of Iron and part of Clay and brake them to pieces Then was the Iron the Clay the Brass the Silver and the Gold broken to pieces together and became then as the Chaff of the Summer Threshing-floors and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them and the Stone that smote the Image became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth This is the Dream said Daniel and I will tell the Interpretation thereof before the King THOU O King art a King of Kings for the God of Heaven hath given thee a Kingdom Power and Strength and Glory and wheresoever the Children of men dwell the Beasts of the Field and the Fowls of the Heaven hath he given into thine hand and hath made thee Ruler over them all Thou art this Head of Gold By all which we see that God had done very much for Nebuchadâ—… and made him King of Kings and higher than all the Kings of the Earth Yet when Nebuchadnezzar rendreth not to God according to the Benefits bestowed God takes him down from all his Pomp when Nebuchadnezzar forgat God that made him so great and begins to Sacrifice to his own Net as he did Dan. 4. 30. For said the King Is not this Great Babylon that I have builded for the House of my Kingdom by the Might of my Power and for the Honour of my Majesty Thus whilst he was glorying himself instead of glorifying God God takes him down for so saith the Text V. 31. Whilst the word was in the Kings mouth there fell a voice from Heaven saying O King Nebuchadnezzar to thée it is spoken the Kingdom is departed from thée and they shall drive thee from men and thy dwelling shall be with the Beasts of the Field they shall make thee to eat grass as Oxen and seven times shall pass over thee until thou know that the Most High Ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whom he will and saith the Text V. 33. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar So that in him we see the Assertion made good That God requires suitable returns for mercies bestowed though from the greatest of Men or Nations This man was so great as that there was none greater for he was over All not a King over some few Countries or an Emperour over seven Nations but a Monarch one that had an unlimited and an universal Power V. 36. Yet when he comes to walk contrary to God God walks contrary to him when he refuseth to glorifie God God will be glorified upon him The like we may see in King Saul 1 Sam. 15. The Prophet Samuel came to him and appointed him his work from God and in his so doing he first layes before him what God had done for him and giveth it in as a Reason why Saul should perform the Will of God for saith he V. 1. The Lord sent me to Anoint thee to be King over his People over Israel Therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the Word of the Lord Thus saith the Lord I remember what Amalek did to Israel how he laid wait for him in the way as he came up out of the Land of Egypt now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy All that they have and spare them not but utterly destroy both Man and Woman Infant and Suckling Ox and Shéep Camel and Asse Amalek lay in wait to have destroyed Israel now God takes Israels Cause in hand and Amalek must be utterly cut off It is good for the People of God to let God alone with his own Work for vengeance is mineâ—… and I will repay it saith the Lord Rom. 12. 19. And Gods time is the best time to revenge in for so saith the Lord by his Prophet Zephaniah 3. 8. Wait ye upon me untill the day that I rise up to the prey for my determination is to gather the Nations that I may assemble the Kingdoms to pour upon them mine Indignation even all my fierce Anger for All the Earth shall be devoured with the fire of my Jealousie for saith the Prophet It is the day of the Lords vengeance and the year of Recompences for the Controversie of Zion Isai. 34. 8. And saith the Lord I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousie Zach. 1. 14. For precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Psal. 116. 15. and Psal. 9. 12. When he maketh Iniquision for blood he remembreth them and forgetteth not the Cry of the humble Had Israel been the Revenge of his own quarrel it had not made so much for Israels comfort neither would Amalek have had his deserved due Israel might have under-done the Work for Israel knew not the bent of Amaleks spirit so well as he that took the Work in hand for God sees not as Man sees Man onely knows the outward act but God also the intention and thought of the heart God without all Question knew that Amalek intended the utter ruine of Israel and therefore Amalek must be utterly destroyed For God is a Righteous God and commonly deals with men by the Law of Retaliation for Adoni-bezek said Threescore and ten Kings having their Thumbs and their great Toes cut off gathered their Meat under my Table as I have done so God hath done to me Judges 1. 