Inquiry for a Suitable Return for Continued Life In and After Time of Plague, Part 2 · Section 16
SECT. XVI.
The ſecond part of the firſt Direction,HAth the Plague been raging, and you yet alive? then be better than you were before. And here I eſpecially direct my ſpeech to thoſe that had the grace of God infuſed into their hearts, before this Judgement came upon us; that you would improve this providence by being better than you were before; if Drunkards and Swearers will not be better, yet be you; if ſenſualiſts and fleſh-pleaſers will not be better, yet be you. It may be the wicked will be worſe, but will you be ſo too? If Gods people are not mended by his Judgements, who will? and hath God ſwept away ſo many thouſands into another world, and ſhall there be no good effect, or fruit upon neither bad nor good? God forbid? London hath been a place of great proſperity, a City of Feaſting, and a place of plenty of outward enjoyments; but in this laſt Sickneſs, God hath filled it with dolorous complaints by the many breaches made by death in ſo many families and relations; God hath filled it with pale faces, and ſick perſons, and running ſores; God hath turned it into a place, an houſe of mourning. And Solomon ſaith, Eccl. 7.2. It is better to go into the houſe of mourning, than to the houſe of feaſting; for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart. Have not your houſes been houſes of mourning, ſome dead out of moſt houſes, and you are yet living; will you then lay it to your heart? What ſhould you lay to heart? Lay to heart the great Judgement that hath been amongſt you. Lay to heart the ſins that did provoke the Lord to lay his hand ſo heavy upon you. Lay to heart the goodneſs of God in preſerving you. The City hath been an houſe of mourning, but have you learned the leſſons that are to be learned in an houſe of mourning? Have you met ſo many dead Corpſe carried in the ſtreets? have you ſeen the living laboring to carry forth their dead, and yet not learned the leſſons that are to be learned in ſuch a place of mourning? Where one is dead in a family, that before was an houſe of mirth and gladneſs, it will turn it into an houſe of mourning and ſadneſs, much more, when many dead in one family; and this is the caſe of many families. God hath been teaching you many things at ſuch a time, but is your leſſon taken out? Oh, what dull Scholars are we in the School of Chriſt that muſt thus be ſcourged to learn our leſſons, and yet have not done it? Conſider, when God hath turned London, by reaſon of their dead, into an houſe of mourning, he hath been teaching you ſuch things as theſe.Ten Leſſons to be learned in this City that hath been a great houſe of mourning.
I. Verity of divine threatnings.God hath been teaching you the Infallible verity of divine threatnings. God threatned our firſt Parents, Gen. 2.17. That if they ſinned, they ſhould certainly dye, they and their poſterity. This threatning was made ſome thouſands of years ſince, and it hath been made good in all generations. Length of time makes not voide the threatnings of God; men read Gods threatnings, but do not believe them, nor fear them, nor tremble at them. Many will not practically believe that they ſhall dye, though they ſin, and will not at all believe they ſhall be damned, though they ſin; but we ſee that men that have ſinned muſt dye, and wicked men ſhall feel that they ſhall be damned according to Gods threatnings, but you have learned the truth of Gods threatnings in this, and they are as true in all other reſpects; therefore do you that are Gods people, learn the truth of Gods threatnings, when he ſaith the Drunkard ſhall not inherit the Kingdom of God; and let this move your heart to pity them that are ſuch, that have a threatning of God, which is of undoubted verity, as a flaming ſword ſtanding in their way to keep them out of the Paradiſe of God, and be thankful unto God that you are none of theſe. Do you learn the truth of Gods threatning, when he ſaith, the hypocrite and unbelieving ſhall be caſt into the lake that burnes with fire and brimſtone, Rev. 21.8. and pity and pray for them that are ſuch, and bleſs God that you are none of them, and ſo are taken from under the curſe of that threatning.
II. Deſert of ſin.In this great houſe of ſo great mourning, God hath been teaching you what are the Wages of ſin. You have often heard that death is the Wages of ſin, Rom. 6.23. The Greek word foreign there uſed, is a military term, ſignifying the wages that is due to ſouldiers, intimating that death is as due to a ſinner for his ſervice to the Devil, as pay is to a Souldier for his ſervice to his General; it comes from the word foreign, which ſignifieth properly, all kind of pleaſant meats that may be prepared or made ready by fire, ſo that all the delicates, and dainty diſhes that ſin prepares for ſinners, hath a deaths head in them. Do you learn this, and by this learn to hate ſin more than you did before, and watch againſt it more than you did before.
