scatter the people so we may reade of Bahascha king of Israell and so Salomon prayed at the dedication of the temple when heauen shall be shut and thou giue no rayne bicause they haue sinned against thee c. where hee comprehendeth the chiefe capitall worldly punishementes of sinne as dearth and famine sword pestilence blindnes ignorance which are also the rewards of sin the vnseparable companions of all vnrighteousnes And what saith the Lord by the Prophet Cast froÌ„ you all your sins wherewithall you haue transgressed make you a new hart for why shuld you die oh you house of Israel as if hee had sayde either repent or else be damned for it is a fearefull thing to fall into the handes of the liuing God And may not wee thinke that all these thunderings out of God his iudgements among vs wil stirre vp some rain of punishments vpon vs. Are we not alreadie put into the wine presse to be brused vnder the hand of fearefull destruction How many plagues haue come vppon vs within these fewe yeeres Where is become the remembrance of the late enemies pretended inuasion The rumor whereof amazed the harts of our couragious champions which spend all their daies in pleasure Oh then they cryed if they might be deliuered they would a lot some time of their dayes to the seruice of the Lord Where is the remembrance of the late plague which was scattered almost in euerie place of the lande Oh then wee cryed vnto the Lord in our distresse and he deliuered vs out of all our miseries Oh that men woulde therefore confesse the Lord and declare the wonders hee doth for the children of men But what are we now amended Is the vngodly person turned from his vngodlynesse and not rather strengthned in his iniquitie They which were ignorant are ignorant still and many like Demas who seemed religious haue imbraced this present world As for the prophane both of poore and rich they haue made a league with death a couenant with the graue though a swoord come thorough the land yet saie they it shall not come at them And therefore who can without waterye eyes and bleeding heart tell this present plague of dearth and famine which we now most iustly endure and yet who knoweth how long it shall continue Now as the prophet sayth wee are gathered together and howle vppon our beds for corne and for newe wine that is for the bellye and for the throate but there is a greater leannes in the soule Now wee bite the stone which the Lord hath cast at vs but we looke not at the hand which did sende it and who thinketh it to bee a punishment of sinne that now raigneth among vs The papists say it is for one heresies the popishe atheists say that the world was best when the old religion was for then all things were cheape like the idolatrous Iewes which sayd vnto Ieremy that it was wel with them when they burntincense and made cakes to the host of heauen The russians say to the preachers as Achab said to Eliah Are not you the troublers of Israel when it is themselues and there fathers houses while they haue lefte the commaundement of God and followed their pleasures yea almost the whole Countrey is so vainely addicted that among those multitudes of preachers that are abroad there is not one that saythfully followeth his vocation but they are molested by the basest and contemned by the best So that wee may saye as our sauiour sayth we haue piped vnto you you haue not daunced we haue mourned and you haue not sorrowed yet wisedome is iustified of her children who are not ashamed to plead her cause in the gates of the cities before the face of her enimies the Lord increase the number of them Wee haue long retained the name of Christians that is the annoynted of the Lord and yet our lampes are empty and we deferre our dayes in slumber thinking our selues as good Christians as the best till we be vtterly excluded from the bridechamber we haue promised the Lorde oftentimes to worke in his vineyarde but yet who hath entered we are the vineyarde of the Lord and he hath dressed vs what fruite haue we brone vnto him we are the sheepe of Christ and yet we knowe not his voice as Rahel couered hir fathers idolls with sitting on them and with a lye so we that are the greatest sinners couer our iniquities with hipocrisy and dissembling Such pollution of sabbaothes as neuer was yea euen in this time of dearth and famine drinking and drunkennes dauncing and riot feasting and suâ—fetting chambering and wantonnes swearing foreswearing accompting gaine to bee godlines and godlines to be the burthen of the world with a thousand greater and more greueous calamities as if the bird could sing in the snare or as the fatted oxe that runneth wilfully to the slaughter Then beloued let vs looke about vs euenâ— now is the axe of God his iudgments laid to the root of euery mans heart and he is accursed that feareth it not euen now the Lord is knocking at the doore of our hearts and if euer let vs open vnto him that the king of glory may come in