a receit for the recouery The decree of God includes the meanes neither can the medicine worke without a word neither will the word worke without the medicine both of them must meet in the cure If we so trust the promise that we neglect the prescript we presume to no purpose Happy is that soule that so regards the promise of Gods Prophets as that withall he receiues their counsells Nothing could bee more proper for the ripening of hard and purulent tumors then dryed figs Herein Isaiahs direction was according to nature Wherefore should wee balke the ordinary road when it is both fayre and neere The sudden contradiction of the message causes a iust difficulty in the assent Hezekiah therefore craues a signe not for that he distrusted but that hee might trust the more wee can neuer take too fast hold of those promises of God which haue not more comfort in the application then naturall impossibility in the performance We beleeue Lord helpe our vnbeleefe The sicke King hath his option His father was offred a signe and refused it hee sues for one and obtaines it Shall the shadow goe for ward ten degrees or backe ten degrees As if heauen it selfe lay open to his choyce and were ready either to mend this pace or retire for his confirmation What creature is not cheerfully forward to obey the faith of Gods seruāts Hezekiah fastens rather vpon that signe which is more hard more disagreeing from the course of nature not without good reason Euery proofe must bee clearer then the thing to bee proued neither may there want a meet proportion betwixt both now the going forward of the shadow was a motion no other thē naturall the recouery of that pestilent disease was against the streame of nature the more difficult signe therefore the surer euidence Whether shall we more wonder at the measure of the loue of God to Hezekiah or at the power of Isaiahs faith in God Out of both either the Sun goes backe in heauen that his shadow may goe backe on earth or the shadow no lesse miraculously goes backe on earth whiles the Sunne goes forward in heauen It is true that the Prophet speakes of the shadow not of the Sun except perhaps because the motion of the Sun is best discerned by the shadow and the motion of the shadow is led by the course of the Sunne besides that the demonstration of this miracle is reported to be locall in the Diall of Ahaz not vniuersall in the sensible length of the day withall the retrait of the Sunne had made a publike and noted change in the frame of nature this particular alteration of the shadow in places limited might satisfie no lesse without a confusiue mutation in the face of the world Whethersoeuer to draw the Sun backe together with the shadow or to draw the shadow backe without the Sunne was the proofe of a diuine omnipotency able therefore to draw backe the life of Hezekiah fifteene degrees from the night of death towards which it was hasting O God thou wilt rather alter the course of heauen and earth then the faith of thy children shall sinke for want of supportation It should seeme the Babylonians finding the Assyrian power abated by the reuengefull hand of Gods Angell and their owne discord tooke this aduantage of a reuolt and now to strengthen their part fall in with Hezekiah King of Iudah whom they found the old enemy to the Assyrians the great fauourite of heauen him they wooe with gifts him they congratulate with Ambassages The fame of Hezekiahs sicknesse recouery forme and assurance of cure haue drawne thither messengers and presents from Berodach Baladan King of Babylon The Chaldees were curious searchers into the secrets of nature especially into the motions of the celestiall bodies Though there had beene no politicke relations this very Astronomicall miracle had beene enough to fetch them to Ierusalem that they might see the man for whose sake the Sun forsooke his place or the shadow forsooke the Sun How easily haue we seene those holy men mis-caried by prosperity against whom no miseries could preuaile Hee that stood out stoutly against all the Assyrian onsets clinging the faster to his God by how much he was harder assaulted by Senacherib melteth now with these Babylonian fauours and runnes abroad into offensiue weaknesses The Babylonian Ambassadors are too welcome to Ezekiah As a man transported with the honor of their respectiue and costly visitations he forgets his teares and his turning to the wall he forgets their incompatible Idolatry so hugging them in his bosome as if there had beene no cause of strangenesse All his doores fly open to them and in a vainglorious ostentation all his new-gathered treasures all his strong armoryes entertaine their eyes nothing in his house nothing in his Dominion is hid from them Oh Ezekiah what meanes this impotent ambition It is not long since thou tarest off the very plates of the Temple doores to giue vnto Senacherib and can thy treasures be suddenly so multiplied that they can be worthy to astonish forraine beholders Or if thy store-house were as rich as the earth can thy heart be so vain as to be lifted vp with these heauie metals Didst thou not see that heauen it selfe was at thy becke whilest thou wert humbled and shall a little earthlie drosse haue power ouer thy soul Can the flattering applause of strangers let thee loose into a proud ioy whom the late message of Gods Prophet resolued into teares Oh God if thou do not keepe vs as well in our sun-shine as in our storme wee are sure to perish As in all time of our tribulation so in all time of our wealth good Lord deliuer vs. Alas how sleight doth this weaknesse seeme in our eyes to reioyce in the abundance of Gods blessings to call in forraine friēds to be witnesses of our plenty to raise our conceits some little vpon the acclamations of others vpon the value of our owne abilities Lay thine hand vpon thy mouth ô foolish flesh and blood when thou seest the censure of thy Maker Isaiah the Prophet is sent speedily to Hezekiah with a sharpe and heart-breaking message Behold the dayes come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers haue layd vp in store vnto this day shall be caried into Babylon nothing shall be left saith the Lord And of thy sonnes that shall issue from thee which thou shalt beget shall they take away and they shall bee Eunuches in the Palace of the King of Babylon No sinne can bee light in Hezekiah the holinesse of the person addes to the vnholinesse of the act Eminency of profession doubles both the offence and the iudgement This glory shall end in an ignominious losse The great and holy God will not digest pride in any much lesse in his owne That which was the subiect of Hezekiahs sin shall be the matter of his punishment those with whom he sinned shall be his
to keepe counsell they are familiar words that must conuey ought to the vnderstanding Leud men are the worse for admonitions Rabshakeh had not so strained his throat to corrupt the citizens of Ierusalem had it not beene for the humble obtestation of Eliakim Now he reares vp his voyce and holds his sides and roares out his double blasphemies one while affrighting the people with the great power of the mighty king of Assyria another while debasing the contemptible force of Hezekiah now smoothly alluring them with the assurances of a safe and successfull yeeldance then discouraging them with the impossibility of their deliuerance laying before them the fearfull examples of greater nations vanquished by that sword which was now shaken ouer them triumphing in the impotency and mis-cariage of their gods Who are they among all the Gods of the countries that haue deliuered their Country out of mine hand that the Lord should deliuer Ierusalem out of mine hand Where are the Gods of Arpad and of Hamath Where but in that hellish darknesse that is ordained both for them and for thee barbarous Assyrian that darest thus open thy mouth against thy Maker And can those Atheous eyes of thine see no differēce of Gods Is there no distance betwixt a stocke or stone and that infinite Deity that made heauen earth It is enough that thou now feelest it thy torments haue taught thee too late that thou affrontedst a liuing God How did the fingers tongues of these Iewish Peeres and people itch to be at Rabshakeh in a reuengefull answer to those impieties All is whus ht not a word sounds from those vvalls I doe not more wonder at Hezekiahs wisedome in commanding silence