Lord of Israel the kindnesse of thy youth the lose of thine espousals when thou wentest after me in the wildernesse in a land that was not sown Our first works and our last works are commonly our best works when we begin first to live the life of grace and when we are ready to die and are entring upon the life of glory how excellent is our marriage how savoury our words how heavenly our conversation Even so it is when we are delivered from any great danger when enlarged with any singular comforts how lively how zealous and how active are we Call to minde the fifth of November 1605. when we were delivered from that barbarous Gunpowder-treason how forward were we in making laws against Papists how severe in suppressing Jesuites how zealous in setling true Religion Iâ— Iâ— reported of the City of Berne when first delivered from Antichrist when that State cast off that Romane bondage and reformed Religion that they wrote the day of their Redemption upon pillars in letters of gold And it is observable that in all the ages of the Church God hath set out himself to his people by such names and titles as were most suitable to his present dispensations or such as were of the last edition And why so But that his late mercies might be the better considered and remembred Hence in the beginning he was called the most high God the possessour of heaven and earth who had made all by the word of his power Under those times Melchisedech blessed Abraham Blessed be Abraham saith he of the most high God possessor of heaven and earth And Abraham covenanted to take nothing from the King of Sodome and that under these terms I have lift up my hand unto the Lord the most high God possessor of heaven and earth that I will not take from a thread to a shoe-latchet and that I will not take any thing that is thine Afterwards when God entred into a covenant with Abraham and his seed he was called the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And under those titles God gave his charge to Moses when he sent him to bring his people out of the Land of Aegypt I am the God of thy Father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. After that he was called the God that brought them out of the Land of Aegypt out of the house of bondage Such was the preface to his law I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt out of the house of bondage And so it continued for many generations even until he brought them out of Babylon And then saith the Lord It shall be no more said The Lord liveth that brought them out of the land of Aegypt but The Lord liveth that brought the children of Israel out of the land of the North. And now under the Gospel he is known by this most excellent name The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ And why so But because our redemption by Christ is the last and the great work he hath done for his Church and most fresh in our memories Whilest therefore mercies are fresh and work most upon the heart doe something in remembrance of Gods goodness and why not then write them downe in a Journall A small matter I should think whilest the heart is warm and well affected with the present sense of some singular pledge of Gods loving kindnesse may easily perswade to this duty 5. And finally love the Lord for his goodnesse If any thing under heaven will constrain us and help forward this duty love will Oh! love the Lord all ye his Saints saith the Psalmist And indeed none but Saints can love him He knocks at every dore and as it were pulls every man by the sleeve and saith Oh! love you the Lord Let the drunkard love his cups and the adulterer his harlots and the covetous person his bags but do you that are Saints love the Lord. For the Lord preserveth the faithfull and pletifully rewardeth the proud doer When one bucket goes downe the other will come up When Pharaoh is drowned Israel is saved When Haman is hanged Mordecai is advanced When proud doers are plagued the faithful are delivered Oh! love the Lord therefore And indeed love is all that God looks at in us and expects from us and where there is love there is no lack After so large a repetition of the great things God hath done for Israel What saith Moses to them doth God now require for all this but that you would love him And indeed love is complementumlegis the fulfilling of the Law Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing saith the Apostle but faith that worketh by love Faith and Love are like a pair of Compasses Faith like one point fastens upon Christ as the center and Love like the other goes the round in all the works of holinesse and righteousnesse Now certainly Love hath a good memory or would have a good memory What we slight we soon forget but what we love we endevour to lay up sure in our memories Vbi amâ—r ibi animus Where our love is our minde is Where our treasure is there will our heart be It was the eye that made the match That which which the eyesees not the heart desires not And as love came in by the eye so it delights by the same dore to look after that beloved object Such a soul that hath seen God in all things and therefore loves God above all things delights still to look after God in all his wayes that he may love him more and more Such a soul loves God as Jonathan loved David 1. Amore unionis with a love of union the soul of Jonathan was knit to David for he loved him as his own soul 2. He loved him