doom upon all such rotten nails and upon all that hang upon them Even the sentence upon Shebna ver 25. In that day saith the Lord of hosts shal the nail that is fastned in the sure place be removed and be cut down and fall and the burden that was upon it shal be cut off for the Lord hath spoken it Therefore my beloved I say again if you love your own safety hang upon the right nail Here 's a pattern for all such as he in Authority The Lord displaceth rotten and unprofitable nails and sets up good and useful ones in their room let them do so I have already discovered unto you abundance of base nails both in the City and Church-wall Corrupt Magistrates Masters of misrule blind dumbe useless scandalous covetous drunken debauched Ministers such as do no good but a world of mischief in their places Now give me leave to speak freely to you that are Magistrates I cannot but say to you as the son of God once to the Angel of Thyatira I have a few things against thee that thou sufferest the Woman Jezabel which calleth her self a Prophetess to teach and to deceive my servants to make them commit fornication The same to our Rulers you have suffered Malignants and loose Magistrates scandalous and superstitious and factious and error-teaching Ministers verily this is a great fault amongst you At last awake and be followers of God Use your power to pluck out depose and remove these rotten and useless nails and set more comely and serviceable ones in their room Be unto those pests and plagues of our City and Country like Jael's nail Smite through their temples and fasten them to the ground mistake me not I call not upon you to take away their lives but to bring them lower and restrain their power and dispose of thier places better Let your word be of every place in Church and Common-wealth and concerning every preferment Detur digniori Follow the Counsel and decree of the wise men of King Ahasuerus Ester 1. 19. Let their royal estate be taken away from them and give it unto others that are better then they There are none but good Nails of Gods fastning The 3. Particular follows viz the Vbi where this nail is fastned in loco sideli in a sure place that is I wil establish him he shal stand sure he shal not be plucked out nor removed He shal keep his station and never be removed and this is promised as a blessing to Eliakim And affords us this observation that to dwel safely and sure in a fixed habitation and setled condition is a very great and a very sweet blessing It was Shebnas curse and punishment that he should be violently turned and tossed like a ball into a large Country as it is v. 18. His condition shal be like a tennis ball struck with the hands of them that play from side to side and from end to end and at every bandy a hazard or like about which is thrown in the alley or in a plain or steep place down-hill and then it runs and runs and rests not til another hand takes it and throws it back again Or like the stone of Silyphus rolling up-hill and down-hill continually such was the condition of Shebna This the Lord threatned as a curse against Israel that he would smite them as a reed shaken in the water that he would root them out of the good land which he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the river because they made their groves and provoked the Lord to anger 1 Kings cap. 14. v. 15. It was the curse of Cain for his fratricide his bloody murther A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth Gen. 4. 12. But on the other side a fixed habitation and a settled condition is ever promised as a blessing Moreover saith the Lord when he wil do good to his people I wil appoint a place for my people Israel and wil plant them that they may dwel in a place of their own and move no more To enjoy a fixed station in a land of peace procureth blessing to the body soul estate †The body hath rest The painful labourer though he goeth forth unto his work and to his labour yet it is but til the evening then the poor swain rests his weary limbs refresheth himself with his plain company and sings in his thatched cottage and lays him down and his sleep is sweet and in the morning he awakes and ariseth as a man new created and goeth lively about his business again †Further such a fixed estate is very advantagious to the soul In exile when people are wandring up and down in forraign Countrys they cannot enjoy the precious ordinances they cannot perform the duties of publique worship The Babylonians did but abuse and jeer the Israelites when they required of them a song and mirth saying Sing us one of the songs of Sion and the poor Captives could return no other answer but this How shal we sing the Lords song in a strange land They were now banished from the Sanctuary of the Lord and so were deprived of their soul-comforts But when the Lord gives a people rest round about there they may build Synagogues enjoy Church-assemblies and holy meetings and publique soul fatning ordinances the pure worship of God and true religion and all the means of Grace Therefore sayes David Pray for the peace of Jerusalem Say Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces And why Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good The peace of Jerusalem and the setled condition thereof is the means to advance religion and the Publique worship Blessed are they that dwell in thy house Psal 84. 4. They that have a setled habitation in a land where Gods worship is established And why Because they will be still praising thee they will ever be doing good to their own soules Finally A setled condition is a marvailous advantage to wealth and to the estates of men The rolling stone never gathers mosse An unsetled person will never be rich Exile and banishment strips off all The ancient beleevers wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins in deserts and in mountains in dens and caves of the earth And what estate had they They were altogether destitute afflicted and tormented Hebr. 11. 37 38. But in a setled course wealth and riches are to be gotten Upon a fixed nayl there hangs a load of wealth England hath been a quiet and setled Land for many years and hath it not grown a Magazine of wealth Doth it not abound with flourishing Cities and fruitfull fields Silver and gold have been as the stones of the streets It hath been a Land of coor and all manner of fruits of shâ—ep and oxen and all manner of cattell a Land like Canaan flowing with milk and honey In a word the glory of all Lands And
the Psalmist O my God! of old thou hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of thy hands They shal perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shal wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shal be changed But thou art the same and thy years shal have no end The earth is round like a tennis-ball and the creatures in and upon the earth are voluble as wheels and all things under the Zodiaque Variable and transitory the refore aspire higher Pant after God make him the portion of your inheritance and dwel in him Say unto the Lord Fecisti nos Domine ad te inquietum est cor nostrum donec quiescat in te Thou Oh Lord hast created us to thy self and our heart is restless til it rests in thy self Fix not here but mount your thoughts upwards towards the new-Jerusalem the City that hath foundations where there is no volubility nor vanity Though you be on earth yet dwel in heaven above the spheres above the way of the year and the sun and all these lower turning wheels Rest your souls upon the unchangeable God! I have done with the 2. part and particular The third and last part of the text follows viz. the witness in whose presence the word was cryed In my hearing The question is why should the son of God cry this word O Wheel in the Prophets hearing For the more ful answer to this demand I wil first give you the Original Hebrew that wil make the business something more clear It was cryed unto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in auribus meis in mine eare To speak in ones eare is more then to speak in ones hearing A word may be spoken in a mans hearing that concerns him not at all but no man directs his speech into the eare of another but we conclude presently it was a speech of some special concernment to him that was rounded in the eare You know it 's our common expression I wil speak a thing in your eare by and by that is some word that more neerly concerns you then others So then this word was not only spoken in Ezekiels hearing but the Prophet was neerly concerned in it And now in a word I wil shew you the reason why God spake this word in the prophets eare You have the reason chapt 3. v. 17. Son of man I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me The Observation is clear What God speaks in the eare of his prophets the prophets must speak in the eares of the people Most likely God did not speak immediatly to the wheels but God spake to the Prophet that he might speak to the wheels in Gods name and every word which Gods messengers receive from the Lord they must shew it unto the people clearly and faithfully Whether it be a word of command the Prophet must shew the whole wil of God unto the people So Exod. 19. 9. when God gave the Commandments on mount Sinai the Lord said unto Moses Lo I come to thee in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with thee and beleeve thee for ever Or if it be a word of promise of grace and mercy the Prophet of the Lord must prononnce the favour and good wil of God Ezek. 9. 4. The Lord said to the man clothed with linnen go through the midst of the City even of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof and in the first verse this was cryed in mine eares with a loud voice saith the Prophet why That he might comfort the mourners with these words Or if it be a word of reproof and threatning of cursing from mount Ebal the Prophet of the Lord must denounce it unto the people in the 9. of Ezek. v. 5. The Lord said to the executioners of his justice and wrath who had the slaughter-weapons in their hands go through the City and smite let not your eye spare neither pity and says the Prophet this was said in my hearing why that so he might warn the people And this chiefly is intended in this text and Chapter a word of reproof and threatning to Jerusalem The vision concerns Jerusalem Jerusalem had sinned grievously and the Lord was now about to depart from Jerusalem but before he goeth quite away he cryeth aloud in the Prophets hearing O Wheel thou movest disorderly destruction is coming upon thee and now the Prophet hearing this must reprove the City and admonish them of their danger Cry aloud says the Lord spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins Esa 58. 1. The Lord cryed in the eare of Elijah the Tishbite 1. King 21. 17. it was a word of threatning and the Prophet went immediatly and thundred it in the eares of King Ahab Thus saith the Lord hast thou killed and also gotten possession Thus saith the Lord in the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth shal dogs lick even thy blood also The Lord speaks in the eare of Nathan and he thunders in the eares of David 2 Sam. 12. The Prophets of the Lord must cry boldly to the greatest and most dreadful wheels they must reprove and threaten and not spare if the Lord speak in our hearing we must cry it in their ears To make some application of this And first of all to you that are Gods Prophets and Ministers be faithful and bold Doth God cry any word in your hearing Keep it not back from the wheels shew it unto the people That which the Lord hath set down in the holy Scriptures he hath spoken in our hearing He takes us as witnesses to what he speaks and we must depose and testify for God before all men before all the world When God gives a word of command in our hearing we must exhort when God holds forth a promise in our hearing we must comfort and when God hath a controversy with a people in our hearing we must rebuke sharply and shew the people their danger Opposition we must look for Behold I send thee saith the Lord to Ezekiel and to us also as wel as to him I send thee to a rebellious nation they wil not hear I send thee among briers and thornes and scorpions But whether they wil hear or whether they wil forbear Son of man be not afraid of them neither he afraid of their words neither be dismayed at their looks Thou shalt speak my words to them whether they wil hear or whether they wil forbear Behold I have made thy face strong against their faces and thy forehead strong against their foreheads Chap. 3. 8. 9. As an Adamant harder then flint have I made
if that break all falls to the ground A good Magistracy is a sign of Gods love and presence When a man hath made choice of his habitation in the house where he delights to dwel there he knocks up nails and pegs upon every wall and post which may be for his use and convenience upon which he may hang things off hand and also know where to have them again So doth the Lord also in the place which he chuseth for his habitation of which he saith this is my rest for ever here wil I dwel for I have a delight therein In that place wil he fasten nails he wil set up Magistrates and Ministers for the good and benefit of his people This was the sign of his grace and favour to the poor remnant that escaped out of Babylon and returned again to dwel in their own City That the Lord gave them a nail in his holy place that is Zerubbabel the Prince and Joshua the Priest and others of that order Blessed be the Lord thy God saith the Queen of Sheba to Solomon that glorious King under whom Israel flourished which loved thee to set thee on the throne of Israel because the Lord loved Israel for ever therefore he made thee King to do judgment and justice These nails they are admirable benefits and blessings therefore bless and praise God for them The Subjects have had their charge 3. Finally in the last place I am to direct my exhortation to all let every one in his place be a profitable nail We have in a house variety of nails and pins and pegs some of brass some of iron some of wood some bigger some lesser some fastend in a higher some in a lower place upon one nail we hang one thing upon another nail another thing upon every one something according to their strength and fitness So let it be in Church and Common-wealth let every man every woman every person be a serviceable nail in their place let them bear some burden or other for the benefit of the publique Let Magistrates make laws and see them kept and put in execution let them bear the burden of Government Let Ministers study and preach and pray and walk as a pattern to the flock let them bear the burden of their office Let every man in his trade and vocation be industrious and faithful labour with his hands the thing that is good that he may be able to uphold his family to relieve the poor and to be beneficial to the publique Bear you one anothers burden Saith St. Paul and so fulfil the Law of Christ Gal. 6. 2. Bear every one of you some of the Parliaments burden some of the Synods burden some of your neighbours burdens bear somewhat or other for the use of Church and Common-wealth Either bear arms if thou hast a person to fight or bear a purse if thou hast an estate or bear a burden of labour if thou hast a strong body ride run spare no pains plot and project give counsel if thou hast a head for it However bear a good heart in thy breast to the cause of God and thy Country bear a good tongue in thy head for the praise of God and the honor of our wrothys And be sure by thy incessan prayers help bear up al that 's ready to fall And thus much for the meaning of the text also for the generall Doctrine and general Application And now it 's time according to my ordinary method to return to the particulars You have had the harvest now for the gleanings you have been at the feast now let 's gather up the crums you have had the substance of the nail let 's search for the very filings The particulars you may remember were four 1. The Master-worker that fastens the nail I. 2. The nail that 's fastned Eliakim 3. The Vbi where the nail is fastned in loco fideli 4. The end use and benefit of this nail so fastned Every one of these wil afford us some wholsom instruction Now therefore Wee 'l cast our eye more diligently upon them all and the Lord make all profitable 1. And first for the principal Architect who is it that fastens the nail Here the Doctrine is concerning the efficient cause of Magistracy It is the Lord of hosts God is the author of loveraignty it is he that puls out and puts in what nails he pleaseth By me Kings raign saith the Lord and Princes decree justice By me princes rule and nobles even all the judges of the earth He changeth the times and the seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings Dan. 2. 21. Nebuchadnczzar must know that the most high ruleth in the Kingdoms of men and giveth them to whomsoever he wil. Dan. 4. 25. St. Paul gives us the proposition fully There is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God Rom. 13. 1. Consider this all you whom the Lord hath fasten'd in high places of authority Is it the Lord of hosts hath made you rulers Then take heed what you do for you judg not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment 2 Chron. 19. 6. Your power is not arbitrary but delegate Look therefore to your Commission to the word and wil of God Judg as those that must give an account unto the righteous God who at the last day wil judg all things over again And in Ministring justice ever have this in your minds We are nails to bear the burden of Authority who fasten'd us here Again let godly Magistrates be they never so few in number meet they with never so much opposition yet let them take comfort and courage and go on boldly to do Gods work to discountenance sin to punish evil doers to suppress Malignants to encourage the good to advance the cause of God and to further the work of Reformation Let them not fear the opposition nor the malice nor the rage nor the power of man It is God that hath exalted them and fastned them in their high places with his own hand and he wil preserve them so long as they faithfully bear the burden which he hangs upon them They shal stand sure in their places and never be removed for the Lord hath fasten'd them and shal for ever establish them Finally let me give a word of direction to all Would you have Would you keep good and serviceable nails Would you have able and faithful Magistrates and Ministers in your City in the Kingdom See then what course you must take Go to the Master of the assemblies it is he that fastens these nails Pray pray Represent unto God the sad condition of the Church and Common-wealth for want of good and able nails how few there be of such how thin they stand in the City-wall how thin in the Church-wall How few godly Magistrates in a Country how many miles a man may travail through how many Parishes and
