euer he sped in his first onsets now hee distressed Iudah but strengthned it not The charge was as great as the benefit small sooner shall hee eate them out then rescue them No arme of flesh can shelter Ahaz from a vengeance Be wise ô ye Kings be instructed ô yee Iudges of the earth serue the Lord with feare and reioyce with trembling Kisse the Sonne lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little His subiects complaine that he died so late and as repenting that he euer was deny him a roome in the sepulchers of Kings as if they said the common earth of Ierusalem is too good for him that degenerated from his Progenitors marr'd his kingdome depraued his people forsooke his God The vtter Destruction of the Kingdome of ISRAEL IVdah was at a sore heaue yet Israel shall mis-cary before it such are the sins of both that they striue whether shall fall first but this lot must light vpon the ten Tribes though the late King of Iudah were personally worse then the most of Ieroboams successors yet the people were generally lesse euill vpon whom the incroachments of Idolatry were more by obtrusion then by consent besides that the thrones of Iudah had some interchanges of good Princes Israel none at all The same iustice therefore that made Israel a scourge to Iudah made Assyria a scorpion to Israel It was the quarrell of Iudah that first ingaged the King of Ashur in this warre against Israel now he is not so easily fetcht off So we haue seen some eager mastiue that hath beene set on by the least clap of the hand but could not bee loosned by the force of staues Salmaneser King of Assyria comes vp against Hoshea King of Israel and subdues him and puts him to his Tribute This yoke was vncouth and vnpleasing The vanquisht Prince was neither able to resist nor willing to yeeld secretly therefore he treats with the King of Egipt for assistance as desiring rather to hazard his liberty by the hand of an equall then to inioy a quiet subiection vnder the hand of an ouer-ruling power wee cannot blame Princes to bee iealous of their soueraignties The detaining of his yearely Tribute and the whisperings with new confederates haue drawne vp the King of Ashur to perfect his own victories He returnes therefore with a strong power and after three yeares siege takes Samaria imprisons Hoshea and in the exchange of a wofull captiuity he peoples Israel with Assyrians and Assyria with Israelites Now that abused soyle hath vpon a surfet of wickednesse cast out her perfidious owners and will try how it can fare with heathenish strangers Now the Assyrian gallants triumph in the Palaces of Samaria and Iezreel whiles the Peeres and Captaines of Israel are driuen manicled through the Assyrian streets and billeted to the seuerall places of their perpetuall seruitude Shortly now the flourishing Kingdome of the tenne Tribes is comne to a finall and shamefull end and so vanished in this last dissipation that since that day no man could euer say This was Israel Oh terrible example of vengeance vpon that peculiar people whom God hath chosen forhimselfe out of all the world All the world were witnesses of the fauours of their miraculous deliuerances and protections All the world shall be witnesses of their iust confusion It is not in the power of sleight errors to set off that infinite mercy What was it ô God what was it that caused thee to cast off thine owne inheritance What but the same that made thee to cast the Angells out of heauen Euen their rebellious sins Those sins dared to emulate the greatnesse of thy mercies no lesse then they forced the seuerity of thy iudgments They left all the commandements of the Lord their God and made them molten Images euen two Calues and made a groue and worshipped all the host of heauen and serued Baal and caused their sonnes and daughters to passe through the fire and vsed diuination and enchantments and sold themselues to doe euill in the sight of the Lord to prouoke him to anger Neither were these slips of frailty or ignorant mis-takings but wilfull crimes obstinate impieties in spight of the doctrines reproofes menaces miraculous conuictions of the holy Prophets which God sent amongst them Thy destruction is of thy selfe ô Israel what could the iust hand of the Almighty doe lesse then consume a nation so incorrigibly flagitious A nation so vnthankfull for mercies so impatient of remedies so vncapable of repentance so obliged so warned so shamelesly so lawlesly wicked What nation vnder heauen can now challenge an vndefaisible interest in God when Israel it selfe is cast off what Church in the world can show such deare loue-tokens from the Almighty as this now-abhorred and adulterous spouse Hee that spared not the naturall Oliue shall hee spare the wild It is not for vs sinners of the Gentiles to be high-minded but awfull The Israelites are caryed captiue into Assyria those goodly Cities of the ten tribes may not lie wast and vnpeopled The wisedome of the victor findes it fit to transplant his owne Colonies thither that so he