not himselfe to numbers neither should we seeke to bring him to it by our abstruse obseruations and schoole-quiddities Ne sutor vltra crepidam Wee may not thinke if I may so speake to fit him with the seauens who filleth heauen and earth making the one his throne and the other his footstoole T was chiefly for curiositie of numbring that so many fell of the pestilence in the Text. Much better had it beene for Dauid and so t were for vs in this case instead of such a foolish and needlesse numbring shortning the dayes and hastning the deaths of thousands to haue desired as else where he doth that God would teach him to number his dayes and so to apply himselfe vnto wisedome All Histories diuine and humane are so full of proofes for the confirming and illustrating of my doctrine that me thinkes I delight to dwell longer vpon it then ordinarily I vse to doe vpon other Doctrines How memorably hath Gods hand punished notoriously sinfull acts in their owne kind in all Ages Doe Nabab and Abihu prouoke and incense the Lord with strange Incense God punisheth them with strange fire Leuit. 10 1.2 Are the Israelites not contented with the Lords feeding Numb 11. hee maketh them leaue their carkasses where they lusted after flesh Doe the people of Ierusalem offer Incense to the Hoast of Heauen on the tops of their houses Ier. 19.13 The Caldeans shall come and set fire on that Citie and burne it together with those houses Chap. 22.29 Doe the Ammonites sacrifice their children to Molech their Idoll themselues are forced to passe through the Brick-kilne in all their Cities 2. Samuel 12.31 Doth that cut-finger Adonibezek make himselfe sport with mangling the hands and feete of captiue Kings the Lord maketh him when hee is taken captiue to beshrew his fingers for it by dipping them in the same bloudy dish and seruing him with the same sawce Iudges 1. Doe the stiffe-necked Iewes crucifie Christ at the time of the preparation of their Passeouer It seemed good vnto the most iust God that Titus should plant his siege before Ierusalem at the time in which the Iewes were assembled to celebrate that Feast in which siege he also crucified diuers thousands of them before the walls of Ierusalem as Iosephus reporteth Doth the Whore of Babylon set fire vnto Gods faithfull witnesses What saith hee who calleth himselfe the faithfull and true witnesse Apoc. 3.14 Hee acquainteth Saint Iohn that she shall bee burnt with fire Apoc. 18.8 Doth shee cast the Saints of God aliue into the fire shee her selfe shall bee cast aliue into a Lake of fire burning with Brimstone Apoc. 19.20 Doth Edward the Second King of England burne with the vnnaturall lusts of So dome Gods justice suffereth his vnnaturall Subiects to depriue him of his Souereigntie and to force a hot burning Spit thorow his fundament into his entrailes Doth Henry the Second King of France protest that with his own eyes he will see a Protestant burnt to ashes See how in a iust RetributioÌ„ at a Iust or Tourney the splinter of a Speare passeth through the sight of his Beauer pierceth thorow his Eye perisheth his Braine and procureth his death Doth Alexander the Sixt Pope of Rome prepare a cup of Poyson for his Cardinals that by destroying their persons he might enioy what they possessed himselfe vnawares is made the first taster and dieth of his owne drench Doth bloudie Gardiner Bishop of Winchester deferre his Dinner vpon a greedie and bloudie desire of hearing certaine newes from Oxford of some Martyrs Dispatch wherewithall he might make merry God deferreth not long the kindling of a fire in his body through the intolerable heate whereof he dieth miserably as he liued mercilessely Two other examples I find in the Martyrologie of our Church making mainly for the farther proofe if farther proofes yet need of my last proposed doctrine I purpose to mention no more but those The first is of a certaine Smith who had seemed to haue beene sometimes a zealous professor but left his Sauiour to saue his life and forsooke the faith for feare of the fire giuing no other answer to a message brought him from a dying Martyr by which hee was exhorted to constancie but this That he could not burne What became of him He was afterwards burnt as he went in to saue his goods when his house was fired The other example is of a most vnmercifull Churle who willingly suffered a poore diseased Christian Brother to lye and dye in a ditch neere vnto his house and would by no meanes suffer him to be sheltred in any of his Barnes or Back-houses