Leopards c. swearers lyers drunkards forsaking their wicked loathed slavish drudgery to the world flesh and divell and submit their sinewy neckes uncircumcised hearts and prophane lives in obedience to the scepter of Christ and out of a syncere profession and unfaigned confession cry with the Souldiers under Iovinian We are Christians and will be true to the colours of the Crosse according to our Sacramentall Oath under the banner of our Michaël we will wage warre with the red Dragon and all the spirituall enemies of our salvation God by his Word hath perswaded us called and called us out of our inchanted fooles Paradise wherein we lay in the prison and dungeon of spirituall darkensse into his marvailous light hath opened our eyes freed our feete and as a bird we are escaped out of the cordes and manacles of our hellish sinnes And whereas we lived to our owne corruptions emancipated to our lusts even the devill the Prince of the ayre Eph. 2. 3. tutoring our disobedience now wee live to God the life of God the life of Grace our scorching lusts and rebellious natures which heavenly influence should have wasted the scalding cup of Gods wrath are washed cleansed in the bloud of the immaculate lambe made ours in our justification and sealed to us in the laver of our new baptizing renovation He that is the ministerial instrument of this wondrous work which causeth admiration and ioy in men and Angels Luke 15. 7. Though his tongue were the pen of a ready writer Psal 45. 2. and spake as the Oracle of God had the mouth of golden Chrysostome the gravity of Tertullian the spirit of heavenly Augustine could make Felix tremble with Paul conjure the cursed workes of darkenesse Yet if he sacrificed to his owne nets and yarne he robbes God of his praise and glorie It is not thy word nor thy eloquence or learning but Gods power that brings these mighty things to passe and so all other things If the mercy of God be not in our sustenance we may dye with meate in our mouthes as did the Israelites if his providentiall goodnesse restraine her influence and withold her vertue were our garments as rich as Aarons Ephod there were no heate or benefit in them Nature declines her ordinary working when Gods revocation hath chidden it Though thou labourest and sweatest with diligence till the taper of thy life were burnt out if the Lord prosper not thy handy worke thou makest but roapes of sand to bind Sampson Then sing with the Psalmist Not unto vs O Lord not unto us but unto thy name give the glorie The principall end of Gods actions must be the end of ours and his is his praise Prove 16. 4. The Lord made all things for himselfe viz for his owne praise even the wicked for the day of evill Even out of the unhallowed heape of sinne will he mould the silver trumpet of his owne praise To teach us That God is praised magnified and made great by us when his Image is repaired in us Gen. 1. 26. Let vs make Man after our owne Image Now this image which is his righteousnesse and holinesse the new man Ephes 4. 24. newly comming out of the mint of Regeneration as furnace-smoaked Israel out of Egypt is a glorifying of God and this as a curious worke graces the artificer magnifies the maker Man the little Epitome or Compendium of the world hath bin admired for his wonderfull structure and frame called by that almost miracle of Antiquity a great Miracle Nothing more admirable than Man Man a certaine divine thing Memento quòd homo sit quoddam Omne what shines not in him Our Saviour CHRIST honours him with a large tytle Mark 16. 15. Goe Preach the Gospell to every creature and who but Man must have the benefit of this Gospell But if wee looke upon him as the image of God repaired a new creature nay a new creation 2. Cor. 5. 17 As Ioseph comming from Prison as Mordecai whom the King of honour will honour as Queene Hester perfumed with the aromaticall graces of the Spirit having the royall robe of Christs righteousnesse Cant. 4. 7. Thou art all faire my Love and there is no spot in thee comely as the Curtaines and pompe of Salomon having cast off the blacke scorchings of Kedar Cant. 1. 5. and the Gibeonitish ragges of sinne now remember old things no more Esay 7. he is now a glorious creature and here is God magnified the greater measure of grace affords a greater measure of praise Strive then beloved to have thy unhallowed soule sanctified thy life reformed thy crooked pathes of vanity straighted every thought brought into subiection that God may be made greater in thee and thou the trumpet of his praise And the further to stirre us up to holinesse consider that the magnifying of God is the magnifying of our selves Luke 1. 46. Mary sings My soule doth magnifie the Lord and verse 49. He that is mighty hath magnified me He that blesseth the Lord is encreased he that blaspheameth decreased Our exultation is the first staire of our exaltation Wouldest thou be exalted made great and honoured of God of men and Angels then season thy soule with grace honor God For they that Honour him he will honour and they that despise him shall be dispised 1 Sam 2. 30. He that goes to the Court of Honour must passe by the temple of vertue from the Pallace of Grace to the Place of Glory Learne then to have the praise of God in thy mouth Let Hallelu-jah be the Cadence in all our Musicke and our Musicke in all our actions that being our practice on earth we may one day be Angelicall Choristers in Heaven Praise the Lord O my soule and all that is within me praise his holy name for Omne bonum nostrum velipse vel ab ipso All our good is either God or from God Parties Gentile Iewe enjoyned to this duty 1. The Gentile the stocke of Iapheth one of the sonnes of Noah Gen. 9. 18. the eldest by birth but reckoned by way of Anticipation in the last place And though a long time they stoode as it were excommunicate and cut off from the Covenant of grace yet in Gods appoynted time this rejected seede is perswaded to dwell in the tents of their brother Sem the Iewe as Noah prophecyed And the neuer erring Spirit makes this place a propheticall prediction of Gods never failing purpose of their calling Rom. 15. 11. with many other scriptures pregnant to prove it the word Nations in the old testament in Hebers tongue being rendred by Paul Gentiles a most fit prophecy for this purpose sayth Marlorat and others upon the place Thus though a great while the forlorne Prodigall sate in darkenesse and in the shadowe of death and God vouchsafed his loves and favours to the Iewes
admonish either our selves or others with profit Secondly wee must sing with grace in our hearts that is in exercising and stirring up the graces of God in our hearts as our loy Faith Love confidence and commemoration of Gods benefits either in giving or forgiving kindleing our dead zeale as a fire with bellowes 2 Tim 1. 6. Thirdly wee must sing with our hearts not onely tongues and voyces but with a zealous desire by our singing to glorifie God Psal 47. 7. Sing yee praises with understanding Psal 118. 27 Bind the Sacrifice with cordes to the hornes of the Altar hence wee are sayd to prepare our hearts 1 Cor. 14. 14 Thus David bids his Lute his Harpe his glory his tongue to awake Ps 57. 8. he would not have his heart sleeping while his tongue is walking and waking for Non vâ—x sed votum non musica chordula sed cor non cantans sed amans cantat in aure Dei T is not thy voyce but vowe not well tun'd harpâ— but heart Not sound but solid love mirths in Gods hearing part The fourth is to sing to Gods glory with an holy remembrance of his awfull and Majesticke presence and this is that which is observed by Cramerus that if our doxologies and thankesgivings be acceptable they must begin from God as the first mover and primus moter of his owne praise they must be of God as the matter and argument of all our songs they must be with him as the end and scope of all our Hosannaes of mercy and Hallelu-jahs of praise thus making him the efficient materiall formall and finall cause of all our service joyned together by the Prophet Ps 86. 