('!: 0 D COMPARED TO A M 0 T H. B~ok JI. SI M I LE. PARALLEL. tell whether it be got into your Clothor Garments, or not, at firfl:. fafe from Danger and fuddenly dreadful Confufion breaketh out again!l: them: Peace may be in the Night, but Horror in the Morning. V. A Moth eats and fpoils by V. God goes on alfo in bringing Ruin on a degrees: It cloth not confume and People or Nation by degrees. He doth it gra– fpoil a Garment all at once, but dually many Times; as in that of ./lmos, touching by little and little, till it is quite lfrael: I ha-ve givm you Cleannefs of 'l'eeth in all fpoiled, and good for nothing. your Dwellings, and Want of Bread i11 all you>· Places. Ay, but this wrought no Reformation; therefore he takes another Step, and proceeds yet further: I have with-holdeiJ the Rain from you,-Yet have ye 110t returned unto me, &c. But this would not do neither; he therefore goes on with another Gradation: I have ftnitte>z you with Blafling and Mil– dew: When )'OUr Gardens, · Vine:yards, and :your Fig-'l'rees, and :your Olive.'J'rees in· creafed, the Palmer-Worm devoured them : Yet have :yo~t not returned unto me, faith the Lord. Therefore he brought upon them the Peflilence after the Manner of Egypt; and o·verthrew fome of them as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, ./lmos iv. 6, 7, 8, 10, 1 1. And thus he went on !l:ep by !l:ep, till he like a Moth de!l:royed them utterly. VI. A Moth corrupts and deVI. God lets out his Wrath and Difpleafure firoys infenfibly. Thefe Worms, foinfenfibly, that Sinners perceive it not a long faith Mr. 'l'opfa/1, when they have T1me; yet they decay, and grow weak, and their by degrees infenfibly eat off the Beauty, Strengt!l, and Glory falls oft": They ounnofl: Superficies of the Cloth, feem outwardly amiable and in a good Condition, then they eat up the inward Part, and fay with Sampfon, (when his Locks were cut and fo infinuate themfelves into ofr~ and his Strength gone) I will rife up as at other the middle Subfl:ance of it; and 'l'imes; but quickly find themfelves another Peo– thofe that fearch never fo well for ple, and that God has forfaken them. And what them, can hardly find them. A an eafy Thing ·is it for any to overcome and de– Man may think his Cloth or Garfiroy them? When the inward Life and Heart of ment is good, by the outward a P~ople is gone, they loon become a Reproach V iew• of it; yet wht"ll he looks znd Derifion to their Enemies ; and yet all this and proves it thoroughly, he will while may not perceive the Caufe of their Ruin, find it full of Holes, and good for nor how God is a Moth unto them. little. §0e.ft. But here poflibly fame may enquire, How is God faid to be a Moth w:to a Ptople? ./lnfw. In Anfwer uiuo this ~efl:ion, take what Mr. Burrougbs bath faid, in his Ex– pofition on Hojea, Page 478. Saith he, • Fir!l:, God is a Moth in the Spirirs of a People : There is a fecret Way of God's ' Wrath upon their Spirits, which is not perceived. A Nation grows weak and < cowardly; now the Weaknefs and Cowardlinefs of a People that were once for– ' midable, !hews a Judgment of God upon them. So it was in lfrael, 2 }vngs xv. • their Governors did what they lifted, they killed one another, and the People laid • down quietly, one dur!l: not complain of what was done. ' z. Then a bnje Sloth of Spirit, which feizeth upon the Hearts of Men, Dulnefs, • a Sordidnefs of Spirit, minding low Things, not regarding any worthy or honorable • Achievement. vVhen People are thus, God is a Jvfotb unto rhem. ' 3. \¥hen 'jealoufies rife in the Spirits of a People one againl1 another~ then God • is as a Moth to them. As we know, a Moth m a Garment makes the 1 breads not • hang firm and clofe together, but divides them one from _another, by making Hole~ • in the-Cloth: Even thus fecret Jealoufies and D1v1fions 111 a Kmgdom confume and ' de!l:roy them. . . . . ' 4 . Bafe Compliance in Men for. their own Ends, and Falfenefs of Sp1nts m. the Trufl: committed to them, efpec~ally thofe that are put m public Places. When < thefe Things appear among a People, God may be faid to be as_a Moth unto them ' in their Spirits. ~ Secqndly, God may be as aMolp in Men's Councils. 'As
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