for it Num. 14.19 Moses prayed unto the Lord and said Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy so when Sennacherib came against Hierusalem 2 Chron 32.20 Hezechiah the King and Isaiah the Prophet prayed and cryed to heaven And his prayer is set down 2 Reg. 19.15 and when the Moabites and Ammonites in a huge multitude came against Jehosaphat he set himself to seek the Lord saith the Text and proclaimed a Fast throughout all Judah and made an excellent prayer to God 2 Chron. 20.6 usque ad vers 13. which I desire you to read and observe it well so Daniel after he had made confession of the sins of the people makes an earnest and most fervent Prayer to God for the remission of their sins so David saith unto God Dan 9.16 usque ad 20. ver look upon mine adversities and miseries and forgive me all my sins and Christ biddeth us to ask and we should have Mat. 7.7 And if we thus unfainedly confess our sins Psal 25.17 and fervently beg pardon and constantly forsake our sins God is faithful saith the Apostle that is faithful because he promised 1 Joh. 1.9 to forgive us our sins 2. As we are to seek the Lord externally with all the parts of our bodies so we are to seek him internally 2. With all the faculties of our souls with all the faculties of our soul and as David concludes this manner to his Son Solomon it must be with a perfect heart and a willing mind for otherwise to seek the Lord with outward profession and not with inward obedience is but meer hypocrisie 1 Chro. 28 9. like the Religion of the Jews that were ever handling of holy things but without feeling and drew near unto God with their mouths and honoured him with their lips Isa 29.13 when they called upon him and prayed unto him but removed their hearts far from him And therefore God abhorred their devotion and said I hate I despise your feast daies and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies though you offer me burnt offerings Amos 5.21.22 Isa 1.11 and your meat offerings I will not accept them neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat Beasts and as the Lord saith in Jerem. When they fast I will not hear their cry Jer. 14.12 and when they offer burnt offering and oblation I will not accept them but I will consume them by the Sword and by the Famine and by the Pestilence Outward profession what it is like because this outward profession is none otherwise than a shadow that is something in show but nothing in substance or like Zeuxis and Parhasius Pictures whereof Zeuxis deceived the birds with his counterfeit grapes and Parhasius deceived his fellow Painter with the Picture of a Sheet But let not us deceive our selves with a sheet or a shadow of holiness and think that currant which is but counterfeit for we must seek the Lord with all our hearts or otherwise if we offer Sacrifice with Cain and pray with the Pharisee and fast with the Jews to strife and debate or with the Rebels to plunder and murder Isa 58.4 and hear as many Sermons as the precisest Hypocrite and yet forsake not our sins and obey not Gods Ordinance to submit our selves to the higher powers but Rebell against Gods Anointed we may with Esau hunt for a blessing but catch a curse and seek the Lord for mercy but find him in his justice when he shall say unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know you not whence you are Luke 13.27 depart from me all ye that work iniquity 2. We are to seek the Lord most diligâ—ntly 2. As we are to seek the Lord totally with all the parts both of our bodies and of our souls so we are to seek him not frigide coldly and carelesly but with all diligence as the woman that lost heâ— gâ—oat lighted a candle Luke 15.8 and swept the house and sought diligently till she found it and therefore St. Chrysostome writing upon these words of the Apostle work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling saith he doth not barely use the simple word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2.12 work it out but he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as the Father doth interpret it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accurately precisely and with a great deal of care and study even as Saint Paul saith the twelve Tribes served God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 26.7 instantly saith our Translation day and night and surely not without great cause for as in the civil policie salus populi est suprema lex the safety of King and People is principally to be regarded so in the life of a Christian hoc est unum necessarium this ought to be our chiefest care to seek the Lord for as Seneca saith of Philosophy sive aliquid habes O jam Philosophare sive nihil hoc prius quaere quam quidquam so much better may I say with the Prophet whether thou hast somewhat or nothing yet seek the Lord before thou seekest any thing 2. The object of our seeking the Lord. 2. The Object of our seeking is the Lord a Subject much farther exceeding the former than the Coelestial globe is larger than the Center of this earth and therefore he might easily be found if he were but carefully sought for Jupiter est quodcunque vides and the Spirit of the Lord filleth all places being not far from every one of us Acts 17.28 seeing as the Apostle saith in h m we live and move and have our being how then can we miâ—s to find him without whom we cannot choose but lose our selves But such is our misery that we seek him not for as the swine do eat the acorns yet never look up to the tree from whence they fall so do we deal with the blessings of God we gather them and yet are ignorant of him and do sacrifice with the Athenians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore we thank him not because we know him not and we know him not because we seek him not but many of us seek our Lady and not the Lord What men do seek after and pray to her and offer sacrifice to the Queen of heaven more and better than to the Lord of heaven otherâ— seek to neither Lord nor Lady but to their servants that here on earth are commonly prouder than their Masters to the Saints and Angels others mounting not their thought any higher than the earth do only seek for the things of this world quaerenda pecunia primum some for riches some for honours and some for revenge which is the worst some of all and others seek knots in a bulrush great doubts in needless points for I will not touch on those overwise men How many men search for trifles that seek to
