I Wish, that another Sense may now have the like Operation; That the Ear may also affect the Heart; That when the Heart-affecting Objects your Eyes may find in the World about you, do strike upon your Ears in our Enumeration of them, the Hearers may be Heartily affected with it. My Hearers, You must shut your Eyes, and stop your Ears, & stupisy all your Affections, if you take not an Affectionate Notice of the Things, which [Page 4] I am going to set before you. Among the rest, I intend a very Particular Notice of some Observable Things which seem to be Evident Judgments quickly overtaking such as have been given up to more than ordi­nary Wickedness, both here, and in some other Places.

It was an Ancient Observation; Eccl. VIII. 11. Because Sentence against an Evil Work is not Executed speedily, therefore the Heart of the Sons of Men, is fully set in them to do Evil. But since we have seen more than once the Wrath of God Executed Speedily, and so Dreadfully upon some Evil Workers, it may be Hoped, the Hearts of men will be Affected with it, and the Hearts of some, not so fully set in them to do Evil, as they use to be.

The Prophet and Poet, who made the Lamentations, that afford our Text unto us, had at this time a most Heart-affecting sight before his Eyes. The whole BOOK of Lamentations is written, to tell you what it was. And the Clause that next follows the Text, more particularly does tell you, [Page 5] It was, Because of all the Daughters of my City. The Chaldeans had made fearful Ravages upon the Country Towns, which were the Daughters of the Capital City. Jerusalem was the Mother of them all. Jerusalem was also expecting the same Lamentable Fate, with her Daughters. Yea, She had already Drunk very deep of the Cup; she had al­ready been once Taken, and Plundred, & Spoiled, & miserably Circumstanced. Now, says he, Mine Eye affecteth mine Heart! O Servant of God, what was in thine Eye? He had in his Eye, whole Towns laid in Ashes, by a Barbarous Enemy, a Bitter & Hasty Nation; tho' far less Barbarous & Bloody than One at this Day running a­muck among the Nations! He had in his Eye, multitudes of his Brethren, led away Captives by Cruel Babylonians; Multitudes Massacred and Murdered, and made a Sa­crifice to the Fury of a Terrible Tyrant. He had in his Eye, the Effects of raging Famine & Sickness; All Order overturned; Universal Confusion raging every where; the Symptoms of a Total Desolation ap­proaching. It must be an Heart of Ada­mant, that would not be affected with the [Page 6] Report, which an Eye beholding such Spectacles must give unto it.

But the DOCTRINE which I am now to give you is this.

When we have Heart-affecting Spectacles before our Eyes, we should be Heartily affected with them.

The Eye should affect the Heart, when we see with our Eye, what should not be seen without an affected Heart.

First. Wonder not at it, That the World is filled with Heart affecting Spectacles; yea, with Miserable Spectacles.

The First of the Heart affecting Specta­cles, is the Worst of them all; that is, The SIN, the SIN of the world: this tis that has brought in the rest. The Sum of the Heart-affecting Spectacles in the world, is that; Lam. V. 16. We unto us, that we have Sinned. First, we see Sin breaking in upon the World; a Flood of Sin, by our Fall from God▪ breaking in, and carrying all before it. O Spectacle full of Horror! O Hard Heart, O Base Heart, that is not Affected with it! The Death which we see to be the [Page 7] Wages of Sin; the Evil which we see Pur­suing of Sinners; the Wrath of God which we see Overtaking and Overwhelming the Children of Disobedience; This 'tis, that makes every Corner of the world, full of Heart-affecting Spectacles. I am sure, the Redeemer of the World so accounted of them.

Secondly. How should our Hearts be af­fected with such Heart-affecting Spectacles?

Not with Wonder, or Murmur, I have told you. But I answer; Variously. Ac­cording to the Various Nature of the Specta­cles.

When our Eye shows us a Miserable Spectacle, it must affect our Heart with Commiseration. We should heartily Com­miserate the Miserable; our Heart should be touched with a Compassion for them. So we read, Job XXX. 25. Did not I weep for him that was in Trouble? Was not my Soul grieved for the Poor?

If there be Sin joyned with Misery in the Spectacle, there must be Anger, there must be Anguish, joyned with the Compassion. We must be angry & not sin; we must there­fore be angry at sin. Our Heart must be [Page 8] Affected with a just Indignation at every Sin. So we read, 2 Pet. II. 7, 8. Just Lot was Vexed with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked; That Righteous man dwelling a­mong them, in Seeing and Hearing, Vexed his Righteous Soul from day to day, with their unlawful Deeds.

Nor is this all the affection that is now called for. When we see Sin committed, we should be moved with Fear. Sin does Expose men to the Judgments of God. When we see Sin, we should Fear, lest the Judgments of God befal the Sinner; yea, and those that are about him also. Thus we read; Psal. CXIX. 118, 120. Thou hast trodden down all them that Err from thy Statutes; My Flesh trembles for fear of thee, & I am afraid of thy [...]udgments.