then at the subiects obedience in keeping it This rayler could not be more spighted then with no answer and if he might be exasperated he could not bee reformed besides the rebounding of those multiplyed blasphemies might leaue some ill impressions in the multitude This sulphurous flaske therefore dyes in his owne smoke onely leauing an hatefull stench behind it Good Hezekiah cannot easily passe ouer this deuillish oratory no sooner doth he heare of it thē he rends his clothes and couers himselfe with sack-cloth and betakes himselfe to the house of the Lord and sends his officers and the grauest of the Priests clad in sack-cloth to Esay the Prophet of God with a dolefull and querulous message Oh the noble piety of Hezekiah notwithstanding all the straits of the siege and the danger of so powerfull an enemy I find not the garments of this good King any otherwise then whole and vnchanged but now so soon as euer a blasphemy is vttered against the Maiesty of his God though by a Pagan dog his clothes are torne and turned into sack-cloth There can bee no better argument of an vpright heart then to be more sensible of the indignities offered to God then of our owne dangers Euen these desperate reproches send Ezekiah to the Temple The more we see Gods name profaned the more shall we if we be truely religious loue and honor it Whither should Hezekiab run but to the Temple to the Prophet There there is the refuge of all faithfull ones where they may speak with God where they may bee spoken to from God and fetch comfort from both It is not possible that a beleeuing heart should bee disappointed Isaiah sends that message to the good King that may dry vp his teares and cheere his countenāce and change his suit Thus saith the Lord Be not afraid of the wordes which thou hast heard with which the seruants of the King of Syria haue blasphemed me Behold I will send a blast vpon him and bee shall heare a rumor and shall returne to his owne Land and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his owne Land Loe euen whiles Senacherib was in the height of his iollity assurance Gods Prophet foresees his ruine and giues him for dead whiles that Tyran thought of nothing but life and victory Proud secure worldlings little dreame of the neere approach of their iudgements whiles they are plotting their deepest designes the ouer-ruling iustice of the Almighty hath contriued their sudden confusion and sees and sets them their day Rabshakeh returnes and finding the King of Assyria warring against Libnah reports to him the silent and therein contemptuous answer and firme resolutions of Hezekiah In the meane time God pulls Senacherib by the eare with the newes of the approching army of Tirhakah King of Ethiopia which was comming vp to raise the siege and to succour his confederats That dreadfull power will not allow the Assyrian King in person to lead his other forces vp against Ierusalem nor to continue his former Leaguer long before those walls But now hee writes big words to Hezekiah and thinks with his thundering menaces to beat open the gates and leuell the bulwarks of Ierusalem Like the true master of Rabshakeh hee reuiles the God of Heauen and basely parallels him with the dunghill deities of the heathen Good Ezekiah gets him into his Sanctuary there he spreads the letters before the Lord and calls to the God that dwells between the Cherubims to reuenge the blasphemies of Senacherib to protect and rescue himselfe and his people Euery one of those words pierced heauen which was no lesse open to mercy vnto Hezekiah then vengeance to Senacherib Now is Isaiah addressed with a second message of comfort to him who doubtlesse distrusted not the first onely the reiteration of that furious blasphemy made him take faster hold by his faithfull deuotion Now the iealous God in a disdaine of so blasphemous a contestation rises vp in a stile of Maiesty and gloriously tramples vpon this saucie insolency Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is comne vp into mine eares therefore I will put my hooke into thy nose and my beidle into thy lips and will turne this backe by the way thou camest Lod Senacherib the God of heauen makes a beast of thee who hast so brutishly spurned at his name If thou be a rauenous Beare hee hath an hooke for thy nosthrils If thou be a resty horse he hath a bridle for thy mouth In spight of thee thou shalt follow his hooke or his bridle and shalt be led to thy iust shame by either It is not for vs to bee the Lords of our owne actions Thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria He shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shield nor cast a banke against it by the way that he came shal he returne c. Impotent men what are we in the hands of the Almighty we purpose he ouer-rules wee talke of great matters and thinke to doe wonders he blowes vpon our proiects and they vanish with our selues He that hath set bounds to the Sea hath appointed limits to the rage of the proudest enemies yea euen the Deuils themselues are confined Why boast yee
abused riuals of their Maker in the very house of the Lord that holy place doth hee not feare to defile with the grauen Image of the groue that he had made Neuer Amorite did so wickedly as Manasseh and which was yet worse it sufficed not to be thus wicked himselfe but hee seduced Gods people to these abominations and that his example might moue the more he spares not his owne sonne from the fire of the Idol sacrifices Neither were his witcheries lesse enormious then his Idolatry he obserued times hee vsed inchantments he dealt with familiar spirits with wizards Neither were either of these worse then his cruelty Hee shed innocent blood till hee had filled Ierusalem from one end to another O Manasseh how no lesse cruell wert thou to thine owne soule thē to thy Iudah What an hideous list of monstrous impiety is here Any one of which were enough to draw iudgment vpon a world but what hell is sufficient for all together What browes are not now lifted vp to an attentiue expectation of some present and feareful vengeance from God vpon such flagitious wickednesse Therefore thus saith the Lord Behold I am bringing such euill vpon Ierusalem Iudah that whosoeuer heareth of it both his eares shall tingle The person of Manasseh is not capable of reuenge enough as his sin dilated it selfe by an infectious diffusion to his people so shall the punishment Wee are sensible of the least touch of our owne miseries how rarely are wee affected with other mens calamities yet this euill shall be such as that the rumor of it shall beat no eare that shall not glow with an astonishing commiseration What thē ô God what shall that plague be which thou threatnest with so much preface of horror I will stretch ouer Ierusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab and I will wipe Ierusalem as a man wipeth a dish wiping it and turning it vpside downe And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance and I will deliuer them into the hand of their enemies and they shall become a prey and a spoile vnto all their enemies It is enough ô God it is enough What eare can but tingle what eye can but weepe what haire can but start vp what heart can bee but confounded at the mention of so dreadfull a reuenge Can there bee a worse iudgement then desolation captiuity desertion spoyle and torture of preuailing enemies but howeuer other Cities and nations haue vndergone these disasters without wonder that all this should befall to thy Ierusalem the place which thou hast chosen to thy selfe out of the whole earth the lot of thine inheritance the seat of thine abode whereof thou hast said Here shall bee my rest for euer it is able to amaze all eyes all eares No City could fare worse then Samaria whose inhabitants after a wofull siege were driuen like cattle into a wretched seruitude Ierusalem shall fare no better from Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon Ierusalem the glory of the earth the dearling of heauen See ô ye vaine men that boast of the priuiledges of Chaires and Churches see and tremble There is no place vnder heauen to which the presence of God is so wedded as that the sins thereof shall not procure a disdainfull finall diuorce The height of former fauors shall be but an aggrauation of vengeance This totall vastation of Ierusalem shall take time onwards God begins with the person