be and be acknowledged the sons of God Let us put on as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercy kindnesse humblenesse of mind meeknesse long-suffering forbearing one another forgiving one another if we have a quarrell against any even as Christ forgave us and above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectnesse Colos 3.12 13 14. And lastly forsaking the mis-guidance of Satan the World and our corrupt nature which will lead us down to the chambers of death and eternal destruction let us yield up our selves to be led by the holy Spirit of God in all the wayes of righteousnesse and holynesse of piety justice charity and all manner of gracious conversation that we may thereby approve our selves the sons and daughters of God and may be feoffed in that blessed inheritance which he hath laid up for all his to the possession whereof may he happily bring us who hath dearly bought us Jesus Christ the righteous to whom with the Father and the blessed spirit one infinite God be given all praise honour and glory now and for ever Amen THE MOURNER IN SION ECCLESIASTES 3.4 There is a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance I Need not tell you that Solomon was a wise man his wisdom as it was in an extraordinary measure put into him by him that is wisdom it self so was it in a more then ordinary way improved by his diligent observation his observation was Universal of times things persons actions events neither did he look his experiments up in the closet of his own brest but by the direction of Gods Spirit laid them forth to the World in this divine sermon which not as a King but as a Prophet he preach't to all posterity Every sentence here therefore is a dictate of the holy Ghost it is not Solomon then but a greater then Solomon even the holy Spirit of the great God that tells you there is not a time onely but a season too for every thing and for every purpose under Heaven that is as I hope you can take it no otherwise for every good thing or indifferent as for evill things or actions if men find a time yet sure God allowes no season those are alwayes damnably-unseasonable abuses of times and of our selves not to meddle with other particulars our thoughts are now by the divine providence pitch't upon a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance or rather onely upon the time to weep and mourn for our time of laughing and dancing is past already and perhaps we have had too much of that in our former times which makes the causes and degrees of our now weeping and mourning as more uncouth so more intensive we must be so much deeper in our mourning by how much we have been more wild and wanton in our laughter and dancing To fall right down therefore upon our intended discourse without any previous circumlocutions There is a threefold time of just mourning 1. When a man is sensible of his punishments 2. Of his sins 3. Of his dangers Of his punishments first or rather which is more general of his afflictions for all afflictions are not intended for punishments some are fatherly chastisments onely for our good whereas all punishments are afflictive when we are whip't then when we smart with the rod we have cause to weep and if in this case we shed no tears it is a sign of a gracelesse heart It is time therefore to mourn when we are pressed by sufferings whether from the immediate hand of God or mediately by the hands of men whether by private or publique calamities are we smitten in our bodies by some painfull and incurable diseases Doth the pestilence rage in our streets Hath God forbidden us the influence of Heaven and curst the Earth with barrennesse Hath he broken the staffe of bread and sent leannesse into our souls Hath he humbled us with the fearfull casualties of fire or water by wracks at Sea by lightnings and tempests by land hath he sent murrain amongst our cattle and destroying vermine into our barnes and fields now God tells us it is a time to mourn are we disquieted in our minds by some over-mastering passions of griefe for the miscarriages of children for the secret discontents of domesticall jars for unjust calumnies cast upon our good name are we molested in our mindes and spirits with impetuous and no lesse importune then hatefull Temptations now it is a time to mourn do we find in our souls a decay and languishment of grace a prevalence of those corruptions which we thought abated in us Do we find our selves deeply soul-sick with our sinfull indispositions Shortly do we find the face of our God for the time withdrawn from us Now now it is a time to mourn If we turn our eyes to those evils which are cast upon us by the hands of men Do men find themselves despoyled of their estates restrained of their Liberties tortured in their bodies Do they find the wofull miseries of an intestine war killings burnings depopulations do they find fire and sword raging in the bosom of out Land now it is a time to mourn Were these evils confined to some few persons to some special families they were worthy of the tears of our compassion for it is our duty to weep with them that weep but where they are universal and spread over the whole face of any Nation there cannot be found tears enough to lament them Punishments then are a just cause of our sorrow and mourning but to a good heart sin is so much greater cause of mourning by how much a moral evil is more then a natural and by how much the displeasure of an Almighty God is worthy of more regard then our own smart Doth thine heart then tell thee that thou hast offended the Majesty of God by some grievous sin now is thy time to weep and mourne as thou wouldest for thy only son Zechar. 