PErlegi Concionem ●anc nec quid in eâ uspiam deprehendi quod Pietati promovendae plurimum non inserviat proindeque dignam censui quae Imprimatur Edm. Diggle S. T. P. Reverendissimo in Christo Patri ac Domino Domino Richardo Archiepiscopo Eboracensi a sacris domesticis Datum Episcopo-Thorpae Jan. 22. ●665 THE DREADFULNESS OF THE PLAGVE OR A SERMON Preached in the Parish-Church of St. John the Evangelist December 6th being a day of public fasting By Jos Hunter M. A. and Minister in YORK Et quamvis jam animadvertunt hominum genus in terra magis magisque indies ad tunc modum attenuatum absumptumque nullo tamen timore horrescunt quin neque cum illorum omnium omnine interitus crescat & latiu● quotidie ●an●t ●● fundatur ulla ex par●e reformidant Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. 7. ca 16. YORK Printed by Stephen B●lkley and are to be sold by Francis Mawbarne 1666. To the Right Honourable GEORGE MANKLINS' Lord Mayor And to the Worshipful the Aldermen with the Commonalty of the faithful and famous City of York I Have been encouraged to expose this Sermon to public view by the persuasion of some that it might at this time conduce to public good which if I can promote though with the hazard of mine own credit I regard not The great judgement wherewith God hath scourged our Nation this year and the little sense which we express of it would provoke a man otherwise not forward to adventure on the censure of the world if he had but the least hope to do any good against the sottishness and stupidity of it which seems to exceed that of the Old World even so much as the execution of Divine Wrath doth the mere menacing and threatening of it We used formerly to startle at the report of the Plague but now we are become so brutish ●ob 39 22. that we mock at fear and are not affrighted My desire is whatever my hopes are to remove some from off the Lees of this most presumptuous and ill-presaging sencelesness Now after I was persuaded to publish this Sermon I concluded if it had any thing of worth in it it was due to your Lordship and Brethren in the first place an● under you to the whole City from and amongst whom I have a comfortable subsistence with so much respect and affection as obligeth me more than I think meet here to express You may read here what a dreadful punishment the Plague is and consider if it do not concern you to use your greatest diligence and circumspection to prevent a danger and to secure your City which the Sword hath brought to poverty and the Plague would quickly bring to beggary When you read what a sore judgement the Plague is and remember how God hath visited other places with it this will be powerful to quicken you unto a thankful acknowledgement of God's gracious and miraculous preservation of this City so much beyond not only our deserts but even our expectations Having so frequent occasions to speak to you I forbear to enlarge myself in an Epistle Blessed be God the Father 2 Cor. 1. 3. 10 of mercies and the God of all comfort who hath delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us so rests Your Lordships etc. most affectionate servant and wellwisher JOSIAH HUNTER D●●emb 6th 1665. Numb 16. 46. There is wrath gone out from the Lord the Plague is begun IN these Words I have formerly observed three Parts 1. Irae Dei the wrath of God 2. Eruptio irae the breaking forth of this wrath wrath is gone out 3. Indicium & effectus utriusque the token and effect of both the Plague is begun Concerning the two first of these the Wrath of God and the breaking forth of that Wrath I have already spoken upon two of these occasions I come now to the third The token and effect of both The Plague is begun If you observe the Scripture you shall find that Plague is used for any notable judgement of God The bloody Issue is called a Plague Mark 5. 29. We read of a Plague of Nail Rev. 16. 21. the judgements which God sent upon Pharaoh for his stubbornness are called Plagues Exod. 9 14. When God doth punish a Person or a People especially if it be in a notable manner than ●e said to plague them Gen. 12. 17. The Lord plagued Pharaoh and his House Exod. 32. 35. The Lord plagued the People and so in other places but Plague in the Text is taken for a certain malignant and infectious disease distinguished by that name from other diseases every judgement is a plague but this in the Text is The Plague as all sin may be said to be Wickedness but malice is especially in Scripture called because it is one of the greatest Wickednesses so every disease every punishment may be called a Plague but there is a pestilent burning contagious distemper unto which the name of Plague is appropriated because it is one of the greatest punishments incident unto a People the very first breaking out of it is terrible it is wont to be so Pestilent and Des●ructiv● for so Moses speaks as startled himself and to stir up Aaron to make the more haste Go quickly and make an Atonement for them for there wrath gone out from the Lord the Plague is