PHysitians hold, that there are two causes of a pesti­lence, externall and internall; the infection of the aire, and the corruption of mens humours. But Divines (who transcend them in this their judge­ment) are of another opinion, ascribing it to the wrath of God, and to the sin of man; so that it is not so much putredo humorum, as corruptio morum. This is magnum mysterium; and in this great mystery we must look beyond and a­above nature, to the God of Nature, acknowledging with the Ae­gyptian Magi, that Digitus Dei est hic, the finger of God is here. I have sent pestilence amongst you, saith the Lord, Amos 4 10.

From these premises some haply may inferre, that God, (the fountaine of all goodnesse) is the author of evill, and may inforce the argument by divine writ, as in that of the Prophet, Is there evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it? In which interrogation there is an asseveration, and vehement affirmation, that there is no e­vill in a City, but the Lord hath done it? For the understanding whereof you must distinguish of evill: for there is duplex malum, a double evill, malum culpae, & malum poenae, the evill of sin, and the evill of punishment; the evill in us, and the evill on us, or (accor­ding to S. Austine) malum quod homo facit, & malum quod homo pa­titur, the evill that man doth, and the evill that man suffereth. Of the first God is not the authour, but the last. God (who is [...], [Page] Goodnesse it selfe) would have all men to bee saved. How often would I have gathered thee, &c. sayes our blessed Lord? I would, sed nolu [...]sti, but thou wouldst not; therefore (the judgement fol­lows in the subsequēt words) Thy habitation is left unto thee desolate. Nemo laditur, nisi a seipso, no man is hurt but by himselfe. Per ditio tua est ex te, Thy destruction is of thy selfe. Intra muros hostis, the enemy is within the walles. There is no greater enemy to man, then man himselfe is to himselfe. Though the Divell like a roaring Lion, goeth about continually, seeking whom he may devoure, yet he cannot devoure whom hee would. Hee will doe for our ruine what he can; there's his malice: but he cannot doe what he would, that's our comfort. But this is our misery, that we our selves are the onely workers of our owne woe. Mans sinne is the cause of Gods plague, and Gods plague is but the effect of mans sinne. Sup­pose we are now in a set battell, the Lord of Hosts the Generall of the Army, his wrath the trumpet summoning and sounding the A­larm, our iniquities are his enemies, which have provoked him to make warre against us, sinne is our sicknesse, and sinne the quarrell. It is nothing but the exhalation of our sinnes, which hath now caused the clouds of these judgements both on us and over us: Iudgment doth as naturally flow from sinne, as water from a foun­taine. It was never known that sinne went before, and punishment did not follow after. If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the doore, Gen. 4.7. Sinne, that is, the punishment of sinne. And hence it is, that sinne and punishment, are all one in the Hebrew tongue, and signifie the very same. Punishment (like a swift hunting Nimrod) pursueth sinne; It sayes, like Naomi, I will lodge with thee. Both these (like two inseparable twinnes) live and dye together. Where­fore is the living man sorrowfull? It is the Quaere of the Prophet, Lament. 3.39. and he resolves the question in the same verse; Man suffereth for his sinne: If men be active in sinning, they shall be pas­sive in mourning. Great sinnes doe procure great sorrowes: Why are we so diseased but because God is so much displeased? Wee have grievously sinned, therefore are we so grievously plagued. The grievousnesse of our sinnes doth adde griefe unto our soules.

[Page]The elements would bee our attendants, and all the creatures would be our friends, were not we by our iniquities at enmity with our Creator. All sublunary bodies would be our servants, would we but serve in holinesse and righteousnesse, the father of Spirits: Heaven would have no quarrell with us, did not we by our impie­ties, warre with the God of Heaven. Nay, Hell it selfe, and all the infernall powers thereof, could have no power over us, were it not for sinne. Sinne is the onely make-bate between God and Man. It is the wall of separation, that separates us from the favour and grace of God in this life, and from the joyes and glory with God in the life to come. Your transgressions (saith the Prophet Isaiah) have separated between you and your God; they have hid his face from you. Sinne is that [...], the great gulfe betweene God and Man, so great, that it hinders the ascent of our prayers unto God, and the descent of his favours upon us.

It is an unsupportable load, the greatest burthen man can possi­bly undergoe. It is a burthen to the Creator, and it is no lesse to the Creatures. God complaines by his Prophet, that hee is pressed with their iniquities, as a Cart that is full of Sheaves: And the whole creation groanes under this intollerable weight, Rom. 8. It was the dolefull song of the sweet Singer of Israel, Iniquitates meae gravatae sunt super me, mine iniquities over-burthen me. It made our blessed Saviour suffer like a cursed sinner. It made him, who knew no sinne in himselfe, to become sinne for us; him, who was invested with a Deity, to assume to himselfe our hu­manity; him, who was the Lord over all, to become subject unto all; him, who was the God of Nature, to yeeld himselfe unto Na­ture: It made him groane till he wept, weep till he sweat, sweat till he bled, and bleed till he died. These are the wofull effects, and miserable consequents of sinne. And can that seeme light and delicious to us, which was so heavie and grievous to Christ?) This is the lamentable tragedy, and sad Catastrophe of iniquity. Stipen­dium peccati est mors. After iniquity hath for a while plaid her part, then death comes upon the stage: With death it hath its period here, and without repentance the torments of the second death doe [Page] ensue hereafter: which second death is so dismall and dreadful, that from it, and from the terrible torments of it, good Lord save and deliver us. It is not onely a naturall death of the body, nor a spiri­tuall death of the soule, but an eternall death of both body and soul for evermore. Sin is the Divels worke, wicked men are the Divels labourers, or hired servants, and the stipend or wages for their ser­vice, is no better then death here, hell and damnation hereafter. If yee would see the guiltinesse of sinne, looke upon Caine; If yee would behold the beastlinesse of sin, look upon Nebuchadnezzar: If yee would take notice of the shame of sinne, view then Hamon: If yee would observe the madnesse of sinne, consider Saul; and if yee would see the end of sinne, looke upon the Glutton frying in hell, so dolefull is the end of sinne, yea, without end.

