their body were changed into wormes as Herods was should not this neither Oh yes but seldome times will you say are these things wrought I graunt it so indeede but much seldomer are men amēded by hearing of them in other or feeling them in themselues Tarry not to conuert I beseech you till these wonders be wrought againe tempt not the Lord of heauen and earth with deferring the day of repentance For bee you assured that contemning the riches of his grace and abusing the patience of his long suffering while his word and Gospell is preached and not beleeued he will verifie that prophesie vpon you that was long agoe pronounced Reuel 19. 17. vpon the enimies of Christes Gospell Come ye foules of the heauen to the great supper of the great God that yee may eate the flesh of kings and captaines and mighty men of horses and riders offree and bond of small and great Oh then will it be too late to cast away pleasures to curse your delaies to imbrace the Gospell and to crie peace when the sword of God is dipped in blood Another vse hereof may be this that seeing the greatest and strongest creatures were by nature and creation subiect to man now not onely they but also all other both great and small through our transgressions are become either our enimies or else our conquerors This must teach vs how odious and abhominable a thing is sinne and wickednesse in the presence of the eternall God and his vnreasonable creatures it was forbidden by God it was condemned by angels it is reuenged by beastes and punished by diuels it droue Adam from paradise it kept Moses from Canaan it destroyed the inhabitants of Ierusalem and hath excluded infinite thousandes from the kingdome of heauen It was committed by the blood of soules it was redeemed by the life of Christ it was reprooued by the death of martyrs and yet it is maintained by the practise of multitudes Oh whose hart is not diuided to see such a monster more made of than all good things which was hatched by the diuell and fed by the life of soules and yet raigneth that it may winne millions of soules to condemnation Shall reasonable men rescue it when vnreasonable beastes fight against it euery creature in his kinde cries vengeance against it It made the angels damnable it made the world abhominable it maketh the beastes corruptible and it maketh men miserable Miserable I say by birth for they are borne in it miserable by life for they are vexed with it and most miserable by death for they are cursed with it We haue already heard that the sinnes of Egypt were punished and reuenged by lice and the sinnes of Herod were requited by wormes and vnto these adde the sinne of the prophet that reprooued Ieroboam 1. Reg. 13. 24. which was rewarded by a lion Thus doth the earth crie woe vnto it for it cursed her thus doth the heauens hate it for it destroyeth her children thus doth the starres fight against it because it dazeleth their light and thus doe wilde beastes warre against it because it encreaseth their grones Oh then let not vs men bring vp that mōster hatch vp the coccatrices egs which so soone as it is deliuered and conceiued it giueth our liues mortall woundes If wicked Herod in slaying the children of Bethleem thinking thereby to slay Christ did not refraine his crueltie from his owne houshold but also put his owne sonnes to death least they should afterward trouble him for his kingdome how much more ought we not to imitate his crueltie but his policie to bridle our natures to chaine our affections to subdue our lustes to conquer our desires and to forsake our pleasures that we might bathe the sword of God his lawe in the blood of our owne sinnes seeing if it liue we must die and if it die we shall liue It commeth vnto vs with the Sirens song it embraceth vs friendly as Ioab did Abner but while it saluteth vs with one hand it stabbeth vs with the other It promiseth vs faire as Iael did to Sisera and it giueth vs milke in steede of water it serueth vs in plate it clotheth vs in purple it lodgeth vs in ease but in the end it slaieth our soules as she did Sisera it maketh much of vs as the high priests did of Iudas it maketh vs gentlemen of rascals it maketh vs rich men of beggers it maketh vs companions of princes it deliuereth vs when others are endangered but in the ende it tieth the halter to our necks and maketh speede for our execution it serueth vs as the harlot did the yoong man Prouerb 7. it kisseth vs it flattereth vs it pleaseth vs and it promiseth vs all sugred ioyes but yet it draweth vs as the oxe is drawen to the slaughter it biddeth vs take our ease followe pastimes auoide preaching loue not the prophets come not at the churches and forget all manner of godlinesse but in the ende it serueth vs as a noble man doth his olde spannell commending some to the gallowes some to the prisons some to noysome sicknesse some to pouertie some to slauerie some to madnesse some to vntimely death and some to vnmercifull hell Therefore heare and follow Salomons counsell Prou. 7. 24. Heare O my children let not your hearts decline to her waies and walke not in her pathes for she causeth many to fall downe wounded and strong men are slaine by her her house is the way vnto the graue which goeth downe to the chambers of death The sixth Sermon Vers 5. Awake O yee drunkards and weepe and howle O yee drinkers of wine because of the new wine for it shall be pulled from your mouth NOw we are to handle the exhortations of the prophet made and grounded on the premised calamitie The which exhortations for our more orderly and formall proceeding I will thus diuide some of them concerne the miserable ouerthrowe of their countrey by famine whereunto they are prepared by the prophets sermons and these are in this first chapter and to the twelfth verse of the second chapter the other generally stirre them vp vnto repentance from the twelfth to the eighteenth The first of these whereby the inhabitants of the land are admonished prepared for the iudgement is either for the people as in ver 5. 8. 11. or for the cleargie or ministerie as in the 13. of the first chapter the first of the second chapter That part which is directed to the people is by speciall names notes of persons described which are of two sorts either for their manners as drunkards ver 5. or for their occupation or trade of life as husbandmen ver 11. And also these exhortations haue their seueral reasons to mooue the people withall as in this we haue in hand he moueth the drunkards either to awake or to lament ver 5. 8. Vpon these causes the first concerne themselues vnto the nienth and from the nienth to the
sorrie if any blood beshed or any violence bee executed in his ouerthrowe But I knowe some will say how shall wee warre against the papists may we not triumph with all manner of warlike and lawfull ioy at their ouerthrowe as we would doe against heathens Surely I answere we may so warre with them as with idolators not with heathens and so to triumph in their conquest as Iudah was woont against Israel that is being prouoked by them to trie it to the vttermost and to spare no person that is an aduersarie yet to suffer the remnants to enioy their countrie if they will embrace the truth and forsake idolatrie The reasons of this doctrine are these first because as men spoile the godly so shall they bee spoiled againe Ier. 30. 16. Againe good men are at peace in the land and therefore it were crueltie to rage against the peaceable And therefore make this account that God will reuenge the iniurie offered to his people vpon the children and childrens children of them that were the workers thereof Isa 13. 16. As Dauid commaunded Salomon that he should not suffer the hoare head of Ioab to go into the graue in peace because he had slaine two men more righteous then himselfe in the time of peace so God will not suffer them to come in peace to their graues that haue had any hand against the righteous of the world Learne therefore as the Prophet exhorteth Ierem 39. 12. that in warres or in any common slaughter thou euer vse gentlenes to them that thou shalt know haue liued godly And therefore in all the warres betwixt Iudah and Israell you shall neuer read of a priest or prophet of the Lord to be slaine but they were slaine in the time of peace when men were wearie of the word of God Be a valiant souldier but bee also a mercifull christian if any yeeld himselfe then giue not his life to thy sword Remember that glorie doth not onely dwell in fighting and killing but in ouercomming and if thou ouercome by any means or stratagems thy conquest is neuer the lesse Spare them that pray for thee for all christians pray one for another and as the King of Syria fought no more after he had ouercome Ahab but let all Israell goe home in peace so after thou hast ouercome the principall actors and procurers of the warre then let the residue goe scotfree Thinke also that the warres are mutable and if they giue thee victorie at one time yet they may let thee be conquered at another time and therefore so spare as thou wouldest bee spared and as Abner would haue perswaded Asahel Ioabs brother to depart from him because he should slay him and then would Ioah be wroth with him so if words may pacifie thy enimie rather vse them then weapons And as I would haue thee deale in warres so thou must deale in peace that thou take not euerie aduantage against thy brother but spare him when thou hast him in thy hand whether it be in combate or in suite at the law or in complaint before a magistrate or in any extremitie Do thou nothing against him but let the law do all rather silence some bitter things then inuent any new occasions of strife and to the vttermost of thy endeuour labour to buy peace although it cost thee deerely for whether thou winne or lose thou shalt be polluted by trouble The xxxv Sermon ANd they haue cast lots This is another cause why the Lord doth enter into so sharpe a iudgement against the wicked and that is as you see bicause they vsed them most vilely and not onely them but the holie ordinance of God which is casting of lots So that they as it were plaied at dice for the people of God they cared not who wonne them nor howe they greeued them for it coulde not choose but offend them to see the lottery made vpon them which God had appointed for another vse But in this that they cast lots for the people of God and the lot beeing the verie ordinance of God not to bee vsed in sport or pastime wee may note that euill and ignorant men doe profane and abuse euery thing yea though in it selfe it be neuer so good Tit. 1. 15. To euill men and defiled all thinges saith the Apostle are polluted their toonges are adders speares their lips are instruments of guile their handes worke iniquitie and their feete runne to euill and shed blood and if they thus abuse their naturall parts what will they doe with the spirituall benefits Oh it greeueth my hart to tell you for their praiers they vse to curse and banne them with whom they are angrie their knowledge they abuse to beguile and deceiue the simple and vnstable soules they will haue the Scriptures to couer their profanenesse and when they be espied they say they can approoue their sinnes by holie warrant Oh damnable blasphemie they vse their wits to cauill their wealth to oppresse their strength to steale their friendes to bolster out their offences and their naturall wisedome to maintaine their vnnaturall blasphemie they are hungrie to be gluttons they are thirsty to be drunkards they are clothed to be proud they are honored to be disdainful they are wel borne that they may liue ill vncontrolled with a thousand such like enormities which we may find in the cōtinual practise of the wicked they abuse their marriage for lust their children for couetousnesse their offices for bribing their ministerie for reprehension their lawe for delay of truth the day for open euill and the night for secret shame If a good man fall into their hands they wil vse him scurrilously the holy worde of God either they despise or wrest damnablie the ordinances of God they profane wickedly and the societie of men they dishonour shamefully and yet still they liue and still shall liue that they may so abuse death as they haue abused life that as they make life a time of sinne so they may finde death a day of destruction The reasons of this doctrine are these First because they are blinded of the diuell 2. Corint 4. 4. And therefore they cannot see so much as that which nature teacheth for the diuell neuer ceaseth to toule on a man till hee haue made him defie the grace of God and to defile the nature of man Another reason is bicause such is the poison of sinne that it defileth the very garments of a man and the walles of a house Iud. 23. wherefore it will worke more effectually in man who is a more meete and apt subiect for the same The vses which come of this doctrine are these First that we learne to discerne a man that is thus giuen ouer to abuse verie lawfull thinges woe be to them saith the prophet that speake euill of good and good of euill Isai 5. 20. For men in this estate will not sticke to commende any kinde of filthinesse because
father hell is our bondslaue but their hangman We reioice as if we reioiced not but they reioice as if they were borne for nothing else we sorrowe as if we wept not but they haue their eies weeping in life their harts weeping in death and their soules weeping in hell Thinke nowe my beloued that this is our time of lamentation and this is our lamentation of time to see men weeping that should reioice men reioicing that should lament Woe be vnto them for they haue their consolation Therefore if once the worlde turne with the wicked then shall happines be like ise their pleasure like a sommer dewe their friends shall forsake them their feare shall possesse them and their miserie shall ouercome them Seeing therefore this is the case of the wicked that know not nor feare not God hence ariseth this most assured and fearefull and yet comfortable vse to be knowne that such as is the life of the wicked such shal be their end Amo 4. 1 2 3. The prophet in the saide place calling vpon the heads and rich men of Israell by the name of the kine of Bashan that fedde in the mountaine of Samaria telleth them that the Lorde hath sworne that seeing they behaued themselues like beastes he woulde also vse them like beastes for the thornes should stifle them and their posteritie shoulde be taken with fish-hookes and they shoulde go out of the gaps and breaches forwarde like kine and they shal be cast headlong out of the pallaces And these kinde of beastes are the oppressors of the poore the deuourers of meate and drinke the neglecters and despisers of the Lords worship and such as prophane the Lordes sacrifices with their owne inuentions vers 1. 4. 5. Consider nowe if euer there were mo beastes in Israell then are in England O lamentable world wilt thou euer proceed to prouoke the Lordes wrath to oppresse thy owne flesh to spill the life of thy owne brother and to shed the bloud of thy owne soule dost thou not yet knowe that if thou delight in cursing thou shalt receiue cursing and bicause thou louest not blessing it shall be farre from thee Yea I will adde this also thinkest thou not that thy cruell life shall haue a cruell death and thy mercilesse hart shall receiue a mercilesse plague doth not the scripture say That the same measure shal be heaped on thee that thou didst powre vpon other Hast thou lead all thy life in swearing and dost thou thinke thou shalt die with blessing hast thou walked wantonly passed the time pleasantly pampered vp thy owne bodie delicately consumed thy strength lecherously wasted thy wealth prodigally despised the ministerie wickedly frequented euill companie ioyfully vsed all maner of gaming greedily and wilt thou hope for all this to die the death of the righteous and to make a blessed latter ende Then is it not true which is most true that such as men sowe such shall they reape and if their life be the season their death is the haruest Oh that I coulde perswade you to liue well as you perswade your selues to die well then shoulde your times bee happie your liues be godly and all our endes bee blessed Therefore on the other side wee that are in league with the Lorde of glorie howe happie is our case seeing as wee liue so shall wee die our wearied bodies shall rest in his kingdome our sorrowfull soules shall bee refreshed in his kingdome our wounds shall be healed in heauen our teares shall be wiped from our eies our liues shall be disburdened of slaunders and to conclude seeing we being aliue are buried with Christ by our profession wee shall also at our death be raised vp with Christ to his euerlasting possession Secondly another vse which doth arise from this point is this that seeing the wicked are so beastly in their sorrowes and so desperate in their afflictions that sometimes wickednesse is rewarded in this life though not alwaies for their comfortlesse estate is the iust punishment of their wretchlesse behauiour We haue manifold examples hereof in the sacred worde of God who was more cruell then Adoni-bezek who cut off the thumbes and toes of seuentie kings and afterward by the Lords commandement he was so serued himselfe Iudg. 1. 6 7. Who was more proud then Nabuchadnezzar yet in this life was his vnderstanding taken from him and he driuen to eate his meate with brute beastes Tzedechias which burned the booke of God was taken by his enimies had his children slaine before his face and afterward had his owne eies put out and died at Babylon Herod that wicked wretch was eaten of wormes Ananias and Saphira were slaine by the Lord himselfe with a great many of like terrible iudgements of God of which you may read both in the scriptures and in the writings of other There are a viperous broode among vs which are not ashamed openly to professe that they care not so much for the pains in another life if they may escape the plagues of this life that is present and notwithstanding they feare the punishment of their sinnes shoulde bee executed on them in this life to their open shame and in the life to come to their vtter destruction yet they will neuer bee amended by Gospel or iudgemen t let such persons thinke what shall be their danger if they continue in this wicked opinion and wretched life For assuredly as Dauid once saide so will we euer say that the same which the wicked feareth shall come vpon them why shouldest thou bee more ashamed to be punished before a few of thy friends in this life then to bee laide open to the full vnto all the world at the latter day Learne therefore to purge thy hands and hart from sinnes wherein thou dwellest and when they shall bee burned thou shalt bee saued thinke that thou art not better then those which are already named and therefore thou maist be hanged with Absolon be stoned with Achan be cursed with Canaan be brained with Abimelech bee eaten with dogs as Iezabel was bee slaine with the sword as Adoniah was and finally fall from the top of honour to the bottome of ignominie as Haman did Because of the newe wine This is the cause why hee biddeth the drunkards and drinkers to awake because they should loose that which they best loued your newe wine that is so sweete to your mouthes wherein you dwell day and night shall bee taken from you And in this the prophet noteth vnto vs the whole corruption of carnall and wicked men that if they be ioyfull or if they be sorrowfull it is onely for the things of this life present when their barnes and storehouses are filled their fieldes clad with cattell their names exalted with worldly honour then they strike vp the ioyfullest musicke to their harts that they can inuent but when their wealth decreaseth or sicknesse taketh them or the famine vexeth them or the rumors of bloodie and
the bodie and not to work good works against the world to come were thy feete created to dance a fine galliard or leape a long iumpe or runne a long race and not rather to walke to sermons to carrie thee to prisons to beare thee to the chambers of sicke persons thou art much deceiued if thou thinke not thus Therfore now study with thy self how many parts the Lord hath giuen thee aboue many other not only creatures but men also for som are blind lame deaf dumbe weake sicke lunatike foolish and many other waies crossed but thou shalt finde with thy selfe that thou hast all which they want therefore aboue them yea aboue thy selfe vse all thy parts in one seruice of God or other whereby his name may get glory and thy soule saluation Another thing we may learne from hence that now our affections bee set on heauenly things Col. 1 2. and the rather bicause Christ our Sauiour is there whom we dailie looke for to appeere for our deliuerance Indeede such is our bodily estate that wee can neuer watch ouer all our parts neither is it necessarie or requisite that we shoulde bestowe altogither so much time in praying and hearing and trauailing to godly assemblies as we do in the worldly busines and the naturall works of this life such as is eating sleeping and such like yea it is impossible for vs so to doe But our affections must be raised vp continually to heauen in all our actions of the worlde that whether we eate or drinke laugh or weepe watch or sleepe worke or rest we may still be the Lords therefore haue we neede to choose out some part of our time euery day to be emploied in this heauenly busines and not to be omitted for friend or foe sicknes or health idlenesse or businesse sleepe or worke wherein we may daily shewe and continue our soules in the Lordes presence Religion is the foode of the soule therefore we neede not be alway eating the scriptures are the testament of our father therefore we neede not alway be looking in them but vse them for our assurance By praier we talke with God as with a friend but if wee alway conferre with a friend and neuer cease we shall be tedious to our selues and odious to our friendes and yet wee must often eate and often reade and often pray that wee may encrease our knowledge remember our duties and continue in friendship and fauour with the Lorde of heauen Another thing which wee may obserue in these wordes is this that it is lawfull and not contrarie to the rule of truth to make a moderate lamentation of the dead as the apostle saith 1. Cor. 15. Phil. 2. 29. For I thinke it an vnnatural and Stoicall affection not to be at all inooued or not to shewe any outwarde sorrow for those whom we loued being aliue The reasons thereof may be these first bicause many times they be taken away for our hurt that be aliue Esay 57. 12. therefore in lamenting their losse we bewaile our owne liues Secondly the Lorde sheweth it to bee a great curse not to be lamented being dead Ierem. 22. 18 19. And therefore if it bee a blessing added to a good and religious life I thinke it necessarie that we be not vnnaturall to kindred vnkind to friends and vnfriendly to neighbours to haue our eies drie or at the least our harts merrie at their departure I might adde that death is a punishment of sinne euen in the most righteous and therefore it deserueth some lamentation vnlesse wee will reioice in our owne execution But this matter needeth not the blotting of much matter to vpholde it I would God there were not many thousandes more vnnaturall and vnlawfull abuses among vs then this is although this bee too much We must learne therefore although it be lawfull for vs to lament yet to remember the exhortation of the Apostle 1. Thess 4. 14. That we mourne not as men without hope that is that we abuse not a lawfull thing by making it vnlawfull as if wee our selues had our hope buried with the dead and therefore despaire altogither of any other such benefits from God Againe let vs also remember that which Christ saith to the women Luk. 23. 28. That wee weepe not so much for them that be going or gone out of the world as we do for our own sinfull liues And if we look well to this matter we shall finde wee haue a great manie friendes dead whom let vs lament that our pittifull teares may raise them vp to a righteous life The meate offering and the drinke offering is cut off from the house of the Lorde the priestes the Lords ministers mourne Nowe the Prophet goeth to shewe more reasons to induce these people to a generall mourning first bicause the worship of God is violated by reason of the famine and their brethren the Lordes ministers are in mourning yea the earth it selfe mourneth for both corne and oyle and wine haue failed And therefore first of all in the cohaerence of this reason with the former exhortation that they shoulde mourne bicause the meate offering and drinke offering are cut off from the house of God that is the ordinarie worship of God is abated and abolished the prophet doth thereby teach vs that hee cannot bee a true and vnfeigned godlie man nay he is not woorthie to liue in the Lordes flocke that sorroweth not the neglect of the Lordes seruice whether it bee by famines warres or sicknes or idlenes although the last deserueth rather to bee punished then to be lamented We may read this practise of or in the Israelites 1. Sam. 7. 2. When they wanted the arke of God without which they coulde not sacrifice they lamented it greeuously for it was absent from them twentie yeeres And this is the thing which will trie whether there be any sparke of grace within vs to behold those times when Religiō goeth backward declining as the sun doth toward the euening What hart of flint will not then shed abundance of teares when there is no foode for the soule nor instruction for the minde to see the churches emptied the pulpits defaced the faithfull scattered and all exercises and meetings for religion vtterly abolished Looke on it my deere brethren I beseech you we may sorrow as Nehemiah did bicause men do willingly suffer the Lordes building to decay euen in our time may we see the congregations thin with hearers and true deuotion colde with professours in many places preaching is put out and pratling entreth in the roome thereof O howe wearie are the people of preaching in all places they are hardly gathered to the churches being present they are as hardly kept in their places but when they are gone they vomite vp againe whatsoeuer they haue heard Wee may say of them with Augustine Comlines is couered shame is opened euill getteth many beholders but goodnes hath very hardly any