4. Râ—ioyce the Soule of thy servant c. First in that he would his soule to be made joyfull hee desires God to move it to that duety 2. Where he calls God hee shewes the matter of his Psalmodicall melody 3. The listing up of his heart unto God hee intimates his end and marke And lastly to whom hee dedicates his Musicke To teach all Christians a conscionable diligence in this duety all creatures in theyr kinde blesse their Creaâ—or even they that want tongues as Sunne Moone Starres c. Psal 148. The unreasonable creatures giue with their tongues obedient testimonies thereof the Birds of the ayre sing beasts of the field make a noyse even the hissiâ—gs of Dragons in the deepe are Psalmes of prayse unto God Praise thou the Lord theâ— with the best member thou hast which is thy Torgue the Eye is to see for all the Eare to heare for all the Hand to worke for all the Nose to smell for all and the palate to taste for all but the Tongue in the highest office is to sing prâ—ises to God for all it s every mans duety as a I must pray unto God so all must prayse God and as CHRIST IESVS carryes up thy prayers being perfumed upon him the true Altar on which they are offered so will hee doe thy Psalmâ—s of praise being winged with holy devotion this is thy heavenly melody the mirth of thy family aromaticall perfume of thy châ—mber an holy homage to God the sacrificed calves of thy lips If thou hast then beene a Mute and tongue-tyed in this duety though thou be opposed therein by th prophane world and Sathanstand at thy right hand as he did against Sacrifizing Iehoshua Zach. 3. 2. be now as a speaking vowell or at least a consonant to Stentorize the prayses of thy God even with a lowd voyce Psal 34. Continually while thou livest Psal 104. 33. Before the morning watch Ps 119. 147. At midnight and seaven times a day ver 164. Thy mouth daily rehearsing his righteousnes and Satvation Psal 7. 15. Let his Statutes be thy Songs in the house of thy Pilgrimage Psal 119. 54. Learne to tune thy voyce here on earth that thou mayst have a place among the Psalmodicall quier of Heaven acquaint thy heart with spirituall mirth sing Davids Psâ—lmes that thou mayest have Davids spirit it thou wilt not sing unto God take heed least in his justice he deprive thee of thy blessing of peace mirth and liberty either taking away thy tongue which hee made for the same purpose and the service of which hee requires or cause thee to sing his songs in a strangâ— land as he dealt with the Iewes Psal 137. for their vnthankefulnesse Lastly this reproveth the usuall vanity of flesh and blood First in vaine layes which are sung to the world Secondly lascivious Bâ—llads which are tuned to the flesh Thirdly Satyricall libels to the Divell All which are to exâ—lt and strengthen the three Goliha's and great enemies of mans Salvation even to sing praises to the curâ—â—d Trinity of Hâ—ll these are the fuming and fomenting nourishment to Luxurie the Bellowes to blow the embers of lust the Palate-pleasing meate of the Serpent their originall from â—odome not Sâ—on from Bedlam not Beth'lem from Bethaven not Bethel from Iericho not Ierusalem from the Tap-house not the Temple the well-befiâ—ting accoutrements and vaine garbe of the children of vanity And yet we see the world admiring flesh and blood inventing the Divell brewing and bâ—oâ—ching the Sonnes of the earth exâ—lting defending these hell-bred Sonnets having the packet of their braines so full fraught with them that they have left no roome for the Lords Psalmes What is this buâ— to bâ—ilâ— up the Kingdome of darknes and to make ungodly Proselites for the greaâ— Cham and Prince thereof These be Sathans watchfull Vaites which though they be esteemed as Augustine spake of the Donatists who in his time lived as Theeves but were honoured as Martyrs yet here they are condemned as the spuâ—ious off-scowring of men not praysers of God but Organs and Organous provokers and movers to all uncleanenesse And this is a Loidoramastick to libellers whose malicious tongues and pennes writing in blood as Draco writ his lawes are set on fire by Hell whose mouthes are like the gate of the Temple called Shallecheth out of which they cast the filth of the Temple So they the foule aspersions of shame upon the persons of the Innocent But consider beloved and learne by insulting over these rightly and holily to prayse God let â—o filthy communication proceede out of your mouthes least the Mouth the Messenger of the heart bewray an ancleane fountaine Evill words corrupt good manners 1 Cor. 15. Ratio habenda est Sermonis cum non sit in eo parum momenti ad animuÌ„ afficiendum aliquo modo vel ad mores corrigendos vel corrumpendos Thy words worke not in vaine upon the affections of the hearers but either correct or corrupt their manâ—eâ—s It is onâ—ly the Word of God which is eternall life Iohn 6 68. which ministreth grace to the hearers Learne then to speake the language of Cannan Isa 19. 18. for a word fitly spoken is like Apples of gold in pictures of silver
how backward wee are in the performance thereof that must so often be called upon Now to gather all these into an handfull as a well composed Posie pleasant to the smell Consider that this which stands in the porch of this Psalme is not superfluous but notes the fervent ardency which is required in this Duty which must be performed not superficially orally but zealously heartily which must or ought to be the salt and season of all our Duties and Devotions Our prayers and our praises must not freeze betwixt our teeth but even with Eliah must be transported to Heaven in a fierie Chariot winged with the heate of our zeale and there is no Sacrifice so incomparably pleasing to Almighty God Next the thing enjoyned is to Praise which is nothing else as Aristotle sayth but to elucidare make manifest and knowne as it were a cunning Herald the greatnesse of vertue as to praise Alexander for his Liberality Iulius Caesar for his Patience c. To praise Mercy Power Iustice Wisedome what is it but to magnifie those eminent backe-parts and attributes of Iâ—HOVA the mighty GOD in and by which hee hath revealed himselfe unto his Creatures Men and Angels Exod. 34. 6 And so this leades us to the true object of our Duty The Lord as hee is called God in respect of his goodnesse so is hee Lord in regard of his Majesticke greatnesse This title is given to a great man upon earth and more is Sycophantically given to the Pope to be called besides Lord a God which are but onely so in title How great then is hee which makes and unmakes these Lords at his pleasure There be many Gods and many Lords 1 Cor. 8. 5. but this is he which controls and commands them all Others by Authority of usurpation Psal 82. 1. But he is judge among the Gods able to do more by his absolute power than he will by his actuall able in potent not impotent workes He is called Omnipotent saith Augustine in doing what he pleaseth not in suffering what he pleaseth not Which makes him and none but him the true object of our praise and service not the World Flesh or Devill but the Lord not the Saints in heaven Iob. 5. 1. To which of the Saints wilt thou turne not to Baal-zebub the God of Ekron nor Belzâ—bub the Prince of Devils but with David Psal 73. 28. It is good for mee to drawe neare unto the Lord. Our prayers and praises confidence and hope doe here levell at him as the surest marke Make him the beginning and end the first and last of all thy labours and endeavours saith Gregory Nazianzen the very Heathen could both acknowledge and practise this So then this stands as one of the Priests upon a turret of the Temple or as a monitor to tell us what praise belongs not to our selves Prov. 27. 2. Let another man praise thee and not thine owne mouth a stranger and not thine owne lips This is Pharisee-like Luke 18. Because he had slow neighbours he becomes his owne trumpet and sounds an Alarum to his owne follie this is but a cold praise to blow the coales with thine owne breath This fault was sometimes in the Church of Câ—â—inth 1 Cor. 4. 7. which the Apostle reproveth Who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou hast not received gifts of mind as learning wisedome gifts of body strength agility beautie if thou hast received them why boastest thou as if thou hadst not received them Which is a Metaphor taken from swolne vessels which have in them nothing but ayre Or from some member in the body sweld with rotten putrifaction and corrupt humors Know then that every good and perfect gift comes downe from the Father of lights Iam. 1. 