He hath the best nobility and deserves the greatest praise that first makes his fathers house glorious that first begins a noble family Be it your care to make your City your Country your familys and your fathers houses noble and glorious I have observed it to be an ancient custom in this City upon the day of your solemnity to present the new elect with some speeches and withall with escouchions or shields and in them some divises which hang all the year in his parlour to hint and remember him of his duty I have prepared you one out of my Text against to morrow and with my speech I present it to you out of the pulpit It 's a very plain one as you see and not much charged You see here the pillar in the middle hath many nails fastned in it and every nail beareth somewhat upon some hanggarments upon others the ensigns of your Authority upon others vessels of gold and silver and iron and brass and earth and wood and all instruments of musick This is your monitor You must bear up all honest persons and all just causes You must bear even til you break again and lay out all your power and strength for the glory of God the honor and safety of the City and Kingdom the good of the Church the advancement of Religion and the pure worship of God And thus going on the Lord wil establish you as a nail in a sure place And hereafter you shal be set higher Ere long every nail shal be plucked out and laid before the great Master of the assemblies at the great and dreadful day of judgment Then wil the Judg of all the world take a strict view of all the nails that ever he fastned in any place And the great question at that severe day of examination shal be what service have you done What burdens have you born in the Church and Common-wealth Then shal the empty rusty and unprofitable nails be put into the bag and thrown down int◠the pit of hell But such as have been useful and have born the burden and heat of the day and done good and acceptable service in their places they shal be advanced and set up higher they shal be fastned in the wall of the new-Jerusalem the holy City be overlaid with pure gold and set with precious pearls and shine in glory for evermore Now the Lord God the great Master of the assemblies make every one of us more profitable and serviceable in our places and stations Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 PSAL. 84. 4. Blessed are they that dwel in thy house they wil be stil praising thee Selah REVEL 2. 10. Be thou faithful unto the death and I wil give thee a Crown of life The VVheel turned by a voice from the throne of GLORY Described in a SERMON At the Green-yard in NORWICH upon the Guild-day Iune 22. 1647. By JOHN CARTER Pastor of St. Peters of MANCROFT LONDON Printed by J. Macock for M. Spark and are to be sold at the sign of the blue Bible in Green-Arbour 1647 TO THE Right VVorshipfull Mr. John Vtting Maior of the City of Norwich IOHN CARTER Humbly Dedicates this poore and unworthy piece and as he preached the Sermon at his request so now he presents it to him for his use with apprecation of all Grace honour happinesse and good successe in his Government 1 SAM 2. 30. Them that honour mee I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed To those Magistrates in the City of Norwich who were so highly offended and exasperated at this Sermon Galath 4. 16. Am J therefore become your enemy because J tell you the truth THE WHEEL EZEK 10. 13. As for the wheels it was cryed unto them in my hearing O Wheel THis is a voice your ears can tel you so much yea and that a mighty voice a great cry Concerning it here are three things remarkable the parts of the text 1. They word which was cryed O Wheel 2. To whom the word was cryed to the wheels as for the wheels it was cryed to them 3. The witness in whose presence the word was cryed in my hearing These are the parts and particulars of the text I wil not fall upon them presently I shal lay them aside a while and according to my plain and usual way I wil dispatch 3. things 1. I wil speak something of the sence and meaning of the text 2. I wil give you the sum and substance of all in one general proposition of Doctrine to which I shal make some general application 3. And then in the third place I wil return to the parts of the text and handle them I wil search the particulars more narrowly for such observations and instructions as may be of further use and then I wil conclude all with special application to the time place persons and present occasion I am to speak you see of Wheels and of a wheel my discourse is like to run all the way upon wheels Now the good spirit of God be upon us all that we may drive prosperously and all our motions may turn to the glory of God the edification and comfort of all our poor souls Amen 1. And first I am to expound and open the text As for the Wheels When Ezekiel was among the Captives in the Land of the Caldeans by the River Chebar walking up and down by the waters of Babylon he saw broad-waking a glorious vision wherein the Lord shewed to him the things which were shortly after to come to pass And as Pharaohs dreams when he was asleep so Ezekiels Visions when he was awake were doubled because the thing was established and God hasted to perform it He first sees the Vision by the River Chebar Chap. 1. He sees it again with some considerable alterations additions and amplifications in this 10. Chapter To represent and set before your eyes the whole Vision and exactly to describe every part every apparition every wonderful and dreadful sight which our Prophet beheld would take up more time and require more skil then falls to my share I shal therefore only point to a few of the most general and most remarkable things which may serve to give some light to the text and to let in the Doctrine To our purpose He saw in the firmament which was clear as the terrible chrystal viz. above the starry heavens he saw a glorious throne as it were a Saphire-stone and upon the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man the son of God sate above it Chap. 1. v. 26. Under his feet there were four living creatures so they were called in his first vision Chap. 1. 5. here in this 10. is an interpretation they are called Cherubins they had faces wings hands and feet Below by the feet of these Cherubins were wheels four wheels in all according to the number of the living creatures These wheels were dreadful to behold by reason of their
wonderful greatness the height of their rings the swiftness of their motion the brightness of their colour and the multitude of their eyes This was the vision but what was the signification That 's the material question In general this was to set forth the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. But more particularly The man sitting above upon the throne is the Lord Jesus Christ The living creatures or Cherubins they are Angels good Angels which are immediatly under the Command of Christ But the wheels at the feet of the Cherubins what are they A wheel is instrumentum volubile a round turning instrument there are divers sorts of wheels chariot-wheels clock-wheels bel-wheels mil-wheels and many others which perhaps we shal meet withal by and by The wheels that appeared to Ezekiel are thought to be chariot-wheels The general conceipt is that he saw a compleat chariot and that the living creatures were the drawers and movers and the man on the throne the guider of it and the word Synechdochical rota proâ—â—â—â—u the wheel for the whole Chariot The wheel is an instrument of very great and frequent use Many works are done by the turning of the wheel The Chariot Coach and Cart are carried on their way by wheels The husbandman plows and thresheth and grindeth beats out his corn with wheels The huswife spins her thrid upon the wheel and the work of justice as we shal hear more afterward is done by the wheel A wise King scattereth the wicked and bringeth the wheel over them Prov. 20. 26. And by this time it is not hard to find out what is meant by the wheels namely all instruments and second causes by which God useth to work in the dispensation of his providence The glorious Angels first even they themselves are Gods great wheels Then the round celestial orbs and lights which are continually wheeling about next the lower world the elements and all creatures in the aire earth and wide sea But especially we are to understand by the wheels reasonable creatures as Kingdoms Common-wealths Citys Churches which are societies of men Kings Princes Magistrates chief Captains Armies Ministers preachers of the Gospel and all people in their several places who ever hath any employment under God is a wheel in the chariot of his providence These are the wheels Now it was cryed unto them From the throne above The Lord Jehovah that sate aloft upon the glorious throne he Cryed that is aloud earnestly with a mighty voice he called to them O Wheel not simply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wheel but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh Wheel This is demonstrative and points to some special wheel Though the voice be generally cryed to all the wheels to every creature in heaven and earth as if the son of God should say O World Yet here we must conceive that it is directed in an especial manner to Jerusalem and her wheels to the princes priests and Commons which were left there and were not carried into Babylon with the rest of the Captives For this vision was shew'd to the Prophet for Jerusalems sake to signify to him what was shortly to come to pass in the City and it is as if the man upon the throne had said O Jerusalem O This O! is an adverb or interjection of calling God calls to all the wheels and crys O Wheel This is a word of Authority and Command by which the Lord either drives the wheels on excites them to do something impâ—ratum fuit ipsis ut volverentur converterentur he spake to them to roul and turn about he gave them some commands which here are not expressed Or else it 's a word of countermand and he checks them for some irregular motions and it is as if the son of God should say O Wheell stop turn your course the right way obey In a word this is the word of Gods power whereby the world and all the creatures in it all second causes and all persons are over-awed and their motions determined You have the sence of the text next I l'e give you the general doctrin It is concerning the general and particular providence of God The voice of him that sits on the throne commands and over-aws all the wheels So universal and so particular is the providence of God that it governs and rules all things in heaven and earth The powerful providence of God doth dispose all second causes as he pleaseth and orders all creatures in the world and all motions in the world according to the counsell of his own will if the Lord do but cry O wheel all the wheels are at his beck and turn as he bids them There 's not the least motion of a Chariot wheel but the Lord appoints it This appears by Pharaohs Chariot wheels The Lord took off their Chariot wheels that they drave them heavily He had said before O wheel carry Pharaoh into the midst of the Sea now he gives them a check and cry's to them O wheel fly off from your axletrees and as the word comes from God so do the wheels move and turn Behold the power of God's word and how his voyce commands all things Psalm 29. vers 3. The voice of the Lord commands it to thunder or not to thunder the voice of the Lord commandeth the waters to ebbe or flow to be rugged or calme Vers 5. The voice of the Lord commands the Cedars he bids them grow and they come up again he speaks but to them and they are broken down also when he pleaseth he makes them skip like a Calfe or like a young Unicorn Vers 7. The voice of the Lord commands the fire he sayes to the watry cloud divide and it breaks in sunder and the lightning darts forth and scattereth it self through-out our Haemisphere in the twinkling of an eye Vers 6. and 8. The voice of the Lord commands Lebanon and Cadesh at his word the mountains daunce and the wildernesse tremble Vers 9. The voice of the Lord commands the wild beasts of the forrests he speaks to the Hinds and they Calve again he sayes the word and they are barren In the Forrest a leaf falls not from a tree the woods are not made bare without his word Vers 10. The Lord sits upon the floud yea the Lord sitteth King for ever his voice commands the sea he saith to it hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shalt thou stop thy proud waves Yea the voice of the Lord commands the sons of men and they move according to his word For in him we live and move Act. 17. 28. He orders all our steps and goings Prov. 20. 24. But what may be the reason or ground of this That the voice of the Lord should thus command and over-aw all the wheel's Yes good reason What hand should turn the wheel but the same that made it By the voice of the Lord all creatures were made
The potter says the Poet went about his work as if he had intended to make a great and stately vessel his wheel runs on and on at last out comes a paltry pitcher why what 's the reason of this Many promise great matters before they come into the highest seat of Magistracy and after they come into the place they perform nothing at all what 's the reason of this Surely ambition they aspire to the Honor and dignity they consider not the work and burden I observe in the wheel the spokes that are behind rise up heaven-wards apace and as soon as ever they are at the top then down again as fast towards the earth and truly just so hath it been in the wheels of our City our younger Aldermen that are behind and but coming on oh they carry themselves plausibly and seem to grow up heaven-wards they make a great profession and promise much at last they get up to the top to the seat of the chief Magistrate and then down again as fast they are as ill as who is worst Oh Wheel go streight forth and return not be constant in a round ther 's neither beginning nor ending it 's every where and ever the same be you so Let it not I beseech you be said of you as Paul sometimes said of his Galatians Ye did run well who did hinder you What made you stand still or go back Begin well go on better and be careful to end best of all Oh Wheel be constant in your motion Above all O Wheel labour for the Spirit of God else there will never be any right or good motion Chapter 1. vers 20. The wheels were lifted up stately and moved gloriously whence was that the spirit of the living creature that is the Spirit of the living God was in the wheels The Spirit of the Lord comes upon Saul and presently he 's turned into another man he whose businesse was to look after Asses before is now fit to be a King The Spirit of the Lord is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding it is the Spirit of counsaile and might it is the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Let this Spirit rest upon you and do not you suffer the temples of your head to take any rest till you have obtained the Spirit be diligent in hearing the Word that 's the way to get the Spirit when God speaks he breaths out his Spirit to his people Pray oh pray for the Spirit for your heavenly Father will give the â—oly Spirâ—â— to them that ask him Oh Wheel this is my desire and 〈…〉 you that God would fill you with his Spirit O si o utinam To conclude give me leave to speak to you all O yee Magistrates in the singular O wheel you are many wheels yet be you all but as one great wheel Endevour to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Amongst Christians especially amongst Christian Magistrates there ought to be so great concord such a conjunction of minds that they should be all as one soul as one will as one'man The multitude of them that beleeved were of one heart and of one soul Act. 4. 32. At least-wise let the whole Court of Alt ermen be but as one engine and let one wheel continually set another a going quicken encourage one another in love Let all the lesser wheels joyn to the great wheel All you inferiour Magistrates joyn together as one to assist and help the chief Magistrate in the great work of government I have heard former Mayors complain of the want of assistance this spoiles all A wheel you know if it be extreamly overpressed it will squeak and break if you lay too much weight upon the chief Magistrate it will wear him out When Jethro saw that Moses did sit alone to judge the people he sayes to him Thou wilt surely wear away both thou and this people that is with thee for this thing is too heavy for thee thou art not able to performe it thy selfe alone Exod. 18. 18. I beseech you therefore joyn all as one O that I could truly say to you all be you never so many O Wheel Preserve Unity which that you may do remember it is the Unity of the Spirit I tell you without the Spirit of grace you will never agree together Behold Ezekiels Wheels they have no axletree nor pin and yet they joyn and keep orderly together to bear and carry Gods Chariot How comes that about the Spirit of God was in the Wheels that held them together If you will preserve Unity and love labor to abound with the Spirit and with goodness Alas if you have nothing but axletrees I mean outward respects and relations to hold you together you 'l quickly split the respect of kindred is an axletree it may hold some of you together a while feasting one another is an axletree it may maintain good fellowship among you for a while perhaps you gain one by another you are helpful one to another you are of a disposition and merry together many times these are axletrees and may keep you together 〈…〉 there 's no enduring unity no lasting love but that which 〈…〉 the Spirit of Grace In the second of the Acts the holy Ghost fell upon them Ver. 3 4. and after that they continued together with one accord and they were all of one heart and of one soul Oh Wheels the Chariot of this City all the great affairs of this Commonwealth are to be carryed on by you there fore joyn together in love keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace be all as one Wheel for God and for Government It is cryed unto you from the Throne of Glory in my hearing O Wheel That you may be thus is my hearty desire for this I shall pray O si O utinam I was about to break off but let me not forget it 's a custom at this Solemnity for those that make speeches to present the newelect with an escouchion or shield and in it some device or other some Embleme which may hang in the Magistrates house all the year as a memento to hint him of some good thing as oft as he looks upon it Now what shall I present Truly I had some thoughts to have taken my hieroglyphick out of the first book of the Kings Chap. 7. Ver. 29 30 38. It is a Laver or a great vessell of brasse holding much water set upon a substantiall base of brasse four-square and upon the borders of the base graven Lions Oxen and Cherubims and four wheels under the base to remove the vessell from place to place upon every occasion Such a thing is a good Magistrate a Laver to cleanse and purge both Church and Common-wealth he must have a firm base of brasse that signifieth the stability courage and fortitude requisite in a Magistrate and he must have his four wheels he must be