III. Mans mort…l…ty.In this great houſe of ſo great mourning, God hath been teaching you the certainty of mens mortality. You have ſeen that this is the way of all fleſh, Joſh. 23.14. 1 King. 2.2. and therefore learn to live as mortal, dying men ſhould live; you have ſeen that thouſands have been carryed from their houſes to their graves: And, Oh what manner of perſons ought you to be in all manner of holy converſation, after ſuch a ſight as this?
IV. The worlds vanity.In this great houſe of ſo great mourning, God hath been teaching you the worlds vanity. You have ſeen what miſerable comforters riches are to men in time of Plague, and at an hour of death; you have ſeen death haling men from that which they had ſet their hearts upon; you have ſeen death dragging men from their riches, and from their pleaſures, and hath forced them to come away to the Bar of God, and leave their riches behinde them, and their pleaſures behind them. You have ſeen that riches could not go with them into another world, but left them in a time of need. You have ſeen that thoſe that loved riches, could finde no comfort in them when they ſtood in greateſt need of comfort. You have ſeen that what men have been laboring for, and ſcraping together all the time of their health and life, death hath come and ſcattered in a moment. Oh how weaned ſhould you be from the world, and the riches and the pleaſures thereof, after ſuch a ſight as this! Oh how much leſs ſhould you afford the world, of your heart and affections, of your love, deſire, and delights that is ſo unkind to dying men, even unto thoſe that ſerved it moſt, and loved it moſt. Oh do you learn to deal ſo with the world, as you have ſeen the world to deal with others, i. e. turn it out of your heart with as little love and pity to it, as you have ſeen the world turn its followers out of it, and ſhake them off, notwithſtanding all their entreaties to abide and ſtay therein. The world may now entreat you, that it might ſtay in your heart, and live in your love; but hearken you no more to its entreaties, than it hath hearkened unto others, and you muſt expect the world ere long will deal with you, as it hath dealt with others; therefore part with the world, before you leave the world.
V. The uncertainty of all relati…ns.In this great houſe of ſo great mourning, God hath been teaching you the ſhort continuance of all relations: you have ſeen death taking Huſbands from their Wives, Parents from their Children, Miniſters from their people, and ſo Wives from their Husbands, Children from their Parents, People from their Miniſters. Thoſe that had but one onelyonly Son. Plague and Death hath ſtripped them of him, and teared one relation out of the others boſome; fain they would have kept them, but death would not ſuffer them; they wept and cryed, but death would not have pity on them, nor hear their cries, nor regard their tears, but ſaid, this is your childe, but I muſt have him; this is your husband, but I muſt ſeize upon him; God hath given me a Commiſſion, and I always uſe to do according to the Commiſſion I receive from God, if God will not ſpare you, in vain you look for pity at mine hands. I (ſaith death) am blinde and cannot ſee the beauty of your childe, that hath drawn out your heart ſo much towards him, I am deaf and cannot hear your pleadings for the continuance of your childe, or husband, or friend; if God doth not hear you, I cannot, and if God doth not ſpare and pity you, I will not, therefore I will ſmite him, and ſtick my arrow in his heart, and dippe it in his life-blood, and take him from you. Oh how many have thus experienced the dealings of death! and you have ſeen it, and will not you learn to ſit looſer in your affections towards your neareſt and deareſt relations? You have ſeen death hath ſeized upon them that were moſt beloved by their friends, and perhaps did therefore do it, becauſe they were over loved; and took up too much of that love, and that delight which ſhould have been more, and would have been better placed upon God. Your leſſon then is ſet down by the Apoſtle, for I would not teach you by rott, nor without the book of Gods word, 1 Cor. 7.29. But this I ſay, Brethren, foreign When they ſet forth to Sea, V…la da…t, when they have done their voyage, vela contra. hunt.the time is ſhort, or rolled up, or contracted; a metaphor taken from a piece of cloth that is rolled up, onelyonly a little left at the end; ſo ſome. As Mariners near the Haven winde up their ſails, or make them leſs. When the ſails of time are thus contracted, it is a ſign we are near the Harbor of eternity. It remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none, Verſ. 30. And they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not; and they that buy as though they poſſeſſed not, and they that uſe this world as not abuſing it, for the faſhion of this world paſſeth away.
VI. Humility.In this great houſe of ſo great mourning, God hath been teaching you the leſſon of humility. How many humbling ſights have you ſeen? every Corpſe that you have ſeen hath been an humbling ſight. It may be you have been proud of your beauty, but have not you ſeen that beauty vaniſheth away when death comes; that beautiful bodies by the Plague and Death have been turned into loathſome bodies? and thoſe that you have loved and been delighted to look upon, you have been glad to have them buried out of your ſight, when once dead. How many open Graves have you ſeen, and thoſe that have been nice and curious of their comely bodies, have been interred, and given to be meat for worms, and to be a prey to rottenneſs and putrefaction. Have you ſeen any difference betwixt the poor and the rich, be…wixt that body that was fed with courſer fare, and that which was nouriſhed with more delicate diſhes? Have you not ſeen bodies that were made out of duſt, been turned to the duſt, to be turned into duſt, and will you be proud after God hath taken ſuch an effectual courſe to teach you to be humble?
