A FREE-WIL Offering Gen. 4. part of verse 4. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and his Offering BY JAMES HARWOOD D.D. DVBLIN Printed by J.C. Anno Domini 1662. To his GRACE JAMES Duke Marquis and Earl of Ormond Earl of Ossery and Brecknock Viscount Thurles Lord Baron of Arclo Lanthony Lord of the Regalities Liberties of the County of Tiperary Chancellor of the University of Dublin Lord Lieutenant General and General Governor of His Majesties Kingdom of Ireland one of the Lords of His Majesties most Honorable privy Council of His Majesties Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland Lord Steward of His Majesties Houshold Gentleman of His Majesties Bed-Chamber and Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter May it please your Grace YOur great Imployments might implead my boldness while I have presumed with unpolished lines to withdraw you from your high affairs The Church and State under God depend upon you you have given such assured Testimonies of your care to tutor up these Twins so that Clergy and Laity bid you welcome as wished for by all true Protestants and prayed for by all the suffering Sons of Levi. We look upon you as the Physician sent to cure our Kingdoms maladies as the Master Pilot able to steer to a safe Harbour this crazy Vessel the Common-weal The Star in the East conducted the Wisemen to the Cratch of Christ and that most resplendent Constellation Charls his Wain is your Conductor to this Kingdom We honor our King for he honors God we honor you who honors the King The King hath given you a Commission and our Church gives you her blessing yea Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Most Mighty Prince I have neither Myrrhe nor Aloes nor Cassia to present to your Illustrious Highness yet a little oyl in a barrel not much for not Master of much not less lest my present had been less then the Widows Mite Christ feasted thousands with a few Loaves and Fishes No marvel He could make that little more My little I can make neither more nor less not less lest too little should be brought to the Table not more lest your State affairs should surfeit of long lines Here is a Viaticum Modicum an Offering and a small one presented by him who joys in your presence who was engaged to honor you before he saw you Your favours at a distance oblige and your love to the CHVRCH commands for you and all yours the prayers Of your most humble devoted Servant James Harwood THE CONTENTS A Christians Looking-Glass 1 Mercy beyond Measure 13 Gods Magistrates the Peoples Deliverers 21 A home charge for all Subjects 30 Sions sad Complaint 37 The Angels Antheme 43 A Lesson for Souldiers 51 Gods love mans life 60 Gods Presence Patients Protector 67 Where Unity Amity 76 ERRATA PAge 10. l. 6. after he is a sinner adde and whilst p. 58. l. 3. r. Mutineer p. 37. line 10 for Alphaltes read Asphaltes p. 41. l. 6. for Doe r. dare p. 46. l. 11. adde it after the word shall p. 47. l. 19. for men r. man p. 56. l. 3. for did r. dyed l. 18. for tripertite maudat r. tripartite mandat p. 59. l. 9. for care r. can p. 70. l. 6. for madles r. madles A FREE-WIL Offering A CHRISTIAN LOOKING-GLASS I Said I will look unto my ways Psal 39.1 A Good resolution if brought to Birthdom but O it is time to resolve of Good when Evil hath harrased the soul And yet what are all my resolves beneficial to me if I resolve not to do as I determine I confess Say well is good but Do well is better but as the fruit is first in the bud so the blossom of a good intent first blooms à Corde then in os then in opus I am in hopes to proceed on happily when à Radice from the root there is a visible shew tending to perfection I said I will A word would almost warrant an happy issue Resolute intents to do good are stout Agitators to assist first endeavours Yet if this I will proceed from humane confidence the weakest temptations lay flat our presumptuous undertakings Let me beg the assistance of God and by his adjuvant grace my Will will scale the Walls of Jericho I said I will This is the language of a Saint a Sinner a Devil Saith the unclean Spirit Then I will return the Devil he wills a mischief to man a Sinner to himself a Saint the sin-slaughter in his soul The Devil is peremptory to repossess the sinner wilful to do evil the Saint hath a will to do good What a fair shew makes this man of God so he is and yet a man after Gods own heart may have a fearful stop betwixt his intent and act Again had not David failed to perform he had never been thus resolute to have will'd when sin overtakes Gods childe if the childe of God he takes up new resolutions to amend and as the Ram giveth the biggest push runs the furthest back so the backsliding of a sinner may if grace serve to amend his pace to Paradise Surely here hath been a sinful party sent out to divert our