A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and citizens of London at the church of St. Mary le Bow, September the second, 1686 : being the anniversary fast for the dreadful fire in the year 1666 / by John Scott ...

JOHN V. 14.

Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

THESE Words are the Advice of our Saviour to the impotent man, whom he miraculously cured af∣ter he had long waited to no pur∣pose at the Pool of Bethesda: And seriously when I consider the miserable state to which this ancient City was reduced by the late stu∣pendious Fire, and the since glorious recove∣ry of it out of its mighty heap of Ruines, it seems to me an exact emblem of this poor Patient in my Text. With him, not long a∣go, it was reduced to a wretched impotent condition; its goodly Piles lay bed-rid in their own sad Ruines, almost despairing of Recove∣ry, and the utmost that humane Prudence could hope, was that the next Age might see their Resurrection. But by the miraculous courage and industry with which God inspi∣red their former Inhabitants, behold they are

raised again within a few Years more Glori∣ous and Magnificent than ever; and we that saw their Desolations, and were almost ready to give them over for irreparable, have lived to see them rise again in state and splendour out of their Ashes. And now that our City is revived again, and flourishes in perfect health and vigour, methinks I hear the God of Hea∣ven bespeak her, as our Saviour did his reco∣vered Patient in the Text, Go thy way, and sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. In which words you have,

• I. A Caution, Sin no more.
• II. A twofold Reason of it,
• ...
  • 1. Behold, thou art made whole.
  • 2. Lest a worse thing come unto thee.

I. I begin with the first of these, Sin no more. Which words plainly imply that he had been a sinner heretofore; and that because he had so, therefore he was reduced to that wretched impotent condition, that his disease was the punishment of his fault, and the product of his own wickedness: for otherwise he had no reason to take warning by it not to sin again; if his former impotence had not been the ef∣fect

of his sin, it could not have been urged as a proper argument to perswade him to a future reformation. In this therefore the strength of our Saviour's Caution lies, The im∣potence under which thou didst so lately lan∣guish, and of which I have now recovered thee, was inflicted on thee by God as a just retribution for thy wickedness; and therefore, since thou art thus happily recovered, beware thou dost not sin again, lest thou provoke him by it to scourge thee more severely. So that the main design of this Caution, is to con∣vince us that those Evils and Calamities under which we suffer, are some way or other occasioned by our sin. And indeed if we im∣partially survey those numerous calamities which oppress the World, we shall find them generally reducible to one of these three Heads. Either (1.) they are the natural Ef∣fects of sin, Or (2.) the just Retributions of it, Or (3.) the necessary Antidotes against it. Of each of these very briefly.

(1.) In the first place, Many of those evils and calamities under which we suffer, are the natural Effects of Sin, and such it's possible was the disease of which our Saviour cured this im∣potent Patient, even the natural effect either of

his Intemperance, Wantonness, or immode∣rate Passion, which are the natural causes of most of those diseases under which we lan∣guish. For either they are intailed upon us by our Parents, who beget us usually in their own likeness; and so having diseased them∣selves by their own Debauches, derive to us their frail and crazy constitutions, and leave us Heirs of the woful effects of their own In∣temperance and Lasciviousness: for so we commonly find the Stone and Gout, Consum∣ption and Catarrhs derived through many ge∣nerations from the vices of one wicked Pro∣genitor, who to enjoy the pleasures of an in∣temperate Draught, or the embraces of a rot∣ten Whore, doth many times entail a lingring torment upon his Children, and his Childrens Children. Others, again, owe their diseases to their own personal vices, and by abusing their Bodies to satisfie their Lusts, convert them into walking Hospitals; they suck in Rheums and Defluxions with their intempe∣rate Draughts, and change the pleasure of a sober and temperate life, for Fevers and the uneasiness of Debauches; they swallow their Surfeits in their gluttonous Meals, and fill their Veins with flat and sprightless humours, till