begun The Proposition I will give you from hence is this That the Plague is a dreadful judgement a sign of God's great wrath After I have p oved this I will answer three Questions subjoine a Cau●ion and so come to Application That the Plague is a featful judgement and token of God's wrath is easy to demonstrate when things are more than ordinarily dreadful it renders the very name dreadful too the dreadfulness of Damnation makes the very sound of the word terrible and methinks the word Plague hath something of horror in it and is apt to bege● a startling and shrinking in such especially as are naturally more inclined to fear the Scripture never speaks of it but always one Epithet or other is given to it as the no●e of a dreadful judgement when Moses sets himself to threaten Israel with curses for their disobedience he places this in the front Deut. 28. 21. The Lord shall make the Pestilence cleave unto thee until he ●ath consumed thee from off the Land here are two things attributed to the Pestilence which render it hugely dreadful cleaving and consuming in the Psal. 91. 3. it is called the noisome Pestilence it is called one of God's sore Judgements Ezek. 14. 21. and ver 19 it is made a token of God's bloody fury if ● send a pestilence into the Land and pour out my f●ry upon i● in Blood When our Saviour speaks of those perplexed and calamitous time● that should befall the Jews a little before the destruction of Jerusalem and the world no● long before its dissolution he puts in this for one aggravation Mat. 24. 7. there shall be Famines and Pestilences these are the beginnings of sorrows the description which the Psalmist gives of the Plague hath much of terror in it Psal. 78. 49 50. He cast upon them the fierceness of hi● anger wrath indignation and trouble by sending evil Angels amongst them he made a way to his anger he spared not their Soul from death but gave their life over to the Pestilence I read even of Hypoera●es that he was wont to call the Plague a special Divine judgement a stroke of Gods own bare hand as it were these and such like instances joined with the experience of all Ages are enough to prove the Proposition For the farther explication of it I will answer these three Questions 1. Why the Plague so dreadful 2. What is it that provokes God to inflict it upon ● people 3. If it be such a token of God's wrath whether it doth befall good men I mean Believers and those that are in the state of justification 1. Why the Plague so dreadful a t●ken of God's wrath I answer 1. Because it is so destructive you shall seldom if at all read of the Pestilence in Scripture but Consume is joined with it we may say of every man infected with it as David said 1 ●am 2● 3. once to Jonathan concerning himself there is but a step between death and him in that Family or City where the Plagve is ve●ement and raging we may say of them as God threatened it should be with the Jews Deut. 28. 66 67. Their lives hang in doubt before them and they fear day and night and have no assurance of their life in the morning they say would to God it was Even and at even would God it was morning for the fear of their hearts wherewith they fear and for the sight of their eyes which they do see What havocks hath this made in the earth we may more truly say of the Plague than Samson of the jaw bone wherewith he killed so m●ny Philistines 1 Sam. 18. 8 Heaps upon Heaps Judg. 15. 16. after David had slain Goli●h they sa●g in Dances Saul ●ath ●lain h●● thousands but David his ten thousands so it may be said here other diseases have slain their thousands but the Plague hath slain its ten thousands it is so destructive that it is called in the abstract Destruction Psal. 91. 6. Nor for the Pestilence that walkesh in darkness nor for the Destruction that ●a●leth at noon day What the Apostle affirms of wicked men may be likewise said of this Pestilential disease misery and destruction is in its way Rom. 3. 16. All Histories both Sacred Ecclesiastical and Profane tell of the great Desolations that the Plague hath made we read how it swept away 14000. one time Numb 16. 49. another time 24000. Num. 25. 8. another time 70000. 2 Sam. 24. 15. and yet these sums though questionless thought very great in those times fall far short of what hath been since Those that have died in London of this present Plague I fear amount to more etc. lib. 7 ca 17. than the three fore mentioned sums put together Eusebius speaking of a great plague in Alexandria hath words to this effect out of Dionysius Now all things are full of lamentation all men mo●rn sadness and complaining fills the whole City partly for those that are dead and partly for those that are dying daeyly for it is with us now ●s it was with the Egyptians Exo● 12. 