His Vow 992 A pretty expostulation of Ieptha's daughter in meeting her father 993 Iericho Of the siege of Iericho 950 Of their feare and courage 951 A pretty vse to bee made of the peoples walking about Iericho seuen dayes 952 Ieroboam 1315 He set vp two calues in Dan and Bethel 1316 Of his wife 1323 She is disguised but found out 1324 1325 The Prophets thunderclaps of vengeance against him 1325 Iesuite A caueat for Kings to beware of them 372 Their couetousnesse and ambition 416 417 The Iesuites cunning insinuations into those whom they hope to peruert 679 680 Accompanied with horrible vntruths 681 682 Their coniurations 683 They haue nothing but the ouside of Religion 684 Iezabel Of her counsell to Ahab in the matter of Naboth 1357 Ignorance It is a wise Ignorance not to pry into things not reuealed p. 1 Ignorance cannot acquit if it can abate our sinne 1067 the affectation of ignorance desperate ibid. Imitation A caution to be had in it 59 60 These sins that nature conuaies not we haue by imitation 1010 Impatience The ill wishes of the impatient often heard 929 Importunitie It s good speed 1205 Imprisonment Of its comfort 305 Impunitie Hope of it drawes on sinne with boldnesse 1111 Inconsideratenesse What it oft doth 969 Inconstancie The inconstant is vnfit for societie 36 The vnconstants Character 191 Increase A certaine way of it 1032 Indifferencie In humane things it is most safe to bee indifferent 136 Indulgences Popish Indulgences censured as against antiquitie reason and Scripture 433 Parents indulgence what 1015 Cruell to themselues 1034 It is a notorious sinne in Parents ibid. Infants Of them and Herod 1176 c. Infidelitie Its Character 196 A sharpe reproofe of it 425 505 Infidelitie is craftie yet foolish 891 It is lawfull enough to deale with Infidels with a caueat 1017 Infirmities Euen the best of Gods Saints haue them 1077 When they best appeare 1108 Ingratitude Three vsuall causes of ingratitude 26 Very Nature hates ingratitude 895 Inheritance Our heauenly inheritance glorious and not subiect to alteration 64 Iniuries Three things follow an iniury so farre as it concernes our selues p. 16 Iniuries hurt not more in the receiuing then in the remembrance 30 Iniuries like a wound 857 Innocencie It is no shelter for an euill tongue 921 Inquisition Its tyranny with a fearfull example on the executioners 283 Insultation That in the rigour of Iustice argueth creation 1020 Intention Good intentions cannot warrant vnlawfull acts 1128 What bewrayes euil intentions more then vicious Agents 1312 Inward Our inward disposition is the life of our actions 934 And a mans inward disposition doth presage the euent 948 Ioab and Abner 1119 Ioabs execution 1261 Iohn Baptist Of his baptising Christ his modesty 1190 1191 Ionathan Of his victory 1064 His admirable faith ibid. Of his loue and Sauls enuy 1086 His and Dauids loue prettily set out ibid. Iordan Of it diuided 948 Ioseph His brethrens enuy prettily described 853 Ioseph twice stript of his garment 854 Ioseph praised for his patience and wisedome ibid. Ioy vid. Reioyce It is shamefull for true Christians not to be ioyfull 46 47 Of worldlings ioy and the godlies 51 The ioy of such as haue an euil conscience is but dissembled 76 T is the safest way to reserue our ioy till wee haue good proofe of the worthinesse and fitnesse of its obiect 1058 Isaac He sacrificed 834 835 Israel His affliction 863 Israels iust now scoured 864 Israel fed with Sacraments â—92 Of their seuen mutinies against Moses 928 What pretences â—re be made a true Philistim will bee quickly weary of a true Israelite 1002 The great change in Israel 1127 Iudaisme The fearfull danger of being in it 426 Iudges A note for them in regard of partialitie 1074 1075 Iudging We may Iudge but we must take heed to the order 491 The not iudging according to appearance is a vsefull rule for auoiding errour in iudging 491 Excellent things of iudging a mans selfe 1060 God separates before hee iudgeth and so should wee 1074 What to doe that wee may not care to bee censured of men 1287 1288 Iudgements God is to be magnified in his iudgements 49 The Day of Iudgement how terrible shewed by resemblance 898 Wicked men neuer care to obserue Gods iudgements vntil theÌ„selues be touched 931 Gods sentence of iudgement certaine 941 Gods mercy in letting vs to see his iudgements on others 1035 God knowes no persons in the execution of iudgements 1048 Nothing but grace can teach vs to make vse of other mens iudgements 1058 The Iudgements of God are not alwayes open but iust 1093 When wee make a right vse of the iudgements of God 1128 Iudgement assuredly attends on those that dare oft vp their hands against Gods Vicegerents 1263 Iunius commended 287 Iustice It giues to euery man his owne 215 A buyer of places of Iudicature will surely sell iustice 519 Of the two-fold iustice Legall and Euangelicall 538 Of Legall and distributiue iustice 1540 How Iustice is a notable work of mercy ibid. The Churches peace ariseth from iustice 541 Insultation in the rigour of iustice argueth cruelty 1020 Wee may not alwayes measure the iustice of God by present occasions 1121 The beautifull face of iustice both effects and light and comes to it 1245 Iustification The Romish heresie concerning it 643 K KIng vid. Princes described by his qualities actions Naturall Morall 229 c. Our King commended 479 Parallel'd with Constantine 482 483 The neere relation of sinne and punishment in the Soueraigne and subiect 484 Of Kings humouring their people in their sinnes 900 Kings sinnes are a iust stop to the people 915 Gods ancient purpose to raise vp a King to his people 1052 In Kings mercy and iudgement should bee inseparable 1059 A Kings first care must be to aduance Religion 1127 It well beseemes a King to heare a Prophet 1142 Kingdome Euery man hath a Kingdome within himselfe· 14 Kneeling at the Sacrament defended 583 Knowledge What 〈◊〉 best to know p. 31 Knowledge of a mans selfe is the best knowledge 36 Of knowledge without foundnesse 53 Wee must labour if we will haue a right rellish of diuine knowledge 63 Of our knowing one another in heauen 326 The itch of impertinent knowledge is hereditary 1110 L LAbour labouring minds are the best receptacles for good motions 1017 Laugh There is nothing more lamentable then to see a man laugh wheÌ„ he should mourne 1109 Law Of it 896 How terrible in its deliuery 898 The power of it 〈◊〉 mans soule ibid. Learning Who fit to learne and and who to teach p. 10 Humane learning well improued makes way for diuine 1170 Legion What it imports 1300 Leuite Of Micha's Leuite 1010 1011 c. The Leuites Concubine 1015 Liberalitie What 221 The extreames thereof ibid. Life He that liues well cannot but dye well p. 9 The shortnesse of life how mans happinesse 17 Of his dissolution 23 Three things wherein
nothing rather then what we ought O minds brutishly sensuall Doe they thinke that God made them for disport who euen in his Paradise would not allow pleasure without vvorke And if for businesse either of body or minde Those of the body are commonly seruile like it selfe The minde therefore the mind onely that honorable and diuine part is fittest to be imployed of those vvhich vvould reach to the highest perfection of men and vvould be more then the most And what vvorke is there of the minde but the trade of a scholar study Let me therefore fasten this probleme on our Schoole-gates and challenge all commers in the defence of it that No Scholar cannot be truely noble And if I make it not good let me neuer be admitted further then to the subiect of our question Thus we do vvell to congratulate to our selues our own happinesse if others will come to vs it shall be our comfort but more theirs if not it is enough that we can ioy in our selues and in him in whom we are that we are To Mr J. P. EP. IV. A discourse of the increase of Popery of the Oath of Allegeance and the iust sufferings of those which haue refused it YOu say your religion dayly winneth Bragge not of your gaine you neither need nor can if you consider how it gets and whom How but by cunning sleights false suggestions impudent vntruths Who cannot thus preuaile against a quiet and innocent aduersarie Whom but silly women or men notoriously debauched A spoyle fit for such a conquest for such Victors We are the fewer not the worse if all our licentious hypocrites vvere yours wee should not complaine and you might be the prouder not the better Glory you in this triumph free from our enuy who know we haue lost none but by whom you saue nothing either loose or simple It were pity that you should not forgoe some in a better exchange The sea neuer incroacheth vpon our shore but it loseth else-where some we haue happily fetcht into the fold of our Church out of your wasts some others though few and scarce a number vvee haue sent into their heauen Among these your late second Garnet liu'd to proclaime himselfe a Martyr and by dying perswaded Poore man how happy were he if he might be his owne Iudge That which gaue him confidence vvould giue him glory you beleeue and wel-nere adore him That fatall cord of his was too little for reliques though diuided into Mathematicke quantities Whither cannot conceit lead vs vvhether for his resolution or your credulitie His death vvas fearlesse I commend his stomack not his minde How many malefactors haue wee knowne that haue laughed vpon their executioner and iested away their last vvinde You might know It is not long since our Norfolke Arrian leapt at his stake How oft haue you learned in martyrdome to regard not the death but the cause Else there should be no difference in guilt and innocence error and truth What then Died hee for Religion This had bin but your owne measure we endured your flames which these gibbets could not acquit But dare impudency it selfe affirme it Not for meere shame against the euidence of so many tongues eares records Your prosperitie your numbers argue enough that a man may be a Papist in Britaine and liue If treason be your religion vvho will vvonder that it is capitall Defie that Deuill vvhich hath mockt you with this madde opinion that treacherie is holinesse deuotion crueltie and disobedience I foresee your euasion Alas it is easie for a spightfull construction to fetch religion within this compasse and to say the swelling of the Foxes forehead is a horne Nay then let vs fetch some honest Heathen to be Iudge betwixt vs Meere nature in him shall speake vnpartially of both To hold and perswade that a Christian King may yea must at the Popes will be dethroaned and murdered is it the voice of treason or religion And if traiterous vvhether flatly or by mis-inferring Besides his practices for this he died witnesse your own Catholikes O God if this be religion what can be villany Who euer dyed a Malefactor if this be martyrdom If this position be meritorious of heauen hell is feared in vaine O holy Scillae Marij Catilines Cades Lopezes Gowries Vawxes and who euer haue conspired against lawfull Maiestie all Martyrs of Rome all Saints of Beckets heauen How vvell do those palmes of celestiall triumph become hands red with the sacred blood of Gods anointed I am ashamed to thinke that humanitie should nourish such monsters whether of men or opinions But you defie this sauage factiousnesse this deuotion of deuils and honestly vvish both God and Caesar his owne I praise your moderation but if you be true let me yet search you Can a man be a perfect Papist vvithout this opinion against it If he may then your Garnet and Drurie died not for religion if he may not then Poperie is treason Chuse now vvhether you will leaue your Martyrs or your Religion What you hold of merit free-wil transubstantiation inuocation of Saints false adoration supremacy of Rome no man presses no man inquires your present inquisition your former examples would teach vs mercy will not let vs learne The only question is Whether our King may liue and rule whether you may refraine from his blood and not sinne Would you haue a man denie this and not die Would you haue a man thus dying honored Dare you approue that religion which defends the fact canonizes the person I heare your answer from that your great Champion which not many dayes since with one blow hath driuen out three not slight vvedges That not Ciuill obedience is stood vpon The iudgement of a Catholike English-man banished c. concerning the Apology of the Oath of Allegeance intituled Triplici nâ—do c. but Positiue doctrine That you are readie to sweare for the Kings safetie not against the Popes authoritie King IAMES must liue and raigne but Paulus Quintus must rule and be obeyed and better were it for you to die then your sworne allegeance should preiudice the Sea Apostolike An elusion fit for children What is to dally if not this As if he said The King shall liue vnlesse the Pope will not That hee shall not be discrowned deposed massacred by your hands vnlesse your holy Father should command But I aske as vvho should not What if he do command What if your Paulus Quintus should breathe out like his predecessors not threatnings but strong bellowings of Excommunications of deposition of Gods anointed What if hee shall command after that French fashion the throats of all Heretikes to bleed in a night Pardon you in this Now it is growne a point of doctrinall Diuinitie to determine how farre the power of Peters successor may extend You may neither sweare nor say your hands shall not bee steep't in the blood of your true Soueraigne and to die rather then sweare it is martyrdome But