Euen these are the daies wherin iniquity hath gotten the vpper hand and the loue of many is waxen colde Therefore as the Angell warned the godly so must wee still come out from among them my people bee not partakers of their sinnes least you beare a parte of their plagues This is the haruest of the Lord oh let vs that be the Lords seruants gather out the wheat least it bee burned with the tares There is a holye conuocation to the Lord the Lords ministers found out the truÌ„pet if we appeare not the earth will open hir mouth and reuenge our rebellion swallow vs vp aliue Let vs at the length say with the Iewes Come let vs turne vnto the Lord for he hath spoyled vs and he shall heale vs he hath smitten vs and he shall binde vs vp after two dayes he shall giue vs life and the third day he shall raise vs vp and we shall liue before him if with knowledge wee follow him to know the Lord his rising is like the morning and he shal come vppon vs like raine in a drought both the first and the latter raine vpon the earth Let not our righteousnes bee as the deaw before the sunne rising but put on the Lord Iesus Christ and let none call vppon him but such as departe from iniquity Secondly by this we gather that the Lord is as true in his iudgments as in his mercyes for hee threatened by Moses saying if you forsake me fal to worship strange Gods as nowe they did then your heauen shall bee as brasse and your earth as iron and your raine like dust til they were consumed from the face of the earth Of all these mistryes you may see in
your pensioner hangbies and luke warme professors papisticall Atheistes which come to our Churches to sleepe and there dreame who being come vnto you make you beleeue that their dreames were the preachers sermons and you that are apt to beleeue lies beleeue liars But to come to the purpose you accuse vs for condemning good workes when we attribute no merites vnto them this we deny for the reason is like this None will become a papist but hee that hopeth to bee Pope so none will do good workes but hee that hopeth to bee saued or crowned by them If they graunt the latter then they must giue the former which I am assured many honest minded papistes would not bee though they might haue as much as the Popes father the Deuill offered Christ which was all the worlde Therefore as a papist is not a papist because hee woulde be a pope so good workes must not bee done that men might bee crowned by them Euery Catholike which beleeueth as the Church beleeueth must not presently steppe into Peters chayre no more euery one that doth a good worke must by that ascend vp into heauen Good workes haue another vse then to iustifie Because the eye cannot smell shall it therefore bee puld out noe it was created to see and not to smell because good works iustifie not shal no man do them God forbid they were giuen to the faithfull for outwarde testimonies of fayth and of God his spirite that by them they they might assure themselues and others to be sanctified and elected not that they should helpe in their saluation As the tree dyeth without the barke and fire is nothing without heate so workes without faith and faith without workes is cursed and vnprofitable Therefore wee say let euery one that calleth on the name of Christ depart from iniquitie eschewe euill and do good feede the hungrie cloath the naked visite the sicke and imprisoned harbour the harbourles prouide for children and widdowes yea and builde Churches and Colledges for the maintenance of God his worship and learning Yet we say we are iustified by faith we haue peace with God through our Lorde Iesus Christ by whome we were brought to this grace through which we stand glorie vnder the hope of y e glorie of God for all the works in the world cannot satisfie for one sin because there is none other name vnder heauen by which wee may bee saued but onely by the name of Christ Out of this first wee gather the goodnesse of God which of his owne promise and owne mercie accepteth that little obedience of faith which wee offer vnto him What can we doe to the fulfilling of the lawe if we keept all and yet fayled in one we had lost all our labour but if we kept one point onely and faulted in the rest it were like to a man that was bounde to pay ten thousand pound and should offer a shilling but we keepe none and yet hee accepteth vs in the death of his Sonne that our righteousnesse might abound to euerlasting life Nowe the vse of the mercy of God is that hereby wee shoulde bee made more fearefull and carefull not to offende him not as some imagine that hereby is giuen the greater libertie to sinne because the Lorde speaketh peace vnto vs in his beloued Christ for this is as the prophet speaketh being escaped out of a ditch to fall into a snare and as a man which is drawne out of a riuer should cast himselfe into the sea But the regenerate must bee more affraide to offend the mercy of God then the vnregenerate at his