30. when God slew their firstborn there w●s a great ●ry among them because not an house where there w●s not one dead So Evagri●s speaks of a plague that Neque quisque mortalium q●● ejus ●ffugerit contagion●m etc. lib. 3. ca 28 continued two and fifty years it spread he saith over the whole world nor any mortal man than that did escape the Contagion and some Cities he reports it invaded so vehemently that it left not in Inhabitant i● them The Prophet bemoaning the deplorable estate of Jerusalem amongst other hath these words Lam. 1. 4. The ways of Zion do mourn because none come to the solemn Feasts all her Gates are desolate her Priest's sigh her Virgins are afflicted and she is in bitterness and it hath been known not only in other Countries but also in our own Nation when there hath been such a morrality by the Plague that the Churches the Schools the Markets the Streets the Highways have all mourned and some of them laid so desolate that beasts might have grazed where men were wont to trade 2. That which renders the Plague yet more dreadful is the suddenness of that Destruction which it makes the dispatch of the destruction as I may call it the suddenness of an evil helps to add much to the terror of it this is not hard to prove from Scripture I will give you but a touch and then apply them Prov. 6. 15. His calamity shall come suddenly suddenly shall he be broken without remedy Eccles. 9 11. The Sons of men are snared in an evil ●●me when it falleth suddenly upon them Isa. 29. 18. this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall swelling out in an high wall whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant This is that which God threatens to Babylon Isa. 47. 11. Evil shall come upon thee thou shalt not know from whence it riseth and mischief shall fall upon thee thou shalt not be able to put it off and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly which thou shalt not know well this is of the nature of the plague to slay suddenly it surpriseth men whilst they are eating and drinking walking and trafficking and sends them speedily from a state of health and soundness to take their portion among them who have laid long silent in the dust If you observe the Text with what follows you shall find how quickly the Plague swept away 14000. it is very likely in less than an hour in the 2 Sam. 24. we read of 70000. that died of it in three days where the plagus comes it doth not only make great but sudden breaches how quickly it makes a sad change not only in a Family and lesser societies but even in Cities and greater Corporations insomuch that sometimes places of the greatest concourse have had cause to bewail themselves in the language of the Prophet Lam. 1. 1. How doth the City sit solitarily that was full of people how is she become as a widow to day it may be you have children rejoicing under the wing of their Parents taking care for nothing but even to drive away care and before to morrow perhaps you shall hear them crying out lamentably as Elisha when the Prophet Elijah was taken from him My Father my Father to day perhaps Parents are 2 King 2. 12. rejoicing in their Children delighting to behold them stand like Olive-plants round about their table Psal. 128. 3. promising unto themselves I know not what felicity in their well-doing and before to morrow it may be you shall have them like Rachel weeping for their children and resusing to be comforted because Jer. 31. 15. they are not I read of Xerxes that having gathered an huge Army he went upon the top of an hill to view them and while he was doing this he fell a weeping to think that within an Age not one of those men would be left alive did he weep to think that an men perhaps not so many would be all 〈…〉 Age what cause of mourning have we 〈…〉 we consider that the Plague hath even i● our Country taken away so huge a number in less than the Revolution of one year so quick is the dispatch that it makes 3. That which makes the plague yet more dreadful is because it is so spreading it is called the pestilence that walketh in darkness Psal. 91. 6. first it is said to walk it stands not still but makes progress spreads itself And then secondly it is said to walk in darkness it diffuseth itself invisibly it spreads one knows not how It hath been questioned by some whether the Plague be infectious yea by some it bathe been strongly denied The main arguments which they produce are these three First that God hath appointed unto every man not only to die but also at what time and of what kind of death and therefore there is no great heed to be given to the contagiousness of any disease Their second argument is this if the Plague be Contagious how comes it that some men take infection and others escape it being both in the same place and so to outward appearance in the same danger They urge in the third place that the Plague comes by the immission of evil Angels and therefore how can it be infectious these are the chief Arguments that ever I met with against the Plague's infection and yet they are so inconsiderabie that I think it but waste time to answor them One calls the opinion that the Plague is not infectious worse than the Plague itself another calls it a bloody error and none maintain it but such