and never dissolved sinking eternally and never come vnto the bottome weeping gnashing freezing frying without the least drop of hope or hope of pity I quake and stop and dare to go no farther O indignation of the Almighty fall not vpon vs for our flesh trembleth for feare of thee we are afraid of thy terrible iudgements Wee acknowledge our lightest offences to deserue thy eternall anger and this prison to be due for our dayly transgressions but spare vs good Lord for thy Sonne who spared'st not thy Sonne for vs let not the thought of our last end be so the last end of our thought that by forgetting thy iustice we neglect thy service presume in the least sinnes to offend thy infinite Maiesty Heare vs good Lord for thy Church and thy Church for thy Sonne and thy Sonne for both to whom with thee and the holy Ghost three persons and one God be ascribed all honour power and dominion both now and evermore AMEN EPHESVS BACKSLIDING CONSIDERED AND APPLIED TO THESE TIMES IN A SERMON PREACHED AT OXFORD IN St MARIES the tenth of Iuly being the Act-sunday By IOHN PRIDEAVX Doctor of Divinity Regius Professor and Rector of Exeter Colledge IOHN 6.67 Will yee also goe away OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL MY VERY REVEREND AND WORTHY PATRONE Dr BODLEY CANON OF EXETER AND Parson of SHOBROOKE IN DEVON SIR BEING over-ruled by some friends to print this Sermon not framed nor intended to any such purpose my choice was easier to whom I should dedicate it The world seeth how much I am bound to you for the late reall kindnesse conferred on me For which to shew my selfe thankfull by all honest meanes the lesse you expect it the more I hold it due Our Saviour Who most avoided popular applause See thou say nothing to any man Mark 1.44 misliked not the Samaritane Luk. 17.16 that turned backe to giue thanks And much it were to bee wished that in these daies thanks would serue Mat. 21.12 But since buyers and sellers haue broken into the Temple Iudas'es what will you giue me Mat. 26.15 and Simon Magus's offering make most bargaines for Benefices Act. 8.18 Whereby God is dishonoured worthy men disheartned hirelings preferred good lawes deluded holy things prophaned the Church stained the people starued The more remarkable therefore hath beene your free dealing with me and your religious kinsman's M. Periam's with M. Orford of our College If such Patrons might be patternes for disposing the Lords portion many in the country might be better taught and in our Vniversities sooner imployed My selfe with this sauour of yours am the more affected because it comes from my natiue country to which my best services were otherwise devored Besides it stands with a kinde of conveniencie in my desires at least that Exeter Colledge especially should be patronized from Exeter from which it first had it's name and Founder and for which it hath bred as by Gods grace it shall continue to doe so many men of worth Concerning this ensuing discourse I haue little to say It must speak for it's selfe now it appeares abroad Iudicious is that position of S. Augustine Haud quicquam facit bonos vel malos mores nisi boni vel mali amores ep 52. Amor est vis animae naturali quodam pondere ferēs eam in locum vel finem suū Lib. de nat dignit divini amoris cap. 1. Mens liues are as their loues whereof Bernard giues the reason because loues is to the soule as waight to the body it caries it to the right place if it be rightly placed As long as the Larke soareth vpward shee sings without danger of the Net but stooping to gaze on the Fowlers deceitfull glasse she is quickly ensnared We are all too far inamour'd with the glympses of things below where the Divels ginnes are alwaies in a readinesse Our ancestors first loue was more wisely fixed My song therefore hath beene returne returne Cant. 6.13 O Shulamite returne returne Which howsoeuer may sound harsh in some mens censures yet the better sort I trust will conceiue my meaning to bee good He that runnes in a race Hòmil 7. in ep ad Philip. saith Chrysostome is not so much to eye the spectators as the marke And Readers it cannot meet with more vnderstanding then it had hearers Next to God glory and the Churches good if you accept it kindly I attaine my scope To whom it is due first fruits from him that assuredly resteth From Exeter Colledge in Oxford August 5. Yours to dispose in the Lord Iesu IOHN PRIDEAVX EPHESVS BACK-SLIDING CONSIDERED AND APPLIED TO THESE TIMES REVEL 2.4 Neverthelesse I haue somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first loue THere is nothing so dangerous to the estate of a Christian that trauaileth heere from Egypt to the heavenly Canaan as spirituall pride and carnall security For seeing that all our life is but a temptation as Saint a Nemo securus esse debet in ista vita quae tota tentatio nominatur vt qui fieri potuit ex deteriore melior non fiat etiam ex meliore deterior lib. 10. Confess c. 32. Augustine confesseth great heed must be taken least he that should grow on from worse to better by his carelesse negligence fall away from better to worse This was the Angels case of Ephesus as my * vers 1. Text sheweth whom hee that holdeth the seuen Starres in his right hand and walketh in the midst of the seuen golden Candlesticks that is b Seb. Meyer apud Marlor in hunc locū Rhemist annotat Viegas in 1. cap. Apoc Sect. 14. Ribera ibid. Bulling