Kingly prophet in his spiritual progress Else why is it resolved upon the case I will look unto my ways If he had not with Lots Wife lately lookt back to carnal Sodom here had been less need at this present to look unto his ways But O when the old Man stands in the way the good Man had need carry both his eyes in his head Though it be natural for the works of darkness to blindefold our best of intellectuals yet by a spiritual vertue in the herb of Grace my sin is made my eye-salve and fro once with the Snake I have rubb'd my speckled Conscience betwixt those two peeble stones the two Tables the ten Commandments then those scales Ignorance of my offences pill off And instead of walking Will. Then I resolve I will look unto my ways but no sooner do I look but lo Bears and Bug-bears sad afflictions and disguised trespasses I lookt and knew not this last my peccata splendida till I lookt and lookt again ad Dei Judicia I offered up for my Quit-rent to the Lord of Heaven counterfeit Coyn for current Silver till the Touchstone Affliction discovered Hypocrisie to be the metal within whilest External Profession the thin covering without O let me be what I seem to be otherwise there is a God will set me out in my own colours I know it and for certain that though I may cozen man yet I cannot deceive my God and therefore lest I be found a dissembler with man or with ire to encense my Maker once more I will look unto my ways and look at them with a double eye Corporis mentis At all without in the confines of my Conversation and at all within in the territories of my Conscience With my bodily eye I can spy much amiss
sea of felicity The Israelites are carried into Babylon and the Babylonians are planted in the Land of Israel Gods own people at a loss and the Devils darlings bear all the sway Sad news for the Saints to see such in their possessions and they transplanted into a forreign Land and imprisoned But we must not judge them the best who prevail the most As sinners in the next world shall not escape Gods venngeance so Saints in this life oft times are sad sufferers yea and such sufferers as cannot sing a song of Sion while by the banks of Bybylon O! Mesery without Remedy is able to leave heart-less the best of Saints yet when my reason fails to foresee deliverance let my faith in God tow me to the firm land of his gracious promises Though I should see no hopes in my frail judgement of a settlement yet will I hope for peace for that thou the God of peace art become gracious unto thy land to it and us To us who wanted grace to serve thee gracious to us who were enemies to our selves The God of peace hath made our peace he will have peace with us who had open war with him His mercie is over all his works and our sinful works cannot over-master his mercy Of his own free grace he is reconciled with us our sins set us at odds Gods love to man made the composition what love owe we to him who so loved the world who loved man that loved not himself who shewed love to us to learn us to love one another When Heaven proclaims peace a shame it is for us earthy worms to live at odds let the grace of God lead on to have peace will all men and the more mercie the Lord shews to us the less debate let be found among us our selves But wherein O Lord art thou become gratious unto us If any want eyes and sees it not let him that hath ears hear it Was there ever such an universal devastation Threè Nations off the Hinges Givil and Ecclesiastical Government disjoynted The Heads of the Kirk and Kingdom made shorter by the head Pharaohs lean Kine devoured all the fat Peters Patrimony was but a breakfast The Kingly Revenue unable to pay the publique faith The Riches of the Land exhausted The Souldier unpaid and our lives and livelihood left to the indiscretion of an Arbitrary power When we were fallen into this irrepairable Consumption the Lord set us on foot again composed our differences without blood-shed made peace when no hopes of peace replanted thousands under their own vines Now we may live at home without fear enjoy our own without sequestration have the society of our Wives and young ones in despite of Pike and Pistol O God my God this is thy great work this we attempted but could not bring to pass This thou hast done and none else could do it To our endess comfort we may now report how Thou O Lord art become gracious to thy Land Thou hast restored the Kingdom to the King and the King to his Kingdoms the Nobles to their Honours and the Commons to their Birthright the Law is restored and the Gospel preserved and there is peace from Dan to Beersheba And now is not he ungrate who will not warble out this note O Lord thou art become gracious to thy Land If it had not been thine thou wouldst not redeemed it if thou hadst not been the Lord of Hosts no other L. General could have done