windowes to let in lust but also against GODS judgment day are the Registers of Lust In this sence Saint Paul speakes of throats which are open Sepulchers and tongues that are tipt with poyson of Aspes In a word no part of our body or soule which records not the sin that is committed either by our body or our soule Secondly the staine of sinne cleaveth to the creature abused in sinne for Ier. 17. Ier. 17.1 Ier. 2.2 7 18. the Idolatry of Israel is layd on the hornes of the Altars and Ier. 2. God teacheth the peoples sinne by the places where they committed sinne Moses speakes of graves of lust and waters of strife Iames of witnessing Rust of gold and silver and moths fretting our garments which speeches meane noâ—hing else but the staine of sinne abiding on the creature abused by sin And in this sense sin is said to have a voyce the voyce of sinne being the measure of sinne small sins oft have soft voyces the greater the sinne the louder it cries Murther is a great sinne therefore a loud sinne luxury a great sinne and therefore a loud sinne oppression a great sinne and therefore a loud sin not but that the eare of jealouâ—e heareth all things but he is not alike moved with all things neither will he take vengeance upon all sins therefore sin is not only said to have a voyce but also a testifying voyce for so the word here signifieth and that sin is said to give evidence on which God is purposed to take vengeance and such is the sin of perversenesse And thus much of the first part wherein you have heard the nature the community and the property of the Jewes sin all which are contained in Ieremies confession The supplication followeth O Lord yet deale with 〈◊〉 according to thy Name Names serve to expresse natures if the nature may not be conceaved the name can not be truly fitted God is infinite we cannot comprehend him therefore have we no name whereby fully to expresse him Notwithstanding that we may not be altogether ignorant of God the Scripture gives divers names to God I will touch only three which respect the Church anâ— are usually remembred in the prayers of the Church When Moses was sent to Pharaoh he asked God whâ— was his Name God answered I am that I am in the next verse he addes J am the God of your fathers the Gâ— of Abraham Isaac and Iacob this is my Name and this 〈◊〉 memoriall for ever When Moses would see the glory 〈◊〉 God he had poclaimed this Name of God the Lord To Lord strong and mercifull and gracious slow to anger 〈◊〉 abundant in goodnesse and truth reserving mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sinne not makâ—â— the wicked innocent visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upâ— the Children and the Childrens children unto the fourth â—â—neration The Coherence of the three names is this Tâ—â— first doth shew the Truth of God by which he performe his promises the second Covenant of God from whenâ— doe flow his blessings a third the excesse of his Meâ—â— above his judgment when he is to powre forth curses 〈◊〉 blessings the practise of the first name we have I appeared unto Abraham Isaac and Iacob by the name 〈◊〉 Almighty by my Name Iehovah I was not knowne unâ— them the practise of the second name Because the Loâ—â— would keep the Oath which he had sworne to your Fâ—thers the Lord hath brought you out with a mighty haâ—â— and delivered you out of the house of bondage and frâ—â— the hand of Pharaoh King of Egypt on this Name Daâ—Daniel Esay and Moses ground many prayers The prectise of the three Names we have When God would plague the Iewes for murmuring when they should have entred the holy land I beseech â—hee saith Moses let the power of the Lord be great acâ—ording as thou hast spoken when thou shewedst me thy â—ame saying The Lord is slow to anger and of great mercy â—â—rgiving iniquities and in this place Jeremy appealing 〈◊〉 the name of God doth meane either the first which in this verse is expressed in these words O Lord or else the other two joyntly with the first because they have the â—ne a dependance of the other So that the effect of his prayer is this Although our owne consciences doe acâ—use us and our sinnes witnesse against us cleaving both to us and the creatures that have beene abused by us calling for vengeance against us and inevitably convicting us that we have contemned thy word abused thy gifts and not relented at thy plagues yet performing those â—romises which are contained in thy owne Covenant the â—lory whereof must be given to thy Name which conâ—ines more mercy then judgment otherwise we must â—eeds perish in our sins if thy mercy did not rejoyce aâ—ainst thy Iudgment Last of all marke how he prefixeth an humble confession before his earnest supplication to teach us that we must cast downe our selves and confesse our owne deserts unto God if we mean to taste of the sweet mercies of God which mercies are most sweet A SERMON PREACHED IN TRINITIE CHVRCH IN WINCHESTER PSALM 62. ver 11.12 God spake once or twise have I heard it that power belongeth unto God And that to thee O Lord is mercy for thou rewardest every man