could be also in affection Oh that mine eies like the eies of thy first Martyr could by the light of Faith see but a glimpse of heauen Oh that my heart could be rapt vp thither in desire How should I trample vpon these poore vanities of the earth How willingly should I endure all sorrowes all torments How scornfully should I passe by all pleasures How should I be in trauaile of my dissolution Oh when shall that blessed day come when all this wretched worldlinesse remoued I shall solace my selfe in my God Behold as the Hart braieth for the riuers of waters so panteth my soule after thee O God My soule thirsteth for God euen for the liuing God Oh when shall I come and appeare before the presence of God CHAP. XXXI 4. An humble Confession of our disability to effect what we wish AFter this Wishing shall follow humble Confession by iust order of nature for hauing bemoaned our want and wished supply not finding this hope in ourselues we must needs acknowledge it to him of whom onely we may both seeke and finde wherein it is to be duly obserued how the minde is by turnes depressed and lifted vp Being lifted vp with our taste of ioy it is cast downe with Complaint lift vp with Wishes it is cast downe with Confession which order doth best hold it in vre and iust temper and maketh it more feeling of the comfort which followeth in the conclusion This Confession must derogate all from ourselues and ascribe all to God Thus I desire O Lord to bee aright affected towards thee and thy glory I desire to come to thee but alas how weakly how heartlesly Thou knowest that I can neither come to thee nor desire to come but from thee It is Nature that holds me from thee this treacherous Nature fauours it selfe loueth the world hateth to thinke of a dissolution and chuseth rather to dwell in this dungeon with continuall sorrow and complaint than to endure a parting although to libertie and ioy Alas Lord it is my misery that I loue my paine How long shall these vanities thus besot me It is thou onely that canst turne away mine eies from regarding these follies and my heart from affecting them thou onely who as thou shalt one day receiue my soule into heauen so now before-hand canst fix my soule vpon heauen and thee CHAP. XXXII 5. An earnest Petition for that which we confesse to want AFter Confession naturally followes Petition earnestly requesting that at his hands which wee acknowledge our selues vnable and none but God able to performe O carrie it vp therefore thou that hast created and redeemed it carry it vp to thy glory Oh let me not alwaies be thus dull and brutish let not these scales of earthly affection alwaies dim and blinde mine eies Oh thou that laiedst clay vpon the blinde mans eies take away this clay from mine eies where-with alas they are so dawbed vp that they cannot see heauen Illuminate them from aboue and in thy light let mee see light Oh thou that hast prepared a place for my soule prepare my soule for that place prepare it with holinesse prepare it with desire and euen while it soiourneth on earth let it dwell in heauen with thee beholding euer the beautie of thy face the glory of thy Saints and of it selfe CHAP. XXXIII 6. A vehement Enforcement of our petition AFter Petition shall follow the Enforcement of our request from argument and importunate obsecration wherein we must take heed of complementing in termes with God as knowing that he will not be mocked by any fashionable forme of suit but requireth holy and feeling intreaty How graciously hast thou proclaimed to the world that who-euer wants wisdome shall aske it of thee which neither deniest nor vpbraidest O Lord I want heauenly wisdome to conceiue aright of heauen I want it and aske it of thee giue me to aske it instantly and giue me according to thy promise abundantly Thou seest it is no strange fauour that I begge of thee no other than that which thou hast richly bestowed vpon all thy valiant Martyrs Confessors Seruants from the beginning who neuer could haue so cheerefully embraced death and torment if through the middest of their flames and paine they had not seene their Crowne of glory The poore Theefe on the Crosse had no sooner craued thy remembrance when thou earnest to thy Kingdome than thou promisedst to take him with thee into heauen Presence was better to him than remembrance Behold now thou art in thy Kingdome I am on earth remember thine vnworthy seruant and let my soule in conceit in affection in conuersation be this day and for euer with thee in Paradise I see man walketh in a vaine shadow and disquieteth himselfe in vaine they are pittifull pleasures he enioyeth while he forgetteth thee I am as vaine make me more wise Oh let mee see heauen and I know I shall neuer enuie nor follow them My times are in thine hand I am no better than my fathers a stranger on earth As I speake of them so the next yea this generation shall speake of me as one that was My life is a bubble a smoake a shadow a thought I know it is no abiding in this thorow fare Oh suffer me not so mad as while I passe on the way I should forget the end It is that other life that I must trust to With thee it is that I shall continue Oh let mee not be so foolish as to settle my selfe on what I must leaue and to neglect eternitie I haue seene enough of this earth and yet I loue it too much O let me see heauen another while and loue it so much more than the earth by how much the things there are more worthy to be loued Oh God looke downe on thy wretched Pilgrim and teach me to looke vp to thee and to see thy goodnesse in the Land of the liuing Thou that boughtest heauen for me guide me thither and for the price that it cost thee for thy mercies sake in spight of all tentations enlighten thou my soule direct it crowne it CHAP. XXXIV AFter this Enforcement doth follow Confidence wherein the soule 7. A cheerefull Confidence of obtaining what we haue requested and enforced after many doubtfull and vnquiet bickerings gathereth vp her forces and cheerefully rowzeth vp it selfe and like one of Dauids Worthies breaketh thorow a whole Armie of doubts and fetcheth comfort from the Well of life which though in some latter yet in all is a sure reward from God of sincere Meditation Yea be thou bold O my soule and doe not meerely craue but challenge this fauour of God as that which he oweth thee he oweth it thee because he hath promised it and by his mercy hath made his gift his debt Faithfull is he that hath promised which will also doe it Hath he not giuen thee not onely his hand in the sweet hopes of the Gospell but his seale
was shut as Cyril Chrisostome Eusebius Hierome vnderstand it rather it is a prophesie of that outward and during peace vnder the Gospell which all the true professors of it should maintaine with themselues All nations though fierce sterne of disposition Bellicosa pectora vertuutur in mansuetudinem Christianam Hier. Suniae Fritellae yet if they once stoop sincerely to the Gospel shall compose themselues to a sweet accordance and imploy their vnited strength to the seruice of God But how is this fulfilled Some in all ages haue run forth into fury troubled the cōmon peace It is true but these are blanks such as vpon whom God hath not written holines It is no hoping that all horses shall be bridled or all bridles written on As grace so peace is not in such sort vniuersall that all should incline to it on all conditions There are some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peace-haters it is as possible to tame a waspe as to incline them to peace Such are the wilful Romanists of our time to omit Schismes which will rather mingle heauen earth together than remit one gainefull error But what euer become of these Manizers which doe thus exclude themselues from the cōgregation of God it were happy if all the true acknowledged sonnes of the Church would admit the inscription of an holy peace Alas why doe wee that are brethren fall out for our change of suits by the way and make those quarrels deadly which deserue not to be quarrels Oh that some blessed Doue would bring an Oliue of peace into this Arke of God! Who is so fit for this glorious seruice as our gratious Peace-maker Nemo me impune lacesset is a good Posie but Beati pacifici is a better Let the Vice-gerent of him which is the Prince of peace as he was made for the peace of the walls and prosperity of the gates of Sion be that Angelus pacis Es 33.7 Let his wisdome and sweet moderation proceed to allay all these vnkindly stormes of the Church that we may liue to see that happy greeting of the Psalmist Righteousnesse and Peace haue kissed each other And as this holds in matter of iudgement so of practise too Do you see a loose lawlesse man wilful in his desires vnbridled in his affections inordinate in his life imploying his wit to scoffe at his Creator caring for nothing but the worse part of himselfe There is one of Zacharies horses when Gods Spirit breathes vpon the soule of this man he is now another from himselfe Holinesse to the Lord is written vpon his Bels. This was done sometimes of old Saul was among the Prophets Salomon and Manasses great patternes of conuersion but rarely in respect of the daies of the Gospell What should I speake of S. Paul No ground would hold him he runs chafing and foaming from Hierusalem to Damascus of his Iaylor of Mary Magdalen Behold whole troupes of wilde natures reclaimed Eph. 4. Col. 3. Act. 2. Who can despaire where God vndertakes Shew me neuer so violent and desperate a sinner let him be as Iobs wild asse in the desert or as Amos his horse that will run vpon the rocks Amos 6.12 if God once take him in hand thou shalt soone see that his horse is flesh and not spirit and shalt sing Deborahs Vngulae ceciderunt Iudg. 5.22 or Ioshuahs Subneruabis Ios 11.6 Now shalt thou see him stand quaking vnder the almighty hand of God so that he may write what he will in his bridle yea in his skin And if there be any such headstrong and restie stead here among vs let him know that God wil either breake his stomacke or his heart Flagellum equo saith Salomon and if that will not serue Collidā in te equum equitē Ier. 51.21 But alas how rare are these examples of reclamation Where is this power of the Gospell Men continue beasts still and with that filthy Gryllus plead for the priuilege of their bestiality The sins of men striue to outface the glory of the Gospell What shall I say to this If after all these meanes thou haue no bridle or thy bridle no inscription it is a fearefull doome of the Apostle If our Gospell be hid it is hid to them that perish Thus much of the horses bels Now from the pots and bowles you shall see the degrees of the Churches perfection and see it I beseech you without wearinesse with intention The pots of the Temple were seething vessels for the vse of sacrifice These are the Priests themselues here for that there is a distinction made betwixt the Pots of the Lords house and euery pot in Ierusalem The ordinary Iew was euery pot therefore the Pots of the Lords house must be his Ministers These vnder the Gospell shall be of more honourable vse as the bowles before the Altar like as the Altar of perfumes was more inward and of higher respect The pots were of shining brasse bowles of gold 1 King 7.50 It is no brag to say that the Ministery of the Gospell is more glorious than that of the Law The least in the kingdome of Heauen saith CHRIST is greater than Iohn Baptist Matth. 11.11 The Kingdome of Heauen that is the Church not as Austen Ierome Bede expound it of the third heauen for Christ would make an opposition betwixt the old and new Testament The not vnlearned Iesuite Maldonat while he taxeth vs for preferring euery Minister of the Gospell to Iohn Baptist mends the matter so well that he verifies it of euery person Minimus quisque in Euangelio that is qui Euangelium recipit maior est illo not feeling how hee buffets himselfe for if the least of those that receiue the Gospell how much more the least of those that preach it This is no arrogance God would haue euery thing in the last Temple more glorious than in the first which was figured by the outward frame more glorious in CHRISTS time than that of SALOMON as that was beyond the Tabernacle This is a better Testament Hebr. 7.22 That had the shadow this the substance Heb. 10. Vnder this is greater illumination Effundam spiritum meum saith the Prophet before some few drops distilled now a whole current of graces Effundam If therefore Iohn Baptist were greater than the sonnes of men because they saw Christ to come hee pointed at him comming ours must needs be more glorious because wee see and point at him now come and fully exhibited Wee will not contest with the Leuiticall Priesthood for cost of clothes for price of vessels let the Church of Rome emulate this pompe which cares not if shee haue golden vessels though shee haue leaden Priests wee enuie it not but for inward graces for learning knowledge power of teaching there is no lesse difference than betwixt the pots of the Temple and bowles of the Altar God sayes of them in way of reiection Non est mihi voluntas in vobis Mal. 1. Hence the
Christian attention As the first house which was materiall was a figure of the second which is spirituall so the glory of that materiall was a figure of the glory of this spirituall Now because all the life and glory of the spirituall stands in Christ the Messias the Prophet lookes through the type of the materiall at him which shall beautifie yea glorifie the spirituall of whose exhibition the Prophet speakes Adhuc modicum yet a little while and I will shake the Heauens This Modicum was but some 500. and odde yeeres much to men but a modicum to the Ancient of dayes with whom 1000. yeres are but one day It is in and by him that this latter house vnder the Gospell shall in glory surpasse that first vnder the Law The Prophets had spoken gloriously of the Temple that should be and now lest when the people should see the homely and cottage-like reedification of Zerubbabel they should bee dis-heartned and offended the Prophet desires to draw their eyes from the stone and timber to the spirituall inside of the Euangelicall Church shewing the glory of this latter House to exceed the former Some grosse Interpreters haue lookt with Iewish eyes vpon the outward fabricke which was threefold Salomons Zorobabels Herods Salomons sumptuous and magnificent Zorobabels meane and homely Herods rich and maiesticall immodico sumptu incredibili splendore as one sayes Salomons was before defaced Now because Zorobabels was so farre from making his Word good that the people wept when they saw the difference which Caluin well obserues was not without a speciall prouidence of the alwise God else the Iewes would so haue fixed their eyes vpon the outward splendor that they would neuer haue looked for the spirituall and inward Grace of the House of God therefore they haue taken it of Herods temple the wals and lining whereof were indeed answerable to this Prophesie more glorious But this conceit as it is too carnall so is quite dissonant from the context both in regard of the precedents and subsequents Of the precedents For how did the desire of all nations come to that Pile of Herods Of the subsequents For what peace was vnder the Herodian Temple First the builder of it was the chiefe oppressor of the Iewish liberty and then secondly it gaue occasion to the perpetuall misery of that people Pilate would expilate the Treasures of it for aquae ductae which denied cost the Iewes much bloud Vnder Claudius twenty thousand slaine in a Feast of vnleauened bread Ionathas the Priest slaine by theeues suborned by Foelix in the very Temple and euer after it was the harbour and spoile of Villaines What hils of Carcasses What streames of bloud was in 't at the last vastation Enough to amaze any Reader so as in that 79. yeeres wherein it stood longer it did not it was no better than a stage of Tragedies a shambles of crueltie Of that therefore God could not say Dabo pacem it was Templum adulterinum as one cals it iustly and had neither command nor promise It was the Spirituall Temple the Euangelicall Church whose glory shall be greater than the Iewish which shall bee blessed with the desire of the Nations with the assurance of Peace But why then doth the holy Ghost speake of Gold and Siluer the costly materials of an outward structure Euen these very metals are figuratiue not that God cares so much for them but because we doe because our eyes vse to bee dazled with this best parcell of Earth therefore when hee would describe a glorious Church hee borrowes the resemblance of Gold Siluer precious Stones Esay 60. and euen by these doth he set forth his new and Heauenly Ierusalem Reuelat. 21. Wherein then is the glory of Gods Euangelicall House greater than of the Legall Yea wherein is it not greater Whether ye looke to the efficient the matter the duration the extent the seruice The efficient that was built by man tho directed by God In this God himselfe is the Architect not onely giuing the modell but the frame The matter whether of structure or ornament The structure of the one was of stone and wood of the other is of liuing stones The ornament of the one was Gold and Siluer of the other diuine Graces of Faith Charity Hope Sanctity Truth Piety and all other vertues to which Gold it selfe were but trash The duration of the one euen that longst-liued Temple of Salomon though called Beth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 domus seculi was but 430. yeeres Of the other beyond time to eternitie The extent of the one to be measured by a few poles yea though ye take in the Courts and all by a few Acres Of the other vniuersall so far as the King of Heauen hath any Land The seruice in the one performed by a few men mortall sinfull the bloud of beasts shed vpon the Altar In the other performed by our eternall High-Priest after that higher order of Melchisedech offring vp his owne most precious bloud for our redemption In that Christ Iesus was obscurely figured In this really exhibited borne liuing dying rising ascending preached beleeued liued Euery way therefore both in efficient matter duration extent seruice Maior gloria Let no man tell me now of that iust wonder of the world the Iewish Temple white Marble without lined with Gold within Brazen pillars Golden vessels costly vayles an High-Priesthood set forth with precious Stones rich Robes exquisite Perfumes curious Musicke and what-euer that ancient goodly institution had rare and admirable I say the clay of the Gospell is more worth than the Marble of the Law Euangelicall Brasse more worth than legall Gold the ragges of the Euangelicall Priesthood more excellent than the robes of the Leuiticall In short the best of the Law is not comparable to the basest of the Gospell Iohn Baptist was the Ianus of both Testaments he was to the Churches as Noah was to the Worlds he saw both the first and the latter It is a great word that our Sauiour saith of him that amongst those which were borne or rather as ours reade it better begotten of women there did not a greater than he arise but it is a greater word that he speakes of the Children of the new Testament that the least in the Kingdome of Heauen is greater than he I stand not vpon examining the comparison whether it be ratione sanctitatis or officij it makes either way for my purpose therefore was Iohn so great because he was the last of the law and the first of the Gospell and the old rule is minimum maximi maius est maximo minimi The least of the greatest is more than the greatest of the least Gospell of the Kingdome therefore is the least in this Kingdome of Grace greater than hee because he is all what Iohn was halfe wholly vnder that Euangelium Regni which is able to aduance him to a greater perfection than that Harbinger of Christ What a fauour then is
