Batteries Upon the Kingdom of the Devil, Chapter 4
The Door of Hope: OR, An Antidote against the Sin of Despair, in them that have been most guilty of other Sins.
EZEK. xxxvii. 2.
Behold, they say, our Hope is lost. foreign
IT is mentioned as the Special Design which calls for the Study and Labour of Gospel-Ministers, in Luke 3.4, 5. To prepare the way of the Lord, that every Valley may be filled, and every Mountain may be brought low. When the Lord is endeavouring the Conversion of sinful Fallen Men, he finds divers unhappy Obstacles lying in His way; and His way is particularly incommoded by both Mountains and Vallies obstructing the Efficacies of His Word upon their Souls. There are the Mountains of Presumption, on which dark Mountains not a few unwary men stumble and perish for evermore. Those Mountains, I hope, are brought low among you. But there are also the Vallies of Despair, which endanger the Souls of Men; many are those that lie in these dead…y shading Vallies, there pining away in their Iniquities. To Fill those Vallies with Counsels and Comforts fetch d from the Field of the Scriptures, must be the Attempt of our Discourse at this time; and the Text now rea… will do us good Service in it.
Ezekiel is by one of the Ancients well called, A Beholder of great things. Truly, 'tis a great thing which in this Chapter he is Beholding of. This Hieroglyphical Prophet, for so likewwise have Learned Men styled him, in the Beginning of this Chapter, Beholds the Restitution of Israel, exhibited under the Hieroglyphic of a Resurrection from the Dead. Israel was once Restored from the Babylonish Captivity; Israel shall yet be more wonderfully, and gloriously Restored from the Roman Captivity; both of these Re torations to that Body Politick afford a Type of what our Natural Bodies will have experience of, at the Resurrection of the Just. But Spiritual Mysteries are also couched in this Admirable Prophecy. All the Articles of it are fulfilled in the Conversion of a Sinner unto God. In that marvellous Work, a Dead Soul comes to be Raised, Shaped, Clothed, and Quickened; therein also the Mystical Body of Christ is compleated, just according to the measures that are taken here. And therefore observing only that Aspect of my Text, you may discern in it the Circumstances of unconverted or unrenewed Men; they are desperate Circumstances. We have two things before us:
First, Their Condition. Their Bones are dried; they lie in a Grave of Sin and Wretchedness, and they may sigh, I am Free among the Dead. They cannot stir, they cannot mind, they cannot speak, they are full of all Corruption and Rottenness, and consumed by the Worms of Guilt in the Sepulchers of Unbelief.
Secondly, Their Conclusion; Which is to be reckoned not only among the Effects, but also among the Causes of their sad Condition. They say, Our hope is lost; a dismal Despair siezes on their Spirits; which as it Afflicts them, so likewise it Restrains them. It seems mention'd as the Grave stone, which helps to keep them in the Grave of their Calamities. Whence the Doctrine before us, is,
DOCTRINE. A sinful and woful Despair is one of the unhappy En…anglements, which Lo…t men often lye under the power of.
The Lost Souls of Men come to be yet more Lost, by their Apprehensions that their Hopes are Lost. Their being without Hope is that which more than any thing pushes them beyond Help.
PROP. I.