17. This is the ground-worke of all Christian modesty Hast thou Faith It is from thy calling hast thou Remission of sinnes and Iustification It is from Christ The gift of Prayer Prophecy Preaching or of the Tongues it is from the Spirit all which or whatsoever else thou hast doe offer thee occasions of humility and modesty more than of pride or haughtines because thou hast received them Yet consider this that a man may speake in his owne praise in the case of necessity when a mans person or cause is calumniated or whereby the glory of God may be advanced to the credit of his calling and the profit of the Church as Paul the most modest of the Apostles as appeareth 1 Cor. 15. 9 I am the least of the Apostles which am not worthy to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God ashamed and yet not ashamed to confesse 1 Tim. 1. 15. A blasphemer a persecuter and iniurious the chiefe of all sinners Yet when the credit of his calling came into question and the wonderous worke of God in him seemed to bee disparaged by false Apostles he was then a chiefe Apostle one that spake more languages than they all had more revelations and was more extraordinarily called and if any one may boast this holy elect vessell of salvation the learned Doctor of the Gentiles may boast and will praise himselfe and so may you Neyther must wee hunt after others to praise us where there is good Wine there needs no Ivie-bush and where there is true worth there needs no flatterer It is but a poore reputation that is pinned upon another mans Tongue and hangs upon the sound of his clapper This man must bee left as a prey for his Parmeno and carry with him the badge of Pride as Augustine sayth Hee that desires to bee praised needes no other witnesse of his ambitious heart and the apparent danger of a swelling Impostume Neyther must wee settle our admiration and praise upon any particular Person or Sect to pinne our salvation onely upon them as if they were the onely Oracles of GOD to account of them as the people voyced of Herod Act. 12. 22. The voyce of God and not of Man And thus to despise others as not sufficiently guifted for their calling and embassage what is this but to have mens persons in admiration The Apostle accounts such to be but Carnall 1. Corinth 3. 3. For yee are yet Carnall there being among you envying strife and divisions are yee not carnall and walke as men While one sayth I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos are yee not carnall For what is Paul or Apollos but the Ministers by whom yee beleeve Nihil aliud molitur Apostolus nisi quòd personarum ratio non habeatur in Ecclesia In this the Apostle aymes at nothing else but that there should be no Prosopolepsie or acception of persons in the Church Hee reproves their judgement in this because they gave to their Ministers more than was requisite and expedient as if the Spirit of God were too
to see their charmers because one of them laughed not to see another in their antique and apish Idolatries which are more fit to please babes than any way to satisfie the conscience of man all in the shadowe nothing in the substance If these then or any such have forestalled the market of our affections and have taken a lodging in our hearts let us deale with them as Iacob did with his false Gods or as Ephraim with his Idols cast them out And let the current of our affections run in the right streame and be fixed on the right obiect Praise ye the Lord. Whence and from what hath bin spoken and the naturall genuine sence of the words themselves let us erect for our supportance in this duty the doctrine following viz. It is a chiefe duty necessarily enioyned to all creatures and especially to man to become instruments of the glorious praise of their omnipotent Creator This was the gracious practise of old Zacharie Luke 1. 68. for receiving his gracefull sonne Iohn supposed to be the Messiah Ioh. 1. 21. a blessing from God no sooner given but a blessing from man returned Blessed be the Lord God of Israel c. rightly called in the language of Canaan a blessing ingratitude being the devils text wicked men the Glossers and Expositors both which must end in a cursed destruction Blessed Marie in her song cals it a magnifying Luke 1. 46. My soule doth magnifie the Lord. To magnifie is to make great Now God is the best the greatest and cannot in himselfe be made lesser or greater by us all that we can doe either in the magnifying or vilifying of him is in regard of others when we sweare falsely protest rashly blaspheame like an Atheist or Turke we do to our power lessen his greatnes when we unthankefully returne not his due praise for his mercies we vilipend debase as much as we can his gracious goodnes and when we magnifie him wee make him great wee proclaime him good To make this more plaine and to drive this dutie deeper into our soules it is in regard of vs the end of our election foreseene in the mercy and love of God before the foundation of the World as over-looking our estate in Adam as changeably good to that in Christ immutably glorious Ephes 1. 6 To the praise of his glorious Grace It is the end of our creation even enjoyned to insensible animals the visible and legible booke of our instruction and lessoning in this duty the sunne moone day night Psal 19. 1. and every thing that hath breath are summoned by Davids Trumpet to become the well uned Cymball of their Creators praise But Man the rare Epitome of all these hath an instrument of speech to tune it to a higher key Rev. 4. 11. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive honour and praise for thou hast created all things for thy wils sake and for thy pleasures sake were they created It is the end of our redemption Rev. 5. 9. Thou art worthy to take the booke and open the seales thereof for thou wast slaine and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud And thus I must instance in the rest even to the lowest particular deliverance from the hellish and the highest to the least and lowest danger as Exod. 15. Iudg. 5. c. no sooner a deliverance but a song of thanks giving to the deliverer And it is the summe of what thy God for this requires of thee Psal 50. 15. Call upon me in the time of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt praise mee Reas 1. Because as all rivers come from the sea and returne thither againe returning as it were a thankefull tribute to their Lord Even so all things come from the Father of lights Iam. 1 17. which are for our good as from the fountaine of goodnesse and must or at least ought in thankefulnesse to returne to him againe All the gifts of fortune falsely so called as riches and possessions the gracefull endowments of the body as agility beauty strength all the goods of the minde as wit learning No silver in Benjamins sacke till Ioseph put it in and no good in man except God bestowe it Even that noble skill in physicke standing upon two legs Reason and Experience is an excellent meanes to preserve our health and yet for all this it is the great Doctor which hath Heaven for his chaire that keepeth us alive for so soone as he is angry wee are gone wee bring our yeares to an end as a tale that is told Psal 90. 