conc 7. v. 5. vpholdeth the Ministers of his Word and cōtinually suruaieth his Churches to repaire defects vouchsafeth in this regard to rowze by an Epistle That seeing vnsensible decayes continued in time proue great breaches slyding leades to falling cooling to benumb'nesse drowsinesse to sleepe slacknesse to defection indifferencie to senselesnesse and a loathing of all Religion Ephesus might looke about from whence she had falne and repent and doe her first works least the suddaine approach of her Lord should take her loytering and by remouing her Candlestick preuent her conversion 2 For the clearer passage to the words some difference must bee reconciled among Interpreters who are meant especially by the seuen Angels to whom these seuen Epistles are in generall directed c Vestigat arcan sensus in Apocal. Antuerp 1614. lib. 2. Notat 1. Alcaezar the Iesuite in his new painted bulke vpon this Revelation sayes the Bishops d In hoc cap. disp 2. Fox Fulke Bullinger in hoc caput conc 6. Viegas in hoc caput sect 1. Perer. in cap. 1. disp 15. Pererius his fellow together with some Ancients Arethas Andreas Ansbert and Anselme think rather the people S. Ambrose Haymo and Beda ioyne both together and this is best
Neginoth's and Mahaloth's Tehillah's and Tephillah's must be framed by the Learned Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. 10. And here if the matter it selfe rowze not your meditations little helpe can bee expected from any vncomposed straines You that haue read of so many heathenish tyrannies and Turkish cruelties you that haue had occasion to travell amongst any barbarous nations or sauage Cannibals you that haue heard of the most prodigious treasons and massacnes that euer were attempted or thought on vnder the Sunne haue you ever read or seene or heard of any monstrous immanity comparable to this of the Powder-Treason Haue ever Turkes or Tartars any Nero'es or Caligula's made vse of powder or such engines of furie to ruine whole States at one blow Nay to blow vp their owne darlings their owne Patrons their owne innocent kinred that never offended them but onely these spuria vitulamina these bastard imps of the Whore of Babylon If the ruine of your liuing Countrymen had no way affected you what had the monuments of the dead deserued that so many sepulchres of ancient Kings must be laid on heapes and vtterly defaced what fault was in the dumbe stones and stately Edifices of your forefathers that they should be left as spectacles of your merciles crueltie But now perchance they repent it and are ashamed of the Actors and their courses O no that scarlet Harlot hath not learned to blush They are pictured for Confessours and Martyres their zeale is commended the State condemned for punishing their Ring-leaders vniustly and their Proselytes here amongst vs which I grieue to speake of follow the same doctrine that led them vnto it and are animated to the like attempts when their ability shall grow sufficient For marke but these few words of Bannes a Spanish Schooleman whom a man would take to be none of the worst especially in comparison of the Iesuites Angli saith he sunt excusandi quia nonse eximunt à Superiorum potestate nec bellum contra eos gerunt quia non suppetunt ill is vires ad consequentia pericula In 2.2 Aquin. q. 12. art 2. The English Catholikes are to be excused for not taking armes against their Superiours because they want sufficient power to goe through with the businesse Tolerate them then but to grow to a head and to make their party good and their natural bond to Prince or Country should little dismay them from venturing vpon the like Powder-plots Where be then our Higgaions Selah's Beloued for the stopping of this brood of vipers that their force should not bee answerable to their malice As the Israelites had their Pascha and Purim Holydaies set apart for the acknowledgement of their grand deliuerance frō Pharaoh and Hamans treason why should not this dayes solemnity bee continued with everlasting thankfulnesse for the miraculous discouery of the Powder-plot Let the people learne from our Pulpits with what kinde of Salt-peter their Catholicisme is powdred let our children vnderstand in our streets the barbarousnesse of the plot the profession of the actours the danger that would haue falne on their innocent heads If the Lord in Iudgement to the enginers and in mercy to vs had not prevented it and snared the wicked in the worke of their own hands At the mentioning of our Church or King at the beholding or remembrance of our Parliaments and chiefe places of Iustice let the villany of the Powder-proiect bee never forgotten In the celebrating of the holy Eucharist let our thankfulnesse for this deliuerance bee an especiall part of our Sacrifice Finally let vs joyntly conclude as our Prophet here beginneth this Psalme Wee will prayse thee O Lord with our whole heart we wil shew forth all thy wonderous Workes Wee will bee glad and reioyce in thee wee will sing prayse to thy Name O thou most High For our enemies are turned backe they haue falne and perished at thy presence for thou hast maintained our right and our cause thou sittest in the Throne iudging right Now to this God the Father God the Sonne and God the Holy Ghost three Persons and one Lord who is knowne by the Iudgement which he executeth and hath snared the wicked in the worke of his owne hands be ascribed with Higgaion and Selah all praises power and glory from this time forth for evermore AMEN HEZEKIAHS SICKNESSE AND RECOVERY A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KINGS MAIESTIE at Woodstocke By IOHN PRIDEAVX Doctor of Divinity Regius Professor and Rector of Exeter Colledge OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. HEZEKIAHS SICKNESSE AND RECOVERY 2. CHRON. 