onely he would haue vs vse our tongues so well as that wee may be at the day of Iudgement praised by him Yea sâ—eing praysing is a delightfull employment God would thereby cheere vp our spirits with a sweete foretaste of that life which we shall leade in heauen for praysing is the Angels worke in the Church Militant we haue both praying and praysing but in the Church Triumphant there is onely praysing there is no praying at all that Eucharisticall sacrifice shall continue when all Propitiatories doe cease for praise is the euerlasting sacrifice of the New Testament and of that the saying is true Praise shall neuer depart from the mouth of a Christian Iewes and Christians haue both agreed to repeate daily this Text in their Liturgie out of that which you haue heard you may gather that it is not without cause that they haue so done Wee say it daily I pray God wee may haue learned this day to say it well hereafter so may we that now in Gods House on earth speake his praise sing for euer Halelu taâ— praise yee the Lord with the Saints in Heauen The words as I haue opened them are conceiued in a Prayer but as they are read in the I salter they represent a Prophecie the odds is not great because a good Prayer if it bee conceiued for spirituall grace is indeede a prophecie for he that disposeth to sue doth purpose to grant What shall we say then to these things But euen pray that seeing God hath the key of our Eares as well as of our Tongues and by the temper of our eares wee may guesse what will bee the temper of our tongues and he that hath a deligh to heare his dutie will haue a tongue readie to yeeld God his due and God will neuer open his tongue that suffers the Diuell to keepe the key of his eare Let vs I say pray that by being willingly deafe we doe not become vnwilling dumbe but that Christ by his Ephphata would rid vs of the spirit both deafe and dumbe that hauing heard these words as we ought we may vse our tongues as is meete That we may so doe let vs all ioyntly present our humble petitions vnto God in the words of my Text. O Lord open thou our Lippes and our mouthes shall shew forth thy praise Blessed are they O Lord that dwell in thy House Psal 8â— they shall alwayes bee praysing thee SELAH PSAL. 51. VERSE 16. For thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I giue it thou delightest not in burnt offering KIng Dauid in thankfulnesse for Gods mercie promiseth religiously to serue him but whereas Gods seruice is either Morall or Ceremoniall he voweth a Morall and not a Ceremoniall seruice Of this choice he yeeldeth a reason and that reason is Gods good pleasure he maketh Gods pleasure to set bounds vnto his Vow and is willing to enlarge or contract his Vow according to Gods pleasure To contract it as appeares in that which he speaketh of the Ceremoniall worship for he forbeares it and to enlarge it as appeares in that which he speaketh of the Morall for that is it which he obserueth as acceptable vnto God On this Verse which now I haue read wee shall heare of his conceipt concerning the Ceremoniall worship and what hee conceiueth of the Morall worship which is answerable thereunto when I open the next Verse I shall then shew vnto you The Ceremoniall worship is exprest in two words Sacrifice and Burnt offerings which words may betaken either in a large or in a restrained sense In a large so may you reduce vnto them all Ceremoniall worship in a restrained and so they comprehend the two offerings which the Law required for a Ceremoniall reconciliation of a sinner Take them which way you will my Text sets downe Gods disposition towards them and King Dauids conformitie to that disposition of God Gods disposition is twofold First he doth not desire them secondly he doth not delight in them before they are offered he doth not desire them neither doth hee delight in them when they are offered so must you in this place difference Gods Desire and his Delight To this disposition of God King Dauid doth conforme his seruice he professeth that hee would haue tendered these Ceremoniall offerings if God had affected them and onely because God did not affect them therefore he doth not tender them both these propositions are wrapt vp in these words Else would I giue it I would giue sacrifices and burnt offerings if thou didst desire them if thou didest delight in them but thou desirest not sacrifices thou delightest not in burnt offerings therefore doe not I presume to giue them to reconcile my selfe by them These be the Heads whereunto I purpose to referre whatsoeuer I shall deliuer in farther opening of this Text Now because you may mistake in your Deuotion as the Iewes did be perswaded in