the perfume of these odours Lord we follow thee hereby drawn we run after thee For the Use of this We are to be warned of the judgements that God hath inflicted upon others For this end our Lord biddeth us Remember Lots wife Application and Paul telleth Jude vers 7. how God punished the old Israelites and Jude telleth of the sin and punishment of the Angels of the old world of Sodome and faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they lie out as a sea-mark yea God saith Zeph. 3.6 7. Zeph. 3. that he cut off the nations and made their towers waste and their streets desolate intending that his people should fear and receive instruction that they should hear and learn as it is said in Deuteronomy In sanguine tuo caeteri discent disciplinam said a Proconsul unto one he punished In the characters of thy blood others shall read instruction An so on the other side we should be encouraged and comforted by the instances of Gods mercies for Whatsoever was written aforetime was written for our learning saith the Scripture that we might have hope And whatsoever God hath mercifully done for others he hath done it to encourage others to the expectation of the like for his arm is not shortened but that he can do as much as ever and he is as good as ever and if we finde not what others have found we may thank our selves for it and so we may indeed We would finde the same favour that David did Why do we not Because though we have sinned with David we have not repented with David We would finde the same favour that Peter did Why do we not Because we do not weep as Peter did We would finde a return of our prayers as Elias did Why do we not Because we do not pray fervently as he did We would have an happie issue out of our afflictions Why have we not Because we are not humbled under the hand of God as his children have been If we had been so we should have found such honey in that lion that we should have had occasion to say It was good for us to have been in trouble Let us carry our selves as Gods people have done and let us confidently expect that the mercy he hath shewed to others he will shew to us and so we shall be able to tell others what God hath done for our souls that so they may cast themselves also upon the goodness of the same God and finde help in time of need Preached Ian. 26. 1641. THE NINETEENTH SERMON GEN. 16.14 15 16. Beer-lahai-roi It is between Cadesh and Bered Vers 15. And Hagar bare Abraham a son c. FOr the name given to the Well it is called The well of him that liveth and seeth me First of him that liveth Often in both Testaments Observ 1. God is the sole fountain of life the living God and all other refuges dead without him Deut. 5.26 Josh 3.10 1 Sam. 17.36 Psal 42.2 is God called The living God Here and again Deut. 5. Who is there of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire and lived Josh 3. Hereby shall you know that the living God is among you So 2. Sam. 17. David saith that Goliath defied the armies of the living God So 2 Kings 19.4 the King of Assyria sent Rabshakeh to reproach the living God So Psal 42. My flesh crieth out for the living God Dan. 6.20 Darius calleth Daniel the servant of the living God Dan. 6.20 and verse 26. he calleth God the living God So Matth. 16.16 Peter saith Thou art the Son of the living God I adjure thee by the living God saith the high-Priest to Christ Matth. 26.63 So 2 Cor. 3.3 Saint Paul mentioneth the Spirit of the living God and 1 Tim. 3. he calleth it the Church of the living God Heb. 9.14 1 Tim. 3.15 Revel 7.2 To serve the living God And Revel 7. the Angel had the seal of the living God We shall finde in the Scripture that Gods oath is by his life As I live saith the Lord Numb 14.28 Isai 49.18 As I live saith the Lord. And Jerem. 22.24 As I live saith the Lord though Coniah were as the signet of my right hand Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked And as we finde not that he hath sworn by any thing but his life and holiness so others have made it their oath As the Lord God of Israel liveth saith David to Abigail 1 Sam. 25.34 So Ittai to David 2 Sam. 15.21 As the Lord liveth So Elijah to Ahab 1 Kings 17. 1 Kings 17.1 As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand And so Elisha to Elijah 2 Kings 2.2 Many other places might be brought but we shall make mention of them in the Application The Heathens had this understanding and therefore they called their Jupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from living And most truely and properly is God said to be the living God for he hath life in himself and of himself Jo◠5.26 Joh. 5. The Father hath life in himself no creature hath it in or of it self He saith to Moses Exod. 3.14 I am that I am that is of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 1. I that am nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ero is the Hebrew word Deut. 5.26 I will be which no creature can challenge Deut. 5. the place before cited he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the God of life yea of lives not onely the living God but the God of life It is a rule that Suarez giveth Suarez Genitivi pro adjectivis in Scriptura positi exaggerationem significant that genitives in holy Writ put for adjectives do augment the signification as a man of blood and a man of violence and the man of sin and a man of strength and a man of wisdom So that then by this phrase the God of life we may gather That life is eminent in God and not onely so but essentially and originally in God and therefore he is called not onely the living God but life it self Joh. 14.6 Joh. 14. I am the Way the Truth and the Life 1 Joh. 5.20 This is the true God and eternal life not onely life but life eternal as the Angel sware by him that liveth for ever Revel 10.6 Revel 10. In all other things their Life and They are two but God is his own life and because he is his own life he is eternal for as Aquinas well reasons against the Gentiles Aquinas A separation is a division of one thing from another Nothing can be separated from it self Therefore God must needs live eternally because he cannot be separated from himself 2. He justly deserveth the name of the living God because he giveth life to every living thing whatsoever liveth lives by participation from him therefore he