rebukes of sin for the Lord. Hos 4. 4. cōplaineth of the desperate estate of the people for he saide they rebuked the prophet This is the sin of England for there are among vs that will teach wise men and themselues being fooles they will controule learned men themselues being ignorant they will sohoole preachers yet they cannot heare they will rule magistrates themselues being subiects and they will seeme to doe all things being able to doe nothing But this is the point woorthie to be stoode vpon they will reprooue the minister of the Gospell If they suspect vs they condemne vs if there be but an vncertaine rumour they make it a certaine sclander so that our life our liuings our doctrine our calling and all our preaching is contemned by them Our life to be idle our liuings to be too great our doctrine to be suspitious our calling to be burdensome and our preaching to be onely for a worldly respect Oh incurable vndurable mischiefe why do men at once set Christ to schoole teach God to be wise refuse the Gospels gouernment and choose the tyranny of sinne Why do they rebuke vs and yet thinke they do well if the rod of magistrates light on vs for our sinnes let vs abide it but to let euery drunkard and ruffian and seruingman and euery base companion to crow against the Gospell and our calling let vs neuer abide They hate vs because they loue sinne they loue liberty because they abhorre discipline they regard not the ministery because they regard not God and therefore looke for a present and speedie calamitie for since that base fellowes became ministers base fellowes haue regarded none so that now we may preach out our hearts and pray out our soules and weepe out our eies yet we shall receiue nothing but scoffes and scornes rebuke and scander for our labor Weepe and howle hauing bidden them to be ashamed now he biddeth them to bee sorrowfull for well hee knew that their hope and health was lost when their corne and fruites were destroyed wherein they trusted more then in GOD. And from hence wee may obserue that if the worshippe of God bee once decaied there is not any so desperately wicked or dissolute but he shall smart for them we may say Esay 9. 10 11 12. That the wicked make great bragges if they were depriued of preaching the word they say they would turne brickes into hewen stone and tymber into Cedar trees but the Lorde telleth them that their enimies shall beset them and he will cut off both honorable and taile So is the course of his iudgement that when hee hath taken away his worship which is a helmet of proofe to keepe his wrath from vs then he sendeth greatest calamitie when we thinke we shall liue in greatest securitie The filthie Sodomites thought that they were well when Lot was gone from among them but there followed presently fire and brimstone from heauen By this our gallants may perceiue that if the Gospell be in the wrath of God translated from our countrey their brauerie and pride and wealth and prosperitie shall be ouerturned into perpetuall miserie They thinke it a burden intollerable to liue vnder the checke heereof but let them know that the little finger of humane tyrannie shall bee heauier on them then the loines and body of all christianitie Oh how do men deceiue themselues with sweete promises of great and incredible ease which they shall reape by the abasing of the ministerie by the decay of good men and the abandoning of all goodnes when they shall haue libertie to commit any kinde of sinne O miserable wretches saith one to whom it is lawfull to do wickedly surely you shall come out of a little brooke and runne headlong into the maine sea The reason of this doctrine is this bicause the wicked shoulde knowe that all goodnesse which they receiue is for the Gospels and godly mens sake Prou. 11. 11. there is not any thing in the worlde which the godly haue not a title vnto insomuch as all the wicked men are but vsurpers of the goods and landes and wealth and dignities they enioy so long as a godly man is liuing The worlde is a bodie religion is the soule thereof which being remooued is dead and fit for nothing The worlde is a building and the worship is the pillar postes thereof which being remooued it must needes fall as the house wherein Sampson slewe the Philistines So that it is most plaine that when our knowledge is turned to ignorance and the preachers of the worde of God cease to speake in the name of God and when the Gospell is banished from our lande and there bee a free libertie to doe what they list then I saie will the heauens threaten destruction the mindes of men shall be made blinde their vnderstanding shall bee taken from them and they shall liue as other people do without God his word to be slaues to their enimies drudges to their labours beastes in their liues enimies to God haters of good things and diuels by their death The vses which commeth from this doctrine is first of all that wee labour with speede to amende those things which are amisse among vs for else that iudgement which the Lorde once threatened to the Ephesian church Reuel 2. 5. shall take holde namely that the Lord will take away his candlesticke from vs if the light bee gone we shal liue in darknes if the word be gone we shall liue in blindnes if God his worship be taken from vs wee shall die in miserie This onely is the meate which if wee want will consume vs it is a sworde and if it bee not in our handes it will wounde vs it is a scepter which if the king of heauen holde not foorth we shall be condemned Feare the want of the Lords worship for if it goe from vs then he will depart if he depart then our prosperitie will cease and there shall not be a man aliue which will not desire to die Consider I beseech you if you haue enioyed great possessions goodly landes faire houses many friends delicate liues and many children but in one night thy aduersarie stealeth away thy euidence whereby thou holdest thy lande and then thou art turned out of possession thy landes are taken from thee thy friendes forsake thee thy children crie on thee and thou bee constrained either to harde labour or vnlawfull beggerie how wouldest thou take it but wish for a thousande deathes to bee deliuered from this shame So shall it bee with thee in the Gospell which is the euidence of thy peace thy health thy landes thy ioy and the kingdome of heauen the which being taken from thee thou canst neuer enioy any of these then thou shalt weepe without comfort sorrowe without hope liue without ioy die without peace and be damned without mercie Oh whose heart is not cleaued asunder to thinke vpon the danger of his soule Loue the
followeth that it is a most wretched thing to goe backeward and to cease from being righteous for this cause the blessed seruant of God exhorted Reuel 22 11. Let him which is righteous be righteous still shew therefore if thou haue euer obtayned any mercie of God in the knowledge of the Gospell retaine the same for euermore If euer thou haddest any dislike of prophannesse any hatred of euill any conscience of goodnes and any desire of mortification that thou diddest euer abhor vaine sports foolish words wicked works vnprofitable members godles companions and truthlesse superstitions continue so minded for euermore but as thou hast beene iust so abide righteous The sheepe once blacke or white neuer chaungeth colour the vessell once seasoned neuer looseth sweetnes and the soule once sanctified neuer forsaketh holines Be not vnsauourie salt be not vnstedfast winde be not a foolish builder and be not a cursed backeslider Call not the truth once beloued into question but fight for it as for life receiue not the filthines once banished but flye from it as from death Loue not that sinne which once thou hatedst least all other sinnes become suiters for thy soule Goe out of vanitie and ignorance and hypocrisie and securitie as Lot went out of Sodome and neuer looke so much as backe vpon them Destroy vtterly the citie and dwelling of Sathan in thy soule as Ioshua destroyed Ierico and curse them that builde it againe follow all the examples of all the godly Paule once conuerted neuer reuoked Peter once strengthened neuer more halted Onesimus once reconciled to his master neuer ranne from him any more And so seeing thou canst say I haue heard sermons I haue loued prayer I haue harboured the saintes I haue hated dauncing tabling carding vsuring swearing lying stealing and all other abhominations oh wallow not againe in that filthy mire but continue righteous to the end Alas alas as the eies of man cannot weepe enough for the backesliders so the toong of man cannot speake enough of their accursed apostasie some fall to pouertie some to securitie some to vanitie some to open impiety som into heresie some into schisme some into the world some into the flesh and all of these into hel and thus they goe away as Gedeons souldiers which were at the first 21000. but in the end they were but 300. Might Rahel weepe bicause Herod kilde her children and may not the church weepe because the diuell killeth her children Well woe be to him for his malice and woe be to them for their backsliding Secondly seeing wee all neede encouragement vnto good things let vs not onely bee exhorted but assured that the presence of God shall assist vs. When Zerubabel and Iehoshua were stirred by the prophet to finish the temple of God the Lorde promised his presence to assist them Hag. 2. 5. and his spirite to remaine with them Now marke who are exhorted but the prince or chiefe gouernour and the priest or chiefe bishop and all the people of the land let vs not therefore feare to enter into a farther reformation of our selues and doubt nothing but the Lord shall finish our buildings We are not Babel and the builders thereof what neede wee feare confusion we are not Saul what neede we despaire of victorie we are not Achitophel we will not distrust our counsell we are not Iudas why should we vndoe our selues for our sinnes If we haue deferred our repentance and amendment and ran away from God as Ionah did yet being called againe let vs goe boldly to the Niniueh of our owne soules and preach the fearefull curse of God against sinne The Lord came to Abraham in the plaine of Mamre sitting in his tent and there promised him a sonne why should we not be perswaded that when we are in meditating on any goodnesse and louing any rightcousnesse and aduenturing any holy businesse but the Lorde will come vnto vs and promise vs life eternall Therefore my deere brethren and sisters aduenture farre for the religion of your soules and knowe that he shall goe with you to helpe you to your wish feare not any power for he is omnipotent nor any enimie for he is your shield nor any subtiltie for he is your wisedome nor any want for he is your sufficiencie nor any constancie for hee neuer changeth nor any death for he is your life Beleeue that you cannot conceiue vnderstand that you cannot see beare that burden which he giueth you abide that sorrow that he sendeth you and practise that gospell which hee hath taught you Pray for repentance and faith and knowledge and zeale and obedience and holinesse and life eternall for the Lord is in thine owne soule and feare not he will giue it thee Girde your selues Againe out of these wordes wherein the prophet biddeth the priestes to be girded to lamentation that is to be throughly prepared and to put on sackcloth that is all outward and inward testimonie of sorrow and to lie all night before the Lord that is to endure any paine and labour to be reconciled to God Out of the which I might note as many doctrines as words as first that vpon good counsell and godly meditation men must come to lament their miseries before God not rashly nor rauingly nor furiously but with a godly preparation Againe that the ministers in any common danger must more earnestly be humbled then any other Againe seeing he calleth for such sorrow and such continuance thereof he thereby noteth that if God be once angrie we must vse all meanes that can bee found to appease him though it cost our sweetest health and our deerest blood But I will specially obserue this doctrine that all both minister and people when they come to entreate for the remoouing of the Lord hand must be sure that they be throughly humbled Nehem. 1. 4. their cause must be well pondered and weighed their mindes must bee well prepared and perswaded their liues must be most zealously reformed and their continuance in their humiliation must be most instantly and inuiolably obserued I haue obserued a great defect in the humiliation of many in the time of our late calamities of famine and warre and plague when we were cast downe before the Lord. For men would come to these exercises from tauernes and alehouses from shops other busines no otherwise prepared then at another common time againe the notes of their pride in apparell and all brauerie fond expences they brought with them and came more like plaiers then mourners into the Lords house and also they were quickly wearie for some would neuer tarrie till the end and other if they once came they neuer came more And surely these were too euident signes that wee were not throughly humbled and therefore no maruell though the plague preuailed on so many and the famine hath continued so long Oh that therefore this exhortation of the prophet might worke a newe and often remembrance of vnfained humilitie
of life When Adam came againe to God hee receiued the promise of life when the creatures came to Noahs arke hee kept them from the floude when the Egyptians came to Ioseph he saued them from famine and when the people came to heare Christ preach he relieued their fainting Come you likewise to the ministerie they will giue you the promises open vnto you the kingdome deliuer you the corne and satisfie your soules most plentifully that you shall neuer faint till you come to the euerlasting abiding place Except the priestes had stoode in the riuer of Iorden the children of Israell coulde neuer haue passed ouer euen so wee stande in the troubles of this world to keepe them from you else you shoulde neuer come into Canaan Oh therefore come while wee stande and beare the Lordes arke or else the waters of heresie and Atheisme will come againe and then farewell your hope your health and your saluation The xiij Sermon Verse 14. Sanctifie a fast call a solemne assemblie gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the lande into the house of the Lorde your God and crie vnto the Lorde THat is call and prepare a fast to the which some may say that they might well enough fast seeing their meat corne was alreadie withered and they had more need to seek to saue their liues then to go to fast to endanger themselues farther Vnto which I answere that the forenamed calamitie was but prophetically foretold therefore as yet there was not such want but only it shoulde bee if they repented not Hee biddeth them prepare a fast that is a general humiliation for all the people wherein shoulde bee nothing but mourning and abstinence and this kinde of fast is a great and good part of the worship of God Esay 58. 13. Therefore from hence wee obserue that God taketh occasion by threatning of his wrath against vs to mooue vs to worship him more earnestly so wee may see Iudg. 20. 26 27. when the Israelites in a good cause had beene ouercome of the Beniamites and lost the liues of many braue men it mooued them againe to goe to humble themselues before the Lorde with fasting and bitter weeping and lamentation And surely this seemeth to be the continual course of the Lords dooing in the church that as the grounde is plowed that it might yeelde more fruite so the church is afflicted that it may giue him more worship Wee are for the most part like the disciples which knew not howe to fast or to afflict themselues till Christ was taken from them and then they fasted Mark 2. 20. So when wee are either generallie molested or particularly endangered howe doe we cleaue to the churches and turne ouer the bibles and runne ouer the worde but in times of more ease wee are more idle and take libertie of sinning when wee feele the greatest liberalitie of our Sauiour If wee haue no other cause to reioice in our pouertie and sicknesse and infamie and danger and hunger and famme and all our tribulation then this that we are by them better fitted for the Lordes seruice yet let this make vs clap our harts and hands that we may any waie glorifie our creator And as the Israelites were as willing to fight with the Canaanites as to possesse their lande so let vs bee as willing to fight with manie troubles as to possesse many pleasures The reasons of this doctrine are these bicause such kinde of miseries lamented by such kinde of worship doth turne away our captiuitie and appease the Lordes wrath Lament 2. 14. and therefore wee may take great comfort in the forewarning of our miseries seeing we may be prepared therby against all danger to auoide all wrath if the Lorde did not by the ministerie of his worde humble vs we shoulde euer be subiect to mortall confusion and immortall condemnation But so hee ordereth all things in his church that as the ouerflowing Nilus maketh the earth more fertill so the floudes of troubles going ouer the bodies and liues of his members maketh them more peaceable once the disease purged the bodie is well quieted and once the pride of our sinne and natures scoured and rubbed awaie the soule is more strengthened Another reason is bicause that the Lorde will haue that thinge worke the good of his church which worketh the desperation of infidels for wicked men in their troubles are at their wits ende as wee may see Mich. 4. 5. so was it in Cain and Edom and the Egyptians and Saule and Herod which all perished through affliction The nature of the wicked is like iron which will neuer swimme though it be neuer so little except it be nailed to some woode or other substance so the wicked being banished from the godly they fall downe and sticke fast in an vnresistable mire of afflictions so that wee may see as the crosse of Christ was the life of the church but the death of the diuell so are many other crosses the life of the Lordes deare children but the death of his despitefull enimies The vses which come from this doctrine are these First seeing wee are by our affections stirred vp to serue the Lorde let vs keepe our soules in continuall chastisement that we may continually be mindfull of the Lordes seruice 1. Peter 4. 7. Those which lie in garrisons although they seldome fight yet euery day they discipline and traine their souldiers so although wee seldome lie vnder great danger of exceeding slaughter yet let vs continue our soules in correction and obedience If Dauid had alway vsed this he had not so easilie forgotten himselfe and brought Vrijah to death and himselfe into filthie adulterie Euen so the want of this priuate chastisement and continuall afflicting of our soules for our sinnes maketh vs wanton in wealth proude in prosperitie presumptuous in health and often subiect to sathans temptations Afflictions may rightly bee compared to a hedge which hath thornes on both sides so that that which is within cannot come out and that which is without cannot come in in like manner when our liues are hedged with troubles the good thinges which are in our soules cannot goe out of vs and the euill thinges which are without vs cannot come into vs. Weepe often for thy sins that thou maiest alway bee sorrowfull pray often for thy amendement that thou maiest still bee penitent Thinke manie times on thy later ende that thou maiest neuer bee arrogant so shalt thou saue thy selfe from many euils and gaine thy conscience great peace and procure thy soule euerlasting blessednes for if this life bee contrary to the life to come then it followeth that as there shall bee neuer ceasing ioy for the ceasing of sinne so heere ought to be a neuer ending sorrow for the continuance of sinne Another vse which commeth of this doctrine is seeing our euils make vs more fit to serue God then is it a miserable thing to be made more vnfit
to serue him through tribulations when mens harts die in them for feare of the Lordes hand as Nabals did when he feared Dauids comming or when men growe desperate seeking vnlawfull meanes to be rid of their miseries as the Iewes did Esay 30. 16. and therefore the Lorde threatneth them that they shall flie as they determined and they shall ride on horses as they appointed but their enimies shoulde ride faster to ouertake and ouerthrowe them I haue obserued the constitution of many men and I founde them like the sea-faring marriners whose life is a continuall death and yet they are more open contemners and more obstinate enimies to all manner of goodnes then are other men and so those whose estate is poorest whose liues are most slauish hauing the prisons for their dwellings and continuallie destitute of meate and all kinde of necessaries none more wicked then these or more carelesse of any good thing But to let those passe there are many that haue escaped dangerous sicknes pyning famine the fearefull hande of warre and cruell death which seemed before their eies vnauoidable and yet remaine desperately wicked still and runne to their owne vomit and wallow in their loathsome myre of sinne these are they which are at a league with death and couenant with hell they hope to escape as well as other and while they be in the world why should they not liue merrily although they goe to hell for it afterwarde Seeing they are so carelesse of their owne welfare who shoulde take care for them and seeing the fearefull hande of God will not winne them the labour of vs his ministers shall neuer perswade them Out of this vers I might obserue vnto you that the pastours are not to proclaime fastings without singular warrant either from God himselfe or else from them that ought to direct them heerein Againe I might obserue that the people must come at the voice or call of their spirituall fathers and pastours also that publique fasting ought to be done in the publike congregation for that time being But wee will proceede to the next wordes where the prophet telleth them what they shoulde doe nowe when they were assembled togither in the fast that is they must cry on the Lorde meaning they shoulde humble themselues by praier And from hence obserue that fasting is nothing woorth without praier Esay 58. 3. Luke 18. 11. The common people doe imagine that when they cease from eating and punish their bodies with a daies abstinence that they doe vnto God high seruice Indeed it is lawfull for the preseruation of their health so to doe but for a diuine seruice or worke of religion they must not account it But this custome sprang vp from the perswasion of poperie which doe not onely account this kinde of abstinence a meritorious worke but also if men eate not flesh although they abouÌ„d in al other delicates with great store of daintie wines and strong drinke yet doe they obserue a druine fast to the Lorde although they neuer make anie conscience of praier and doe not so much as blesse their meate and drinke they receiue Therefore let all good Christians bee carefull to auoide in their fasts ignorance and superstition and let them either ioine praier with their fasting or else neuer reckon it for a worke of religion The reasons of this doctrine are these First bicause God doth not except vs for meate 1. Cor. 8. 8. that is with the Lorde if wee eate or eate not wee haue neither the more or lesse and therefore bare abstinence is not any part of religion But if the ordinarie taking of our meates and drink must be sanctified by praier which is a meere ciuill thing then much more the not receiuing either of meate and drinke for a religious cause must be consecrated by praier One saide well that those which place any part of God his seruice in their meate they doe verie neere make their bellie their God Yet though meate and drinke doth not make vs either the better or the woorse to God warde yet we must remember that heerby is not giuen vs any liberty to liue in gluttonie or drunkennes no more then to sterue and pine vp our soules voluntarilie but hee meaneth in the moderate vse or neglect heerâ—â—f Another reason is bicause God neuer commanded any such fast nor allowed it as wee may see in all the course of the Scriptures where euermore there was ioyned with fasting publike and most earnest praier and lamentation why then shoulde wee vse that in the Lordes seruice which hee neuer spake of and why should we frame that of our selues which he reprobateth truely euery plant which he hath not planted shall be pulled vp by the rootes and therefore in vaine should we worship him following the traditions of men liue in the obedience of the Gospell for that shall bring vs to life and whatsoeuer we do more we either performe for curiositie to finde fault with that which is done or else for vanitie to search into that which is forbidden From hence let vs learne to lead most christian liues which is to serue the Lord with fastings and praiers after the example of the ancient godly beloued saints of God as Anna Luk. 2. 37. and the Apostle Paul 2. Cor. 11. 27 both men and women haue liued in this kind of abstinence and religious seruice of God But alas we haue among vs thousands which would thinke they receiued great iniurie if they be not accounted as good christians as Paul and Anna which neuer in all their life did so much as fast and pray one whole day togither in their priuate houses I cannot tell what nimblenes and ioyfulnes they finde in themselues to the seruice of God but I am sure that there haue beene and now are others of another iudgement which without this exercise of praier and fasting grow many times heauie and so dull in the practise of their profession that they thinke that the spirit of God is departed from them And when they haue renewed this exercise they finde themselues againe more ripe and sharpe and readie in any kinde of goodnes Alas what practise of repentance is there in them that are strangers in this action it is a simple sorrow for sinne that taketh not away one daies stomacke from meate and causeth not the soule to hunger more after reconciliation then after a worldly recreation Therefore fast often and pray much so shalt thou be like the godly neuer be wearie of this practise except thou be wearie of christianitie and as thy sinnes encrease so let thy mortification bee enlarged that thou maist make more castles in thy soule to defende thee then the diuell doth engines to annoy thee Another vse is that wee absent not our selues from those solemne and appointed kinde of fasts 1. Sam. 7. 6. all Israell came to obserue this before the Lord in Mizpeh and so continued till Samuel sent them home
7. where it is saide that when the worlde shall beholde Christ comming to iudgement all the kindreds of the earth shal waile before him The reasons are First bicause it is the reward of obstinacie Ierem. 15. 8. A guiltie conscience quaketh at the wagging of a leafe and euery little danger doth amaze him Againe it is a most wicked thing to reioice at the hurt of other men either in worde or thought Ezec. 26. 2. Therefore although wee finde ourselues cleere yet wee cannot chuse but sorrowe when it approcheth to other Therfore let vs obserue the times to kensof euill Matt. 24. 33. that wee may alway liue in mourning but especially knowing ourfeare wee may then sorrowe most when danger is neerest that so wee may bee readie to ende our sinnes by repentance and to goe to heauen by affiictions Againe when wee see wicked men taken away and going to destruction let vs feare the searching iustice of God Psalm 52. 6. and say Beholde the man that woulde not beleeue the Gospell nor bee ioyned to our congregation nor forsake his pleasures but persecute good men and flatter euill men and therefore nowe hath hee receiued his recompence Oh let the death of so manie traitours so many theeues and murtherers so many swearers and drunkardes teach vs to feare as a little birde flying from the sparrow-hauke and rather let vs couer our selues in weedes and grasse or in some thinne and open tabernacle then to take the ayre of the sunne or sinne and to abide in the carued and walled cities of the multitude Like the noise of chariots in the tops of the mountaines so shall they leape like the noise of a flame of fire that deuoureth the stubble and as a mighty people prepared to the battle Now he proceedeth to other similitudes wherein I will be short bicause they all touch one thing and the generall is alreadie deliuered In this verse he compareth the voice of their comming to the noise of chariots in the mountaines which keepe a mightie ratling in time of warre for chariots were vsed for great men going to warre as wee may see in the historie of Sisera Ahab and Iehu Againe hee saith They are like the flame that deuoureth the stubble which maketh a kinde of sodaine hollowe and fearefull noise Againe like a people prepared for warre which come with all kinde of warlike instruments and wofull acclamations the which I leaue to euerie mans seuerall consideration whereby they may note howe the Lord can cloth his smallest and basest creatures with infinite power and terror to discomfort euery people in the worlde Oh how much more are the angels of wrath terrible seeing the wormes of the earth are so fearfull wherfore let vs not onely feare the inuasion of Spaniardes or other enimies nor yet serpents lions wolues or wilde dogs but also the seely flies and grashoppers and filthie lice which in time of God his wrath shall haue power to destroy vs Exod. 10. 11. Before his face shall the people tremble all faces shall gather blacknes The meaning ofthese wordes are that in the presence of these beastes shall bee much trembling and feare yea they shall bee verie neere death for blacknes betokeneth death From hence wee may obserue howe God maketh men at their wits ende before destruction Ezech. 26. 16. They goe not to their ruines like sheepe but like swine not like lambes but like lions not peaceablie but furiously The reasons are bicause the feare of the wicked shall come vpon them Prou. 10. 24. Secondly God by this feare and trembling calleth them to repentance Deut. 32. 21. So that if then they coulde bee as angrie with their sinnes as they are with their enimies and fight as christianly with the diuell as they doe manfullie against men although they loose the life of the bodie yet they may keepe the life of the soule Learne therefore to feare God and so thou shalt neuer feare euill Psal 112. 1 6. but thy minde shall bee peaceable in death and not distracted Againe vse thy selfe to mourning before hande Ezechiel 21. 12. that when they come thou maiest more easilie endure them and more happilie auoide them Secondly when he saith all faces shall gather blackenes we may not onely see that the greatest and strongest man in the world can do nothing against the iudgement of God but offer himselfe to death and his heart dieth within him as a stone but we may also see how wicked men in aduersitie become altogither desperate Isa 2. 19. they cry to the hils to saue them to the mountaines to couer them and to the rockes to hide them And this will be then the boldnes and courage of our gallant youthes who in their pride threaten to fight with the diuell and with their oaths will teare the Lord out of heauen who thinke by their worshipfull pedegrees to shame the kirks of Christ and by their golden and silken brauery to dazle the glory of God then then will these things little comfort them But as all the Midianites ran away for the dreame of a barley-cake so shall these runne if they knew whither and take if they knew what and trust if they wist in whom and flie from the great wrath of God if there were any refuge but seeing none they shall fall to the earth as the snow commeth from the cloudes Oh cannot you think of this to put away your sinnes for if you beare them with you they will serue you as Iael serued Sisera and strike into your braines and hart the nailes of deadly poyson there can be no resisting for they haue woon the fort Yet in time craue the helpe of some other to besiege them and to regaine a quiet conscience or else whensoeuer any danger commeth they will do with you as the citizens of Samaria did with Achabs children deliuer you to your enimies and with their owne hands be your butchers and so commend you to the diuels custodie The reasons of this doctrine are these bicause then they haue no hearts to remember what God hath done for them Deut. 7. 18 19. but thinke euermore this is for the sinne this for such an adulterie this is for my pride this for my couetousnes this for my swearing this for my contempt of preaching and all shall be for my damnation Againe then shall they be ouerwhelmed with destruction 1. Sam. 31. 4 5. as Saul was for knowing that his sinne had made God depart from him he slew himselfe in the battle If he had gone to a prophet when hee went to a witch or had beleeued Samuel as wel being aliue as he did the diuel when Samuel was dead his life had then beene spared or if he had put off his sinnes when hee put on his armour to goe to the battle or then fell to prayer when hee fell vpon his sword then had Saul escaped that day But what could the
