The tenth Symptome. Security in a State of Uncertainty.

THe Times are then least free from pe∣rill, [ X] When there is a general Security upon the Spirits of men without any regular settlement of Church or State. When all things are much out of Order, and yet all sorts of men sit down secure in their pre∣sent state and condition. When notwith∣standing the great changes wrought by the Divine Providence in the world, men are generally so secure as if they had never seene, or were sure they never should see any change. Strange it is that a ship new∣ly tost with a Tempest, and very lately like to have been swallow'd up by the Seas, should saile securely among the yet unquiet Waves, when the cloudy heavens threa∣ten a new storme. Though the storme be past, it's no wisdome while men are yet at sea, to be secure in a Calme. Men are oft in most Danger when they are in least fear of Danger. Do not your Mariners observe, that the greatest Calme is oft the Fore∣runner of the greatest Storme? And have not the most dangerous Earth-quakes come unawares, after a still and quiet season, Page  322 and suddenly swallow'd up men and beasts, Houses and Cities? •owever, security, especially in an unsetled state of things, is a Symptome of great Danger, a Prognostick of perillous Times. How easily may a sleep∣ing man be slaine, as Alexander slew him whom he found asleep on the watch, and well he deserved so sudden a Death, who was so secure in a Time of Dan∣ger.

Strange it is that men should sit still in a mindlesse security, notwithstanding the great mutations, unexpected emergencies, various turnings of the wheeles of the Di∣vine Providence, which call aloud upon them to minde what great works God is doing in the world, and to meet him by Repentance, lest he should suddenly de∣stroy them in his wrath. Strange it is that men should be secure, when contrary winds blow hard upon the great Sea of the world, and the mighty Waves dash themselves in pieces one against another. When twins do strangely struggle together in the teeming womb of Time, and Providences seeme to carry in them Contradictions, to the beholders eye. When the Times are such as that which the Father describes, if we take his Observations in a Political sense. For sayes he, *This Time is full of Contrarieties, of Births and Deaths, Page  323 of the flourishing and plucking up of Plants, of curing and kil∣ling, of building up and breaking down of Houses, of weep∣ing and laughing, of mourning and dancing. Now when the Times are such, that the Rise of some, is the Fall of others; the Glory of some, is the Disgrace of others; the Joy of some, is the Grief of others; is it not strange that men should be secure? Yea, when the Rising of a few, shall be the Ruining of many; the Enriching of a few, shall be the Undoing of many; and the Rejoycing of a few, shall cause the Lamenting of many; are not the Times perillous, and is it not strange that men can be secure? When the Strong shall be made Weak, and the Rich shall become Poore, and the Honourable shall be esteemed Base; while those that were poore, and weak, and base, shall become Rich, and Strong, and great in the World, are not the Times perillous? May we not then say,† Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall? Is it not strange that at such a Time men can be secure? But then does Security much encrease the Danger, and make the Times the more perillous.

How oft have great Armies and Cities living in security, been suddenly surprized Page  324 and destroy'd by a small handful of men! Thus Gideon with three hundred men, wea∣ry, hungry and faint, went up against the two Kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmun∣na, and their Hosts, about fifteen thousand men, and vanquisht them, and took the two Kings prisoners: Thus they discom∣fited the whole Host; for its said, The Host was secure*.