amore complacentiae with a love of delight for it is said that Jonathan delighted much in David 3. He loved him amore benevolentiae with a love of good will for Jonathan said to David Whatsoever thy souldesireth I will even do it for thee Even so doth a gracious heart love God not onely with a love of union and a love of delight but with a love of good will too who saith to God as Paul at his conversion Lord what wilt thou have me to do Such an one is ready to suffer what ever may be inflicted on him and to do what ever may be required of him especially whatsoever may testifie how well he remembers God and his loving kindnesse to him CHAP. VIII Severall arguments propounded by which Christians may be provoked to keep such a Journall or Diary as hath been commended THat such Christians as have any abilities for the keeping of such a Journal or Diary as hath been commended to them may be encouraged thereunto I shal in the second place propound these foure arguments First it is
honest man meeting with a very rich neighbour in his Corn-fields upon harvest very plentifully stored consisting of many acres said to him You have Sir a very rich crop answered Yea I wil have a good crop and gave not God the praise Within a few dayes after by a mighty storm of wind the greatest part of his corn was blown out of the ear and with other wet weather it was so wasted that it came to little If we forget God he will forget us He will remember our sins and punish us for them but he wil forget our persons in time of trouble To wâ—ch purpose I shall relate a sad story which I had from a good hand in the hearing of very many and I believe it to be very true A man that on his sick bed that proved his death-bed had one time an extraordinary appetite and desired something that he might eat which being brought to him he did as much loath as before he longed for and therefore without touching any part of it was carried away suddenly he called for it again his stomach to such provision being as strong and quick as ever which was done accordingly and set before him but his stomach rose against it with as great abhorrency as before This was done a third time upon the former ground carried away again for the same reason At last he confessed that it was just with God so to deal with him that never craved a blessing from God upon his meat when he sat down at his table nor gave God thanks when he rose up but forgat God the giver of all And indeed it is just with God to forget us in our straights that never remember him in our enlargements The keeping of such a Journall would conduce much to the preventing of such an evil Fourthly it is a very profitable course to have such a Journal or Diary by us and you know Who wil shew us any good Who wil bring us any profit is the great question of the world and prevails very far Now it is profitable these 7 ways 1. As it would be an excellent way to advance the name and honorable memoriall of some so it would thereby much promote the good of others For would such as are of singular worth and speciall note for their learning piety and usefulnesse in Church or Common-wealth be perswaded to this duty of keeping a Journall how easie were it for their posterity or speciall friends to write a history of their Lives especially so far as concerned their parents their birth and breeding either in 〈◊〉 University or Innes â—of Court their great preservations from dangers their great preferments to places of trust with their employments and successe in those places and such like Other things might be added as occasion is offered from the relation of others which as it would much conduce to the honor of the dead so it would very far advance the good of those that survive them Most people believe their eyes rather then their ears and walk more by patterns then they do by any rules Mahomet the Great the first Emperor of Constantinople did ever set before him the examples of Alexander and Caesar in all his Wars whom he laboured to imitate And it is reported of Themistocles that he had always in his thoughts the victories of Miltiades which made him unsatisfied till he had imitated him Christians that have such a cloud of witnesses not unlike the pillar of a cloud to Israel in the wilderness may the better be guided through the dark labyrinths of this evil world till they come to that Canaan of unutterable joy and happinesse of which those worthies are now made partakers And indeed who can behold their love to Gods truth their zeal for his glory their patience in tribulation their courage in a good cause their perseverance in well-doing their holinesse of life their prayers fasting tears alms temperance modesty heavenly mindednesse with their triumph at their death but must needs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stir up the grace that 〈◊〉 them stir the coals of their servent desires till they break out into a flame in being followers of those worthies as they followed Christ The Lacedemonians for the better stirring up of young men to noble enterprises used to have the statues of their most famous Worthies either Gown-men or Sword-men set up in their Senate-house with this sentence in golden letters Si fueritis sicut hi eritis sicut â—i If you will be like these for their service you shall be like these for their honour Some have taken good pains in writing the Lives and Deaths of such as have deserved