A Caveat to Prevent Future Judgments, Part 6
Leſt a worſe thing come vntounto thee.
THis laſt reaſon goeth off with a threatning ſhot. It hath a full charge, telling the man whom Chriſt healed, that if he did ſo againe, that is, ſo as before, he ſhould not carry it ſo eaſily: or then, it ſhould bee worſe with him then euer, God hauing an yron rod to breake thoſe, whom his rod of correction cannot make better. And indeed, the Lord hath many iudgments in his ſtorehouſe that can neuer be emptied. If a man will not bee ſaid vntounto by one or two warnings, he can ſend vntounto him by his great ordnance. If fickneſſe will not amend a land, if deare markets cannot, there is a worſe thing behind. And ſo we ſee, when one affliction can do nothing,Doct. God will ſend many and worſe: if a light correction will not moue vsus, he hath a heauier rod: and when one cannot, many ſhall. This is a plaine caſe, as appeareth, Leuit. 26.18. where Moſes threatning, or God by him, obdurate ſinners, tells them, if they will not keepe their hearts ſofter and more ſteepe in obedience to him; hee will puniſh them ſeuen times more, that is, more and further, and that according to their ſins. The like is threatned againſt the like perſons by the ſame Moſes, Deut. 28.58.59. where, in the perſon of the Lord, the obſtinate and ſinners are told, that they ſhall hauehave, as their purchaſe and merit, many ſtrokes and wonderfull, yea wonderrouſly durable, if they perſiſt to ſinne againſt that great and fearefull name, the Lord their God. In the next verſe the 60. he holds on with more. And in Pſal. 32.10. the Prophet ſpeakes not of few ſorrowes, as crooks, to pull in the wicked when they offer to breake from God, but of many. I ſay therfore, go as farre as thou wilt, if thou go from God, he can fetch thee againe from any of all the quarters of the earth, with many, yea innumerable ſorrowes: the reaſons: Reaſons
Euen our earthly Parents, where a little correction twenty: and ſhall our heauenly Father doe leſſe, when gentler meanes can doe nothing? Secondly, for this, the Lord hath his ſtore-houſe of iudgements, and a whole treaſury of Plagues, Deut. 32.34. hee hath a hammer to breake the ſtone, Ier. 23.29. and a rod of yron to breake the horrible ſinner, Apoc. 2.27. Hee will bee a moth to Ephraim, and ſo conſume him inſenſibly, by little and little, Hoſea 5.12. or if the matter require more haſte, a Lyon to teare him quickly, verſe 14. alſo to the houſe of Iudah, rottennes, which comes by degrees, verſe 12. or if more ſpeede muſt bee vſed, a Lyons whelpe that makes quick worke, goes away with the ſpiole, and none can reſcue it, verſe 14. In the booke of the Iudges; firſt, God kindles the fire of his wrath, ſelling his people (their ſin is the price) into the hands of a ſtrange Lord, but eight yeeres, Iudg. 3.8. after, hee makes the fire greater; and they ſerued Eglon (King of Moah) eighteene yeeres, verſe 14. and after; and laſtly, the fire was great indeed; for, he deliuered them into the hands of the Philiſtims 40. yeeres, Iudg. 13.1.
An inſtruction to Chriſtians, Vſe 1 when they feele ſorrow after ſorrow, one croſſe after another, a greater after a leſſer, to lay all vponupon their owne intractableneſſe vnderunder Gods gentler hand: for, what maruell where we renew our ſins that God ſhould renew his Plagues: & where we vye, there he ſhould reuy, and come ouer vsus with the ſame hand? that he ſhould puniſh with increaſe, where we increaſe the ſinne? and fetch his blowes often, when wee often ſinne againſt him? yet (as one ſaith) there is great difference betweene Gods children, and no children, in this manner of dealing: for, Gods children, are firſt called by the Word: if that doe nothing, or little, they ſhall be called by ſome workes of his iuſtice in others: or, if they profit not that way, they ſhall feele ſmart themſelues; firſt, by light croſſes and ſeldome, and after by ſharper, and more often: and, if yet they abide in ſin, they ſhall be fetcht out, as out of the fire with ſtrong and long afflictions: but for ſuch as are no children but baſtards, they muſt look for one breaking after another till their necks be broken: Plague ſhall follow Plague, till the laſt be executed, as vponupon Pharaoh. God will deale with them as wiſe fathers doe with graceleſſe children: he wil lay away the rod, and put them out of dores. And here, let vsus (the people of this Kingdome) take heed: the Plague hath beene among vsus, and hot in London: if ſo many warnings will not ſerue, what ſhall we looke for, but that God ſhould lay away the rod of our correction, ſaying; wherefore ſhould yee be ſmitten any more, Eſay 1.5. and ſo put vsus out of the dores of his kingdome for euer? if the fire of Peſtilence cannot purge vsus, there is a fire in hell will burne vsus: ye that hauehave eſcaped out of the fire of Peſtilence, conſider; that yee goe not out of one fire, and another fire conſume you, Ezek. 15.7.