as cannot abide to be God's Prisoners it is a death ●o them to be out of company and they had rather endanger a thousand lives than want any part of their pleasure or profit But experience is enough to contradict this opinion unto which we may add that concerning the Leper who was to be shut up and none to accompany with him which shows that there was some Contagion in the Leprosy and yet the Leprosy is nothing so deadly as the Plague for some have lived having the Leprosy many years but such an instance cannot be given of the Plague Evagrius speaking of the great Plague at Antioch and the manner of its spreading s●ith that some got it by living and conversing together others got it by only touching them that were infected or entering into the house some received it in the Streets and many that fled out of Cities which were infected though they remained sound themselves yet they imparted the disease to those that before were free & healthful But I leave the proving of the Plague's infection to the Physician he will tell you that living birds laid to the feet of one infected will quickly die he will tell you how it may be diffused by Garments by breathing and many such like this cannot be denied but that it is spreading and so spreading that where it once breaks forth a man cannot be too careful because he can never be too secure if secure enough For to say that the Plague befalls none but such as want faith to rely upon and trust in the Providence of God is a● error more bloody than to say that it is not infe●●ious 4. And lastly that which renders the Plague yet more dreadful is the uncomfortableness of it is it not a sad thing when a man's house becomes his prison next to our lives we value our liberty and yet this the Plague deprives a man of I might be large here but I will confine myself within these three heads First the liberty of God's house how precious is that How amiable are thy Tabernaeles O Lord saith David Psal. 84. ● he envied even the birds that might fi● and sing near the Sanctuary when he was banished from it and in Psal. 42. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God and he professeth ver 4. how he poured out his Soul in him when he remembered how he had gone with the multitude to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise but this liberty is a man debared from by the plague though the doors of the Sanctuary are open yet his own doors are shut up he cannot be admitted to hear the voice of those that bring glad tidings of peace he cannot be admitted any longer to come and participate of those comfortable representations of Christ's Body and Blood he cannot be allowed any longer to come and join with the Congregation in lifting up a Prayer to Heaven I read that the Protestants in France had a Church though ●l●●d now demolished which they called Paradise it is very likely they thought the Church the only Paradise on earth in this Paradise I would compare the preaching of the Word to the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and the Sacrament of the Lords S●pper to the Tree of Life but where the Plague is a man is excluded from this Paradise he hath not the liberty to taste of the fruit of it this is one great discomfort 2. The liberty of Friends that is comfortable next to communion with God communion with friends is deemed the greatest happiness on earth Pythag●ra● hath a dark Riddle cour ●e edith eat not thy heart my Lord Bacon sets this gloss upon it he that lacks friends to converse with and lay open his grief to must needs be a Cannibal and eat his own hea●t well this liberty likewise doth the Plague deprive a man of it was David's Complaint Psal. 38. 11. My Lovers and my Friends stand aloof from my sore and my Kinsmen stand afar off Thus it is with a man whom God hath visited his Lovers and Friends stand afar of they dare not come near him in point of security to themselves they dare not in point of conscience lest they might disperse the Contagion among others those are sad expressions in Psal. 88 18. Lover and Friend hast thou put far from me and in Psal. 102. 6 7. I am like a pelicon in the Wilderness I am like an Owl of the Desert I watch and am as a Sparrow alone yet these are the true complaints of such as are shut up under the Plague 3. The liberty of Commerce is very necessary hereby it is that men get a subsistence and livelihood for R●m 82. 