The Nail the VVheel THE NAIL FASTNED by a Hand from Heaven THE WHEEL TVRNED by a Voyce from the Throne of Glory Both Described in two severall SERMONS In the Green-yard at NORWICH By JOHN CARTER Pastor of Great St. PETERS LONDON Printed by J. Macock for M. Spark and are to be sold by WILLIAM FRANKLIN at his shop in the Market-place in Norwich 1647. TO the glory of her Sex The Right Honorable both by the first and second Birth the worthy and most religious Lady the Lady FRANCES HOBARTE MADAM YOur Honor knows I have ever been afraid of the Press hitherto I have stood out against all importunity and I was peremptorily resolved never to have published any thing in Print but now I am inforced whether I wil or no to send abroad these two smal pieces And since they must out I humbly present them to your Ladyship Not for any worth that is in them Not for your Honors protection of them let them go forth at their own peril nor yet for the subjects sake the matter of them in the general not so directly and properly complying with your Ladyships condition they are rather for the instruction of Magistrates But I dedicate them to your Honor because they are your due Whatever I can perform in the service of God and more by far then ever I am able to do low to the gracious Lady Frances To say truth your Honor called for them and here they are take them with favorable acceptation Something your Ladyship wil meet withal in both Sermons appliable and useful in regard of your self The NAIL I mean the good Nail wil give your Honor a fresh sight of that Noble Gentleman worthy Sir JOHN HOBARTE your Honors lately deceased husband He was a gallant Nail by the grace of God wel filed from all rust and ruggedness He was a bright Nail as burnished gold shining more and more every day he lived that I can testifie to the comfort of my soul by a godly conversation He was a great and a strong Nail His abilities were beyond the common pitch He had a good head for wisdom and understanding He had a good heart Faithful and zealous he was for God for Religion for his Country for our Solemn Covenant He was a fixed Nail not only in the Capitol but also in the Sanctuary his care and painful endeavors were layd out not only for the Common-wealth but for the Church also yea he himself was a little suncturary to the faithful Manisters of Jesus Christ He was a stout Nail steeled with Christian resolution and courage not counting his life dear if he might have sacrificed it as partly he did for the Kingdoms peace his Countries safety and the Churches settlement He was a Nail on which the Welfare and prosperity of our Sion did much depend And for our sins God hath plucked out this useful Nail We see this great Nail turned into a little Wheel and he is now rolled into the House appointed for all the living I wil not tel the world of your Ladiships immoderate sorrow and how you sit disconsolate sighing sobbing and mourning like a faithful Turtle bereaved of her mate I wil rather guide my speech to your Honor and direct your eye to the Wheel Worthy Sir John Hobarte he was a stately Wheel he moved bravely in his time and did much of Gods work with all alacrity yea he counted that life worse then death when his motion was any whit stopped by infirmity of body so as he could not be active in the Publick service as he desired This Voluble and swift Wheel is now broken at the Cistern and your heart Madam was almost broken too Oh! I beseech your Honor look up to the throne of glory it is the voice of the Lord hath turned the Wheel He hath spokâ—n and hath done it Submit Submit with humility patience cheerfulness Rejoyce rather what a world of comforts may your Ladiship have in your loss He did worthily in his life he dyed religiously I saw him draw his last breath but so much Majesty and peace in a dying countenance I never saw A stranger would have thought he had been only in some sweet-contenting sleep or tasting the heavenly joys What an Honorable name hath he left behind him Is it not as an oyntment powred forth even as the fragrant spikenard The Nail is pulled out of this lower wall but it is not lost it 's only advanced and set up higher He is fastned in the wall of the New Jerusalem he shines and ever shal shine bright in glory And we all ere long shal roul after him and then shal your Ladyship enjoy a better Communion with your husband then ever Be content to waite is it not a little while I intended a very short Epistle but my pen begins to be free and eager of its way I can hardly hold it in it would fain be dropping out something of your honors goodness I wel know how little your Honor affects the praise of men your praise is in the Gospel and your Ladiship wel knows how much I abhorr base flattery And God he knows my design is not to make you proud by speaking your vertues to your face but only this I would most gladly take occasion to publish something to the world of those eminent Graces which the Lord hath wrought in your Honor by his holy spirit that your Ladiships example may be propounded as a pattern to all Chrâ—stian women which they may ever look upon and follow Elect Lady I could tel them how I have ever found you walking in the truth even in the most perilous and seducing times with what obedience you have always heard the word resigning up your wil to Gods Command How your deportment was to your Noble yoke-fellow the heart of your husband did safely trust in you All that were but lookers on did see tâ—e entireness of your heart the intention of your love your loyalty and faithfulness joyned with all diligence and care You made in your study and work to do him good in regard of his body in regard of his estate but especially and above all in regard of his soul I could take occasion by this my dedication to tel the world That even whilest you are on earth your conversation is in heaven I can truly testify that your Ladiship is a widow indeed continuing in fasting and prayer and reading and meditation and that this is your work night and day in the temple in your closet in your family That 's remarkable in your family you observe Davids houres Every morning every noon and every night you have prayer Scripture read and expounded and that by an able and a called Minister of the Gospel besides repetitions of Sermons singing of Psalms and constant Catechising a most necessary work the Noble Olive-plant your precious daughter answering with the first with all readyness and cheerfulness to her immortal honor I confess hearing the
answers of young Mrs. Philip Hobarte and the rest I could not but think thus with my self This day is that Prophesy fulfilled in mine eares I wil powre out of my spirit uppon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shal Prophesy and your young men shal see Visions and on my servants and on my hand-maids wil I pour out of my spirit and they shal Prophesy Madam Wil not your honor be offended if I show my folly and boast a little to the world You are my glory my Crown and my rejoycing the comfortable Harvest and precious Seal of my Ministry And this is discerned by others as wel as by my self Your paralel is not to be found or at the least scarcely was ever any Christian seen who did thrive and grow so fast in Grace as your Honor hath done especially of late years Now if either your Honor or any others that shal cast their eye on these my free expressions and think me indiscreet in writing thus to your Honor I Apologize for my self in the words of Christ when he prayed vocally and loud at Lazarus his grave Not for your sake Madam but because of the people which stand by I said it I propound a pattern to other Christians and other families and my sole aim is the glory of God and the provoking of many to a holy emulation The God of heaven and earth the God of my father bless your Honor and your noble and hopeful daughter I beg for you the upper and the nether springs The God of all Grace perfect all Grace in you be filled with the Spirit with inward peace and joy of the Holy Ghost Be the Lords darling Beleeve me Gracious Lady The tongue shal cleave to the roof of my mouth and my right hand shal forgets its skil before I shal cease to bear your Honors name at my heart and to present it unto the Lord as often as I appear at the throne of Grace Be sure Madam I am Your Honors most humbly Devoted servant for ever Thankful for your Superlative favour bounty and care And As under God your Honor raised me from the grave So if I can beleeve mine own heart I am your Honors faithful Pastor who if God should call him to it would willingly lay down his life to establish your Ladiship in the truth and grace of Jesus Christ and to further your eternal Salvation IOHN CARTER To The whole World O WORLD THou seest what Contradiction these poor weak Sermons have met withall how they have been and are accused of falshood envy malice peevishness that the Magistrates are slandered in them and very lies uttered in the face of City and Country I am necessitated to appeal to God and the World O World I hold forth unto thy view faithfully all that was spoken nothing omitted I call unto thee to be my true and impartial witness and let the God of Truth be Judg THE Nail hit on the head AND Driven into the City and Cathedral Wall of NORWICH By JOHN CARTER Pastor of Great St. PETERS in that City At the Greenyard June 17. 1644. Being a preparative to the Guyle-Solemnity the day following EZRA 9. 8. Grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in his holy place THE NAIL ESA. 22. 23. And I wil fasten him a nail in a sure place and he shal be for a glorious throne to his fathers house THe business of this Text is nothing else but the driving and fastning of a nail Wherein 1. The Master-worker who it is that fastens the nail I. 2. The nail that 's fasten'd what or who is that Him 3. Vbi Where is this nail fasten'd in loco fideli in a sure place 4. The end use and benefit of this nail so fastned He shal be for a glorious throne to his fathers house These are the parts and particulars of the Text. But I wil not tye my self strictly and punctually to these or at least I wil not fall upon them presently but according to my plain and usual way I shal concerning this Text dispatch these things 1. I wil speak something of the sense and meaning of the words 2. I wil give you the sum and substance of the whole verse in one general proposition of doctrine to which also I shal make some general applycation 3. And then in the third place I wil look over the particulars I wil search and examine them for such observations and instructions as may be for our profit and use besides the main and general doctrine Of these in their order And the Lord be with us Amen 1. The Exposition And I and who is that it is as Solomon calls him the Master of the Assemblies that fastens the nail in the 15. verse of this Chapter he is called the Lord of Hosts Wil fasten HIM Him this is the nail to be fastned a living nayl You have his name and also his Character shortly v. 20. Eliakim so was his name the servant of the Lord that 's his Character He was a Courtier a great man a holy man a good Patriot faithful to his King to his Country to Religion and Reformation all which appears plainly by the current of this place and also by other passages of sacred Scripture And I wil fasten him as a Nail a nail is a pin or peg For the matter some are made of brass some of iron some of wood A nail is fastned when it 's knocked beaten and driven into a wall beam post or pillar The use of such a nail orpeg or spirkit is to hang thingsout of hand and such things especially as we would have ready for our use as garments vessels pots instruments of musick and the like Such things as otherwise would ly scattered about the house and be subject to miscarry Metaphorically to fasten a man as a nail is to confirm and establish him in some place or office in the Church or Common-wealth and to make him useful and profitable for the Publique good Here the Kingdom of Juda is compared to a wall or post Eliakim to a nail and the Lord fastens him in the Kingdom that is puts him in place and office and confirms him in it Q. But what place what office was he settled in that must be known A. I answer There was another nail pul'd out and he was put in in the room The other nail viz. his predecessor was Shebna he was deprived and Eliakim substituted in his room therefore let 's enquire what place Shebna was in and then all wil be clear Some of the Hebrew Doctors and learned Hierom with them conceive that Shebna was the high-priest Lyra Sanchez Lapide Pintus Tirinus and most of the Popish-writers are of the same opinion Their arguments are principally †First the authority of the old-Vulgar-latine translation of the 15. verse which with them is authentick Vade ad Sobnam praepositum
templi Go to Shebna the overseer of the temple that is say they the high-priest †Again from the 21. verse where it is said and I wil cloth him with thy robe and strengthen him with thy girdle they conclude those garments to be the Vestments of the high priest according to that in the 20. of Num. v 28. And Moses stripped Aron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son But certainly if we go to the fountain this can never be made out that Shebna was high-Priest or any Priest of the second order For †In the 15. verse it 's only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 super domum not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 super domum dei Over the house there 's not so much as a hint that it should be over the house of God †Again v. 21. The robe and girdle were ensigns of authority and Magistracy Job mentions the girdle of Kings Baltheum regum dissolvit Job 12. 18. He looseth the bond or girdle of Kings and thus did Pharaoh to Joseph he arrayed him in royal robes and put a golden chain or girdle about him Gen. 41. 42. So here I wil cloth him with thy robe that is that robe which thou didst wear when thou wert the great manat Court †Yet further he was not capable of the office of Priest-hood They which received the office of Priest-hood were all of the Children of Levi but Shebna was of another stock not so much as a Jew but an Alian a stranger That is obliquely signifyed and intimated verse the 16. What hast thou here and whom hast thou here that thou hast hewed thee out a Sepulchre here c. which is as if he should have said what business hast thou in this Land what kindred Why shouldest thou take up thy rest to live and dye in the Lords land and to be buried in Jerusalem whereas thou art an Assyrian or of some other strange Country †To put all out of question There was another high priest at the very same time Azariah by name you shal read of him 2. Chron. 31. 13. He was ruler of the house of God that is by the consent of all interpreters the high priest and therefore Shebna what ever he were could not be the high priest What was he then Let 's gather up his titles of honor together and by that time we have done we shal understand his place certainlâ—y In the 15. verse he is called first the treasurer and then Shebna Who is over the house that is over the Kings house In the 37. Chapter of this Prophesy verse the 2. and often other-where in scripture he is stiled the Scribe not an ordinary or Common Scribe or notary but such an one as we call a Chancellor or Secretary This is then the sum of all Shebna was at that time the great favorite of the King he had all the chief offices the highest honors and dignitys of the Kingdom conferred upon him He was Lord treasurer he was ruler Governor Controller of the Kings house he was the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of state In a word he was the chief in Court and Kingdom and under the King Lord President of the whole Country just as Joseph was under Pharaoh Thou shalt says the King be over my house and according to thy word shal all my people be ruled only in the throne wil I be greater then thou Thus was Shebna Him God deposed and put Eliakim into his place into the very same favour dignity honor Authority and Magistracy The LXX renders it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constituam cum principem I wil make him a great Prince in Juda Eliakim is fastned as a nail namely in the highest place of the Kingdom And that In a sure place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in loco fideli The word is derived from truth q. d. in a true and faithful place that is in a firm stable permanent condition for where truth is there is certainty and stability And here is an Antithesis or opposition 'twixt Shebna and Eliakim Shebna was as a nail but in a hollow unsound or rotten wall and therefore shal fall out he shal come down from his eminency But as for this Eliakim saith the Lord I wil six him in a solid wall a sound post or strong pillar out of which he cannot fall nor be pluck'd out that is plainly I wil so confirm and establish him in his place that he shal never be deposed as Shebna was but he shal stand sure and immovable And he shal be for a glorious throne to his fathers house A throne is a Kings seat full of Majesty and glory He shal be for a throne that is for a glorious ornament to the King to the Kingdom and to his own stock and family He shal do worthily in Juda and so carry himself in his place authority and Magistracy he shal so administer as shal be for the honor of the King the glory and prosperity of the whole Kingdom and for the preferment of his fathers house he shal advance his kindred and make his whole family famous and renowned For the meaning this may suffice Now in the 2. place I am to give you the sum and substance of all in one general proposition Good and faithful Magistrates are nails fasten'd in the walls of Gods house in the Church and Common-wealth So are they called Ezra 9. 8. And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in his holy place What nail the Princes and the Priests that were left a remnant of Godly Magistrates and Ministers The very same expression you have in the Prophet Zechariah Chap. the 10. the 3. and 4. verses Where God promiseth to visit his flock the house of Judah and to give them all things that may make them safe and happy The words run thus Out of him came forth the corner out of him the nail out of him the battel-bow and out of him every appointer of tribute also The corner i. the supream the King the chief Governor who is like a foundation and corner-stone to bear and couple the building The nail i. Princes Magistrates Governors faithful Counselors such as are in authority under the King The battel-bow i. e. Commanders Captains Souldiers Ammunition and all things fit and necessary for a warlike and potent people The appointer of tribute i. e. Officers to impose exact and collect tribute of all those forraign nations which they shal conquer Shortly they shal have all things to make them a blessed and flourishing people and as a principall thing they shal have the nail viz. a good Magistrate Reason But why are Magistrates called nails Not properly but by way of similitude they are tanquam as nails very like nails and that in regard of their end and use A nail peg or pin is fastned in the wall
