kinde to thee as to be vniust to himselfe God will be iust goe thou on to presume and perish There can be no satisfaction by any recompence of ours an infinite iustice is offended an infinite punishment is deserued by euery sinne and euery mans sinnes are as neere to infinite as number can make them Our best endeuour is worse than finite imperfect and faulty If it could be perfect we owe it all in present what wee are bound to doe in present cannot make amends for what we haue not done in time past which while we offer to God as good payment we doe with the profane traueller thinke to please him with empty Date-shells in lieu of preseruation Where shall we then finde a paiment of infinite value but in him which is onely and all infinite The dignitie of whose person being infinite gaue such worth to his satisfaction that what hee suffered in short time was proportianable to what wee should haue suffered beyond all times He did all suffered all payed all be did it for vs we in him Where shall I begin to wonder at thee O thou diuine and eternall Peace-maker the Sauiour of men the Anointed of God Mediator betweene God and man in whom there is nothing which doth not exceed not onely the conceit but the very wonder of Angels who saw thee in thy humiliation with silence and adore thee in thy glory with perpetuall praises and reioycings Thou wast for euer of thy selfe as God of the Father as tne Sonne the eternall Son of an eternall Father not later in being not lesse in dignity not other in substance Begotten without diminution of him that be got thee while he communicated that wholly to thee which he retained wholly in himselfe because both were infinite without inequality of nature without diuision of essence when being in this estate thine infinite loue and mercy to desperate mankinde caused thee O Sauiour to empty thy selfe of thy glory that thou mightest put on our shame and misery Wherefore not ceasing to be God as thou wert thou beganst to be what thou wert not Man to the end that thou mightest be a perfect Mediator betwixt God and man which wert both in one person God that thou mightst satisfie man that thou mightst suffer that since man had sinned and God was offended thou which wert God and man mightst satisfie God for man None but thy selfe which are the eternall Word can expresse the depth of this mysterie that God should be clothed with flesh come downe to men and become man that man might be exalted into the highest heauens and that our nature might be taken into the fellowship of the Deitie That he to whom all powers in heauen bowed and thought it their honour to be seruiceable should come downe to be a seruant to his slaues a ransome for his enemies together with our nature taking vp our very infirmities our shame our torments and bearing our sinnes without sinne That thou whom the heauens were too strait to containe shouldst lay thy selfe in an obscure cratch thou which wert attended of Angels shouldst be derided of men reiected of thine owne persecuted by Tyrants tempted with Deuils betrayed of thy seruant crucified among theeues and which was worse than all these in thine owne apprehension for the time as forsaken of thy Father That thou whom our sinnes had pierced shouldst for our sinnes both sweat drops of bloud in the Garden and powre out streames of bloud vpon the Crosse O the inualuable purchase of our peace O ransome enough for moe worlds Thou which wert in the counsell of thy Father the Lambe slaine from the beginning of time cam'st now in fulnesse of time to bee slaine by man for man being at once the Sacrifice offered the Priest that did offer and the God to whom it was offered How graciously diddest thou both proclaime our peace as a Prophet in the time of thy life vpon earth and purchase it by thy bloud as a Priest at thy death and now confirmest and appliest it as a King in heauen By thee onely it was procured by thee it is proffered O mercy without example without measure God offers peace to man the holy seekes to the vniust the Potter to the clay the King to the traitor Wee are vnworthy that we should be receiued to peace though wee desired it what are wee then that we should haue peace offered for the receiuing An easie condition of so great a benefit he requires vs not to earne it but to accept it of him what could he giue more what could he require lesse of vs SECT VI. The receit of our peace offered by Faith THe purchase therefore of our peace was paid at once yet must bee seuerally reckoned to euery soule whom it shall benefit If wee haue not an hand to take what Christs hand doth either hold or offer what is sufficient in him cannot be effectuall to vs. The spirituall hand whereby we apprehend the sweet offers of our Sauiour is faith which in short is no other than an affiance in the Mediator receiue peace and bee happy beleeue and thou hast receiued From hence it is that we are interessed in all that either God hath promised or Christ hath performed Hence haue we from God both forgiuenesse and loue the ground of all either peace or glory Hence of enemies we become more than friends sonnes and as sonnes may both expect and challenge not onely carefull prouision and safe protection on earth but an euerlasting patrimonie aboue This field is so spacious that it were easie for a man to lose himselfe in it and if I should spend all my pilgrimage in this walke my time would sooner end than my way wherein I would haue measured more pases were it not that our scope is not so much to magnifie the benefit of our peace as to seeke how to obtaine it A corolary of the benefit of this receit Behold now after we haue sought heauen and earth where only the wearied Doue may finde an Oliue of peace The apprehending of this all sufficient satisfaction makes it ours vpon our satisfaction we haue remission vpon remission followes reconciliation vpon our reconciliation peace When therefore thy conscience like a sterne Sergeant shall catch thee by the throat and arrest thee vpon Gods debt let thy only plea be that thou hast already paid it Bring forth that bloudie acquittance sealed to thee from heauen vpon thy true faith straightway thou shalt see the fierce and terrible looke of thy conscience changed into friendly smiles and that rough and violent hand that was ready to dragge thee to prison shall now louingly embrace thee and fight for thee against all the wrongfull attempts of any spirituall aduersarie O heauenly Peace and more than Peace Friendship whereby alone wee are leagued with our selues and God with vs which who-euer wants shall finde a sad Remembrancer in the midst of his dissembled iollitie and after all vaine strifes shall
vs. Gideon cannot conceiue of himselfe as an exempt person but puts himselfe among the throng of Israel as one that could not be sensible of any particular comfort while the common case of Israel laboured The maine care of a good heart is still for the publike neither can it enioy it selfe while the Church of God is distressed As faith drawes home generalities so charity diffuses generalities from it selfe to all Yet the valiant man was here weake weake in faith weake in discourse whiles hee argues Gods absence by affliction his presence by deliuerances and the vnlikelihood of successe by his owne disability all grosse inconsequences Rather should he haue inferred Gods presence vpon their correction for wheresoeuer God chastises there he is yea there he is in mercy Nothing more proues vs his then his stripes he will not bestow whipping where he loues not Fond nature thinkes God should not suffer the winde to blow vpon his deare ones because her selfe makes this vse of her owne indulgence but none out of the place of torment haue suffered so much as his dearest children He saies not we are Idolaters therfore the Lord hath forsaken vs because we haue forsaken him This sequell had been as good as the other was faultie The Lord hath deliuered vs vnto the Midianites therefore he hath forsaken vs Sinnes not afflictions argue God absent Whiles Gideon bewrayeth weaknes God both giues him might and imployes it Goe in this thy might and saue Israel Who would not haue looked that God should haue looked angerly on him and chid him for his vnbeliefe But he whose mercy will not quench the weakest fire of grace though it be but in flax lookes vpon him with compassionate eyes and to make good his owne word giues him that valour he had acknowledged Gideon had not yet said Lord deliuer Israel much lesse had he said Lord deliuer Israel by my hand The mercy of God preuents the desire of Gideon if God should not begin with vs we should be euer miserable if he should not giue vs till we aske yet who should giue vs to aske if his Spirit did not worke those holy grones and sighes in vs we should neuer make sute to God He that commonly giues vs power to craue sometimes giues vs without crauing that the benifit might be so much more welcome by how much lesse it was expected we so much more thankfull as he is more forward When he bids vs aske it is not for that hee needs to be intreated but that he may make vs more capeable of blessings by desiring them And where he sees feruent desires he stayes not for words and he that giues ere we aske how much more will he giue when we aske He that hath might enough to deliuer Israel yet hath not might enough to keepe himselfe from doubting The strongest faith will euer haue some touch of infidelity And yet this was not so much a distrust of the possibility of deliuering Israel as an inquiry after the meanes Whereby shall I saue Israel The salutation of the Angell to Gideon was as like to Gabriels salutation of the blessed Virgin as their answeres were like Both Angels brought newes of deliuerance both were answered with a question of the meanes of performance with a report of the difficulties in performing Ah my Lord whereby shall I saue Israel How the good man disparages himselfe It is a great matter O Lord thou that speakest of and great actions require mighty Agents As for me who am I My Tribe is none of the greatest in Israel My Fathers family is one of the meanest in his Tribe and I the meanest in his family Pouerty is a sufficient barre to great enterprises Whereby shall I Humility is both a signe of following glory and a way to it and an occasion of it Bragging and height of spirit will not carry it with God None haue euer been raised by him but those which haue formerly deiected themselues None haue been confounded by him that haue been abased in themselues Thereupon it is that he addes I will therefore bee with thee as if he had answered Hadst thou not been so poore in thy self I would not haue wrought by thee How should God be magnified in his mercies if we were not vnworthy How should hee be strong if not in our weakenesse All this while Gideon knew not it was an Angell that spake with him He saw a man stand before him like a Traueller with a staffe in his hand The vnusualnesse of those reuelations in those corrupted times was such that Gideon might thinke of any thing rather then an Angell No maruell if so strange a promise from an vnknowne messenger found not a perfect assent Faine would hee beleeue but faine would hee haue good warrant for his faith In matters of faith we cannot goe vpon too sure grounds As Moses therefore being sent vpon the same errand desired a signe whereby Israel might know that God sent him So Gideon desires a signe from this bearer to know that his newes is from God Yet the very hope of so happy newes not yet ratified stirres vp in Gideon both ioy and thankfulnesse After all the iniury of the Midianites he was not so poore but hee could bestow a Kid cakes vpon the Reporter of such tidings Those which are rightly affected with the glad newes of our spirituall deliuerance studie to shew their louing respects to the messengers The Angell stayes for the repairing of Gideons feast Such pleasure doth God take in the thankfull indeuours of his seruants that he patiently waites vpon the leysure of our performances Gideon intended a dinner the Angell turned it into a sacrifice He whose meat and drinke it was to doe his Fathers will cals for the broth and flesh to be powred out vpon the stone And when Gideon lookt he should haue blessed and eaten he touches the feast with his staffe and consumes it with fire from the stone and departed He did not strike the stone with his staffe for the attrition of two hard bodies would naturally beget fire but he touched the meat and brought fire from the stone And now whiles Gideon saw and wondred at the spirituall act he lost the sight of the Agent He that came without intreating would not haue departed without taking leaue but that he might increase Gideons wonder and that his wonder might increase his faith His salutation therefore was not so strange as his farewell Moses touched the rocke with his staffe and brought forth water and yet a man and yet continued with the Israelites This messenger touches the stone with his staffe and brings forth fire and presently vanishes that he may approue himselfe a spirit And now Gideon when head had gathered vp himselfe must needs thinke He that can raise fire out of a stone can raise courage and power out of my dead breast He that by this fire hath consumed the broth and flesh can by the feeble flame of
