what hath made England so rich What but this The Lord hath given England rest and the inhabitants have been as fixed nayls in a sure place To apply this shortly Is a fixed and setled condition such a sweet blessing And is it so grievous to be driven from our habitations Then Let us sympathize with our brethren the poor servants of God that in Germany Ireland and in the North and West of England are plucked out of their pleasant places and now are tossed as a ball from place to place and with Noahs Dove cannot find rest for the sole of their foot Alas Alas for our poore brethren the deare servants of God! What miseries do they endure They wander up and down in the desert out of the way and they find no dwelling place hungry and thirsty and their soul faints within them Or as Job They flee into the wildernesse desolate and waste they cut up mallows by the bushes and juniper roots for their meat the springs and fountains if at least they can meet with any are to quench their thirst Oh let our bowels be troubled for them Let 's relieve them to our power and let us pray for them earnestly and incessantly that the Lord would bring home his banished again and restore them to their country and to their habitation and settle them as a naile in a sure place And for our selves learn we to esteem and prize our own happinesse in these associated Counties We sit every man under his Vine and under his Fig-tree and none makes us afraid We enjoy peace and plentie and libertie and proprietie and friends and all in our own Land where we were born And above all we have the adoption and the glory and the Covenants and the Gospell and the Service of God and the promises and the Communion of the faithfull Oh let us praise the Lord for his goodnesse Let us walk answerable to so great mercies let us make use of our standing and improve all our advantages to the glory of our bountifull God and let us pray unto the Lord incessantly to fasten us still as a nayl in a sure place The fourth and last particular now presents it self to your view viz. The end and use of this nayl Erit in solium gloriae He shal be for a glorious throne to his Fathers house And concerning this many things might be spoken but because I have held you too long already I shall only commend unto you in a word this Observation To what end we are fastened in our places Let Magistrates Ministers and every one here present duly consider wherefore they serve namely to bear burdens for the honour of God and for the glory of their Countrie and Citie and fathers house Joseph made his fathers house glorious he enriched it with the wealth with the treasures of Aegypt and made it famous and renowned through all the world as it is to this day Our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ who is the Nayl spoken of Zach. 10. 4. He is the glory of his fathers house even of the people Israel I speak first to the chief Magistrate and then to every one in his place Know that you ought not to be for your base private ends for your own honour and wealth but you must be men of publique spirits you must be for the good and for the glory of your Citie and your Countrie of the Church and Common-wealth You must endevour the publique good before your own You must be content to bear any load of pains or charge to procure the wealth and prosperity of the Kingdom that the reformation may be perfected true Religion established Popery superstition and the proud tyrannicall Hierarchy may be utterly extirpated the rights and priviledges of Parliement and the liberties of the Kingdom preserved That the Kings person and authority in the preservation of true Religion may be defended that the peace of the Kingdoms may be continued that delinquents may be brought to condigne punishment that England may be made a sure place a happie Nation a famous Kingdom Know that you are set for a throne of glory Be all of you for the honour of your Citie for the glory of Norwich Make it famous and happie this year Mind not your own things but the publique benefit The devise of Alphonsus King of Arragon was this A Pellican pecking her brest and drawing out blood wherewith to feed her young the word Pro lege pro grege So should every good Magistrate not count his blood dear for the welfare of the people The Motto of Aelius Adrianus the Emperour was Non mihi sed populo A man set in authority should not be for himself for his own profit or ease but all for advancing the common good Abate of your excesse make lesse and fewer feasts and do more good for the publique Lay lesse upon your backs and do more for the publique I know what people are ready to say for themselves That if Mayors and Sheriffes shall not make as great feasts at Sessions and other times as others before them they should be disgraceed and talked on all the Town over they should be counted covetous and miserable and people would say they knew not what doth belong to their office and it would be a dishonour to the Citie Alas alas my beloved Is it for the honour of your Citie to have Sodoms Character That pride fulnesse of bread and abundance of idlenesse is in her Gentlemen if any shall jeer you for not feasting as your predecessours as if you knew not what belongs to your places Answer them as once Themistocles did who being at a sumptuons feast and not singing with the rest of the jovial company and meeting with some checks for his silence he said unto them I confess I have not learned to sing to the pipe at feasts but I have learned rempublicam ex parva magnam facere to raise a Common-wealth from a poor estate to a flourishing condition So do you answer all the world You have not learned to squander away vast sums of money in rich clothing sumptuous and excessive feasts but you have learned to lay out your money better and to part with your estate freely even to the utmost farthing for the publick safety and good I beseech you be for a throne of glory be all for the honor of your City and Country Usually you shal hear men boast much of their Country City Progenitors and they brag that they were born in such a famous place or that they are descended of such illustrious ancestors as if that were such egregious and singular nobility which consists in the vertues and noble acts of their forefathers Such cracks as these the Poet rightly reprehendeth and jerks Stemmata quid faciunt c. What is it to thee if thy progenitors were Noble Heroicall Vertuous If thou in the mean time be un-deserving unworthy and base Let me therefore tel you