by degrees they have turned their sickly Bo∣dies into mere Statues of Earth and Phlegm. And in a word, they wast themselves in their insatiable wantonness, and sacrifice their strength to a beastly importunity, and many times contract those noisome Diseases that make them putrifie alive, and even anticipate the uncleanness of the Grave. And as our bo∣dily Diseases are generally the natural effects of our Sin, so are most others of those Cala∣mities under which we groan. Thus Want and Poverty are usually the effects either of our own Sloth or Prodigality, or else of the Fraud and Oppression of those we deal with: and Wars and Devastations the natural pro∣ducts either of the Ambition or Covetousness of those who are the Aggressors. Thus Sin, you see, is the Pandora's Box, whence most of those swarms of Miseries issue that sting and disturb the World; and indeed, the God of nature, to deter men from Sin, hath cou∣pled Misery to it so inseparably, that whilst he continues things in their natural course, we may as soon be men without being reason∣able, as sinful men without being miserable. Hence we find, That when he had tryed all the arts of Discipline on the obstinate Jews,

and none were effectual, he at last consigns them to the dire correction of their own Fol∣lies, Ier. 2 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backsliding shall reprove thee.

(2.) Again, Secondly, Many of those Evils and Calamities under which we suffer, are the just retributions of Sin. For besides those nu∣merous Evils that are naturally appendant un∣to wicked actions, there are sundry others under which we suffer, that are the more im∣mediate effects of the Divine Displeasure, and are inflicted on us by God as the condign Punishments of our Rebellions against him: and these are such as proceed not from any necessary causality in the sinful actions them∣selves, but are wholly owing to the Provi∣dence of Heaven, which either inflicts them immediately upon us, or else disposes second Causes, contrary to their natural tendency, to come to the production of them; such were the Drowning of the World, the Burn∣ing of Sodom and Gomorrha, the Judgement of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, and sundry o∣ther such like mentioned in the Scripture. And though in sundry of those Judgements, which God inflicts upon sinful men, his hand doth not so visibly appear as it did in those; yet

sundry of them are impressed with such visible Characters of the Divine Displeasure, that we have all the reason in the World to con∣clude them to be the immediate effects of it. As when we see some great and unexpected Calamity befal a Sinner in the very commissi∣on of a wicked Action; or when he is punish∣ed in kind, and the Judgement inflicted on him bears an exact correspondence with his Sin; or when upon the commission of some notorious Villany, some strange and extraor∣dinary evil befals him: in these and such like cases, although it's possible they may be the effects of some casual concurrence of second Causes; yet there being such plain indications of designed Punishment in them, it would be very unreasonable to attribute them to a mere blind and undesigning Chance. And there∣fore, although on the one hand it argues an uncharitable and superstitious mind to attri∣bute every calamity of our Brother to the Righteous Judgement and Displeasure of God; yet on the other hand, it's no less an ar∣gument of a stupid wretchless Soul, to attri∣bute those Evils to chance, on which there are such apparent symptoms of the Divine Displeasure. And though there is no doubt

but many of those evil Events that befal us do merely result from the established course and order of necessary Causes; yet there is no man that owns either a Providence or the truth of Scripture, but must readily acknow∣ledge, that in this established course of things, God very often interposes, and for the re∣warding of good and punishing of bad men, so varies the courses of these secondary Cau∣ses, as to produce good and evil by them, contrary to their natural series and tendencies. For should he have limited himself to the Laws of Nature, and resolved to keep things on for ever in one fatal unvariable course of motion, he must have tyed up his hands from rewarding and punishing, which are the prin∣cipal acts of his governing Providence; and consequently all his promises and threats of temporal Blessings and Judgments, must have been perfectly null and insignificant. This there∣fore must be acknowledged by all that have any sense of God and Religion, That many of those Evils under which we suffer, are the just Judgments of God in retribution for our Folly and Wickedness. But I see I must hasten.

(3.) And lastly, many of those Evils and Calamities we indure, are inflicted as neces∣sary

Antidotes against Sin. For certainly, con∣sidering the degenerate state of Humane Na∣ture, the perverseness and disingenuity of the generality of mankind, Afflictions and Cala∣mities are as necessary to keep us within the bounds of Sobriety, as Chains and Whips are to tame Madmen: And should the great Governour of the World still indulge to us our wills, and accommodate all Events to our desires, we should grow so extravagant∣ly insolent, that 'twould be impossible to keep us within any bounds or compass; and there∣fore, in charity to us, he is many times for∣ced to cross us, and to inflict less Evils on us, to prevent greater. He sees, that if he should gratifie our fond Desires, 'twould be a cruel kindness to us, and hurt us more than ever it would benefit us; 'twould damp our Piety, or carnalize our Spirits, swell our Pride, or pamper our Luxury, give such a loose to our extrava∣gant Passions, as would in the end render us far more miserable than the want of what we desire can do. And therefore, in mere pi∣ty to us, instead of giving us the good we ask for, he sometimes inflicts the contrary evil: and as Physicians sometimes prick a Vein in the Arm to prevent the suffocation of the