of wicked Manasseh against whom he stirres vp the Captaines of the hoast of the late friend and old enemy of Iudah Those thornes amongst which hee had shrouded his guilty head cannot shelter him from their violence they take him and binde him with fetters of yron and cary him to Babylon There hee lyes loaded with chaines in an vncomfortable dungeon exercised with variety of tortures fed with such coorse pittances of bread and sips of water as might maintaine an vn willing life to the punishmēt of the owner What eye can now pity the deepest miseries of Manasseh What but bondage can befit him that hath so lawlesly abused his liberty What but an vtter abdication can befit him that hath cast off his God and doted vpon Deuils What but a dying life and a tormenting death can bee fit for a man of blood Who now wold not haue giuē this man for lost and haue lookt when hell should claime her owne But oh the height oh the depth of diuine mercy After all these prodigies of sin Manasseh is a conuert When he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his fathers How true is that word of the Prophet Vexation giues vnderstanding The viper when he is lashed casts vp his poyson The traitor when hee is racked tells that truth which he had else neuer vttered If the crosse beare vs not to heauen nothing can What vse were there of the graine but for the edge of the sickle wherewith it is cut downe the stroke of the flayle wherewith it is beaten the weight and attrition of the mill wherewith it is crushed the fire of the ouen wherewith it is baken Say now Manasseh with that grandfather of thine who was till now too good for thee It is good for mee that I was afflicted Euen thine yron was more precious to thee then thy gold thy Gaole was a more happy lodging to thee then thy palace Babylon was a better Schoole to thee thē Ierusalem what fooles are wee to frowne vpon our afflictions These how crabbed soeuer are our best friends They are not indeed for our pleasure they are for our profit their issue makes them worthy of a welcome What doe wee care how bitter that potion bee which brings health How farre a man may goe and yet turne Could there bee fouler sinnes then these Lo here was Idolatrie in the height violation of Gods house sorceries of all kinds bloodie crueltie to his owne flesh to the Saints of God and all these against the streame of a religious institution of the zealous counsels of Gods Prophets of the checks of his owne heart Who can complaine that the way of heauen is blocked vp against him when hee sees such a sinner enter Say the worst against thy selfe ô thou clamorous foule Here is one that murdered men defied God worshipt Diuels and yet finds the way to repentance if thou bee worse then he deny if thou canst that to thy selfe which God hath not denied to thee capacitie of grace In the meane time know that it is not thy sinne but thine impenitence that barres heauen against thee Presume not yet ô man whosoeuer thou art of the libertie of thy conuersion as if thou couldest run on lawlesly in a course of sinning till thou come to the brim or hell and then couldst suddenly stop and returne at leasure the mercy of God did neuer set period to a wilfull sinner neither yet did his owne corrupt desires so as
himselfe to worke wickednesse now it is iust vvith God to punish Ahabs vvickednesse in this fruit of his loynes The holy seuerity of God in the reuenge of sinne sometimes goes so farre that our ignorance is ready to mistake it for cruelty The vvonder and horror of those two heapes hath easily drawne together the people of Iezreel Iehu meets them in that seat of publique iudgment and finding much amazednes passionate confusion in their faces he cleares them and sends them to the true originall of these sudden and astonishing massacres Howeuer his owne conspiracy and the cowardly trechery of the Princes of Israel had been not vvithout their hainous sinne the visible meanes of this iudgment yet he directs their eyes to an hyer authoritie the iust decree of the Almighty manifested by his seruant Elijah vvho euen by the vvilling sinnes of men can most wisely most hostilely fetch about his most righteous and blessed purposes If the Peers of Samaria out of a base feare if Iehu out of an ambition of raigning shed the foule blood of Ahabs posterity the sin is their owne but in the meane time the act is no other then what the infinite iustice of God would iustly worke by their mis-intentions Let these Israelites but looke vp from earth to heauen these tragicall changes cannot trouble thē thither Iehu sends them wiping off the enuy of all this blood by the warrant of the diuine preordination In obedience whereunto he sends after these heyres of Ahab all his kinsfolkes fauourites priests that remained in Iezreel and now hauing cleared these coasts he hasts to Samaria whom should he meet with in the way but the brethren of Ahaziah King of Iudah they are going to visit their cozens the sonnes of Ahab This young troupe was thinking of nothing but iollity and courtly intertainment when they meet with death So suddenly so secretly had Iehu dispatched these bold executions that these Princes could imagine no cause of suspition How could they thinke it might be dāgerous to be knowne for the brethren of Ahaziah or friends to the brethren of Iehoram The iust prouidence of the Almightie hath brought all this covie vnder one net Iehu thinkes it not safe to let goe so many auengers of Ahaziahs blood so many corriuals of his Soueraignty The vnhappy affinitie of Iehosaphat with Ahab is no lesse guilty of this slaughter then Iehues ambition This match by the inoculation of one bud hath tainted all the sap of the house of Iudah The two fourtie brethren of Ahaziah are therefore sent after the seuentie sonnes of Ahab that they may ouertake them in death whom they came to visit God will much lesse brooke Idolatry from the loines of a Iehosaphat Our intirenesse with wicked men feoffs vs both in their sinnes and iudgments Doubtlesse many Israelites that were deuoted to the family and allies of Ahab lookt what they durst awry at this cōmon effusion of royal blood yet in the worst of the deprauednes of Israel there were some which both drouped vnder the deplored Idolatry of the times and congratulated to Iehu this seuere vindication of Gods inheritance Amongst the rest Ionadab the son of Rechab was most eminent That man was by descent deriued from Iethro a Midianite by nation but incorporated into Israel a man whose piety and strict conuersation did both teach and shame those twelue Tribes to which he was ioyned He was the author of an austere rule of ciuility to his posterity to whom he debarred the vse of wine cities possessions This old and rough friend of Iehu out of his mouing habitations meets him and applauds his successe He that allowed not wine to his seed allowes the blood of Ahabs seed poured out by the hand of Iehu He that shun'd the city is caryed in Iehues charet to the palace of Samaria How easily might Iehu haue beene deceiued Many a one professes vprightnesse who yet is all guile Ionadabs cariage hath been such that his word merits trust It is a blessing vpon the plaine-hearted that they can be beleeued Honest Ionadab is admitted to the honor of Iehues seat and called in stead of many to witnesse the zeale of the new-anointed King of Israel Whiles Iehu had to doe with Kings his cunning and his courage held equal pace together but now that he is to deale with idolatrous priests his wile goes alone and preuailes He calls the people together and dissembling his intentions sayes Ahad serued Baal a little but Iehu shall serue him much Now therefore call vnto me all the Prophets of Baal all his seruants and all his priests let none be wanting for I haue a great sacrifice to doe to Baal whosoeuer shall be wanting he shall not liue What a dead palenesse was there now in the faces of those few true-harted Israelites that looked for an happy restauration of the religion of God How could they choose but think Alas how are we fallen from our hopes Is this the change we lookt for was it only ambition that hath set this edge vpon the sword of Iehu It was not the person of Ahab that we disliked but the sins If those must still succeed what haue we gained Woe be to vs if onely the author of our misery be changed not the condition not the cause of our misery On the other