bodie of Saul doe when his soule was so laden with sin for he knew that the Philistines must needes haue his life and the diuell his soule in like manner will the enimie bewitch you when you are in aduersitie Therefore cast down your castles and defences for sin as the Lord exhorteth Hos 10. 14. before the diuell make them inuincible For as the raigne of Abimelech was the slaughter of Gedeons sonnes and the raigne of Athaliah was the ouerthrow of all the kings seede so is it betwixt vs and our sinnes if they raigne we must die if we put them downe we shall liue Let vs therefore cast them downe betimes for as the Israelites did at the first spare the Canaanites afterwarde they could neuer destroy them so if at the first we dallie with our sinnes in the end they will grow vnresistable Oh that we might liue to say of our sinnes as Christ said of the temple that there might not one sinne be left vpon another Let vs bury our sinnes as Ieremy said Iehoijakim should be buried Ierm 22. 18 19. that their deaths be not lamented but let them be cast out of our soules as a dead asse is cast out of a citie for as a dead corps procureth nothing but wormes and stinke and feedeth fowles so our sinnes cause nothing but woe and sorrow and feed diuels Againe let vs not onely cast away our sinnes in heart as many say they haue done but in words and works professe and shew the same Hos 14. 3. for by our words we shall be saued and by our words we shall be condemned A repentant man is knowne by his confession as Rahabs house was knowne by the thred that was tied in her window which caused her all her kindred to be spared and so if we would be spared at the great day of the Lord let vs confesse our selues to be of his family Many I know there be which thinke it sufficient to leaue sin and neuer to make confession thereof so also there be many that thinke it sufficient to beleeue the Gospell although they neuer professe it but in my opinion the one and the other are both deceiued For wee must not bee of Abrahams heart and of Belials life wee may not beare the soule of Dauid and the shewe of Pharisees Good king Iehoshaphat being in shewe like wicked Ahab was in danger to be slaine for Ahab so are all those in danger of death who haue inwardly good heartes and outwardly euill liues Confesse thy sinnes thy faith thy God thy sinnes to thy brethren thy faith to the church and thy God to the whole worlde that thou maiest bee as farre from note of euill as euer is light from the shewe of darknes The xviij Sermon Vers 7. They shall runne like strong men and goe vp to the wall like men of warre and euery one shall goe forwarde in his way and they shall not staie in their paths NOwe the Prophet commeth to the last similitude wherein he compareth these deuourers to souldiours for in truth there is not any mischiefe like to the mischiefe of warre which is well termed the slaughter house of mankinde and the hell of this worlde And in this treatise following I must enter into martiall affaires that as I haue hitherto taught you to be christians so now I must instruct you to bee soldiours and learne you the arte of warre Wherein this Prophet toucheth two things The first is the order of an armie vers 7. 8. Secondly the ouerthrowe or sacking of the conquered For the first he noteth what manner of men souldiors shoulde be namely Strong men Exod. 17. 10. For God hath so ordeined that all men haue their crosses and callings to humble them If thou be bee wise thou art emploied in gouernment if thou bee strong thou art busied in warre if thou be weake thou art tormented in want if thou be a woman thou art vnder subiection if thou bee a foole thou liuest in contempt Therefore thou which art a souldier make this vse of this point that thou encrease thy strength and cast away feare Deuter. 31. 8 Vndoe not thy strength by quarrelling or drinking or watching or fasting or feasting or whooring but keepe thy body in strength to benefite thy countrey Againe make another vse which the Lorde taught Iosuah the most noble captaine and souldier of the worlde who had the leading of sixe hundred thousand men and ouercame thirtie and one seuerall kinges in a little time this exhortation is set downe Ios 1 8. That alway in warre thou looke to the worde of God whether thy cause bee iust thy heart bee willing and thy calling be lawfull whether thy handes strike when God biddeth and thy foote stande when God calleth Looke to this I saie and robbe not kill not and fight not but against a lawfull enimie But alas Iosuah is dead and al those which sawe his doings now in warres there is gaine in steade of godlines courage in steade of equitie bloudthirstines in steade of valour policie in steade of iustice and you seldome see a souldier of any religion and neuer praieth till he bee in danger of death Another instruction ariseth out of this verse when the prophet saith Like men of warre whereby we obserue that souldiers should bee disciplined and instructed before they be sent into wars or else they cannot be like men of war This benefite Dauid acknowledged that he receiued of God Psal 18. 34. it is a dangerous matter to aduenture a whole army vpon yoong souldiers and more dangerous it is to vndoe any through want of skill The reason is bicause men must not onely haue strength but wisedome and cunning in their weapons and sometime vse the stratagems of warre where policie and experience is woorth tenne thousand mens handes as wee may see in Iosuah cap. 8 4 5 6. and in the Israelites Iudg. 20. Wherfore make this vse in thy warfare of this doctrine howsoeuer thy cause be good thy strength be great and thy experience much yet neuer fight til thou haue cōmended the victorie to God 2. Sam. 10. 12. for God is the warrior which daunteth euery enemy and directeth euerie dart to the person appointed Be not too bold as the Israelites were Deut. 1. and were chased backe againe by the Amorites but vse deuotion to God and discretion in thy busines remember well that the sword cannot cut except the Lord whet it that thy arme cannot strike except God enable it that the enimie will not flie except he discomfort him and that victorie will not follow thee except God be on thy side Againe if thou bee an able man for the warre both in strength and skill come willingly when thou art called and refuse not to fight in a good cause although it bee against thy own brother Yeeld obedience to them that shall teach thee and as the captaine in the Gospell said that his souldiers did
and speake for thy conuersion Seest thou not the danger of life worse then death so long as thou liuest in an vnrepentant state there is but a little aire twixt thee and death there is but a little time twixt thee and hell Repentance is the Lordes gift and he giueth it to them that aske it I dare be bolde to saie that of all suites commenced before God this was neuer denied and if thou haue any minde to bee saued praie that thou maiest be conuerted Art thou dissolute in life and resolute in vanitie yet hearing some sermons of death and fearing some iudgements for thy sinnes wouldest willingly wish that thou couldest doe better and dost thou sometime wring out teares to see the preacher so earnest and yet by no meanes thou canst reforme thy life then commune with thy soule and praie to the Lorde that thou maiest so liue as hee hath taught and so die as thou shalt wish Praie I say not onely in companie but secretlie not for a season but continually not with an indifferent minde but with an earnest affection and then I assure thee drunkennes shall not drowne thee couetousnes shall not preuaile with thee pride shall not deface thee whoredom shall not vndoe thee stealing shall not shame thee the worlde shall not deceiue thee nor the flesh shall euer condemne thee Another vse is this seeing wee must aske repentance of God we must needes know our sinnes before we can repent them Ierem 3. 13. So then if thou wouldest praie most earnestly for thy conuersion and bring all thy euidence into the Lordes sight that hee might pronounce sentence on thy side thou must not come with general words say I am a sinner as other men are I haue liued sinfully as my neighbours haue done and I knowe I haue offended thy maiestie greeuously But thou must knowe thy sinnes thou must account them to knowe the number so neere as thou canst possible thou must weigh them vprightly fee which were directly against God and which were against thy neighbour thou must aggrauate them mightilie and make them as heinous as the greatest thou must condemne thy selfe open thy whole soule and abhor thy owne life Then shalt thou knowe thy sinnes that their number is infinite their rewarde is damnation that their power is execrable that their presence is intollerable Tell them as a couetousmā doth his siluer look on them as the husbandman doth his furrowe consider them as the carrier doth his loade condemne them as the iudge doth the theefe pray against them as a marriner against a storme fight against them as a souldier against an enimie accuse them as a lawyer doth his aduersarie and forsake them as a lambe doth a lyon Then shalt thou knowe that one sinne is woorth a soule that one drop of mercy is worth a world and that true repentance hath winges to beare thee vp to heauen If the preacher tell thee thy sinnes then knowe them if the lawe tell thee them then remember them if thy conscience accuse them then repent them if thy brother rebuke them then euer after loue him if the church reprooue then yeelde vnto it and if thy enimie cast them at thee yet receiue it for this will make thee know them and if thou know them thou wilt pray against them and if thou praie against them thou wilt repent them Turne you vnto me By this sentence wee may obserue that God neuer regardeth any of our sufferings or crosses till wee be repentant Or more plainly be it that our houses are burned our children murthered our inheritances remooued and our owne liues tormented yet all this doth not appease his wrath except wee adde contrition the which thing the prophet insinuateth when hee maketh this conclusion vpon all the former iudgements Therefore nowe saith the Lorde turne vnto me c. As if hee had vsed more wordes saying you O people haue had your land wasted with beastes your liues pined with famine your cattle mourning for foode the heauens obscured with darknes the earth quaking to trouble you and terrible thunders roaring to disquiet you yet for all this is not the Lord contented with you except you be repentant The selfe-same thing may wee see Esay 57 3 4 5. where the Lorde telleth them that it was not their fasting and sorrowes that he regarded but their vnfeined conuersion As a father hauing an euill sonne is not pleased with him bicause hee is whipped openly in the streetes or imprisoned and so arraigned for his follie except he bee repentant euen so is it with the Lorde hee regardeth not the punishment saith Augustine but the person that suffereth It is not our sufferings voluntarie or inuoluntarie our sicknes warre famine pouertie or bloud that can satisfie the Lord or saue our soules insomuch as after thou hast endured harde fits wicked slanders wrongfull oppressions many hungrie daies manie sharpe stripes and many dangers of death yet for all this without the ornaments of a christian thou are neuer the neerer to God Some will saie this is harde meate to be digested that the Lorde is not pleased nor pacified although hee punish vs why are not all these sufferinges the punishments of sinne and when wee are punished heere is not the Lorde too rigorous to punish vs also hereafter I answere wee suffer for our sinnes but not to satisfie for our sinnes for the rewarde of sinne is death euerlasting and all miseries which may bring vs to our ende Therefore excuse not your selues for pouertie or sicknes or famine or labour or slauerie or seruice or anie other crosse for a man may haue all this and yet bee a cast away The first reason heereof is Matth. 24. 8. That all the sufferinges of this life are but the beginning of sorrowes they are not one quarter of that vengeance which the Lord will take for our sinnes except we repent Oh consider the intollerable hande of the Lordes wrath which regardeth not our bloude nor woulde looke on a burnt sacrifice made of a whole nation and yet regardeth the broken harts cast down soules what are the plagues in the worlde to come and the wages of sinne in another life if heere wee may haue a pining sicknes a despised life an easelesse heart and an endlesse feare one man neuer lyeth in bed another neuer eateth bread another neuer liueth merrie day som lie tormented in a burning fire some bed-redden with the gout some tormented with a collicke some scalded to death some cut in peeces inchmeale some are put into furnaces of burning lead and yet all these are but the beginning of sorrowes and without repentance if it were possible for one man to endure all yet afterwarde he might goe to hell fire Another reason is bicause the sufferings of this life are alike common to good and bad vncircumcised and the people of God Ezec. 32. 28. Although God chasten euerie one that hee loueth yet he
charge his communing is for peace and not for wrath and his call is more for thy good then for his bee not discomforted because thou hast a guiltie crying conscience for thou seest that the Lorde is as vnwilling to strike as thou art to beare But thou wilt say that hee hath alreadie witnessed thy destruction yea but I say hee will repent him of the euill seeing thou repentest of thy sinnes his iudgements are conditionall hee which gaue the worde can recall it and who can saie he doth not his word Feare not I say though thou be as neere to death as Isaac was to be sacrificed for the Lorde hath an angell in heauen to saue thy life the godly shall come out of trouble but the wicked shall come in his steade Seeing the Lorde is vnwilling to take vengeance of our sinnes let vs bee as vnwilling to grieue him with our sinnes that so wee may bee the children of the most high For it cannot bee but that hee is mightily grieued when wee fall into newe follies in that hee is enforced to open once againe to vs the woundes of Christ and let more bloude issue foorth out of the side of his mercy Iacob was much offended with his two sonnes Simeon and Leui Gen. 34. when they slewe the Sichemites for saide he you haue made my presence to stinke in the sight of this people much more must the Lorde be offended with vs his sonnes being a more tender father then euer was Iacob when we grieue him with our sins for we bring his glorious name into contempt and religion into hatred Once bee thus affected and assured that thou art the childe of God then take part of the godly nature loue all as hee doth doe good to all as hee doth repent of euill as he doth and be as much afraide to sinne as hee is vnwilling to punish thee He euer thinketh on thee doe thou so on him he euer watcheth for thy sake do thou so for his he euer worketh for thy profite doe thou euer liue for his praise He woulde forgiue thee if thou offend and therefore although thou canst offende yet do not he endureth griefe to saue thy health and do thou endure tentation to saue his truth hee coulde reuenge yet doth not that thou mightest learne not to followe what thy hart suggesteth and thy flesh allureth The xxiij Sermon Vers 14. Who knoweth whether he will returne and repent and leaue a blessing behinde him euen a meate offring and a drinke offering vnto the Lord your God THis vers containeth another reason taken from the works of God to mooue them to repentance which is this that God will spare them and leaue something for his owne seruice although it be but a little For I take not this question for a simple affirmation as in other places but rather if it please him he may leaue an offring and for any thing they knew to the contrarie hee woulde From hence wee learne that God concealeth from vs the issue of our sorrowes and the ende of our liues that we may be kept in a continuall practise of repentance as appeareth by Dauid 2. Sam. 12. 23. Some are desperate in their miseries bicause they know not howe or by what meanes they shall be deliuered from it But good men and good mindes must take another course seeing they cannot know in these thinges the minde of the Lorde nor as Salomon saith who shall bee after them therefore their watch and care ouer their liues must bee more continuall This is a good lesson for vs to marke bicause our case is the verie same with the case of the Iewes wee are threatened as they were and we knowe no more then they did Let vs therefore watch in repentance that if our calamitie encrease we may bee readie for the graue and if it be reuersed we may be readie for praise Art thou desirous to make profite of the thing thou knowest not then be repentant for death and life ioy and sorrowe paine and ease riches and pouertie freedome and danger are both alike to a repentant man The first reason bicause by this meanes we are taught humilitie Rom. 9. 20. bicause wee are not able to reason with God or to plead against him for we are in his hande as clay in the hande of the potter Where are all our gallant youthes and lustie minded persons whose heades are so full of knowledge that they are able to teach the Apostles and no maruaile for it appeereth by their liues bearing themselues like Gods in the worlde But looke on your mindes againe you shall finde them stuffed with vanitie and not filled with knowledge if you knowe one thing you are ignorant of a thousande Therefore let this teach you that your mindes are carnall your liues bee sensuall and your soules endangered except you thinke better of others and baser of your selues Learne humility of thy selfe thy body is earth thy glory is earth thy brauery is earth and no maruaile for gold is but earth Why shouldest thou be lifted so high canst thou number thy sinnes or saue thy life or tell when or what death shall take thee away cast thy minde to the earth for then it will looke vpwarde for as yet it looketh downward and deceiueth it selfe Another reason No man can tell things to come Eccl. 7. 2. no not so much as the worke of an howre hence therefore seeing we are assured of nothing but death let death be our life that is let the death of our sins be the life of our soules But we can neuer slay them but by repentance and therefore euerie hower of our life to come calleth for it at our hands we know not when therefore now is the time we know not how therefore this is the meane we know not where therefore this is the place Youth biddeth vs repent age biddeth vs repent sickenes biddeth vs repent and all that is to come calleth vs to amendment because we know not what is to come From hence let vs learne to be contented with that ordinarie and certaine knowledge which the Lord hath shewed vs in his worde I meane to make vs repentant Paul telleth of himselfe that he regarded to know nothing saue Iesus Christ him crucified 1. Cor. 2. 2. the which hee learned from the Lord himselfe This was certaine that Christ was crucified therefore oughtwe to learne the same This is heauenly this is comfortable and this is glorious heauenly for God did it comfortable for it was for our sinnes and glorious for neither man nor angell could do the like and in this short sentence the Apostle hath lapped vp all religion Wouldest thou knowe how to be saued looke to the death of Christ Wouldest thou know how to liue looke on the crosse of Christ and wouldest thou know what to professe then consider the sorrowes of Christ This is heauenly wisedome not knowen of the angels this is
and yet wee which haue more reason are not mollified by the gifts of God or warned by our workes to him or pierced by his commandements but of this inough else where Because he hath exalted This is the reason why the Lord wil bring so sharpe a punishment vpon them because they haue beene so bold as to afflict his people But some may say vnto me did not the Lord sende these creatures to destroy and if he sent them why doth he punish them and if he sent them not how could they come in such swarmes to whom I answere that the Lord sent them and yet they exalted themselues to do it Whereby we may gather that men shall not alway escape vnpunished although they performe that which God commanded for God willed that Christ should be crucified but yet Iudas was neuerthelesse eternally plagued Act. 1. 18. if one man murther another God will haue it so or else it could not be yet shal the murtherer suffer death iustly God will haue good men in his church to be persecuted imprisoned and martyred by the enimies yet woe be to those men and hands that so handle and mangle their godly members The first reason because in these actions men serue not God but their owne will Act. 13. 27. God decreeth it for one cause but they doe it for another as God would haue Christ deliuered for the sinnes of the world but Iudas betrayed him for thirtie peeces of siluer God would haue Christ dye for redemption but the Iewes would put him to death for malice and thus one and the same thing done for diuers causes doth not excuse their malice as we may note in the storie of Ioseph and his brethren Againe as they do it for their owne pleasure so they attribute it to their owne power Isa 10. 13. so wee shall finde many boasting of their wickednes how they haue played the tall fellowes in wounding and killing and whooring and stealing and endicting and condemning and accusing other men when themselues are as guiltie of hell as the other were of death Oh fearefull spectacle of humane infirmitie that we may do that which God willeth to be done and yet we cannot will as God would haue it done No maruell if our life be so separated from God when our will cannot agree with our hand Seeing we may be transgressors in doing that which God commandeth especially when we haue to doe with the godly let vs follow the counsell of Pilates wife which was this that we haue nothing to doe against iust men for God will surely plague vs in the ende Matth. 27. 19. Speake not against them for it shall be rewarded fight not against them for thou shalt be conquered spoile them not for thou shalt be spoyled and accuse them not for thou shalt be condemned They are the eie of God pricke them not they are the Lordes annointed touch them not they are Christs members hurt them not for surely as Saul by striuing against Dauid did spoyle himselfe and as Pharaoh by tyrannizing ouer the Israelites did vndoe himselfe and all his countrey so shalt thou bring both nations and people thy selfe and all thy posteritie into euerlasting woe if thou oppresse the professors of religion Remember if thou chastise them thou art but the rod of God which when corrections be finished is throwne into the fire and euen as now Pilate wisheth though it be too late that he had obeyed his wifes counsell so shalt thou wish if not too late that thou haddest neuer medled against religion Againe let vs learne to frame our wils to God his will and then shall our handes without trespasse worke that which God commaundeth and therefore doe nothing of malice for that is of the diuel do nothing of enuie for that is of sedition do nothing rashly for that is folly but do all things with loue for there is God If thou canst do anything and not breake the bond of loue to God or to thy neighbour thou sinnest not yea although it seeme neuer so sinfull in the sight of man for loue is the fulfilling of the law so then so long as thou workest in loue so long thou doest not offend God and so long as thou doest not offend God so long thou doest not transgresse the law Feare not ô land but be glad and reioice for the Lord will do mightie things In this and in the verses following the Prophet giueth them verie manie exhortations grounded on the neuer failing promise of God First generally in this verse and then more specially in the verses following In this verse hee biddeth them not to feare some will thinke that this exhortation is needles for if they did not feare they could not beleeue his former threatnings To whome I answere that he meaneth they should not distrust the promises of God notwithstanding all the before named iudgements and therefore presently in this verse he telleth them that the Lord will doe for them mighty things By this then we gather that in all good men the promises of God must bee more powerfull then the feare of euill more plainly thus Art thou feared with sicknesse with pouertie with losse of children and such like dangers then remember the promise of God which saith that all shall worke to thy best and that I will not faile thee nor thy seede and such like and so let these promises more comfort thee then thy terrors doe dismay thee So our Sauiour comforted his disciples and in them all of vs Luc. 12. 32. Feare not little flocke it is your fathers will to giue you a kingdome and Dauid saide well to this purpose Though I walke in the valley of death I will not feare for thy rod and thy staffe they comfort me so let vs say with him though we liue in feare of warre and famine and pestilence and diuell and death and hell yet wee will not feare because God hath said they shall not hurt vs. Iosuah was neuer afraid to fight because God had said that he woulde fight for him so let not vs be afraide to fight with sinne to liue in danger to languish in prison and to pine away in famine seeing wee haue the Lords owne promise that none of these shall destroy vs but amend vs. The first reason because his euerlasting loue is the cause of his promise and therefore it will performe his mercie Ier. 31. 3 and if it be euerlasting then is the force thereof now as well as when it was first made and seeing it neuer was nor euer shal be repealed therfore it shall as well strengthen thy soule as the soule of Noah or Abraham or Moses or Dauid or Ieremie or any other Againe euil things are alway cōditionally threatned meaning if men repent not as we may see in Dauid Ahab Niniueh and many other and therefore repentant men neede not feare any danger for they are alway blessed hauing the angels to