according to his workes THe argument of this Psalme is King Davids exemplary experience for the worlds malice and Gods deliverance The world doth envy them whom God doth honour it persecuteth them that rely upon him but this is the comfort that the event doth not answer nay crosseth their designes their designe is deadly but the event happie Or if deadly it is so to the wicked not to the godly In the godly it encreaseth their confidence dependancy upon God which is never destitute of a seaosnable deliverance from him This King David affirmes upon his owne experience in the first part of this Psalme and in the second desires that it might be drawn into an example by others He would have us in the like case to take the like course to repaire to God to trust in him not in any worldly person or thing for all persons even the chiefe of all yeeld lesse then no help and great wealth especially if it be ill gotten wealth is but a treasure of nought both persons and things will faile will hurt us If any man notwithstanding K. Davids example and counsell doubt whom to trust God or the world how to live righteously or unrighteously he may be if he be not wilfull resolved throughly by the close of this Psalm by those words of my Text he may be resolved from an Author undeceaveable by a witnesse unchangeable from God by King David God spake once or twise and King David heard him from and by these he may be resolved what God is and none but God how he deales and deales with all God and only God is powerfull and which is strange the
by art and therefore are unnaturall Men must therefore take heed least with the foolish Iewes they bee come of the stocke of the Herodians or cry out against themselves they will have no King but Caesar The second foundation of a Common-wealth is execution of judgement God by Esay promising manifold blessings to the Iewes remembers this for one that they shall be founded in righteousnesse and be farre from oppression Chap. 54. Solomon saith that righteousnesse is an everlasting foundation Although the soule be in the body yet is the soule the foundation of the body for the members of our body are knit together by sinewes and by ligaments they are imbroydered with veines and with arteries and they are covered with skin but if the soule with naturall heate doe not foster these united parts of the body if with spirits I doe not stirre and move the body corruption will quickly deface the goodly sabricke of the body Lawes are so many ligaments of the societies of men and good orders are as the veines and Arteries of the society The society is as the skinne that covereth the goodly politicke body of men but if the executing Magistrate be wanting to this body there cannot bee long continuance of body Never any common-weale perished for want of lawes their bane have beene the cold execution of their Lawes The third foundation is the care of the common good The Plow saith Solomon maintaineth the Scepter and where there is a continuall expence there must be a carefull supply All rivers runne into the Sea but all rivers must be nourished by waters which do through the pores of the earth flow from the Sea The husbandman neglects not to take care for his seed Corne because by means thereof he reapes a plentifull harvest of Corne. In the booke of Iudges in a parable of Trees good Magistrates are compared unto fig Trees to Vines and to Olives because as these Trees are painfully dressed so by these trees the husbandman is plentifully refreshed But bad Magistrates are resembled unto brambles because how much juyce soever by them is sucked yet no fruit from them is gathered yea they looke still as though they were starved The application is easie God in the common-weale of the Iewes ordained the Sabboth and the yeere of Iubilee to continue a proportion betweene his people in regard of their liberty and wealth The meaning of those yeeres is not only ceremoniall but also Morall as in the body of a man if any part exceed his due proportionable measure it is monstrous in it selfe and dangerous to the whele so it is in the Common-wealth Cities must be maintained the people must be imployed a summary of wealth must be provided if we desire that the society of the people and Majesty of the Prince be long continued And thus much of the double foundation of a Christian Common-weale A second note to be observed in this second maine point is gathered out of this word All for it importeth the communication of the severall parts of this double foundation For as Cicero writes of the soure Cardinall vertues Prudence Fortitude Iustice and temperance that they are so knit together that he which hath one hath all and he which wanteth one wants all Or as in the Vitall parts of the body Liver Lungs the heart and the braines he that enjoyeth one enjoyeth all and he that perisheth one perisheth all so fareth it with the foundations of a Christian Common-weale they are chained so together that they stand and fall together A third note is gathered from the word moved which argueth a great force in sinne when it prevailes