unavoydable when the Lord cries to us by his Ministers and calls us to repentance as long as we hearken to his voice we have Christ to plead for us but when our advocate becomes our enemy how deplorable is our condition I fear I fear it is the man in white linnen that is now scattering coals of fire about our City and Country and the Lord is departing from us But yet before he departs from Jerusalem he calls to it O Wheel The Lords departure from Jerusalem is by degrees he doth not fly away in an instant no no the Lord leaves them as if he were loth to depart Observe a little his motions In the former Chapter Verse 3. The glory of the God of Israel went up from the Cherub to the threshold of the house that is from the Mercy-seat in the holy place to the door of the Sanctuary ready to go out and there the Lord tatries a while before he depart In this tenth Chapter verse 18. he removes a little further The glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house and stood over the Cherubims That is he went forward to the East gate of the great Court on the top of that gate aloft were placed Cherubims and there the Lord rested a while before he went quite away In the next Chapter verse 23. he removes yet further The glory of the Lord went up from the middest of the City and stood upon the mountain which is on the East-side of the City that is Mount Olivet and there he rests a while But why doth he abide upon mount Olivet Truly some are of opinion that the Lord stayed upon the mount to see the burning of the City and to triumph over it As did Nero when Rome was fired he gate him up to the top of a hill and there did sing and rejoyce at the spectacle The Lord had often called to Jerusalem and they had refused he had stretched out his hand and none would regard therefore now he sits upon the Mount and laughs at their destruction and mocks at the comming of their fear But I rather think and hope he staid a while upon the Mountain to be called back again Before he went out of the City he cryed to them O Wheel Oh Jenusalem yet yet seek me and I will be found of you call to me and I will return and dwell with you Neither here can you avoid the Application Doth not the Lord seem to be departing from England But he hath not taken his slight all at once he hath with-drawn himself by degrees In the time of the late prelaticall tyranny and persecution when the worship of God was corrupted the faithfull Ministers of the Gospell silenced all manner of popish superstitious innovations obtruded then God seemed to be gone to the threshold ready to go out of England but departed not When the Commotions and concussions began between the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland threatning the breaking of both Then God seemed to be going still further from us from the threshold out of the door onward on his way from England but yet he departed not When the bloody intestine warre began between the King and his Parliament then the Lord seemed to be departing quite away then was thè noise of a whip and the noise of the ratling of the wheels and of the praunsing horses and of the jumping chariots The horse-man lifted up both the bright sword and the glittering spear and there was a multitude of slain and great number of carcasses and the Lord seemed to sit aloft upon his holy Mountain laughing at our destruction But blessed be his holy Name we find he is not quite gone there 's a little stay of his judgements I hope beloved Christians the Lord stayes yet upon Mount Olivet the Mountain of peace and he expects when we should call him back again Yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing The Voice of God from the Throne hath called to us a long time Oh Wheel Now let us call to Mount Olivet O Lord our God Depart not from us let us call him back with our true and hearty repentance with our thorough reformation with our team and prayers who can tell but God may yet repent and return and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not Return Oh Lord to thy thousands in our Israel and dwell amongst us again Amen 3. At the last I come to the third and last Pair of O-s to wit the O of Calling Desiring And here I am to speak in the Vocative case and to call every one to their duty to set every wheel on turning and that for prevention of the dreadfull ruine threatned and as I go along I cannot but make it the desire of my heart that the word of God may take good effect O si ô ut inam And first in generall I call to all the wheels what was spoken from the Throne of glory in my hearing that I cry in the eares of every wheel O Wheel Turn turn for this is a word of command yea turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with fasting and weeping and with mourning and rent your hearts be humbled for all your irregular and preposterous motions and turn to the Lord by unfamed repentance a thorough reformation a holy conversation and newnesse of live Let thy Spirit Oh God come upon all these Wheels And O wheels roll run Sion-ward let your eyes your spokes your rings all turn heaven-ward Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear the Lord and keep all his Commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children for ever Deut. 5. 29. In the next place more especially I call to the great wheels to the heads of the people to the Magistrates As for those wheels it is cryed unto them from the Throne of Glory O Wheels Turn regularly in your proper Sphaeres Judg you the people with just judgment Scatter the wicked O let the great wheels turn over them Let not swearers and drunkards and houses of drunkeness and prophaners of Gods Sabbaths Malignant Priests that begin to rake up their old Superstitions again O Wheels have you not eyes Do you not see what abundance there are of these Why do you let them lie so quietly O Wheels turn over them either mend them or remove them or break them In the 77. Psa ver 18. says Asaph the voyce of thy thunder was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in rota in the wheel so it is in the Hebrew O wheels let 's hear the voyce of thunder from you thunder against this wicked crue And oh Wheels accept not persons do justice to the smal as well as to the great Defend the poor and fatherless do justice to the afflicted and needy deliver the poor and needy rid them out of the hand of the wicked Take heed what
templi Go to Shebna the overseer of the temple that is say they the high-priest †Again from the 21. verse where it is said and I wil cloth him with thy robe and strengthen him with thy girdle they conclude those garments to be the Vestments of the high priest according to that in the 20. of Num. v 28. And Moses stripped Aron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son But certainly if we go to the fountain this can never be made out that Shebna was high-Priest or any Priest of the second order For †In the 15. verse it 's only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 super domum not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 super domum dei Over the house there 's not so much as a hint that it should be over the house of God †Again v. 21. The robe and girdle were ensigns of authority and Magistracy Job mentions the girdle of Kings Baltheum regum dissolvit Job 12. 18. He looseth the bond or girdle of Kings and thus did Pharaoh to Joseph he arrayed him in royal robes and put a golden chain or girdle about him Gen. 41. 42. So here I wil cloth him with thy robe that is that robe which thou didst wear when thou wert the great manat Court †Yet further he was not capable of the office of Priest-hood They which received the office of Priest-hood were all of the Children of Levi but Shebna was of another stock not so much as a Jew but an Alian a stranger That is obliquely signifyed and intimated verse the 16. What hast thou here and whom hast thou here that thou hast hewed thee out a Sepulchre here c. which is as if he should have said what business hast thou in this Land what kindred Why shouldest thou take up thy rest to live and dye in the Lords land and to be buried in Jerusalem whereas thou art an Assyrian or of some other strange Country †To put all out of question There was another high priest at the very same time Azariah by name you shal read of him 2. Chron. 