All Men by Nature are Lost Men; or, to continue the Figure in our Tex…, All Men are Dead Men. We must Reflect upon this, because here lies the Pinch in the Despair which we are to treat about. The Souls of Men by sin are plunged into all the Miseries of Death. All Unconverted Men may say, Our Bones are Dried; they may say, Our Souls are Dead. When Lazarus had been Four Days in the Belly of the Earth, his Body was not in a more forlorn estate than is the Soul of every Unconverted Man. His Case is that in Eph. 2.1. Dead in Trespasses and Sins. For, First, A Sentence of Death is Passed upon all Adam's Children by the Judgment of God. Man had no sooner …ned, but from the Mouth of God, there came that fearful Doom upon him, in Gen. 2.17. Thou shalt surely die. He now stands obliged in most indissoluble and indispensable Bonds, to suffer all the Plagues which the Justice and Vengeance of the Almighty God may inflict upon him. And then, That Sentence of Death, is in a dreadful measure already executed upon every Man that is not brought home to God. 'Tis said in John 3.36. He that Believeth not, but the Wrath of God Abiding on him. The Devil, who is the Angel of Death, has the Sinner in his cruel Hands; the Executioners of Gods terrible Wrath, are cutting and mangling of him every day. They serve him, as the Philistines did poor Sampson; they bind him, they blind him, and they make him grind for them, in the House of Death. He is become the Captive of the Mighty, and the Prey of the Terrible Ones. Moreover, This undone Man is utterly unable to Help himself out of this undone State. And there is a concurrence of two things to this Lamentable Incapacity of the Ungodly Man. First, The Man has no Price to pay. He cannot Buy off the Punishment that Sin has devoted him unto: Suppose he could now begin to live a sinless Life, yet that would not cross the old Score; the Debts of Satisfaction owing to the Holy God for the many former Transgressions and Violations of his Holy Law, would not thus be cancelled. The Law calls for no less than an Innocent Nature, and an uninterrupted Obedience, which none of us all, after our First sin, can pretend unto; it saies in Gal. 3.10. Cursed is he that continues not. But besides, the Man cannot but be sinning, and sinning every day. And what has he, wherewith to make amends for the Wrongs done to that God, who is of purer Eyes than to behold Evil and who cannot look upon Iniquity? The Sinner has Nothing to pay; and hence in Rev. 3.17. he is called, A poor and a naked Man. The Infinite God makes this Demand, Let my stained Glory be Repaired, or thou shalt lie in the Fiery Prison of my Wrath for ever. But the Man has nothing to offer by way of Reparation unto God; though he should spend all his Dayes in Tears and Prayers, and the most prodigious Mortifications, what would they signifie? 'Tis confessed in Ps. 130.3. O Lord, If thou shouldst mark Iniquity, Lord, who should stand? Secondly, The Man has also no Power to Employ. He cannot shake off the Slavery which he is by Sin Engaged in. Hence he is in Rom. 5.6. said to be, without strength. The Call of the Lord Redeemer unto him is, Look to me and be saved; but alas! he is without strength. The Call is Come to me and have Rest; but alas! he is without strength. It was an humbling Expostulation used unto them, in John 5.44. How can ye believe? 'Tis to be used unto every Natural Man; How canst thou escape the Drudgeries of thy Hellish Task masters? How canst thou avoid the violent Oppressors of thy Soul? How canst thou come to love and serve God? The Answer, is, It cannot be done, except the Son make him free.
PROP. II.
There is a sinful and woful despair which lost M…n are liable unto. Because they see no help for their Souls in themselves, they are apt to think, there is no hope for their Souls any where else. They rashly conclude, There is no hope that ever we shall come to live in the favour and the fellowship of God. All hopes of having their Souls brought into the glorious liberty of the Children of God, seem Romantick and Ridiculous things unto them. 'Tis said of all unconverted Men, in Eph. 2.12. they are without Christ, and having no hope. 'Tis true of all unregenerate Men, that they have no ground of hope to be saved from the perdition which they have plunged themselves into, while they remain unregenerate. 'Tis said of the Lord Jesus Christ, in 1 Tim. 1.1. He is our hope. The Unregenerate Man knows of no Interest that he has in the Mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ; and therefore he hath no hope. But of some Unregenerate it is further true, that they have no sense of hope to be saved. And these are of two sorts. There are some on the one side hopeless, because they are thoughtless. They can't be said to have any hope of beholding the Face of God in Righteousness, and being satisfied with his likeness; or any hope of rising at the last Day to be for ever with the Lord. For they never thought of such things as these. 'Tis said of the stupid wicked Man in Psal. 10.4. God is not in all his thoughts; and hence, Life is not in all his hopes. But on the other side, there are some hopeless, because they count themselves helpless. They have such an exquisite sense of the Difficulties which their Sins have reduced them into, that they cannot imagine their case capable of any redress, any relief. They conceive the Terms between God and them come to such a pass, that they must perish without any remedy or escaping. This is true despair. The sinful and woful despair of Men is properly this, 'Tis a disconsolate imagination of something in the Purpose or the Power of God which makes their Salvation to be a thing improbable, if not impossible. Two things are very distinguishing in this Despair. First, 'Tis with reference to God that Salvation is herein despaired of; otherwise. 'tis not a sinful and woful despair. When the Psalmist was tempted unto despair, he said in Psal 3.2 Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help f r him in God. The despairing Man affirms to hims lf, either that God cannot, or at least that God will not▪ rescue him from the destruction. which is a terrour to him. Either he sayes with Cain My sin cannot be forgiven; or with Job, God counts me for his enemy. And then, The po…ture of the Soul, in this despair, is not now secure and easie, but very fearful; 'tis according to that in Heb. 10.27. There remains a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery devouring indignation. When Hezekiah was in despair of his recovery from Sickness, I reckoned (said he) from day even to night, thou wilt make an end of me. Even so, the Man in despair keeps reckoning from day to night, that he is a cast-away, and that Snares, Fire and Brimstone, and an horrible Tempest, are just ready to fall upon him: He keeps reckoning, I may be in Hell before to morrow! Amazing Frights, intolerable Agonies and Anguishes, are hence caused in the Mans awakened Soul; they procure the wounded spirit, which who can bear?