9. If the keepers of our house doe not tremble and the grinders cease not and the golden ewer be not broken and our eyes the windowes of our bodies be not darke it is from the Father of lights Hence renowned Salomon and all the learned Clearkes have their wisedome and the same it was which tooke away that great knowledge from the learned Trapezuntius who was not onely infatuated in his learning but forgot his owne name Hence are all students counselled by Sarisburiensis in Policratico to knocke at heaven gate to God for their good speede that the key of knowledge may open a doore of utterance So there are diversities of gifts diversities of administrations and diversities of operations but all from the same Spirit from the same Lord who worketh all in all 1 Cor. 12. Among the Apostles Paul was good at planting Apollos at watering Among the Fathers some construed the Scriptures all egorically as Origen who excelled others either in effect or defect Augustine dogmatically Hierome more literally Gregory the great Morrally and Chrysostome pathetically And also among our moderne writers Erasmus was full of matter and words Luther had store of matter without many words Carolostadius neither c. as Luther himselfe wrote upon the wals of his Chamber So also among our ordinary Preachers some have good utterance but a bad conceite some an excellent utterance but a meane wit some both some neither As for the gifts appertaining to the will 2 Cor. 3. 5. All our sufficiencie is of God For faith which as some thinke belongeth both to the will and understanding it is also the gift of God 10. 6. 29. This is the gift of God that ye beleeve on him whom he hath sent God worketh in man the first desire to beleeve ipsumvelle credere saith Augustine The staying of the bloudy fluxe of thy corruption comes from some vertue in Christ Mar. 5. 30 The purging of thy lippes from lying swearing blaspheaming c. is by a coale from the Altar Esay 6. 6. The gift of Prayer powerfully solliciting the throne of mercy and filling heaven and earth with Abba father proceedes from none but the Spirit which makes intercession for us with groanes which cannot be expressed Rom. 8. 26. The tongue of the learned it is from the Lord Esay 50. 4. If thou hadst
Swearers c. the Sunne would cloud and obnubilate his glorious face the Moone her light the Cressets of heaven their twinckling lustre from the rebellious idolatrous disobedient sinner that hath so long viewed and enioyed their excellent comfort continually cast from those chrystall eyes of heaven and is not lessoned by them to praise his God the Vestall-earth mourns under the burthen of a rebellious Nation every furrow thereof cries against the depopulating Incloser Iob 31. 38. The stones and timber where the wicked man dwelleth Hab. 2. 11. All he possesseth is his enemie because he is an enemie to God witnesse these tenne Plagues powred uppon Egypt both from heaven and earth all the creatures are Gods armie to fight against them that fight against him So then if thou be a blasphemer Persecuter c. wert thou in a City whose walls were as strong turretted and inexpugnable as the wall that Phocas built about his Pallace yet shall it be really performed on thee as it was voyced to him in the night Did they teach the heavens they may be scaled the sinne in the soule spoyles all A cities overthrow is sooner wrought by wicked lives than weake wals saith Augustine they worst enemies are thy finnes saith Ambrose so the hoast of creatures are thine enemies while thou hast no peace with God peace and wickednesse cannot dwell together The heathen gods indeed could not revenge their owne quarrels as the Poet speakes of Mars but our God hath heaven earth and hell to fight his battels a thousand wayes to revenge mille nocendi artes Wicked man why dost thou continue in thy sinnes and say with stupid pharaâ— Who is the Lord When thou canst not breathe moove or live without him Learne then like the Bee to gather honie from every flower to give praise from every creature all objects to a meditating Salomon are wings to mount his thoughts to heaven as the old Romanes seeing the blewe stones were put in minde of Olympus so from every creature to elevate our thoughts to Sion and so we may honour God in honouring him in his creatures Whether yee eate or drink Do all to the glory of God in all things giue thankes 1 Thes 5. 18. Every creature is good and ought not to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving 1 Tim. 4. 4. Be not then an unthankfull Esau to sit downe eate drinke enjoy the creatures and irreverently rise up and goe thy way Gratitude opens ingratitude pens up and closes the wine cellars the heavens the buckets and cisternes of the skie are ready to showre vpon the thankfull Praise the Lord makes the heavens as Nilus Egypt fertile Lastly to drive this Hallelu-jah deeper into thy Soule consider that thou not only hast the creature from God but also he must give it power to comfort nourish and sustaine thee There is indeed bread that nourisheth not Esay 55. 2. Why doe yee spend mony for that which is not bread and labour for that which satisfieth not it seemes but is not bread and if it bee it satisfies not Such is that bread of secrecies and waters of stealth Prov. 9. 17. The delicates and cates that sinne sets before us deadly cuppes and Acheronticke potions Zâ—uxes painted grapes to feede the devils black birdes to meager leannesse But God gives the creature power and strength It is not thy meate drinke sleepe cloathes that of themselves doe nourish and warme thee more than the hard and cold stone but Gods blessing upon them Math. 4 4. Man lives not by bread onely but by the word and blessing of God Else might thou starve in the midst of thy plenty The poore man with Daniel may be as well liking with pulse and pure water as they that eate of the portion of the Kings meate may goe as warme in his ragges as they in Kings houses that are cloathed in soft raiment if God blesse his bread and water Exod. 23 25. Thus when God threatens a famine and dearth he takes not away the bread it selfe but the staffe viz. the strength nutritive power of it Levit. 26. 26. When I shall breake the staffe of your bread Ezech. 4. 16. 5. 16 I will breake the staffe of bread called Esay 3. 1. the stay of bread and the stay of water It is but a poore elementall creature to which Gods blessing hath not added strength if God did not heare the heavens for vertue the heavens the earth for influence and the corne the wine for vegetative power Hos 2. 21. All simples were but simple things and all componds idle when they want the best ingredient Gods blessing Goutish Asa wants this powerfull ingredient in his physicke when 2 Chron. 16. 12. He sought not the Lord in his disease but to Physitians He was not so lame in his feete as in his faith Wee must not sticke so fast in the secrets of Philosophy but also looke upon the mysteries of Divinity God is the chiefe Physitian let Plato hold the candle to Moses and Physitians learne from the sonnes of the Prophets In all thy labours and endeavours Psal 127. 2 it is in vaine for thee to rise up earely to sit up late to eate the bread of sorrowes For except the Lord give a blessing to our workes it is but to plowe the sand and to lodge at the Labour in vaine 1 Cor. 3. 6. Paul plants Apollos waters but God gives the increase So the vintage of workes depends upon the showres of Gods blessing The workes of the world may have likely and proud entrances but yet halt in the conclusion if not attended from a superior influence But God from a slender beginning brings a plentifull issue as in that Balme immortall incorruptible seed of the Word which in it selfe is dead by Gods Spirit assisting concurres to the begetting of a new man powerfully mortifying the rotten flesh and quickning the spirit That little mustard-seede which spreads up into branches able to give the fowles of heaven harbour able thus armed to binde the strong man disarme him and cast him out of his usurped possession of thy soule 2 Cor. 10. 5. Casting downe the highest things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God and captivating every thought to the obedience of Christ Ier. 23. 29. A hammer to breake the stone not in the reynes but in the heart As a tree hath manifest to the eye leaves flowers and fruite but the root lyes hid And as in man the body is seene but the better and purer part is vailed under the curtaine of his flesh And as in all things we see the Accidents not the forme and substance So the Word we heare but the life of it is the power of God So then if thou seest a blessing upon thy labours wicked men called and that come to passe prophecyed by Esay 11. 6. Ravenous Wolves Cruell