may raise profit thence with security From Babylon therfore and Cuthah and Aua and Hamath and Sepharuaim doth he send of his owne subiects to possesse and inhabit the Cities of Samaria The land doth not brook her new Tenants They feared not the Lord how should they they knew him not Therefore the Lord sent Lyons amongst them which slew some of them Not the veriest Pagan can bee excused for his ignorance of God Euen the deprauedst nature might teach vs to tremble at a Deity It is iust with the Almighty not to put vp neglect where hee hath bestowed reason The brute creatures are sent to reuenge the quarrell of their Maker vpon worse beasts then themselues Still hath God left himselfe Champions in Israel Lyons teare the Assyrians in pieces and put them in mind that had it not beene for wickednesse that land needed not to haue changed masters The great Lord of the world cannot want meanes to plague offenders If the men bee gone yet the beasts are there And if the beasts had beene gone yet so long as there were stones in the wals in the quarries God would be sure of auengers There is no security but in being at peace with God The King of Assyria is sued to for remedy Euen these Pagans haue learned to know that these Lyons were sent from a God that this punishment is for sinne They know not the manner of the God of the land therefore he hath sent Lyons among them These blind Heathen that thinke euery land hath a seuerall God yet hold that God worthy of his owne worship yet hold that worship must bee grounded vpon knowledge the want of that knowledge punishable the punishmēt of that want iust and diuine How much worse then Assyrians are they that are ready to ascribe all
of Israel packing into a miserable captiuity the proud Assyrians Lording in their Cities yet euen then when hee stood alone in a corner of Iudah durst Hezekiah draw his necke out of the yoke of the great and victorious Monarch of Assyria and as if one enemy had not beene enough at the same time hee falls vpon the incroaching Philistims and preuailes It is not to be asked what powers a man can make but in what termes he stands with heauen The vnworthy father of Hezekiah had clogged Iudah with this seruile fealty to the Assyrian what the conditions of that subiection were it is too late and needlesse for vs to inquire If this payment were limited to a period of time the expiration acquitted him If vpon couenants of ayd the cessation thereof acquitted him If the reforming of religion banishment of Idolatry ran vnder the censure of rebellion the quarrell on Ezekiahs part was holy on Senacheribs vniust but if the restipulation were absolute and the withdrawing of this homage vpon none but ciuill grounds I cannot excuse the good King from a iust offence It was an humane frailty in an obliged Prince by force to affect a free and independant soueraignty What doe we mince that fact which holy Ezekiah himselfe censures I haue offended returne from mee what thou putst on mee will I beare The comfort of liberty may not be had with an vnwarranted violence Holinesse cannot free vs from infirmity It was a weaknes to doe that act which must bee soone vndone with much repentance and more losse This reuolt shall cost Ezekiah besides much humiliation three hundred yearely talents of siluer thirty talents of gold How much better had it beene for the Cities of Iudah to haue purchased their peace with an easie tribute then warre with an intolerable taxation Fourteene years had good Hezekiah fed vpon a sweet peace sauced only with a set pension now he must prepare his pallat for the bitter morsels of warre The King of Assyria is comne vp against all the defenced Cities of Iudah and hath taken them Ezekiah is faine to buy him out with too many talents The poore Kingdome of Iudah is exhaust with so deepe a payment in so much as the King is forced to borrow of God himselfe for Hezekiah gaue him all the siluer that was found in the house of the Lord yea at that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doores of the temple of the Lord and from the pillars which he had ouer-laid and gaue it to the King of Assyria How hard was good Hezekiah driuen ere he would bee thus bold with his God Surely if the mines or cofers of Iudah could haue yeelded any supply this shift had beene hatefull to fetch back for an enemy that which hee had giuen to his Maker Onely necessity excuses that from sacriledge in the sonne which will made sacriledge in the father That which is once deuoted to a sacred vse may not be called backe to a profane But he whose the earth is and the fulnesse of it is not so taken with our metals that hee should more regard our gold then our welfare His goodnes cannot grudge any outward thing for the price of our peace To rob God out of couetousnesse or wantonnesse or neglect is iustly damnable wee cannot robbe him out of our need for then he giues vs all we take and bids vs ransome our liues our liberties The treasures of Gods house were precious for his sake to whom they were consecrated