it But what is thine who can keep from thee To think who thou art is able to blunt the edge of all opposers Blessed be God for that our Land is thine and thou hast owned it and that thou who art Lord of Heaven we hold our land here below on thee But by the Land is meant all in the Land The Brutes have found Gods favour they did groan under the pressure of a Civil War The War is ended and they at quiet now they may take their pastime in the pastures skipping over the Mountains and leaping over the Valleys Their Masters by a Metonymie may be here meant and by Land be understood the inhabitants of the land blessed not onely in their new Restorement but late punishment We had little grace till we had a large lash we had sinned much and have suffered long And as the Walnut-tree brings forth most fruit when most cudgel'd so that Sons of God are most penitent when most afflicted And thus our God is doing us good when we think harm he was never more gracious to his three Confessors then when they were in the furnace He casts us into the fire of affliction to make us run for current coyn in his Kingdom He brings us to Heaven by Hell-gates and first hacks and hues the bole of our bodies to make men serviceable timber to build up a living Altar His Cedars are fel'd and now made fit his metal melted and the gold resined The fuel is consumed but the Bullion forth coming our Tormentors taken away and we sufferers saved O our good God he whips his childe and burns his rod purges us and expunges our foes Blessed be our God who in mercy hath corrected us while in fury he hath consumed them them who had pulled down Majestie Magistracy Ministery They made our Kingdom an Akeldama a field of blood our Church a Den of thieves our Judicatures the High-places of high injustice But thou O Lord hast delivered us out of the Lyons paw from blood-thirsty and blood-guilty men who tyrannized over King and Kingdom Church and Church-men And for this cause we cannot but singing say and saying sing How O Lord thou hast been gracious to thy Land GODS MAGISTRATES THE Peoples Deliverers Psal 77.20 Thou didst lead thy people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron THese words are spoke by David when sore afflicted what misfortune had befallen him I finde not upon record that shrewdly incumbred is without dispute But what a King and surrounded with sorrow and beset with care O! Majestie is not exempt from misery no more then the fairest day from a dark cloud and dashing shower But say the storm be raised and David in it How comes it to be becalmed When I think what God did for the three it puts me in hopes how he will relieve one I cannot but confide How my God will free his servant from the conspiracy of wicked men while I call to minde How thou my God didst lead thy people like sheep out of Egypt by the hand of Moses and Aaron Never people more made slaves forc't to work much and want their wages their task of brick is enreased and their stubble take from them they are ordered to spend all their days in Pharaohs Brick-kilns and yet while they do Pharaohs work Pharaoh murthers all their males Our Kingly Prophet in the midst of his pressures calls to minde this slavish oppression he grieved before takes up now had almost despaired of support but
that he calls to minde how in despite of Pharaoh and his Host from the House of Bondage it was thou O Lord who didst lead thy people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron Gods Deliverance when past all hopes in Humane reason is a strong Rampire to keep off Despair Let us bear then with patience all our crosses since the Arm of the Lord is not shortned He saves by unities as well as universalities and one Moses and one Aaron is enough for him to lead his people out of Egypt But Magistracy and Ministery are under a cloud and yet the people like sheep are led by those the Lord hath set over them You see adversity of old could not make disloyal Subjects but prosperity of late hath buoyed up too many into Rebellion This is too apparent parent while all the people like sheep were led by the hand of Moses and Aaron But in our times Moses and Aaron have been led like sheep to the slaughter by the hand of the common people I shall not so much inveigh against our bloody Regicides as commend these loyal subjects though in a forreign Land and they all captivated yet the words import their obedience to their Superiors they are at the command of Moses their head Magistrate and Aaron their prime Diocesan Where Loyalty and Conformity is the Coat Deliverance by the Prince and Priest is the Cresh we shall stick in the mine till these bring us out of the dirt Know it That obedience to the Law of the Land and the Discipline of the Church assure deliverance We may suffer long and see small help yet let us live in Loyalty to the King and