An admonition to Chriſtians, Vſe 2 to pittie themſelues by amendment betimes: the longer they put off, the more they muſt ſuffer: and what wiſeman will not ſaue his skinne as much as he may? if he receaue one blow, he wil ward the ſecond, and arme againſt the third. Now, apply this to thy ſelfe: doth God lightly humble thee? that ſhould make thee, or ſhould not that make thee, when thou art vp againe, to looke better to thy waies, and to thy feet to ſet them in Gods teſtimonies. O remember this yee, that riſe from ſickneſſe to ſinne, not to amendment: hereby ye do but make worke for another, and ſmarter Viſitation. A man ſhould come out of ſickneſſe, as gold out of the fornace, which is purer by it, & more ſhining: but many come out worſe then they went in, who are not Gods gold but Satans droſſe: afflictions, ſicknes, pouerty, paine are the portions of ſin from God, and rods of nurture in the hands of a louing Father: but if the rod of nurture better vsus not, rather if it make vsus worſe, what hope of vsus more then of Salomons foole, who being ſore and often beaten for his fault (it was of drunkenneſſe) would follow it yet more? Pro. 23.35. Of ſuch blockiſhnes and priuation of ſenſe we reade in the wicked Iſraelites; who though ſtrangers deuoured their ſtrength; and this was no ſmall affliction; yea, though gray haires were here and there vponupon them, and this was no new affliction; yet they knew nothing, neither ſought the Lord for all this, Hoſea 7.9. no rod, no calamitie could doe any good vponupon them: were theſe wiſe for themſelues? or are they wiſe, that will fall a ſleepe in a regardles ſecurity, while they are in the heart of the ſea, and far from any ſhore, as did Salomons drunkard, who therefore might hauehave periſhed without all remedy? So for the careles and incorrigible in the hot brunt of Londons laſt Mortality, what wiſdome in them, that they had no better regard; ſeeing that by ſuch ſenſleſneſſe of ſo fearefull and great a iudgement from God, they purchaſe more ſtrokes to the fooles backe, which cannot but bee ſo, when one ſtroke, and ſuch a one, can ſo little moue them, or neuer a whit?
To hauehave thirty and eight yeeres ſickneſſe, and all that long time, to keepe in bed, muſt needs bee a grieuous chaine: yet Chriſt tells this Man of a worſe thing in chaines vnderunder darknes, binding to damnation: for ſuch a matter I take this worſe thing to be.Doct. And then we learn hence, that corporall paines here, ſhould breed care in vsus to preuent eternall in the helles: for, therefore the Lord iudgeth vsus here, 1. Cor. 11.32. and therefore, when we ſuffer here, & but for a very ſhort time, (or rather no time, compared to time endles,) in the ache of a tooth or anguiſh of other member; and yet crie out as if we ſuffered, or ſhould ſuffer eternally: how ſhould this put vsus in remembrance & feare of that place where, & thoſe torments wherein the wicked and all that forget God, doe, and muſt ſuffer world without end in euer burning flames of hell? ſhould not ſuch an occaſion ſet ſpurres of care into vsus to auoid the worſe thing, when the thing before was ſo grieuous and tormenting: the reaſons: Reaſons
Good reaſon it ſhould be ſo; for otherwiſe GOD ſhould looſe that labour, and we our ſoules. Secondly, then is the fitteſt ſeaſon: for, when can a man ſo fitly remember a ſmart, as when he ſmarts? and when ſo well minde the torments of hell, as when, by reaſon of torments like thoſe, he can at no hand, minde and remember with pleaſure the pleaſures of ſin that bring downe to hell?
A reproofe of thoſe who minde nothing in ſickneſſe but health; nor in priſon but liberty; Vſe nor in paine but eaſe. They neuer labour, with bodily health to get ſauing health; nor with liberty from priſon, the liberty of Sons; nor with the eaſe of the fleſh, eaſe and reſt from their labours in another world: their happineſſe ſtands (all of it) in their riches, their life in their abundance, and their reioycings in the fauour of men: all their care is, not to preuent miſery for hereafter, but to ſtore themſelues with ſome fooliſh happines now: where Dauid yet in the higheſt flote of his kindomes, felt his ſins as a mountaine, & the pardon of them, as the greateſt eaſe worldly, Pſal. 32.1.2. to be ſhut vp in ſin, hee eſteemed it greater thraldome, then to be ſhut vp in priſon: and the fauour of God he deſired aboue all fauours here, Pſal. 4.6. This vſe he made of his ſicknes cauſed by his ſin; the paine of it put him in minde of worſe paines, and more intollerable, which was his benefit thereby for our imitation. I pray God the like mind may be found in thoſe, whether rich or poore, at whoſe hearts the Lord knocked by this laſt calamitie of Peſtilence; and I pray God it may bee found in all of vsus to our amendments: Amen.
ECCLESIAST. 7.13.
Conſider the Worke of God.
FINIS.
End of the text · Robert Horne, A Caveat to Prevent Future Judgments (1626)