well in their generations a Work in this regard very commendable How many such examples would be preserved and left to posterity which otherwise were like to be lost were this course of keeping Diaries observed 2. This practice would bring Christians into great acquaintance with God and his most gracious nature So the Psalmist who having fully discoursed of his providence over divers sorts of persons in answering their prayers and relieving them in their necessities concludes Whoso is wise and will observe these things even such shall understand the loving kindnesse of the Lord. Now what better way to observe such things then by a constant keeping of such a Journal Thence we may discern his loving kindnesse 1. How full it is who giveth us richly all things to enjoy 2. How free it is who doth all for us for his name sake 3. How firm it is with whom there is no variablenesse nor shadow of turning whose gifts and calling are without repentance And who would not endevour by all means to be wel acquainted with God whom to know is wisdome indeed to fear is godlinesse indeed to enjoy is happinesse indeed 3. It will from hence much inlarge our love to God for we must needs love him that hath loved us first especially that hath loved us thus Certainly the more we know God the better we shall love him I will deliver him saith the Lord by the Psalmist because he hath set his love upon me and he hath set his love upon me because he hath known my name Even Publicans saith our Saviour will love those of whom they are beloved by whom they are rewarded And shall not Christians be in love with such a God whose mercies are more then we can number greater then we can value And will not this our love to God be beneficial to us If we love him he will love us again and in his love there can be no lack for they that seek him early shall finde him He that loveth me saith Christ shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him And again If any man love me he will keep my commandements and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Now this
such in the Scriptures Few men went to the grave in peace that by their monstrous impietiâ— made war against heaven and his Church As what became of Pharaoh the bloody and Achitophel the crafty of Balaam the covetous and Corah the rebell of Haman the proud and Herod the fox As their live were wicked so their ends were fearful Iâ— like manner what became of Absalom the disobedient and Ela the drunkard 〈◊〉 Zimri and Cosbi the unclean of Ananiâ— and Saphira those lyars Were not all these taken away with a stroke in their sin Whaâ— became of those Romane Nimrods as Maxentius the Tyrant and Julian the Apostate with others who hunted the Saints of God to death in those ten persecutions mentioned in Ecclesiasticall Histories How few oâ— their hoary heads went to the grave in peace To come neerer to our owne times What became of wily Winchester and bloody Bonner with many others that ruled the roste in those Dog-dayes of Q Mary's reign Few of those bloody and deceitfull men lived out half their dayes But when the scumme was at the highest it fell into the fire for though God did bear them up for some time in their essence yet he would not bear them out at all in their malice God hath leaden feet but iron hands though he comes slowly yet he strikes surely It is good to mark the ends of men Mark the perfect man saith the Psalmist and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Balaam did so as wicked as he was which made him wish that he might dye the death of the righteous and that his latter end might be like his In like manner mark the end of the transgressors for they shall be destroyed together the end of the wicked shall be cut off that is they shall not dye the common death of all men but shall be cut off in the midst of their dayes If their lives be tragical their deaths are seldome comicall Zoroastes the inventer of Magick as some Historians affirm of him laught at his birth but dyed a wofull and a lamentable death being banished from his Countrey Alphonsus Dyazius a Spaniard a rigid Papist procured a notorious cut-throat to murâ—her his Brother John Dyazius a sincere Protestant because he could by no means turn him from the truth but the righteous Lord would not suffer such an unnaturall villany to go unpunished for not long after he was haunted by the terrors of his owne conscience that being at Trent when the Councel sate there for he was one of the Popes Lawyers he hanged himself about the neck of his owne Mule How have some godly Divines taken good pains in writing the stories of Godâ— judgements upon notorious malefactors aâ— Drunkards Swearers Sabbath-breakers and such like Would others be perswaded in their generation to take speciall notice and keep some account of such memorable accidents the benefit would be singular The righteous shall see and fear saith the Psalmist What shal they see That God destroyed the mighty man that boasts himself in mischief that God takes him away and plucks him out of his dwelling place and roots him out of the land of the living A Serviâ—g-man being at a Tavern in Essex and threatning to swear the Constable out of the Town if he came there in a drunken fit running after one to make him pledge him a pinte of sack at a draught fell down the stairs and dyed instantly Novemb. 1. 