2. Which may have the ordinary giftes of the Spirit they may prophecy with Saul and Cajaphas preach and doe miracles with Iudas speake like the Oracle of God with Achi tophel cry Lord Lord Math. 7. 22 challenge an interest in the free demesnes of heaven Math. 25. 11. Open to us and yet are sent packing to their hell home with a nescio vos I know ye not If ye aske the reason and cause of it Our Saviour CHRIST orally and oraculously returnes it Math. 11. 25. This mystery of Salvation is hid from some and revealed to others even So Father for so it seemed good in thy sight as in a Princes Proclamation It is our pleasure All the workes of these men failing in their end not done in faith to the glory of God and if God rewarded them it was temporally for temporall respects the good of mankind civill order and society not shewing any approbation thereof in respect of himselfe their mercy justice continency c. being without faith was sinne as Augustinâ— saith which indeed ariseth not from the act of compassion but from the privation of faith they may have these and many more honest civill moralities but they never have the inward calling the donation of faith the true knowledge of God I know my sheepe and am knowne of mine Iohn 10. 14. which knowledge is like the Sunne casting his beames upon us by whose reflection we looke upon and viewe the Sunne Gal. 4. 9. Seeing ye know God or rather are knowne of God If they have any it is a literall no saving or spirituall knowledge no true love of God for he never knew or loved them 1 Iohn 4. 19. We love God because he loved us first If these carnall Capernaites follow CHRIST doing his will in any thing it is more for his loaves than his love Ioh. 6. 26. all proceeding from some sâ—nister respect their praise or profit they never have the inward beautifying of the Church To be all glorious within Psal 45. 13. the rich habiliments and garments wherewith as Isaac decked his beloved Rebecca and the King of Persia religious Mordecai CHRIST Iâ—SVS bespangleth his spouse These be the foolish Virgins which a long time had their lives blossoming as if their soules had bin the maidenly bride of CHRIST when in the end they were unvailed and found the speckled adulteresses and uncleane concubines of Satan Math. 25. This is the man boldly intruding himselfe into the marriage supper not having on a wedding garment his faith but figge leaves notable to cover his nakednes Math. 22. These walke like friends in the Church of God together But many are called and fewe are chosen In the third ranke are they which out of the brazen mountaines of Gods election flowing out of the rivers of his endlesse mercy which are not onely within the skirts and territories of his regiment as the former but they are inwardly sanctified called and culled out of the whole heape and masse of Mankind by a lively Faith engraffed and planted into the mysticall body and have as neare an union and communion with their head CHRIST as the branch hath with the vine the members with the head or the husband with the wife Ephes 5. 30. We are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones these are built upon the sure foundation the rocke of safety and horne of salvation Luke 1 69. He is the corner stone upon which their whole building is coupled Eph. 2. 20 No other foundation can any man lay than that which is already laid which is IESVS CHRIST 1 Cor. 3. 11. and These are living stones built upon him 1 Per 2. 5. Othoniel delivered the Israelites from Chushan and is therefore called their Saviour Iudg. 3. 9. but they fell againe into the hand of Moab Ehud rescued them from the Moabites and they became servants to the Canaanites Iudg. 4. 2. A Physitian may cure a man of one disease and he may after fall into another or the same and dye of it But CHRIST hath them sure Iohn 10. 28. I give my sheepe eternall life and they shall never perish hee hath washed away theâ—r sinnes and made a passage to heaven a perfect and sure rocke of safety upon which these are placed Antiquam generis labem mortalibus agris Abluit obstructique viam patefecit Olympi Poore mortals sicke he washed hath from auncient staine Originall And opened wide Olympus path that barred was and shut to all So that here the gates of Hell and Luciferiall powers of darknesse may shoote their darts of poysoned malice as against CHRIST the head Math. 4. so against these the members to be retorted upon themselves as from a tower of brasse for â—hee that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleepe and though the two first parts be cut off and dye the third will the Lord fine as Silver and Gold Zach. 13. 9. And from this consideration ariseth a Cordiall a Caveat and a dolefull Madrigall First it affords a comfortable cordiall to the Christian that he is one of those secret ones inwardly called separated from the world and endued with power from above This is the summum bonum and chiefe dignitie and blessednesse of all other So that it may be said of him as a certaine heathen of a wise man of a wise man He is onely lesse then God And as another spake of the vertuous He that hath vertue hath with her as a dowrie all good things As the Lord of hoastes and of the whole earth and all that therein is Psal 24. 1. accounteth it his greatest dignity and title of honour to be stiled The Lord God of Israel of his Church Luk. 1. 67. as thence receiving his greatest honour So is it the chiefest honour of a man to be an Israelite a limme and member of that Society of the Communion of Saints It is indeed the worlds felicity to build pillars with Absalom towers with Nimrod to call our lands after our owne names to engrosse rich revenewes Parsonages and patrimonies for our posterity to build our nests on high and to covet an evill covetousnes to our houses while The stones cry out of the wall and the beame out of the timber answere it Hab. 2. 9. worse than the King of Sodome Gen. 14. 21. Give me the soules and take the goods to thy selfe But we say to the spirituall king of Sodome the divell give us the goods and take our soules to thy selfe This is our hope and our posterity praise our doing selling our Saviour for thirty pence our heaven for a messe of pottage and our soules laied in the banke for a quid dabitis What will ye give me Ps 4. 6. Who will shew us any good O miserable mucke-worme that sellest thy soule and thy solace thy heaven and thy happinesse for these faile-friends which in the time of neede cannot so much as cure the aking of
it did and now their gold is become drosse which makes the Prophets complaine that Bethel is become Bethaven the house of God the house of vanity the valley of vision into the valley of the shadow of death Esay 22. 1. Their house is left unto them desolate Mat. 23. 38. Looke upon that famous Citie which was the glory of the world whose turretted Bulwarkes and huge heapes of well-compacted Fabricks made the Disciples to wonder Mat. 24. 1. Mar. 13. 1. and the Kings of the earth to stand amazed yet now verefied that was spoken Ier. 19 11. I will breake this people and this Citie as one breaketh a potters vessell that cannot be made whole againe and make their citie as Tophet and Mic. 3. 12. Zion shall be plowed as a field Ierusalem shall become heapes and the house of the Lord as the high places of the Forrest The ruines thereof saith Ierome shall continue to the worlds end the consummation of her desolation shall continue without any change saith Theodoret Indeed Aelius Adrianus the Emperour built a citie neare to it which he called after his owne name Aelia which since goes under the name of Ierusalem but hath neither the fashion nor scituation of it but of it saith Iosephus the very foundations are laid so flat as men would thinke there never had been habitation there The first captivity of the Iewes after the Law was that prophesied Ier. 51. 7. Babylon hath beene a golden cup in the Lords hand that made all the earth drunke with vengeance which came upon them Psal 137. 1. By the waters of Babylon we sate downe and wept c. But they were surprised againe after the death of Christ as being willing neither to beare the hard yoake of the Law nor that of the Gospell which is easie Mat. 11. and a law of libertie Iam. 2. 