threatning iudgementes They will not sinne because they loue God the other will abstayne feare of punishmente the promises of the Gospell terrifie them more then all the terrors of the lawe for they find a sweeter comfort in the presence of the spirite then to rest in all the gardens of pleasure when they finde accesse to the throne of grace through the blood of Christ and by him all their infirmities couered their petitions graunted their sinnes remitted they at peace with God like ioyfull men discharged from euerlasting imprisonment they walke in holines and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of their life Oh that these mercies would sinked deeper into our hard harts that the force of the cogitation of the blood of Christ might both soften and mollifie purge and cleanse them from wauering and doubting wantonnes and presumption and prepare our fallow groundes fit to receiue the Lords owne feed his euerlasting word which is able to saue our soules Secondly by this when he saith vnder whose winges thou art come to trust the dignitie of the faithfull is commended vnto vs for they liue vnder the wings of the Lord Which is a Metaphor or borrowed speech comparing him to a hen which couereth her chickens with her winges shewing vnto vs that then wee are in safetie when wee are couered with the winges of the Lord. This our sauiour noted when hee saide that hee woulde haue gathered the Cittie of Ierusalem as a henne gathereth her chickens This dignitie of the faithfull is by many such speeches manifested in the scripture wherein the Lorde sheweth vs the care hee hath for our safety when he calleth vs the apple of his eye He sheweth his loue when he calleth vs his childrē his brethren and spouse to teach vs our dueties he calleth vs the braunches of a vine which are good for nothing but to bring forth grapes euen so are the godly pleased with nothing which they doe saue onely the worshippe of God This consisteth in the holy fellowship which the faithfull haue with God which Dauid faith bringeth life for euermore with whome is a well of life and the fulnes of all ioy And in another place the Lord saith Behold I stand at the dore and knocke if any man open I will come in and suppe with him and he with me and Iohn saith He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ he hath both the father and the Son Here is the comfort of the spirit that dwelleth in vs the assurance of faith which ouercommeth all the worlde the euidence of our saluation euen the confession of the Gospel with the mouth and the beleeuing in the hart the hearing of it when it is preached and praying in the assemblies of the faithfull for wheresoeuer are two or three gathered together in my name there am I in the middest of them saith the Lord for he dwelleth among his saints the Arke is with his ministers the couenaunt or tabernacle of presence with them that feare him for euermore Oh who will not be drawne to be the member of Christes owne bodie the heauenly Temple for the holy Ghost to dwell in the sincere professor of true religion that they may haue both the Father and the Sonne Who will not open to the Lords knocking that hee may receyue the king of glorie for his guest
scripture and seeing we haue brought these strangers to their Inne â—t Moab let vs heare their intertainment those things that happened vnto them after they came thither for the parts wee haue in the beginning set downe which I trust you remember and therefore we will to the words And they continued there This is as much to say as they found entertainment answerable to their expectation they had liberty of residence granted and obtained a place for their dwelling in safety Where wee first note the gentlenes or humanity of these heathen Moabits who had learned by nature this pointe of curtesie which is friendlye to succour poore harbourlesse straungers and no doubte but hee that watcheth the descending of sparrowes on the ground directed this iourney to Moab for the accomplishing of his owne counsell and prepared the heartes of these people with fauour to relieue them For as before he guided the iourney of Abrahams seruant to the citie of Machor where Rebecca was framed hir answere according to his praier eueÌ„ so he coÌ„ducted these to Moab where Ruth was and tempered the hearts of the wicked to giue these pilgrims a dwelling place among them By the which we are taught what friendship or loue we owe to strangers which are come among vs yea though we know not the purpose of their harts yet we must doo good vnto them for the proportioÌ„ of their bodies that is because they are men This is not a law written only in the booke of God but imprinted in the verie nature of euery one Wee see these Moabits do it by nature yet they had no religion in them we know how the king of Fgipt gaue commandement for Abraham that none should hurt him or any of his possessions Read but the Acts of the Apostles you shal see how barbarous