31. 13. He was ruler of the house of God that is by the consent of all interpreters the high priest and therefore Shebna what ever he were could not be the high priest What was he then Let 's gather up his titles of honor together and by that time we have done we shal understand his place certainlâ—y In the 15. verse he is called first the treasurer and then Shebna Who is over the house that is over the Kings house In the 37. Chapter of this Prophesy verse the 2. and often other-where in scripture he is stiled the Scribe not an ordinary or Common Scribe or notary but such an one as we call a Chancellor or Secretary This is then the sum of all Shebna was at that time the great favorite of the King he had all the chief offices the highest honors and dignitys of the Kingdom conferred upon him He was Lord treasurer he was ruler Governor Controller of the Kings house he was the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of state In a word he was the chief in Court and Kingdom and under the King Lord President of the whole Country just as Joseph was under Pharaoh Thou shalt says the King be over my house and according to thy word shal all my people be ruled only in the throne wil I be greater then thou Thus was Shebna Him God deposed and put Eliakim into his place into the very same favour dignity honor Authority and Magistracy The LXX renders it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constituam cum principem I wil make him a great Prince in Juda Eliakim is fastned as a nail namely in the highest place of the Kingdom And that In a sure place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in loco fideli The word is derived from truth q. d. in a true and faithful place that is in a firm stable permanent condition for where truth is there is certainty and stability And here is an Antithesis or opposition 'twixt Shebna and Eliakim Shebna was as a nail but in a hollow unsound or rotten wall and therefore shal fall out he shal come down from his eminency But as for this Eliakim saith the Lord I wil six him in a solid wall a sound post or strong pillar out of which he cannot fall nor be pluck'd out that is plainly I wil so confirm and establish him in his place that he shal never be deposed as Shebna was but he shal stand sure and immovable And he shal be for a glorious throne to his fathers house A throne is a Kings seat full of Majesty and glory He shal be for a throne that is for a glorious ornament to the King to the Kingdom and to his own stock and family He shal do worthily in Juda and so carry himself in his place authority and Magistracy he shal so administer as shal be for the honor of the King the glory and prosperity of the whole Kingdom and for the preferment of his fathers house he shal advance his kindred and make his whole family famous and renowned For the meaning this may suffice Now in the 2. place I am to give you the sum and substance of all in one general proposition Good and faithful Magistrates are nails fasten'd in the walls of Gods house in the Church and Common-wealth So are they called Ezra 9. 8. And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in his holy place What nail the Princes and the Priests that were left a remnant of Godly Magistrates and Ministers The very same expression you have in the Prophet Zechariah Chap. the 10. the 3. and 4. verses Where God promiseth to visit his flock the house of Judah and to give them all things that may make them safe and happy The words run thus Out of him came forth the corner out of him the nail out of him the battel-bow and out of him every appointer of tribute also The corner i. the supream the King the chief Governor who is like a foundation and corner-stone to bear and couple the building The nail i. Princes Magistrates Governors faithful Counselors such as are in authority under the King The battel-bow i. e. Commanders Captains Souldiers Ammunition and all things fit and necessary for a warlike and potent people The appointer of tribute i. e. Officers to impose exact and collect tribute of all those forraign nations which they shal conquer Shortly they shal have all things to make them a blessed and flourishing people and as a principall thing they shal have the nail viz. a good Magistrate Reason But why are Magistrates called nails Not properly but by way of similitude they are tanquam as nails very like nails and that in regard of their end and use A nail peg or pin is fastned in the wall
to hang loose pieces of houshold-stuff upon as garments vessels instruments of musick and other utensils which otherwise would lye scattered on the ground or be to seek or else be utterly lost So Magistrates they are appointed of God and established for the sustentation and bearing up of things All the affairs of Church and Common-wealth all publique businesses the safety and happiness of the people depend and hang upon them and without them all would fall and miscarry They are made to bear Vnto us a child is born saith our Prophet and the burden of government shal lye upon his shoulder Also of Eliakim it is said in the verse immediatly before my text and the key of the house of David that is the highest authority in Court and Kingdom wil I lay upon his shoulder Hence it is that Kings are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The props and foundations of the people The burden of the Church hangs upon this nail the care of defending and cherishing the Church and people of God of advancing true Religion and the pure worship of God lyeth upon the Magistrate They saith the Lord shal bring thy sons in their arms and thy daughters shal be carried upon their shoulders 23. And Kings shal be thy nursing fathers and Queens thy nursing mothers Thus shal Princes bear the Church in their arms The Magistrate is Custos utriusque tabulae both tables of the Law or if you please the Law and Gospel both hang upon this nail Upon him hangs the care of the Scriptures He must see it published in a known tongue that the Vulgar may be able to read and reach it He must appoint learning and fit Ministers to open interpret and apply it He is to compel those Ministers to do their duty to protect and encourage them doing wel to correct and depose them being unfaithful and scandalous He is to looke after Ecclesiastical Government to settle Church discipline by good decrees to provide for the peace order and decency of the Church and worship of God He is to call Counsails when necessity requires to compel people to attend the publique Ordinances and to remove whatsoever may be an obstacle to sound doctrine pure Religion and the power of godliness Also the burden of the Common-wealth depends on the Magistrate the peace welfare and prosperity of all the people hangs upon this nail Saul seeing the people lament bitterly said unto them What ayleth this people that they weep That 's the office of a good Magistrate Videre ne quid