' Qu. ' William'.' Sec Epistle Dedicatory and foot-note in lo^o. — O.
IsA. XLII. 24, 25. J THE LATE EIEllY DISFENHATIUN. 59
find that tliere are several shis that brings the heavy judgment of fire upon cities and countries. As,
First, Gross atheism, practical atheism, is a sin that brings desolat- ing and destroying judgments upon a people : Zepli. i. 12, ' And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled upon their lees, that say in their heart. The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil/l What horrid blasphemy, what gross atheism is here ! How do these atheists ungod the great God ! How do they deny his omnipotency and omnisciency ! What a god of clouts, what an idol-god do they make the great God to be, when they make him to be such a God as will neither do good nor hurt ! Epicurus denied not God's essence, but only his providence ; for he granted that there was a God, though he thought him to be such a one as did neither good nor evil ; but certainly God sits not idle in heaven, but has a sharp and serious eye upon all that is done on the earth : and this both saints and sinners shall find by experience, when in the great day he shall distribute both his rewards and punishments according to what they have done in the flesh. Atheism is the main disease of the soul, not only pes- tilent to the 2>erson in whom it is harboured, but also to the whole land where it is practised and permitted. Atheism is worse than idolatry ; for idolatry only robs God of his worship, but atheism robs God both of his attributes and being ; and therefore mark what follows : ver. 13, ' Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation ; they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them ; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.' So Ezek. XX. 47-49, ' And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the Lord ; thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree ; the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burnt therein. And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it ; it shall not be quenched. Then said I, Ah, Lord God, they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?' Here was a pack of atheists, that did mock and scoff at the prophet and his parables ; they told him that he talked like a madman, and that he. spoke of such things that neither himself nor others understood ; for he talked of the south, and of the forests of the south, and of fire, and of flaming fire, and of green and dry trees, and that all these things were dark and obscure to them : they put off all the prophet spoke as allegorical, as mystical, and as enigmatical, and as dark visions, and as dreams, and imaginations, and divinations of his own brain, and therefore they needed not much mind what he said. Now mark these atheists, what do they do ? They provoke the Lord to kindle a fire, a universal fire, an unquenchable fire, an inextinguishable fire in the midst of Jerusalem, which is here termed a forest, by reason of its barrenness and unfruitfulness, and the multitudes that were in it ; and because it was fit for nothing but the axe and the fire. Atheism is a sin that has brought the greatest woes, miseries, destructions, and
^ Atheism denieth God either (1.) In opinion, saying there is no God; or (2.) In affection, wishing tliere were no God ; or (3.) In conversation, living as if there were n(^ God, Rev. xxii, 1:^.
60 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
desolations imaginable upon the most flourishing kingdoms and most glorious cities in the world. Holy Mr Greenhani was wont to say that he feared rather atheism than Popery would be England's ruin. 0 sirs ! were there none within the walls of London that said in their hearts with David's atheistical fool, ' There is no God'? Ps. xiv, 1. Caligula the emperor was such a one ; and Claudius thought himself a god till the loud thunder affrighted him, and then he hid himself and cried, Claudius non est f/e?<.s— Claudius is not a god. Leo X., Hildebrand the magician, and Alexander VI., and Julius IL were all most wretched atheists, and thought that whatever was said of Christ, of heaven, of hell, of the day of judgment, and of the immortality of the soul, were but dreams, impostures, toys, and old wives' fables. Pope Paul IIL, at the time of his death, said he should now be re- solved of three questions that he had doubted of all his life. (1.) Whether the soul was immortal or no ; (2.) Whether there were a hell or no ; (3.) Whether there were a God or no. And another grand atheist said, I know what I have here, but I know not what I shall have hereafter. Now were there no such atheists within the walls of London before it was turned into ashes ? The atheist in Ps. x. 11 says, ' He will never see ;' and in Ps. xcir. 7, they rise higher ; they say, ' The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.' They labour to lay a law of restraint upon God, and to cast a mist before the e3^e of his providence. And in Isa. xxix. 15, they say, ' Who seeth us? who knoweth us?' And in Ezek. ix. 9, they say, ' The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not.' These atheists shut up God in heaven as a blind and ignorant God, not knowing, or not regarding, what is done on the earth ; they imagine liim to be a forgetful God, or a God that seeth not. Ps. Ixxiii. 11, they say, ' How doth God know ? and is there knoAvledge in the most High?' Thus they deny God's omnisciency and God's omni- presency, which to do is to ungod the great God, as much as in them lies.