12.10 now it is time for thee to be in bitternesse as one that is in bitternesse for his first borne Thy soul is foul wash and rince it with the tears of thy repentance go forth with Peter and weep bitterly Dost thou finde in the place where thou livest that sin like some furious torrent bears down all before it now it is time for thee to mourne for the sins of thy people and to say as the holy Psalmist did Psal 119 136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because men keep not thy law Lastly as our sufferings and our sins make up a due time for our mourning so do our dangers also for fear is no lesse afflictive then pain yea I know not whether there can be a greater pain then the expectation of imminent mischiefs Do we therefore see extremities of judgments hovering over our heads ready to fall down like Sodoms fire and
whom our prophet here thou hast made the Earth to tremble This for the passive Earth-quake of publick calamities now for the active of publick stirs and tumults with these the land is moved too and this quaking is so much more unnaturall for that men are here the immediate troublers of themselves whereas in the other they are moved by the immediate hand of God And here alas what shall we say to those men that take pleasure in the embroyling of States that with Nero can sing to see the City on fire that love to daunce upon a quaking earth Yea that affect to be actors in these unkindly motitations That great Mathematician braggart could vainly say give me a place where to set my foot and I will move the earth that which that proud Engineer would do by Art these men will do by wickedness that and more for they will be moving that earth which they cannot but tread upon I remember Georgias Agricola who when I was a young man was noted for the most accurate observer of these under ground secrets of nature tells us most probably that the secondary and immediate cause of an Earth-quake is a certain subterraneous fire kindled of some sulphureous matter within the bowels of that vast body and increased by the resistance of the ambient coldnesse the passages whereof being precluded and blocked up by the solid and cold matter of the earth it rages and roars within those dark hollowes and by the violence of it as murmuring to be thus forceably imprisoned shakes the parts about it and at last makes way by some dreadfull Vesuvian-like eruption Such is the mis-kindled heat of some vehement spirits this when it lights upon some earthy proud sullen head-strong disposition and findes it self crossed by an authoritative resistance growes desperately unruly and in a mad indignation to be suppressed is ready to shake the very foundations of government and at last breaks forth into some dangerous rupture whether in Church or State Let no man think I intend to strike at a wise holy well-govern'd zeal no I hugge this in my bosome as the lively temper of grace as the very vitall spirits of religion I wish there were more of that in the World I speak of the unruly distempers of male-contented persons and of the furies of Anabaptism and Separation Let such men think what they will of themselves Solomon has past his doom upon them Prov. 6.14 Homo nequam miscet contentiones as Tremelius turnes it He is no better then a wicked man that hatcheth divisions how ever they may sleight this contentious humour I dare confidently say a private murderer shall make an easyer answer then a publick disturber even Apostolicall charity can wish would to God they were cut off that trouble you And more then so whereas they would not be more stirring then their neighbours if they did not think themselves wiser he that is wiser then they gives them their own It is an honour for a man to cease from strife but every fool will be medling Prov. 20.3 So then a quarrelsome man in a parish especially if he have gotten a little smattering of law is like a cholick in the guts that teares and wrings and torments a whole township but a Seditionary in a State or a Schismatick in the Church is like a sulphureous fiery Vapour in the bowels of the Earth able to make that stable element reele again worse then that Monster of Tyrants who could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when I am dead Let Earth and fire jumble together but this man sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let me live to see the earth totter and with that shaking torne and divided which is the usuall effect of the Earth-quake and the second head of our intended discourse Thou hast broken or divided it I come not hither to astonish you with the relation of the fearfull effects which Earth-quakes have produced in all ages as it were easy to do out of histories and Philosophical discourses where you may see Rocks torne in pieces Mountains not cast down only but removed Hills raised not out of Vallies only but out of Seas Fires breaking out of Waters Stones and Cinders belched up Rivers changed Seas dislodged Earth opening Towns swallowed up and many other such hideous events Of which kind our own memory can furnish us with too many at home although these colder climates are more rarely infested with such affrightfull accidents It is more properly in my way to shew you the parallell effects of the distempers and calamities in States and Churches To begin therefore with the active breaches whom should I rather instance in then that wofull heart-burning of Corah the Son of Levi and of Dathan and Abiram the Sons of Reuben No sooner were they enflamed with an envious rage against Moses and