12. The Eagle in the Roman Ensigne towred so high with incredible majestie that it couched all the world under it like lesser birds and made them tributary to Caesar to which this whilome holy land of Iury now stinking in her abominations became a prey and after many apparitions and voyces from heaven from the East and West and divers civill broyles within the wals as if their owne hands had been made to be excoutioners of their rebellious soules famine making mothers eate their owne children and these wombes that first gave them harbour were made the places of their buriall then came the Pestilence and laid them groveling by heapes gasping and gazing vpon the Temple so lamentably and miserably that Titus lifting up his eyes and hands to heaven called God to witnesse it was not his cruelty but their impiety that had awaked God in vengeance to bring the man upon the red horse Rev. 5. 4. bloud and warre and winged sword to flie in triumph among them so many slaine and so many taken prisoners that thirty Iewes were sold for one penny because among them their Master was sold for thirty pence Aelius Adrianus which built another Citie would have reedified this but could not and Iulian the Apostata thought in his blasphemous imagination to have built it as glorious as it was to disprove CHRIST who had prophecied before of the utter dissipation of it but he that sits in heaven laughed him to scorne his workemen and worke were hindered by the falling of lime and sand by the flashing of fire and earthquakes as if God had laid the curse of Ierico upon it Iosh 6. 26. Cursed be the man before the Lord that raiseth up and buildeth this Citie So Ierusalem is like Reuben Gen. 49. 2. The beginning of Gods manly strength but in the end was unstable as water to forsake God and so to be forsaken of him and her dignitie is gone So this matchlesse people who had these nine most excellent priviledges which all the world wanted Rom. 9. 4. First to be Israelites Secondly to whom pertained the Adoption Thirdly and the Glory fourthly and the Covenants fiftly and the giving of the Law sixtly and the service of God seventhly and the Promises eightly whose are the Fathers ninthly of whom came CHRIST according to the flesh and which addeth to their dignitie the miracles of CHRIST the immediate worke of his Godhead were wrought among them Acts 10. 38. Hee went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed with the devill for God was with him yet all these are not able to sway with God nor to keepe backe the point of his flaming sword that was brandished over them for sinne till it was sheathed in their destruction and their foreheads branded with Caines marke to wander dispersed upon the face of the earth without King without Prince without Priest without Image without Ephod and without Teraphim as Israel aforetime was threatned Hos 3. 4. and they now have felt almost as long as the first Age was before the Floud so scattered and have so corrupted their owne Pedegrees that at this day there is not a Iew in the world which can say he hath his genealogie certaine but are a scattered and contemptible Nation throughout the whole earth And not alone to instance in that now forsaken nation such is the weight and power of sinne that after the plantation of the Gentiles the Church of Rome a virgin and the chaste and faithfull spouse of CHRIST their faith was renownedly spoken of through the whole world Rom. 1. 8. continuing stedfast in that doctrine by which she became the Church of CHRIST but since when she became an uncleane filth prostituted to all manner of fornications embrued and drunken with the bloud which she hath spilt usurping upon the land-markes of Supremacy exalting her selfe above all that is called God and is worshipped 2 Thes 2. 4. like the proud Lucifer Esay 14. 14. above the height of the cloudes her hatefull ambition cruelty and abhominations hath caused God even to spue her out of his mouth to give her up to strong delusions to beleeve lyes and hath warned us by an admonition of his owne Spirit Reu. 18. 4. Come out of her my people The old world so long as it continued in Gods service and the sonnes of God had no commixture with the lascivious daughters of men issuing from the murtherous loines of runnagate Cain they stood sure as mount Sion resting upon the brazen pillars of Gods love and favour but when once they mixed with the wicked and inordinately doated upon the face of skin-deepe beauty see a miserable spectacle of Gods wrath the cataracts and windowes of heaven were opened Gen. 7. the floud of Gods anger prevailed against the multiplyed world dispeopled it and brought those great multitudes to eight persons where we see what it is to offend God A fruitfull land maketh the barren for the sin of them that dwell therein Psal 107. 37. See the Church of Ephesus Reu. 2. 2. a glorious Church God
which I thought to doe unto them Thirdly concerning every particular and private person If any man or woman decay in love or want love to God or their brethren and the practising of holy duties growe sicke of a lazie lethargie or lye in any grosse sinne in the knowledge of his owne conscience it is a meanes to remove the Candlesticke from him in a fearefull deprivation of his knowledge and the other graces of God in him The affection of love in the heart is like the watch of a clock if it stand the wheeles stand and as it goeth fast or slowely the wheeles goe answerably Even so it is in man if his love to God and to his Gospell encrease so doth his knowledge and other giftes multiply but if love be gone then with Demas he gives a valediction and farewell to all Religion and piety his vertues are in the waine if not in a full Eclipse And so we see a reason of the palpable ignorance in so many of our people that have had both Paul to plant and Apolios to water that have had the North and the South to blow upon their gardens have heard the Gospell plainely and powerfully preached the yeare of Iubile proclaimed by the sonnes of thunder and yet are like the deafe Adder that stoppeth her eares some with the foote of their pride some of covetousnesse c. which is nothing but the want of love Heb. 3. 12. Take heed least there be in any of you an evill heart of unbeliefe in departing from the living God but exhort one another daily while it is called to day least any of you he heardned through the deceitfulnesse of sinne Wherein is shewed the way and the degrees by which a man falls from God First sinne deceives him by drawing him to commit it then followes an accustomed continuance in it and finally unbelief in many poynts of religion impenitency and apostaticall falling away and opposing the trueth as Hierom Hugo Cardinalis and divers others have marshalled sinne in it's severall rankes and degrees Seeing then wee are fallen into the last and worst times in which the love of most men waxeth cold and are cast into the declining age of the decrepit world wherein the Practise of Pietie which was printed in the dayes of the Patriarches and Primitive times in a largs Folie is now contracted into a volume lesse than a Tricesimâ— quarto O tempora O mores And among whom besides the fruitfull spawne of innumerable enormities which are of a late Edition molded and framed in the corrupt heart of man assisted by the politique malice of Satan as many sinnes rule and reigne as ever did in the times of those despised Iewes Have we not those cardinall and crying sinnes which cry as loud as thunder for vengeance which are comprised in this briefe Disticke Clamitat in coelum vox sanguinis Sodomorum Vox oppressorum-merces retenta laborum Wages detained doth for vengeance cry Murther oppression lustfull Sodomie And besides have we not sprung and sprouted up among us those severall heads of that cursed Hydra those foule birds of that uncleane Covie contempt of the Ministery Irreligion Prophanenesse Pride Sabboth-breaking Ignorance Superstition Covetousnesse c. all which are daily mustered in armes against us And were it not the longanimitie and long suffering of that Iehova which in judgement remembreth mercie had long ere this time removed our Candlestick and crowne from among us Let us then follow the counsell of the Prophet Amos Chap. 4. 