against them which are of greatest judgment to discover sinne and greatest power to represse sinne sinne beginneth commonly with the weakest so it began not with Adam but with Eve but where it can be least resisted it may soonest be corrected If a private man be given to sin the Magistrate can easily bridle him from sinne but Magistrates sins are most conspicuous and dangerous like diseases sharp and venemous by which the whole body is speedily infected and desperately destroyed When the weather or wind beates upon an house or a tree well may it untile the house or overshrowd the tree but if the tree be well rooted and the house well founded the danger is easily recovered both of the house and of the Tree it is not so that either the root be loosed or the foundation moved the moving then of the foundations doth imply a desperate state of the whole building The summe of the second point is this the Common-weale that it may be continued it must be established established spiritually and spiritually on GOD CHRIST and the HOLY GHOST civilly upon the person of a naturall Prince the execution of wholesome Law and the care of common good All which must bee conjoyned for that by the ruine of one the rest are endangered and if all faulter the common-Wealth is desperately hazarded And thus much of the second point The last note is the connexion of the first point with the second which connexion may be made two wayes the first makes the dangers of the State to be the fruit of a bad Magistrate and is framed thus They understand not they consider not they walke on in darknesse and therefore all the foundations of the land are moved for a proper cause cannot be without his effect And it is Iehosaphats speech as we reade in the second booke of the Chronicles and the nine and twentieth Chapter answerable to the seed will the harvest be You cannot overthrow a foundation but by violence and there can be no stability of the foundation if it be forced by violence Magistrates vertues and vices keep no meane their excellency breedeth a publike either blisse or curse for the eyes of all are upon them the lives of all are conformed to them and the state of all dependeth on them This is the reason when vertues are so earnestly commended in them and honoured in them why they are so commonly dehorted from vice and censured for vice The second Collection must be framed thus They consider not c. and yet behold all the foundations of the land are moved Psa 8◠5 Es 59.4 9. Psalme The Common-weale is like unto ship the people are passengers the Magistrates Officers Adversity like unto Shipwracke evill Magistrates are like to foolish Ship-governours who in a storme labour not to save the ship but rob the passengers in the Shippe as if together they should not sinke with the Shippe Good Magistrates should execute judgment and prevent Gods judgment so did Phinees David Moses They may not palliate diseases lest they fester more It is the phrase of the Law commanding Iudgement Thou shall put away evill Misera respub quae neque vitia Iob 29 12. neque remedia ferre * ⎠* A SERMON PREACHED AT FARNHAM NEERE WINCHESTER PSALM 132.11 12. The Lord hath sworne to David and he
to be doubted whether at all this be the signification But that which I note is this That all three Translations doe but fully expresse the fact and every one of them containeth some principall circumstance of the fact Why then doe we wrangle about words That Phinees executed judgement we will not denie That he pacified God and used prayer to sanctifie his worke unto God they may not denie That the Word may beare all there is no judicious Divine can denie and yet loe this is one of the blemishes of our Liturgie this seemes a just cause why many mens Consciences will not suffer them to subscribe to our Liturgie He that knowes the difference betweene the Hebrew and the Septuagint and observeth that both the Apostles and Evangelists notwithstanding that difference used it and edified many thousands by it He that knowes that the great Lights of the Primitive Church were for the most part ignorant of the originall Hebrew and yet brought many Hebrewes unto God He that knowes Saint Hieromes Translation was by Saint Austin and others impugned who thought the peace of the Church and practise of Religion of greater price then phrases and properties of words He I say that knowes these things will judge our Church treading their steps worthy of better entertainment then the reproach of spightfull tongues Brethren 1 Cor. 8. ◠we know that we all have knowledge but knowledge puffeth up and it is charitie that edifieth Wherefore we conclude with the Apostle and perswade our opposites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.3 Let your zeale be grounded upon knowledge your knowledge ripened with experience and both seasoned with charitie Notwithstanding let us take it as they would have it He executed judgement and make some good use of it Num. 25.6 They were at prayers so the storie reports and this sight was presented in the midst of their teares A sight on the one side