i o 8 ] Barrenneffe under the Gof ell dangeroi'. Ifa,53 Iohni46. Doc`7r. I41att;1. z r .'-a za. Icr.9.L. knew not the things belonging to her peace. Much common know- ledge is often attended with damnable and damning igno- rance : they had been often punifhed, wafted, embondaged, againe reflored; Chrift came, preached, proffered falvation, but they knew not Chrift as the Son of God, as the Prince of Peace, to reverence him, but defpifed him as one that had no fo m: nor contelineffe ; they knew kim not as the Way, the Truth the Life, by a lively faith to lay hold upon him, as the Pro- phet from whom they were to receive inílru &ion as their husband, in regard of love and affe&ion ; as their Lord and Matter in regard of fubje&ion : And becaufe they did not fo know, acknowledge, receive him, the things belonging to their, peace were hidden from them. Many things might here be noted, but their unprofitableneffc, ingratitude, re- bellion, under fo great meanes afforded them, being that for which our Saviour Chrift did chiefly lament and weep over ':hem, and for which efpecially he did upbraid them, you .nay fee, that The elate of that perjon or people is very dolefull, which continneth barren and unprofitable under the, plentiful) and powerful! meanes of alvsttion : whether it be a publick Nation, a private Con- gregation, or particular perfon which thrives not under the meanes of life, their elate is much to be bewailed : This is manifeft by our Saviours commination, We be unto thee Cho - razin, woe be unto thee Betbfaida ; if the mighty works which bive been done'in thee, had bean done in lyre and Sidon, they would have repented long agoe in fackcloath and afhes : therefore it pall be eafier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgement, then for thee. Where God hath molt abounded in his goodneffe, he wiII be molt fevere in his pnnifhments, if the people remaine un- fruitfull : abufed mercy is the forerunner of the greateft tnifery ; the impure converfation of the people, the heavy judgements, ready to furprize them for their barrenneffe, . dif- obedience, and profligate kind of life under the plenti- full meanes of grawminiftred to them, canted the Prophet to with, that his bead were full of teares, and bis eyes a fountaine, to weep day and night for the daughter of his people. And for this another Prophet cryeth out, Woe is me, for lam as when they have
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