural tendency to work in men a sense and acknowledgment of their sins. Prosperity is apt to administer such abundant va­riety of fresh delights and satisfactions to the fan­cy, that the soul is never at leisure to retire into it self and take a true estimate of its own Estate and Constitution. The world will never be wanting to present the man with baits and allure­ments, and external objects to employ his thoughts and gratifie his desires. And so by that means he is enabled for a time to suppress the voice of Conscience, and drown the cries of a wounded Spirit. As the Jews when they sacri­ficed their children to Moloch, had their loud In­struments of Musick, lest they should perchance hear the out-cries of their perishing Infants, which might force their obdurate hearts into tender and compassionate resentments.

But when the hand of God over-reaches him, and affliction sits close upon him, this embitters his delights, damps his jollity, dissolves the cu­rious Fabric of his imaginary enjoyments, ren­ders all his most exquisite pleasures toothless and insipid. None of these things can then stand by him to rescue him from his miseries, or give any [Page 18]sweetning to the bitterness of his Cup. And thus when God hedges up his way with thorns, and stops him in the pursuit of his brutish and sensual satisfactions, then there lies a necessity upon him to descend into himself, when he cannot look abroad, to turn his eyes inward, to take an ex­act view of his own heart, and discover the great­ness of his iniquity: Job xxxvi. 8, 9. When he is once bound in fet­ters, and holden in the Cords of affliction, then will he see his work, and his trangressions that they have ex­ceeded. For the mind of man is active, and rest­less, it will always be employed one way or o­ther. And when it has no outward objects to exercise, or divert it, then self-reflexion takes place, and the voice of Conscience will be heard.

How stupid and senseless was Pharaoh before Gods judgments fell upon him! He has no sense at all of God or a Providence, of sin or the wages of it. Exod. v. 2. Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. But when the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground, ix. 23. his stomach comes down, his proud heart is a little humbled, the voice of God in the thunder is more effectual, than by his Prophet. For then Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said unto them, I have sinned this time, xxvii. 28. the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Now therefore intreat [Page 19]the Lord, that there be no more mighty thanderings and hail, and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.

When Belshazzar sees the hand-writing upon the wall, his countenance is changed, Dan. v. 6. his thoughts trouble him, the joynts of his Loins are loosed, and his Knees smite one against another.

And let Nebuchadnezzar be never so puissant in defying the threats, and the Omnipotence of God, yet that sad calamity of eating grass with the beasts of the field will bring him upon his knees, and force him to acknowledg, that the inhabitants of the world are reputed as nothing in comparison of God, iv. 35. and that as he doth according to his will in the Armies of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, so none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what doest thou? The wound of Conscience is not perceived at first any more than a wound in the body, as long as the man continues in the same briskness of mo­tion, which he was in, when he first received it. But when the judgments of God stop him in his career, force him to sit down and rest himself a little, he then begins to cool, and consider, to feel his wound, and recover the unwelcome sense of the extremity of his pain.

2. The judgments of God are in their own nature apt to take us off from Carnal confidence and security, and to fix us in a closer dependence upon God. When mens houses are safe from fear, Jo2 xxi. 9. nei­ther [Page 20]is the rod of God upon them, they are apt to say to the Almighty Depart from us, 14 to center in them­selves, and ascribe their prosperity to their own conduct and contrivance. Hab. i. 16. When their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous, then they sacrifice to their own net, and burn incense to their drag. It is a great va­nity in a manner rooted in the nature of man­kind, to affect an absoluteness and sufficiency in themselves, and an independence upon any supe­rior Cause. They think it too great a disparage­ment to them, an upbraiding of their weakness (as if they were unable to help themselves) to be a burden to Providence, and live in a precarious dependence upon him that made them. And therefore so long as succor and relief can be ex­pected from Power or Policy, from Horses or Horsemen, from any thing within them or a­bout them, from Foreign Interests, Domestic Treasures, or even Idolatrous compliances, they will keep their distance, stand at defiance with the Almighty, and never think of placing their trust upon the hope of Israel, upon him who is the confidence of all the ends of the earth, Jer. xiv. 8. Psal. lxv. 5. and of them that remain in the broad sea.