7. And Nathan said unto David 2 Sam. 12. 9. Thou hast done evil in the sight of the Lord thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the Sword and hast taken his Wife to be thy Wife now therefore the Sword shall never depart from thine House c. And I will take thy Wives before thine eyes and give them to thy Neighbour and he shall lye with them in the sight of the Sun for thou didst this secretly but I will do this before all Israel and before the Sun And the Prophet Samuel also said unto King Agag 1 Sam. 15. 33. As thy Sword hath made Women Childless so shall thy Mother be Childless among Women and Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord It is good for men then in all their undertakings to do to others as they would have others to do unto them And this is that golden Rule that the Lord Christ himself layes down Mat. 7. 12. All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye even so unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets And that he might the better bespeak his People to a strict Observation of this Lesson he requires them in the first and second verses Not to judge lest they be judged for saith he with what judgement ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye met it shall be measured to you again The perfect Law of Retaliation I am the willinger to say the more to this though I am upon a digression because if possible I might keep others from transgression for there are many in this our day I know that are ready and willing to
the Good of the King or the Benefit but of one Soul be thereby produced he hath his End who desireth according to the Ability received to remain Thy Faithful Friend in the Truths of Jesus HENRY ADIS. An After-Word to the READER READER I Knowing the temper of the spirits of the generality of the Sons and Daughters of men of this Nation in this juncture of time cannot but expect that thou shouldst be something unsatisfied with my plainness of speech and my Terms of Thy Thee Thou and O King in my Discourse to the King and also in that I afford him not those Titles that some men are pleased to put upon him and therein I am perswaded thou wilt be ready to judge me as one that am either peremptorily slighting or peevishly undervaluing the King because I do not say and do to and for him as thou haply canst and dost Or at the best for the plainness of my speech thou wilt conclude me to be one of those New-lighted men of our age commonly distinguished by the name of Quakers because that in their Speakings and Writings they generally use the same Terms and to say Truth if they did not speak the Language and wear the Cloathing of the Sheep of Christ they could not Wolf-like so easily deceive as generally they do Therefore Reader I do hereby assure thee that I am not of that Synagogue for through mercy I can groundedly and upon a good account let thee know that I walk by the direction of a more surer word of Prophesie to which I shall endeavour by the assistance of the Eternal Spirit to take good heed to and from which I shall warrant the soundness and manner of my Speech though it be in such plainness and without flattery to be of God And because these Notionists have some of Canaans Language in their mouths I shall therefore no more forbear the using of it than the Apostle Peter did the Confessing of Christ to be the Son of the living God Mat. 16. 16. Because the Devil in so many words acknowledged the same Mat. 8. 29. Mark 5. 7. Luke 8. 28. Neither shall I resolve to alter my Habit because these men being deceived run up and down in the sheeps cloathing deceiving but shall patiently wait upon God for a Manifestation of them and all others to be of the Synagogue of Satan who say they are Ieweâ—… and are not but do lie In the mean while Reader in Christian love I shall further endeavour thy satisfaction and in the singleness of my Soul I shall let thee know that I both do and shall Honour the King with that honour and respect that the Lord requireth I should as in this Discourse compared with my Declaration in the end of this Book folded is evident although as thou haply mayest Judge in my so speaking I rudely behave my self Therefore for thy farther satisfaction know That as I am a Servant to the Most High God and a Member of a Church of Christ So I look upon it to be my Duty to Regulate my Conversation as becometh the Gospel of Christ and to walk in the footsteps of the Flock of God gone before who though according to the Requirement of God they were obedient to Kings Rulers and Governours yet they gave them no other Language than in this my Discourse I give to King CHARLES witness that Discourse the Prophet Daniel had wiâ—…h that Head of Gold that King of Kings 〈◊〉 King of Babylon Daniel 2. 