the feare of God to listen attentiuely to what shall be said that you may learne of King Dauid to passe a true iudgement vpon all Ceremoniall worship and vpon all corporall seruice Let vs come then to the particulars whereof the first is those words wherein the Ceremonies are exprest and they are two Sacrifice and Burnt offerings Which words may bee taken first in a large sense they may comprehend all kind of animat Offerings that were burnt vpon the Altar for of them some were Merocausta burnt but in a part the rest was the Priests portion alone or else he did share in it with him that presented the sacrifice Other Offerings were called Holocausta they were wholly burnt neither the Sacrificer nor the Offerer had any part therein God reserued it wholly to himselfe so that if wee thus farre enlarge these words they wrap in them all kinde of corporall Sacrifices Ruffinus and others giue them so wide a signification That signification is true but happily it is not so proper to this Text a more restrained sense may better fit this present Argument Obserue then that these wordes doe containe the two Offerings which God in Moses Law prescribed for the reconciliation of a sinner hee was required to bring one expiatory the Law calleth it a sinne-offering and that is it which is here as else-where meant by the generall name of Sacrifice another Dedicatory which was called an Holocaust and is here translated a burnt offering but you must vnderstand it burnt not in part but wholly therefore it is sometimes called a whole-burnt-offering These two Offerings went together in the ceremoniall reconciliation of a sinner we find it so in Leuit at the purifying of a woman after Child-birth Chap. 12. at the cleansing of a Leper Chap. 14. finally at the expiation of the Tabernacle or Temple and therein of the whole Church of Israel Chap 16. In all these places you shall find that they goe together But to looke a little farther into these Offerings there are two remarkable things in them 1. the Mystery and
vpon whom this Law was made blasphemed but in his rage as appeares yet he dyed for it Wonder not at GODS seueritie he measureth no more to himselfe then he doth to Parents Exod. 21 to Magistrates He that curseth his father and his mother the parents of his flesh must be vsed so and shall not he be vsed so much more that curseth the Father of his Spirit He that speaketh euill of the Ruler of the people must be vsed so and shall not he that speaketh euill of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords The comparison maketh Quicunque in GODS case to be most iust To which root we shall refer your Blasphemie that are the penitent I know not in charitie we hope the best we hope that it commeth from a mixture of grosse ignorance and vnruly passions for these doe rayse euill thoughts and murmurings That it doth so let it appeare in your repentance St Paul in conscience of his Fall by ignorance gaue himselfe no better a title when he had occasion to mention it then Maximus peccatorum the most grieuous of sinners euen when he lead a most holy life he could not forget his fall in the hight of GODS grace And of St Peter the Ecclesiasticall Storie reports that at the crowing of the Cocke the Remembrancer of his Fall euerie night during his life he did wash his bed and water his couch with his penitent teares GOD make you so mindfull and so sorrowfull otherwise you will betray that your Blasphemie sprang from malice and then be sure that the same GOD that commanded such seueritie to be executed here on earth will himselfe execute much greater vpon all those which through irrepentance goe to Hell Yea haply he may euen in this world make you a Spectacle of a forlorne wretch to the terrour of others as he did Sennacherib Hercdot â—â—b 8. vpon whose Statua there is this Inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let euerie one that looketh vpon me learne to be godly Such a Spectacle I say may he make you if by often recounting and bewayling of this crying sin you doe not quench the fire of his wrath and preuent his iudgements For God will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his Name in vaine The last point is that it must be done without all indulgence Moriendo morietur he shall surely dye surely be stoned We may not with Eue turne surely into ne fortè lest the Diuel worke vpon vs and we prouoke GOD as Saul did in Agags case and Ahab in Benadads You haue heard the Law A word of those to whom it was giuen and so I end In the entrance of my Text you find that it was giuen to the Israelites the Israelites were the people of GOD and surely it concernes them if any to be most zealous of his glorie