Jeroboam was sensible enough, that the Law of God would not countenance his usurpation, and thereupon sets himself to contrive how he might live without him, and stand in no need of the influence of his Providence. He makes two [Page 21]Calves at Dan and Bethel, and then grows con­fident and secure, that the work of his hands would Establish him in his Throne. And therefore God Almighty often finds it necessary to frustrate the Counsels, blast the designs, and curse the Policies and attempts of all such as usurp upon his Prerogative, and aspire to an absolute So­vereignty of their own. Exod. xiv. 25. He takes off Pharaohs Chariot-wheels, puts a hook into the nose of Sennacherib, 2 King. xix. 28. crushes the impious Politician upon the very brink of his designs, Job v. 12. disappoints the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprize. This is dignus vindice nodus, he is as it were concerned in point of honor to vindicate his Authority and government, to make them know that they are but men, and that the most high ruleth over all. He cuts off all their Provisions at home, and stops all succors from abroad, distresses them on every side, that so he may convince them of the vanity and madness of their presumption, that he is a refuge when all else fails, and that there is no Sanctuary but in his protection. We read in the xxxiii. Ezekiel xxxiii. of Ezekiel of a very severe threatning of misery and desolation, Verse 28. I will lay the Land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease, &c. And the result and issue of this severity is mentioned, Verse 29. Then shall they know that I am the Lord. The same is as­signed for the end and reason of Gods judgments [Page 22]in several other places of this Prophecy, that they may know that I am the Lord. vii. 27. xxiv. 24. xxx. 8. As if it were such a difficult matter for a people to know, and to trust in God, till all other support were taken from them, till they had nothing left to lean up­on of their own.

When Ephraim saw his sickness, Hos. v. 13. and Judah his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to King Jareb, Menahem makes a Confederacy with Pul. 2 Kings xv. 16. Hosea gives presents to Shalmaneser, and Ahaz sends an Embassy to Tiglath-pileser, xvii. 3.2 Chronicl. xxviii. 20. and sacrifices to the gods of Damascus. But alas while they endeavored to avoid the smoak they fell in­to the fire. These were so far from curing of their wound that they both made it deeper, and encrea­sed the smart of it. And the gods which Ahaz went unto for succor, 23 proved the ruin of him and of all Israel.

But when God takes the matter into his own hands, becomes a Lion both to Ephraim and Judah, blocks up all their passages, leaves no way open to Aegypt or Assyria, to Idols or Confederates, they then begin to think of returning unto God. In their affliction they will seek me early. Hos. v. 15.

III. The Judgments of God upon a Nation conduce very much to take us off from too great an over-valuing of the Honors, Riches, and Plea­sures of this world. Though ordinarily in our sober judgments we set a greater value upon the [Page 23]everlasting concerns of another world, than up­on all the splendid gayeties, and delights of this, yet they lie under this great disadvantage, that they are future and at a distance, and by that means unable to make so deep an impression upon the mind as these temporal enjoyments, which are present and continually in our eye. And this makes most men so very fond of the world, so eagerly desirous of building Tabernacles here, and strangely indisposed to seek a better Country, to reach after their everlasting hope, and the price of their high calling.

But when God Almighty in the course of his Providence sends his judgments and calamities upon a people, devests them of their possessions, degrades them from their honors, puts a fatal period to their choicest pleasures; How effectu­ally must this needs convince us of the transitory and perishable nature of all creature enjoyments, and strip them of those deceitful disguises, under which a deluded fancy is so apt to represent them!

When Baruch was sent upon a message, which he fore-saw was likely to abridg him of some of his former satisfactions, he grows melancholy and disconsolate at the news, and cries out, Wo is me, for the Lord hath added grief unto my sorrow, I fainted in my sighing and find no rest. But thus shalt thou say unto him (saith God by the Prophet [Page 24] Jeremy) the Lord saith thus, Jer. xlv. 3, 4. Behold that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted will I pluck up, even this whole land, and seekest thou great things for thy self▪ seek them not. As if he should have said, Wouldst thou live at ease in Sion, when Sion is to be Plowed like a field, and Jerusalem to become a desolation? Wouldst thou swim in affluence, and enjoy thy pleasures in a Land now ready to be overspread with Plagues and Ven­geance? Wouldst thou build thee a stately Pa­lace over the blood and bones of thy slaughtered brethren? What preferment canst thou pro­mise to thy self in the ruines of thy Country? Wouldst thou make a purchase when the world is at an end?

It was Salvians expostulation with the Citizens of Treves, when immediately after the sacking of their City, they petitioned their Magistrates that the Stage-Plays might be restored. In like manner does Jeremy here control Baruch for his now unsea­sonable desires. And may not the same serve as a check to those amongst us, who in such times as these are scraping up all that they can lay hands on, making all the sordid advantages of the world that they can, as tenants do of an Estate, when their Lease is expiring. Soul, take thine ease (said the rich fool in the Gospel) thou hast goods laid up for many years, eat, drink and be merry. [Page 25]But surely he had quite other apprehensions, when he heard that dismal and surprizing voice, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee.

IV. The judgments of God upon a people are apt to unite their hearts in Love and Charity to one another. When men are at ease in Sion, Amos vi. 1. and trust in the mountains of Samaria, When they lie upon beds of Ivory, 4 and stretch themselves upon their Couches, and eat the Lambs out of the Flock, and the Calves out of the midst of the Stall; When they chant to the Viol, 6 live merry, and are full, as they are described, Amos vi. It immediately follows, that then they are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph. But when we begin to have a sense and feeling of Gods judgments upon our selves, this must needs (one would think) forcibly engage us to Charity and Compassion to our Brethren. We shall be sure to remember those that are in bonds, when we our selves are bound with them, and to help those that are in adversity, when we find that we also are but flesh.