with a loathsome potion hateth the very cruze wherein it was brought him so doth the conscience once soundly detesting sinne loath the meanes that induced him to commit it Contrarily who withstands a man in his prosecution of a sin while he doteth vpon it beares away frownes and heart-burnings for a time but when the offending partie comes to himselfe and right reason he recompenseth his former dislike with so much more loue and so many more thankes The franticke man returned to his wits thinkes him his best friend that bound him and beat him most I will doe my best to crosse any man in his sinnes if I haue not thanks of him yet of my conscience I shall 17 God must be magnified in his very iudgements He lookes for praise not onely for heauen but for hell also His iustice is himselfe as well as his mercy As heauen then is for the praise of his mercy so hell for the glory of his iustice We must therefore be so affected to iudgements as the author of them is who delighteth not in bloud as it makes his creature miserable but as it makes his iustice glorious Euery true Christian then must learne to sing that compound dittie of the Psalmist Of mercy and iudgement It shall not onely ioy me to see God gracious and bountifull in his mercies and deliuerances of his owne but also to see him terrible in vengeance to his enemies It is no crueltie to reioyce in iustice The foolish mercy of men is cruelty to God 18 Rarenesse causeth wonder and more than that incredulitie in those things which in themselues are not more admirable than the ordinary proceedings of Nature If a blazing starre be seene in the sky euery man goes forth to gaze and spends euery euening some time in wondring at the beames of it That any fowle should be bred of corrupted wood resolued into wormes or that the Chameleon should euer change his colours and liue by aire that the Ostrich should digest Iron that the Phoenix should burne her selfe to ashes and from thence breed a successor we wonder and can scarce credit Other things more vsuall no lesse miraculous we know and neglect That there should be a bird that knoweth and noteth the houres of day and night as certainly as any Astronomer by the course of Heauen if we knew not who would beleeue Or that the Load-stone should by his secret vertue so draw iron to it selfe as that a whole chaine of needles should all hang by insensible points at each other onely by the influence that it sends downe from the first if it were not ordinary would seeme incredible Who would beleeue when he sees a fowle mounted as high as his sight can deserv it that there were an engine to be framed which could fetch it downe into his fist Yea to omit infinite examples that a little despised creature should weaue nets out of her owne entrailes and in her platformes of building should obserue as iust proportions as the best Geometrician we should suspect for an vntruth if we saw it not daily practised in our owne windowes If the Sun should arise but once to the earth I doubt euery man would be a Persian and fall downe and worship it whereas now it riseth and declineth without any regard Extraordinarie euents each man can wonder at The frequence of Gods best workes causeth neglect not that they are euer the worse for commonnesse but because we are soone cloyed with the same conceit and haue contempt bred in vs through familiaritie I will learne to note Gods power and wisdome and to giue him praise of both in his ordinarie workes so those things which are but triuiall to the most ignorant shall be wonders to me and that not for nine daies but for euer 19 Those that affect to tell nouelties and wonders fall into many absurdities both in busie enquirie after matters impertinent and in a light credulitie to what euer they heare and in fictions of their owne and additions of circumstances to make their reports the more admired I haue noted these men not so much wondered at for their strange stories while they are telling as derided afterwards when the euent hath wrought their disproofe and shame I will deale with rumors as graue men doe by strange fashions take them vp when they are growne into common vse before I may beleeue but I will not relate them but vnder the name of my author who shall either warrant me with defence if it be true or if false beare my shame 20 It was a wittie and true speech of that obscure Heraclitus That all men awaking are in one common world but when we sleepe each man goes into a seuerall world by himselfe which though it be but a world of fancies yet is the true image of that little world which is in euery mans heart For the imaginations of our sleepe shew vs what our disposition is awaking And as many in their dreames reueale those their secrets to others which they would neuer haue done awake so all may and doe disclose to themselues in their sleepe those secret inclinations which after much searching they could not haue found out waking I doubt not therefore but as God heretofore hath taught future things in dreames which kinde of reuelation is now ceased so still he teacheth the present estate of the heart this way Some dreames are from our selues vaine and idle like our selues Others are diuine which teach vs good or moue vs to good and others deuillish which sollicite vs to euill Such answer commonly shall I giue to any temptation in the day as I doe by night I will not lightly passe ouer my very dreames They shall teach me somewhat so neither night nor day shall be spent vnprofitably the night shall teach me what I am the day what I should be 21 Men make difference betwixt seruants friends and sonnes Seruants though neere vs in place yet for their inferioritie are not familiar Friends though by reason of their equalitie and our loue they are familiar yet still we conceiue of them as others from our selues But children we thinke of affectionately as the diuided peeces of our owne bodies But all these are one to God his seruants are his friends his friends are his sons his sons his seruants Many claime kinred of God and professe friendship to him because these are priuileges without difficultie and not without honour all the triall is in seruice The other are most in affection and therefore secret and so may be dissembled this consisting in action must needs shew it selfe to the eies of others Yee are my friends if ye doe whatsoeuer I command you friendship with God is in seruice and this seruice is in action Many weare Gods cloth that know not their master that neuer did good chare in his seruice so that God hath many retainers that weare his liuerie for a countenance neuer wait on him whom he will neuer owne for seruants
that they be few seasonable what it profits argues wisdome giues safetie in actions contrarie to it Loquacitie Ill speech Immoderate mirth Pr. 17.27 Pr. 10.19 Pr. 17.27 Pr. 18.4 Pr. 10.31 Pr. 10.21 Pr. 12.14 Pr. 13.2 Pr. 18.20 Pr. 12.23 Pr. 11.12 Pr. 10.19 Pr. 17.28 Pr. 21.23 Pr. 13.3 Ec. 5.2 Pr. 15.2 Pr. 15.14 Pr. 18.2 Pr. 12.23 Ec. 10.14 Pr. 10.19 Pr. 11 2◠Pr. 15.32 Pr. 12.6 Pr. 14.3 Pr. 13.3 Pr. 27.20 Pr. 10.31 Pr. 15.4 Pr. 18.7 Pr. 11.16 Ec. 2.2 Ec. 7.5 Ec. 7.6 Ec. 11.9 THe modest for words is a man of a precious spirit that refraineth his lips and spareth his words The words of a modest man are like deepe waters and the well-spring of wisdome like a flowing Riuer but when hee doth speake it is to purpose for The mouth of the iust shall be fruitfull in wisdome and the lips of the righteous doe feed many yea himselfe A man shall be satiate with good things by the fruit of his mouth and with the fruit of a mans mouth his belly shall be satisfied but still he speaketh sparingly A wise man concealeth knowledge and a man of vnderstanding will keepe silence which as it argues him wise for euen a foole when hee holdeth his peace is counted wise and he that stoppeth his lips as prudent so it giues him much safetie Hee that keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soule from affliction yea he keepeth his life where contrarily The mouth of the foole is in the multitude of words it babbleth out foolishnesse as it is fed with it neither hath hee any delight in vnderstanding but that which his heart discouereth and while he bewraieth it The heart of fooles publisheth his foolishnesse And as he multiplieth words so in many words there cannot want iniquitie his mouth still babbleth euill things for either hee speaketh froward things or how to lie in wait for bloud or in the mouth of the foolish is the rod of pride and what is the issue of it Hee that openeth his mouth destruction shall be to him And he that hath a naughtie tongue shall fall into euill for both it shall be cut out and the frowardnesse of it is the breaking of the heart Lastly a fooles mouth is his owne destruction and his lips are a snare for his soule For actions The modest shall haue honour And though we need not say Of laughter thou art madde and of ioy what is this thou doest yet Anger is better than laughter for by a sad looke the heart is made better The heart of the wise therefore is in the house of mourning but the heart of fooles is in the house of mirth Reioice then O young man in thy youth and let thine heart cheere thee in the daies of thy youth and walke in the waies of thine heart and in the sight of thine eies but know that for all these things God will bring thee to Iudgement §. 3. Humilitie Pride Ouerweening Wherein it is How absurd How dangerous Scornfulnesse Pr. 29.23 Pr. 30.2 NExt to the modest is the humble in spirit He saith Surely I am more foolish than a man and haue not the vnderstanding of a man in me for I haue not learned wisdome and haue not attained to the knowledge of holy things Pr. 30.3 Pr. 11.2 Pr. 13.31 Pr. 16.19 Pr. 15.33 Pr. 18.12 Pr. 28.13 Pr. 29.23 Pr. 22.24 But doth hee want it ere the more No With the lowly is wisdome and The eare that harkneth to the corrections of life shall lodge among the wise Better it is therefore to be of an humble minde with the lowly than to diuide the spoiles with the proud for before honour goeth humilitie and hee that confesseth and forsaketh his sinnes shall haue mercie yea the humble of spirit shall enioy glory and the reward of humilitie and the feare of God is riches and glory and life Contrary whereto There is a generation whose eies are haughtie Pr. 30.13 Pr. 30.12 and their eye-lids are lift vp There is a generation that are pure in their owne conceit and yet are not washed from their filthinesse Yea All the waies of a man are cleane in his owne eies Pr. 16.2 Pr. 21.2 Pr. 20.6 Pr. 25.27 Pr. 27.2 but the Lord pondereth the spirits and not so onely but Many men will boast of their goodnesse but It is not good to eat much honey so to search their owne glory is not glory Let another man praise thee and not thine owne mouth a stranger and not thine owne lips This ouer-weening is commonly incident to great men Pr. 28.11 The rich man is wise in his owne conceit but the poore that hath vnderstanding can trie him Hence it is that hee affects singularitie According to his desire hee that separates himselfe Ec. 18.1 Pr. 16.12 Pr. 14.3 will seeke and occupie himselfe in all wisdome but seest thou a man thus wise in his owne conceit there is more hope of a foole than of him yea he is a foole in this In the mouth of the foolish is the rod of pride I thought I will be wise but it went farre from mee Ec. 7.25 it is farre off what may it be and that a wicked foole A haughtie looke Ec. 7.26 Pr. 21.4 Pr. 30.32 Pr. 6.17 Pr. 16.5 and a proud heart which is the light of the wicked is sinne If therefore thou hast beene foolish in lifting vp thy selfe and if thou hast thought wickedly lay thy hand vpon thy mouth for God hateth an haughtie eye yea he so hateth it that all that are proud in heart are an abomination to the Lord and though hand ioine in hand they shall not bee vnpunished and what punishment shall he haue Pr. 15.25 Pr. 18.22 The Lord will destroy the house of the proud man and his very pride is an argument of his ruine Before destruction the heart of a man is haughtie Pride goeth before destruction and an high minde before the fall Pr. 16.18 Before it yea with it when pride commeth then commeth shame Now the height of pride is scornefulnesse Hee that is proud and haughtie scornefull is his name Pr. 11.2 Pr. 21.24 who worketh in the pride of his wrath and this man despiseth his neighbour and therefore is destitute of vnderstanding when the wicked commeth then commeth contempt Pr. 11.12 Pr. 18.3 and with the vile man is reproch but of all him that reproues him Hee that reproueth a scorner purchaseth to himselfe shame and hee that rebuketh the wicked getteth himselfe a blot therefore Iudgements are prepared for the scorners Pr. 9.7 Pr. 19.29 Pr. 29.8 Pr. 21.11 and stripes for the backe of fooles so as others are hurt by his sinne for a scornefull man bringeth a whole Citie into a snare so they shall be likewise bettered by his iudgement when the scorner is punished the foolish is wise §. 4. Continencie of Lust of Anger with their Contraries OF the first kinde
vnholy places vnholy garments persons beasts fowles vessels touches tastes Vnder the Gospell all is holy All was made vnholy when the first Adam sinned when the second Adam satisfied for sinne all was made holy Moses the seruant built his house with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 2.14 A partition wall in the midst Christ the Sonne pulled downe that screene and cast all into one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iewes and Gentiles whole hoofes and clonen dwell now both vnder a roofe Moses branded some creatures with vncleannesse he that redeemed his children from morall impuritie redeemed his creatures from legall What should S. Peters great sheâ— let downe by foure corners teach us but that all creatures through the foure corners of the world are cleane and holy S. Paul proclaimes the summe of Peters vision Omnia munda mundis It is an iniurious scrupulousnesse to make differences of creatures iniurious to God to the creature to our selues To God while we will not let him serue himselfe of his owne To the creature while wee powre that shame vpon it which God neuer did To our selues while wee bring our selues into bondage where God hath inlarged vs. When Iulian had poysoned the wells and shambles and fields with his heathenish Lustrations the Christians saith Theodores are freely of all by vertue of PAVLS Quicquid in macellâ— To let passe the idle curiousnesse of our Semi-Anabaptists of the feparation at whose folly if any man bee disposed to make himselfe sport let him reade the Tragicomicall relation of the Troubles Excommunication of the English at Amsterdam There shall hee see such warres waged betwixt brothers for but a buske or whale-bone or lace or cork-shooe as if all Law and Gospell stood vpon this point as if heauen and earth were little enough to be mingled in this quarrell Nec gemina bellum Troianum To passe ouer all other lighter nicenesse of this kinde Who can choose but be ashamed of the Church of Rome which is here in a double extremitie both grosse In denying wiping out holinesse where God hath written it and in writing it where God hath not written it In the first how doe they driue out Deuils out of good creatures by foolish exorcismes I would hee were no more in themselues How doe they forbid meats drinks dayes mariage which God hath written holy Hee that reades Nauâ—rs Manuall shall finde cholericke blasphemie a veniall sinne pag. 91. some theft veniall p. 140. Common lying veniall p. 191. Cursing of parents if not malicious veniall p. 100. and yet the same Author chap. 21. nu 11. p. 209. to eat of a forbidden dish or an allowed dish more than once on a forbidden day is a mortall sinne And now these venials saith Francis a Victoria by a Pater-noster or sprinkling of holy water or knocke of the breast are cleared but that mortall eater is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 guiltie of iudgement yea of hell it selfe Scribes Pharisies Hypocrites which prate of Peters chaire but will neuer take out Peters lesson That which God hath sanctified pollute thou not In the other What Holinesse doe they write in religious Cowles Altars Reliques Ashes Candles Oyles Salts Waters Ensignes Roses Words Graines Agnus Dei Medalls and a world of such trash So much that they haue left none in themselues Let mee haue no faith if euer play-booke were more ridiculous than their Pontificall and booke of holy Ceremonies It is well that Ierome reads these words super froenum not super Tintinnabulum Else what a rule should wee haue had tho hee had said Equorum not Templorum What comparisons would haue beene If Holinesse to the Lord must bee written on the bells of Horses much more on the bells of Churches What a colour would this haue beene for the washing anointing blessing christening of them What a warrant for driuing away Deuils chasing of ghosts stilling of tempests staying of thunders yea deliuering from Tentations which the Pontificall ascribes to them By whose account there should be more vertue in this peece of metall than in their holy Father himselfe yea than in any Angell of heauen But their vulgar bridles them in this which reads it super froenum which some superstitious man would say were fulfilled in Constantines snaffle made of the nailes that pierced Christ How worthie are they in the meane time of the whip not of men onely but of God which thus in a ridiculous presumption write Holinesse where God would haue a blanke and wipe out Holinesse where God hath written it For vs there is a double holinesse for vse for vertue All things are holy to vs for vse nothing is holy for vertue of sanctification but those things which God hath sanctified to this vertue his Word his Sacraments We may vse the other and put no holinesse in them we must vse these and expect holinesse from them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothing vncleane is Peters rule but with Pauls explication Munda mundis All things are cleane in themselues to thee they are not cleane vnlesse thou be cleane Mine owne clothes shall make me filthy saith Iob. 9.31 Many a one may say so more iustly The proud mans gay coat the wanton womans beastly fashions both shew them to be vncleane and make them so But the lewd man makes his owne clothes filthy his meats drinks sports garments are vncleane to him because he is vncleane to God they are cursed to him because he is cursed of God God hath written on the outside of his creatures Holy to the Lord wee write on the inside Vnholy to men because our outside and inside is vnholy to God yea we doe not onely deface this inscription of holinesse in other creatures toâ—â—â— but wee will not let God write it vpon vs for himselfe O our miserie and shame All things else are holy Men Christians are vnholy There is no impuritie but where is Reason and Faith the grounds of Holinesse How oft would God haue written this title vpon our foreheads and ere he can haue written one full word we blot out all One sweares it away another drinks it away a third scoffs it away a fourth riots it away a fift swaggers it away and I would to God it were vncharitable to say that there is as much holinesse in the Bridles of the Horses as in some of their Riders Oh holinesse the riches of the Saints the beautie of Angels the delight of God whither hast thou withdrawne thy selfe where should we finde thee if not among Christians and yet how can we be or be named Christians without thee I see some that are afraid to be too holy and I see but some that feare to be too prophane We are all Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 1.2 All by calling and some but by calling By calling of men not of God As the Church of Rome hath some Saints which are questioned whether euer they were in nature others whether they be not in Hell burning Tapers to