Heart; so God many times afflicts us to pre∣serve us, diseases our Bodies to Antidote or Cure our Souls. So that though those Evils which God inflicts upon us, are not always intended for Punishments of our Sin, but sometimes for Preservatives against it: yet in this case as well as the other, 'tis Sin that is the cause of it; 'tis this that makes the evil ne∣cessary, and obliges God in mercy to inflict it upon us. He knows the Sin will injure us much more than the evil he prescribes to pre∣vent it; and therefore being much more sol∣licitous for our safety than our ease, he choos∣es rather to make us smart, than to suffer us to perish. But if it were not for Sin, which is the worst of Diseases, he would have no need to Antidote us with Affliction; nor doth he so much delight to grieve the Children of Men, as to afflict them for Afflictions sake. So that were it not for our Sin, either actual or in prospect, we may be sure, he would nei∣ther punish, nor afflict us. Thus Sin, you see, is the common Cause of Evil, the fruitful Womb of all kinds of Mischief; for I doubt not but to one of these three Heads most of the Miseries of Mankind may be reduced, that they are either the natural Effects, the just

Punishments, or the necessary Preservatives of Sin.

Hence therefore let us learn under all our Calamities to acknowledge our Sins to be the cause of them, to trace up our Evils to their Fountain head, which we shall find is in our own Bosoms. From hence spring all those wasting Wars, those sweeping Plagues, those devouring Fires that make such devastations in the World; from hence are laid those trains of Wild Fire that slaughter our Friends, blow up our Houses, and scatter so many Ruines round about us. O! would to God we would once be sensible of it, that we would every one smite upon his own Thigh, and cry out, Lord, what have I done? what sparks have I added to the common flame? what guilts have I contributed towards the filling up the measure of England's Iniquities? But, alas! hitherto we have generally taken a quite contrary course to this. When God's Judgements are upon us, we confess that Sin is the cause of them indeed, but not ours by any means: 'Tis the Sin of the City, crys the Country; 'tis the Sin of the Court, crys the City; 'tis the Sin of this Party, crys one; 'tis the Sin of t'other Party, crys another. Thus

the Judgements of God are sent from Tithing to Tithing, and no Body will own them, though they call us all Fathers. Well, Sirs, we shall one Day find, God grant it may not be too late first, that this is not the way to pre∣vent the incursions of the Divine Judgements. If ever we mean to put a stop to God's Indig∣nation against us, we must every one lay our Hands upon our own Breasts, and lament his own Sin, and acknowledge his own share in the general Provocation, and promise and in∣gage our selves, that where-ever we have done amiss, we will do so no more: Which, if we wilfully refuse to do, though at present we are made whole, yet we may certainly expect that a worse thing will come upon us. And this brings me from the Caution to

II. The Reasons of it, which, as I told you, are two:

• 1. Thou art made whole.
• 2. Lest a worse thing come unto thee.

1. I begin with the first, Behold thou art made whole, therefore have a care thou sin∣nest no more: let the mercy I have shown thee in curing thee of thy Disease, have this blessed effect upon thee, to reclaim thee from

thy Sins to a life of Vertue and Purity. So that the sense of this Reason is this, That God's mercy to us in recovering us from past Calamities, lays a great Obligation upon us to reform and amend; but particularly it lays upon us this threefold Obligation, (1.) The Obligation of Gratitude, (2.) of Justice, (3.) and lastly, of Self-interest. Of each of these briefly.