nations receiued the church with curtesy and some vppon their reporte beleeued the doctrine of Christ What shall we then say to this beastlike behauiour of many among vs who will hardly permit poore Christian straungers to harbour among vs if it were not for that they are men the children of Adam like our selues yet because they call vppon the name of Christ being of the household of sayth let vs doe good vnto them But some will say what shall wee doe vnto them if they will not ioyne with vs in our religion I answere none must bee of Abrahams familye but those which wil be circumcised that is none must dwell with thee but such as wil be of thy profession Yet thou maiest for humanity or curtesy receiue a Turke or a pagan a Iew or an infidell papist or heretike to talke or table for a night or a small time so thou kepe they selfe from his pollutions So did Iacob feast his idolotrous father in law and kinsmen when they pursued him to the mount of Gilead with purpose to hurt him and our sauiour Christ biddeth vs to feede our enimies and to giue them drinke if they thirste So did Elischah to the host of Sirians who being sent to take him yet when he had taken them and lead them to the city he suffered the king to do them no hurt but refreshed them with meat and drinke and sent them away in safety For our outward curteous receuing of infidels is like coales of fire to draw them in loue with our inward religion we know how the Lord commaunded the Iewes to be good vnto strangers because they were strangers in Egipt We know how the Lord commendeth the stranger Samaritan beyond the priest and the leuite beccause he succoured the poore wounded Iewe which had fallen among theeues And truely wee our selues may bee strangers in other Countreies therefore let vs doe good vnto them now that we may receiue the like of them againe for this is the law and the prophets Then Elimelech when they had escaped one daunger they fell into another sorrow when by the mercifull kindnes of the Lord they were ioyntly come togither into Moab and there quietlye seated scaped the arrowes of famine by the hand of God the father of the family the nerest and derest vnto them dieth in plenty Where we note the verie lot of all the godly namely that the end of one sorrow is the beginning of another like the drops of raine distilling from the top of a house when one is gone another followeth like a ship vppon the sea being on the top of one waue presently is cast downe to the foote of another like the seede which being spread by the sower is hanted by the foules beeing greene and past their reache is endaungered by forste and snow being passed the winter â—s hurt by beasts in sommer being rype is cut with the sickle threshed with flaile purged in the floore ground in the mill baked in the ouen chewed in the teeth and consumed in the stomacke This made Dauid say Great are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord deliuereth out of all But be not discomforted oh my brethren for thorough many afflictions must we enter into the kingdome of heauen and by affliction we are made like to the sonne of God But to the matter We see here their sweet fellowship is preuented by death which in deed is the end of al worldly friendship This is a good lesson for all worldlings to remember how the Lord disappointeth all their purposes and ouerthroweth their counsells more vainer then vanity The merchant hauing obtained his banke promiseth rest and security to himselfe the husbandman hauing gathered his fruits neuer doubteth but hee shall spend them prouideth for more the Gentleman comming to his landes thinketh his reuenewes and pleasant life will indure alway like the apostles when Christ was transfigured in the mount presently they would builde tabernacles of residence but as the cloude came betwixt them and heauen and bereaued them of their purpose euen so sodainly will death come and depriue you of your profits call the marchant from his banke the husbandman from his farme the Gentleman from his lands the noble man from his honour the prince from his kingdome the Lady from her pleasures as this Elimelech was sodainly from wife and children Secondly by these words we note the goodnes of God toward both the dead man and also wife and children for no doubte but they all desired to bee seiled in some place or other and here the Lord suffereth the husband with wife and family to bee quietly feared before their separation He might haue called him away in his iourney as he was comming then oh how would it haue grieued hoth him and them him to leaue a poore comfortles widdow and children behind without dwelling or maintenance for home again they could not returne by reason of the famine and to goe forth on the iourney without a guide was like as if a ship were set on the sea without a mariner Therefore in suffering them all to