17. their Families without this they cannot provide things honest in the sight of all men but this Liberty likewise the Plague debars a man from none dare Traffic with him and this helps to add yet more to his discomfort for the Merchant will tell you that upon the ceasing of Trade there is not only l●●rum cesfans gain ceasing but there is likewise damn●● emergens loss arising because now a man is forced to take from his stock for necessary uses so that grant a man do escape with his life that is visited with the Plague I say suppose he hath his life for a prey what can he do without a livelihood and towards the procuring of this he is much disabled by the Plague So much in answer to the first Question Why the Plague so dreadful a judgement 1. Because it is so destructive 2. Because the destruction which it make● is so quick and sudden 3. Because it is so spreading And lastly because it is so uncomfortable for hereby a man i● deprived of the liberty of God's house the liberty of Friends the liberty of Commerce The second question is what is it that provokes God to inflict this dreadful judgement of the Plague upon a people This is somewhat harder to determine what I purpose to say concerning it take in these three Conclusions 1. For certain God hath just cause given him before he do thus manifest his displeasure many of his ways are unsearchable but none are unrighteous he can as soon cease to be as to be just if therefore at any time we cannot discern what should be the cause let us charge ourselves with ignorance but take heed of charging God with injustice after God had threatened the Jews with the Sword the Famine the noisomebeast and the Pestilence in Ezek. 14. he adds ver 23. Ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it saith the Lord and he expresseth himself yet more offended with them for standing upon their justification Jer. 2. 35. Thou sayest because I am innocent surely his anger shall turn from me behold I will plead with thee because thou sayest I have not sinned 2. This we may likewise safely affirm in the general that sin is the meritorious cause as of all other judgements so likewise this of the Plague The wrath of God i● revealed from Heaven saith the Apostle against what all unrighteousness and ungodliness of man Rome 1. 18. and it is the observation of a good man that as vapours ascend invisibly but come down again in storms and showers which we both see and feel so sometimes secret sins are the procuring cause of open and notorious punishments this of the Plague is threatened unto Disobedience Deut. 18. 3. What sins in particular may be the provoking cause of the Plague now or any other time is not so easy to conclude I think the safest way is one of these three 1. Either to attribute judgements that are general unto sins that are most general and what sin hath been of late years and is still most reigning in this Nation would require one better acquainted with the manners of it than I am whether Atheism or Dissension or a mutinous inclination against all Authority or violation of Oaths or what else I will not say but whether these or others are the National sins at present they are hugely aggravated because God hath not honoured any Nation with more mercy and means of Grace than ours and therefore we could expect no other than that he should deal with us as he threatened he would do with his peculiar People Amos 2. 2. You only have I known of all the Families of the earth therefore I will punish you for your iniquities Or 2. If we know of any notorious National sin though committed several years since not yet so universally acknowledged and repent of we may think that is a great provocation ●nto God to scourge us with the Plagu● for this we have that famous instance of Saul's breaking Covenant with and s●aying the Gibeonites for which God punished the Land in the time of King David with three years' Famine and would not Saul's Sons were pu● to death 2. Sam. 23. 3. This is likewise a safe course to observe out of the Records of Sacred Writ for what sins God hath heretofore sent the Plague and look how far we are guilty of them so far may we attribute our visitation to them now in searching the Scripture I find that for six yea for seven transgressions God hath either threatened or sent the Plague I will but name them and leave them to your consideration 1. Despising of plenty and immoderate lusting after dainties so we read how the Israelites despised Manna whereof they had abundance and called it light bread but they lusted exceedingly after Quails for which God smote them with a very great Plague Numb 11. 33 34. 2. We read how they that brought up an evil report upon the Land of promise to the discouragement of the people and the dishonour of God died of the Plague Numb 14. 37. 3. Seditious insurrections against Authority have drawn down the Plague this was the cause of that Plague in the Text. 4. Creature confidence boasting of or trusting in an Arm of flesh this is generally thought to be the cause of that Plague in the 2 Sam. 24. 5. Idolatry for this God wa● so incensed that he ●lew of the people at once 24000. with the Plague Numb 25. 6. Detaining and withholding from God his due unto this he threatens the Plague Exod. 30. 12. When thou takest the sum of the Children of Israel they shall give every man a Ransom for his Soul unto the Lord that there be no plague among them Lastly to all these I may add the contempt and abuse of the Lords Supper for when Saint Paul faith that many of the Corinthians were ●●ck and weak and many dy●d 1 Cor. 11. 