side what insultations and triumphs sounded euery where of the ioyfull Baalites What glorying of the truth of their profession because of the successe what scornes of their deiected opposites what exprobrations of the disappointed hopes and predictions of their aduerse Prophets what promises to thēselues of a perpetuity of Baalisme How did the dispersed priests of Baal now flock together and applaud each others happinesse and magnifie the deuotions of their new Soueraigne Neuer had that Idoll so glorious a day as this for the pompe of his seruice Before he was adored singlely in corners now solemne sacrifices shall bee offered to him by all his clients in the great Temple of the mother Citie of Israel I can commend the zeale of Iehu I cannot commend the fraud of Iehu We may come to our end euen by crooked wayes He that bad him to smite for him did not bid him to lie for him Falshood though it be but tentatiue is neither needed nor approued by the God of truth If policy haue allowed officious vntruths Religion neuer By this deuice the house of Baal is well furnished well filled not one of his Chemarim eyther might or would be absent not one of those which were present might be vnrobed False Gods haue euer affected to imitate the true Euen Baal hath Temples Altars Priests vestments All religions haue allotted peculiar habits to their hyest deuotions Those Vestments which they mis-called sacred are brought forth and put on for the glory of this seruice Iehu and Ionadab are first carefull that this separation be exact they search and see that no seruant of the Lord be crept into that
soules sake consider where thou art what thou doest it is Gods house wherein thou standest not thine owne Looke about thee and see whether these vailes these Tables these Pillars these Walls these Pauements haue any resemblance of earth There is no place in all the world whence thy God hath excluded thee but only this this he hath reserued for his own vse And canst thou think much to allow one roome as proper to him who hath not grudged all the rest to thee But if it bee thy zeale of a personall seruice to God that hath caried thee hither alas how canst thou hope to please the Almighty with a forbidden sacrifice Which of thine holy Progenitors euer dared to tread where thy foot now standeth which of thē euer put forth their hand to touch this sacred Altar Thou knowest that God hath set apart and sanctified his owne attendants wherefore serues the Priesthood if this be the right of Kings Were it not for the strict prohibition of our God it could seeme no other then an honour to our profession that a King should thinke to dignifie himselfe by our employment but now knowing the seuere charge of the great King of heauen wee cannot but tremble to see that censer in thine hand who euer out of the holy Tribe hath weilded it vnreuenged This affront is not to vs it is to the God whō we serue In awe of that terrible Maiesty as thou wouldst auoid some exemplary iudgement O King withdraw thy selfe not without humble deprecations from this presence and lay down that interdicted handfull with feare and trembling Bee thou euer a King let vs bee Priests The Scepter is thine let Censers be ours What religious heart could do other then relent at so faithfull and iust an admonition But how hard it is for great persons to yeeld they haue offended Vzziah must not be faulty what is done rashly shall be born out with power He was wroth and thus expresses it What meanes this saucy expostulation O ye sons of Leui how dare ye thus malapertly controll the well-meant actions of your Soueraigne If ye be Priests remember that ye are subiects or if ye will needs forget it how easie is it for this hand to awake your memory What such offence can it be for me to come into that house and to touch that Altar which my royall Progenitors haue made beautified consecrated Is the God of this place only yours Why doe ye thus ambitiously ingrosse Religion If Princes haue not intermedled with these holy affaires it was because they would not not because they might not When those lawes were made for the Sanctuary there were no Kings to grace these diuine ceremonies yet euen then Moses was priuiledged The persons of Princes if yee know not are no lesse sacred then your owne It is your presumption to account the Lords anointed prophane Contest with those whose dry vnhallowed heads are subiect to your power For me I will not aske your leaue to bee deuout Looke yee to your owne Censers presume not to meddle with mine In the meane time can ye thinke this insolence of yours shall escape vnreuenged Can it stand with the honour of my soueraignty to be thus proudly checked by subiects God doe so to me and more also if Whiles Vzziah yet speakes God strikes Ere the words of fury can come forth of his mouth the leprosie appeares in his forhead Leprosie was a most loathsome disease the forhead is the most conspicuous part Had this shamefull scurfe broken forth vpon his hand or foot or brest it might haue been hid from the eyes of men now the forhead is smitten with this iudgement that God may proclaime to all beholders Thus shal it be done to the man whose arrogance hath thrust him vpon a sacred charge Publique offences must haue open shame It is a dangerous thing to put our selues into the affaires into the presence of God vnwarranted There cannot be a more foolish mesprision then because we are great on earth to thinke wee may be bold with heauen When Gods messengers cannot preuaile by counsels intreaties threats it is time for God to show his immediate iudgements Wilfull offenders can expect nothing but a fearfull reuenge Now begins Vzziah to be confounded in himselfe and shame striues with leprosie for a place in his forehead The hand of God hath done that in an instāt which all the tōgues of men had attempted in vaine There needs no further solicitor of his egresse the sense of his plague sends him forth alone And now he thinks Wretched man that I am how haue I angred God and vndone my selfe I would needs come in like a Priest I now goe forth a leper the pride of my hart made me thinke my selfe worthy the presence of a God Gods iust displeasure hath now made me vnworthy of the presence of men whiles I affected the altar I haue lost my throne whiles I scornfully reiected the aduice and censures of Gods ministers I am now becomne a spectacle of horror and deformity to my owne seruants I that would be sending vp perfumes to heauē haue made my nastinesse hatefull to my own senses What doe I vnder this sacred roofe Neither is Gods house now for mee nor mine owne what cell what dungeon is close enough for me wherin to weare out the residue of mine vnhappy and vncomfortable dayes O God thou art iust and I am miserable Thus with a deiected countenance and sad heart doth Vzziah hast to retire himselfe wishes that he could be no lesse hid from himselfe then from others how easie is it for the God of heauen to bring downe the hyest pitch of earthly greatnesse and to humble the stubbornest pride Vpon the leasure of second thoughts Vzziah cannot but acknowledge much fauour in this correction and confesse to haue escaped well Others hee knew had beene strucke dead or swallow'd vp quick for so presumptuous an intrusion It is happy for him if his forehad may excuse his soule Vzziah ceased not to be a King when he began to be a leper the disease of his forhead did not remoue his Crowne his sonne Iotham raigned for him vnder him and whiles he was not seene yet hee was obeyed The character of soueraignty is indeleble whether by bodily infirmity or by spirituall censure Neither is it otherwise O God betwixt thee and vs if we be once a royall generation vnto thee our leprosies may deforme vs they shall not dethrone vs stil shall we haue the right still the possession of that glorious kingdome wherin wee are inuested from eternity AHAZ with his new Altar AFter many vnhappy changes of the two thrones Ahaz succeedes Iotham in the Kingdome of Iudah an ill sonne of a good father not more the heyre of Dauids seat then of Ieroboams sinne Though Israel play the harlot yet who can abide that Iudah should sin It is hard not to be infected with a contagious neighbourhood who euer read