PROP. III.
And this despair is an unhappy entanglement unto the Soul that is under the efficacy of it; it extreamly prejudices the Conversion of the Sinner unto God. And this upon two accounts.
First, By despair all Action is diverted. All Mankind is governed by that Proverb, As good sit still, as rise up and fall down. No Man will act without an end. What is the end of our Conversion? 'Tis the end of our Faith, the salvation of the Soul When this end is wholly despaired of, 'tis even against the Principles of common Reason, that a Man should be at any pains to turn unto the Lord, or that he should go to work out his own Salvation. 'Tis intimated in Jer. 2.25. Thou saidst, there is no hope. No; for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go. q. d. We have so long and so far departed from God, that we despair of any Reconciliation with him; wherefore we will e'en go on as we have done all this while. Ah, that dull word, There is no hope! it cuts the sinews of all endeavours in the World. Thus, let a despairing Person be called upon to believe, he replyes, No, there is no hope I shall ever be accepted. Let him be called upon to repent, he replyes, No, there is no hope I shall ever be pardoned. Let him be urged to attend the means of Grace, he rejoins, No, there is no hope I should ever get any good by them. And the issue is, After idols he will go.
Secondly, By despair God himself is provoked. 'Tis a thing wherein Men add sin to sin. 'Tis the property, especially of all gross and great Sins, to render Conversion harder than it was before. The more Men sin against God, the wider distance do they make between him and them. Now despair is one of the most scarlet and crimson, and bloody abominations in the World. It is a most roaring Sin; and there are multiplyed Blasphemies in the Bowels of it. It was a nefandous Blasphemy of Spira, My Sin is greater than the Mercy of God. Most hideous! But this is the Language of Despair. 'Twas said of those despairing People in Psal. 78.19. They spake against God, they said, can God? Hearken you that say, Can God pity such a Sinner as I am! You that say, Can God find in his Heart to save me, after all that I have been, and done amiss? You speak against God in saying so; 'tis horrible Blasphemy! Austin said of Cain, His Despair was a greater Sin than his Murder. Truly, 'tis not easie to commit a greater Sin.
The First ƲSE.
Now, let not a sinful and woful Despair of Salvation entangle any of our Souls. I am to address this Exhortation even to the oldest and the vilest Sinners among us all; and unto you I say, let not any despair of success hinder you from repairing to the Lord Jesus Christ with your labouring and heavy laden Souls. Qui nil sperare potest, desperet nihil. Be your case never so bad, however, do not say, our hope is lost; but rather hear that Voice of God concerning your Salvation, in Ezra 10.2. You have trespassed; yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. I would essay,
I. To lay some Considerations before despairing Soul….
Consider. 1. Your Salvation is a thing which the Glory of the Great God will be much furthered and advanced by. You think it an hard thing for God to save you; but God will think it a good thing, and for his own Honour and Interest. Perhaps you despair of Mercy, because you have been a more than ordinary Sinner. But, O consider, a more than ordinary glory will come to God, if such an one as you be saved after all. What is the grand aim of God in the Justification of the Ʋngodly? 'Tis to get himself a great Name; 'tis as we are told in Rom. 5.8. To commend his love unto us. O 'twill commend the love of God exceedingly, for the worst of Sinners to be made partakers of it. An extraordinary Sinner in this Country being Fifty Years old, and being brought home to God a few Weeks before he dyed, had these for some of his last words All Heaven rings at this! A great and an old Sinner coming to glory! It is a strange but a sweet expression in Psal. 25.11. For thy Names sake O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. What a word is that! You say, God won't pardon my iniquity, for it is great, But the hope of the Psalmist argues another way; The Lord will pardon it, for it is great. Great Sinners procure great Praises un o our God, when they have experience of his Mercy. The greater the Ail, the greater the Cure. A very triumphant shout of Grace! Grace! will follow on the saving of such a Soul as thine! O go plead this with the God of Heaven!