Stalls or Styes Master Fox compareth him to Diues and well he might for as Diues loued the Dogges which hee kept more then Lazarus which lay at his gates fed them but cared not though he sterued so this wicked wretch would not afford so much as a Dogge-kennell to that distressed creature Now marke the miserable end of this Miser not long after he was found in a Ditch not farre from that in which he left his poore Brother not only dead but sticking in the stinking puddle of the ditch GOD punishing him in the same kind in which he transgressed and returning his reward vpon his owne head as the Prophet Obadiah speaketh Thus yee haue seene the Lord measuring vnto men according to their owne measure that hee may be memorably knowne by the iudgements which he executeth Yee haue seene him following men close by the heeles in their owne wayes to shew in despight of all cauils that his wayes are equall and his iudgements iust Yee haue seene the fat Buls of Bashan beastly and bloudie men frying in their owne torments like Perillus in his brazen Bull that they might know their tortures to be as a Heathen speaketh Indigna passis Autoribus dignissima vnworthy of the Martyrs who indured them worthy of the Authours who inuented them It is high time to wind vp the threed of my speech in a word of application Doth the Lord then vsually confound sinfull men in their owne proiects cast them in their owne play as it were pay them in their own coine Beware we then that we willingly sin in no case sith God can punish vs in the same kinde If wee haue sinned let vs soone iudge our selues least hee suddenly condemne vs. Let vs weepe for sorrow and blush for shame lest he make vs bleed to death O ler vs not proceed in sinne least we giue him a patterne by which he may punish vs. In the second place let vs consider how wee haue dealt with God when wee cast with our selues and seeme to wonder why he should thus and thus deale with vs. His iudgements are alwayes iust and sometime wee may see them manifestly marked out vnto vs with the character of 〈◊〉 on He suffering vs to please our selues 〈◊〉 speciall sinne till it procureth a speciall iudgement proportionable thereunto as Anacreon the Poet so long fell to his wine till at last he was choaked with the kernell of a Grape Let vs beloued conferre Gods workes with ours and see how iustly he hath proceeded against vs in many instances or may at least whensoeuer his abused patience shall disdaine any longer to leaue our prouocations vnpunished If the corrupt Magistrate shall spare to execute Gods iudgement on notorious offenders is it not iust with God to powre downe iudgements on his owne head If hee deny patronage to the innocent depriuing the Orphan of his due and put him by his portion what can hee expect but that the Lord should also put him out of his protection If the sacrilegious person and Symoniacall Patron shall prey vpon God by pilling his Church shall he not pull downe Gods plagues vpon his owne house If the superstitious person shall adde vnto Gods Word out of mans inuentions shall not the Lord adde vnto him the plagues which are written in his Booke If the Swearer shall as it were teare the Name of God with his teeth shall not the Lords curse enter into his house Zach. 5. rent the timber from the stones and consume both together If we take away ought by Extortions and vniust exactions and will not restore 〈…〉 in iustice depriue vs of his blessings 〈…〉 â—â—store them also If wee shut our eares at the cry of the poore wil not God shut his eare at the cry of our prayer If we seeke to Egypt for helpe looke for shelter from Idolatrous associates will not the strength of such Pharaohs be our shame and the trust in such shadowes our confusion Esay 30.3 Let vs consider these things beloued and is it not time to consider them now the Lord sendeth his messengers abroad to call vs to an account Shall wee shut our hearts alwayes against him euen now when he is ready to shut our doores vpon vs and seale them vp with his plagues which waxe so hote among vs of this Countrey yea of this Countie God forbid The Lord giue vs vnderstanding and repentant hearts the Lord turne vs vnto him and his fauourable countenance towards vs The Lord receiue our Prayers heare our groanings and helpe our griefes c. To the Reader ANd thus Gentle Reader I haue communicated vnto thy view these precedent papeâ—â— which were penned for the most part in great want of time aâ— thou are already aduertised Yet are they sent abroad without adding altering augmenting or amending of any materiall passage that so they may follow their originall Copy which together with another Tract not yet published found acceptance at the hands of our Dread and Deare Soueraigne In respect of whose gracious Aspect I haue the more cause to presume of thy fauour or if that may not bee obtayned the lesse reason to esteeme thy Censure