we are all fooles and in silence all are wise In the two former yet there may bee concealement of folly but the tongue is a blab there cannot be any kinde of folly either simple or wicked in the heart but the tongue will bewray it He cannot be wise that speakes much or without sense or out of season nor he knowne for a foole that saies nothing It is a great misery to be a foole but this is yet greater that a man cannot be a foole but he must shew it It were well for such a one if he could be taught to keepe close his foolishnes but then there should be no fooles I haue heard some which haue scorned the opinion of folly in themselues for a speech wherein they haue hoped to shew most wit censured of folly by him that hath thought himselfe wiser and another hearing his sentence againe hath condemned him for want of wit in censuring Surely hee is not a foole that hath vnwise thoughts but he that vtters them Euen concealed folly is wisdome and sometimes wisdome vttered is folly While others care how to speake my care shall be how to hold my peace 83 A worke is then onely good and acceptable when the action meaning and manner are all good For to doe good with an ill meaning as Iudas saluted Christ to betray him is so much more sinfull by how much the action is better which being good in the kinde is abused to an ill purpose To doe ill in a good meaning as Vzza in staying the Arke is so much amisse that the good intention cannot beare out the vnlawfull act which although it may seeme some excuse why it should not be so ill yet is no warrant to iustifie it To meane well and doe a good action in an ill manner as the Pharisee made a good praier but arrogantly is so offensiue that the euill manner depraueth both the other So a thing may be euill vpon one circumstance it cannot bee good but vpon all In what euer businesse I goe about I will enquire What I doe for the substance How for the manner Why for the intention For the two first I will consult with God for the last with my owne heart 84 I can doe nothing without a million of Witnesses The conscience is as a thousand witnesses and God is as a thousand consciences I will therefore so deale with men as knowing that God sees me and so with God as if the world saw me so with my selfe and both of them as knowing that my conscience seeth me and so with them all as knowing I am alwaies ouer-looked by my accuser by my Iudge 85 Earthly inheritances are diuided oft-times with much inequality The priuilege of primogeniture stretcheth larger in many places now than it did among the ancient Iewes The younger many times serues the elder and while the eldest aboundeth all the latter issue is pinched In heauen it is not so all the sonnes of God are heires none vnderlings and not heires vnder wardship and hope but inheritors and not inheritors of any little pittance of land but of a Kingdome nor of an earthly Kingdome subiect to danger of losse or alteration but one glorious and euerlasting It shall content me here that hauing right to all things yet I haue possession of nothing but sorrow Since I shall haue possession aboue of all that whereto I haue right below I will serue willingly that I may reigne serue for a while that I may reigne for euer 86 Euen the best things ill vsed become euils and contrarily the worst things vsed well proue good A good tongue vsed to deceit a good wit vsed to defend errour a strong arme to murther authority to oppresse a good profession to dissemble are all euill yea Gods owne Word is the sword of the Spirit which if it kill not our vices kils our soules Contrariwise as poisons are vsed to wholesome medicine afflictions and sinnes by a good vse proue so gainfull as nothing more Words are as they are taken and things are as they are vsed There are euen cursed blessings O Lord rather giue me no fauours than not grace to vse them If I want them thou requirest not what thou doest not giue but if I haue them and want their vse thy mercy proues my iudgement 87 Man is the best of all these inferiour creatures yet liues in more sorrow and discontentment than the worst of them whiles that Reason wherein he excels them and by which he might make aduantage of his life hee abuses to a suspitious distrust How many hast thou found of the fowles of the aire lying dead in the way for want of prouision They eat and rest and sing and want nothing Man which hath farre better meanes to liue comfortably toyleth and careth and wanteth whom yet his reason alone might teach that he which careth for these lower creatures made onely for man will much more prouide for man to whose vse they were made There is an holy carelesnesse free from idlenesse free from distrust In these earthly things I will so depend on my Maker that my trust in him may not exclude all my labour and yet so labour vpon my confidence on him as my endeuour may be void of perplexity 88 The precepts and practice of those with whom we liue auaile much on either part For a man not to bee ill where hee hath no prouocations to euill is lesse commendable but for a man to liue continently in Asia as he said where hee sees nothing but allurements to vncleannesse for Lot to be a good man in the middest of Sodom to bee abstemious in Germany and in Italy chaste this is truly praise-worthy To sequester our selues from the companie of the world that we may depart from their vices proceeds from a base and distrusting minde as if wee would so force goodnesse vpon our selues that therefore onely we would be good because we cannot be ill But for a man so to bee personally and locally in the throng of the world as to withdraw his affections from it to vse it and yet to contemne it at once to compell it to his seruice without any infection becomes well the noble courage of a Christian The world shall be mine I will not be his and yet so mine that his euill shall be still his owne 89 He that liues in God cannot be wearie of his life because he euer findes both somewhat to doe and somewhat to solace himselfe with cannot bee ouer-loth to part with it because hee shall enter into a neerer life and societie with that God in whom hee delighteth Whereas he that liues without him liues many times vncomfortably here because partly he knowes not any cause of ioy in himselfe and partly he finds not any worthy employment to while himselfe withall dies miserably because hee either knowes not whither he goes or knowes he goes to torment There is no true life but the life of faith O Lord let me
though not so blessed yet so shalt thou be separated that my very dust shall be vnited to thee still and to my Sauiour in thee Wert thou vnwilling at the command of thy Creator to ioine thy selfe at the first with this body of mine why art thou then loth to part with that which thou hast found The Testimonies though intire yet troublesome Doest thou not heare Salomon say The day of death is better than the day of thy birth dost thou not beleeue him or art thou in loue with the worse and displeased with the better If any man could haue found a life worthy to be preferred vnto death so great a King must needs haue done it now in his very Throne he commends his Coffin Yea what wilt thou say to those Heathens that mourned at the birth and feasted at the death of their children They knew the miseries of liuing as well as thou the happinesse of dying they could not know and if they reioiced out of a conceit of ceasing to be miserable how shouldest thou cheere thy selfe in an expectation yea an assurance of being happy He that is the Lord of life and tried what it was to die hath proclaimed them blessed that die in the Lord. Those are blessed I know that liue in him but they rest not from their labours Toyle and sorrow is betweene them and a perfect enioying of that blessednesse which they now possesse onely in hope and inchoation when death hath added rest their happinesse is finished O death how sweet is that rest The taste of our Meditation wherewith thou refreshest the weary Pilgrims of this vale of mortalitie How pleasant is thy face to those eies that haue acquainted themselues with the sight of it which to strangers is grim and gastly How worthy art thou to be welcome vnto those that know whence thou art and whither thou tendest who that knowes thee can feare thee who that is not all nature would rather hide himselfe amongst the baggage of this vile life than follow thee to a Crowne what indifferent Iudge that should see life painted ouer with vaine semblances of pleasures attended with troupes of sorrowes on the one side and on the other with vncertaintie of continuance and certaintie of dissolution and then should turne his eyes vnto death and see her blacke but comely attended on the one hand with a momentanie paine with eternitie of glorie on the other would not say out of choice that which the Prophet said out of passion It is better for me to die than to liue But O my Soule what ailes thee to bee thus suddenly backward and fearefull The Complaint No heart hath more freely discoursed of death in speculation no tongue hath more extolled it in absence And now that it is come to thy beds-side and hath drawne thy curtaines and takes thee by the hand and offers thee seruice thou shrinkest inward and by the palenesse of thy face and wildnesse of thine eye bewraiest an amazement at the presence of such a ghest That face which was so familiar to thy thoughts is now vnwelcome to thine eies I am ashamed of this weake irresolution Whitherto haue tended all thy serious meditations what hath Christianitie done to thee if thy feares bee still heathenish Is this thine imitation of so many worthy Saints of God whom thou hast seene entertaine the violentest deaths with smiles and songs Is this the fruit of thy long and frequent instruction Didst thou thinke death would haue beene content with words didst thou hope it would suffice thee to talke while all other suffer Where is thy faith Yea where art thou thy selfe O my soule Is heauen worthy of no more thankes no more ioy Shall Heretikes shall Pagans giue death a better welcome than thou Hath thy Maker thy Redemer sent for thee and art thou loth to goe hath hee sent for thee to put thee in possession of that glorious Inheritance which thy wardship hath cheerefully expected and art thou loth to goe Hath God with this Sergeant of his sent his Angels to fetch thee and art thou loth to goe Rouze vp thy selfe for shame O my soule and if euer thou hast truly beleeued shake off this vnchristian diffidence and addresse thy selfe ioyfully for thy glory The Wish Yea O my Lord it is thou that must raise vp this faint and drooping heart of mine thou onely canst rid me of this weake and cowardly distrust Thou that sendest for my soule canst prepare it for thy selfe thou onely canst make thy messenger welcome to me O that I could but see thy face through death Oh that I could see death not as it was but as thou hast made it Oh that I could heartily pledge thee my Sauiour in this cup that so I might drinke new wine with thee in thy Fathers Kingdome The Confession But alas O my God nature is strong and weake in mee at once I cannot wish to welcome death as it is worthy when I looke for most courage I finde strongest temptations I see and confesse that when I am my selfe thou hast no such coward as I Let me alone and I shall shame that name of thine which I haue professed euery secure worldling shall laugh at my feeblenesse O God were thy Martyrs thus haled to their stakes might they not haue beene loosed from their rackes and chose to die in those torments Let it be no shame for thy seruant to take vp that complaint which thou mad'st of thy better Attendants The spirit is willing but the flesh is weake The Petition and enforcement O thou God of spirits that hast coupled these two together vnite them in a desire of their dissolution weaken this flesh to receiue and encourage this spirit either to desire or to contemne death and now as I grow neerer to my home let me increase in the sense of my ioyes I am thine saue me O Lord It was thou that didst put such courage into thine ancient and late witnesses that they either inuited or challenged death and held their persecutors their best friends for letting them loose from these gieues of flesh I know thine hand is not shortned neither any of them hath receiued more proofes of thy former mercies Oh let thy goodnesse inable me to reach them in the comfortable steddinesse of my passage Doe but draw this vaile a little that I may see my glory and I cannot but be inflamed with the desire of it It was not I that either made this body for the earth or this soule for my body or this heauen for my soule or this glorie of heauen or this entrance into glory All is thine owne worke Oh perfect what thou hast begun that thy praise and my happinesse may be consummate at once The assurance or Confidence Yea O my soule what need'st thou wish the God of mercies to be tender of his owne honour Art thou not a member of that body whereof thy Sauiour
holy laughter that followes his And pity the preposterous courses of them which make religion but a foot-stoole to the seat of aduancement which care for all things but heauen which make the world their standing marke and doe not so much as roue at God Many had sped well if they had begun well and proceeded orderly A false method is the bane of many hopefull endeuours God bids vs seeke first his Kingdome and earthly things shall find vs vnsought Foolish nature first seekes the world and if she light on God by the way it is more then she expects desires cares for and therefore failes of both because shee seekes neither aright Many had beene great if they had cared to be good which now are crossed in what they would because they willed not what they ought If Salomon had made wealth his first suit I doubt he had beene both poore and foolish now hee asked wisedome and gained greatnesse Because he chose well he receiued what he asked not O the bounty and fidelitie of our God! because we would haue the best he giues vs all Earth shall wait vpon vs because we attend vpon heauen Goe on my Lord goe on happily to loue religion to practise it let God alone with the rest Bee you a patterne of vertue hee shall make you a Precedent of glory Neuer man lost ought by giuing it to God that liberall hand returnes our gifts with aduantage Let men let God see that you honour him and they shall heare him proclaime before you Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King will honour To M. Newton Tutor to the Prince EPIST. IV. Of Gratulation for the hopes of our Prince with an aduising apprecation SIR God hath called you to a great and happy charge You haue the custody of our common Treasure Neither is there any seruice comparable to this of yours whether we regard God or the world Our labours oft-times bestowed vpon many scarce profit one yours bestowed vpon one redounds to the profit of many millions This is a summary way of obliging all the world to you I encourage you not in your care you haue more comfort in the successe of it then all worlds can giue you The very subiect of your pains would giue an hart to him that hath none I rather congratulate with you our common happinesse the hopes of posterity in that royall and blessed issue You haue best cause to be the witnes of the rare forwardnes of our gracious Master and I haue seene enough to make me thinke I can neuer bee enough thankfull to God for him That Princes are fruitfull is a great blessing but that their children are fruitfull in grace and not more eminent in place than vertue is the greatest fauour God can doe to a State The goodnesse of a priuate man is his owne of a Prince the whole worlds Their words are Maximes their actions examples their examples rules When I compare them with their royall Father as I do oft and chearfully I cannot say whether he be more happy in himselfe or in them I see both in him and them I see and wonder that God distributes to naturall Princes gifts proportionable to their greatnesse The wise Moderator of the world knowes what vse is of their parts hee knowes that the head must haue all the senses that pertaine to the whole body and how necessary it is that inferiours should admire them no lesse for the excellency of their graces then for the sway of their authority Whereupon it is that hee giues heroicall qualities to Princes and as he hath bestowed vpon them his owne name so also hee giues them speciall stamps of his owne glorious Image Amongst all other vertues what a comfort is it to see those yeares and those spirits stoope so willingly to deuotion Religion is growne too seuere a Mistresse for young and high courages to attend Very rare is that Nobility of blood that doth not challenge liberty and that liberty that ends not in loosenesse Loe this example teacheth our Gallants how well euen Maiestie can stand with homage Maiesty to men with homage to God Farre be it from me to doe that which my next clause shall condemne but I think it safe to say that seldome euer those yeares haue promised seldome haue performed so much Onely God keepe two mischiefes euer from within the smoake of his Court Flattery and Treachery The iniquity of times may make vs feare these not his inclination For whether as English or as men it hath beene euer familiar to vs to fawne vpon Princes Though what doe I bestow two names vpon one vice but attired in two sundry suits of euill For Flatterie is no other than gilded treason nothing else but poyson in gold This euill is more tame not lesse dangerous It had beene better for many great ones not to haue been than to haue beene in their conceits more than men This Flatterie hath done and what can it not That other Treacherie spils the blood this the vertues of Princes That takes them from others this bereaues them of themselues That in spight of the actors doth but change their Crowne this steales it from them for euer Who can but wonder that reads of some not vnwise Princes so bewitched with the inchantments of their Parasites that they haue thought thēselues Gods immortal and haue suffered themselues so styled so adored Neither Temples nor Statues nor Sacrifices haue seemed too much glory to the greatnesse of their selfe-loue Now none of al their actions could be either euill or vnbeseeming nothing could proceed from them worthy of censure vnworthy of admiration Their very spots haue beene beauty their humors iustice their errors witty their Paradoxes diuine their excesses heroicall O the damnable seruility of false mindes which perswade others of that which themselues laugh to see beleeued O the dangerous credulity of selfe-loue which entertaines all aduantages if neuer so euill neuer so impossible How happy a seruice shall you do to this whole world of ours if you shall still settle in that princely minde a true apprehension of himselfe and shall teach him to take his owne height aright and euen from his childhood to hate a Parasite as the worst Traytor To break those false glasses that would present him a face not his owne To applaud plain truth and bend his browes vpon excessiue prayses Thus affected hee may bid Vice doe her worst Thus shall he striue with Vertue whether shall more honour each other Thus sincere and solid glory shall euerywhere follow and crowne him Thus when hee hath but his due he shall haue so much that he shall scorne to borrow the false colours of adulation Goe on happily in this worthy and noble employment The worke cannot but succeed that is furthered with so many prayers To Sir THOMAS CHALLONER EP. V. A report of some Obseruations in my Trauell SIR besides my hopes not my desires I trauelled of late for