Consider. 2. The Gospel invitation makes your Salvation among the things that may be hoped for. God has done the Acts of one desiring your Salvation; he has done just as one willing that you should all com… unto Repentance. Why should you have any doubt of your being excluded from his Mercy? The Lord Jesus Christ is come into the World, one mighty to save, one able to save unto the uttermost. And who are concerned in it? We are told in 1 Tim. 1.15. it was the chief of Sinners. It may be thou hast been even a Ring-leader in wickedness, yet such as you did the Lord Jesus appear to save. He does invite every one of you to come unto himself; he sayes in Isa. 55.1. Ho every one that chirsteth, come. He sayes in John 7.37. If any man thirst, let him come. You say, I don't thirst. To that I Answer, Are you willing to come? Then you thirst. You may come; 'tis said in Rev. 22.17. Whosoever will, let him come. Behold, the Great King this day holds out the Golden Scepter to every one of you all; you may all draw near and live. What can be more full than that in Joh. 6.37. Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. What? Is thy Name excepted there? Did the Lord Jesus ever say, I except John such an one? Or, I except Mary such an one? Truly, no. Immortal Souls, the loud Call of the Lord Jesus from the lofty Battlements of Heaven, is that in Isa. 45.22. Look unto me, and be saved. And we have a Commission from our Glorious Royal Master to tell you, That you are all concerned in it. The Man in thy Clothes, Thou art the Man whom this belongs unto. God sayes, You may be saved; why will you say, I mayn't. Impudent Potsherd, give not the lye to God.
Consider. 3. As guilty, as ruined, and as hopeless Persons, as any of you, have been already saved by the Lord. And what should make your Salvation then such a despaired thing? Abraham himself was once an Idolater, and yet I suppose you would be glad to be in Abrahams Bosom. There was one who had been a dishonest, a debauched Woman, a meer Harlot; yet was it said of her, in Luke 7.47. Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. And why may it not come to be said of you? Suppose you had been even a Witch, one that had with your very Blood signed a Covenant with the Devil! yet were it possible for you to be saved. What was Menasseh of old? Such a desolate Creature in this Country once was judged to dye a true Penitent; and the Scripture that proved her Comfort was that in Zech. 13.1. There is a fountain set open for sin and for uncleanness. The most bloody Crimes have in that open Fountain been wash'd away. Turn to 1 Cor. 6.9, 10, 11. one says, Hell it self can't afford a blacker Catalogue of Offenders: Yet of them, 'tis added, You are justified, you are sanctified. What shall I say more? Some of those very Men that murdered the Son of God himself, even those were saved by him whom they had pierced. Never despair after this! Let me a…sure you, those very Sins which cause you to despair, there are Saints now singing before God in Heaven, that once were defiled by those very Sins.
Consider. 4. However you may make a Tryal. There can be no hurt in trying, whether you can turn and live▪ or no There is at least, a, who knoweth? There is a, w… c…n tell? of Salvation for you. You may say like the Lepers, in 2 King. 7.4. If we sit still we dye; now therefore let us go forth, if they save us alive, we shall live. Be sure, if you do nothing towards your own Salvation, you dye. But if you try to seek the Face of God, if you try to take the Grace of Christ, you may be saved alive. The Command, Repent and believe the gospel, is to you: Now do like the Man that had the withered hand: Our Lord said, Stretch it out; he try'd it, and he did it. Never despair, but make a tryal of what the Lord may do for you. Cast your selves at his Feet, and resolve, If I perish, I will perish here. Never, I am perswaded, never any Soul miscarried, that made such Applications. I would study,
II. To solve some Objections of Despairing Souls.
Despair is a very unreasonable thing; yet the despairing will pretend some Reasons for it.
The First Reason of Despair.
I have sinned under great Aggravations, I have sinned against Light, against Love, against Vows, and for a long while; and may I be pardoned?
ANSWER.