But then, methinks we may see occasions for Thankfulness, even in every Miserable Spectacle. We should have our Hearts Affected with a Thankful Admiration at the Distinguishing Favours of God unto our selves. ‘Lord, Why am not I such a Spectacle? Why is not this my Un­happiness? Tis what I have deserved, as much as any in the world.’ In the [Page 9] midst of Lamentations, we have those Ac­knowledgments; Lam. III. 22. It is of the Lords Mercies that we are not Consumed: because His Compassions fail not.

The proper affections on such Spectacles are not yet all fully to the Life Expressed. Something must be produced in the Life. Our Affections must produce Affectionate Resolutions to Do all the Good that we can. We are affectionately to Devise Good, for the Relief of the Heart-affecting Specta­cles. Or, the Spectacles are to mind us of some Good that we must Resolve to do for our Selves, or Others. We must be provoked unto some Holy and Useful Re­solutions. We must fetch some Good out of Evil Spectacles, Think, ‘Wherein must I be the better, by what I see?’ Think, ‘What shall I do, that Others may be the Better for what I see?’

To Illustrate this matter, there can be nothing so Suitably, nothing so Cogently, set before you, as the Example of the ad­mirable JESUS. To introduce on all Occasions, the mention of His Glories, you know, tis the Spirit, the Study, the Salt of our Ministry.

Our Amiable and Admirable JESUS, [Page 10] had often before Him, Heart-affecting Spectacles. How did He Entertain them? We read, He was Grieved. We read, He Sigh'd. We read, He Wept. We read, He was moved with Compassion. His Holy Soul was full of Agony. Oh, How He laid to Heart, the Evil which He saw that the First Adam had brought upon the World! His Heart broke, and bled upon it! When He saw any Good, He Cried out, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven & Earth! And for the Good He did! He went a­bout, still doing of Good. Yea, the Sun in the Firmament, it never did the Good, that was done by this Brighter Sun of Righteousness.

¶ I am now ready to set before your Eyes, O Congregation of the Lord, a Number of Heart-affecting Spectacles. They are Made already. They need only to be Shown. It may be, some of you have ne­ver taken due Notice of them. I am going therewithal to show you, How your Hearts are to be Affected with them.

I. Look Inward. The First Counsel, to [Page 11] be always given; Look Inward. Let eve­ry Man, and especially every Unregenerate Man, Look Inward upon the state of his own SOUL; And, Oh, Let him own it, a most Heart-affecting Spectacle. Man, Cast an Eye upon thy own Soul! Say, was there ever such a woful, such a rueful Spectacle? What a Spectacle is the Leper? Or, the Creature described, Isa. I. 6. From the sole of the Foot, even unto the Head, no soundness; but wounds, & bruises, & putri­fying sores! Thy Soul, thy Soul, is under such a Leprosy. A Soul Wounded in all its Faculties. Blind, unable to see Truth; Lame, Unable to do Right. A Soul, full of Enmity to GOD, and all Goodness. A Soul, Depraved with most Vicious Inclinations. A Soul, Enslaved unto Sa­tan, and the Powers of Darkness. A Soul, Born under the Guilt of Original sin, and by the Guilt of That; and, Oh! what an Enormous Heap of Actual sin! bound over to suffer the strange Punishment, which the Justice of God assigns to the Workers of Iniquity. A Perishing SOUL! A Soul every moment in danger of Eter­nal Perdition! Verily, An Unregenerate [Page 12] Soul, is the most Lamentable Spectacle in the World! Imagine a man Deformed in every Limb, Deprived of every Sense; Over-run with Loathsome Ulcers. Ima­gine a Poor Man, Starving to Death, or Burning at the Stake, or Breaking on the Rack; Tragical Spectacles! O Unre­generate, Thy SOUL, Thy SOUL, is worse than all of This. What a Specta­cle is foretold; Deut. XXVIII. 67. In the Morning thou shalt say, Would God it were Evening: And at Evening thou shalt say, Would God it were Morning: for the Fear of thine Heart, wherewith thou shalt fear, & for the sight of thine Eyes, which thou shalt see. Alas, Alas, Unregenerate; The sight of thine Eyes, which thou mayst see, is as Astonishing!

My Friend, This, this is the Spectacle before thine Eyes. How canst thou turn away thine Eyes, from the Beholding of it? The first thing that in the Name of God, and for the Love of thy Soul, I demand of thee, is, To consider the state of thy own Soul. Oh! Take Time to do it in secret places.

[Page 13]But then; Shall not Thine Eye affect thine Heart? The Heart of an Unregene­rate sinner, should be Affected, first, with an affrighting Ashonishment at his own Condition, Sinner, Let thine Eye Affect thine Heart, into that Cry; Rom. VII. 24. O wretched One that I am, who shall de­liver me? Think; ‘Oh! The Wretched­ness of my present Condition! What, what will become of me, if I Dy in this Con­dition!’ Retire for such Thoughts. De­vote some Time to these Thoughts. If this One Thing were obtained from the Hearers, what an Introduction might it prove, to all manner of Good! Oh! Most Obdurate Heart! If the Condition of thy SOUL will not Affect it, so much as this comes to; not so much as to make thee Think upon it.

