Is the Gospel indeed departed?1 its sweet influences restrained?§2 and a famine worse than that of bread come upon us. Alas! for the day, for it is a great day, so that none is like it; it is even the day of Jacob's trouble. Woe is me, that ever I should survive the Gospel, and the precious liberties and mercies of it! What horrid sins have been harboured amongst us, for which the Lord contends, by such an unparalleled judgment? Lord, let me justify thee even in this severe dispensation; the provocation of thy Sons, and of thy daughters have been very great, and amongst them none greater than mine. May we not this day read our sin in our punishment? O what nice and wanton appetites, what curious and itching ears, had thy people in the days of plenty? Methods, tones and gestures, were more regarded than the excellent treasures of divine truths. Ah my soul! I remember my fault this day? little did I then consider, that Sermons work not upon hearts, as they are thus elegant, thus admirable, but as they are instruments in the hand of God appointed to such an end. Even as Austin said of the Conduits of water, though one be in the shape of an Angel, another of a beast, yet the water refreshes as it is water, and not as it comes from such a Conduit: By this also, O Lord, thou rebukest the supineness and formality of thy people. How drowsy, dull, and careless have they been under the most excellent and quickening means? few more then I. Alas! I have often presented my ⟨p. 98⟩body before the Lord in Ordinances, [Greek or Hebrew]; but my soul hath been wandering abroad, as Chrysostom speaks. I should have come from under every Sermon as a sheet comes from the press, with all the stamps and lively impressions of the truths I heard upon my heart. But Alas! If it had been demanded of me, as once it was of Aristotle, after a long and curious Oration, how he liked it, I might have answered as he did, Truly I did not hear it, for I was all the while minding another matter. Righteous art thou, O Lord, in all that is come upon us.
Is the Gospel indeed departed?1 its sweet influences restrained?§2 and a famine worse than that of bread come upon us. Alas! for the day, for it is a great day, so that none is like it; it is even the day of Iacob's trouble. Wo is me, that ever I should survive the Gospel, and the precious liberties and mercies of it! What horrid sins have been harboured amongst us, for which the Lord contends, by such an unparalleld judgment? Lord, let me justifie thee even in this severe dispensation; the provocation of thy Sons, and of thy daughters have been very great, and amongst them none greater than mine. May we not this day read our sin in our punishment? O what nice and wanton appetites, what curious and itching ears, had thy people in the dayes of plenty? Methods, tones and gestures, were more regarded than the excellent treasures of divine truths. Ah my soul! I remember my fault this day? little did I then consider, that Sermons work not upon hearts, as they are thus elegant, thus admirable, but as they are instruments in the hand of God appointed to such an end. Even as Austin said of the Conduits of water, though one be in the shape of an Angel, another of a beast, yet the water refreshes as it is water, and not as it comes from such a Conduit: By this also, O Lord, thou rebukest the supiness and formality of thy people. How drowsie, dull, and careless have they been under the most excellent and quickning means? few more then I. Alas! I have often presented my ⟨p. 98⟩body before the Lord in Ordinances, 〈non-Latin alphabet〉; but my soul hath been wandring abroad, as Chrysostom speaks. I should have come from under every Sermon as a sheet comes from the press, with all the stamps and lively impressions of the truths I heard upon my heart. But Alas! If it had been demanded of me, as once it was of Aristotle, after a long and curious Oration, how he liked it, I might have answered as he did, Truly I did not hear it, for I was all the while minding another matter. Righteous art thou, O Lord, in all that is come upon us.
- 1The deprived Christians Reflection.
