THough the time of this Prophecy be uncertain, so that neither the Jewish Rabbins, nor Christian Antiquaries are able to give us any tolerable account of it, yet is the Design plain, and the words of my Text a most proper and pathetick enforce­ment of the Great duty of this day, to turn unto the Lord our God with all our Heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning,—for he is Gracious and Merciful, slow to Anger and of great Kindness, and repenteth him of the Evil.

[Page 2] If we look into the foregoing Chapter, we shall there find an astonishing Account of the great Evils that were just ready to befall the Jewes for their Sins. But that which is yet more surpri­zing, is, That though all this was about to come upon them, yet were they nevertheless insensible of their danger, nor took any the least care to prevent their utter desolation.

To awaken a stupid and inconsiderate Peo­ple, a Nation dead in Sin and Security, in the beginning of this Chapter he prepares a lofty and magnificent Scene. He sets before them a Pro­phecy of yet greater dangers than any they had hitherto experimented, and that in a manner so unusual, with such a Pomp of Words, and in such Triumphant Expressions, as carry a terror even in the Repetition of them.

Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion, sound an Alarm in Joel II. 1. my holy Mountain; Let all the Inhabitants of the Land tremble, for the day of the LORD cometh; for it is nigh at hand: A day of darkness and of gloominess; —2. a day of Clouds and of thick darkness; as the Morn­ing spread upon the Mountains; a great People and a strong, there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it. A fire devours before them, and —3. behind them a flame burneth: The Land is as the Gar­den [Page 3] of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. The Earth shall quake before them; the —10. Heavens shall tremble; the Sun and the Moon shall be dark; and the Stars shall withdraw their shining.

Whatever be the Import of these Phrases; whether by the mighty and terrible Host here spo­ken of, we are only to understand that swarm of Judaei pu­tant in diebus Joel tam innu­merabilem Lo­custarum super judaeam venisse multitudinem, ut cuncta com­plerent, & non dicam fruges, sed ne Vinearum quidem & ar­borum Cortices, ramosque dimit­terent, ita ut om­ni virore con­sumpto arentes arborumrami, & sicca vinearum flagella rema­nerent. Hieron. in Joel I. v. 6. Locusts, and other Insects, that we are Ch. I. 4. before told were utterly to devour all the Fruits of the Land: Or whether under the Character of these, we shall See among the Ancients, St. Hierome. loc. cit. Drusi­us in Joel I. 1. Grotius in Joel I. 5. Theodoret in Cap. 1. 4. [...]. v. pl. with most Interpreters, comprehend the numerous and mighty Armies of the Chaldaeans and Babylonians, which at divers times brought such Desolations, as we read of, upon the Jews: This is plain, that we have here the denunciation of some Judgment worthy of God, and great as the sins and incorrigibleness that occasion'd it.

And now, who would not here expect the final desolation of such a People as this? But behold, God even yet in his Anger remembers Mercy; and tho they had hitherto neglected all the Calls and Invi­tations of his holy Prophets to Repentance, yet He resolves once more to try, whether they would now at least in their dangers hearken to his [Page 4] Admonitions: He raises up Joel at once both to set before them his Judgments, if they continu'd still impenitent; and to encourage them, by repent­ing, not only to prevent their Ruine, but to assure themselves of his Favour. That though they had so long neglected him, yet if they would [...]. ver. 12. now, even now at the last, return with a true Zeal, and a sincere Affection to their Duty, they should not fail to meet with a favourable acceptance from him:

Therefore also now saith the LORD, Turn ye even to me, with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rent your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

