AT the very reading of these words, the paral­lel is so obvious, me thinks I heare many ask­ing the question with a little change which the Eunuch once did of Philip Act. 8.34. Of whom speaketh the Prophet this? of us, or of some other People? The truth is, in the letter and historie it is spoken of the Jewes, but so Symbolically of us of this nation, that your owne thoughts would apply them, should I hold my peace.

This whole Chapter may be intitled Novissima Jeremiae, Jeremies farewell Sermon to the Jewes. For if we marke the Pro­pheticall story, it is the last extant, and (if the conjecture of some be good) his last too, that for which well nigh after 45 yeares preaching amongst them, he was stoned to death by the People. In it we have just matter to raise both our attention & wonder, and that whether we respect the Prophet, or the People; indeed there is nothing of this Prophet but 'tis wonderfull, his Calling, ordained to be a Prophet before he was borne; his suf­ferings, Jer. 1.5. he was [...], as Pelusiot calls him, never man tooke more paines with, deserved better of, and was worse us'd by a people; in this a lively type of him whose name was wonderfull, Vir dolorum, that suffered great contradiction at the hand of sinners: but above all the invinciblenesse of his spirit, his [Page 2]Heroick Zeale and constancie in the Cause of God and for the good of the People, greater then to be discouraged by the op­position of men, or the extremity of misery. He had now sur­viv'd the Funeralls of the Temple of God, and his owne Country, and liv'd to make the sad Elegie upon the desolations of both, and after all this was carried away by the violence of a Rebell multitude into a strange accursed land: Calamities that might have allayed, if not quite quencht the spirit of any but Ieremiah: but such a spirit as his knows not to be discouraged, an expresse character whereof he hath given us in this Chapter.

But yet the wonder is far greater, if we looke upon the People, whose eares if any thing might have opened to discipline (as Elihu speakes, Iob 36.10.) and made them sensible of their sinnes, they were written in letters of bloud, they might have read them in the ruines of Ierusalem Here the Prophet hav­ing opened his Commission,vers. 2. takes his first rise. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seene all the evill that I have brought upon Ierusalem, and upon all the Cities of Iudah, and behold this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein, be­cause of their wickednesse—though I sent all my servants the Prophets riseing earely and sending them, saying, Oh do not this abhominable thing that I hate, &c.

To sinne after so Solemne Interdiction, and warning to the contrary by the concurrent voice of so many Ambassadors, All the Prophets sent from God to that purpose, and those dis­chargeing their duty with so much Zeale and sollicitude; had left them without excuse. To sinne after the example of so terrible a judgement as that upon Iudah, the History whereof stands like the carkasses of Ships that have suffered wracke at Sea, to forwarne all passengers of the danger of those Sands, at which they were cast away, or like that Inscription upon the Tombe of Senacherib, slaine by his owne sonnes in the Tem­ple of his God, [...] Oh all ye that passe by [Page 3]looke upon me and be holy. All ye that heare, and read of my cala­mities, be affraid, & tremble, & do no more presumptuously: I say, to sin after the warning of such an example, addes a higher gra­dation to sinne. There's no man, whose head is not of brasse and his heart of Adamant, that can reade the Tragoedy of Ie­rusalem with drie eies. Nazianzen tells us of himselfe,Ora [...]. 12. that he never tooke the booke of the Lamentations into his hand (and yet this, saith he, I do often) but his heart was even quite o­vercome with symphathy and his eyes with teares, [...], and he againe lamented over the Lamentations of Ieremy. But to persevere in the same sinnes after this Vidi­stis their owne sight and feeling of those wofull expressions of Gods wrath, when the eye should have affected the heart, and left the lasting impressions of feare upon the soule; to commit the same abhominations still, which had provoked divine vengeance, to the utter destruction of their owne Country, while themselves bare the visible Characters of Gods fury u­pon them, this indeed sets their impiety, their Rebellion in praecipiti, upon the very Pinnacle and top of sinne. Here the Prophet mounts his Battery, if possibly he may make a breach upon their stony hearts and at last force them to repentance. Therefore now saith the Lord the God of Hosts the God of Israel. Vers. 7. Wherefore commit you this great evill against your owne soules to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling out of Iudah, to let none remaine? In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the workes of your hands in the land of Egypt, whither ye are gone downe to dwell, that ye might cut your selves off and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the Nations of the earth?

Therefore Now saith the Lord, &c. Now after all the demon­strations of mine indignation against you, in such Judgements as were never the like, Wherefore commit You, this great evill? You that are the poore remnant of those so many thousands of of Iudah, as it were a Firebrand snatcht out of the Funerall Pile of that once flourishing Country, and reprived from the [Page 4]Ruines of your Nation; whom I would have preserv'd for my names sake, unwilling to extinguish and quite cancell the peo­ple and the name of Israel, had you consulted your owne safe­tie under my protection: Wherefore doe you by your obsti­nacy provoke my Justice to your owne destruction? Why will you perish whom I would preserve? Have you no remorse towards your owne soules? are ye willing your soules should perish eternally? Have you no pity upon your Wives? or if you and they, as much united in guilt as Conjugall Contract, will dye together in the same sinnes, have ye no compassion upon your poore Infants, those innocent sucklings that have not as yet contracted the guilt of your Rebellion? Are ye con­tent there should remaine no other remembrance of Iudah but onely of your sinnes and my wrath? would ye willingly stand as an eternall monument to the whole world of divine Fury, a reproach and a Curse: So that posterity shall make mention of your name onely in their solemne Execrations, The Lord make thee a Curse, and an astonishment, as he did Ierusalem and Iudah? Or what doe you flatter your selves with hopes of impunity in Egypt? doe you thinke to find security in that place, whither you have carried downe with you my Curse, and your old sins? is Jerusalem destroyed, and shall Egypt goe free? Have all my Judgements upon you beene like the beating of the aire by the wings of a bird in his flight, that leaves no footsteps or remem­brance behind him? Have ye forgotten the wickednesse of your Fa­thers and of your Kings? Have your Fathers, nay your Kings, been made to drinke deepe of the cup of my Fury, and shall you escape, who were kept alive onely because ye were the poorest of the people? Cannot all the Calamities you have suffe­red bring you upon your knees, and melt your hearts into con­trition for your sinnes? I should have thought that the long tract of time and the severe discipline I have used, might long e're this day have led you quite home to repentance. But alas! what shall I say of you? you have not even to this day so much [Page 5]as set one foot in the way thither. Nondum humiliati, all the Judgements you have suffered, have not made any, no nor the least impression upon you; God himselfe seemes amaz'd at this, and to be at a stand, as well as the Prophet, and to want an ex­pression to reach the height of this obstinacy, and therefore breakes off in an admiration at the desperate perversenesse of this People by way of Epiphonema in the words of the Text, They are not humbled even unto this day.

These words are Onus Iudae in terrâ Aegypti. The Burden of those Jewes, who contrary to Gods prohibition, and their own protestation, were gone downe into Egypt. In them you may please to observe with me these three particulars. 1. A duty implied, the performance whereof the great Judgements of God so long upon them call'd for all their hands, and the want whereof he here upbraides to them by way of admiration, and that is Humiliation, they should have beene humbled. 2^ly. The neglect of that duty censured, They are not humbled. 3^ly. The Aggravation of that neglect; 1. from the persons guilty They the Jewes, Gods owne people, that could not pretend Igno­rance of their duty, nor of the equity thereof. 2^ly. From the Circumstance of time, even unto this day. Time they had and teaching enough to have learn'd their duty: but yet after all instructions and invitations thereunto by the tenders of mer­cy, all comminations against them for their obstinacy; yea moreover and not onely after some scatterings of wrath upon themselves in lesser Judgements, but also after as dreadfull a Tempest of vengeance as ever fell upon a people; Even unto this day. They are not humbled even unto this day. These are the parts of the Text, the sense whereof may be resolved into these three propositions.

1. From the duty implied, that which this people ought de jure to have done when Gods hand was against them in those terrible Judgements, the Inference is.

That when Gods wrath is revealed from heaven against a1 Propos. [Page 6]people, in the way of his Judgements, it is high time then for them to be humbled.

2ly. From the neglect of this duty, in that the Jewes de facto in their greatest distresse, under the sorest Judgements, were not humbled, I conclude,

That a people in outward Covenant with God,2 Prop. may even under the extremity of the greatest Judgements remaine un­humbled.

3ly. From the aggravation of this neglect, both in respect of the guilt it laies upon such a people in this verse, and the wrath it drawes downe upon them at the next, The Result is,3. Propos.

That it is the highest aggravation of the sinne of a people, & an evident token they are designed to ruine, not to be hum­bled under the mighty hand, the great and continued judge­ments of God. They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared nor walked in my Law, nor in my Statutes that I set before you and before your Fathers, therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Behold I will set my face against you for evill, and to cut off all Iudah.