32. 24. In those daies Hezekiah was sicke to the death and prayed vnto the Lord and hee spake vnto him and he gaue him a signe 1. MY Text is a type of the Worlds vncertainty Mans security and Gods mercy to those that depend on him Wherein wee haue a view of our misery with the meanes and Author of our surest deliverance The instance is in Hezechiah a King a fit patterne for the best the remedy Prayer the chiefest refuge for the devoutest Which is effectuall onely by the good will of him in the bush who relieueth ever at a pinch by speaking and giuing a signe for our convenient comfort I will not trespasse on your patience by a tedious rehearsall of the connection with that which went before let it suffice therefore to take in by the way for an entrance First a touch of Hezechiah's laudable life expressed more at large in the 2. of Kings the 18. and 19. chapters all one in a manner with the 36. the 37. and 38. of Isaiah And secondly of his wonderfull deliverance whereof I am now to speake His goodnes and zeale is summarily here compriz'd First towards the Church The Levites must carry the filthinesse out of it verse 5. The Priests must rowze themselues vp to bee carefull in their places My sonnes saith he be not now negligent for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him and serue him verse 11. He restoreth the Church-goods and sacrifices by strict command vers 19. and 24. and reviueth the auncient solemnities of Trumpets and Church-musicke ordained and ordered by his predecessor David verse 27. and 30. And surely the best method in a reformation beginneth ever with God for from thence proceeds a Blessing to prosper all that followes His care for the Common-wealth in the next place comes not short of this He fortifies his citty saith the sonne of Syrach and by digging thorow a hard rocke with Iron brought water into the middest thereof Chap. 48. Hee built the wall that was broken and raysed vp the towers and another wall without prepared Millo made darts and shields in abundance set Captaines of warre over his people by the councell of his Princes and Mighty men and his owne comfortable encouragements verse the 3. and forward It were his Courtiers and the men of Iudah no doubt by his example and good directions that copyed
Davids practice Ieremies Lamentations and our Saviours weeping for Lazarus and over Ierusalem are warranted to be Heroicall We haue more sinnes Beloued to bewaile but fewer teares to shead greater occasion to hide our faces but lesse contrition to doe it many Physitians shall bee first fee'd before this remedy bee thought vpon that Hezekiah prayed vnto the Lord. 6. Hee prayed Simon Magus had not the grace to pray himselfe but the face to intreat others I make no doubt but here the Prophet Isaiah prayed the Priests prayed the Courtiers and people prayed all were good helpes and it was their dutie yet this sufficeth not Hezekiah except hee pray himselfe hee could best plead his owne cause and commence his owne suit and haue the better audience But to whom doth hee pray Popery was not then on foot to pray to Saints departed before their images or buying Masses or applying reliques Isaiah had instructed them better that Abraham was ignorant of them and the Brazen Serpent was broken downe by the Kings command and called Nehushtan that no such praying should be vsed vnto it Hee prayed therefore as the text hath it vnto the Lord and none other him hee had onely offended his mercy hee had ever found ready his power hee was assured of he alone throughly knewe his wofull case and therefore not as much as dreamed of the mediation of any other The forme of his prayer is set downe in the twentieth of the 26. of Kings and Esay the 38. in the same wordes to teach vs to regard that the more which the Holy Ghost vouchsafeth so precisely to repeat From whence if our Puritans hope to drawe any instance for their extemporary brabbling and brawling against our set formes of prayer the text will shew them as repugnant to Hezekiah herein as commonly they are otherwise to all their lawfull Superiours For his prayer here was on his bed vpon his particular and extraordinary necessity they must vent theirs in the Church where no such occasion is offered to the excluding of better formes then their best premeditation can affoord vs. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall that this particular request of his might not bee heard or disturbed The gift of these men is vnder-valued if their proselytes be not about them to applaud and admire it More tolerable therefore it were that they troubled not the Church more by their prating then they helpe it by such praying In this case if their conceits were not too fleeting they might consider that prayer is of two sorts Publique or private Publique may be either solemne in the Church or more retired in a familie or some other occasioned assembly Now to thrust in here with sudden and vnconcocted flashes were not only to crosse Scripture Fathers and the continuall practice of all Christian Assemblies that euer deserved the name of Churches but also to abuse such Holy meetings by hindring the concurrence of devotions in knowne petitions wherein they ought to joyne and the saying Amen to that they must be sure is warrantable Private prayers I confesse are of another nature wherein divers notwithstanding may bee holpe what to say and directed what to aske by publike formes though such particulars may often fall out in regard of personall grievances sinnes or benefits that may dictate as it were an ejaculatory prayer as the occasion shall bee offered Such was Hezekiah's here and such were to be wished more rife among all sorts of people Notable examples herein wee haue of Iacob O Lord God of my Father Abraham and God of my Father Isaack Gen. 32.9 The Lord which saidst vnto me Returne into thy Countrey and to thy kinred and I will deale well with thee I am not worthy of the lest of all thy mercies all the truth which thou hast shewed vnto thy servant For with my staffe I passed over this Iordan and now I am become two bands Deliuer me I pray thee from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau for I feare him So Sampson vpon his resolution to dye O Lord God saith he remember me Iud. 16 28. I pray thee and strengthen me onely this once O God that I may bee at once avenged of the Philistims for my two eyes And what are the most part of Davids Psalmes but a contexture of such heavenly wishes aptly composed for his owne vse and the direction of others that expect the same protection O how would it become the conversation of Christians in stead of corrupt communication and blasphemous oathes and cursings to haue their mouthes filled with such Prayses and Prayers How well doe such speeches sound from the mouthes of good subiects God saue the King or Giue the King thy Iudgements O Lord and thy righteousnes vnto the Kings Sonne In the warlike raigne of David wee haue a large description in Scripture of Captaines and Worthies but in Solomons succeeding Peaceable government of stately buildings notable examples of Iustice flourishing of the Arts trafficking with forraine Nations and the like All which are the extraordinary blessings of God and by his disposall haue their turnes and periods which most commonly are found in the body as the head is affected Where a King therefore makes the Lords Prayer the best Prayer the subject of his meditations with what face may subiects be backward in following such directions Hezekiah as wee all know wanted not titles nor treasure nor friends nor any other good parts that might grace a man and yet heere wee see in the vpshot of extremity his onely refuge is Prayer And this brings him to the speech of the Physitian which recouered him For when he had prayed vnto the Lord the Lord spake vnto him and hee gaue him a signe Where we haue the last words of my Text and third member of my division pointing at the Physitian and the course he tooke 7. And he spake vnto him and hee gaue him a signe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at sundry times and in divers manners hath it pleased the Lord of heaven to speake to men here vpon earth by his Sonne by his servants by Angels by men internally externally in dreames by open visions as Suarez vpon Aquinas's third part quest 30. Peucer in his commentary of the divers kinds of divination Mencelius in a peculiar tract of the knowledge of God doe at large declare This speaking here to Hezekiah was by Isaiah the Prophet as the text 2. Kings 20. clearely sheweth And as the extremity was great and vrgent so this speaking was quicke and comfortable in these most gracious tearmes Turne againe and tell Hezekiah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Captaine of my people Thus saith the Lord the God of Dauid thy Father I haue heard thy prayer I haue seene thy teares Behold I will heale thee on the 3d day thou shalt goe vp vnto the house of the Lord. Could there be better newes to a dying man Yet this is not all I will adde saith he vnto thy
his children Last of all all sorts may judge how to esteeme of such that vnder pretence of Religion sow the seed of flat rebellion learne of David a subject how to behaue themselues towards their Kings such as Dauid was who whē he had Saul at an advantage that against all right and Iustice sought his blood and might haue had him slayne but by a word 's speaking 1. Sam. 26. As the Lord liueth saith he the Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to dye or he shall descēdinto battle perish the Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lords Anointed To which purpose he had spokē to Abishai before whose fingers itched to helpe him Destroy him not for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed be guiltlesse In which doctrine if Bichri had wel catechized his son Sheba it might perchance haue restrained him frō blowing a trumpet and stirring rebellion by such a damned out-cry or proclamation Wee haue no part in David neither haue we inheritance in the son of Iesse Every man to his tents O Israel Which is the treason it selfe the last member of my text wherein I will striue to recompence my former tediousnesse 8. Those whom Belial once possesseth with Iudas and winnes to bee traytours shall haue counsell crafty enough suggested by the same master which in