It is not my intention to seek a Parallel of all this, either in the sins, or in the danger of our own Countrey. I would willingly hope, that nei­ther our Guilt, nor our Incorrigibleness have been so heinous as theirs, nor shall any such deplorable Judgment as this, ever, I trust, be made the punish­ment of what our Iniquities have indeed but too justly deserved. No, blessed be God, who by a wonderful Concurrence of great and singular Mer­cies, [Page 5] seems rather to call upon us to celebrate his Goodness, than to deprecate his Judgments; to praise his Name in Hymns of Triumph and Eu­charist, than to weep between the Porch and the Altar, in melancholly Litanies to avert his Anger, and implore his Mercy. But yet since the Goodness, as well as Judgments of the Lord, are designed to bring us to repentance, and that whether we look back into our own particular Actions, or consider those Publick and National Transgressions, where­by we have so long and loudly call'd to Heaven for vengeance; we must with shame and indig­nation confess our selves some of the greatest of Sinners; I cannot but think, both the Solemn Oc­casion of this Day, and the Design of my Text, to be a most proper and seasonable Admonition to us, to turn unto the Lord our God, and to implore his Blessing upon our present Enterprises, that those vile Insects, the Locusts and Caterpillars, that have so barbarously consumed our Neighbours round about us; our worse than Assyrian or Ba­bylonian Enemies, may not be able to prevail a­gainst us.

And indeed, however it has pleased God, as at this time, to give us some Encouragement to trust in his Mercy; yet we cannot so soon forget, [Page 6] that we have also born the punishment of our sins. For not to repass upon the things that are at a greater distance from us; let the Instances still fresh in all our Memories, speak to us: What just Apprehensions did we but very lately lie un­der of our Lives, and of what is yet dearer to us than our Lives, our Liberty, and our Religion? How did our Enemies not only project our Ruin, but as, if it were already accomplished, begin to say in their hearts, nay, they began freely to speak it out to us; Aha! so would we have it: Per­secute Psal. LXXI. 9. them, and take them; for there is none to deliver them.

And if now we are no longer exposed to those dangers that so lately threatned us; if God has be­gun, upon our late more serious Concern for Reli­gion, and more general return to him, to give us some Testimony of his gracious Designations to­wards us; This certainly ought to be so far from lessening our solemn Humiliation at this time, that it should rather engage us to be the more forward in perfecting our Repentance, the greater Encou­ragement we have to hope, that it shall be accep­ted at our hands. And I must now beg leave, with so much the more Earnestness, to enforce the Duty of my Text:

By how much I hope I may with the greater as­surance propose to you the Promise of it for your Encouragement:

I have already pointed out to you the two great parts of my Text; and which must therefore be the Subject of my Discourse upon it; viz.

I. The Address of the Holy Prophet to his Country, and in that the Exhortation; which I am earnestly in the Name of God to recommend unto you this day;

II. The great Encouragement which he offer'd to induce them, and which ought to be of no less a force to stir up all of us to a serious and diligent per­formance of it.

I begin with the former of these, the Exhortati­on of my Text:

And here I presume I shall not need to tell you, That all this is but a larger Paraphrase of what I may in other Words call a General and National Re­pentance, of those Publick and National Sins which had provoked God Almighty to send down so many Judgments upon them, and to threaten them with yet greater, if they continu'd still in their Impeni­tence. And indeed, what could be more reasona­ble, than by such a Solemn and Universal Acknow­ledgment both of the Evils they had committed, and of the Judgments which they deserved, and of the sorrow they were now touch'd with for their Offences, to appease God's Anger for that General Incorrigibleness, by which they had so long expo­sed both his Goodness and his Justice to Contempt, a­mong the Heathen round about him?

[Page 9] For however it be very certain, that all the outward pomp and solemnity of Repentance, the fast­ing, and the weeping, and the mourning, are at best but a form of Godliness, empty and unprofi­table, unless there be also added to these that true and inward change of Mind, in which alone consists the Power of it; yet there may be such Circum­stances and Cases put, wherein this Duty must pass beyond the Heart and the Closet, and the Humi­liation will be imperfect, if it be not as publickly set forth to the Eyes of Men, as it is sincerely perform'd in the sight of God.

And such especially must be the Repentance for National Sins. Where Mens Transgressions have been open and notorious, there their Return also must be no less Solemn and Evident; that so the Ho­nour as well as Justice of God may be vindica­ted in their Forgiveness; and some sort of Re­paration made not only for the Guilt which they have contracted, but also for the Scandal which they have given to his Honour and Religion in the World.