but more precious in the sight of the Lord was the life of any one of his Saints Euery true Israelite was the spirituall house of God why should not the doore of the materiall tēple be willingly stripped to saue the whole frame of the spirituall Temple Take therefore ô Hezekiah what thou hast giuen no gold is too holy to redeeme thy vexation It matters not so much how bare the doores of the Temple bee in a case of necessity as how wel the insides be furnished with sincere deuotion O the cruell hard hartednesse of those men which will rather suffer the liuing Temples of God to be ruined then they will ransome their life with farthings It could not bee but that the store of needy Iudah must soone be drawne dry with so deepe an exaction that sum cannot be sent because it cannot be raised The cruell Tyran calls for his brickes whiles he allowes no straw His anger is kindled because Ezekiahs cofers haue a bottome with amighty host doth he come vp a gainst Ierusalem therefore shal that City be destroyed by him because by him it hath bin impouerished the inhabitants must bee slaues because they are beggers Oh lamentable and in sight desperate condition of distressed Ierusalem wealth it had none strength it had but a little all the Country round about was subdued to the Assyrian that proud victor hath begirt the wals of it with an innumerable army scorning that such a shouell-full of earth should stand out but one day Poore Ierusalem stands alone block't vp with a world of enemies helplesse friendlesse comfortlesse looking for the worst of an hostile fury when Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh the great Captaines of the Assyrians call to a parlee Hezekiah sends to them three of his prime officers his Steward his Secretary his Recorder Lord What insolent blasphemies doth that foule mouth of Rabshakeh belch out against the liuing God against his anointed seruant How plausibly doth hee discourage the subiects of Ezekiah how proudly doth hee insult vpon their impotency how doth he braue them with base offers of aduantage and lastly how cunningly doth he fore-lay their confidence which was onely left them in the Almighty protesting not to bee comne vp hither without the Lord The Lord said to me Goe vp to this land and destroy it How fearfull a word was this The rest were but vaine crackes this was a thunderbolt to strike dead the heart of Ezekiah If Rabshakeh could haue been beleeued Ierusalem could not but haue flowne open How could it think to stand out no lesse against God then men Euen thus doth the great enemy of mankinde if hee can dis-hearten the soule from a dependance vpon the God of mercies the day is his Lewd miscreants care not how they be-lye God for their owne purposes Eliakim the steward of Hezekiah well knew how much the people must needes bee affected with this pernicious suggestion and faine would therefore if not stop that wicked mouth yet diuert these blasphemies into a forraigne expression I wonder that any wise man should looke for fauour from an enemy Speak I pray thee to thy seruants in the Syrian language What was this but to teach an aduersary hovv to doe mischiefe Wherfore came Rabshakeh thither but to gall Ezekiah to vvith-dravv his subiects That tongue is properest for him vvhich may hurt most Deprecations of euill to a malicious man are no better then aduices An vnknowne idiome is fit
That thus his sonnes might bee euer dying before him and himselfe in their death euer miserable Who doth not now wish that the blood of Hezekiah and Iosiah could haue beene seuered from these impure dregs of their lewd issue no man could pity the offenders were it not for the mixture of the interest of so holy progenitors No more sorrow can come in at the windowes of Zedekiah more shall come in at his doores his care shall receiue what more to rue for his Ierusalem Nebuzaradan the great Marshall of the King of Babylon comes vp against that deplored City and breakes downe the walls of it round about and burnes the Temple of the Lord and the Kings house and euery faire Pallace of Ierusalem with fire driues away the remainder of her inhabitants into Captiuity caries away the last spoiles of the glorious Temple Oh Ierusalem Ierusalem the wonder of all times the paragon of nations the glory of the earth the fauourite of heauen how art thou now become heapes of ashes hilles of rubbish a spectacle of desolation a monument of ruine Iflater yet no lesse deepe hast thou now pledged that bitter cup of Gods vengeance to thy sister Samaria How carefully had thy God forwarned thee Thogh Israel play the harlot yet let not Iudah sinne Loe now as thine iniquities so thy iudgements haue ouertaken her Both lye together in the dust both are made a curse to all posterities Oh God what place shall thy iustice spare if Ierusalem haue perished If that delight of thine were cut off for her wickednesse Let not vs bee high minded but feare What pity it was to see those goodly Cedars of the Temple flaming vp higher then they stood in Lebanon