A SERMON PREACHED ABOARD of the GLOBE the 18. of May Anno 1617. At an Anchor by the Cape of Good Hope in the Bay of SOVLDANIA 34. Degrees to the Southward of the Aequinoctiall line By WILLIAM LESK Minister of Gods Word Entertained by the Honourable Companie of Marchants trading into East India for the instruction and comfort of the Fleet by them sent forth for those Easterne parts Anno 1614. * ⎠* PSAL. 71. VERSE 17 18. O God thou hast taught mee from my youth and hitherto haue I declared thy wondrous workes Now also O God forsake me not vntill I haue shewed thy strength vnto this Generation and thy power vnto euerie one that is to come LONDON Printed by George Purslowe and are to be sold at his house neere the East end of Christ-Church 1617. TO THE TRVELY Honorable and right VVorshipfull Knight Sir THO. SMITH Gouernour of the East India Muscouia Summer Ilands and French Companies c. All increase of Grace Health and Happinesse in this life and Glorie in that which is to come IOSEPH Honourable Sir in the wisedome and great goodnesse of Gods all-ruling prouidence being by Pharaoh deliuered from the violence and oppression of his mightie but malicious enemies throughout the whole course of his life thereafter testified his thankfulnesse vnto the great God of Heauen for so comfortable a blessing by his effectuall and earnest endeauours Gen. 41.33 34 35 36. 47.11 12. making both for the aduancement of Gods glorie and good of the Common-wealth wherein he liued as his wise graue and discreete counsell for prouision against the famine to come and charitable feeding of the Lords chosen sufficiently witnesse there needeth no application for it is a great deale better knowne then that by my penne the fame thereof can be encreased how seriously the successe still answering the zeale and greatnesse of your endeuours since the first time it pleased our gracious Soueraigne to cast his eye vpon your singular and rare endowments you haue taken to heart this holy taske Leauing therefore the wise and discreete carriage of the Honourable Embassage vnto the Emperour of Muscouia by his Maiestie imposed and laid vpon you your more then ordinarie care of increasing the Trade of Marchandise beneficiall vnto â—â—l but especially vnto Ilanders whereof our â—â—eâ—ies themselues being Iudges wee are inferioâ—â— vnto none your great and manifold aduentâ—â—es vnto farre distant and remote Countries for animating and encouraging of others vnto the like attempts your bountifull expence and charges vpon new Discoueries your liberall maintaining of men skilfull in the Mathematikes and other Sciences making for the direction of Sea-faring men in conducting their shippes into whatsoeuer parts of the world and which both in Policie and Pietie exceeds all your Christian commiseration and fauourable acceptance indifferently of all poore distressed men in whom sparkles of Ingenuitie and ripenesse of Iudgement whereby in time the Common-wealth may be benefited are in any competent measure to be seene whence it comes to passe that many who otherwise should haue lyen buried in the pit of obliuion for want of preferment forced to betake themselues vnto the basest and most seruile imployments liue now in some eminencie and places of note in their Countries being helpefull rather then chargeable vnto others all which making rather for posteritie then present gaine for what benefit can your gray haires expect by Plantations Discoueries and other Attempts of that or the like nature affoord sufficient matter of a right large and ample Discourse being a subiect well worthie and deseruing the applause and commendation of a learned Writer vnto whom although in dutie as farre obliged as any leauing the exact performance of so great weightie an employment I shall at this time content my selfe with a briefe remembrance of the reason mouing me to publish these slender Meditations vnder the couert and shade of your protection I meane your religious care in furnishing the Ships and Factories vnder your gouernment with painefull learned and conscionable Preachers and disposers of the Mysteries of the Kingdome of Heauen whereby God is glorified in the assemblies of your seruants and they themselues although the supply of their necessities so requiring for a season depriued of the benefit and comfort of their Countrey liue as at home in regard of spirituall foode In which respect as in generall all that loue the prosperitie of Sion are obliged and become debtors vnto your deuotion so more particularly those vnto whom the propagation of Gods worship after a speciall manner is committed but of all most especially we who in this kind haue beene eye-witnesses of your care executioners of your zeale and obiects of your manifold and great fauours for Christ and the Gospels sake conferred and bestowed vpon vs. The due consideration whereof makes me an humble suiter that according to your wonted respect and reuerence of the meanest endeuours of this nature you will be pleased to safegard and protect from the slanderous and carping tongues of malicious Atheists this small Treatise that vnder your name of all good and godly men iustly honoured comming into the publike view of the world God in some measure thereby may be glorified his people edified and others of your qualitie and condition as by many other means so by this small exercise vnderstanding the religious course of your gouernment may thereby be incited and stirred vp vnto the like proceedings according to that of our Sauiour Let your light so shine before men Mat. 5.15 that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heauen Your Worships in all humble dutie to be commanded WILLIAM LESK A Sermon preached aboard of the Globe riding at Anchor in the Bay of SOVLDANIA Matth. 