make us hereafter happie Preached May 26. 1641. THE FIFTH SERMON GEN. 16.4 And he went in to Hagar and she conceived and when she had conceived c. THere remaineth one thing of the former verse and that is the circumstance of time when this plot of Abrahams marrying of Hagar was put in practice after Abraham had dwelt ten yeers in the land of Canaan Now this time is mentioned say some Hebrews because this was the time set for trial Whether the wife was like to be barren or fruitful But Rebekah was twenty yeers barren Cajetan thinketh Cajetan it was to shew that Sarah now past hope of children she being was seventy five yeers old ten yeers younger then Abraham S. Chrysostome in locum S. Chrysostome saith There is mention of the time to give us to understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how long the Patriarch waited how many yeers he stoutly bare out his unfruitfulness and how being above all passion he declared his great continence and wisdom notwithstanding his wives barrenness never thought of having children by any other then his wife But surely this circumstance of time having reference to the marriage of Abraham and Sarah it sheweth thus much That Abraham having now continued ten yeers in the land of Canaan and having had a promise of seed and no appearance of it in all this time at the end of ten yeers Sarah bethinks her self of this project and herein discovereth First her Impatience she was weary of waiting any longer Secondly her Diffidence she distrusted that any issue should come by her And Thirdly her attempting of an unlawful course And these three are usually linked together Observ 1. Impatient distrust and unlawful means are Satans three fold cord and go commonly together that people of Israel while they were in the wilderness often murmured and were discontented for this and that which they wanted and grew so impatient that they do not onely fly upon Moses and Aaron but they distrust God they question his presence is the Lord amongst us and his power can God prepare a table in the wilderness Nay they grow not onely to wishing that they had dyed in Egypt but they say one to another let us make a captain and return into Egypt they are impatient they are diffident and that maketh them think of a desperate course and maketh them resolve of going back to that place wherein they had endured such miserable slavery to the embâ—â—â—ering of their lives Impatience distrust and ill courses go together and from whence they were freed by a most miraculous hand Yea thus it was with David while God deferred the accomplishment of his promise and that Saul still hunted him as he saith like a partridg upon the mountains he groweth impatient in his spirit and that worketh to a diffidence for he saith all men are lyers and that which they have said unto him hath been but to gull and delude him nay his thoughts bubble up against God as if he had forgotten to be gracious and he flatly saith I shall one day fall by the hand of Saul and what followeth upon this but a desperate act he casteth himself amongst the Philistins which if God had not been the more merciful had been the next means of his confusion This we see in Job when the hand of God continued heavy upon him and that not only his body was pained but his minde was afflicted he groweth impatient and is weary of bemoaning himself and then he groweth distrustfull He cryeth as he saith but God heareth not Iob. 30.20 he standeth up and God regardeth not Job 30. And he sticketh not to think yea to say that God hath a purpose to make an end of him c. 7. 15. nay see what this commeth to at some time Job 7. My soul chooseth strangling and death rather then my life And yet this man is propounded as an example of patience James 5. To let us know that the best graces in Gods children while they are cloathed with flesh are mingled with imperfection And Secondly that in those infirmities which escape us under some tedious and piercing afflictions so we see them and strive against them and be grieved for them as he was God will be merciful unto us In experience we finde how ordinary it is when men have long waited for deliverance from this or that cross or long sought this or that blessing they grow impatient and tumultuous in their thoughts and from that they come to diffidence and distrust 2 King 6.33 and say with Iehoram 2 Kings 6. Why should we wait on God any longer Either they distrust his power that he cannot help or his goodness that he will not help and then followeth by the suggestion of Satan and their own corrupt hearts an using of unlawful means and courses 1 Sam. 28. to satisfie themselves Some men like Saul run to the witch at endor because God answereth him not and some mens diffidence groweth as sower as despaire and they cast themselves out of this life into an eternal death Now for the Use of this Application Labour we to stop this course in the head and whensoever God exerciseth us or how long soever let us possess our souls in patience Now I do not make patience to be an insensibleness under Gods hand for I finde that considered as a fault Jsai 42. Isa 42.25 He hath poured out the fury of his anger upon Jacob the fire burned him and he laid it not to heart And Jerem. 