furnished table bottles and flagons delicious dishes and a deale of Kitchin-stuff But what service do they as Magistrates Truly nothing at all that I can discern either for Church or Common-wealth These are only a kind of embossed nayls such as are driven into garments collars coaches trappings of horses chaires and other things only for state and ornament they have great and glorious bossed and gilded heads but a little ridiculous stalk hardly enough to hold their own or to keep them from falling out of their places they are so close driven that nothing can hang on them There are other of the high Nayls hang very full of things But of what Are they vessels of the Sanctuary Oh no such matter they bear up a deal of the Devils houshold-stuff Upon one there hangs a company of drunken ale-houses swearers prophane persons Sabbath-breakers cheaters and sharks these are upheld and born up bythem when honest men are thrown down to the ground Upon another hangs a knot of Anabaptists Antinomians Brownists Independents and others of the same bran disturbers of Sions peace these are countenanced and born up on high whilest the Orthodox party are sleighted cast off and suffered to fall flat on the ground Upon another depends a cluster of persons Popishly affected Malignants lignants Incendiaries such as these are born up and born out too upon all occasions Oh there 's too too many such rotten rusty misimployed nails 2. The middle nails they are the Ministers of the word the Clergy as they call them wel what hangs upon the most of them What but a plurality of livings A black gown or Canonical coat A service-book or book of homilys There did hang a while agone abundance of Copes Surplisses Alters Crucifixes Images and such trash til they were taken down by a strong hand But for powerful and frequent preaching prayer and the weighty works of the Ministry as strengthening the weak healing the sick binding up the broken bringing again that which was driven away and seeking that which was lost there 's nothing of all these to be seen amongst them Are these indeed for the glory of their fathers house 3. The lowest sort of nails they are the ordinary people Gentry and Commons Oh! What abundance of empty nails do we see round about Nothing at all hangs upon them only they take up a place in the wall There is a generation of Gentlemen and others and wel parted men too able to undergo good service and yet live without any calling any office any imployment at all as if they were born to no other end but only to spend and scatter what their progenitors had scraped together and left them but they wil not put under their shoulder to bear any burden of profitable employment in Church or Commonwealth See see what commonly hangs upon them bundles of hair Sampsons locks bushy periwigs dogs dice drabs cards and tables bottels of generous wine and flagons of strong drink red eyes swollen bellys and black souls nothing else at all Gentlemen are these things for the glory of your fathers house There are a company of idle Vagrants and sturdy Rogues that wander up and down the streets and lanes and high-ways ragged nails that stick out almost every where whethersoever we go and are ready to catch our garments and tear us almost in pieces and there 's nothing hangs on them but the sweat of other mens brows purses and garments and such things as they have torn from honest passengers Others there are of all sorts that indeed are cruelly loaden there hangs upon them huge bundles of oaths rapine Blasphemies Adulteries Treasons railings filthy speeches and all kind of sins but they wil bear no burden of service in the Church or Common-wealth Whereto shal I liken this accursed generation They are like unto Ezekiels vine-tree of which he speaks thus Son of man What cometh of the Vinetree above all other trees And of the Vine-branch which is amongst the trees of the Forrest Shal wood be taken thereof to do any work Or wil men make a pin thereof to hang a vessel thereon No No the Vine-stalk if once cut up wil not make a peg to hang a bottel on it wil not be profitable for any thing But what 's the end Behold it 's cast into the fire for fewel the fire devoureth both the ends of it and the midst of it is burnt is it meet for any work So shal it be with this unprofitable generation Therefore thus saith the Lord God As the Vine-tree among the trees of the forrest which I have given to the fire for fewel so wil I give them and I wil set my face against them they shal go out from one fire and another fire shal devour them Surely such nails as these shal not be suffered to stand long in the wall if a man see a nail stick up in his house of no use wil he not presently knock it out There were abundance of such nails as these in Juda and God knocked them out and threw them into Babylon Christ himself passeth sentence upon all such Cast that unprofitable servant into utter darkness there shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 25. 30. Hear and tremble all you useless nails You unprofitable burdens of the earth Be you men or women that take up places in the world and do no service in the world in the name of the Lord I pass upon you Shebnas doome ver 25. In that day saith the Lord of hosts shal the nail that is fastned in the sure place be removed and be cut down and fall and the burden that was upon it shal be cut off for the Lord hath spoken it Of Exhortation and that is manifold and various to divers sorts of persons and to several dutys I am to direct my word of exhortation to 1. Magistrates 2. People The 1. Exhortation to the Magistrates You are all nails some higher some lower Remember that you are not for ornament only but chiefly and principally for use In the name of God let every one in his place do the office of a nail Truly all things in the Church and Common-wealth lye disorderly at this time or hang very dangerously and ready to fall and miscarry I beseech you let it be your care to uphold things let every nail bear something yea though you weaken your selves for the common good Take your charge in some particulars and that very shortly I speak to wise men a word wil suffice 1. Keep the peace Magistrates know your office you are all Commissioners for the peace and this is that which we are enjoyned to pray for you in authority That under you we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty The nail holds things together when they are hanged upon it which lay scattered and sundred one from another before Yes upon one good pin they keep close How are the people
of this Kingdom at this time devided amongst themselves How are they scattered and scattered One here another there one of this mind another of another Oh ye Rulers of the people Use your pains and skil to bring them together again into one mind and one judgment that they may hang upon you as grapes upon the stalk in one cluster Endeavor with all your might the peace of the Church and Common-wealth 2. Be ready at hand to do justice at all times We knock up nails and pegs in our houses that we may hang things upon them of common use things that we would have always at hand as for things of lesser use we lock them up in chests and cabbinets and it matters not though they see the Sun but seldom Magistrates must be ready at hand at all times to hear the grievances of the oppressed to punish vice to encourage vertue to relieve the wronged and oppressed to help the fatherlesse and the widow to their right shortly to do justice readily and freely upon all occasions The nayl easily receives at all times what ever is put upon it Some Magistrates I doubt we have that in this are like unto nayls they will not in without greasing and knocking you shal not get them to do their duty except they be greased with a bribe or beaten to it by fear Otherwise with Foelix they are not at leasure to do justice I pray remember a womans answer She petitioned the King for justice it was I take it Philip King of Macedon he told her he was not now at leasure Not at leasure saith shee to do justice Why then art thou at leasure to be a King If a nayl be not at leasure to bear vessels knock it out why doth it trouble the wall Judgement saith the Prophet must run down like waters and righteousnesse as a mighty stream The Magistrate therefore must not be as a fountain sealed up but like a river which runs continually and the people may resort to it at all times Absalom I confesse had base ends but yet his practise singular and his example to be followed by all good and faithful Magistrates they should be ready to hear Israel at all times 3. As you must be ready always to minister justice so to all persons at all times and to all commers The nayl bears not only the rich vessels and ornaments the golden candlesticks the pictures and musâ—cal instruments in the galleries and banqueting houses but it also sustains bottels and knives and gâ—idirons plain instruments and vessels of wood and iron in the Kitchin yea the homeliest utensils in the scullery So the good Magistrate he must equally do justice to all to the poor and to the rich â—oth alike They shall hang upon Eliakim the 24. verse tels you not only the glory of his fathers house the off-spring and the issue that is those of the blood-royal but they shal hang upon him also all the smal vessels the little cups and siddles that is the poorest and most contemptible persons shal depend upon the Magistrate for justice and protection You shall do no unrighteousnesse in judgement saith the Lord Thou shalt not respect the person of the poâ—r nor honour the person of the mighty But in righteousnesse shalt thou judge thy neighbour that is every one for every one is thy neighbour Do right to the poor and fatherlesse do justice to the poore and needy deliver the oppressed from him that is too strong for him favour not one above another The use of a nail peg or pin is to hang such things upon quae infirmiora which are most weak and cannot stand by their own strength Tables and Trunks and Chairs and Stools such great and strong houshold-stuff can stand on their own feet they need not any nail to hang upon the rich and mighty can stand alone They are the little smal vessels and instruments of musick that must be supported with a nail The poor are ready at every turn to be trampled upon and to be made a prey and therefore you must have a special care of them Uphold them that they may not fall 4. Let every Magistrate be a nail not only in the Capitol or Senat but also in the Sanctuary The care of the Church and Religion lyeth on the Magistrate Use therefore all your power to purge the Church of Idolatry Popery Superstition and all false worship and gross errors to advance the pure and sincere worship of God and the power of godliness Bear up able faithful and Orthodox Ministers by giving them your countenance and affording them comfortable maintenance You have going before you in this care of Religion many godly Kings and Emperors David Jehoshaphat Hezekiah Josiah Constantine Theodosius c. Follow their good example be faithful nails to bear up pure Religion always remembring what the Lord hath said Those that honor me I wil honor and they that despise me shal be lightly esteemed The 2. Exhortation is to the people And we have to deal with divers sorts and accordingly I am to press sundry kinds of duties in the prosecution Whereof I shal direct Electors Subjects All. And 1. You that are Electors To whom at any time shal belong the choice of Magistrates or any kind of officers in Church or Common-wealth Be careful and circumspect in your choice You are to look about for nails on which to hang the weighty affairs of the Church Common-wealth and City see that you chuse such as may be serviceable in their places wel-qualified nails Take your charge and directions from Jethro he wil advice you what kind of men to chuse into publique offices Thou shalt provide saith he to Moses 1. Able men 2. Such as fear God 3. Men of truth 4. Hating Covetousness Suffer me a little to illustrate Jethro's Counsel 1. You must chuse able and strong nails They must have abilities of mind You must pick out such nails as have good heads and sharp points such as have good understanding wisdom and solidity and also some acuteness of wit and pleasantness amiableness of conversation Be wise ye Kings be learned you Judges saith David if they ought to be so then it 's your duty to chuse none but such as appear so There are a sort of nails spikins I think they call them they want heads and so whatsoever is hang'd upon them slips of Take heed of chusing Spikin Magistrates for if you hang the great affairs of the Common-wealth upon them they wil certainly let them fall and miscarry because they want heads to hold them They must also have abilities of body and of estate without competent bodily strength they wil never be able to endure watching and travailing and long sitting on the bench and beleeve me wealth is needful Magistrates had need be able rich men They must carry out things with some pomp and state else they wil be contemn'd and their authority
nayls Then take heed you do not put them out I tell you there is a company of base wayes to pluck out good nayls Upon some you hang too great a burden you lay such loads upon Magistrates and upon Ministers too that you quite break them In this case I say unto you as Jethro to Moses The thing that you do is not good you will surely wear them away for these things are too heavy for them and they are not able to perform them their selves alone Some nayls you loosen with knocks first on one side and then on the other side and at last they fall out of themselves many good Magistrates and Ministers are so hang'd amongst you with injuries and reproaches and scandals and slanders with contempt and disrespect that their very hearts are broken and they seek for all advantages to be gone from their stations Some nayls are placed in loco non fideli in a rotten hollow and deceitful wal and so they fall out per-force ther 's nothing to hold them many Magistrates and Ministers see to their thinking a fair wal before them the affections of the people many fair promises and comfortable convenants hereupon they offer to fasten here but all proves rotten love proves dissimulation promises come to nothing covenants are broken and out-goes the Nayl There 's a trick clavum clavo pellere to drive out one nayl with another There 's a knock a side made they have a friend to bring into place for their own ends I but the place is full there 's another nayl in Is there so That nayl that stands in the way shal soon be driven out with another new one and so oftentimes a golden nayl is put out and an iron one or a woodden one is driven in the roome I beseech you have a care what you do Are they able useful nails let them alone in their places till God kindly puls them out with the pincers of death use all means to preserve and cherish them love them give them all assistance and encouragement and pray pray pray for them I exhort you brethren that first of all prayers and supplications and intercessions be made for Kings and all in authority that under them we may lead a godly and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty It is your prayers must knock them in sure and fasten them in their places I would you would understand the danger of loosing a good nayl out of the wal If such a peg be pulled out down fals the great affairs of Church and State therefore preserve and cherish your good nayls 3. They must obey them Upon the nayl all the garments and vessels do depend and so must subjects depend upon the commands of their superiours and submit to their power Submit your selves to every ordinance of man saith Saint Peter for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreame or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him And Saint Paul You must needs be subject for conscience sake Rom. 13. 