abominable on the other honourable First it was abominable that in time of publike calamitie any man should be so brutish as to intend this luxurie yet some such there were Behold here one and that a great one Zimri the sonne of Salu a Prince of the Tribe of Simeon When in a like case Ieremie had preached in vaine he turnes to God with this speech O Lord Jer. 5. v. 3 4 5. are not thine eyes upon the Truth thou hast smitten them but they have not sorrowed thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction they have made their faces harder then a stone and have refused to returne Therefore I said Surely those to whom I have hitherto preached are but poore men and simple ones which know not the way of the Lord nor the judgement of their God I will get me to the great men and speake to them they are learned in the way of the Lord and in the judgement of their God But what he found he reports Those great men are become the sonnes of Belial they have broken the yoke and burst Gods bands Amos 6. v. 4 5 6. They were great men in the dayes of Amos that lay upon Beds of Ivorie eate the Lambes of the Flock and Calves out of the Stall They sung unto the sound of the Violl and invented to themselves Instruments of Musick like David They drunke Wine in Bowles and anointed themselves with sweetest Ointments in the midst and yet without all touch of sorrow for the affliction of Ioseph I would this were not a disease of ours Sure I am mortification in the dayes of mortalitie is in no such request as Reason much more Religion requires it to be We have too many Zimri's we lack a Phinees to stand up and execute judgement Secondly his fact was as honourable as Zimri's was detestable That which I will observe is That he left his prayers and interrupted his teares hardening that heart against a sinner which melted at the wrath of God erecting that Body yea and soule too against a sinner which lay humble and prostrate before God sanctifying those hands to sacrifice to the wrath of God provoked by a sinner which before were lift up in innocencie to God As God will have Mercie and not Sacrifice so will he have Iudgement too Wherewith shall I come before the Lord Mich. 6.6 7 8 and how my selfe before the high God Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings and Calves of a yeare old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rammes or with ten thousand Rivers of Oyle Shall I give my first-borne for my transgression Even the fruit of my body for the sinne of my soule He hath shewed thee O man what the Lord requireth of thee surely to doe justly Esa 1. v. 11. c. c. And the very same Lesson is in the first of Esay Open and notorious Malefactors are truly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the taking away of them is a purging of the State Better that one dye by the hand of the Magistrate then a thousand perish by the hand of God If Atheists Blasphemers Adulterers and Oppressors were now justly punished our whole Land should not be so often plagued And Magistrates must thinke that they are not innocent of their brothers bloud whom God doth visit through their default I might adde too that the sinnes of Malefactors are encouraged whilest too much connivencie is used But to close up this point this is a Rule for us all We must not be wanting to our selves though Magistrates be defective in their charge they stand or fall to their Lord and we to our common Lord We are nothing the more innocent because they are negligent Therefore it behooves us all in time to judge our selves lest in due time we be judged taking this for our comfort That he shall never find God a severe Iudge that will be his owne sincere Iudge And this will appeare in the last point to which I come The Plague ceased When judgement was executed upon one the Plague ceased from them all Behold here a mercifull Iudge Modicum supplicii satis est Patri If we respect the measure it is little a Esa 27. v. 7 8. Hath he smote Iudah saith Esay as he smote those that smote Iudah Or is the laughter of Iudah like to the slaughter of them that were slaine by Iudah In measure and in the branches thereof wilt thou contend with Iudah If we respect the time also it is little b Esa 54.7 8. For a little while saith he have I forsaken thee but with great compassion will I gather thee For a moment in mine anger I hid my face from thee but with everlasting mercie have I had compassion on thee Gods passion is not like mens that it must have its forth or that it must calme with time God is not like a Prince that conquers Kingdomes and is a slave to himselfe God who can command all commands Himselfe most of all And this