5.3 Thou hast strucken them but they have not grieved If a parent should correct his child and should finde in him a stubborn indolence would he not be displeased with it This is Asinina patientia an asses patience neither do I mean by patience that strength of spirit and manlike resolution and courage that is found in some out of pride of heart scorning to complain as that party saith Jerem. 10. Ierem. 10.19 Truly this is a grief and I must beare it This is Obduratio or durities as the scool calleth it hardness and obduration and Job calleth it an hardning of a mans self in sorrow s Job 6. But I mean by patience Iob. 6.10 a meek submission of ones self to Gods dispensation out of a consideration First Of Gods soveraignty and power Secondly Out of a sence of our own deserts by sin Thirdly Out of a perswasion of that comfortable issue hovereth in the close that God will give to our tryall if we can depend upon him This I say we must labour for and though the exercise of our patience belong yet we must not give out Sarah here wayted ten years I confess many of us would have been sooner weary but if God should not answer us in twelve years so long had the woman been troubled with a bloody issue Luke 8. Luk. 8. and had spent all her living upon physitians and could not be healed of
Philistims the insultation of her colleague was that which vexed the soul of Hannah David bemoaneth himself to God Psal 69. Thou hast known my reproaah and my shame Psal 69.19 20. c. and my dishonour and verse 20. that you may see how it affected him he saith reproach hath broken mine heart and Psal 119.39 he prayeth God to turn away the reproach which he so feared and Psal 123.10 he saith our soul is filled with the scorning of those that are at ease Alexander did profess that neither the proscription of his goods nor his banishment nor the wounds received in his body were so grievious unto him as one scornful word of his enemy Ctesiphon and when the height of Gods anger is set down against the wicked He is said to laugh them to scorn Psal 2. and amongst his sorest punishments he threatneth to make wicked men a scorn and hissing and a shame and reproach to others For the Use of it This may befal us who had rather suffer a blow then a jeer Application a wound then a word of disgrace and therefore we must arm our selves against it by considering First that others and those dear Saints of God have suffered the like how was Joseph scorned by his bretheren they stile him in contempt the dreamer and how was Moses used by the people as for this Moses we know not what is become of him S. Chrysostome which Saint Chrysostom saith was spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in way of contempt and contumely and so we see how Job was despised when he was down the weather yea even by those whom when he prospered he would scarce have set with the dogs of his flock and David was fully exercised in this kinde the very abjects despised him and the drunkards made Songs of him and Jeremy complaineth Chapter 20. Jer. 20.7 J am in derision daily and every one mocketh me how was our blessed Saviour despised and rejected of men as it was prophesied Isa 53. they vilified him in his life and gave him base language he was a sinner in their mouthes a friend of publicans and sinners he was a Samaritan and had a divel and in his death he that was Clarus imperio was plenus opprobrio as the Father speaks he that was bright in Majesty was ful of ignominy he was undervalued to a wicked murtherer he suffered between two theeves and when he was upon the Cross one of them reviled him and those that passed by flouted him and wagged their heads saying Thou that destroyest the Temple and buildest it up in three dayes save thy self how were the Apostles contemned thought to be full of new wine and so Saint Paul amongst the rest disparaged as a babler by the Athenians as a pestilent fellow by Tertullus as a mad man by Festus Why then let not contempt and scorn afflict us too much seeing we have such partners in it Secondly to stay us let us consider of Gods hand in it we suffer according to the will of God 1 Pet. 4. 1 Pet. 4.10 and David stayed himself with this that God bid Shimei rail 2 Sam. 16. God hath many rods to scourge us withal and if he please to take this of Contempt who are we that we should murmure 2. God doth it for good ends First to exercise our patience Secondly to keep us from seeking the praises of men Thirdly to assure us that we are in the right way that other of his servants have been in for they have gone thorow good report and bad report 2 Cor. 6.8 2 Cor. 6. 3. A third thing that I prescribe for the better bearing of Contempt is to labour the subduing of that pride which is in our hearts for because we think too well of our selves and have an over-weening of our own parts we are impatient of the least scorn Haman was a proud man and therefore it brake his heart almost to finde disrespect but from one poor Jew The Pharisees were proud and highly conceited of themselves and therefore we see how they scorn the man that had been blinde and think themselves disparaged that he should teach them 4 We should be often in the meditation of our sins for when a man seriously considereth of them and groaneth under them he maketh nothing of mens taunts and reproaches When Sin lieth heavie Contempt lieth light but where sin lieth light every disgraceful passage is a burden Psal 38. David saith Psal 38. being exercised with a sight of his sin when his enemies did vent their scorn and reproaches against him he was as a man that heard not and in whose mouth were no reproofs 5. Lastly let us seek in all things to approve our selves to God and then we shall be able to say with Saint Paul I pass not to be judged of you 2 Cor. 4. 