30. it is not improbable that God sent amongst them some pestilential and contagious disease I have done with the second question What it is that provokes God to inflict this dreadful punishment of the Plague upon a people I hasten to the third The plague being such a token of God's wrath whether doth it befall good men believers such as are in the state of justification for our satisfaction in this we may have recourse to that of Solomon Eccles. 9 1. 2. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that before them all things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth 1. Kings 22. 2. Chro 35. not as is the good so is the sinner and be that sweareth as he that feareth an Oath Ahab and Josiah's death concurred in the very circumstances and Saul and 2. Sam. 1 23. Jonathan though different in their deportments yet in their deaths they were not divided Here we shall do well to consider three things 1. That good men are subject to and guilty of many sins and enormities and their sins admit of those aggravations which the sins of other men do not and therefore why should we think that they should be privileged from those temporal punishments which God is went to inflict for such sins 2. Consider that good men even by their sins do help to draw down a judgement and common calamity Jer. 5. 4. upon a Nation indeed God takes most notice of their sins concerning the common sort of prophans' persons he saith These are foolish they have not known the way of the Lord nor the judgement of their God but when his own People in Covenant with him when these shall break the bands than he bursts out How shall I pardon thee for this now if good men by their sins be instrumental in drawing down a Pest upon a Nation why should they expect any other but to be involved in it 3. Consider this as you cannot tell me any sin be it never so gross into which a Believer may not fall except it be the sin against the Holy-Ghost so you cannot assign any judgement be it never so great whereunto a Believer is not obnoxious unless it be Everlasting damnation There is no condemnation indeed Rom. ● 1 to those that are in Christ Jesus but for temporal Math. 16. 24. calamities they are so incident to good men that the Acts 14. 21. Scripture seems to make them their Portion and it may be truly said of God's Servants as Augustus said once when he sat between Virgil and Horace whereof the one was bleer-eyed and the other much given to sighing they sit inter suspiria & lachrymas between sighing and weeping I am plagued all the day long and chastened every morning saith David Psal. 73. 14. That is a pretty saying of Clemens Alexandrinus He that is near to God is always under the ●●sb It is a Pestilent Doctrine therefore to affirm that none who believe in God and love him sincerely can die of the Plague it is very t●u● the dying of the pl gu● shall be no more prejudicial to them in respect of their salvation than the dying of any other d●●th All things and therefore the Plague work together for Rom. 8. 28. good to them that love God but the sentence of justification God's acceptation of them into favour gives not Believers an immunity from any disease but their persons are still subject unto those diseases which the nature is and it is very sound observed by one Mr. ●●mford who writ a little Treatise the la●● great Plague but this at London that God by suffering good men to die of the Plague glorifies both his justice and his wisdom his justice among the wicked in giving them cause to say If God spare not the green tree what shall be done to the dry his wisdom among the godly lest they should say for our own Righteousness ●e are Luk. 23. 31 Dan. 9 4. delivered Thus I have answered the three Questions Why the Plague is so dreadful a judgement what it is that provokes God to send it Whether it be incident to good me● I have now only a Cau●ion to subjoin and then I shall come to Application The Caution is this though the plague be a dreadful judgement yet the Scripture speaks of another plague which is far wor●e and yet whilst we do what we can to ●lie the le●●er plague we do what we can to pursue the greater but what Plague i that Solomon will tell you 1 King 8. 38. The plague of the heart sin in general is the plague of the heart every man's own Rss iniquity his peccatum in delicies his darling lust that is the particular plague of h●● own heart now this plague of the heart is worse than the other plague in several respects I will name them t●ough I cannot insist on them 1. As in good things the cause is be●t●r so in evil things the cause is worse than the effect but the plague of the heart is the cause of the other plague sin brought in misery at first and misery hath ever since pursued sin 2. We are more sensible of the plague of the body than that of the heart and therefore the plague of the heart is more d●ngerou● the first st●p to ●ealth is to have a feeling of our disease therefore there is less hope of c●re where there is less feeling of the Distemper 3. Nature doth not only feel the Plague of the body but is may by God's blessing upon means be of force to work out the malignity of it that it shall not prove mortal for else none that have the plague should escape death b●● by a miracle but corrupt nature as it is not sensible of the Plague of the heart so neither hath it power to work it cut if the great Physician of Souls cure i● not it is not all t●e strength of Nature the art of man the power of Medicines that can avail any thing but the soul is infected and will be destroyed 4. Though the plague of the body be infectious yet Prov. 18. 