who is their Glorie But did it concerne them onely Then it is dissolued because their Common-weale is at an end Take therefore a Rule That if a Law which in the institution thereof was Nationall to the Iewes in the equitie of it be Oecumenicall euerie Christian nation is bound to giue it a Reuiuor though they may varie the punishment as they find it expedient for their State And indeed this hath receiued such a reuiuor in most Christian States Iustinian the Emperour of Constantinopâ—e made it capitall The wise Gothes inflicted an hundred stripes for it and in disgrace shaued the delinquents head and beard and imprisoned him during life Fredericke the Emperour cut out the tongue of all that offended in this kind St Lewis of France caused their tongue to be bored with a hot Iron wishing that his owne tongue might be so vsed if euer he did blaspheme Philip of Vuloys caused their lips to be slit And touching our owne State I haue nothing to say in excuse thereof for that it hath all this while left this sinne onely to Ecclesiasticall censure and hath not prouided some corporall punishment for it but that of Solon who being demanded why he made no Law against Parricide answered that he thought none in his Common-weale would euer be so impious to commit it So I thinke our State thought there would neuer rise such lewd persons amongst vs But seeing there doe it is high time we had some sharpe occasionall Statute to represse them If holy Iob were so carefull to sacrifice for and sanctifie his sonnes ne fortè lest peraduenture they had sinned with what zeale should we be stirred vp when we see the fact is most apparent I conclude Let all Blasphemie be put out of all our mouthes yea and hearts also and let vs pray GOD to set a watch before our lips and keepe the doore of our mouthes that his grace may rule in our hearts that he may be our feare and his prayse may be our talke that praysing him here on Earth we may be admitted into the number of his Saints which with heart and voyce prayse him for euermore in Heauen A penitent Prayer for a Blasphemer MOST Sacred and most dread Almightie Euerlasting God to whom the Angels continually doe cry Holy holy holy Lord God of Hoasts the glorie of whose admirable and comfortable wisedome reacheth from one end of the world to another mightily and sweetly ordereth all things J the vnworthiest of men the most grieuous of sinners humbly sorrowfully prostrating my deiected disconsolate both soule and body before thy holy eyes pray that the sighes and groanes of a broken and contrite heart may not be excluded from thine offended eares Lord J haue beene deepe in the gall of bitternesse and in the bond of iniquitie Sathan hath filled my heart therewith and out of the aboundance thereof my tongue hath sent forth many flashes euen of the fire of Hell as a brood of the Serpent J haue set my mouth against Heauen J haue blasphemed the holy the reuerend Name of my God and vilified his vnchangeable vnchallengable Prouidence Haddest thou dealt with me as I deserued fire and brimstone from Heauen should haue consumed me or the Earth should haue gaped and swallowed me downe quicke into the pit of Hell J deserued to be made a spectacle of thy iust vengeance that gracelesse wretches seeing my iudgement might feare my offence J confesse this ô Lord J confesse it vnfainedly penitently but woe is me if J haue no more to confesse but these my euill deserts Thy long-suffering towards me putteth me in better hope yea this medicinall confusion whereunto thou now puttest me puts me in good hope that thou hast not forgotten to be mercifull vnto me neither hast thou shut vp thy tender mercie in displeasure Lord J doe not despise this goodnesse of thine that leads me to repentance that workes in me remorce of conscience And from that penitent Blasphemer that proued a most worthy Apostle from his mouth doe J take vnto my selfe that saying worthy of all men to be receiued That Iesus Christ came into the world to saue