also procured the Bishops to helpe forward the same cause of decayed Doctrine with their diligent preaching and teaching of the people Goe now and say that suddenly in one day by Queene Elizabeths Trumpet or by the sound of a Bell in the name of Antichrist all were called to the Church Goe say with your Patriarch that we erect Religions by Proclamations and Parliaments Vpon these premises I dare conclude and doubt not to maintaine against all Separatists in the World that England to goe no higher had in the dayes of King Henry the Eighth a true visible Church of God and so by consequent their succeeding seed was by true Baptisme iustly admitted into the bosome thereof and therefore that euen of them without any further profession Gods Church was truly constituted If you shall say that the following idolatry of some of them in Queene Maries daies excluded them Consider how hard it wil be to proue that Gods couenant with any people is presently disanulled by the sinnes of the most whether of ignorance or weaknesse and if they had herein renounced God yet that God also mutually renounced them To shut vp your Constitution then Master Smith against R. Clifton Principl and Infer pag. 11. There is no remedie Either you must goe forward to Anabaptisme or come backe to vs. All your Rabbines cannot answer that charge of your rebaptized brother If we be a true Church you must returne if wee be not as a false Church is no Church of God you must rebaptize If our Baptisme bee good then is our constitution good Thus your owne Principles teach The outward part of a true visible Church is a Vow Promise Oath or Couenant betwixt God and the Saints Now I aske Is this made by vs in Baptisme or no If it be then we haue by your confession for so much as is outwardly required a true visible Church so your separation is vniust If it be not then you must rebaptize for the first Baptisme is a nullitie and if ours be not you were neuer thereby as yet entred into any visible Church SEP To the title of a Ring-leader wherewith it pleaseth this Pistler to stile me I answer that if the thing I haue done bee good it is good and commendable to haue beene forward in it if it bee euill let it be reproued by the light of Gods Word and that God to whom I haue done that I haue done will I doubt not giue me both to see and to heale mine errour by speedie Repentance if I haue fled away on foot I shall returne on Horse-backe But as I durst neuer set foot into this way but vpon a most sound and vnresistable conuiction of Conscience by the Word of God as I was perswaded so must my retiring bee wrought by more solid reasons from the same word than are to be found in a thousand such prettie Pamphlets and formall flourishes as this is SECTION XII AS For the title of Ring-leader wherewith I stiled this Pamphleter The answerers title if I haue giuen him too much honor in his Sect I am sorry Perhaps I should haue put him pardon an homely but in this sense not vnusuall word in the taile of this Traine Perhaps I should haue endorsed my Letter to Master Smith and his shadow So I perceiue he was Whatsoeuer whether he leade or follow God meets with him If he leade Behold Ier. 13.32 I will come against them that prophesie false dreames saith the Lord and doe tell them and cense my people to erre by their lyes If he come hehinde Thou shalt not follow a multitude in euill saith God If either or both or neither If hee will goe alone Woe vnto the foolish Prophets saith the Lord which follow their owne Spirits Ezech. 13.2 and haue seene nothing Howsoeuer your euill shall be reproued by the light of Gods word Your coniunction I cannot promise your reproofe I dare If thereupon you finde grace to see and heale your errours we should with all brotherly humblenesse attend on foot vpon your returne on Horse-backe but if the sway of your mis-resolued conscience be headie and vnresistable and your retiring hopelesse these not solide reasons these prettie Pamphlets these formall flourishes shall one day be fearefull and material euidences against you before that awefull Iudge which hath alreadie said Pro. 19.21 That iudgements are prepared for the Scorners and stripes for the backe of Fooles SEP Your pittying of vs and sorrowing for vs especially for the wrong done by vs were in you commendable affections if by vs iustly occasioned but if your Church be deeply drencht in Apostasie and you cry Peace Peace when suddaine and certaine desolation is at hand it is you that doe wrong though you make the complaint and so being cruell towards your selues and your own whom you flatter you cannot be truly pittifull towards others whom you bewaile But I will not discourage you in this affection lest we finde few in the same fault the most in stead of pittie and compassion affording vs nothing but furie and indignation SECTION XIII I PROFESSED to bestow pittie and sorrow vpon you and your wrong The Apostasie of the Church of England You entertaine both harshly and with a churlish repulse What should a man doe with such dispositions Let him stroke them on the backe they snarle at him and shew their teeth Let him shew them a Cudgell they flie in his face You allow not our actions and returne our wrong Ours is both the iniurie and complaint How can this bee You are the Agents we sit still and suffer in this rent Yet since the cause makes the Schisme let vs inquire not whose the action is but whos 's the desert Our Church is deepe drencht in Apostasie and we cry Peace Peace No lesse than a whole Church at once and that not sprinkled or wetshod but drencht in apostasie What did wee fall off from you or you from vs Tell me were we euer the true Church of God and were we then yours We cannot fall vnlesse we once stood Was your Church before this Apostasie Shew vs your Ancestors in opinion Name me but one that euer taught as you doe and I vow to separate Was it not Then we fell not from you Euery Apostasie of the Church must needs be from the true Church A true Church and not yours And yet can there be but one true See now whether in branding vs with Apostasie you haue not proued yours to be no true Church Still I am ignorant A Treatise of the Ministery of England against M. H. pag. 125. Queene Maries dayes you say had a true Church which separated from Poperie chose them Ministers serued God holily from thence was our Apostasie But were not the same also for the most part Christians in King Edwards dayes Did they then in that confused allowance of the Gospell separate Or I pray you were Cranmer Latimer Ridley Hooper and the rest
distinguish in the Sea but he cannot now either consider or feare it is his time to perish God makes him faire way and lets him run smoothly on till he be come to the midst of the Sea not one waue may rise vp against him to wet so much as the house of his horse Extraordinary fauours to wicked men are the forerunners of their ruine Now when God sees the Aegyptians too far to returne he finds time to strike them with their last terror they know not why but they would returne too late Those Chariots in which they trusted now faile them as hauing done seruice enough to carie them into perdition God pursues them and they cannot flye from him Wicked men make equall haste both to sin and from iudgement but they shall one day finde that it is not more easie to run into sin then impossible to run away from iudgement the sea will shew them that it regards the Rod of Moses not the Scepter of Pharaoh and now as glad to haue got the enemies of God at such an aduantage shuts her mouth vpon them and swallowes them vp in her waues and after shee hath made sport with them a while casts them vpon her sands for a spectacle of triumph to their aduersaries What a sight was this to the Israelites when they were now safe on the shore to see their enemies come floating after them vpon the billowes and to find among the carkasses vpon the sands their knowne oppressors which now they can tread vpon with insultation They did not cry more loud before then now they sing Not their faith but their sense teaches them now to magnifie that God after their deliuerance whom they hardly trusted for their deliuerance Contemplations VPON THE PRINCIPALL PASSAGES OF THE Holy Storie The second Volume IN FOVRE BOOKES By I.H. D.D. LONDON Printed for THO PAVIER MILES FLESHER and Iohn Haviland 1625. TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE CHARLES PRINCE OF GREAT BRITAINE Most excellent PRINCE ACcording to the true dutie of a seruant J entended all my Contemplations to your now-glorious Brother of sweet and sorrowfull memorie The first part whereof as it was the last Booke that euer was dedicated to that deare and immortall name of his so it was the last that was turned ouer by his gracious hand Now since it pleased the GOD of spirits to call him from these poore Contemplations of ours to the blessed Contemplation of himselfe to see him as Hee is to see as hee is seene to whom is this sequell of my labours due but to your Highnesse the heire of his Honor and Vertues Euery yeare of my short pilgrimage is like to adde something to this Worke which in regard of the subiect is scarce finite The whole doth not onely craue your Highnesses Patronage but promises to requite your Princely acceptation with many sacred examples and rules both for pietie and wisdome towards the decking vp of this flourishing spring of your Age in the hopes whereof not onely we liue but be that is dead liues still in you And if any piece of these endeuours come short of my desires J shall supply the rest with my prayers which shall neuer be wanting to the God of Princes that your happy proceedings may make glad the Church of God and your selfe in either World glorious Your Highnesses in all humble deuotion and faithfull obseruance IOS HALL Contemplations THE FIFTH BOOKE The Waters of Marah The Quailes and Manna The Rocke of Rephidim The Foyle of Amalek Or The hand of Moses lift vp The Law The Golden Calfe BY IOS HALL D. of Diuinitie and Deane of WORCESTER LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE HENRY EARLE OF HVNTINGDON LORD HASTINGS BOTERAVX MOLINES MOILES HIS MAIESTIES LIEVTENANT IN THE COVNTY OF LEICESTER A BOVNTIFVLL FAVOVRER OF ALL GOOD LEARNING A NOBLE PRECEDENT OF VERTVE THE FIRST PATRONE OF MY POORE STVDIES J. H. DEDICATES THIS PIECE OF HIS LABORS AND WISHETH ALL HONOVR AND HAPPINESSE Contemplations THE FIFTH BOOKE The waters of Marah ISRAEL was not more loth to come to the Red Sea then to part from it How soone can God turne the horrour of any euill into pleasure One shore resounded with shriekes of feare the other with Timbrels and Dances and Songs of Deliuerance Euery maine affliction is our Red Sea which while it threats to swallow preserues vs At last our Songs shall be lowder then our cryes The Israelitish Dames whē they saw their danger thought they might haue left their Timbrels behinde them how vnprofitable a burden seemed those instruments of Musick yet now they liue to renue that forgotten Minstralsie and Dancing which their bondage had so long discontinued and well might those feet dance vpon the shore which had walked thorow the Sea The Land of Goshen was not so bountifull to them as these Waters That afforded them a seruile life This gaue them at once freedome victorie riches bestowing vpon them the remainder of that wealth which the Aegyptians had but lent It was a pleasure to see the floating carkases of their Aduersaries and euery day offers them new booties It is no maruell then if their hearts were tyed to these bankes If we finde but a little pleasure in our life wee are ready to dote vpon it Euery small contentment glues our affections to that we like And if here our imperfect delights hold vs so fast that we would not be loosed how forcible shall those infinite ioyes be aboue when our soules are once possessed of them Yet if the place had pleas'd them more it is no maruell they were willing to follow Moses that they durst follow him in the Wildernesse whom they followed through the Sea It is a great confirmation to any people when they haue seene the hand of God with their guide O Sauiour which hast vndertaken to cary me from the spirituall Aegypt to the Land of Promise How faithfull how powerfull haue I found thee How fearelesly should I trust thee how cheerefully should I follow thee through contempt pouerty death it selfe Master if it be thou bid vs come vnto thee Immediately before they had complained of too much water now they go three dayes without Thus God meant to punish their infidelitie with the defect of that whose abundance made them to distrust Before they saw all Water no Land now all dry and dustie Land and no Water Extremities are the best tryals of men As in bodies those that can beare sudden changes of heats and cold without complaint are the strongest So much as an euill touches vpon the meane so much help it yeelds towards patience Euery degree of sorrow is a preparation to the next but when we passe to extreames without the meane we want the benefit of recollection and must trust to our present strength To come from all things to nothing is not a descent but a downfall and it is a rare strength and constancy not to be maymed