Aaron then 250. Princes of the Assembly famous in the Congregation men of renown rise up in the mutiny against their Governours and these draw with them all the Congregation of Israel to the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation What is the Issue After Moses his proclamation the people withdraws from their tents the earth opens her mouth swallows up Corah and his Company withall that pertained to them and they go down quick into the pit What a shriek do you think there was when they found themselves sinking into that dreadfull gulfe as for the 250. Reubenites fire came out from the Lord and consumed them Lo the two terrible effects even of materiall Earth-quakes opening and burning which we shall find spiritually happening in all commotions of this nature Look at the rebellion of Jeroboam the male-contented multitude when their petition speeds not cries out What portion have we in David neither have we inheritance in the Son of Jesse to your tents O Israel took to thine own house David What was the effect Israel departed to their tents only Juda stuck to Rehoboam there is the division The stones fly about the ears of Adoram and become his suddain Tomb and drive their Leige Soveraign to his chariot there is the fire of violence So upon the harsh proceeding of Innocent the 4th against Frederick the Emperour Maxima partialitas populorum subsetuâ—a est as Tritemius tells us There was such a division of the people as lasted in the computation of that Author no lesse then 260. years not without the effusion of much blood those which took the Popes part were called Guelfes those which took the Emperours Gibellines here was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed with this Roman Earth-quake What should I overlay you with instances Will ye see the like effects in the Church I could tell you of those Eastern Earth-quakes caused by the Arrians Donatists Circumcellians of those of Province and the bordering parts wherein so many thousand honest and inoffensive Albigenses were overwhelmed I could tell you of the Parisian massacres and many other such tragicall acts take that one whereof
tears but the tender hearts of Gods children are ever lightly attended with weeping-eyes neither can they want tears whilst even other men abound with sins though themselves were free And if good men spend their tears upon wicked wretches how much more ought those wicked ones to bestow tears upon themselves it is their danger and Misery that Gods children are affected withall whilst themselves are insensible of both Wo is me could their eyes be but opened that they might see their own wofull condition they could not love themselves so ill as not to bewail it could they see the frownes of an angry God bent upon them could they see the flames of Hell ready to receive them they could not but dissolve into tears of blood Oh pitty your own souls at last ye obdured sinners be ye feelingly apprehensive of your fearfull danger the eminent danger of an eternal damnation and weep day and night before that God whom ye have provoked wash away your sins with the streams of penitence The fire of hell can have no power where it findes these soveraigne waters Blessed are they that weep now for they shall laugh Luc. 6.21 We have not yet done with St. Pauls tears See I beseech you who were the objects of this sorrow of his the false teachers of the Philippians the rivals and adversaries of the Apostles Ministry whether the Simonians that is the Disciples of Simon Magus as some have thought or rather the Judaizing Christians whom before he calls Dogs and the Concision men that were not more for Christ then for Moses men not more false in opinion then foule in conversation rebrobate persons spightful enemies to him and the gospel yet even these are the men whom St. Paul bedewes with his many tears So far should Gods charitable Children be from desiring or rejoycing in the destruction of those who professe hostility against them though even leud and ungodly persons as that they should make this the matter of their just sorrow and mourning St. Paul had a deeper insight into the state of these men then we can have into any of those goodliest men who fall into our notice and enmity for he saw them as it were in Hell already he lookt upon them as vessels of wrath for he addes whose end is perdition yet he entertaines the thoughts of their sinfull miscarriages with tears Every man can mourn for the danger or loss or fall of a good man of a friend but to be thus deeply affected with either the sins or judgments of wicked persons is incident to none but a tender and charitable heart Gods children are of the diet of their heavenly Father who would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2.4 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked shall dye saith the Lord God and not that that he should returne from his wayes and live Ezec. 18.23 And to be sure he binds it with an oath As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turne from his wayes and live turne ye turne ye from your evill wayes for why will ye dye O house of Israel Ezec. 33.11 Those that sport in the sins and rejoyce in the perdition of their brethren let them see of what spirit they are But I have dwelt longer then I meant in the Apostles fidelity in his warning and the frequence and passion of it Turne your eyes now I beseech you to a loathsome object the wickedness of these false teachers of the Philippians described by their number motion quality issue Their number many their motion walk their quality enemies to the crosse of Christ their issue