These are the lamentable effects, and bitter fruits which sinne produces to us. It is the ground of all our miseries, and hath wrought all the disasters and calamities that wee now sustaine. What hath caused the sword in Ireland, and the plague in Eng­land, but the iniquity of Ireland, and transgression of England? Toto Mars saevit in orbe, what a havock and vastation hath the bloo­dy hand of warre made in the Christian world? where faire Townes, famous Cities, and flourishing Kingdomes, have beene made Stages and Theaters of desolation and destruction for our eyes to behold. Sinne is the cause of all these mischiefes. The pale horse of death goes in triumph through our streets. The pestilence hath a long time continued and been dispersed and scattered in most places amongst us. Though graves in Church-yards have been so pestered, that there is scarce roome left for any more to be buried in; yet so insatiate are they, that they are still gaping for more karkasses. Our eares are nocturnall auditors of sad sounding passing bels, and our eyes are diurnall spectators of the common objects of mortality.

The sword is already drawn forth, and at this present brandished over our heads. It was the case of the inhabitants of Manchester in Lancashire the last weeke, and it may be our owne here in London the next weeke: we heare daily of warres, and rumors of warres, of [Page] preparations of Men, Horses, Armes and Ammunition, both here and else where, at home and abroad, both in London and at Yorke: I pray God all these may tend to our good (as they are pretended) If any evill by these doth befall any of us, it is the evill of our wic­kednesse, which is the just cause of it.

The only remedy against these evils, that the plague may be stai [...]d and the sword sheath'd, is repentance. Repentance is a Supersedeas to all judgement. It is that pretious Balm of Gilead, that will cure a sick-languishing land of all her diseases. The onely way to repaire our breaches, is to prepare our selves to meet our God. Therefore in the name and feare of God, let us resolve with our selves to re­pent of our sins. We have all sinned from the highest to the lowest, from the richest to the poorest, from the mightiest to the meanest. The sins of the Priests, & the sins of the people, have caused Gods judgements to light heavy upon us; no man can exempt himself, or plead impunity: and therfore as we are all partakers of the common calamity, so let us all betake our selves to the prescribed remedy. The axe is now laid to the root of the tree; by the axe is meant Gods judgement, and by the tree is understood every man. Now for ought I know the axe of Gods judgment is now laid to the root of the Kingdome, or the root of the Church, or to the roots of the severall individuall members of the Church. Let every true subject of the King, & let every sound member of the Church, bring forth fruit worthy amendment of life. Amendment & reformation is the only way to avert evill, to procure mercy, & to prevent judgement. If we will turn from our sins, and turne unto our God by a true and timely repentance, God wil turn away his judgements from us, and return in his former mercies unto us. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord; hee had rather that wee should redire then perire, return unto him then perish without him. God delights not in the death of any sinner, but had rather that he should turne from his wickednesse and live. The Lord hath graciously promised, that when he doth send pestilence amongst his people, if his people which are called by his name shall humble themselves, pray unto him, seek his face, and turn from their evil wayes, he wil then hear [Page] from heaven, be mercifull to their sins, and will heale the land, the sores of the land are the sins of the land. Let us unfainedly perform our duty in the former words, and we shall certainly obtaine Gods mercy in the latter; let us sic plangere commissa peccata, ut ne commit­tamus plangenda, so lament our sins which we have committed, that we doe not commit those again which we have lamented. Let re­morse for our sins, and divorse from our sins, bee expressed in our hearty humiliation, and resolved reformation. This two-fold act must be performed by us in our aversion from sin, and conversion to God, namely, dolere & cavere; unum, respectu praeteriti; alterum, respectu futuri: grieve for our sins past and take heed of sin for the time to come Thus let us prepare to meet our God, to meet him in the way of his fury to meet him as the Gibeonites met Iosuah, re­solve to doe any thing rather then stand it out: for God will have the victory at the last; either his will must be done by us, or it will be done upon us. A terrible tempest at this instant is over our heads; in regard whereof the Ark of this Church is tost with vari­ous and perilous waves; and the Ship of the State of the Kingdome, is now in great danger. Let us therefore meet him, lachrymit & pre­cibus, (lachrymae & preces sunt arma Christianorum) with teares in our eyes, and with prayers in our mouthes, with sorrow in our hearts, with our knees on the ground, and our faces in the dust. By this means he will preserve us from ruine, by this means he wil pre­serve this City of London from desolation, the whole kingdome of England from destruction; and will save our bodies & soules in the day of the appearance of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ. If every man would sweep his owne doore, the streets would soon be cleane; and if every man would cleanse his own hands, purifie his owne heart, purge himselfe of his particular and personall cor­ruptions, and forsake his dilecta delicta, his beloved and bosome sins, there would then be a wished for alteration, and a blessed re­formation amongst us; and without all question a most happy con­currence and union between our Royall King and his loyall Par­liament. In one word, to conclude all, let every one amend one and I pray God amend us all. Amen.