Englands antidote against the plague of civill war presented in a sermon before the…Englands antidote against the plague of civill warre presented in a sermon before the…

First, To speak to you singly and severally: I beseech you search and try your ways. And if there should be found any amongst you that drive the designs of Oxford, and that are present at Westminster, only to betray their Country, the Lord unmask such, and the Lord give them repenting hearts: This is to build your houses upon the blood of three Kingdoms; this is to sell your souls for preferment; And it is just with God that such men should not only lose their souls, but lose their very preferment also; as Judas that sold his Master, and hung himself. And then again, If there be any amongst you that drive your own designs, and seek your own ends, and not the public good; and seek your own ends more then the public good; and seek your own ends to the detriment of the public good: these are crying abominations, and the Lord calls for a Parliament Repentance this day: It was the Complaint of the Apostle of his time, Omnes quae sua sunt quaerunt, &c. Phil. 2▪ 21. All men seek their own, and no man seeks the things of Jesus Christ. If the Apostle Paul had been alive in our days, I wonder what he would have said of our times. For ⟨p. 26⟩truly, if God should unrip us here before the Congregation, I am afraid he should find many of our hearts to be made up of nothing but of self-love and creature-love; and yet notwithstanding this is a sin, and not only against the light of the Word, but against the very light of nature; for the light of nature teaches us, that all private good should be swallowed up in the public▪ And the very Decii and Curtii, and Aristides, and many other Heathens will rise up in judgement against many Christians in this particular. There is a famous Text in Jer. 45. 3, 4. Behold (saith the Lord) I do now begin to pull down what I have built, and to destroy what I have planted, and seekest thou great things for thy self? seek them not. Is this a time to seek your own ends? this is just as if a man should have his house on fire, and in stead of seeking to quench his house, should go and trim up his chamber: what will become of his Chamber when the house is burnt? It is just as if a man when the Ship he is in is sinking, should go and enrich his own Cabin; The Lord give you hearts to repent of this.