haec est Caesaris illa Dei The Kings Heart is in the hand of the Lord. Esay 14.10 But what hath God an hand Is God also become weake as we is he become like vnto vs. It is vsuall with vs as to christen diuers men so to call different things by one and the same name Pedem nostrum dicimus lecti veli carminis Seneca saith that sage Heathen Our weaknesse is the strongest reason for it that hee standeth on Quia non sufficimus vt singula singulis assignemus So standeth the case with vs men it is nothing so with God Hath he a foot it is to support our infirmities it is to tread a path for our capacities Hath he an Hand in my Text it is to direct our decayed knowledge it is to lead our blind vnderstandings If any therefore shall make a question how the hand may bee fastened on God with whom things corporall can hold no proportion The Figure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must shape him an answere by which our great God mercifully descending and condescending vnto our meane capacities doth because we cannot vnderstand him in the language of Canaan speake vnto vs in our owne Mother-tongue and because wee cannot reade the diuine Characters of his Essence and Presence writeth in our owne hand The Kings Heart is in the hand of the Lord. By this hand then God leadeth vs to the consideration of that high esteeme which hee vouchsafeth vs as if it were not enough for vs that he had made vs like himselfe Hee would if it were possible make himselfe like vs. But heere to speake more pertinently God especially beareth vs in hand Quam habiturus sit circa publicas personas specialem prouidentiam Carthus What an high regard he will haue of Royall sublimitie As if it were not enough for Kings that the Hoast of the Lord were their Guard the Lord of Hoasts will bee their Guardian his hand shall mayntaine their right and manage their affaires The Kings Heart is in the hand of the Lord. I will not diuide or diuorce the Lords hand from the Kings heart What God hath coupled I will not put asunder Let hand and heart goe together In the ioynture it shall bee sufficient for mee to handle First Gods royall Prerogatiue ouer the Heart Secondly Gods Prerogatiue ouer the Heart royall The first of these will euidence that God carrieth an hand ouer the hearts of all men in generall The second that he hath an especiall hand ouer the hearts of Kings And these are the generall obseruations Gods prerogatiue ouer the heart consisteth principally in the disquisition and in the conuersion thereof in searching and in turning it the former exercised as well in the Reprobate as the Elect the other in the Elect only Both most eminently in Kings and men of the highest ranke That it is Gods prerogatiue to search the heart will soone appeare Psal 44.21 vpon a search of the Scriptures Shall not God search this out for he knoweth the secrets of the heart saith Dauid The heart is the fountaine of life with God is the fountaine of life to vse in this sense the saying of the same Kingly Prophet Psal 36.9 This Well is deepe and we haue nothing wherewith to draw Our owne hearts are deceitfull we can hardly euer find the depth of our owne much lesse sound the Bottome of anothers heart Yea but ex abundantia cordis os loquitur the words which a man letteth fall By the speech as by the pulse we may ghesse at the temper of the heart the threed of his speech like that of Ariadne's Clue may somewhat direct vs in tracing the Maze and following the turnings and windings of the heart When I heare a mouth breathing out scurrilitie and blasphemies a mouth vnder whose roofe God and good men neuer come but they receiue a wound what shall I say but that it is retayner and reporter to a wicked heart Thus might wee iudge of the temper of the heart in generall but must leaue the exact search to the hand of the Lord. We may yet be much mistaken and deceiued in some externall Indices of the heart Many Hypocrites there are who for feare of censure or desire of esteeme keepe their tongues cleanly and yet there is many a foule corner in their hearts like those Citizens who sweepe and keepe their doores verie