euer he sped in his first onsets now hee distressed Iudah but strengthned it not The charge was as great as the benefit small sooner shall hee eate them out then rescue them No arme of flesh can shelter Ahaz from a vengeance Be wise ô ye Kings be instructed ô yee Iudges of the earth serue the Lord with feare and reioyce with trembling Kisse the Sonne lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little His subiects complaine that he died so late and as repenting that he euer was deny him a roome in the sepulchers of Kings as if they said the common earth of Ierusalem is too good for him that degenerated from his Progenitors marr'd his kingdome depraued his people forsooke his God The vtter Destruction of the Kingdome of ISRAEL IVdah was at a sore heaue yet Israel shall mis-cary before it such are the sins of both that they striue whether shall fall first but this lot must light vpon the ten Tribes though the late King of Iudah were personally worse then the most of Ieroboams successors yet the people were generally lesse euill vpon whom the incroachments of Idolatry were more by obtrusion then by consent besides that the thrones of Iudah had some interchanges of good Princes Israel none at all The same iustice therefore that made Israel a scourge to Iudah made Assyria a scorpion to Israel It was the quarrell of Iudah that first ingaged the King of Ashur in this warre against Israel now he is not so easily fetcht off So we haue seen some eager mastiue that hath beene set on by the least clap of the hand but could not bee loosned by the force of staues Salmaneser King of Assyria comes vp against Hoshea King of Israel and subdues him and puts him to his Tribute This yoke was vncouth and vnpleasing The vanquisht Prince was neither able to resist nor willing to yeeld secretly therefore he treats with the King of Egipt for assistance as desiring rather to hazard his liberty by the hand of an equall then to inioy a quiet subiection vnder the hand of an ouer-ruling power wee cannot blame Princes to bee iealous of their soueraignties The detaining of his yearely Tribute and the whisperings with new confederates haue drawne vp the King of Ashur to perfect his own victories He returnes therefore with a strong power and after three yeares siege takes Samaria imprisons Hoshea and in the exchange of a wofull captiuity he peoples Israel with Assyrians and Assyria with Israelites Now that abused soyle hath vpon a surfet of wickednesse cast out her perfidious owners and will try how it can fare with heathenish strangers Now the Assyrian gallants triumph in the Palaces of Samaria and Iezreel whiles the Peeres and Captaines of Israel are driuen manicled through the Assyrian streets and billeted to the seuerall places of their perpetuall seruitude Shortly now the flourishing Kingdome of the tenne Tribes is comne to a finall and shamefull end and so vanished in this last dissipation that since that day no man could euer say This was Israel Oh terrible example of vengeance vpon that peculiar people whom God hath chosen forhimselfe out of all the world All the world were witnesses of the fauours of their miraculous deliuerances and protections All the world shall be witnesses of their iust confusion It is not in the power of sleight errors to set off that infinite mercy What was it ô God what was it that caused thee to cast off thine owne inheritance What but the same that made thee to cast the Angells out of heauen Euen their rebellious sins Those sins dared to emulate the greatnesse of thy mercies no lesse then they forced the seuerity of thy iudgments They left all the commandements of the Lord their God and made them molten Images euen two Calues and made a groue and worshipped all the host of heauen and serued Baal and caused their sonnes and daughters to passe through the fire and vsed diuination and enchantments and sold themselues to doe euill in the sight of the Lord to prouoke him to anger Neither were these slips of frailty or ignorant mis-takings but wilfull crimes obstinate impieties in spight of the doctrines reproofes menaces miraculous conuictions of the holy Prophets which God sent amongst them Thy destruction is of thy selfe ô Israel what could the iust hand of the Almighty doe lesse then consume a nation so incorrigibly flagitious A nation so vnthankfull for mercies so impatient of remedies so vncapable of repentance so obliged so warned so shamelesly so lawlesly wicked What nation vnder heauen can now challenge an vndefaisible interest in God when Israel it selfe is cast off what Church in the world can show such deare loue-tokens from the Almighty as this now-abhorred and adulterous spouse Hee that spared not the naturall Oliue shall hee spare the wild It is not for vs sinners of the Gentiles to be high-minded but awfull The Israelites are caryed captiue into Assyria those goodly Cities of the ten tribes may not lie wast and vnpeopled The wisedome of the victor findes it fit to transplant his owne Colonies thither that so he may raise profit thence with security From Babylon therfore and Cuthah and Aua and Hamath and Sepharuaim doth he send of his owne subiects to possesse and inhabit the Cities of Samaria The land doth not brook her new Tenants They feared not the Lord how should they they knew him not Therefore the Lord sent Lyons amongst them which slew some of them Not the veriest Pagan can bee excused for his ignorance of God Euen the deprauedst nature might teach vs to tremble at a Deity It is iust with the Almighty not to put vp neglect where hee hath bestowed reason The brute creatures are sent to reuenge the quarrell of their Maker vpon worse beasts then themselues Still hath God left himselfe Champions in Israel Lyons teare the Assyrians in pieces and put them in mind that had it not beene for wickednesse that land needed not to haue changed masters The great Lord of the world cannot want meanes to plague offenders If the men bee gone yet the beasts are there And if the beasts had beene gone yet so long as there were stones in the wals in the quarries God would be sure of auengers There is no security but in being at peace with God The King of Assyria is sued to for remedy Euen these Pagans haue learned to know that these Lyons were sent from a God that this punishment is for sinne They know not the manner of the God of the land therefore he hath sent Lyons among them These blind Heathen that thinke euery land hath a seuerall God yet hold that God worthy of his owne worship yet hold that worship must bee grounded vpon knowledge the want of that knowledge punishable the punishmēt of that want iust and diuine How much worse then Assyrians are they that are ready to ascribe all
That thus his sonnes might bee euer dying before him and himselfe in their death euer miserable Who doth not now wish that the blood of Hezekiah and Iosiah could haue beene seuered from these impure dregs of their lewd issue no man could pity the offenders were it not for the mixture of the interest of so holy progenitors No more sorrow can come in at the windowes of Zedekiah more shall come in at his doores his care shall receiue what more to rue for his Ierusalem Nebuzaradan the great Marshall of the King of Babylon comes vp against that deplored City and breakes downe the walls of it round about and burnes the Temple of the Lord and the Kings house and euery faire Pallace of Ierusalem with fire driues away the remainder of her inhabitants into Captiuity caries away the last spoiles of the glorious Temple Oh Ierusalem Ierusalem the wonder of all times the paragon of nations the glory of the earth the fauourite of heauen how art thou now become heapes of ashes hilles of rubbish a spectacle of desolation a monument of ruine Iflater yet no lesse deepe hast thou now pledged that bitter cup of Gods vengeance to thy sister Samaria How carefully had thy God forwarned thee Thogh Israel play the harlot yet let not Iudah sinne Loe now as thine iniquities so thy iudgements haue ouertaken her Both lye together in the dust both are made a curse to all posterities Oh God what place shall thy iustice spare if Ierusalem haue perished If that delight of thine were cut off for her wickednesse Let not vs bee high minded but feare What pity it was to see those goodly Cedars of the Temple flaming vp higher then they stood in Lebanon to see those curious marbles which neuer felt the dint of the pick-axe or hammer in the laying wounded with mattockes and wounding the earth in their fall to see the holy of holies whereinto none might enter