worth is meant by his Praise for Praise is the due of worth God is most worthy and therefore most rightly to bee praysed What God deserueth Dauid will yeeld for he intends to be Praeco a proclaimer of Gods praise He will shew it forth Narrando and Enarrando the word signifieth both he wil not only deliuer a plaine history of it but he will also make a feeling CoÌ„mentarie vpon it This he will do but wherwith That also is set downe in the Text he will doe it with his Mouth with his Mouth that others might heare and that Mouth shall bee his owne it shall bee the Interpreter of his owne heart You haue heard his good intent but it is a true proâ—erbe Man purposeth God disposeth therefore for the doing of what hee intended Dauid presumeth not of himselfe but imploreth the helpe of God O Lord open thou my Lippes The Lippes are as the doore of the mouth a doore shut vp naturally in regard of the seruice of God and therefore he had reason to desire that it may bee supernaturally opened Lord open thou God onely hath the key which will open this doore so open our Lippes that they may shew forth the prayse of God These points which I haue touched offer themselues to our consideration in the parts of my Text but if we lay together these parts there wil arise two other good Obseruations out of the whole The first is the true vse of our abilities when wee receiue them from God we must vse them to glorifie him if God open our Lippes our Mouth must shew forth his Praise The second Obseruation is implied which is If our mouth be vsed to worse purposes then certainely some other then God doth open our Lippes I haue laide before you the Contents of this Scripture God so open my Lippes and your eares that my mouth may shew forth and your hearts be affected with Gods Praises and our duties that shall be opened therein The first point that I specified was the Praises of God The word Praise as many other elswhere doth signifie not the Act but the Obiect or to speake it plainely not the due but the merit of goodnesse so Saint Paul telleth the Thessalonians that they are his hope his ioy 1. Thes 2. â—9 his crowne in the day of the Lord hope that is the thing hoped for ioy that is the thing wherein he shall ioy and Crowne that is the thing for which he shall be crowned so here the Praises of God is that for which God deserueth to be praised so strict a coniunction is there betweene the Act and the Obiect and so inseparable should the one be from the other that the name of the one may very fitly be vsed for the other he that is good should receiue praise and he that receiueth praise should bee good Gene. 1.31 God saw all that hee had made and loe it was verie good and presently hee kept his Sabbaoth whose natiue vse is glorifying of and glorying in that which is good And herein should God be a Precedent vnto man hee should not put asunder what God hath conioyned but as the very word here admonisheth let Praises be a Synonymon for goodnesse But when we come to determine what Goodnesse is vnderstood in this word Praise some will haue vs looke backe vnto the Verse going before and will haue the goodnesse here meant restrained to the Righteousnesse there specified to the Euangelicall Righteousnesse the mercie of God in Christ whereof Dauid had good proofe And indeede that is the prime Goodnesse of God and calleth for the highest degree of Praise God deserued praise when hee made man of the dust of the earth so goodly a creature of so base stuffe but hee deserued much more praise when hee redeemed sinfull man from the flames of hell and made him with his owne Sonne an Heire of the Kingdome of Heauen to bring so forlorne a wretch to so exceeding happines must needs bee a matter worthy of extraordinary Praise Ephes 1.6 S. Paul maketh praise the end of that great Worke and in the Reuelation the Angels and Saints all fall downe before the I hrone and giue glorie for the same for that it was a worke not onely of Almightie Power but also of vnspeakable Grace therefore had they reason to giue glorie for the same This is true but yet Praise must not in this place bee so restrained Dauid before his fall had more contemplations of God then one and made his Psalmes accordingly and indeede the verie word here vsed for Praise is Tehillah and hath good cognation with Tehillim the Title of the Psalmes therefore may we well extend the one as farre as the other the argument of the Praise as farre as the Argument of the Psalmes and then you shall find that there is no Booke in the Bible whose Argument will not come vnder some one or other Psalme of Dauids he hath Psalmes of the Creation Psalmes of Redemption Psalmes Historicall and Propheticall Legall and Sapientiall Psalmes hauing beene so copious and in such varietie hauing indited Psalmes before his fall it is not likely that after his fall hee will confine his thoughts and not be so large in Gods praises nor intermeddle with all sorts of them Certainely when God is called the praise of Israell Psal 22. ver 3. it must be conceiued in that widenesse which is mentioned Psal 145. All thy workes praise thee O Lord for God is totus laudabilis nothing is in God nothing commeth from God that is not praise worthy So that there is something to be obserued in the word Tua thy praise that is the praise which is proper vnto Thee Gregorie Nyssen writing the life of another