to see those curious marbles which neuer felt the dint of the pick-axe or hammer in the laying wounded with mattockes and wounding the earth in their fall to see the holy of holies whereinto none might enter but the high-priest once a yeare thronged with Pagans the vailes rent the sacred Arke of God vilated and defaced the Tables ouer-turned the altars broke down the pillars demolished the pauements digged vp yea the very groūd where that famous pile stood deformed O God thou woldst rather haue no visible house vpon earth then indure it defiled with Idolatries Foure hundred thirty and sixe yeares had that Temple stood and beautified the earth and honored heauen now it is turned into rude heapes There is no prescription to be pleaded for the fauour of the Almighty Onely that Temple not made with hands is eternall in the heauens Thither hee graciously bring vs that hath ordain'd vs thither for the sake of that glorious high-Priest that hath once for all entred into that holy of holies Amen Contemplations ON THE HISTORIE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT The 21th and last Booke Wherein are 1 Zerubbabel and Ezra 2 Nehemiah building the walls of Ierusalem 3 Nehemiah redressing the extortion of the Iewes 4 Abasuerus feasting Vashti cast off Esther chosen 5 Haman disrespected by Mordecai Mordecaies message to Esther 6 Esther suing to Ahasuerus 7 Mordecai honored by Haman 8 Haman hanged Mordecai aduanced ZERVBBABEL and EZRA THE first transportation into Babylon vnder Iehoiakim wherein Daniel Ezekiel and many other of the best note were driuen into captiuity was some eleuen yeares after followed with a second vnder Zedekiah wherin the remnant of the now-ruined Ierusalem and Iudah were swept away Seuenty yeares was the period of their longest seruitude whiles Babylō was a Queen Iudah was her vassall when that proud Tyrannesse fell Gods people began to rise againe The Babylonian Monarchie was no sooner swallowed vp of the Persian then the Iewes felt the comfort of libertie For Cyrus conquering Babylon and finding the Iewes groaning vnder that miserable captiuity straight releases them and sends them vnder the conduct of their Captaine Zorobabel backe to their almost-forgotten country The world stands vpon vicissitudes Euery Nation hath her turne and must make vp her measure Threescore and tenne yeares agoe it was the course of Iudah the iniquity of that rebellious people was full Some hundred and thirty yeares before that was the turne of Samaria and her Israelites Now the staffe is come to the doores of Babylon euen that wherewith Iudah was beaten and those Persians which are now victorious must haue their terme also It is in vaine for any earthly state to promise to it selfe an immutable cōdition At last the rod that scourged Gods children is cast into the fire Thou hast remembred O Lord the Children of Edom in the day of Ierusalem how they said Downe with it downe with it euen to the ground O daughter of Babylon wasted with misery how happy is hee that rewardeth thee as thou hast serued them It is Cyrus that hath wrought this reuenge this rescue Doubtlesse it did not a little moue Cyrus to this fauour that he found himselfe honorably fore-named in these Iewish prophesies and fore appointed to this glorious seruice no lesse then an hundred and seuenty yeares before he was Who would not be glad to make good so noble and happy a destiny O God if wee heare that thou hast ordained vs to life how gladly how carefullie should we worke out our saluation if to good workes how should we abound In the first yeare of his Monarchy doth Cyrus both make proclamations and publish them in writing through all his Kingdome wherein he both professeth his zealous resolutions and desires to build vp Gods house in Ierusalem and inioynes and incourages all the Iewes through his dominions to addresse themselues to that sacred worke and incites all his subiects to ayd them with siluer and gold and goods and beasts How gracious was the command of that whereof the very allowance was a fauour Was it Cyrus that did this was it not thou O God in whose hands are the harts of Kings that stirredst vp the spirit of this Persian as if he had beene more then a sonne of thy Church a father How easie is it for thee to make very Pagans protectors to thy Church enemies benefactors Not with an empty grace doth this great King dismisse the Iewes but with a royall bountie Hee brings forth the vessels of the house of the Lord which Nehuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Ierusalem and had put them in the house of his gods and causes them to be numbred by his Treasurer to the hands of Sheshbazzar the Prince of Iudah for the vse of the Temple no fewer then fiue thousand and foure hundred vessels of gold and siluer Certainly this great Monarch wanted not wit to thinke It is a rich booty that I find in the Temples of Babylon by the law of conquest it is mine hauing vanquisht their gods I may well challenge their spile how seasonably doth it now fall into my hands vpon this victorie to reward my souldiers to settle my new Empire what if this treasure came from Ierusalem the proprietie is now altered the very