touched of the purest Israelite Here the hem of his garment is touched by the woman that had the flux of blood yea his very face was touched with the lips of Iudas There the very earth vvas prohibited them on which he descended Here his very body and blood is profered to our touch and taste Oh the maruellous kindnesse of our God! How vnthankfull are we if we doe not acknowledge this mercy aboue his ancient people They were his owne yet strangers in comparison of our libertie It is our shame and sinne if in these meanes of intirenesse we be no better acquainted with God then they which in their greatest familiaritie vvere commanded aloofe God was euer wonderfull in his workes and fearfull in his iudgements but hee was neuer so terrible in the execution of his will as now in the promulgation of it Here was nothing but a maiesticall terrour in the eyes in the eares of the Israelites as if God meant to shew them by this how fearfull he could be Here was the lightning darted in their eyes the thunders roaring in their eares the Trumpet of God drowning the thunder claps the voice of God out-speaking the Trumpet of the Angell The Cloud enwrapping the smoake ascending the fire flaming the Mount trembling Moses climbing and quaking palenesse and death in the face of Israel vprore in the elements and all the glory of heauen turned into terrour In the destruction of the first World there were clouds without fire In the destruction of Sodom there was fire raining without clouds but here was fire smoake clouds thunder earthquakes and whatsoeuer might worke more astonishment then euer was in any vengeance inflicted And if the Law vvere thus giuen how shall it be required If such were the Proclamation of Gods Statutes what shall the Sessions bee I see and tremble at the resemblance The Trumpet of the Angell called vnto the one The voice of an Archangell the Trumpet of God shall summon vs to the other To the one Moses that climbed vp that Hill and alone saw it sayes God came with ten thousands of his Saints In the other thousand thousands shall minister to him and ten thousand thousands shal stand before him In the one Mount Sinai onely was on a flame all the World shall be so in the other In the one there was fire smoake thunder and lightning In the other a fiery streame shall issue from him wherewith the heauens shall be dissolued and the Elements shall melt away vvith a noise Oh God how powerfull art thou to inflict vengeance vpon sinners who didst thus forbid sinne and if thou vvert so terrible a Law-giuer vvhat a Iudge shalt thou appeare What shall become of the breakers of so fierie a Law Oh vvhere shall those appeare that are guilty of the transgressing that law vvhose very deliuery vvas little lesse then death If our God should exact his Law but in the same rigour wherein he gaue it sinne could not quite the cost But now the fire vvherein it was deliuered was but terrifying the fire wherein it shall bee required is consuming Happy are those that are from vnder the terrours of that Law which was giuen in fire and in fire shall be required God would haue Israel see that they had not to do with some impotent Commander that is faine to publish his Lawes without noyse in dead paper which can more easily enioyne then punish or descry then execute and therefore before hee giues them a Law he shewes them that he can command Heauen Earth Fire Ayre in reuenge of the breach of the Law That they could not but thinke it deadly to displease such a Law-giuer or violate such dreadfull statutes that they might see all the Elements examples of that obedience which they should yeeld vnto their Maker This fire wherein the Law was giuen is still in it and will neuer out Hence are those terrours which it flashes in euery conscience that hath felt remorse of sinne Euery mans heart is a Sinai and resembles to him both heauen and hell The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law That they might see he could finde out their closest sinnes hee deliuers his Law in the light of fire from out of the smoake That they might see what is due to their sinnes they see fire aboue to represent the fire that should be below them That they might know he could waken their securitie the Thunder and louder voice of GOD speakes to their hearts That they might see what their hearts should doe the Earth quakes vnder them That they might see they could not shift their appearance the Angels call them together Oh royall Law and mighty Law-giuer How could they think of hauing any other God that had such proofes of this How could they think of making any resemblance of him whom they saw could not be seene and whom they saw in not being seene infinite How could they thinke of daring to profane his Name vvhom they heard to name himselfe with that voice Iehoua How could they thinke of standing vvith him for a day whom they saw to command that heauen vvhich makes and measures day How could they thinke of disobeying his Deputies whom they saw so able to reuenge How could they thinke of killing when they were halfe dead with the feare of him that could kill both body and soule How could they think of the flames of lust that saw such fires of vengeance How could they thinke of stealing from others that saw whose the heauen and the earth was to dispose of at his pleasure How could they thinke of speaking falsely that heard God speake in so fearfull a tone How could they thinke of coueting others goods that saw how vveake and vncertaine right they had to their owne Yea to vs vvas this Law so deliuered to vs in them neither had there beene such state in the promulgation of it if God had not intended it for Eternity We men that so feare the breach of humane Lawes for some small mulcts of forfeiture how should vvee feare thee O Lord that canst cast body and soule into hell Of the Golden Calfe IT was not much aboue a moneth since Israel made their couenant with God since they trembled to heare him say Thou shalt haue no other Gods but me since they saw Moses part from them and climbe vp the Hill to God and now they say Make vs Gods we know not what is become of this Moses Oh ye mad Israelites haue ye so soon forgotten that fire and thunder which you heard and saw Is that smoake vanished out of your minde as soone as out of your sight Could your hearts cease to tremble with the earth Can yee in the very sight of Sinai call for other Gods And for Moses was it not for your sakes that he thrust himselfe into the midst of that smoake and fire which ye feared to see afar off Was he not now gone after so many sudden
brethren Craftily yet and vnder pretence of a false title had they acknowledged the victory of Gideon with what forehead could they haue denied him bread Now I know not whether their faithlesnesse or enuy lie in their way Are the hands of Zeba and Zalmunna in thy hands There were none of these Princes of Succoth and Penuel but thought themselues better men then Gideon That he therefore alone should doe that which all the Princes of Israel durst not attempt they hated and scorned to heare It is neuer safe to measure euents by the power of the instrument nor in the causes of God whose calling makes the difference to measure others by our selues There is nothing more dangerous then in holy businesses to stand vpon comparisons and our owne reputation sith it is reason God should both chuse and blesse where he lists To haue questioned so sudden a victory had been pardonable but to deny it scornfully was vnworthy of Israelites Carnall men thinke that impossible to others which themselues cannot doe From hence are their censures hence their exclamations Gideon hath vowed a fearefull reuenge and now performes it the taunts of his brethren may not stay him from the pursuit of the Midianites Common enmities must first be opposed domesticall at more leysure The Princes of Succoth feared the tyranny of the Midianitish Kings but they more feared Gideons victory What a condition hath their enuy drawne them into that they are sorry to see Gods enemies captiue that Israels freedome must be their death that the Midianites and they must tremble at one and the same Reuenger To see themselues prisoners to Zeba and Zalmunna had not been so fearefull as to see Zeba and Zalmunna prisoners to Gideon Nothing is more terrible to euill mindes then to reade their owne condemnation in the happy successe of others hell it selfe would want one piece of his torment if the wicked did not know those whom they contemned glorious I know not whether more to commend Gideons wisedome and moderation in the proceedings then his resolution and iustice in the execution of this businesse I doe not see him run furiously into the City and kill the next His sword had not been so drunken with bloud that it should know no difference But he writes down the names of the Princes and singles them forth for reuenge When the Leaders of God come to a Iericho or Ai their slaughter was vnpartiall not a woman or child might liue to tell newes but now that Gideon comes to a Succoth a City of Israelites the rulers are called forth to death the people are frighted with the example not hurt with the iudgement To enwrappe the innocent in any vengeance is a murderous iniustice Indeed where all ioyne in the sin all are worthy to meet in the punishment It is like the Citizens of Succoth could haue been glad to succour Gideon if their rulers had not forbidden they must therefore escape whiles their Princes perish I cannot thinke of Gideons reuenge without horror That the Rulers of Succoth should haue their flesh torne from their backs with thornes and briers that they should bee at once beaten and scratcht to death What a spectacle it was to see their bare bones looking some-where thorow the bloudy ragges of their flesh and skinne and euery stroke worse then the last death multiplied by torment Iustice is sometimes so seuere that a tender beholder can scarce discerne it from cruelty I see the Midianites fare lesse ill the edge of the sword makes a speedy and easie passage for their liues whiles these rebellious Israelites dye lingringly vnder thornes and bryers enuying those in their death whom their life abhorred Howsoeuer men liue or dye without the pale of the Church a wicked Israelite shall be sure of plagues How many shall vnwish themselues Christians when Gods reuenges haue found them out The place where Iacob wrestled with God and preuailed now hath wrestled against God and takes a fall they see God auenging which would not beleeue him deliuering It was now time for Zeba and Zalmunna to follow those their troops to the graue whom they had led in the field Those which the day before were attended with an hundred thirty fiue thousand followers haue not so much as a Page now left to weep for their death and haue liued onely to see all their friends and some enemies dye for their sakes Who can regard earthly greatnesse that sees one night change two of the greatest Kings of the World into captiues It had been both pitty and sinne that the Heads of that Midianitish tyranny into which they had drawn so many thousands should haue escaped that death And yet if priuate reuenge had not made Gideon iust I doubt whether they had died The bloud of his brothers cals for theirs and awakes his sword to their execution He both knew and complained of the Midianitish oppression vnder which Israel groned yet the cruelty offered to all the thousands of his Fathers sonnes had not drawne the bloud of Zeba and Zalmunna if his owne mothers sonnes had not bled by their hands He that slew the Rulers of Succoth and Penuel spared the people now hath slain the people of Midian and would haue spared their Rulers but that God which will finde occasions to winde wicked men into iudgement will haue them slaine in a priuate quarrel which had more deserued it for the publike If we may not rather say that Gideon reuenged these as a Magistrate not as a brother For Gouernours to respect their owne ends in publike actions and to weare the sword of iustice in their owne sheath it is a wrongfull abuse of authority The slaughter of Gideons brethren was not the greatest sinne of the Midianitish Kings this alone shall kill them when the rest expected an vniust remission How many lewd men hath God payd with some one sinne for all the rest Some that haue gone away with vnnuturally filthinesse and capitall thefts haue clipped off their owne dayes with their coyne Others whose bloudy murders haue been punished in a mutinous word Others whose suspected felony hath payd the price of their vnknowne rape O God thy iudgements are iust euen when mens are vniust Gideons young soone is bidden to reuenge the death of his Vncles His sword had not yet learned the way to bloud especially of Kings though in yrons Deadly executions require strength both of heart and face How are those aged in euill that can draw their swords vpon the lawfuly Anointed of God These Tyrants plead not now for coutinuance of life but for the haste of their death Fall thou vpon vs. Death is euer accompanied with paine which it is no maruell if we wish short We doe not more affect protraction of an easefull life then speed in our dissolution for here euery pang that tends toward death renewes it To lye an houre vnder death is tedious but to be dying a whole day we thinke aboue the
abasement Heroicall and that the onely way to true glory is not to be ashamed of our lowest humiliation vnto God Well might he promise himselfe honour from those whose contempt she had threatned The hearts of men are not their owne he that made them ouer-rules them and inclines them to an honourable conceit of those that honour their Maker So as holy men haue oft times inward reuerence euen where they haue outward indignities Dauid came to blesse his house Mical brings a curse vpon her selfe Her scornes shall make her childlesse to the day of her death Barrennesse was held in those times none of the least iudgements God doth so reuenge Dauids quarrell vpon Mical that her sudden disgrace shall be recompenced with perpetuall She shall not be held worthy to beare a sonne to him whom she vniustly contemned How iust is it with God to prouide whips for the backe of scorners It is no maruell if those that mocke at goodnesse be plagued with continuall fruitlesnesse MEPHIBOSHETH and ZIBA SO soone as euer Dauid can but breathe himselfe from the publike cares hee casts backe his thoughts to the deare remembrance of his Ionathan Sauls seruant is likely to giue him the best intelligence of Sauls sonnes The question is therefore moued to Ziba Remaineth there yet none of the house of Saul and lest suspition might conceale the remainders of an emulous liue in feare of reuenge intended he addes On whom I may shew the mercy of God for Ionathans sake O friendship worthy of the Monuments of Eternity fit only to requite him whose loue was more than the loue of women Hee doth not say Is there any of the house of Ionathan but of Saul that for his friends sake hee may shew fauour to the Posterity of his Persecutor Ionathans loue could not bee greater than Sauls malice which also suruiued long in his issue from whom Dauid found a busie and stubborne riualitie for the Crowne of Israel yet as one that gladly buried all the hostilitie of Sauls house in Ionathans graue hee askes Is there any man left of Sauls house that I may shew him mercie for Ionathans sake It is true loue that ouerliuing the person of a friend will bee inherited of his seed but to loue the posteritie of an enemie in a friend it is the miracle of friendship The formall amitie of the World is confined to a face or to the possibility of recompence languishing in the disabilitie and dying in the decease of the party affected That loue was euer false that is not euer constant and then most operatiue when it cannot be either knowne or requited To cut off all vnquiet competition for the Kingdome of Israel the prouidence of God had so ordered that there is none left of the house of Saul besides the sonnes of his Concubines saue only young and lame Mephihosheth so young that hee was but fiue yeeres of age when Dauid entred vpon the Gouernment of Israel so lame that if his age had fitted his impotence had made him vnfit for the Throne Mephibosheth was not borne a Cripple it was an heedlesse Nurse that made him so She hearing of the death of Saul and Ionathan made such haste to flee that her young Master was lamed with the fall Yw is there needed no such speed to runne away from Dauid whose loue pursues the hidden sonne of his brother Ionathan How often doth our ignorant mistaking cause vs to runne from our bestfriends and to catch knockes and maimes of them that professe our