of them that dwell therein First for the first scil the Iudgement wherein note the Author of it and the iudgement it selfe The Author of the iudgement is indefinitely exprest vnder the Pronoune ille maketh he that is the Lord by his power maketh the wildernesse a standing water and water springs of a drie ground and thereby causeth fruitfulnesse and when he is thereunto prouoked by the inhabitants sinnes then hee turneth the floud into a wildernesse and maketh the fruitfullest countries become extreme barren A fruitfull land maketh he barren So then it is the Lord that is the Author of fruitfulnesse and barrennesse it is he that sendeth plenty or pouertie Whence two lessons may be taken forth seasonable for two sorts of people scil 1. The rich 2. The poore For the rich The king may not boast of his great Babel nor the rich man of his full barnes but as hauing nothing saue what they haue receiued they should say Not vnto vs Lord not vnto vs but to thy name be ascribed the glory For the poore they should rest contented with their portion and legitimate Gods proceeding for it is he that either for triall of their patience or to reclaime them from their peruersnesse hath turned their fruitfulnesse into barrennesse A fruitfull land maketh he barren Thus much for the Author Now for the iudgement it selfe wherein obserue the matter and the manner For the matter it is a change of fruitfulnesse into barrennesse What it is to be fruitfull and what it is to be barren is well knowne and that such changes haue chanced experience testifieth and therefore we passe by the matter of the iudgement and come to the manner of it scil to shew how the Lord effecteth this change how hee maketh a fruitfull land to become barren The Lord maketh a fruitfull land barren by one of these three meanes scil either First by his supernaturall power or Secondly by naturall meanes or Thirdly by vnnaturall men First by his supernaturall power whereby contrary to the course of nature he maketh the heauen as iron the earth as brasse as he did in the daies of Eliah 1 Reg. 17. when there fell no raine vpon the face of the earth for three yeares space which closed vp their water springs yea that drought caused such a dearth and that dearth was seconded with such a famine as destroyed multitudes both of men and beasts Secondly as the Lord maketh a fruitfull land barren by his supernaturall so hee can effect the same by naturall meanes when hee vseth the creatures which were created for the vse and seruice of man to bee the correctors and reprouers of the faults of men To inlarge this by some instances Amongst the elements the fire is so necessary a creature that without the heat thereof neither man nor any thing made for the good of man could grow or prosper this I say at Gods appointment to mans great preiudice and hinderance rageth with vnmerciful fury consuming to ashes the dwellings commodities and the bodies of men The aire a sweet element made for man to breathe in which he draweth into his intrals to preserue the spirit of life he can alter the propertie thereof making it contagious and infectious inspiring for life death and destruction The waters to which he hath set bounds that they should not passe at his permission ouerflow their bankes and then without all resistance drowne corne fields medowes pastures and whatsoeuer commeth within the currant of their streames The earth which was created fruitfull to make it selfe barren yeelds thornes thistles and briers which choake the growth of come cockle darnell and tares which binde it fast to the ground caterpillers and locusts which eat it in the blade mildewes which blast it in the Eare with sundrie other destructions of the husbandmans labour for there is not any thing of that which is either sowne or planted by the hand of the husband-man but hath some impediment and hinderance from the earth or aire to annoy it and they are all iust iudgements sent from God whereby he maketh a fruitfull land barren for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein Thirdly the Lord maketh a fruitfull land barren by vnnaturall men 1. Whereof one sort being forgetfull of the saying non nobis nati we are not borne for our selues onely but to doe good to others are therfore too carefull for their owne and too carelesse for others welfare their care is to doe mischiefe to others if themselues may gaine thereby for ayming at their priuate gaine they ingrosse and hoord vp the commodities and treasures of the land till they haue caused a publique dearth these I say are Gods instruments though they intend it not effect that vnwittingly which he willeth they are his rod wherewith he scourgeth his people for their sins 2. Another sort carelesse both of themselues and others like desperate Pyrats endeuour to bore holes in the ship they saile in