vveeds and change his sackcloth for tissue that yet at least his cloathes might not hinder his accesse to her presence for the free opening of his griefes It is but a sleight sorrow that abides to take in outward comforts Mordecai refuses that kinde offer and vvould haue Esther see that his afflictiō was such as that hee might well resolue to put off his sackcloth and his skin at once that he must mourne to death rather then see her face to liue The good Queene is astonisht with this constāt humiliatiō of so deare a friend and now she sends Hatach a trusty though a Pagan attendant to inquire into the occasion of this so irremediable heauinesse It should seeme Esther inquired not greatly into matters of state that which perplexed all Shushan was not yet knowne to her her followers not knowing her to be a Iewesse conceiued not how the newes might concerne her and therefore had forborne the relation Mordecai first informes her by her messenger of the decree that was gone out against all her nation of the day wherein they must all prepare to bleed of the summe which Haman had profered for their heads deliuers the copy of that bloody Edict charging her now if euer to bestirre her selfe and to improue all her loue all her power with King Ahasuerus in a speedy and humble supplication for the sauing of the life not of himselfe so much as of her people It was tydings able to confound a weake heart and hers so much the more as shee could apprehēd nothing but impossibility of redresse she needs but to put Mordecai in mind of that which all the Kings seruants and subiects knew well enough that the Persian law made it no lesse then death for whom soeuer man or woman that should presse into the inner court of the king vncalled Nothing but the royall scepter extended could keepe that presumptuous offender from the graue For her thirty dayes were now passed since shee was called in to the King an intermission that might bee iustly suspicious Whether the heate of his first affection were thus soone of it selfe allayed towards her or whether some suggestions of a secret enemie perhaps his Agagite may haue set him off or whether some more pleasing obiect may haue laid hold on his eyes what euer it might be this absēce could not but argue some strangenesse and this strangenesse must needs imply a danger in her bold intrusion Shee could bewaile therfore she could not hope to remedy this dismallday of her people This answer in the eares of Mordecai sounded truth but weaknesse neither can he take vp with so feeble a returne These occasions require other spirits other resplutions which must bee quickened by a more stirring reply Thinke not with thy selfe that thou shalt escape in the Kings house more then all the Iewes For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall their inlargement deliuerance arise to the Iewes from another place but thou and thy fathers house shall bee destroyed And who knoweth whether thou art comne to the Kingdome for such a time as this The expectation of death had not quailed the strong heart of faithfull Mordecai euen whiles hee mournes his zeale droupes not there could haue beene no life in that brest which this message could not haue rouzed What then is it death that thou fearest in this attempt of thy supplication what other thē death awaits thee in the neglect of it there is but this difference sue thou maist die sue not and thou must dye what blood hast thou but Iewish and if these vnalterable edicts exempt no liuing soule what shall become of thine and canst thou be so vainly timerous as to die for feare of death to preferre certaintie of danger before a possibility of hopes Away with this weake cowardise vnworthy of an Israelite vnworthy of a Queene But if faint heartednesse or priuate respects shall seale vp thy lippes or with-hold thine hand from the ayde of thy people if thou canst so farre neglect Gods Church know thou that God will not neglect it it shall not be in the power of Tyrans to root out his chosen seed that holy one of Israel shall rather worke miracles from heauen thē his inheritance shall perish vpon earth and how iust shall it then be for that iealous God to take vengeance vpon thee and thy fathers house for this cold vnhelpfulnesse to his distressed Church Suffer me therefore to adiure thee by all that tendernesse of loue wherewith I haue trained vp thine orphane infancie by all those deare and thankfull respects which thou hast vowed to mee againe by the name of the God of Israel whom wee serue that thou awaken and stirre vp thine holy courage and dare to aduenture thy life for the sauing of many It hath pleased the Almighty to raise thee vp to that height of honor which our progenitors could little expect why shouldst thou bee wanting to him that hath beene so bountifull to thee yea why should I not thinke that God hath put this very act into the intendement of thine exaltation hauing on purpose thus seasonably hoysed thee vp to the throne that thou maist rescue his poore Church from an vtter ruine Oh the admirable faith of Mordecai that shines through all these cloudes and in the thickest of these fogges descries a cheerfull glimpse of deliuerance Hee saw the day of their common destruction enacted he knew the Persian decrees to be vnalterable but withall hee knew there was a Messias to come he was so well acquainted with Gods couenanted assurances to his Church that he can through the midst of those bloody resolutions foresee indemnity to Israel rather trusting the promises of God then the threats of men This is the victory that ouercomes all the feares and fury of the world euen our faith It is quarrell enough against any person or community not to haue been aidfull to the distresses of Gods people Not to ward the blow if wee may is construed for little better then striking Till we haue tryed our vtmost wee know not whether wee haue done that we came for Mordecai hath said enough These words haue so put a new life into Esther that she is resolute to hazard the old Goe gather together all the Iewes that are present in Shushan and fast ye for me and neither eate nor drinke three daies night or day I also and my maidens will fast likewise and so will I goe in vnto the King which is not according to the law and if I perish I perish Heroicall thoughts doe well befit great actions Life can neuer be better aduentured then where it shall begaine to leese it There can bee no law against the humble deprecation of euils where the necessity of Gods Church calls to vs no danger should with-hold vs from all honest meanes of releife Deepe humiliations must make way for the successe of great enterprises wee are most capable of mercy
soules sake consider where thou art what thou doest it is Gods house wherein thou standest not thine owne Looke about thee and see whether these vailes these Tables these Pillars these Walls these Pauements haue any resemblance of earth There is no place in all the world whence thy God hath excluded thee but only this this he hath reserued for his own vse And canst thou think much to allow one roome as proper to him who hath not grudged all the rest to thee But if it bee thy zeale of a personall seruice to God that hath caried thee hither alas how canst thou hope to please the Almighty with a forbidden sacrifice Which of thine holy Progenitors euer dared to tread where thy foot now standeth which of thē euer put forth their hand to touch this sacred Altar Thou knowest that God hath set apart and sanctified his owne attendants wherefore serues the Priesthood if this be the right of Kings Were it not for the strict prohibition of our God it could seeme no other then an honour to our profession that a King should thinke to dignifie himselfe by our employment but now knowing the seuere charge of the great King of heauen wee cannot but tremble to see that censer in thine hand who euer out of the holy Tribe hath weilded it vnreuenged This affront is not to vs it is to the God whō we serue In awe of that terrible Maiesty as thou wouldst auoid some exemplary iudgement O King withdraw thy selfe not without humble deprecations from this presence and lay down that interdicted handfull with feare and trembling Bee thou euer a King let vs bee Priests The Scepter is thine let Censers be ours What religious heart could do other then relent at so faithfull and iust an admonition But how hard it is for great persons to yeeld they haue offended Vzziah must not be faulty what is done rashly shall be born out with power He was wroth and thus expresses it What meanes this saucy expostulation O ye sons of Leui how dare ye thus malapertly controll the well-meant actions of your Soueraigne If ye be Priests remember that ye are subiects or if ye will needs forget it how easie is it for this hand to awake your memory What such offence can it be for me to come into that house and to touch that Altar which my royall Progenitors haue made beautified consecrated Is the God of this place only yours Why doe ye thus ambitiously ingrosse Religion If Princes haue not intermedled with these holy affaires it was because they would not not because they might not When those lawes were made for the Sanctuary there were no Kings to grace these diuine ceremonies yet euen then Moses was priuiledged The persons of Princes if yee know not are no lesse sacred then your owne It is your presumption to account the Lords anointed prophane Contest with those whose dry vnhallowed heads are subiect to your power For me I will not aske your leaue to bee deuout Looke yee to your owne Censers presume not to meddle with mine In the meane time can ye thinke this insolence of yours shall escape vnreuenged Can it stand with the honour of my soueraignty to be thus proudly checked by subiects God doe so to me and more also if Whiles Vzziah yet speakes God strikes Ere the words of fury can come forth of his