But then; Secondly; The Heart of such an one, should be Affected into Earnest Essays, to make Haste out of this Condi­tion. O Heart of stone; Be at last, at least, so much Affected as to say, ‘I must not continue in this Condition! I Re­solve that I will immediately Cry to the God of all Grace, that He would [Page 14] bring me out of this Horrible Pit!’ An Heart suitably Affected with the Mischiefs and the Dangers of Unregeneracy, will immediately fall down before the Lord, with a Supplication, the Cry where of shall reach and pierce the very Heavens; That Supplication; Psal. CXVI. 4. O Lord, I be­seech thee, Deliver my Soul. A Person whose Heart is Affected with the doleful Chains of Darkness, which Unregeneracy holds him in, will Immediately fly to the only Saviour; Immediately Plead the Sa­crifice of his only Saviour, that God may be Reconciled unto him; Immediately lay hold on the Righteousness of his only Sa­viour, that he may stand in that with safety before the Judment-seat of God; Immedi­ately Embrace the Laws of the Holy Lord, as the Rules of his Life; and Enter into Cove­nant with God; Comply with all the Ar­ticles in the Covenant of Grace; Cry out, Lord, I am Thine, save me. O Unaffected Heart; How canst thou bear, to let thy Soul remain an Exile from God, a Brand of Hell, a Prey to Devils! Let the sight which thine Eye gives thee in thy own Soul, have that Issue; Psal. CXIX. 59, 60. [Page 15] I thought on my ways, & I turned my Feet unto thy Testimonies. I made haste, & I de­layed not to keep thy Commandments.

II. Look Abroad. There is a world of SIN committed in the world; This is the most General, but indeed the most Sorrowful Spectacle, in the world. We read, 1 Joh. V. 19. The whole World lies in wickedness. The World is Drowned in Ignorance, in Cor­ruption. Satan, the Wicked One, Rules: When he goes to and fro on the Earth, and walks up and down in it, he does little other than go in Progress thro' his own Domi­nions. Idolatry Reigns Superstition Reigns, Vice Reigns; Oppression, Fraudulence, Impurity, all manner of Wickedness. Few Nations have any really or visibly Godly People in them. The Body of Mankind are in Actual Rebellion against God; Actu­ally up in Arms against the Things that are Holy and Just and Good. Where any Godly People are to be met withal, they are but Few; A Little, Little Flock! Their Enemies fill the Countrey's. The World hates them; They are most Unreasonably Persecuted by the World.

[Page 16]In our Nation, what Abominable Things are done continually! Our late King, often spoke it unto the Clerk of his Closet; That he found the English Nation a very wicked Nation. Great Britain, is a very Polluted Island; a Land full of Bloody Crimes. There goes up a Cry from that Land, in the Ears of the Lord of Sabaoth; Such a Cry that we may stand amazed at the Patience of Heaven, that it is Reprieved from fearful Desolations; we may tremble to see the Predictions of our Famous Hooker making such Approaches towards a dreadful Ac­complishment. [See, His Life, in Magna­lia Americana, Book III. Pag. 62, 63.]

There is a Faithful, and Worthy Man, Dr. John Edwards; who has lately obli­ged the Publick, with a Printed Sermon, on the Heinousness of the Sins of Eng­land. That Servant of God, with a Cou­rage well becoming such an one, hath E­numerated horrendous Instances, wherein the Land hath grievously Sinned. I will Recite some of his words. He says; ‘There has been a shameful Degeneracy from those Christian Principles, which some brand with the Odious Name (as [Page 17] they accout it) of Calvinism. But it is plain to any Discerning man, that the Preaching of the Contrary Doctrines, hath given a New Turn to our Man­ners. It is Evident unto an impartial Observer, that for these Thirty or Forty Years, (the time they have been upheld and maintained by the Generality of our Preachers) Profaneness, Impiety, Scep­ticism, Debauchery have had an unusual Ascendent over us.’ He says, ‘The Countrey was known in former Times, to be a place of Innocency and Simpli­city. But it may cause Amazement to see, how these Places are changed of late, & over-run with all manner of Vice; Those Disorders which were, as it were, proper to Cities, are now come among the Inhabitants of these Parts. He sayes; It is true, God may Save us, by His So­vereignty and Prerogative; which we have no Ground to Rely upon. But if He proceeds according to His usual Me­thod, and according to the Laws of His Declared Will, we have no Reason to look for any thing but Ruine and De­struction!’

[Page 18]And this Our Land; a Land under such Obligations to be a Land of Uprightness: what prevailing Iniquities threaten the Ruine of it? The Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God, we may see, tis very Little, very Little, Hearkened to. We may see, the Spirit of this World, Eating out, Eating up, the Spirit and Power of Godliness. We may see a Scandalous Dishonesty in the Dealings of too too many. We may see Drunkenness likely to Extinguish all Good Order in many places; and a Flood of Rum and Ruine, Vomited out of the Mouth of the Dragon, likely to swallow up the Wo­man fled into the Wilderness. We may see the Crimes of Unchastity Debauching too too many; yea, the too well known House of the Harlot resorted to. And we may see many Ungoverned Families, Unnurtured Families; a scandalous Neglect of House­hold Piety. O horrid Spectacle! Where, where shall we look, and not see such a Spectacle!