Now 'tis this which at once both declares the Pie­ty, and commands the publick Humiliation of THIS [Page 10] DAY. [...]. Chrys. Hom. ad pop. Aniooch. 3. And for the due discharge whereof, I must intreat you to go along with me in these following Reflections.

1st. That though, as I have just now shewn, there must be the publick marks of Sorrow and Humiliation in our publick Repentance, yet we must by no means stop in these; nor think that this is all that God requires of us in order to our forgiveness.

This was indeed the Vanity of the Jews hereto­fore, and is too much the folly of some mis­guided Christians now. Their Indignation against their Sins, and against themselves for having committed them, was spent especially in the out­ward appearance of sorrow. They rent their Cloaths; 2 Sam. iii. 31. and put on sackcloath; they wept, and fasted and went 1 King. xxi. 27. softly; and then they supposed they had done their business; though it may be their Souls were not yet Humbled; nor their Hearts at all broken with any true Contrition for their Sins.

And so among those of the Church of Rome at this day. If we may believe some of their greatest Casuists, an external Worship is sufficient to carry a man to Heaven, without the trouble of [Page 11] the true inward Devotion of the Soul: He may repent without Contrition; may fast with a full Meal: Nay, and if the Pope pleases, This Pas­sage is so very Extraordina­ry, that I ought to give some Account of it. Pope Boniface IX. having grant­ed a large Indulgence at Rome, whether the Lombards, by reason of the Wars they then had, could not go to gain it, at the Prayer of John Galeas, Visconte of Milan he grants the same Indulgence to Milan he had done at Rome, viz. that all the Subjects of the said Galeas, though they had neither Confess'd their Sins, nor were Contrite for them, should yet be absolved of all their Sins; only for visiting a few Churches, and paying the Sum of Money prefix'd by the said Bull:—Cioè (says their own Historion) che Ciasciascuno nel dominio del Visconte, se ancho non fosse contrito, ne Corfesso, fosse assoluto di ogni peccato. Bern. Corio nella sua Hist. di Milan. terza part. pag. 629. Ed. Venet. 1565. may obtain a plenary remission of his Sins, se ancho non fosse con­fesso ne contrito; though he has neither confess'd them to any Priest, nor finds in his own Heart any manner of Contrition for them.

I shall not need to say how many new ways of Salvation of this kind they have found out; by wearing a Leathern Girdle about their Loins, or Scapularies over their Shoulders; by listing them­selves See Dr. Bre­vints Saul and Samuel at Endor. Crasset devo­tion veritable envers la St ^c. Vierge. part. ult. into such or such certain Fraternities; by dressing of Altars, and going on Pilgrimages; by Holy Water, and Agnus deis: And all which, and infinite more of the like kind, if, as our late Ma­sters tell us, they are not Authorized by their Church, yet I am sure are publickly Recom­mended by their Greatest Men, and generally practised too, without any censure or contradi­ction among them. This is certain, that all these, [Page 12] and whatever Artifices of the like kind, Men may please either to flatter themselves, or to delude others withal, without a true Contrition, and a se­rious Reformation they are all but Vanity; They make a shew of Piety in the Eyes of Men, but they avail nothing to our forgiveness with God.

I will not dispute of what use some of these External Performances may be to assist our Repentance, and render our Sorrow for Sin the more solemn, and so in some Cases, as I have before ob­served, the more pleasing to God. I know well enough that St. Paul has told us, that Bodily Ex­ercise, where 'tis discreetly order'd, does profit a 1 Tim. 4. 8. little, though it be not like Godliness, profitable for all things. But then as 'tis plain, that the greatest part of those Follies so much magnified and re­commended in the Church of Rome, are but vain and ridiculous Impositions to cheat the silly and superstitious Multitude; so 'tis certain that the best of these things are neither in themselves Me­ritorious, much less Satisfactory for Sins, as they pretend them to be, nor otherwise of any value at all with God, than as they are attended with that true Repentance, which alone can either incline his Mercy or obtain our Forgiveness.