mouth the leprosie appeares in his forhead Leprosie was a most loathsome disease the forhead is the most conspicuous part Had this shamefull scurfe broken forth vpon his hand or foot or brest it might haue been hid from the eyes of men now the forhead is smitten with this iudgement that God may proclaime to all beholders Thus shal it be done to the man whose arrogance hath thrust him vpon a sacred charge Publique offences must haue open shame It is a dangerous thing to put our selues into the affaires into the presence of God vnwarranted There cannot be a more foolish mesprision then because we are great on earth to thinke wee may be bold with heauen When Gods messengers cannot preuaile by counsels intreaties threats it is time for God to show his immediate iudgements Wilfull offenders can expect nothing but a fearfull reuenge Now begins Vzziah to be confounded in himselfe and shame striues with leprosie for a place in his forehead The hand of God hath done that in an instāt which all the tōgues of men had attempted in vaine There needs no further solicitor of his egresse the sense of his plague sends him forth alone And now he thinks Wretched man that I am how haue I angred God and vndone my selfe I would needs come in like a Priest I now goe forth a leper the pride of my hart made me thinke my selfe worthy the presence of a God Gods iust displeasure hath now made me vnworthy of the presence of men whiles I affected the altar I haue lost my throne whiles I scornfully reiected the aduice and censures of Gods ministers I am now becomne a spectacle of horror and deformity to my owne seruants I that would be sending vp perfumes to heauē haue made my nastinesse hatefull to my own senses What doe I vnder this sacred roofe Neither is Gods house now for mee nor mine owne what cell what dungeon is close enough for me wherin to weare out the residue of mine vnhappy and vncomfortable dayes O God thou art iust and I am miserable Thus with a deiected countenance and sad heart doth Vzziah hast to retire himselfe wishes that he could be no lesse hid from himselfe then from others how easie is it for the God of heauen to bring downe the hyest pitch of earthly greatnesse and to humble the stubbornest pride Vpon the leasure of second thoughts Vzziah cannot but acknowledge much fauour in this correction and confesse to haue escaped well Others hee knew had beene strucke dead or swallow'd vp quick for so presumptuous an intrusion It is happy for him if his forehad may excuse his soule Vzziah ceased not to be a King when he began to be a leper the disease of his forhead did not remoue his Crowne his sonne Iotham raigned for him vnder him and whiles he was not seene yet hee was obeyed The character of soueraignty is indeleble whether by bodily infirmity or by spirituall censure Neither is it otherwise O God betwixt thee and vs if we be once a royall generation vnto thee our leprosies may deforme vs they shall not dethrone vs stil shall we haue the right still the possession of that glorious kingdome wherin wee are inuested from eternity AHAZ with his new Altar AFter many vnhappy changes of the two thrones Ahaz succeedes Iotham in the Kingdome of Iudah an ill sonne of a good father not more the heyre of Dauids seat then of Ieroboams sinne Though Israel play the harlot yet who can abide that Iudah should sin It is hard not to be infected with a contagious neighbourhood who euer read
that the Kingdome of Israel was seasoned with the vicinity of the true religion of Iudah Goodnesse such as our nature is is not so apt to spread A tainted ayre doth more easily affect a sound body then an wholsome ayre can cleare the sicke Superstition hath euer bin more successefull then truth The yong yeares of Ahaz are soone mis-led to a plausible mis-deuotiō A man that is once falne from truth knowes not where he shall stay From the Calues of Ieroboam is Ahaz drawne to the gods of the heathen yea now bulls and goates are too little for those new deities his owne flesh and blood is but deare enough He made his son to passe through their fire Where doe we finde any religious Israelite thus zealous for God Neither doth the holinesse and mercy of our God require so cruell a sacrifice neither is our dull and niggardly hand ready to gratifie him with more easie obediences O God how gladly should wee offer vnto thee our soules and bodies which wee may inioy so much the more when they are thine since zealous Pagans sticke not to leese their owne flesh and blood in an Idols fire He that hath thus shamefully cast off the God of his fathers cannot bee long without a fearefull reuenge The King of Israel galls him on the one side the King of Syria on the other To auoid the shocke of both Ahaz doth not betake himselfe to the God whō he had offended who was able to make his enemies at peace with him but to Tiglath Pileser King of Ashur Him doth hee wooe with suits with gifts and robs God of those presents which may indeare so strong an helper Hee that thought not his son too deare for an