thereby to sinke it in the Ocean like Vipers they labour to eat out the bowels of their natiue soyle their mother countrey which brought them forth by stirring vp mutinous sedition and ciuill discord during which tumults there is no time to sow the ground nor plant vineyards nor any opportune season to gather those fruits of increase which the earth yeelds without tillage but all is laid waste and the land made barren and then when the Lord either by his supernaturall power hath shut fast the windowes of heauen by denying the former and the latter raine or dissolued the waterish clouds into immoderate showers Psal 78. vers 47 48. or when by naturall meanes he giues your fruits to the Caterpillar your labours to the Grashopper and your Mulbery trees to the frost or when by vnnaturall men through their vnnaturall practises he hath despoyled the earth of her fruitfulnesse and made the land barren then I say what followes but famine and pestilence first steps in famine then which there is no temporall punishment more pinching and miserable insomuch that the Prophet Dauid 2 Sam. 24. v. 14. being put to his choyce into which one of the three euils he would fall into rather chused the pestilence then it for it is a lingring and long-lasting torment and hath driuen men to those extremities enormities that nothing else could doe it hath made mothers murtherers and turned the sanctuarie of life into the shambles of death it hath broken downe the hedges both of nurture and nature for in ordinary course man is not meat for man but manchet for his maker 2 Reg. 6. v. 28. yet hath famine made those wombes which gaue children harbour before their births afterwards become the place of their buriall it hath made the practises of men lamentable and abominable both to bee pitied and abhorred It made one as Iosephus relateth De bello Iudaico to cut the throat of another that he might get the morsell he had put in his
A SERMON PREACHED AT GOVLDSBROVGH in Yorke-shire BEFORE THE RIGHT Worshipfull Sir Richard Hutton Knight one of his Maiesties Iustices of the Court of Common Pleas. LAMENT 4.9 They that be slaine with the sword are better then they that be slaine with hunger for these pine away stricken through for want of the fruits of the field LONDON Printed by Iohn Haviland for Richard Moore and are to be sold at his shop in Saint Dunstans Church-yard 1622. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL Sir RICHARD HVTTON Knight one of his Maiesties Iustices of the Court of Common Pleas. Right Worshipfull IT was the custome of the Persian Kings when they saw their children misdemeane themselues at the first to spare them and to punish their seruants in their sight to trie if that would terrifie them from their sinister courses Thus hath the King of Kings of late dealt with vs who as we hope are his children for noting our misbehauiour he hath spared vs and with immoderate showers and ouer-swelling waters he hath punished the earth that was created to be seruiceable to vs. Many can familiarly discourse of this but few make any good vse thereof which I haue seene and obserued with sorrow And knowing it a dutie incident to my calling to put men in minde of Gods secret admonishments I applied my meditations to that purpose which I also deliuered in your Worships presence and haue now according to your request sent you a true copie of the same The manifold vndeserued kindnesses which I haue receiued from you doe binde me to make an vnfained acknowledgement of my loue and dutie to you which I shall be ready vpon euery occasion to manifest and my praiers shall alwaies attend you and your Familie From Spoforth the 21. of October Your Worships alwayes at command ROBERT OXLEY A SERMON PREACHED AT GOVLDSBROVGH in Yorke-shire PSAL. 107.34 A fruitfull land maketh he barren for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein AMongst the manifold grieuances which befell man-kinde for the fall and disobedience of man it is not to be forgotten that the Lord cursed the very earth for his sake adiudging it to bring forth thornes and thistles and to become barren according to this saying of the Psalmist A fruitfull land maketh he barren for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein Barren I say either bringing forth no fruits at all or such as where Infelix lolium steriles dominantur avenae such as in the growth is ouer-growne with darnell smothered with choaking thornes and the purest graine spoiled with wasting cockle The wily Serpent in his hellish conference with our Grandame Eue Gen. 3.4 promised length of daies a gift that Wisdome is said to bring in her right hand Pro. 3.16 length of daies is in her right hand and in her left riches and glory Gen. 3.5 he promised dominion Eritis sicut dij ye shall be like Gods but instantly the earth whose Lord