11. Verse 28.29.30 Come vnto me all yee that labour and are heauie laden and I will giue you rest Take my yoke vpon you and learne of me for I am meeke and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest vnto your soules For my yoke is easie and my burthen light ALthough in the day of his Creation Man was in the riches of the bountie and great goodnes of his Creator made Lord of the World and Commander of whatsoeuer breathed vpon the face of the Earth Gen. 1.18 14. the Heauens seruing for his vse the Earth for his habitation the Starres for signes for seasons for dayes and for yeres and all the creatures as bondmen attending his becke readie to yeeld homage and obedience vnto him as their lawfull Commander yet the Almightie Esay 42.8 who will not giue his glorie vnto another made him not so absolute but that still he had a necessary dependance and deepely engrauen reference vnto a superior power for euen in the height and greatest of his perfection there was by the finger of God powerfully rooted in the furthest and most secret corners of his heart a naturall instinct that Honour and Homage was due from him vnto
courses then our Aduersarie the Deuill 1. Pet. 5.8 who goeth about as a roaring Lyon seeking whom hee may deuoure vnmaskes whatsoeuer formerly he hath kept secret and amplifieth to the full those things which when hee did leaue he laboured greatly to extenuate and value at the smallest rate Come therefore vnto me all yee that labour and are heauie laden and I will giue you rest Esay 61.1.2.3.4.5 because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meeke he hath sent me to binde vp the broken-hearted to proclaime libertie to the Captiues and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound to proclaime the acceptable yeere of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourne in Zion to giue vnto them Beautie for Ashes the Oyle of Ioy for Mourning the Garment of Praise for the spirit of Heauinesse that they might be called Trees of Righteousnesse the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified Fourthly because men to their endlesse and irrecouerable losse should not wrest or peruert that which goeth before in the seuen and twentieth verse No man knoweth the Father but the Sonne and he to whomsoeuer the Sonne will reueale him As if the grace of God were in Christ Iesus offered onely to some few of those that labour and are heauie laden vnder the burthen of their sinnes therefore all are mentioned Come vnto me all yee that labour and are heauie laden Esay 1.18 and I will giue you rest If your sinnes were as red as crimson come vnto me and I will make them as white as snow At what time soeuer a sinner doth repent him of his wickednesse and commeth vnto me though his sinnes be as scarlet they shall be as wooll If tenne Lepers come vnto me although they be euen tenne they shall all be cleansed of their loathsome and filthie disease although your soules be as blinde with the dust and durt of Iniquitie as was Bartimeus the begger come vnto me and yee shall receiue sight If your transgressions be such and so manie that euen a Legion of Deuills torture and torment your soules come vnto me and you shall finde rest If from the Wombe you haue been so lame and cripple that you are vnable to moue one hayre-breadth towards the Kingdome of Heauen come vnto mee and I will enable your ioynts If you haue so long lyen in the puddle of sinne that with Lazarus you stinke in the graue of Iniquitie come vnto me and I will breathe in your face the breath of life whereby you shall be made liuing soules where all are inuited there none is excluded where such as labour and are heauie laden vnder the burthen of Sinne and Iniquitie are willed to come there a secret reason is giuen why the mercie and fauour of God offered vnto all is not by all receiued because all doe not labour and are heauie laden vnder the burthen of their sinnes for Christ came not to saue the righteous but to call sinners to repentance the whole need no Physician but such as are maymed and lame vnder the intolerable weight of their transgressions Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall be filled To the end then that comfortably and with profit wee may come vnto Christ it is necessary that we labour and be heauy laden vnder the burthen of sinne that our hearts be ready to melt because of our transgressions and our soules standing at the gates of death because of the intolerable weight of iniquity which can neuer sufficiently be effected without a distinct knowledge of the nature quality and condition of sin because the naturall and vnborn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and selfe loue which deepely lyeth rooted in the heart of man seconded with the malicious subtiltie of the common enemy of mans saluation so duls and darkens the eye and edge of his vnderstanding