14. the plague of the heart add● ven●●e and malignity to it The spirit of a man will hear his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can hear sin em●itters and poisons any affliction the sting of every p●nal evil is sin this is the plague of the plague an affliction consists not in the bulk of it but the burden what is a Serpent without a sting or a great bulk if it hath no weight where the plague of the heart is cured the other plague is more easily born● though the cross continue yet the curs● is taken away 5. The plague of the heart is worse than the other plague because it seizeth upon and infects the better part of man his Soul that which is more worth than a world and could be Redeemed by no less than Mat. 16. 2● 1 Pet. 1 1● the precious blood of Christ look how much better the Soul is than the Body by so much worse is the plague of the heart than that of the body Lastly as Christ said concerning men so may I say concerning the plague the utmost it can do is but to kill the body and that for a time but the Plague of the Luk. 12. 4 hears will destroy both body and Soul everlastingly that death which consists only in a separation of the Soul from the Body is nothing so terrible as that which consists in an everlasting separation of the Soul from God But some men will never be convinced what a plague the Plague of the heart is till they come to feel the plagues of the damned than they shall wish for Rev. 9 6. death but it shall flee from them I come now to Application 1. If the plague be such a token of God's wrath what cause have we of this Nation to think that God i● wroth and displeased with us since he hath visited us with such a Plague as cannot be parallelled since the Sweeting sickness and that in such a juncture of time when it could not have been more prejudicial to the affairs of the Nation it is hard to say whether we have more cause to tremble at God's judgement in this plague or to admire at his goodness in the abatement of it when it once threatened the whole Nation as though the Lord had purposed to make a full end Nahu 1. 9 that affliction should not rise up the second time Now mark what the Prophet saith The Lion hath roared who will not fear Amos 3. 8. when Gods hand Is 26 9 10 11 is lifted up he expects that we should see it and express a sense of it the People of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a Fast and put on sackcloth Jon. 3. 5. and did we verily believe that God is wroth with us we should busy and bestir ourselves towards the appeasing of it This day would be observed with more solemnity our Prayers sent up to Heaven with more devotion the Word listened unto with more attention Alm● given with more freeness and abundance All tokens and testimonies of Humiliation are little enough when God shows such tokens of his wrath as the plague is this is not a time to addict ourselves to pride or dalliance or luxury The Romans punished one severely that in a time of common calamity was seen looking out at a window with a Crown of Roses on his head God delights to see a People show themselves affected with his displeasure m●rk what he said once to the Israelites after they had made the Golden Calf Exod. ●3 5. I will come into the ●●ast of thee in a moment and consume thee it is not an absolute determination but a conditional co●●ina●ion therefore now put off thy Ornaments from thee that I may know what to do u●to the● that is humble thyself give some testimony of the awe ●hat thou stande●● in of my Wrath of thy sorrow for the sin that hath incensed it tha● though I be highly provoked yet I may be ●●ved to have pity on and show some favour to the● 2. If the Plague be so dreadful a judgement what cause have we of this City to bless God for our preservation from it especially considering how many dangers we have been exposed to some through the necessity of State others through our own improvidence and some through the corrupt and covert dealings of Passengers and Traders to be preserved from danger is a mercy at any time but especially then when we see others overtaken and ourselves encompossed with it What may we attribute this our preservation to shall we impute it to our own diligence and care no certainly for if our watchfulness had been ten times more yet we read in Psal. 127. 1. Except the Lord keep the City the Watchm●n takes but in vain shall we ascribe it to any merit or desert of ours nay that would be far worse as Job saith Job 9 20. Our own mouths would condemn us and prove us perverse I would it might not be said of us as it was once of Ahaz that in this 2 Chr. 28. 