1 Cor 4. as knowing that he is not commended whom man praiseth but whom God commendeth 2 Cor. 10.18 While a man knoweth that he is in Gods books what need he care for the Contempt that the world putteth upon him A Pearl loseth not its value because it is tumbled in the dust I will be base in my own sight saith David It will appear another day of what high account God maketh his despised servants and they shall have glory for that scorn they have suffered and our blessed Lord despised the shame for the glory that was set before him Heb. 12. Heb. 12. But now to come to the Expostulation First she challengeth her husband of doing her wrong and we may observe 1. How bitter and vehement she is in her language 2. How unjust her challenge was She was bitter These were harsh terms for a woman but especially for a wife and to such a husband as Abraham was to her But as Chrysostom saith Observ 4. Of shrewishness and effeminate passions with the allays thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the words of a woman right and of the weakness of that sex a womans words transported with passion which is a thing that often befalleth those of that corporation they are not onely acrimonious and sharp but bitter in their language There was too much bitterness in that speech of Zipporah to Moses Exod. 4.25 Surely a bloody husband thou art unto me and she goeth over it again for the clack when it is once a going doth not soon cease a bloody husband thou art unto me And what a bitter word was that of Michal to David and mingled with much scorn How glorious was the king of Israel to day who uncovered himself in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants as one of the vain fellows uncovereth himself She maketh him not onely uncivil but no better then a fool 2 Sam. 6.20 And was not that speech as bitter of Jezebel to Ahab when he lay sick upon his bed because Naboth had denied him his vineyard 1 Kings 21. 1 Kings 21.7 Dost thou now govern the kingdom
by any miscarriages to lose or forfeit them Psal 85.8 Psal 85. God will speak to his people and to his Saints with this intention that they shall return no more unto folly The Use of this is First to us that be the Ministers and you that are the people To us Application in the speaking comforts and to you in the receiving of them We must not comfort before we see you humbled for your sins God giveth his Ministers the tongue of the learned to minister a word in due season but to whom to him that is weary Isai 50. We must Isai 50.4 like the good Samaritan pour in first wine and then oil we must purge by Potion and then comfort by Cordial we must use first verbera the stripes of the Law and then draw out uhera the brests of the Gospel I know that people are greedy of comforts and like the sons of Zebedee they would have a grant of sitting on the right hand and left in Christs Kingdom before ever they have drank of the cup that he did drink of or have been baptized with his baptism they send for the Minister and desire him to give it them but discover not any measure of humiliation upon which to ground this comfort Now if we should satisfie them in this we should be unfaithful to our Master and bad stewards of that allowance which he giveth us to dispense yea it may be we might be guilty of giving childrens bread unto dogs And as we should be unfaithful to God so we should be helpless to men we should do them no good with comforts being not disposed for them by humiliation nay we should do them much harm for the great Master of Physick telleth us that Hippocrates in an impure body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omne nutritivum est nocivum that which nourisheth hurteth There must be first an evacuation of humours where there is Plethory and then nourishing things do well As we must be therefore careful in our way to give every one the portion of meat in due season so do not you require comforts of us till you come to a sight of your sins and have true remorse in your souls for them A second Use may be this even to abate the joy of some people in the world who brag of those comforts that they have in themselves and perswasion that they have of their good condition and yet cannot say that they have been truely and sensibly cast down for their sins I may say Their rejoycing is not good as the Apostle speaketh 1 Cor. 5. 1 Cor. 5. in another case They may suspect such a building as hath no better a foundation They may justly fear that their comfort is not of God because they have it not according to Gods order and method For on whom hath he ever bestowed the spirit of adoption who have not first had the spirit of bondage What spirit hath ever God raised that he hath not first in some measure cast down I say In some measure for I know the same measure of humiliation is not required of all As there may be in the soul false fears Satan hath his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Father calls them S. Chrysostom his vizards to terrifie people withal and to make them fear when there is no just cause of fear so there may be false joys and people may triumph in some comforts that yet are not the joy of the Spirit Remember we it every of us True joy in the Christian soul riseth out of sorrow for sin And that is the truest consolation