but the high-priest once a yeare thronged with Pagans the vailes rent the sacred Arke of God vilated and defaced the Tables ouer-turned the altars broke down the pillars demolished the pauements digged vp yea the very groūd where that famous pile stood deformed O God thou woldst rather haue no visible house vpon earth then indure it defiled with Idolatries Foure hundred thirty and sixe yeares had that Temple stood and beautified the earth and honored heauen now it is turned into rude heapes There is no prescription to be pleaded for the fauour of the Almighty Onely that Temple not made with hands is eternall in the heauens Thither hee graciously bring vs that hath ordain'd vs thither for the sake of that glorious high-Priest that hath once for all entred into that holy of holies Amen Contemplations ON THE HISTORIE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT The 21th and last Booke Wherein are 1 Zerubbabel and Ezra 2 Nehemiah building the walls of Ierusalem 3 Nehemiah redressing the extortion of the Iewes 4 Abasuerus feasting Vashti cast off Esther chosen 5 Haman disrespected by Mordecai Mordecaies message to Esther 6 Esther suing to Ahasuerus 7 Mordecai honored by Haman 8 Haman hanged Mordecai aduanced ZERVBBABEL and EZRA THE first transportation into Babylon vnder Iehoiakim wherein Daniel Ezekiel and many other of the best note were driuen into captiuity was some eleuen yeares after followed with a second vnder Zedekiah wherin the remnant of the now-ruined Ierusalem and Iudah were swept away Seuenty yeares was the period of their longest seruitude whiles Babylō was a Queen Iudah was her vassall when that proud Tyrannesse fell Gods people began to rise againe The Babylonian Monarchie was no sooner swallowed vp of the Persian then the Iewes felt the comfort of libertie For Cyrus conquering Babylon and finding the Iewes groaning vnder that miserable captiuity straight releases them and sends them vnder the conduct of their Captaine Zorobabel backe to their almost-forgotten country The world stands vpon vicissitudes Euery Nation hath her turne and must make vp her measure Threescore and tenne yeares agoe it was the course of Iudah the iniquity of that rebellious people was full Some hundred and thirty yeares before that was the turne of Samaria and her Israelites Now the staffe is come to the doores of Babylon euen that wherewith Iudah was beaten and those Persians which are now victorious must haue their terme also It is in vaine for any earthly state to promise to it selfe an immutable cōdition At last the rod that scourged Gods children is cast into the fire Thou hast remembred O Lord the Children of Edom in the day of Ierusalem how they said Downe with it downe with it euen to the ground O daughter of Babylon wasted with misery how happy is hee that rewardeth thee as thou hast serued them It is Cyrus that hath wrought this reuenge this rescue Doubtlesse it did not a little moue Cyrus to this fauour that he found himselfe honorably fore-named in these Iewish prophesies and fore appointed to this glorious seruice no lesse then an hundred and seuenty yeares before he was Who would not be glad to make good so noble and happy a destiny O God if wee heare that thou hast ordained vs to life how gladly how carefullie should we worke out our saluation if to good workes how should we abound In the first yeare of his Monarchy doth Cyrus both make proclamations and publish them in writing through all his Kingdome wherein he both professeth his zealous resolutions and desires to build vp Gods house in Ierusalem and inioynes and incourages all the Iewes through his dominions to addresse themselues to that sacred worke and incites all his subiects to ayd them with siluer and gold and goods and beasts How gracious was the command of that whereof the very allowance was a fauour Was it Cyrus that did this was it not thou O God in whose hands are the harts of Kings that stirredst vp the spirit of this Persian as if he had beene more then a sonne of thy Church a father How easie is it for thee to make very Pagans protectors to thy Church enemies benefactors Not with an empty grace doth this great King dismisse the Iewes but with a royall bountie Hee brings forth the vessels of the house of the Lord which Nehuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Ierusalem and had put them in the house of his gods and causes them to be numbred by his Treasurer to the hands of Sheshbazzar the Prince of Iudah for the vse of the Temple no fewer then fiue thousand and foure hundred vessels of gold and siluer Certainly this great Monarch wanted not wit to thinke It is a rich booty that I find in the Temples of Babylon by the law of conquest it is mine hauing vanquisht their gods I may well challenge their spile how seasonably doth it now fall into my hands vpon this victorie to reward my souldiers to settle my new Empire what if this treasure came from Ierusalem the proprietie is now altered the very
place according to the cōceit of Iewes hath profaned it The true God I haue heard is curious neither will abide those vessels which haue beene polluted with idolatrous vses It shall bee enough if I loose the bonds of this miserable people If I giue liberty let the next giue wealth they will think themselues happy in bare walls in their natiue earth To what purpose should I pamper their penurie with a sudden store But the Princely hart of Cyrus would admit of no such base sacrilegious thoughts Those vessels that hee finds stampt with Gods marke he will returne to their owner neither his owne occasions nor their abuse shall be any colour of their detention O Cyrus how manie close-handed griple-minded Christians shall once be choked in iudgement with the example of thy iust munificence thou restoredst that which wee purloine woe bee to those houses that are stored with the spoiles of Gods Temple woe bee to those fingers that are tainted with holy treasures Kings can hardly doe good alone their lawes are not more followed then their examples No sooner doe the chiefe of the fathers of Iudah and Beniamin and the Priests and Leuites set their faces towards Ierusalem for the building of the Temple then the liberall hands of their Pagan neighbours furnish them with gold and siluer and precious things Euer Persian is glad to be at the charge of laying a stone in Gods house The same God that had giuen them these mettals out of his cofers of the earth giues it out of their cofers to his Temple He that tooke away by the Chaldees giues by the Persians Where the Almighty intends a worke there cannot bee any want of meanes Thus hartened thus laded doe the ioyfull families of Iudah returne to their old home How many thousands of them were worne out and lost in that seuenty yeares seruitude How few of them yet suruiued that could know the place of their birth and habitation or say Here stood the Temple here the Palace Amongst those fourty and two thousand three hundred threescore Iewes that returned in this first expedition there were whō the confusion of their long captiuity had robbed of their pedigree They knew themselues Iewes but could not deriue their line these were yet admitted without difficulty But those of the Priestly tribe which could not deduce their genealogy from the register are cashiered as vncleane Then God would bee serued in a blood now in a due succession If we could not fetch the line of our pedigree from Christ and his Apostles we were not fit for the Euangelicall altars Their calling was by nature ours by grace The grace of inward abilities of outward ordination if we cannot approue both these we are iustly abādoned now had the children of Israel taken down their Harpes from the Willowes which grew by the waters of Babylon could vnbidden sing the true sōgs of their recouered Zion They are newly setled in their old māsions when vpō the first publike feast in the Autumne immediately following their return they flock vp to Ierusalē their first care is their publike sacrifice That school of their Captiuity wherin they haue been long trained hath taught them to begin with God A forced discontinuance makes deuotion more sauoury more sweet to religious hearts whereas in an open freedome piety doth too often languish Ieshua the Priest and Zorobabel the Prince are fitly ioyned in the building of the Altar neither of their hands may be out of that sacred worke