whilome they was denied to pay her tribute but vpon condition scil that they should take paines to till her whence it comes to passe to bee so with vs now that if we expect profit from the earth then iuncto bove aratra trahuntur we must rip vp the bowels of the earth and yet this is not all for whosoeuer it be that plants or waters it is God onely that giues the increase Except the Lord build the house the worke-mans labour is but in vaine Wherefore if wee would haue good successe to follow our enterprizes if we would haue our paines and labours in our callings to yeeld fruits answerable to our expectation then must we so compose our affections and dispose our affaires that we may walke worthy in the sight of God which if we doe he will blesse vs and that which we goe about he will prosper all our proceedings but if wee mis-spend our time and liue impiously wickedly we may purpose but God will dispose he will so disprosper our proceedings and frustrate vs of our hope that whatsoeuer we take in hand shall be vaine and fruitlesse yea our natiue soyle the ground that we tread vpon for our sinnes shall be cursed and despoyled of her glory i. her fruitfulnesse as heere testifieth the Psalmist A fruitfull land maketh hee barren for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein The Prophet Dauid that sweet singer of Israel is the vnquestioned author of this Psalme he composed it partly to stirre men vp to gratefulnesse in regard of Gods gratiousnesse towards them but more specially to discouer the error of those which deny the vniuersall and particular prouidence of God in ordering and disposing the things of this world for as in respect of God his creation was the mother that brought forth the world with all things therein so his prouidence is the nurse that bringeth it vp as his creation gaue it a being so his prouidence keepeth it in that esse as his creation erected the whole fabricke of the world and composed and set in order all the parts thereof so his prouidence keepeth it in repaire it gouerneth and disposeth all the particulars therein this he doth conuince by many examples of things done both by sea and by land which haue so come to passe that of necessitie we must grant their causes and effects to haue beene wholly gouerned by God but his speciall argument tending to that purpose and standing in nearest reference to my text is drawne from the consideration of those changes and alterations which ignorance commonly doth ascribe to fate or fortune as the fruitfulnesse and vnfruitfulnesse of the earth which proceeds from the seasonablenes the vnseasonablenesse of the weather These things come not to passe as Epicures fondly dreame by chance nor as the Peripateticks hold by a generall prouidence nor as the Stoicks auerre only by the operation of second causes but by Gods speciall prouidence ordinance and appointment whose actions are free not bound to the obseruance of times nor meanes who when it pleaseth him can send the former and latter raine in due season who as it is in the verse following my text can make of a parched wildernesse a standing water and extract water springs out of a drie ground so that the hills shall flourish and the valleys stand thicke with graine and grasse and againe when fulnesse brings forth forgetfulnesse and men attribute that which they haue to the goodnesse of their land or greatnesse of their labour and doe not acknowledge God to be the Author thereof then as it is in the verse before my text he turneth the floud into a wildernesse and drieth vp their water springs Then A fruitfull land maketh he barren for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein In these words are two things obseruable 1. A iudgement 2. The cause thereof In the iudgement there is a metamorphosis or change of wealth into want plenty into pouerty fruitfulnesse into barrennesse A fruitfull land maketh he barren The impulsiue cause is the wickednesse
mouth ere it was descended into his maw When famine hath plaid her part then commeth pestilence for they two attend the one vpon the other and this latter finding such feeble and weake resistance the strength of nature by the former being disabled throwes whole multitudes groue-long on the ground and thus you see that when men forget their maker the senslesse creatures as if they were sensible of wrongs done to their Creator come shouldring crowding and striuing which of them should first take reuenge of vs in their masters quarrell the fire consumes our mansions the aire infects our breath the waters drowne our fruits the earth like an angrie merchant when it hath shewed rich wares shuts vp the shop and leaues vs neuer the better for them and these are the iudgements of God sent to make a fruitfull land barren for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein But quid