I need not be so mopish as not to beleeue rather the language of the hand than of the tongue He that saies well and doth well is without exception commendable but if one of these must be seuered from the other I like him well that doth well and saith nothing 52 That which they say of the Pelican that when the Shepherds in desire to catch her lay fire not farre from her nest which she finding and fearing the danger of her young seekes to blow out with her wings so long till she burne her selfe and makes her selfe a prey in an vnwise pitty to her young I see morally verified in experience of those which indiscreetly medling with the flame of dissention kindled in the Church rather increase than quench it rather fire their owne wings than helpe others I had rather bewaile the fire afarre off than stirre in the coles of it I would not grudge my ashes to it if those might abate the burning but since I see this is daily increased with partaking I will behold it with sorrow and meddle no otherwise than by praiers to God and intreaties to men seeking my owne safety and the peace of the Church in the freedome of my thought and silence of my tongue 53 That which is said of Lucillaes faction that anger bred it pride fostered it and couetousnesse confirm'd it is true of all Schismes though with some inuersion For the most are bred through pride whiles men vpon an high conceit of themselues scorne to goe in the common road and affect singularitie in opinion are confirmed through anger whiles they stomacke and grudge any contradiction and are nourished through couetousnesse whiles they seeke abilitie to beare out their part In some others againe couetousnesse obtaines the first place anger the second pride the last Herein therefore I haue beene alwaies wont to commend and admire the humilitie of those great and profound wits whom depth of knowledge hath not lead to by-paths in iudgement but walking in the beaten path of the Church haue bent all their forces to the establishment of receiued truths accounting it greater glorie to confirme an ancient veritie than to deuise a new opinion though neuer so profitable vnknowne to their predecessors I will not reiect a truth for meere noueltie Old truths may come newly to light neither is God tied to times for the gift of his illumination but I will suspect a nouell opinion of vntruth and not entertaine it vnlesse it may be deduced from ancient grounds 54 The eare and the eie are the minds receiuers but the tongue is onely busied in expending the treasure receiued If therefore the reuenues of the minde bee vttered as fast or faster than they are receiued it cannot bee but that the minde must needs bee held bare and can neuer lay vp for purchase But if the receiuers take in still with no vtterance the minde may soone grow a burthen to it selfe and vnprofitable to others I will not lay vp too much and vtter nothing lest I be couetous nor spend much and store vp little lest I be prodigall and poore 55 It is a vaine-glorious flatterie for a man to praise himselfe An enuious wrong to detract from others I will therefore speake no ill of others no good of my selfe 56 That which is the miserie of Trauellers to finde many Oasts and few friends is the estate of Christians in their pilgrimage to a better life Good friends may not therefore be easily forgone neither must they bee vsed as suits of apparell which when wee haue worne threed-bare wee cast off and call for new Nothing but death or villanie shall diuorce mee from an old friend but still I will follow him so farre as is either possible or honest and then I will leaue him with sorrow 57 True friendship necessarily requires Patience For there is no man in whom I shall not mislike somewhat and who shall not as iustly mislike somewhat in mee My friends faults therefore if little I will swallow and digest if great I will smother them howeuer I will winke at them to others but louingly notifie them to himselfe 58 Iniuries hurt not more in the receiuing than in the remembrance A small iniurie shall goe as it comes a great iniurie may dine or sup with me but none at all shall lodge with me Why should I vex my selfe because another hath vexed me 59 It is good dealing with that ouer which we haue the most power If my state will not be framed to my minde I will labour to frame my minde to my estate 60 It is a great miserie to be either alwaies or neuer alone societie of men hath not so much gaine as distraction In greatest companie I will bee alone to my selfe in greatest priuacie in companie with God 61 Griefe for things past that cannot be remedied and care for things to come that cannot be preuented may easily hurt can neuer benefit me I will therefore commit my selfe to God in both and enioy the present 62 Let my estate bee neuer so meane I will euer keepe my selfe rather beneath than either leuell or aboue it A man may rise when he will with honour but cannot fall without shame 63 Nothing doth so befoole a man as extreme passion This doth both make them fooles which otherwise are not and shew them to bee fooles that are so Violent passions if I cannot tame them that they may yeeld to my ease I will at least smother them by concealement that they may not appeare to my shame 64 The minde of man though infinite in desire yet is finite in capacitie Since I cannot hope to know all things I will labour first to know what I needs must for their vse next what I best may for their conuenience 65 Though time be precious to me as all irreuocable good things deserue to be and of all other things I would not be lauish of it yet I will account no time lost that is either lent to or bestowed vpon my friend 66 The practises of the best men are more subiect to errour than their speculations I will honour good examples but I will liue by good precepts 67 As charitie requires forgetfulnesse of euill deeds so patience requites forgetfulnesse of euill accidents I will remember euils past to humble me not to vex me 68 It is both a miserie and a shame for a man to bee a Bankrupt in loue which hee may easily pay and be neuer the more impouerished I will be in no mans debt for good will but will at least returne euery man his owne measure if not with vsurie It is much better to bee a Creditor than a Debtor in any thing but especially of this yet of this I will so bee content to bee a Debtor that I will alwaies bee paying it where I owe it and yet neuer will haue so paid it that I shall not owe it more 69 The Spanish Prouerbe is too true Dead men and absent finde no friends
Father Let vs not number but weigh your texts The rather for that I finde these as your Master-proofes set as Challengers in euery of your defences In Genes 4.13 CAIN a bloudy Fratricide is excommunicated In Genes 6.1 2. The sonnes of God married the daughters of men In Genes 7.1 7. NOAHS time is approued as righteous and enters the Arke In 1 Pet. 3.20 21. The rest in NOAHS time were disobedient and perished What of all this Alas what mockage is this of the Reader and Scriptures Surely you euen ioyne Scriptures as you separate your selues This is right as your Pastor to proue all members of the visible Church elect and precious stones cites 1 King 7.9 where is speech onely of Salomons house in the Forrest of Lebanon his Porch for his Throne his Hall his Palace for Pharaohs daughter and when he comes to describe the office of his imaginarie Doctor thwacks fourteene Scriptures into the margent whereof not any one hath any iust colour of inference to his purpose and in this discourse of the power of the Church that he might seeme to honour his margent with shew of texts hath repeated six places twice ouer in the space of six lines For these of yours you might obiect the first to the Cainites not to vs Cain was cast out worthily Doe we either denie or vtterly forbeare this censure Take heed you follow him not in your voluntarie exile to the land of Nod. The second you might obiect to those mungrell Christians that match with Turkes and Pagans There are sonnes of God that is members of the visible Church and daughters of men which are without the bounds meere Infidels it is sinne for those sonnes to yoke themselues with those daughters What is this to vs Noah was righteous the multitude disobedient Who denies it yet Noah separated not from the corrupted Church till the floud separated him from the earth but continued an ancient Preacher of righteousnesse euen to that peruerse and rebellious Generation But it sufficeth you that Cain and the Giants were separated from the rest We yeeld it what will follow hence saue onely that notorious Malefactors must bee cast out and professed Heathen not let into the Church We hold and wish no lesse your places euince no more These before the Law In Leuit. 20.24.26 God chose our Israel from other people This was Gods act not theirs a sequestring of his Israelites from the Gentiles not of Israel from it selfe yours is your owne and from men in all maine points of your owne profession But therefore Israel must be holy If any man denie holinesse to be required of euery Christian let him feele your Maranatha In Nehem. 9.2 The Israelites separated themselues from the strangers which were Infidels whether in their marriage or deuotion Neither Gods seruice nor an Israelites bed was for Heathens This was not the constituting of a new Church but reforming of the old If therefore you can parallel vs with Pagans and your selues will be Iewes this place fits you Lastly what if there be an hatred betwixt the World and Christs true Disciples Ioh. 17.14.16 what if PETER charged his Auditors to saue themselues from the errors and practise of that froward Generation whose hands were yet freshly imbrewed with the bloud of Christ Act. 2.40 What if the same which PETER taught PAVL practised in separating his followers from hearing some obstinate and blasphemous Iewes Act. 19.9 What if the Church of Corinth were Saints by calling 1 Cor. 1.2 and therefore must be separated from the yoke of Infidels 2.6.17 Are these your patternes Are these fit matches for your brethren baptized in the same water and name professing euery point of the same true faith vsing for substance the same worship with you He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darknesse 1 Ioh. 2.9 SEP Which separation the Church of England neither hath made nor doth make but stands actually one with all that part of the World within the Kingdome without separation for which cause amongst others we haue chosen by the grace of God rather to separate our selues to the Lord from it than with it from him in the visible constitution of it SECTION VI. BVT all these examples perhaps are not so much to warrant what you haue done What separation is to bee made by churches in their planting or restauration In his Preface to the Reader and in his causes of separation defended pag. 4. Eiusdem p. 10. Refutat of M. Gyff p. 22. 2. Transgress p. 51. 52. 55. 66. 70. 85. 86. c. Inconstance of Browne p. 110. Inquiry into M White confessed by Fr. Iohnson pag. 63. Passage twixt Clifton and Smith And concerning the constitution of the Churches c. But the constituting of Churches now after the defection of Antichrist may more properly be called a repairing than a constitution c. as to condemne the Church of England for what shee hath not done for such a separation shee neither hath made nor doth make but stands actually one with all that part of the World within the Kingdome without separation Loe here the maine ground of this Schisme which your Proto-Martyr BARROVV hammers vpon in euery page an ill constitution Thus hee comments vpon your words For where such prophane confuse multitudes without any exception separation or choice were all of them from publike Idolatry at one instant receiued or rather compelled to bee members of the Church in some Parish or other where they inhabited without any due calling to the faith by the preaching of the Gospel going before or orderly ioyning together in the faith there being no voluntarie or particular confession of their owne faith and duties made or required of any and lastly no holy walking in the faith amongst them who can say that these Churches consisting of this people were euer rightly gathered or built according to the rule of Christs Testament In his words and yours I finde both a miscollection and a wrong charge For the former the want of noting one poore distinction breeds all this confusion of Doctrine and separation of men for there is one case of a new Church to be called from Heathenisme to Christianitie another of a former Church to be reformed from errors to more sincere Christianitie In the first of these is required indeed a solemne initiation by Baptisme and before that a voluntarie and particular confession of faith and therefore a cleare separation and exception of the Christian from the Infidell In the latter neither is new Baptisme lawfull though some of you belike of old were in hand with a rebaptization which not then speeding succeedeth now to your shame nor a new voluntarie and particular confession of Faith besides that in Baptisme though very commendable will euer be proued simply necessarie to the being of a Church so long as the erring parties doe actually renounce their doctrines and in open profession