5. Only with a limitation Obey Governours but in things lawfull not otherwise Obey the higher Powers but yet still so as you do not disobey the highest of all So long as Magistrates command with God and for God and not against God go along with them obey them for conscience sake But if once there be a clashing The Magistrate commands one thing and God commands the quite contrary then Saint Peter and the rest of the Apostles will teach you That you ought to obey God rather then men In this case disobedience is the best obedience So long as the nayl bears thee to heavenwards depend upon it but no longer It was a resolute and a pious answer which a Prelat of ours sent to Henry the first Anselm Arch Bishop of Cant. being in Banishment because he would not obey the King in some things nor observe some Laws and customs which Lanfranck his predecessor did observe The King sent Letters to him wherein he did express abundance of affection and did invite him earnestly to come over into England again promised him that if he would observe the Laws and customs which Lanfranck did observe and would obey the King as his predecessor did no man should be more welcom and dear to him and that he also should enjoy all the honors dignities and revenues which Lanfranck his predecessor did To whom Anselm being convinced that he could not observe those Laws without sin returned answer For your love and good wil Oh King I give you thanks To that which you say of your father and Arch Bishop Lanfranck I answer That I did never promise neither in my Baptism nor in any ordination that I would keep the Laws and customs of your father or of Arch Bishop Lanfranck but in my Baptism and often else I have vowed to keep the law of my God Wherefore if you please so to receive me and to re-invest me that I may live with you according to the law of God I am ready to come again into England and serve God and you Otherwise I chuse banishment Such should be the resolution of all Go with the Magistrate while the Magistrate goeth with God But if he command thee against God fly suffer dye any thing rather then obey him 4. They must be thankful for them They are no smal blessings When God brings in a good Magistrate or Minister he fastens a nail upon which hangs the welfare of Church and Common-wealth They bear our burdens when we sleep and should they not do so all would fall and ruin and come to nothing All the sweet blessings that we enjoy hang upon this nail our peace and all the benefits that peace brings with it As namely the conservation of humane society That our wives are as fruitful vines by the sides of the house our children like olive plants round about our tables That our old men and old women dwel in the streets and every man his staff in his hand for very age that the streets of our City are ful of boys and girls playing in our streets That we sit every one under our vine and figtree enjoy our possessions eate the labours of our hands that we eate and drink and plant and build marry and give in marriage That we have here stil the thrones for judgment that Schools and Universities flourish trading in our Cities continue and the business of the field is yet performed that our gramarys are ful affording all manner of store that our sheep do bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets that our oxen are strong â—o labour that there is no breaking in nor going out nor no complaining in our streets But above all that Religion is maintained the faith defended the Gospel preached and the voice of the turtle heard in our land That we enjoy these and a thousand blessings more all is from peace and our peace hangs upon this nail
not see one good nail fastned not one sound and painful preacher and be earnest with God to pul to pluck out and to throw down all rotten and useless nails and to put and fasten good and able right and straight substantial and serviceable ones in their room We have seen who fastens the Nail proceed we to the 2 Particular and let 's look upon the nail that 's fastned What nail is it Or rather who is it For it 's a living nail It is a man and a good man Eliakim that 's his name He was the servant of the Lord that 's his goodness And he it is that the Lord fastens in a sure place And here the Doctrine wil teach us what kind of nails they be which God fastens namely good nails and none else God establisheth only good men in high places of Authority A base rotten nail may be driven into a wall and stand a while but not long The Lord plucks wicked men out of their places and preferrs his faithful servants into their room He puts down the mighty that is the proud and wicked great ones of the world he puts them down from their seats and exalteth them of low degree the humble and Godly ones Luk. 1. 52. Haman was promoted by the King advanced as a nail into a high place his seat was above all the Princes but he was a rotten and scragged nail tearing the people of God 't was wicked Haman But the Lord soon plucked him out of his seat threw him down and fasten'd good Mordecai in his room Hophni and Phinehas the young Priests they were sons of Belial they were exceeding wicked and knew not the Lord and what saith the Lord concerning them They shal be deposed from their office of Priesthood in one day they shal dye both of them Yea both of them and Eli their father and pluck'd out in one day And saith the Lord I wil raise me up a faithful Priest that shal do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind and I wil build him a sure house and he shal walk before mine anointed for ever Old Eli was pluck'd out as a rusty nail and Zadok annointed high-priest in his room God wil establish only good good men in their places This point must not pass without some application and it may be various 1. For our instruction we may observe what shal be the end of good and evil Magistrates and of all in eminent places Princes and Rulers the great men of the earth Prophets and ministers of the Gospel What shal their end be Solomon wil tel you Such as walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous shal dwel in the land they shal stand as a nail in a sure place But the wicked be they never so great shal be cut of from the earth and the transgressors shal be rooted out off it Yes this is an undoubted truth the wicked though they be placed never so high and seem to stand so fast that they can never be moved yet the Lord wil pluck them out at the last and put better in their room In the eye of the world who could be faster rivetted in his high place then Shebna He was the great favorite at Court he had in his hand all the chief Offices the highest Honours and dignities of the Kingdome as you have seen before he did flow in wealth and greatnesse there was none above him in the Kingdom save only he that sate upon the Throne A grand Polititian he was which some of the learned in the holy tongue have gathered from one of his titles verse 15. Go get thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad the sauraâ—ium unto this Treasurer so it 's commonly turned but the word seems to signifie another thing It comes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies fovere vel calefacere to warm cherish and to favour And then thus we must reade it Go get thee to this favourer Shebna that is to him that cunningly doth favour and cherish all parties I hinted you a while ago that some thought Shebna to be the High Priest I have disputed the point once and I wil meddle with it no more but I am sure he had the very tricks of our High-priests now adayes For as I have it from good Authors he kept in with all sides Being favorite to Hezekiah King of Juda he did seem to favour the King he did flatter and fawne and use all his skill to warm the Kings affection and cherish his good opinion and every way to endear him Also as an Arch-traytor most perfidious to his good Master he held fair correspondency with Sennacherib King of Assyria Hezekiahs enemy He was a Pentioner to the King of Assyria he was his Intelligencer he held a secret league and confederacy with him and was by compact engaged unto Sennacherib to betray the King his Master and the City Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Juda into his hands whensoever he came with his mighty host And thus by his craft and policy he thought to secure himselfe against all events come what would come prevaile who would prevaile he would stand sure if Hezekiah prevailed against Sennacherib then Shebna was well enough he was the Kings favorite if Sennacherib prevailed against Hezekiah yet Shebna would do well enough for he was also the King of Assrria's servant and did secretly make way for him to invade and conquer And now the proud ambitious Traytor growes to a height of confidence he thinks he stands as a nayl that cannot be stirred nor plucked out of his place And in this presumptuous confidence he erects a stately monument for himself in Jerusalem as you may reade vers 16. He hews himself out a Sepulchre on high and grave 's a habitation for himself in a rock Hee concludes his owne safety that if Hezekiah prosper he is his Favorite to his dying day if Sennacherib conquer he shal be his Deputy or Viceroy as long as he lives And at last that he shal dye with honour at Jerusalem and all his pomp follow him and his name be famous to all generations being written in marble and brasse upon his Sepulchre Thus thus silly man he flatters himself But now observe the end As it was with proud Nebuchadnezzar glorying in his great Babel while the word was in his mouth the Voice fell from heaven saying The Kingdom is departed from thee So commeth the word of the Lord to Shebna What hast thou here and whom hast thou here Why dost thou think thy self fastened here as a nayl that cannot be removed But that thou shalt live here and dye here and lay thy bones here Behold the Lord will pluck thee out and carry thee away with a mighty captivity He will surely violently turn and tosse thee like a ball into a large country there shalt thou dye and there the chariots of thy
glory shall be the shame of thy Lords house And there 's an end of Shebna A paralel example we have of our own which because it doth so aptly agree with the former I will insert It is of Sir Thomas More who bare the same office under the King of England that Shebna did under the King of Judah he was Lord Chancellour of England under Henry the eight he was a bitter enemy of the Gospel and persecuted the godly professors of it with fire and sword and thought thereby to get him a name and needs must he have a monument of his cruelty and impiety He therefore takes care to have a sumptuous and magnificent Sepulchre erected and upon it written Encomiastiques the high praises of his vertue He made his own Epitaph and sent it to Basil unto Erasmus that he might get it curiously engraven He sent also with it a stately ambling or pasing horse unto Erasmus for his reward that he might be so much the more carefull about the work So greedy was he of glory and fame Amongst the rest of his praises this was the most famous and to be written in great letters Lutheranorum profligaâ—â—r Maximus that is The great persecuter of the godly Wel but what was the end After all this presumptuous confidence The great Lord Chancellor was accused of treason condemned beheaded Ita patibulum ei pro sepulchro fuit At lost the gibbet or the fatall block was his monument Such shalt the end be of all Tyrants and ungodly Rulers a while they may stand on high but shortly the Lord will pluck them out of their places and put better men in their stead Here learn the way to preferment and how to sit sure in your places when you are advanced Would you be exalted to honor Would you stand fast in your places of dignity This is your way Be good and you shal soon be great Be the Lords servants and he wil soon preferr you Continue right and straight and sound and sincere and the Lord wil fasten you so as you shal never be removed You have the way of preferment chalked out Psal 112. The man that feareth the Lord and dilighteth greatly in his Commandments v. 1. The upright man v. 4. The good man v. 5. The merciful and liberal and righteous man he shal abound with wealth and riches and his horn shal be exalted with honor v. 3. 9. God fastens none but Eliakâ—ms in high and honorable places Shebnas may clime up a great height but the Lord wil soon throw them down again Doth God fasten only such as be godly in a sure place Then I beseech you See upon whom you may most safely depend We that are subjects are as a company of infirm vessels we must all hang upon some nail or other or else we are lost upon the ground Now our wisdom wil be to rely on sure and sound nails But you wil say perhaps how may we know the best nails I wil tel you there are now in the Kingdom two sorts of nails Court-nails and Parliament-nails Both are exalted very high now tel me which wil you chuse to depend upon Me thinks I hear some reply what nail should we depend upon but that which the Lord hath fasten'd And is not the King that nail Hath not God set him upon the throne And must I not go along with him in every thing Give me leave to answer We do acknowledg with all duty and obedience that the King is the highest Nail that he is a precious Nail that he is a nail chosen of God and anointed And the desire of our hearts is that the Lord would establish his throne and fasten him so sure that he may never be removed But that which makes our hearts sad it 's this that he is not in loco fideli in a faithful place That wall that 's made up of Papists Irish Rebels Delinquents Malignants and wicked Counsellors must needs be a rotten wall and can a nial stand sure in such a place The Parliament is a sound wall made up of worthy Eliakims loyal Subjects servants of the Lord and faithful Patriots Now the Lord bring the King into the midst of his Parliament again then should he be indeed in loco fideli and we might safely hang upon him But in the mean time his power and Authority is with his great Counsel It is an undoubted Parliament by the Kings own act But it cannot be a true Parliament without a King Why then he is with them vertually thou he be not personally The Parliament is all but one great nail The King is the head the houses are the body if you take the head off the nail what can hang safely on it Therefore now I can easily shew you what nail to hang on I thus describe it to you King and Parliament There are two mighty Armys abroad one against the other Every one of us must depend upon one of those We must take part with one against the other In the name of God see that you chuse the right nail That 's the nail that God fastens upon that you may safely depend It is the extream folly of men that they wil all chuse to hang upon the great nail and the lesser nail they dare not trust to They 'l joyn with the most numerous Army with the greatest power Who would not have hanged upon Shebna that had looked with a carnal eye and declined Eliakim Upon whom was the eye of all the Court but upon Shebna Shebna was a Vapouring Cavalier Eliakim sure a despised Roundhead Shebna had great Authority and favour in the Court Eliakim and the rest were made Underlings slighted and disregarded Shebna a great Polititian held fair correspondence with forraign Princes Eliakim a plain faithful seruant to his Master that had never put on robe nor girdle Yet you see he was the wisest man and in the safest condition that took in with Eliakins I wil give it you in a word Look impartially and mark not which is the biggest but which is the rightest and straightest nail look upon that side where you see most of God most zeal most devotion most piety and joyn with them That nail that God hath fastned shal stand sure let the Pope and the Divil and all the Malignant crew knock it and hang the weight of persecution upon it they can never pluck it out it stands in loco sideli in a sure place and all that depend upon it shal be safe But on the other side if you joyn with Idolaters Blasphemers debauched drunkards Atheists prophane Divels You hang upon a rotten nail a nail that God hath never fastned and though it appear never so great yet it wil deceive you God wil certainly pluck it out and then there is nothing but certain ruin to be expected if the nail break all that ever hangs on it falls down and it is broken and lost For a close of this I shal pass a