which in this life haue had corporall society in the life to come might enioy eternall felicity Now this condemmeth the carnall behauiour of wretched husbandes who vse their wiues as their seruants and not as themselues who deale with them as men do with nuts first they reach and trauaile for them and hauing gotten them they take out the kernell but they tread the shell vnder their feete so they hauing gotten the wealth the bewtie the health and young yeares of their wiues despise their gray haires which are their greatest credite as the shels wherein the kernel was giuing thē ouer in their weakest daies wherin they want greatest comfort Is this the rest you prouide for your wiues to cause them to weare their bodyes with weary trauailes to consume their minds with dayly griefe to procure their paines by bearing of children and to lay the greatest burthens vppon the smallest beasts for so some most wretchedly terme them Oh looke vnto it this measure will the Lord measure to you againe yee vnnaturall husbands which follow your pleasures and pastimes abroade and neglect your profits and sorrowfull wiues at home To fly ouer the seas with vnnecessarie iourneyes to frequent the company of suspected women to follow the counsel of vaine persons spending their patrimonies bringing thēselues their wiues posterity to woful misery Is this to dwell with your wiues like men of knowledge Is this to giue honor vnto thē as the weaker vessels Is this to account them the heyres of the same grace finally is this to see their praiers be not interrupted Nay rather ther are many thousand husbands which neuer either could or would pray with their wiues that think neither vpō heauē nor hell and haue no knowledge of their duties towards God or their neighbours much lesse to their wiues than brute beasts carnal infidels prophane atheists the murderers of thēselues of their own posterity Oh fearful danger that hangeth ouer your heads whō neither the lawes of God can compel to learne their duties or men instruct them to amend their liues But you my beloued who are guiltles in this point are the blessed of the Lord forsake not your carefulnes alredy begū that you loose not your reward Thirdly by this praier we obserue the duties of wiues or women in families namely that they shuld be peaceable thēselues for if they seeke peace they must ensue peace and if their ioy consist in the quietnes of the family they must be carefull they breake not the vnity If like Ismael their hands be against all the hands of all vvill be against them if they will bee the louing turtles they must not bee the chattering pies if they be the vines their fruit must be grapes out of grapes commeth wine wine reioiceth the hart of man so women must reioyce their husbands and families Some women wil neuer be at rest til they beare rule wil say their husbands loue them not except for their sakes they will displace their seruants fall out with their neighbours enuy their friends and in all things follow their mindes such men giue not peace to their wiues but swoords to slay themselues with all The harkening ouer much to womens counsell old Adam and wee his posterity may for euer lament yet godly men may heare their godly wiues remembring alway themselues to be the head the choise to rest in them eyther to lyke or dislike their counsell And they answered This is the answere of these women to the counsel blessing of their mother in law wherin they refuse to returne promise to go with her to her own people as if they should saye wee are rather bound vnto thee thē to our own mothers for thy sake whose godly conuersatiō we know are we drawn in loue with the whole people so that in these words they testifie their louing affection to their mother their desire to be with her among her people and the cause vndoutedly to be her godly wise conuersation with thē in the land of Moab Wher we note the duty of al the faithful which is so to walke that other by their good example may bee drawne to loue the trueth For surely these women liked wel of the religiō of Naomi but much better of her conuersation as a thing they better vnderstoode then the other For this point the Apostle warneth that wee walke in wisedome because of them that are without And Peter sayth to the dispersed Iewes of his time that they must haue a good conuersation among the gentils insomuch as their enemies might haue no occasion to speake against them And our sauior sayth Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works glorifie your father which is in heauen For as the vnbeleeuing husband may be wonne by the godly behauiour of the beleeuing wife so many infidells carnall persons are sooner drawne to the Lord by the works which they see then by the words which they heare Seeing this is plaine by the word of god where shal I beginne to complaine of this our vnhappy age wherein are but few talkers of God his word but much fewer walkers when the Gospell of Christ is made the cloake of wickednes Oh how grieuously is the Church of God rent in