(1.) God's mercy in restoring us from any past Calamity, obliges us in gratitude to a∣mend our lives. 'Tis doubtless one of the most palpable signs of a base profligate Nature, not to be obliged by Favours: 'twould be an in∣jury to a Brute to call him ingrateful; that o∣dious Epithete no Being can deserve, but one that is degenerated into a Devil, that has broke through all that is modest and ingenuous, that is tender and apprehensive in Humane Na∣ture. But to sin on against the mercies of our Deliverer, to take pleasure in provoking him, who took pity on us in our low estate, and snatched us from the brink of ruine, is doubt∣less the highest Baseness and Ingratitude: for whilst we persist in our sinful courses, under the obligations of his Goodness, we render him the greatest Evil for the greatest Good, and re∣tort

his Favours with the basest Indignities. Whilst he is shielding us with his careful Pro∣vidence, we smite him with the Fist of Wick∣edness; and, like wretched Vipers, sting and wound him, whilst he is cherishing us in his Bosome. And is this a suitable answer, do we think, to the obligations he has laid up∣on us? O ungrateful Wretches that we are, do we thus requite the Lord our God? With what confidence can we pretend to any thing that is Modest and Ingenuous, while we thus persist to return the Favours of our God with such insufferable Affronts and Indignities? But then

(2.) Secondly, God's mercy in restoring us from any past Calamity, obliges us in Ju∣stice to amend our lives; for by restoring us, he acquires a new right to us. As he is the Author of our Beings, he hath an unalienable right and property in all the powers and fa∣culties of our natures: but every time he re∣stores us from an approaching Ruine, he doth, as it were, create us a new, he gives us our Lives and Beings afresh, and thereby renews his Title to us; and so many times as he pre∣serves us, so many Lives and Beings he giv∣eth us: and consequently, so many additional

rights and properties he acquires in us. And when he hath so many ways entitled himself to us, by creating, preserving, and restoring us, what monstrous injustice is it in us still to ali∣enate our selves from him, and list those pow∣ers and faculties into the service of his Ene∣mies, that are his by so many Titles? O un∣just that we are, thus to fight against God with his own Weapons, and affront his Au∣thority with the effects of his Bounty! for by persisting in Sin under his Preservations, we do not only rob him of our selves, in whom he hath such an unalienable Propriety, but also imploy our selves against him. We do not only purloin his Goods, but convert them into instruments of Rebellion against him, than which there is nothing can be more outragi∣ously injurious. O wretched man, that very Tongue with which thou blasphemest him, had e're this been silent for ever, had not he stretched out his hand and restored thee. Those Eyes, through which thou shootest the noisome Fire-balls of thy Lust, had been e're this clos'd up in endless darkness, had not he taken pity on thee, and snatched thee from the brinks of Ruine. Those Members of thine, which thou imployest as Instruments

of unrighteousness against him, had now been rotting in a cold Grave, had not his tender mercy preserved thee. And canst thou be such a barbarous Wretch, as not only to deny him the use of what he gives, but even to in∣jure him with his own Gifts? Consider, I be∣seech you, how heinously he must needs re∣sent such monstrous injustice and ingratitude. Hear but how he complains in a parallel case, Isa. 1. 2, 3. Hear O heavens, and give ear O earth, for the Lord hath spoken, I have brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The oxe knows his owner, and the ass his masters crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful na∣tion, a people laden with iniquity.

(3.) Thirdly and lastly, God's mercy in restoring us from past Calamities obliges us in Self-interest to reform and amend. For if we do not answer the end of God's deliverances, they will prove Curses instead of Benefits to us; and what he intended for a favour, will convert into an aggravation of our sin and pu∣nishment. The great end why God deliver∣ed us, was to win us by his Goodness to for∣sake our sins, and give us space to repent of them: for so the Apostle tells us, That the goodness and long-suffering of God leads us to repen∣tance,

in Rom. 2. 4. But if it doth not lead us thither, it will leave us in a far worse conditi∣on than it found us; i. e. 'twill leave us load∣ed with much heavier guilt, and bound over to much sorer punishment. For he that sins on under his Preservations, is only preserved to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath, and to prepare more Fuel for his future Flames. So that, if he still persist in his wickedness, it had been much better for him that God had let him alone to perish under his affliction. For then he had past more innocent into the other World, and suffered there a much cooler dam∣nation: Whereas now, whenever his wretch∣ed Ghost departs into Eternity, it will go at∣tended with a louder cry of guilts, with the cry of so many more wronged mercies and abused preservations; which will most fear∣fully inhance her Accounts, and inflame the Reckoning of her torments: so that when she comes into the other World among those miserable Spirits, that were snatched away in the common calamities from whence she was rescued and preserved, she will find her self plunged into a condition so much more intolerable, that she will wish a thousand times she had been snatched away with them,

that so she might never have had the opportu∣nity to contract those guilts that are the woful causes of it. Wherefore, as we would not make the mercies of God the causes of our misery, and turn our Preservations into Judg∣ments; we are highly obliged upon every re∣covery from past Judgments and Calamities, to reform and amend our lives.