onely by gesse hauing neuer so much as read ouer one Treatise published in our defence and yet sticke not to passe this your censorious dooâ—e both vpon vs and it I leaue it to the Reader to iudge whether you haue beene more lauish of your censure or credit Most vniust is the censure of a cause vnknowne though in it selfe neuer so blame-worthy which neuerthelesse may be praise-worthy for ought he knowes that censures it SECTION XLVII On what ground Separation or Ceremonies were obiected HEE that leaues the whole Church in a grosse and wilfull errour is an Heretike he that leaues a particular Church for appendances is a Schismaticke such are you both in the action and cause The act is yelded the cause hath beene in part scanned shall be more This I vainely pretended to be our consorting in Ceremonies with the Papists Behold here the ground of your lowd challenge of my ignorance Ignorance of your Iudgement and practice Here is my abuse of you of my Reader and how durst I Good words M. R. What I haue erred I will confesse I haue wronged you indeed but in my charitie I knew the cause of Brownisme but I knew not you For to say ingenuously I had heard and hoped that your cause had beene lesse desperate My intelligence was that in dislike of these Ceremonies obtruded and an hopelesnesse of future libertie you and your fellows had made a secession rather than a separation from our Church to a place where you might haue scope to professe and opportunitie to enioy your owne conceits whence it was that I termed you Ring-leaders of the late separation not followers of the first and made your plea against our Church imperfection not falshood I hoped you as not ours so not theirs not ours in place Inq. into M. White so not quite theirs in peeuish opinion I knew it to bee no new thing for men inclin ng to these fancies to beginne new Churches at Amsterdam seuerall from the rest witnesse the letters of some sometimes yours cited by your own Pastor I knew the former separation and hated it I hoped better of the later separation and pittied it My knowledge both of * * Which vpon the Loâ—ds Praye hath â—â—nfuted some 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 M. Smith whom you followed and your selfe would not let me thinke of you as you deserued How durst I charge you with that which perhaps you might disauow It was my charity therefore that made my accusations easie it is your vncharitablenesse that accuses them of ignorance I knew why a Brownist is a true Schismaticke I knew not you were so true a Brownist But why then did I write Taking your separation at best I knew how iustly I might take occasion by it to disswade from separation to others good though not to yours Now I know you better or worse rather I thinke you heare more Forgiue mee my charity and make the worst of my ignorance I knew that this separation which now I know yours stands vpon foure grounds as some beasts vpon foure feet First God worshipped after a false manner Barr. and Grâ—en passim Penr Exam. Secondly Profane multitude receiued Thirdly Antichristian Ministery imposed Fourthly Subiection to Antichristian Gouernment The Ceremonies are but as some one paw in euery foot yet if we extend the word to the largest vse diuiding all Religion into Ceremony and Substance I may yet and doe auerre that your separation is meerely grounded vpon Ceremonies SEP And touching the ceremonies here spoken of howsoeuer we haue formerly refused them submitting as all others did and doe to the Prelates spirituall Iurisdiction herein through ignorance straining at Gnats and swallowing Camels yet are we verily perswaded of them and so were before we separated that they are but as leaues of that tree and as badges of that Man of sinne whereof the Pope is head and the Prelates shoulders And sowe for our parts see no reason why any of the Bishops sworne seruants as all the Ministers in the Church of England are Canonically should make nice to weare their Lords liueries Which Ceremonies notwithstanding we know well enough howsoeuer you for aduantage extenuate and debase them vnto vs to be aduanced and preferred in your Church before the preaching of the Gospell It is much that they being not so much as Reed nor any part of the building as you pretend should ouerturne the best builders amongst you as they doe The proportion betwixt Zoar and them holds well Zoar was a neighbour vnto Sodome both in place and sinne and obnoxious to the same destruction with it and it was Lots errour to desire to haue it spared Gen. 19.15 18 19 20. and so he neuer found rest nor peace in it but forsooke it for feare of the same iust iudgement which had ouertaken the rest of the Cities verse 30. The application of this to your Ceremonies I leaue to your selfe and them to that destruction to which they are deuoted by the Lord. SECTION XLVIII ANd touching Ceremonies you refused them formerly but not long Estimation of Ceremonies and subiection to the Prelates and when you did refuse them you knew not wherefore for immediately before your suspension you acknowledged them to be things indifferent and for matter of scandall by them you had not informed your selfe by your owne confession of a whole quarter of a yeere after Why refused you then but as the Poet made his playes to please the people or as Simon Magus was baptized for company But refusing them you submitted to the Prelates spirituall Iurisdiction there was your crime this was your Camell the other your Gnats Did euer any Prelate challenge spirituall rule ouer your conscience This they all appropriate to the great Bishop of our soules and if other grant them as your malice faineth what sinne is it to be the subiect of a Tyrant now vpon more grace refusing the Prelacy you haue branded the Ceremonies So you did before your separation Tell vs how long was it after your suspension and before your departure that you could haue beene content vpon condition to haue worne this linnen badge of your Man of sinne Was not this your resolution when you went from Norwich to Lincolneshire after your suspension Deny it not my witnesses are too strong But let vs take you as you are these Ceremonies though too vile for you yet are good enough for our Ministers of England As if you said Lord I thanke thee I am not as this Publican Why for our Ministers Because those are the Liueries and these the sworne seruants of the Antichristian Bishops 1 Cor. 4.1 Ier. in Psal 44. Heming Class 3. Potest Eccl. c. 10. Vt cuique suus clirus sua plebs in bis quae Domini sunt pie obsequerentur We haue indeed sworne obedience to our Ordinary in honest and lawfull Commandements but seruice to Christ But doth all obedience imply seruitude This obedience is as to spirituall
à quo not ad quem mildely according to my knowne disposition but vpon better deliberation I found the insolency of my Refuter such that I could not fauour him and not bee cruell to my cause If therefore for many it is his own art and word railatiue Pages he receiue from my vnwilling and enforced Pen now and then though not a Relatiue to such an Antecedent yet perhaps some drop of sharper Vineger then my Inke vseth to be tempered withall he may forgiue mee and must thanke himselfe What needed this cause so furious an Inuectiue As if the Kingdom of Heauen and all Religion consisted in nothing but Maiden-head or Mariage Cardinal Bellarmine when he speakes of the Greeke Church wherein a maried Clergie is both allowed and required Si errerem alium non haberent â—â—cise pax conceleretur Bell de Cleric lib. 1. c. 21. shuts vp moderately That if this were all the difference betwixt them and the Romane Church they should soone be at peace If my Refuter had so thought this had not been his first Controuersie Both estates meet in Heauen John the Virgin rests in the bosome of maried Abraham This inordinate heate therefore of prosecution rises from faction not from holy Zeale Hence it was that my Aduersarie cunningly singled out this point from many others ranged in my poore Discourses as that wherein Bishop Jewels confession hee might promise to himselfe the likeliest aduantage of Antiquity and how gloriously doth he vaunt himselfe in the ostentation of Fathers Councels Which vaine flourish how little it auailes him the processe shal shew where it shall appeare vpon what grounds no small piece of Antiquitie was partiall to Virginitie and ouer-harsh to Mariage as Beatus Rhenanus B. Rhenan Arg. lib. de exhort Castit Tertull. a learned and ingenuous Papist confesseth But this we may boldly say that if those holy men had out-liued the bloody Times and seene the fearfull inconueniences which would after a setled peace insue vpon the ambition or constraint of a denyed Continencie they had doubtlesse changed their note and with the moderate and wisest spirits of the later times Eneas Syluius Panormitan Durandus Peresius Montuanuâ— Erasmus c. Che Coll introductione del matrimonio ac Preti si farelle che tutti volt assetto lâ— affetto amor lorâ— alle moglie a figli per consequenza aâ—â—â—casa alla patria onde cesâ—erebbe la dependenza fâ—retta châ—l Ordine Clericale ha conâ—â— sede Apostolica tanto sarelbe Conceder ill matrimonio a Prâ—ti quanto distrugâ—â— la Hietarchia Ecclesiastico ridur it Pont. che non foâ—se pâ—u the Vescâ—uo ci Roma Histor Concil Trid. pag. 662. Troppo fâ—ste troppo teste troppo tempeste Vid. Dallâ—ngt obseru vpon Guicciard Doctor Mart. against Pr. Marr. pleaded for that libertie which the Reformed Church now enioyeth The vniuersall concession whereof after the priuate Suffrages of worthy Authors came to a publike treaty in the Romane Church amidst the throng of their late Tridentine Councell and it is worth the while to obserue on what grounds it receiued a repulse If Priests should be allowed Mariage say those wily Jtalians it would follow that they would cast their affections on their Wiues and Children and consequently on their Families and Countries whereupon would cease that strait dependance which the Clergie hath vpon the See Apostolike In so much as to grant their Mariages were as much as to destroy the Hierarchie of the Church and to reduce the Pope within the meere bounds of the Romane Bishopricke This was the plea of the Clergie their thriftie Laitie together with them enemies to the blessing or as they construe it the curse of fruitfulnesse are wont to plead Troppo teste our Gregory Martin of old computes the preiudiciall increase that might arise from these Mariages to the Common-wealth It is not Religion but wit that now lyes in our way Fond men that dare offer thus to controll the wisdome of their Maker and will be tying the God of Heauen to their rules of state As it is no Church in the vvhole World except the Romane stands vpon this restraint vvhereof the consequences haue been so notoriously shamefull that wee might well hope experience