obedience to our Aaron and God will bless us There hath been no want on Gods part we want hearts seriously to consider what great things our great God hath brought to pass for the good of us by the hand of our Moses and our Aaron by the meekness of the one and wisdom of them both they have settled the Laity in their Lands and the Clergy in their Livings So that now to the praise of God and comfort of us and all ours we can say Though not out of the Land of Egypt yet out of the house of Bondage thou O Lord hast led thy people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron It is thou O Lord nil desper andum Caesare duce Thou didst lead that 's our joy the work is done and we delivered But who are these the Lord delivered A people for plurality thine for propriety It is Gods good will to be guid to the people whilest led they are sure not to be misled For thy people thine by Creation thine by Redemption Redemption spiritual from the Power of the old man Redemption Corporal from the sons of Belial But thou O Lord hast led the people like sheep Israel of old Ireland of late like sheep Thou hast led us not to the slaughter but from the slaughter-house the High-Court of high-in-justice and many slain and yet we thy people were like sheep scarce opening our mouthes before the Shearers content to part with our fleece to save our flesh What is more innocent the sheep And what had we done against them that did rise up against us Thus O Lord thou hast called back the Captivity of a people as harmless as sheep for neither against our King nor Kingdom were we Offenders But it is here said O Lord how thou ledst thy people by the hand to point out the way not by the sword to cut out a way But this is done by hand of Moses and Aaron and blessed be those Counsellours to our King who when it was War have made Peace The worst of Enemies if they have the least of Grace will shake hands with this Moses and this Aaron The twain are said to have one hand to note an unanimity O happy is the Land when these go hand in hand the Prince and the Prelate Then is the best of times when Aaron bows to Moses his Scepter and Moses by Law upholds Aarons Mitre Though these be the Instruments God's the Author of our Deliverance Our help then stood in the Lord our God for thou didst lead us out and brought us in for our sin thou didst punish us and of thy mercy thou forgavest us we may blame our selves for our captivity It is to thee O Lord we give thanks for our liberty But thou who dwellest in Heaven made use of some choice servants upon earth to redeem us as the Israelites yet give thanks but to thy name be the praise Here must we after a thankful acknowledgement made to thee our God not neglect to honor those whom under thee O God thou hast honored to be our Church and State Restorers Blessed shall they be in the Kingdom of Heaven who under God and the King have been instrumental to set at freedom this Kingdom It is fawning flattery but Christian civility to bless them both who have the chief Government in this our Church and Kingdom whose hands and hearts these many years have been lifted up to God by prayer for us when others had made a prey of us whose grave counsels added to the wisdom of our young Solomon have brought to nought the Worldly wisdom of all Trayterous Achitophels Let us acquiesce under the pious Goverment of their Graces since no new custom but the old fashion thus to be governed and thus to govern for of old O Lord thou didst lead thy people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron A home CHARGE for all Subjects Prov. 24.21 Fear God and the King THe Object of fear is God in Heaven The King on Earth God in the first place the King in the second I must so reverence God that I slight not his Vice-gerent and so observe my King that I forget not to be the servant of the living God Love advises To fear God Allegiance bindes to stand in aw of the King The one for that The Father of Spirits the other for that Pater Patriae the Father of the Countrey But let us look at these two conjunct severed Conjunct as if no fear of God in them that injure the King as if the Civil Governor be contemned our Celestial Commander is lightly set by Fear God And shew thy self religious Thy fear to offend the King witnesses thou art righteous The first Commandment involves our fearing God the fifth our fearing the King In the first Table it s the first thing which God takes care of To fear him In the second Table the first precept implicite To honor the King While you do no homage to the person of your Prince fear to offend him is far to seek But since God commands all and the King immediate Vice-gerent unto God This considered all are engaged to Fear God and the King This Precept is like the waters of Trial Numb 5. The water tryed whether that a pure Spouse this who is