that we finde in our selves after true humiliation A Second thing is this Here is a promise of a great blessing to this woman but mark how it is inferred even upon the direction that the Angell had given her in the former vers If she shall return and humble her self under the hand of her mistress acknowledging her fault Observ 2. Gods promises run alwaies with condition of obedience the defect whereof Nulleth his obligation Deut. 8.29 and carrying her self fittingly for after time then she may expect the accomplishment of that blessing which the Angell here foretelleth The promises of the blessings of God run with a condition of our obedience If thou dost well shall thou not be accepted saith God to Cain Gen. 4.7 Acceptation there is a full word it includeth the blessings both of this life and that which is to come but there is also a condition of doing well So Deut. 8.29 Oh that there were such an heart in this people to fear me and keep all my commandements alwayes that it might be well with them and with their seed for ever God engageth himself to be good unto them and to their seed but there is a condition of obeying him and keeping his commandements c. 28. and this Moses fully layeth forth in Deut. 28. Where he mentioneth a world of blessings but withall mentioneth the condition of enjoyment of them even the keeping and observing of Gods commandements David giveth none encouragement to Solomon to receive Gods blessing 1 Chron. 28. but upon condition of his obedience Psal 122.12 1 Chron. 28. And it was none other then God himself had told him as he relates it Psal 122.12 If thy children shall keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them thus and thus it shall be unto them Psal 84.11 The Lord is a Sun and a shield he will give grace and glory no good thing will he withhold here is good measure pressed down heaped up and running over but for whom is all this or what is the condition You shall finde it in the next words Isai 1.19 Those that walk uprightly upright walking is the condition of these blessings Isaiah 1.19 If you be willing and obedient you shall eate the good things of the land Where see that those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things that concern this life as the Apostle calleth them 1 Cor. 6.3 are promised with a condition and for the blessings of the life to come They run with a condition also as we may gather from that speech of our Lord Mat. 19.17 Mat. 19. to the young man who desired to know what he should do to obtain eternal life for he made account he must do some thing for it Christ tells him If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandements God hath made a promise of blessings both here and hereafter but to what Saint Paul will tell us 1 Tim. 4. Godliness hath the promise both of this and that life which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Be thou faithful unto the death and I will give thee the crown of life saith our Lord unto the Church Revel 2.10 The promise is upon condition of practice For the Use of it It meets first with a great many in the world who are urging God with the performance of his promise yea
to bestow temporall favours with a full hand upon such as are Aliens from the common-wealth of Israel We see this in manifold examples how God hath made the cup of the wicked run over with these outward things Esau had the fatness of the earth for his portion and those Sodomites that were so profligately wicked yet dwelt in a place that was as the garden of Eden And the Canaanites whom God cast out and were so notorious for all kindes of abomination had a land that flowed with milke and honey The rich glutton in the Gospel was cloathed in purple and fared deliciously every day Luk. 12. and that other Luk. 12. had his barnes full and looked to receive his incoms They have had and have honour and great places and offices they have had children at their desire they have had goodly dwellings and gotten great victories and been succesfull in many enterprizes and there be many reasons of this First God will shew his bounty even to the vessels of wrath there shall be none but shall partake of his favour Secondly some good may be found in the most desperate persons some morall good some action though not in their intention yet in the event that hath some goodness in it and the least good God will not suffer to go unrewarded As Saint Ierom observeth upon Ezekiel 29. S Ierom. Ezech. 29. In Gods giving of Egypt to Nebuchodonosor for his service against Tyrus Intelligimus etiam Ethnicos si quid boni fecerint absque mercede in Iudicio domini non praeteriri We hence understand saith he that very heathen men if any good they do are not dismissed without a recompence from the justice of the righteous Lord. Thirdly God will hereby render them inexcusable if they be not allured by his favours he will be justified in his judgments upon them Saint Augustin seemeth to add a fourth reason drawn from the nature of these outward blessings Dantur bonis ne putentur mala dantur malis ne putentur summe bona They are given to good men lest they should be thought evill things and they are given to evill men lest they should be thought the chiefest good For the Use of this Application Eccles 9.2 Let not men crow upon the enjoyment of these outward things for they are no arguments of Gods special love Eccles 9. neither love nor hatred by all that is before them the wicked may have them and have them ex largitate sed non ex benignitate dei Out of Gods royall bounty as a benefactor but not out of his tender love as a Father Secondly let not the godly envy the prosperity of the wicked this temptation they have had Psal 37.1 c. as we see in David Psal 73. and Iob 21. and Ierem. 