sit populo quod sleat to wipe away tears from the subjects eyes And therefore it is his duty to make good laws and then to see them put in execution To preserve the Kingdom and people in peace by defending them against the violent assaults and invasions of forraign enemies and suppressing domestick rebellions and insurrections He is to preserve the persons rights goods libertys propertys of the subject to see that none dowrong to another He is to discountenance vice and promote vertue he is for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do wel Thus was Eliakim a nail upon which did hang as the next verse wil tel you all the glory of his fathers house the ofspring and the issue all vessels of smal quantity great flagons and little cups with all instruments of musique That is all persons of what rank and quality soever Summi medij infimi high and low great and smal the whole Church and Common-wealth The fouls bodys estates religion liberty peace welfare of all depends on the good Magistrate He is fixed as a nail to note out this his end use and office Thus you have the general proposition made out but before I leave it you must give me liberty to make some general application of the point And it may serve for 1. Instruction 2. Reprehension 3. Exhortation And here for Instruction Observe the weight of Magistracy Government is a great burden It 's a honour indeed so sayes the Text He shal be for a throne of glory but note the word there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies glory or honour it is derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies weight Moses sate to judge the people and the people stood about Moses from morning unto even a heavy task so sayes Jethro unto him Thou weariest out thy selfe greatly and the people that is with thee too for the thing is too heavy for thee Jotham intimates this in his Parable says the Olive If I be advanced above the trees I shal lose my fatnesse I shall wast my estate consume my treasure Magistracy is expensive Says the Fig-tree If I be preferred above the trees I shall forsake my sweetnesse and my good fruit I must bid adieu to ease and pleasures Magistracy is laborious Says the Vine If I be exalted above the trees I shal leave my wine I must be debarred the free use of the creatures I must be cut short in my meat drink and other creature-comforts Magistrates as wel as Ministers are like the lamps of the Sanctuary that burn continually and wast themselves for the common good Their heads are full of cares their hearts of grief their eys sleeplesse and their bodies restlesse Hear and consider this all you that ambitiously aspire to high places of dignity and authority you that underhand give bribes make friends engage the whole Stock and Kinred to compasse an Office or some great place of Magistracy Know you what you pursue Alas alas you look at nothing but the honour You see the Nayl is fastned aloft but you consider not the burden that hangs on it if you did you would not purchase so much care and losse at so dear a rate Some have thought the imperiall Robes scarce worth the taking up because of the eares that are wrapped up in them Trajan repented him of taking the Empire and in that mind writing to the Senate he used these words The Sea and the Empire are two pleasant things to look upon but perilous to taste Think then I beseech you before-hand not only of the height of the place but poise also the weight of the burden Of reprehension And here our work must be to look round about our wals the wals of the Church City and Commonwealth and to take notice of the Nails There are Nayls of three ranks Highest Nayl's Middlh Nayl's Lowest Nayl's Let 's look them all over and take notice how they are fixed and what hangs on them 1. The highest Nayls they are the Magistrates and Rulers Ther 's a goodly row of them but let 's see what service they do in their places What hangs on then what burden do they bear Ther 's some of the greater sort of Nayls look what hangs on them Truly scarce any thing unlesse it be a scarlet gown or the ensignes of authority or a rich
glory shall be the shame of thy Lords house And there 's an end of Shebna A paralel example we have of our own which because it doth so aptly agree with the former I will insert It is of Sir Thomas More who bare the same office under the King of England that Shebna did under the King of Judah he was Lord Chancellour of England under Henry the eight he was a bitter enemy of the Gospel and persecuted the godly professors of it with fire and sword and thought thereby to get him a name and needs must he have a monument of his cruelty and impiety He therefore takes care to have a sumptuous and magnificent Sepulchre erected and upon it written Encomiastiques the high praises of his vertue He made his own Epitaph and sent it to Basil unto Erasmus that he might get it curiously engraven He sent also with it a stately ambling or pasing horse unto Erasmus for his reward that he might be so much the more carefull about the work So greedy was he of glory and fame Amongst the rest of his praises this was the most famous and to be written in great letters Lutheranorum profligaâ—â—r Maximus that is The great persecuter of the godly Wel but what was the end After all this presumptuous confidence The great Lord Chancellor was accused of treason condemned beheaded Ita patibulum ei pro sepulchro fuit At lost the gibbet or the fatall block was his monument Such shalt the end be of all Tyrants and ungodly Rulers a while they may stand on high but shortly the Lord will pluck them out of their places and put better men in their stead Here learn the way to preferment and how to sit sure in your places when you are advanced Would you be exalted to honor Would you stand fast in your places of dignity This is your way Be good and you shal soon be great Be the Lords servants and he wil soon preferr you Continue right and straight and sound and sincere and the Lord wil fasten you so as you shal never be removed You have the way of preferment chalked out Psal 112. The man that feareth the Lord and dilighteth greatly in his Commandments v. 1. The upright man v. 4. The good man v. 5. The merciful and liberal and righteous man he shal abound with wealth and riches and his horn shal be exalted with honor v. 3. 