all likely hood might bring about their diuellish designes But hee that dwelleth in heauen hath such a booke in their nostrels that he twines them in and out as hee sees most convenient So that commonly their policies stead them no farther then Achitophels by an orderly disposing of all things to hasten their shamefull execution Sheba here is not to seeke for the managing of matters to his best advantage Wherefore first hee blowes a Trumpet the vnexpected sound of which in so clamorous a tumult and bickerings as was formerly shewed to bee betweene Israel and Iuda was the onely meanes to procure him audience That being once gotten hee presently falls to a forcible perswasion sorting it to the exasperated passions of the men of Israel which notwithstanding hee groundeth vpon the harsh speeches vsed by the men of Iudah This cannot be better vnderstood then by reflecting our eyes to the 3 last verses of the former Chapter David being freed from Absalom is to bee brought backe by his subjects with honour vnto Ierusalem Cap. 19.11.12 Now hee had secretly sent to the men of Iudah that they should bee the formost The other Tribes in an afficious emulation take this vnkindly and therevpon expostulate with the King Why haue our brethren the men of Iuda stolne thee away Doe they not thinke that wee are as faithfull subjects and affect our Soueraigne as well as they They of Iudah reply The King is neere kin to vs and in that respect wee challenge a preeminence Yea say the Israelites haue not we ten parts in him and in that respect more right Why then did yee despise vs that our advice should not bee first had in bringing backe our King How the men of Iudah put this off the text mentioneth not only it followeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 harder or fiercer were the words of the men of Iudah then the words of the men of Israel It might be they vsed some opprobrious speeches which the Israelites being great in number thought very disgracefull to endure Where the King holding it not safe to interpose hee being so lately shaken and the humours not throughly settled In comes this Sheba vpon the nicke and sets all againe in a combustion Doe the men of Iudah saith hee thinke so basely of vs as though we being tenne to one must giue way to them Cannot wee make good our owne parts without dependance on them for King or Counsell seeing they so arrogantly stand vpon that David is their Kinsman and therefore wholly theirs by inheritance so that our interest in him is a farre off or none at all let vs leaue him to them and let them knowe that whole Israel hath as fit men to raigne as that one Tribe of Iudah for what part may wee challenge in him who is wholly for his own kinred what was Ishai his father was he not an obscure mā yonder at Bethlem Ephrata and this David his shepheard shall wee then better descended continue to bee his vassals as though the father had beene King and the man succeeded as his lawfull heire apparent Iudah tells vs we haue no part in David and wee knowe that the kingdome of Israel was not Ishai's sonnes inheritance Every man therefore to his tents O Israel and stand vpon his owne guard wee shall quickly provide for our selues without being beholding to them And to this sense most Interpreters doe paraphrase Sheba's seditious speeches from the drift of which and effect wee may deduce this observation That there is not a more dangerous inducement to damnable Rebellion and Treason then to be possessed with a conceit that a lawfull King and his liege people may be in any case parted or that kingdomes are from the peoples choyce and not from Gods appointment made hereditary 9. This lesson of Sheba here first proposed to malecontents those men of Israel afterward in Reboboams time had gotten by heart and therefore when their young King answered them not according to their minde in the matter of taxes and subsidies which wicked Ieroboam had set on foote every one had ready at his tongues ende 1. Kings 12.16 What portion haue wee in David or what inheritance haue we in the sonne of Iesse To thy tents O Israel Now see to thine owne house David But had these men but remembred so well that which their wise King Solomon long after Shebae's destruction had left them for a better direction Prouerbes 8. where hee bringeth in the wisedome of the most High thus proclayming By mee Kings raigne Princes decree iustice By me Princes rule and Nobles euen all the Iudges of the earth they might haue found that the bond of obedience to Princes is not so loosely knit by God that subjects may dissolue it at their pleasure or vpon any discontent or injury whatsoeuer cry We haue no part and renounce our inheritance For as a head neuer so rheumatike and the fountaine of all diseases in the rest of the members may not bee therefore parted from them for feare of a worse inconvenience neither can the members vpbrayd it as the Apostle and Nature teach vs with these contemptuous termes I haue no need of thee So the head in the body politique must keepe his place howsoeuer till that highest authoritie take it off who first set it on to change it for a better The more pernitious in reformed States and Common-wealths is the wicked band of Antichrist who take vpon them to seuer those whom God hath so linked together where finding it too hard a taske against conscience and nature to perswade the