no sooner is that set vpon the bases then it is imployed to the daily burnt-offerings The Altar may not stay the leisure of the Temple Gods Church may not want her oblations He can be none of the sons of Israel that doth not euery day renue his acknowledgements of God How feelingly doe these Iewes keepe their feast of Tabernacles whiles their soiourning in Babylon was still in their thoughts whiles as yet their Tēts must supply their ruined houses The first motions of zeale are commonly strong and feruent How carefully doe these Gouernours and Priests make preparatiō for Gods Temple Carpenters and Masons are hyred Tyrian workmen are againe called for and Lebanon is now anew solicited for Cedar trees The materials are ready Euery Israelite with such courage addresses himselfe to this seruice as if his life lay in those stones And now whiles the foundation of the Temple was laying the Priests stand in their habits with Trumpets the Leuites with Cymbals interchanging their holy Musicke and melodiously singing praises to the God of Israel who had turned their captiuity as the streames in the South and honoured their eyes and hands with the first stones of his house The people second their songs with shouts The earth sounds and heauen rings with the ioyfull acclamations of the multitude It is no small comfort in a good action to haue begun wel The entrance of any holy enterprise is commonly encountred with many discouragements which if wee haue once ouercome the passage is smooth How would these men haue shouted at the laying on of the last stone of the battlements who are thus ioyed with laying the first stones of the foundation The end of any thing is better then the beginning that hath certainty this danger this labour that rest little did these men thinke that for all this few of them should liue to see the roofe What different affections shall wee see produced in men by the same occasion The younger Iewes shouted at this sight the elder wept The yonger shouted to see a new foundation The elder wept to remember the old They who had seene no better thought this goodly They who had seen the former thought this meane and homely more sorrowing for what they had lost then reioycing in so vnequal a reparation As it may fall out it is some peece of misery to haue beene happier euery abatement of the degrees of our former height laies siege to our thankfulnesse for lesser mercies Sometimes it proues an aduantage to haue knowne no better he shall more comfortably inioy present benefits who takes them as they are without any other comparisons then of the weakenesse of his owne deseruings It is nothing to mee what my selfe or others haue beene so I bee now well Neither is it otherwise in particular Churches if one be more gloriously built then another yet if the foundation be rightly layd in both one may not insult the other may not repine Ech must congratulate the truth to other each must thankfully inioy it selfe The noise was not more loud then confused here was a discordant mixture of lamentation and shouting it was hard to say whether drowned the other This assembly of Iewes was a true image of Gods Church on earth one sings another cries neuer doth it all either laugh or mourne at once It shall bee in our triumph that all teares shall be wipt from our eyes till then our passions must bee mixed according to the occasions
There needed no command of reuerence where Ahasuerus was pleased to countenance All knees will bow alone euen to forbidden Idols of honor how much more where royall authority inioynes obeysance All the seruants all the subiects of King Ahasuerus are willingly prostrate before this great mignon of their Souerayn onely Mordecai stands stiffe as if he saw nothing more then a man in that proud Agagite They are not obserued that do as the most but if any one man shall vary from the multitude all eyes are turned vpon him Mordecaies fellow-officers note this palpable irreuerence and expostulate it Why transgressest thou the Kings commandements Considerest thou not how far this affront reacheth It is not the person of Haman whom thou refusest to adore but the King in him Neither doe we regard so much the man as the command Let him be neuer so vile whom the King bids to bee honoured with what safety can a subiect examine the charge or resist it his vnworthinesse cannot dispence with our loyalty What a dangerous wilfulnesse should it be to incurre the forfaiture of thy place of thy life for a curtesie If thou wilt not bow with others expect to suffer alone Perhaps they thought this omission was vnheedy In a case of ignorance or incogitancie it was a friendly office to admonish the sight of the errour had beene the remedy Mordecai heares their challenge their aduice and thinks good to answer both with silence as willing they should imagine his inflexiblenesse proceeded from a resolution and that resolution from some secret grounds which he needed not impart at last yet he imparts thus much Let it suffice that I am a Iew and Haman an Amalekite After a priuate expostulation the continuance of that open neglect is construed for a sullen obstinacie and now the monitors themselues grow sensible of the contempt Men are commonly impatient to lose the thanke of their indeuours and are prone to hate whom they cannot reforme Partly therfore to picke a thanke and partly to reuenge this contumacy these officers turne informers against Mordecai neither meant to make the matter fairer then it was they tell Haman how proud and stubborne a Iew sate amongst them how ill they could brooke so saucie an affront to be offered to his greatnesse how seriously they had expostulated how stomackfully the offender persisted and beseech him that he would bee pleased in his next passage to cast some glances that way and but obserue the fashion of that intolerable insolency The proud Agagite cannot long indure the very expectation of such an indignity On purpose doth he stalk thither with higher then his ordinary steps snuffing vp the aire as he goes and would see the man that durst deny reuerence to the greatest Prince of Persia Mordecai holds his old posture onely hee is so much more carelesse as he sees Haman more disdainfull and imperious neither of them goes about to hide his passion one lookt as if hee said I hate the pride of Haman the other lookt as if he said I will plague the contempt of Mordecai how did the eies of Hamā sparkle with fury and as it were dart our deadly beames in the face of that despightfull Iew How did he swell with indignation and then againe waxe pale with anger shortly his very brow and his motion bad Mordecai looke for the vtmost of reuenge Mordecai foresees his danger and contemnes it no frownes no threats can souple those ioints he may breake he will not bow What shall we say then to this obfirmed resolution of Mordecai What is it what can it be that so stiffens the knees of Mordecai that death is more easie to him then their incuruation Certainly if meere ciuility were in question this wilfull irreuerence to so great a Peere could not passe without the iust censure of a rude peruersnesse It is religion that forbids this obeisāce tels him that such curtesie could not bee free from sinne Whether it were that more then humane honor was required to this new-erected image of the great King as the Persiās were euer wont to bee noted for too much lauishnesse in these courtly deuotions Or whether it were that the ancient curse wherewith God had branded the blood and stocke of Haman made it vnlawfull for an Israelite to giue him any obseruance For the Amalekites of whose royall line Haman was descended were the nation with which God had sworne perpetuall hostility and whose memory hee had straitly charged his people to root out from vnder heauen How may I thinks he adore where God commāds me to detest How may I professe respect where God professeth enmity How may I contribute to the establishment of that seed vpon earth which God hath charged to be pull'd vp from vnder heauen Outward actions of indifferency when once they are felt to trench vpon the conscience lay deepe obligations vpon the soule euen whiles they are most sleighted by carelesse hearts In what a flame of wrath doth Haman liue this while wherewith he could not but haue consumed his owne heart had hee not giuen vent to that rage in his assured purposes of reuenge Great mens anger