protection MEPHIBOSHETH could not come otherwise than fearefully into the presence of Dauid whom hee knew so long so spitefully opposed by the house of Saul hee could not bee ignorant that the fashion of the World is to build their owne security vpon the bloud of the opposite faction neither to thinke themselues safe whiles any branch remaines springing out of that root of their emulation Seasonably doth Dauid therefore first expell all those vniust doubts ere hee administer his further cordials Feare not for I will surely shew thee kindnesse for Ionathan thy fathers sake and will restore thee all the fields of Saul thy father and thou shalt eate bread at my table continually Dauid can see neither Sauls bloud nor lame legs in Mephibosheth whiles he sees in him the features of his friend Ionathan how much lesse shall the God of mercies regard our infirmities or the corrupt bloud of our sinfull Progenitors whiles he beholds vs in the face of his Sonne in whom he is well pleased Fauours are wont so much more to affect vs as they are lesse expected by vs Mephibosheth as ouer-ioyed with so comfortable a word and confounded in himselfe at the remembrance of the contrary-deseruings of his Family bowes himselfe to the earth and sayes What is thy seruant that thou shouldst looke vpon such a dead Dog as I am I find no defect of wit though of limmes in Mepihbesheth hee knew himselfe the Grand-childe of the King of Israel the sonne of Ionathan the lawfull heire of both yet in regard of his owne impotencie and the trespasse and reiection of his house hee thus abaseth himselfe vnto Dauid Humiliation is a right vse of Gods affliction What if hee were borne great If the sinne of his Grandfather hath lost his estate and the hand of his Nurse hath deformed and disabled his person hee now forgets what hee was and cals himselfe worse than hee is A Dogge Yet a liuing Dogge is better than a dead Lion there is dignity and comfort in life Mephibosheth is therefore a dead Dogge vnto Dauid It is not for vs to nourish the same spirits in our aduerse estate that wee found in our highest prosperitie What vse haue wee made of Gods hand if wee bee not the lower with ourfall God intends wee should carry our crosse not make a fire of it to warme vs It is no bearing vp our sayles in a tempest Good Dauid cannot dis-esteeme Mephibosheth euer the more for disparaging himselfe hee loues and honours this humilitie in the Sonne of Ionathan There is no more certaine way to glory and aduancement than a lowly deiection of our selues Hee that made himselfe a Dogge and therefore fit onely to lye vnder the table yea a dead Dogge and therefore fit onely for the ditch is raised vp to the table of a King his seat shall bee honourable yea royall his fare delicious his attendance noble How much more will our gracious God lift vp our heads vnto true honour before men and Angels if wee can bee sincerely humbled in his sight If wee miscall our selues in the meanenesse of our conceits to him hee giues vs a new name and sets vs at the Table of his glorie It is contrary with GOD and men if they reckon of vs as wee set our selues hee values vs according to our abasements Like a Prince truely munificent and faithfull Dauid promises and performes at once Ziba Sauls seruant hath the charge giuen him of
she had prepared to her sicke Brother her selfe is made a prey to his outragious Lust The modest Virgine intreates and perswades in vaine shee layes before him the sinne the shame the danger of the fact and since none of these can preuaile faine would winne time by the suggesting of vnpossible hopes Nothing but violence can stay a resolued sinner What hee cannot by intreaty hee will haue by force If the Deuill were not more strong in men than nature they would neuer seeke pleasure in violence Amnon hath no sooner fulfilled his beastly desires than he hates Tamar more than he loued her Inordinate lust neuer ends but in discontentment Losse of spirits and remorse of soule make the remembrance of that Act tedious whose expectation promised delight If we could see the backe of sinfull pleasures ere we behold their face our hearts could not but be fore-stalled with a iust detestation Brutish Amnon it was thy selfe whom thou shouldst haue hated for this villany not thine innocent sister Both of you lay together onely one committed incest What was she but a patient in that impotent fury of lust How vniustly doe carnall men mis-place their affections No man can say whether that loue or this hatred were more vnreasonable Fraud drew Tamar into the house of Amnon force intertained her within and droue her out Faine would she haue hid her shame where it was wrought and may not bee allowed it That roofe vnder which she came with honour and in obedience and loue may not be lent her for the time as a shelter of her ignominie Neuer any sauage could be more barbarous Shechem had rauished Dinah his offence did not make her odious his affection so continued that he is willing rather to draw bloud of himselfe and his people than forgoe her whom hee had abused Amnon in one houre is in the excesse of loue and hate and is sicke of her for whom he was ficke She that lately kept the keyes of his heart is now lockt out of his doores Vnruly passions runne euer into extremities and are then best apaied when they are furthest off from reason and moderation What could Amnon thinke would be the euent of so soule a fact which as hee had not the grace to preuent so hee hath not the care to conceale If hee lookt not so high as Heauen what could he imagine would follow hereupon but the displeasure of a Father the danger of Law the indignation of a Brother the shame and out-cryes of the World All which he might haue hoped to auoid by secresie and plausible courses of satisfaction It is the iust iudgement of God vpon presumptuous offenders that they lose their wit together with their honesty and are either so blinded that they cannot fore-see the issue of their actions or so besotted that they doe not regard it Poore Tamar can but bewaile that which she could not keepe her Virginity not lost but torne from her by a cruell violence She rends her Princely Robe and kâ—ies ashes on her head and laments the shame of anothers sinne and liues more desolate than a widdow in the house of her brother Absalom In the meane time what a corosiue must this newes needs be to the heart of good Dauid whose fatherly command had out of loue cast his Daughter into the iawes of this Lion What an insolent affront must he needs construe this to bee offred by a Sonne to a Father that the Father should bee made the Pandar of his owne Daughter to his Sonne Hee that lay vpon the ground weeping for but the sicknesse of an Infant How vexed doe we thinke hee was with the villanie of his Heire with the rauishment of his Daughter both of them worse than many deaths What reuenge can he thinke of for so haynous a crime lesse than death and what lesse than death is it to him to thinke of a reuenge Rape was by the Law of God capitall how much more when it is seconded with Incest Anger was not punishment enough for so high an offence Yet this is all that I heare of from so indulgent a Father sauing that he makes vp the rest with sorrow punishing his Sonnes out-rage in himselfe The better-natur'd and more gracious a man is the more subiect he is to the danger of an ouer-remissenesse and the excesse of fauour and mercie The milde iniustice is no lesse perillous to the Common-wealth than the cruell If Dauid perhaps out of the conscience of his owne late offence will not punish this fact his sonne Absalom shall not out of any care of Iustice but in a desire of reuenge Two whole yeares hath this slye Courtier smothered his indignation and fayned kindnesse else his inuitation of Amnon in speciall had beene suspected Euen gallant Absalom was a great Sheep-master The brauery and magnificence of a Courtier must bee built vpon the grounds of frugalitie Dauid himselfe is bidden to this bloudie Sheep-shearing It was no otherwise meant but that the Fathers eyes should be the witnesses of the Tragicall execution of one Sonne by another Onely Dauids loue kept him from that horrible spectacle Hee is carefull not to be chargeable to that Sonne who cares not to ouer charge his Fathers stomacke with a Feast of Bloud AMNON hath so quite forgot his sinne that he dares goe to feast in that House where Tamar was mourning and suspects not the kindnesse of him whom he had deserued of a Brother to make an enemy Nothing is more vnsafe to be trusted than the faire lookes of a festred heart Where true Charitie or iust satisfaction haue not wrought a sound reconciliation malice doth but lurke for the opportunitie of an aduantage It was not for nothing that Absalom deferred his reuenge which is now so much the more exquisite as it is longer protracted What could bee more fearefull than when Amnons heart was merrie with Wine to be suddenly stricken with death As if this execution had beene no lesse intended to the Soule than to the bodie How wickedly soeuer this was done by Absalom yet how iust was it with God that he who in two yeares impunity would finde no leisure of repentance should now receiue a punishment without possibilitie of Repentance O God thou art righteous to reckon for those sinnes which humane partialitie or negligence hath omitted and whiles thou punishest sinne with sinne to punish sinne with death If either Dauid had called Amnon to account for this villanie or Amnon had called himselfe the reuenge had not beene so desperate Happie is the man that by an vnfayned Repentance acquits his soule from his knowne euills and improues the dayes of his peace to the preuention of future vengeance which if it bee not done the hand of God shall as surely ouertake vs in iudgement as the hand of Satan hath ouertaken vs in miscarriage vnto sinne ABSALOMS Returne and Conspiracie ONE Act of iniustice drawes on another The iniustice of Dauid in not punishing the rape of
our pride and false confidence in earthly things then with a fleshly criâ—â— though hainously seconded It was an hard and wofull choise of three yeares famine added to three fore-past or of three moneths flight from the sword of an enemie or three dayes pestilence The Almighty that had fore-determined his iudgement referres it to Dauids will as fully as if it were vtterly vndetermined God hath resolued yet Dauid may choose That infinite wisdome hath foreseene the very will of his creature which whiles it freely inclines it selfe to what it had rather vnwittingly wils that which was fore appointed in heauen We doe well beleeue thee O Dauid that thou wert in a wonderfull strait this very liberty is no other then fetters Thou needst not haue famine thou needst not haue the sword thou needst not haue pestilence one of them thou must haue There is misery in all there is misery in any thou and thy people can die but once and once they must dye either by famine warre or pestilence Oh God how vainely doe we hope to passe ouer our sinnes with impunitie when all the fauour that Dauid and Israel can receiue is to choose their bane Yet behold neither sinnes nor threats nor feares can bereaue a true penitent of his faith Let vs fall now into the hands of the Lord for his mercies are great There can bee no euill of punishment wherein God haue not an hand there could be no famine no sword without him but some euils are more immediate from a diuine stroke such was that plague into which Dauid is vnwillingly willing to fall He had his choyce of dayes moneths yeares in the same number and though the shortnesse of time prefixed to the threatned pestilence might seeme to offer some aduantage for the leading of his election yet God meant and Dauid knew it herein to proportion the difference of time to the violence of the plague neither should any fewer perish by so few dayes pestilence then by so many yeares famine The wealthiest might auoid the dearth the swiftest might runne away from the sword no man could promise himselfe safety from that pestilence In likelihood Gods Angell would rather strike the most guilty Howeuer therefore Dauid might well looke to be inwrapped in the common destruction yet he rather chooseth to fall into that mercy which hee had abused and to suffer from that iustice which he had prouoked Let vs now fall into the hands of the Lord. Humble confessions and deuout penance cannot alwayes auert temporall iudgements Gods Angell is abroad and within that short compasse of time sweepes away seuenty thousand Israelites Dauid was proud of the number of his subiects now they are abated that he may see cause of humiliation in the matter of his glory In what we haue offended we commonly smart These thousands of Israel were not so innocent that they should onely perish for Dauids sinne Their sinnes were the motiues both of this sinne and punishment besides the respect of Dauids offence they die for themselues It was no ordinarie pestilence that was thus suddenly and vniuersally mortall Common eyes saw the botch and the markes saw not the Angell Dauids clearer sight hath espyed him after that killing peragration through the Tribes of Israel shaking his sword ouer Ierusalem and houering ouer Mount Sion and now hee who doubtlesse had spent those three dismall dayes in the saddest contrition humbly casts himselfe downe at the feet of the auenger and layes himselfe ready for the fatall stroke of iustice It was more terrour that God intended in the visible shape of his Angell and deepeâ— humiliation and what he meant he wrought Neuer soule could be more deiected more anguished with the sense of a iudgement in the bitternesse whereof hee cryes out Behold I haue sinned yea I haue done wickedly But these Sheepe what haue they done Let thine hand I pray thee be against me and against my fathers house The better any man is the more sensible he is of his owne wretchednesse Many of those Sheepe were Wolues to Dauid What had they done They had done that which was the occasion of Dauids sinne and the cause of their owne punishment But that gracious penitent knew his owne sinne he knew not theirs and therefore can say I haue sinned What haue they done It is safe accusing where wee may be boldest and are best acquainted our selues Oh the admirable charitie of Dauid that would haue ingrossed the plague to himselfe and his house from the rest of Israel and sues to interpose himselfe betwixt his people and the vengeance He that had put himselfe vpon the pawes of the Beare and Lyon for the rescue of his Sheepe will now cast himselfe vpon the sword of the Angell for the preseruation of Israel There was hope in those conflicts in this yeeldance there could be nothing but death Thus didst thou O sonne of Dauid the true and great Shepheard of thy Church offer thy selfe to death for them who had their hands in thy blood who both procured thy death and deserued their owne Here he offered himselfe that had sinned for those whom he professed to haue not done euill thou that didst no sinne vouchsauest to offer thy selfe for vs that were all sinne Hee offered and escaped thou offeredst and diedst and by thy death we liue and are freed from euerlasting destruction But O Father of all mercies how little pleasure doest thou take in the blood of sinners it was thine owne pitie that inhibited the Destroyer Ere Dauid could see the Angell thou hadst restrained him It is sufficient hold now thy hand If thy compassion did not both with-hold and abridge thy iudgements what place were there for vs out of hell How easie and iust had it beene for God to haue made the shutting vp of that third euening red with blood his goodnes repents of the slaughter and cals for that Sacrifice wherewith he will be appeased An Altar must be built in the threshing floore of Araunah the Iebusite Lo in that very Hill where the Angell held the sword of Abraham from killing his Sonne doth God now hold the Sword of the Angel from killing his people Vpon this very ground shall the Temple after stand heere shall be the holy Altar which shall send vp the acceptable oblations of Gods people in succeeding generations O God what was the threshing-floore of a Iebusite to thee aboue all other soyles What vertue what merit was in this earth As in places so in persons it is not to bee heeded what they are but what thou wilt That is worthiest which thou pleasest to accept Rich and bountifull Araunah is ready to meet Dauid in so holy a motion and munificently offers his Sion for the place his Oxen for the Sacrifice his Carts Ploughs and other Vtensils of his Husbandry for the wood Two franke hearts are well met Dauid would buy Araunah would giue The Iebusite would not sell Dauid will not take Since it was for