1626. A Fisher-man that I knew bringing Mackerell to a Port-town in Suffolk where the people because they were new and the first that came that yeer to Town pressing eagerly to buy them and some against his will being entred into his boat he took up a stone and sware by the name of God he would make them stand further off instantly sunk down and soon after dyed How many in my time have I noted Would others do the like how would men consider such things and understand the righteous judgements of the Lord 5. Finally consider seriously and observe very strictly what the Nationall Epidemicall sin of the time and present generation may be Where iniquity abounds it is hard to determine but questionlesse every age hath a peculiar distemper In times of commotion when the bands of love are broken into severall parties and factions as they have been lately amongst us it is more easily discerned A noble Gentleman of singular abilities and one much employed in affairs of State in his time whom I knew well advised his friends at such a time to buy up all the Pamphlets that were printed if of any considerable worth for when people fall out they commonly speak out and if they be once drunk with passion and their distempers boyl to any height the most secret venome will swim on the top By which means you may easily seel the pulse of the present time and discover what is the Nationall and most predominant sinne and it will be worth our praise to know it Which that we may the better doe let us look back a little to the generations behinde us 1. Some times have been more notorious for drunkennesse Scaliger in his Book de Lingua Latina observes this of the Germans in his time that their vivere was bibere not only in their pronunciation as he noted but in their practice as other well observed who lived that they might drink Seneca foretold so much of some times that men should be so drowned with this sin of drunkennesse that plurimum meri sumpsisse virtus esset it should be esteemed a virtue to strive with the Brewers horse who should carry more liquor and with some it hath been of that esteem that not as drunk as a Begger but as drunk as a Prince hath been a kind of proverbial commendation of some When Aeschines commended Philip King of Macedon for a Joviall man who would drink freely Demosthenes being by told him that this was a good quality in a Spunge but not in a Prince Drunkennesse is a sin that layes men open to all iniquity more then any sin Ebrietas in se culpas complectitur omnes What sin is not a Drunkard subject to Their eyes shall behold strange women saith Solomon and their hearts shall utter perverse things And a sin it is that God hath more frequently and suddenly plagued with death in the very act then any other sin Edgar a King of England observing in his time that excessive drinking abounded in the Land through the example of the Danes that dwelt in divers parts of the Kingdome to prevent that evill ordained that their cups they drank in should have certain pins or nails put in them beyond which if any drank at one draught he should pay so much money 2. Some generation hath been more infamous for that sin of Swearing and that by the name of God even at every word here in England Insomuch that a family in this Land and that no mean one
was so notorious for this sin that they had the name of the Bygods given them and were so usually called I remember Mr. Fox in his History of the Acts and Monuments of the Church reciting many evidences whereby he proved the antiquity of Priests Marriage sets down the copy of a Release made by William Bygod Lord of Little Bradley to Henry Denardestone Clerk and Alice his Wife and questionlesse that name of Pigot was originally the same though in succession of time and very wisely it was changed Omne peccatum suam habet excellentiam Every sin hath some peculiar vilenesse wherein it may be said to excel other There 's not any sin that doth more plainly discover the great profanenesse of the heart as common swearing especially by the name of God for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh 3. Some times that are gone over our heads and therefore far behinde us have been infected with an itching humour after Superiority wherein persons not content to abide in the calling that God set them in have indevoured to go beyond their proper line and so broke their ranks Thus Absalom was not content with the place of a Son nor Hazael with the rank of a Subject nor Jezabel with the condition of a Wife whose desires should be subject to her Husband whose right it was to rule over her Thus the lowest of the people under the countenance of Jeroboam would be Priests and it was a small thing in the eyes of Corah and his company that God had brought them nigh unto himself to do service but they must seek the Priesthood also Thus Jeroboam the Servant of Solomon is not contented unlesse he may lift up his hand against his Master How sad was that time amongst the Scythians who whilest they made their third Expedition into Asia and tarryed seven yeers as Justin in his History reports were turned out of their beds and possessions by their servants that were left behinde to keep their cattle and at their return were kept out by force of Arms by those slaves who had taken their Wives and possessed their goods Not much unlike that of the people of Israel servants ruled over them and there was none to deliver them Caesar riding one day through a Towne