God and yet wee must not doubt but hee is effectuall in his Church as much to cure our soules yea more than he was in curing that servants body and this he doth only by his word of which Saint Paul saith well out of Moses Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ from above or who shall descend into the dust that is to bring Christ again from the dead But what saith it the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thine heart This is the word of faith which we preach whose effectuall power we shall feele as many as doe believe The upshot of all is Christ in this History taxeth the Iewes for being so backeward in comparison of the Gentiles in both esteeming the person of Christ and depending upon the power of Christ Their defect must be our admonition King David when Absolon was overthrowne and Israel offered their service to bring their King home to Ierusalem striving who should bee forwardest and condemning them that were slow sent this message to Zadoc and Abiathar the Priests saying speake unto the Elders of Iudah and say why are ye behind to bring the King again to his house for the saying of Israel is come unto the King even to his house Ye are my brethren my bones and my flesh Wherefore are yee then the last that bring the King againe We are the peoples Abiathar and Zadoc we in Gods name must blame the peoples coldnesse by the forwardnesse of the Gentiles And I pray God wee may have as good successe with you as these Priests had with Iudah for they bowed the hearts of all the men of Judah as of one man even with emulation against Israel for to shew their forwardnesse to returne their King I pray God we may so surpasse these Gentiles in honouring Christ so may we speed in all our petitions that in imitation of them we shall so humbly so faithfully present our selves unto CHâ—IST c. A SERMON PREACHED INTRINITIE CHVRCHIN WINCHESTER IEREM 14.7 O Lord although our sins witnesse against us yet deale with us according to thy Name THe Prophets and Apostles so served God that they ceased not to be men they could not put off their natural affection though they were most carefull to discharge their supernaturall Vocation they were not without sense when they were messengers of Gods vengeance Therefore bringing fire from heaven they would quench it with their owne teares denouncing wrath from God they would appease it with their owne prayers they will put their owne shoulders under the burden of the people they were contented themselves to be a curse for to discharge the people in a word they would then sacrifice a contrite spirit of a repenting soule unto a mercifull God when they were sent with woes and lamentations unto gracelesse sinners from an irefull Iudge Thus Moses Samuel David Esay Paul and others prophesied and prayed and no marvell for Christ wept over Ierusalem when he foreshewed her imminent misery God himselfe seemes to be tormented in himselfe when for sin he must correct his people with the Babylonian Captivity So that men doe but imitate that gracious conflict of mercy and justice observed in Christ and God when they intermingle their humble prayers with these heavie doomes which they pronounce against the world in the name of God this fellow-feeling these bowels of compassion the sweet composition of prophesies and prayers was in Jeremy so much the more frequent by how much that anciently threatned Iudgement in his dayes more neerely approached and the evils thereof were more clearely revealed a tast whereof we have in the first part of this Chapter wherein he foretels and describes such a famine as should afflict beasts and men poore and rich not some but all as well in Country as in Towne insomuch that generall and lowd complaints and groanes should be doubled from the dejected soules of that distressed people This judgement as his tongue denounced it dreadfully so his owne soule apprehended it feelingly and therefore without delay he stood up in the gap betweene God and his people hee layed hold upon that hand wherewith God was striking his people and with spirituall incense laboured an attonement betweene God and his people as appeares in these words that now I have read unto you Wherein we may observe these two points first Ieremy his confession secondly Ieremies supplication the confession O Lord our sinnes testifie against us the supplication yet deale thou with us according to thy Name First of the Confession Our sinnes The word used by the Prophet doth signifie not barely sin but perversenesse coupled with sinne which much encreaseth the heynousnesse of sinne There are many sorts of sinne Sinne of ignorance and that is zeale without knowledge when we intend good but erre in our choise of that which is good In the heart of every man there are naturally principles of Religion and honest conversation but the conclusions which we frame of those principles doe make us many times to erre in Religion and swerve in conversation The reason is the blindnesse of our understanding whereby as Saint Paul teacheth Rom. 1. Rom. 1.22 when wee labour to be most wise we become the greater fooles fooles in making of false rules and fooles in being misguided by them The Iewes zealous for Moses persecuted Christ but they neither drew true rules out of the Law of Moses as Christ teacheth Matt. 5. Mat. 5.17 21. neither did they discerne the Person of Christ they were fooles in both The same may be observed in Saint Paul before his conversion 1 Tim. 1. there are two sorts of sinne which is 1 Tim. 