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them Psal 33. 6. He did but say Let there be light and there was light He did but say Let there be a firmament let there be sea and dry land let there be grasse and trees in the earth and lights in the heaven and fishes in the sea and immediatly it was done it was so Yet further his voice did not only command these wheels to be made the same word also preserves them maintains them in being He upholds all things by the word of his power Hebr. 1. 3. God made all creatures therefore of right he may dispose of them and order all their motions as he pleaseth He is the great Atlas bears up heaven and earth and all things upon the strong shoulders of his providence and therefore he hath power to move all things as he listeth He that bears a burden upon his back may carry it whither he will The cunning Artificer who makes a clock or curious pocket-watch he also disposeth and ordereth every wheel in what place it shall be what motion it shall have how long it shall go So the Almighty and infinitely wise God he made the wheel's and turns the wheels he made the greatest and the least creatures and he causeth and over-ruleth the greatest and the least motions To give you the whole doctrine in one Embleme Ezekiel was an Aenigmaticall Prophet and me thinks he gives us that which was first shewed to him in a vision the most elegant and significant Hieroglyphick of Divine providence that can be found out in the whole world it is a Chariot A Chariot commonly is drawn by four horses by them at their feet are four wheels above a seat wherein the man sits who guides the engin he with his reins and whip and voice commands the beasts the wheels the whole Chariot and all things in it and they are moved and turned as he pleaseth Such is the Chariot of Providence God sits in the seat even above in heaven upon his glorious Throne and by his word and power commands guides and moves all inferiour things Next under God are the living creatures the Angels they are ministring spirits immediatly moved by him that sits upon the Throne The Angels they move the wheels God governs inferiour things by the ministry of Angels There are four living creatures and four faces and foure wheels to represent the foure corners of the earth The summe of all is this in one word The providence of God doth rule and commaud in all the four quarters of the world God hath wheels every where and he turns them all by his word of command O wheel You have the generall doctrine To make some use of it And here I might be large and apply it variously I might first for our instruction gather this Corollary That there is no Contingency in the world nothing fals out by chance Not a wheel stirs but it 's moved by Gods hand Not a Sparrow fals to the ground nor a haire from our heads without your Father Not an ax-head flies off from the helve but it 's thrown and directed by God's hand Indeed in regard of us and in relation to second causes things may seem chanceable and contingent because something fals out that was not like to happen at all or else the thing was like to fall out quite otherwise then it doth we being ignorant of the causes of such casualties But in regard of God nothing is contingent he is the first and supream cause the universall provisor and moderator sitting on his Throne as a Judge and a King taking notice and taking care of the least things of the smallest wheels in the Chariot in respect of him all things are necessary He worketh all things according to the counsell of his will Yet again I might apply it by way of reprehension and give a check to the heathenish language of many Christians that speak Luck and Chance as familiarly as Heathens use to do and attribute all things to Fortune This was my fortune this was my luck What are these but Atheists and such as deny Providence The iniquity of the house of Israel is exceeding great and the City full of perversenesse saith the Lord because they say the Lord hath forsaken the earth and the Lord seeth not The eye of his providence is not abroad the wheels move by chance Oh that such would be humbled for their sin Augustin writ Retractations and the very first thing he corrects in himself and bewail's is that ever he did use the word Chance or the name of Fortune But I let pass these And I wil apply the doctrine only as St. Paul teacheth me Rom. 15. 4. Whatsoever things were written were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope So whatsoever hath been spoken it hath therefore been spoken That you might have Patience Comfort And so hope The first use is of Exhortation and here I am to perswade you to patience Is every wheel turned by the voice of the son of God No motion but by his appointment Learn then willing submission and cheerful contentation in all conditions What do not the wheels move to thy liking Art thou displeased at the motion of the King Or at the motion of the Parliament or at the motion of the Army those are the three great wheels of the Kingdom Bestil they move as God bids them it was said unto them in my hearing O Wheel The Kings heart the Parliaments heart the Armies heart are all in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water and he turns them whethersoever he wil. Prov. 21. 1. Whatever hath been or whatever shal be hereafter peace or war order or confusion safety or ruin what shal we say It is the Lord hath spoken and he himself hath done it Esa 38. 15. To descend to lesser wheels do not things go with thee according to thy desire I wil make thee the living creature and thou hast thy wheels about thee how do they move Thy yoke-fellow thy children thy dearest friends thou wouldest have these sweetly to move with thee in a perpetual communion but God turns them another way they roul out of thy house and society into the grave and for this thou dost mourn and art discontented As for the world thou would'st have it run in upon thee upon wheels but God turns it another way and it runs away from thee upon wheels yea faster it flies away Riches certainly make themselves wings they flee away as an Eagle towards heaven Pro. 23. 5. thou growest into decay and poor and hereupon thou art troubled and discontented The tongues of people thou wouldest have them move rightly and speak the truth yea speak wel of thee but the Malignant tongues of the world run upon wheels of fire and clamour against thee prate to thy disgrace invent
slanders report vile things of thee and hereupon thou art vexed and discontented And what 's the reason of all this impatience Thou lookest only at second causes and dost not consider that the voice of the Lord over-rules and sets all the wheels on work It was said in my hearing O Wheel There is not the least motion of the least wheel without his special providence Shemei curseth because God bids him curse Be therefore patient in all changes in all conditions under all afflictions murmure not repine not object not against the dispensations of Gods wise providence but ever resolve with David to be dumbe not to open thy mouth because the Lord it is that doth it Psal 39. 9. Again secondly this may be applyed for the comfort of Jerusalem for the consolation of the Church and people of God and that many ways 1. In the times of confusion as it is with us this day The Chariot-wheels of our Kingdom move strangely and dreadfully how are they hurried up and down backward and forward hither and thither and we are all in a maze we know not what to think of things nor what to do nor whether to turn us all is like to be overthrown and broken and turned topsy-turvy Truly we can see nothing by the wheeling of things but ruin of all of Religion and Laws and utter desolation of the whole Land But here 's our comfort it 's not a young rash Phaeton that sits in the coach-box who wants both skil and power to guide his fathers fiery steeds No No it 's the Ancient of days that sits in the seat of glory he commands the living creatures to draw the wheels which way he pleaseth and that by his only word and after all the wheelings and crooked turnings of his providence he knows the way to bring about a happy peace and settlement in this Church and Kingdom which the Lord of his mercy grant O thou son of God that sittest between the Cherubins drive on drive on by thy wisdom and power to thine own glory and the comfort of thy poor dejected people 2. Again doth the voice of the Lord command all wheels This then may comfort the Church and people of God against all potent enemys Indeed the enemys of Jerusalem are commonly many and mighty such as were the Babylonians and Assyrians these were the great high and terrible wheels which God was now bringing over Jerusalem to break it in pieces they were now coming upon the City the ratling of the wheels was heard and they could not but come for it was cryed unto them from the Lord O Wheel come and execute the fury of my wrath upon Jerusalem Now the same powerful voice can give the wheels a check and call them back again this is the Churches comfort Saul pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon he and his numerous Army turned upon him as a dreadful wheel and wheeled about the mountain to have crushed him in pieces but when he was in his swiftest motion it was cryed unto him from the Lord O Wheel O Saul come back There came a messenger unto Saul saying haste thee and come for the Philistins have invaded the Land So Saul returned from pursuing after David here the wheel was drawn off Let the wheels run on never so furiously if God do but cry to them they must come back if he cry to the wind peace it ceaseth and if he say to the raging sea be stil there 's presently a great calm Marc. 4. 39. It is not hard for him to curb and call in his creatures Saul was a bloody persecutor a restless wheel running over the faithful servants of God Act. 9. but v. 4. he had a check it was cryed unto him from the son of God Saul Saul why persecutest thou me You have seen Princes Prelates Potentates moving fiercely against the Church but the Lord in our hearing and sight hath given them a check and cryed unto them O Wheel go no further and they have stood stil or gone back The wheels come not towards us by blind chance but upon Gods call they move not a hairs breadth further then God bids them and when hepleaseth he calls them back by the word of his mouth this is the Churches comfort 3. And yet here 's a further comfort to Jerusalem Doth the voice of the Lord command all wheels Then let not the Church and people of God be troubled when they are at a low ebb when their dangers are great their enemies many and mighty and all succour fails and there 's none to help them when they are without all strength let them not dispair God sits upon the throne and commands the wheels he can call in help from unexpected places In the 2. book of the Kings chap. the 6. God calls for a great wheel even Benhadad King of Syria with his mighty host to break Samaria and Samaria was brought into great straits a potent enemy without and a grievous famine within and no help appeared all seemed desperate but Chap. 7. upon the prophets intercession as I conceive the Lord called in wheels to their help on earth all help failed therefore the Lord relieves them from above for he made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise in the aire of Chariot wheels and a noise of horses even the noise of a great host and these imaginary wheels in the heaven which the voice of God called in to the rescue of Samaria discomfited the Syrians put them all to flight they ran away as fast as they could and now there is plenty peace and joy in the City Thus the mighty Jehovah that sits above upon the throne can bring order into the Church out of confusion he can make the most formidable enemies of the Church to go back yea to fall backwards he can call in help to his Church when they are at their wits end and all by the word of his mouth Here is Jerusalems comfort I have done with the general Doctrine Now in the 3. place I return to the parts of my text to handle them I purpose to search and examine every particular and I doubt not but we shal find something as we go that may be useful You may remember the parts were three 1. The word cryed 2. To whom the word was cryed 3. The witness in whose presence the word was cryed Of these strictly and in their order The Lord be with us 1. The word cryed O Wheel in the singular number mark that The prophet speaks in the plural as of many As for the wheels says he but the man upon the throne crys out in the singular as if there were but one wheel in all What 's the reason of this It is because the wheels though they be many and their motions different yea contrary yet all move to one and the same end they all joyn as one in bringing about Gods work In mans eye there are many an
thy forehead Fear them not neither be dismayed at their looks though they be a rebellious house The 2. Use and that which is more proper to the time and occasion is to all sorts of people especially the great men of the earth Princes and Governors the rich and honorable Must Gods Prophets and Ministers speak what they hear from God Then let all men whoever they be hear patiently what the messengers of the Lord speak For it may truly be said it is the voice of God and not of man Mica 6. 9. The voice of the Lord cryeth unto the City But methinks I hear what some are ready to object We are willing to hear the word from the Minister if he would preach Christ more if he would set down the dignitys of Christians and leave urging their duties if he would cease reproving and not be so bitter in his invectives his salt is too quick and we are not able to bear his reproachful words he so reviles us that he makes our cheeks to blush and our very eares to tingle I there it pincheth the word of reproof cannot be born especially by the Magistrates and great ones if these mountains be touched they wil smoke and fume They hate him that rebukes in the gate and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly Amos 5. 10. It 's admirable to see how many ways people especially the great ones have to take off the faithful Ministers from rebuking plainly One project is by fawning collogueing and hypocritical slattery They call the Ministers in a respective way thy tel them they are learned men Reverend men holy men of God what good their Ministry doth and how they are respected in their places so as never any had the like love before And what of all this O here 's a baite They proceed But you are too bitter against the Magistrates always reproving the Magistrates to bring them into contempt if you destroy Magistracy it wil be the worse for you Magistrates and Ministers must stand or fall together Therefore let us go hand in hand together Forbear to reprove us or if you see any faults in us come and tel us of them privately and let not the world hear of them and then we shal love you and do any thing in the world for you Here 's the voice of the inchanter But what Must the Prophets tongue be charmed with fair words No No flattering speeches must not put us by our duty when God crys in our hearing when we are called to it we must reprove and rattle the greatest wheels Belshazzar the King came after this manner flamming to Daniel The spirit of the holy Gods is in thee wisdom and knowledg and understanding is in thee thou canst make interpretations and dissolve doubts Now do but interpret the writing for me and make it speak good to me and thou shalt be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about thy neck and thou shalt be the third ruler in the Kingdom But what answers Daniel He said before the King Let thy gifts he to thy self and give thy rewards to another yet I wil read the writing unto the King I wil make known the interpretation be it what it wil be if it be MENE MENE TEKEL VPHARSIN then I wil tel the King plainly God hath numbred thy Kingdom and finished it thou art weighed in the ballances and art found wanting thy Kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians And truly thus the Divel would have baffled Christ Luk. 8. 27 28 29. There were Devils in a man and when they saw Christ approaching they feared he would rebuk them and what did they to prevent it Oh they fell down and carried themselves very mannerly to him they cry out in his praise We know oh Jesus who thou art thou art the Son of God most high thou art the holy one of God! I beseech thee torment us not And would Christ be put off so No no Out Devill out Devill sayes he he spared him never the more for his flattery And so must all faithfull Ministers deale with all those that go about to button up their mouths with sordid slattery Out Devill out Devill Another engine that great men have to stop the mouths of Ministers that they may not reprove them for their sins is persecution and violence Doth Michaiah prophesie evill to wicked Ahab yea though it be nothing but what God spake in his hearing what 's next Thus saith the King put this man in the prison-house and feed him with the bread of affliction and with the water of affliction Let Ministers with us cry out against the sins of the Citie the prophanation of God day the contempt of the Word the luxury and excesse the unmercifulnesse to the poore and the negligence of Magistrates in not endevouring reformation And what 's the next They must look to be called to their Courts to be censured and threatned their means and livelyhood to be taken away Just a year ago upon this very day and occasion the faithfull Minister of Christ who by the providence of God then preached he was but a little in reprehension and presently summoned to the Court and questioned though none evill could be found in him and he had spoken nothing but what was just and right The very last week on Thursday a godly-brother-Minister at a Fast held in my Church did but reprove and that with all humility and modesty the neglect of Magistrates in suffering sish to be sold in the streets on the Sabbath day and presently he was sent for to the Court and called in question as a delinquent And whereforâ— is all this Surely to button up our mouths to make us afraid to quest or open against sin And what Must we Ministers cowardly for fear forbear to tell the people of their transgressions and the house of Juda of their sins I am sure Michaiah did not so when he was doomed to the prison till Ahab returned in peace Thou in peace sayes Michaiah if thou return in peace the Lord hath not spoken by me And he said more-over Hearken all you people It was a publique reproof and threatning in the eares of the whole multitude But the common objection is by thus doing you cry down Magistracy and bring it into contempt and so make a way to all confusion I Answer Cursed I that 's the word comes first to hand I cannot think of a more proper on the sudden let it go for me Cursed be the filthy dreamers that despise dominion and speak evill of dignities Those brethren in iniquity that under the pretext of Christian liberty kick against the higher powers which are ordaind of God strike at the root of all civill government cry down Kings Parliaments all Magistrates and Magistracy who cast off Lawes disturb Order would lay all levell and bring in an Anabaptisticall parity O my soul come not thou into their secret But