But, How should our Heart be Affected with what we see?

[Page 19]First; Be sure, Sorrow, Sorrow, is the Affection, which the Spectacle does call for. The sight of Sin, wherever we see it, should always broach our Sorrow. Oh! Let the Sinfulness of the World, and particularly, peculiarly, our part of the World, which lies most nearly before our Eyes, let it affect us at that rate; Psal. CXIX. 136, 158. Rivers of Waters run down mine Eyes, because they keep not thy Law. I beheld the Transgressors & was Grieved, because they kept not thy Word. No doubt, Here are some, that in their Travels have had a sight of Bedlam. If they were in a Sober Mind when they saw it, it Grieved them to see such a Collection of Madmen; the sight is a Grievous One! Sirs, The Sinful World, is little better than an Entire Bed­lam; Tis full of Mad-men; All Sinners are Mad-men! With what Affliction, if we have any Love to Mankind, with what Affliction, must we say of the Foolish and Hurtful Things that we see done every Day; Poor Creatures, They know not what they do! Oh! To see Mankind almost every where, acted with nothing but Mad­ness: Every where playing the parts and [Page 20] pranks of Mad-men; It should afflict us wonderfully! If we are the Children of God, or have any Hope, of His Looking on us, as He uses on them that Love His Name; it must affect us and afflict us, to see His Name Dishonoured among the Chil­dren of men.

But then, I must add, That Abhorrence is another affection, which belongs to the Spectacle. Our Affection must be an A­version, for the Sins that we see in other People. When others make void the Law of our God, Therefore, Therefore, Let us Love it above Gold, yea, above fine Gold; and Hate every False way. When we see Ill Things, Vile Things, done by other men, it should so Affect us, as to make us Avoid those Things, and be able to say with him; Neh. V. 15. But so did not I, because of the Fear of GOD. I have known some, who have Lived with Parents or Masters, which took very Bad Courses. The fight of the Sin in those whom they Lived withal, it look'd so Odious to them, it has made them abhor those Bad Courses. Children, You make an Excellent Improvement of what you see.

[Page 21]This is not all. The sight of the sin in Others, must affect us with a Fear of our Selves. Be afraid, be afraid at what you see. Think, ‘If the Sovereign GOD should leave me to my self, I should soon do as Bad, as the worst in the World.’ We see no sin any where, but we have in our own Heart, the Seed of that very Sin. Christian, Thou dost not Know thy own Heart, if thou dost not Fear thy own Heart. It is wholesome Advice; 1 Cor. X. 12. Wherefore, let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.

Finally; Labour to Suppress, to Restrain, to Reform, the provoking Evils that we see. When we see Sin gaining upon our Neighbourhood, it must Affect us, and Ex­cite us to Do what may be done for the Reformation of these Evils. The sight must make us Unite in our Endeavours, ac­cording to every ones Ability and Capa­city, for a Reformation. Thus, Thus we shall procure a precious Mark from God upon us; That Mark; Ezek. IX. 9. Go thro' the midst of the City; set a Mark upon the foreheads of the men that Sigh & Cry for all the abominations done in the midst thereof.

[Page 22]III. The Calamities of the World, the Destructions of the World; Methinks, They are Heart-breaking Spectacles. I now make you that Invitation; Psal. XLVI. 8. Come, Behold the works of the Lord, what Desola­tions He hath made in the Earth. Look where you will over the face of the whole Earth, you may see the God of Heaven, Distributing Sorrows in His Anger. The Earth under the Curse of God for the Sin of Man, brings forth, Oh! what Thorns unto him! That word is every where fulfill'd in the world; Isa. XXIV. 4, 6. The Earth Mourneth & Fadeth away; The Curse has Devoured the Earth, & they who Dwell therein are Desolate. The World is every where full of sad Things! What is the World, but a very Aceldama! In what wretched slavery do most of the Nations Languish? The Negro's in some Countrey's are a fearful Spectacle. God will consider the Inhumane way of treating 'em! What a Wolf is one man unto another? What Wars do Em­broil the World? What Wants Distress it? What Woes Confound it? I beseech you, what are the Relations & Histories of what [Page 23] is done in the World? Let this be the Running Title of all; A SINFUL WORLD MADE MISERABLE BY THE VEN­GEANCE OF GOD.

But, How should our Hearts be affected with what we See? Methinks, A Servant of God, may proceed at this rate. Sirs, Accompany him. Let it not be a meer Soliloquy.

‘Mine Eye affecteth mine Heart. O my Soul, Tremble, Tremble at the Tremen­dous Justice of God, which will not let Sin go Unpunished. Be willing, O my Soul, to Leave such a World; a World every where Embittered with Vanity & Vexation of Spirit. Long, O my Soul, Wish and Pray for the Coming of thy Saviour; who will bringe Peace unto the World, & make it a Blessed World.’ This tis to be right­ [...]y Affected.