sunder by daily disquietnes insomuch as there is no peace amōg vs. Can the infidells papists say of vs as old Emor said of Iacob his family These men are mē of peace therfore let vs be circumcised with them What peace is ther left in the Church of God Truly we are like vnto a tree we agree all in the body of religiō but as the branches spred themselues an hundred wayes so in our indifferentest pointes of religion there is little or no vnitie There is no care had of giuing offences vnto the weake there is no conscience to staie the slaunder of the Gospell Oh how grieuous is it that many nowe a daies will defende their dissimulation by saying Take heed to our wordes and not to our deedes liue as we saie and not as we do making Christianitie like the profession of pharisies which saie and doo not Esteeming of religion lyke the occupation of a Smith wherein one is discharged by blowing and another by beating so these thinke if they can blowe out any good wordes and bee able to cry the Gospell the Gospell the preachers the preachers and to saie vnto Christ Thou hast prophesied in our streets and we haue eaten in thy presence they are right good christians But the Lord shall saie vnto them Depart from me ye workers of iniquitie I knowe you not Yet let vs bee warned by the examples of the godly the exhortations of the Scripture and the motions of God his spirite in our hearts that seeing Christ is our wisedome let vs walke in wisedome or else we dwell not in Christ seeing Christ is our
accompted after wealth fayleth friendship withdraweth when they stand in most neede and least pitie is in the greatest extremitie Euery tree is greene in the Spring euery bird will sing in sommer and euery false hearted Christian will faune vppon theyr bretheren in prosperitie but bee ashamed of theyr want in aduersitie yea there neuer wanteth priuie repiners and grudgers at the wealth and welfare of euery one for some say it is too much if theyr neighbours corne increase others say it is too little when they are vexed and troubled by losse of their goodes and this maketh many medlers in other mens matters many backbiters for other mens welfare many enuye that any should haue theyr shares as good as themselues like him in the Gospell whose eye was euill because the Lords hand was good and as all the waues of the sea doe beate vpon the shore so all the braines of the world doe breathe against the prosperous Secondly the manner of theyr reioysing must be considered which the holy Ghost hath set downe in these words Blessed be the Lord wherein they testifye perfect ioy both to the Lord by praysing him and giuing thankes and also to Naomi vnto whome nothing could be more acceptable then to heare the name of God to be blessed for her sake To blesse in the scripture whensoeuer it is referred to God signifieth to prayse or to giue thankes as when Zachary sayth Blessed be the Lord God of Israell for he hath visited and redeemed his people that is Praysed be the Lord God of Israell Likewise the Apostle Paule sayth Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ the father of mercyes and the God of all consolation that is praysed be God And in another place he sayth If thou blesse with the spirit how shall he that occupieth the roome of the vnlearned say Amen to thy thanksgiuing that is if thou giue thanks with the spirit In this place it is of the first sence as if these women had sayd We prayse thee O God that thou hast looked on the misery of Naomi and hast reserued her a kinseman by whome the name of the dead might be raysed vpon the inheritance and his owne honor continued in Gods people By the which we are taught what manner of ioy the faithfull are to haue for their bretheren namely such as may redound to the prayse of God according to the saying of the Apostle that he which reioyseth must reioyse in the Lord for as bodily exercise profiteth little so carnall ioy profiteth lesse such as is the framing of vayne songs giuing ouer our labours and to reioyse in pastimes and such as is vsed in ringing of bells and the like sort being onely for man and not for God Therefore heere wee haue an excellent manner of reioysing when God is glorifyed by our mirth Thus we reade Moses and Aaron with theyr sister Miriam did after they came out of Aegypt Thus did Deborah and Barach after the victory against Sisera Thus did the women after the victory of Saule and Dauid when they came from the slaughter of the Philistins Thus did Zachary when his tongue was restored vnto him Thus did the children of Ierusalem cry when Christ came riding vpon the Asse Thus doe the faithfull reioyse after the destruction of Rome and Antichrist singing Praysed be God saluation and honour and glory and power to our Lord God And the Lord cryeth out of heauen vnto vs Prayse the Lord all ye his seruants and whosoeuer feare him both small and great Therfore beloued seing it becommeth the iust to be thankefull let vs prayse the