VII. Parity in …t …d afflictions.In this great houſe of ſo great mourning, God hath been teaching you, that all things fall alike to all, that the wiſe muſt dye as well as the fool, and the good muſt dye as well as the bad. And though God hath promiſed [conditionally] preſervation from the Plague unto his people, which hath been literally fulfilled to ſome of his, yet ſome of his have fallen in this general mortality, God hath been teaching of you, that though grace doth deliver from eternal death, yet not from temporal; though from the ſting, yet not from the ſtroke of death, that you (though godly) ſhould be preparing for your own departure out of this world.
VIII. Difference …n the …anner.In this great houſe of ſo great mourning, God hath been teaching you the difference between the death of the wicked and the death of the righteous, that though good and bad alike have dyed, yet they have not dyed alike. But as there was a difference in their life, ſo God did make a difference in their death: Have not you ſeen ſome wicked dye without any ſenſe of ſin, or fear of God, or Hell? and ſome with terrors in their conſciences? and have you not ſeen ſome godly dye with peace and comfort, and giving good evidences of their hope of a better life? that God hath filled them with joys that they were going to their Fathers houſe? and that the plague and death had not ſo much in them to terrifie and affright, as the hopes of heaven had to comfort and ſupport their hearts. It hath been ground of great rejoycing to hear: how many of Gods people in this plague did dye with joy and comfort? And ſhould not y…u by ſuch a ſight as this, be quickened in your ſervice unto God, and ever while you live look upon Religion as a real thing, that letteth in ſuch real comforts into their hearts, who had real grace, in ſuch time of real diſcouragements; after ſuch a ſight as this, never think it a vain thing to ſerve God (though you muſt dye) who comforts his peoples ſouls in the very gates of death?
IX. Folly of delays.In this great houſe of ſo great mourning, God hath been teaching you the folly of delaying in the great concernments of another world; you have ſeen many Drunkards did delay to repent and turn to God, but when death once came to Arreſt them, it would not ſtay till they had done their work. Have not you ſeen many have been ſurprized by death; that thoſe that thought they would repent hereafter, and talked how they would mend hereafter, are gone down into the grave before that time was come? and wil not you after ſuch a ſight as this be quickned to make more haſte in doing of the work that God expecteth at your hands? Have not you ſeen ſome that have talked what they would do the next year, laid in the duſt before this year is paſt and gone? God hereby would have you learn not to boaſt of to morrow, becauſe you know not what may be in the womb of another day, nor what to morrow may bring forth, Prov. 27.1. God would have you learn ſo to number your days that you may apply your hearts to wiſdom, Pſal. 90.12. God would have you learn to do your duty quickly, and to do it with all your might, becauſe it will be too late, when you are rotting in your Grave, Eccleſ. 9.10.
X. Mortification.In this great houſe of ſo great mourning, God hath been teaching you the great leſſon of Mortification; you have ſeen how many dyed by ſin, and ſhould not you be now dead unto ſin, you ſhould now in good earneſt labor for the death of ſin. O be the death of your paſſion, and be the death of your luſts, and be the death of your worldlineſs, eſpecially be the death of your beloved ſin, God forbid that ſin ſhould be found alive in your heart after ſuch a time of death to ſo many thouſand perſons. Are ſo many dead and rotting in their Graves, and ſhall not ſin be dead and mouldring in your hearts.
Theſe be ſome of the leſſons God in his late providence hath been inſtructing you in, and if you can now do theſe duties better than before, it is ſome ſign that you are better than you were before, But yet becauſe ſo great a providence ſhould not be ſleightly paſſed over, with but a little Improvement, I ſhall take occaſion to preſs you to be much better than you were before; before, God ſaw a great deal of ſin in his own people, and amongſt Profeſſors, much cenſoriouſneſs, and raſh and uncharitable judgeing one of another, want of love and affection, a great deal of pride in Apparel, pride in Diet, pride in Furniture of houſes, pride of Beauty, pride of Parts and Gifts; and God hath been ſtaining the pride of all Families therein. God ſaw a great deal of neglect of Family Duties in Profeſſors houſes, and cuſtomary, cold and dead performance of them in others, and doth it not concern all to ſee where they have failed, and do ſo no more?