1.13 sinne of infirmity when a man delighteth in the Law of God in the inner man but he seeth a Law in his members rebelling against the law of his mind carrying him captive unto sinne so that the good which he would he cannot doe but the evill that he would not that he doth Rom. 7. Rom. 7.15 thus no man sinneth but he sorroweth he laboureth under the burden of sinne and receaveth no comfort untill he be released of the guilt of sinne So Peter denyed Christ but he wept bitterly David committed murder and adultery but he repented heartily Solomon fell into manifold vanities but he confessed it all humbly Besides these two sorts of sinne there is a third called sinne of perversnes when men not of ignorance or infirmity but wittingly and willingly desplease and despise God The branches whereof are three all by Ieremy noted in the Iewes by consideration whereof we must understand the sin which was committed by the Iewes The first branch is a rejection of Gods word the second an abusing of Gods gifts the third a senselesnes under Gods plagues They rejected Gods word for when God coÌ„manded one thing they would doe another thus said the Lord stand in the way behold and aske for the old way
compassion chargeth them both with sinne and senselesnesse O Jerusalem Ierusalem that killest the Prophets aâ—â— stonest them that were sent unto thee that is their sinne how often would I have gathered thy Children together as the henne doth her chickens but thou would'st not That was the senselesnesse But what was the issue even a suddeâ— destruction from God that upon her might come all the righteous bloud that was spilt from the bloud of Abeâ— unto the bloud of Zacharias So likewise in the Nineteenth of Luke When he beheld the City hee wept and gives the reason in his prayer O that thou hadst knowne in this thy day those things that belong unto thy peace That is their sinne but now are they hid from thine eyes that is their senselesnesse Hee addes the issue Therefore shall thine enemies cast a banke about thee c. But doth God enter into judgement onely with the Iew and are these onely the defects of the Iewes No The parable made in this Chapter sheweth that it reacheth unto the Gentiles also For when the Sonne of man commeth hee shall scarce find faith in the earth And because iniquity shall abound charitie shall wax cold Sinne shall be ripe even unto harvest before Christ send the Angels his reapers to cut downe this field of the world The world shall bee sinfull and as the Apostle speaketh The last dayes shall be perillous times men shall be lovers of themselves more then lovers of God Hee goeth on particularizing their sinnes against the first Table against the second shewing that the fleshly tables of their hearts shall scarce retayne any print of the hand writing of the spirit of God the world doth not grow more old in regard of naturall strength then men grow old in goodnesse and vertue or rather sin growes unto his highest floud when nature growes unto her lowest ebbe and as men are more sinfull so are they more and more senselesse resisting the Holy Ghost with uncircumcised eares and heartes the first world strove against the Spirit of God and no marvell for the prophesie of Isaiah in his eighth Chapter which is reported by Christ and the Apostles doth containe an inseparable propertie from sinne which is to make us winke with our eyes and stoppe our eares and obdurate our heartes that in seeing wee may see and not perceave and in hearing wee may heare and not understand and so the Devill doth hood-winke us and stupifie us least wee should be converted and so saved Saint Paul notes it in the third Chapter of the first Epistle to the Thessaloniâ—ns Men shall câ—y Peace peace when sudden desolation shall be at hand Or as Iob speakes spend their dayes in pleasure and in a moment goe downe quickly to hell so that King Davids compassionate admiration will prove true who having described in Psal 73. the jollity of the wicked who in the height of their prosperity do open their mouth against heaven sheweth that they are sencelesse of their slippery standing and wondring at their fault crying out Now doe they perish suddenly fearefully finally And indeed this world must answer that other world it must needs be that they which will not neither be reclaimed nor forewarned must be surprized Our Saviour Christ expresseth it in three fine similies The first is of the travell of a woman so shall the judgement day come Every wicked man hath a double travell Saint James teacheth it in his first chapter Lust conceives and bringeth forth sinne that is a pleasant travell But this wombe resteth not here for sinne will not leave till it have brought forth death that is a painfull travell but an unexpected childe when a man is not delivered of that which he conceived his issue is death when he at least expected a contented life But so doth God overtake a sinner even as Iob also resembling sinne to sweet meat in the mouth shewes that it proves the gall of Aspes in the stomacke The second simile is of a Theefe whereunto Christ resembleth the judgement day not only to expresse his unexpected coming but the event of his judgement which will rob us of all that wherein we set our wicked hearts delight you read it in the parable of the man whose ground bearing plenty he was to inlarge his barnes but he addes his wicked affection groveling upon earthly things when he encourageth his soule to eat and drinke because it had provision for many yeeres but the Oracle checkes him Thou foole this night shall they take thy soule from thee then whose shall all these things be Dives for all his soft raiment and delicate fare had nothing left him when he was summoned by death to shroud him from or refresh him in the flames of hell The third simile is of the snare of a Fowler or a Hunter which taketh the beast or the bird who catching after the pray is caught by the engine and Saint Paul tels us that in committing sinne we doe receive the sting of death The condition of Adams sinne attends the sinne of every sonne of Adam whiles eating the forbidden fruit he looked to have eyes open that he might behold himselfe as a God he found indeed how he was circumvented by the equivocation of the phrase that to be a god knowing good and evill is but a periphrasis of the devill and indeed he became unexpectedly but justly a god like unto him and so shall all his sonnes that impiously transgresse Gods lawes heare that dreadfull voyce Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire provided for the Divell and his angels You have heard the proportion of correspondency so farre as it concernes the bad now must you heare it so farre as it concernes the good for though the world were so sinfull and so sencelesse yet was there a Noah left and his family but one Noah and one family There was a Noah that found favour with God and was righâ—eous in the sight of God God never shewes onely justice but ever mingles it with some mercy Though all should justly perish yet some shall be mercifully saved â—n a whole wicked world God will have some Noah â—nd that he may fit him he will give his holy Spirit unâ—o him Noah had found no grace with God had he not â—eceived the grace of righteousnesse from God But Saint Paul expresseth in the eleventh of the Hebrewes the two â—arts of Noahs pietie which was reverence and conâ—â—dence reverence in making the Arke confidence in â—sing the Arke not onely obeying Gods word in proâ—iding the meanes to save himselfe but also using it when â—â—e time came notwithstanding others so many others â—id despise it Whereupon followed two effects that he â—as not surprised by the flood and as the Apostle saith he condemned the world You have heard that there was a Noah but marke that there was but one Noah and his family a small number to a whole world but such is the excesse of the wicked above the good so many
more are there that perish then those that are saved t was so in the old world so it shall be in this to follow the parable of the Iewes and the Gentiles but a remnant of the Iewes are saved The Prophet compares it to a gleaning after a vintage or a harvest Whereas the wicked are compared unto the starres of heaven and to the sands of the Sea and to a whole harvest This is meant by the parable of Gods choosing but one tree of all the forrest one Dove of all the birds one Citie of all the world but consider that there is one though there be but one for God will save a flocke though it be but a little flocke for the elects sake he will hasten his judgement lest there should remaine no flesh to be saved The world little thinkes upon that which is a grounded truth that for the godlies sake God forbeares to come to judgement But in Rom. 4. it is set downe plainly when the soules that lay under the Altar cryed unto God saying How long Lorâ— righteous and true dost thou deferre to revenge our blood upon the world answer is given unto them that they must rest for a while till the number of their brethren was sulfilled for then shall be an end of all When Jerusalem is fully built the body of Christ hath all his members and the true Olive hath all his branches Little therefore doe the wicked consider that they bane themselves while they persecute the godly For Obadiahs house was blessed whiles it was the place of the Arke and so were the Roman Emperours whiles they cherished the Italians But as God will have a remnant so it will be but a smaâ— remnant there will be faith but scarse faith as Christ speakes and charity though it will not be quite dead it will be very cold which makes that Romish conceâ—â— very frivolous which maketh the most illustrious Church to be the true Church whereas Christ answers truely to the questioners that demanded whether there should be many saved that the gate is wide and the way broad that leadeth to destruction and many there be that finde it but the gate is straight and the way narrow that leadeth unto life and few there be that finde it The conclusion of the correspondency is that a few though but a few shall imitate Noah in his reverence and likewise in his confidence Observing the meanes