And now what remains, but that we seri∣ously consider with our selves how much we are concerned in this Argument. We of this Generation are a people whom God hath ex∣ercised with wondrous Judgments and Deli∣verances. We have many of us lived to see the Bowels of our Native Country ripped up by an Unnatural War, the righteous Cause of the Prince and Father of our Country oppres∣sed by prosperous Villany; his innocent Blood, our Laws and Liberties and Religion sacrifi∣ced to the lust of Rebels and Usurpers. And when we had long suffered the consequent mi∣series and confusions, our merciful God took pity upon us, and after a long Exile, and without the charge and smart of War and Bloudshed, restored to us again the lawful Heir and Successor of our Crown, and, with him, our Liberties and Religion. This, one would

have thought, was enough to oblige a people of any ingenuity, and to indear to us for ever the Author of such a miraculous mercy. But when instead of being reclaimed by his Good∣ness we grew worse and worse, his anger was kindled again against us, and in his sore dis∣pleasure he breathed forth a destroying Pesti∣lence upon us, that in a few Months swept our Streets, unpeopled our Houses, and turn∣ed our Towns and Cities into Golgotha's. But in the midst of so many Deaths we were pre∣served, and under the Shield of that Provi∣dence were kept in safety, when ten thousand Arrows flew about our ears. And could we possibly resist the powerful charms of such an indearing, such a distinguishing kindness? Alas! Yes, we could, and did, and were so far from being conquered by it, that we grew more obstinate and rebellious. This incensed him against us anew, and with Fire-brands in its hands his vengeance came and kindled our Houses into a devouring flame, that with wondrous fury did spread and inlarge it self from House to House, and from Street to Street, till it had laid this famous Metropo∣lis of our Nation in a Heap of Ruines. But yet in the midst of Judgment, God remembred

Mercy; and when the unruly Element had baffled all our Arts, and triumphed over all our resistance, God put a Bridle unto his mouth, and stopped him in his full cariere: by which means a great part of us were preserved, and snatched as Fire-brands out of the Flame. And though many of us saw our Houses and Estates buried in the Ruines it made; yet we have lived to see, and that within a few years, the consumed Phoenix rise out of her Ashes in greater Glory and Lustre than ever. And now what have we rendred to the Lord for all these Mercies and signal Preservations? O un∣grateful that we are! We have turned his mercies into wantonness, and fought against him with his own favours: We have spent those lives which he hath preserved to us, in grieving, provoking and dishonouring him: We have turned those Houses he hath restored to us, into open Stages of pride and luxury: We have consumed those Estates which he hath repaired, in supplying our manifold rebellions against him. Thus with his own mercies we have waged War with him. What then can we expect, but that he should disarm us of those mercies which we have so foully mis-im∣ployed, and thunder his Judgments upon

us to avenge our abuse of them? For if he cannot melt our obstinacy with the Fire of Mercy; 'tis fit he should attempt to break it with the Hammer of Judgment: and if when he hath tryed lighter Judgments, they will not do; 'tis fit he should second them with great∣er and heavier. Which brings me,

2. To the second Reason of the Caution in the Text, Lest a worse thing come upon thee. i. e. Beware thou dost not continue stubborn under thy past Corrections, lest thou thereby provoke thy angry God to lay his hand yet heavier upon thee, and to scourge thee with Scorpions instead of Rods. For it is the usual method of the Divine Providence, when lesser Judgments prove ineffectual, to second and inforce them with greater. Thus he threatens to deal with Israel, Levit. 26. 21, 23, 24. And if ye walk contrary to me, and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, according to your sins. And if yet ye will not be reform∣ed by these things, but walk contrary to me, then will I walk contrary to you, and will punish ye yet seven times more for your sins. And just as he threaten∣ed, so it came to pass: For as they continued obstinate under God's Judgments; so he con∣tinued to plague them sorer and sorer, till at

last perceiving their Disease to be incurable, he cut 'em off, and utterly destroyed them. And in this method of punishing Sinners gra∣dually with sharper and sharper strokes, when they continue obstinate under correction, there is a great deal of Reason and Wisdom. For (1.) Their obstinacy swells and inhances their Guilt. (2.) It renders severe Punish∣ments necessary. And (3.) Those severer Punishments render their final Destruction more inexcusable. Of each of these briefly.