But should I insist upon all these propositions severally, I feare I should graspe more matter, then I should be able to hold within the compasse of the time; should I omit any, I might seeme to trespasse upon the Text. I shall therefore take a middle way to reconcile both, pitching upon the first as the head streame, the other two as the lesser into which it runnes, that, as bearing the inscription of this dayes duty, for the do­ctrinall part of this dayes exercise; the other two will fall in, either by way of proofe, or Application

In the handling of which, I shall indeavour to follow S^t Hieroms counsell to Nepotian, Ita docere, ut non clamor populi, sed gemitus suscitetur; so to speake as to provoke the teares, not the applause of my hearers; such thoughts are unworthy to ascend this mount at any time, much lesse at this; words conceived on­ly in the brain and born in the lips of the Speaker, for the mos [Page 7]part dye upon the eare of the hearer; they which come from the heart are likeliest to descend thither; To feast the eare by an eloquent discourse this day, were to breake the Fast while we are at the Church. The eare and the eye, every member of the body, and faculty of the soule, must beare a part in this dayes affliction, as well as the belly: The golden eareings were the matter of which the golden Calfe was made, 'twere an abo­mination to bring them into the house of mourning. The chil­dren of Israel, in the day of Gods displeasure and their sorrow Exod. 35.5. were commanded to plucke off their Ornaments, that God might know what to do unto them, till then they were not so much as in a posture for mercy; sackcloth and ashes are the best Ornaments, sighes and teares the best Orators of this day; could I but mourne out a Sermon, and you sit before the Lord this day weeping, it would be best preacht and heard; the word sowne in teares would be reapt in joy; then might we hope that this Fast would prove a blessed Eve to some glorious Fe­stivall; the dismall cloud of wrath that now darkens the whole land, and almost every day falls downe in stormes of bloud, would blow over, and the sunne of Gods favour, which is now hidden, shine forth; that we (which the Lord in mercy grant) and this whole Nation might see the salvation of our God. I come now to the point.

When Gods wrath is revealed from heaven against a Na­tion in the way of his judgements, then 'tis high time for them to be humbled.

For the carrying on of which point, I shall propound and endeavour to resolve these 3 Questions.

1. What it is to be humbled, and consequently, what the sin is of which the Jewes stand charged in the Text, they are not humbled?

2^ly. Why 'tis said that when Gods Judgements are upon a people, then 'tis high time for them to be humbled? These 2 in Thesi.

And 3^ly In Hypothesi, to put our owne Case, what cause we of this Nation have to be humbled at this day? Having dis­patcht these, I shall then, by Gods grace, close up all with a seasonable application.

For the first what it is to be humbled?

I answere that it is not to be understood passively, in this sense never Nation more humbled, then they in the Text, they were humiliati à Deo; a people formerly exalted in Gods fa­vour above all other in the world, indeed they were his only by way of eminency and distinction, His people; but now not only degraded from that dignity, but expos'd as the greatest object of contempt and wonder. How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast downe from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remem­bred not his footstoole in the day of his anger! Lam. 2.1. All the Chronicles in the world cannot match the sad downefall of this People. Peceatum humiliaverat, sinne had taken off their Crowne from their heades and deprived them of their exellency they were humiliati, but not humiles, ipsi se non humiliaverunt they did not humble themselves, 'tis an active humiliation the neglect whereof is upbraided here unto them, and of which God and the Prophet complaine, They are not humbled even unto this day.

This active humiliation, or selfe humbling, implies 3 things, 1. A sense both of sinne and the punishment, a tendernesse of heart oppos'd to that the Greekes call [...], in Ter­tullians language Duricordia, the hardnesse and unmalleable­nesse of heart, uncapable of any horror of sinne or impressions of wrath, that [...] or indolentia, stupidity, and desperate senselessenesse of our hand against God, and his against us, when though the fierce wrath of God lies upon us, yet we feele it not,Heb. 12. [...]. a despising of Chastisement, a not laying to heart of our owne wayes and of Gods, our sinnes and his judgements, a stupidity frequently charg'd against this people; one place only [Page 9]I shall mention, it comes home to our present case, Esa. 42.24, 25. Who gave Iacob to the spoile, and Israel to the Robbers? did not the Lord? he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walke in his wayes, neither were they obedient unto his Law. There­fore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battell: and he hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not: and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. Here is a perfect and full Character of an unhumbled people, to lye under the guilt of the greatest sins, and the pressure of the sorest Judgments, and yet to remaine insensible of either, not to lay them to heart.

2ly. Contrition, Tremelius and some others render it nondum attriti, and upon our owne Margent, according to the Origi­nall, [...] à radice [...] contrivit, comminu [...]. we have contrite for humbled in the Text, They are not con­trite even unto this day. The heart is then humbled when it is broken in peices, hence those two phrases are joined together in Scripture, Psal. 51.17.

The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a contrite and broken heart [cor contritum & humiliatum] O Lord thou wilt not de­spise. It is called an abhorring of our selves in dust and ashes, in Iob's phrase; a rending of the heart, in Ioeumll's; a being in bitternesse, in Zecharie's; Afflicting of the soule, in Moses; Con­fusion of face, in Daniel's; a laying of the mouth in the dust, in Ieremie's; it is called Compunction, or the pricking of the heart, when sinne becomes as a thorne in the spirit, and as a dagger at the heart; it is said of Saint Peters hearers, Act. 2.37. That they were pricked at the heart; when the heart is smitten within, & the thigh without, Ephraim's posture, whom we find Jer. 31.19. thus bemoaning himselfe under his chastisement, Surely saith he, after that I was turned I repented, and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, yea even con­founded because I did beare the reproach of my youth. When the inward greife of the heart doth expresse it selfe outwardly in [Page 10]sighes and teares, the affliction of the soule in that of the body by those [...], as Is. Pelusiot termes them, Fasting and Sackcloth. I clothed me with sackcloth and humbled my soule with fasting: Psal. 35.13. When the soule and the body, which like Simeon and Levi were confederates in sinne, shall sympa­thize in their sufferings, and exercise a mutuall revenge upon themselves for the offences they have done; when with Da­vid, we shall wash that bed with our teares, which we have de­filed with our sinnes; when those eies which before darted out rayes and sparkles of Lust, shall streame forth waters to wash, and those haires curl'd and frizl'd up to provoke dalli­ance, shall hang downe to wipe our Saviours feet, as Mary Mag­dalens: In breife, when the soule comes to be surprized with the horror of it's owne guilt, and the feare of Gods Judgments, and is more afflicted with bitternesse at the review of the dea­rest and most adored sinne, then ever it was affected with de­light in the commission of it.

The 3^d thing implied in this active humiliation, is a taking of shame to our selves, and giving God the glory of his Iudg­ments, according to the Counsell of Ioshuah to Achan, My sonne give God the glory. Jo [...]. 7 19. This is called the confession of our sinne and acceptance of our punishment, as in that signall place, Lev. 26.41. (a place very worthy our notice, as in which we may read, both our duty and hopes in this our pre­sent distresse,) The Lord having there mustered before the Children of Israel a whole Army of plagues, which he threa­tens to let in upon them in case of disobedience, and from time to time to recruit against them with the vast accession of new and seven times greater calamities in case of Rebellion, opens a doore of hope unto them, even in the very worst condition, If they shall confesse their iniquity, and the iniquity of their Fathers, and their trespasses which they have trespassed against me, and that they have walked contrary to me, and that I also have walked contra­ry to them, and have brought them into the Land of their enemies; [Page 11]if then their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity, Then I will remember my Cove­nant, and I will remember their Land. An humbled spirit is most severe to it selfe, translates not the fault upon others, much lesse chargeth God with severity.Job. 7.20. I have sinned, and what shall I doe unto thee oh thou preserver of men? saith Job upon the dunghill. He putteth his mouth in the dust, saith Ieremie, if so be there may be hope. It is the Lords mercy that we are not consumed, Lam 3.22. & 29. I was dumbe and opened not my mouth, because thou Lord didst it, saith David, Psal. 39.9. Rehoboam his Princes and peo­ple humbling themselves, though God threaten to leave them in the hand of the Egyptians (now come up with a great Army against them) yet acknowledge The Lord is righteous, 2 Chron. 12. O. O Lord to us belongs confusion of face, to our Kings, to our Princes, and to our Fathers, because we have sinned a­gainst thee, [was the confession of Daniel setting his face to seeke God by prayer and supplication with fasting, and sack­cloath, and ashes,] but to our God belong mercies, and forgivenes­ses, though we have rebelled against him, Dan. 9.8.9. I will beare the indignation of the Lord, (saith the Church in Micah,) because I have sinned against him, Mic. 7.9. It is the course of some of our Courts of justice, that the delinquent after sentence can obtaine no mitigation of his punishment, nor discharge from his imprisonment, till he acknowledge his offence and the ju­stice of their proceedings against him; this may seeme hard, 'tis possible in the Courts of men the innocent may suffer, no injustice possible from the Court of heaven, It is the rule of that Court, no relaxation, or mercy to be expected thence till we confesse the demerits of our sinnes, and the righteousnesse of Gods Iudgements; and therefore the Prophet David held this course in the confession of his sinnes and supplication for pardon: I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sinne is ever be­fore me: against thee only have I sinned and done evill in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and cleare when [Page 12]thou judgest. Psal. 51.3, 4. The Lamenting Prophet in that Sea of wrath let in upon Iudah, gives God the glory of his justice. Lam. 1.18. The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled a­gainst his commandement. And this he doth by way of Procla­mation too. Heare I pray you all people and behold my sorrow, my Virgins and my Young men are gone into captivity. It is the Lord saith Eli, let him do what seemeth him good. 1 Sam. 3.18. This acceptance of their punishment was imported in the posture of the penitents standing before the Lord. 2 Chron. 20.13. N [...]hem. 9.2. It is storied of Mauri­tius the Emperour, that when his children were murdered be­fore his eyes (as once were Zedekiahs before his) and himselfe after received the sentence of death, he cryed out Iustus es Do­mine, & rectum judicium tuum. Righteous art thou, O Lord, and just are thy judgements. These the speeches, this the deport­ment of an humbled spirit: And thus much in answere to the first Question, what it is to be humbled, the neglect whereof stands here charged against the Iewes. They were not humbled unto this day.