IV. The Afflicted that are about us in our next Neighbourhood; These are Specta­cles that we have near unto us; before our Eyes; Heart affecting Spectacles. We read, Psal. XLI. 1. Blessed is he that Considers the Poor. There are those that Consider, who [Page 24] are the Poor, and Consider, what may be done for them. If you look about you with a Considerate Eye, you may See some Sick & Weak; perhaps they are Chastened with Pain, with strong Pain. You may see some Conflicting with Poverty. I cer­tainly know, that there are some Scores in this Town, real Objects of Charity, on that one Score of Straitning Poverty. There are many more, whose Afflictions are heavy. Can there be so many Widows, and so many Orphans, and not very many under sore afflictions? Many there are, whose Temp­tations make them Cry to us, Have Pity on me, O my Friends, Have Pity on me; You see what an Hand has touched me!

Such Things we may see every Day. But, How should our Hearts be affected with the fight? Why,

First; Be Thankfully Affected. How Thank­ful, How Thankful should we be, that the Afflicted Case, which we may cast our Eye upon, is not our own Case! When we see any Spectacle of affliction, verily it Preaches to us, the Lessons of Thankfulness. As it was said; Luk. XIII. 2. Suppose ye, that these were sinners, above the rest, because [Page 25] they suffered such things? I tell you, No. Thus are we to argue with our selves; ‘Must I suppose, that they who suffer these things are Greater Sinners, than I that am yet preserved from them? No, But then, O my God, What shall I render to thee? Tis thy Sovereign Grace that preserves me from these things! Oh! What shall I ren­der to the Lord?’

But then, in the next place, we are to be Charitably Affected, Mercifully Affected. We read of such a Lovely thing, as that; Prov. XXII. 9. He that hath a Bountiful Eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his bread to the Poor. What is a Bountiful Eye? Tis an Eye that is upon the Look-out for Subjects to Employ Bounty upon; and an Eye that affects the Heart with Dispositi­ons to bestow the Bounty. Oh! Be rea­dy to succour all that are under any Dif­ficulties, any Exercises. Afford them all the Succours imaginable. My Brethren, Suffer this word of Exhortation. Enquire after such as may need your Help, any sort of Help that you can give them. Then Help them with all possible Alacrity. Take an unspeakable pleasure in Helping of [Page 26] them. Let it be the First-born of your Delights, to be Helpful unto such as want your Assistences. To Do Good Offices, Oh, Fly to it with Rapture. Never be wea­ry of this well-doing. Tho' you meet with Monsters of Ingratitude, as I will assure you that you shall, yet be not Weary; But Overcome Evil with Good.

V. Can't you See; Oh, fearful Blindness if you cannot See! — most sensible Judg­ments of GOD, arresting many Sinners be­fore your Eyes? These are awful Specta­cles, and Heart-affecting ones. We read; Psal. IX. 16. The Lord is known, by the Judgments, which He Executeth. There are plain Judgments, ever now and then Executed among us. There are Sinners, as it were hang'd up in Chains, by the Judgments of God. Formidable Spectacles; But God can make them to be Profitable Spectacles.

Don't you see Notorious Drunkards, meet with very Disastrous Events? They Live Sordidly; They Dy Wretchedly▪ The profane Proverb, that says, They get us Harm, has terrible Confutations.

[Page 27]Don't you see, That Whoremonger & Adulterers God will Judge. Their Estates have a secret Curse upon them; They fall under Unaccountable Impoverishments. Their Follies not being wisely Repented, are strangely Detected; Their Names are incurably Wounded. Their Bodies too a­non become very Hospitals of Maladies. Yea, They Dy in Youth, because their Life is among the Unclean.

What becomes of them, wh [...] distinguish themselves as the Topping [...] of the Town, for Pride, Vanity, Luxury? God soon distinguishes them with abasing Hu­miliations.

Undutiful Children, Disobedient Chil­dren, what becomes of them? Their Days are not long in the Land.

Mockers at Religion; Railers at the In­struments of promoting Religion; tis often seen, that when People arrive to this, Then, their Damnation slumbers not. God smites them; God makes them very Magor-missa­ [...]ibs. They go Quickly, and Roaring out of the world; Roaring for the Prayers & Aids of the very Men, whom once they Ridiculed.

[Page 28]And, I pray, what has been the Fate of them, who have Got Riches & not by right? Men who have been False-Dealers; used a­bundance of Under-hand Dealing; Rapa­ciously reaching after all that could be got, Right or Wrong; Over-reaching all that they could be too Cunning for; Break­ing their Promises; Lying in Debt unto all men, but not letting any manly in theirs; Defrauding the Hireling of his Wages; Ha­ting to do an Honest Thing; Scarce ever doing it, but when Forced unto it. What has become of them? There has been a strange Blast from God upon them. Lo, I have seen them spreading themselves like a green Bay-tree; Yet they have passed a­way, & lo, they are not.

I could add one thing more. There have been Knotts of Young Men, who have been Bewitched with the Gaming humour. Riots and Revels have been frequent with them. Anon, some of them have gone to the House, that is the way to Hell, going down to the Chambers of Death. Of the [...] also I repeat the Question; What has be­come of them? God has marvellously De­stroyed them. They have marvellously [Page 29] come to Nothing! Ah, Young People; Will you not yet say, Destruction from God is a Terror to me?