defend them against the force of men Christ to fight for them against the rage of Sathan Let vs therefore learne to giue all diligence that wee may bee sure of the fauour of God Psa 23. 6. And for this cause Peter biddeth vs giue all diligence to make our election sure meaning that this is the greatest worke of the world that men should be certaine of the promises of God When we haue the promises and cannot certainly yeeld vnto them then are we like sicke men which haue good phisicke but cannot be perswaded to take it because they thinke it will doe them no good so wee thinke these promises vncertaine and some they haue holpe but some they failed But we must know that the promises neuer failed if the men were not vnfaithfull for as men will not plant corrupt impes and graftes so God will not make vnstedfast promises but as the ground doth many times alter a good plant that it groweth not so men doe choke the promises that they helpe not Therefore if God bid thee not feare then cast away feare if he bid thee not weepe then cease from teares as when hee biddeth thee not kill thou refrainest from murder The assurance of the Lordes fauour must growe by a continual practise of repentance as the Apostle teacheth when he saith Patience worketh experience Rom. 5. and therefore this benefite wee may reape by our often sorrowes that we may come with confidence to the throne of grace Another vse seeing the promises of God must be so auailable in vs that they must expell all feare of euill then let vs especially bee armed with them against the feare of death that euery one of vs may say with Iob. 13. 15. that although God slay vs yet will we trust in him What doth more trouble all the worlde then doth the departure out of the world for it maketh good men pray with Dauid I will not die but liue and it maketh euill men at their wits end to thinke on the paines of death therefore blessed is the remedie of the sweete promises of God which enable vs against death Daniel being once preserued among the lions aliue would neuer be afraide to be cast among them againe so we which once were not and now are once were dead and now aliue once were vnder the diuell but now vnder Christ let vs not I say feare the gates of death or the sorrowes of the graue To whome doe I speake but to them that shall passe vnder the hande of death therefore learne attentiuely what is deliuered when thou beginnest to drawe towarde the sunne setting of thy life I meane thy death then looke vpon al the promises of God which euer thou heardest at Sermons or didst read in the Scriptures laie them to thy soule bidding it not to feare death for the Lorde hath commanded thee not to feare it But peraduenture it will replie vnto thee say the paine of death is intollerable how can I but feare it then tell it againe that it is not so for death hath lost hir sting as the apostle saith O death where is thy sting what is an adder a viper or a serpent when they haue lost their sting Surely euerie yoong childe may play with them and handle them And as the paines of a trauailing woman do bring foorth a man child so thy paine shall worke pleasure thy life shall bring death thy sorrowes shall gaine ioyes thy friendes shall bee turned into saints thy parents into angels and thy gouernours into God himselfe If thou bee a woman hee will be thy husband if thou bee a man hee will be thy wife and if thou be a seruant hee will bee thy Lorde Oh feare not death but learne the promises of God to comfort thee against it and thinke what shall bee thy blessednesse to forsake the worlde to goe to heauen to forsake thy pouertie to goe to riches to forsake thy sicknes to go to health to forsake thy friendes to goe to God and to forsake a liuing of house and lande for a whole kingdome Oh trust in God in life that thou maiest trust in God in death beleeue in Christ in health that thou maiest beleeue in him in sicknesse praie vnto him in thy ioyes that thou maiest praie vnto him in thy sorrowes And be not afraide while thou art liuing of the power of man that thou maiest not be afraide when thou art dying of the power of death and condemnation For God shall Nowe hee giueth them the reason of this exhortation why they shoulde not feare bicause the Lord would do mightie things for them whereby wee may note that the vnspeakeable power of God shoulde make men to reioice Esay 14. 27. For what can better assure vs of his promises then this that hee is able to performe them and therefore as the godly comfort themselues with this saying The Lorde is king bee the earth neuer so vnpatient so let vs lift vp our selues in comfort in the kingdome glorie maiestie power and mercie of God that hee can doe what hee will and will doe what we praie for The first reason bicause for the godlies sake hee worketh myracles Exod. 15. 12. and therefore wee ought to reioice in his power We may reade Marke 2. that for one myracle all the people gaue praise vnto God Wee haue many myracles and woonders done for vs and who is able to tell what God hath done for his soule therefore yet let thy heart reioice when thy toong is not able to expresse the power of God Another reason bicause nothing can stande against the saluation of his elect Psal 107. 14. For the sea shall be emptied the earth shall be remooued the rockes shall be broken and the heauens shall bow themselues that the power of God may be manifested and his saints be saued Let vs learne by consideration of his power to serue him more earnestly as Dauid doth Psal 118. 27. when he had tolde howe mightilie God destroied his enimies as a fire of thornes then hee presently addeth Binde the sacrifice with coardes vnto the hornes of the altar As God is powerfull to saue so is hee powerfull to destroy and therefore bee afraide least as hee is able to blesse thee if thou doe well so hee curse thee if thou doe euill Pilate woulde haue had Christ haue answered bicause he saide hee had power to loose him or to deliuer him but hee was rebuked for his labour let vs much more answere the Lorde for hee hath absolute power to doe with vs whatsoeuer he will Againe let vs learne by consideration of the power of God to beleeue in him more confidently as Abraham did Rom. 4. 21. although hee sawe no reason howe the promise of God shoulde be fulfilled if Isaac were sacrificed yet this did animate him that God was able to raise him from death to life and so let vs bee obedient to the Lordes commandements when they are
tell them to our parents our wiues our children our seruants our friendes and our neighbours that they may bee signed by the same seale and saued by the same grace Thirdly God will haue none other to bee knowen in Israel but himselfe alone Whereby wee are taught not to stand in doubt whom where whē we ought to beleeue feare loue or worship but onely and perfectly to relie on the Lord. 1. King 18. 21. It is not good to halt betwixt two opinions but either we must bee constant professors or obstinate blasphemers I would they woulde consider this that say they know not whether to be papists or protestants for both liue alike and therefore both shall be saued alike But they must knowe that Cham escaped the flood as well as Sem but yet he escaped not damnation so easily and so wicked professors in this life doe many times as well as good but death and iudgement shall trie the cause The reasons first because the halting part is often turned out of the way Heb. 12 13. and indeede it is fearefull that alway euill doth surpasse goodnesse as weedes ouergrowe corne and sicknesse ouer commeth health Therefore let vs beware least when we doubt what is best we take the worst as Ieroboam did Moreouer while we doubt in religion wee are carried away by the craftie deceit of men Ephes 4. 14. For heretikes and euill men doe alway labour first to drawe vs into wauering and then to bring vs into condemnation Let vs then abide in that which we haue heard 1. Ioh. 2. 24. for that which is first is truth and that which is last is falshood Let vs not haue tickling and itching eares such as many in our daies haue which like not our doctrine our preachers our praiers our gouernment our sacraments our people and our prince and what will they doe shortly but fall in dislike with our God and all manner of religion Let vs also learne to bee constant 2. Tim. 3. 14. that we be not mooued from it but as Ioab would not come out of the temple but would die holding the altar by the hornes so let vs die holding fast by our altar Iesus Christ And that seeing we must die let vs die in his armes for his sake to his glorie and our owne saluation The xxx Sermon Vers. 28. And afterward I will powre out my spirite vpon all flesh and your sonnes and your daughters shall prophesie your olde men shall dreame dreames and your yoong men shall see visions 29 And also vpon your seruants and your maidens in those daies will I powre our my spirite THese two verses containe the second part of the spirituall benefits to be powred on them namely the spirite and the graces thereof for when hee saith that he will powre foorth his spirite he meaneth not to diuide the holy Ghost into parcels but by a vsuall figure of the scripture hee putteth the spirite for the graces because wheresoeuer any one grace is there is the holy Ghost 1. Cor. 12. 6 11. By this we may see that the olde fathers and the prophets had some knowledge of the Trinitie of persons in the Godhead for not onely here but in many other places is mention made of the Spirit and we knowe the name of sonne is and was very familiar in the scriptures Hee saith he will powre out his Spirite by a vsuall metaphor taken from water because the holy Ghost is resembled to water Heb. 10. 22. meaning also that hee woulde giue it abundantly in more plentifull manner then heeretofore so that all this pertaineth properly to the kingdome of Christ as Peter sheweth Act. 2. 17. and not to their returne from Babylon By the cohaerence of this verse with the former where is promised knowledge as is heere the holy Ghost wee may note that after God hath giuen vs knowledge hee also will giue vs the holy Ghost Act. 15. 8. so that there is not any one that can assure himselfe that he knoweth God by the word preached but he may also be assured that he is made the temple and dwelling house of the holy Ghost Ioh. 1. 12. this is the onely rewarde in this world of the obedience to the Gospell that we haue the spirit dwelling in vs and opening vnto vs the things of God If the affaires of Potiphar were blessed because he had Ioseph in his house much more blessed are the workes of a christian because he hath the holy Ghost in his hart Oh learne I beseech you to know the Lord by the scriptures for then shall you haue the Lord dwelling in you for then shall not sinne hurt you nor the diuell annoy you you shall not feare any danger nor any death for the spirit shal still comfort you and carrie your spirits into heauen The reasons First because we should euermore haue him in our soules Ioh. 14. 16. the Lord knoweth that wee haue a great deale of sorrow to suffer in the world and therefore he hath prouided for vs a comforter that may helpe vs to beare it and they which care not for their profession care not for the spirit and they which care not for the spirit care not for the Lord. By which we may see how fearefull a thing it is to forsake the profession of the Gospel for then the Lord forsaketh vs seeing vs giue ouer his spirit also the Spirit of the Lord is fire and if it purge vs not it will burne vs. Another reason bicause it may perswade vs that we are in the truth Ioh. 15. 26. for if our profession were but barely gathered out of the scriptures by men then might it be altered as the ministers thereof haue beene altered but the spirit abideth for euer and doth assure our hearts that this Gospell this faith this hope this obedience and this kingdome is the same that Christ taught the saints beleeued good men receiued the disciples liued and all the faithfull haue obtained So that if thou stand in faith and dost peaceably enioy the profession of religion and knowest by the infallible word of God thou art in the way of saluation then reioyce boldly because the holy Ghost is in thy heart as Simeon did when he had Christ in his armes But yet many haue peace in their harts thorough the diuel which are in errour in Poperie in Mahometisme and Idolatrie being perswaded they are in the truth but this perswasion is but counterfaite like as the miracles of the Magitians in Egypt were but counterfaite to the miracles of Moses and therefore not euerie one that is perswaded he is in the truth is to bee thought to haue the holy Ghost but onely they that are perswaded by the scriptures and relye vpon nothing in the world besides Let vs then trie whether as yet we haue had the holy Ghost giuen vnto vs or not for the Lord teacheth Iohn 16. 8. when the holy Ghost is come he will reprooue the
enioiedst them Therefore beholde iudgement and terrour and thunder and fire and the ouerthrowe of all thinges which one daie shall bee that thou maiest feare thy proude and sinfull nature and so behold mercie the resurrection the life to come the face of God and the fellowship of Angels that thou maiest quietlie repose thy soule in the sweete profession of the Lordes Gospell The reasons of this doctrine are these first because they are base minded if not beastly affected which onely looke to the temporall things that they see and not to the heauenly and eternal things which they see not as the Apostle in the before-named place saith and therefore it is farre more honourable that thou shouldest beleeue the things that are to come when we heare them in the word then the things that are past and present which our eies beholde Againe our Sauiour saith Marc. 9. 23. that all things are possible to him that beleeueth which is verified in nothing more then in this when we giue vp our whole harts to the things that are preached and daily waite when they shall be performed And if all things be possible then is saluation and the ioyes of heauen possible for thee if thou canst beleeue them and so liue as thou maiest obtaine them The vses which wee are to make of this doctrine are these first seeing wee must be instructed by the word of God to behold the things that are to come as if they were present then let vs euermore bee faithfull the which thing the Apostle teacheth vs when hee saith that wee stande by faith Rom. 9. 23. so that as our bodies stand vpon our legs so our soules stand vpon our faith And if this be so how many lame soules are there in the world nay they are not lame that neuer had legs but those that had them yet are they monsters and such monsters are faithlesse and infidel men If thy legs be sicke thou wilt goe to thy surgeon and if thy faith be sicke goe to thy Sauiour what comfort hast thou of the worlde if thou canst not walke in the world and what ioy hath thy soule if it haue no faith to walke in the scriptures Stand by faith and fall not beleeue soundly and strongly bring not a woodden leg I meane a woodden faith such as men can make but a true and substantiall faith which the Lorde onely giueth Let not any thing mooue thee for all things are possible to the beleeuer though the earth remooue bee not thou afraide though the heauens passe yet the world shall not passe beleeue all things say not this will be long or that will be late or the other is doubtfull or God is mercifull his minde may alter or the preachers are but men they may be deceiued or the iudgements be conditionall they may be reuersed or the promises be vncertaine they may be recalled Oh beware of an infidell hart Heb. 3. 12. and depart not from the liuing God Moses because hee did but once distrust God he could not enter into the land of Canaan the gouernour that would not beleeue the prophet was trod to peeces the princes which would not beleeue Ieremie were slaine by the Babylonians and the soules which will not beleeue the preachers shall be ouercome by diuels Oh consider how fearefull a thing it will be for you to say as the Iewes Ezech. 33. v. vlt. surely there was a prophet among vs. Therefore as the husbandman looketh to the haruest in the winter when the corne appeereth not as the seruant thinketh on his wages long before it commeth as the birde thinketh on her yoong ones long before she breedeth and the builder thinketh on his dwelling long before it be finished so doe you thinke on the ioyes and woes which shall bee long before they come And account your selues the happiest men aliue whome God warneth with his owne word that you may auoid the day of destruction for if you liued not vnder the check of the gospell and the controulment of preachers you might goe as other barbarous nations doe blindfolded that is vnwitting and vnknowing to the slaughter of your bodies the butcherie of your soules Surely the Lord doth nothing but he reuealeth the same to his seruants the prophets and therfore blessed are they that liue among them but more blessed are they which heare them beleeue thē loue them receiue them regarde them because God hath sent thē Secondly in this vers we may obserue when he saith In those daies and in that time that God wil haue the redemption and deliuerie of his saints and church to bee most certaine and knowen for vpon this occasion doth the prophet double the note of the time as it were noting both the day and the moneth So as once hee tolde Abraham that his seede shoulde be a stranger in another land fowre hundred and thirtie yeeres and no longer to shewe vnto him that they shoulde bee assuredly deliuered So doth hee heere by this prophet though not so precisely note the assurance of their redemption The reasons of this doctrine are these First because wee are not redeemed with any temporall worldly or earthly price but by and with the most precious blood of Christ Iesus 1. Pet. 1. 18. Againe another reason is because as the Apostle saith 1. Timoth. 2. 6. that this was done in due time The vses which come of this doctrine are these First seeing the Lorde will haue the redemption of his people to bee sealed and certainly knowen then let vs looke for that time and that day when Christ shal finally deliuer vs from the wrath to come 1. Thess 1. 10. What shoulde make good men to feare the latter day their redemption is certaine the Lorde is their Sauiour the Sauiour is their head their head is their brother and vntill Christ come they are subiect to wrath but when he is come they are deliuered from death Againe let vs receiue any pledge or token of the Lordes loue and fauour towarde vs which is shedde in our hearts by the holy Ghost Rom. 5. 5. and seeing this is it that we are certainly redeemed and our soules health is not builded vpon peraduentures but it is surely established then let vs certainly perswade our selues that God loueth vs with an euerlasting loue What will hee keepe from vs that giueth vs his owne sonne and will kill him to acquite vs If this perswade vs not to bee penitent and to loue God againe then is not the loue of God nor the bloude of Christ sprinkled in our hearts Naaman woulde haue giuen to Elisha manie thousande poundes bicause the water of Iorden had clensed his leprosie what woulde he haue giuen if Elisha had cured him by medicine But Christ hath cured our soules and bodies by the riuer of his owne bloud and by the losse of his owne life then are we worthie to giue heart for heart bloud for bloud bodie for
is a greeuous thing to bee made priuie vnto any vnlawfull practises and not to reueale and open the same Secondly our corrupt estate is such that our temptations doe drawe vs from God Iam. 1. 14. The first vse Let vs follow the counsell of the prophet Isa 1. 16. That we take away the euill of our hearts Men thinke it lawfull for them to range in conceit vpon any follie or sinne or lust or treacherie whatsoeuer and to plaie with the diuell in imagination suffering his delusions to tickle their delights and delight their soules with an inwarde desire onelie But in truth this kinde of sport is a most vnlawfull game condemned by the Lordes owne statute when he biddeth vs to take away the euill of our harts Clense your handes yee sinners and purge your hearts you wauering minded the diuell first commeth into your hearts by doubting then by entreatie or begging then by delighting when once hee delighteth hee hath erected his throne in thy soule and if thou labour not to cast him out he wil become vnresistable Dallie not with him as Samson did with Delilah for it will betray thee trust him not as Sisera did Iael for it will destroy thee desire him not as Dauid did Bathsheba for it will repent thee chuse him not as Lot did Sodom for in the ende it will vexe thee Remember that God which seeth thy hart will punish the sinne of the hart for in truth thy heart is the principall in euerie offence and the bodie is but accessorie Thy heart prouoketh thee to sinne as the high priestes prouoked Pilate to crucifie Christ and thy bodie obeieth as Pilate did while in the meane time thy conscience giueth thee warning as Pilats wife did him and therefore haue nothing to do with sin which is poison with the knowledge of it for it will infect thee and purge thy soule from euill thoughts as Ezechiah purged Israell from idolatrie Fourthlie when hee saith that hee will render their recompence vpon their owne head Wee may note that the same measure which we offer vnto others shall be repayed to vs againe Isaie 33. As we smite with the sword so shall wee perish with the sword as we shed the blood of other so shal we haue our owne blood shed againe We know that as Ahab and Iezabell did cause Naboth to come to a violent death and the dogs to licke his blood so the dogs did licke vp their blood againe And this falleth out with the most godly in the world as we may see in Dauid who tooke away the life and wife of Vrijah he lost his owne sonnes and escaped himselfe verie narrowly and in the end you know how his sonne Absolom lay with his wiues before all Israell Therfore harken vnto this my deerely belooued that you neuer offer any other things to other but the same that you would haue offered to you againe Take what libertie thou wilt to offend other to waste their goods to shame their liues to open their sinnes to defile their wiues to oppresse their goods to harden thy heart against the poore and to heape vp iniuries in the highest measure for as Salomon saide He that stoppeth his eare at the crie of other shal cry himselfe and not be heard so shalt thou be offended and wasted and shamed and opened and defiled and oppressed and iniuried and reuenged as thou hast deserued We see the king escaped not this law and therefore thinke not thou whether thou be rich or wise or great or noble or worshipfull or poore or strong or weake or yoong or old or learned or ignoraunt but as thou hast reioyced in others harmes so shall other in thine as thou hast defiled others wiues so shall other thine as thou hast stollen other mens goods so shall they steale thine as thou hast reproched other mens liues so shall thine be as thou hast beene pitiful to others so thou shalt receiue pity for this law shall neuer be broken that whatsoeuer we do to other we shall receiue of other againe The reasons First because this is the whole doctrine of the law and the prophets Matth. 712 for surely there is not any thing that sauoureth more of beastly tyranny or lesse of godly pietie then to do that vnto other which we would not receiue of other therefore in the practise of religion betwixt man man let this serue instead of the golden rule whereby the weake shall be neuer offended or the poore bee euer oppressed or the rich be euer enuied or the godly be euer defamed This will take away all bribing from officers all tyrannie from princes al pride from gentlemē al couetousnes from landlords and all malice from enimies Truely truely there was neuer precept giuen better for the church for the common-wealth or for the world for the church for it teacheth to saue soules for who would loose his owne to the common-wealth for it preserueth life for who would kill himselfe and to the world for it keepeth humanitie for who would become a beast Let vs therefore learne to forget iniuries Leuit. 19. 18. for their remembrance prouoke vs to reuenge and all reuenge is damnable before God Oh whose soule is not set on fire to embrace this doctrine which I might follow with all the examples of the world For who can abide to haue his owne blood shed his owne body maymed his owne children murthered and his owne soule damned therefore do not so to other but write this law on the palme of thy hands that it may neuer be out of thy sight It will teach thee all religion it wil saue thee from the strife of toongs the shame of fooles the blame of good men the furie of diuels and the wrath of God for if thou canst beare the iniuries of thy brother and not reuenge them thou wilt also beare the afflictions which God sendeth and the sorrow which good men endure and not repine at it but as Ioseph hauing all his brethren that sold him yet did not hurt one of them so doe thou not hurt any of them that hate thee The xxxviij Sermon Vers 8. And I will sell your sonnes and your daughters into the hand of the children of Iudah and they shall sell them to the Sabeans to a people farre off for the Lord hath spokenat HAuing shewed them that he would doe vnto them as they had done vnto him and his people that is hee would take their sonnes and daughters and giue them into the hands of the children of Iudah whom they had spoiled and the children of Iudah should sell them away to the Sabeans who dwelt in the vtmost partes of Arabia being great merchants which should likewise sende them away into a very farre countrey that so their owne policie might returne to their owne dammage Wherby here commeth a question to be handled namely whether it be lawfull for Christians hauing conquered any nation their enimies to sell