secrecie haue abridged themselues of dyet cloathing lodging harbour fit for reasonable creatures seeming to haue left off themselues no lesse then companions As if the world were not euery where as if wee could hide our selues from the Diuell as if solitarinesse were priuiledged from Temptations as if we did not more violently affect restrained delights as if these Ieromes did not finde Rome in their heart when they had nothing but rocks and trees in their eye Hence these places of retirednesse founded at first vpon necessity mixt vvith deuotion haue proued infamously vncleane Cels of lust not of pietie This course is preposterous if I were worthy to teach you a better way learne to be an Hermite at home Begin with your owne heart estrange and weane it from the loue not from the vse of the world Christianitie hath taught vs nothing if we haue not learned this distinction It is a great weaknesse not to see but we must be inamoured Elisha saw the secret state of the Syrian Court yet as an enemy The blessed Angels see our earthly affaires but as strangers Moses his bodie was in the Court of Pharaoh amongst the delicate Egyptians his heart was suffering vvith the afflicted Israelites Lot tooke part of the faire medowes of Sodom not of their sinnes Our blessed Sauiour saw the glory of all Kingdomes and contemned them and cannot the vvorld looke vpon vs Christians but wee are bewitched We see the Sunne dayly and warme vs at his beames yet make not an Idol of it doth any man hide his face lest he should adore it All our safety or danger therefore is from within In vaine is the body an Auachoret if the heart be a Ruffian And if that bee retired in affections the body is but a Cipher Lo then the eyes will looke carelesly and strangely on what they see and the tongue will sometimes answer to that was not asked Wee eate and recreate because we must not because we would and when we are pleased wee are suspitious Lawfull delights wee neither refuse nor dote vpon and all contentments goe and come like strangers That all this may be done take vp your heart with better thoughts be sure it will not be empty if heauen haue fore-stalled all the roomes the vvorld is disappointed and either dares not offer or is repulsed Fixe your selfe vpon the glory of that eternitie vvhich abides your after this short pilgrimage You cannot but contemne what you finde in comparison of what you expect Leaue not till you attaine to this that you are willing to liue because you cannot as yet be dissolued Bee but one halfe vpon earth let your better part conuerse aboue whence it is and inioy that whereto it was ordained Thinke how little the World can doe for you and what it doth how deceitfully what stings there are with this Honey what Farewell succeeds this Welcome When this Iael brings you milke in the one hand know she hath a nayle in the other Aske your heart what it is the better what the merier for all those pleasures wherewith it hath befriended you let your owne tryall teach you contempt Thinke how sincere how glorious those ioyes are which abide you elsewhere and a thousand times more certaine though future then the present And let not these thoughts be flying but fixed In vaine doe we meditate if we resolue not when your heart is once thus setled it shall command all things to aduantage The World shall not betray but serue it and that shall bee fulfilled which God promises by his Salomon When the wayes of a man please the Lord he will make his enemies also at peace with him Sir this aduice my pouertie afforded long since to a weake friend I write it not to you any otherwise then as Schollers are wont to say their part to their Masters The world hath long and iustly both noted and honoured you for eminence in wisedome and learning and I aboue the most I am ready with the awe of a Learner to imbrace all precepts from you you shall expect nothing from me but Testimonies of respect and thankfulnesse To Sir GEORGE FLEETWOOD EP. III. Of the remedies of sinne and motiues to auoid it THere is none either more common or more troublesome guest then Sinne. Troublesome both in the solicitation of it and in the remorse Before the act it wearies vs with a wicked importunitie after the act it torments vs with feares and the painfull gnawings of an accusing Conscience Neither is it more irkesome to men then odious to God who indeed neuer hated any thing but it and for it any thing How happy were we if we could be rid of it This must be our desire but cannot bee our hope so long as we carry this body of sinne and death about vs yet which is our comfort it shall not cary vs though we carie it It will dwell with vs but with no command yea with no peace We grudge to giue it house-roome but wee hate to giue it seruice This our Hagar wil abide many strokes ere she be turned out of doores she shall goe at last and the seed of promise shall inherit alone There is no vnquietnesse good but this and in this case quietnesse cannot stand with safety neither did euer warre more truely beget peace then in this strife of the soule Resistance is the way to victorie and that to an eternall peace and happinesse It is a blessed care then how to resist sinne how to auoid it and such as I am glad to teach and learne As there are two grounds of all sinne so of the auoidance of sinne Loue and Feare These if they be placed amisse cause vs to offend if right are the remedies of euill The Loue must be of God Feare of iudgement As he loues much to whom much is forgiuen so he that loues much will not dare to doe that which may need forgiuenesse The heart that hath felt the sweetnesse of Gods mercies will not abide the bitter rellish of sinne This is both a stronger motiue then Feare and more Noble None but a good heart is capable of this grace which who so hath receiued thus powerfully repels tentations Haue I found my God so gracious to me that he hath denied me nothing either in earth or heauen and shall not I so much as deny my owne will for his sake Hath my deare Sauiour bought my soule at such a price and shall he not haue it Was he crucified for my sinnes and shall I by my sinnes crucifie him againe Am I his in so many bonds and shall I serue the Diuell O God! is this the fruit of thy beneficence to me that I should wilfully dishonor thee Was thy blood so little worth that I should tread it vnder my feet Doth this become him that shall be once glorious with thee Hast thou prepared heauen for me and doe I thus prepare my selfe for heauen Shall I thus recompence thy loue in doing that
a childe what should I note more not rub or scratch in publike God commands them to weare Totaphoth phylacteries Vex Egyptiaca Versus quidam ex lege Mosis in pergameno scripti sez 14. priores 13. Exo. 4 5 6 7 8 9. 6. Deut. Pagn Quo ferrum vim assandi habet Praec Mos cum expos Ibid. they doe which our Sauiour reproues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enlarge them and these must bee written with right lines in a whole parchment of the hide of a cleane beast God commands to celebrate and rost the Passeouer they will haue it done in an excesse of care not with an iron but a woodden spit and curiously chuse the wood of Pomegranate God commanded to auoid Idolatry they taught their Disciples if an Image were in the way to fetch about some other if they must needes goe that way to runne and if a thorne should light in their foot neere the place not to kneele but sit downe to pull it out lest they should seeme to giue it reuerence I weary you with these Iewish niceties Consider then how deuout how liberall how continent how true dealing how zealous how scrupulous how austere these men were and see if it bee not a wonder that our Sauiour thus brandeth them Except your righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharises yee shall not enter into the kingdome of Heauen That is If your doctrine bee not more righteous you shall not be entred of the Church if your holinesse bee not more perfect you shall not enter into heauen behold Gods kingdome below and aboue is shut vpon them The poore Iewes were so besotted with the admiration of these two that they would haue thought if but two men must goe to heauen the one should be a Scribe the other a Pharisee What strange newes was this from him that kept the keies of Dauid that neither of them should come there It was not the person of these men not their learning not wit not eloquence not honour they admired so much but their righteousnesse and loe nothing but their righteousnesse is censured Herein they seemed to exceed all men herein all that would bee saued must exceed them Doe but thinke how the amazed multitude stared vpon our Sauiour when they heard this Paradox Exceed the Pharises in righteousnesse It were much for an Angell from heauen What shall the poore sonnes of the earth doe if these worthies bee turned away with a repulse yea perhaps your selues all that heare mee this day receiue this not without astonishment and feare whiles your consciences secretly comparing your holinesse with theirs finde it to come as much short of theirs as theirs of perfection And would to God you could feare more and bee more amazed with this comparison for to set you forward must wee exceed them or else not bee saued If we let them exceed vs what hope what possibilitie is there of our saluation Ere wee therefore shew how farre we must goe before them looke backe with me I beseech you a little and see how farre we are behinde them They taught diligently and kept Moses his chaire warme How many are there of vs Matth. 23.3 whom the great Master of the Vineyard may finde loitering in this publike market-place and shake vs by the shoulder with a Quid statis otiosi Why stand you here idle They compast sea and land Satans walke to make a proselyte we sit still and freeze in our zeale and lose proselytes with our dull and wilfull neglect They spent one quarter of the day in praier how many are there of vs that would not thinke this an vnreasonable seruice of God We are so farre from this extreme deuotion of the old Euchita Correcti à Concilio Toletan Bellar. that wee are rather worthy of a censure with those Spanish Priests for our negligence How many of you Citizens can get leaue of Mammon to bestow one houre of the day in a set course vpon God How many of you Lawyers are first clients to God ere you admit others clients to you How many of you haue your thoughts fixed in Heauen ere they be in Westminster Alas what dulnesse is this what iniustice All thy houres are his and thou wilt not lend him one of his owne for thine owne good They read they recited the Law some twice a day neuer went without some parts of it about them but to what effect There is not one of our people saith Iosephus but answers to any question of the Law as readily as his owne name Quilibet nostrū de lege interrogatus facilius quam nemen suū respondet Ios cone◠App. lib. 2. How shall their diligence vpbraid yea condemne vs Alas how doe our Bibles gather dust for want of vse while our Chronicle or our Statute-booke yea perhaps our idle and scurrilous play-bookes are worne with turning Oh how happy were our fore-fathers whose memory is blessed for euer if they could with much cost and more danger get but one of Pauls Epistles in their bosomes how did they hugge it in their armes hide it in their chest yea in their hearts How did they eat walke sleepe with that sweet companion and in spight of persecution neuer thought themselues well but when they conuersed with it in secret Loe now these shops are all open we buy them not these books are open we read them not and we will be ignorant because we will The Sunne shines and wee shut our windowes It is enough for the miserable Popish Laitie to bee thus darke that liue in the perpetuall night of Inquisition Shal this be the only difference betwixt them and vs that they would read the holy leaues and may not we may and will not There is no ignorance to the wilfull I stand not vpon a formall and verball knowledge that was neuer more frequent more flourishing But if the maine grounds of Christianitie were throughly setled in the hearts of the multitude wee should not haue so much cause of shame and sorrow nor our aduersaries of triumph and insultation Shew lesse therefore for Gods sake and learne more and ballace your wauering heart with the sound truth of Godlinesse that you may flie steadily thorow all the tempests of errors Make Gods Law of your learned counsell with Dauid and be happy Matth. 8.12 Else if you will needs loue darknesse you shall haue enough of it you haue here inward darknesse there outward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is your owne darknesse Choshet Aphelab Tenebrae caliginis that his of whom the Psalmist He sent darknesse and it was darke Darke indeed A thicke and terrible darknesse ioyned with weeping and gnashing I vrge not their awfull reuerence in their deuotion our sleepy or wilde carelesnesse their austere and rough discipline of the bodie our wanton pampering of the flesh though who can abide to thinke of a chaste Pharisee a filthy Christian a temperate Pharise a drunken
the condition of our mortalitie are passed ouer It shall be fully when the first things of the world are passed Passed not by abolition but by immutation as that Father said well Not the frame of the world but the corruption of that frame must passe The Spirit of God is not curious he cals those things first which were onely former not in respect of the state which is but that which shall be For those things which were first of all were like their Maker good not capable of destruction Our sinnes tainted the whole creation and brought shame vpon all the frame of heauen and earth That which we did shall be disanulled that which God did shall stand for euer and this dissolution shall be our glory other dissolutions strike teares into our eyes as this day is witnesse it is our sorrow that the first things are passed our offices our pensions our hopes our fauours and which we esteemed most our seruices are gone Let this last dissolution comfort vs against the present Who can grieue to see a Familie dissolued that considers the world must bee dissolued This little world of ours first whereof this day giues vs an image for as our seruice so our life must away and then that great one whose dissolution is represented in these The difference is that whereas this dissolution brings teares to some eies that wipes them away from all For all our teares and sorrow and toile and crying and death are for our sinnes take away corruption and misery goes away with it and till then it will neuer be remoued No man puts new wine into old vessels much lesse will God put the new wine of glory into the old vessels of corruption They are our sinnes which as in particular they haue rob'd vs of our Prince changed our seasons swept away thousands with varieties of deaths so in generall they haue deformed the face of heauen and earth and made all the Creation sigh and groane and still make vs incapable of the perfection of our blessednes for while the first things continue there must needs be teares and sorrow and death Let vs therefore looke vpon heauen and earth as goodly creatures but as blemished as transitory as those which we shall once see more glorious Let vs looke vpon our selues with indignation which haue thus distained them and as those which after some terme of their cottage expired are assured they shall haue a marble palace built for them doe long after the time perfixed them and thinke the dayes and moneths pace slowly away till then so let vs earnestly desire the day of the dissolution of this great house of the world that wee may haue our consummation in the new heauen For so soone as euer the old is past Behold saith God I will make all things new Yea the passage of the one is the renewing of the other As the Snake is renewed not by putting on any new coat but by leauing his slough behind him the gold is purified by leauing his drosse in the fire Therefore hee addes not I will but I doe make all new and because this is a great worke behold a great Agent He that sate vpon the Throne said Behold I make all new A Throne signifies Maiestie and sitting permanence or perpetuity God sayes Heauen is my throne in the Psalme but as Salomons throne of iuory and gold was the best piece of his house So Gods throne is the most glorious heauen the heauen of heauens for you see that tho heauen and earth passe away yet Gods throne remain'd still and hee sitting on it neither sinne nor dissolution may reach to the Empyreall heauen the seat of God Here is a state worthy of the King of Kings All the thrones of earthly Monarchs are but pieces of his foot-stoole And as his throne is maiesticall and permanent so is his residence in it Hee sate in the throne S. Stephen saw him standing as it were ready for his defence and protection S. Iohn sees him sitting as our Creed also runnes in regard of his inalterable glory How brittle the thrones of earthly Princes are and how they doe rather stand than sit in them and how slippery they stand too wee feele this day and lament O Lord establish the throne of thy seruant our King and let his seed endure for euer Let his throne be as the Sunne before thee for euermore and as the Moone a faithfull witnesse in heauen But howsoeuer it be with our earthly Gods of his kingdome there is no end Here is a master for Kings whose glory it is to rise vp from their thrones and throw downe their Crownes at his feet and to worship before his foot-stoole Be wise therefore O ye Kings be learned ye Rulers of the earth serue this Lord in feare and reioyce in him with trembling Yea behold here since wee haue the honour to serue him whom Kings serue a royall Master for vs It was one of our sinnes I feare that wee made our Master our God I meane that we made flesh our arme and placed that confidence in him for our earthly stay which we should haue fixed in heauen Our too much hope hath left vs comfortlesse Oh that we could now make God our Master and trust him so much the more as we haue lesse in earth to trust to There is no seruice to the King of heauen for both his throne is euerlasting and vnchangeable and his promotions certaine and honourable He that sits on the throne hath said it To him that ouercomes will I giue to sit with mee in my throne euen as I ouercame and sit with my Father in his throne Behold yee ambitious spirits how yee may truly rise to more than euer the sonnes of Zebedee desired to aspire to seruing is the way to raigning serue him that sits vpon the Throne and ye shall sit yourselues vpon the Throne with him This is the Agent the act is fit for him I make all things new Euen the very Turkes in their Alcoran can subscribe to that of Tertullian Qui potuit facere potest reficere I feare to wrong the holy Maiesty with my rude comparison It is not so much to God to make a world as for vs to speake He spake the word and it was done There is no change which is not from him He makes new Princes new yeeres new gouernments and will make new heauens new earth new inhabitants how easie then is it for him to make new prouisions for vs If wee bee left destitute yet where is our faith Shall God make vs new bodies when they are gone to dust shall he make new heauens and new earth and shall not he whose the earth is and the fulnesse thereof prouide some new meanes and courses of life for vs while we are vpon earth Is the maintenance of one poore worme more than the renewing of heauen and earth Shall he be able to raise vs when we are not and shall he