Thus do you say. But what says the Lord? in Isa. 1.18. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wooll. A poor Malefactor once going to his Execution, had that Pathetical Expression in his Mouth, O, God is a great forgiver! God is a great forgiver! Souls, you may find him so after all your aggravated Sins. Though you have sinned against your own knowledge, yet it is the Character of our God, in Exod 34.6. He forgives iniquity, transgression and sin Tho' you have sinned against Gods Mercy, yet it is the Attribute of our God, in Mic. 7.18. He delights in pardoning of iniquity. Perhaps you have been ready to sin; but this we may be sure of in Neh. 9.17. he is a God ready to pardon, a God of Pardons, even full of them. Have you broken your Vows? Then renew them, and return to God, who then says in Isa. 55.7. He will have mercy, and abundantly pardon It may be you have maintain'd a long War with God; yet now at last lay down the Arms of Rebellion; the Lord says, To day, after so long a time; 'tis not yet altogether too late. You that are grown old, and gray, and horrible ripe in your evil ways, hear now that charm in Jer. 3.1. Thou hast plaid the harlot with many lovers, yet return again to me, saith the Lord. In the Primitive Times there was one Victorius, a very Old Man, converted unto Christianity; the Church would not receive him for some time; for thought they, Old Men use not so to be converted unto God; but he did evidence the reality of his Conversion so, that then they sang Hymns upon it in the Christian Assemblies, and it was every where shouted, Victorius is become a Christian! Truly Father, such an Acclamation may yet be made of you. God grant that it may be so.
The second Reason of Despair.
I have play'd the Hypocrite before God. I have lived a stranger to God, under an high profession of his Name, Yea, I have eat and drank unworthily at the Table of the Lord. And is there any hope for such an one as I?
ANSWER.
Yes, if you now seriously bewail, and forsake your own Hypocrisie; and if you now come to a more thorough closure with Jesus Christ. Some eminent Ministers have been first converted by their own Sermons. 'Twas said unto one in Acts 8.21, 22. Thy heart is not right: repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray to God. To you is the charge given.
The third Reason of Despair.
I fear the Spirit of God has done striving with me, so hard is this heart of mine become; and then I am past hope for ever.
ANSWER.
And are you indeed afraid of this? Are you concerned about it? That is a certain sign that the Good Spirit is yet striving with you. 'Tis in some degree a soft Heart, that feelingly complains of an hard Heart. The Blessed Spirit of God is at work upon you in those very Troubles which you are now exercised with.
The fourth Reason of Despair.
I have long laboured in vain; I have prayed long, and begged long, for some glimpse of Gods good Will unto me; but he has hitherto denyed me; and is not this a sign that I am a Reprobate?
ANSWER.
No. But if you can follow God in the dark, 'tis a sign that you are one of his Children, one of his Chosen. Can you continue crying for the Favour of God, though he seem to call you, a Dog? He will then quickly say, O Soul, great is thy Faith! Well, hold on, pray still, beg still. Say like him in Luke 5.5. We have toil'd all night, and have caught nothing; nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net again. Who knows what the next pull may bring?
The fifth Reason of Despair. I doubt I have committed the unpardonable Sin; and then all my hope is lost for evermore.
ANSWER.
This is a Temptation which usually persons at their fi st Conversion are troubled with. But are you indeed fearful of this? Then you are not guilty of it. Moreover, have you any value for the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or, would you be sorry to see the People, or the Servants of the Lord Jesus, ruined? Are you not implacably set ag…inst all the Interest of God? Then be of good cheer; you have been kept from the great transgression.
Well then, let not the clogs of this Despair any more ob…truct your Conversion unto God. But I should seek,
III. To give some Directions to despairing Souls. To such, I would only say,
First, Do not mistake, and you need not despair; especially have right Thoughts about a closure with Jesus Christ. It is not to be supposed, that we may not lay hold on Christ by Faith, till we find such and such remarkable degrees of Humiliati…n in us. Those Books which tell us we presume if we believe, before we have arrived unto certain high strains of Contrition in us, will not bring us to sincere Conversion, but sorrowful Desperation. Would you have an Heart that may mourn and bleed for Sin? To close with the Lord Jesus Christ, is the way to get such an Heart. We are not to tarry from Jesus Christ until our Hearts are good; but we must carry what Hearts we have unto the Lord Jesus, for the mending and changing of them.
Secondly, Though you despair never so much, yet use no indirect courses in it.