couered with darknesse so now when the enemies shall bee brought to iudgement the like terrors and feare and darknesse and wonders shall be wrought to their astonishment so that the prophet to the ende of this chapter handeleth these two things first the fearefull tokens of the enemies destruction in these verses and secondly he concludeth with sweete comforts to the godly Concerning the darkening of the sunne and moone and starres wee haue already spoken in the former chapter where we told you first that the darkening of these lights did teach vs that no creatures are able to keepe their places when the Lord is angrie Isa 13. 9 10. because they themselues haue a naturall feare of corruption Iob. 15. 15. Secondly wee shewed you how they waite vpon God to shine when he smileth and to frowne when he chideth teaching vs to doe the like Againe by vttering of his voice we shewed you that he meant thunder and therefore when he saith that he will vtter his voice out of Zion and roare out of Ierusalem at the ouerthrowe of his enemies he thereby teacheth vs that all that liue in the church of GOD must make account to heare and see many fearefull signes and wonders Psal 48. 5 6 7. for in the church God manifesteth his wrath against others and against it he sheweth that he is terrible and will be feared therefore we heare the thunders when other feele the blowes wee see the miracles when other smart for their operation wee are taught by others harmes and wee are terrified by other mens destructions Therefore none can liue in the church proudly but the heauens will dismay him or prophanely but signes and wonders will admonish him or wickedly but the word of God will reprooue him or ignorantly but the shaking and quaking and troubling and darkening of the world instruct him Therefore the church is well called the kingdome of feare for there is feare of God and feare of trouble and feare of damnation feare of God wrought by worde and woonders feare of trouble least violence should ouerthrowe all religion and feare of damnation least the diuels kingdome should be enlarged and surely we were better feare in this place then bee secure in another as the godly Iewes which had rather fight vpon the wals of Ierusalem then suffer all quietnesse in Babylon But I haue followed all this more effectually in another place But the Lord will be the hope When hee had tolde them that hee would roare out these destructions in Ierusalem least they should feare that a new calamitie was comming vpon them He telleth them that he will bee their hope that is they shall hope in him and he will be their strength to deliuer them from al his wrath and vengeance Whereby wee may see that by the fearefull signes and woonders which he worketh in his church he teacheth vs to hope in him more assuredly Ierem. 30. 5. 11. So that nowe I might thus reason with al my brethren We haue had many fearfull and extraordinarie thunders manie terrible flashes of lightening which haue killed men and burned houses manie woonderfull apparitions in the ayre as fire and bloode and light and darkenesse and the visions of armed men many comets or blazing starres beside many other yet hath the Church stoode the Gospell beene preached our lande quieted our prince preserued yea God is still our God and wee are still his people Therefore let vs hope in him more assuredly Paul hauing beene once stoned raised vp againe feared the violence of that death neuer afterwarde and so seeing we haue often suffered these things and neuer yet perished in them let God be our hope for euermore Consider howe he saued some in the fire some in the dens of lions some in shipwracke on the sea and some being taken vp aboue the cloudes yet returned without all hurt Euen so will he doe vnto vs no quaking of the earth or breaking of the cloudes or darkning of the day or changing of the ayre shall change our mindes from trusting in our God When Sinai shooke and burned like a worlde on fire not one of the people were hurt by it but they were prepared to a more reuerend receiuing of the law and so let these wonders and fires prepare vs to the like that our proude natures may bee humbled by them our secure liues may bee wakened our little feare of sinne may be encreased and our daily expectation of iudgement may be renued that when the Lord shall come he may finde vs preaching or praying or mourning or fasting or watching or hearing or reading or repenting and readie for his kingdome Oh blessed are they that are in such a case and blessed are they whose hope is in the Lorde The first reason bicause all the endes of the worlde may see the saluation of our God Esay 52. 10. For the godly which are scattered heere and there thorough all the worlde will spread abroad the same that euerie one might learne it Another reason because in the middest of all terrors yet is God in the church Psal 50. 2. and his beautie is then greatest when he shineth in darknes and dwelleth in fire and ruleth in woonders is feared in his signes Let vs learne by these thinges to encrease our faith and confidence in the Lorde that we may saie with Dauid Though the earth bee remooued yet we will not feare There is a base kind of trust or confidence which men retaine and content themselues withall when as they growe not forwarde into a most Christian resolution not caring for riches which are but vanitie or for health which is but weakenesse or for life which is but temporall or for death which shall bring immortality This confidence maketh a man like to Christ who cared not for the crosse bicause God was his father and in like sort shall not we care for the miseries of the worlde if as we say we care not for the world Let vs not care for that which wee cannot keepe I meane our life much lesse let vs sinne to keepe it by vnlawful means for then we do but hire a lion to watch our lambes which in the ende will destroy them all Wee can saie in our health that wee can comfort the sicke but being in sicknesse wee can receiue none our selues so there be many that make great shewe of faith and confidence in these times of health and peace and quietnesse as if they were readie to die for God but alas if the Lorde frowne vpon them but a little their faith fadeth like mowen grasse and they are at their wits ende Therefore come into the closet and storehouse of thy soule and see that thy faith be as good as thy face and that it will as well abide the burning furnace as the warme sunne and trie whether it will abide the torments of death and not be killed thy faith if it be true must be as immortall as thy
TIMES LAMENTATION or An exposition on the prophet IOEL in sundry Sermons or Meditations Ierem. 13. 17. But if you will not heare this my soule shall weepe in secret for your pride and my eies shall weepe and drop downe teares bicause the Lords flocke is carried away captiue Bernard sentent The whole race of mankinde may lament these three things their birth full of vncleannesse their life pressed with wickednesse and their death in woefull danger AT LONDON Printed by Edm. Bollifant for George Potter 1599 TO THE RIGHT Honorable Sir Charles Blunt Lord Mountioy Knight of the most noble order of the Garter c. all earthly and heauenly felicitie RIght Honorable Lord Time is the measure of all things and therefore to shewe the misertes thereof is the fittest noueltie for our daies To consider the ancient or first time of the world which God created and approoued to be good Gen. 1. 4 5. where of one speaketh thus Flumina iam lactis iam flumina nectaris ibant Flauaque de viridi stillabant illice mella And this was called the golden age of the world wherein were riuers of milke and nectar and the rocks dropped downe honie where in was no destroying sword or pining sicknesse or burning hatred or wearisome labour to molest or disquiet the life of man would make vs either to woonder like fooles or to weepe like wise men But time is changed it was golden it was good it is wooden it is euill short was that time for it continued not many or as some thinke not any daies for sinne followed the creation therefore time may well clad her selfe in mourning weede and say with Iacob Few and euill are her daies Zimri was a king yet it lasted but seuen daies and then he burned himselfe aliue so time was glorious but seuen daies and then he burned himselfe aliue so time was glorious but seuen daies and then it fell into flames of woe that euery childe of time may weepe with Ierusalem Lament 4. 16. and say The crowne of our head is fallen woe now vnto vs that we haue sinned If I may be so bold with your Lordship to stand a little on the miseries of the world and to picke out here and there a consideration or an example from ancient historie whereunto your Lordship as vnto all other good learning haue deuoted your selfe I knowe that you will easily say with that princely-wisest Salomon that all is but vanitie and vexation of spirite and much commend the sorrowes and teares of Heraclitus who neuer laughed and of Serapion who euer weeped the one for the world the other for his sinnes If now your Honour aske me of the state of the world or the whole life of man liuing in the world what opinion I euer hold concerning the same I must answer you that it is the house of mourning and not one commeth thither but in all the partes of his life and profession he may truly say Quisquis non causas mille doloris habet that he was borne in sorrow and liueth in sorrow and dieth in greefe and is buried in lamentation though afterward he liue in glorie for ante mortem nemo beatus The world consisteth of two sorts of men of good men and euill good men doe euer sorrow for the worlde is their hell and euill men shoulde euer sorrow because God is their enimie the one for the affliction which they feele the other for the iudgement which they feare yea verily weeping seemeth so naturall in our sinfull state that ioy constraineth men to weepe For so we reade of Ioseph when he saw his brethren and met with his father and of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus when the Seuentie interpreters had finished the Bible and deliuered it to him he wept for ioy abundantly If we turne our eies to pitie the estate of the distressed although our selues haue not tasted of aduersitie yet this pitie if it be true pitie will enforce vs to greefe When Xerxes had his infinite huge armie in the fielde before him and tooke a view thereof he could not refraine from weeping to see the miserie of mankinde When Scipio had set Carthage on fire and sawe the flames there of soaring vp to the cloudes although he was their enemie yet the teares trickled downe his cheekes to beholde their ruine When Titus besieged Ierusalem and sawe euery day the infinite number of dead bodies throwne ouer the wals into the ditches which famished in the citie whereby he knewe their surpassing calamitie whereof himselfe was the cause yet in compassion of their estate he could not behold them but with waterie eies To goe yet farther in the affections if men be angrie they will easily mourne as Christ did ouer Ierusalem and thus you may beholde how ioy and loue and hatred and pitie and anger and desire doe call men to mourning Mourning and lamentation are so needefull that God hath made euery creature fit for the same The heauens haue their cloudes the earth hath his riuers and fountaines the beastes haue their roarings and howlings and the hard marble stones send foorth their fountaine teares Againe if we looke into the causes as we haue looked into the affections we shall perceiue that the same causes haue caused much mourning which pretended much reioycing Some will thinke that men hauing fine wits and hauing attained great knowledge being good Polititians the world will neuer frowne on them time shal neuer lament them but you know it is far otherwise for one saith too truly that the best clerks haue the worst fortunes For Socrates died in prison another by swallowing of a raw fish Aeschilus was brained with a tile Sophocles perished with a bunch of grapes the dogs tore Euripides in peeces Homer was famished Aristotle drowned and Glaucus an excellent Phisitian was put to death by Alexander and as Plutarch saith was crucified would not this make a man to mourne to see such rare wits haue such hard haps and may not Time well lament her vnwoorthinesse because she may not nurse such children Surely the Prophets haue for the most part tasted of this cup and violence hath brought them to their latter ende But peraduenture although the world doe frowne vpon schollers yet it laugheth vpon other for kings and souldiers liue in the world without all want But they are much deceiued Saul was a king yet he slew himselfe Caesar was a king but he was slaine in the Senate Valens was an Emperour yet flying to a shepherds cottage was burned therin Vigellius lost his eies Claudius Herminianus was eaten with woormes as Herod was Seuerus for very griefe did poyson himselfe as Annibal did and one said well if the people knew but the least part of a Princes cares they would thinke the cloth of state woorse then a russet coate And for soldiers or men most excellent in armes they are destinated to labour while they conquer and get fame and
preachers tell vs goe forwarde I beseech you in all other sinnes and you shall finde but a verie small number that say I beleeued and therefore I heard The medicine to purge out all these corruptions is a true faith the which if either you leaue at home or lose it by the way the labour is all lost that you take therein Oh how lamentable and damnable a sinne is infidelitie when the iudgements of God are not beleeued and the mercies of God are abused But this greeueth all godly hearts to the quicke that euen in our daies and times there should be such that as a godly father saith are armed with the name of good christians yet fight against the faith of true beleeuers Looke vpon it in time least as death followeth sicknes through want of phisicke so the death of your soules follow their sickenes through want of faith Beleeue saith Christ and al things are possible the dead haue beene raised by faith the sicke haue beene releeued by faith the mountaines may be remooued by faith and the diuell himselfe is droue away by faith therefore bring faith with you vnto the hearing of the sermons the scriptures are the Lords wordes and they are set to sale by the preaching of the ministers themselues beeing his factors faith must buye them as money doth or bee exchanged for them as one thing is for another for there is no crediting vpon wordes no obligations vpon dayes that can get them from vs but present payment of a liuely faith Therefore if any will knowe howe to heare the Gospell with profit and to enioy it with comfort let him bring faith with him that the worde deliuered may bee sealed for truth and sinnes beeing reprooued may bee receiued for truth and suffer no starting holes of infidelitie to carrie our soules from the rocke of God his truth into the sea of heathenish securitie or endlesse aduersitie O yee elders That is you gouernours of the people whom the Lord hath honoured with long life and the world with great authoritie And from hence we note this doctrine that the most honourable must most of all giue eare to the worde of God whether that honour bee in the Church as the ministers or in the common wealth as the magistrates or in the familie as the father thereof or in the warres as the generall thereof all these beeing exalted aboue other haue also a charge aboue other that euerie one walke worthie of his profession which is onely by studying and hearing the word of the Lord. The Lord so commandeth Deut. 17. 19. That the king himselfe shall cause to be wrote a booke for him of the lawe that he keepe it with him and read therein all the daies of his life Those which haue the greatest charge must vse the greatest labour to discharge their places as none could be iudges in Israell till the Lord had giuen them of the spirit of Moses so none can sincerely execute their duetie that the world may be satisfied the Lord may be glorified and their owne soules comforted vnlesse they receiue of the spirit of God and by the ministerie of the word is the spirit deliuered Gal. 3. 2. Hearken therefore you rulers of the Lordes people that which excelleth all glorie being richer then all wealth and wiser then all learning euen the spirit of God may be receiued when the word of God is deliuered Oh how are they deceiued that thinke the ministerie a base profession not meete for any but for the poore to liue by for the lame disfigured for yonger brothers for bankerupt for seruingmen for blunt-headed-schollers and such as can be good in nothing How are they also deceiued that thinke it not an exercise fit for noble men and persons of estate knights and gentlemen and such great ones which haue the world at their wils and the countrey at their pleasures shall these say they make themselues drudges to the Gospell schollers to the preachers and goe on pilgrimage to a publike sermon Yea all these must resigne their crownes of maiestie their gownes of nobility their swords of chiualrie and their estimation of gentrie vnto the voice of the blessed spirit of God speaking in the scriptures and preaching in his ministers And if these must bend their knees we must bow our bodies to the earth and put our necke vnder the yoke of Christ Iesus that he may lift vp our head liues to the participation of glorie The Lord that bindeth kings in chaines and nobles in fetters of Iron and maketh the mountaines to cleaue in sunder at his roaring willeth and commandeth vs from heauen to heare his son and it shal so come to passe that the soule shal be cut off from the Lords people that hath not kissed the prince of glorie and commeth not to offer obedience and seruice to his royall Lord who is able to cast him body and soule into fire euerlasting Let vs therefore study to enter into the courts where the Gospell of Christ soundeth and reigneth least we fall away from grace and glorie after the euill example of those long agoe condemned infidels and reprobated apostataes which gaue their eares to falshood their toongs to blasphemie their liues to vanitie their bodies to luxurie and their soules to euerlasting miserie Let not the graye haires of old men the great wealth of rich men the worship of Magistrates nor the honour of gouernement draw away our hearts from the hearing of this message which being hid from vs maketh vs cursed castawaies but being declared vnto vs regenerateth vs to the hope of eternall happines The reasons of this doctrine are also easily gathered out of the word of God First the same which Samuel vseth in his first booke cap. 12. ver 14. at the annointing or crowning of their new king Saule to perswade them and their king to the diligent hearing of the word and reuerent feare of God he vseth this as a reason That then they shall be the people of the Lord God As if Samuel had said vnto them you know that this is the glorie of our nation that we alone are the selected band and chosen soldiers to fight the Lords battles and this is an honour against all the world beside that they seruing Idoles and worshipping diuels we serue the Lord of hostes if therefore you will indeed be the Lords people you must in truth heare the Lords word what could be said more forcibly to mooue a rebellious nation to a quiet submission And this being the badge and liuerie of the Church of God we may be bold to say openly and defend confidently that they which heare not the Gospell as now it is preached in our English nation are none of the true followers of his heauenly maiestie Euen all whether they be the archenimies of Christ the Papists or the new sectary of Recusants the Brownists or the vaine religion bablers the Newters or the priuy haters of the
miserable aduersitie Another reason of this doctrine is that which Dauid giueth Psal 17. 14. They haue no portion but in this life they can haue no comfort of the graces of the Lords children so that when they are perplexed and weaned from these things they are more vexed then other men This is the iust iudgement of God that where men haue most of al set their hart there aboue others they should receiue their hurt Now my deere brethren take vp a taste of this foode which I haue prepared for your soules and lust not after the wilde Doe when the tame kid may serue your turne Vse I beseech you these plaine and easie doctrines to shew vs the miserie of our times wherein we liue and of their liues among whome we liue We are altogether set on eating and drinking as if our soules delighted in wine or should be saued by meate wee regarde not the want which the poore endure wee thinke not on the hand which is ready to strike vs and we feare not the calamitie which doth alreadie compasse vs. Make not your belly your God and take not your portion in this life onely knowe you that a good Christian cannot come to heauen but by often fasting and continuall watchfulnesse and see you not how little this was practised till the dearth came and put vs in minde hereof now then let vs redeeme the time that we haue euill spent and spare that meate for the poore which we may saue for our selues We haue long liued by bread but now let vs liue by the word of God let vs I beseech you cast off our carnall desires and take no rest in our owne houses with Vrijah till the Lords people be in quietnesse let this preuaile with vs that looke how much comfort we take in abusing these so much discomfort shall we finde by forsaking them The vses which offer themselues out of this doctrine are these first that the confidence which the wicked raise vp to themselues in the things of this life shall bee their vtter ouerthrowe Isai 20 5 6. that whereas Egypt and Ethiopia were the comfort of Israell contrarie to the expresse commandement of God the Lorde threateneth to captiuate these nations and to destroy the people in their owne expectation that both the comfort and comforters should be at once confounded Euen so doth he in like manner in these daies where men leane more on the weake staffe of meate and drinke then on the strong rocke of God his word he breaketh the staffe in peeces and maketh the flitters to pearse through our owne harts This is the rewarde of belly-gods that their ioyes are remooued their hope is decayed their consolation confoundeth them and the want of those things wherein they most delighted shal procure them most easelesse paine because they most corrupted them The rich glutton which exceeded in delicious fare and in all abundance of wines and pleasant drinks was tormented without all pitie for want of water The prodigall sonne who lauished out riotously his fathers legacy like our English spend-thriftes at tables at drinking at whooring at gaming in brauerie of apparell horses houndes and delicates was constrained for his office to be a swineheard for his meate to want that which his beastes were fed with for his brauerie to bee basely and beggarly araied and his whole felicitie was turned into most lamentable yet due deserued miserie Harken therefore vnto me my brethren and heare me when I tell you the issues of your pleasures If you be aged thinke what were your sorrowe that if those riches which in youth you laboured for with your hands to comfort you withall when you should be olde should be suddenly taken from you then may you say my yoonger yeeres I consumed in vanitie and elder daies must perish in pouertie If you be yoong men consider with your owne harts that if the libertie you tooke should be abridged the pastimes you plaied should cause you so many stripes and your youthfull daies shoulde bee turned into languishing infirmities would not this amaze you to feele it and discomfort you to consider it Yes yes my beloued when your riches are the coles your desires are the fire your pleasures are the bellowes and your owne liues are the irons to be burned in this miserable miserie I delighted shall one say in hunting and nowe the beasts deuoure me I delighted in dauncing but now my woonted mirth is turned into hellish yelling I delighted in drinking but my cuppes are emptie and the naturall heate of my stomacke deuoureth my body like a fire I delighted in stealing but now doth the world rob me of my life the diuel of my soule I delighted in whooring but alas my diseases are become loathsome to God and man I delighted in slandering and hurting other but my lyes are recompensed with my owne life I was a swearer but the Lords wounds which I blasphemed haue witnessed my death I was a coniurer the diuell hath me I desired large fields but now haue I lost mine owne And thus shall all sinners come to their endes as Esau which louing hunting by his loue lost his blessing Another vse arising from the same doctrine shall be this that seeing we which be most abusers of the Lords benefits shall by their want be most of all punished let vs before this time of aduersitie come humble our soules and amende our sinnes as the prophet calleth vpon Babylon many yeeres before shee was destroyed Isa 47. 1. 23. Come downe and sit in the dust O virgin daughter Babell sit on the ground for there is no throne O daughter of the Chaldeans for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate So my beloued come you downe now while you heare me calling vnto you and while this wrath is but comming vpon you you haue euery one aduanced a throne for your sinnes to sit on but pull it downe or else it shall defile your soules Yet there is time turne you from your euils you drunkards to sobernes you wantons to modestie you swearers to pitie you idle ones to diligence you rich men to humility you gentlemen to religion you women to righteousnes you yoong men to learning you old men to praying and you poore men to patience turne turne I say before this aduersitie that either your chaunge may change the Lords meaning or vse may ease the rigour of your punishment Come downe I beseech you take vp your crosse and follow Iesus Christ let temperance rule you let religion perswade you let your Sauiour win you let his ministers warne you let the earth speake vnto you and be yee all conuerted or else continue in your delights and cease not to offend God which hateth your liues or the church which wisheth your wealth or the poor which pray for your peace or the earth which threatneth want or the diuell that gapeth for your soules Howle allye drinkers of wine Now the prophet telleth
shall be of the church triumphant Oh how can they looke euer to come into the heauens which in this life neuer come into the temples nor outwardly obey the Gospell Therefore if euer you will come into ioy and enter into euerlasting pleasures ascend vp to the house of God there dwelleth the Lord you may see him there soundeth his word you may heare it there is giuen the spirit you may receiue it there are gathered the godly you may be with them and there beginneth saluation you may obtaine it If you be high stoope downe to it if you be base arise vp to it if you be rich ride to it if you be strong walke to it if you be lame be carried to it if you be blinde be leade to it if you be sicke long to be in it and if you be old euen there desire to die Runne I beseech you with speed goe with ioy labour with pleasure and desire with zeale to be ioyned to your Sauiour They which forsake it God will forsake them they which despise it God will despise them they which embrace it God will receiue them Let not any thing I beseech you keepe you from the churches seeing you would haue nothing keepe you from heauen Liue with the church pray with the church suffer with the church and die with the church As all the angels appeare before God in heauen so must all the saints appeare before him in earth they which are missed are excluded they which are present shall be blessed Another vse which we must make of this doctrine may be this that it shall be good for vs not only to visite the church but to continue in the assemblies with all diligence Euerlasting is the commendation of Anna Luk. 2. 37. which continued in the temple seruing God day and night and so wee read Act. 20. 7. that the church continued hearing of Paul till midnight It is a thing most strange to see men not onely negligent to come to the church but also being present they are impudent to depart out of the church and who are these but those which come seldome there for by reason therof they haue least taste of spirituall hunger and so are soone wearie of spirituall foode Abide therefore in the congregation for there is alway something behinde woorth the learning when all is done yet tarrie for the blessing as the people did for Zacharie Luk. 1. 21. Come I say with a continued diligence and omit not one time especially vnto that church whereof thou art a member whensoeuer praier or preaching calleth for thee Be assured of this the oftner thou commest the more thou delightest and the more thou art absent the lesse shall be thy comfort If thou wouldest say with Dauid O Lord how sweete is thy word vnto my mouth thou must also first sing with him all the day long is my study therein If woe belong to the Pastor that preacheth not the word then also damnation belongeth to the people that heare not the worde By vse thou shalt thinke a day too little for a sermon and a yeere too little for a praier By continuance thy hard heart will be softened and thy wicked life conuerted A woman married to a stranger by familiar and daily conuersation groweth into great loue where was great dislike so shall thy soule being married to our assemblies which it abhorreth in time to come delight in them most cheerefully which it loathed most wickedly The priests the Lords ministers mourne The better to perswade the people to lamentation hee bringeth in the ministers to moane them shewing that their pastors and spirituall fathers were alreadie in teares for this calamity and therfore also they must follow them By this we may note that the ministers are alwaies the first that come into danger If there be afflictions they are first apprehended if there be famines they are first oppressed and if there be warres they are most spitefully handeled There were seuen thousand good men in Israel but the prophets they were slaine and Eliah being left aboue all other was most of all endangered 1. King 19. 10. 11. There were many faithfull soules in Iewrie at Christs passion but him alone and his Apostles did the Iewes persecute crucifie So that hereby we may appeare to be of all men most miserable The world doth much enuie our honor our liuing and our estimation and our names insomuch as there is not any which hath not beene either enriched by our demesnes or conuerted by our sermons but they holde vs in exceeding hatred Well in this wee will saie with Ieremie This is our portion and we will beare it By this then let them knowe which are entred into our calling or purpose to put on a preachers gowne that his life must be full of danger his danger full of crueltie and he alwaies the foremost in any trouble I will saide the Lord make you to be hated of all men for my names sake Wouldest thou bee a minister of the Gospell thou desirest a woorthie worke Knowe then if thou liue in peace thou shalt bee enuied if in warre thou shalt be derided if thou be rich the world will murmure at thee but if thou bee poore then it will tread vpon thee Thinkest thou to liue easilie thou deceiuest thy selfe thinkest thou to liue in mens fauour thou deceiuest thy soule hopest thou for maintenance beware of flatterie lookest thou for friendship thou shalt receiue enimitie Thou must bee a seruant to seruantes thou must bee a slaue to base mindes and an open marke for wicked toongs Thy owne shall be withholden thy doctrine vpbraided and thy life liue thou neuer so warilie shal be endited Wilt thou please men thou shalt displease God wilt thou please God thou must displease men if thou speake thou shalt bee controuled if thou bee silent thou must be reproched if the worlde laugh on thee the Lord will laugh at thee if it frowne then thou art first in danger The reasons why this should be so are these first bicause in them the Lorde doth punish the whole people Zech. 13. 7. I will strike the shepherd and the sheepe shall be scattered If the pastors be good they are troubled for their people if they bee euill they are troubled for themselues A good man was woont to say that of all creatures a good minister was the best and a bad minister the woorst Therefore they are sometime troubled for the peoples cause yea sometime by the people as Christ died for the people and yet was put to death by the people And the cause is good for if the pastor let any people perish their soules must bee required at his hande so if a good pastor be molested of a bad people not his worde but his bloude shall be reuenged on them So then we are not alway sued for our own debts imprisoned for our owne obligations but being pledges hostages or rather sureties