prescribed by God and trusting perfectly in the promises of God Saint Peter joynes them both when he makes Baptisme an antitype of the Arke when he shewes that Baptisme hath not onely the putting away of the filth of the flesh which is the externall washing but also the interrogation of a good conscience unto God through the resurrection of Iesus Christ Christ meanes the same when he saith that this little flock shall watch the signes of his coming and also they lift up their heads with joy knowing that their salvation draweth neere The issue of their reverence and confidence is they shall be saved they shall be taken up to meet Christ and ever to be with him they shall enter into their masters joy and be made partakers of the marriage feast You have heard of the correspondency but though in the comparison there be so good a correspondency yet must we consider withall a great inequality as great an inequality of the things as there is of the persons I meane the persons of Noah and Christ as farre as the sonne of man doth exceed that man so farre shall the end of this world exceed the end of that whether you respect the destruction of the bad or the salvation of the good In regard of the destruction of the bad there shall be foure great differences The first is That world was destroyed with water this shall be destroyed with fire and who knoweth not how much more terrible fire is then water But which is the second That water wasted onely the earth and those things that lived upon the earth â—ut this shall waste both heaven and earth and whatsoever is I except Christs little flocke in either heaven or earth If the sight of the Deluge were fearefull how much more fearefull shall this combustion of the whole be when t is compared to the inundation of a part a part which Astronomy proves to be so little in comparison of the whole Adde hereunto the third that of the wicked That destruction was but partiall but this shall be totall Then there was at least a Cham a seed of the wicked that escaping might be an example to reclaime the future wicked and indeed the voice of a Nebuchadnezzar or an Antiochus experiencing and acknowledging the justice of God will in probability worke more then the voyce of Moses or Daniel or Iudas Maccabeus to reclaime the wicked God therefore at that time was pleased to trie also this meanes and preserved not onely a Sem but also a Cham. But in this last destruction God saveth not so much as one Cham not a goate left among the sheepe if there be but one that wanteth his wedding garment the master of the feast will espie him and away with him the corne will be cleane vnmowed from the Chaffe and the gold purified from all drosse Adde hereunto the last point that destruction was but temporall this finall that that was but temporall so some understand Saint Peter 1. Epist. 4. but this is undoubtedly eternall for the sentence is Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire no recall of the sentence no recoverie of the state so Noah saved to be the hope of the second world as the booke of Wisdome speaks Chap. 14. You have here the inequalitie in regard of the bad and in regard of the good there is the same inequality also that fire shall as wonderfully preserve them as it fearfully destroyes the wicked There shall be a generall renovation of heaven and earth wherein dwels righteousnesse as there was a combustion of the other heaven and earth wherein dwelt wickednesse And in this heaven and earth shall be no uncleane thing and that which is purified shall remaine so for ever even blessed for ever intirely and eternally blessed whereas the deliverance by Noah was but temporall it was but partiall it was from a death but onely of the body and that onely for a time and that to live a mortall life so that is and so must have his destruction that in that example we read that God is displeased with sinne that he powreth forth his vengeance upon sinne but how farre he is displeased how much vengeance shall be exacted we may gesse it in the former world but we cannot throughly understand that correspondency doth not amount unto an equalitie Onely for a close of all he that readeth that may well believe this because that is a pledge of this and our best course is to follow Christs counsell Luke 21. Take heed least at any time your heartes be oppressed with surfetting and drunkennes and that day come upon you unawares For as a snare shall it come upon all the inhabitants of this world Let us watch therefore and pray that we may be worthy to escape the things that then shall come and stand before the sonne of man for as it was in the dayes of Noah so shall it be at the comming of the Sonne of man Grant gracious Lord that denying all ungodlines and worldly lusts we may so reverence thy word and depend on thy promise with such a confidence that we be neither sinfull nor senselesse and so surprised with thy just wrath but may watchfully looke for and earnestly hasten unto the blessed appearing of our glorious Iudge and Saviour Jesus Christ FINIS IMPRIMATVR THOMAS BROWNE APRILL 16. 1640.