vvould haue wrought if not redresse of their courses yet silence of ours And surely if this man had not presumed that by reason of the long discontinuance of Popery time had worne out of mens mindes the memory of their odious filthinesse he durst not thus boldly haue pleaded for their abominable Celibate The question vvhereof after all busie discussions and pretences of age must be resolued into no other then this How farre the Tradition of a particular Church is worthy to preuaile against Scripture yea and against other Churches A point which a very vveake iudgement will bee able to determine In this returne of my Defence I doe neither answer euery idle clause nor omit any essentiall this length of mine is no lesse forced then mine Aduersaries Continencie wherein yet my Reader shall not sigh vnder an irkesome loquacitie I presume to dedicate this vnworthy labour to your Grace whom this famous Church dayly blesseth as her wise faithfull and vigilant Ouerseer as a renowned Patterne of holy Virginitie and Patron of holy Mariage The God of Heauen whose watch you carefully keep preserue you long to his Church and make vs long happy in your Grace and you euer happy in his plentifull blessings Such shall euer be the Prayers of Your Graces most humbly deuoted IOS HALL THE ANSWER TO THE ADVERTISEMENT THE man begins with a threat I may not but tremble Hee frights me with an vniuersall Detection of my errors It is almost as easie to finde faults as to make them Perhaps the Time had been as well spent in tossing of his Beads How happie a man am I that shall see all my ouer-sights My comfort is that if my Tree were fruitlesse there would bee no stone throwne at it In the meane while how well doth the title of a Detector become him that hides himselfe If hee be not afraid or ashamed of his cause let his name bee knowne that his victories may be recorded It is an iniurious and base aduantage to strike and hide and after a pitcht Duell to gall a fixed Aduersarie out of loope-holes If his person be vpon some treasonable act obnoxious it is hard if some of his names be not free But if I must needs be matcht with the shadow of a Libeller I wil so take him as he deciphers himselfe C. E. Cauillator Egregius and vnder this true stile of his am ready to encounter him and doe here bid Defiance to an insolent and vniust aduersarie And first let me tell my Cauiller this order is preposterous If all my errors be at the mouth of the Presse how is it that two or three of them are thus suffered to out-runne their fellowes Was his malice so bigge
and simple to confound the wise and mighty Yet God did this worke by Moses Moses hewed and God wrote Our true Moses repaires that Law of God which we in our nature had broken He reuiues it for vs and it is accepted of God no lesse then iâ— the first Characters of his Law had been still entyre We can giue nothing but the Table it is God that must write in it Our hearts are but a bare boord till God by his finger ingraue his Law in them Yea Lord we are a rough Quarry hew thou vs out and square vs fit for thee to write vpon Well may wee maruell to see Moses after this ouersight admitted to this charge againe Who of vs would not haue said Your care indeed deserues trust you did so carefully keepe the first Tables that it would doe well to trust you with such another burden It was good for Moses that hee had to doe with God not with men The God of mercy will not impute the slips of our infirmitie to the preiudice of our faithfulnesse He that after the misse-answer of the one Talent would not trust the euill seruant with a second because he saw a wilfull neglect will trust Moses with his second Law because he saw fidelitie in the worst error of his zeale Our charity must learne as to forgiue so to beleeue where we haue beene deceiued Not that wee should wilfully beguile our selues in an vniust credulitie but that we should search diligently into the disposition of persons and grounds of their actions perhaps none may bee so sure as they that haue once disappointed vs. Yea Moses brake the first therefore hee must hew the second If God had broken them he would haue repayred them The amends must be where the fault was Both God and his Church looke for a satisfaction in that wherein we haue offended It was not long since Moses his former fast of forty dayes When hee then came downe from the hill his first question was not for meat and now going vp againe to Sinai he takes not any repast with him That God which sent the Quailes to the Host of Israel and Manna from Heauen could haue fed him with dainties He goes vp confidently in a secure trust of Gods prouision There is no life to that of faith Man liues not by bread onely The Vision of God did not onely satiate but feast him What a blessed satiety shall there be when we shall see him as he is and he shall be all in all to vs since this very fraile mortality of Moses was sustained and comforted but with representations of his presence I see Moses the Receiuer of the Law Elias the Restorer of the Law Christ the fulfiller of the old Law and Author of the new all fasting forty daies and these three great fasters I find together glorious in mount Tabor Abstinence merits not For Religion consists not in the belly either full or empty What are meates or drinkes to the Kingdome of God which is like himselfe spirituall But it prepares best for good duties Full bellies are fitter for rest not the body so much as the soule is more actiue with emptinesse Hence solemne prayer takes euer fasting to attend it and so much the rather speeds in Heauen when it is so accompanied It is good so to dyet the body that the soule may be fatned When Moses came downe before his eyes sparkled with anger and his face was both interchangeably pale and red with indignation now it is bright with glory Before there were the flames of fury in it now the beames of Maiesty Moses had before spoken with God why did not his face shine before I cannot lay the cause vpon the inward trouble of his passions for this brightnesse was externall Whither shall wee impute it but to his more intyrenesse with God The more familiar acquaintance wee haue with God the more doe wee partake of him He that passes by the fire may haue some gleames of heat but he that stands by it hath his colour changed It is not possible a man should haue any long conference with God and be no whit affected Wee are strangers from God it is no wonder if our faces be earthly but he that sets himselfe apart to God shall finde a kind of Maiestie and awfull respect put vpon him in the mindes of others How did the heart of Moses shine with illumination when his face was thus lightsome And if the flesh of Moses in this base composition so shined by conuersing with God forty dayes in Sinai What shall our glory bee when clothed with incorruptible bodies we shall conuerse with him in the highest Heauens Now his face onely shone afterwards the three Disciples saw all his body shining The nature of a glorified body the clearer Vision the immediate presence of that fountaine of glory challenge a far greater resplendence to our faces then his O God we are content that our faces bee blemished a while with contempt and blubred with teares how can wee but shine with Moses when wee shall see thee more then Moses The brightnesse of Moseses face reflected not vpon his owne eyes He shone bright and knew not of it He saw Gods face glorious he did not thinke others had so seene his How many haue excellent graces and perceiue them not Our owne sense is an ill iudge of Gods fauours to vs Those that stand by can conuince vs in that which we deny to ourselues Here below it is enough if we can shine in the eies of others aboue we shall shine and know it At this instant Moses sees himselfe shine then he needed not God meant not that hee should more esteeme himselfe but that he should bee more honoured of the Israelites That other glory shall bee for our owne happinesse and therefore requires our knowledge They that did but stand still to see anger in his face ranne away to see glory in it Before they had desired that God would not speake to them any more but by Moses and now that God doth but looke vpon them in Moses they are afraid and yet there was not more difference betwixt the voyces then the faces of God and Moses This should haue drawne Israel to Moses so much the more to haue seene this impression of Diuinity in his face That which should haue comforted affrights them Yea Aaron himselfe that before went vp into the Mount to see and speake with God now is afraid to see him that had seene God Such a feare there is in guiltinesse such confidence in innocencie When the soule is once cleared from sin it shall run to that glory with ioy the least glimpse whereof now appales it and sends it away in terror How could the Israelites now chuse but thinke How shall wee abide to looke God in the face since our eyes are dazeled with the face of Moses And well may we still argue If the Image of God which he hath set in the
himselfe to God and as the same Angell which appeared to Gideon turnes his feast into a sacrifice And now hee is Manoahs sollicitor to better thankes than he offered How forward the good Angels are to incite vs vnto piety Either this was the Sonne himselfe which said it was his meat and drinke to doe his Fathers will or else one of his spirituall attendance of the same diet We can neuer feast the Angels better then with our hearty sacrifices to God Why do not we learn this lesson of them whom we propoūd to our selues as the patterns of our obedience We shall be once like the Angels in condition why are we not in the meane time in our dispositions If we doe not prouoke and exhort one another to godlinesse and do care more for a feast then a sacrifice our appetite is not Angelicall but brutish It was an honest minde in Manoah whiles he was addressing a sacrifice to God yet not to neglect his messenger faine would he know whom to honour True piety is not vnciuill but whiles it magnifies the author of all blessings is thankfull to the meanes Secondary causes are worthy of regard neither need it detract any thing frō the praise of the agent to honour the instrument It is not only rudenesse but iniust ice in those which can be content to heare good newes from God with contempt of the bearers The Angell will neither take nor giue but conceales his very name from Manoah All honest motions are not fit to be yeelded to good intentions are not alwaies sufficient grounds of condiscent If we doe sometimes aske what we know not it is no maruell if we receiue not what we aske In some cases the Angell of God tells his name vnasked as Gaberiel to the Virgin here not by intreaty If it were the Angell of the couenant he had as yet no name but Iehouah if a created Angell he had no commission to tell his name and a faithfull messenger hath not a word beyond his charge Besides that he saw it would be of more vse for Manoah to know him really then by words Oh the bold presumption of those men which as if they had long soiourned in heauen and been acquainted with all the holy Legions of spirits discourse of their orders of their titles when this one Angell stops the mouth of a better man then they with Why dost thou aske after my name which is secret Secret things to God reuealed to vs and our children No word can be so significant as actions The act of the Angell tells best who he was He did wonderfully wonderfull therefore was his name So soone as euer the flame of the sacrifice ascended hee mounted vp in the smoke of it that Manoah might see the sacrifice and the messenger belonged both to one God and might know both whence to acknowledge the message and whence to expect the performance Gideons Angell vanished at his sacrifice but this in the sacrifice that Manoah might at once see both the confirmation of his promse the acceptation of his obedience whiles the Angell of God vouchsafed to perfume himselfe with that holy smoke and carry the sent of it vp into heauen Manoah beleeued before and craued no signe to assure him God voluntarily confirmes it to him aboue his desire To him that hath shal bee giuen Where there are beginnings of faith the mercy of God will adde perfection How doe we thinke Manoah and his wife looked to see this spectacle They had not spirit enough left to looke vpon another but in stead of looking vp cheerefully to heauen they fall downe to the earth on their faces as weake eyes are dazeled