Gregorie called Thaumaturgus giueth a good note Nulla vera est Laus c. There is no praise truely so called which consisteth not in that which the person praised may accompt to be his owne now that I accompt his owne which abideth with him for euer By this rule praise is proper only vnto God for with him onely in Goodnesse is there no variablenesse nor shadow of change He that praiseth man cannot praise him but as a mutable creature so good to day that he may be bad to morrow hee waxeth and he waneth euen like the Moone yea and when hee is full of goodnesse as the Moone of light yet are there Maculae in Lunâ as staines in the Moone so haue there beene blemishes in the best of those which haue beene but meere men the Scripture that hath Chronicled the Patriarches liues hath Chronicled their faults also God onely is as the Sunne 1. John 1.5 he is Light in whom there is no darknesse at all as he is constantly so is he entirely Holy Therefore Praise when it is applied vnto men is a word of limitation it implieth inconstancie or defect it neuer so praiseth but leaueth some place for dispraise but when it is applied vnto
but it is also a word which the Prophets doe vse in foretelling the miracles of Christ for he was amongst other things to open the mouthes of the Dumbe and in the Gospell working such a cure hee vseth the word Ephata 〈…〉 be thou opened loosing the tongue by the eare But we must vnderstand that in the corporall cure there was an intimation of the spirituall and indeede Christ had neuer come into the world to cure the corporall had it not beene thereby to bring vs to an higher conceite of him that he was the Physitian of our soules and came to enable them to speake the language of Canaan And this is the opening of the lippes which King Dauid here desires This is a great worke great in regard of the difficultie that is in the thing 〈◊〉 6 or the inabilitie that is in vs. There is a difficultie in the thing for we cannot praise God farther then we know him but how little a portion is heard of him 〈…〉 We may speake much saith the sonne of Syracke yet come short when we glorifie the Lord exalt him as much as wee can for euen yet will he sarre exceede and when you exalt him put forth all your strength and be not wearie for you can neuer goe farre enough There are yet hid greater things then these be Psal 14â— 13 for we haue seene but a few of his workes Dauid in few words tels vs that his praise is aboue Heauen and earth that is the conclusion which he sets downe after he had summoned all creatures to praise the Lord. Seeing God then is aboue all praise it is certaine that he cannot bee worthily praised of vs by reason of the difficultie of the worke But were there lesse difficultie in that yet is there great inabilitie in vs inabilitie from our Affections inabilitie from our Conscience From our Affections there are two preualent ones that hinder vs in this worke first Spes Lucri secondly Metus periculi the wages of iniquitie will hire a Balaam a Iudas ro curse Gods people the subiect of Gods praise and though he be the top of Gods praise to betray the Sauiour of the world how many in all Ages haue beene so farre bewitch with worldly honour and profit Haue fallen downe and worshipped the Idoll of mens fancies and blasphemed God and his truth The hopc of gaine is a great tongue tie The feare of danger is a greater the verie Apostles themselues fot a time felt the strength thereof and after their time it made many Renegadoes and Apostata's Iob 2.4 Skin for skinne and all that a man hath will he giue for his life he will redeeme that though it be with cursing of God himselfe the world hath had had too many spectacles of such feare of danger But if we can master both these vnruly Affections yet will the conscience of sinne be a bridle to our tongues it will make vs silent In Leuit. c 13. or put vs to silence Cyril of Alexandria moralizing those words of Moses that he that is a Leaper shall haue his mouth couered saith that he which is in the leaprosie of sinne hath lost all authoritie of speaking for how should he teach another that hath not taught himselfe Comment in Nazian Psal 137.3 And Nicètas to this purpose wittily allegorizeth those words of the Psalme How shall we sing the Lords song in a strange land A sinner is truely a stranger and hee that is in the state of sinne is farther from God then Babylon from Hierusalem therefore doth his conscience tell him that he is in no case to make melodie to the Lord. Certainely Chap. 6. Esay when in a vision he heard the Seraphins sing the Lords song Holy Holy Lord God of Hoasts heauen and earth are full of thy glorie was thereby put in mind of the