Thus when the Danites spies came to Laish, and saw the People that were therein, how they dwelt carelesse, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure, and there was no Magistrate in the Land, that might put them to shame in any thing†; they made the Report hereof to their bre∣thren that sent them, and encouraged them to attempt the Invasion of them, saying, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the Land, and behold it is ve∣ry good: and are ye still? Be not slothful to go, and to enter to possesse the Land. When ye go, ye shall come unto a People secure, and to a large Land: for the Lord hath gi∣ven it into your hands: a Place where there is no want of any thing that is in the Earth*. So six hundred men of the Danites took to them their Armes, and came unto Laish, unto a People that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the Edge of the Sword, and burnt the City with Fire†, and so they took their Land unto themselves for an Inheritance. Thus security exposes Page  325 men naked to Danger, and opens a wide door to destruction. For when they shall say, Peace and Safety: then sudden De∣struction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with Childe, and they shall not e∣scape*. And therefore sayes the Lord, Woe to them that are† SECURE in Zion, and trust in the mountaine of Samaria, which are named chief of the Nations, to whom the House of Israel came: [as to places of Worship, Seats of Justice, Courts of their Kings.] Passe ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye unto Hemath the great; then go down to Gath of the Phili∣stines: [all of them once great and migh∣ty Cities, but now for their sinnes, de∣stroy'd and ruin'd: so that whatever they sometimes were, behold them now and see] be they better then these Kingdomes [of Judah and Israel?] or their Border great∣er then your Border? ye that [in your car∣nal security] put far away the Evil Day, [the Day wherein God will call you to account for all your miscarriages, and se∣verely punish you for all your provocati∣ons, though you now (that you may the more securely continue in your sinnes) put the Thoughts thereof far from you] and cause the Seat of Violence to come neare*. That is, sayes Diodate, You Chieftains, who put away far from you all thought and fear of Gods Judgements, and in the meane while joyne with, and draw near to Publick Ty∣ranny; Page  326 as if sinnes and their punishments could go the one without the other. But Gods Judgements will for certaine at length surprize secure sinners.

The Danger must needs be great when men live secure in the guilt of those sinnes and Provocations, whereby they have made God himself to become their Enemy. When men presume of safety, meerly because they prosper in their sinnes; and are settled on their Lees, because they are not yet em∣pty'd from vessel to vessel, in the executi∣on of the Lords Judgements; that think with themselves because God hath hither∣to let them alone, he will neither meddle nor make, in any thing that concernes them. Dreadful is the day of the Lords Wrath, which is at hand, when he will narrowly search out these secure sinners, and severely punish them for all their Pro∣vocations. For sayes the Lord,† It shall come to pass at that time [which is prefixt for their punishment] that I will search Jerusalem with Candles, and punish the men that are settled on their Lees; that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil. There∣fore their Goods shall become a Booty, and their Houses a Desolation: they shall also build Houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant Vineyards, but not drink the Wine thereof. The GREAT DAY of the LORD is near, and hasteth greatly, Page  327 even the Voice of the DAY of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That Day is a DAY of WRATH, a Day of trouble and distresse, a Day of Wastness and Desolation, a Day of Darknesse and Gloominesse, a Day of Clouds and thick Darkness, a Day of the Trumpet and Alarme against the fenced Cities, and a∣gainst the high Towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blinde men, because they have sinned against the LORD, and their Blood shall be pou∣red out as Dust, and their Flesh as the Dung. Neither their SILVER nor their GOLD shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORDS WRATH, but the whole Land shall he devoured by the fire of his Jealousie: for he shall make a speedy Rid∣dance of all them that dwell in the Land. Thus presumptuous and secure sinners may at length pluck down dreadful Judgements both upon themselves and the whole Land. When such sinners are to be found in Zion, the Times must needs be peril∣lous.

Before the persecution in Bohemia, the Churches there having had a long continu∣ed calme of Peace, in the plentiful enjoy∣ment of the Gospel and means of grace, men began to grow extreame loose in their Lives, and very secure in their sinnes, though they were guilty of many and great Provocations, insomuch as many pious Page  328 and prudent men began to presage that some horrible storme would suddenly arise, and some fearful tempest would fall upon them: And the Event answer'd the Ex∣pectation.

Now how perillous are those Times, wherein the Judgements of God are ready every moment to fall upon the Heads of a secure People! When every man minds his own private concernments, and little regards the Publick; when no man duly lays to heart the sinnes of the Times, or mournes for those Abominations whereby the Lord is provoked to destroy the Land; when no man* stirs up himself to take hold on the LORD, and call upon his holy Name; When Gods own people do not so take notice of the† Operation of his hands, do not so seriously minde his Providential Dispensations, and lay to heart the di∣stracted condition of his Church, as they ought; when there is not that watchfulness, that care and zeale for the cause of Christ, that frequency and seriousness in seeking of God that there ought to be; but an univer∣sal slumber and security is fallen upon the children of men, it's a sad Symptome of perillous Times.

Thus I have given you the Symptomes of perillous Times, and have now com∣pleted the Number I intended; But I shall adde one more by way of Corollary Page  329 and Conclusion, which carries in it a re∣spect to all the rest,