bosome a shrine of God 2 Cor. 12. Know yee not that Christ Iesus is in you saith S. Paul Wheresoeuer God dwels there is his Temple Wilt thou pray in the Temple pray in thy selfe saith Austen Here is the Altar of a cleane heart from which the sweet incense of our praiers as a pleasant perfume is sent vp into the nostrils of God Here are the pure candles of our faith euer burning before God night and day neuer to be extinguished Here is the spirituall Shew-bread the bread of life standing euer ready vpon the Table of the soule Here doth the Arke of the heart in the inwardest of the breast keepe the law of God and that Manna that came downe from heauen Here God dwels and here he is worshipped Behold what need wee care whither we goe while we carry the God of heaven with vs He is with vs as our companion as our guide as our guest No impotency of person no crosse of estate no distance of place no opposition of men no gates of hell can separate him from vs Hee hath said it I will not leaue nor forsake thee We are all now parting one from another and now is loosing a knot of the most louing and entire fellowship that euer met in the Court of any Prince our sweet Master that was compounded of all louelinesse infused this gracious harmony into our hearts now we are saluting our last and euery one is with sorrow enough taking his owne way how safe how happy shall we be if each of vs shall haue God to go with him Certainly my deare fellowes we shall neuer complaine of the want of Masters of friends while we finde our selues sure of him nothing can make vs miserable while we are furnished with him Shall wee thinke hee cannot fare ill that hath money in his purse and shall we thinke he can miscarry that hath God in his heart How shall not all comfort all happinesse accompany that God whose presence is the cause of all blessednesse He shall counsell vs in our doubts direct vs in our resolutions dispose of vs in our estates cheere vs in our distresses prosper vs in our liues and in our deaths crowne vs. And if such felicity follow vpon Gods dwelling with vs in these smokie cottages of our mortality where we through our vnquiet corruptions will not suffer our selues to haue a full fruition of God what happinesse shall there be in our dwelling with God in those eternall Tabernacles of rest and glory Beloued there is no losse no miserie which the meditation of heauen cannot digest we haue liued in the eye of a Prince whose countenance was able to put life into any beholder How oft hath that face shined vpon vs and we haue found our heart warme with those comfortable beames Behold we shall liue with that God in whose presence is the fulnesse of ioy wee haue liued in the soeciety of worthy men yet but men subiect to all passions infirmities self-respects which of vs all can haue escaped without some vnkindnesses detractions emulations Earthly Courts can be no more without these than these can be without corruption there we shall liue in the company of innumerable Angels and the spirits of iust and perfect men Reuel 19.3 neither can there be any iar in these Halleluiahs which we shall all sing to God We haue liued to see the magnificence of earthly Princes and to partake of it in their buildings furnitures feasts triumphs in their wealth pompe pleasures But open your eyes and see the new Ierusalem the City of the great King of Saints and all these sublunary vanities shall bee contemned Here you shall see a foure-square Citie the wals of Iasper the foundations garnished with all precious stones Twelue gates of twelue pearles The houses and streets of pure gold like shining glasse A Chrystall riuer runs in the midst of it and on the banks of it growes the tree of life euer greene euer fruitfull this is for the eye The eare shall be filled with the melody of Angels euer singing Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty The taste shall be satisfied with Manna the food of Angels with the fruit of the tree of life with that new wine which our Sauiour hath promised to drinke with vs in his Kingdome These are the dimme shadowes of our future blessednesse At thy right hand ô God are pleasures for euermore and such pleasures as if they could be expressed or conceiued were not worthy of our longings nor able to satisfie vs Oh that wee could so much the more long to enioy them by how much lesse we are able to comprehend them When S. Paul made his Farewell-Sermon to the Ephesians he fetcht teares from the eyes of his auditors so full of holy passion was his speech especially with that one clause And now behold I know Act. 20.25 that henceforth you all through whom I haue gone preaching the kingdome of God shall see my face no more A sad clause indeed You shall see my face no more The minde of man cannot endure to take a finall leaue of any thing that offends it not but the face of a friend of a companion hath so much pleasure in it that we cannot without much sorrow thinke of seeing it our last But what if we shall meet here no more what if we shall no more see one anothers face Brethren we shall once meet together aboue we shall once see the glorious face of God and neuer looke off againe Let it not ouer-grieue vs to leaue these Tabernacles of stone since wee must shortly lay downe these Tabernacles of clay and enter into Tabernacles not made with hands eternall in the heauens Till then farewell my deare brethren farewell in the Lord Goe in peace and liue as those that haue lost such a Master and as those that serue a Master whom they cannot lose And the God of peace goe with you and prosper you in all your wayes and so fix this Tabernacle in you vpon earth that you may be receiued into those Tabernacles of the new Ierusalem and dwell with him for euer in that glory which he hath prouided for all that loue him AMEN FINIS NOAH'S DOVE BRINGING AN OLIVE OF PEACE TO THE TOSSED ARKE OF CHRISTS CHVRCH A SERMON PREACH'T IN LATINE IN THE CONVOCATION HELD IN SAINT PAVLES CHVRCH TO THE CLERGIE OF ENGLAND AND ESPECIALLY THAT OF THE PROVINCE OF CANTERBVRIE By IOS HALL Deane of Worcester Done into English by R. H. SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON ¶ Printed by IOHN HAVILAND for HANNA BARRET 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE MY SINGVLAR GOOD LORD EDVVARD Lord DENNY Baron of WALTHAM all health and Happinesse RIGHT HONOVRABLE I Might well perceiue by the Author that this Sermon was neuer intended to be published in any other Language than that wherein it was first spoken being in respect of the matter in a sort appropriate to that Auditory wherein it was
an Antichristian estate if God giue secret mercie what is that to her Gods superaboundant grace doth neither abate ought of her Antichristianisme nor moue you to follow him in couering and passing by the manifold enormities in our Church wherewith those good things are inseparably commingled Your owne mouth shall condemne you Doth God passe ouer our enormities and doe you sticke yea separate Doth his grace couer them and doe you display them Haue you learned to be more iust than your Maker Or if you be not aboue his iustice why are you against his mercy God hath not disclaimed vs by your owne confession you haue preuented him If Princes leasurees may not be stayed in reforming yet shall not Gods in reiecting Your ignorance enwrapped you in your errors his infinite wisedome sees them and yet his infinite mercy forbeares them so might you at once haue seene disliked stayed If you did not herein goe contrary to the courses of our common God how happy should both sides haue beene yea how should there be no sides How should we be more inseparably commingled than our good and euill But should you haue continued still in sinne that grace might haue abounded God forbid you might haue continued here without sinne saue your owne and then grace would no lesse haue abounded to you than now your sin abounds in not continuing What neede you to surfet of another mans Trencher Other sinnes need no more to infect you than your graces can sanctifie them As for your further light suspect it not of God suspect it to bee meere darknesse and if the light in you bee darknesse how great is that darknesse What so true and glorious a light of God and neuer seene till now No Worlds Times Churches Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Fathers Doctors Gen. 1.2 Esa 5.20 Woe to them that put darknesse for light Esa 59.9 Christians euer saw this truth looke forth besides you vntill you Externall light was Gods first creature and shall this spirituall light whereby all Churches should be discerned come thus late Mistrust therefore your eyes and your light and feare Esayes woe and the Iewes miserable disappointment we wait for light but loe it is darknesse for brightnesse but we walke in obscuritie SEP But the Church of England say you is our Mother and so ought not to be auoyded But say I we must not so cleaue to holy Mother Church as we neglect our Heauenly Father and his Commandements which we know in that estate we could not but transgresse and that hainously and against our consciences not onely in the want of many Christian Ordinances to which we are most straightly bound both by Gods Word and our owne necessities SECTION XVII THE Church of England is your Mother to her small comfort she hath borne you The Motherhood of the Church of England how far it obligeth vs. Deut. 21 22 23. and repented Alas you haue giuen her cause to powre out Iobs curses vpon your Birth-day by your not onely forsaking but cursing her Stand not vpon her faults which you shall neuer proue capitall Not onely the best Parent might haue brought forth a rebellious sonne to be stoned What then Doe we prefer dutie to piety and so plead for our Holy Mother Church that we neglect our Heauenly Father yea offend him See what you say it must needs be an Holy Mother that cannot be pleased without the displeasure of God A good wife that opposes such an husband a good sonne that vpbraids this vniustly Therefore is shee a Church your Mother holy Mater Ecclesia Mater est etiam Matris nostrae Aug. Epist 38. because shee bred you to God cleaues to him obeyes his commandements and commands them And so farre is shee from this desperate contradiction that shee voweth not to hold you for her sonne vnlesse you honour God as a Father It is a wilfull slander that you could not but hainously transgresse vnder her I dare take it vpon my soule that all your transgression which you should necessarily haue incurred by her obedience is nothing so hainous as your vncharitablenesse in your censures and disobedience Conscience is a common plea euen to those you hate we inquire not how strong it is but how well informed not whether it suggest this but whereupon To go against the conscience is sinne to follow a mis-informed conscience is sinne also If you do not the first we know you are faultie in the second He that is greater than the conscience will not take this for an excuse But wherein should haue beene this transgression so vnauoidable hainous against conscience First in the want of many Ordinances to which we are most strictly bound both by Gods Word and our owne necessities SECTION XVIII CAn you thinke this hangs well together The want of pretended Ordinances of God whether sinfull to vs and whether they are to bee set vp without Princes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nâ—m per exteriorem viâ—lâ—â—tiaÌ„ corâ—â—pitur si interior innocentia custodiatâ—r cap. 114. 3. Custodi c. Ad docendum populum Israelâ—ticum omnipotens Deus Prophetis praeconium dedit non Regibus imperauit Aug. l. 2. contra Gau. c. 11. Barr. causes of separat def p. 6. Barr. Reformation without tarrying Aug. contra Petilian l. 2. Optatus Mileuit lib. 30. Bar. second Examination before the Lord Archbishop and Lord Chiefe-Iustice compar with his reply to M. Gyff Art 5. You should here want many of Gods Ordinances why should you want them Because you are not suffered to enioy them who hinders it Superior powers Did euer man wilfully and hainously offend for wanting of that which he could not haue What hath conscience to doe with that which is out of our power Is necessity with you become a sinne and that hainous Dauid is driuen to lurke in the wildernesse and forced to want the vse of many diuine Ordinances It was his sorrow not his transgression Hee complaines of this but doth he accuse himselfe of sinne Not to desire them had beene sinne no sinne to be debarred them Well might this be Sauls sinne but not his Haue you not sinnes enow of your owne that you must needs borrow of others But I see your ground You are bound to haue these Ordinances and therefore without Princes yea against them so it is your transgression to want them in spight of Magistrates Gaudentius the Donatist taught you this of old And this is one of the Hebrew Songs which Master Barrow sings to vs in Babylon that we care not to make Christ attend vpon Princes and to be subiect to their Lawes and Gouernment and his Predecessor the root of your Sect tels vs in this sense the Kingdome of Heauen must suffer violence and that it comes not with obseruation that men may say Loe the Parliament or loe the Bishops decrees and in the same Treatise The Lords Kingdome must wait on your policy forsooth and
Christs descent into Hell except he had ouer-reached not that Call you our Doctrines some generall truths Looke into our Confessions Apologies Articles and compare them with any with all other Churches and if you finde a more particular sound Christian absolute profession of all fundamentall truths in any Church since Christ ascended into Heauen renounce vs as you do we will separate vnto you But these truths are not soundly practised Let your Pastor teach you Inquir into M. Wâ—â—te p. 35. Mat. 13.33 that if errors of practise should bee stood vpon there could bee no true Church vpon earth Pull out your owne beame first wee willingly yeeld this to bee one of your truths that no truth can sanctifie error That one heresie makes an Heretike but learne withall that euery error doth not pollute all truths That rhere is hay and stubble which may burne yet both the foundation stand and the builder bee saued Such is ours at the worst why doe you condemne where God will saue No Scripture is more worne with your Tongues and Pens than that of the Leauen 1 Cor. 5.6 If you would compare Christs Leauen with Pauls you should satisfie your selfe Christ sayes The Kingdome of Heauen is as Leauen Paul sayes A grosse sinne is Leauen Both leauens the whole lumpe neither may be taken precisely but in resemblance not of equalitie M. Bredwell as he said well but of qualitie For notwithstanding the Leauen of the Kingdome some part you grant is vnsanctified So notwithstanding the Leauen of sinne some which haue striuen against it to their vtmost are not sowred The leauening in both places must extend onely to whom it is extended the subiects of regeneration in the one the partners of sinne in the other So our Sauiour saith Yee are the salt of the earth Yet too much of the earth is vnseasoned The truth of the effect must bee regarded in these speeches not the quantitie It was enough for S. Paul to shew them by this similitude that grosse sinnes where they are tolerated haue a power to infect others whether it be as Hierome interprets it by ill example or by procurement of iudgements Hierom. In hoc ignoratis quia malo exemplo possunt plurimi interire Sed peâ— vntus delictuÌ„ in omnâ—â— populuÌ„ Iudaeorum â—am Dei legimus advenisse and therevpon the incestuous must bee cast out All this tends to the excommunicating of the euill not to the separating of the good Did euer Paul say If the incestuous bee not cast out separate from the Church Shew vs this and we are yours Else it is a shame for you that you are not ours If Antichrist hold many truths and wee but many wee must needs be proud of your praises We hold all his truths and haue shewed you how we hate all his forgeries no lesse than you hate vs Yet the mysterie of iniquitie is still spun in the Church of England but with a finer threed So fine that the very eyes of your malice cannot see it yet none of our least Motes haue escaped you Thanks bee to our good God 1 Tim. 3.16 we haue the great mysterie of godlinesse so fairely and happily spun amongst vs as all but you blesse God with vs and for vs As soone shall yee finde Charitie and Peace in your English Church as heresie in our Church of England SEP Where say you are those proud Towers of their vniuersall Hierarchie One in Lambeth another in Fulham and wheresoeuer a Pontificall Prelate is or his Chancellor Commissarie or other Subordinate there is a Tower of Babel vnruinated To this and I desire to know of you whether the office of Archbishops Bishops and the rest of that ranke were not parts of that accursed Hierarchie in Queene MARIES dayes and members of that Man of sin If they were then as shoulders armes vnder that head the Pope and ouer the inferiour members and haue now the same Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction deriued and continued vpon them whereof they were possessed in the time of Popery as it is plaine they haue by the first Parliament of Queene ELIzABETH why are they not still members of that bodie though the head the Pope be cut off SECTION XXX Whether our Prelacie be Antichristian Seuen Argu. first Answ Counterpoys TO the particular instances I aske where are the proud Towers of their Vniuersall Hierarchie You answer roundly One in Lambeth another in Fulham c. What Vniuersall Did euer any of our Prelates challenge all the World as his Diocesse Is this simplicitie or malice If your Pastor tell vs that as well a World as a Prouince Let me returne it If hee may be Pastor ouer a Parlour-full Why not of a Citie And if of a Citie why not of a Nation But these you will proue vnruinated Towers of that Babel You aske therefore whether the Office of Archbishops Bishops and the rest of that ranke were not in Queene MARIES dayes parts of that accursed Hierarchie and members of that Man of sinne Doubtlesse they were Who can denie it But now say you they haue the same Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction continued This is your miserable Sophistrie Those Popish Archbishops Bishops and Clergie were members of Antichrist not as Church-Gouernours but as Popish while they swore subiection to him while they defended him whiles they worshipâ— him aboue all that is called God and extorted this homage from others how could they be other but limmes of that Man of sinne shall others therefore which defie him resist trample vpon him spend their liues and labours in oppugnation of him bee necessarily in the same case because in the same roome Let mee helpe your Anabaptists with a sound Argument The Princes Peeres and Magistrates of the Land in Queene MARIES dayes were shoulders and armes of Antichrist their calling is still the same therefore now they are such Your Master Smith vpon no other ground disclaymeth Infants Baptisme Character of the Beast against R. Clifton crying out that this is the maine relique of Antichristianisme But see how like a wise Master you confute your selfe They are still members of the bodie though the head the Pope be cut off The head is Antichrist therefore the bodie without the head is no part of Antichrist He that is without the head Christ is no member of Christ so contrarily I heare you say the very Iurisdiction and Office is here Antichristian not the abuse What in them and not in all Bishops since and in the Apostles times Alas who are you that you should oppose all Churches and times Ignorance of Church-storie and not distinguishing betwixt substances and appendances personall abuses and callings hath led you to this errour Yet since you haue reckoned vp so many Popes let mee helpe you with more Was there not one in Lambeth when Doctor Cranmer was there One in Fulham when Ridley was there One in Worcester when Latimer was there One at Winchester when Philpot was