destruction We begin with their Number Mark I beseech you the inference The charge of the Apostle in the words immediatly preceeding is that the Philippians should mark those who walked holily as they had the Apostles for examples and now he addes For many walk inordinately see then from hence that the rarity of conscionable men should make them more observed more valued If there be but one Lot in Sodom he is more worth then all the souls of that populous and fruitfull Pentapolis If there be but some sprinkling of Wheat in a chaffe heap we winnow it out and think it worth our labour to do so some graines or if but scruples of precious mettals are sifted out of the rubbish of the oare and dust It is excellent that our Apostle hath in this Epistle the 2. Chapter v. 15. That ye may be blamless in the midst of a froward and perverse generation among whom ye shine as lights in the world Mark if there be but light held forth in a dark night how do the birds come flying about it how do the eyes of men though afarr off fix upon it when as all the space betwixt us and it which is all wrapped up in darkness is unregarded such are and such should be good men amongst a world of wicked ones so much more eminent and esteemed by how much the fewer they are Paucity is wont to carry contempt with it See say the Philistims when they saw Jonathan and his Armour-bearer come towards them how the Israelites creep out of their holes and proud Benhadad when he heard of some few of Israel coming forth against him can say Take them alive whether they come for peace or whether for war take them alive 1 King 20.18 What is an handful of gainsayers upon any occasion We are apt to think that the stream should bear down all before it Do any of the Rulers believe in him that 's argument enough But it must not be so with Christians here one is worthy to be more then a thousand if he be a man that orders his conversation aright that goes upon the sure grounds of infallible truth though there be none other in the world besides him that followes after righteousness that man is worthy of our mark of our imitation if there be but one Noah in an age all flesh having corrupted their wayes it is better to follow him into the Ark then to perish withall the world of unbelievers Here are these Many opposed to Us Paul and Timothy It is not for us to stand upon the fear of an imputation of singularity we may not do as the most but as the best It was a desperate resolution of Rabbodus the barbarous and ignorant Duke of Prisons that he would go to Hell because he heard the most went that way Our Saviours argument is quite contrary Enter in at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat Matth. 7.13 And St. Pauls argument here to the same purpose Many walk inordinately therefore be ye followers of us We have an old saying that Cases that rarely happen are neglected of Law-givers The newes of a few Enemies is entertained with
all Religion is expressed by the name of fear and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred by Timoratus indeed where this fear is there can be no other then a gracious heart for this will be sure to work in a man true humility the Mother of vertues when he shall compare his dust and ashes with the glorious Majesty of God when he sees such an Heaven roling over his head such an Earth and Sea under him how can he but say Lord what is man this will make him think himself happy that he may be allowed to love such a God that such a worme as he may be admitted to have any interest in so infinite a Majesty this will render him carefully conscionable in all his wayes that he would not for a World do any thing that might offend such a God yea it will make him no lesse fearfull of sin then of Hell see Gods own connexion when he gives a Character of his Servant Job A perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evill Job 1.8 Lo he that fears God will therefore eschew evill will not dare to sin if Satan shall lay all the Treasures of the World at his feer he will say in an holy scorn Thy Gold and thy Silver perish with thee if all the philtrâ—s and wanton allurements of a great and beautifull mistress shall lay seige to him he will say with good Joseph Gen. 39.9 How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God But O God who hath believed our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed Is there such a thing as the fear of the Lord amongst men Can we think that the common sins of the times can stand with the least scruple of the fear of the Almighty wo is me what rending and tearing of the sacred name of God in pieces with oaths and blasphemies do we meet with every where what contempt of his holy Ordinances and Ministers What abominable sacriledges what foul perjuries what brutish and odious drunkenness and epicurean excess what fraud and cozenage in trading what shamefull uncleanness what merciless and bloody oppressions Oh where then where is the fear of a God to be found the while yea to such an height of atheous boldnesse and obduration are the russians of our time grown that they boast of it as their greatest glory to fear nothing Neither God nor Devil they feast without fear they fight without fear they sin without fear But hear this ye carelesse and profane epicures that say Tush doth God see it Is there knowledg in the most high Hear this ye formall hypocrites that can fashionably bow to him whose face you can be content to spit upon and whom ye can abide to crucifie again by your wicked lives Hear this ye Godlesse and swaggering roarers that dare say with Pharaoh Who is the Lord You that