9. God fastens none but Eliakâ—ms in high and honorable places Shebnas may clime up a great height but the Lord wil soon throw them down again Doth God fasten only such as be godly in a sure place Then I beseech you See upon whom you may most safely depend We that are subjects are as a company of infirm vessels we must all hang upon some nail or other or else we are lost upon the ground Now our wisdom wil be to rely on sure and sound nails But you wil say perhaps how may we know the best nails I wil tel you there are now in the Kingdom two sorts of nails Court-nails and Parliament-nails Both are exalted very high now tel me which wil you chuse to depend upon Me thinks I hear some reply what nail should we depend upon but that which the Lord hath fasten'd And is not the King that nail Hath not God set him upon the throne And must I not go along with him in every thing Give me leave to answer We do acknowledg with all duty and obedience that the King is the highest Nail that he is a precious Nail that he is a nail chosen of God and anointed And the desire of our hearts is that the Lord would establish his throne and fasten him so sure that he may never be removed But that which makes our hearts sad it 's this that he is not in loco fideli in a faithful place That wall that 's made up of Papists Irish Rebels Delinquents Malignants and wicked Counsellors must needs be a rotten wall and can a nial stand sure in such a place The Parliament is a sound wall made up of worthy Eliakims loyal Subjects servants of the Lord and faithful Patriots Now the Lord bring the King into the midst of his Parliament again then should he be indeed in loco fideli and we might safely hang upon him But in the mean time his power and Authority is with his great Counsel It is an undoubted Parliament by the Kings own act But it cannot be a true Parliament without a King Why then he is with them vertually thou he be not personally The Parliament is all but one great nail The King is the head the houses are the body if you take the head off the nail what can hang safely on it Therefore now I can easily shew you what nail to hang on I thus describe it to you King and Parliament There are two mighty Armys abroad one against the other Every one of us must depend upon one of those We must take part with one against the other In the name of God see that you chuse the right nail That 's the nail that God fastens upon that you may safely depend It is the extream folly of men that they wil all chuse to hang upon the great nail and the lesser nail they dare not trust to They 'l joyn with the most numerous Army with the greatest power Who would not have hanged upon Shebna that had looked with a carnal eye and declined Eliakim Upon whom was the eye of all the Court but upon Shebna Shebna was a Vapouring Cavalier Eliakim sure a despised Roundhead Shebna had great Authority and favour in the Court Eliakim and the rest were made Underlings slighted and disregarded Shebna a great Polititian held fair correspondence with forraign Princes Eliakim a plain faithful seruant to his Master that had never put on robe nor girdle Yet you see he was the wisest man and in the safest condition that took in with Eliakins I wil give it you in a word Look impartially and mark not which is the biggest but which is the rightest and straightest nail look upon that side where you see most of God most zeal most devotion most piety and joyn with them That nail that God hath fastned shal stand sure let the Pope and the Divil and all the Malignant crew knock it and hang the weight of persecution upon it they can never pluck it out it stands in loco sideli in a sure place and all that depend upon it shal be safe But on the other side if you joyn with Idolaters Blasphemers debauched drunkards Atheists prophane Divels You hang upon a rotten nail a nail that God hath never fastned and though it appear never so great yet it wil deceive you God wil certainly pluck it out and then there is nothing but certain ruin to be expected if the nail break all that ever hangs on it falls down and it is broken and lost For a close of this I shal pass a
wonderful greatness the height of their rings the swiftness of their motion the brightness of their colour and the multitude of their eyes This was the vision but what was the signification That 's the material question In general this was to set forth the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. But more particularly The man sitting above upon the throne is the Lord Jesus Christ The living creatures or Cherubins they are Angels good Angels which are immediatly under the Command of Christ But the wheels at the feet of the Cherubins what are they A wheel is instrumentum volubile a round turning instrument there are divers sorts of wheels chariot-wheels clock-wheels bel-wheels mil-wheels and many others which perhaps we shal meet withal by and by The wheels that appeared to Ezekiel are thought to be chariot-wheels The general conceipt is that he saw a compleat chariot and that the living creatures were the drawers and movers and the man on the throne the guider of it and the word Synechdochical rota proâ—â—â—â—u the wheel for the whole Chariot The wheel is an instrument of very great and frequent use Many works are done by the turning of the wheel The Chariot Coach and Cart are carried on their way by wheels The husbandman plows and thresheth and grindeth beats out his corn with wheels The huswife spins her thrid upon the wheel and the work of justice as we shal hear more afterward is done by the wheel A wise King scattereth the wicked and bringeth the wheel over them Prov. 20. 26. And by this time it is not hard to find out what is meant by the wheels namely all instruments and second causes by which God useth to work in the dispensation of his providence The glorious Angels first even they themselves are Gods great wheels Then the round celestial orbs and lights which are continually wheeling about next the lower world the elements and all creatures in the aire earth and wide sea But especially we are to understand by the wheels reasonable creatures as Kingdoms Common-wealths Citys Churches which are societies of men Kings Princes Magistrates chief Captains Armies Ministers preachers of the Gospel and all people in their several places who ever hath any employment under God is a wheel in the chariot of his providence These are the wheels Now it was cryed unto them From the throne above The Lord Jehovah that sate aloft upon the glorious throne he Cryed that is aloud earnestly with a mighty voice he called to them O Wheel not simply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wheel but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh Wheel This is demonstrative and points to some special wheel Though the voice be generally cryed to all the wheels to every creature in heaven and earth as if the son of God should say O World Yet here we must conceive that it is directed in an especial manner to Jerusalem and her wheels to the princes priests and Commons which were left there and were not carried into Babylon with the rest of the Captives For this vision was shew'd to the Prophet for Jerusalems sake to signify to him what was shortly to come to pass in the City and it is as if the man upon the throne had said O Jerusalem O This O! is an adverb or interjection of calling God calls to all the wheels and crys O Wheel This is a word of Authority and Command by which the Lord either drives the wheels on excites them to do something impâ—ratum fuit ipsis ut volverentur converterentur he spake to them to roul and turn about he gave them some commands which here are not expressed Or else it 's a word of countermand and he checks them for some irregular motions and it is as if the son of God should say O Wheell stop turn your course the right way obey In a word this is the word of Gods power whereby the world and all the creatures in it all second causes and all persons are over-awed and their motions determined You have the sence of the text next I l'e give you the general doctrin It is concerning the general and particular providence of God The voice