tell me I pray doth the reproving the faults and negligences of Magistrates strike at the root of Magistracy Is that the way to bring it into contempt No no this is the way to establish Magistracy and make it glorious As for the wheels of our curious clocks and watches is it a prejudice to them to be filed when they are rusty to be scoured when they are foule to be oyled when they turn too sluggishly You are convinced I dare say that all this is for the good of the wheels to make them shine more bright move more nimbly and do their office more faithfully The application is easie I leave it to your selves I shall draw to a conclusion of this point As for the wheels be they little wheels or be they great wheels be they high or be they low be they rich or be they poore whatsoever is spoken from God in our hearing concerning them we must cry it again in their eares if we that are set as watch-men see their sin and danger and for feare or flattery shall forbear to warn them how dreadfull is our doom Thus saith the Lord Ezek. 3. 17. Son of man I have made thee a watch-man unto the house of Israel therefore hear the Word at my mouth and give them warning from me vers 18. When I say to the wicked thou shalt surely dye and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life the same wicked man shal dye in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thine hand vers 19. Yet if thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickednesse nor from his wicked way he shal dye in his iniquity but thou hast delivered thine own soul This for us Ministers that shrink from our duty Now hear O you wheels great and smal you that kick at reproof and hate him that shal search and dress your sores and count those the only brave preachers that speak roses and their lips like the whorish womans drop as an hony-comb A word for you Read Esa 30. 8. Now go write it before them in a table and note it in a book that it may be fore the time to come and for ever 9. That this is a rebellious people lying Children Children that wil not hear the Law of the Lord. Why what 's their special wickedness Mark v. 10. They say to the Seer's see not and to the Prophets prophesy not unto us right things speak unto us smooth things prophesy deceipts 11. Get you out of the way oh you reproving preachers cause the holy one of Israel to cease molesting us with such bold reprehenders But now take in what follows the punishment 12. Wherefore thus saith the holy one of Israel because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perversness and stay thereon 13. Therefore this iniquity shal be to you as a breach ready to fall swelling out in a high wall whose breaking cometh suddainly and in an instant 14. And he shal break it as the breaking of a potters vessel that is broken in pieces he shal not spare so that there shal not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth or to take water withall out of the pit Behold ye despisers and wonder and vanish away the contempt of the word spoken of by the Prophet is the contempt of him that sits on the throne He that despiseth you says our Lord Jesus Christ despiseth me Luke 10. 16. It is the See'rs duty to cry and to cry earnestly to cry with an O O O! unto all the wheels and wo be to us if we cry not That which we cry is nothing else but what was spoken in our hearing from the throne of glory It is the Lords voice that cryeth unto the City and the man of wisdom wil hear the rod and who hath appointed it that is he will humbly and patiently hear the Prophets of the Lord when they cry as wel as when they sing when they reprove as wel as when they comfort when they preach the Law as wel as when they publish the Gospel he wil hearken to the doctrine that shews him his sins and threatens the rod but he that despiseth instruction and reproof is a fool THE APPLICATION Hitherto Wel-beloved Christians you have had the Exposition of the text the general doctrine and particular observations which grow out of the text and all the way I have shewed you the Uses what to do with those doctrines and observations that they may be rendred profitable Now one thing yet remains and that is to make Application to bring it home to the present time and occasion to the place and persons It 's true this word O Wheel is cryed to the whole world and all things in it as if he that sits upon the Throne should have said O world O heavens O earth oh Kingdoms of the world But yet it is most clear and certain to any one that minds the scope of the Chapter that this word O Wheel was in a more especial and peculiar manner cryed unto Jerusalem The whole Vision concerned Jerusalem it was to admonish Jerusalem and to foreshew things that should shortly be accomplished in Jerusalem Then thus Jerusalem was the chariot the Princes Priests and people were the Wheels And these things are recorded for our instruction what was then cryed to Jerusalem is now cryed to Norwich This City is the Chariot the Magistrates the Ministers and the Commons are the Wheels to these it is cryed in my hearing Oh Wheel O! This adverb or interjection O! makes the application plain and brings it close and home This O! is a servant to the passions and is useful to express various affections It is ever Signum allocutionis a sign of the Vocative case it speaks by calling loud unto another and it principally signifieth and expresseth these following passions with their effects 1. Indignation So Act. 13. 9. Paul set his eyes on Elymas the Sorcerer with indignation and said O! full of all subtilty and all mischief thou child of the devil 2. Reprehension the effect of indignation So Math. 3. 7. John the Baptist when he saw the Pharisees and Sadduces come to his Baptism he said O generation of Vipers 3. It expresseth anger which is declared by threatning So Math. 23. 37 38. Jesus brake forth Oh! Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee behold your house is left unto you desolate 4. It discovers grief So 2. Sam. 18. 33. David upon the news of his sons death burst out in passion O my Son Absalom my Son my Son Absalom would God I had dyed for thee O Absalom my son my Son 5. It 's ever a sign of calling As Ruth 4. 1. Boaz called to the Kinsman and said Ho! such an one turn aside sit down here 6. It shews vehement desire
As in David 2. Sam. 23. 15. he longed and said O that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem Thus is this adverb used in the Scriptures and thus doubtless it must be applyed unto the Wheels For brevity I wil put two together and pair them O! with Indignation Reprehension O! with Anger Threatning Grief O! Calling Desiring O! hearken unto me whilst I apply all these to the Wheels And first this O! reprehends with indignation Surely there was somewhat amiss about the Wheels they were faulty Why what might the matter be Surely either they 1. Moved not at all 2. Or they moved to no purpose 3. Or they moved irregularly 4. Or they stopped Let 's look about a little and see if there be not the same faults in our City Wheels And first Sure they did not move or they did not move as they ought to do The Wheel should turn over the wicked But doth it so The Sabbaths of the Lord are prophaned old men and old women walk in the streets and our streets are full of boys and girles playing in the streets on the Lords day Fish hath been openly cryed and sold in our streets on the Lords day Ale-hous S the shops of the devil and the nurseries of sin do abound Beggars run up and down the streets clamoring after every passenger and many distressed creatures overwhelmed with miseries sit in their forlorn towers and dismal holes and want bread The oppressed cry out for want of Justice O Wheel O Wheels where are the Wheels all this while the great Wheels the Magistrates why do they not stir why do they not turn and run more frequently and diligently into their several Wards what not one Wheel appear to scatter the open prophaners of the Lords day What I not one one Wheel to draw away the Fish on the Lords day What not one Wheel to break the brood of drunkards and Ale-house-haunters What not one Wheel to draw off the beggars from our heels or to draw in necessary provision to he almost starved members of Jesus Christ O Wheels Where are you why move you not why do you not turn in your Sphear It may be worth inquiring what is the matter the Wheels move no better I doubt they are not round it s the round sphaericall figure that is fittest for motion if there be Angles and corners in a Wheel t will never turn wel corners are mischivous things corners are dark all the durt of the house is swept into the corner I fear here 's some cause our Wheels move no better there 's too many corners amongst them dark corners of ignorance O let me speak plainly there 's too many sluttish corners I meon of Vice as pride covetousnes luxury and other sins these hinder the motion O Wheel what art thou not round Or perhaps the Wheels may be too little The Romans were wont to use very great wheels for little chariots they found that the horses had less labor in drawing and yet they drew greater burdens Majores rotae magisaptae ad rotationem the bigger the Wheels the more apt to roul and turn what are our Wheels too little trow we have they too little substance two little height Have they too little understanding to govern Too little ability Oh yee little wheeles look better to the choise of your great wheels Do they not want eyes These wheels in my text were full of eyes as you may see verse 12. of this Chapter round about the rings they were set with eyes as the heaven with starres What are about the rings of our wheels Nothing but great iron hobnayles No marvaile they move no better They are not Oculati they cannot see to move as they should do they want that wisdom and other gifts and graces should make them sit for government Or it may bee the wheeles are not well shod they want a good Strake they have no courage they are afraid of a checke if they should be too active they should lose the favour of their friends if they should be too strict in the execution of justice They have an estate to lose and they feare that Truly it is with the ballances of justice often-times as with the ballance of the watch or clocke it never stirres but when the Crown-wheele or spurre-wheele makes it go So you shall never see some men active any way but as power and necessity compell them O Wheele thy circumference should bee iron round about thou shouldst be a man of courage else thou wilt never move freely Or may not this bee the cause of their not moving the want of GODS Spirit dwelling in them the want of zeale for God The reason why these wheeles moved so nimbly and majestically Chapter 1. 20. was because the spirit of the living creature was in the Wheeles They were not moved by any externall cause no hand turned them But they were moved by an inward principle And it is the want of inward principles that make our wheels stand still Well As for these standing wheels it is cryed unto them in my hearing O Wheel the Lord rebukes thee 2. Let us looke about to spy out the second fault of the wheeles They moved perhaps but to very little or no purpuse So I doubt too many of our wheels both greater and lesser Wheels Magistrates Ministers and other they are enough in motion but what do they either aliud or male either that that 's ill or that that 's as ill as nothing or worse Their motion is just like that of the jack-wheels they turn and turn but what do they turn nothing but a fly at the top and a spit at the bottom So too too many and even of our great Wheels the fly plays and the spit goeth they eat they drink they feast they play they are merry and laugh But for God for the service of the publick for the furthering Religion and Reformation for the good of the City and particular Parishes and Congregations they move not an inch Perhaps sometimes they will roul to the Court of Justice and what do they there truly that which the count-wheel doth in the Clock tell the hours they sit turning their heads and looking about but move not their tongues much less put forth their power for God and the publick good As for these unserviceable wheels it is cryed unto them in my hearing O Wheel the Lord looks on thee with indignation cast out the unprofitable servant 3. A third faul that seems to be in the wheels for which they lye under Gods indignation is their irregular motion As for Ezikiels wheels chap. 1. 12. 17. their motion was even constant uniform as the living creatures which drew the chariot went strait forward and they turned not when they went so the wheels they followed them when they went they went upon their four sides and they returned not when they went their motion was very regular But here
And here it wil be seasonable to give you the sum and parts of the Chapter and to shew you more clearly the coherence of the text The Vision doth most neerly concern Jerusalem in the 3. Vers you shal see the Cherubins standing on the right side of the house that is of the Temple of Jerusalem The proper end of the Vision was to shew the certainty and the neer approach of the destruction of the Jews the living creatures Gods Angels were armed with power from God to take vengeance on them they were winged swift for execution and Jerusalems wo came running upon wheels There 's a tow-fold judgment threatned to Jerusalem which cuts the Chapter into two parts 1. The Lord first shews to the Prophet that he wlll burn the City with fire in the 7 first Verses The Lord spake to the man clothed with linnen and said go in between the wheels and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the Cherubims and scatter them over the City and he went in in my sight Ezekiel and took the fire accordingly ver 7. and went out to do execution 2. Then secondly the Lord sheweth to the Prophet and testifieth by his appearing in the Temple that he is about to depart from the Temple City and Nation from the 8. Ver. to the end most plainly in the 18. Ver. Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house Now before the Lord goeth quite away his voyce eries to the City O Wheel O Jerusalem repent or else O Jerusalem I will have no more to do with thee I will depart and suddain and fearful destruction shal come upon thee The sum of all is An O! of Commination ever follows an O! of Reprehension if the Lord call to a people and they be not humbled and reformed then the Lord will cry against them in his wrath even with the cry of a travailing woman and quite forsake them and utterly destroy them Hear what the Lord saith concerning the Jews Jer. 44. 4. I sent unto you all my servants the Prophets rising early and sending saying Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate There 's an O! of Admonition and Reprehension 5. But they hearkened not nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness to burn no incense unto other gods 6. Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth and was kindled in the Cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem and they are wasted and desolate as at this day The Application will come close to Norwich to England to our selves hear and tremble As for the sins of Jerusalem and Judah I am sure we are as deep as they Had I time to gather a catalogue of sins out of Ezekiel you would verily think that he had received his visions in our City the very same sins are as rife with us as with the Jews You shall find them accused if you read the Prophesie of abominable Idolatry gross Superstition Corruption in the worship and service of God horrible contempt of the Word despising mocking persecuting Gods Messengers scorning at all goodness perfidiousness breaking their Covenants with God and man Fearful prophanation of Gods holy Sabbaths barbarous oppression pride luxury fulness of bread abundance of idleness hardness of heart and unmercyfulness to the poor there was then a strong Malignant party that with all their wit and strength opposed the Reformation endeavored by Jeremiah Ezekiel and others and now what think you mutato nomine change but the name for Ierusalem read Norwich for Iuda and Israel read England and doth it not hold right are not those sins and many more ours When the Lord saw that their iniquity was great and their sin very grievous he cryed unto them with a mighty voyce for it was in the Prophets hearing the voyce came from the Throne over the Temple in Ierusalem and Ezekiel was by the river Chebar in Babylon a voyce indeed that could reach so far So loud the Lord cryed O Wheel an O of Reprehension and admonition O do not these abominations which my soul hateth but they refnsed to hearken I know you cannot miss applying of it hath not the Lord cryed in our ears by his sons of thunder have not the faithful messengers of the Lord shewed the people their transgressions and rebuked them sharply Have they not discovered their dangers and called them to repentance saying O do not these abominable things which the Lord hateth Mark how God proceeds with them when he sees they continue thorns and briers and scorpions and rebellious and an obstinate people then with a stretched out hand from heaven he reacheth forth to Ezekiel a roll of a book and when it was spread before the Prophet he saw that it was written within and without and there was written therin lamentations and mourning and wo he threatens dreadful destruction he cries out Chapter the 7. An end the end is come upon the four corners of the Land an evil an only evil shal suddainly come and in this 10. Chap. The Execution is begun the Angel scatters coals of fire about the City I would to God the Application were not so manifest as that none can miss it We have continued a stiff-necked people we have walked stubbornly kicked at reprehension and we have hated to be reformed and now the Lord hath scattered coals of fire about our Cities and Country even the hot fire of war and contention the coals of juniper blown up by the spirit of division O the fire burns the fire burns poor England is consuming apace and is like to be turned into ashes shortly And here I cannot but set a hand to point at two remarkable Circumstances by the way One is the Circumstance of the place whence the coals were taken namely from between the Cherubims in the Temple to admonish that they were Temple-sins that kindled the fire of Gods wrath contempt of the Word and Ministers false Doctrine Corruption in Gods Worship Prophanation of the Sabbath Sacriledg and Idolatry nothing doth so much incense the Lord and provoke him to fury as Temple-sins Corruption in Religion and Doctrine The other Circumstance remarkable is the person that takes and scatters the coals about Jerusalem it 's the man clothed with linnen who is described in the 9. Cap. ver 2. 4. to have a writers inkhorn by his side whose office there was to set a mark upon the foreheads of them that mourn which sure is none other but the Lord Jesus Christ in the former Chapter you see him a protector a Saviour here in this Chapter he is a consumer a destroyer Christ first comes to seek and to save to call sinners to repentance but if they hearken not then he changeth his work and he comes armed with flaming fire to execute vengeance upon all impenitent persons O sad condition when Christs comes in anger against a people then is ruine dreadful and