now bid defiance to fear shall in spight of you learn the way to fear yea to tremble yea to be confounded at the terrors of the Almighty Those knees that are now so stiff that they will not bow to God shall once knock together those teeth through which your blasphemies have passed shall gnash those hands that were lift up against Heaven shall shake and languish If ye were as strong as Mountaines before his presence the Mountaines fled and the hills were moved If as firme as rocks who can stand before his wrath His wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken before him Nahum 1.6 If as the whole Earth whose title is That cannot be moved The Earth trembled and quaked because he was angry saith the Psalmist yea if as wicked as Devils even they believe and tremble and if when he doth but thunder in his clouds the stoutest Atheist turnes pale and is ready to creep into a bench-hole what shall become of them when he shall put forth the utmost of his fury and revenge upon his enemies Lo then ye that now laugh at fear shall yell and houle like hell-hounds in eternall torments and God shall laugh when your fear commeth ye that would not now so much as with Faelix quake at the newes of a judgment shall irrecoverably shiver in the midst of those flames that can never be quenched But for us dear and beloved Christians far be it from us to be of that iron-disposition that we should never bow but with the fire no we have other more kindly grounds of our fear Great is thy mercy saith the Psalmist that thou maist be feared Lo it is the amiableness of merits that must attract our fear it is a thing that mainly concernes us to look where and how fears are placed Far be it from us to bring upon our selves the curse of wicked ones To fear where no fear is as this is the common condition of men Alas we are apt to fear the censures and displeasure of vain greatness whereas that may be a means to ingratiate us with God shame of the World whereas that may be a means to save us from everlasting confusion poverty whereas that may possess us of a better wealth death whereas to the faithfull soul that proves the necessary harbinger to eternall rest and glory in the mean time the same men are no whit afraid of the displeasure of God and their own perdition wherein they are like to foolish children who run away from their parents and best friends if they have but a maske or scarfe over their faces but are no whit afraid of fire or water Away with all these and the like weak misprisions and if we tender our own safety let it be our main care to set our fears right which shall be done if we place them upon our infinitely great and glorious God in that relation both of mercy and goodness wherein he is here recommended to us as our Father and that awfull apprehension of Justice wherein he is set forth to us as an unpartiall judge of us and all our actions Consider then that from the duty we may descend to the motive that this fear is of a Father and therefore a loving fear but this Father is a judge and therefore it must be an awfull love how will these two go together a Father and a Judge the one a stile of love and mercy the other of justice What ever God is he is all that he is all love and mercy He is all justice That which God is in the pure simplicity of his essence we must imitate in our compositions namely to unite both these in one heart He is not so a judg that he will wave the title and affection of a Father he is not so a Father that he will remit ought of his infinite justice in any of his proceedings upon both these must we fasten our eyes at once we must see the love of a Father to uphold and chear us we must look upon the Justice of a Judge that we may tremble and
charges us to do our indevour to make sure work of our calling and election did not well foresee the perills of these mis-takings and if notwithstanding the prevision of these errors his infinite wisdom hath thought fit to injoyne this task how safe how necessary is it for us to perform it Did these evils flow from the nature of the doctrine we had reason to disclaim it but now that they flow from the corruption of our nature fetching evill out of good we have reason to embrace the doctrine and to check our selves What a sclander is this Doth the known certainty of our graces breed pride Surely did we challenge these graces for our own there might be some fear of this vice but whiles we yield them to be Gods how can we be puff't up what a madnes is it in a Man to be proud of anothers glory It is a great word of the Apostle I can do all things but when he adds through him that strengthens me now the praise is all Gods and not his now he boasts all of God nothing of himself No presumption is proud but faith is humble There can be no true faith without repentance no repentance without self-dejection Yea the very proper basis of all grace whatsoever is humility much more of faith since a Man cannot so much as apprehend that he hath need of a Saviour till he be vile in his own eyes and lost in his own conceit Yea so farr is the known certainty of grace from working pride as that it is certain there can be no grace where there is pride of grace so as whiles Gregory can say Si scimus nos habere gratiam superbimus If we know we have grace we are proud I shall by a contrary inversion not fear to say Si superbimus scimus nos non habere gratiam If we be proud we know we have no grace Sloth and security is the more probable vice why may not the spirituall sluggard say If I be sure of my calling and election and Gods decree is unchangeable what need I care for more sit