Sin Stigmatized, Part 1 · Section 60
§ 60.
THere be three things which uſually ſucceede one another in the Church; The Plague hath wrought little or no reformation.great bleſſings, great ſinnes, great puniſhments; yea, a fourth was wont to follow in former ages, namely, great ſorrow of heart, great lamentation and woe, and upon the necke of that, great favour and mercy. As in the booke of Iudges, and elſewhere, what a continued circle doe we finde, of Peace, Sinnes, Iudgements, Repentance, Deliverances: the converſation of Gods people with the wicked, tainted them with ſinne, their ſinnes drew on judgments, the ſmart of the judgment moved them to repentance, upon their repentance followed ſpeedy deliverance, and upon their peace and deliverance they ſinned againe; thus it was ever, and in every age of the world, but in this her decrepit and doting age, in which Religion is become contemptible, and wherein it is a ſhame to be ſtrict and holy, in the ſervice of God. But now let God ſend never ſo many and great Iudgments, one upon the neck of another, as Sword, Famine, Peſtilence, yea, one peſtilence after another; yet no repentance, no reformation. Witneſſe theſe two yeares ſickneſſe together, and the yeere 1625. for of ſo many millions of notorious ſinners as were in this land; how many, or where are any, who from thence hitherto have left off their drinking, ſwearing, whoreing, prophaning of the Lord's day, cheating, &c. can you name tenne, yea or two of a thouſand, which you partly know? No certainely, for hee that was a drunkard before, is a drunkard ſtill; hee that was a ſwearer before, is a ſwearer ſtill; hee that was filthy before, is filthy ſtill, &c. though ſuch a Judgement in a different age, would have cauſed an univerſall repentance and reformation, as the like (onelyonly threatned, not executed) did in the Ninivites. Ionas 3.
But what doe I ſpeake of their repentance and reformation; Yea, many are the worſe.when they will ſcoffe at, jeere and perſecute any, that ſhal but refuſe to run with them to the ſame exceſſe of ryot? What doe I ſpeake of their being the better, when they are much the worſe for this judgement? for they are not onelyonly the ſame they were, drunk every day, and ſcoffe at thoſe who will not; nor only ſweare and blaſpheme, as frequently as ſpeake; nor only whore, quarrell, and the like (when thouſands dye in a weeke, as formerly they have done) but much more abundant, if they have where withall; for, as ſome have noted, the Tavernes and Ale-ſhops (of which too many are the Thrones of Sathan) were never ſo thwackt, as in thoſe times, when the ſtreets were almoſt empty, eſpecially thoſe houſes which had newly, or lately beene viſited; and which was worth the obſerving, each houſe, if not each company, had muſick aurium tenùs up to the eares; ſo the Fidlers faſted not; what ever the poore did: yea, many poore ſnakes, that at other times never dranke better than Whey, could now ſwim in Wine.
I have my ſelfe ſeene, The Tavernes fullest, when he …reets are emptieſt.when the Bills were at the higheſt, even Bearers, who had little reſpite from carrying dead Corpſes to their graves, and many other of the like ranke, go reeling in the ſtreets. Neither were men ever ſo impudent and audacious in roaring and declaring their ſinnes in the open ſtreets, as then. Thus they declared their ſinnes as Sodome.
Neither hath this lingring viſitation either found or made them better, it is no rare thing to ſee men, newly recovered of the Plague (at leaſt when the ſword of the deſtroying Angell hath newly ſwept away the greateſt part of their families, and they have but newly taken breath from thoſe noyſome roomes where they have been a long time pent up, grow more vicious and inſolent, more abominably licentious and wicked then they were before, ſo little are they moved with this grievous judgement.