a a Ex Act. Concil Wint. sub Laâ—fr Martyrol Cant. Lanfranck held at Winchester which I wonder my Detector would ouer-see This neglect is not for nothing was it not decreed that the Canons should not haue Wiues but that the Priests which dwelt in Townes and Villages should not bee compelled to put away their Wiues though caution is put in for the future What doth this imply but that in those ancient Times the English Clergie were inoffensiuely maried To which adde that old Record from an ancient Martyrologue of the Church of Canterbury Lanfrancus Archiepiscopus reddidit Ecclesiae Sancti Andreae c. Lanfranck Archbishop hath restored to Saint Andrewes Church the Monasterie of Saint Mary with the Lands and Houses which Liuingus Priest and his Wife had in London c. And before him or Dunstan either in King Edmunds time b b Fox Act. Mon. Bishop Osulphus with Athelme and Vlrick Laicks thrusts out the Monks of Euesham and placed Canons maried Priests in their roome Lastly If he be the Sonne of a Bishop c. Iornalensis records it as King Ina's Law long before these times Si Episcopi filiolus sit sit dimidium hoc c. as supposing this no other then ordinary in those times Now let my Refuter comfort himselfe and his Catholikes with the weake defence of Heresie and the strong Bulwarkes of Romane Truth who in the meane time must be put in minde that he puts on me the burden which should lye vpon his own shoulders I haue produced Histories which affirme peremptorily that the English Clergy were neuer forbidden to marry vntill Anselmes time it is now his taske to disproue this assertion of theirs by equall authoritie to the contrarie which till hee haue done the day is ours SECT XVII Refut p. 347. HIs fourth Ponderation is the difficultie of this grant in King Edwards Parliament And is it possible the man should not see the greater difficultie that was found in the inforcement of this glorious Celibate How Alfere and the Nobles dispossessed the Monkes of Dunstan iustly restoring the maried Priests to their ancient right How Lanfranck durst not speake it out Anselme did but preuailed little Let c c Vid. supra Epist ad Ansel Neubr l. 3. c. 5. Girardus then Archbishop of York witnesse After whom Roger Archbishop of that See as Neubrigensis records thrust out d d Pope Paschalis writing to Anselme saith that there was at this time â—o great a number of Priests sons in England that the greater part of the Clergie consisted of them Anselmes Monkes and stood for the libertie of Mariage insomuch as in the succession of Times euen by Royall leaue also Mariage of spirituall persons yet continued Neither could Anselmes Successors Radulphus Gulielmus de Turbine and the rest notwithstanding all their Canons and practices preuaile against it How plaine is that of the e e Chron. Saxon. Anno 1129. Chron. Iornal Saxon Chronicle Thus did the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops which were in England And yet all these Decrees and biddings stood not All held their Wiues by the Kings leaue euen as they did Insomuch at Archbishop William refer'd it to the King The King decreed that the Priests should continue with their Wiues still Neither were any thing more easie then to giue store of instances in this kinde What need I giue more then that of Galfride B. of Ely who was auouched before the Pope himselfe to haue maried a wife which f f Habet excusationem Euangelicam resp est ab Epis Arelat Alexandro Papae Euangelicall excuse vxorem duxit was made for his not appearing at Rome with the rest Of Richard Bishop of Chichester Robert Bishop of Lincolne maried men after these Decrees yea good Euidences of ancient Charts are ready in our hands to shew the vse and legall allowance of these Mariages for no lesse then two hundred yeares after As for those idle words which his sawcinesse throwes after our reuerend Martyr Archbishop Cranmer whom he falsly affirme to haue beene the first maried Archbishop of this Kingdome Anno 1250. when as Archbishop Boniface sate maryed in that See three hundred yeares before him and King Edwards Parliament wee answer them with silence and scorne Let leesers haue leaue to talke The approbation and better expedience of single life in capable subiects we do willingly subscribe vnto The lawfulnesse yea necessitie of Mariage where the gift of Continencie is denyed our Sauiour and his chosen vessell iustifie with vs. So as I still conclude He that made mariage saith it is honorable what care wee for the dishonour of those that corrupt it SECT XVIII HIs last ponderation is leaden indeed That from the bickerings of our English Clergy with their Dunstans it will not follow Refut p. 351. that Continencie was not ancient but was repiningly lately vniustly imposed By this reason C.E. writes in the Margine Master Hallâ— loose manner of disputing hee will proue there was neuer Thiefe nor Malefactor in our Countrie before the time of King Iames since all Iudges haue yeerely bickerings with such people Thus he But did euer such loose Besome sweepe the presse before Reader vouchsafe yet once more to cast thine eye vpon the close of my Epistle Doth my argument runne thus wildly as he makes it The English Clergie had bickerings with their Dunstans therefore continencie was repiningly and vniustly imposed Canst thou thinke I haue met with a sober Aduersarie My words are That our Histories teach vs how late how repiningly how vniustly our English Clergie stooped vnder this yoake And what can his sophistrie make of this Are ye not ashamed ye Superiors of Doway are ye not ashamed of such a Champion fitter for a troope of Pigmees to traile a reed in their bickerings with Cranes then to be committed with any reasonable or Scholler-like Antagonist In the bickerings with his Dunstans the Pâ—tâ—ents pleaded prescription as we haue shewed out of Malmesbury and taxed his Saints with noueltie In my bickerings with him I plead Antiquity Scripture Reason and taxe him most iustly with impudence and absurditie How well is that man that is matcht but with an honest Aduersarie The Conclusion Refut p. 353 c. THe Conclusion followes a fit couer for such a dish The Reader was not weary enough but he must be tyred out with a tedious recapitulation wherein my Refuter recollects all his dispersed folly that it may shew the fairer Telling his Protestant friend what I haue bragged vvhat I haue vndertaken what I haue not performed how I haue falsified how I haue mistaken what himselfe hath in all passages performed against me how he hath answered how he hath conquered The best is the Conclusion can shew no more then the Premises By them let me be iudged Those haue made good to my Reader that C. E. hath accused much and proued nothing vanted much and done nothing
strength of humane patience Oh what shall we then conceiue of that death which knowes no end As this life is no lesse fraile then the dody which it animates so that death is no lesse eternall then the soule which must endure it For vs to be dying so long as wee now haue leaue to liue is intollerable and yet one onely minute of that other tormenting death is worse then an age of this Oh the desperate infidelity of carlesse men that shrinke at the thought of a momentarry death and feare not eternall This is but a killing of the body that is a destruction of body and soule Who is so worthy to weare Crowne of Israel as hee that wonne the Crowne from Midian Their vsurpers were gone now they are headlesse It is a doubt whether they were better to haue had no Kings or Tyrants They sue to Gideon to accept of the Kingdome and are repulsed There is no greater ensample of modesty then Gideon When the Angell spake to him he abased himselfe below all Israel when the Ephraimites contended with him he prefers their gleanings to his vintage and casts his honour at their feete and now when Israel proffers him that Kingdome which he had merited he refuses it Hee that in ouercomming would allow them to cry The sword of the Lord and of Gideon in gouerning will haue none but The sword of the Lord. That which others plot and sue and sweare and bribe for Dignity and superiority he seriously reiects whether it were for that he knew God had not yet called them to a Monarchy or rather for that he saw the crowne among thornes What doe we ambitiously affect the commahd of these mole-hils of earth when wise men haue refused the proffers of kingdomes Why doe we not rather labour for that Kingdome which is free from all cares from all vncertainty Yet he that refuses their Crowne cals for their earings although not to enrich himselfe but religion So long had God been a stranger to Israel that now superstion goes currant for deuout worship It were pitty that good intentions should make any man wicked here they did so Neuer man meant beter then Gideon in his rich Ephod yet this very act set all Israel on whoring God had chosen a place and a seruice of his own When the wit of man will be ouer-pleasing God with better deuices then his own it turnes to madnesse and ends in mischiefe ABIMELECHS vsurpation GIdeon refused the Kingdome of Israel when it was offered his seuenty sons offered not to obtain that Scepter which their fathers victory had deserued to make hereditary onely Abimelec the concubines sonne sues and ambitiously plots for it What could Abimelec see in himselfe that hee should ouer-looke all his brethren If he lookt to his father they were his equals if to his mother they were his betters Those that are most vnworthy of honour are hottest in the chase of it whiles the conscience of better deserts bids men sit still and stay to bee either importuned or neglected There can bee no greater signe of vnfitnesse then vehement sute It is hard to say whether there bee more pride or ignorance in Ambition I haue noted this difference betwixt spirituall and earthly honour and the Clients of both wee cannot be worthy of the one without earnest prosecution nor with earnest prosecution worthy of the other The violent abtaine heauen onely the meeke are worthy to inherit the earth That which an aspiring heart hath proiected it will find both argument and meanes to effect If either bribes or fauour will carry it the proud man will not sit out The Shechemites are fit brokers for Abimelec That City which once betrayed it selfe to vtter depopulation in yeelding to the sute of Hamor now betraies it selfe and al Israel in yeelding to the request of Abimelec By them hath this Vsurper made himselfe a fair way to the Throne It was an easie question Whether wil ye admit of the sons of Gideon for your Rulers or of strangers If of the sons of Gideon whether of all or one If of one whether of your owne flesh and bloud or of others vnknowne To cast off the sonnes Gideon for strangers were vnthankfull To admit of seuenty Kings in one small Country were vnreasonable To admit of any other rather then their own kinsman were vnnaturall Gideons sonnes therefore must rule amongst all Israel One of his sonnes amongst those seuenty and who should be that one but Abimelec Naturall respects are the most dangerous corrupters of all elections What hope can there be of worthy Superiors in any free people where neerenesse of bloud carries it from fitnesse of disposition Whiles they say Hee is our brother they are enemies to themselues and Israel Faire words haue won his brethren they the Shechemites the Shechemites furnish him with money mony with men His men begin with murder and now Abimelec raignes alone Flattery bribes and bloud are the vsuall staires of the Ambitious The money of Baal is a fit hier for murderers that which Idolatry hath gathered is fitly spent vpon Treason One diuell is ready to helpe another in mischiefe seldome euer is ill gotten riches better imployed It is no wonder if he that hath Baal his Idol now make an Idoll of Honour There was neuer any man that worshipped but one Idol Woe be to them that lie in the way of the Aspiring Though they be brothers they shall bleed yea the neerer they are the more sure is their ruine Who would not now thinke that Abimelec should finde an hell in his breast after so barbarous and vnnaturall a massacre and yet behold he is a senslesse as the stone vpon which the bloud of his seuerity brethren was spilt Where Ambition hath possest it selfe throughly of the soule it turnes the heart into steele and makes it vncapeable of a conscience All sinnes will easily downe with the man that is resolued to rise Onely Iotham fell not at that fatall stone with his brethren It is an hard battell where none escapes He escapes not to raigne not to reuenge but to be a Prophet and a witnesse of the vengeance of God vpon the vsurper vpon the Abettors He liues to tel Abimelec that he was but a bramble a weed rather then a tree A right bramble indeed that grew but out of the base hedge-row of a Concubin that could not lift vp his head from the earth vnlesse he were supported by some bush or pale of Shechem that had laid hold of the fleece of Israel and had drawne bloud of all his brethren and lastly that had no substance in him but the sap vaine-glory and the pricks of cruelty It was better then a Kingdome to him out of his obscure Beere to see the fire out of his bramble to consume those tres The view of Gods reuenge is so much more pleasing to a good heart then his owne glory by how much it is more iust and full There was neuer
it selfe in this spirituall verdict that vnlesse it be taken in the manner it will hardly yeeld to a truth either shee will denie the fact or the fault or the measure And now in this case they might seeme to haue some faire pretences For though Samuel was righteous yet his sons were corrupt To cut off all excuses therefore Samuel appeales to God the highest Iudge for his sentence of their sinne and dares trust to a miraculous conuiction It was now their Wheat Haruest the hot and dry ayre of that climate did not wont to afford in that season so much moist vapour as might raise a cloud either for raine or thunder He that knew God could and would doe both these without the helpe of second causes puts the triall vpon this issue Had not Samuel before consulted with his Maker and receiued warrant for his act it had beene presumption and tempting of God which was now a noble improuement of faith Rather then Israel shall go cleare away with a sinne God will accuse and araigne them from heauen No sooner hath Samuels voice ceased then Gods voice begins Euery cracke of thunder spake iudgement against the rebellious Israelites and euerie drop of raine a witnesse of their sin and now they found they had displeased him which ruleth in the Heauen by reiecting the man that ruled for him on Earth The thundering voice of God that had lately in their sight confounded the Philistims they now vnderstood to speake fearfull things against them No maruell if now they fell vpon their knees not to Saul whom they had chosen but to Samuel who being thus cast off by them is thus countenanced in Heauen SAVLS Sacrifice GOD neuer meant the Kingdome should either stay long in the Tribe of Beniamin or remoue suddenly from the person of Saul Many yeares did Saul reigne ouer Israel yet God computes him but two yeares a King That is not accounted of God to be done which is not lawfully done when God which choose Saul reiected him he was no more a King but a Tyrant Israel obeyed him still but God makes no reckoning of him as his Deputie but as an Vsurper Saul was of good yeares when he was aduanced to the Kingdome His Sonne Ionathan the first yeare of his Fathers Reigne could lead a thousand Israelites into the field and giue a foile to the Philistims And now Israel could not thinke themselues lesse happie in their Prince then in their King Ionathan is the Heyre of his Fathers victorie as well as of his valour and his estate The Philistims were quiet after those first thunder claps all the time of Samuels gouernment now they beginne to stirre vnder Saul How vtterly is Israel disappointed in their hopes That securitie and protection which they promised themselues in the name of a King they found in a Prophet failed of in a Warriour They were more safe vnder the mantle then vnder armes both enmitie and safegard are from heauen goodnesse hath beene euer a stronger guard then valour It is the surest policy alwayes to haue peace with God We find by the spoiles that the Philistims had some battels with Israel which are not recorded After the thunder had scared them into a peace and restitution of all the bordering Cities from Ekron to Gath they had taken new heart and so be slaued Israel that they had neither weapon nor Smith left amongst them yet euen in this miserable nakednesse of Israel haue they both fought and ouercome Now might you haue seene the vnarmed Israelites marching with their Slings and Plough-staues and Hookes and Forkes and other instruments of their husbandrie against a mighty and well furnished enemy and returning laded both with Armes and Victorie No Armour is of proofe against the Almighty neither is he vnweaponed that caries the reuenge of God There is the same disaduantage in our spirituall conflicts we are turned naked to principalities and powers whilst we go vnder the conduct of the Prince of our peace we cannot but be bold and victorious Vaine men thinke to ouer-power God with munition and multitude The Philistims are not any way more strong then in conceit Thirty thousand Chariots sixe thousand Horsemen Footmen like the sand for number makes them scorne Israel no lesse then Israel feares them When I see the miraculous successe which had blessed the Israelites in all their late conflicts with these very Philistims with the Ammonites I cannot but wonder how they could feare They which in the time of their sinne found God to raise such Trophees ouer their enemies runne now into Caues and Rockes and Pits to hide them from the faces of men when they found God reconciled and themselues penitent No Israelite but hath some cowardly blood in him If we had no feare faith would haue no mastery yet these fearfull Israelites shall cut the throats of those confident Philistims Doubt and resolution are not meet measures of our successe A presumptuous confidence goes commonly bleeding home when an humble feare returnes in triumph Feare driues those Israelites which dare shew their heads out of the Caues vnto Saul and makes them cling vnto their new King How troublesome were the beginnings of Sauls honor Surely if that man had not exceeded Israel no lesse in courage then in stature he had now hid himselfe in a Caue which before hid himselfe among the stuffe But now though the Israelites ran away from him yet he ranne not away from them It was not any doubt of Sauls valour that put his people to their heeles it was the absence of Samuel If the Prophet had come vp Israel would neuer haue runne away from their King Whiles they had a Samuel alone they were neuer well till they had a Saul now they haue a Saul they are as farre from contentment because they want a Samuel vnlesse both ioyne together they think there can be no safetie Where the Temporal and Spirituall State combine not together there can follow nothing but distraction in the people The Prophets receiue and deliuer the will of God Kings execute it The Prophets are directed by God the people are directed by their Kings Where men doe not see God before them in his Ordinances their hearts cannot but faile them both in their respects to their Superiors and their courage in themselues Piety is the Mother of perfect subiection As all authoritie is deriued from heauen so is it thence established Those Gouernours that would command the hearts of men must shew them God in their faces No Israelite can thinke himselfe safe without a Prophet Saul had giuen them good proofe of his fortitude in his late victorie ouer the Ammorites but then Proclamation was made before the fight through all the Country that euery man should come vp after Saul and Samuel If Samuel had not beene with Saul they would rather haue ventured the losse of their oxen then the hâ—â—â—id of themselues How much lesse should we presume of any safety in