with that which should comfort them This is the infirmity of our nature to be afflicted with the causes of our ioy to be astonished with our confirmations to conceiue death in that vision of God whererein our life happinesse consists If this homely sight of the Angell did so confound good Manoah what shall become of the enemies of God when they shall be brought before the glorious Tribunall of the God of Angels I maruell not now that the Angell appeared both times rather to the wife of Manoah her faith was the stonger of the two It falls out sometimes that the weaker vessell is fuller and that of more precious liquor that wife is no helper which is not ready to giue spirituall comfort to her husband The reason was good and irrefragable If the Lord were pleased to kill vs he would not haue receiued a burnt offering from vs. God will not accept gifts where hee intends punishment and professes hatred The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord If we can finde assurance of Gods acception of our sacrifices we may be sure he loues our persons If I incline to wickednesse in my heart the Lord will not heare me but the Lord hath heard me SAMSONS Marriage OF all the Deliuerers of Israel there is none of whom are reported so many weaknesses or so many miracles as of Samson The newes which the Angell told of his conception and education was not more strange then the newes of his owne choyce he but sees a daughter of the Philistim and falls in loue All this strength begins in infirmity One maide of the Philistims ouer-comes that champion which was giuen to ouercome the Philistims Euen he that was dieted with water foūd heat of vnfit desires As his body was strōg notwithstanding that fare so were his passions without the gift of continency a low feed may impaire nature but not inordination To follow nothing but the eye in the choyce of his wife was a lust vnworthy of a Nazarite This is to make the sense not a Counseller but a Tyran Yet was Samson in this very impotency dutifull He did not in the presumption of his strength rauish her forceably He did not make vp a clandestine match without consulting with his Parents but he makes sute to them for consent Giue me her to wife As one that could be master of his owne act though not of his passion and as one that had learned so to be a suter as not to forget himselfe to be a sonne Euen in this deplored state of Israel children durst not presume to be their owne caruers how much lesse is this tolerable in a well guided and Christian Common-wealth Whosoeuer now dispose of themselues without their Parents they doe wilfully vnchild themselues and change naturall affection for violent It is no maruell if Manoah and his wife were astonished at this vnequall motion of their sonne Did not the Angell thought they tell vs that this child should be consecrated to God must he begin his youth in vnholy wedlock Did not the Angell say that our sonne should begin to saue Israel from the Philistims and is he now captiued in his affections by a daughter of the Philistims Shall our deliuerance from the Philistims begin in an alliance Haue we
the goods Wise and holy Dauid whose prayse was no lesse to ouercome his owne in time of peace than his enemies in warre cals his contending followers from Law to equitie and so orders the matter that since the Plaintifes were detained not by will but by necessity and since their forced stay was vse-full in garding the stuffe they should partake equally of the prey with there fellowes A sentence wel-beseeming the Iustice of Gods Annoynted Those that represent God vpon earth should resemble him in their proceeding It is the iust mercie of our God to measure vs by our wils not by our abilities to recompence vs graciously according to the truth of our desires and endeauours and to account that performed by vs which hee only letteth vs from performing It were wide with vs if sometimes purpose did not supply actions Whiles our heart faulteth not wee that through spirituall sicknesse are faine to abide by the stuffe shall share both in grace and glorie with the Victors The death of SAVL THe Witch of Endor had halfe slaine Saul before the Battell it is just that they who consult with Deuils should goe away with discomfort Hee hath eaten his last bread at the hand of a Sorceresse and now necessitie drawes him into that field where hee sees nothing but despaire Had not Saul beleeued the ill newes of the counterfeite Samuel hee had not beene strooke downe on the ground with words Now his beliefe made him desperate Those actions which are not sustayned by hope must needes languish and are only promoted by outward compulsion Whiles the mind is vncertaine of successe it relieues it selfe with the possibilities of good in doubts there is a comfortable mixture but when it is assured of the worst euent it is vtterly discouraged and deiected It hath therefore pleased the wisdome of God to hide from wicked men his determination of their finall estate that their remainders of hope may harten them to good In all likelihood one selfe-same day saw Dauid a victor ouer the Amalekites and Saul discomfited by the Philistims How should it bee otherwise Dauid consulted with God and preuailed Saul with the Witch of Endor and perisheth The end is commonly answerable to the way It is an idle iniustice when wee doe ill to looke to speede well The slaughter of Saul and his sonnes was not in the first Scene of this Tragicall field that was rather reserued by God for the last act that Sauls measure might bee full God is long ere hee strikes but when hee doth it is to purpose First Israel flees and fals downe wounded in Mount Gilboa They had their part in Sauls sinne they were actors in Dauids persecution Iustly therefore doe they suffer with him whom they had seconded in offence As it is hard to bee good vnder an euill Prince so it is as rare not to bee enwrapped in his iudgments It was no small addition to the anguish of Sauls death to see his sonnes dead to see his people fleeing and slaine before him They had sinned in their King and in them is their King punished The rest were not so worthy of pittie but whose heart would it not touch to see Ionathan the good sonne of a wicked father inuolued in the common destruction Death is not partiall All dispositions all merits are alike to it if valour if holinesse if sinceritie of heart could haue beene any defence against mortalitie Ionathan had suruiued Now by their wounds and death no man can descerne which is Ionathan The soule onely findes the difference which the body admitteth not Death is the common gate both to Heauen and Hell wee all passe that ere our turning to either hand The sword of the Philistims fetcheth Ionathan through it with his fellowes no sooner is his foot ouer that threshold than God conducteth him to glory The best cannot bee happy but through their dissolution Now therefore hath Ionathan no cause of complaint hee is by the rude and cruell hand of a Philistim but remoued to a better Kingdome then hee leaues to his brother and at once is his death both a temporall affliction to the sonne of Saul and an entrance of glorie to the friend of Dauid The Philistim-archers shot at randome God directs their arrowes into the bodie of Saul Lest the discomfiture of his people and the slaughter of his sonnes should not bee griefe enough to him hee feeles himselfe wounded and sees nothing before him but horror and death and now as a man forsaken of all hopes he begs of his Armour-bearer that deaths-blow which else hee must to the doubling of his indignation receiue from a Philistim Hee begges this bloudie fauour of his seruant and is denyed Such an awefulnesse hath God placed in souereigntie that no intreatie no extreamitie can moue the hand against it What metall are those men made of that can suggest or resolue and attempt the violation of Maiestie Wicked men care more for the sâ—â—â—e of the World than the danger of their soule Despâ—â—â—â— Saul will now supply his Armor-bearer and as a man that 〈◊〉 armes against himselfe he falls vpon his owâ—â— Sword What if he had died by the 〈◊〉 of a Philistin So did his sinne Ionathan and lost no glory These conceits of disreputation preuaile with carnall hearts aboue all spirituall respects There is no greater murderer 〈◊〉 glory Nothing more argues an heart voide of grace than to bee transporte onâ— idle popularity into actions preiudiciaâ—â—â— to the Soule Euill examples especially of the great neuer escaped imitation the Aâ—â—â—or-beateâ— of Saul followes his Master and came doe that to himselfe which to his King hee durst not as if their owne Swords had beeing more familiar executions 〈◊〉 they yeelded vnto them what they grudged to their pursuers From the beginning was Sauls euer his owne enemy neither did any hands hurt him but his owne to and now his death is sutable 〈◊〉 his life his owne hand paies his â—â—â—ard of all his wickednesse The end of Hypocrites and enuious men is commonly fearefull Now is the bloud of Gods Priests which Saul shed and of Dauid which hee would haue shed required and requited The euill spirit had said the euening before To â—â—rrow thou shalt bee with mee and now Saul hasteth to make the Deuill no Liemâ—â—â—â—â—er than faile he giues himselfe his owne Mittimus Oh the wofull extremities of a despairing soule plunging him euer into a greater mischiefe to auoide the lesse He might haâ—â— beene a patient in anothers violence and faultinesse now whiles hee will needs act the Philistins part vpon himselfe he liued and died a Murderer The case is deadly when the Prisoner breakes the Iayle and will not stay for his deliuery and though we may not passe sentence vpon such a soule yet vpon the fact we may the soule may possibly repent in the parting the act is hainous and such as without repentance kils the soule It was the next day ere the Philistims knew
the execution of that royall word Hee shall bee the Bayliffe of this great Husbandry of his Master MEPHIBOSHETH The Land of Saul how euer forfeited shall know no other Master than Sauls Grand-child As yet Sauls seruant had sped better than his sonne I reade of twentie seruants of Ziba none of Mephibosheth Earthly possessions doe not alwaies admit of equall diuisions The Wheele is now turned vp Mephibosheth is a Prince Ziba is his Officer I cannot but pittie the condition of this good sonne of Ionathan Into ill hands did honest Mephibosheth fall first of a carelesse Nurse then of a trecherous seruant Shee maymed his body hee would haue ouerthrowne his estate After some yeeres of ey-seruice to Mephibosheth wicked Ziba intends to giue him a worse fall than his Nurse Neuer any Court was free from Detractors from Delators who if they see a man to be a Creeple that hee cannot goe to speake for himselfe will bee telling Tales of him in the eares of great such an one was this perfidious Ziba who taking the opportunitie of Dauids flight from his sonne Absolom followes him with a faire present and a false Tale accusing his impotent Master of a soule and trayterous ingratitude labouring to treade vpon his lame Lord to rayse himselfe to honour True-hearted Mephibosheth had as good a will as the best if hee could haue commanded legs hee had not beene left behind Dauid now that hee cannot goe with him hee will not bee well without him and therefore puts himselfe to a wilfull and sullen penance for the absence and danger of his King hee will not so much as put on cleane clothes for the time as hee that could not haue any ioy in himselfe for the want of his Lord Dauid Vnconscionable Miscreants care not how they collogue whom they slander for a priuate aduantage Lewd Ziba comes with a Gift in his hand and a smooth Tale in his mouth Oh Sir you thought you had a Ionathan at home but you will finde a Saul It were pittie but hee should be set at your Table that would sit in your Throne you thought Sauls Land would haue contented Mephibosheth but hee would haue all yours though hee bee lame yet hee would bee climbing would you haue thought that this Creeple could be plotting for your Kingdome now that you are but gone aside Ishbosheth will neuer dye while Mephibosheth liues How did hee now forget his impotence and raysed vp his spirits in hope of a day and durst say that now the time was come wherein the Crowne should reuert to Sauls true Heire Oh Viper if a Serpent bite in secret when hee is not charmed no better is a Slanderer Honest Mephibosheth in good manners made a