(1.) God punishes men with heavier, when they continue obstinate under lighter Judg∣ments; because their Obstinacy is a greater aggravation of their Guilt. For though our Reason indeed tells us, That Sin is the great∣est and most dangerous Evil in the World; yet Reason and Argument hath not compara∣bly that force to perswade men, as their own Sense and Experience hath: and they will be much sooner perswaded of the reality of any evil, by feeling the smart of it, than by a thou∣sand dry Arguments against it. And there∣fore though it be a great aggravation of our guilt, to sin against the clear convictions of our Reason; yet 'tis a much greater, to sin against the sharp and dolorous perceptions of our

own Sense and Experience. But now, while the Judgments of God are upon men, they feel the dire effects of their Sin; and therefore if notwithstanding this, they still persist in it, they sin against their Sense, as well as their Reason: which is, in effect, a plain defiance of God, and a daring him to do his worst with us. For this in effect is the sense and interpre∣tation of our Obstinacy: O God, I know thou art angry with my Sins, by the dire ef∣fects I now feel and experience; but be it known to thee, I despise thy Vengeance, and am resolved to sin on bravely in despight of all the Judgments thou canst arm against me. And what greater aggravation of sin can there be, than to repeat it with such a blasphemous contempt of the Most High? He is a daring Thief, we say, that will venture to rob with∣in sight of the Gallows; and he is as insolent a Sinner, that dares sin on in the face of Judg∣ment. It was look'd upon as a monstrous piece of contumacy in the Jews, that when God had only forewarned them by the Prophet, Be∣hold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you; return ye now therefore every one from his evil way: they returned this arrogant An∣swer, There is no hope, but we will walk every one

after his own devices, and we will do every one the imagination of his evil heart, Jer. 18. 11, 12. But how much more arrogant would it have been, had the Judgment which was only de∣vising against them been actually executed upon them! Such an Answer then had been a plain Declaration, That they were finally resolved to stand it out against God to the last, and to take no Quarter at his hands, though they perished for ever in their Rebellions. And when mens Guilts are thus inhanced, 'tis fit their Punishment should be proportiona∣ble: for otherwise they would be lookt upon as things that happen to men without any Pro∣vidential Disposal. But now, by regularly proportioning the Evils of Suffering to the E∣vils of Sin, and coupling lesser Evils with les∣ser Guilts, and greater with greater, and so equally balancing and adjusting the Punish∣ment to the Fault; God makes his arm bare to us, and gives us a plain demonstration, That the Evils we suffer are the Rods of his just displeasure.

(2.) God punishes men with heavier, when they continue obstinate under lighter Judge∣ments, because their obstinacy renders heavi∣er Judgments necessary. For Punishments

being designed by God for our Cure and Re∣covery, it's necessary they should be propor∣tioned to the degree and strength of our Di∣sease; and consequently, when the Disease of our Sin is grown stronger and more malig∣nant, the remedy of our Punishment should be made sharper and more operative. For when men are grown inveterately wicked, to attempt their reformation with smaller Judge∣ments, is to batter a Wall of Marble with a Pot-Gun. Such obstinate Rebels must be stormed with the loudest Artillery of Heaven, before they will listen to a Surrender. An Anvil will as soon yield to the Fillip of our Finger, as a hardened Sinner relent under soft and gentle Corrections. He must be alarm'd with some rousing Judgment, and lash'd till he bleeds again under the Rods of the Al∣mighty, or in all probability he will be un∣done for ever. His Disease is inveterate, and not to be removed but by the strongest Ca∣tharticks; and therefore to prescribe him a Course of gentle Physick, would be to try Experiments upon him, and vex and disturb him to no purpose. God therefore, to cure the folly and obstinacy of Sinners, is many times fain to treat them with rigour and severity,

when he finds the mild and gentle methods of his Providence defeated by them. But first usually he tries the softer and more grateful Remedies, being unwilling to grieve and af∣flict his Creatures, when there is any other way to recover them. But when softer will not do, 'tis Mercy in him to apply seve∣rer; and his last most commonly are the seve∣rest, these being the Causticks, as it were, which he is fain to apply to our Lethargick Souls, when no other means will awake and recover us.