unavoydable when the Lord cries to us by his Ministers and calls us to repentance as long as we hearken to his voice we have Christ to plead for us but when our advocate becomes our enemy how deplorable is our condition I fear I fear it is the man in white linnen that is now scattering coals of fire about our City and Country and the Lord is departing from us But yet before he departs from Jerusalem he calls to it O Wheel The Lords departure from Jerusalem is by degrees he doth not fly away in an instant no no the Lord leaves them as if he were loth to depart Observe a little his motions In the former Chapter Verse 3. The glory of the God of Israel went up from the Cherub to the threshold of the house that is from the Mercy-seat in the holy place to the door of the Sanctuary ready to go out and there the Lord tatries a while before he depart In this tenth Chapter verse 18. he removes a little further The glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house and stood over the Cherubims That is he went forward to the East gate of the great Court on the top of that gate aloft were placed Cherubims and there the Lord rested a while before he went quite away In the next Chapter verse 23. he removes yet further The glory of the Lord went up from the middest of the City and stood upon the mountain which is on the East-side of the City that is Mount Olivet and there he rests a while But why doth he abide upon mount Olivet Truly some are of opinion that the Lord stayed upon the mount to see the burning of the City and to triumph over it As did Nero when Rome was fired he gate him up to the top of a hill and there did sing and rejoyce at the spectacle The Lord had often called to Jerusalem and they had refused he had stretched out his hand and none would regard therefore now he sits upon the Mount and laughs at their destruction and mocks at the comming of their fear But I rather think and hope he staid a while upon the Mountain to be called back again Before he went out of the City he cryed to them O Wheel Oh Jenusalem yet yet seek me and I will be found of you call to me and I will return and dwell with you Neither here can you avoid the Application Doth not the Lord seem to be departing from England But he hath not taken his slight all at once he hath with-drawn himself by degrees In the time of the late prelaticall tyranny and persecution when the worship of God was corrupted the faithfull Ministers of the Gospell silenced all manner of popish superstitious innovations obtruded then God seemed to be gone to the threshold ready to go out of England but departed not When the Commotions and concussions began between the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland threatning the breaking of both Then God seemed to be going still further from us from the threshold out of the door onward on his way from England but yet he departed not When the bloody intestine warre began between the King and his Parliament then the Lord seemed to be departing quite away then was thè noise of a whip and the noise of the ratling of the wheels and of the praunsing horses and of the jumping chariots The horse-man lifted up both the bright sword and the glittering spear and there was a multitude of slain and great number of carcasses and the Lord seemed to sit aloft upon his holy Mountain laughing at our destruction But blessed be his holy Name we find he is not quite gone there 's a little stay of his judgements I hope beloved Christians the Lord stayes yet upon Mount Olivet the Mountain of peace and he expects when we should call him back again Yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing The Voice of God from the Throne hath called to us a long time Oh Wheel Now let us call to Mount Olivet O Lord our God Depart not from us let us call him back with our true and hearty repentance with our thorough reformation with our team and prayers who can tell but God may yet repent and return and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not Return Oh Lord to thy thousands in our Israel and dwell amongst us again Amen 3. At the last I come to the third and last Pair of O-s to wit the O of Calling Desiring And here I am to speak in the Vocative case and to call every one to their duty to set every wheel on turning and that for prevention of the dreadfull ruine threatned and as I go along I cannot but make it the desire of my heart that the word of God may take good effect O si ô ut inam And first in generall I call to all the wheels what was spoken from the Throne of glory in my hearing that I cry in the eares of every wheel O Wheel Turn turn for this is a word of command yea turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with fasting and weeping and with mourning and rent your hearts be humbled for all your irregular and preposterous motions and turn to the Lord by unfamed repentance a thorough reformation a holy conversation and newnesse of live Let thy Spirit Oh God come upon all these Wheels And O wheels roll run Sion-ward let your eyes your spokes your rings all turn heaven-ward Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear the Lord and keep all his Commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children for ever Deut. 5. 29. In the next place more especially I call to the great wheels to the heads of the people to the Magistrates As for those wheels it is cryed unto them from the Throne of Glory O Wheels Turn regularly in your proper Sphaeres Judg you the people with just judgment Scatter the wicked O let the great wheels turn over them Let not swearers and drunkards and houses of drunkeness and prophaners of Gods Sabbaths Malignant Priests that begin to rake up their old Superstitions again O Wheels have you not eyes Do you not see what abundance there are of these Why do you let them lie so quietly O Wheels turn over them either mend them or remove them or break them In the 77. Psa ver 18. says Asaph the voyce of thy thunder was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in rota in the wheel so it is in the Hebrew O wheels let 's hear the voyce of thunder from you thunder against this wicked crue And oh Wheels accept not persons do justice to the smal as well as to the great Defend the poor and fatherless do justice to the afflicted and needy deliver the poor and needy rid them out of the hand of the wicked Take heed what
ye do for ye judg not for man but for the Lord. I pray cast your eyes upon the Lords Throne Dan. 7. 9. The ancient of days did sit his throne was like a fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire Gods Throne moves upon Wheels What 's the meaning of that It signifieth to us that God is the great King and Judg of all the world he sits above and by his powerful providence governeth and judgeth all things But how not immediately he carryeth on his judgment by wheels those wheels below the Throne are Kings and Judges of the earth by them God acts and executeth his judgments O Magistrates remember you are the wheels of Gods Throne Oh that these wheels were as burning fire that they would consume the wicked like dross that their light might shine before men that they would be hot zealous for God that they would move swiftly turn with facility count it a joy to do judgment O si O utinam would to God our Magistrates were all such Finally I come yet more close to the work of the day and in the last place I shal crave leave to speak the word to a particular wheel the greatest of the wheels the chief Magistrate new elected I have observed of late years the Preacher commonly hath directed his speech personally to the New-Elect and given him a charge or rather a word of Exhortation I shal follow former Presidents and so much the rather because the chief Magistrate to whom I am to speak lives under my charge and also because my Text calls me to call particularly O Wheel I will endeavor to dispatch all in a few particulars O Wheel drive prosperously Be not offended that I set the Wheel a going to day I hope it will turn the better all the year after And first O Wheel it is with you this day as it was with the Wheel under my hand Chap. 1. 19. it was listed up from the earth and so are you lifted up above your brethren Remember who it is that hath advanced you even the Son of God that sits upon the Throne of Glory For promotion cometh neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South but GOD is the Judg he putteth down one and setteth up another Psa 75. 6 7. Be not impatient then under the great burden of Government that is fallen upon your shoulders at your election it was the Lord that turned all the wheels and he serued you up into this place of honor do you submit to this dispensation be thankful and move swiftly and zealously for that God who hath lift you up be a wheel of burning fire O Wheel be round be round Totus teres atque rotundus a round is the embleme of perfection as being every where equal and like it self it is the fittest figure for motion and the most capacious The Sphaeres are round the lights of heaven are round the heads of beasts indeed are long and square and corner'd but the heads of men are round and the wheels of Gods Chariot and Throne ought to be round away away with all unevenness with all corners every sin is as a corner or a knob that will hinder the pleasant turning of the Wheel be round O Wheel be round be perfect as your heavenly Faaher is perfect O Wheel move and turn as my wheel doth here that is in the Temple The care of Religion lieth upon the Magistrate therefore honor God with your authority O Wheel with all your weight turn over Idolaters Hereticks Blasphemers Schismaticks Sabbath-breakers suppress them and make much of them that fear the Lord. Promote to your utmost power the service and worship of God see that Gods poor be provided for and that Gods faithful Ministers may have countenance and maintenance O Wheel O Wheel never leave turning and turn all wheels to bring more faithful and able Ministers into the City Oh it 's a sad thing that there should be 36. Parishes within the Walls and I think above half of them have no Ministers at all and many of the rest have such Ministers as they had as good have none perhaps better Oh Wheel put on to settle Church-government to settle the Union of Parishes to procure Pastors for every stock to see the Sabbaths of the Lord sanctified Honor God for those that honor him he will honor O Wheel lift up God lift up Christ into his Throne and the Lord will lift you up higher O Wheel Be well shod be couragious how can the Wheel move long without shattring except it have a good strake Fortitude it is the strake of Gods Wheel You are now Gods special instrument by which he doth his work of Justice and Government go on boldly fear not the frown of any regard not the favor of any In the name of God move with your own proper motion I do not mean according to the dictate of carnal reason neither that you should consult with flesh and blood but that motion which the Law of God commands and the Spirit of God suggests that 's your proper motion O Wheel let not any hand turn you the wrong way V. 10. it 's said there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rota in medio rotae a wheel in a wheel a lesser wheel within that turns the greater wheel as it pleaseth and hath it not been so amongst our wheels Hath not this been a common word whosoever be New-elect we know who will be Maior O Wheel move with your proper motion and fear not the Lord wil be with you as he was with Joshua He will not fail you nor forsake you only be thou strong and very couragious that thou mayst observe to do according to all the Law which God hath commanded thee turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayst prosper whithersoever thou goest O Wheel move constantly this is the description of the wheels Chap. 1. 17. When they went they went upon their four sides and they returned not when they went O Wheel run on in a good way and return not commonly the motion of a Wheel is slow at first and by degrees swifter and swifter be you so more and more active and zealous for the advancement of Gods glory and the publick good grow better and better in your office let your works be like the works of that Angel in the Revelation more at the last then at the first Oh what hopes have we had of many Magistrates at their first coming on in the beginning of their office how have the wheels ratled how nimbly have they turned how forward and active have they been in reforming abuses and doing for the good of the City but before their year hath come out yea in a little time all our hopes have come to nothing the wheels have flagged in their motion or turned the wrong way Amphora coepit Institui currente rota cur uâ—ceuâ— exit
apt to move from place to place to go yea readily to run circuite for the administration of justice But I will hang this aside you may look upon it when you please in Gods book I shall go no further then my text out of that I present you with this Shield or escouchion the whole devise a piece of Ezekiels Vision The field is a Marble colour because the appearance was by the Temple-wall the matter whereof was marble the charge a great wheel with twenty four spokes joyning together in one Nave and bound about with one ring and in the strake eyes in stead of nails the colour of the wheel a sea-green Verse 9. the appearance of the wheel was as the colour of a beril 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was the colour of the sea The crest the head of a Cherub with the Wings and four faces the face of a Man the face of a Lion the face of an Ox and the face of an Eagle and over the crest above I dare not be so bold as to represent the Son of God sitting upon a throne but the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surrounded with glorious rayes and from that glory a beame of light darting down to the wheel and in it the word O Wheel By that which you have heard he that runs may reade the meaning For the Crest that also speaks to Magistrates the Cherub or Angell with wings minds them of a heavenly conversation that they should be winged and cheerfull in ministring justice and doing the whole will of God The four faces commends unto them four vertues requisite in Governours The face of a man wisdome the face of a Lion fortitude the face of an Ox patience and unwearied labour the face of an Eagle swiftnesse of motion and heavenly-mindednesse by these creatures God doth his great and wonderfull works And for the word O Wheel I hope you can reade that But I beseech you you I say whom God hath lifted up this day into the highest seat in this City I beseech you mark whence the voice doth come look upwards it comes from Jehova it is the God above that gives the word of command to the Magistrate Ever ever in all your proceedings look upward eye God hearken to his word of command what ever you do have a word from God stir not move not O Wheel except you have a word from the Throne of glory and when God cryeth to you stand not still but turn and be doing and if you walk according to this rule peace shal be upon you and mercy and upon the Israel of God The Lord hath honored you lay out your self to honour God be faithfull and then I promise you another O! an O of gratulation and exultation At the great day of retribution when the Son of God shall sit upon his Throne to judg the world and to give to every one according to his work Then shall the Lord say unto you O wheel thou hast turned very well thou hast done worthily in thy place Well done O thou good and faithfull servant thou hast been faithfull in a little I wil make thee ruler over much enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Oh Wheel thou didst turn painfully in my service Now rest and shine like the Berill stone for ever I was even about to stop here but let me remember my self one word more I beseech you and then I cease By wheels are chiefly meant reasonable creatures that 's apparent Then welbeloved Christians we are all wheels and then we must also al conceive that the Word is cryed to every one of us in particular from the Throne of glory O Wheel To thee and to me the Sonne of God cryes O Wheel turn turn God hath appointed to every one of us that are here in his presence a severall motion to one he hath appointed one work to another another work one wheel he placeth in the Church another in the Common-Wealth O let us all move in our severall Spheres according to the word of God Not only Magistrates those great wheels in their places but let us Ministers in the orb of the Church move diligently and faithfully Let us preach the Word be instant in season and out of season let us reprove rebuke and exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine let us watch in all things endure asslictions do the work of true Evangelists and fulfill our Ministry The Lord cryes to us O Wheels Let all the people move in their severall orbs with all diligence it's cryed to the least wheel O Wheel turn turn turn do the work of God in thy place What-ever thy hand finâ—s to do do it with all thy might Let the Master do his duty in his sphere let the servant do his duty in his orb let the tradesman do his duty in his calling Let every one be ever turning rolling and acting in the duties of his generall and particular calling And let us not only do Gods work in our severall stations but let us do it with readinesse alacrity and cheerfulnesse Let 's be all round the sphericall bodies are most apt to turn lay a perfect round ball upon a plain and the least touch will make it roll O that with the Prophet I could hear the ratling of the wheels and the noise of the clapping of the wings of the living creatures which expresse their activity and zeale in the service of God And let us be constant in our motion like the wheels let us run on and not turn back till we have quite finished our course The living creatures move the Angels move the wheels move swiftly and shall we stand still To move us to this diligence and alacrity in the service of God it is enough that we remember we are wheels The Wheel as it must have a motion so it must of necessity have an end of motion God hath decreed just how long every wheel shall move that is from the day of our birth to the day of our death but how long that shall be or how short none knows but he that sits on the Throne of Glory and with the hand of his providence turns every wheel This is certain our motion still is neerer and neerer to the end what a deal of our motion is spent since we came together into this place James the Apostle calls the progress of our life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wheel of nature our life runs upon wheels and none can stop them till our bodies roll into the grave It is but a very little while we have to move therefore let us hearken to the voyce of the Apostle Gal. 6. 10. While we have time and opportunity let us do good Hieroms translation reads my Text rotas istas vocavit volubiles the Lord called them swift-turning wheels let us turn swiftly for we have but a very little time to move This is it which Solomon presseth Eccles 12. in the first Verse