dead Dogge of himselfe when Dauid offered him the fauour of his board but Ziba would make him a very Dogge indeed an ill natur'd Curre that when Dauid did thus kindly feede him at his owne Table would not onely bite his fingers but flye at his throat But what shall wee say to this Neither earthly Souereigntie nor holinesse can exempt men from humane infirmitie Wise and good Dauid hath now but one eare and that mis-led with credulitie His Charitie in beleeuing Ziba makes him vncharitable in distrustâ—ng in censuring Mephibosheth The Detractor hath not only sudden credit giuen him but Sauls Land Ionathans Sonne hath lost vnheard that inheritance which was giuen him vnsought Heare-say is no safe ground of any iudgement Ziba slaunders Dauid beleeues Mephibosheth suffers Lies shall not alwayes prosper God will not abide the truth to bee euer oppressed At last Ionathans lame Sonne shall bee found as sound in heart as lame in his body Hee whose Soule was like his Father Ionathans Soule whose bodie was like to his Grand-father Sauls Soule meets Dauid as it was high time vpon his returne bestirs his tongue to discharge himselfe of so foule a slander The more horrible the crime had beene the more villanous was the vnlust suggestion of it and the more necessary was a iust Apologie Sweetly therefore and yet passionately doth hee labour to greaten Dauids fauours to him his owne obligations and vilenesse shewing himselfe more affected with his wrong than with his losse wel-comming Dauid home with a thankfull neglect of himselfe as not caring that Ziba had his substance now that hee had his King Dauid is satisfied Mephibosheth restored to fauour and Landes here are two kind hearts well met Dauid is full of satisfaction from Mephibosheth Mephibosheth runnes ouer with ioy in Dauid Dauid like a gracious King giues Mephibosheth as before Sauls Lands to halues with Ziba Mephibosheth like a King giues all to Ziba for ioy that God had giuen him Dauid All had beene well if Ziba had fared worse Pardon mee O holy and glorious Soule of a Prophet of a King after Gods owne heart I must needs blame thee for mercie A fault that the best and most generous natures are most subiect to It is pittie that so good a thing should doe hurt yet wee finde that the best misused is most dangerous Who should bee the patterne of Kings but the King of God Mercie is the goodliest Flower in his Crowne much more in theirs but with a difference Gods mercie is infinite theirs limited hee sayes I will haue mercy on whom I will they must say I will haue mercie on whom I should And yet hee for all his infinite mercie hath vessels of wrath so must they of whom his Iustice hath said Thine eye shall not spare them A good man is pitifull to his beast shall bee therefore make much of Toades and Snakes Oh that Ziba should goe away with any Possession saue of shame and sorrow that hee should bee coupled with a Mephibosheth in a partnership of Estates Oh that Dauid had changed the word a little A diuision was due here indeed but of Siba's eares from his head or his head from his shoulders for going about so maliciously to deuide Dauid from the Sonne of Ionathan An Eye for an Eye was Gods Rule If that had beene true which Ziba suggested against Mephibosheth hee had beene worthy to lose his head with his Lands being false it had beene but reason Ziba should haue changed heads with Mephibosheth Had not holy Dauid himselfe beene so stung with venemous tongues that hee cryes out in the bitternesse of his soule What reward shall bee giuen thee O thou false tongue euen sharpe Arrowes with hotte burning coles He that was so sensible of himselfe in Doegs wrong doth he feele so little of Mephibosheth in Zibaes Are these the Arrowes of Dauids Quiuer are these his hot burning coles Thou and ZIBA diuide He that had said their tongue is a sharp sword now that the Sword of iust reuenge is in his hand is this the blow he giues Diuide the Possession I know not whether excesse or want of mercy may proue most dangerous in the great the one discourage good intentions with feare the other may encourage
wicked practises through presumption Those that are in eminent place must learne the mid-way betwixt both so pardoning faults that they may not prouoke them so punishing them that they may not dishearten vertuous and wel-meant actions they must learne to sing that absolute Dittie whereof Dauid had here forgotten one part of Mercie and Iudgement HANVN and DAVIDS Ambassadours IT is not the meaning of Religion to make men vnciuill If the King of Ammon were heathenish yet his kindnesse may be acknowledged may be returned by the King of Israel I say not but that perhaps Dauid might maintaine too strait a league with that forbidden Nation A little friendship is enough to an Idolater but euen the sauage Canibals may receiue an answer of outward courtesie If a very Dogge fawne vpon vs we stroke him on the head and clap him on the side much lesse is the common band of humainitie vntyed by Grace Disparitie in spirituall Professions is no warrant for Ingratitude He therefore whose good nature proclaymed to shew mercy to any branch of Sauls house for Ionathans sake will now also shew kindnesse to Hanun for the sake of Nahash his Father It was the same Nahash that offered the cruell condition to the men of Iabesh Gilead of thrusting out their right eyes for the admission into his couenant Hee that was thus bloudie in his Designes against Israel yet was kinde to Dauid perhaps for no cause so much as Sauls opposition And yet euen this fauour is held worthy both of memory and retribution where wee haue the Acts of courtesie it is not necessary wee should enter into a strict examination of the grounds of it whiles the benefit is ours let the intention bee their owne What euer the hearts of men are wee must looke at their hands and repay not what they meant but what they did Nahash is dead Dauid sends Ambassadours to condole his losse and to comfort his Sonne Hanun No Ammonite but is sadly affected with the death of a Father though it gaine him a Kingdome Euen Esau could say the dayes of mourning for my Father will come No earthly aduantage can fill vp the gap of nature Those Children are worse than Ammonites that can thinke either gaine or libertie worthy to counteruaile a parents losse Carnall men are wont to measure anothers foote by their owne Last their owne falshood makes them vniustly suspicious of others The Princes of Ammon because they are guilty to their owne hollownesse and doublenesse of heart are readie so to iudge of Dauid and his Messengers Thinkest thou that Dauid doth honour thy Father that hee hath sent comforters vnto thee Hath not Dauid rather sent his owne Seruants to thee to search the Citie and to spye it out to ouerthrow it It is hard for a wicked heart to thinke well of any other because it can thinke none better than it selfe and knowes it selfe euill The freer a man is from vice himselfe the more charitable he vses to be vnto others Whatsoeuer Dauid was particularly in his owne person it was ground enough of preiudice that hee was an Israelite It was an hereditarie and deepe settled hatred that the Ammonites had conceiued against their brethren of Israel neither can they forget that shamefull and fearefull foyle which they receiued from the rescuers of Iabesh Gilead and now still doe they stomach at the name of Israel Malice once conceiued in worldly hearts is not easily extinguished but vpon all occasions is readie to breake forth into a flame of reuengefull actions Nothing can bee more dangerous than for yong Princes to meate with ill Counsell in the entrance of their Gouernment for both then are they most prone to take it and most difficultly recouered from it if wee be set out of our way in the beginning of our iournie we wander all the day How happy is that State where both the Counsellours are faithfull to giue onely good aduice and the King wise to discerne good aduice from euill the yong King of Ammon is easily drawne to beleeue his Peeres and to mistrust the messengers and hauing now in his conceite turned them into spies entertaines them with a scornefull disgrace hee shaues off one halfe of theirs beards and cuts off one halfe of their garments exposing them to the dirision of all beholders The Israelites were forbidden either a shauen beard or a short garment in despight perhaps of their Law these Embassadours are sent away with both certainely in a dispight of their Master and a scorne of their persons King Dauid is not a little sensible of the abuse of his Messengers and of himselfe in them First therefore hee desires to hide their shame then to reuenge it Man hath but a double ornament of body the one of nature the other of Art The naturall ornament is the haire the artificiall is apparrell Dauids Messengers are deformed in both The one is easily supplied by a new suit the other can onely bee supplied out of the Ward-robe of time Tarrie at Iericho till your beards bee growne How easily had this deformitie beene remooued if as Hanun had shauen one side of their faces so they had shauen the other what had this beene but to resemble their yonger age or that other sexe in neither of which doe we vse to place any imagination of vnbeseeming neither did there want some of their neighbour Nations whose faces age it selfe had not wont to couer with this shade of haire But so re-respectiue is good Dauid and his wise Senatours of their Countrie-formes that they shall by appointment rather tâ—rie abroad till time haue wrought their conformitie than varie from the receiued fashions of their owne people Alas into what a licentious varietie of strange disguises are we falne The glorie of Attire is sought in noueltie in mishapennesse in monstrousnesse There is much latitude much libertie in the vse of these indifferent things but because we are free wee may not runne wilde and neuer thinke wee haue scope enough vnlesse wee out-runne modestie It is lawfull for publicke persons to feele their owne indignities and to endeauour their reuenge Now Dauid sends all the hoste of the mightie men to punish Ammon for so fearie an abuse Those that receiued the Messengers of his loue with scorne and insolencie shall now be seuerely saluted with the Messengers of his wrath It is iust both with God and men that they who know not how to take fauours aright should smart with iudgments Kindnesse repulsed breakes foorth into indignation how much more when it is repaide with an iniurious affront Dauid cannot but feele his owne cheekes shauen and his owne Coate cut in his Embassadours They did but carie his person to Hanun neither can hee therefore but appropriate to himselfe the Kindnesse or iniurie offered vnto them Hee that did so take to heart the cutting off but the lap of King Sauls Garment when it was laid aside from him how must he needes be affected with this