I proceed to the 2^d. Why, when Gods judgements are up. on a people, then 'tis high time for them to humble themselves?

For the satisfaction whereof, I must desire you to take no­tice that after sins committed there are 3 seasons for a man or Nation to humble themselves.

The first immediately upon their Commission, this indeed is [...] the best opportunity, repentance in the Fathers language is, [...], the great medicine to salvation, and we know that a Soveraigne remedie will speed the cure, if applied while the sore is fresh. 'Tis in the wounds of the soule as those of the body, those that are long delayed are healed with more paine and difficulty. That humiliation never mis­carries of the blessing, which (as Jacob did Esau) shall take sinne by the heele; when they shall come as twinnes into the world, sinne the first borne shall be destroyed like those of the Egypti­ans, and the elder not only serve the younger but as Josephs [Page 13]brethren, or like Dagon before the Arke, shall fall downe be­fore him. Alexander being askt how he made himselfe ma­ster of Greece returned answere [...], by making no delay; should we put the same question to David, and demand how he obteined pardon for his sinne in numbring the peo­ple, he would make us the like answere, by not deferring to humble himselfe, no sooner was the fact done but his heart smote him. 2 Sam. 24.10. This was Saint Peters season after the abnegation of his Master and perjury. The Cocke crew, Iesus look't backe, and Peter immediately went forth and wept bitterly Matt. 26.75. [...], the same night was conscious both to his sinne and repentance, his wound and his cure.Chryshom. 53. This indeed is the handle of opportunity, the locke of time to humble our selves; and blessed are they that lay hold upon it.

The second season of humiliation is then when the con­science convinced of sinne committed, beginnes to be af­frighted with the apprehensions of wrath, when the soule comes to see its guilt and is affraid of Gods judgements, and therefore makes hast to agree with God offended while he is in the way, and to stop the Decree of wrath before it come forth, this opportunity deserves it's praise, but (as 'tis said of some of Davids worthies) in the second place. That person un­der the Iudiciall Law, that being guilty of man slaughter reco­vered the City of refuge, before he was overtaken by the aven­gers of bloud, saved his life, so shall that man that nation theirs, who understanding themselves in danger of Gods wrath by reason of sinne shall fly to the throne of grace and by unfained contrition lay hold upon the hornes of the Altar, before the messengers of wrath have layd hold upon them. But unto the King of Iudah which sent you to enquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say unto him, because thine heart was tender and thou hast humbled thy selfe before the Lord, when thou heard'st that I spake against this place and against the Inhabitants thereof, that they [Page 14]should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy cloathes and wept before me, I have also heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold there­fore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, & thou shalt be gathered un­to thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evill which I will bring upon this place, it was spoken of good King Iosiah. 2 King. 22.19.

The third and last opportunity for a people to humble themselves, is when the Decree is broken forth, and the wrath of God is actually upon them, when the smart of the rodd makes them sensible of their sinne, as it is sayd of Israel Ps. 78.34. When he slew them, then they sought him, and enquired earely after God. This was Mannasseh his season, as vile a wretch as e­ver breathed upon the earth, a very prodigie of wickednesse yet when he was in affliction, when his chaines were upon him then he sought the Lord and humbled himselfe greatly. 2 Chro. 33.11. A prudent man foreseeth the evill and hideth himselfe. Prov. 22.3. Sees the Calamity in it's commination and prevents it in the threatning; sees it first, and, as it is sayd of the man and the Basiliske, kils it by having the first sight of it; while the cloud of wrath is but like that of Eliah, a hands-breadth, fore­sees a tempest, and makes hast for shelter. [...], a foole will be instructed while the rod is upon his backe; chil­dren when they smart will cry and begge, and promise never to do so againe. The racke of a great Plague will extort a confession from obstinate Pharaoh. I have sinned this time, the Lord is Righteous and I and my people are wicked. Exod. 9.27. When the judgement is not onely at the doore, but entred in­to the house,Quis rogo interfici al­terum jux­ta se videt & ipse non metu­it? &c. Salv. and shall take away one here, another there, and all are in danger, will not every one be affraid? If the Lion roare, will not the beast tremble, much more when he shall come and seize upon his prey? Is it not time for the whole Towne to come in when their houses are on fire, with water to quench it? It was high time for Aaron to stand in the gapp when the Plague had made a breach upon the People. [Page 15] And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a Censer and put fire therein from off the Altar, and goe quickely unto the congregation, and make an autonement for them, for there is wrath gone out from the Lord, the plague is begun. Numb. 16.46. Such cases as this admit no delayes, as Messadamus was wont to say of himselfe, Know no to morrow: a little neglect here may undoe a Kingdome, [...], serious things to morrow, cost him deere that spake it, both his life and Thebes. In such times as these, who knowes what a day, some few houres may bring forth? Sodom and those sister Cities had a faire morne, the Sun rose glori­ously, but never had people in the world a more terrible day. High time therefore it is when Gods hand is exalted in the way of his Judgements, for a people, a Nation, to humble themselves, The necessity thereof will evidently appeare from the consideration of these particulars.

1. That the sound of this Trumpet is the last summons God gives a Rebellious people, it is the last Flagg that he hangs out, if they submit not and yeild then, nothing to be expe­cted at Gods hand but utter ruine. It is storied of the victori­ous Tamerlaine that great scourge of the Ottoman Empire, that when he advanc't against any Towne or City, so soone as he was set downe before it; the first day his Tents were all spread with white, a colour of Clemency, importing to them that if they would presently surrender they should be receiv'd into Mercy; if notwithstanding this tender, they should yet stand out against him the next day his Pavilion was cloth'd with red, a colour of bloud, to give them to understand his severi­ty; If neither of these two prevailed for a surrender, the third day the same Tents were all hung with blacke, to let them know that now all overtures of mercy were past, and that now they must expect whatsoever calamity the fury of a conquering e­nemy could bring upon them. Such a course it is that God holds with a sinfull people, according to the rule he himselfe gave unto the Jewes in their warres Deut. 20.10. He first pro­claimes [Page 16]peace, holds out the white Flagg, summons them to re­pentance by the tenders of mercy; Go, saith the Lord, and pro­claim these words towards the North and say; Returne, O backsliding Israel, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; for I am mer­cifull (saith the Lord,) and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you. Ier. 3.12. If this gentler invitation prevaile not upon their love, he next sends forth his Rod-Herald to make such a sum­mons as may worke upon their feare; Heare ye the Rod and who hath appointed it; Micah. 6.9. This is Gods Red Flagg, and the last he holds out to sinners with conditions of peaces: If the Rod cannot teach a People their duty, nor the severity of Iudgements up­on the Land instruct the Inhabitants in Righteousnesse, if a Nation remaine deafe at the thunder of Gods loud voice, this obstinacy obstructes all the doores of hope, all the passages of mercy, God hangs out against them the blacke Ensigne of de­solation.

Secondly, Obstinacy under Judgements raiseth a sin to the very height, it fills up the bag, & compleats the measure of a peoples iniquity, and leaves sin uncapable of greater aggra­vation. In the fourth of Amos God sets forth the sinne of Is­rael arrived as it were at the non ultra of sinfullnesse, further then which it could hardly goe; that notwithstanding the variety and extremity of the greatest Iudgements upon them they relented not, nor returned unto God; it is the burden of every charge by a patheticall scheme which the Rhetoricians call Epistrophe or conversion, there five times repeated, Yet have they not returned unto me, saith the Lord: I have sent among you pesti­lence after the manner of Egypt, your young men have I slaine with the sword, and have taken away your horses, and I have made the stinke of your Camps to come up into your nostrils, yet have ye not re­turned unto me, saith the Lord. I have overthrowne some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand pluck't out out of the burning, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Oh this Yet hath an Emphasis, an Accent upon it, and [Page 17]makes sinne carry an infinite weight in the ballance of the San­ctuary: They are not humbled even unto this day, after all the ex­periences of divine Fury, heightned the Iewes sinnes beyond an expression. To relapse into the same offence after punish­ment doubles the malefactors guilt, and deprives him of the Favour of the Iudge; but to sinne upon the racke, under the plague, while Gods markes are upon them, renders sinne almost incapable of forgivenesse. O Lord are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved, thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction, they have made their faces harder then a rocke, they have refused to returne, Jer. 5.3. It followeth at the seaventh verse. How shall I pardon thee for this? Oh there is a transcendent malignity in that sin which God that is infinite in mercy, as it were knowes not how to pardon! The Psalmist mentions it as the greatest ag­gravation of the Israelites Rebellion against God, that they sin­ned yet more, by provoking the most High in the wildernesse, a place wherein God had given them so many ocular demonstrations of his indignation against their Rebellion, Psal. 78.17. yea 'tis added (if it be capable of any further degree of guilt) The wrath of the Lord came upon them and slew the fattest of them, and smote downe the chosen men of Israel: yet for all this they sinned still, vers. 31, 32. There is onely one place more I shall minde you of, I beseech you to lay it to heart, I almost tremble to recite it, because I greatly feare, and I am perswaded, your owne hearts will beare me witnesse this day, that the guilt of that sinne lyes heavy upon the most of us: the place is Isa. 22.12. and some verses following. In that day (viz. a day of trouble and treading downe, and perplexity by the Lord of Hosts, as 'tis called vers. 5.) did the Lord of Hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldnesse, and to girding with sackcloath, and behold joy and glad­nesse, slaying Oxen and killing Sheepe, eating flesh an drinking wine; eating and drinking for tomorrow we shall dye, And it was revea­led in mine eares by the Lord of Hosts; Surely this iniquity shall not [Page 18]be purged from you till ye dye, saith the Lord of Hosts.