[Page 13] If we will therefore make our solemn [...]. Chrys. Hom. ad Antioch. 3. Humili­ation this day acceptable to God, and available to our selves, our Country, and our Religion, we must take the Method of the Prophet in our Text: We must turn unto the Lord our God with all our Heart, and then our fasting, and our weeping, and our Mourning shall indeed be pleasing unto him. We must rent our Hearts and not, i. e. rather than our Garments; must humble our Souls first, and then the violence we do our Bodies will be consider'd by him. When Jonah denounced Gods Judgments against Niniveh, we read in his 3d. Chapter, That the People of Niniveh believed, and Proclaimed a fast, and put on Sack­cloath, from the greatest of them even unto the least. [...], &c. Chrys. ad Antioch. Hom. 3. But was this there­fore that Repentance for which he spared them? No, it is not so much as once mentioned among the Reasons of it. It was the Reforma­tion of their Lives that tied up his Hand, and sheathed his Sword, ver. 10. And God saw their Works, that they turn'd from their Evil way; and God repented of the Evil that he said he would do unto them, and he did it not.

[Page 14] 2. And this brings me to a second Remark for the farther clearing of this great Duty; viz. That not only these outward marks of penitence are not sufficient to the discharge of it, but though we should to these add a true and real sorrow of heart for the Sins we have committed, even this would not be sufficient to purchase our for­giveness.

Now by true sorrow, I do not mean that little imperfect sorrow, which looks rather to the danger of our Condition, than to the heinousness of our Offences; and bewails our Transgressions more out of an apprehension of those Judgments that may be the Consequence of them, than out of any real regret that we have sinned a­gainst a most Gracious and Merciful God. For however those of the other Communion, out of their great tenderness to Sinners, have declared such a sorrow as this, if accompanied with Confes­sion, to be sufficient for Mens Salvation; and therefore have resolved, that true Contrition or a sorrow for sin comitted, with a purpose of sinning no Conc. Tr. Sess. xiv. cap. 4. more, is not necessary to the Sacrament of Pennance, after the Commission of mortal Sin, but that Attri­tion is sufficient, though a Man knows it to be no more; Yet I suppose it needless in this place to [Page 15] obviate any such gross Error, however other­wise of very great danger, in the Practice of this Duty. Be the sorrow for sin never so sincere; and our Resolutions thereupon no more to return to the Commission of it never so firm and well ground­ed, yet if instead of making good these Resolu­tions we shall stop here, we are but half Penitents; we yet want that change of life, which alone is able to compleat the Nature, and render the Pra­ctice of our Repentance acceptable unto God, and available to our forgiveness.

3. In short, thirdly, if we will truly discharge that Repentance, to which we are here called, we must do it not by being sorry for our Sins, or by resolving against them, but by an effectual forsaking of them; i. e. as our Text speaks, By turning unto the Lord our God. This is that which alone can implore his Favour, and com­mend us to his Mercy. And this was what I before observed in the Case of Niniveh: When God saw their works that they turned from their Evil way, then he re­pented him of the Evil that he had said he would do unto them, and he did it not.

Nay, but it is not any turning unto God that will suffice neither: We must turn Veraciter integraliter. Lyr. Mercer. even unto him, [Page 16] and with all our Revera, Ex animo, non simulatè. Drus. seriò ac bonâ fide. Grot. Heart: Words very Emphatical, and which offer to us two great Conditions, which are absolutely necessary to render our Conversion every way such as it ought to be. First, That it must be hearty and sincere: There must be nothing of the Hypocrite mix'd with it; our Souls must go along with our outward Performances; and these penitential appearances be the true De­clarations of that real inward sorrow which we feel in our Hearts for our Offences. For God is Psal. xliv. 21. 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. Rom. viii. 27. not a Man that he should be mocked. He sees into our very Souls, and knows the secrets of all the Children of Men. And Secondly, That it must be intire and without reserve: As we must be sorry for every Sin we have already committed, so we must resolve against ever committing any for the time to come; Habac. i. 13. For God is of purer Eyes than to behold the least Iniqui­ty; and if our Repentance be sincere, so shall we be too. The same Piety which moves us to hate any Evil, will equally fill us with an Aversion a­gainst all. And if we desire to continue but in one Offence, it is because that we do truly repent of none.