12. Because I will doe thus and thus unto thee O Israel prepare to meete thy God Every man and woman prepare with the Ninivites to meet your God by repentance and sorrow for sinne As every one hath had an high hand in sinning so let us have a heavy heart in repenting that wee may prevent his judgements answere his Word and agree with God which by reason of our sinnes is become our adversary quickly while we are in the way to the Iudges house lest he deliver us to the Iaylor and so we be cast into prison to pay the uttermost farthing of our debt Seeing Israel which was the roote nay rather as a naturall branch sprung from the fatnesse of the true Olive yet for her relapse from her goodnesse as it was threatned to the Church of Philadelphia Revel 3. 11. another receives their crowne and dignitie Learne hence then Gentile which art grafted in not to be high-minded but feare for if God in the puritie of his justice spared not the naturall branches but plucked them off take heed least he spare not thee Rom. 11. 21. If thou now enjoyest the Gospell the Word and Sacraments plentie and peace and growest secure and wanton like an untamed Calfe Ierem. 19. 31. and castest off the yoake of obedience behaving thy selfe unthankfully and wickedly the wofull curse of Corazin and Bethsaida hangs over thy head and it shall be easier for Sodome and Gomorrha in the day of Iudgement than for thee Matth. 11. 21. c. Let these rebellious Iewes be a warning for thee as Moses Deut. 24. 9. warnes the people in calling to remembrance the example of Miriam strucke with a leprosie Remember what the Lord thy God did unto Miriam by the way or as the mention made of the theft of Achan Ios 22. 20. or as the destruction of Sodome and Gomorrha is brought upon the stage for a token of Gods wrath Deut. 29. 33. or as the example of Egypt and Pharao to the Philistines 1 Sam. 6. 6. or as the Apostle uses the example of the idolatrous fathers by way of exhortation to his backsliding Corinthians 1 Cor. 10. 11. shutting it up in this admonition All these things hapned unto them for examples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come and by the example of Eva seduced by the Serpent 2 Cor. 11. 3. Let him therefore that standeth take heede lest he fall 1 Cor. 10. 12. whereby is given us to understand that outward standing and professing of the faith without inward grace and the feare of God issuing out of a godly conversation is not standing indeed but seeming to stand Take heed then to make thine election sure for though salvation belong to all yet all pertaine not to it Esay 60. 2. Darkenesse shall cover the earth and grosse darkenesse the people but the Lord shall arise vpon thee Ioh. 1. 9. Christ is the light of the world and came to lighten every one that commeth into the world but every one comes not to him to be illuminated Micha chapter 7. verses 1 2. complaines that he speaking in the name of the whole people was as the Summer gatherings and as the grapes of the Vintage there is no cluster to eate like the gleaning of an Harvest heere an eare and there an eare So then Christian if thou wilt not be cut
engraven us upon the palmes of his hands verse 16. sometime in the tendernesse of hennes to their Chickens Mat. 23. 37. which how tender it is we see in the continuall care that she hath in hatching feeding and to her power in defending her young and yet all these are but shadowes in regard of substantiall and everlasting love which CHRIST IESVS the heavenly Henne hath over his beloved ones his love is as himselfe infinite for whatsoever is in God is God his mercy his justice c. and all those backe-parts of the mighty IEHOVAH Exod. 34. 6. When he is called mercifull what is he but mercy it selfe in the abstract saith Savanorola if they were al gathered together that are in heaven and earth and it be demaunded of them how they have been saved they all stand as a cloud of witnesses to testifie Gods free mercies and to say with the Church Psal 115. 1. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the praise Now consider further that the mercifull kindnesse of God is 1. Generall 2. Speciall The generall is his providentiall care over all his creatures in creating preserving sustaining and maintaining of them Psal 36. 6. Thou O Lord wilt save both man and beast Mat. 5. 45. He maketh the Sunne to rise on the evill and the good and sendeth raine upon the just and unjust Iohn 5. 17. My Father yet worketh and I worke with him meaning in his generall care in the supporting of the creature this is called Psalme 51. 1. Loving kindnesse or benignity extending it selfe to the very Ravens Psal 147. 9. Luke 12. 24. The speciall mercy is that by which hee loves his owne in CHRIST redeemes sanctifies and saves them by his free grace 1 Tim. 4. 10. He is the Saviour of all men especially of those that beleeve this he exerciseth toward us both in giving and forgiving both which Moses describes at large Exod. 34. 6. Mercifull in which he doth as it were clothe himselfe in the affections of man Ier. 31. 10. His bowels are troubled for Ephraim Matth. 9. 36. His bowels even earned in compassion to see the multitude wandring as sheepe without a shepheard how pathetically he perswades the reformation of his Church Cant. 6. 7. Returne returne O Shuâ—â—mite returne how passionately he deplores Ierusalem Luke 19. 42. If thou haddest knowne even thou in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace in a word he rejoyceth in his owne mercie but sorrowes for our miserie Gracious which intimates a forwardnesse to doe us good he is never weary in doing it Iam. 1. 5. he gives liberally to all Slow to anger full of patience Gen. 6. 3. How long did he wait the repentance of the old world in his mercy stopping the course of his deserved vengeance Psal 95. 10. Fourty yeares long did he suffer the murmuring Idolators and Adulterers in the wildernesse Psal 106. 43. Many a time did they provoke him to anger by their Counsels yet Is 30. 18. he waits that he may have mercie Aboundant in goodnesse and truth noting his disposition by kindnesse to win men the immutable constancie of his promises which is the inexhaustible fountain of his mercies he reserves them for thousands his goodnes is not like the morning dew dispierced and exhaled by the Sunne nor like the Coffers of the greatest Potentate which may be drawen dry but a Lamp which is fed by the oyle of Immortalitie and which makes up the measure he forgives iniquity transgression and sinne no marvell than if David call them in his experience the multitude of his tender compassions in which he tenderly embowelleth his chosen as the womb enfoldeth nourisheth the new conceived Embryo where he shewes mercies he shewes them by multitudes if the royall heart of Alexander thought it not honourable to give small things how much more than shall the all-sufficient God give that exceeds him as much as the maine Ocean the least riveret he is ready to forgive Isa 55. 7. Father of mercies and God of all comfort 2 Cor. 1. 3. Very pittifull and full of mercy Iam. 5. 11. The heighth length bredth and depth thereof passeth all understanding Eph. 3. 