of him that sits on the throne commands and over-aws all the wheels So universal and so particular is the providence of God that it governs and rules all things in heaven and earth The powerful providence of God doth dispose all second causes as he pleaseth and orders all creatures in the world and all motions in the world according to the counsell of his own will if the Lord do but cry O wheel all the wheels are at his beck and turn as he bids them There 's not the least motion of a Chariot wheel but the Lord appoints it This appears by Pharaohs Chariot wheels The Lord took off their Chariot wheels that they drave them heavily He had said before O wheel carry Pharaoh into the midst of the Sea now he gives them a check and cry's to them O wheel fly off from your axletrees and as the word comes from God so do the wheels move and turn Behold the power of God's word and how his voyce commands all things Psalm 29. vers 3. The voice of the Lord commands it to thunder or not to thunder the voice of the Lord commandeth the waters to ebbe or flow to be rugged or calme Vers 5. The voice of the Lord commands the Cedars he bids them grow and they come up again he speaks but to them and they are broken down also when he pleaseth he makes them skip like a Calfe or like a young Unicorn Vers 7. The voice of the Lord commands the fire he sayes to the watry cloud divide and it breaks in sunder and the lightning darts forth and scattereth it self through-out our Haemisphere in the twinkling of an eye Vers 6. and 8. The voice of the Lord commands Lebanon and Cadesh at his word the mountains daunce and the wildernesse tremble Vers 9. The voice of the Lord commands the wild beasts of the forrests he speaks to the Hinds and they Calve again he sayes the word and they are barren In the Forrest a leaf falls not from a tree the woods are not made bare without his word Vers 10. The Lord sits upon the floud yea the Lord sitteth King for ever his voice commands the sea he saith to it hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shalt thou stop thy proud waves Yea the voice of the Lord commands the sons of men and they move according to his word For in him we live and move Act. 17. 28. He orders all our steps and goings Prov. 20. 24. But what may be the reason or ground of this That the voice of the Lord should thus command and over-aw all the wheel's Yes good reason What hand should turn the wheel but the same that made it By the voice of the Lord all creatures were made
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them Psal 33. 6. He did but say Let there be light and there was light He did but say Let there be a firmament let there be sea and dry land let there be grasse and trees in the earth and lights in the heaven and fishes in the sea and immediatly it was done it was so Yet further his voice did not only command these wheels to be made the same word also preserves them maintains them in being He upholds all things by the word of his power Hebr. 1. 3. God made all creatures therefore of right he may dispose of them and order all their motions as he pleaseth He is the great Atlas bears up heaven and earth and all things upon the strong shoulders of his providence and therefore he hath power to move all things as he listeth He that bears a burden upon his back may carry it whither he will The cunning Artificer who makes a clock or curious pocket-watch he also disposeth and ordereth every wheel in what place it shall be what motion it shall have how long it shall go So the Almighty and infinitely wise God he made the wheel's and turns the wheels he made the greatest and the least creatures and he causeth and over-ruleth the greatest and the least motions To give you the whole doctrine in one Embleme Ezekiel was an Aenigmaticall Prophet and me thinks he gives us that which was first shewed to him in a vision the most elegant and significant Hieroglyphick of Divine providence that can be found out in the whole world it is a Chariot A Chariot commonly is drawn by four horses by them at their feet are four wheels above a seat wherein the man sits who guides the engin he with his reins and whip and voice commands the beasts the wheels the whole Chariot and all things in it and they are moved and turned as he pleaseth Such is the Chariot of Providence God sits in the seat even above in heaven upon his glorious Throne and by his word and power commands guides and moves all inferiour things Next under God are the living creatures the Angels they are ministring spirits immediatly moved by him that sits upon the Throne The Angels they move the wheels God governs inferiour things by the ministry of Angels There are four living creatures and four faces and foure wheels to represent the foure corners of the earth The summe of all is this in one word The providence of God doth rule and commaud in all the four quarters of the world God hath wheels every where and he turns them all by his word of command O wheel You have the generall doctrine To make some use of it And here I might be large and apply it variously I might first for our instruction gather this Corollary That there is no Contingency in the world nothing fals out by chance Not a wheel stirs but it 's moved by Gods hand Not a Sparrow fals to the ground nor a haire from our heads without your Father Not an ax-head flies off from the helve but it 's thrown and directed by God's hand Indeed in regard of us and in relation to second causes things may seem chanceable and contingent because something fals out that was not like to happen at all or else the thing was like to fall out quite otherwise then it doth we being ignorant of the causes of such casualties But in regard of God nothing is contingent he is the first and supream cause the universall provisor and moderator sitting on his Throne as a Judge and a King taking notice and taking care of the least things of the smallest wheels in the Chariot in respect of him all things are necessary He worketh all things according to the counsell of his will Yet again I might apply it by way of reprehension and give a check to the heathenish language of many Christians that speak Luck and Chance as familiarly as Heathens use to do and attribute all things to Fortune This was my fortune this was my luck What are these but Atheists and such as deny Providence The iniquity of the house of Israel is exceeding great and the City full of perversenesse saith the Lord because they say the Lord hath forsaken the earth and the Lord seeth not The eye of his providence is not abroad the wheels move by chance Oh that such would be humbled for their sin Augustin writ Retractations and the very first thing he corrects in himself and bewail's is that ever he did use the word Chance or the name of Fortune But I let pass these And I wil apply the doctrine only as St. Paul teacheth me Rom. 15. 