down soul and take thine ease ut quid perditio haec To what purpose dost thou macerate thy self with the penall works of an austere mortification what needest thou toile thy self in the busie labours of a constant devotion what need these assiduous prayers these frequent sermonings these importune communicatings thou canst be but sure of thine election thou art so already sit down now my soul and take not thy ease only but thy pleasure let thy self freely loose to those contentments wherein others seek and find felicity Be happy here since thou canst not but be so hereafter A Man might perhaps speak thus but can a believer say so Whose faith quells the very thought of this pernicious security and excites him more to a carefull indeavour of all good actions then reward can the ambitious or fear the cowardly Lo this Man will be sure to do so much more good by how much he is more sure of his election and will be more afraid of sin then another is of hell He well knows the inseparable connexion betwixt the end and the means and cannot dream of obtaining the one without the other he knows that mortification of his corruptions and the life and exercise of grace are the happy effects of his gracious and eternall election If he look to his calling he meets with that of the Apostle We are called not to uncleaneness but to holiness 1 Thes 4.7 If to his election we are chosen that we might be holy and without blame before him in love Ephes 1.3 Both calling and election call him to nothing but holiness and he will more busie himself in the duties of piety charity justice out of love then a servile nature would out of constraint and will do more good because he is elected then a mercenary disposition would do that he might be elected and will be more carefull to avoid sin because he makes account of Heaven then a slavish mind can or will be that he may avoid hell Ezekiah hath fifteen years promised to be added to his life he is sure God cannot deceive him what then doth he say though I take no sustenance I shall live let me take poyson let me run into fire or water or upon the sword of an enemy fifteen years is my stint which can no more be abridged then prolonged I will never trouble my self with Eating or Drinking I will rush fearlesly upon all dangers none of these he that knows he shall live knows he must live by means and therefore feeds moderately demeans himself no lesse carefully that he may live then any other whose life is uncertain It is for ignorant Turks to make so ill use of their predestination that because their destiny is written in their foreheads they need not regard danger but may securely sleep upon the pillow of him that died the day before of the plague wisemen know that divine providence is no exemption of our best care It cannot stand with a true favourite of Heaven to make so ill use of Gods mercies as to be evill because he is good to be secure because he is bountifull and unchangeable what remaines then but that out of our duty to the command out of our sense of the advantage out of our care to shun the danger of the neglect we should stir up our selves by all means possible to make our calling and election sure Away with our poor and petty cares wherewith our hearts are commonly taken up One cares to make his house or his coffers sure with bolts and bars another cares to make his mony sure by good bonds and Counter-bonds another his estate sure to his posterity by conveyances and Fines Another his adventure sure by a wary pre-contract Alas what sorry worthless things are these in comparison of eternity And what a slippery security is that which our utmost indeavours can procure us in these transitory and unsatisfying matters Oh our miserable sottishness if whiles we are studiously carefull for these base perishing affaires we continue willing unthrifts in the main and everlasting provision for our souls Religion gives no countenance to ill-husbandry be carefull to make your houses sure but be more carefull to make sure of your eternall mansions be carefull for your earthly wealth but be more carefull of the treasures laid up in Heaven Be carefull of your estate here but be more carefull of that glorious patrimony above Briefly be careful to live well here be more careful to live happily for ever Ye have seen that we may and that we must indeavour to make sure our calling and election Our next work is to shew how and by what means they may and must be indeavoured to be assured In some few Greek copies which Rob. Steven had seen or in two copies as Beza found it or in Aliquo codice as Mariana there is an addition of words to the text
my power I can much better suffer with my Friend then judge him But however either partial or rigorous the conceits of others may be be sure I beseech you that you receive from your own bosome a free and just doom on all your actions after all the censures of others thence must proceed either your peace or torment But what do I undertake to teach him that is already in the School of God and under that divine ferule hath learned more then by all the Theorical counsels of prosperity Surely I cannot but professe that I know not whether I were more sorry for the desert of your durance or glad of such fruit thereof as mine eyes end ears witnessed from you But one Sabaoth is past since my meditations were occasioned to fixe themselves upon the gain which Gods children make of their sins the practise whereof I rejoyced to see conconcurr in you with my speculation and indeed it is one of the wonders of Gods mercy and providence that those wounds wherewith Satan hopes to kill