Such Sights we have had among us. But, How should our Hearts be affected with them? Truly, so Affected as to be Cau­tioned. Oh, Beware, Beware of the Im­pieties, which you see Punished by God. When Corah was fearfully Swallow'd up with an Earthquake, we read; Numb. XVI. 34. All that were round about them, fled at the Cry of them; for they said, Lest the Earth swallow us up also. Verily, the Sinners whom you have seen swallow'd up, with the Scattering and Consuming Judg­ments of God, and who have Perished from among the Congregation, make a fearful Cry in our Ears. At this Cry, Oh, Fly from their Impieties, and say, Lest the Judgments of GOD swallow us up also!

I now look on it, as a seasonable Dis­charge of a Duty, to take some Notice of some Astonishing Spectacles, in the Iudgments of God upon some, whom Sa­tan seems to have had an uncommon Pos­session of.

There is a Report of some things Extra­ordinary [Page 30] in some Late Judgments of God. It is likely, there may be various Misre­presentations of many Circumstances at­tending that matter. I will not therefore depend upon every thing that may be Re­ported. But I suppose, no body doubts, There has been a very High Degree of Profaneness discovered by some Unhappy Men; and that God presently singled out some of them, in a manner that much A­wakened the Neighbourhood. But whether that matter have so much in it, as has been said, or no, yet you may Remember, that a little while ago in this Town, A Poor Woman, was very much Discontented with her own Condition; but she had Recourse unto the Bottel of Rum, to quiet & allay her Discontent. In that, she drowned her Soul; But with the Rum there entred Satan into her; Satan took a strange Possession of her; She imagined she must go where Satan would carry her. Tho' she were carefully shut up, such was the Efficacy of Satan, that he help'd her out of a Window, it was thought into the River; but with Circumstances that fill the Neighbourhood with Consternation. Her Carcase was af­terwards [Page 31] found, where it could scarce have been imagined!

Several such things have occurred a­mong us; The Judgments of God, making a Quick Dispatch of Sinners, that have grown Outragious in the Efforts of their Impiety.

I think, Our Heart should be affected at this rate, on such Occasions.

First; We ought to Bawail the scarce conceiveable Wickedness, yea, Devilism, that Mankind may sink into. When we see men Defying their Maker; Deriding all that is Venerable and Reasonable; Bur­lesquing Religion and Eternity; Not only moved by the Instigation of Devils, but even Turned into Devils; How can we do any other than Mourn, that ever any part of Mankind should fall into such a Depravation! Alas, That any of our Race ever should be so prodigiously Depraved! ‘How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Man­kind! Thy Throne might have been Ex­alted among the Stars of God. Thou art brought down to Hell, to the sides of the Pit. Hell from beneath is moved for thee; The Devils there come to meet thee; [Page 32] They Triumph over thee; and their Hoarse Notes upon thee are, Thou art be­come like one of us!’ When the Man of God saw a Spectacle of Profanity, very short of what we have seen, he rent his Gar­ments; he pull'd off his Hair; He sat a­stonished; he fell down on his Knees; he Cried out, Ezr. IX. 6. O my God, I am a­shamed, & I blush to lift up my Face to thee, my God. Blessed Ezra! What wouldest thou have done, if thou hadst been in our Horrible Times!

Secondly; I am afraid, I am afraid, that the Language of Fiends passes too much Unpunished. Yea, that most Hellish and Roaring Blasphemies, are too patiently heard among us. It is to be fear'd, we are too Chargeable with that Error; Jer. V. 28. They overpass the deeds of the Wicked; Their nefarious Deeds are passed over, without any due Punishment inflicted on them. The Swearing, and Cursing, & Blas­pheming, that is grown to Fashionable with some Satanic People, will never be Sup­pressed, if it be not Punished. The Ma­gistrate cannot Punish it, if he be not In­formed of it. Be sure, We all justly Expect, [Page 33] That in his own Presence, he will never En­dure it. But men think it hardly Honou­rable or Charitable to be Informers against these Offendors. That is to say; If a Mortal Man or Woman in Authourity shall be Reviled, or have their Authority De­nied, Information ought to be given. But if the Great GOD be Affronted, Abused, Vilified, and His Authority Spit upon, this must not be worthy of an Information! Ah, Zeal of Piety, When wilt thou return to the Earth, which thou hast so much For­saken! There are Two Parties, into which the World is divided; God [...]s Party, and Satans Party. O Sons of Indifference, which Party do you belong unto?

But, Sirs; You cast off Charity too! The very Charity pretended for! Did you Re­buke the Delinquent; And on the Rebuke did he promise Amendment? In some De­linquencies, this may go a Good way. But if it has not been so, the best Charity you can show him, is to procure him that Gentle Punishment, which the Laws have provi­ded for him. Tis Charity, to have him thus Admonished, and Check'd, & Stop'd, in his Fatal Career. God Sanctifies the [Page 34] Strokes given by the Sword of the Ma­gistrate. He is the Minister of God for Good, even unto Them, when he is a Terror to E­vil-doers. If you let him go on without Controul, you Murder him; you see him running on to Perdition, & you do nothing to hinder him. Where's your Charity?