was asked by one whether there were any striving for offices and places of honour in that place answered that he had rather be the chief man in that little Village then the second person in Rome an itching humour it is after greatnesse that hath run in a blood from Adam and Eve to this day who were not content with their standing but would be as Gods knowing good and evill Now as the root of this humour is extreme pride so the fruit is confusion first I say pride is the cause there are none that are so low in their deserts but are very high in their thoughts even the bramble hath great thoughts and high words too of his shadow and it was but a shadow Absalom and Hazael and Iezebel and Ieroboam thought they could manage the affairs of a Kingdome better then David or Benhadad or Ahab or Solomon Every simple Cobler thinks he can go beyond his Last and preach far better then his Priest Ye Sons of Levi saith he take too much upon you But the fruit of such ambition is mischief and confusion Some Countrey Pesants that behold the stars to glister in the horizon on the top of a mountain think if they were there they could reach the heaven order the stars but being exalted on that mountain they are as far to seek as before What became of Absalom the Rebel and Hazael the Traitor and Iezebel the Proud of Ieroboam the Servant and Corah and his company As none did so ill so none sped worse their mischief lighted on their own heads and like to Phaeton their violent dealing on their owne pates Those Scythian slaves though their Masters could not beat them with their weapons yet at the sight of their Masters rods and whips ran all away and at last perished But you will ask me What may be the sin of this time Somewood is more apt to breed worms and some cloth more ready to breed moths and some times have their peculiar sins But what is the sin of this age which is more considerable for us then the looking back to the times that are past 1. Some say our great divisions our most bitter contentions and that amongst Brethren is the sin And indeed this evill is grown to that height that they that should dye one for another can hardly live one by another Surely such divisions amongst those that professe godlinesse cause great thoughts of heart for the neerer the union is the more dangerous is the breach broken bones are not so soon healed nor sinews that are cut so soon knit as great gashes in the flesh may be cured if a cable rope be broken it is very hardly tyed together If the Father and the Son if the Husband and the Wife fall out they are hardly reconciled and as Solomon saith A brother offended is harder to be won then a strong City We do not finde that Paul and Barnabas ever met together again after they parted asunder through their sharp contention Which made Cosmus a Duke of Florence say We are commanded to forgive our enemies but we never read that we are bid to forgive our friends And that which makes our contention so much the more grievous is that one speciall means that God hath appointed for the uniting of Brethren is become a ground of the greatest quarrell The Lords Supper is a feast of Loves a communion ordained to nourish union and yet at this feast we have found a bone of contention and an apple of strife And it is observable that when any listen to seducing spirits and separate from this ordinance they grow sowre and sullen to their dearest friends Our Saviour Christ foretelling the evills of the latter dayes gives this as a badge of the last and worst the old and cold age of the world Iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall grow cold But what is the cause of both Many false Prophets shall arise and shall seduce many and surely the difference of judgement will ever cause a distance in affections Firebrands though they doe not smoak more when they are out of the chimney yet I am sure they offend more and may prove dangerous The novel opinions of these times kept within dores do too much harm but spread abroad by the boutefewes of these times through their burning charity are ready to set all on fire And most people either out of ignorance or easinesse are like foot-travellers who when they come to a stile that stands neer a gap leave the stile and go in at the breach take up any error that causeth division rather then take the pains to try the spirits to prove all
have proved the instrument of preserving his Father and his family from perishing in the famine and providing for them a dwelling place in the Land of Aegypt And yet God made choyce of him Amongst all the Sons of Jesse even Samuel the Seer would not have chosen David the youngest and the least regarded and therefore set to keep the sheep to be the man whom God would anoint amongst his Brethren to be King of Israel And yet God made choyce of him and leaves Eliab and Shammah and Abinadab though proper persons great Souldiers and prime Courtiers When this David was sent by his Father into the Camp to visit his Brethren none would have judged him a fit man to encounter with Goliah yea even Saul himself could not believe it Thou art not able saith he to go out against this Philistine to fight with him for thou art but a youth and he is a man of war from his youth And yet God chose him as the man that should slay that Giant and save Israel that day Jethro a Midianite shall give good counsel to Moses and Gideon shall be fetcht from the