Idol thinkes not Gods siluer and gold too deare for an Idolatrous abettor Oh the infinite patience of the Almighty God giues successe a while to so offensiue a riuality This Assyrian King preuailes against the King of Syria kils him and takes his chiefe City Damascus The quarrell of the King of Iudah hath inlarged the territories of his assistant beyond hope And now whiles this Assyrian victor is inioying the possession of his new-won Damascus Ahaz goes vp thither to meet him to congratulate the victory to adde vnto those triumphs which were drawne on by his solicitation There hee sees a new fashion'd Altar that pleases his eye That old forme of Salomons which was made by the pattern showd to Moses in the Mount is now growne stale and despicable A modell of this more exquisite frame is sent to Vrijah the Priest and must be sampled in Ierusalem It is a dangerous presumption to make innouations if but in the circumstances of Gods worship Those humane additions which would seeme to grace the institution of God depraue it That infinite wisedome knowes best what will please it selfe and prescribes accordingly The foolishnesse of God is wiser then the wisedome of men Idolatry and falshood is commonly more gawdy and plausible then truth That hart which can for the outward homelinesse despise the ordinances of God is already aliened from true religion and lyes open to the grossest superstition Neuer any Prince was so foully idolatrous at that he wanted a Priest to second him An Vrijah is fit to humor an Ahaz Greatnesse neuer could command any thing which some seruile wits were not ready both to applaud and iustifie Ere the King can be returned from Damascus the altar is finished It were happy if true godlinesse could be so forward in the prosecutions of good Neither is this strange pile reared onely but thrust vp betwixt Gods altar and the temple in an apparent precedency as if he said Let the God of Iudah come behind the Deities of Syria And now to make vp the full measure of his impiety this idolatrous King will himselfe be sacrificing vpon his new altar to his new gods the gods of Damascus An vsurped priesthood well becomes a false Deity Because saith he the gods of the Kings of Syria helpe them therefore will Isacrifice to them that they may helpe mee Oh blinde superstition how did the gods of Syria helpe their Kings when both those Kings and their gods were vanquished and taken by the King of Assyria Euen this Damascus and this altar were the spoyle of a forraigne enemy How then did the gods of Syria helpe their Kings any other then to their ruine what dotage is this to make choice of a foyled protection But had the Syrians prospered must their gods haue the thanks Are there no authors of good but blocks or Deuils Or is an outward prosperity the only argument of truth the onely motiue of deuotion O foolish Ahaz it is the God thou hast forsaken that plagues thee vnder whose onely arme thou might'st haue preuailed His power beats those Pagan stockes one against other so as one while one seems victorious another vanquisht and at last hee confounds both together with their proudest clients Thy selfe shall be the best instance Of all the Kings of Iudah hitherto there is none so dreadfull an example either of sin or iudgement as this son of good Iotham I abhor to think that such a monster should descend from the loynes of Dauid where shall bee the period of this wickednesse Hee beganne with the hie places thence he descends to the Calues of Dan and Bethel from thence he falls to a Syrian altar to the Syrian god then from a partnership hee falls to an vtter exclusion of the true God and blocking vp his Temple and then to the sacrifice of his owne sonne and at last as if hell were broken loose vpon Gods inheritance euery seuerall City euery hie place of Iudah hath a new god No maruell if he bee branded by the Spirit of God with This is that King Ahaz What a fearfull plague did this noysome deluge of sin leaue behind it in the land of Iudah who can expresse the horror of Gods reuenge vpō a people that should haue beene his Pekah the King of Israel slew an hundred and twentie thousand of them in one day amongst whom was Maseiah the sonne of Ahaz O iust iudgement of the Almighty Ahaz sheds the blood of one sonne to an idoll The true God sheds the blood of another of his sons in reuenge Yet the hand of the Lord is stretched out still Two hundred thousand of them were caried away by the Israelites captiue to Samaria The Edomites came and caried away another part of them for bondslaues to their country The Philistims came vp and shared the Cities of the south of Iudah and the villages thereof Shortly what other is miserable Iudah then the prey and spoile of all the neighbouring Nations For the Lord brought Iudah low because of Ahaz King of Israel for hee made Iudah naked and transgressed sore against the Lord As for the great King of Ashur whom Ahaz purchased with the sacrilegious pillage of the house of God in stead of an ayd hee proues a burden How