That which hastned, and precipitated the de­struction of Jerusalem, and made their final ruin, the more dreadful when it came, was the facti­ons, and animosities which at that time broke forth among them, which engaged them in such incredible slaughters and murders of one ano­ther, that they never put themselves into a po­sture of resisting the Romans, but when they saw [Page 26]them approaching their Walls. Which they did then, lest their enemies should come and take the work out of their hands, and so deprive them of being the sole Authors of their own destru­ction.

And this I think to be the saddest symptom of approaching vengeance, which is this day visi­ble upon this sinful Nation.

The modern Romans can hardly in all proba­bility ever enter in upon us, but at that door, which we our selves set open by our wide brea­ches and divisions. And O that we could all be effectually persuaded in this our day, to know the things that belong unto peace before they be hid from our eyes, to lay aside all names of parties and distinctions, and mind the true in­terest of the Protestant Religion, which now lies at stake, and which I am sure ought to be dearer to us, than all other concernments what­soever.

It was once the fate of two Reverend Martyrs for the Protestant Religion in the time of their prosperity to be uncharitably disunited, and alie­nated to a greater height in their affections, than in their judgments. But when the fiery trial in Queen Maries days (which for the time it lasted, raged more terribly than any of the Heathen Persecutions, except that of Dioclesian) had so desperately threatned the Common Faith, they [Page 27]mutually condescended, quitted their animosi­ties, and both laid down their lives for their undaunted profession of the Faith of Christ.

And surely this would be one happy effect of the judgments of God upon this Nation, if the fears, which we lie under from our enemies a­broad, would engage us to joyn as one man for the composing our differences, and dissensions at home. And unless this be done we have great reason to fear, that God will be so far provoked by our divisions, as to give us up to be united in common sufferings, who would not be persuaded upon any other terms to be reconciled to one another.

Let us consider how the Romanists triumph in our quarrels, and how active and industrious they are in fomenting our differences, and adding fuel to our flames. When the Kingdom of Israel was divided by the revolt of Jeroboam, then was the time for Shishak the King of Egypt to forrage the Land, 2 Chronicl. xii. 9. and take away the treasures of the Temple of the Lord.

And O that God would give us all hearts to consider this, to be sensible of our own interest, and true to it, that so we may no longer expose our selves and our Country, our lives and for­tunes, and the best Religion in the world, to the advantages of blood-thirsty, and deceitful men, who have at this day conspired against us, to take [Page 28]away both our place and Nation. And assure your selves (for he who is truth it self hath spoken it) that a Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand, but is brought to desolation. And while Ephraim stands divided against Manasseh, and Manasseh against Ephraim; and every one eats the flesh of his own arm, Isa. ix. 12.19, 20, 21. and that, at a time when the Syrian is before and the Philistim behind, and both ready to devour Israel with open mouth, we have good reason to conclude that through the wrath of the Lord the Land is darkned, and infatuated, that gods anger is not yet turned away, but that his hand is stretched out still.

These are some of those ends for which Al­mighty God sends his judgments upon a Nati­on. I proceed in the next place to shew

II The contrary effects which they often have up­on a secure and a sinful people, which is to make them the more incorrigible, and obstinate in their sins. And here we meet with some who grow worse under the rod, though they feel the smart of it, yet they will not hear the voice, and as they have heretofore turned Gods Grace, so they will now turn his Judgments into wantonness.

It was a dreadful sight in the City of Lyons when they were so infested with the Pestilence, ut tota civitas bustum, that the whole City seemed to be but one Grave, the Souldiers in the Garrison dayly issued forth, and committed all sorts of [Page 29]uncleanness with the dying and the dead. The like stupidity we find in Salvian charged upon the Carthaginians, who were wholly set upon their luxury and intemperance in the midst of their Cities ruines, and among so many deaths, which they daily beheld in the slaughter of their fel­low Citizens had no apprehensions of their own.

However they saw Gods hand lifted up to strike, it had no effectual influence upon them to turn to him that smote them, unless it were, by the encrease of their provocations, as far as was possible, to smite again. Like those whom we read of, Revel. xvi. 11. that blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains, &c. Assiduitas cala­mitatum augmentum Criminum. A certain argument of the desperate condition of a people, and that they have already begun their hell, where at the same time men suffer, and blaspheme their God.

And this was the state, and constitution of the Christian world, at that time when the Vandals, Goths, and Hums, and other Barbarians overran it. So notorious were the Characters of Divine vengeance in the suddenness of their coming, the number of their Armies, and the invincible­ness of their strength, that we are forced to leave off all enquiry into second causes and human designs, and conclude them to be nothing else, [Page 30]but (what one of them called himself) the scour­ges in the hand of God to punish a licentious and a back sliding people. And yet notwithstand­ing this, they dayly increased in their old sins of Uncleanness, and Adultery, Atheism, and Pro­phaness, as Salvian has left upon Record, who is not half so Tragical in the description of the greatness of their Calamities, as of the iniquities that survived them.