29. who said As for thee O King thy thoughts came into thy head and thou O King sawest c. And in ver. 31. And thou O King art King of Kings Ver. 37. And thou art this Head of Gold Verie 38. And in Dan. 4. 22. It is thou O King that art grown and become strong and thy greatness is grown and reacheth unto Heaven and thy Dominion unto the ends of the Earth yet they shall drive thée from men and thy dwelling shall be with the Beasts of the Field and they shall make thée to eat grass as Oxen and they shall wet thée with the dew of Heaven and seven times shall pass over thée till thou know that the Most High Ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whom he will V. 25. Wherefore O King let my Counsel be acceptable to thée aâ—…d break off thy sins by Righteousness and thine iniquity by shewing Mercy to the Poor is it may be a lengthning out if thy Tranquility But lest any man should say that Nebuchadnezzar was a Heathen and therefore the Prophet gave him neither the Titles nor that due Respect that otherwise he would have done In Answer whereunto I shall lay before thee the Prophet David a King in Israel and a man after Gods own heart who if it had been his due by Gods Appointment could as well have become the Tiâ—…le of Sacred and Most Sacred Majesty as any He that I ever read or heard oâ—… either before or after him to this very day yet we read that when the Propheâ—… came to him in the case of Uriah the Hittite he said noâ—… May it please your Saâ—…red Majesty but Nathan said unto David 2 Sam. 12. 7. Thou art the Man And V. 9. Thou hast killed Uriah thâ—… Hittite with the Sword and taken his Wife to be thy Wife now theâ—…fore the Sword shall not depart from thy House Neither did â—…he Woman of Tâ—…koah in Absoloms case come with a May it please your â—…st Sacred Majesty for we may plainly understand what her Dialect was to King David 2 Sam. 14. 5. Even Help O King Then said she V. 11. I pray thée let the King Remember the Lord thy God that thou wouldest not suffer the Revenger of blood to destroy Many more Examples of this kind might be sufficiently multiplyed if needâ—…ul But to come nearer even to the dispensation we are now under Peter said unto the Lord Christ to Emanuel even to God with us Mat. 16. 16. Thou art Christ the Son of the living God And the Apostle Paul being a Prisoner and coming to make his defence Acts 26. 2 3. he said I think my self happy King Agrippa because I shall Answer for my self before thée this day for I know thée to be expert in all Customes and Questions among the Jews wherefore I beseech thée not your most Sacred Majesty but I beseech thée to hear me patiently And in V. 13. 14. At mid-day O King I saw a light from Heaven And a voyce speaking unto me Whereupon O King Agrippa I was not disobedient to the heavenly voice V. 19. And in V. 27. King Agrippa Believest thou the Prophets I know thou Beleevest And Paul said V. 29. I would to God that not onely thou but all that hear me this day were both almost and altogether such an one as I am except these Bonds Even so shall I say to thee O Reader I would to God that as to my Judgement thou wert even such an
upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem And Thirdly This may serve for a Use of Exhortation to Members of Congregations and Children and Servants of particular Families that they be also constant in this Duty of Prayer in the behalf of their respective Pastors Elders Fathers or Masters that they may be so directed by divine Assistance that as under their Prince so likewise under them they may lead a peaceable a quiet and a godly life in all godliness and honesty And so I shall passe to my Third and last Teachable Conclusion viz. Thirdly That outward Enjoyments do many times so affect the Heart of man as that they lift them up even to the forgetting of God to their own ruine The great Jehovah knowing right well the nature of things as he was the Maker of thom and the temper of Mans Heart as he was the Former of it when he caused Moses to let Israel know the particular Priviledges they should enjoy in the Land of Canaan Deut. 8. he giveth them this Caution v. 12 13 14. That when they had eaten and were full and had built goodly Houses and dwelt therein when their Heards and Flocks their Silver and their Gold was encreased that then their heart should not be listed up But the truth of this Assertion we may see verified in Belshazzar King of Babylon for when Daniel was sent for to Read and Interpret the Haud-writing on the Wall to Belshazzar Dan. 5. 