not the angels 2. Pet. 2. 4. and therefore he will not spare the lesser creatures for the angels are the most glorious creatures of the world who sinning against God in the beginning were cast downe from heauen into eternall torments Oh this should much terrifie vs which are lower then the angels viler then the creatures and more woorthie of death then all the works of God are of corruption that al the world for our sinne and sake should be euery day in danger of destruction And seeing the angels being in heauen found no place of mercie but present banishment and euerlasting fire how should we come into heauen with our sinnes or thinke to escape on the earth seeing the Lorde is as powerfull and wrathfull beneath among men as he is aboue among angels The vses which arise from this doctrine are these first as we might hereby gather an excellent argument to enforce the irefull wrath of God so may we also learne by this how miserable is the estate of worldy men which trust in the things of this life which shall be all destroied Deut. 28. 52 63. What do men that satisfie their lustes that gather their wealth that enlarge their dominions and other worldly things as building of faire houses leauing monuments of their names to posteritie but heape vp a great deale of dry wood for the wrath of God to consume them Take them from their desire you take them from their god pul them from their profits and you pull them from heauen but the wealth which they haue gained shoulde serue their turnes and their posterities in this life and afterward bee consumed This were but a tolerable estate and to be endured but alas the rust of that which they hoorded the crie of that they misgayned the riot of that which they haue wickedly consumed shall torment their liues in another worlde Why doest thou worship thy goods in louing them more then God bicause thou thinkest on thē more then on him and why dost thou trauaile for this worlde and the thinges thereof with so insatiable and greedy desire for if thou gaine them thou gainest more burthens to thy life and more woe to thy soule if thou haue them thou canst not long keepe them for death will part them and thee in sunder or vengeance will take them out of thy handes Oh tell me I beseech you which care for your parts and portions in this life what benefite haue you by louing them nothing but feare to loose them what profite commeth by enioying them nothing but labour to keep thē what hurt is there by wanting them nothing but a poore life and a peaceable death the loue of these is the losse of heauen and the lacke of these is the loue of God Another vse which euerie one euen the wicked must make heereof is the same which the Lorde exhorteth the Edomites vnto Esay 21. 14. Seeing their vines and fruits and corne and all other things shall come to an ende and be taken awaie with the wrath of God therefore let euery one that hath them giue them to the thirstie for drinke to the hungrie for meate to the naked for cloth and to the poore for maintenance Oh consider what is our dutie while as yet there is a little corne and comfort to our lande and deale with it as one woulde deale with his owne body for anone it shall be taken by violence therefore nowe bestowe for deuotion if wee tarrie but a little vengeance will take them and vs therefore let charitie dispende them what what are they but earth if we deliuer not them to earth shall they come againe Now they haue force to succour our liues and if we spende them not well anone they will haue powre to subuert and condemne our soules Howe is ioy withered from the sonnes of men Nowe hee complaineth what this want hath wrought when he saith that ioy is withered away as mowen grasse doth from his greenenesse so this from the sonnes of men that is the people of the lande For we cannot bee ignorant that of all times of the yeere there was most sweete singing and pleasant sporting at the time of haruest as we reade Esay 9. 5. bicause that then were the fruits reaped and comfort receiued of men but when these were destroyed their vines had no grapes their trees had no apples and their fieldes had no corne then I say was their mirth laide aside into most solitarie and sorrowfull mourning By these words note that the want of worldly comfort and the feeling of worldly and carnall sorrowe is a great and fearefull iudgement of God Deut. 28. 63. If men see no ioy in their children or comfort in their possessions or profite by their labour but in all these they are made more heauie and solitarie and the Lorde taketh from them a cheerefull countenance nay if the fruites of the earth bee destroied as heere they were so that there be none euen then I say although there be none occasion of ioy but all of sorrowe to be tormented with griefe bicause we haue not to supplie our liues is fearefull in the sight of God We cannot I grant but sorrow when we haue none occasion ofioy but yet we ought to make our griefe a godly sorrowe and the feare of famine to be the feare of condemnation for this shoulde we weepe that howsoeuer these thinges goe with vs in this life the other may be certaine in the life to come The reasons of this doctrine are these First bicause it causeth death 2. Cor. 7. 7. 10. Worldly sorrow causeth death for as the fire wasteth the woode and the sunne consumeth the frost so doth carnall care eate vp the life of man Somtimes these sorrowfull worldlings are raging with enuie sometimes ouercome with malice and many times at their wits ende through couetousnesse so that the beautifull waxe pale therwith the lustie and strong man is weakned they which were pleasant are heauie and they which seemed godly are made wicked This worldly sorrowe made Achitophell that wise man to hang himselfe and Saule that strong man to kill himselfe and Zimrie that wicked king to burne himselfe for the Lorde suffered many to fall into it that they might despaire of his mercie and be excluded from his kingdome Oh therefore whosoeuer will shewe any care of his owne soule or any account of Christes woundes let him meddle little in worldly businesse keepe in the boundes of thy vocation and range not into much dealing and many trades and occupations for thou dost but thrust thy soule into danger and a thousande to one but thou wilt repent in teares bloud thy ouerreaching policie Another reason of this doctrine is bicause it is a deere and not the least blessing of God to reioyce in thy possessions be they small or great Eccle. 5. 8. and therefore it is not the least curse of God to be troubled and tormoiled therewith What beast
soules by repentance for nature cannot helpe no more then Balaam coulde curse The reasons of this doctrine are these bicause nature it selfe as a creature of God is subiect to the curse of God as wee may see in all the storie of Egypt and also Isay 28. 22. where the Lorde threatneth to bring a consumption vpon the whole earth meaning the whole course of nature that hee can as easilie curse them as it were by sicknesse as men are vndone by consumption And verily I thinke when I looke into the specials I see as Dauid saith All thinges come to an ende but the lawe of God is exceeding large The heauens waxe olde the earth groweth barren the golde is but dust the pearles come to nothing and all creatures saith Paul are subiect to vanitie What is then the studie of nature but the studie of vanitie Yea how vainely are their daies spent which are alwaies in the bellie of Philosophie and Poetrie and humanitie not thinking diuinitie to bee woorthie of their fine wits which they say is the refuge of fooles but if their studie bee vaine then are their wits vaine and therefore of them it may bee saide in seeking to become wise they are made fooles Rom. 1. Another reason is bicause there is no other way to life but conuersion to the Lorde Hos 5. 15. Heere is the remedie for our landes to make the earth furitfull not in dunging and compassing it but if wee can turne our selues to God then let vs cast from vs our pleasant sinnes to rot in the earth and water our newe sowed corne with teares of our eies Then shall the earth yeelde hir increase and God euen our God shall giue vs his blessing Balaams asse woulde not goe for all his beating til Balaam had spoken with God and promised more obedience euen so the earth will not bee fruitefull for all our cutting of it and mending it and poking it vntill we be returned vn to the Lorde and confesse our follies and promise a newe life Oh let husbandmen heare this and learne to liue heereafter or else their worship is like to the sacrifice of Cain which the Lorde refused The vses which we must make of this doctrine are these First that we put no trust or confidence in any earthly or worldly things for seeing these cannot deliuer vs from any little iudgement then let vs learne to trust in the Lords powre Esay 31. 1. It is but follie to trust in kings for they are but men it is but sinne to trust in castles for they are but earth and stones it is but madnes to trust in multitudes for they are but flesh and it is but idolatrie to trust in wealth for it is but vanitie therefore it must needes bee best to trust in the Lord. Art thou afflicted praie vnto him art thou distressed runne vnto him art thou in danger looke vnto him and art thou a liuing soule let him bee thy strength and thy defender The heauens cannot bende to helpe the earth cannot rise to succour thee the waters cannot flowe to receiue and the cloudes cannot fall to couer thee But heere is thy helpe the Lorde can bowe the heauens and com to thee exalt the earth to rescue thee open the way for the waters to saue thee and let the cloudes come downe to take thee into heauen as once he did Christ and at the latter day shall doe all his elect Oh therefore cast not away the hope of your calling thy christian profession thy holie religion and thy hope of saluation for prince or magistrate friende or father heauen or earth man or angell much lesse be not terrified by any enimies which come with fire and sworde to worke thy desolation Craue not their helpe trust not in their strength feare not their rage and distrust not thy God but in warre let him fight for thee in sicknes let him heale thee in famine let him feede thee and in death he shall receiue thee for it is better to trust in God then to put confidence in princes Another vse is this seeing wee cannot auoide any of the Lordes iudgements by nature or naturall meanes then it also followeth that wee cannot escape out of that great iudgement of condemnation by any naturall vertue or worldly meanes but wee must all by nature remaine the children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. Whereby wee must take occasion to lament not onely the weakenes but also the filthinesse of our nature which bringeth into the worlde that euill which it cannot auoide Oh how much are wee bounde to our blessed Sauiour that hath deliuered vs from the wrath to come I might also out of this verse note vnto you that God his wrath shall not onely extende to the liues of men or those thinges which concerne their necessarie maintenance in this worlde but also to euerie part of their possessions as this prophet speaketh euen their barns and houses as we may see Esay 6. 11. Luke 21. 4. 5. And good reason for as worldly men for their owne pleasures do pul down many times both houses barnes as we may see of the worldly man in the Gospell Luke 12. so may the Lorde for his pleasure doe the like Againe these thinges do make vs to be proude euen our buildings and aedifices as wee may see in Nebuchadnezzar and also Iehoijakim Ierem. 21. 16. And therefore let vs knowe that the Lord in his iust iudgement will cast downe all these as hee saith Amos 3. 14. 15. And if he left not one stone vpon another where the temple stoode much lesse will he suffer houses of extortion oppression and gaming and whooring and other filthines to haue any place to stande in Againe seeing we may heere see what are our worldly buildinges let vs learne to laie vp our treasures in heauen which shall neuer bee destroied and lay a good foundation against the worlde to come How did the beastes mourne the heardes of cattle pine away bicause they haue no pastures and the flockes of sheepe are destroied Nowe he commeth to the most pittifull out crie of other creatures for as the corne coulde not growe no more coulde the grasse and one misery doth not commonly come alone and if wee well looke vnto this matter wee shal finde great matter lie hid here in For it cannot be that beastes shoulde be faultie or sinfull before the Lorde why then although guiltles are they thus tormented why did not the people make a hand with them to eate them and so to saue their liues that waies Vvnto which I answere that the people would not kil all their tame beasts bicause some they must keepe for store other for their labour and manie for offering which although it now ceased by reason of the wante of corne yet they hoped would shortlie come to passe againe as appeereth by their tillage As for the other the beastes are punished for mans cause which is the doctrine
that they might know that as none but God could be the author of these so none but his maiestie coulde bee the sender of them These heauenly signes or rather signes in heauen are described in the two next verses first the shaking of the world secondly the darkening of the lights and thirdly the great and terrible thunders which should then be heard all which is supported by a strong reason vers 11. By this verse we may first of all learne that the extraordinarie signes of heauen are the forerunners and most euident prophets of calamitie and destruction following Isa 29. 6. God which woulde haue all his iudgements not onely felt but feared doth not let them come stealing on the world as if he could not doe them against our will or not hinder them against their nature but proclaimeth them by manifold fearefull signes in heauen The reasons are first because we should knowe that the euill onely proceedeth from him 2. Sam. 5. 24. it doth not any whit distaine the Lords honor to be a reuenger of sinne vpon the bodies and soules of many thousands but rather it maketh for his glorie for hee must iudge the world in righteousnesse Another reason is because by this meanes the Lorde doth most earnestly affect good mens harts and afflict the wicked Ezech. 32. 9. for the sight of terrible signes cannot choose but mooue the brute beastes of the earth much more reasonable men who are more giuen to feare because they are more giuen to sinne and our Sauiour saith in the gospell that mens harts shall faile them because of the signes of heauen The vses are these first let vs not be superstitious or heathenish in fearing the signes of heauen aboue the rule of faith Ier. 10. 2. For alas what can any planet or any signe doe but by the Lordes assignement and therefore in fearing it superstitiously we feare not God we distrust his prouidence we restraine his power and we cast away our owne confidence and faith It was a great signe in heauen when fire came downe and destroyed Sodom and Gomor and all cities cattel and pastures of the plaine Gen. 19. yet little Zoar was saued standing among them when all the residue were burning about it therefore beware of the slauish feare of the signes of heauen for it is the Lorde that gouerneth the starres Another vse as we are not to feare them too much so wee are not to regard them too little but vse them as promptors and furtherances to another life Luk. 21. 28. when you see these saith Christ then lift vp your heads and know that your redemption draweth neere Be it therefore that the heauens be burning the lights be darkening the stars be falling the earth be shaking and the ayre be thundering yet feare it no more then the Israelites did in Egypt but rather now thinke that the Lord will amaze sinners erect his throne of righteousnes to stand for euermore This must much encourage vs in these our later daies wher in euerie hower we looke for the accomplishing of all the signes before Christs comming and let vs watch for the appearing of our Sauiour that we be not comfortles when other shall bee both witlesse and faithles but know that good men shall stand in the middest of all these terrours and fires as the men did walke in the middest of the Babilonish furnace and not haue one haire of our head diminished When he saith that the earth shall tremble he noteth that earth quakes are notable tokens of the Lordes wrath Psal 18. 7. we are not onely to impute it to the ayre shut vp in the furrowes of the earth as in philosophie they do but we must goe to the principall cause which is the hand of God and the finall cause which is to shew his wrath for in his wrath saith the scripture he casteth downe whole mountaines Oh how terrible is this to consider that the whole earth should be shakē at the chiding of God yet man which is made of earth and standeth on earth and liueth on earth and shall returne to earth againe will not shake or tremble for the same I thinke there is more terrour in the dead bones in the graues then in liuing bodies in their houses The reasons hereofare these because the law of wrath was giuen in fire and earth-quakes Exod. 19. 18. Heb. 12. 18. for God did then shew himselfe most terrible when the mountaine seemed to burne and there was nothing but cursing and death for the law that then was giuen did condemne many millions which now do know the same Againe earthquakes do commonly proceede and goe before the alteration of religion Reuel 6. 12. for as when Iehu altered the idolatrie of Baal the prophets and the God were both displaced so when religion is altered God is as it were displaced and all his seruants persecuted which must of necessitie shew the heauie indignation of God for he will not haue his image defaced nor endure that his glorie should be giuen to another Let vs therefore learne that if the strong earth be not able to abide the wrath of God then much lesse shal weake and sinnefull men Num. 16. 1. Againe let vs learne to preach the word more earnestly by the consideration of earth-quakes We may read Amos 1. 2. that two yeere before the earth-quake the Lord sent him to prophesie as it were to plant the minds of his church that they might haue liued without wauering Now it is well knowen that wee haue had one great and terrible earth quake in our times would God it might so worke that the preachers would for that cause preach more diligently and the people heare more attentiuely least it prooue vnto vs a token of the decay of religion Truely as yet blessed be God religion is not altered but it is much defaced and God graunt that as the earth-quake at the death of Christ was the decrease of Iudaisme and Paganisme but the increase of christianitie so that in our time may worke the like effect and may seale vnto vs the decay of Poperie and heresie but may assure vs of the continuance of veritie and pure religion We might also note out of this verse that seeing the heauens and earth are afraide of him therefore the most guiltles creatures of God cannot abide his anger But this we will deferre vnto the next chapter Againe in that the sunne and moone are darkened we may obserue not onely that God is the author of light and darkenes but also that he will not let sinners in his anger haue any benefit of them Isa 13. 9 10. The reasons are First because they are enimies to good men and good things Exod. 10. 22. Secondly bicause they are ashamed of the sinnes of men as we may see at Christs death Matth. 27 45. Let vs therefore so glorifie God in our places as these creatures do in theirs for they
fruitfull abounding with many a pleasant herbe let not thy hart be barren and stuffed with filthie stinking sins Come to the spirituall gifts of God see how many preachers thou hast to moue thee to repentance it is the end of preaching the fruit of hearing the motion of praier the sacraments signifie it the Spirit worketh it and the whole church of God liueth in it the bishop watcheth for it the doctor teacheth for it the worker of myracles doth witnesse it the poore mans boxe doth prooue it I cannot run ouer al it is sufficient that euery one do prooue it I would to God that any might preuaile The reason because God woulde be neere vnto all that call vpon him Psa 145. 18. he wil cōpasse vs about with a world of witnesses that they may draw vs to him or else to accuse our disobedience whom the heauēs could not win or the earth admonish or the church perswade or the spirite instruct that all these which could not work our health may further our death And seeing in euery place these are manifest in so much as we despise all warnings of God and his creatures it is most equall that we be pnnished with all torments of hell fire Seeing all things are notes vnto vs of the Lords fauour then assuredly if men will shew any care to serue him hee will neuer hide his face or punish vs extremely 2. Chron. 30. 9. Oh what a comfort is this to a troubled soule to haue all the creatures of the world to witnesse the Lords fauour the birds flying the beastes eating the corne standing the grasse growing and the houses ouer our heads are pledges vnto vs of the grace of God Then turne thee and consider not two or three but euery one in their kinde and thou shalt finde inestimable ioy Why doe men complaine for want of grace when all the world is ful of grace it pearseth the stones it cleaueth the rocks it shaketh the trees it quickeneth the beastes and it descendeth to the bottome of the earth onely the soules of men are not capable thereof Beginne now with thy selfe set these creatures as iudge arraigne thy soule as guiltie bring foorth thy guiltie conscience and waite for the sentence of condemnation Oh no saue thy selfe from these frowarde inuentions Turne I say a little shew a willing minde bring a ready hart pray for an ounce of godly sorrow and let the world and the gospell the creatures and the spirite the earth and the church the angels and the beastes encrease the same gather thou the wood they will blowe the fire thy care shall be augmented as the widowes oile by Elishah that thy debts shall be discharged thy trouble shall be eased thy life shall be amended and thy soule shall be blessed Seeing all the creatures of God doe remember vs of his grace then let euery creature be deere and precious vnto vs Gen. 1. 31. as a pledge of his fauour for the Lorde cōmendeth them all to be good And if he which wrought them doe so then much more ought wee for whose sake they were created Let vs then often meditate on the frame of the world the bodies of men the proportion of beastes and the little greene leaues shall minister vnto vs much instruction to reforme our liues we shall finde not one of them made for themselues but all of them for one another and especially for vs. Wherefore it cannot bee that we were borne for luxurie riot pleasure profite sorrowe loue ioy or hatred no not for the possession of our selues but for the possession of the Lord. Consider these things and thou shalt finde all time too little not spent herein and all ioy but vanitie that is not applied to this When thou canst not heare the worde reade it when thou canst not reade then meditate on it when thou art wearie of meditation then turne to the creatures and solace thy selfe in them as in a most pleasant garden of many sweet flowers marke their diuersitie in colour strange in number infinite in making contrarie and yet in vse all one euen for thy sake that thou mightest be for the Lords glorie Marke their growth that thou maist growe so and their death for thou shalt die so and their spring for thou shalt arise in the sommer of all pleasures with them in the kingdome of heauen Mercifull The second reason is taken from the Lords mercie and that therefore if they will repent he will pardon Wherein I might tell you many thinges woorth the learning of the Lordes mercie and shew you by many arguments howe the scripture in many places doth expresse it sometime naturally as to men and beasts Psal 36. 6. sometime to good and bad Mat. 5. to his church through Christ Luc. 1. 78. and all these he meaneth in this place when hee saith that God is mercifull not simply through Christ whereby he saueth his church but also through himselfe whereby he loueth al his creatures From hence obserue that the mercie of God must leade men to repentance 1. Sam. 12. 24. The which is cleane contrary to the course of the worlde which take it for a libertie of sin and make it not a necessitie to repentance but a good childe is more afraid of a gentle and a kind father then of a sterne and seuere and we if we be the children of God must be as much terrified from sinne with the sweete songs of Sion as with the loud thunder claps of Sinai be as subiect to the Lords censure in his sweete mercies as other in the fearfull curses of the Law Therefore let not our time of peace our healthie bodies our large possessions our heaps of treasure our sweete children and all other mercies of God make our harts fat but let vs vse all these to awake vs from sinning and to restraine vs from offending him that defendeth vs with them yea let vs weepe moe teares for hauing them then for wanting them that we may enioy the promises of this life and of the life to come The first reason because they are mercifull which loue mercie and therefore blessed Matt. 5. 7. If we would see a token of our pitifull harts then let vs thinke how the sweete promises of the Gospell haue pearced them It is no wonder to see such bloodie minds in Papists because they make small account of the Lords mercie teaching vs that men may satisfie for their sinne and for this cause they thirst after blood for the breach of their canons But yet let vs beware how we perswade men to relie on the mercie of God for they say wee teach men to trust to mercie and to liue vily but let vs exhort one another in the Lord that we walke woorthie of his mercie and vse his abundant clemencie for a promptor vnto repentance Another reason because God is more delighted with his mercie then with our sacrifice Hos