ly. Not to be humbled in times of distresse is the Cha­racter of a hopelesse People, the blacke marke upon a man or Nation designed to ruine. It is the property of the damned in Hell, to be tormented and sinne, to be tormented and to blas­pheme God, because of their torments. To be more obstinate under plagues and to drive on then in sinne, when God takes off their Chariot wheels, and declares himself manifestly from heaven against them, is the signe of a Pharaoh's heart, and of that people that God will drowne in the red Sea of his wrath. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither doe they seeke the Lord of Hosts, Therefore the Lord will cut off from Is­rael head and taile branch and rush in one day, Isa. 9.13, 14. This is a Nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor re­ceiveth correction, Truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth. Cut off thine haire, ôh Ierusalem, and cast it away, and take up a la­mentation upon high places, for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. Jer. 7.28, 29. A Father that after all gentle wayes frequently tried without successe, at last finds his child obstinate under the rod, gives him over as a lost child. A Chirurgion that after all corrosions and lancings and mutilation of joints, finds the Gangrene to spread further into the body, lookes upon his patient, as hopelesse of Cure. And King Ahaztrespassed yet more in his destresse; and the Holy Ghost points him out to the world as an eternall object of re­proach and wonder▪ This is that King Ahaz! as if he had said, Oh all ye that passe by, did ye ever heare of such a man as this? did ye ever read of one whom the sense of judgements embit­ter'd into the height of impiety? why this is the man. This is that King Ahaz. These severer remedies are the last course God takes, if that faile, Conclamatum est, the case is desperate, you may write upon their Gates, THE LORD HAVE MERCY UPON THEM. The Lord shall smite Egypt, (saith the Prophet Isaiah,) he shall smite and heale is, and the shall [Page 19]returne even to the Lord, and he shall be intreated of them, and he shall heale them. Isa. 19.22. Gods Rod (as 'tis said of Achilles speare) hath a vertue to heale those wounds it makes. Now how the Lord smote Egypt to heale it, we read at the 2^d verse of that Chapter. I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians, and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour, City against City, and Kingdome against Kingdome. The Example applies it selfe. This one would thinke a strange course, to make whole by dashing in peices, to bring things in­to order by confusion, to reconcile by dissention, to raise up the happinesse of a people upon the foundation of a civill Warre. Yet this is the course sometimes of the great Phisitian of Nations, who can bring light out of darkenesse, and allay the most violent poyson into an Antidote: he will smite and heale them. if this way succed not we may conclude then that their wound is greivous and their bruise incurable, Ier 30.12.

The Scripture sets forth this Method of Gods dealing with Nations under the type of sundry most expressive Metaphors; Hos. 6.4.5. O Ephraim, what shall I doe unto thee? O Iudah what shall I doe unto thee? I have hewen them by my Prophets, and slaine them by the words of my mouth, and thy judgements are as the light that goeth forth. A Trope taken from the Mason or Car­penter who doth square and cut the stone or timber to make it sit for the building, or such purposes as they are designed to by the Artificer, unto which if after all their paines they prove uselesse and unserviceable, then he throwes them away as good for nothing, & I have slaine them by the words of my mouth. The Prophets I have sent, have denounc't against them all the curses in the booke of the Law, and declared to them that they are but dead men, if they perservere in their sinnes, yea more­over, and thy Iudgements have beene like the light that goeth forth. Thou Lord hast made knowne thy displeasure against them in the sight of the Nations; but they like men have transgressed, they have dealt treacherously against me▪ God having ran his whole [Page 20]course with them, seemes not now as it were to know what fur­ther to doe. O Ephraim what shall I doe unto thee? O Judah what shall I do unto thee? The Lord in Ezek. 24.3. sets forth the despe­rate filthinesse of Ierusalem by a pot whose scum could not be consumed; the Prophet there is commanded to set on a pot▪ Set it on and also poure water into it, & then to put in the best pieces of flesh, & every choice bone, & after that to make them boile; when this course prevailes not to get out the scumme, the Prophet from God pronounceth a Woe against it. Wherefore thus saith the Lord God, Woe to the bloudy City, to the pot whose scumme is therein, and whose scumme is not gone out of it. But yet God doth not give it off here, there's one course remaines yet to purge out the scumme, and that he takes, if any thing can doe it 'tis that: He commands the Prophet to empty the pot, to make the pile for fire great, to heape on wood and kindle the fire, and then to set the pot thus empty upon it, that the brasse might be hot and burne, that the filthinesse might be molten in it and the scumme consumed; now because after all this her filthinesse remained, and her great scumme went not out of her: The Lord concludes her as an incurable City under that dis­mall sentence, at the 13 vers. In thy filthinesse is lewdnesse; be­cause I have purged thee and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthinesse any more, untill I have caused my fury to rest upon thee; The Prophet Jeremy yet further illustrates the desperate estate of that people whom the extremity of di­stresse cannot reclaime from their wickednesse by a most ap­posite similitude taken from the Refiners, who by melting their mettall in the fire make a seperation of the good mettall from the drosse. Jer. 9.7. I will melt them and try them, for what shall I doe for the daughter of my people? as if he had said, If there be any thing sound or of worth in a drossie cankred people, it cannot be preserved, but onely by melting them in the fur­nace, this currupted Nation cannot otherwise be saved but one­ly by the fire. Now with how great labour and exactnesse God [Page 21]performes this triall, the Prophet expresseth Jer. 6.28, 29. where he brings in God complaining against Iudah. They are greivous revolters walking with slanders, they are brasse and Iron, they are all corrupters, the bellowes are burnt, the lead is consumed of the fire, the founder melteth in vaine, for the wicked are not pluck­ed away. Malitiae corum non sunt consumptae, their wickednesse­es are not consumed and purged by the refining fire of Gods Judgments. Their iniquity is so incorporated that though the bellowes be burnt, (i.e.) the voyce of the rod as well as the Prophet made hoarse and quite spent with crying unto them to hum­ble themselves, the lead used for the separation of the drosse from the better mettall was all wasted in the fire, yet they were not purified, their drosse did still cleave unto them; no extremity of calamity could part them and their sinnes, and therefore it followes at the next verse. Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.

Fourthly, God doth especially observe the severall deport­ments of the inhabitants of a land when his judgments are up­on them; his pure eye runns to and fro to see how men stand affected, and to take notice what men do, and say in the times of distresse. It was a fearefull visitation which God threatens Iudah with. Ier. 8.3. where the prophet tells them, that so great should their calamity be, that Death should be chosen rather then life. at the 6 verse he represents God as it were going frō City to City, from house to house, and from company to com­pany, and there listening to heare what the people would doe and say in the day of their feares. I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright, no man repented him of the evell, saying, what have I done? They spake happily much, (as God helpe us too many now) but they spake not as they should; they spake not aright, for they repented not of their wickednesse, no man sayd, what have I done? What a paucity is there in the world who in times of distresse speake that which God expects and desires to heare? amongst all the talke of the times how rare is [Page 22]that of repentance, the erre of teares, and the voyce of weeping, those sighes and groanes which the penitent soule sends up to heaven as Ambassadours to the throne of grace for mercy? How few such speakers as the Prophet Malachi mentions? Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a booke of Remembrance was writ­ten before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. Mal. 3.16. Where shall God find a selfe-humbling, selfe-condemning sinner, who sensible of his owne guilt, saith, What have I done? Beloved, that great God, before whom all things are naked, that knowes the secrets of all hearts, is pre­sent amongst us at this time in the midst of the Temple, and sees with what devotion or with what want of it we stand in his Courts, he takes notice how the pulse of every one of our hearts beats, there's never a thought which he marks not, never a sigh fetcht in private but he sets down in his book, never a tear shed in our Closets that he saves not in his bottle; he observes too who stands off and comes not in this day to afflict his soule, as if he had no sinnes to procure the Judgements that are now upon us, or no sence to feele them. There's never a person carowsing at the Taverne, nor swearing in the streets, no Zimri and Cosby acting their Lusts, none idle or happly worse imployed in the house, when the Assemblies are mourn­ing at the Church, that he observes not. Never a sinne this day committed but he seales up in his bagge, the sinnes that at other times might be mitigated by an excuse, committed on this day grow into a presumption beyond an Apology, God writes them in Capitall Letters with a pen of a Diamond; he doth at all times abhorre a proud and unhumbled soule, such a one this day is an abomination, the soule that is not af­flicted at such times as this, shall be cut off from the people; a con­trite and broken heart is the onely sacrifice that can propitiate him in this day of attonement. If we consult the sacred Re­cords, we shall not find a more perfect Register of any thing [Page 23]then of such, both persons, and People, as humbled themselves under Gods mighty hand stretcht our in Judgement against them, and of such as at these times remained obstinate and im­penitent; those he remembers to their advantage, and menti­ons with praise, these he records with indignation, and sets a stigma a brand of infamy upon them, for their lasting reproach so long as those sacred monuments shall remain in the world; I can but point at one or two instances of many. In 2 Chron. 32.25. we read of Hezekiah, whom God had miraculously reco­vered from a dangerous sicknesse, and granted 15 yeares more to his life, when his terme was expired, that he rendred not againe according to the benefit done unto him, for his heart was lifted up, therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem. Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himselfe for the pride of his heart (both he and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem:) so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the dayes of Hezekiah. In the next Chapter we have the story of the unparallel'd wick­ednesse of Manasseh his Son, and how vanquish't, by the King of Assyria, he was carryed away captive in fetters to Babylon, and there when he was in affliction how he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himselfe greatly. On the other side it stands as a perpetuall blot upon the name of Amon the sonne of Manasseh, that though he had sinned as his Father had done, yet he humbled not himselfe, but Amon trespassed more and more. And upon Zedekiah chap. 36.12. that he did that which was evill in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himselfe be­fore Ieremiah the Prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. Examples in this kind would swell beyond the time. I ha­sten.