But I shall not proceed any further to seek in­stances of this, which is so visible in the carriage of Gods own people. Their whole story is one con­tinued Argument to confirm it. They sinned un­der their suffering, and sinned after they were freed from it. The use, which they made of their afflicti­ons was to grow more obstinate in the sins that caused them. And as soon as they were delivered, they looked upon themselves only as more at li­berty to commit all those abominations, for which they were carried into Captivity. Which strange impenitency under Gods judgments does usually manifest itself in these two Cases.

1. When men have hardned themselves in evil by a long practice, and custom of sinning. Cu­stom we say, is a second Nature, and usually gaineth such strength by time, that it grows more firm than either Nature or Religion. It hardens the Heart, sears the Conscience, makes the man uncapable of the impressions of sorrow, and as ut­terly [Page 31]unable to Repent, as the Aethiopian to change his skin, Jer. xiii. 23. or the Leopard to be freed from his spots. The judgments of God may raze the skin, but cannot pierce so deep as to would the Conscience.

It is seen somtimes in Apoplectick Distempers, that they so far stupifie the Patients, that no se­verities can reduce them to acts of life, and it is said that they have afterwards grown sensible, when they have been laid out, and covered in their Graves, and revived amidst the flames of their Funeral Pile. In the same senseless condi­tion does a Custom of sin place the obdurate sin­ner, the austerest of the Divine methods, the Sword, Pestilence, and Famine, and all the ter­rible symptoms of impendent wrath, shall in no wise prevail with him to call his sins to remem­brance, or to raise him from his drowsiness and stupidity; so that he never awakes, till he finds the flames of Hell about his ears, nor recovers the sense of his sins, till it serves to no other pur­pose, but to increase the resentments of his mi­sery.

The judgments of God quite lose their end up­on such a man. He cries perhaps, and roars un­der his torments, but he has no apprehensions of Gods design in inflicting them. Like those of whom it is said, Hos. vii. 14. They have not cryed unto me with their hearts when they howled upon their [Page 32]beds. He has felt the pain and anguish in the flesh, but has no sense at all of any impressions upon the Spirit. Like a man in a melancholic, and a troublesom dream, he is scared perhaps and frighted with the terrors of the Almighty, but as soon as the noise is over, he quickly returns to his former slumber, and security.

This is ordinarily the state of the habitual sin­ner, placed beyond the possibility of being re­claimed by the Divine corrections, unless God together with his judgments set in with the pow­erful assistances of his Grace, and Spirit, which that man certainly has little reason to expect, who hath so long grieved, resisted and stood out a­gainst it.

And this consideration suggests a second Case, in which the judgments of God usually prove in­effectual to Repentance, when men have conti­nued in their sins under the plentiful dispensati­ons of Grace and Mercy. Abused mercies are the great aggravations of the iniquities of a peo­ple. And this we may be sure of, that whatever tends to fill up the measure of our sins, increases likewise the difficulty of our Repentance. When the goodness of God will not lead men to Repentance, Rom. ii. 4, 5. when they despise the riches of his forbearance, and long suffering, their hearts then grow hardned, and impenitent, they treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath.

And indeed how can it be expected, that thou shouldft comply with this method of the Al­mighty, who hast already rejected and refused so many? If the Sword of Gods Judgments had not yet overtaken thee, yet he has been long fighting against thee with the sword of his mouth, Rev. ii. 1 [...]. with the tenders of his Gospel and the effers of his Grace. He has been long inviting, importu­ning, and pursuing thee, with the Preaching of his Word, the suggestions of his Spirit, the blood of his Son, the joys of Heaven, and the torments of Hell, thy own vows, engagements, and reso­lutions. And how can we then think that the showers of Gods judgments should prove more prevalent than the sunshine of his mercies, and out-weigh the united force of all these great inducements to move us unto Repentance?

We have an instance, that speaks home to this, Luke xvi. where the Rich man for his impeni­tence, and neglecting his day of Grace, being tormented in the flames of Hell, desires Father Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brethren, that survived him, to forewarn them of the conse­quence of their sins, and what bitterness there is in the end of transgression, lest they should also come into the same place of torment. Luke xvi. 28. But Abraham tells him they have Moses and the Prophets, 29 who have clearly revealed their duty, and their dan­ger upon the neglect of it, let them hear them. 30 [Page 34]Nay Father Abraham, said he, But if one went from the dead, they will repent. And would not any one think, that such a message as this were very like­ly to produce Repentance? For one coming from the dead would be a visible demonstration of the souls existence after its departure. And La­zus could decipher the joys of Heaven, and give a true account of the sufferings of the dam­ned, as being a person who had a sight of these, a tast and experience of the other. And yet not­withstanding all these high probabilities, of the efficacy of this method, Father Abraham concludes, 31 If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded by one coming from the dead. From which we may infer, applying this parable to our present purpose, that those who are not melted by the offers of his Grace, will be the ra­ther hardned by the terrors of his Judgments, and that such as have rejected those former Mercies, if they will not be persuaded by one coming from the dead, they will surely not Repent, though they themselves are going to them.