18. he said O King the Most High God gave unto thy Father a Kingdom and Majesty and Glory and Power and for the Majesty he gave him all People Nations and Languages trembled and feared before him whom he would he slew and whom he would he kept alive whom he would he set up and whom he would he put down as thou dost now O King But when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardned in Pride he was deposed from his Kingly Throne and they took his glory from him and he was driven from the Sons of Men and his heart was made like the Beasts and his dwelling was with the wild Asses they fed him with grass like Oxen and his body was wet with the Dew of Heaven till he knew that the Most High Ruleth in the Kingdom of men and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will Whence we may note That as his heart was lifted up and his mind hardned in Pride so it was upon the account of his high enjoyments to the forgetting of God who dispensed them to him which we see was the Cause of his casting down The like we may see in Uzziah 2 Chron. 26. 1. who after the death of Amaziah his Father was made King of Judah And he Reigned in Jerusalem fifty and two years and he did that which was right in the fight of the Lord And V. 5. He fought God in the dayes of Zechariah who had understanding in the Visions of God and as long as he sought the Lord God made him to prosper And he went forth and warred against the Philistines and brake down the Wall of Gath and the Wall of Jabneh and the Wall of Ashdod and God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians and the Ammonites gave gifts to him and his Name spread abroad even to the entring in of Egypt for he strengthened himself exceedingly and he built Towers both in Jerusalem and in the Desert and digged many Wells for he had much Cattel both in the law Countrey and in the Plains Husbandmen also and Vine-dressers Moreover he had an Host of fighting men that went out to War in Bands his chief men or Captains of War were two thousand and six hundred And vers. 15. He made in Jerusalem Engins of War made by cunning Work-men to be on the Towers and on the Bulwarks to shoot Arrowes and great Stones withal and his Name spread far abroad for he was marvellously helped till he was strong But when he was strong V. 16. his heart was lifted up to his destruction for he transgressed against the Lord his God and went into the Temple of the Lord and burned Incense upon the Altar of Incense And he was struck with Leprosie and died without cure Thus whilst Uzzia sought the Lord V. 5. God made him to prosper But when his heart was lifted up and he forgat God God left him and punished his sin with a Disease that to him proved mortal Whence we note That when Uzziah separates himself from his God by forgetting him God by that Leprosie separated him from the Priviledges of his House and the Society of men and from all things that were the Cause of his hearts lifting up for so saith the Text ver. 21. And Uzzia the King was a Leper until the day of his death and dwelt in a several house being a Leper for he was cut off from the House of the Lord And Jotham his Son was over the Kings House Judging the People of the Land And thus we see the Lord had a Controversie with the Prince of Tyrus against whom he gave out a Commission to the Prophet Ezek. 28. 2. saying Son of Man say unto the Prince of Tyrus Thus saith the Lord Because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said I am a god I sit in the Seat of God in the midst of the Seas yet thou art a Man and not God though thou set thine heart as the heart of God And the reason of the lifting up of his heart is rendred in the fourth and fifth verses which proves our Assertion fully for saith vers. 4. With thy Wisdom and with thy Understanding thou hast gotten thee riches and hast gotten Gold and Silver into thy Treasuries And v. 5. By thy great Wisdom and by thy Traffick hast thou encreased thy riches and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches V. 7. Behold therefore I will bring strangers upon thee the terrible of the Nations and they shall draw their Sword against the beauty of thy Wisdom and they shall defile thy brightness And v. 8. They shall bring thee down to the Pit and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the Seas And vers. 10. Thou shalt die the death of the Uncircumcised by the hand of Strangers for I have spoken it saith the Lord Thus whilst mens hearts are lifted up and they forget God in the Enjoyment of outward things and with the rich Man in the Gospel Luke 12. 19. begin to live to themselves and to sing a Requium to their Souls the Lord we see brings them down with a Thou Fool this night shall they require thy Soul from thee So that we see the Point also fully proved viz. That outward Enjoyments many times do so affect the heart of man as that they lift it up even to the forgetting of God to their own ruine Several Uses might be made hereof the which for brevity sake I shall here omit And shall onely this say