neare for feare of a checke from the Magistrate and yet haue many a sluttish corner in their houses When all is done The Lord is the true beholder of the heart Homo cor ex verbis Deus verba ex corde pensat Greg. Wisd 1.6 Rom. 1.20 1. Sam. 16.7 Psal 139.2 Acts 15.8 Of him it is cleerly seene He seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart Hee vnderstandeth our thoughts afarre off Hee seeth in secret saith our Sauiour Mat. 6. Therefore Peter recordeth in the Acts that it is God who knoweth the hearts And God appropriateth that prerogatiue to himselfe I the Lord search the heart All things and thoughts are naked and open in his eyes The Fig-tree leaues could not keepe Adams nakednesse out of his sight The Fig-tree could not hide Nathaniel from his priuie search Neither Men nor Angels but by especiall reuelation from him can haue any hand in the search of the heart 2. Chron. 6.30 for hee only knoweth the hearts of the children of men The Heart is in the hand of the Lord. I turne my speech to the conuersion of the heart which is another prerogatiue belonging to the Almightie hand The heart it is that is Primum viuens the first part that is viuified and quickned both in Nature and Grace As when Subiects are vp in Rebellion the Prince intending to subdue them seizeth first on their strongest hold so God in reducing our rebell wills to his obedience first layeth hold on the heart Silly man is no otherwise the cause of his owne conuersion then Marcus Liuius was of the taking of Tarentum who as Plutarch relateth enuying Fabius for his recouering and reducing of it to the Roman obedience Plut. in vita Fab. Maximi in open Senate said That it was himselfe and not Fabius that was the cause of regaining the Citie True answered Fabius For hadst not thou lost it I had neuer wonne it Non potuisti ô homo in te nisi perdere te saith Augustine We haue gone astray like lost Sheepe saith Dauid It is the Lord that must seeke his Seruants Psal 119.176 It is our spirit that animates vs in nature but Gods Spirit quickneth vs in Grace and createth a cleane heart in vs. In Nature the agilitie of our hands is to be attributed to our hearts In Grace the abilitie of our hearts to the hand of the Lord His hand leadeth vs to sauing health Our hearts by sinne were not only wounded but altogether dead stone-dead
Pestilence Thirdly The time in which it raigned From the morning euen to the time appointed Fourthly The Place to which it was confined From Dan to Beersheba Fiftly The Number of people which it consumed Seuentie thousand men First The Author is Iehoua The Lord set out by that great Name of his deriued from an Hebrew word signifying Being to shew and make knowne his independencie from any other hee being an eternall Being of himselfe I am that I am Exod. 3.14 and also to manifest that hee giueth being to all the creatures whence some haue well obserued that the name of Iehoua the Lord was not vsed before the whole worke of the Creation was finished but is first mentioned in the second Chapter and fourth Verse of Genesis And lastly to giue vs to vnderstand that God giueth being and accomplishment to all his promises he causeth them to bee brought to passe and become as it were things in Esse in Being Therefore God telleth Moses in the sixt Chapter of Exodus Verse the third That he was not knowne vnto Abraham Isaak and Iacob by his name Iehouah because though they beleeued that he would yet they liued not to see that he did effectually accomplish that which hee had graciously promised in deliuering their seed from the Aegyptian seruitude and inuesting them with the possession of the Land of promise So then the Inflicter of this great and terrible Pestilence was Iehouah the Lord a great God and a terrible as Moses stileth him that vncaused Being the cause of all Being who keepeth his word and that specially in the execution of his wrath vpon sinne Secondly The Nature of the punishment by him inflicted was pestilentiall The Lord sent a Pestilence c. The sicknesse as wee call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. a most grieuous deadly violent and infectious disease seizing on the spirits and suddenly sending to the graue A most vncomfortable sicknesse in as much as when God visiteth vs with it all refraine from visiting vs. Our Louers and friends stand aloofe from this sore and our Kinsmen stand afarre off as Dauid saith of himselfe in another and more generall sense Psalme 38.11 Thirdly As for the time in which the Pestilence raigned