that he is more then blind in censuring and valuing of his owne actions whence it comes to passe that often he perswades himselfe that he is in a direct straight course or at least meanely to erre when as he lyes deepely plunged in a filthy sinke and lothsome puddle of all maner of wickednes now sinne is knowne by the Touch-stone of Gods Lawe according to that of the Apostle Rom. 3.20 7.7 By the Law is the knowledge of sinne I had not knowne sinne but by the Lawe for I had not knowne lust except the lawe had said Thou shalt not couet for whereas all other learning serues rather to blowe vp the heart of man with an idle opinion and vaine conceit of his owne worth founding nothing els in his eare but shrill and loud blasts of the excellency of his soule the wonderfull fabricke and making of his body the goodly sympathie and fellow feeling which euery part facultie and power hath one with another and the sweet harmonie and concord of the whole compound the Lawe of the Lord is that which bewrayeth and layeth open vnto man the vglinesse of his heart the nakednes of his imaginations and the peruersenesse of his wayes to the Law therefore and to the testimony if they soule spenke and thinke not according vnto this word Esay 8.20 it is because there is no light in it therefore DAVID speaking of this Lawe sayth that it is perfect conuerting the Soule that it is sure making wise the simple that it is right reioicing the heart that it is pure enlightening the eyes that it is true and righteous altogether Psal 19.7.8 9 10. 1.2 more to be desired then gold yea then much fine gold sweeter also then the hony and the hony-combe Blessed therefore is the man whose delight is in the Lawe of the Lord and in his Law doth meditate night and day Secondly because man naturally is so bewitched with the pleasures of sinne and glued to the alluring and entising sweetnes of wickednesse that a bare knowledge of the nature of transgression is neuer able to bring this labour and wearisomenesse vpon his soule therefore after that by the Lawe wee haue attained vnto the knowledge of sinne it is necessary that we vnderstand the value and esteeme which it hath in the eyes of the Lord by himselfe at great length reuealed in his Word sometimes by speeches and words full of dislike and disdaine My people aske counsell at their stockes Hos 4.12 and their staffe declareth vnto them for the spirit of whoredome hath caused them to erre and they haue gone a whoring from vnder their God God saw the wickednesse of man that it was great in the earth and that euery Imagination of the thought of his heart was onely euill continually Gen. 6.5 therefore it repented the Lord that he had made man vpon the earth and it grieued him at his heart your Incense and Sacrifices are abomination Esay 1.15 because your hands are full of bloud sometimes he denounceth heauy
Iudgements against the children of disobedience thereby to testifie his great dislike of Iniquity The end of all flesh is come before me for the earth is filled with violence through them Gen. 6.13 behold I wil destroy them with the earth If thine heart turne away so that thou wilt not heare Deut. 30.17 18. but shalt be drawne away and worship other gods and serue them I denounce vnto you this day that yee shall surely perish and sometimes againe hee inflicts exemplary punishments vpon such as delight and take pleasure in the waies therof as the destruction of the primitiue world the ouerthrow of Sodome and reiection of the Iewish Nation sufficiently witnes Thirdly because then commonly men take most to heart offences committed and feare to belch out mischiefes wherein otherwise they could be content at randome greedily to wallow when as they vnderstand their courses to bee odious and displeasing vnto men of great power and might for heerein stands the difference betweene Princes and peasants that all feare to offend or giue distaste to the one whereas no man will restraine or curbe any of the meanâ—st of his desires for auoiding the offence of the other therefore it is requisite and necessary to the end that we may labour and be heauy laden vnder the burthen of our sinnes that we be not ignorant of the vnspeakeable power might and maiesty of Almighty God For this cause it was that at the giuing of the Lawe whereby we come vnto the knowledge of sinne Exod. 19.18 the Lord appeared after so fearefull and terrible a manner that all the people that were in the campe trembled for feare that thereby seeing the greatnesse of his power in whose sight sinne is lothsome and abhorred they might feare to commit iniquity and tremble at the remembrance of by gone transgressions yea commonly when as the Almighty publisheth and proclaimeth vnto the world his dislike and detestation of sinne there are still let fall some flashes and apparant significations of his might maiesty and power Thus sayth the Lord the Lord of Hosts Esay 1.24.20 the mightie One of Israel I will ease mee of mine aduersaries and auenge me of mine enemies If ye refuse and rebell ye shall bee deuoured by the sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Fourthly and lastly because the nature of man is euer to put from him the euil day blessing himselfe in his heart and saying I shall haue peace Deut. 29.19 though I walke in the imagination of my heart to adde