2● time of distress we have trespassed yet more and more sure it is vice and profaneness are grown to that height of impudence as hath not been known in former years Eph. 5. 3. those vices which heretofore were scarce once named amongst us are become common what said God once concerning Judah Jer. ● 8. When she saw that God had given back sliding Israel a ●ill of Divorce and put her away for her adulteries yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not but went and played the Harlot also it is easy to apply it here though we saw what God had do●● to London ●et we have not feared but gone on to corrupt our sel●es and do so wickedly as if we intended to justific them or as if we thought that the sins of the Nation could not be soon enough filled up unless we added more measure to them Our preservation therefore can be attributed ●o nothing but the merciful and gratio● protection of Almighty God And therefore let us magnify the Lord and let us exalt his name together Psal. ●4 ● 2 3 4. let us bless him at all times and let ●i● praise be continually in our months for he i● that hath held our souls in life and not suffered our feet to be moved he Psal. 66. 9 hath hitherto delivered us from all our fears and put a new song into our month eve● praise unto our God Only Psal. 40. 3. let us fear the Lord and serve him in truth and with all 1 ●a● 12. ●4 our hearts for consider how great things he hath done for us but if we shall still do wickedly sin lies at the door Ge● 4. 7. Num. 32. 23. and judgement will find us out 3. And lastly if the Plague be so dreadful a judgement than it calls upon us loudly to pity those whom God hath been pleased to exercise with so heavy a visitation think that you hear the great City of the Land thus bewailing her misery and begging your commiseration as the City Jerusalem once I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath surely against me is turned he turneth his hand against me all the day be hath bend his ●●w and set me as a mark for the arrow Lament 3. I envy not your immunity only desire you to commiserate my Calamity Have pity upon me have pity upon me O ye my friends for the hand of God hath touched me Job 19 21. We have no hasty and fearful fleeing out of our City whole families made desolate miserere d●u● upon our doors we hear not that doleful voice bring out your dead Eusebins' faith that in the Plague at Alexandria the Christians were as careful of one another visited those that were infected provided for them converted with them buried them as at other times but the Heathen regarded not their Neighbours and friends but fled from them suffered them to starve and afterwards to lie unburied I acknowledge there is much difference between the spirits of Christians now from what was in those Ages for than they were willing upon all occasions to hazard yea to lay ● Joh. 3. 16. down their lives for the Brethren I blame not the Christians at Alexandria for what they did because I know not what Heroic principle they might have to induce them to it perhaps they did it for to set a pattern and example to the Heathen among whom they lived to let them see that they were not afraid of death and that their love to each other was so great that nothing could separate them But it is not safe to tempt God and run ourselves upon hazards Mat. 4. 7. where we have no warrant we cannot we may not in a time of infection converse so freely with and do those offices to the infected as we would at another time yet it behoves us however to do all we can safely there is no danger sure in pitying them in praying for them in contributing toward their necessities these we may safely do we cannot saluâ conscientiâ omit them And now that I have mentioned Contribution I cannot but I must tell you that there is no reality in our commiseration without it St. James declares against such as say to one that is in wan● Be ye filled and be ye warmed but give them not those things that are needful for the body J●●● 2. 16. St John is yet sharper 1 John 3. 17. whoso hath this world's goods and seeth his Brother have need and ●h●tt●th up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him Giving of Alms is one of the man ingredients into an acceptable Fast The Fast that God hath chosen is ●o deal our bread to the hungry cloth the naked and not to hide ourselves from our own flesh Isa. 58. ● 7. we cannot ●ell whether it may please God to visit us but if he should happy that man then who hath not been defective in his duty to the infected whose bowels have melted and turned within him for their Calamity whose Prayers have been daily poured ou● for their redress P●●l 50. 23. whose hands have been stretched out wide and without grudging for their Relief and lastly whose conversation hath been ordered aright that they and the whole Land might see the salvation of God FINIS