Some say it was from morning to mid-day some for the whole three dayes threatned A third sort for halfe the space The Text saith it was euen to the time appointed And if wee shall thinke that the triduall terme was abridged vpon Dauids humiliation repentance or at least that the Plague ceased before the third day ended the Lord being said in this Chapter to repent of the euill forbearing in his anger to punish and forbidding his Angell to proceed any further the phrase of Scripture will bee our warrant in which Gods temporall punishments are not euer decreed irreuocably but determined conditionally and if men will not repent hee will proceed to accomplishment yet will it not therefore follow that Gods will dependeth vpon mans for it is knowne to him from eternitie who they are that shall turne to him by repentance and he is the orderer of their wayes and the ouer-ruler of their wils and their repentance is meerly of his grace and from his gift Fourthly The place to which the Pestilence was confined was from Dan to Beersheba Dan is heere taken locally for a Citie bounding Israel as elsewhere personally for a Sonne borne vnto Iacob T was the vtmost confine of Israel on the North side as Beersheba a Citie of Iudah was on the South towards the Philistines So from Dan to Beersheba is in effect throughout all Israel T were the like phrase of speech if wee of these parts should say of some generall Plague dispersed in all the Iland of Great Brittaine that it raigned from the Start-point on our Southerne Seas vnto Straithy-head in Scotland which is the farthest point stretching it selfe into the North Seas Fiftly The number that dyed were seuentie thousand men A great Catalogue for so small a continuance or in so small a compasse Insomuch that if the mortalitie should haue held the same course which it beganne but a moneth or two it is likely by conferring the number which Ioab tooke of the people with the number which God tooke away by the Pestilence that in all Israel there would not haue beene a man or two left I grant that it is apparant that Ioab brought not an exact number of all the people but withall I say it is most probable that all the people who fell by the Pestilence are not heere numbred but chiefly if not only those whom God subtracted and tooke away from the former computation of those men of warre in whom Dauid gloried So the Lord punished Dauid in the thing wherein he offended God Dauid gloried of the number of his people in his pride and God diminished them with his Plague Thus haue I ouer-runne the particulars to hasten to my obseruations I finde many a notable Emphasis in this Text. Death is not so strange and yet there is notice to be taken of it but for men to die of so strange a death as of the pestilence and for so many to dye of the pestilence and that in so small a compasse of time and within Israels Confines this is that which should force vs to take a more speciall notice of the heauie hand of God The Obseruation which I first draw out of this Text is this Doct. The pestilence is Gods speciall Rod whereby he scourgeth the sinne and punisheth the pride of the most potent and populous Nations God had greatly multiplyed his great mercies vpon Israel and in great mercie had greatly multiplyed Israel made it a great and a mightie Nation of small beginnings and now for Dauids sinne of numbring and for the number of their sinnes he beginneth greatly to diminish them The Lord sent a Pestilence The Pestilence is his great scourge for sinne When you are gathered together in your Cities I will send a Pestilence among you saith the Lord viz. for your breach of my couenant Leuiticus 26.25 Indeed euery sicknesse may be said to bee Gods scourge but the Plague that is specialis plaga Gods speciall and proper stripe the signes that it makes are Gods speciall markes and therefore the Word of the Lord calleth it the Sword of the Lord 1. Chron. 21.12 As Iehouah the name by which God is heere stiled is peculiar to him so the spreading of the pestilence which hee here sendeth is from him alone Wee may rayse other sicknesses to cast downe our selues by our owne surfets and distempers this seemeth to bee meerly of his sending and he only to haue a finger heerein So Dauid acknowledged when he chose to fall into the hands of God by the falling of his people by a Pestilence in the Verse before the Text. And now for vse to vs Beloued Israels calamitie in the time of King Dauid is Englands case in the time of King Charles Facta est