willing their torment they may be made most sensible of paine and by the obedible submission of their created nature wrought vpon immediately by their appointed tortures Besides the very horrour which ariseth from the place whereto they are euerlastingly confined For if the incorporeall spirits of liuing men may bee held in a loathed or painfull body and conceiue sorrow to bee so imprisoned Why may wee not as easily yeeld that the euill spirits of Angels or men may be held in those direfull flames and much more abhorre therein to continue for euer Tremble rather O my soule at the thought of this wofull condition of the euill Angels who for one onely act of Apostasie from God are thus perpetually tormented whereas we sinfull wretches multiply many and presumptuous offences against the Maiestie of our God And withall admire and magnifie that infinite mercy to the miserable generation of man which after this holy seueritie of iustice to the reuolted Angels so graciously forbeares our hainous iniquities and both suffers vs to be free for the time from these hellish torments and giues vs opportunitie of a perfect freedome from them for euer Praise the Lord O my soule and all that is within me praise his holy Name who for giueth all thy sinnes and healeth all thine infirmities Who redeemeth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with mercy and compassions There is no time wherein the euill spirits are not tormented there is a time wherein they expect to be tormented yet more Art thou come to torment vs before our time They knew that the last Assises are the prefixed terme of their full execution which they also vnderstood to be not yet come For though they knew not when the Day of Iudgement should be a point concealed from the glorious Angels of heauen yet they knew when it should not be and therefore they say Before the time Euen the very euill spirits confesse and fearfully attend a set day of vniuersall Sessions They beleeue lesse then Deuils that either doubt of or deny that day of finall retribution Oh the wonderfull mercy of our God that both to wicked men and spirits respites the vtmost of their torment He might vpon the first instant of the fall of Angels haue inflicted on them the highest extremitie of his vengeance Hee might vpon the first sinnes of our youth yea of our nature haue swept vs away and giuen vs our portion in that fierie lake he stayes a time for both Though with this difference of mercy to vs men that here not onely is a delay but may be an vtter preuention of punishment which to the euill spirits is altogether impossible They doe suffer they must suffer and though they haue now deserued to suffer all they must yet they must once suffer more then they doe Yet so doth this euill spirit expostulate that he sues I beseech thee torment mee not The world is well changed since Satans first onset vpon Christ Then hee could say If thou be the Sonne of God now Iesus the Sonne of the most high God then All these will I giue thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me now I beseech thee torment mee not The same power when hee lists can change the note of the Tempter to vs How happy are wee that haue such a Redeemer as can command the Deuils to their chaines Oh consider this ye lawlesse sinners that haue said Let vs breake his bonds and cast his cords from vs How euer the Almighty suffers you for a iudgement to haue free scope to euill and ye can now impotently resist the reuealed will of your Creator yet the time shall come when yee shall see the very masters whom ye haue serued the powers of darknesse vnable to auoid the reuenges of God How much lesse shall man striue with his Maker man whose breath is in his nostrils whose house is clay whose foundation is the dust Nature teaches euery creature to wish a freedome from paine the foulest spirits cannot but loue themselues and this loue must needs produce a deprecation of euill Yet what a thing is this to heare the deuill at his prayers I beseech thee torment me not Deuotion is not guilty of this but feare There is no grace in the suit of Deuils but nature no respect of glory to their Creator but their owne ease They cannot pray against sinne but against torment for sinne What newes is it now to heare the profanest mouth in extremitie imploring the Sacred Name of God when the Deuils doe so The worst of all creatures hates punishment and can say Lead me not into paine onely the good heart can say Leade mee not into temptation If wee can as heartily pray against sinne for the auoiding of displeasure as against punishment when wee haue displeased there is true grace in the soule Indeed if wee could feruently pray against sinne we should not need to pray against punishment which is no other then the inseparable shadow of that bodie but if we haue not laboured against our sins in vaine doe wee pray against punishment God must be iust and the wages of sinne is death It pleased our holy Sauiour not onely to let fall words of command vpon this spirit but to interchange some speeches with him All Christs actions are not for example It was the errour of our Grand-mother to hold chat with Satan That God who knowes the craft of that old Serpent and our weake simplicitie hath charged vs not to enquire of an euill spirit surely if the Disciples returning to Iacobs Well wondred to see Christ talke with a woman well may wee wonder to see him talking with an vncleane Spirit Let it be no presumption O Sauiour to aske vpon what grounds thou didst this wherein wee may not follow thee Wee know that sinne was excepted in thy conformitie of thy selfe to vs wee know there was no guile found in thy mouth no possibilitie of taint in thy nature in thine actions Neither is it hard to conceiue how the same thing may bee done by thee without sinne which wee cannot but sinne in doing There is a vast difference in the intention in the Agent For on the one side thou didst not aske the name of the spirit as one that knew not and would learne by inquiring but that by the confession of that mischiefe which thou pleasedst to suffer the grace of the cure might bee the more conspicuous the more glorious so on the other God and man might doe that safely which meere man cannot doe without danger thou mightest touch the leprosie and not be legally vncleane because thou touchedst it to heale it didst not touch it with possibility of infection So mightest thou who by reason of the perfection of thy diuine nature wert vncapable of any staine by the interlocution with Satan safely conferre with him whom corrupt man pre-disposed to the danger of such a parle may not meddle with without sinne because not without perill It is
to take him There are Spies vpon him whose espials haue moued their anger and admiration Hee is descried to be in Dothan a small towne of Manasses A whole Armie is sent thither to surprise him The opportunitie of the night is chosen for the exploit There shall bee no want either in the number or valour or secrecie of these conspired troupes and now when they haue fully girt in the village with a strong and exquisite siege they make themselues sure of Elisha and please themselues to thinke how they haue incaged the miserable Prophet how they should take him at vnawares in his bed in the midst of a secure dreame how they should carie him fettered to their King what thankes they should haue for so welcome a prisoner The successor of Gehezi riseth early in the morning and sees all the Citie encompassed with a fearfull host of foot horse charets His eye could meet with nothing but woods of pikes and wals of harnesse and lustre of metals and now hee runnes in affrighted to his Master Alas my Master what shall wee doe Hee had day enough to see they were enemies that inuironed them to see himselfe helplesse and desperate and hath onely so much life left in him as to lament himselfe to the partner of his miserie He cannot flee from his new master if he would he runnes to him with a wofull clamour Alas my Master what shall we do Oh the vndanted courage of faith Elisha sees all this and sits in his chamber so secure as if these had onely beene the guard of Israel for his safe protection It is an hard precept that hee giues his seruant Feare not As well might hee haue bid him not to see when he saw as not to feare when he saw so dreadfull a spectacle The operations of the senses are not lesse certaine then those of the affections where the obiects are no lesse proper But the taske is easie if the next word may find beleefe For there are moe with vs then with them Multitude and other outward probabilities do both lead the confidence of naturall hearts and fix it It is for none but a Dauid to say I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that haue set themselues against me round about Flesh and blood riseth and falleth according to the proportion of the strength or weaknesse of apparent meanes Elishaes man lookt about him yet his Master prayes Lord open his eyes that they may see Naturally we see not whiles we doe see Euery thing is so seene as it is Bodily eyes discerne bodily obiects onely spirituall can see the things of God Some men want both eyes and light Elishaes seruant had eyes wanted illumination No sooner were his eyes open then he saw the mountaine full of horses and charets of fire round about Elisha They were there before neither doth Elisha pray that those troups may be gathered but that they may be seene not till now were they descried Inuisible armies guard the seruants of God whiles they seeme most forsaken of earthly ayd most exposed to certaine dangers If the eyes of our faith be as open as those of our sense to see Angels as well as Syrians we cannot be appalled with the most vnequall termes of hostilitie Those blessed Spirits are ready either to rescue our bodies or to carie vp our soules to blessednesse whether euer shall bee enioyned of their Maker there is iust comfort in both in either Both those Charets that came to fetch Elijah and those that came to defend Elisha were fiery God is not lesse louely to his owne in the midst of his iudgements then hee is terrible to his enemies in the demonstrations of his mercies Thus guarded it is no maruell if Elisha dare walke forth into the midst of the Syrians Not one of those heauenly Presidiaries strucke a stroke for the Prophet neither doth hee require their blowes onely hee turnes his prayer to his God and sayes Smite this people I pray thee with blindnesse With no other then deadly intentions did these Aramites come downe to Elisha yet doth not he say Smite them with the Sword but Smite them with blindnesse All the euill he wishes to them is their repentance There was no way to see their errour but by blindnesse He that prayed for the opening of his seruants eyes to see his safe-gard prayes for the blinding of the eyes of his enemies that they might not see to doe hurt As the eyes of Elishaes seruant were so shut that they saw not the Angels when they saw the Syrians so the eyes of the Syrians shall bee likewise shut that when they see the man they shall not see the Prophet To all other obiects their eyes are cleare onely to Elisha they shall bee blind blind not through darknesse but through misknowledge they shall see and mistake both the person and the place Hee that made the senses can either hold or delude them at pleasure how easily can hee offer to the sight other representations then those which arise from the visible matter and make the heart to beleeue them Iustly now might Elisha say This is not the way neither is this the Citie wherein Elisha shall bee descried He was in Dothan but not as Elisha hee shall not be found but in Samaria neither can they haue any guide to him but himselfe No sooner are they come into the streets of Samaria then their eyes haue leaue to know both the place and the Prophet The first sight they haue of themselues is in the trap of Israel in the iawes of death those stately Palaces which they now wonder at vnwillingly carie no resemblance to them but of their graues Euery Israelite seemes an executioner euery house a Iayle euery beame a Gibbet and now they looke vpon Elisha transformed from their guide to their common murderer with horror and palenesse It is most iust with God to intangle the plotters of wickednesse in their owne snare How glad is a mortall enemy to snatch at all aduantages of reuenge Neuer did the King of Israel see a more pleasing sight then so many Syrian throats at his mercy and as loth to lose so faire a day as if his fingers itched to bee dip't in blood hee saies My father shall I smite shall I smite them The repetition argued desire the compellation reuerence Not without allowance of a Prophet would the King of Israel lay his hand vpon an enemy so miraculously trained home His heart was still foule with idolatry yet would he not taint his hand with forbidden blood Hypocrisie will bee still scrupulous in fomething and in some awfull restraints is a perfect counterfeit of conscience The charitable Prophet soone giues an angry prohibition of slaughter Thou shalt not smite them Wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captiue with thy sword and with thy bow As if he said These are Gods captiues not thine and if they were thine owne their blood could not bee shed