So that now then if we will answer the design of this day: if we will render our fast such as the Lord has chosen, and has promised to reward with [Page 17] the Blessings both of this life, and of that which is to come; we must not think it enough that we comply with the outward Ceremonies and shew of Repen­tance, but we must indeed resolve to bring forth the fruits of it. Whilst we Address our selves to God for Pardon, we must take heed to dispose our Souls in such a manner, that we may be fit to receive it.

And if we thus improve the great Solemnity of this day, we shall not fail to meet with a fa­vourable acceptance at the Throne of Grace. God Joel. ii. 18. will be jealous for his land, and pity his People: He will perfect the great Deliverance he has begun for us, and once more render us the fear and the Deut. ii. 25. terror of all our Enemies round about us. Our Faith which has so often triumph'd over all the Arguments of its Adversaries, shall now no less triumph over all their black Designs to root it out and to destroy it; and shew to all the World, that though for our Tryal God may sometimes permit the Winds to blow, and the Flouds to rise, and the Storms to beat against our Church, yet has he founded it on that Rock that shall never fail; Nor Matt. xvi. 18. shall the gates of Hell, either the Power of France or the Cunning of the Jesuit, or the Malice of Both, ever be able to prevail against it.

[Page 18] And this brings me to the other thing I am to speak to: Our Encouragement to this Duty.

It is not at all needful for me to enter on any particular Explication of all these Gracious Attri­butes, and shew what Arguments every one of them affords to engage us to Repentance. Two things in General there are, which will at first sight arise from them to excite us to it, viz.

When God Proclaimed his own Name in the midst of the People of Israel, we read in the xxxiv. of Exodus, that he chose to do it not so much in the terrible Attributes of his Majesty and Power, as in the soft Idea's of his Mercy and Good­ness, The Lord, the Lord God, Merciful and Gra­cious, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and truth; keeping Mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin. And if we look into all the following Representations which he makes of himself, whether by his Holy Prophets under the Le­gal, but especially by our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles under the Christian Dispensation, we shall find there is no Character he so much delights in as this of being Good and Gracious, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to Repentance. 2 Peter iii. 8.

And now what more forcible Encouragement can any one desire to bring him to Repentance, than to be thus assured of the Goodness and Mercy [Page 20] of God to the greatest of Sinners, if they Repent? That he will not only forgive him upon his re­turn, but will even assist him with Grace and Strength in the doing of it. That he desires not the death of the most Profligate Offender, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live. In a word, That he has promised forgiveness, without exception, to the most wicked Men upon their Repentance; so that if they will but yet break off their evil Course, and keep his Statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, they shall surely live, they shall not dye. Ezek. xviii. 21.

Many are the ways, and excellent the Me­thods that God has taken to convince us of his Mercy, and the time would fail me to enter on a particular Consideration of them.

Sometimes he declares not only that he is ready to pardon us if we repent, but that he even de­sires we should repent that he may forgive us. And least his Word should not be sufficient, he con­firms that desire with an Oath, Ezek. xxxiii. 11. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the Wicked, but that the Wicked turn from his way and live: Turn ye, turn ye from your Evil ways, for why will ye die O House of Israel?

[Page 21] Sometimes he Expostulates with us in the way of Reasoning, to see if by that means he may be a­ble to bring us to consider his Love and Affection to us. Isai. i. 16. Wash ye, make ye clean, put away the Isaiah 1. Evil of your doings from before mine Eyes; cease to do —16. evil, learn to do well.—Come now and let us reason —17. together, saith the Lord: Tho your Sins be as Scarlet, —18. they shall be white as Snow; though they be red like Crimson, they shall be as Wooll.

If he Exhorts us to Repentance, he always does it upon this Promise, that he will Pardon us if we repent. If we turn from our Sins, Iniquity shall not Ezek. xviii. 30. be our ruine.

If he threatens Judgments, yet still he keeps a reserve for Mercy to triumph over Judgment; and will rather be thought inconstant in his most Pe­remptory Decrees, than inexorable to Repenting Sinners. Thus he commanded Jonah to go to Niniveh, and to pronounce an utter destruction against it. He fix'd the very time too, Yet four­ty Jonah. iii. 4. days and Niniveh shall be overthrown. But what now was the issue of all this? Why, the City be­lieved, and feared God, and turn'd from their Evil way: And God repented of the Evil that he said he —10. would do unto them, and he did it not, Jonah. 3.