hoc ad rombum What is all this to the purpose Peraduenture the Psalmist might haue some cause to speake this to the people of the Iewes and to the land of Israel but what is this to vs and to the land of England Yes beloued the glasse reflects to vs for for the subiect scil A fruitfull land Such a one is this triangle Iland wherein we liue and that which Moses spake of the fruitfulnesse of the land of Israel may be affirmed of the land of England The Lord thy God saith Moses to Israel Deut. 8.7.9 bringeth thee into a good land a land of brookes of water of fountaines and deepes that spring out of vallies and hils a land of wheat and barley a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarcenesse thou shalt not lacke any thing in it a land whose stones are iron and out of whose mountaines thou mayest digge brasse In all these respects England is fruitfull as well as Israel it affords dishes drest with dainties Garners fraught with graine staules filled with fatlings orchards full of fruits gardens and fields aspersed and enamuled with varietie of fragrant flowers innumerable multitudes of water-springs whereof some shew wonderfull effects in curing diseases pleasant riuers running Meander-like along their siluer shores a sweet and wholsome aire to breathe in and what not requisite either for the profit or pleasure of man so that our land is as it were the treasurie and store-house of Gods blessings and we may affirme as truly as any other nation that our lot and portion is fallen vs in a good land But what then is our gold become dimme hath God made our fruitfull land barren no he hath not and therefore here I must for application make vse of that that the Psalmist makes the burthen or vnder-song of this Psalme Ps 15.21.31 O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men that they would exalt him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the seat of the elders and so much the rather because he hath not only giuen vs this good and fruitfull land but withall sends vs calme and peaceable times to enioy the fruits thereof we are not nor we haue not this long time blessed be Gods name for it beene scard with the barkings of vncouth Wolues but so as euery man might quietly rest and repose himselfe vnder his owne vine and his owne fig-tree we haue peace the childe of heauen plentie the childe of peace pleasure the childe of plentie We are raised vp to our labours by the noise of the cocke which chirping so merily can greet the morning whereas others are raised vp to the battell by the sound of the trumpet so that in this respect also God hath blessed vs aboue other countries Doe but looke about you and whilst you tremble at the plagues naturall to your neighbours blesse God for your safetie Behold the confines Christendome Polonia and Hungarie 2 Reg. 18. infested by the Turke who like Senacherib hath sent his host to defie the liuing Lord Italie groaneth vnder the slauerie of Antichrist France sometimes a flourishing kingdome now made wretched through her owne vnciuill ciuill warres Germanie for long time knew not what peace meant and yet their warre is not ended but for a time by truce suspended Ireland hath felt the fruits of her rebellion Bohemia is made the cock-pit for all Christendome to fight their battells in only England remaines like Gideons fleece drie and secure when the raine of Gods iudgement hath wet in a manner the whole earth besides a peaceable Prince leads vs and the Prince of peace leads him and therefore I must needs once more say with the Psalmist O that men would praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men Well but the Sunne doth not alwaies shine neither is there any time or day of iollitie without an euening of conclusion if no cloud of disturbance preuent it with ouercasting and therefore though all things be well with vs now and our land yet continues fruitfull yet it may be otherwise and then considering that God is the author of all alterations let vs examine whether we by our cariage and demeanour towards him haue not alreadie deserued a change or no Let vs after the example of the man going to warre Luk. 14.31 sit downe and take aduice whether we be able with ten thousand to meet him that commeth against vs with twentie thousand or no after this examination held doubtlesse we shall finde that we haue deserued that he should withdraw his goodnesse from vs and that we haue iustly prouoked him to send forth his power against vs which if he doe we are not able to answer him one for a thousand the least and meanest of his creatures are too forcible for vs if he set them to fight an host of froggs an armie of grashoppers a swarme of flies dismaid King Pharao and all his people then si rem nostram sapimus if we be spiritually wise whilst the enemie is a farre off ere Gods iudgements fall