is like to themselues strong fierce ambitious of an excessiue satisfaction Haman scornes to take vp with the blood of Mordecai This were but a vulgar amends Poore men can kill where they hate and expiate their owne wrong with the life of a single enemie Hamans fury shall fly an higher pitch Millions of threats are few enow to bleed for this offence It is a Iew that hath despighted him all the whole nation of the Iewes shall perish for the stomach of this one The Monarchy of the world was now in the hand of the Persian as Iudaea was within this compasse so there was scarce a Iew vpon earth without the verge of the Persian dominions The generation the name shall now dye at once Neither shall there bee any memory of them but this There was a people which hauing beene famous through the world for three thousand foure hundred and fourescore yeares were in a moment extinct by the power of Haman for default of a courtesie Perhaps that hereditary grudge and old antipathy that was betwixt Israel and Amalek stucke still in the heart of this Agagite he might know that God had commanded Israel to root out Amalek from vnder heauen and now therefore an Amalekite will bee ready to take this aduātage against Israel It is extreame iniustice to dilate the punishment beyond the offence and to enwrap thousands of innocents within the trespasse of one How many that were yet vnborne when Haman was vnsaluted must rue the fact they liued not to know How many millions of Iewes were then liuing that knew not there was a Mordecai all of them are fetcht into one condicion and must suffer ere they can know their offence Oh the infinite distance betwixt the vniust cruelty of men and the iust mercies of the Almighty Euen Caiphas himselfe
auengers It was his treasure and munitiō wherin he prides himselfe to these men of Babylon The men of Babylon shall cary away his treasure and munition What now doth Hezekiah but tempt them with a glorious booty as some fond traueler that would show his gold to a Thiefe These worldly things are furthest off from the heart Perhaps Hezekiah might not bee much troubled with their losse Loe God comes closer to him yet As yet was Ezekiah childlesse how much better had it beene to continue so still then to bee plagued in his issue He shall now beget children to seruitude his loines shall yeeld Pages to the Court of Babylon Whiles he sees them borne Princes he shal foresee them made Eunuches in a forraigne Palace What comfort can he take in the wishes and hopes of sonnes when ere they bee borne hee heares them destin'd to captiuitie and bondage This rod was smart yet good Ezekiah kisses it his heart strucke him no lesse then the mouth of the Prophet meekly therefore doth he yeeld to this diuine correction Good is the Word of the Lord which thou hast spoken Thou hast spoken this word but from the Lord it is not thine but his and being his it must needs bee like himselfe good Good because it is iust for I haue deserued more and worse Good because mercifull for I suffer not according to my deserts Is it not good if there be peace and truth in my daies I haue deserued a present paymēt O God thou deferrest it I haue deserued it in person thou reseruest it for those whom I cannot yet so feele because they are not I haue deserued war tumult thou fauorest me with peace I haue deseru'd to be ouer-run with superstition and Idolatry thou blessest me with truth shouldst thou continue truth vnto me though vpon the most vnquiet termes the blessing were too good for me but now thou hast promised and wilt not reuerse it that both truth and peace shall bee in my dayes Lord I adore thy iustice I blesse thy mercy Gods children are neither waspish nor fullen whē they are chid or beaten but patiently hold their backes to the stripes of a displeased mercy knowing how much more God is to be magnified for what he might haue done then repined at for what hee hath done resigning themselues ouer into the hand of that gracious iustice which in their smart seekes their reformation and glory MANASSEH AT last some three yeares after his recouery Hezekiah hath a sonne but such a one as if he could haue foreseene orbity had beene a blessing Still in the throne of Iudah there is a succession and interchange of good and euill Good Iotham is succeeded by wicked Ahaz wicked Ahaz is succeed by good Ezekiah Good Ezekiah is succeeded by wicked Manasseh Euill Princes succeed to good for the exercise of the Church and good succeed to euill for the comfort of the Church The young yeares of Manasseh giue aduantage to his mis-cariage Euen whiles he might haue been vnder the Ferule hee swayed the Scepter Whither may not a child be drawne especially to a garish and puppet-like superstition As infancy is capable of all impressions so most of the worst Neither did Manasseh beginne more earely thē he held out long He raigned more yeares then his good father liu'd notwithstanding the miraculous addition to his age More then euer any King of Iudah besides could reach Length of daies is no true rule of Gods fauour As plants last longer then sensitiue creatures and brute creatures out-liue the reasonable so amongst the reasonable it is no newes for the wickedly great to inherit these earthly glories longer then the best There wants not apparent reason for this difference Good Princes are fetcht away to a better Crowne They cannot bee losers that exchange a weake and fading honor for a perfection and eternity of blessednesse Wicked men liue long to their owne disaduantage they do but cary so many more brands to their hell If therefore there be a iust man that perisheth in his righteousnesse and there bee a wicked man that prolongs his life in his wickednesse farre be it from vs either to pity the remouall of the iust or to enuie the continuance of the wicked This continues to his losse that departs to an happy aduancement It is very like that Ezekiah marrying so late in the vigour both of his age and holinesse made a carefull choyce of a wife sutable to his owne piety Neither had his delight beene so much in her according to her name if her delight had not beene as his in God Their issue swarues from both so fully inheriting the vices of his grandfather Ahaz as if there had beene no interuention of an Ezekiah So wee haue seene the kernell of a well fruited plant degenerate into that crab or willow which gaue the originall to his stocke yet can I not say that Ezekiah was as free from traducing euill to his sonne Manasseh as Ahaz was free from traducing good to his sonne Hezekiah Euill is incorporated into the best nature whereas euen the least good descends from aboue We may not measure grace by meanes Was it possible that Manasseh hauing beene trained vp in the religious Court of his father Hezekiah vnder the eye of so holy Prophets and Priests vnder the shadow of the Temple of God after a childhood seasoned with so gracious precepts with so frequent exercise of deuotiō should run thus wild into all heathenish abominations as if there had bin nothing but Idolatry in the seed of his conception in the milke of his nourishment in the rules of his institution in the practice of his examples How vaine are all outward helpes without the influence of Gods Spirit and that spirit breathes where he listeth good educatiō raiseth great hopes but the proofe of them is in the diuine benediction I feare to looke at the out-rages of this wicked sonne of Ezekiah What hauocke doth hee make in the Church of God as if hee had beene borne to ruine Religion as if his onely felicity had beene to vntwist or teare in one day that holy web which his father had beene weauing nine and twenty yeares and contrarily to set vp in one houre that offensiue pile which had beene aboue three hundred yeares in pulling down so long had the high places stood the zeale of Ezekiah in demolishing them honored him aboue all his predecessors and now the first act of this greene head was their reedifiyng That mischiefe may be done in a day which many ages cannot redresse Fearefull were the presages of these bold beginnings From the mis-building of these chappels of the Hills to the true God Manasseh proceeds to erecting of altars to a false euen to Baal the God of Ahab the stale Idoll of the heathen yet further not content with so few Deities he worships all the hoast of heauen and that hee might despight God yet more he sets vp altas to these