the Soul through the wise and gratious ordination of God serve to heal it We faint Souldiers should never fight so valliantly if it were not for the indignation at our foil There are corruptions that may lurk secretly in a corner of the Soul unknown unseen till the shame of a notorious evil send us to search and ransacke if but a spot light upon our cloke we regard it not but if through our neglect or the violence of a blast it fall into the mire then we wash and scoure it As we use therefore to say there cannot be better physick to a cholerick body then a seasonable Ague so may I say safely there can be nothing so advantageous to a secure heart as to be sinsick for hereby he who before fel in overpleasing himself begins to displease himself at his fall Fire never ascends so high as when it is beaten back with a cool blast Water that runs in a smooth level with an insensible declination though an heavy body yet if it fall low it rises high again Much forgiven causeth much love neither had the penitent made an ewer of her eyes and a towel of her hair for Christs feet if she had not found her self more faulty then her neighbours Had not Peter thrice denyed he had not been graced with that threefold question of his Saviours love it is an harsh but a true word Gods Children have cause to blesse him for nothing more then for their sins If that all-wise providence have thought good to raise up even your forgotten sins in your face to shame you before men there cannot be a greater argument of his mercy This blushing shall avoid eternal confusion Envy not at the felicity of the closely or gloriously guilty who have at once firm foreheads and foul bosomes vaunting therefore of their innocence because they can have no accusers like wicked harlots who because they were delivered without a midwife and have made away their stolen birth go currant still for maids nothing can be more miserable then a sinners prosperity this argues him bound over in Gods just decree to an everlasting vengeance Wo be to them that laugh here for they shall weep and gnash Happy is that shame that shall end in glory And if the wisdome of that just judge of the world shall think fit to strip you of your worldly wealth and outward estate acknowledg his mercy and your gain in this loss he saw this camels bunch kept you out of the needles eye he saw these bels too heavy for that high flight to which he intended you now shall you begin to be truely rich when you can injoy the possessor of Heaven and Earth when these base rivals are shut out of doors God shall have your whole heart who were not himself if he were not all-sufficient Neither let it lye too heavy upon your heart that your hopefull Sons shall inherit nothing from you but shame and dishonour why are you injurious to your self and those you love your repentance shall feoffe upon them more blessings then your sin hath lost let posterity say they were the sons of a penitent Father this stain is washt off with your tears and their vertue and for their provision if the worst fall The Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof imagine them born to nothing we that are more Rich in Children then estate hope well of those vessels whom we can put forth wel rigged well balla'st though not wealthy laden How sensibly do you now find that wealth doth not consist in getting much but well and that contentment doth not lye in the cofer but in the breast lastly that all treasures are drosse to a good conscience For your self If you be pent up within four wals and barred both of Sun and Men make God yours and you cannot complain of restraint or solitude No prison is too straight for his presence Heaven it self would be a prison without him your serious repentance may win that Society which makes the very Angels blessed this is the way to make him your comforter your companion in whose presence is the fulness of joy Shortly let your thoughts be altogether such as may beseem a man not unwillingly weaned from this world and careful only to speed happily in another We your poor friends can answer the kinde respects of your prosperity no otherwise then with our prayers for the best use of your affliction which shall not be wanting from your true and sorrowful wel-willer J. H. A SHORT ANSWER TO THOSE Nine Arguments VVhich are brought against the BISHOPS SITTING IN PARLIAMENT THose reasons had need to be strong and the inconveniences hainous that should take away an ancient and hereditary right established by law These are not such 1. To trade in secular affairs and to be taken up with them is indeed a great and just hinderance to the exercise of our ministerial function but to meet once in three years in a Parliament for some few weeks at the same time when we are bound to attend convocation business is no sensible impediment to our holy calling 2. We do indeed promise profess when we enter into holy orders that we will give our selves so much as in us lies wholly to this vocation will it therefore follow that we may not upon any occasion lend our selves to the care of the publick when we are thereunto called And if this notwithstanding we may yea must take moderate care of our houshold affairs and the provision for our family why not as well of the Common-wealth 3. For ancient Canons of Councells will they be content to be bound by them who urge them upon us Or will they admit some and reject others Or will they admit them where they are contrary to our own laws Now our Clarendon Constit have expresly debent interesse omnibus judiciis The Canons therefore must yield to them not they to the Canons 4. Twenty