drunkennesse to thirst therfore for attaining the effect aforesayd it is expedient that men thorowly bee perswade that the Lord hath appointed a day of recompence wherein euery man shall bee rewarded according to that which he hath done in the flesh Rom. 2.6 whether it bee good or bad Now these things thorowly learned 1. Cor. 5.5 2. Cor. 1.14 cannot but bring vs to a true sense and feeling of the heauy burthen and intolerable weight of sin and iniquitie and consequently to labour and be heauie laden vnder the burthen of our transgressions wherby we come to haue interest in this comfortable inuitation and are made capable of the large and ample promise annexed thereunto Come vnto mee all ye that labour and are heauy laden and I will giue you rest not immunity and freedome from the temptations of Sathan the troubles of the world and crosses incident vnto vs whilst wee liue heere vpon earth No no for through many tribulations we enter into the Kingdome of heauen if wee be without chastisements whereof all are partakers we are bastards and not the Sonnes of God for the Lord whom he loueth he chastiseth and he correcteth euery Sonne whom he receiueth but the words that I speake vnto you are spirit and truth in the world ye shall haue tribulation but in me peace be of good comfort I haue ouercome the world Ioh. 16.33 14.27 15.11 Peace I leaue with you my Peace I giue you not as the world giueth giue I vnto you these things haue I spoken vnto you that my ioy might remaine in you and that your ioy might be full For the rest which Christ here promiseth vnto such as come vnto him must of necessitie be of the same nature with his Kingdome because of temporall felicity he himselfe publikely professed that the Foxes had holes and the Fowles of the heauen had nests but the Sonne of man had not whereon to lay his head Come therefore vnto me all ye that labour and are heauy laden and you shall haue my ioy fulfilled in you howsoeuer as concerning the things of this life Ioh. 17.13 you must resolue to take vp my yoke and learne from the intertainment which I haue had in the world that the Father in this life will not haue his children free from temptation and trouble Verely verily I say vnto you Ioh. 15.16 the seruant is not greater then his Lord neither he that is sent greater then he that sent him if they haue called the Master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of his houshold if they haue persecuted me they will also persecute you take vp therefore my yoke and learne of me for I am meeke and lowly in heart Ier. 11.11 I was like a Lambe or an Oxe that is brought vnto the slaughter and being in the forme of God made my selfe of no reputation took vpon me the forme of a seruant and was found in fashion as a man humbling my selfe vnto the death euen the death of the Crosse Phil. 2 7 8. learne therfore of me for I am meek and lowly in heart but because I haue sayd these things vnto you sorrow hath filled your hearts neuerthelesse I tell you the truth Ioh. 16.6 7. it is expedient for you to stand in the waies and see and ask for the olde pathes and walke therein Ier. 6.16 and yee shall finde rest for your soules for though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day whosoeuer then will come vnto me let him take vp his crosse and follow mee for my yoke is easie and my burthen light because God is faithfull who will not suffer you to be tempted aboue that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to beare it 1. Cor. 10.16 for the Almightie by the gracious influence of his holy Spirit comforts vpholds and strengthens his children in the time of trouble whereby that becomes easie and light vnto them which otherwise they could neuer possibly bee able to beare according to that of the Apostle Blessed be God 2. Cor. 1.1.3 4 5. euen the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth vs in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them that are in any trouble by the
a greater then himselfe which directed by an vnderstanding rightly informed and affections in nothing swaruing from the true verdict and sound iudgement of the intellectiue part directly guided and in all safetie conducted this noble creature vnto the great Creator of Heauen and Earth as the onely true obiect of his submission vnto whom Iure creationis he was in dutie bound to performe obedience In the fruition of whom as he then enioyed all happinesse so well might he haue still continued in the same perfection if the malice of Sathan had not inclined the freedome of his will vnto the worser part But alas after this dolefull and neuer-sufficiently lamented alteration he was in Iustice by the righteous Iudge of the world so disarmed and stript naked of if not all yet the greater part of his former dignitie that that which was before the cause of his greatest happinesse is now the originall of all the confusion which in the very rudiments and first principles of Religion farre and neere couereth well-nigh the face of the whole earth for the naturall instinct spoken off before since the fall depriued of the eye of vnderstanding whereby it was sometimes directed in the right way is now the ground of all the Diuersitie Schisme and Diuision which proh dolor is euery where to be seene both in the obiect and manner of diuine worship all men agreeing