fault of his owne lippes and the lippes of the Iewes which made him crie out Woe is me that am a man of polluted lippes and dwell in the middest of a people of polluted lippes neither was he quiet vntill a Seraphin touched his lippes with a coale from the Altar But put the case some man may be so foole-hardie that though he be a sinner yet will he not be silent he shall bee put to silence the vncleane spirit gaue glorie vnro Christ when he said I know thee who thou art the Holy one of God But Iesus rebuked him saying hold thy peace Marke 2. and Saint Paul refused the testimonie of a spirit of diuination Acts 16. though hee spake honourably of him and of his followers these men are the seruants of the most high God which shew vnto vs the way of saluation yet did hee command him out of the Damsell and suffered him to speake no more Neither is this checke giuen onely to wicked spirits but euen vnto euerie wicked man saith God What hast thou to doe to declare my statutes Psal 50. or that thou shouldest take my Couenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction Eccles 15.9 and hast cast my words behind thee Praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner for he that is vnholy doth defile that which is holy Hagga 2.82 therefore no man may presume to touch sacred things with prophane hands nor with a prophane tongue to speake sacred words By this time you perceiue that the shewing forth of the praises of God is a great worke and whether wee looke vpon the difficultie that is in the thing or the inabilitie that is in man Dauid had reason to pray Aperilabia open my lippe But to whom doth he pray To the Lord Lord open thou my Lippes And he hath a good ground to pray so Proueth 16 1. Solomon teacheth that the preparation of the heart is from man but the answere of the tongue is from the Lord he is the key-keeper of our mouth if he shut no body can open and if he open no body can shut â—â—â—d 4. God tels Moses that this is his power Who maketh mans mouth or who maketh the dumbe haue not I the Lord And verily were it no more but our naturall speech that we desire wee must seeke it of him Acts 17 2â— in whom onely we liue moue and haue our being and who in the person of Zacharie sheweth Luke 1 that hee giueth and taketh away euen that speech at his pleasure How much more must we accompt him to be the fountaine of our supernaturall speech Certainely Christ giueth the glorie thereof vnto him 〈◊〉 50. Actâ— 2 the Lord saith he hath giuen me the tongue of the learned and it was from God that the fierie tongues descended vpon the Apostles Psal 8.2 and inabled them to speake it is God that out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings hath perfected praise Men may be otherwise satis loquaces of eloquent of free speech who when they come to the seruice of God seeme to be
commeth from Edom and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Thankesgiuing in the Reuelation But I draw to an end The conclusion of all my Text is this If at any time wee bee distressed and not relieued the fault is not in God it is in vs for our Deuotion is tired ouer-soone wee are all modicae fidei men of little faith and though the spirit be willing yet the flesh is weake and the weaknesse of the flesh preuaileth more then the willingnesse of the Spirit Wherefore we must all pray vnto God to giue vs the Spirit of Grace and Prayer ANd Lord we beseech thee helpe our vnbeliefe and increase our faith yea Lord pray thou that our faith faile not and the more thou doest exercise our patience the more earnest let vs be for thy deliuerance deliuerance from our corporall deliuerance from our spirituall foes that well ouercomming our Militancie here on earth we may bee Triumphant with the Saints in Heauen where wee shall turne our Prayers into Prayses and sing day and night honour prayse strength and power bee vnto him that sitteth vpon the Throne and to the Lambe for euermore AMEN SVNDRIE SERMONS DE TEMPORE PREACHED VPON SEVErall Occasions by the Right Reuerend Father in God ARTHVR LAKE D. of Diuinitie Lord Bishop of Bathe and Welles LONDON Printed by R. Young for N. BVTTER 1629. יהוה EIGHT SERMONS ON THE NINTH CHAPTER Of the Prophecie of ISAIAH ISAIAH 9. VERS 6 7. For vnto vs a Childe is borne vnto vs a Sonne is giuen and the gouernment shall be vpon his shoulders and his Name shall bee called The wonderfull Counsellour The mighty God The euerlasting Father The Prince of Peace Of the increase of his Gouernment and Peace there shall bee no end vpon the Throne of Dauid and vpon his Kingdome to order it and to establish it with Iudgement and Iustice from henceforth euen for euer The zeale of the Lord