[Page 22] And what must the Consequence of all these Reflections be, but to engage us not to dispise the Goodness of God, whereby he thus Graciously invites us to Repentance; but to conclude with Holy David, Psal. cxxx. 3. If thou LORD shouldst be extream to mark what is done amiss, O God who may abide it? But there is Mercy with thee, there­fore shalt thou be feared.

And what I have now said of Gods mercy in Ge­neral, will yet more hold in the other Part of this Character, wherein is set out to us in Particular.

And because I would now, were I able, speak not so much to your Reason, as to your Sense and Experience, to your Consciences and Affections; I will for the Proof of this no more lead you back to the Israelites in this Prophecy; to Past-times, and unknown Countries; but will rather desire you to consider your own Times, your own Country, [Page 23] and if you will allow me freely to add it, your own Souls. Which of all these will not afford me an evident Demonstration of the Patience and long-suffering of God? And speak him in the words of the Text, to be a God slow to anger, and that repenteth him of the Evil?

That after so many Sins, as we have every one, the very best of us committed, we are yet alive this day, whereas God might, if he had plea­sed, long since have cut us off in the midst of our Sins: That after so many calls and invitations as he has sent to bring us to Repentance, he is still pleased to call and to invite us to it: That notwithstanding we have so far abused his Good­ness and long-suffering, as to improve that which above all things should have the most engaged us to our Duty, into an encouragement to go on the rather in our Sins; he nevertheless still continues to us the Offers of Pardon and Peace, if we will even now in this our day consider the things that make for our Peace: What is all this but a most Demonstrative, as well as a most Affectionate Proof, that God is indeed slow to anger, not wil­ling that any should perish, but that all should come to Repentance?

[Page 24] That he has deliver'd us out of so many dan­gers, in which, but for his Providence over us we must long since have perish'd: That he has smitten us in Mercy, not in Judgment; to correct and admonish, not to ruine and destroy us: That upon our deprecating his Anger, he has at any time heard our Prayers, and answer'd our Desires: What is this but a plain Evidence that he smites not willingly, nor loves to afflict the Lam. iii. 33. Children of Men: and so is a God repenting him of the Evil that he is at any time forced either to threaten us with, or to bring upon us.

And if we look into his Dispensations towards us in the common concern of our Country and our Religion; How slow must that God have been to Anger, who after so many years Attendance, nevertheless still calls upon us, as at this day, to turn from our Evil way, and from the violence that Ezek. xviii. 30. is in our Hands, that our Iniquity may not be our ruine?

And for his repenting him of the Evil, which we have sometimes forced him by our continual Pro­vocations to send upon us: Let the Instances which we our selves have known suffice to tell us, how unwilling he has shewn himself to bring us to an utter desolation.

[Page 25] When it pleased God for our iniquities, to despise, in his indignation, both the King and the Priest; Lam. ii. 6. and by the deplorable Judgment of Civil Confusi­ons, had proved and exercised us about Twenty Years; with what a Miracle of Mercy did he Psal. cxxvi. 1. turn again the Captivity of Sion, and restore to us both our Government and Religion, as before?

When this would not do, but our Sins and our Prosperity return'd together; so that we were again in a very few years become ripe for judg­ment; He called forth a destroying Angel; He put a new Sword into his Hand, and commanded him to slay his Thousands and Ten Thousands in our Streets. The PLAGUE consum'd our Strength, and hardly was that pass'd, when an­other Vengeance, a devouring FIRE, such as scarce any Age or Country has ever heard of, burnt down our Dwellings. And had not the Hand of God wonderfully interposed, we must have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Isaiah i. 9. Gomorrah.

And yet how did he then cover us with his hand in that day of his displeasure? He neither suffer'd our Enemies to invade us from abroad, nor any Domestick Quarrels to embroil us at [Page 26] home. He preserved us in Peace; he sent again the Blessings of Plenty and Prosperity among us, and our City is risen more Great and Glorious out of its Ashes.