5ly There's nothing in the world can stand in the gapp to stop God marching against us in the way of his Judgements, and keepe out a Torrent of wrath flowing in upon a Kingdom, but only the humbling of our selves. Our eyes for the most part in times of distresse like Solomons fooles, Prov. 17.24. are at the ends [Page 24]of the earth, we looke upon our forces abroad, and our fortifi­cations at home, like those in Isai. 22.8. that in that day did looke unto the Armories, made up their breaches, drew in their waters, broke downe their houses to fortifie the wall, inlarged their trenches and let in the poole; and these things are not to be neglected, but here was their fault, and I feare ours, they looked not to the maker thereof, they had no respect unto God, no care by the humiliation of themselves in weeping and mourning, (a duty which the Lord of Hosts call­ed for at their hands at that time, as the only meanes of their safety and preservation) to make him propitious to them, to appease his wrath, and engage him for them, who if he keepe not the City, the watchman watcheth but in vaine. it is our God that is the Pignus Imperii, the Palladium, and Ancile of our Cities. While we enjoy his protection and presence, we may not on­ly say of them as they did of Sparta, that their men were their walls, but our God, salvation will the Lord appoint for walls and bulwarkes. no weapon shall prosper against the City that is de­fended by God; hee'le send Armies from heaven to fight for us, when we have none in the field. They fought from heaven, the starres in their courses fought against Sisera. Judg. 5.20. The river Kishon swept them away, even that ancient River, the River Kishon. Halfe a Regiment with Gideon, when God goes Generall with them into the field, shall be more then enough to discomfit the whole host of Midian. he can strike the besiegers with a Panicke feare, and make them fly at the onely imagined noyse of Horses and Chariots. On the other side, if God be against us, it availes not what our provisions, and fortifications be, or how many thousand are for us. All the Castles, and Bul­warkes, and Armies in the world cannot protect us, from God as an enemy. Aiguanus tells us of a Prince, who being call'd in by the Inhabitants of a City to their assistance, and the rather to perswade him, being assured that the place was verytenible, well provided, and fortified; The Prince return'd answere de­sireing [Page 25]to know whether their city were covered above, so that Gods anger could not fall from heaven upon them; signifying unto them, that it was a vaine thing to hope to secure them­selves in the strength of walls, and the helpe of men, while sinne layed them open to the wrath of God. The sinnes with­in are more to be feared, then the enemies without. [...] was a voice heard from heaven by the Tyrant Phocas, who thought after all his villanie to preserve himselfe by the im­pregnablenesse of the place; wickednesse is within, the City shall be destroyed. I read of a people that, when Alexander sent unto them to know what it was they most feared; (he sup­posed they would have said himselfe.) but they answered, that they were most affraid lest heaven should fall upon them: and in­deed this is most to be feared, lest the wrath of the God of heaven fall upon us; after all our fortifications we lye open to heaven, and there's no way to secure our selves from an enemy thence, but by humbling our selves. Humiliation hath often made up the breaches, when a whole nation hath beene ready to be overwhelm'd by an inundation of Judgements. As A­bigail once did David, it appeaseth God in the height of his fury; it stands as the Raine. bow that God hath set in the Cloudes, which whensoever he lookes upon he relents, and will not drowne that people in a deluge of wrath. Non potest orbis cadere, quē lacrymae sustentant, saith S. Austin; the teares of contriti­on they are the Pillars of a Kingdome, the props that sustaine and beare up the world that it doth not fall into it's primitive confusion, Humiliation is that sure Anchor of hope which hath saved the Church, and State from wracke, in the greatest tem­pests upon both. God hath obtained his end when he sees us prostrate upon the ground, and yeelding our selves, his in­dignation doth not fall so low, he cannot exercise vengeance upon them who revenge sinne upon themselves, nor destroy them that lie downe at his feete, and cry for mercy.2 Chron. 12 They have humbled themselves, saith the Lord of Rehoboam, and his [Page 26]Princes, therefore I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be powred upon them by the hand of Shishach. Goe, saith the Lord to those Commissioners EZek. 9. Set a marke upon them, that they may be spared in the day of my wrath; They are mourners, they cry out for their owne and the sinnes of the Nation. If my people that are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seeke my face, and turne from their evill wayes; I will heare from heaven and have mercy, I will pardon their sinne, and heale their Land. 1 Chron. 7.14. We have an exellent example to this purpose in the 10^th of Judges. The children of Israel fell from the service of God to the service of Idols, God sells them that will not serve him to be slaves to their enemies, who vex and oppresse them full 18 yeares, (a long bondage,) this the condition of the people on the the o­ther side of Iordan; and 'tis like to be as bad with those on this side the river; The enemy is upon his march with a mighty Army: The People in distresse fly to God for assistance, and receive a cold answer from him, such as might have discou­raged them from all hopes of deliverance; for first he upbraids them, with those many deliverances he had wrought for them already. Did not I deliver you out of the hand of the Aegyptians, and the Amorites, and the Children of Amen, and the Zidonians? &c. as if at this day he should answere us of this place. Did I not deliver you from the Tyranny of the Pope, from the Spanish Armado; and the Gunpowder-treason? from the ma­ny plots against the persons of your Kings, and the peace of your State, from the fury of the pestilence, and the terrour of death in sundry battailes of late? Yet have ye forsaken me; and then concludes he will deliver them no more, but bids them go to the Gods they had chosen, and let them deliver them in the time of their trouble. In this case what ground had faith upon which to stirre up importunity to aske, or hope to expect salva­tion and deliverance, when as God had flatly answered them that he would deliver the mno more? Why, yet this hope [Page 27]they have still. The Lord is mercifull, he hath beene intreated to forgive when he hath purposed to punish, and to save when he had resolved to destroy. It may be their sighes and teares and prayers may overcome Gods resolution, and move him to deliver them, though he hath said he will deliver them no more. How e're they are resolved to throw themselves at his feete, if they must die they'le die there, if he will not helpe them in their distresse, they cannot finde any fault with him, they have deserved no favour at his hands; if he will see them destroyed he may, but their hope is that notwithstanding they have been a disobedient people, yet the Lord will looke upon them now as an humbled people, and have compassion upon them. And they said unto the Lord, we have sinned, doe thou unto us as seemeth good unto thee; deliver us onely we pray thee this day. And to their humiliation they adde reformation, for it fol­lowes. They put away their strange Gods from them, and now marke the successe with God; why his heart is as it were melt­ed into pity towards them, for, saith the Text; His soule was greived for the misery of Israel; and against his former declarati­on crownes their submission with a glorious victory.