and the Philistims How doth he wish now that hee had rather stood to the hazard of Sauls persecution than to haue put himselfe vpon the fauour of Achish Hee must fight on one side and on whether side soeuer he should fight hee could not auoyd to bee treacherous a condition worse than death to an honest heart which way he would haue resolued if it had comne to the execution who can know since himselfe was doubtfull either course had bin no better than desperate How could the Israelites euer haue receiued him for their King who in the open field had fought against them And contrarily if hee would haue fought against his friend for his enemy against Achish for Saul hee was now inuironed with iealous Philistims and might rather looke for the punishment of his Treason than the glory of a Victorie HIS heart had led him into these straits the Lord finds a way to leade him out The suggestions of his enemies doe herein befriend him The Princes of the Philistims whether of enuie or suspition pleade for Dauids dismission Send this fellow backe that hee may goe againe to his place which thou hast appointed him and let him not goe downe to the battle lest hee bee an Aduersary to vs. No Aduocate could haue said more himselfe durst not haue said so much Oh the wisdome and goodnesse of our God that can raise vp an Aduersary to deliuer out of those euils which our friends cannot That by the sword of an enemie can let out that Apostume which no Physician could tell how to cure It would be wide with us sometimes if it were not for others malice There could not bee a more iust question than this of the Philistim Princes What doe these Hebrewes here An Israelite is out of his element when hee is in an Armie of Philistims The true seruants of God are in their due places when they are in opposition to his enemies Profession of hostilitie becomes them better than leagues of amity Yet Achish likes Dauids conuersation and presence so well that hee professeth himselfe pleased with him as with an Angell of God How strange is it to heare that a Philistim should delight in that holy man whom an Israelite abhorres and should bee loth to be quit of Dauid whom Saul hath expelled Termes of ciuilitie be equally open to all religions to all professions The common graces of Gods children are able to attract loue from the most obstinate enemies of goodnesse If we affect them for by-respects of Valour Wisedome Discourse Wit it is their praise not ours But if for diuine Grace and Religion it is our prayse with theirs Such now was Dauids condition that he must pleade for that hee feared and argue against that which he desired What haue I done what hast thou found in thy seruant that I may not goe and fight against the enemies of my Lord the King Neuer any newes could be more cordiall to him than this of his dismission yet must he seeme to striue against it with an importunate profession of his forwardnesse to that act which hee most detested One degree of Dissimulation drawes on another those which haue once giuen way to a faulty course cannot easily either stop or turne backe but are in a sort forced to second their ill beginnings with worse proceedings It is a dangerous and miserable thing to cast our selues into those actions which draw with them a necessitie either of offending or miscarriage SAVL and the Witch of Endor EVen the worst men may sometimes make head against some sinnes Saul hath expelled the Sorcerers out of the Land of Israel and hath forbidden Magick vpon paine of death Hee that had no care to expell Satan out of his owne heart yet will seeme to driue him out of his Kingdome That wee see wicked then oppose themselues to some sinnes there is neither maruell nor comfort in it No doubt Satan made sport at this Edict of Saul what cares he to be banished in Sorcery whiles he is entertayned in malice He knew and found Saul his whiles he resisted and smiled to yeeld thus farre vnto his Vassall If we quit not all sinnes hee will bee content wee should either abandon or persecute some Where is no place for holy feare there will bee place for the seruile The gracelesse heart of Saul was astonied at the Philistims yet was neuer moued at the frownes of that God whose anger sent them nor of those sinnes of his which procured them Those that cannot feare for loue shall tremble for feare and how much better is awe than terror preuention than confusion There is nothing more lamentable than to see a man laugh when he should feare God shall laugh when such an ones feare commeth Extremitie of distresse will send euen the prophanest man to God like as the drowning man reacheth out his hand to that bough which he contemned whiles hee stood safe on the banke Saul now asketh counsell of the Lord whose Prophet hee hated whose Priests hee slew whose Annointed he persecutes Had Saul consulted with God when hee should this euill had not beene but how if this euill had not beene hee had consulted with God The thanke of this Act is due not to him but to his affection A forced piety is thanklesse and vnprofitable God will not answer him neither by Dreames nor by Vrim nor by Prophets Why should God answer that man by Dreames who had resisted him waking Why should hee answer him by Vrim that had slaine his Priests Why should he answer him by Prophets who hated the Father of the Prophets rebelled against the word of the Prophets It is an vnreasonable vnequality to hope to finde God at our command when wee would not be at his To looke that God should regard our voice in trouble when wee would not regard his in peace Vnto what mad shifts are men driuen by despayre If God will not answer Satan shall Saul said to his seruants Seeke me a woman that hath a familiar spirit If Saul had not knowne this course Deuillish why did he decree to banish it to mulct it with death yet now against the streame of his conscience hee will seeke to those whom he had condemned There needes no other iudge of Sauls act than himselfe had he not before opposed this sinne he had not so hainously sinned in committing it There cannot bee a more fearefull signe of an heart giuen vp to a reprobate sense than to cast it selfe wilfully into those sinnes which it hath proclaimed to detest The declinations to euill are many times insensible but when it breakes forth into such apparant effects euen others eyes may discerne it What was Saul the better to fore-know the issue of his approaching battell If this consultation could not haue strengthened him against his enemies or promoted his victory there might haue beene some colour for so foule an act Now what could he gaine but the satisfying of his bootlesse curiositie in
see God iust we may goe on safely and prosper But here his foot staies and his hand fals from his Instrument and his tongue is ready to taxe his owne vnworthinesse How shall the Arke of the Lord came vnto me That heart is carnall and proud that thinkes any man worse than himselfe Dauids feare staies his progresse Perhaps he might haue proceeded with good successe but he dares not venture where hee sees such a deadly checke It is better to be too fearefull than too forward in those affaires which doe immediately concerne God As it is not good to refraine from holy businesses so it is worse to doe them ill Awfulnesse is a safe Interpreter of Gods secret actions and a wise guide of ours THIS euent hath holpen Obed-Edom to a guest hee lookt not for God shall now soiourne in the house of him in whose heart hee dwelt before by a strong faith else the man durst not haue vndertaken to receiue that dreadfull Arke which Dauid himselfe feared to harbour Oh the courage of an honest and faithfull heart Obed-Edom knew well enough what slaughter the Arke had made among the Philistims and after that amongst the Bethshemites and now hee saw Vzzah lye dead before him yet doth hee not make any scruple of entertaining it neither doth hee say My Neighbour Abinadab was a carefull and religious host to the Arke and is now payed with the bloud of his sonne how shall I hope to speed better but he opens his doores with a bold cheerefulnesse and notwithstanding all those terrors bids God welcome Nothing can make God not amiable to his owne Euen his very Iustice is louely Holy men know how to reioyce in the Lord with trembling and can feare without discouragement THE God of Heauen will not receiue any thing from men on free cost hee will pay liberally for his lodging a plentifull blessing vpon Obed-Edom and all his household It was an honour to that zealous Gittite that the Arke could come vnder his roofe yet God rewards that honour with benediction Neuer man was a loser by true godlinesse The house of Obad-Edom cannot this while want obseruation the eyes of Dauid and all Israel were neuer off from it to see how it fared with this entertainment And now when they finde nothing but a gracious acceptation and sensible blessing the good King of Israel takes new heart and hastens to fetch the Arke into his royall Citie The view of Gods fauours vpon the godly is no small encouragement to confidence and obedience Doubtlesse Obed-Edom was not free from some weaknesses If the Lord should haue taken the aduantage of iudgement against him what Israelites had not beene disheartened from attending the Arke Now Dauid and Israel was not more affrighted with the vengeance vpon Vzzah than encouraged by the blessing of Obed-Edom The wise God doth so order his iust and mercifull proceedings that the awfulnesse of men may bee tempered with loue Now the sweet singer of Israel reuines his holy Musicke and addes both more spirit and more pompe to so deuout a businesse I did not before heare of Trumpets nor dancing nor shouting nor sacrifice nor the linnen Ephod The sense of Gods passed displeasure doubles our care to please him and our ioy in his recouered approbation wee neuer make so much of our health as after sicknesse nor neuer are so officious to our friend as after an vnkindnesse In the first setting out of the Arke Dauids feare was at least an equall match to his ioy therefore after the first six paces hee offered a sacrifice both to pacifie God and thanke him but now when they saw no signe of dislike they did more freely let themselues loose to a fearelesse ioy and the body stroue to expresse the holy affection of the soule there was no liâ—â—the no part that did not professe their mirth by motâ—on no noyse of voyce or instrument wanted to assist their spirituall iollity Dauid led the way dancing with all his might in his linnen Ephod Vzzah was still in his eye he durst not vsurpe vpon a garment of Priests but will borrow their colour to grace the solemnitie though hee dare not the fashion White was euer the colour of ioy and linnen was light for vse therefore he couers his Princely Robes with white linnen and meanes to honour himselfe by his conformity to Gods Ministers Those that thinke there is disgrace in the Ephod are farre from the spirit of the man after Gods owne heart Neither can there be a greater argument of a soule soule than a dislike of the glorious calling of God Barren Nical hath too many sonnes that scorne the holy habit and exercises she lookes through her window and seeing the attyre and gestures of her deuout husband despiseth him in her heart neither can shee conceale her contempt but like Sauls Daughter cast it proudly in his face Oh how glorious was the King of Israel this day which was vncouered to day in the eyes of the Maidens of his Seruants as a Foole vncouereth himselfe Worldly hearts can see nothing in actions of zeale but folly and madnesse Pietie hath no relish to their palate but distastfull DAVIDS heart did neuer swell so much at any reproch as this of his Wife his loue was for the time lost in his anger and as a man impatient of no affront so much as in the way of his deuotion he returnes a bitter checke to his MICAL It was before the Lord which those me rather than thy Father and all his house c. Had not Mical twitted her Husband with the shame of his zeale shee had not heard of the shamefull reiection of her father now since shee will bee forgetting whose Wife she was shee shall be put in mind whose Daughter she was Contumelies that are cast vpon vs in the causes of God may safely be repared If we be meale-mouthed in the scornes of Religion we are not patient but zealelesse Here we may not forbeare her that lyes in our bosome If Dauid had not loued Mical dearely he had neuer stood vpon those points with Abner He knew that if Abner came to him the Kingdome of Israel would accompany him and yet hee sends him the charge of not seeing his face except hee brought Mical Sauls daughter with him as if he would not regard the Crowne of Israel whiles he wanted that Wife of his Yet here he takes her vp roundly as if shee had beene an enemy not a partner of his bed All relations are aloofe off in comparison of that betwixt God and the soule He that loues Father or Mother or Wife or Childe better than me saith our Sauiour is not worthy of me Euen the highest delights of our hearts must be trampled vpon when they will stand out in riuality with God Oh happy resolution of the royall Prophet and Propheticall King of Israel I will be yet more vile than thus and will be low in mine owne sight he knew this very
therefore thou thoughtest good to fast as by the reason of these precedents might be without preiudice of thine humanitie which if it should haue pleased thee to support as thou couldest without meanes thy very power might haue opened the mouth of cauils against the veritie of thine humane nature That thou mightest therefore well approue that there was no difference betwixt thee and vs but sinne thou that couldst haue fasted without hunger and liued without meat wouldst both feed and fast and hunger Who can bee discouraged with the scantinesse of friends or bodily prouisions when hee sees his Sauiour thus long destitute of all earthly comforts both of Societie and sustenance Oh the policie and malice of that olde Serpent when hee sees Christ bewray some infirmitie of nature in being hungry then hee layes sorest at him by temptations His eye was neuer off from our Sauiour all the time of his sequestration and now that hee thinkes he espyes any one part to lye open hee driues at it with all his might We haue to doe with an Aduersary no lesse vigilant than malicious who will bee sure to watch all opportunities of our mischiefe and where hee sees any aduantage of weaknesse will not neglect it How should wee stand vpon our guard for preuention that both wee many not giue him occasions of our hurt nor take hurt by those we haue giuen When our Sauiour was hungrie Satan tempts him in matter of food not then of wealth or glorie He well knowes both what baits to fish withall and when and how to lay them How safe and happie shall we be if we shall bend our greatest care where we discerne the most danger In euery temptation there is an appearance of good whether of the bodie of minde or estate The first is the lust of the flesh in any carnall desire the second the pride of heart and life the third the lust of the eyes To all these the first Adam is tempted and in all miscarryed the second Adam is tempted to them all and ouercommeth The first man was tempted to carnall appetite by the forbidden fruite to pride by the suggestion of being as God To couetousnesse in the ambitious desire of knowing good and euill Satan hauing found all the motions so successfull with the first Adam in his innocent estate will now tread the same steppes in his temptations of the second The stones must be made bread there is the motion to a carnall appetite The guard and attendance of Angels must bee presumed on there is a motion to pride The Kingdomes of the Earth and glory of them must be offered there to couetousnesse and ambition Sathan could not but haue heard God say This is my welbeloued sonne hee had heard the Message and the Caroll of the Angels he saw the Starre and the iourney and Offerings of the Sages hee could not but take notice of the gratulations of Zachary Simeon Anna hee well knew the Predictions of the Prophets yet now that hee saw Christ â—sâ—ting with hunger as not comprehending how infirmities could consist with a God-head hee can say If thou bee the Sonne of God Had not Sathan knowne that the Sonne of God was to come into the World he had neuer said If thou be the Sonne of God His very supposition conuinces him The ground of his temptation answers itselfe If therefore Christ seemed to bee a meere man because after fortie dayes hee was hungry why was hee not confessed more than a man in that for fortie dayes hee hungred not The motiue of the temptation is worse than the motion If thou bee the Sonne of God Sathan could not choose another suggestion of so great importance All the worke of our Redemption of our Saluation depends vpon this one Truth Christ is the Sonne of God How should hee else haue ransomed the World how should hee haue done how should hee haue suffered that which was satisfactory to his Fathers wrath How should his actions or passion bin valuable to the sinnes of all the World What maruell is it if wee that are sonnes by Adoption bee assaulted with the doubts of our interest in God when the naturall Sonne the Sonne of his Essence is thus tempted Since all our comfort consists in this point heere must needes bee laid the chiefe battery and heere must bee placed our strongest defence To turne stones into bread had bin no more faultie in it selfe than to turne Water into Wine But to doe this in a distrust of his Fathers Prouidence to abuse his power and libertie in doing it to worke a miracle of Sathans choice had beene disagreeable to the Sonne of God There is nothing more ordinary with our spirituall enemie than by occasion of want to moue vs to vnwarrantable courses Thou art poore steale Thou canst not rise by honest meanes vse indirect How easie had it beene for our Sauiour to haue confounded Sathan by the power of his God-head But hee rather chuses to vanquish him by the Sword of the Spirit that hee might teach vs how to resist and ouercome the powers of darknesse If hee had subdued Sathan by the Almighty power of the Deitie wee might haue had what to wonder at not what to imitate now hee vseth that weapon which may be familiar vnto vs that hee may teach our weaknesse how to bee victorious Nothing in Heauen or Earth can beate the forces of Hell but the Word of God How carefully should wee furnish our selues with this powerfull munition how should our hearts and mouthes bee full of it Teach mee O Lord the way of thy Statutes O take not from mee the words of Truth Let them bee my Songs in the house of my pilgrimage So shall I make answere to my Blasphemers What needed Christ to haue answered Sathan at all if it had not beene to teach vs that temptations must not haue their way but must be answered by resistance and resisted by the Word I doe not heare our Sauiour auerre himselfe to be a God against the blasphemous insinuation of Sathan neyther doe I see him working this miraculous Conuersion to proue himselfe the Sonne of God but most wisely hee takes away the ground of the temptation Sathan had taken it for granted that man cannot bee sustayned without bread and therefore inferres the necessitie of making bread of stones Our Sauiour shewes him from an infallible Word that hee had mislayed his suggestion That man liues not by vsuall food only but by euery word that proceedeth from the mouth of God Hee can either sustaine without bread as hee did Moses and Elias or with a miraculous bread as the Israelites with Manna or send ordinary meanes miraculously as food to his Prophet by the Rauens or miraculously multiply ordinary meanes as the Meale and Oyle to the Sareptan Widdow All things are sustayned by his Almighty Word Indeed wee liue by food but not by any vertue that is without God without the incurrence of whose Prouidence bread would