(3.) And lastly, God punishes men with heavier, when they continue obstinate under lighter Judgments, to render their final de∣struction more inexcusable if they won't be re∣claimed. For when God's Threats will not awake men, he usually sends forth his smaller Judgments; which, like the Van-Couriers of an Army, are to begin the Skirmish, before he falls on with his main Body to ruine and de∣stroy them. Which method he observes, out of great pity to his sinful Creatures, whom he al∣ways threatens before he strikes, and always strikes before he destroys, that so he may give them timely and effectual warning to arm themselves by Repentance, to prevent their de∣struction:

and accordingly the first Judgment he lets off, he designs for a Warning Piece, to give notice of a second, and the second of a third, and all of that ruining and extermina∣ting Judgment which brings up the Rear, and is to conclude the Tragedy. So that his fore∣going Judgments do still give notice of the following, and these of the succeeding, and all of that final destruction in the War which closely pursues, and, unless we repent, will at last overtake us. And when our designed de∣struction approaches us step by step, and eve∣ry succeeding Judgment brings it nearer and nearer to us, so that we plainly see it coming on when 'tis yet at a distance from us, and yet will not stand out of its way, but despe∣rately meet, dare and defie it; how can we charge God with being either unjust or un∣kind to us, who hath taken such an effectual course to warn us of, and retrieve us from it? When he thus punish'd us more and more, as our Sin grew greater and greater, this, one would have thought, might have been suffici∣ent to terrifie us from our Sins; which, we plainly saw, were bringing such mischiefs upon us, and to forewarn us of that gloomy and fatal issue that attended them. By all which,

God doth abundantly manifest how extreme∣ly unwilling he is to destroy us. But if after all, we will force him to it, Men and Angels must confess, That he hath been infinitely just and good to us, and that the guilt of our blood lies upon our own heads.

And now if this be true, That when lesser Judgments will not reclaim men, God's usual Method is to second them with greater; how much reason have we of this Nation to expect and dread a succession of greater Judgments than those we have hitherto felt; considering how much we have degenerated under our past Corrections, and all along hardened our selves under the strokes of the Almighty? I do not love to abode ill things; and did not our own Sins prognosticate more mischief to us than any of those suspected Appearances that fill our heads with so many fears and jea∣lousies, I could easily secure my mind of the continuance of our happiness under far more threatning apprehensions. But, Alas! when I consider how obstinately we have persisted in our sinful ways, in defiance both of the Mercies and Judgments of Heaven; how, notwithstanding the advantage we have had of being better, as having been baptized into

the best Church, and educated in the purest Religion in the World: a Religion that advances no Temporal Design, no invention to enrich or aggrandize its Priests; that hath no other Aim or Project but only that blessed one of making men good here, and happy here∣after; that hath no Arts of Compremize be∣tween mens Lusts and Consciences, no Devices to supersede the Eternal Obligations of Piety and Vertue, but binds 'em fast upon our Consciences by all that we can hope or fear. When, I say, notwithstanding we have had this advantage of being good, by being instituted in such a Religion as this, I consider how we have grown worse and worse, as if we had re∣solved to give the World an Experiment how bad it's possible for men to be under the most effectual means of being good; I cannot but be fearful and jealous, That our multiplying our Guilts will at length provoke God to mul∣tiply his Judgments upon us. And O would to God, that for this reason we would all be jealous, that we would ground our fears upon our Sins, and Incorrigibleness under the past Judgments of God! then they would pro∣duce in us far different effects from what they have hitherto done; then, instead of firing us

with discontent against our Governours, and exciting us to Faction, Sedition and Clamour, they would turn all our animosities against our own wicked Lives; which are the Causes of all the Evils that we feel or fear: then would our Fears and Jealousies improve into Piety to∣wards God, Loyalty towards our Prince, and Charity and Justice towards one another, and render us constant to the Profession, and faithful as to the Practice of our holy Religion. Which blessed Effects could they once pro∣duce, then farewel to all Causes of Fears and Jealousies; then our God would soon disperse all the Clouds that hang over us, with the light of his Countenance, and render us a glorious, a happy and a prosperous people, and crown us with Everlasting Glory and Happiness hereafter.

FINIS.