In the last place, it will appeare evidently as a truth written by a beame of the sunne, that there is great cause why a peo­ple, when Gods hand is stretch't out in wrath against them, should humble themselves, if we doe but consider how glori­ous and dreadfull that God is whose hand is exalted in Judg­ment, and how vile creatures we are; and what a terrible thing his wrath is, and how impotent we are to stand against it. His Majesty is so excellent, that the most glorious Seraphinis dare not behold it, but thorow the vayle of their wings, and then too dazelled with admiration, cry Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Isa. 6.3. Never yet had mortall man, even the most innocent, any glympse of that glory, but did presently humble and abhorre himselfe. Woe is me (saith the Prophet Isaiah at the 5. vers. of the Chap.) for I [Page 28]am undone, because I am a man of uncleane lipps, and I dwell in the midst of a People of uncleane lipps, for mine eyes have seene the King, the Lord of Hosts. Much more cause then have a sinfull people to be abased, to be astonish't, and to tremble, to meet him in the way of his judgements, the infinite depth of whose wrath no created understanding is able to fathom. The wrath of a King, saith Solomon, is as the roareing of a Lion, when the Lion roares who will not tremble? Prov. 19.12. Yea but this is the wrath of a God, this speakes an immensity, an infinitenesse, we cannot conceive.Judg. 8.21. As the mans is, so is his strength; as God is so is his wrath; it is a wrath that doth virtually, and eminently containe all the terrors of the Creature. We read of strange exquisite tor­ments the Cruelty of Tyrants have invented, these all are but shadowes to the effects of his wrath. The scripture gives us some adumbrations of it by such resemblances, as speake it to be a most terrible wrath. It is compared to fire the most active and terrible creature; the Philosopher tells us that nothing can live in that Element; and our fire, in respect of that, is but like the fire that is painted upon the wall, and yet the poore creature must live for ever in it, God upholding it that it may feele the power of his wrath, Isay. 30.33. to a River of fire and brimstone; that carries something more with it: The deluge of water was ve­ry dreadfull, it drowned a whole world, but such a flood of fire and brimstone, how horrible would that be? and what are the proudest sinners to stand before it, who are but as stub­ble? why, it carries away gates, and walls, and Castles, and Kingdomes, and Heaven, and Earth, and all with it. The earth shooke and trembled, the foundations of heaven moved, because he was wroth, 2 Sam. 22.8. and shall poore man that is crushed before the moth be able to oppose himselfe against it? Can thine heart endure, or thine hands he strong in the day, that I shall deale with thee? EZek. 22.14. Hast thou a hand to resist it, or an heart to beare it? one drop of that wrath falling upon them, will turne the sunne into darkenesse, and the moone into blood, and [Page 29]make the starres drop downe from heaven; one sparkle thereof shall set on fire the Heavens, and the earth,Matt. 24.29. the whole frame of nature, and burne downe to the bottom of Hell. Lord, who knowes the power of thy wrath? For according to thy feare, Deut. 32 22. so is thy wrath. saith Moses Psal. 90.11. Melancholy apprehensions will fancy strange feares, but imagination it selfe falls infinite­ly short of the power of Gods wrath. shold God take and set a man upon hells brinke, that he might se the torments, and heare the cries of the damned there, his understanding cer­tainely would be much inlarged to conceive, but yet never able to know what is the power of Gods wrath. O consider this and tremble, ye that do not onely sinne downe, but pray downe this wrath upon your selves, by those fearefull imprecations God damne me, and The Divell take me. Little do these poore soules thinke what it is to be damned. Isay. 33.14. Who can dwell with devoureing fire? who can dwell with everlasting burnings? And yet this they must, upon whom God shewes forth the power of his wrath in their damnation: What ever vaine people now conceite of it, the time shall come when Kings, and great men, and rich men, cheife Captaines, and mighty men,Rev. 6.1 [...].16. shall petiti­on the mountaines and the rocks, to hide them from this wrath, Thou O Lord, even thou art to be feared, Psal. 7 [...].7. and who may stand in thy sight when thou art angry? Now since Gods wrath is so terrible, when it beginnes to grow hot against a people, there is more then cause, it's high time for them to humble themselves. I have done with the 2 first Queres, I descend now to the last, which brings the point nearer home, to shew what cause we of this Kingdome, and particularly wee of this place have to humble our selves; I cannot point at all particulars, I shall one­ly touch these three.

The first is, the great distresse, that is this day upon the whole kingdome; this is a Lamentation, and should be for a Lamentation. we read in the 21. of Iudges, that when by the sword of Civill warre, the Tribe of Benjamin was cut off and [Page 30]destroyed, that the other Tribes came to the House of God, and abode there untill even before the Lord, and lift up their voices, and wept sore, saying. O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to passe in Israel, that there should be this day one Tribe lacking in Is­rael? and the children of Israel, (saith the Text,) repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Is­rael this day? We are met (Beloved) at this time in Gods house to humble ourselves, and what cause of mourning have we for this Nation, wherein I will not say one Tribe is cut off already, but many of the heades and chosen men of every Tribe: and the whole remnant of this once populous flourish­ing Kingdome is ready to be destroyed by the bloody sword of an intestine dissention,2 Ch [...]on. 20.23. while we like those earth-borne Thebans, or cursed Cananites, help to kill and destroy each other? When Ziglag was burnt with fire, at the very sight of it David and his men wept so much that they could weepe no more. 1 Sam. 30.3. what greater reason have we to weepe at the sight of the generall conflagration of our owne Country? Were there nothing to be lamented by us in this day of our Fast, but the publique miseries of this poore Kingdome, with how loud and fearefull a cry doe they call every one of us to mourning. Ye daughters of England weepe over me who cloathed you with scarlet, 2 Sam. 1.24. and sed you with the flower of wheate: How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the Battaile? how are not only the weapons of warre, but all the abundance and de­lightes and glory of your peace perished? What cause have we (I say) not only with good Nehemiah to have our counte­nances sad,Nehem. 1.4. and to sit downe and weepe, and mourne, and fast and pray before the God of heaven, but to wish with Jeremie, O that our heads were waters, Jer. 9.4. and our eyes a fountaine of teares, that we might weepe day and night for the slaine of the daughter of our people.

A second cause we have to humble our selves at this time is the consideration of every one of our owne sinnes, and the [Page 31]sinne of the Nation, the guilt and provocation whereof have drawne downe upon our heads the great wrath, and indigna­tion of our God. Teares were made only for sin, [...], &c. God (saith Saint Chrysostome) hath implanted in us the pas­sion sorrow for no other thing in the world but sinne;Hon. 7. ad pop. Antio­chenu [...]. in our Calamities we should looke with the eye of contrition more upon our sinnes then our sufferings, and be more afflict­ed that we should deserve afflictions, then that we should endure them. A Pharaoh will cry out of the Plague, and pray for the taking away of the death, repenting Israel prayes for the removall of their sinne. Take away all our iniquity. Hos. 14.2. and indeed all other Calamities to this are in the same Fa­thers words, but [...], bare names of Calamity, [...] &c. sin is only truly so.Ibid. Whatsoever bitternesse is in any affliction, is put into it by the malignity of sin; and therefore the Godly who are [...], men of teares, in their weeping have alwayes most lamented their sinnes. When Gods wrath was incensed against Israel to have destroyed them for the golden Calfe. Oh, saith Moses, this people have sinned a great sinne, and yet now if thou wilt forgive their sinne &c. Exod 32 31. O my God, saith Ezra in the great distresse of his people, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, O my God, for our iniquities are increased over our heads, and our trespasse is growne up unto the heavens Ezra 9.6. the same course is held by Nehemiah, and Daniel in their supplication, King David when the destroying Angel is sheathing his sword into Jeru­salem, cries out, I have sinned and I have done wickedly 2 Sam. 24.17. Mine heart, saith Ieremy, within me is broken because of the Prophets, my bones shake, I am like a drunken man, like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord, and because of the wordes of his holinesse; for the Land is full of Adulterers, for because of swear­ing the Land mournes, the pleasant places of the wildernesse are dryed up; and their course is evill, and their force is not right. Ier. 23.9.10. O for some Jeremies to lament this over againe for this nation. [Page 32]Teares that are shed for sinne are [...], commendable teares,Orat. 21. as Nazianzen tearmes them. The Philosopher tells us that the dew of heaven and the raine from above, is farre more fertile then the waters from the fountaines and rivers below, and so are those teares for sinne then those that are for afflicti­on. And if ever people had cause to be humbled, to have their hearts broken, and their eyes run downe with rivers of waters for their owne sinnes and the sinnes of their Nation, then have we certainly this day. That we should sin away our peace, and those blessings which made us glorious in the sight of the Na­tions; that we should sin our selves into all these miseries that are now upon us; The greatnesse of our present distresse testi­fies to our faces the greatnesse of our sinnes. God that never afflicts willingly, Lam. 3.33. and when he doth, punishes citra condignum, lesse then the desert of our sinnes, Job. 11.6. hath declared unto us the enor­mity of our sinne by the extremity of our punishment. Ierusa­lem hath greivously sinned, Lam. 1.8. saith the Prophet; And therefore is she removed. We may say too this day, England hath greivously sin­ned, therefore is she greivously afflicted, her glory is removed and departed from her.