And, Methinks, Charity to the Publick should prevail a little with you. If you knew of a man, that were going to Fire the Town, or to bring the Plague into the Town, would you give no Information of it? Verily, These Criminals are doing so. They do what they can, and it is a Great Deal that they do, to bring down Deso­lation from the Incensed Wrath of Heaven upon the Town. The Desolations are hastened, by their being left Un-chastised. Chastisements on them, are some of the Sacrifices, which would avert and keep off the impending Wrath of Heaven. Man, Loth to be called, An Ill Neighbour; Alas, Thou art a very Bad Neighbour. All the Neighbourhood is like to fare the worse for thy Pusillanimity.

If all other Charity wax Cold, as I doubt it may; Yet, My Friend, A Little Charity [Page 35] for thy self may move a little. By bearing due Testimony against such Criminals, a, Liberavi Animam, is obtained; thou deli­verest thy own Soul, from a share in the Guilt of their Transgressions. It is an Easy and a Common Thing, for men to make the Sins of other men their own, by this; They hear them & bewray them not. Because they do not what they may, to have them fairly brought to Light, and Censured, they Contract a Guilty Fellowship in the Un­fruitful works of Darkness. It is to be Sus­pected, very many, very many among us, have lying upon us, the Sins of Other Men, deeply to be Repented of.

I have one Proposal more to make; but one that I am not my self the Author of. There are beyond-Sea, many Societies for the Reformation of Manners. They have Informed against many Thousands of Swearing, and Cursing and Blaspheming Wretches; and procured a Legal Animad­version upon them. They Publish many Discourses and Perswasives, to Encourage men in that Action of Informing. And one of their Encouragements is; A Charity to the Poor. Very much of the Fines on [Page 36] the Offendors, is by the Law there, [And so tis here!] assign'd unto the Poor. There is a Charity to the Poor, in Punishing such Offendors, according to Law. I will take leave then to add this Consideration. This TOWN has in it abundance of Charity to the Poor; The Town has many Charitably-disposed People in it. M [...] Brethren, I dig open for you a New Spring of Charity. Spring up, O Well! The Fines which you procure to be laid on some whose demerits do call for [...] Poor, the Poor will fare the better for them!

Thirdly; When, when will Riotous and Blasphemous Wretches t [...]ke the Warnings of God? There is a Loud Voice in the Tragedy's that sometimes are seen among us; A Voice, to a Drinking and a Damning Generation. Tis that Voice; Psal. L. 22. Consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you [...]n pieces & there be none to deliver you. You see, O ye hardy Fighters against God, you see what befals your Fellow-sinners. Will not your Hearts be now at last affected with what you see? You see the Fulfil­ment of that Word; Eccl. VII. 17. Be n [...] overmuch Wicked, neither be thou Foolish▪ [Page 37] Why shouldst thou dy before thy Time? And will you not leave off your Wickedness, till tis cut off by your dying before your Time?

Yea, I am to tell you, That you have seen Two Things in this World, sometimes hap­ning to some of your Self-murdering Bre­thren, which may give you awful Intima­tions of what you must Expect more dread­fully to suffer in another World.

One thing is. You have seen them Siezed by Evil Spirits; hurried out of their Lives, by the undoubted Energy & Agita­tion of Evil Spirits. Into the Hands of such Evil Spirits will you one day be cast, by the Indignation of God. And Oh! how horribly will they handle you! Souls, You will be in the Place of Torments, when you are in the Place of Dragons.

But None, Oh, None in such Danger of having Satan Enter into them, as those Pro­digies, who when they have been Blas­pheming of God, and Debauching of them­selves, will a few Hours after Presumpte­ously come unto the Table of the Lord. It may be fear'd, Satan will so Enter into them, that they shall anon be astonishing Specta­cles!

[Page 38]Another thing is this. You have seen the Rage and Force and Fire of a provoked Conscience in them. When Conscience has been Provoked and Awaked in them, they have been a Terror unto themselves, and unto all round about them. They have chosen Strangling rather than Life! If you go on, you must undergo the Tortures of a Conscience, which will be as a Worm that never dies, a Fire that never shall be quenched. And such a wounded Spirit, Oh, Who can bear it! Who can bear it!

Consider these things. Let your Eye affect you Heart! After such Spectacles, Oh, Hear & Fear, & do no more so Wickedly!

VI. Are we not Surrounded with Un­converted Sinners? O Deplorable Specta­cle! Deplorable Spectacle! Man, Thou art thy self yet Unconverted▪ if thou art not Affected with it. How dismal Spectacles was Egypt once filled withal, when there was not an House in all the Land, wherein there was not One Dead! For many Ages they kept up an Anniversary Commemo­ration of it, with very dolorous Ejulations▪ Alas, My Friends; It may be fear'd, there [Page 39] is hardly an House in the Town, but there is in it One Dead. In many, they are All Dead; All Dead! People not Converted unto God and Christ and Serious Piety, are, Eph. II. 1. Dead in Trespasses & Sins. Oh! Lay to Heart the Spectacle! If there were Two or Three Hundred Coffins with Corpses in them, laid in the midst of our As­sembly, it would be a Frightful Spectacle. As many Unconverted Sinners as are now here, so many Coffins and Corpses there are in the Assembly.