In Despair some will, with a sort of Sorcery, go to comfort or condemn themselves. It was a great Impiety in one under Despair, to throw a Glass on the Ground, and say, As sure as that breaks, I am damned! though God with infinite Compassion prevented the breaking of it. It is as bad for Persons to let the Bible fall open of it self, resolving that the first word they see, shall settle their Opinion of themselves. An ordinary, but an ungodly practice! The Old Heathen used this piece of Witchcraft on the Books of their Homer and Virgil. 'Tis a thing as impious as perillous to abuse the Sacred Bible so.
In Despair, others with self-murder go to destroy themselves. But unto all that are hurried hereunto, I do, as Paul to the Jaylor, cry with a loud voice, Do thy self no harm. Deceived Soul, as yet thou hast a Door of Hope, thou may'st yet become an Holy and an Happy Soul, and a Companion of the Angels for evermore. But if thou art a self-murderer, there is no hope; such wicked Rebels and Fighters against God, go down to the pit, in a manner so impenitent, that commonly we cannot hope for them. You then that are haunted with sollicitations hereunto, hear the charge of God; go presently, and reveal your Case to some Godly and Able Friend. Neither take nor keep the Devils Counsel; for you have yet an accepted time, yet a day of Salvation.
These things may be spoken, that you may not despair. But let no Pillows be thereby sown under the Arms of them, whom the Lord says, there is no peace unto. Let every Man despair of ever seeing the Kingdom of God, unless he be born again. Let every Man despair of escaping the Worm which dyeth not, and the Fire which never shall be quenched, if he do not pluck out his Right-Eye, and cut off his Right-Hand before the Lord. Read that Scripture, take that warning in Deut. 29.19, 20. If a man bless himself in his heart, and say, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart: The Lord will not spare, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against that man. O consider of it.
The Second ƲSE.
Nor let any despair of Deliverance discourage the People of God in their low Estate.
The People of God are sometimes in a Babylon of Oppression and Confusion; there is a Mystical Babylon in the World. Here the People of God sometimes lye under such disadvantages, that they say, Our Bones are dyed, out Hope is lost. Yet be of good courage; for, Thus saith the Lord God. Behold▪ O my people, I will open your graves. The People of God are delivered at a time when there could be least expectation of it. It will be when we our selves are at the lowest ebb of Distress; when we are come, Nullam sperare salutem; when Isaac is on the Altar bound; when we have none shut up or left. Then, then it is that God appears to save. 'Tis said in Psal. 12.5. For the oppress…on of the poor, for the sighing of the needy▪ now will I arise▪ saith the Lord; I will set him in safety. 'Twas thus when the Reformation began. All Christendom was then covered with an Hell of Ignorance and Barbarity. At that time, what was done for the Church of God, in England particularly, made a Foreigner say of it, The past Ages despaired of it, the present Age does admire it▪ the future Ages will be astonished at it. Such things are done by God for his People when they say of themselves, We are brought very low! And it will be when our Enemies are at the highest flood of Insolence and Wickedness. When Pharaoh said, I will pursue them into the wilderness, I will overtake them, I will divide the spoil, my lust shall be satisfied upon them, then was the Leviathan soon given for meat unto the people inhabiting the wilderness. When the Scarlet Whore brags, I shall see no sorrow, then 'tis that all her plagues come at once. 'Twas said in Nah. 1.11. While they be folden together as thorns, and while they are d…unken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. Mark, when ill Men have so closely and aptly laid their matters, that like folded thorns they may prick all about them, and yet never fear to be taken asunder; when they have their Drunken Cabals, and are further drunk with Confidence and Security, then it is that the consuming Wrath of God falls upon them. The surly Captains that cry'd, Come down, thou Man of God, come down quickly! instead thereof, they felt the Fire of God come down upon them. Thus, when Men are come to say, Come down Churches! or come down Sermons! or come down Ministers, come down quickly; then the Great God will quickly bring his Fiery Thundering Plagues upon them. Such Men, did they make a right use of their Bibles, they could not but be terrified by that Word of God, in Jer. 5.28. Among my people are found wicked men; they set a trap, they catch men: As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit, therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. It follows, Saith the Lord, shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Well then,
In the worst of Times and Things, let the thought of this incourage Faith and Prayer, and let Patience also upon this account have its perfect work: Leave all Vengeance to the Lord. Let us wait on the Lord, and keep his way. Let us wait on the Lord, and be of good courage: Wait, I say, on the Lord.