But yet this is not all; the sinnes whereby we first drew downe this great wrath upon our selves are not all the cause we have to be humbled at this time; no, there is something more for which (were it but throughly resented) all our hearts should melt, all our bowells tremble, and all our Livers be poured out on the earth, like water before the Lord this day; and that is that we still sinne under Judgements, that we have not humbled our selves as yet under Gods mighty hand, that we have contracted the guilt of many new greivous sinnes, even since the time that Gods hand hath beene upon us in so terrible a Judgement. Great cause hath every one of us to sit downe and take up a Lamen­tation over his owne hard heart: Alas! What stone is my heart made of? The hardest marble will weepe, when the heaven is blacke with tempests above: though great clouds of Gods an­ger [Page 33]have hung a long time over our heads, and many stormes of wrath fallen upon us, yet my heart mournes not. The A­damant, that they say, will onely expell vaine feares; no reall feares no terrour of present Judgements can make any impres­sion of feare upon my heart. The Naturalist tells us too that the Adamant is broken with Goats bloud, but neither the bloud of Jesus Christ that scape-Goate, nor that of so many thousands of our brethren that have beene slaine, have melted my heart into teares of Contrition. What? is it a rocke? why the rocke when strooke but twice by the rod of Moses, sent forth waters a­bundantly, saith the Text, Num. 20.11. But God hath often smitten us with his rod, and yet no waters of repentance flow from my hard impenitent heart. Oh this sets our condition in the very depth of misery, and almost beyond the hopes of re­covery, that we sinne still, that we repent not under Judgements. What flouds of teares are sufficient to deplore this impeniten­cy; O our God, saith Ezra, what shall we say after all this? for we have forsaken thy Commandements, Ezr. 9.10. This is that which Daniel insisteth upon as the maine aggravation of the sinne of Judah, Dan. 9.12. that though the like had not beene done under heaven, as had beene done upon Jerusalem, Though, saith he, all this be come upon us, yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turne from our iniquities, and un­derstand thy truth. Oh Beloved, let this consideration be like Moses rod to strike water out of our stony hearts, that the plague of sinne is upon us, while we sigh and groane and dye under the plague of Judgements; Let us lament that we have not la­mented for our sinnes, and say, The Lord pardon our Impeniten­cy, the Lord forgive the sinnes we have committed since the time that his Iudgements have beene upon the Land. Let it be the marke of the beast, and the badge of the Kingdome of Anti-Christ, when the Angell hath poured out the viall of wrath upon them, to gnaw their tongues for paine and blaspheme the God of heaven because of their sores and torments, and not to repent of their evill deeds, Rev. [Page 34]16.10. But let us whom God hath yet reprived from the two deaths of warre and sicknesse which have beene so long upon the Kingdome, be on the mountaines like doves of the valleys, every one mourning for his own iniquity. Ezek. 7.16. I have now di­spatcht the three questions, and have done with the doctrinall part; Let your patience I beseech you hold out a little longer, while I close up all with a seasonable application.

In the first place, the Text riseth with full force against the most of us, I feare there are very few that can wash our hands of the guilt of this sinne, which stands here charged against the Jewes, They are not humbled even unto this day. We find by wo­full experience that this day (to make use of our Saviours words, this Scripture is fullfilled in our eares. Though the wrath of God be in a high measure upon us, and hath long continued upon the Land: Yet where are the Jeremie's that mourne, the Daniel's that fast, the Nehemiah's and Ezra'es that pray? the Preists that weepe betweene the Porch and the Altar, and say, Spare thy people O Lord? the Moseses that by the humiliation of themselvs labour to stand in the gap? If there be but one house on fire in the Towne, there's a generall cry and running to helpe, every one carryes water to quench it: Now that the whole Kingdome is all on a Flame, and that cryes to every one of us, Water, water; ôh for some such water as the children of Israel poured out before the Lord in Mizpeh, 1 Sam. 7.6. fasting and crying out mightily, we have sinned! ôh for buckets of teares, pe­nitent teares to quench a flaming Kingdome! ôh that every head were full, and every heart a Fountaine of those waters, that we might draw thence to extinguish the devouring fire of Gods wrath; but alas woe is me! woe is this whole Nation e­very one brings fuell to increase the flame, few or none labour to quench it. I know all that have any sense of our present mi­series, cannot but resent it with greife; doe ye not observe a deluge of sinne upon the Kingdome, as well as a floud of wrath, which hath broken downe all the bankes of the feare of God [Page 35]and the reverence of man? Salvian complaines, in lib. 6. of the City Triers, Assiduitas calamitatum illic, augmentum criminum fait, iis ipsis quibus coërcebantur scelera plagis erescebant, ut putares poenam ipsorum criminum quasi matrem esse vitiorum. I would our practice did not make it speake English. Could you ever have thought impiety should have risen to so prodigious an height? is there any wickednesse dares not shew it selfe in publicke: The Licentious leudnesse of uncleane persons which heretofore abhorred the Light, (feare and shame made them put on a vaile then) now dares the day: all rapine and spoile and vio­lence legitimated under the name of Plundering, the worst kind of Robbery. Oppression and unjust dealing improv'd by all the Art deceit can invent, as if all Conscience as well as Lawes were asleepe, if not quite dead. Heart-burnings and malice in every Towne and village, triumphing even over our common miseries, as if nothing could reconcile us but onely utter ruine and the grave. It was the observation of Augustus Casar, Conviviorum & vestium luxus agrotantis & labentis imperii signa esse & praenuncia. That excesse and riot in diet and apparell was a signe and forerunner of a languish­ing and expiring Kingdome. Was ever nation more guilty of these two sinnes, then ours of late? nay doe we abate now that God calls us to fasting and sackcloath? Are not our Tables as full as heretofore? if not, are not our Tavernes and Ale-houses so, those [...], watry places, where (as Evagrius was wont to say) the Devill most of all delighteth to haunt? It is methinkes a very sad story which Salvian tells us of Carthage, Alii foris jugulaban­tur, alii in­tus forni­cabantur. l. 6. degub. at a time when warre was even at their City Gates. That while the ene­my acted the Butchers upon their brethren without, they play­ed the Beasts in uncleanenesse within; both Captives at the same time, they to the Barbarians, these to their Lusts; these revelling in the City, while they were groaning out their last in the Feild; these wallowing in their filth, while they lay weltring in their owne bloud: their case was much like ours; I would our course were not so like theirs. Was there ever a [Page 36]greater riot in Cloathes among all sorts of people then now?Ez. k. 16.51. England as well as Judah may seeme in her pride to justify So­dom: a sinne committed with an high hand as it were in con­tempt and despight of heaven: Cast your eyes about you and see Nunquid hae Tunicae plangentium? Is this the habit and attire, this the garbe of mourners? Are not many arrayed as in the day of the Solemne Feast and triumph of the Church and Kingdome, rather then the time of the great perplexity and di­stresse of both? the very names of our womens tackling would fill up the whole third Chapter of Esay: Neither Gods Mini­sters, nor yet his Judgements can preach downe this sinne, no not so much as their blacke spots and their paintings; Is it such a blackensse as this thinke ye, that the Prophet Ioel speakes of, Ioel 2.6. All faces shall gather blackenesse? Consider that, and be affraid, ye know not how neare that day is, and remember the fate of painted Iezabell. Hath it not beene almost the Eccho of every Sermon against oathes and blasphemies, and those cur­sed imprecations? Oh doe not this abhominable thing that God bates; and indeed should we be silent, the very stones in the streetes would speake; and the timber out of the house would answer them; yet the wicked know no shame, those sinnes are growne to a presumption both against God and the King. The children of Israel, faith God, could not stand, but turned their backe before their enemies because they were accursed, Jos. 7.12. Alas! then how shall these stand in the day of battaile, that doe so often curse and confound themselves? It is said of the Thracians, that when it thunders they shoot up their Arrowes as it were in de­fiance against heaven, these men their oathes and execrations. That excellent Law we have against this sinne hath beene strengthened by two pious Proclamations of late; Oh that there were a like care and zeale in the execution. Honourable, and Beloved, let me in the name of God and in the behalfe of this poore Kingdome beseech you, as the Father in the Gospell sometimes did our Saviour for his child possessed with an un­cleane [Page 37]spirit, If you can doe any thing have compassion on us and helpe us. I would I could say with our Prophet.Mark. 9.12. Surely those are poore and foolish, they know not the way of the Lord nor the Iudge­ments of their God; Jer. 5.4, 5 . I will goe to the great men and speake unto them for they have knowne the way of the Lord and the Iudgement of their God. Oh ye heads of our Tribes,2 Chron. 28.10. and ye the sonnes of Levi, as the Prophet Oded sometimes spake, are there not with you, even with you, sinnes against the Lord your God? Pardon me, I beseech you if I speake freely; The Sacrifice of this day is a sinne offe­ring, and 'tis Gods expresse command, Lev. 5.11. that neither oyle nor frankincense be put upon it, it is a sinne offering. Lay your hand upon your heart, and tell me, what Reformation doe you find every one in his owne heart? what one sinne have you forsaken of which before you were guilty? what one duty doe you now make conscience of which you formerly neglected? doe you find a Frame of spirit in your selves answering the sad and trembling condition of the Land? in a word, are ye humbled even unto this day? I would I could heare a good answer from you, that I might yet hope for better times; as your persons are representative, so are your sinnes too; your sinnes are the sinnes of a whole Towne, a County, a Diocesse, and so should I ac­count your humiliation. I doubt not but here are many which are exil'd from their houses, and [...]ifled of their Estates; your condition is sad, but let me put the Question to you; Are your hearts humbled? O Humiliation, Humiliation, what's be­come of thee? where shall I finde thee that thou mayst be a Pella, a City of refuge, to protect us from the Avengers of bloud; a Noahs Arke to save a sinfull nation from the flood of Gods wrath? The City says, she knowes thee not, the Court complaines thou art a stranger there, and the Country cries thou art gone out of the Land. Though the two great destroyers, the Red & the Pale horses, have march't through the whole Land, multi­tudes of people every day swept away, the cries of our oppres­ed, wounded, spoyled, undone freinds, Fathers, Brothers, kins­men, [Page 38]sound every houre in our eares, the sighes, and teares, and groanes of our dying nation, are fresh, and loud; the ruine of the Kingdome, and desolation as it were in sight, yet are not most of us like that stupid judge in the Acts, Act. 11.17 And Gallio cared for none of these things? The truth is, when these cloudes first began to gather together, there was much perplexity amongst us where the tempest then hanging over our heades would fall, we were all in great feare what the event of those distractions would be; but now that our feares are come upon us, we cease to be affraid; like those Froggs in the Fable, when Jupiter threw downe the logg amongst them, it put them in a great fright for a time, so that they held their croaking, but after a while, when the feare was a little over, they came neare to the Log and leapt upon it. The most of us seeme to be sicke of Ichorams disease,2 Chron. 21.15. our bowells of compassion to others, (nay which is yet more) of pitty to our selves, are fallen out. We relent not at the murther and undoing of so many thousands of our brethren; we can heare the passing-bell tole, and see the panges of death upon our owne Country with dry eyes and unhumbled hearts, and not so much as say, Alas my mother▪ what Jeremy, nay what seas of teares, even teares of blood, are sufficient to lament this obstinacy?Jonah. 4.11. Should I not have compassion on a great City, wherein are six hundred thousand soules that know not the right hand from the left? the greatnesse of the multitude was a motive that prevailed with God to spare Ninive; and should not this be an Argument as prevalent with us, to with­draw us from sinne, and to perswade us this day every one to humble himselfe?Exod. 10.3 O my wretched heart! How long Pharaoh like, wilt thou refuse to humble thy selfe? If thou hast no pitty up­on thy selfe, yet shouldst thou not have compassion upon a pe­rishing Kingdome? Shall I carry to my grave, nay to Hell with me the guilt of the bloud of so many thousand Inno­cents? Those [...], men that walke in their sleepe, they will venture upon dangerous precipices, because they know [Page 39]not their danger, but when they are awakened, and come to see what they have done, they are astonish't, and even strooke dead with the apprehension of the danger escaped, it is a won­der to see that men awakened by the loud cries of Gods judg­ments (or if we be asleepe still, we are in a dead sleepe) should dare to go on in such desperate wayes, as many of us do: that we should have our eyes open and see our danger, and yet not be affraid, that the wrath of God should be so long upon the Land, and we not humbled even unto this day.