for vs to striue in our prayers to striue with him not against him when once wee know them it is our dutie to sit downe in a silent contentation Whiles the Childe was yet aliue I fasted and wept for I said who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me that the Childe may liue but now he is dead Wherfore should I fast Can-I bring him backe againe The griefe that goes before an euill for remedie can hardly bee too much but that which followes an euill past remedie cannot bee too little Euen in the saddest accident Death wee may yeeld something to nature nothing to impatience immoderation of sorrow for losses past hope of recouery is more fullen than vse-full our stomacke may be bewrayed by it not our wisdome AMNON and TAMAR IT is not possible that any word of God should fall to the ground Dauid is not more sure of forgiuenesse than smart Three maine sins passed him in this businesse of Vriah Adultery Murder Dissimulation for all which he receiues present payment for Adultery in the deflowring of his Daughter Thamar for Murder in the killing of his Sonne Amnon for Dissimulation in the contriuing of both Yet all this was but the beginning of euils Where the Father of the Family brings sinne home to the house it is not easily swept our Vnlawfull Lust propagates it selfe by example How iustly is Dauid scourged by the sinne of his Sonnes whome his Act taught to offend Maacha was the Daughter of an Heathenish King By her had Dauid that beautifull but vnhappy Issue Absalom and his no lesse faire Sister Thamar Perhaps thus late doth Dauid feele the punishment of that vnfit choice I should haue maruelled if so holy a man had not found crosses in so vnequall a match either in his person or at least in his feed Beauty if it be not well disciplin'd proues not a Friend but a Traytour three of Dauids Children are vndone by it at once What else was guilty of Amnons incestuous loue Tamars rauishment Absoloms pride It is a blessing to be faire yet such a blessing as if the soule answer not to the face may leade to a curse How commonly haue we seene the foâ—â—lest soule dwell fairest It was no fault of Tamars that shee was beautifull the Candle offends not in burning the foolish flie offends in scorching it selfe in the flame yet it is no small misery to become a tentation vnto another and to be made but the occasion of others ruine Amnon is loue-sicke of his sister Tamar and languishes of that vnnaturall heat Whither will not wanton lust carry the inordinate mindes of pampered and vngouerned youth None but his halfe sister will please the eyes of the young Prince of Israel Ordinary pleasures will not content those whom the conceit of greatnesse youth and ease haue let loose to their appetite Perhaps yet this vnkindly flame might in time haue gone out alone had not there beene a Ionadab to blow these coales with ill counsell It were strange if great Princes should want some Parasiticall Followers that are ready to feed their ill humors Why art thou the Kings Sonne so leane from day to day As if it were vnworthy the Heire of a King to suffer either Law or Conscience to stand in the way of his desires Whereas wise Princes know well that their places giue them no priuiledge of sinning but call them in rather to so much more strictnesse as their example may be more preiudiciall Ionadab was the Cousin German of Amnon Ill aduice is so much more dangegerous as the interest of the giuer is more Had he beene a true friend hee had bent all the forces of his disswasion against the wicked motions of that sinfull lust and had shewed the Prince of Israel how much those lewd desires prouoked God and blemished himselfe and had lent his hand to strangle them in their first Conception There cannot be a more worthy improuement of friendship than in a feruent opposition to the sinnes of them whom we professe to loue No enemy can be so mortall to great Princes as those officious Clients whose flattery soothes them vp in wickednesse These are Traytors to the Soule and by a pleasing violence kill the best part eternally How ready at hand is an euill suggestion Good counsell is like vnto Wel-water that must be drawne vp with a Pumpe or Bucket Ill counsell is like to Conduit-water which if the cocke be but turned runnes out alone Ionadab hath soone proiected how Amnon shall accomplish his lawlesse purpose The way must be to faine himselfe sicke in body whose minde was sicke of lust and vnder this pretence to procure the presence of her who had wounded and only might cure him The daily increasing languor and leanenesse and palenesse of loue-sicke Amnon might well giue colour to a Kerchiefe and a pallet Now is it soone told Dauid that his eldest Sonne is cast vpon his sicke bed there needs no suite for his visitation The carefull Father hastenâ— to his Bed-side not without doubts and feates He that was lately so afflicted with the sicknesse of a Childe that scarce liued to see the light how sensible must we needs thinke hee would bee of the indisposition of his first borne Soone in the prime of his age and hopes It is not giuen to any Prophet to fore-see all things Happie had it beene for Dauid if Amnon had beene truly sicke and sicke vnto death yet who could haue perswaded this passionate Father to haue beene content with this succession of losses this early losse of his Successour How glad is he to heare that his Daughter Tamars skill might bee likely to fit the dyet of so deareâ— patient Conceit is word to rule much both in sicknesse and the cure Tamar is sent by her Father to the house of Amnon Her hand only must dresse that Dish which may please the nice Palace of her sicke Brother Euen the Children of Kings in those homelyâ—r Tymes did not scorne to put their fingers to some workes of huswifrie Shee tooke floure and did knead it and did make Cakes in his sight and did bake the Cakes and tooke a Pan and powred them out before him Had shee not beene sometimes vsed to such domestique imployments shee had beene now to seeke neither had this beene required of her but vpon the knowledge of her skill Shee doth not plead the impayring of her beauty by the scorching of the fire nor thinkes her hand too dainty for such meane Services but settles to the worke as one that had rather regard the necessities of her Brother than her owne state Only pride and idlenesse haue banisht honest and thrifty diligence out of the houses of the great This was not yet the Dish that Amnon longed for It was the Cooke and not the Cates which that wanton eye affected Vnlawfull Acts seeke for secrecie The companie is dismissed Tamar onely staies Good meaning suspects nothing Whiles she presents the meat
to send me a gracious release of that strict charge Why should I thinke that Gods reuelations are not as free to others as to me and if this Prophet haue receiued a countermand from an Angell of God how shall I not disobey God if I doe not follow him Vpon this ground he returnes with this deceitfull host when the meat was now in his mouth receiues the true message of death from the same lips that brought him the false message of his inuitation Thus saith the Lord for as much as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord hast not kept the commandement of the Lord thy God but camest back and hast eaten bread and drunke water in the place forbidden thee thy carkasse shal not come to the Sepulcher of thy fathers Oh wofull Prophet when hee lookes on his host he sees his executioner whiles he is feeding of his body he heares of his carkasse at the table he heares of his denied Sepulcher and all this for eating and drinking where he was forbidden by God though bidden as from God The violation of the least charge of a God is mortall No pretences can warrant the transgression of a diuine command A word from God is pleaded on both sides The one was receiued immediately from God the other related mediately by man One the Prophet was sure of the other was questionable A sure word of God may not bee left for an vncertaine An expresse charge of the Almighty admitteth not of any checke His will is but one as himselfe is and therefore it is out of the danger of contradiction Me thinks I see the man of God change countenance at this sharpe sauce of his pleasing morsels his face before-hand is died with the palenesse of death me thinkes I heare him vrging many vnkind expostulations with his iniurious host who yet dismisses him better prouided for the ease of his iourny then he found him Perhaps this officiousnesse was our of desire to make some amends for his late seducement It is a poore recompence when he hath betrayed his life and wronged the soule to cast some courtesies vpon the body This old Bethelite that had taken paines to come and fetch the man of God into sin will not now goe backe with him to accompany his departure Doubtlesse hee was afraid to be in wrapped in the iudgement which hee saw hanged ouer that obnoxious head Thus the mischieuous guides of wickednesse leaue a man when they haue led him to his bane as familiar Deuils forsake their Witches when they haue brought them once into fetters The man of God returnes alone carefull no doubt and pensiue for his offence when a Lion out of the wood meets him assaults him kils him Oh the iust and seuere iudgements of the Almighty who hath brought this fierce beast out of his wild ranges into the high way to be the executioner of his offending seruant Doubtlesse this Prophet was a man of great holinesse of singular fidelity else he durst not haue been Gods Herald to carie a message of defiance to Ieroboam King of Israel in the midst of all his royall magnificence yet now for varying from but a circumstance of Gods command though vpon the suggestion of a diuine warrant is giuen for a prey to the Lion Our interest in God is so farre from excusing our sinne that it aggrauates it Of all others the sinne of a Prophet shall not passe vnreuenged The very wilde beasts are led by a prouidence Their wise and powerfull Creator knowes how to serue himselfe of them The Lions guard one Prophet kill another according to the commission receiued from their Maker What sinner can hope to escape vnpunished when euery creature of God is ready to be an auenger of euill The beasts of the field were made to serue vs we to serue our Creator When we forsake our homage to bim that made vs it is no maruell if the beasts forget their duty to vs and deale with vs not as Masters but as rebels When an holy man abuyes so dearely such a sleight frailty of a credulous mistaking what shall become of our hainous and presumptuous sinnes I cannot thinke but this Prophet died in the fauour of God though by the teeth of the Lion His life was forfeited for example his foule was safe Yea his very carkasse was left though torne yet faire after those deadly graspes as if God had said I will onely take thy breath from thee as the penalty of thy disobedience a Lion shall doe that which an apoplexie or feuer might doe I owe thee no further reuenge then may be satisfied with thy blood Violent euents doe not alwaies argue the anger of God Euen death it selfe is to his seruants a fatherly castigation But oh the vnsearchable wayes of the Almighty The man of God sinnes and dies speedily the lying Prophet that seduced him suruiues Yea wicked Ieroboam enioyes his Idolatry and treads vpon the graue of his reprouer There is neither fauour in the delay of stripes nor displeasure in the haste Rather whom God loues he chastises as sharply so speedily whiles the rest prosper to condemnation Euen the rod of a louing father may draw blood How much happier is it for vs that wee die now to liue for euer then that we liue a while to die euer Had this Lion set vpon the Prophet for hunger why did hee not deuoure as well as kill him Why did he not rather kill the beast then the man since we know the nature of the Lion such that he is not wont to assaile man saue in the extreme want of other prey Certainly the same power that imployed those fangs restrained them that the world might see it was not appetite that prouoked the beast to this violence but the ouer-ruling command of God Euen so O Lord thy powerfull hand is ouer that roaring Lion that goes about continually seeking whom hee may deuoure thine hand with-holds him that though he may shed the blood of thine elect yet he cannot hurt their soules and whiles he doth those things which thou permittest and orderest to thy iust ends yet he cannot doe lesser things which he desireth and thou permittest not The fierce beast stands by the carkasse as to auow his owne act and to tell who sent him so to preserue that body which he hath slaine Oh wonderfull worke of God the Executioner is turned Guardian and as the Officer of the highest commands all other creatures to stand aloofe from his chaâ—ge and commands the fearfull Asse that brought this burthen thither not to stirre thence but stand ready prest to recarie it to the Sepulcher and now when he hath sufficiently witnessed to all passengers that this act was not done vpon his own hunger but vpon the quarrell of his Maker he deliuers vp his charge to that old Prophet who was no lesse guilty of this blood then himselfe This old Seducer hath so much truth as both to giue a