vpon vs we will send forth our Embassadours our feruent praiers and serious repentance to desire conditions of peace and for our former misdeeds we should resolue and promise amendment of life and so much the rather should we doe this because if we doe duely obserue it he hath alreadie giuen vs faire warning to take heed Doth not the fire euery yeere consume our mansions in some part of our land Heare we not of inundations of waters with vnseasonable weather in the extremes This may serue to testifie that God is angrie and to put vs in minde of the deluge of our sins the crie of them reacheth vnto heauen and there workes our woe by turning one yeere into drinesse to make the land barren and the next dissoluing into liquid teares and immoderate showers dropping downe for fatnesse dearth and death Quicquid id est timeo howsoeuer the
whereby her thirst is quenched and her drought slaked it returneth vapours and watery matter to the clouds againe and so requiteth the former benefit When the streaming fountaines and running riuers receiue supplie of waters from the sea through the hollow cauernes of the earth at length they send their waters downe into the sea againe in signe of gratitude the boughs and branches of trees when in the Spring time they haue receiued sap from the root to make them bud and blossome and flourish with Summer fruit at the fall of the leafe they send it downe againe to the root to nourish it in the Winter season and thereby testifie their thankfulnesse Shall nature graft this affection in the senslesse creatures and shall not reason guided by diuine knowledge lead men thereunto Surely wee should glorifie God for his benefits towards vs not only by word but by workes also all the actions of our life should be like so many seuerall voices with a siluer rhetoricke sounding forth the praises of our God Thus if you doe not being wanting to your selues through improuidence liuing without care and without calling nor through too much depending vpon your own industrie impatiently murmuring at your crossed expectations not being vnconscionable in the vse of Gods creatures nor vnthankfull to him for benefits receiued then doubtlesse the Lord according to his promise will blesse you and yours Deut. 7.13 then you shall not plow the Land in vaine the Lord will say to the South giue and to the North keepe not backe then your land shall open her bosome and bring forth her hidden treasure and ye shall reape the fruits thereof in due season ye shall eat your fill and dwell therein in safetie To conclude remember this that as you sow so must you reape Hosea 8.7 Sow not winde saith a Prophet for feare you reape a whirlewinde for your haruest so say I to you sow not wickednesse lest you reape barrennesse but sow godlinesse be prouident and take paines be patient in waiting for profit hauing receiued be conscionable in the vsing and after vse had forget not the giuer but be thankfull to God for his blessings Hath God done great things for vs then let vs giue great thanks vnto the Lord Doth he fundere beneficia then let vs fundere corda ascendat gratia vt descendat gratia let our thankfulnesse duly ascend vp to God that his grace and goodnesse may seasonably descend downe to vs that so our land may flourish and the fruitfulnesse thereof not be turned into barrennesse for the wickednesse of vs that dwell therein O Mercifull God we beseech thee to be vnto our Nation according to thy name visit with fauour the vine which thou hast planted amongst vs and suffer not the wild boare out of the wood to destroy it nor the wild beast of the field to eat it vp but spare vs good Lord spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed poure thy wrath vpon the heathen that haue not knowne thee and vpon the people that haue not called vpon thy name but prosper them that seeke the prosperitie of Sion and bee propitious to them that pray for the peace and plentie of Ierusalem Forgiue the crying sinnes of this Land and set a full period to thy iudgements that hang ouer it and for the safegard of our soules we beseech thee to walke in the midst of the golden Candlesticks to sound forth the bells of Aaron to continue and inlarge the free passage of thy Gospell to vs and for the preseruation of our bodies we pray thee ô Lord to crowne with thy blessings of plentie and fruitfulnesse this our nation make our land seasonablie to yeeld forth her increase that our threshing may reach vnto the vintage Leuit. 26.5 and the vintage vnto the sowing time that so thy glorie may rest with vs in our land till we come to rest with thee in thy land of glorie Grant this mercifull Father we beseech thee for Christ Iesus thy Sons sake to whom with thee and the holy Ghost the blessed Trinitie in vnitie be ascribed honour glorie power praise and dominion now and euer Amen FINIS