These are two Cases in which the impenitency of a people under Gods Judgments usually hap­pens. I proceed now to some more particular Causes of it, which is the next point to be consi­dered.

1. And the first cause is a spirit of Atheism and Infidelity, which has possest the minds of [Page 35]men, which takes their eyes off from God, and fixes them upon second and inferior causes. The Plague is nothing else but some infectious atoms in the air, which in certain determinate periods of time gather together for the annoyance of a City or a Nation. Wars are caused meerly by the different interests of States, which engage them in mutual provocations of one another, and by that means dispose Princes to Choler and Revenge. The Revolutions of Government proceed from the ambition and treachery of sub­jects, who, whenever they find an opportunity, will be ready to break forth to disengage them­selves from their subjection, and involve a flou­rishing Kindom in blood, ruine, and confusion. It was Jorams desperate resolution in the Siege of Samaria, This evil is of the Lord, wherefore should I wait upon the Lord any longer? But the men whom we now speak of conclude with a little better Logick, but as bad Divinity, These evils are not from the Lord, therefore why should we wait upon him? It is not he that has broken us, nei­ther is it he, that must bind us up.

It was an error in the Heathens (which their own reason might have corrected) that they ascri­bed all their ordinary success, or misfortune to themselves, or their enemies, but any great, and extraordinary calamities either to fate or chance. And this engaged them in a great deal of perplexi­ty, [Page 36]so that they knew not which way to turn themselves, when difficulties pressed upon them. But methinks those that live in a Christian Nation and call themselves Christians, should be better taught, who are instructed by the Sacred Oracles to impute all the miseries that befal them to an over-ruling Cause, to discover the Finger of God in the hand of an enemy, and ascribe all events whatsoever (even such as are brought upon them by the instrumental mediation of secondary Agents) to the Justice, Wildom and Provi­dence of God, the Supreme Governour of the World.

It is the Lord, 2 Sam, xvi. 31. that bids Shimei to curse David, and that raises up to him enemies out of his own house. xxi. II. 1 Kings xii. 15. If King Rehoboam will not hearken to Faithful Counsel, the Cause is from the Lord. And through the anger of the Lord it came to pass, 2 Kings xxiv. 20. that Zedekiah Rebelled against the King of Baby­lon.

And when Babylon has filled up the measure of her iniquities, it is the Lord that raises up Cyrus, Isa. xlv. 4. that calls him by his name, that marches forth with his Armies to bring upon her, a swift, sudden, and surprizing desolation. Can a bird (saith the Prophet Amos) fall in a suare upon the earth where no gin is laid for him? Amos iii. 5. And shall there be any evil in the City which the Lord hath not done? It is God, and not the Air, the Elements, or the Stars, that [Page 37]brings the Famine or Pestilence upon a Nation. It is God, and not man, whether he be the Fo­reign Enemy, or the Domestick Rebel that over­turns a State, and dissolves a Kingdom.

These instances are sufficient to evince the Di­vine efficiency in the works of second Causes. And if the infidel notwithstanding will not be sa­tisfied in the Doctrine of a Providence, we must even leave him to be convinced (as he certainly will either in this life or in another) by Gods own immediate stroke. This in the mean time is certain, that this prodigious humour of Athe­ism, Scepticism, and Infidelity, which so a­bounds in this Nation, is both a real cause of mens impenitency under Judgments, and a dreadful symptom, that God will go on to judg and afflict them still. And by this means (I great­ly fear) our adversaries of Rome are more likely to compass their ends upon us than by any of their other artifices, and stratagems whatsoe­ver.

II. There is a great indifferency upon the spi­tits of men, as to the truth or honesty of the Cause that they are engaged in. Which makes them instead of thinking of the proper expedi­ents to save their Country from ruine, to plot and contrive how they may advance themselves in the next turn of affairs, and the revolution of the Government.

Men that have been used to fish in troubled wa­ters, and by little tricks and devices of their own to wind themselves in with that side that gets up­permost, will never in any National calamity entertain any thoughts of returning unto God, as long as they can have recourse to the same arts to save and secure themselves.