weake Proselyte if shee were so much Feare not goe doe as thou hast said but make me thereof a little cake first and bring it to me and after make for thee and thy sonne For thus saith the God of Israel The barrell of meale shall not waste nor the cruse of oyle faile till the day that God send raine vpon the earth She must goe spend vpon a stranger part of that little she hath in hope of more which she hath not which shee may haue she must part with her present food which she saw in trust of future which she could not see she must rob her sense in the exercise of her beleef shorten her life in being vpon the hope of a protractioÌ„ of it in promise she must beleeue God will miraculously increase what shee hath yeelded to consume shee must first feed the stranger with her last victuals and then after her selfe and her sonne Some sharpe dame would haue shaken vp the Prophet and haue sent him away with an angry repulse Bold Israelite there is no reason in this request wert thou a friend or a brother with what face couldest thou require to pull my last bit out of my mouth Had I superfluitie of prouision thou mightest hope for this effect of my charitie now that I haue but one morsell for my selfe and my sonne this is an iniurious importunitie what can induce thee to thinke thy life an vnknowne traueller should be more deare to me then my sons then my owne How vnciuill is this motion that I should first make prouision for thee in this dying extremitie It had bin too much to haue begged my last scraps Thou tellest me the meale shall not waste nor the oile faile how shall I beleeue thee Let me see that done before thou eatest In vaine should I challenge thee when the remainder of my poore store is consumed If thou canst so easily multiply victuals how is it that thou wantest Doe that before-hand which thou promisest shall be afterwards performed there will be no need of my little But this good Sareptan was wrought by God not to mistrust a Prophet she will doe what he bids and hope for what he promises she will liue by faith rather then by sense and giue away the present in the confidence of a future remuneration first she bakes Elijahs cake then her owne not grudging to see her last morsels go downe anothers throat whiles herselfe was famishing How hard precepts doth God lay where he intends bountie Had not God meant her preseruation he had suffred her to eat her last cake alone without any interpellation now the mercy of the Almighty purposing as well this miraculous fauour to her as to his Prophet requires of her this taske which flesh and blood would haue thought vnreasonable So we are wont to put hard questions to those schollers whom wee would promote to higher formes So in all atchieuements the difficulty of the enterprise makes way for the glory of the actor Happy was it for this widow that shee did not shut her hand to the man of God that she was no niggard of her last handfull Neuer corne or oliue did so encrease in growing as here in consuming This barrell this cruse of hers had no bottome the barrell of meale wasted not the cruse of oyle failed not Behold not getting not sauing is the way to abundance but giuing The mercy of God crownes our beneficence with the blessing of store who can feare want by a mercifull liberality when he sees the Sareptan had famished if she had not giuen and by giuing abounded With what thankfull deuotion must this woman euery day needs look vpon her barrell and cruse wherein shee saw the mercy of God renewed to her continually Doubtlesse her soule was no lesse fed by faith then her body with this supernaturall prouision How welcome a guest must Elijah needs be to this widow that gaue her life and her sonnes to her for his board yea that in that wofull famine gaue her and her sonne their board for his house roome The dearth thus ouercome the mother lookes hopefully vpon her onely son promising her selfe much ioy in his life and prosperity when an inexpected sicknesse surpriseth him and doth that which the famine but threatned When can we hold our selues seeâ—re from euils no sooner is one of these Sergeants compounded withall then we are arrested by another How ready we are to mistake the grounds of our afflictions and to cast them vpon false causes The pasionate mother cannot find whither to impute the death of her son but to the presence of Elijah to whom shee comes distracted with perplexitie not without an vnkinde challenge of him from whom shee had receiued both that life shee had lost and that she had What haâ—ed to do with thee O thou man of God Art thou come to me to call my sin to remembrance and to stay my sonne As if her son could not haue died if Elijah had not been her guest when as her son had dyed but for him why should shee thinke that the Prophet had saued him from the famine to kill him with sicknesse As if God had not been free in his actions and must needes strike by the same hands by which he preserued Shee had the grace to know that her affliction was for her sinne yet was so vnwise to imagine the are rages of her iniquities had not bin called for if Elijah had not been the remembrancer He who had appeased God towards her is suspected to haue incensed him This wrongfull misconstruction was enough to moue any patience Elijah was of an hot spirit yet his holinesse kept him from fury This challenge rather increased the zeale of his prayer then stirred his choller to the offendent Hee takes the dead child out of his mothers bosome and layes him vpon his owne bed and cries vnto the Lord Oh Lord my God hast thou brought euill also vpon the Widow with whom I soiourne by slaying her sonne In stead of chiding the Sareptan out of the feruency of his soule he humbly expostulates with his God His onely remedy is in his prayer that which shut heauen for raine must open it for life Euery word inforceth First he pleads his interest in God Oh Lord my God then the quality of the patient a Widow and therefore both most distressed with the losse and most peculiar to the charge of the Almighty Then his interest as in God so in this patient with whom I soiourne as if the stroke were giuen to himselfe through her sides and lastly the quality of the punishment By slaying her son the onely comfort of her life and in all these implying the scandall that must needes arise from this euent where euer it should be noysed to the name of his God to his owne when it should be said Loe how Elijahs entertainment is rewarded Surely the Prophet is either impotent or vnthankfull Neither doth his tongue moue thus
and send them home empty of substance laded with shame halfe-dead with feare the very horses that might haue hastened their flight are left tied in their Tents their very garments are a burthen all is left behind saue their very bodies and those breathlesse for speed Doubtlesse these Syrians knew well to what miserable exigents the inclosed Israelites were brought by their siege and now made full account to sacke and ransacke their Samaria already had they diuided and swallowed the prey when suddenly God puts them into a ridiculous confusion and sends them to seeke safety in their heeles no booty is now in price with them but their life and happy is hee that can run fastest Thus the Almighty laughes at the designes of insolent men and shuts vp their counsels in shame The feare of the foure Lepers began now to giue way to security they fill their bellies and hide their treasures and passe from one Tent to another in a fastidious choice of the best commodities they who ere-while would haue held it happinesse enough to haue beene blessed with a crust now wantonly roue for dainties and from necessitie leape into excesse How farre selfe-loue caries vs in all our actions euen to the neglect of the publique Not till their owne bellies and hands and eies were filled did these Lepers thinke of imparting this newes to Israel at last when themselues are glutted they begin to remember the hunger of their brethren and now they finde roome for remorse We doe not well this day is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace Nature teaches vs that it is an iniurie to ingrosse blessings and so to mind the priuate as if we had no relation to a community we are worthy to be shut out of the City-gates for Lepers if the respects to the publique good do not ouer-sway with vs in all our desires â—n all our demeanure and well may wee with these couetous Lepers feare a mischiefe vpon our selues if we shall wilfully conceale blessings from others The conscience of this wrong and danger sends backe the Lepers into the Citie they call to the Porters and soone transmit the newes to the Kings houshold The King of Israel complaines not to haue his sleepe broken with such intelligence Hee ariseth in the night and not contemning good newes though brought by Lepers consults with his seruants of the businesse We cannot be too iealous of the intentions of an enemy Iehoram wisely suspects th s flight of the Syrians to be but simulatorie and politicke onely to draw Israel out of their City for the spoile of both There may bee more perill in the backe of an enemy then in the face the cruellest slaughters haue beene in retiring Easily therefore is the King perswaded to aduenture some few for-lorne Scouts for further assurance The word of Elisha is out of his head out of his heart else there had beene no place for this doubt Timorous hearts neuer thinke themselues sure those that haue no faith had need of much sense Those few horses that remaine are sent forth for discouery they find nothing but Monuments of frightfulnesse pledges of security Now Israel dares issue forth to the prey There as if the Syrians had comne thither to inrich them they finde granaries wardrobes treasures and what euer may serue either for vse or ostentation Euery Israelite goes away filled laden wearied with the wealthy spoile As scarcitie breeds dearth so plenty cheapnesse To day a measure of fine flower is lower rated then yesterday of dung The distrustfull Peere of Israel sees this abundance according to the word of the Prophet but enioyes it not he sees this plenty can come in at the gate though the windowes of heauen be not open The gate is his charge The affamished Israelites presse in vpon him beare him downe in the throng Extreme hunger hath no respect to greatnesse Not their rudenesse but his owne vnbeleefe hath trampled him vnder feet Hee that abased the power of God by his distrust is abased worthily to the heeles of the multitude Faith exalts a man aboue his owne sphere Infidelitie depresses him into the Dust into Hell He that beleeues not is condemned already FJNIS AN ALPHABETICALL TABLE OF THE WHOLE VVORKE AAron his Censer and Rod pag. 925 Aarons courage or mercy whether to bee more maruelled at 925 926. Absence The absence of God is hell it selfe 915 Sinnes not afflictions argue Gods absence 976 977. Abigail The signification of her name 1102. With her sorrow ibid. Her cariage to Dauid 1104. Ability A caution for concealment of our abilities 852. Carnall hearts are caried away with the presumption of their owne abilities 1081. Abimelech his vsurpation 985. Of him and Dauid 1091. Abner and Ioah 1119. Abraham Of him and his tryals 831. None of them like to that of sacrificing Isaack 834 Absolom Of his returne and conspiracy 1148. In his banishment is shadowed the misery of such as are shut out of heauen 1149. Of his pride treason 1150. His death 1237. Acception Acception of persons a good note of it in Ioshua and the Gibeonites 966. Achan his one sinne what it doth to all Israel 954. His hope of secrecie in his sin what it doth 955. His confession 956. Achish Of him Dauid 1106. Achitophel Of him and his counsell 1234 His fathers mourning for him 1240. Acquaintance Our strangenesse with God condemned being so often inuited to his acquaintance 52. Long acquaintance maketh those things which are euill to seeme lesse euill 145. Actions All our actions of faith and charity shall bee sure of pay 953. No action can giue vs comfort but that which wee doe out of the grounds of obedience 1027 Admonition With what impatience a gaulled heart doth receiue admonition 898 Sweet compellations how helpfull to the entertainment of good admonitions 956 How we must deale with admonitions to our brethren 1104 Adonijah he is defeated 1255. Aduersity what it teacheth 24 Affections good affections make heauy things light 3 Heauenly affections must bee free without composition 37 38 Loue and feare are two main affections of the soule 475 The affections how deceitfull 504 Affectation it is a great enemie of doing well 14 Nothing forced by affectation can be comely 59 The vanity of being caried away with the affectation of fame 66 Afflictions Not to be afflicted is a signe of weaknesse 7 A method in suffering afflictions 38 A notable enducement to suffering afflictions 45 46. Afflictions in loue better then prosperity without it 51 A good rule for behauing of our selues in afflictions 65 No maruell why the wicked are no more afflicted 149 A discourse of the comfortable remedies of all afflictions 366 The wicked grow worse by afflictions 835 Gods hand is often heauy on those whom he loues 855 Nothing so powerfully calls home a man as affliction ibid. The affliction of Israel 893 In our afflictions when wee seeme most neglected then is God most present