his heart my master deferreth his comming and shall begin to strike his fellowes and to eate and drinke with the drunken the Lorde of that seruant shall come in a day that he knoweth not and giue him his portion with vnbeleeuers O my beloued we are those seruants that haue secured our selues from wrath and thinke still it will not come yet Looke on our manners are they not drunken looke on our faith is it not idle looke on our care is it not vnprofitable looke on our liues and see if wee bite not oneanother from the throne to the footestoole none can escape vs. Doe we not abuse the patience of God which shoulde make vs resolute in repentance and it maketh vs dissolute in religion Wee say with the wicked priestes To morrowe shall bee as to daie and much more and with the heathen Psalm 10. Truely the Lorde regardeth not neither is there knowledge in the most high O miserable soules thus plagued that turne all thinges against themselues O let nothing delight vs but the presence of the Lord of hostes who is come downe into our lande and waiteth for our repentance Let vs giue him our sinnes we haue committed and our liues we haue to spende and our soules wee haue to saue that he may spare our bloud and take our lamentation Againe let vs seeke the Lorde while he may bee founde and call vpon him while hee is neere at hande Esay 55. 6. seeing hee dwelleth among vs and this is the time of long suffering nowe let vs runne after him day and night as Obadiah did after Eliah and neuer cease seeking till we haue founde him In seeking for the Lord we ought to haue a single eie a simple heart a cleane hande and a swift foote that wee may easilie see him earnestly desire him speedilie runne after him and reuerentlie laie holde on him Alas alas wee liue in an age wherein men will not trauaile to finde either God or grace except it fall into their mouthes if the Lorde lacke but one of his sheepe hee neuer ceaseth till he haue founde him againe but wee coulde abide to want him if wee might enioy our pleasures all the daies of our life Seeke for him in his temple goe to him in thy soule and pray to him in heauen for hee calleth vnto thee saying Open vnto me for the night hath watered my locks c. Seeke him as the Lorde doth his sheepe as the merchant did his pearle as the woman did her grote as the sicke man doth his phisition and as the disciples did Christ Hee is in thy house there seeke him hee is in thy field there seeke him he is in thy closet there seeke him and he is in thy hart there keepe him His time is but short his departure will be sudden his patience will be wearie and he will bee gone onely he tarrieth a little therefore if euer nowe run out to follow him And repenteth him of the euill This is the last argument whereby the prophet perswadeth them to repent because God will repent the euill that he threatened not that God indeede repenteth by correcting of himselfe for that cannot be seeing all his workes are yea and Amen 2. Cor. 1. 20. he is also vnchangeable and with him is no shadow of turning Iam. 1. 17. although the world change and the heauens waxe olde as a garment yet the Lord abideth the same for euer Psal 102. 18. but this is a phrase according to our capacitie for when wee change our mindes we repent in a sort so when the Lord seemeth to alter his purpose he sheweth as if hee repented Why then some will say if the Lord alter his purpose then hee changeth and why did he here tell the people that all this miserie should come vpon them and yet if they will it shall not Vnto which I answere that the first purpose of God shall euer stand for hee foreseeth and decreeth the ende but many times to trie our faith and to shewe his loue he propoundeth prophetically that is with condition of repentance the same which hee will neuer doe Howe then will you say shall we knowe his pleasure verily if two things bee propounded the one certaine the other vncertaine as here was repentance and iudgement let vs take the first and abide the last that is let vs embrace that which is certaine and let the vncertaine goe free Neither let vs be lesse carefull to please God because his iudgements bee conditionall but rather more careful to performe the condition least we feele the obligation God will repent him of the euill that is he will stay the euill that shall come vpon you From hence let vs obserue that the Lord is vnwilling to take vengeance of our sinnes Ezech. 33. 11. As I liue saith the Lord I will not the death of a sinner he willeth it not but he saith not I decree it not and if he decree it I dare not say hee doth it against his will and if hee both will and decree it I cannot say he dealeth vniustly for we may see in the scriptures that none can tell the reasons of his will or the cause of his decree or excuse the fall of man by the ordinance of God this I onely touch by the way for other haue more effectually laboured therein to whom I referre you And in this wee may see a notable testimonie of the loue of God that he will rather silence his iustice then his mercie and although we be at the very brinke of destruction if we repent he will repent If the Lord did take any pleasure in our harmes why then did hee crucifie his sonne sending abroad the ministers with his scriptures warning vs before hand of our end These doe shew vs that he is as vnwilling to punish our faultes as a father is to punish his sonne All this graunted let vs not dreame of an immunitie that we are vtterly exempted and be at libertie to doe whatsoeuer pleaseth vs for although hee bee a tender father yet hee is a wise father and knoweth that correction is as needefull as instruction It is no matter to vs if we be condemned either with the will or without the will of God for it commeth all to one ende our plagues and paines are neuer the lesse The reason hereof because God hath a naturall loue to all his creatures Psal 38. 6. the works of his hands are deere vnto him and for the worke of creation he loueth and spareth them By this we may see as Ezech. 33. 12. if ye turne all your transgressions shall neuer remooue his fauour from you What can bee more generall then that all shall be forgotten or more comfortable then that not one sinne shall bee remembred and if they bee not remembred saith Austen they are not imputed and if they bee not imputed they are pardoned Bee not afraide to come to the Lorde for thou seest hee will lay nothing to thy
Oh how doth this magnifie religion the professors therof vnto the which they are more indebted then to their own liues let vs offer this sacrifice for the Lord will take any thing at our hand in good part ifit be little because we haue but little he maketh much therof if it be much because we haue much he maketh more thereof then say we all If God doc thus accept then will we giue it Let vs not reason with him as the woman of Samaria did Iohn 4. when hee asked for water but let vs speedily giue him his request as Rebecca did to Abrahams seruant who asking but a little yet she gaue him more Another vse let vs serue the Lord before our liues for else we make our selues gluttons and feede our bellies and the Apostle saith of this kinde 1. Cor. 6. 15. Meate for the belly and the belly for meate but God shall destroy both it and them Wilt thou spende all on thy belly and nothing on the Lorde thinkest thou that thou possessest all for thy selfe and nothing for the Lorde doest thou so liue to thy meate and with thy meate as if thou were onely borne for it and that were onely made for thee then surely take thou heede for God shall destroy both it and thee Giue therefore to him and to his vses in his church if thou faile thy store shall faile and if thou repent not thy life shall perish Who was euer famished for meate that gaue it to the Lord or begged for his bread which spent it at the altar or was empouerished by maintaining religiō surely none but with them was the saying of Salomon performed There is that giue and haue nothing the lesse Eate not I beseech you your destruction in your meat and drinke not your damnation in your abundance if you will saue your life you shal lose it but if in this case for the Lords cause you wil lay downe your life you shall finde it If when wee haue but little we giue from our selues to the Lorde we do as poore Iacob did which sent his store into Egypt with his sonnes where was more store but through his little hee gained both his sonnes he saued his owne life and sustained all his familie so let not vs doubt or feare to bestow on the Lord for looke what wee loose we sowe for more encrease what we giue we shall gaine and what in peasure we dispende in paine we shall lament The xxiiij Sermon Vers 15. 16. Blowe the trumpet in Sion sanctifie a fast call a solemne assemblie gather the people sanctifie the congregation gather the elders assemble the children and those that sucke the brests let the bridegroome go foorth of his chamber and the bride out of hir bride chamber OF the blowing of the trumpet wee haue spoken in the beginning of this chapter so also we haue handled the proclaiming of a fast the calling of an assemblie both of the people and of their elders al which to stande vpon againe were but needlesse Therefore wee will to the next wordes The yoong children and them that sucke the breasts That is euery one among you from the least to the most Some will saie vnto me what good can the sucking children do in the Lordes seruice I grant in sight they cannot but seeing Dauid saith that the brute beastes do seeke their meate at God which they doe not by praying or speaking so may Ioel assigne the yoong sucking babes to want their meat that with their mothers they might poure foorth most lamentable teares and terrible cries into the eares of the Lord and for this cause to increase mourning doth the prophet inuite them to the fast From hence we may obserue that the wrath of God must bee appeased with a generall repentance Olde men and babes yoong men and maidens rich and poore prince and people must all bee humbled at the Lordes anger as we may reade Ion. 3. 8. Yea the very cattle of the Niniuites were couered with a mourning weede wherein wee may see that it is no maruaile if the Lorde were so long angrie with vs bicause we were not generally humbled If parents haue repented yet children haue not sorrowed if children mourne parents haue beene dissolute if the old men were humbled the yoong men rebelled Therefore our misery remaineth bicause some remaine obstinate The reasons First bicause the Lord hath a quarrel against al sexes ages degrees and conditions of men Ierem. 12. 12. the which ought to be a sufficient cause to haue euery one to be humbled and let not one escape I muse much that many christian parents haue so little regarde to their children that they care not with what vanities and toies they delight and allure them thinking they are not bounde to any exercise on Sabbaoth daies nor that any oath or foolish talke doth annoy them But heere wee see not onelie those which can speake must practise religion but also if they bee able to crie let them feele the Lordes commandement Some will thinke that these little children are innocent and therefore neede no repentance for it is a common saying if it goe not well with children howe shall it goe with olde men meaning that children are without sinne Vnto which I answere that they are sinfull by nature euen the heires of wrath Eph. 2. 2. and if they were not yet bicause God requireth it who dare refuse it and the rather bicause the brute beastes are inuited thereto which neither can nor euer shall sinne Another reason bicause whosoeuer doth not thus humble himselfe shall be iudged of God 1. Cor. 11. 31. We know it an vsuall thing in the worde of God to spare neither man woman nor childe and to take the sucking babes and to dash their braines against the wall If they be subiect to punishment why not to religion if to death why not to the Lordes seruice Therefore let all bee humbled children because they are borne in sinne olde men bicause they are weary of sin yoong men bicause they liue in sin and striplings bicause they grow in sin or else shall euerie one die in condemnation Let vs not therefore prouoke the Lord 1. Cor. 10. 22. but consider how fearefull it is to stirre a lion from his den or to meete a Beare robbed of hir whelpes or to prouoke a prince to displeasure of which it is saide That the anger of a king is the messenger of death but I saie if the Lorde more fierce then a lyon more raging then a Beare and more powerfull then a prince bee stirred vp to strike vs wee can hardely hurt him hee can easilie destroie vs wee can hardlie mooue him but more hardly pacifie him See you not that the newe borne babes shall repent it yea sometime they feele it before they bee borne Oh thinke vpon it the blood of olde men the strength of yoong men the beautie of women and the loue of children
our selues neuer so sinful Psal 9. 9 10. although we bee neuer so poore in spirit yet let vs know that ours is the kingdome of heauen So that if thou reason with the diuell himselfe who will if it be possible deceiue thy soule telling thee that thou art more vile then others and therefore it is but follie for thee to call on God for mercie yet say to thy soule that the Lord neuer despiseth the sighings of the poore although I haue sinned yet I haue sorrowed although I haue neglected grace yet with the Lord there is more grace be it that I haue no goodnesse in me the more neede haue I to goe to God the author of goodnesse Men seeke not to the phisition in health but in sicknesse and the more desperate is their disease the more speedily they sollicite him and a good phisition commeth quickly so I want the health of my soule and I see death standing at the doore and knocking for me therfore my praier shall goe to the Lord my physition and I knowe that he will speedily come vnto me He abhorreth not my weakenesse he hateth not my person he willeth not my destruction and therefore wil I pray for saluation I am exceeding base but he will bende to me I am very poore but he will giue mee the riches of the spirite I am a sinner and he is a Sauiour why shoulde I not goe vnto him and fall downe lowe vpon his footestoole for hee neuer despiseth the sighing of the contrite Giue not thine heritage That is the people whom thou diddest take vnto thy self aboue al the nations of the world from hence we may obserue as in a singular metaphor how deere the church is vnto God Deut. 4. 20. euen as deere as any mans inheritance is to himselfe for indeed an inheritance doth very fitly resemble and shadow out vnto vs the nature and condition of the church First because it is not woorth any thing except a man do plant sow the same and so is it in the church wherin if the Lord plow not and sow not there can no good thing grow therein Againe an inheritance is sometimes sold away for the barrennes thereof so when the church groweth secure and bringeth not foorth good fruits the Lord giueth it ouer for a season to be spoyled by strangers Againe if an inheritance will no way be amended then is it accursed and burned Heb. 6. 8. so if no means will reclaime the world from their wicked life then he accurseth them and giueth them ouer to the fire of hell Also as a man taketh singular comfort in his inheritance so the Lord doth in his church and as a man hedgeth and encloseth his inheritance to keepe it from being wasted euen so the Lord hath set a brazen wall about his church the which all the diuels in hell shall neuer be able to ouerthrow but men and angels shall fight for their safegarde and maugre sinne and hell they shall endure as the earth doth euen for euer and euer The first reason because hee might powre his blessing on it Esa 19. 25. for hee hauing many most excellent benefits in store hath made choise of his church to powre foorth all that he hath thereupon for whether we consider the blessings of this life or the benefits of the life to come they are all ordained for the good of them that be godly He is wise to instruct vs he is mightie to defend vs he is liberall to maintaine vs he is mercifull to receiue vs for our sakes were the heauens created the earth established the waters remooued and the fruits appointed for our sakes were the angels condemned the sonne of God crucified and the age and yeeres of the world is plunged Another reason because we should be holy vnto him Deut. 19. 2. Of all the creatures of this worlde there is none that can bee holy vnto the Lord saue onely mankinde for they are the image of God and if the lande whereupon Moses stood was holy much more is the land of our harts holy whereupon the Lord himselfe standeth for he raigneth in vs. And this is the cause why the Lorde hath made vs his inheritance that we should serue him in holines and righteousnes all the daies of our life for the heauens are holy whither wee are going the angels are holy with whom we shall dwell the church is holy wherein we liue and therefore we must bee holy or else we are accursed Seeing we are the inheritance of God purchased by his sonne then let not any of vs liue to our selues but to him that redeemed vs 2. Cor. 5. 15. how many waies might I vrge this doctrine that as the earth beareth not fruit for it selfe but for vs so should not we eate the fruits of our owne labours but offer them to the Lord. Our harts are the grounds our bodies are the hedges God his law is the plough the worde is the seede and himselfe is the husbandman Oh let vs not be ploughed and planted in vaine let vs not frustrate the Lords expectation and our soules saluation If we were but seruants yet we ought to worke for our hire but being his inheritance we must liue and die day and night to beare him fruit wee cannot put him away but he may put vs away our fruits do not profit him and yet the want of them will curse vs. Let vs not be for the weedes of sinne nor for pleasures to feede on as bullockes do on pasture-land but let vs bee his garden of sweete flowers his vineyard of fruitfull grapes his field of fine planted wheat and his possession for an euerlasting inheritance Let our words be as gratious fruit let our religion be as pretious pearle let our loue be as rockes of golde and let our bodies bee as fruitfull garners let vs bring him all for first fruits tenthes and offerings and sacrifices that we may be his blessed land vnto the worlds end Another vse seeing we are the Lords inheritance we may see that the Lorde will be very hardly driuen to forsake vs for he gaue a lawe Numb 27. that none shoulde sell awaie their inheritance but at the ende of fiftie yeeres euery one should reclaime thereunto So that if the Lord shall giue ouer his inheritance as hee did Israell Hos 5. 15. the case is very desperate but not perpetuall A man that hath manie barren fieldes doth not presently sell them away no more the Lorde which hath many barren soules in the compasse of his church doth presently forsake them but rather dresseth them by the ministerie of the worde that they may be made fruitefull Oh heare this you that are in the Lordes folde although he beare for a season with your barren hearts and suffer you manie yeeres to lie in rest thinking at the last you will bring him some profit bring it foorth with speede or else knowe that the Lorde which redeemed you from
grace he giueth more also as Salomon asking for wisedome obtained wisedome and riches or as Ruth desiring to gleane after the reapers Boaz gaue hir leaue to gather among the sheaues and at length made hir ladie and mistresse of all hee had Seeke therefore the kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof and all other thinges as godly children obedient families plentie of victuals peace of life length of daies and glorie euerlasting shall be heaped on thee Againe if abundance followe the profession of religion then it is manifest that when plentie faileth religion also faileth Ierem. 9. 12 13. For as there can bee no preaching when there is no minister so there can be no plentie when there is no professing Oh this cutteth our nation to the quicke for the Lorde by this dearth doth auouch to our faces that there is among vs as great decay of his church as of corne and the seede of the worde hath beene as much choaked and drowned in the hearts of men as the seede of the earth hath beene choaked and drowned in the fieldes of men and what remaineth but as the Prophet saith that the Lorde feede vs with wormewoode and giue vs the bitternesse of gall to drinke I feare greatly if our miserie continue our religion will be cleane abolished and if our want be now redressed we shall be shortly cast into a bed of comfortles troubles for as yet I cannot see any generall or continuall repentance in lamentation Thirdly when the Lorde promiseth them to deliuer them from the reproch of the heathen we may note that it is a great blessing of God to be deliuered from slander Iob 5. 21. To liue without slander it is impossible except wee coulde liue without sinne And therefore if at any time thou bee suspected and defamed praie vnto the Lorde to bee deliuered from it The reasons First bicause life and death are in the power of the toong Prouer. 28. 21. So then who can continue life or bring death but God alone Secondly slanderous toongs doe hate them that are in affliction that is they will then more greeue them and belie them bicause they thinke then will euery body beleeue them Marke this thing well and you shall see that it is the common practise of this age Let vs not open our eares to euerie tale or take heede or aske what other men saie of vs Eccle. 7. 23. for that will hurt vs. And let vs refraine our toongs frō slander or else we haue no religion Iam. 1. 26. The xxvij Sermon Verse 20. But I will remooue farre off from you the northren armie and I will driue him into a lande barren and desolate with his face toward the east sea and his ende to the vtmost sea and his stinke shall come vp and his corruption shall ascende because he hath exalted him selfe to do this AFter the promise of plentie followeth the remoouing away of the Northren armie which are the Locusts palmers and the other noisome beastes who came by a northren winde and therefore are called the Northren armie whom hee will driue away into the wildernesse where they shall all starue and neuer come againe with their face or forefront to the east sea that is the dead sea which lay eastwarde so called bicause neuer any fish coulde liue therein And this is that sea which now couereth all the lande of Sodom and Gomorhe called the lake Asphaltite And his end to the vtmost sea That is the great sea which is called the Mediterranean sea And his stinke shall ascende Meaning there they shoulde lie vnburied and their filthines ascend and remaine odious to God and men From hence when he saith that he wil driue away wee must note that it is onely the Lorde that must take away from vs all noisome and hurtfull things Deut. 32. 39. We haue touched this doctrine alreadie when we shewed in the former chapter that no iudgement can bee remooued by naturall meanes The first reason bicause by this meanes hee is knowne to be the God of the world Exod. 7. 17. Againe as his hand sendeth euill Amos 3. 7. so his hande must remooue euill Esay 49. 9. Let vs therefore learne howsoeuer wee bee annoied to seeke for helpe of God and as we haue beene often admonished let the afflictions of the body wring foorth the teares and praiers of the soule Againe seeing God will driue from vs all hurtfull thinges let vs not feare the sting of death nor the power of the graue Hos 13. 14. And if we beleeue that God shall raise vs vp from death to life why shoulde we thinke that beastes or birdes or afflictions shall euer preuaile against vs It is the better for vs that God alone doth this thing and not our selues for our power is often weakned but his hande and strength is alway mightie Secondlie when he bringeth in the wildernes and dead sea to receiue these deuouring beastes Hee teacheth vs that there is as good vse of the barren as of the plowed lande and of the sea where nothing liueth as of the sea where all engender for these are made to destroy as the other are made to builde vp Whereby we may see that all the creatures of the worlde doe helpe God against his enimies to performe his wrath Ios 10. 12. The cloudes throwe downe stones and the Sunne stoode still a whole day till Iosuah had discomfited all his enimies The first reason bicause they wil not helpe them that God persecuteth Esay 15. 6. Dauid woulde not spare the men that slew Ishboseth his enimie and much more will not the creatures spare or helpe them that are enimies to God Againe the day of wrath is a day of affliction Esay 22. 5. and therefore the creaatures are afraide of iudgement themselues And as Iezabels messengers followed and turned after Iehu hir enimie so all the creatures of God turne after him when he is in war to destroy sinners Let vs therefore learne to look vpon our creator Esay 17. 7. that in this time when time of repentance may be had For as the inhabitants of Ceilah woulde haue betraied Dauid to Saul that hee might slaie him so woulde all the creatures of the Lorde deliuer and betraie vs vnto him though more iustly that he may make an ende of vs. God is almost forgotten among men to be their creator for they giue more reuerence to their parents then to him therefore will the creatures forget vs and deliuer vs vp for spies and enimies as Ioseph gaue Simeon his brother into prison Againe let this generall obedience of the creatures cause vs to walke more righteouslie Esay 33. 15. 16. or else they will one day be reuenged bicause wee haue caused them to bee subiected vnto vanitie What a greeuous thing is it that these dumbe creatures shoulde receiue when God giueth and giue when God asketh and obey when God commaundeth
keepeth life in vs who is able to shewe the cause heereof but the Lorde who knoweth all and if this one blessing shoulde faile vs although our possessions were as great as Salomons yet they woulde not serue vs. Againe let euery man in his place gather this meate and comfort for his life Esay 62. 3. that so we may perfourme the olde commandement of God to Adam that wee eate our meate in the sweate of our faces The Bees will not suffer one drone among them and so let not vs suffer them that are carelesse to prouide some thing whereby their dutie may be discharged to God and their liues preserued in the worlde Secondly he telleth them with what affection they should receiue their meat With praise and thankesgiuing to God Whereby wee may see one principall token of a temperate receiuer in that hee can giue thankes to God for his meate 1. Cor. 10. 25. but gluttons and belli-gods take their meate as Swine doe although with more manners yet with as little reuerence sitting downe to fill their bellies and rising vp to fulfill their pleasures and through immeasurable fulnes their teeth put their mouth to silence and sleepe falleth on them that their harts doe not onely forget their feeder but their maintainer also The first reason bicause it is a token they loue God Deut. 12. 11. and they that loue neuer offend for loue is the fulfilling of the lawe Againe meate is onely blessed vnto them that ioine thankesgiuing with it 1. Sam. 9. 13. So that whatsoeuer is not thankfully receiued must needes be accursed And surely if Paul saide he had rather neuer eate meate as long as hee liued then eate to the offence of his brother wee may more lawfully pine in famine starue in want and perish in distresse of meate rather then God shoulde bee offended Theeues which steale for meate coseners that deceiue for meate beggers that counterfaite for meate idle persons that worke not for meate and rich men that praie not for meate can neuer bee thankefull for that which they eate but all is accursed vnto them Let vs therefore for feare of the curse and especiallie for conscience of death liue soberly in praier in our eating and drinking working and resting sleeping and waking bicause wee knowe not whether wee eate our last morsell as the Israelites which died with meate in their mouthes or worke our last day-worke as the poore man that was stoned for gathering stickes on the Sabbaoth or sleepe our last sleepe neuer wake againe Surely as Iacob ended his life when he had blessed his children so shall we be happy if wee ende our liues when we haue praised God Againe let vs not tempt God for meate whatsoeuer distresse wee liue in but seeke it humblie in praier Psal 104. 27. that wee may eate more cheerefully and bee assured that God will continue his blessings for what shall it profite to feede our bodies to the full and let our soules goe starue and pine away to death That the Lord hath This clause is added vnto their praises at meate because then they ought to remember the Lordes benefits the which thing ought to driue away all vaine and foolish table-talke wherein men silence the mercie of God and praise the taste of their meate or the liberalitie of the feast-maker alway thanking him and neuer thinking on God whereas they are bound to do both We may note in these words that God doth not onely vse his ordinarie power in the deliuerie of his church but also his extraordinarie whereby he worketh maruels and woonders 1. Pet. 1. 5. for by the woonderfull power of God are we continued in our profession contained in the church and preserued to life eternall God told Dauid 2. Sam. 12. that if he had not done ynough for him yet he would haue done much more for him so that he hath not limited his power nor his mercie toward the faithfull The reasons first because we should knowe that we are saued through grace and the great power of God 1. Cor. 1. 18. as it is not a light matter to enioy a kingdome so is it not a small matter to climbe vp into heauen but the vnspeakable power of God must be vsed therein Againe the more power he vseth in his church the more must be his glorie Mark 7. 17. and this is the cause why all good men thinke they can neuer praise God ynough although euery day they renewe their thankesgiuing in heauen is the power of God most of all seene and therefore there the angels and saintes doe nothing but praise the power of God And therefore we may hereby learne that all miracles which God doth in the world doe call vs to bee partakers of his kingdome Matt. 12. 28. and if we refuse them and doe not come the same power shall be vsed in our condemnation that is promised in our saluation Neither let vs euer forget the works which God doth for vs Psal 106. 21 22. but remember them in our meate in our beds in our labour in our ease in our watching and in our reioicing that our God may still continue to doe them as we doe still perseuere to remember them Lastly in this verse hee promiseth that they should neuer be more ashamed of any reproches Whereby we may note that religion doth not commit any thing that either we may be ashamed of or repent 1. Cor. 15. 58. for our labour in religion is not in vaine If any thorough the feare or commaundement of God should slay their children as Abraham would or deceiue their maisters as Iacob did or beguile their husbands as Rebecca did or disobey their princes as Moses did or murther their enimies as Sampson did or loose their liues as Christ did yet shall they neuer neede to repent any of them Oh what a maruellous benefite hath a man by religion which he cannot haue by any other thing in the world There is nothing in all the life of man but wee may repent except it bee the feare of God We repent our words our works our expences our gettings our wanderings our negligence our diligence our sleepe meate and money and all We are ashamed of our thoughts our to yes trifles plaies childishnesse wantonnesse loue hatred lust pouertie nakednesse and the very parts of our body but of no part of religion Thou shalt neuer repent that thou forsookest the worlde beleeuedst in the Lord mournedst for thy sinnes studiedst in the scriptures heardest the preachers was obedient to the gospell praiedst many howers watched many nights fasted many daies endured many troubles and shalt die any death for the Lords sake seeing heauen is thy rest Nay rather we see many men in their death-beds wish with teares that they had hawked and hunted and plaied and laboured and loued and hated much lesse for now in their sicknesse their sinnes come on them as the Philistines came on Sampson when