be tryed with honour As some expert Fences that challenges at all weapons so doth this great enemie in vaine shall we plead our skill in some if wee faile in any It must be our wisedome to be prepared for all kind of assaults As those that hold Townes and Forts doe not onely defend themselues from incursions but from the Canon and the Pioner still doth that subtill Serpent trauerse his ground for an aduantage The Temple is not high enough for his next tentation He therefore carrie vp Christ to the top of an exceeding high mountaine All enemies in pitcht fields striue for the benefit of the Hill or Riuer or Wind or Sunne That which his seruant â—â—ac did by his instigation himselfe doth now immediately change places in hope of preuailing If the obscure Countrie will not moue vs hee tries what the Court can doe if not our home the Tauerne if not the field our closet As no place is left free by his malice so no place must be made preiudiciall by our carelessnes and as we should alwayes watch ouer our selues so then most when the opportunity caries cause of suspition Wherefore is Christ caried vp so high but for prospect If the Kingdomes of the earth and their glorie were onely to be represented to his imagination the valley would haue serued If to the outward sence no hill could suffice Circular bodies though small cannot bee seene at once This show was made to both diuers kingdomes lying round about Iudea were represented to the eye The glory of them to the imagination Satan meant the eye could tempt the fancie no lesse than the fancie could tempt the will How many thousand soules haue died of the wound of the eye If we doe not let in sinne at the window of the eye or the doore of the eare it cannot enter into our hearts If there be any pompe maiestie pleasure brauerie in the world where should it bee but in the Courts of Princes whom God hath made his Images his deputies on earth There is soft rayment sumptuous feasts rich Iewels honourable attendance glorious triumphs royall state those Satan layes out to the fairest show But Oh the craft of that old Serpent Many a care attends greatnesse No Crowne is without thornes High seates are neuer but vneasie all those infinite discontentments which are the shaddow of earthly Soueraigntie he hides out of the way nothing may bee seene but what may both please and allure Satan is still and euer like himselfe If tentations might be but turnd about and showne on both sides the kingdome of darknesse would not be so populous Now whensoeuer the Tempter sets vpon any poore soule all sting of conscience wrath iudgement torment is concealed as if they were not Nothing may appeare to the eye but pleasure profit and a seeming happinesse in the enioying our desires those other wofull obiects are reserued for the farewell of sinne that our miserie may be seene and felt at once When we are once sure Satan is a Tyrant till then he is a Parasite There can be no safetie if we doe not view as well the backe as the face of tentations But oh presumption and impudence that hell it selfe may bee asham'd of The Diuell dares say to Christ All these will I giue thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship mee That beggerly spirit that hath not an â—ich of earth can offer the whole world to the maker to the owner of it The slaue of God would bee adored of his Creator How can wee hope hee should bee sparing of false boasts and of vnreasonable promises vnto vs when hee dares offer kingdomes to him by whom Kings reigne Tentations on the right hand are most dangerous how many that haue beene hardned with feare haue melted with honour There is no doubt of that soule that will not bite at the golden hooke False liâ—rs and vaine-glorious boasters see the top of their pedigree If I may not rather say that Satan doth borrow the vse of their tongues for a time Whereas faithfull is hee that hath promised who will also doe it Fdelitie and truth is issue of the heauen If Idolatrie were not a deare sinne to Satan hee would not bee so importunate to compasse it It is miserable to see how he draws the world insensibly into this sinne which they professe to detest Those that would rather hazard the furnace than worship Gold in a statue yet doe adore it in the stampe and finde no saint with themselues If our hearts bee drawne to stoope vnto an ouer high respect of any creature wee are Idolaters O God it is no maruell if thy ielousie be kindled at the admission of any of thine owne workes into a competition of honour with their Creatour Neuer did our Sauiour say Auoide Satan till now It is a iust indignation that is conceiued at the motion of a riualitie with God Neither yet did Christ exercise his diuine power in this command but by the necessary force of Scripture driues away that impure Tempter It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue The rest of our Sauiours answeres were more full and direct than that they could admit of a replie but this was so flat and absolute that it vtterly daunted the courage of Satan and put him to a shamefull flight and made him for the time weary of his trade The way to be rid of the troublesome solicitations of that wicked one is continued resistance He that forcibly droue the tempter from himselfe takes him off from vs and will not abide his assaults perpetuall It is our exercise and triall that hee intends not our confusion SIMON called AS the Sunne in his first rising drawes all eyes to it So did this Sunne of righteousnesse when he first shone forth into the world His miraculous cures drew Patients his diuine doctrine drew Auditors both together drew the admiring multitude by troopes after him And why doe wee not still follow thee O Sauiour thorow deserts and mountaines ouer land and Seas that wee may bee both healed and taught It was thy word that when thou wert lift vp thou wouldst draw all men vnto thee Behold thou art lift vp long since both to the tree of shame and to the throne of heauenly glory Draw vs and wee shall runne after thee Thy word is still the same though proclaimed by men thy vertue is still the same though exercised vpon the spirits of men Oh giue vs to hunger after both that by both our soules may be satisfied I see the people not onely following Christ but pressing vpon him euen very vnmannerlinesse finds here both excuse and acceptation they did not keepe their distances in an awe to the Maistie of the speaker whiles they were rauished with the power of the speech yet did not our Sauiour checke their vnreuerent thronging but rather incourages their forwardnesse Wee cannot offend thee O God with the importunitie of our
for none but God to hold discourse with Satan Our surest way is to haue as little to doe with that euill one as wee may and if hee shall offer to maintaine conference with vs by his secret tentations to turne our speech vnto our God with the Archangell The Lord rebuke thee Satan It was the presupposition of him that knew it that not only men but spirits haue names This then he askes not out of an ignorance or curiositie nothing could bee hid from him who calleth the starres and all the hosts of heauen by their names but out of a iust respect to the glory of the miracle hee was working whereto the notice of the name would not a little auaile For if without inquirie or confession our Sauiour had erected this euill spirit it had passed for the single dispossession of one onely Deuill whereas now it appeares there was a combination and hellish champertie in these powers of darknesse which were all forced to vaile vnto that almighty command Before the Deuill had spoken singularly of himselfe What haue I to doe with thee and I beseech thee torment me not Our Sauiour yet knowing that there was a multitude of Deuils lurking in that brest who dissembled their presence wrests it out of the Spirit by this interrogation What is thy name Now can those wicked ones no longer hide themselues He that asked the question forced the answer My name is Legion The author of discord hath borrowed a name of warre from that military order of discipline by which the Iewes were subdued doth the Deuill fetch his denomination They were many yet they say My name not Our name though many they speake as one they act as one in this possession There is a maruellous accordance euen betwixt euill spirits that Kingdome is not diuided for then it could not stand I wonder not that wicked men doe so conspire in euill that there is such vnanimitie in the broachers and abettors of errours when I see those Deuils which are many in substance are one in name action habitation Who can bragge too much of vnitie when it is incident into wicked spirits All the praise of concord is in the subiect if that be holy the consent is Angelicall if sinfull deuillish What a fearfull aduantage haue our spirituall enemies against vs If armed troopes come against single straglers what hope is there of life of victory How much doth it concerne vs to band our hearts together in a communion of Saints Our enemies come vpon vs like a torrent Oh let not vs runne asunder like drops in the dust All our vnited forces will bee little enough to make head against this league of destruction Legion imports Order number conflict Order in that there is a distinction of regiment a subordination of Officers Though in hell there be confusion of faces yet not confusion of degrees Number Those that haue reckoned a Legion at the lowest haue counted it six thousand others haue more then doubled it though here it is not strict but figuratiue yet the letter of it implyes multitude How fearfull is the consideration of the number of Apostate Angels And if a Legion can attend one man how many must we needs thinke are they who all the world ouer are at hand to the punishment of the wicked the exercise of the good the tentation of both It cannot be hoped there can be any place or time wherein we may be secure from the onsets of these enemies Be sure ye lewd men ye shall want no furtherance to euill no torment for euill Be sure yee godly yee shall not want combatants to try your strength and skill Awaken your courages to resist and stirâ—e vp your hearts make sure the meanes of your safety There are more with vs then against vs The God of heauen is with vs if we be with him and our Angels behold the face of God If euery deuill were a Legion we are safe Though wee walke through the valley of the shadow of death we shall feare no euill Thou O Lord shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of our enemies and thy right hand shall saue vs. Conflict All this number is not for sight for rest but for motion for action Neither was there euer houre since the first blow giuen to our first Parents wherein there was so much as a truce betwixt these aduersaries As therefore strong frontier Townes when there is a peace concluded on both parts breake vp their garison open their gates neglect their Bulwarkes but when they heare of the enemy mustering his forces in great and vnequall numbers then they double their guard keepe Sentinell repaire their Sconces so must we vpon the certaine knowledge of our numerous and deadly enemies in continuall aray against vs addresse our selues alwayes to a wary and strong resistance I doe not obserue the most to thinke of this ghostly hostilitie Either they doe not finde there are tentations or those tentations hurtfull they see no worse then themselues and if they feele motions of euill arising in them they impute it to fancy or vnreasonable appetite to no power but natures and those motions they follow without sensible hurt neither see they what harme it is to finne Is it any maruell that carnall eyes cannot discerne spirituall obiects That the world who is the friend the vassall of Satan is in no warre with him Elisha's seruant when his eyes were opened saw troops of spirituall souldiers which before hee discerned not If the eyes of our soules bee once enlightened by supernaturall knowledge and the cleare beames of faith wee shall as plainely descry the inuisible powers of wickednesse as now our bodily eyes see heauen and earth They are though wee see them not we cannot be safe from them if wee doe not acknowledge not oppose them The Deuils are now become great suitors to Christ That hee would not command them into the deepe that hee would permit their entrance into the swine What is this deepe but hell both for the vtter separation from the face of God and for the impossibilitie of passage to the region of rest and glory The very euill spirits then feare and expect a further degree of torment they know themselues reserued in those chaines of darknesse for the iudgement of the great day There is the same wages due to their sinnes and to ours neither are the wages paid till the worke bee done they tempting men to sinne must needs sinne grieuously in tempting as with vs men those that mislead into sinne offend more then the actors not till the vpshot therefore of their wickednesse shall they receiue the full measure of their condemnation This day this deepe they tremble at what shall I say of those men that feare it not It is hard for men to beleeue their owne vnbeliefe If they were perswaded of this fiery dungeon this bottomlesse deepe wherein euery sinne shall receiue an horrible portion with the damned durst they stretch
wicked spirits haue their wish The Swine are choked in the waues What ease is this to them Good God that there should bee any creature that seekes contentment in destroying in tormenting the good creatures of their Maker This is the diet of hell Those fiends feed vpon spight towards man so much more as hee doth more resemble his Creator Towards all other liuing substances so much more as they may be more vsefull to man The Swine ran downe violently what maruell is it if their Keepers fled that miraculous worke which should haue drawne them to Christ driues them from him They run with the newes the country comes in with clamour The whole multitude of the country about besought him to depart The multitude is a beast of many heads euery head hath a seuerall mouth and euery mouth with a seuerall tongue and euery tongue a seuerall accent Euery head hath a seuerall braine and euery braine thoughts of their owne so as it is hard to finde a multitude without some diuision At least seldome euer hath a good motion found a perfect accordance it is not not so infrequent for a multitude to conspire in euill Generalitie of assent is no warrant for any act Common errour caries away many who inquire not into the reason of ought but the practise The way to hell is a beaten road through the many feet that tread it when vice grows into fashion singularitie is a vertue There was not a Gadarene found that either dehorted their fellowes or opposed the motion it is a figne of people giuen vp to iudgment when no man makes head against proiects of euill Alas what can one strong man doe against a whole throng of wickednesse Yet this good comes of an vnpreuailing resistance that God forbeares to plague where he finds but a sprinkling of faith happy are they who like vnto the celestiall bodies which being caried about with the sway of the highest sphere yet creepe on their owne wayes keepe on the courses of their owne holinesse against the swinge of common corruptions They shall both deliuer their owne soules and helpe to withhold iudgement from others The Gadarenes sue to Christ for his departure It is too much fauour to attribute this to their modesty as if they held themselues vnworthy of so diuine a guest Why then did they fall vpon this suit in a time of their losse Why did they not taxe themselues and intimate a secret desire of that which they durst not begge It is too much rigour to attribute it to the loue of their hogges and an anger at their losse then they had not intreated but expelled him It was their feare that moued this harsh suit A seruile feare of danger to their persons to their goods Lest he that could so absolutely command the Deuils should haue set these tormentors vpon them Lest their other Demoniacks should be dispossessed with like losse I cannot blame these Gaderens that they feared This power was worthy of trembling at Their feare was vniust They should haue argued This man hath power ouer men beasts deuils it is good hauing him to our friend his presence is our safety and protection Now they contrarily mis-inferre Thus powerfull is he it is good he were further off What miserable and pernicious mis-constructions doe men make of God of diuine attributes and actions God is omnipotent able to take infinite vengeance of sinne Oh that he were not Hee is prouident I may be carelesse He is mercifull I may sinne He is holy Let him depart from me for I am a sinfull man How witty sophisters are naturall men to deceiue their owne soules to rob themselues of a God Oh Sauiour how worthy are they to want thee that wish to be rid of thee Thou hast iust cause to bee weary of vs euen whiles we sue to hold thee but when once our wretched vnthankfulnesse growes weary of thee who can pitie vs to bee punished with thy departure Who can say it is other then righteous that thou shouldest regest one day vpon vs Depart from me yee wicked Contemplations VPON THE HISTORIE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT The seuenth Volume In two Bookes By I.H. D.D. LONDON Printed for THO PAVIER MILES FLESHER and Iohn Haviland 1625. Contemplations VPON THE OLD TESTAMENT THE EIGHTEENTH BOOKE Wherein are REHOBOAM IEROBOAM The seduced Prophet IEROBOAMS Wife ASA ELIJAH with the Sareptan ELIJAH with the Baalites ELIJAH running before AHAB flying from IEzEBEL By IOS HALL D. of Diuinitie and Deane of WORCESTER TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE IAMES LORD HAYE BARON OF Saley Viscount Doncaster Earle of Carlile one of the Lords of his Maiesties most Honorable Priuie Councell RIGHT HONORABLE I Cannot but thus gratulate to you your happy returne from your many and noble imployments which haue made you some yeeres a stranger at home and sorenowned abroad that all the better parts of Europe know and honor your name no lesse then if you had beene borne theirs Neither is any of them so sauage as not to say when they heare mention of your worth that Vertue is a thousand Escuchions Jf now your short breathing-time may allow your Lordship the freedome of quiet and holy thoughts cast your eyes vpon Jsrael and Judah vpon the Kings and Prophets of both in such beneficiall varietie as prophane historie shall promise in vaine Your Lordship shall see Rehoboam following Salomon in nothing but his seat and his fall as much more wilfull then his father as lesse wise all head no heart losing those ten Tribes with a churlish breath whom he would and might not recouer with blood Ieroboam as crafty as wicked plotting a reuolt creating a religion to his state marring Jsraelites to make subiects branded in his name smitten in his hand in his loynes You shall see a faithfull messenger of God after miraculous proofe of his courage fidelity power good nature paying deare for a little circumstance of credulous disobedience The Lyon is sent to call for his blood as the price of his forbidden harbour You shall see the blinde Prophet descrying the disguise of a Queene the iudgement of the King the remouall of a Prince too good for Ieroboams heire You shall see the right stocke of Royal succession flourishing in Asa whiles that true heire of Dauid though not without some blemishes of infirmity inherits a perfect heart purges his Kingdome of Sodomy of Jdolatry not balking sinne euen where he honored nature You shall see the wonder of Prophets Elijah opening and shutting heauen as his priuate chest catored for by the Rauens nor lesse miraculously catoring for the Sareptan contesting with Ahab confronting the Baalites speaking both fire and water from heauen in one euening meekely lacquaying his Soueraigne weakely flying from Iezabel fed supernaturally by Angels hid in the rocke of Horeb confirmed by those dreadfull apparitions that had confounded some other casting his mantle vpon his homely successor and by the touch of that garment turning him from a ploughman to