What shall I say to the fears and jealousies we have labour'd under since, from a restless Party, Enemies to the Name of Protestant, and by Principle conjured, if they can, to root it out of the World?

In how many dangers has God delivered us? And how many Designs, for ought we know, may he have prevented, which have not yet been brought to light? And when at last, either to awaken us the more effectually to a Repentance of our sins, or it may be to accomplish the num­ber of their Iniquities, he deliver'd us over for a lit­tle while into the hands of our Enemies; and to convince the most incredulous among us, what the true Spirit of prevailing Popery is, suffer'd them with such an inconsiderate Fury to pursue our Ru­ine, that no Ties, either of God or Man, were sufficient to restrain them; but all Obligations, whether of Justice or Conscience, were equally trampled under their feet: How did it then please our Almighty Defender to assert his Character of being a God repenting him of the evil that he had [Page 27] brought upon us, in a manner that is the Wonder and Astonishment of the present, and, that I am perswaded, shall be the Praise and Triumph of his Church in all succeeding Generations?

He raised us up a Deliverer out of the House of his Servant David. He touch'd his Princely Heart with a Generous Sense both of the Evils which we had suffer'd, and of the greater that we ap­prehended. His Honour and his Zeal enflamed him to do somewhat worthy Himself; and that might answer the mighty Hopes God had prepared us to conceive of Him. He medita­ted the great Work of delivering our Countrey from Oppression, and our Religion from Destructi­on. And by the Blessing of God, he accom­plish'd it, in a manner, so extraordinary in all its Circumstances, as, I think, should not suffer us to doubt from whose Providence it was, that this Redemption was sent to us. This was the Lord's doing, and, whatever it is, I am sure ought to be, marvellous in our Eyes: And may, I think, be a final, I hope it shall be an effectual Confirmation to us of this Great Engagement of our Text, to turn to him with all our hearts; viz. That he is a God repenting him of the evil; and therefore whose Mercy, if we now [Page 28] truly do so, we may securely depend upon both for the forgiveness of our sins, and for our delive­rance from those dangers which our sins have so justly exposed us to.

And now what remains, but that having all these great Encouragements, such Promises, or rather, such an Earnest of God's Favour to us, we resolve, every one of us, seriously to com­ply with the great Design both of this Day and of this Discourse; and by our sincere Re­pentance for our past Offences, obtain that Blessing we so much desire both for our Countrey, and for our Religion.

Never was there a time wherein we had greater Reason to hope for God's Acceptance than at this Day; and such an Occasion as this, to implore his Favour, there may not perhaps a­gain occur in the Course of many Ages.

For indeed what is it that we are now as­sembled to recommend to His Mercy, but in Effect the preservation of our Selves, our Laws, our Liberties, and our Religion, against the Violence of those who have long conspired both Their and Our destruction.

[Page 29] That he would preside in our Councils, and go forth with our Armies; and so direct the one, and prosper the other, that we may a­gain enjoy the Blessings of Peace and Secu­rity; that there may be no decay, no leading into Psal. cxliv. 14. Captivity, and no just complaining in our Streets.

And this he will do, if we be not our selves wanting to our own preservation. Only let us act as becomes Good Christians, and True Englishmen; let us do all things for the Glory of God, and for the Safety, Honour, and Welfare of our Country: In the words of Joab to his Brother Alishai, upon an Occasion not much different from our own at this time; Let us be strong, and of good Courage, and let us 2 Sam. x. 12. play the Men for our People, and for the Cities of our God; and then he will not fail us, nor for­sake us.

But if instead of pursuing the things that make for our Peace, we shall still go on to precipitate our own destruction: If when we are call'd this Day to turn unto the LORD our God with all our hearts, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; we shall in­stead thereof fast only for strife and for debate: Isa. lviii. 4. [Page 30] If when we should be here prostrating our selves before the LORD, to implore the Com­pletion of that Great Deliverance he has be­gun to work for us; we shall, on the contra­ry, continue ungratefully to murmur against his Providence, and be ready almost to implead his Justice for what he has already done; and with those repining Israelites of old, be looking back again to our Egyptian Bondage, when we are brought even within prospect of the Pro­mised Land: In a word, If when we should be uniting our selves against the Common Ene­my of our Country and Christendom, we shall suffer a Spirit of Faction and Sedition, of Mu­tiny and Discontent; of private Interests, and un­seasonable Resentments, to distract our Councils, and divide us against one another; What can we then expect, but that God should at last give us over into the hands of our Enemies, and make those that hate us to rule over us.