vpon this that there is a God to be worshipped according to that of the Heathen Cic. lib. 1. de Leg. Nulla gens tam effera nulla natio tam barbara cui non insideat haec notio esse Deum There is sayth he no Nation so rude nor people so barbarous where this Principle That a God is to be worshipped is not acknowledged and receiued as an vndoubted truth all I say agreeing vpon this but by disobedience depriued of the eye of righteous iudgement euer haue and to this day still doe grieuously and grossely erre both in finding out the person of him that is to be worshipped and in the manner how being found this Homage is to be performed as easily might at great length by speciall induction of Nations Countries and People worshipping the Sunne the Moone Fire Water and other Elements particularly be dilated if Histories both sacred and prophane did not furnish euery meanest capacitie with too too many examples of Catts Cowes Stockes and Blockes which haue beene thought not vnworthie of diuine worship so deepely is this principle That there is a God rooted in the heart of man that howsoeuer otherwise beyond all measure ambitious and proud yet rather then he will haue no God hee can be content to submit himselfe vnto the basest of the creatures that possibly can be named Thus man with Elymas the Sorcerer Act. 13.11 wandering to and againe as one deepely plunged in a Labyrinth of more then Aegyptian darknesse should for euer thus haue continued without so much as in the least measure approching vnto much lesse attaining the end of his labor if the God of all comfort consolation moued only with pitie cōmiseration towards the workmanship of his owne hands had not beyond all expectation yea to the great astonishment both of men and Angels found out a meanes whereby man enforced to seeke but neuer able to find might be directed vnto the true obiect of that worship obedience which by a deepely rooted instinct he was in duty bound to performe vnto a superior power in the right acknowledgement due performance wherof his greatest felicitie and happinesse doth consist which howsoeuer by diuine dispensation it was at the first reuealed onely a farre off Gen. 3.15 The seed of the woman shall tread downe the head of the serpent and afterwards for many yeeres together in that ancient Commonwealth whereof amongst all Nations the Lord was pleased to make choise for placing his Name from hand to hand vnder types figures darkly conueyed yet when the fulnesse of time was come Galat. 4.4 God sent forth his Sonne made of a woman made vnder the Law to redeeme them that are vnder the Law that we might receiue the adoption of sonnes who from Heauen miraculously declared to be the Sonne of God and by the Father anointed for the performance of this great and weightie imployment Matth. 3.17 inuites all that desire the knowledge of the true God Esay 61.1 leauing the by-wayes and beggerly rudiments of worldly elements to come vnto him as the only meane by the decree and determination of the sacred Trinitie appointed for reducing and bringing backe wretched man so farre estrayed vnto the knowledge and vnderstanding of the true God Ioh. 14.6 I am the Way the Truth and the Life no man commeth vnto the Father but by me Come therefore vnto me all ye that labour and are heauie laden and I will giue you rest First Matth. 11.27 Come Because all things are deliuered vnto me of my Father So that in me alone is to be found whatsoeuer is requisite and necessarie for the safegard and saluation of your soules for there is none other Name vnder Heauen giuen amongst men whereby we must be saued Act. 4.12 Ioh. 7.37 but the name IESVS If any man thirst let him come vnto me and drinke He that beleeueth in me as the Scripture hath said out of his bellie shall flow riuers of liuing Water Come therefore vnto me all ye that labour and are heauie laden and I will giue you rest Secondly vnto me Come vnto me Without any the least expectation of Enthusiasmes or immediate reuelations from the Father For God Heb. 1.1 who at sundrie times and in diuers manners spake in time past to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last dayes spoken vnto vs by his Sonne whom hee hath appointed heire of all things by whom also hee made the world Coloss 2.3 and in whom are laid vp all the treasures of true Knowledge and Vnderstanding Come therefore vnto me as the ordinarie meanes from aboue appointed for effecting and bringing this matter to passe This is my wel-beloued Sonne Matth. 17.5 in whom I am well pleased heare him For in and by the Mediator betweene God and man God is reconciled vnto man and man re-vnited vnto his Creator for the attainement of euerlasting happinesse Come therefore vnto me all yee that labour and are heauie laden and I will giue you rest Thirdly because the remembrance of former transgressions and guilt of sinne and iniquitie how manifold or grosse soeuer should not so farre preuaile as to dishearten or discourage vs from vndertaking this holy enterprise Therefore expressely he sets downe the qualitie and condition of his ghests naming euen that which the subtiltie and craft of Sathan might otherwise haue haply vsed as a stumbling blocke to hinder and let men from comming vnto him For how soone man begins in any least measure to thinke vpon reformation of his wicked and euill