And this seems to be the Case of Ephraim in the Text. He stood in no great fear of the Assyrian, because he had no concern for his God, and was not at all sensible of his misery in being carried away Captive into a Land of Idols, as long as he was already prepared to worship after the manner of the gods of the Land. Thus we find the peo­ple were in the time of Ahab, 2 Kings xviii. 21. when they halted be­tween, two opinions between God and Baal. Such were those Nations whom the King of Assyria placed in the Cities of Samaria, xvii. 33. that feared the Lord and served Idols. And the Jews in the Pro­phet Zephany who could swear by God, Zeph i. 5. and swear by Melchom. Such as these are men ready and prepared for a change, whatever it be, and re­solved if the King of Babylon (or whoever else) get the upper hand, that Idolatry and Superstition shall put no stop to their preferment. Men that can counterfeit any Religion are really of none at all. And therefore whatever pretences they may make for the present, what is there that can hin­der them (when occasion serves) from making [Page 39]the best advantages they can for themselves, by coupling in with that side, that wins the day.

But however such as these by their arts and dis­guises may make a shift for a while, yet God will not be mocked. The time will certainly come, when the sinners in Sion shall be afraid, when fear shall surprise the Hypocrites. And perhaps it may be no lessening of their miseries, that they are the men to be destroyed last.

The Gnosticks in the Primitive Church, were a sort of Hereticks, who profest the name of Christians, and yet held it lawful to Apostatize in time of danger, and comply with the Jews for fear of Persecution. But when the days of ven­geance, and visitation came, God makes a di­stinction between those Carnal pretenders, and such as continued stedfast to the profession of his Truth. He provides a Pella for the Christians, a hiding place for them to retire to in that day of the Lords anger, but leaves those abominable Here­ticks to be destroyed with the Crucifiers of Christ, and Hypocrites to perish with Unbelievers. And this is said by some to be the accomplishment of that prediction of our Saviour, He that will save his life shall lose it, when the Gnostics who by their compli­ances expected shelter among the Jews were toge­ther with them so signally involved in the same ruin.

Remember (I beseech you) what the Israelites got by this double dealing with their God, by all [Page 40]their Politick Confederacies with Aegypt, and Assyria, and at last determine what you will stand to (whatever comes on't) Resolve with Mattathias in the Book of Macchabees. 1 Mac. ii. 22. God for­bid we should forsake the Law and the Ordinances; We will not hearken to go from our Religion either on the right hand or on the lest. I speak to wise men, Judg ye what I say.

III. There are a third sort of men among us, who though they acknowledg God to be the Au­thor of our calamities, and imquity to deserve them, yet hinder themselves from true Repen­tance as much by a stiff Zeal for their several Parties, as others do by their lukewarmness and indifferency to them all. It was a strangely con­fident presumption in the Jews, that they thought themselves wholly unconcerned in the event of Gods Judgments, and trusted in lying words, say­ing, Jer. vii. 4. The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are these. The same Jewish conceits at this day does a fond Enthusiasm nou­rish in the hearts of men: Which inclines them only to censure others as the causes of our mise­ries, how loud soever Gods Judgments call upon them to accuse, and condemn themselves.

The Fanaticks impute our sufferings to the Re­storation of the King, the resettlement of the Church, and to the throwing down of the Godly party from their unjust and arbitrary Dominion. [Page 41]And this makes them look upon all publick di­stractions, as designed on purpose to make way for them to return to their beloved Tyranny and Usurpation. And have not others better grounds to reply that God is now making inqui­sition for blood, and that the murder of our late Soveraign is required, and visited upon this pre­sent Generation?

The Dissenter makes loud out-cries against us, that there is so much Will-worship and Supersti­tion practised in our Church, that Popery when it comes, is very likely to meet with a ready enter­tainment without any considerable opposition. And have not we far juster reason to recriminate upon them, that their uncharitable Divisions keeping up the interests of their several parties, their refusal of compliance in such things as by their own acknowledgment they may law­fully submit to, and making offences of things indifferent, which the word of God has never declared to be so, have so far weakned the Pro­testant Interest, as to give incouragement to the Papists in their present attempts against us, and our Religion?

But surely (which side soever be in the right) this is not the true method to secure us from our fears, or to prevent our dangers. Let us assure ourselves, that no conceited priviledges will pro­tect us in our sins from the wrath of God. You [Page 42]only have I known (says God) of all the Families of the earth. Amos iii. 2. It does not follow, and therefore you will I spare, but therefore you will I punish for your iniquities. In the mean time this bold, and cen­sorious charging of others is the ready way to draw down Gods Judgments upon us both. And if we would all agree to be severe in judging of ourselves, we should be a great deal nearer to Peace and Union with one ano­ther.

These are some causes of our obstinacy under Gods Judgments. It remains that I speak a word or two concerning the greatness of the pro­vocation together with some brief Application to our selves.

And indeed what can possibly be imagined of a more daring and provoking Nature than this? What can a people do more to incense the God of Heaven, and cause his anger to smoak a­gainst such a stubborn Generation? It directly flies in the face of the Divine Majesty, and casts an intolerable slur upon all his excellent perfe­ctions. It tramples upon his Justice, crosses and thwarts the designs of his Mercy. It baffles his Goodness, and defeats the ends of his most un­searchable Wisdom. It affronts his absolute and uncontrollable Dominion, as if he wanted Au­thority sufficient to vindicate the reputation of his Laws. It defies and braves his Power, as if [Page 43]man were able to contend with his Maker, as if Omnipotence had done its worst, were quite spent, and had no other Judgments in store to vex and consume a sinful people.