18. All these compassions and mercifull kindnesses may be reduced to a sixe-fold ranke First preventing Mercies whereby hee did us good when we knew not keeping us from many sins which otherwise we had committed many and many have we coÌ„mitted against him but far more should we have done if his mercie had not prevented us acknowledg than Gods mercy toward thee even in those sins which thou hast not coÌ„mitted If thou seest one which is debtor to me for a sin and I forgave him know also that thou art a debtor to me because I prevented thee from the like because there is in every mans corrupted brest since the fall of Adam the Seminarie and seed-plot of all iniquitie springing from the bitter root of that originall Corruption the match and tinder the fuell and fountaine of every actuall transgreson so that there is no enormitie which the most debauched wretch hath committed but thou hadst acted the like if grace had not preuented boast not thy selfe then in this but with devoute Bernard extoll the mercie of the Almighty Secondly are his sparing mercies experienced in his longanimitie and patience in which thou mayest say I have sinned and thou heldest thy tongue I have transgressed and thou hast spared me when thou lookedst upon Zimri and Cosbi slaine in the act of uncleannesse Ananias and Saphira the old world Sodome and Gomorrha Iulian Herod with thousands more the dierfull spectacles of Gods powerfull Iustice hast thou not sufficient cause to glorifie that God that hath so long suffered thee to wallow in the puddles of thine iniquitie and hath not sunke thee downe to the pit of perdition but still waites that hee may have mercie Thirdly his pardoning mercies else what benefit were it to be long spared and at last paid home as it shall be with every impenitent though he enjoy the sun-shine of Gods patience yet in the end the wrath of God shall burne as an Oven as Tophet against him though now he see the hand of Gods justice behind his backe clouded and vailed in his daily continued mercies yet the conclusion will prove a tragicall Catastrophe though he passe with a slow pace yet he goes in order though with leaden feet yet with Iron hands but this feare is taken away by these pardoning mercies by which in the bloud of Christ he makes us as cleane as if he never had been poluted Psal 32. 1. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth no sinne Fourthly are his renuing mercies by which he gives not onely remission of sinnes but also the grace of renovation by which they become new creatures trees of righteousnesse bearing and abounding in the fruits
was full of anguish refusing comfort ready to enter the Port of blacke dispaire verse 7. Will the Lord cast off for ever and will hee be favourable no more hath he forgotten to be gracious c. yet hee checks himselfe Verse 9. This is mine infirmity and weaknesse So must weâ— in the middest of our fiery tryals when the old Serpent layes the strongest siege at the Castle of our faith seeking by the roaring Cannons and murdering Bassaliscoes of diffidence and distrust to weaken our hope in the truth of Gods promises And to shake our faith the anchor of our Soule onely able to stay it in the swelling surges and boysterous waves of all temptations and crosses Heb 6. 19. But let thy faith which is the ground of things hoped for the subsisting of things which are not seene Heb. 11. 1. grounded upon the truth of God which purposed framed confirmed and inacted thy happinesse in the starrie coast of Heaven before the foundation of the world counter-guard thy heart against all the deepnesse strength power and pollicy of Sathan build thy selfe upon the rocke Mat. 7. 24. Which is CHRIST 1 Cor. 3. 11. and Wee are stones built upon him 1 Pet. 2. 5. say of this truth as Gamaliel in such a case Acts 5. 39. This is of God it cannot be destroyed or frustrated be not faithlesse but beleeving sinke not with Cephas in the pit of diffidency Mat. 14 31. but let his truth be thy supporter in all thine adversities let thine helpe stand not upon the sandy foundation of thine owne weakenesse but in the name of the Lord Psal 121. 2. Rowse up thâ— selfe with the cripple at the beautifull gate of the Temple Act 3. 8. for He that trusts in the Lord is as Mount Sion which cannot be remooved Ps 125. 1. Secondly out of the stedfastnesse of this truth learne further that in it are considerable 2 things Hos 2. 23. First on Gods part Thou art my people Secondly on our part Thou art my God hee promiseth confirmeth and performeth happinesse wee holinesse hee glory wee duty hee heaven wee obedience hee to be a father wee to become children hee is tyed to us by oath and we are bound to him in the strayte irrepealable condition of vowe if we want not in obedience he cannot in performance and if wee expect his performance let us looke unto our owne part which is obedience which if wee should doe with the reflecting optique and perspicill of true judgement and consider the crookednesse of our pathes he backwardnesse of our obsequence and the perverse carriage of our lives wee may with our tongues say with Saul to Samuell 1. Sam. 15. 13. Blessed bee thou of the Lord I have fulfilled the Commandement of the Lord but it might justly bee retorted against vs and sheathed in the inmost closset of our consciences in Samuels reply What meaneth then the bleating of the Sheepe in mine eare and the lowing of oxen which I heare Thus might it be replyed to our pretended holinesse and obedience what meane those troupes of Blasphemers Atheists Drunkards Lyers c. which like the frogs of Egypt cover the whole land and yet presumptuouslie daring claime the promises of God and scarce bearing the outward face of Christians yet are impudently bold with the gaine-saying Iewes to cleere themselves and say Mal. 3. 8. Wherein have wee trespassed When in the meane time our consciences testifie that wee have wearyed the Almighty pressed and oppressed him as a Cart with sheaves Amos 2. 13. with our enormous transgressions and rebellions committed with an high hand Num. 15. 13. seated in the chayre of the scornefull Masked with brasen-faced impudencie that we blush not Ier. 8. 12 with a blockish benummednesse a calumne and brawny dulnesse of heart that we cannot enter into the chambers of our heart in the consideration of our wayes not once crying in the remorse of soule Alas what have I donne Ier. 8. 6 the very tryall of our countenances testifying against us Esay 3 9. that wee can lay no sure tiâ—l to the Covenant and promise of Mercy because wee â—ilfully treâ—â— under foote the vowe of obedience but even that God in the rigour of his justice 1 Sam. 3. 11. should make our two eares to tingle and our bellies to tremble Hab. 3. 16. and not to be mercifull to such an one Deut. 29. 19. that addeth drunkennesse to thirst blood to touch blood Hos 4. 3. heaping one sinne upon another as one wave of the Sea followeth in the necke of another where is now the correspondence of this obedience when thou hast delt thus falsely in Gods covenant Psal 44. 67. When thine eares and thine heart are uncircumcised thy necke not used to the yoake thy rebellions growne so sinewie and strong that they cannot bowe and the promises of mercy for all this being made the Argument of thy security like the Sycamoore the more wet it receives the dryer it is so thou the more mercy the lesse obedience what part of Gods truth canst thou clayme but that of his justice even to be brayed and brayned with the foole in the morter of his wrath though thou be in no dammage like other men but flo wrish like a greene bay tree as David and that thy breasts be full of milke and the collops of prosperity appeare in thy flancke as Iob and though thou lye upon beds of Ivorie and stretch thy selfe upon thy couches eating Lambes out of the flocke and the calves out of the middest of the stall chaunting to the sound of the viall and inventing to thy selfe instruments of Musicke like David as Amos sayth Chap 6. 4. Yet it shall not goe well with the wicked hee that sowes iniquiâ—y must reape affliction Prov. 11. and he that soweth righteousnesse shall reape a sure reward it is thy goodnesse not greatnesse thy obsequious obedience onely holds plea in this case though thou post thy wickednesse upon the wings of the silent night and hide thy sinnes in the secret cavernes and subteraneous cloysters and valts of the earth yet the Lord will search Ierusalem with a lantherne The eyes of the Lord are upon thee Hab. 2. 20. and his eye lids consider thy wayes Psal 11. 4. though he now winke and seeme to sleepe considering with his eye lids the crookednesse of thy wayes taking leisure and respite ere hee bring them to light yet he goes with thee all this while as hee did with the old world 120 yeares and a long time with Sodome and Gomorrha as a publike notary marking thy courses till thou run thy selfe to perdition then opening his eyes which seemed shut seazing upon thee with this dierfull redargution Psal 50. 21. These things hast thou done I held my tongue thou thoughtest wickedly that I was even such a one as thy selfe but I will reproove thee and set before thee the things which thou hast done all the time of Gods patience wicked man