Wherefore now, arise O ye Worthies, ye Cho­sen, and Counsellours of our Israel; Consult, con­sider, and resolve: And may the God of Heaven; the God before whom we are here assembled this Day; He who has, and does, [Page 31] and we trust will still deliver us; our Rock, and our Defence against the Face of our Ene­mies, so direct and prosper all your Consul­tations, that the Children which are yet un­born, may rise up in their Generations, and call you Blessed, when they shall enjoy the Benefits of that Peace, that Security, which we trust shall descend to them, through your Wise and Vigorous Resolutions.

Behold this day the Eyes not of your own Nati­on only, but of all the Nations round about us, fix'd upon you: The Fortunes, I do not say, of every single Person among you, though that were some­what; nor of your own Country and Religion only, which ought to be much more valued; but what is yet more considerable, the Fortunes of all the Reformed Churches, and distressed Countries of Europe, depending on the success of our present Enterprizes. This is the fatal Crisis, that must secure or ruine both them and us for ever.

May the Consideration of all these things, inspire every one of you with a Spirit suitable to that great Trust that is here committed to you: A Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding; a Spirit of Prudence and Discretion; a Spirit of [Page 32] Charity and Moderation; but above all with a Spirit of Piety and Unity; that being endu'd with all these excellent Qualities, ye may be­come the Repairers of our Breaches; the Re­storers of our almost lost and trampled Liber­ties; the Defenders of our Faith; the Support of your Country; the Avengers of your barbarously abus'd Allies; the Scourge and Terror of the Universal Enemy of Truth, Peace, Religion, Na­ture: In short, of all the common Laws and Rights of God and of all Mankind.

May your Councils be Govern'd with such a Calmness and Temper, as may settle and com­pose all the unquiet and dissatisfied Spirits (if there be any) yet remaining among us; and suffer none to regret our wonderful preservati­on, but those only whose fury had once prompted them to attempt, and whose Prin­ciples still carry them on, to desire our De­struction.

May your Resolutions be as speedy, as the publick Necessities are pressing; and their Execu­tion be accompanied with a Fidelity and Success that may equal not only our Expectation, but even our very Hopes and our Desires.

[Page 33] And for the accomplishment of all these Blessings, and whatever else may serve to make these Kingdoms Happy.

May We all this day, fast the fast which the Lord has chosen; to loose the bands of wickedness, to Isa. Lviii. 6. undo the heavy-burdens, and to let the Oppressed go free.

Let us confess our wickedness, and be sorry for Psal. xxxviii. 18. our sins.

Let us turn to the LORD our God with all our Joel. ii. 13. heart; and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.

Let us deal our Bread to the Hungry, and bring the Isa. Lviii. 7. [...] Poor to our Houses.

Then shall we call, and the Lord shall answer; we —8. shall cry, and he shall say here I am. Our light —9. shall break forth as the Morning, and our righteous­ness as the Noon-day.

God shall come, and shall not keep silence: He shall Psal. l. 3. save us from our Enemies, and put them to shame Psal. xliv. 7. that hate us.

He shall arise, and all our Adversaries shall be scat­ter'd; Psal. Lxviii. 1. they also that hate us shall flee before us; Like —2. as the smoke vanisheth, so shall we drive them away; Exod. xv. 16. terror and dread shall fall upon them.

[Page 34] So shall all our Mourning be turned into Laugh­ter, and our Heaviness into Joy; and we shall yet sing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb, when he shall have given us rest from all our Enemies round about us;

Salvation and Glory, and Power, and Praise, and Thanksgiving, be to him that sitteth upon the Throne, and to the Lamb for Ever and Ever.

Amen.