glory and excellency of tlie gospel, that lie wonld often say to his friends, that he would not take all the world for one leaf of the Bible. Rab. Chiia, in the Jerusalem Talmud, saith, that in his account all the world is not of equal value with one word out of the law. Israel had three crowns, as the Talmud observes, (1.) of the king, (2.) of the priest, (3.) of the law; but the crown of tlie law was counted by them the chiefest of the three. Then what is the crown of the gospel to all those upon whom the gospel is come in power ? 1 Thes. i. 5-7. How divinely did that poet speak, who said he could read God in every leaf on the tree, and that he found his name written on every green herb ; and shall not we read God, and Clii'ist, and grace, and mercy in every leaf, yea, in every line of the gospel? The Bible, saith Luther, is the only book ; all the books in the world are but waste paper to it,i so highly did he prize it, and so dearly did he love it. Contempt of the gospel is a great indignity cast upon the great God, and a great indignity cast upon Jesus Christ ; for though the law was delivered by Moses, yet the gospel was deli- vered by Jesus Christ. And if they escaped not who despised him that spake from earth, of how much sorer punishment are they worthy that contemn him that speaks from heaven ? Heb. ii. 3, and X. 28, 29. If the book of the law happen to fall upon the ground, the Jews' custom is presently to proclaim a fast. 0 sirs ! what cause then have we to fast and mourn, when we see the glorious gospel of God fallen to the ground, scorned, despised, contemned, and trampled upon by all sorts of sinners ! ^ Contempt of the gospel is a sin of the greatest ingratitude. In the gospel God offers himself, his Son, his Spirit, his grace, his kingdom, and all the glory of another world. Now for men to despise and contemn these offers, is the highest in- gratitude and unthanldulness imaginable ; and therefore no wonder if God burn such men up, and turn them out of house and home. Such justly deserve the worst of judgments, who despise the best of mercies. The strongest and the sweetest wine always makes the sharpest vinegar ; the freest, the richest, and the choicest offers of mercy, if slighted and contemned, turn into the greatest fury and severity. Divine wrath smokes and burns against none so fiercely, as it doth against those who are despisers of gospel mercies. When gold is offered, men care not how great or how base he is that offers it : neither is it material by whom the gospel is brought unto us, whether it be brought unto us by Isaiah, as some think, a prophet of the blood- royal, or by Amos from amongst the herdmen of Tekoa. Let the hand be more noble or more mean that brings it, if it be slighted and contemned, provoked justice will revenge it. Such as slight the gospel, and contemn the gospel, they sin with a high hand against the remedy, against the means of their recovery. ' This is the con- demnation,' John iii. 19, this is that desperate sin that hastens judgments upon cities and countries, as Jewry, Asia, Bohemia, and other parts of the world have sadly experienced. He that hath
^ Luther, Com. in Gen., cap. 19.
* Jerome reports of Uzzah, that his shoulder was shrunk up and withered ; he carted the ark when he should liave carried it on his shoulder : therefore that part was branded for it.
84 London's lamentations on [IvSA. XLII. 24, 25.
eat poison, and shall despise the means of his recovery, must certainly die for it. He who, when he hath committed treason against his prince, shall not only refuse, but scorn and slight his prince's favour and pardon, and fling it from him with disdain, is assuredly past all help and hope. Sins against the gospel are sins of a greater size, of a louder cry, and of a deeper dye, than sins against the law are, and accordingly God suits his judgments. Where the gospel shines in power, it will either mend a people or mar a people : it will either better them or worsen them ; it will either fit them for the greatest good, or it will bring upon them the greatest evils : where it doth not reform, there it will destroy. And this London hatli found by woeful experience. Slighting and contemning of the offers of grace in the gosjiel, is a sin that is not chargeable upon the greatest j^art of the world, who ' lieth in wickedness,' and who ' sit in darkness, and in the region and shadow of death,' 1 John v. 19 ; Mat. iv. 16 ; yea, it is a sin that is not chargeable upon the devils themselves, and there- fore the more severely will God deal with those that are guilty of it. The gospel hath for above this hundred years shined forth out of the dark and thick clouds of popery and antichristianism which had over- spread the nation. And in no part of the land hath the gospel been preached wath more clearness, spiritualness, life, power, and purity than in London. And oh that I had not cause to say that there was no part of the nation where the gospel was more undervalued, slighted, and contemned by many than in London ! For,
[1.] First, Where the faithful and ixdnful ministers of the gospel are slighted and contemned as ministers of the gospel, there the gospel is slighted and contemned, Mat. xxiii. 37, and Luke x. 16. Now were there none within nor w'ithout thy walls, 0 London ! that did slight, scorn, reproach, and contemn the ambassadors of Christ, who were faithful to their light, their Lord, their consciences, and the souls of their hearers ? But,
[2.] Secondly, Where the ministrations of the gospel, where the ordinances of the gosjx'l are slighted and contemned, there ijie gospel is slighted and contemned ; yea, where any one ordinance of the gospel is slighted and contemned, there the gospel is slighted and contemned : where baptism is slighted and contemned, there the gosjiel is slighted and contemned ; where the Lord's supper is slighted and contemned, there the gospel is slighted and contemned ; where the offers of the gospel are slighted and contemned, there the gospel is slighted and contemned ; where the commands of the gospel are slighted and contemned, there the gospel is slighted and con- temned ; where the threatenings of the gospel are slighted and con- temned, there the gospel is slighted and coutenmed ; where the pro- mises of the gospel are slighted and contemned, there the gospel is slighted and contemned ; and where the comforts of the gospel are slighted and contemned, there the gos})el is slighted and contemned.' Now were there none within nor without thy walls, 0 London ! that did slight and contemn the ministrations of the gospel, ' the ordinances
' A man upon whom the gospel hath wrought savingly, he will, ^1.) Prize all the ordinances ; (2.) Practise all the ordinances ; (3.) Praise the Lord for all the or- dinances.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 85