a Prophet But what doe J with-hold your Lordship in the bare heads of this insuing discourse Jn all these your piercing eies shall easily see beyond mine and make my thoughts but a station for a further discouery Your Lordships obseruation hath studied men more then bookes here it shall study God more then men That of bookes hath made you full that of men iudicious this of God shall make you holy and happy Hitherto shall euer tend the wishes and indeuours of Your Lordships humbly deuoted in all faithfull obseruance IOS HALL Contemplations REHOBOAM WHO would not but haue looked that seuen hundred wiues and three hundred concubines should haue furnished Salomons Palace with choise of heires and haue peopled Israel with royall issue and now behold Salomon hath by all these but one Sonne and him by an Ammonitesse Many a poore man hath an house-full of children by one wife whiles this great King hath but one sonne by many house-fulls of wiues Fertility is not from the meanes but from the author It was for Salomon that Dauid sung of old Lo children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the wombe is his reward How oft doth God deny this heritage of heires where he giues the largest heritage of lands and giues most of these liuing possessions where he giues least of the dead that his blessings may bee acknowledged free vnto both entailed vpon neither As the greatest persons cannot giue themselues children so the wisest cannot giue their children wisdome Was it not of Rehoboam that Salomon said I hated all my labour which I had taken vnder the Sunne because I should leaue it vnto the man that shall be after me and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a foole Yet shall he rule ouer all my labour wherein I haue laboured and shewed my selfe wise vnder the Sunne All Israel found that Salomons wit was not propagated Many a foole hath had a wiser sonne then this wisest father Amongst many sonnes it is no newes to finde some one defectiue Salomon hath but one sonne and he no miracle of wisdome God giues purposely so eminent an instance to teach men to looke vp to heauen both for heires and graces Salomon was both the King of Israel the father of Rehoboam when he was scarce out of his childhood Rehoboam enters into the Kingdome at a ripe age yet Salomon was the man and Rehoboam the child Age is no iust measure of wisdome There are beardlesse sages and gray-headed children Not the ancient are wise but the wise is ancient Israel wanted not for thousands that were wiser then Rehoboam Yet because they knew him to be the sonne of Salomon no man makes question of his gouernement In the case of succession into Kingdomes we may not looke into the qualities of the person but into the right So secure is Salomon of the peoples fidelity to Dauids seed that he followes not his fathers example in setting his sonne by him in his owne throne here was no danger of a riualitie to inforce it no eminency in the sonne to merit it It sufficeth him to know that no bond can bee surer then the naturall allegeance of subiects I doe not finde that the following Kings stood vpon the confirmation of their people but as those that knew the way to their throne ascended those steps without aid As yet the soueraignty of Dauids house was greene and vnsetled Israel therefore doth not now come to attend Rehoboam but Rehoboam goes vp to meet Israel They come not to his Ierusalem but he goes to their Shechem To Shechem were all Israel come to make him King If loyalty drew them together why not rather to Ierusalem there the maiestie of his fathers Temple the magnificence of his palace the very stones in those walles besides the strength of his guard had pleaded strongly for their subiection Shechem had beene many wayes fatall was euerie way incommodious It is an infinite helpe or disaduantage that arises from circumstances The very place puts Israel in minde of a rebellion There Abimelec had raised vp his treacherous vsurpation ouer and against his brethren There Goal against Abimelec There was Ioseph sold by his brethren As if the very soile had beene stained with perfidiousnesse The time is no lesse ill chosen Rehoboam had ill counsell ere he bewraied it For had he speedily called vp Israel before Ieroboam could haue beene sent for out of Egypt he had found the way cleere A little delay may leefe a great deale of opportunity what shall we say of both but that misery is led in by infatuation Had not Israel beene somewhat predisposed to a mutinie they had neuer sent into Egypt for such a spokesman as Ieroboam a fugatiue a traitor to Salomon long had that crafty conspirator lurked in a forraine Court The alliances of Princes are not euer necessary bonds of friendship The brother in law of Salomon harbours this snake in his bosome and giues that heat which is repaid with a sting to the posterity of so neere an allye And now Salomons death calls him backe to his natiue soile That Israel would entertaine a rebell it was an ill signe worse yet that they would countenance him worst of all that they would imploy him Nothing doth more bewray euill intentions then the choice of vicious Agents Those that meane well will not hazard either the successe or credit of their actions vpon offensiue instruments None but the sluttish will wipe their faces with foule clothes Vpright hearts would haue said as Dauid did to God so to his anointed Doe not I hate them that hate thee Yea I hate them with a perfect hatred Ieroboams head had beene a fit present to haue tendered vnto their new King and now in stead thereof they tender themselues to Ieroboam as the head of their faction Had not Rehoboam wanted spirits he had first after Salomons example done iustice to his fathers traytor and then haue treated of mercy towards his subiects The people soone found the weaknesse of their new Soueraigne else they durst not haue spoken to him by so obnoxious a tongue Thy father made our yoke grienous make thou it lighter and we will serue thee Doubtlesse the crafty head of Ieroboam was in this suit which his mouth vttered in the name of Israel Nothing could haue beene more subtill It seemed a promise it was a threat that which seemed a supplication was a complaint humility was but a vaile for discontentment One hand held a paper the other a sword Had they said Free vs from Tributes the capitulation had beene grosse and strongly sauoring of sedition now they say Ease vs they professe his power to impose and their willingnesse to yeeld onely crauing fauour in the weight of the imposition If Rehoboam yeeld he blemisheth his father If hee deny hee indangers his kingdome His wilfulnesse shall seeme worthily to abandon his scepter if he sticke at so reasonable a suit
Surely Israel came with a purpose to cauill Ieroboam had secretly troubled these waters that he might fish more gainfully One male-content is enough to embroile a whole Kingdome How harshly must it needs sound in the eares of Rehoboam that the first word hee heares from his people is a querulous challenge of his fathers gouernment Thy father made our yoke grienous For ought I see the suggestion was not more spightfull then vniust where was the weight of this yoke the toyle of these seruices Here were none of the turmoyles of warre no trainings marchings encampings entrenchings watchings minings sieges fortifications none of that tedious world of worke that attends hostility Salomon had not his name for nought All was calme during that long reigne And if they had payed deare for their peace they had no cause to complaine of an hard march The warlike times of Saul and Dauid had exhausted their blood together with their substance what ingratitude was this to cry out of ease Yea but that peace brought forth costly and laborious buildings Gods house and the Kings the walls of Ierusalem Hazar Megiddo and Gezer the Cities of store the cities of defence could not rise without many a shoulder True but not of any Israelites The remainders of Amorites Hittites Penzzites Hiuites and Iebusites were put to all the drudgery of these great works the taskes of Israel were easie and ingenuous free from seruility free from painfulnesse But the charge was theirs whose-soeuer was the labour The diet of so endlesse a retinue the attendance of his Seraglio the purueyance for his forty thousand stables the cost of his sacrifices must needs weigh heauy Certainly if it had layne on none but his owne But wherfore went Salomons Nauy euery three yeeres to Ophira to what vse serued the six hundred threescore and six Talents of Gold that came in one yeare to his Exchequer wherefore serued the large tributes of forraine nations How did he make siluer to be in Ierusalem as stones if the exactions were so pressiâ—e The multitude is euer prone to picke quarrels with their Gouernors and whom they feared aliue to censure dead The benefits of so quiet and happy a reigne are past ouer in silence the grieuances are recounted with clamor Who can hope that merit or greatnesse can shield him from obloquie when Salomon is traduced to his owne loynes The proposition of Israel puts Rehoboam to a deliberation Depart yee for three daies then come againe to me I heare no other word of his that argued wisdome Not to giue sudden resolutions in cases of importance was a point that might well befeeme the son of Salomon I wonder that he who had so much wit as to call for leisure in his answer should shew so little wit in the improuing of that leisure in the returne of that answer Who cannot but hope well to see the grey heads of Salomons secret Counsell called to Rehoboams Cabinet As Counsellors as ancient as Salomons they cannot choose but see the best the safest course for their new Soueraigne They had learned of their old master that a soft anger appeaseth wrath wisely therefore doe they aduise him If thou wilt be aseruant to this people this day and speak good words to them they will be thy seruants for euer It was an easie condition with one mouthfull of breath to purchase an euerlasting homage with one gentle motion of his tongue to binde all peoples hearts to his allegeance for euer Yet as if the motion had been vnfit a new Counsell Table is called well might this people say What will not Rehoboam grudge vs if he thinke much to giue good words for a Kingdome There is not more wisdome in taking varietie of aduice where the matter is doubtfull then folly when it is plaine The yong heads are consulted This very change argues weakenesse Some reason might bee pleaded for passing from the yonger Counsell to the aged none for the contrary Age brings experience and it is a shame if with the ancient bee not wisdome Youth is commonly rash heady insolent vngouerned wedded to will led by humour a rebell to reason a subiect to passion fitter to execute then to aduise Greene wood is euer shrinking and warping whereas the well-seasoned holds a constant firmenesse Many a life many a soule many a florishing state hath beene ruined by vndisciplined Monitors Such were these of Rehoboam whose great stomach tells them that this conditionating of subiects was no other then an affront to their new master and suggests to them how vnfit it is for Maiestie to brooke so saucy a treaty how requisite and Princely to crush this presumption in the egge As scorning therefore to bee braued by the base Vulgar they put words of greatnesse and terror into their new Prince My little finger shall bee thicker then thy fathers loynes My father made your yoake heauy I will adde to your yoake My father hath chastised you with whips I will chastise you with Scorpions The very words haue stings Now must Israel needes thinke How cruell will this mans hands bee when hee thus drawes blood with his tongue Men are not wont to speake out their worst who can endure the hopes of him that promiseth tyranny There can be no good vse of an indefinite profession of rigor and seuerity Feare is an vnsafe guardian of any state much lesse of an vnsetled Which was yet worse not the sins of Israel were threatned nor their purses but their persons neither had they desired a remission of iustice but of exactions and now they hear of nothing but burdens and scourges and Scorpions Here was a Prince and people well met I doe not find them sensible of ought saue their owne profit They doe not say Religion was corrupted in the shutting vp of thy fathers daies Idolatry found the free fauour of Priests and Temples and Sacrifices Begin thy reigne with God purge the Church demolish those piles of abomination abandon those Idol-mongers restore deuotion to her purity They are all for their penny for their ease Hee on the other side is all for his will for an imperious Soueraignty without any regard either of their reformation or satisfaction They were worthy of load that cared for nothing but their backs and he worthy of such subiects who professed to affect their misery and torment Who would not but haue looked any whither for the cause of this euill rather then to heauen yet the holy God challenges it to himselfe The cause was from the Lord that he might performe his saying by Abijah the Shilonite to Ieroboam As sinne is a punishment of sinne it is a part of iustice The holy One of Israel doth not abhorre to vse euen the grossest sinnes to his owne iust purposes whiles our wils are free to our owne choice his decrees are as necessary as iust Israel had forsaken the Lord and worshipped Ashtaroth the goddesse of the Zidonians and Chemosh and Milchom God
though grieuous yet might be remote therefore for a present hansell of vengeance she is dismissed with the sad tidings of the death of her sonne When thy feet enter into the Citie the child shall dye It is heauy newes for a mother that shee must leese her sonne but worse yet that shee may not see him In these cases of our finall departures our presence giues some mitigation to our griefe might shee but haue closed the eyes and haue receiued the last breath of her dying sonne the losse had bin more tolerable I know not how our personall farewell eases our heart euen whiles it increases our passion but now she shall no more see nor bee seene of her Abijah She shall no sooner be in the City then hee shall bee out of the world Yet more to perfect her sorrow shee heares that in him alone there is found some good the rest of her issue are gracelesse she must leese the good and hold the gracelesse he shall die to afflict her they shall liue to afflict her Yet what a mixture is here of seueritie and fauour in one act fauour to the sonne seueritie to the father Seueritie to the father that hee must leese such a sonne fauour to the sonne that he shall be taken from such a father Ieroboam is wicked and therefore he shall not enioy an Abijah Abijah hath some good things therefore hee shall be remoued from the danger of the deprauation of Ieroboam Sometimes God strikes in fauour but more often forbeares out of seueritie The best are fittest for heauen the earth is fittest for the worst this is the region of sinne and misery that of immortalitie It is no argument of dis-fauour to be taken early from a well-led life as not of approbation to age in sinne As the soule of Abijah is fauoured in the remouall so is his body with a buriall he shall haue alone both teares and tombe all the rest of his brethren shall haue no graue but dogs and fowles no sorrow but for their life Though the carkasse be insensible of any position yet honest Sepulture is a blessing It is fit the body should bee duely respected on earth whose soule is glorious in heauen ASA THe two houses of Iuda and Israel grow vp now together in an ambitious riuality this splitted plant branches out so seuerally as if it had forgotten that euer it was ioyned in the root The throne of Dauid oft changeth the possessors and more complaineth of their iniquity then their remoue Abijam inherits the sins of his father Rehoboam no lesse then his Crowne and so spends his three yeares as if had been no whit of kinne to his grandfathers vertues It is no newes that grace is not traduced whiles vice is Therefore is his reigne short because it was wicked It was a sad case when both the Kings of Iudah and Israel though enemies yet conspired in sinne Rehoboam like his father Salomon began graciously but fell to Idolatry as he followed his father so his sonne so his people followed him Oh what a face of a Church was here when Israel worshipped Ieroboams calues when Iudah built them high places and Images and groues on euery high Hill and vnder euery greene tree On both hands GOD is forsaken his Temple neglected his worship adulterate and this not for some short brunt but during the succession of two Kings For after the first three yeares Rehoboam changed his fathers Religion as his shields from gold to brasse the rest of his seuenteene yeares were ledde in impietie His sonne Abijam trod in the same mierie steps and Iudah with them both If there were any doubtlesse there were some faithfull hearts yet remaining in both Kingdomes during these heauy times what a corrosiue it must needs haue been to them to see so deplored and miserable a deprauation There was no visible Church vpon earth but here and this what a one Oh God how low doest thou sometimes suffer thine owne flocke to bee driuen What wofull wanes and eclipses hast thou ordained for this heauenly body Yet at last an Asa shall arise from the loynes from the graue of Abijam hee shall reâ—iue Dauid and reforme Iudah The gloomie times of corruption shall not last alwayes The light of truth and peace shall at length breake out and blesse the sad hearts of the righteous It is a wonder how Asa should bee good of the seed of Abijam of the soyle of Maachah both wicked both Idolatrous God would haue vs see that grace is from heauen neither needes the helps of these earthly conueyances Should not the children of good parents sometimes be euill and the children of euill parents good vertue would seeme naturall and the giuer would leese his thankes Thus we haue seene a faire flower spring out of dung and a well-fruited tree rise out of a fowre stocke Education hath no lesse power to corrupt then nature It is therefore the iust praise of Asa that being trained vp vnder an Idolatrous Maachah he maintained his piety As contrarily it is a shame for those that haue beene bred vp in the precepts and examples of vertue and godlinesse to fall off to lewnesse or superstition There are foure principall monuments of Asaes vertue as so many rich stones in his Diadem He tooke away Sodomie and Idols out of Iudah Who cannot wonder more that he found them there then that he remoued them What a strange incongruity is this Sodom in Ierusalem Idols in Iudah Surely debauched profession proues desperate Admit the Idols ye cannot doubt of the Sodomy If they haue changed the glory of the vncorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man and to birds and foure-footed beasts and creeping things it is no maruell if God giue them vp to vncleannesse through the lusts of their owne hearts to dishonour their own bodies betweene themselues If they changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and serued the creature more then the Creator who is blessed for euer no maruell if God giue them to vile affections to change the naturall vse into that which is against nature burning in lust one towards another men with men working that which is vnseemely Contrarily admit the Sodomy yee cannot doubt of the Idols Vnnaturall beastlinesse in manners is punished iustly with a sottish dotage in religion bodily pollution with spirituall How should the soule care to bee chaste that keepes a stewes in the body Asa begins with the banishment of both scouring Iudah of this double vncleannesse In vaine should he haue hoped to restore God to his Kingdome whiles these abominations inhabited it It is iustly the maine care of worthy and religious Princes to cleare their Coasts of the foulest sinnes Oh the vnpartiall zeale of Asa There were Idols that challenged a prerogatiue of fauour the Idols that his father had made all these he defaces the name of a father cannot protect an Idoll The duty to his Parent cannot winne him