without cruelty though in the hot chases of warre executions may be iustifiable yet in the coolenesse of deliberation it can bee no other then inhumane to take those liues which haue beene yeelded to mercy But here thy bow and thy sword are guiltlesse of the successe onely a strange prouidence of the Almighty hath cast them into thine hands whom neither thy force nor thy fraud could haue compassed If it bee victory thou aimest at ouercome them with kindnesse Set bread and water before them that they may eate and drinke Oh noble reuenge of Elisha to feast his persecutors To prouide a Table for those who had prouided a graue for him These Syrians came to Dothan full of bloody purposes to Elisha he sends them from Samaria full of good cheare and iollity Thus thus should a Prophet punish his pursuers No vengeance but this is heroicall and fit for Christian imitation If thine enemy hunger giue him bread to eate if hee thirst giue him water to drinke For thou shalt heape coales of fire vpon his head and the Lord shall reward thee Be not ouercome with euill but ouercome euill with good The King of Israel hath done that by his feast which hee could not haue done by his sword The bands of Syria will no more come by way of ambush or incursion into the bounds of Israel Neuer did a charitable act goe away without the retribution of a blessing In doing some good to our enemies wee doe most good to our selues God cannot but loue in vs this imitation of his mercy who bids his Sunne shine and his raine fall where he is most prouoked and that loue is neuer fruitlesse The Famine of Samaria releeued NOt many good turnes are written in Marble soone haue these Syrians forgotten the mercifull beneficence of Israel After the forbearance of some hostile inroade all the forces of Syria are mustered against Iehoram That very Samaria which had releeued the distressed Aramites is by the Aramites besieged and is affamished by those whom it had fed The famine within the walles was more terrible then the sword without Their worst enemy was shut within and could not be dislodged of their owne bowels Whither hath the Idolatry of Israel brought them Before they had beene scourged with warre with drought with dearth as with single cords they remaine incorrigible and now God twists two of these bloody lashes together and galls them euen to death there needs no other executioners then their owne mawes Those things which in their nature were not edible at least to an Israelite were now both deare and dainty The Asse was besides the vntoothsomnesse an impure creature that which the law of Ceremonies had made vncleane the law of necessitie had made delicate and precious the bones of so carrion an head could not bee picked for lesse then foure hundred pieces of siluer neither was this scarcitie of victuals only but of all other necessaries for humane vse that the belly might not complaine alone the whole man was equally pinched The King of Israel is neither exempted from the iudgement nor yet yeelds vnder it He walkes vpon the walls of his Samaria to ouersee the Watches set the Engines ready the Guards changed together with the posture of the enemy when a woman cries to him out of the Citie Help my Lord O King Next to God what refuge haue we in all our necessities but his Anointed Earthly Soueraigntie can aide vs in the case of the iniustice of men but what can it doe against the iudgements of God If the Lord doe not helpe thee whence shall I helpe thee out of the barne floore or out of the wine-presse Euen the greatest powers must stoope to afflictions in themselues how should they be able to preuent them in others To sue for aide where is an vtter impotence of redresse is but to vpbraid the weaknesse and aggrauate the misery of those whom we implore Iehoram mistakes the suit The suppliant cals to him for a wofull peece of Iustice Two mothers haue agreed to eate their sonnes The one hath yeelded hers to be boiled and eaten the other after shee hath taken her part of so prodigious a banquet withdrawes her child and hides him from the knife Hunger and enuy make the Plaintiffe importunate and now shee craues the benefit of royall iustice Shee that made the first motion with-holds her part of the bargain and flyes from that promise whose trust had made this mother childlesse Oh the direfull effects of famine that turnes off all respects of nature and giues no place to horror causing the tender mother to lay her hands yea her teeth vpon the fruit of her owne body and to receiue that into her stomacke which shee hath brought forth of her wombe What should Iehoram doe The match was monstrous The challenge was iust yet vnnaturall This complainant had purchased one halfe of the liuing child by the one halfe of hers dead The mother of the suruiuing Infant is pressed by couenant by hunger restrained by nature To force a mother to deliuer vp her child to voluntarie slaughter had been cruell To force a Debtor to pay a confessed arerage seemed but equall If the remaining child be not dressed for food this mother of the deuoured child is both robbed and affamished If he be innocent blood is shed by authoritie It is no maruell if the questiō astonished the Iudge not so much for the difficulty of the demand as the horror of the occasion to what lamentable distresse did Iehoram find his people driuen Not without cause did the King of Israel rend his garments and shew his sackcloth wel might he see his people branded with that ancient curse which God had denounced against the rebellious The Lord shall bring a Nation against thee of a fierce countenance which shall not regard the person of the old nor shew fauour to the yong And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine owne body the flesh of thy sonnes and of thy daughters The tender and delicate woman her eyes shall bee euill towards her yong one that commeth out from betweene her feet and toward◠the children which shee shall beare for she shall eate them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitnesse He mournes for the plague he mournes not for the cause of this plague his sinne and theirs I finde his sorrow I find not his repentance The worst man may grieue for his smart onely the good heart grieues for his offence In stead of being penitent Iehoram is furious and turnes his rage from his sinnes against the Prophet God doe so to me and more also if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day Alas what hath the righteous done Perhaps Elisha that wee may imagine some colours of this displeasure fore-threatned this iudgement but they deserued it perhaps hee might haue auerted it by his prayers their
the faith and worship of the true God Miracles must be iudged by the doctrine which they confirme not the doctrine by the miracles The Dreamer or Prophet must bee esteemed not by the euent of his wonder but by the substance scope of his teaching The Romanists argue preposterously while they would proue the truth of their Church by miracles wheras they shold proue their miracles by the truth To say nothing of the fashion of their cures that one is prescribed to come to our Lady rather on a Friday as * * * * * Pag. 7 Henry Loyez another to wash nine dayes in the water of MONTAGV as Leonard Stocqueau another to eat a peece of the Oake where the image stood as * * * * * Histoire miracle de nostre Dame Pag 73. Pag. 102. Magdaleine the widow of Bruxelles All which if they sauor not strong of magicall receits let the indifferent iudge Surely either there is no sorcery or this is it All shall be plaine if the doctrine confirmed by their miracles be once discussed for if that be diuine truth we doe vniustly impugne these workes as diabolicall if falshood they doe blasphemously proclaime them for diuine These works tend all chiefly to this double doctrine that the blessed Virgin is to be inuoked for her mediation That God and Saints are to be adored in and by images Positions that would require a volume and such as are liberally disputed by others whereof one is against Scripture the other which in these cases values no lesse besides it One deifies the Virgin the other a stocke or stone It matters not what subtle distinctions their learned Doctors make betwixt mediatioÌ„ of Redemption Examen Pacifique de la doctrine dos Huguenots O sauueresse sauue moy Manuel of French praiers printed at Liege by approbation and authority of Anton Ghenatt Inquisitor c. and Intercession 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Saint and the Image We know their common people whose deuotion enriches those shrines by confession of their owne Writers climbe the hill of Zichem with this conceit that Mary is their Sauioresse that the stocke is their Goddesse which vnlesse it be true how doe their wonders teach them lies and therefore how from God But to take the first at best for the second is so grosse that were not the second Commandement by Papists purposely razed out of their Primiers children and carters would condemne it it cannot bee denyed that all the substance of prayer is in the heart the vocall sound is but a complement and as an outward case wherein our thoughts are sheathed That power cannot know the praier which knowes not the heart either then the Virgin is God for that shee knowes the heart or to know the heart is not proper to God or to know the heart and so our prayers is falsely ascribed to the Virgin and therfore these wonders which teach men thus to honor her are Doctors of lies so not of God There cannot be any discourse wherein it is more easie to bee tedious To end If prayers were but in words and Saints did meddle with all particularities of earthly things yet blessed Mary should bee a God if shee could at once attend all her suters One sollicits her at Halle another at Scherpenheuuel another at Luca at our Walsingham another one in Europe another in Asia or perhaps another is one of her new Clients in America Ten thousand deuout Suppliants are at once prostrate before her seuerall shrines If she cannot heare all why pray they If she can what can God doe more Certainly as the matter is vsed there cannot be greater wrong offered to those heauenly spirits then by our importunate superstitions to be thrust into Gods Throne and to haue forced vpon them the honors of their Maker There is no contradiction in heauen a Saint cannot allow that an Angell forbids See thou doe it not was the voyce of an Angell if all the miraculous blockes in the world shall speake contrary wee know whom to beleeue The old rule was * * * * * Let no man worship the Virgin Mary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Either that rule is deuillish or this practice And if this practice bee ill God deliuer mee from the immediate author of these miracles Change but one Idoll for another and what differ the wonders of Apollos Temples from those of these Chappels We reuerence as we ought the memory of that holy and happy Virgin We hate those that dishonour her we hate those that deifie her Cursed be all honour that is stolne from God This short satisfaction I giue in a long question such as I dare rest in and resolue that all popish miracles are either falsely reported or falsly done or falsely miraculous or falsely ascribed to heauen To Mr. WILLIAM BEDELL at Venice EP. VII Lamenting the death of our late Diuines and exciting to their imitation WE haue heard how full of trouble and danger the Alpes were to you and did at once both pity your difficulties and reioyce in your safety Since your departure from vs Reynolds is departed from the world Alas how many worthy Lights haue our eyes seene shining and extinguisht How many losses haue we liued to see the Church sustaine and lament of her children of her pillers our owne and forraine I speake not of those which being excellent would needs be obscure whom nothing but their owne secrecy depriued of the honour of our teares There are besides too many whom the world noted and admired euen since the time that our common mother acknowledged vs for her sonnes Our Fulke led the way that profound ready and resolute Doctor the hammer of hereticks The 〈◊〉 of Truth whom your younger times haue heard oft disputing acutely and powerfully Next him followed that honour of our Schooles and Angell of our Church learned Whitakers than whom our age saw nothing more memorable what clearnesse of iudgement what sweetnesse of style what grauity of person what grace of cariage was in that man Who euer saw him without reuerence or heard him without wonder Soone after left the world that famous and illuminate Doctor Francis Iunius the glory of Leiden the other hope of the Church the Oracle of Textuall and Schoole-Diuinity rich in languages subtle in distinguishing and in argument invincible and his companion in labours Lu. Trelcatius would needs be his companion in ioyes who had doubted our sorrow and losse but that he recompenced it with a sonne like himselfe Soone after self old reuerend Beza a long fixed starre in this firmament of the Church who after many excellent monuments of learning and fidelity liued to proue vpon his aduersaries that hee was not dead at their day Neyther may I without iniury omit that worthy payre of our late Diuines Greâ—nham and Perkins whereof the one excelled in experimentall diuinitie knew well how to stay a weake conscience how to raise a
fallen how to strike a remorslesse The other in a distinct iudgement and a rare dexterity in clearing the obscure subtleties of the Schoole and easie explication of the most perplex discourses Doctor Reynolds is the last not in worth but in the time of his losse Hee alone was a well furnisht library full of all faculties of all studies of all learning the memory the reading of that man were neer to a miracle These are gone amongst many more whom the Church mournes for in secret would God her losse could be as easily supplied as lamented Her sorrow is for those that are past her remainder of ioy in those that remaine her hope in the next age I pray God the causes of her hope and ioy may be equivalent to those of her griefe What should this worke in vs but an imitation yea that word is not too bigge for you an emulation of their worthinesse It is no pride for a man to wish himselfe spiritually better then he dare hope to reach nay I am deceiued if it be not true humility For what doth this argue him but low in his conceit high in his desires only Or if so happy is the ambition of grace and power of sincere seruiceablenesse to God Let vs wish and affect this while the world layes plots for greatnesse Let me not prosper if I bestow enuy on them He is great that is good and no man me-thinkes is happy on earth to him that hath grace for substance and learning for ornament If you know it not the Church our mother lookes for much at your hands she knowes how rich our common father hath left you she notes your graces your opportunities your imployments she thinks you are gone so farre like a good Merchant for no small gaine and lookes you shall come home well laded And for vent of your present commodities tho our chiefe hope of successe be cut off with that vnhoped peace yet what can hinder your priuate trafficke for God I hope and who doth not that this blow will leaue in your noble Venetians a perpetuall scarre and that their late irresolution shall make them euer capable of all better counsell and haue his worke like some great Eclipse many yeares after How happy were it for Venice if as she is euery yeare maried to the Sea so she were once throughly espoused to Christ In the meane time let me perswade you to gratifie vs at home with the publication of that your exquisit Polemicall discourse whereto our conference with M. Alablaster gaue so happy an occasion You shall hereby cleare many truths and satisfie all Readers yea I doubt not but an aduersary not too peruerse shall acknowledge the Truths victory and yours It was wholsome counsell of a Father that in the time of an heresie euery man should write Perhaps you complain of the inundations of Francford How many haue been discouraged from benefiting the world be this conceit of multitude Indeed we all write and while we write cry out of number How well might many be spared euen of those that complaine of too many whose importunate babling cloyes the world without vse To my Lord the Earle of Essex EP. VIII Aduice for his Trauels MY Lord both my dutie and promise make my Letters your debt and if neither of these my thirst of your good You shall neuer but need good counsell most in trauell Then are both our dangers greater and our hopes I need not to tell you the eyes of the world are much vpon you for your owne sake for your fathers onely let your eyes be vpon it againe to obserue it to satisfie it and in some cases to contemn it As your graces so your weaknesses will be the sooner spied by how much you are more noted The higher any building is the more it requires exquisit proportion which in some low and rude piles is needlesse If your vertues shall be eminent like your fathers you cannot so hide your selfe but the world will see you and force vpon you applause admiration in spight of modesty but if you shall come short in these your fathers perfection shall be your blemish Thinke now that more eyes are vpon you then at home of forrainers of your owne theirs to obserue ours to expect For now we account you in the Schoole of wisedome whence if you returne not better you shall worse with the