In a word, to close up all (I have already tyred both you and my selfe) as Jotham sometime spake to the men of She- [...]hem; Jndg. 9.7. Hearken I beseech you unto me, that the Lord may hearken un­to you; I know the desire of your soule is to doe good to your poore Country; your hearts cannot but yearne towards your distressed mother, and I hope with many of you, as this is the time of Jacobs trouble, so 'tis of Iacobs wrestling too,Hos. 12.4. by strong cries and teares, that the Lord would turne away from his fierce wrath, compose our bloudy distractions, and heale our Land. Do you desire that God should heare you? Why then hearken unto him,1 Pet. 5.6. Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God, (he will heare the prayer of the humble) and what ever our present condition be, he will exalt us in due time; Ps. 10.17. if your owne hearts tell you that you have not beene humbled even unto this day, why then write the name of this day, let your hearts be humbled before the Lord this day: God forbid that any one of us should carry an unhumbled heart out of this house of mourning: but when we are gone hence, let us enter every one into his owne Closet, and there powre out his affli­cted soule in sighes, and groanes, and teares, and prayers, be­fore the Lord for his owne sinnes and the sinnes of the King­dome. Oh let us make this day a day of Attonement for our selves, and this whole nation. When Benhadad was quite van­quish't By Ahab, he sent his servants with sackcloth upon their loynes and ropes upon their necks, which came to the King of Israel, and said, Thy servant Benhadad saith, 1 Kign. 2 [...].32. I pray [Page 40]thee let me live; the incouragement they had to do this, was because they heard, the Kings of Israel were mercifull Kings. Let us do so this day, humble our selves in fasting, and teares, and begg our lives, and the life of this poore Kingdome at Gods hands; he is a mercifull God; say unto him, This expiring Church and dying Kingdome say, we pray thee let us live. O let us not deferre any longer to humble our selves. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the care (saith Iob) but now mine eye seeth thee,Job 42.5, 6. wherefore I abhorr my selfe in dust and ashes. we have heard long since by the hearing of the care, what destructions God hath wrought upon the Earth, we have heard of the Desolati­ons of Jerusalem and many other Cities, and Kingdomes, of old, and of Germany and Ireland of late (the report is still bleeding new,) Oh distressed Ireland! and happy had we beene had their examples awaked us, that we our selves might not have beene made an History to others; but now that we have seene him by the eye, in the way of his judgements, what will become of us, if we do not humble and abhorre our selves? It is sayed Rev. 9.20. That though the third part of men were killed, yet the remnant that were not slaine by the plagues, repented not of the workes of their hands, neither repented they of their mur­thers, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornications, nor of their thefts. O let it not be sayd of us of this Nation, us of this place, that though the sword and the sicknesse have slaine, shall I say a 3^d part of the Kingdome? we know that many thousands are already fallen in England; the sword is not yet put up into the sheath, nor the cōmission to destroy taken from the pestilence: O let it not (I say) be sayd of us, that are as yet spared from destruction, that we have not repented of the workes of our hands. much lesse let that be verified of us, which is spoken of the Nations. Rev. 16.8, 9. That when the fourth Angel had poured out his viall upon the Sunn, and power was given him to scorch men with fire, the men were scorched with great heate, and blasphemed the name of God which hath power over those plagues; and they repented not to give him the glory. The destroying Angel hath poured [Page 41]out the viall of Gods wrath upon the Sun of our peace & former prosperity: Through the anger of the Lord of Hosts is the whole land darkened: the fire that is kindled in all our dwellings hath scorched some of our persons, & consumed many of our estates; the Lord forbid that this great affliction should enrage our spirits to blaspheme the name of that God who hath power over those plagues; or that this great sin should be laid to the charge of the inhabitants of this Kingdome, that notwithstanding all the judg­ments upon them, yet they repented not to give God the glory. But let us rather make them our patternes, who are propounded to us as examples of repentance in times of distresse, and wrestle with God this day by unfained contrition, for that blessing, which we cannot obtaine at the hands of men. Oh what would many of us give, (had we it to give) for that blessing which lately was as a price in the hand of fooles! Now what more doth God require of us for the redemption of this inestimable Pearle, but onely this, that we should humble our selves? Honourable, and Beloved, there have beene many hopefull wayes taken for the recovery of our lost Peace: your endeavours have exprest your hearty desires, to compose our unnaturall divisions by an happy accommodation: the Royall tongue hath prevented me in the acknowledgement of your paines this way; the Lord reward it unto you, and all those that are thus minded, and the blessing of the Peace-makers ever rest upon you. But the many and great sinnes of this Nation have blasted the successe, and as yet hid these good things from us. What remaines now, but that Ye and We, and all of us by uncessant prayers and teares importune the throne of grace, and humble our selves before the God of peace, for the blessing of peace?

Oh, but methinkes I heare some say, Alas my heart, notwith­standing all that hath beene said, is yet hard and unhumbled: Can you give me some receit, that may break it and melt it into teares of Repentance?

Take this breise prescription, and carry it home along with thee: in the first place,Zech. 1 [...].10 pray to God that he would poure out upon thee the spirit of grace and supplication. Begge a looke from Christ, [Page 42]there is a vertue in Christ his looke to peirce the hardest heart,Luke 22.61, 62. Respice Domine Iesu, ut sciamus no­strum de [...]lere deli­ctum Am­brose. Psal. 147.18. Ios. 15.19. and to soften it into godly sorrow and remorse for it's sinnes. Je­sus looked backe, and Peter went out, and wept bitterly. The foun­taine of penitent teares is in heaven; our hearts are naturally dry, like the desarts of Arabia, untill he that turnes the wildernesse into a standing poole, and the dry ground into springs of waters, causeth his spirit to blow up on them, and then the waters shall flow. Goe to God with that request which Achsa did to her Father, Give me O Lord, the springs of water, the upper and the nether springs, that I may weep for our distresse, but more for our sinnes. In the next place, raise up thy soule upon the wings of heavenly meditation, and fly up to Mount Golgotha, and there looke upon him whom thou hast peir­ced. Consider him in his bitter agony, sweating drops of bloud trickling downe to the ground: In those consternations of spirit, trembling under the unsupportable burden of his Fathers wrath; hanging upon the Crosse, nail'd hands and feet; forsaken of men, and in his owne sense of God too, breathing out his afflicted soule in a loud cry. And then reflect upon thy selfe, not onely as the Author of all,Heb. 6.6. but also as one that by thy knowne, wilful, presum­ptuous sinnes hast often crucified him afresh, and put him to an open shame. The fountaine of bloud opened in Christs side for the expia­tion of sinne, will open a fountaine of teares in thy heart for the commission of it. They shall looke upon him whom they have peirced, and they shall mourne for him, as one mournes for his onely sonne, and shall be in bitternesse for him, Zech. 22.10. as one is in bitternesse for his first borne.

Now the Lord in mercy bring home and settle that which hath beene spoken at this time, upon every one of our hearts. Amen.