This is certainly the true intent and meaning of every obstinate sinners language, who con­tinues incorrigible under the Divine Judgments. And then what can be expected, but, since men thus rob God of his Honor by their impenitence, that he should at last assert, and vindicate it by the just retaliation of wrath and vengeance? He will infallibly get honor upon Pharaoh and all his host, and make a people that have defamed him to be a by-word and reproach among the Nations. It is said of King Ahaz, that in the time of his distress, 2 Chronicl. xxviii. 22. he trespassed yet more. But God sets a mark upon him: This is that King Ahaz. He points him out with a special brand of reproach and ignominy for an example, and warning to all future Gene­rations.

We read, Jer. v. 3. O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast smitten, but they have not giveved; thou hast consumed them, but they have re­fused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than a rock, they have refused to return. And then God proceeds to denounce further Judg­ments, till it follows, v. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this? There is certainly a desperate ma­lignity in that guilt, at which Divine Wisdom [Page 44]seems at a stand; which has (as it were) ex­hausted the riches of his Goodness, non-plult and posed him, who is infinite in Mercy, to contrive and find out a pardon.

And how terrible the wrath of the Lord is, when it is once kindled against an impenitent and obdurate Nation, we have a lively instance in his proceedings with the Jews, when he could bear with them no longer, when he quite cut them off from being a people, when they had fil­led up the measure of their Fathers, and when God visited upon them, together with the blood of Christ, all the innocent blood that had been spilt, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, who was slain be­tween the Temple and Altar. A visitation so dread­ful and astonishing, as if God designed in their destruction to shew an experiment what an Al­mighty Arm was able to do, what desolations he could bring upon a Land for the wickedness of those that dwell therein.

Though in Jury God was known, and his name was great in Israel; though of the Temple at Jeru­salem God had said, that he would put his name there, and that his eyes and his heart should be there perpe­tually; yet he now wonderfully declares to the whole world, that Jerusalem is no longer the place of his rest, that he has forsook his Foot­stool, abhorred his Sanctuary, and cast off his [Page 45]Altar. If I had now time to pursue all the fa­tal circumstances of that dreadful story, what incredible numbers most miserably perisht by the Pestilence, and the Famine, how many were destroyed by the Roman Armies, and (which was yet more tragical, and frightful) how many be­came the executioners of Gods vengeance upon themselves, and how visibly the hand of God ap­peared in all; we should quickly conclude it to be the most fearful calamity, that was ever exe­cuted upon a people on this side Hell, so that no­thing but the day of Judgment can give us a re­semblance of the horror of it. Upon this occa­sion we may fitly use the words of the Prophet Daniel, Under the whole heavens has not been done, Dan. ix. 12. as has been done upon Jerusalem.

I have no design to make any Application of this fearful story to our selves. We have not yet had the voice in the Temple, the terrible Earth­quake, or the flaming Sword, and from these late discoveries that have been made amongst us, we have some reason to hope that our destru­ction is not so near. But though we have no Com­mission to forebode destruction, yet we have loud Alarms to provide against it. And if our impe­nitence under Gods Judgments continue at the same rate with theirs, what can we otherwise expect, but that we shall also perish in the like dreadful desolation?

I cannot here pretend to describe the successive advances of afflicting Providences, which God Almighty hath sent upon this unfortunate Gene­ration. How fatal were the miseries of the Civil-war! How sad and dismal the confusions, that succeeded it! We heard nothing among us but the cries of the oppressed, the confused noise of the Battel, of the warrier, and garments rould in blood. But after we had been long exercised with this severe discipline, God at length turns our Capti­vity, brings back our Royal Sovereign to sit up­on the Throne of his Fathers, and establishes the whole Nation in a full possession of their Rights, and Laws, their Liberties, and Religion. And (which ought the more to endear our deliver­ance) all this was brought about by a Miracle of Mercy far beyond all our hopes and contrivances, at a time, when we were quite lost, without all visible means of a Restoration.

And now what ought have been the Natural result of this? What language could have been more suitable for a redeemed people, than those words of Ezra, Ezra ix. 14.15. Seeing thou hast punisht us less than our iniquities have deserved, and hast given us such a deliverance as this, shall we again break thy Command­ments? But lo! thus has it come to pass, by a prodigy of Ingratitude more astonishing than the Mercy, that we have again provoked the Lord to take the Sword into his Hand, to Commissi­on [Page 47]his destroying Angel to bring the Pestilence into our Streets, to send upon us a raging and de­vouring Fire, which laid wast the Metropolis of the Kingdom. Together with these Calamities, he raises up against us a Foreign Enemy to make war upon our Coasts, to scoff at Kings, and make Princes a scorn unto them, to break our chains, deride our strong holds, Hab. i. 10. and gather our captivity as the sands.