losse of your time of our hopes For I know not how naturall it is to vs to looke for alteration in trauell and with the change of aire and land to presuppose a change in the person Now you are through both your yeeres and trauell in the forge of your hopes We all looke not without desire and apprecation in what shape you will come forth Thinke it not enough that you see or can say you haue seene strange things of nature or euent it is a vaine and dead trauell that rests in the eye or the tongue All is but lost vnlesse your busie mind shall from the body that it sees draw forth some quintessence of obseruation wherewith to informe inrich it selfe There is nothing can quite the cost and labour of trauell but the gaine of wisedome How many haue we seene and pittied which haue brought nothing from forrain countries but mishapen clothes or exoticall gestures or new games or affected lispings or the diseases of the place or which is worst the vices These men haue at once wandred from their countrie and from themselues and some of them too easie to instance haue left God behind them or perhaps instead of him haue after a loose and filthy life brought home some idle Puppet in a box whereon to spend their deuotion Let their wracke warne you and let their follies be entertained by you with more detestation then pittie I know your Honour too well to feare you your young yeares haue beene so graciously preuented with soueraigne antidotes of truth and holy instruction that this infection despaires of preuailing Your very blood giues you argument of safety yet good counsell is not vnseasonable euen where danger is not suspected For Gods sake my Lord whatsoeuer you gaine lose nothing of the truth remit nothing of your loue and pietie to God of your fauour and zeale to religion As sure as there is a God you were trained vp in the true knowledge of him If either Angell or Deuill or Iesuit should suggest the contrary send him away with defiance There you see and heare euery day the true mother and the fained striuing and pleading for the liuing child The true Prince of peace hath past sentence from heauen on our side Doe not you stoope so much as to a doubt or motion of irresolution Abandon those from your table and salt whom your owne and others experience shall descry dangerous Those Serpents are full of insinuations But of all those of your owne country which are so much the more pernicious by how much they haue more colour
them by a direct restraint such prohibition would both endanger their vtter distaste and whet their desire to more eagernesse I may change Religion I may not inhibit it so the people haue a God it sufficeth them they shall haue so much formalitie as may content them their zeale is not so sharpe but they can be well pleased with ease I will proffer them both a more compendious and more plausibie worship Ierusalem shall be supplied within mine owne borders naturally men loue to see the obiects of their deuotion I will therefore feed their eyes with two golden representations of their God nearer home and what can be more proper then those which Aaron deuised of old to humour Israel Vpon this pestilent ground Ieroboam sets vp two calues in Dan and Bethel and perswades the people It is too much for you to goe vp to Ierusalem behold thy Gods O Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt Oh the mischiefe that comes of wicked infidelitie It was Gods Prophet that had rent Ieroboams garment into twelue pieces and had giuen ten of them to him in token of his sharing the ten Tribes who with the same breath also told him that the cause of this distraction was their Idolatry Yet now will he institute an Idolatrous seruice for the holding together of them whom their Idolatry had rent from their true Soueraigne to him Hee sayes not God hath promised me this Kingdome God hath conferd it God shall finde meanes to maintaine his owne act I will obey him let him dispose of me The God of Israel is wise and powerfull enough to fetch about his own designes but as if the deuices of men were stronger then Gods prouidence and ordination he will be working out his own ends by prophane policies Ieroboam being borne an Israelite and bred in the Court of a Salomon could not but know the expresse charge of God against the making of Images against the erecting of any riuall altars to that of Ierusalem yet now that he sees both these may auaile much to the aduancing of his ambitious proiect hee sets vp those Images those Altars Wicked men care not to make bold with God in cases of their owne commodity If the lawes of their Maker lye in the way of their profit or promotion they either spurne them out or tread vpon them at pleasure Aspiring minds will know no God but honour Israeâ— soiourned in Egypt and brought home a golden calfe Ieroboam soiournes there and brought home two It is hard to dwell in Egypt vntainted not to sauour of the sinnes of the place we liue in is no lesse strange then for wholesome liquor tund vp in a musty vessell not to smell of the cask The best body may be infected in a contageous aire Let him beware of Egypt that would be free from Idolatry No sooner are Ieroboams calues vp then Israel is downe on their knees their worship followes immediately vpon the erection How easily is the vnstable vulgar caried into whatsoeuer religion of authoritie The weather-cocke will looke which way soeuer the winde blowes It is no maruell if his subiects bee brutish who hath made a calfe his god Euery accessary to sinne is filthy but the first authors of sinne are abominable How is Ieroboam branded in euery of these sacred leaues How doe all ages ring of his fact with the accent of dishonour and indignation Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat that made Israel to sinne It was a shame for Israel that it could bee made to sinne by a Ieroboam but O cursed name of Ieroboam that would draw Israel to sinne The followers and abettors of euill are worthy of torment but no hell is too deepe for the leaders of publique wickednesse Religion is cloathed with many requisite circumstances As a new King would haue a new god so that new God must haue new Temples Altars Seruices Priests Solemnities All these hath Ieroboam instituted all these hath he cast in the same mold with his golden calues False deuotion doth not more crosse then imitate the true Satan is no lesse a counterfet then an enemy of God He knowes it more easie to adulterate religion then to abolish it That which God ordained for the auoidance of Idolatry is made the occasion of it a limitation of his holy seruices to Ierusalem How mischieuously doe wicked men peruert the wholesome institutions of God to their sinne to their bane Ieroboam could not be ignorant how fearfully this very act was reuenged vpon Israel in the Wildernesse yet he dares renew it in Dan and Bethel No example of iudgement can affright wilfull offenders It is not the metall that makes their gods but the worship the sacrifices What sacrifices could there be without Priests No religion could euer want sacred masters of Diuine ceremonies Gods Clergy was select and honourable branches of the holy stemme of Aaron Ieroboam rakes vp his Priests out of the channell of the multitude all Tribes all persons were good enough for his spurious deuotion Leaden Priests are well fitted to golden Deities Religion receiues either much honour or blemish by the qualitie of those that serue at her Altars Wee are not worthy to professe our selues seruants of the True God if we doe not hold his seruice worthy of the best Ieroboams Calues must haue sacrifices must haue solemne festiuities though in a day and moneth of his owne deuising In vaine shall we pretend to worship a god if we grudge him the iust dayes and rites of his worship It is strange that hee who thought the dregs of the vulgar good enough for that Priesthood would grace those gods by acting their Priest himselfe and yet behold where the new King of Israel stands before his new Altar with a Scepter in one hand and a Censer in the other ready to sacrifice to his new gods when the man of God comes from Iuda with a message of iudgement Oh desperate condition of Israel that was so farre gone with impiety that it yeelded not one faithfull monitor to Ieroboam The time was that the erecting of but a new altar for memory for monument on the other side of Iordan bred a challenge to the Tribes of Reuben Gad and Manasses and had cost much Israelitish blood if the quarrelled Tribes had not giuen a seasonable and pious satisfaction and now lo how the stronger stomach of degenerated Israel can digest new Altars new Temples new Gods What a difference there is betwixt a Church and Kingdome newly breathing from affliction and setled vpon the lees of a mis-vsed peace But oh the patience and mercy of our long-suffering God that will not strike a very Ieroboam vnwarned Iudgement houers ouer the heads of sinners ere it light If Israel afford not a bold reprouer of Ieroboam Iuda shall When the King of Israel is in all the height both of his State and superstition honouring his solemne day with his richest deuotion steps forth a Prophet of
God and interrupts that glorious seruice with a loud inclamation of iudgement Doubtlesse the man wanted not wit to know what displeasure what danger must needs follow so vnwelcome a message yet dares hee vpon the commission of God doe this affront to an Idolatrous King in the midst of all his awfull magnificence The Prophets of God goe vpon many a thanklesse errand Hee is no messenger for God that either knowes or feares the faces of men It was the Altar not the person of Ieroboam which the Prophet thus threatens Yet not the stones are stricken but the founder in both their apprehensions So deare as the deuices of our owne braine to vs as if they were incorporated into our selues There is no opposition whereof we are so sensible as that of religion That the royall Altar should be thus polluted by dead mens bones and the blood of the Priests was not more vnpleasing then that all this should be done by a childe of the house of Dauid for Ieroboam well saw that the throne and the altar must gand or fall together that a sonne of Dauid could not haue such power ouer the Altar without an vtter subuersion of the gouernment of the succession therefore is he thus galled with this comminatory prediction The rebellious people who had said What portion haue we in Dauid heare now that Dauid will perforce haue a portion in them and might well see what beasts they had made themselues in worshipping the image of a beast and sacrificing to such a God as could not preserue his owne Altar from violation and ruine All this while I doe not see this zealous Prophet laying his hand to the demolition of this Idolatrous Altar or threatning a knife to the Author of this deprauation of religion Onely his tongue smites both not with foule but sharpe words of menace not of reproach It was for Iosias a King to shed the blood of those sacrificers to deface those Altars Prophets are for the tongue Princes for the hand Prophets must onely denounce iudgement Princes execute Future things are present to the Eternall It was some two hundred and sixty years ere this prophecy should be fulfilled yet the man of God speaks of it as now in acting What are some Centuries of yeares to the Ancient of dayes How slow and yet how sure is the pace of Gods reuenge It is not in the power of time to frustrate Gods determinations There is no lesse iustice nor seueritie in a delayed punishment What a perfect Record there is of all names in the roll of Heauen before they be after they are past what euer seeming contingency there is in their imposition yet they fall vnder the certainty of a decree and are better knowne in heauen ere they be then on earth whiles they are He that knowes what names wee shall haue before we or the world haue a being doth not oft reueale this peece of his knowledge to his creature here he doth naming the man that should be two hundred yeeres after for more assurance of the euent that Israel may say this man speakes from a God who knowes what shall be There cannot bee a more sure euidence of a true Godhead then the foreknowledge of those things whose causes haue yet no hope of being But because the proofe of this prediction was not more certaine then remote a present demonstration shall conuince the future The Altar shall rend in peeces the ashes shall be scattered How amazedly must the seduced Israelites needes looke vpon this miracle and why doe they not thinke with themselues whiles these stones rend why are our hearts whole Of what an ouer-ruling power is the God whom wee haue forsaken that can thus teare the Altars of his corriuals How shall wee stand before his vengeance when the very stones breake at the word of his Prophet Perhaps some beholders were thus affected but Ieroboam whom it most concerned in stead of bowing his knees for humiliation stretcheth forth his hand for reuenge and cryes Lay hold on him Resolute wickednesse is impatient of a reproofe and in stead of yeelding to the voice of God rebelleth Iust and discreet reprehension doth not more reforme some sinners then exasperate others How easie is it for God to coole the courage of proud Ieroboam the hand which his rage stretches out dries vp and cannot bee pulled backe againe and now stands the King of Israel like some anticke statue in a posture of impotent indeuour so disabled to the hurt of the Prophet that hee cannot command that peece of himselfe What are the great Potentates of the world in the powerfull hand of the Almighty Tyrants cannot be so harmefull as they are malicious The strongest heart may be brought downe with affliction Now the stout stomach of Ieroboam is fallen to an humble deprecation Intreat now the face of the Lord thy thy God and pray for me that my hand may bee restored mee againe It must needs bee a great streight that could driue a proud heart to begge mercy where he bent his persecution so doth Ieroboam holding it no scorne to be beholden to an enemy In extremities the worst men can bee content to sue for fauour where they haue spent their malice It well becomes the Prophets of God to be mercifull I doe not see this Seer to stand vpon termes of exprobration and ouerly contestations with Ieroboam to say Thine intentions to me were cruell Had thine hand preuailed I should haue sued to thee in vaine Continue euer a spectacle of the fearfull iustice of thy Maker whom thou hast prouoked by thine Idolatry whom thou wouldest haue smitten in my perfection but hee meekely sues for Ieroboams release and that God might abundantly magnifie both his power and mercy is heard and answered with successe We doe no whit sauour of heauen if we haue not learned to doe good for euill When both winde and Sunne the blasts of iudgement and the beames of fauour met together to worke vpon Ieroboam who would not looke that hee should haue cast off this cumbrous and mis-beseeming cloake of his Idolatry and haue said Lord thou hast striken mee in iustice thou hast healed mee in mercy I will prouoke thee no more This hand which thou hast restored shall bee consecrated to thee in pulling downe these bold abominations Yet now behold hee goes on in his old courses and as if God had neither done him good nor euill liues and dies idolatrous No stone is more hard or insensate then a sinfull heart The changes of iudgement and mercy doe but obdure it in stead of melting The seduced Prophet IEroboams hand is amended his soule is not that continues still dry and inflexible Yet whiles hee is vnthankfull to the Author of his recouery he is thankfull to the instrument he kindely inuites the Prophet whom he had threatned and will remunerate him whom hee endeuoured to punish The worst men may be sensible of bodily fauours Ciuill respects