4. Whatsoever things were written were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope So whatsoever hath been spoken it hath therefore been spoken That you might have Patience Comfort And so hope The first use is of Exhortation and here I am to perswade you to patience Is every wheel turned by the voice of the son of God No motion but by his appointment Learn then willing submission and cheerful contentation in all conditions What do not the wheels move to thy liking Art thou displeased at the motion of the King Or at the motion of the Parliament or at the motion of the Army those are the three great wheels of the Kingdom Bestil they move as God bids them it was said unto them in my hearing O Wheel The Kings heart the Parliaments heart the Armies heart are all in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water and he turns them whethersoever he wil. Prov. 21. 1. Whatever hath been or whatever shal be hereafter peace or war order or confusion safety or ruin what shal we say It is the Lord hath spoken and he himself hath done it Esa 38. 15. To descend to lesser wheels do not things go with thee according to thy desire I wil make thee the living creature and thou hast thy wheels about thee how do they move Thy yoke-fellow thy children thy dearest friends thou wouldest have these sweetly to move with thee in a perpetual communion but God turns them another way they roul out of thy house and society into the grave and for this thou dost mourn and art discontented As for the world thou would'st have it run in upon thee upon wheels but God turns it another way and it runs away from thee upon wheels yea faster it flies away Riches certainly make themselves wings they flee away as an Eagle towards heaven Pro. 23. 5. thou growest into decay and poor and hereupon thou art troubled and discontented The tongues of people thou wouldest have them move rightly and speak the truth yea speak wel of thee but the Malignant tongues of the world run upon wheels of fire and clamour against thee prate to thy disgrace invent
not one stone left upon another There 's one dayes difference saith Sencca upon occasion of the burning of a stately City betwixt the greatest City and none What should I speak of Families A few descents makes them ancient and a century or two of years wears them quite out they are like Jona's Gourd flourish for an evening and in the morning smitten withered forgotten their names and stems worn out One generation passeth another cometh none stayeth Upon this Theater of the earth how doth man act his part how neer is his exit to his entrance Man that is born of a woman is of few dayes and full of trouble He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down he â—leeth also as a shaddow and never continueth in one stay now he is rich presently poore now in health presently sick now he is alive and in a moment he is gone down to the grave This mutability of all Mundane things the ancient Heathens were sensible of and did signifie by the name and posture of their Goddesse Fortune She was called Vortuna à Vorto from turning and she was pictured sitting upon a wheel to shew what her chief work was viz. Ima summis summa imis commiscere to bring in vicissitudes of all things to raise a man to the top of honour riches happinesse and then to turn him down again to the bottom of infamy poverty misery The whole world what is it but a Sphere It consists ex stante moto centro scilicet circumferentia of fixed and moved viz. of center and circumference The earth is fixed and standeth fast and all other things move and turn round about it as a circle or the ring of a wheel which whirles about continually that which is first is last and that which is last is first and nothing abides at a stay all things are unstable and voluble To make some application of this to our selves And first Are all things in the world but as so many wheeles so many rolling things Let the consideration of this serve to take down the pride of the great men of the world Let not the rich man glory in his riches nor the mighty man in his strength nor the honourable man in his dignity and preferment Why because of the instability of all things Rota erigendo cadit The wheel whilest it lifts up it self it falls And he that 's highest of all now may in a little space be low euough Proud Nebuchadnezzar walks upon the battlements of the stately Palace of his Kingdom and said Is not this great Babel that I have built for the honour of my Majesty But while the word was in the Kings mouth there fell a voice from heaven which cryed O Wheel Oh King Nebuchadnezzar to thee it is spoken Thy Kingdom is departed from thee And he was presently brought low enough to dwell with the beasts of the field to eat grasse with the oxen and to be wet with the dew of heaven Fortunate Belisarius the great Lord Generall under Justinian He was honored and feared of all nations Victorious in all his expeditions such a favorite of the Emperor that in his Coin was stamped on the one side Justinian on the other side Belisarius and over Belisarius the Emperor put this inscriptione Romanorum decus The Romans glory So great a man so triumphing upon the top of the wheel through envy which ever follows vertue and eminency was quickly brought to the lowest his eys put out and he compelled to beg his bread in the temple of Sophia day by day and this was his form of prayer Panem Belisario date quem virtus extulit in vidia oppressit Give a piece of bread to Belisarius whom vertue advanced envy oppressed Thou therefore that with Capernaum art even lift up to heaven be not insolent thou knowest not how soon thou mayst be brought down to hel Exalt not thy self over proudly above thy brethren I meet with an ancient story it commonly goeth along with Ezekiels wheels I wil give it you shortly and leave it to your selves to apply Sesostris King of Aegypt a potent and victorious Prince when he rid in triumph he compelled four conquered Kings to draw his golden Chariot which they did patiently because they could not avoid it One of the four kings that drew cast his eye continually upon the Chariot wheel and being demanded the reason by Sesostris he made answer I see in this wheel the mutability of all worldly things That part of the wheel which is neerest heaven is presently upon the earth This made such an impression in Sesostris that he would never afterwards suffer his Chariot to be drawn by Kings nor yet by men but carryed himself more humbly and gently The application is easy as I said at first and therefore I leave it to you I think within these few years we have seen amazing changes in the Crown in the Mitre in the Army in the Church in the State and in the City Let me speak on a little further and make a second Use Are all things in this world but turning wheels Instable and rouling Then set not your heart on any thing here below This I say brethren It remaineth that they that have wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it because the fashion of this world passeth away Where the world is compared to a ghost or apparation that appears and soon vanisheth or to a shew upon a stage there 's a great pomp every one acts their part and on the suddain the play is done ther 's and end of all Set not your heart on that which is transitory not on the turning wheel but upon him that moves the wheel namely upon God God made all things changeable saith Augustine that we might rest on him only and in him who is unchangeable immutable He is the father of lights with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning Therefore is it rightly said that God is mans proper place wherein he ought to rest as in his center and end All things which are made have their certain place and term God created the heaven and filled it with Angels he created the earth and filled it with beasts and plants and creeping things he created the sea and filled it with fishes he created the aire and filled it with flying fouls What proper place is now left for man Or what wil God now give unto man wherein he may rest All other places are taken up and ful already Therefore when there was nothing else left to give to man God gave himself to man God himself would be mans inheritance and resting place All other places are restless and ful of change only God is immutable and changeth not I said says