And ever since that time, we have continued under the sad apprehensions of more fearful Judg­ments than these. There has remained upon the Nation great distress and perplexity, Luke xxi, 25. mens hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming upon the earth. We have long stood in fear of a Famine of the Word, of the removal of the Candlestick, of the glory of God in his Church ready to depart from us. To be plain, and in a word, we are threatned with the return of Popery upon the Kingdom, that is, to have the practice of the grossest Impiety, Superstition, and dolatry introduced among us, and all the sincere professors of the Truth of the Gospel in every corner of the Land Massacred, Burnt, Rackt and Tormented, because they will not receive the mark of the beast in their forehead, nor comply with these abominations.

This is the Sword which the Lord seems to hang over us this day. And is there any way left to [Page 48]prevent, or stop it from the intended execution? If instead of our gratitude to God for such signal mercies, as he has reacht forth unto us, we begin to fret and murmur at our enjoyments, and are ready to make us a Captain to return into Aegypt, is it not Just with God to cause Aegypt to return to us, and enslave both King and People to the merciless Usurpation of a Foreign Power? If after we have so long lived under a Faithful Preaching of the Word, a sincere Administration of the Sacraments, a liberal provision of all the means of Grace, we have loathed our Manna and despised our Mercies, if we have either quite withdrawn from the Publick Assemblies, or not brought forth fruit in any wise answerable to those great advantages, which we have, of being saved; may we not reasonably presume, that we have so far provoked the Lord, as to give us up to a people, who will deprive us of these blessings, who with the cruelty of Dioclesian will kindle a Fire either for our Bibles, or our Selves, who instead of the word of God will obtrude upon us their own inventions, rob us of one half of the blessed Sacrament, and set up the Idol of the Mass instead of the other? 2 Thes. ii. 10, 11, 12. If we have not received the love of the truth that we might be saved: Is it not greatly to be feared that for this cause God will send us strong delusions, that we shall believe lies; that all may be dam­ned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in un­righteousness?

If after all those mixtures and vicissitudes of Providence that we have had (as Salvian says of the Spaniards, Mutata sors sed non mutata vitiositas) there remains still the same senslesness under Gods Judgments, the same unthankfulness for his Mercies, the same Atheism, Prophaneness and Infidelity, from which God by all this variety of his methods has indeavoured to reclaim us: If the Nation is full of Whoredoms, and because of swearing the Land mourneth: If Treason dares ap­pear with an open Face, and spread dayly Libels, and Defamations against the Government: If Schisms and Factions thrive and prosper, and a­gain threaten the best of Churches in the world: surely God will visit for these things, his soul will yet further be avenged upon such a Nation as this. May we not justly fear that God will raise up against us a bitter, and hasty Nation to land upon our Coasts, to march through the breadth of the Land, and possess the dwelling places that are not theirs; that he will henceforth forget to be gracious, and shut up his loving kindness in an utter displeasure, that he will bring upon us that heavy doom which our Saviour of old denounced to his own people, Therefore I say unto you, Matth. xxi. 43. that the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits of it.

I know but one way left to prevent the ap­proach of these dreadful Judgments, which is, [Page 50]seriously to put in practice that great duty which we are called to this day, to repent and turn from our transgressions, that so iniquity may not be our ruine. This is the only course left us to rescue us from our present miseries, and preserve us from the evil, which is otherwise certainly to come upon us. And how great soever our fears are, we have yet some comfortable grounds to hope, that our day of Grace is not yet past, the door is not shut against us, but that we are still within the possi­bilities of Repentance. It seems that we are not yet quite cast off, by that wonderful discovery which God hath made amongst us of a Hellish Plot for the Assassinating of our King, and the Subversion of our Government and Religion. And therefore though we might be apt to conclude with Manoah in the Book of Judges. We shall sure­ly die, because we have seen God, so terrible in his Judgments in the midst of us? Yet we may now with Manoahs wife make a better and more rea­sonable inference: Judg. xiii. 12, 23. If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have shewed us all these things, nor would he (as at this time) have told us such things as these.

Let us be careful therefore to improve this sig­nal Providence to those serious purposes, for which God intends it, which are to break off our sins by Repentance, to reform and amend our lives: Lest by continuing in our transgressions, [Page 51]we defeat the designs of his goodness, and hinder him from going on to compleat our deliverance: Lest this great Mercy prove but a lightning be­fore death, and notwithstanding this, if we still do wickedly, we be consumed, both we, and our King.

So that (we see) a way still lies open for us to appease the wrath of God and procure his favor; which if we all sincerely resolve to walk in, he will shine upon your Counsels, bless your En­terprizes, and prosper your Undertakings; he will be a wall of fire round about us, when he is thus the glory in the midst of us, he will heal our back-slidings and make up our breaches, he will defeat the designs of the enemies of our Peace, and he will remember the Land.