But I must bring the Spectacle a little nearer. PARENTS, Don't you see your CHILDREN yet Unconverted? Yet alie­nated from the Life of God? Oh! How can you bear to Look upon such a Specta­cle? A Blind Child would be a sad Specta­cle. Thy Unconverted Child is Blind: It cannot See the things of its Everlasting Peace. A Deaf Child, would be a sad Spectacle. Thy Unconverted Child is Deaf; It cannot Hear the calls of Heaven. What a sad Spectacle were a Dumb Child? Thy Prayerless Child is a Dumb one. A Child Shrieking with the Stone, were a sad Specta­cle; enough to break an Heart of Stone. [Page 40] There is a Stone in the Heart of thy Child, that will not be perswaded unto Religion. Yea, an Unconverted Child is one Possessed with the Devil. O Mournful, Mournful Spectacle!

But, how should an Heart be affected with such a Spectacle? How! Be concer­ned, Extremely concerned, for the Salva­tion of the Unconverted ones, and therefore for their Conversion from the Error of their Way.

I will say this especially for that sort of Unconverted Ones; Our CHILDREN. A sad Spectacle! Children that, for ought we know, are brought forth for the Mur­derer? Oh! What shall we do on their behalf? Parents travailing over again for them, Speak to them; and Plead with them; and Pray for them; Yea, take them Alone with you, and cause them to Kneel down by you, and make them the Witnesses of your Prayers & your Tears for them. Ask for them that Blessedness; 1 Chron. XXIX. 19. Lord, Give to my Child a Perfect Heart; Oh! Travail, till you see it accomplished.

I no sooner turn my Eye from them, than I see another very sad Spectacle! Our [Page 41] Unconverted OLD MEN. An Old Man, just Going, but not knowing Whither he is going. An Old Man, just Entring into Heaven or Hell, but not knowing which of the Two. A very Melancholy Spectacle! O Men of God, Go to them; Talk with them; Set before them their true Interest; Make them Wise unto Salvation, if it be possible; And, Oh, Do all you can, to make these Old People, become New Crea­tures, before they dye. Tis to be an Arti­cle of your care; Tit. II. 2. That the Aged Men be Sober, Grave, Temperate, Sound in Faith, in Charity, in Patience.

The Profession of those Children of Death, who have often been so Punished as our Congregation has heard, brings to my View, one sad Spectacle more; A Spectacle at which our Bowels ought to be moved Ex­ceedingly. We have it, in our Unconver­ted SAILORS. Poor Men; Always Asleep on the Top of a Mast! We have no Bowels in us, if we are not moved at the Spectacle. SAILORS who ought to be the Best men in the World, how Bad are very many of them! And it is now generally said, That tho' all the World knows they have had [Page 42] cause little enough, they have in the Last Ten years notoriously grown worse and worse. Ah! Evil Men! One would have scarce imagined them capable of Degeneracy: yet, they are sensibly Degenerated. Our Souls must Weep and Blood over them! They that have Understanding in the Times, apprehend, That (since we now see a Boyl on the Earth, or, a Plague raging in the Inland parts of the Old Roman Empire,) the next thing in the Prophecies to be Look'd for, is, that Second Vial of the Wrath of God; Rev. XVI. 3. Poured out upon the Sea, and it became as the Blood of a Dead Man, and every Living Soul died in the Sea. The Sea-faring part of Mankind, as well as the European Territories bordering on, or standing in, the Sea, may feel the Effects of this Vial. Ah! poor SAILORS; with what a Stupefaction on them, are they Preparing for it! Can there be no­thing done for them? This may be done. If Religious OWNERS, would compel their Masters to uphold Religion and Good Orders aboard, and give them their In­structions, and make them know, that they shall be no longer for their Service, than [Page 43] they see them Executed; This would go very far, very far, in the Matter. Sirs, Take it into your Consideration.

VII. I ought not to break off, without Minding my Hearers, That in Comfortable Spectacles also, their Eye should affect their Heart, as well as in Miserable Spectacles. If you see Others comfortably circumstan­ced, Oh! Let it not be with an Evil Eye, with an Envious Eye. It is a very ill Character, that Some have not only so little Grace, but so little Wit as to mani­fest themselves under the Power of; Psal. CXII. 9, 10. A Good Man, his Horn shall be Exalted with Honour; The wicked shall see it and be grieved; he shall gnash with his Teeth & melt away. But then, Look on your own Enjoyments: What Spectacles have you, in your Houses fill'd with Good Things? Your Tables, your Lodgings, your Desireable Relatives. Oh, Let your Hearts be Affected with what you See. So Affected; Psal. CIII. 1, 2. Bless the Lord, O my Soul, & all that is within me, Bless His Holy Name. Bless [Page 44] the Lord, O my Soul, & Forget not all His Benefits. Go on; And Look on your Opportunities to Do Good; your Precious Opportunities. Let the Sight awaken you to Do all the Good you can for your Lives; to Spend all your Lives in the Doing of Good. Remember that Word; Prov. XIV. 22. Mercy & Truth shall be to them that Devise Good. I can't break off with a Word more Worthy to be kept in Remembrance with you!