thy forehead Fear them not neither be dismayed at their looks though they be a rebellious house The 2. Use and that which is more proper to the time and occasion is to all sorts of people especially the great men of the earth Princes and Governors the rich and honorable Must Gods Prophets and Ministers speak what they hear from God Then let all men whoever they be hear patiently what the messengers of the Lord speak For it may truly be said it is the voice of God and not of man Mica 6. 9. The voice of the Lord cryeth unto the City But methinks I hear what some are ready to object We are willing to hear the word from the Minister if he would preach Christ more if he would set down the dignitys of Christians and leave urging their duties if he would cease reproving and not be so bitter in his invectives his salt is too quick and we are not able to bear his reproachful words he so reviles us that he makes our cheeks to blush and our very eares to tingle I there it pincheth the word of reproof cannot be born especially by the Magistrates and great ones if these mountains be touched they wil smoke and fume They hate him that rebukes in the gate and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly Amos 5. 10. It 's admirable to see how many ways people especially the great ones have to take off the faithful Ministers from rebuking plainly One project is by fawning collogueing and hypocritical slattery They call the Ministers in a respective way thy tel them they are learned men Reverend men holy men of God what good their Ministry doth and how they are respected in their places so as never any had the like love before And what of all this O here 's a baite They proceed But you are too bitter against the Magistrates always reproving the Magistrates to bring them into contempt if you destroy Magistracy it wil be the worse for you Magistrates and Ministers must stand or fall together Therefore let us go hand in hand together Forbear to reprove us or if you see any faults in us come and tel us of them privately and let not the world hear of them and then we shal love you and do any thing in the world for you Here 's the voice of the inchanter But what Must the Prophets tongue be charmed with fair words No No flattering speeches must not put us by our duty when God crys in our hearing when we are called to it we must reprove and rattle the greatest wheels Belshazzar the King came after this manner flamming to Daniel The spirit of the holy Gods is in thee wisdom and knowledg and understanding is in thee thou canst make interpretations and dissolve doubts Now do but interpret the writing for me and make it speak good to me and thou shalt be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about thy neck and thou shalt be the third ruler in the Kingdom But what answers Daniel He said before the King Let thy gifts he to thy self and give thy rewards to another yet I wil read the writing unto the King I wil make known the interpretation be it what it wil be if it be MENE MENE TEKEL VPHARSIN then I wil tel the King plainly God hath numbred thy Kingdom and finished it thou art weighed in the ballances and art found wanting thy Kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians And truly thus the Divel would have baffled Christ Luk. 8. 27 28 29. There were Devils in a man and when they saw Christ approaching they feared he would rebuk them and what did they to prevent it Oh they fell down and carried themselves very mannerly to him they cry out in his praise We know oh Jesus who thou art thou art the Son of God most high thou art the holy one of God! I beseech thee torment us not And would Christ be put off so No no Out Devill out Devill sayes he he spared him never the more for his flattery And so must all faithfull Ministers deale with all those that go about to button up their mouths with sordid slattery Out Devill out Devill Another engine that great men have to stop the mouths of Ministers that they may not reprove them for their sins is persecution and violence Doth Michaiah prophesie evill to wicked Ahab yea though it be nothing but what God spake in his hearing what 's next Thus saith the King put this man in the prison-house and feed him with the bread of affliction and with the water of affliction Let Ministers with us cry out against the sins of the Citie the prophanation of God day the contempt of the Word the luxury and excesse the unmercifulnesse to the poore and the negligence of Magistrates in not endevouring reformation And what 's the next They must look to be called to their Courts to be censured and threatned their means and livelyhood to be taken away Just a year ago upon this very day and occasion the faithfull Minister of Christ who by the providence of God then preached he was but a little in reprehension and presently summoned to the Court and questioned though none evill could be found in him and he had spoken nothing but what was just and right The very last week on Thursday a godly-brother-Minister at a Fast held in my Church did but reprove and that with all humility and modesty the neglect of Magistrates in suffering sish to be sold in the streets on the Sabbath day and presently he was sent for to the Court and called in question as a delinquent And whereforâ— is all this Surely to button up our mouths to make us afraid to quest or open against sin And what Must we Ministers cowardly for fear forbear to tell the people of their transgressions and the house of Juda of their sins I am sure Michaiah did not so when he was doomed to the prison till Ahab returned in peace Thou in peace sayes Michaiah if thou return in peace the Lord hath not spoken by me And he said more-over Hearken all you people It was a publique reproof and threatning in the eares of the whole multitude But the common objection is by thus doing you cry down Magistracy and bring it into contempt and so make a way to all confusion I Answer Cursed I that 's the word comes first to hand I cannot think of a more proper on the sudden let it go for me Cursed be the filthy dreamers that despise dominion and speak evill of dignities Those brethren in iniquity that under the pretext of Christian liberty kick against the higher powers which are ordaind of God strike at the root of all civill government cry down Kings Parliaments all Magistrates and Magistracy who cast off Lawes disturb Order would lay all levell and bring in an Anabaptisticall parity O my soul come not thou into their secret But