of Hosts shall performe this THis is the first Lesson appointed for this Morning Prayer and appointed fitly For the Argument well fits the Time We are now met to praise God for the Morning of the Church Zacharie Luke 1. doth so call the Birth of Christ saying The day spring that is the Morning from on high hath visited vs Yea Christ himselfe Reuel the last vers 16 doth call himselfe The bright Morning starre And verily his Birth was the most blessed Morning that euer the Church saw whether you respect the Night that went before or the Day that followed after it was the blessedest Morning that euer the Church saw The Night was long and darke a Night of want of warre so wee reade in the last of the former and the first verse of this chapter But the Day that followed was a cleare and lasting Day a Day of haruest a triumph Day so we are taught in the foure verses that goe immediately before my Text. A great alteration Who could worke it who could turne that night into this day what Sunne shone forth in so great strength In such a case man was like to moue such a doubt therefore the holy Ghost hath resolued it and his resolution of that doubt is my Text. Loe here is one that can vndertake that work who he is How excellent he is we are taught here and that in regard of his Person and of his State For of his Person here are the Natures wherein it subsisteth here is the People to whom it belongs It subsists in two Natures 1. The Nature of Man Hee is a Childe 2. The Nature of God Hee is the Sonne The Person subsisting in these two Natures belongeth vnto whom To Vs was hee borne he was giuen to Vs saith the Prophet Esay and Esay was a Iew. Christ then belongeth to the Iewes though the Iewes must not bee vnderstood according to the flesh but the spirit To these Iewes was he vouchsafed by taking and giuing Natus he tooke his nature from them and Datus what he tooke he with aduantage bestowed vpon them But of what degree was he amongst them here commeth in his State He was a King The Gouernment shall be vpon his shoulders The Gouernement that was Royall for verse 7. it is called The Throne The Kingdome of Dauid He shall sit vpon that and that is the Gouernment that shall bee layd vpon his shoulders And happy are the People that haue such a King You will confesse it if you consider his Excellencie The Excellencie both of his Person and of his State Of his Person that appeares in his endowments Of his State that appeares in his managing thereof The Endowments of his Person are Royall Reade his Titles He shall bee called and what he is called that he certainely is Hee shall be called by those names that expresse such vertues as most beseeme a King our King For a King ouer and aboue the Vertues which are common to him with his Subiects must haue more than ordinary Wisedome and Power And see this King is called for his Wisedome The wonderfull Counsellour for his Power The mighty God But mistake not his Kingdome it is not of this World He that is our King is The Father of Eternity that is Of the World to come And as his Kingdome is not of this World so is not the condition of his People worldly it is Peace and Peace is not the portion of this world but of that which is to come Our King is the Prince of this Peace You see how the Person is endowed and thereby how excellent the Person is There is an Excellencie in his State also it appeares in the Effect in the Cause The Effect for of this Kingdome there are no bounds and the felicitie of the Subiects is also boundlesse so saith the Text Of the increase of his Gouernment and Peace there shall be no end Such an Effect must haue an answerable Cause it hath Iustice and Iudgement are the Pollicie of this State with these as a wonderfull Counsellour he doth order as a mighty God he doth support his State And he doth it vncessantly From henceforth and for euer As the Effect so the Cause this is eternall therefore that These Truthes concerning Christs Person and State are not onely affirmed in the body of the Text but also assured in the close thereof Much you haue heard and yet no more than shall bee He that hath promised can doe it such is his Power Hee is the Lord of Hosts Nay hee cannot but doe it such is his Loue for his Loue is Zeale So concludes the Prophet The zeale of the Lord of Hosts shall performe this You haue heard the summe of this whole Text and therein see a most exquisite picture of our Sauiour Christ certainely it is the fullest the liueliest that euer the holy Ghost in so few words exprest in any part of the Old Testament For here Christ is not only drawne from top to toe but drawn also with those varieties that befell him from eternity to eternitie