12. But what saith the Psalmist Fret not thy self because of the ungodly neither be thou envious against the evill dooers they taste of his common bounty but not of his spirituall love and besides they stand in slippery places their table is their snare Et faelicitas implorum fovea ipsorum The prosperity of fooles saith Solomon is their destruction They are but fatted to the day of slaughter they receive all the good they are like to have in this life as Abraham saith to the rich man in Hell nay in steed of envying let the godly be comforted First let them make account that God will give them that which is fitting for them even in these outward things for if the dogs be so fed surely the children shall not want bread But if God be pleased to keep them short in these outward things he will make it up to them in spirituall yea in eternal blessings Quid dabit eis quos praedestinavit ad vitam Qui haec dedit eis quos pradestinavit ad mortem saith the Father what will he give to those whom he hath ordained unto life who hath given such good things to those whom he ordained unto death Lastly Let it be an Use to us all that seeing even the wicked may have so great a share in these outward things we should labour for those things that be most excellent and that may put a difference between us and them these outward things are gratis data gratiously and freely given but there be some things that be gratum facientia carrying grace along with them as the school speaketh and making their receivers gratious and such are true piety and godliness and the fear of the Lord There is justification and sanctification and peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost These be panis Filiorum the childrens bread these be prima the first and chief things these outward things but the Et Caetera the additionals First seek the kingdom of Heaven and the righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added unto you Let us labour to be in Christ in God and then we shall have more joy then all they whose corn and wine and oyle is increased Let us be adorned with the sanctifying graces of Gods Spirit in comparison whereof all the riches and honours and pleasures of the world are but dung and dross and the King of Heaven shall take pleasure in our Beauty Preached Decemb. 8. 1641. THE FOVRTEENTH SERMON GEN. 16.11 And the angel of the Lord said unto her Behold thou art with childe and shalt bear a son WE told you the words of the Angel to Hagar were of three sorts First words of Question Secondly of Admonition Thirdly of Prediction We have dispatched the two first and entred upon the third The Prediction is of three things 1. Of the multiplication of her seed vers 10. 2. Concerning the childe she went withal that was to be the root of that numerous issue vers 8. 3. Concerning the quality and condition of the childe vers 12. The first Prediction we stood upon the last day Now we are come to the second and this Prediction hath many Consolations in it First concerning her conception Secondly that she shall bring forth Thirdly that the issue shall be a son Fourthly that his name shall be Ishmael And Lastly in the reason of his name much comfort in that God had heard her affliction For the first Behold thou art with childe Lyra and others Lyra Glossa ordin read it in the future tense Thou shalt conceive And they have this conceit that Hagar first in way of punishment for her sin for her insolency toward her mistress and her flight from her and secondly through the weariness of her journey had suffered abortion her former conception was frustrated but now God in his mercy upon her humiliation would revive that embryo that was dead within her But Paulus Burgensis recites this as a Fable Paulus Burgensis and confutes the reason that Lyra giveth And whereas Lyra saith It is read in the future tense it is wonder that so great an Hebritian should be so mistaken for it is not so It is
Application First Let all Parents learn to give fitting Names to their Children such as may mind them of Gods mercy and their duty such as may be Monitors to them upon all occasions to remember God and themselves Scripture Names are fit to be given for they have good instructions in them Secondly Names of vertuous Predecessours by whose examples they may be stirred up to tread in their steps They too too much offend that care not what heathenish Names they give to their Children and some give such ridiculous Names that they are far from Christianity or Civility And some again are so affected and rather give Sentences sometimes then Names that me thinks it is a dishonor to God in whose Name the Child is baptized to the holy Sacrament which is solemnized and to the Congregation of Saints before whom the Name is given yea to the Child it self who is like to carry a mock and a brand rather than a Name all the daies of the life of it Thirdly When people have good and significant Names given unto them let them labour to make them good so did John He had the grace of God and Theophilus He loved God So did Timotheus according to his name He was a man that feared God So was Clemens and Prudens So was St. Jerom's Pannachius and St. Ambrose his Agnes and Nazianzens Meletius And Valentinian said of Probus He was vir sui nominis that he was a man of his own name i. e. an honest man Those that have had ill names have fulfilled them as we see in Zeb and Oreb a Wolfe and a Raven and such they were against the people of God And Nabal as his name was so was he he was a foole and folly was with him And Achitophel made good his