Lord both euening and morning and let vs not see a sparrow to light on the ground without some prayse to God by whose prouidence all things are gouerned by whose will all things are ordered for whose glory are all things appointed that we should euermore giue thanks to him that sitteth on the highest heauens and ruleth the mightiest princes appointing the measure for the sea and calling the whole world to iudgement in whose presence is light and life for euermore Thirdly the matter of their thanksgiuing must be considered for they prayse God because he had kept a kinsman aliue for Naomi whose name should be continued in the people of God so that in plaine words they commend the kindnes of God because he had so prouided for this godly Naomi as she might be comforted by his meanes and his name continued by her daughter and all three eased by this one childe By the which we are taught these two profitable lessons first that we must magnify God for the life of our friends so doe these Iewes for the life of Bohaz by whome the Lord brought such great comfort to both these destitute and desolate widdowes for as we are sorry for their death when it is too late so must we be thankefull for their life when yet they are with vs the sonne for the life of his father and the father for the sonne the wife for her husband and the husband for his wife the seruant for his maister the subiects for their prince the people for their teachers and y e daughters for their mother There are few of these but they bring much benefit vnto vs and no small comfort doth arise by their presence which we shall better perceiue when we want them then now we enioy them and for these the Apostle also willeth vs to pray and one cause of these two miracles vpon Lazarus and Dorcas was that their life might bee prolonged with the church of God and more kindnes shewed to their godly frendes Secondly by this all those that are able to bestowe any kindnesse vpon other are taught their duties to their owne kindred that especially they bee carefull for the reliefe of their pouertie the maintaynance of their dignitie the preseruation of their honesty the nourishing of their own flesh for vnto that end hath y e Lord encreased their substance continued their name prolonged their daye and aduanced their seates that they may be more able to do for their poore brethren which are commended to them by the Lorde committed by the worlde compelled by nature which are bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh that they might bee maintayned as your owne selues When Dauid was made king he aduanced his sisters sons his kinsemen when Saule was king he aduanced Abner and other his frends and wee knowe that many of Christes Apostles were his kinsmen vnto the which end Paule exhorteth that poore widdowes be prouided for by their frendes that the Church be not charged with them This condemneth the forgetfulnesse of many in our age which being in wealth will scant acknowledge their poore kindred whereby they shew themselues like vnnaturall beasts as if the Lord were not able to bring thē down to y e footstool in the place of the other y t they
of such impious infidelity What stayeth the Lord from comming to iudgement but the faithfull and elect company what keepeth you in your possessions reuennews and lands but the poore Saincts of God who are hardly admitted to the tables of your seruants who prayeth for the increase of your wealth the prosperitie of your liues the feeding of your bodies and the continuance of your honour but these despised persons who haue entered a couenaunt for your dayly welfare with the king of heauen and earth They are the flocke for whose sake you haue your wooll to clothe you and your milke to feede you they are the bees for whose sake you enioy the hony for your delight and the hony combe for the pleasure of your meate they are the birds which haue builded vp your pallaces and houses of rest for the defense of your weakenesse they are the oxen that bring your corne to your barnes and your store into your garners they are the beasts that beare you out of the daungers in safetye and deliuer your liues from trouble Finally there is not a vsurer but he hath his money for theyr sake there is not a Gentleman but hee hath his landes for theyr sake there is not a Prince but hee hath his Crowne for theyr sake there is not a rich man but hee hath his wealth for theyr sake there is not a Minister but hee preacheth for theyr sake and there shoulde be no peace prosperitye or plentye if it were not for them for the Angels are theyr seruaunts the earth is theyr mayntenaunce and heauen is theyr inheritaunce Be assured therefore beloued if righteous Lot goe out of Sodome or godly Noah into his Arke then fire will fall from heauen and the depthes will open theyr fountaynes of water to burne and destroy the world euen so if the Lord take away the righteous from among vs then euen then presently shall follow