threshing floor and made Captain Generall over all the forces of Israel he shall save them from the hands of the Midianites and that with three hundred men alone This God doth not onely to magnifie his power and wisdome whose wayes and thoughts are above ours past finding out often secret but alwayes just but to check the haughty thoughts of proud man who is ready to limit the holy one of Israel and to conclude that if God go not his way to work that cannot be effected which is promised and expected It was the fault of good Melancthon though a man of excellent parts and very serviceable for Christs cause who was extreme pensive for fear of some sad issues of the great meeting at Auspurge who though very humble yet had this pride his projects must like the counsels of God unerringly and unchangeably stand or the cause was lost whereupon Luther wished Spalatinus his friend to exhort him yea charge him in his name Nefiat Deus that he make not himself a god It was as some have observed the proud humour of Ferdinand Alvares Duke de Alva to neglect the advice of others if beneath him though never so good and would rather stumble then beware of that block that another had warned him of because he scorned the instrument Such an one was Cardinall Matheo Langi Archbishop of Saltzburg who at the Diet of Ausburg confessed that the reformation of the Masse was needfull that liberty of meats was convenient but that Luther a poor Monk should reform all and tell them what was to be done must not be endured But he that walks much with God and observes him in the wayes of his providence shall in his owne experience finde that he receiveth least from those from whom in reason he might expect most and most oftentimes from those from whom he could expect nothing Even the Aegyptians shall favour the Israelites and lend them jewels of silver and gold for their better accommodation in their journey It was the Lord indeed that gave them favour in the eyes even of their enemies The very Ravens in a famin shall bring Elijah food morning and evening and when that means fails a poor Widow shall provide for him when never a Prince nor noble Lord in Israel did bear so much love to the Prophet as to sustain him in that extremity Ebedmelech the Aethiopian is very kinde to Jeremiah and through his interest with the King works out his inlargement When his own Countrey-men cast him into the dungeon Nebuzaradan by the commandment of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon delivers Jeremy out of prison gives him liberty to go whither he please when Zedekiah his own King shuts him up in prison It is an excellent rule therefore I wish all that fear God to observe it Use means love prayer and trust God which was well implyed in that embleme of some Heathens A man with his hand on the plow but his eye in heaven There is no restraint with God saith Jonathan to his Armour-bearer If there be many means God must blesse them if but few means he can multiply them if they be contrary means he can use them if there be no means he can create them or work without them He it is that appoints all means of our good He gives virtue to those means that he appoints he draws out that virtue that he gives he blesseth that virtue that he draws out and by the finger of his providence points us to the use of those means that he will blesse and in the want of all will work wonderfully for our good In the Creation God had light without Sun Moon or Stars He made the earth fruitfull and caused every plant to flourish when there was no rain nor any man to till the ground and could finde out an help for Adam that was most meet though he could not 2. Observe Gods goodnesse in the choyce of the time As God doth all things well so he doth all at the best time The greatest things that God hath done in the world he hath done for his Church and the greatest things that God hath done for his Church he hath done as by the most unlikely instruments so at the most unlikely time and yet those instruments were the best instruments and that time the best time The Aegyptians had wont to picture Time with three heads Time past with the head of a greedy wolfe as one that had devoured much time Time present with the head of a crowned Lion triumphing in the enjoyment of the present time Time to come with the head of a dog fawning on that which is to come But all our times are in Gods hands and in better hands they cannot be our time to come into trouble our time to continue in trouble and our time to come out of trouble is at his dispose God seldome comes at our time alwayes at his owne And if deliverance from dangers successe in our endevours supply of our wants had come sooner or later it had not been so good for us Christ is said to be sent at the fulnesse of time or at the full time so called because it was just that time that God had designed Moses was sent to deliver Israel out of Aegypt at the full time though the tale of bricks were doubled and their burthens encreased and at the end of 430 years even the self-same day as it was promised it came to passe that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the Land of Aegypt Christ came to his Disciples when they were distressed by a storm â—t Sea in the best time though it were at the fourth Watch in the night and they most in danger Our extremity is Gods opportunity to magnifie his wisdome and goodnesse to us when we