name for though he were accounted as a wise man and consulted as an Oracle yet he dyed as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. The kinsman or brother of a foole for seeing his Counsell despised He went home set his house in order and hung himself Let those then that have good names make them good But here is a grosse defect Absalon hath a name that signifieth the peace of his Father and we know full well what a disturbance and a vexation he was unto him Zedechiah signifieth the righteousness of God and a most unrighteous man he was Antiochus was called Epiphanes i. e. illustrious whereas he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the furious and breathed out nothing but cruelty against the people of God And so the Pope of Rome that stileth himself Servus servorum the servant of Servants sheweth how he doth affect to be Dominus Dominantium A Lord of Lords it is a fashion of the Popes when they enter on the Popedome to alter their names But Pollidâ—r Virgil observes Pol. Virg. He that called himself Bonifacius was Malefacius He meaneth an ill doer Urbanus was Rusticus i. e. clownish or as it was said of one of that name Turbanus from his troubling so the Christian world Innocentius Improbus being most nocent Pius impius being ungodly Paulus Saulus being a persecutor And so the Jesuites have a glorious name but as one saith of the Philosophers Nomen sibi solum retinuerunt They have retained only the name unto themselves for how unlike are they to him whose name they do most impudently usurp He went about doing good they go about doing mischief like their great master the devill seeking whom he may devour And as he commeth from compassing the earth so they compasse Sea and Land to make a Proselyte though they make him seven times more the child of the devill then themselves His words and deeds were alwaies full of compassion and mercy their 's full of rage and cruelty None more meek then he none more proud then they None more peaceable then he none more tumultuous then they As of old there was no Play but there was a Devill in it so no Treason or Conspiracy in these latter times wherein the hand of these Joabs these Jesuites is not But not to lay the Scene too far off How are we our selves guilty in this kind We have a glorious Appellation that which those of the Church of Antioch first had and no doubt triumphed in Acts 11. And that is Act. 11 26. the name of Christians we have it from Christ 1 Iohn 2. and should have that annointing St. John speaketh of 1 John 2. And the same mind should be in us that was in Christ Jesus as St. Paul speaketh we should learn of him we should resemble him and the very name is a strong Obligation upon us Bernard St. Bernard maketh one of the graces of the soul to be Recordatio propriae professionis the apprehension and memory of her own Christian Profession But at the other side it is a foul disparagement to a man vocari quod non est to be intituled what he is not Saith S. Augustin Nomen inane Crimen immane a frustrated name St. August is an hainous crime and yet how defective are we unto this our Denomination Called Christians but live like Pagans Oh what a Soloecisme is This Our Lord hath redeemed us and there is a vertue that proceedeth from his Passion to make those whom he hath redeemed holy He is our head and thence is an influence from the head into all the members Too we profess our selves the Redeemed of the Lord and find no vertue of his Death Members of him and find no power conveighed unto us for Piety What will the Heathen say Christians and bloudy Christians and excessive Christians and licentious Christians and fraudulent Christians and malicious Wherein are they better than we They shame their Master by their lewd courses In the feare of God as we have this honourable Title full of dignity that we are Christians so let it mind us of our duty and let it be a tye upon us to walk worthy of that calling to the which we are called For else as it was said in another case Nomen Crimen the Name of Christian was their Fault Tertul. in Apol. saith Tertullian So it will be to us the very Name will be our fault and the glorious Appellation will encrease our condemnation THE FIFTEENTH SERMON GEN. 16.11 12. Because the Lord hath heard thine affliction Vers 12. And he will be a wilde man THe words of the Angell to Hagar were of three sorts First of Question vers 8. Secondly of Direction vers 9. Thirdly of Prediction and he foretelleth First concerning the numerous multiplication of her seed vers 10. Secondly concerning the childe she went withall 1. That she should bring it forth 2. That it should be a son 3. That she should call his Name Ishmael To which is added the reason of the Name vers 11. Thirdly he foretelleth the quality and disposition and course of this son vers 12. He shall be a wilde man his hand shall be against every man and every