the destruction of our countrey the consuming of our kingdome the confusion of the world and the condemning of the reprobate and therefore let vs make much of them in whome we see any hope of religion for they are the right heyres of the world and you that haue their lands are but ouerseers of their fathers testaments and therefore shall giue an accompt of your possessions to them when they come to age and be answerable for euery farthing which you spent not vpon them Secondly another cause of the genealogies or recitall of generations in the Scriptures is for the Chronologies or noting of seuerall times wherein euery worthie thing was done and how the world grewe in yeares and the mercy of God in sparing the wicked liues of so many godlesse men and choosing but one family among all the world with whome hee would establish his couenaunt for this cause in the genealogie of Adam we reade how long he and euerie one of his children liued to shew how long the Lord suffered the wicked before he brought the floud and in what age of the world the same ouerflowed which by the genealogies there set downe appeareth to be in the yeare of the world one thousand sixe hundred fiftie and sixe when Noah was sixe hundred yeares old Againe we reade in the genealogie of Sem by the supputation of the yeares therein mentioned how long after the floud Abraham was called from his countrey and receyued the couenaunt of promise concerning the incarnation of Iesus Christ and the saluation of the world The same may be sayd of the often repetition of the age of Abraham as at his calling at the time of his circumcision at the birth of Izaak and at his death which giueth a great light to euery part of the scripture for thereby the occasions of many excellent histories are taken the darkest places are opened the faithfull are confirmed and the Church of God instructed of her age of her continuance of her members and of her condition which is subiect to many often changes Sometimes her glory is greater as in the first age sometime lesser as in Abrahams time sometime afflicted as the estate of Iacob in Egipt and all his children testifieth sometimes without any knowne and publique ministery or offices as till Aarons dayes sometime without any ciuill or politique gouernement as in the time of all the Patriarks sometime without peace in persecution as in the time of the Iudges wherein these persons heere named liued and sometime in most flourishing estate as vnder Dauid Salomon Asa Iosiah and such like By the which we gather that it neuer standeth in one stay but either increaseth or decreaseth ebbeth or floweth riseth or falleth waxeth or waineth therefore heerein lyeth the great comfort of the godly euen in these troublesome dayes but yet the best that euer are to be looked for in this earth wherein they see the auncient to depart and new men in theyr roome one generation commeth and another goeth iniquitie aduaunced coldnes in religion embraced dissimulation and hipocrisie maintained warres and persecution threatned to the Gospell schismes defended errors inuented the world blinded the truth declined godlines defaced and the Church of God disquieted with a thousand greater calamities this all the fathers suffered before vs and this we their children must also abide onely heerein let vs reioyse that we shall be accompted worthy to suffer for Christ and that our names are written in the kingdome of heauen Thirdly and lastly the especiall cause of this genealogie and of all the fathers and children of Abraham in one kindred was for to shew the naturall discent of Christ from Adam and so foorth vnto the virgin Mary for seeing he was to be incarnated it behoued that his parentage should be described from the beginning of the world for this cause Luke the Euangelist gathered togither the seuerall descriptions of all the genealogies pertaining to Christ throughout all the whole scripture as a necessary ground of the Gospell to declare the kindred of our Sauiour from the beginning of the world whereof these persons mentioned in this place are a part from whence he tooke them into his number Now least any man should thinke that the birth of Christ should be obscure and the taking vpon him the flesh of mankinde should be incertaine as well to conuince all errours that arose about his humanitie as to testifie the nobilitie of his birth and worthines of his parentage the persons of whome he descended are in many bookes of the scripture seuerally named and not without great commendation For this family of Christ had many and speciall blessings which were the armes of the same by which it was distinguished from all other In Adam it had this promise that the seede of the woman should breake the serpents head meaning that Christ which should be borne of a woman should ouercome the force of the deuill In Noah it had this promise that the couenaunt of God should be established with him and his seede meaning