away their children whom they had taken prisoners vnto heathens and infidels as the Lord here saith that the Iewes should sell them to the Sabeans who were infidels First for the opening of this place it was lawfull for the Iewes so to doe because they had the expresse commaundement of God as it is here set downe and if at the commaundement of God they must in their warres kill man woman and childe much more at his commaundement may they sell their prisoners to heathens Secondly wee must not make this place any rule or example for vs to imitate but take it for a speciall curse vpon the enemies of the Iewes at this time because they should sell them as they had sold theirs Then to the question I thinke it not lawfull for vs to sell any vnto heathens yea though they be heathens and our enemies The reasons are these first because Deut. 20. 11 12. the Lord propoundeth an euerlasting lawe for warre standing vpon these conditions first that they offer peace secondly if they ouercome their enimies then shall they make them their tributarie seruants and not sell them away or if they refuse peace being offered then shall they destroy them all so then selling of men and women becommeth barbarous and heathen men and not the children of God Secondly by selling away our enimies wee doe not weaken the common enemie of our faith but rather strengthen him for a bond-slaue can fight as well against the gospell as a free man therefore it is better to slay them outright than to make a gaine of them vnto heathens or men of no faith Thirdly it is not lawfull to sell them because it is an vnnaturall thing for one man to buie another or to sell another as we may see in the historie of Ioseph Fourthly they were better bee among vs and bee the least in our congregation where they may possibly come to learne Iesus Christ than to be among heathens where Christ is hated and so I cannot see how wee can wash our hands cleane from the guilt of their damnation So that now it appeereth that men must looke especially that they vndoe not those whom the Lord hath commended to their safetie and preseruation besides many other reasons which I could adde vnto the former And againe by this verse we may see how the children of the wicked beare their fathers faultes for here are the sonnes and daughters to bee solde so may wee reade Psal 127. 9. that they are blessed that reuenge the fathers crueltie on the children Oh my deere brethren let your tender babes procure pitie and pietie in your soules for you see how their liues shall pay for your wrongs and their butcherie for your tyrannie It were an easier calamitie if the hand that sinned should onely be cut off but wee see that if the right hand slay a man the whole body must perish thereby It is a singular blessing of God to be descended of godly parents yea the wicked brag thereof Ioh. 8. 39. Matt. 3. 9. Therefore if you will make your posteritie happie and blessed make your owne soules godly and your works holy Let not your children be made slaues to the wicked and bondslaues to the diuell for your follie but be you gentle that they may liue bee you patient that they may be beloued bee you honest that they may bee honoured and be you good to the godly that they may possesse your reuenues Publish this among the Gentiles prepare warre wake vp the mightie men let all the men of warre drawe neere and come vp Nowe are wee come to the second meanes whereby the Lorde taketh vengeance on the enimies of his church that is by warre for as by warre they had wasted the Iewes so by warre shoulde themselues be confounded In this warre we are to consider First the preparation thereof by souldiers verse 9. then the instruments or weapons verse 10. Secondly the execution in the verses following First then in this verse he calleth for the souldiers and biddeth that the warre shoulde be proclaimed and that all the men fitted thereunto shoulde come vp to fight Whereby wee must first of all obserue that warre must bee proclaimed before it be waged Ios 22. 12. For it becommeth not anie prince or great person so to deale with his enimies that he ouercome them before they haue intelligence of him The reason First bicause peace must be first of all offered Deuter. 20. 10. For warre which is the slaughter of mankinde must be the last meanes for princes to right and trie their iniuries It must be taken in hande for necessitie not for pleasure and it must bee executed with mercie not with crueltie Another reason bicause victorie onely dependeth on God 2. Chron. 13. 12. and therefore wee must vse all good meanes in the vndertaking thereof least beginning without the Lordes counsell wee ende with his curse being guiltie of our own death others Let vs not then in this latter age of the world fear any of the rumours of warre Mat. 24. 6. for the Lord of hostes is the great warriour whose souldiers wee are and if hee can vse the roaring of the diuell to driue vs from hell then thinke also he will vse the trumpets of warre to bring vs into heauen Feare not I say all the rumours of warre in France Flanders Hungarie Turkie or in other places of the worlde for if the wicked die in them it is for sinne if good men by the punishment for sinne they kill sinne and all this shall promote the Gospell and preserue the church Secondly when he biddeth to awake the mightie men we may note that men of greatest courage and valour are fit for the warres 2. Sam. 10 9. But of this matter we haue spoken in the second chapter Againe when he calleth them to draw neer and to come vp we note that souldiers should beware that they haue a calling from God and a commandement from him to fight 1. King 22. 7. Iehoshaphat woulde not fight with Ahab against the Syrians till hee had inquired of the Lorde and this wee may see in Dauid many times For seeing warres are the cause of many mens death let vs beware that we adde not curse to curse like the king of Moab who being ouercome by the Israelites went home and sacrificed his owne sonne in the fire The reasons are First because they cannot prosper that waite not for the Lordes calling Ios 1. 17 18. Secondly he giueth power to fight Psalm 18. Let vs therefore bee so minded in warres that wee neuer vndertake them when the Lorde disalloweth them Numb 14. 44 45. The Israelites fighting with the Amorites contrarie to the Lordes wil were slaine and driuen backe againe whereas at other times they lost not a man but returned in victorie Againe let souldiers learne to keepe themselues from euill Deuter. 23. 9. For the battle or warfare is like a mans
death-bed and although a man haue made no conscience all the time of his health yet on his death-bed will he lie most deuout so let deuotion and religion raigne in them that follow the warres that euery mans death may be a sermon of repentance vnto them and let the trumpet admonish them of iudgement and their continuall danger awake them for the Lordes comming Oh that men of this life woulde so liue that they might fight in lesse danger ouercome with smaller losse liue with greater holinesse and die with greater honour die I saie to honour their countrey with their liues and their Sauiour with their soules Breake your plow shares into swordes and your sithes into speares let the weake say I am strong Hauing handled the pressing of the souldiers now it followeth that we goe to the preparation of weapons in this verse where he biddeth them to take their tooles wherewith they husbande the earth and turne them into the instruments of warre whereby we may obserue that the warre which the faithfull haue against their enimies is as needfull or more needfull then tillage of the earth Gen. 14. 14 15. Abraham to recouer againe Lot tooke all his houshold both shepherds and other and followed the kings which lead him away captiue and by a mayne battle ouerthrew them all And surely many times there is none but they may doe more good in the warre then at the plow and at the slaughter of men then at the mowing of corne If Abraham had not stirred presently all had beene lost and then woe had been Lot which should haue liued a prisoner and forgot the God of Abraham therefore better was it to leaue the sheepe to the danger of the woolfe and the earth to bee vntilled and ouergrowen with weeds then to let any soules of God be captiuate by man or bee taken away from the flocke and visible church of God The reasons First because it is waged for the Lord and for the church 2. Sam. 10. 12. now then it being sometime a part of the Lords seruice what worldly worke is there that must not yeelde vnto it Yea though it be as naturall as the tillage of the earth Againe then doth the Lord take vengeance of the sinnes of wicked men whereupon they were accursed by the prophet Ieremie that did the worke of the Lord negligently meaning those which did not execute the fulnesse of his wrath vpon the wicked that he had giuen into their hands Therefore learne the necessitie of warre and when thou art called then refraine not to come Ios 1. 14. to helpe thy brethren for they are accursed that follow not willingly the warre of God Iudg. 5. 23. Deborah cursed Meroz because it did not helpe Barac against Sisera and so are those faint harted and white-liuered souldiers who are afraide to loose their life in the Lords quarrell Some that are great presse forwarde those that are vnder them other beeing lawfully called buie out their calling with money and so auoide the warre substituting some one or other in their place who peraduenture runneth away before the battle Yea if it be so necessarie let them learne that God is sometime as well serued by killing in the fielde as at an other time by praying in the church and it is better for them to leaue wife and children to goe and fight against the Lords enemies then to liue at home and follow their dayly labour Let vs also learne to entreate the Lord to go forth with our armies against our enimies Psal 44. 9. for there is no policie like his presence no captaine like his direction no power like his grace no sworde like his anger no foe like his displeasure no shot like his breath and no danger like his absence Oh therefore if Barac would not goe except Deborah went with him then goe not to the warre except the Lord goe with thee The Israelites neuer lost battle wherein Iosuah was and therefore neuer shall wee loose the field if the Lord be on our side Let his call command thee his cause prouoke thee his presence arme thee and then shall neuer foe hurt thee Let him be thy captaine to go before thy company to follow after thy prouision to feed thy campe let his lawes gouerne thy souldiers his presence shal preserue thee from danger Oh pray when thou goest that he may guide thee when thou trainest that he may see thee whē thou fightest that he may saue thee Secondly when he thus calleth vnto thē to turne their plowshares into swords and their siethes into speares we may note that it is a thing requisite that euery one doe prouide him weapons for the defence of his countrie and therefore doth the spirite of God 1. Sam. 13. 23. account it a detestable policie of the Philistines who tooke away all the smiths out of Israell because they woulde keepe the Israelites without weapon for therein they were neuer able to trie their cause and to auenge themselues of their tyrannie The reason first because no man by the law of God is forbidden to defend himselfe although in his owne defence he kill his aduersarie yet coulde he not be blamed because the Lord had deliuered him into his hand And in truth I thinke it a rare policie of the diuell in the mouthes of Anabaptists denying Christians to weare weapons because thereby the Turks and Pagans might come vpon vs vnarmed men and so take away our liues and our profession together therefore I hold it as needefull for a man to weare weapon to defende himselfe from wounds as for a man to take physicke to preserue himselfe from sicknesse Let vs not spend more time herein then needeth but let vs learne that we prouide the weapons of the spirit Ephes 6. 11. Bee not armed against men and vnarmed against the diuell be as cunning to defend thy soule from hell as thou wouldest bee to defende thy life from death Seest thou not that a whole nation are ouercome without weapon and so shalt thou be ouercome without the sword of the spirite the shield of faith the helmet of saluation and the darts of faithfull praiers to wounde the infernall foes They are stronger therefore thou must learne more cunning they are wiser therfore thou must get more strength they are swifter therefore thou must strike more sure they are more dangerous therefore thou must bee more zealous Againe when he biddeth the weake to say that they are strong he thereby teacheth vs that we must not admit any excuse to keepe vs from the battell neither sicknesse nor lamenesse nor pouertie nor riches nor youth nor gentrie nor weakenesse must excuse men from fighting of the Lords battels but rather the zeale to doe him seruice must exceede and excell the want which oppresseth vs. Therefore learne from hence how thou oughtest to liue in all thy waies that God looketh for at thy hand no excuse can be
harts when they be ioyfull for as Herod was strooke with death while hee sate vpon his throne of maiestie so are we neuer neerer to our woe than when we are mounted to honour or seated in quietnesse The phisitions say that want of motion and loue of rest breedeth more diseases than all euill surfeits and so must we say that are the phisitions of mens soules that moe perish by ease than by labour by ioie than by sorrow by pleasure than by paine and by idle religion than by earnest and zealous profession The reasons the same that Isay taught chap. 65. 12. because God is refused in his word and good reason why it should be so for as already we haue shewed that the word must be a light for our pathes and a remembrancer to our soules which being forgotten no maruell if in our greatest securitie the Lords wrath ouertake vs. Therefore let the idle followers of the gospell perswade their soules with more zeale and diligence to bee informed by the Lord least the wrath take them sleeping or selling or drinking or playing or dicing or dauncing to their condemnation Secondly another reason because they loue pleasure more than God 2. Tim. 3. 4. therefore as Saneherib Isay 37. was slaine at that instant when hee was worshipping his idoll so shall their bane bee wrought when they are in their belly-worship following their pleasing delights Let vs therefore neuer put danger out of our mindes but then when wee are in most quiet comfort of soule and body let vs trouble our peace with one thought or other Mich. 3. 11. If thou haue children feare their death if thou haue parents feare their wrath if thou haue friends feare their hatred and if thou haue health feare thy sicknesse if thou be ioyfull at a feast thinke on the miserie of famine if at a pleasure thinke vpon the paine of the wounded if at libertie thinke vpon the irons of the imprisoned if in life thinke on the pangs of death Neuer exempt thy selfe from danger but in peace remember warre in youth remember age in play remember labour and in the heauen of the worldes delight thinke vpon the hell of another life Let sorrow be in thy sense mourning in thy soule danger in thy life feare in thy musicke trouble in thy sleepe paine in thy health want in thy plentie dislike in thy loue and distrust in thy desire so shalt thou neuer be called to sicknes but with lesse griefe or to danger but with lesse feare or to death but with lesse trouble or to iudgement but thou shalt be prouided for it Another vse seeing the wicked shall be drawen to iudgement in their greatest securitie then we may learne whether they feare wrath and euil or feare it not yet all is one it shall come vpon them Dauid said that the feare of the wicked shall fall on him and herewee see Ioel saith that though they sleepe yet shall they be awaked with and for their danger so that if wicked men feare their sorrowe is the more and if they feare not their danger is not the lesse Oh miserable captiuitie of wicked men which are hardened to feele more paine and softened to feare more wrath would not this bring vs out of loue with our sinne and make vs earnestly to lament our follies which giue vs no peace till we desire them and no rest after wee possesse them But of this often haue wee spoken before For there will I sit When he saith that he will sit in iudgement we may note that the Lord will with no labour condemne the wicked as it is Mal. 1. 4. euen as one that sitteth in al ease Againe in this that he sitteth in iudgement he alludeth to the iudgements of men which were most lawfull shewing that his proceedings against the wicked were not vniust or extraordinarie but according to equity But this is especially to be regarded when he nameth the persons whom he will iudge saying all the heathen rounde about meaning all those which dwelt neere vnto Israell Whereby we are taught that those which are our neighbours and see our worship and liue neere or among vs and yet be not of vs but are our enimies God will iudge them more seuerly Ierem. 12. 14. For if they which liue among vs and see euerie day the workes of God for vs and in vs will not be ruled by vs or turned to vs they may waite for the heauier iudgement And therefore was Philisthia more iudged then Arabia and Syria more vexed then Ethiopia because they were on the confines of Israell Then surely this may teach the loose Protestants and vaine professors among vs what great daunger they liue in all this while they haue heard the Gospell and not beleeued it the neerer they were to the truth the more is the Lordes wrath against them and the longer they haue liued in our peace and seene the glorious workes of God the more shall bee their heauie iudgement It were better for them that they liued in Rome or in Barbarie or in Tartarie where the gospell is not talked of for then should they be farther from danger but now they liue with vs eating at our tables treading on our Land standing in our churches cloathed with our garments and blessed by our God Oh how deere shall they pay for all these benefits for the Lord will iudge them that dwell neere vs much more them that dwel with vs he will condemne them that dwel about vs much more them that dwell among vs. The reasons of this doctrine are these First bicause they should be subiect to the church Isa 60. 5. The members of the church are the true lawfull kings of the world all other ought to be their subiects therefore when the subiect rebelleth against his naturall prince he is more punished then a stranger so when the neerest neighbours of the church are most of all negligent they are more endangered then other are for when the Lord giueth most meanes of instruction such as is to liue among the godly then he rewardeth such neglect or contempt with more seuere punishment Another reason because they should succour thē in their necessitie Isa 21. 14. but if they will taste of their benefits and not beleeue their sayings or cōfort them in their sorrowes they are the more woorthie to be destroyed The vse let vs neuer meddle against good men Matth. 27. 19. for their iniuries will be rewarded double vpon our heads If thou liue with them honour them if thou heare of them goe visite them if they teach thee beleeue them if they want thee relieue them and neuer be an enimie vnto them The Lord saith that our treading on the earth is sufficient to make vs without excuse if we beleeue him not and then surely it is sufficient to condemne those that liue vnder the Gospell and receiue not the Gospell that they tread on our lande see our
contrarie to al reason and nature For God which seeth more then we see can doe more then we can doe Therefore feare not thy worldly ioy which is as deere to thee as euer was Isaac to Abraham for God can raise it out of the pits of deepest sorrowe into the throne of euerlasting pleasure The xxviij Sermon Vers 22 Be not afraid yee beasts of the field for the pastures of the wildernes are greene for the tree beareth her fruit the fig-tree and the vine doe giue their force HAuing finished the generall exhortation now followeth the speciall whereof this first is directed to the beasts of the field bidding them not be afraide for now the fruits are budded out of the earth as they had already tasted of mans punishmēt which commeth by sin so now they should taste of mans blessing which commeth by repentance We must not so take this speech of the prophet as if the beasts did or could vnderstand but by a vsuall figure of the scripture whereby a person is fayned to do a thing that it cannot doe as in that of Ieremie Heare ô heauens hearken ô earth c. For as God calleth things that are not as if they were so he speaketh to things that vnderstand not as if they did From hence that the Prophet speaketh to bruit beasts we may note that it is the word of God that gladdeth both man and beast Gen. 1. 22. for when the word of comfort is withdrawen then they mourn as we heard in the former chapter but when it standeth then they reioice and when it waineth then they fal away The first reason because they doe reuerence thereunto now their reuerence proceedeth not of fear but of nature whereby the creature reioiceth in his creator Isa 45. 21. Againe their whole life doth depend thereon Psalm 36. 6. and therefore their whole care or rather their naturall incliation is to glorifie their creator Let vs also which are the creatures of God partakers of their natures as we haue a spirit with the angels sence and flesh with the beasts life and motion with trees and solide substance with the stones be glad and ioyfull with the earth in much fruit with the trees in a quicke and growing obedience with the beasts in a liuely sence of the Lords grace and with the angels in an euerlasting lauding of his maiestie or else he will take his word from vs and giue it to them which wil beare more fruit for although we be all destroyed yet is God able of the stones of the street to make liuing soules to sit with angels in his kingdome and let vs cast away all vncleannes Iam. 1. 21. that with them we may be cleere of sinne and readie for immortalitie I might also in this verse take occasion to shew you how all the creatures of God reioyce in his benefits the oxe for the grasse the foule for seeds the fishes for raine the Bee for the dew the horse for the pasture and the angels for the conuersion of men therefore let man bee conuerted that hee abuse not that which these honour and despise not that which saueth vs all Be glad then ye children of Zion and reioce in the Lord your God for he hath giuen you the raine of righteousnes and he will cause to come downe for you the first raine and the latter raine in the first moneth This verse containeth another speciall exhortation to the members of the church vnder the name of Zion as hath beene alreadie declared bidding them also to reioice for as there is a time to mourne so there is a time to reioise And the reasons of their ioy are rehearsed First because as raine so should righteousnes come downe vpon them 23. Secondly for fruitfulnes which should fill all their barnes 24. and fully recompence their former losses 25. and lastly that they should comfortably eate thereof vers 26. When he biddeth the children of Zion to be glad we may note that it is onely God that reioiceth our hearts Eccl. 2. 24. for as before he had bid them rend in sunder their hearts so now he biddeth them to sow them togither againe and he himselfe doth giue a plaister to make them whole for euermore Thus worketh repentance first by teares and then by ioyes as a woman that first groneth and afterward laugheth with her child in hir armes and like to old Iacob who went a long iourney into Egypt to see his sonne Ioseph and their first meeting was nothing but teares The reason because God onely taketh away sinne Prou. 29. 6. therefore our sinnes make vs sorrowfull when they are wantied to vs as a burthen to a horses backe and then they reioice vs when they are taken from vs but sinnes are not onely burthens on our backes but prickes in our sides and thornes in our eies which keepe vs from all rest and hinder vs from all sight of goodnes They play with vs for a season as the diuell seemeth to play with witches but alas in the end their mating faces are all turned into sorrowfull woes Another reason because God onely humbleth and raiseth vp and therefore he onely giueth sorrow and ioy Psal 51. 10. Let vs therefore knowe when we are heauie that God hath laid his hand vpon vs and feare his name Psal 86. 10. and not seeke extraordinarie meanes as Saul did by musicke to remooue from vs that dumpish greefe that presseth vs downe but rather take the exhortation of Iames when we be sorrowfull to lift vp our selues in praier for as those which were stoong with serpents must looke on the brazen serpent before they could bee whole so must wee which are stoong with sorrowe looke to the Lorde which wrought our sorrow before we can reioice Againe let vs seeke for those lawfull meanes in the creatures of God which may any way cause vs in the time of our sorrowes to lift vp our selues in praise to God Psal 70. 5. There is not any creature but it may put vs in minde of some benefite or other so that so often as we behold the same so often wee may reioice in the workmanship of our creator and truly as it is a great fault not to mourne when God calleth for lamentation so is it no lesse fault not to reioice when God biddeth to reioice Let vs therefore learne to be so affected that by the plentifull hand of God we may be stirred vp to praise but by withdrawing his benefites we may bee mooued to repentance Againe when hee speaketh to the church vnder the name of the children of Zion we are taught that the members of the church must be as children Matt. 18. 3. Children are euer growing so must we in grace children often hunger so ought we after the foode of our soules they take no care but their parents prouide for them no more ought we for God careth for vs their natures are pure so must ours be