next Clause is His hand shall be against every man that is He shall be given to fighting and contention to war and bloud as he shall be fierce and cruell in his own nature so he shall exercise this cruelty And we may here observe Observ 2. Wicked minds are full of cruelty and that an infallible symptome of an Ishmaelite Ioh. 8.44 That wicked minds are full of cruelty We may fetch this as far as the Devill himself of whom our Saviour saith that he was a murderer from the beginning Iohn 8. from the beginning that is Non Creationis sed Defectionis not of his Creation but Defection as soon as he was faln he sought the ruine of mankind So that Natales in Diabolo as the Father saith in another case we find the first beginning of cruelty in Satan and from this evill one was Cain saith St. Iohn 1 Epist 3. who slew his brother 1 Ioh. 3.12 And such an one was Nimrod who is said to be a mighty hunter before the Lord Gen. 10 9. a man of bloud that neither feared God nor man Such were the Aegyptians that oppressed and killed the bodies of the Israelites with hard labour and throwing their children into the River it is called cruell bondage Exod. 6. Ezod 6.9 Esau was a bloudy-minded man He was resolved upon the killing of his brother Jacob and when he returned from Mesopotamia came with a purpose to have effected it if God had not taken off his edge and we see how that malignity ran in a bloud for the Edomites that were of Esau were heavy enemies to the Seed of Jacob and in the day of Jerusalem encouraged the Adversary and said down with it even to the ground yea stood in the waies to cut off those that escaped as it is in the Prophecie of Obadiah How bloudy was Saul and how did he pursue the life of David Charging his Servants to kill him and sending some to kill him in his bed David speaketh of the enemies of Gods people that bloud and destruction was in their waies and the way of peace they had not known What think we of Ahab and Jezabel What think we of Amaleck Of Herod the great Of Antiochus Epiphanes who besides the sacrificing of so many innocent lives to his proud ambition in the slaughter of the Children even when he was a dying as if he would have his Sun go down fiery red and in bloud gave order that when he should dye so many of the prime of the Jews whom he had cooped up might be cut off that so whether they would or no the day of his death might be a day of Lamentations The next Herod was a bloudy man and made nothing of the bloud of the Baptist to content a wanton and Herodias was worse whose thirst could not be satisfied without bloud And the third Herod was bloudy also as appeareth by the killing of Saint James with the sword and his apprehending of St. Peter Were not the Jews bloudy whose hands were dyed in the bloud of the Lord of Life Acts 9.1 And was not St. Paul full of cruelty before his Conversion Acts 9.1 He breathed out threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord himself confesseth that he was even mad against them and did persecute them to strange Cities Acts 26.11 Gen. 49.27 Acts 26.11 Some would have that Prophecie of Jacob Gen. 49. concerning Benjamin That He should be a ravening Wolf to allude to St. Paul for he was of that Tribe Into this Catalogue of cruell ones we may reckon those Emperours after the time of Christ One of them writh is Laws in bloud Another wishing even while he lived to see the world mingled with fire and that Rome it self had had but one neck that he might cut it off at a blow What should I speak of Nero that man of bloud and of Domitian that when he was not killing of men must be killing of flies to keep his hand in ure And so of Severus and Decius and Diocletian under whom that issue of bloud stopped for a while but was again opened by Julian that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that grand Tyrant that according to the stamp of his Coine which was the Bull did goare the world I might be infinite in the instances of succeding times how cruell many people have been even this Posterity of Ishmael the Turkes how cruell have they been in all times and continue to this day He is that great Senacherib that if God did not keep a hook in his nostrils doth earnestly desire to make all Christendom an Acheldama a field of bloud And I could speak of some people in the world that have been so bloudy-minded that they have taken a complacency and contentment in it As Hannibal who seeing a Pit filled with humane bloud cryed out O formosum spectaculum O most pleasant shew And Valesus the Proconsul in Asia under Augustus having caused three hundred men to be slain walked among the dead bodies and said O rem regiam A stately act indeed And these times want not those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Hebrew Phrase is men of blouds whose feet are swift to shed bloud who make no more of taking away mens lives then of cutting off the heads of Poppies Yea will not stick to brag and boast of their shedding of bloud as of a Trophee of their valour Yea I might speak of such as out of their desire to give their bloudy minds contentment and their wrathfull hearts satisfaction have done what injuries malice could invent to encrease the torments of others to make them dye twenty deaths in one vt sentiant se mori as he said of old make them feel themselves to dye by spinning out their lingring torments one being to dye desired that he might be quickly dispatched it was answered by him that had him in his power nondum redij tecum 〈◊〉 gratiam nay soft saith he we are not friends yet he made it good Prov. 12.10 what Solomon saith Prov. 12. The very mercies of the wicked 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their very bowels are cruel and what then are their cruelties But it may be you are tyred with this sad narration if you be not I am and therefore I will turn my self to matter of exhortation And for the application of this point Application be we all exhorted to take heed of bloody mindedness it is a thing unbeseeming us as men God sendeth man into the world as harmless a creature and as unapt to offer any injury as any creature whatsoever and sure he did intend in it that Homo should be homini Deus non Lupus that one man should be a God as it were unto another and not a wolfe He never meant that a man should be afraid to fall into the hands of men as David was 2 Sam. 24. But that one man 2 Sam. 24.14 should be an Asylum and a