Guides of the people fitter to lead them into the ditch then to resolve them of any doubt or to convince any learned Heretick The righteousness of God taken four wayes And further you must observe that although the righteousness of God is specially taken four wayes in Scripture and signifieth 1. That distributive righteousness which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Way 1 or jus Dei whereby he punisheth the wicked and delivereth the innocent and whereof the Prophet saith Psal 9.4 Psal 119.137 Thou art set in the throne that judgest right And again Thou art just O Lord and righteous is thy judgement 2. That uprightness which is in God and is opposed to Way 2 iniquity as where the Prophet saith The Lord is righteous and loveth righteousness his face beholdeth the thing that is right 3. The truth of God as where himself saith I the Way 3 Lord speak righteousness that is nothing but the truth Esay 45.19 4. The mercy of God in Christ and through Christ towards Way 4 us as where the Prophet saith Psal 31.1 Deliver me in thy righteousness And again Psal 71.1 Judge me according to thy righteousness that is according to thy mercy and goodness shewed to us in Christ Jesus who is as the Prophet saith Jer. 23.6 Jehova justitiae nostra the Lord our righteousness and so the righteousness of God to us because as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him that is that we might be freely justified before God through faith in his righteousness Yet by the righteousness of God here in this place we are to understand it saith St. Chrysostom in none of the foresaid significations but for Quid odit et quid amat What God loveth as just and righteous and what he hateth as wicked and unrighteous that so we might do what he loveth and shun what he hateth because as Aretius saith Aret. in loc there is a righteousness besides our justifying righteousness that is plainly necessary for the obtaining of the Kingdom of God for though as our Divines say Fides sola justificat Faith only justifieth us and we are freely justified by our faith in Christ that layeth hold on his righteousness which is imputed unto us yet Fides justificans nunquam est sola aut solitaria The iustifying faith is never alone separated from the works of that righteousness which is the inseparable adjunct and concomitant of the justifying faith And therefore if you desire to be Citizens of Heaven and Inheritors of the Kingdom of God you must be just and righteous men and your righteousness must not be like the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees in ostentation to deceive the world but in deed and verity in the sight of God for so Christ tells you plainly Except your righteousness that is not only the righteousness of Christ which is yours by imputation and which all men know doth by many thousand degrees exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees but except your own inherent righteousness which is wrought in you by the Spirit of Christ exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God James 3.18 And truly the want of this righteousness and just dealing among men is the cause of all mischief and of all the greatest miseries of this world and of eternal damnation in the world to come and the performance of this righteousness would make all men happy both in this life and in the life to come For What is the cause of all mischief 1. What brings Wars the greatest of all the Plagues that are here on earth but unrighteous dealing For righteousness and peace have kissed each other saith the Prophet and thou saith St. Augustine dost love and desire peace which is the Crown of all worldly happiness though now the crown is fallen from our head woe unto us that we have sinned Sed justitiam non amabis Lam. 5.16 but thou wilt not follow after righteousness therefore peace shall be far from thee because there is no peace to the wicked Esay 48.22 saith my God no peace to them that shed innocent blood no peace for unrighteous dealing to them that take away a mans right and hold it still perforce But their unrighteousness will destroy them as indeed injustice and unrighteous dealing will undo any people when a Kingdom shall be translated from Nation to Nation because of unrighteousness and when the same shall be as it was said of Carthage fuller of sins then of men as we see the Monarchy of the Assyrians was translated to the Medes and Persians and the most famous Republick of the Romans spoiled when forgetting their pristine equity and just dealing whereby they became so great they began to be unjust and as the Poet saith Mensuraque juris Vis erat And they measured the Law and equity by their strength and he had the best right that was most powerful as the wicked proclaim it in the Book of Wisdom Let our strength be the Law of justice which hath been the ruine and subversion of many a Nation And so it will be with us of this Nation if we cast away all Justice and hold the truth in unrighteousness because God is no respecter of persons and we have no reason to think that he will deal any otherwise with us then he hath done with his own chosen people the Jews or with any other unrighteous Generation And as unrighteousness is the mother of wars and the bringer of destruction to Nations and Kingdoms so it is the nurse that breedeth strife and increaseth contentions and Suits of Law among neighbours and so becometh the greatest enemy to brotherly love which is the greatest vertue and the chiefest grace of all Christianity 1 Cor. 13. ult as Saint Paul sheweth And as unjust dealing thus pulleth down upon us all the plagues of Heaven so you may see Therefore let men take heed of maintaining wrongs and oppressions in the fifth Chapter of the Book of Wisdom and in Saint Paul and many other places of the holy Scripture how it excludeth all unrighteous men out of Heaven But 2. On the other side if you look upon righteousness and just dealing Plato The praise of just dealing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the divine Plato All men cry out with one mouth How beautiful a thing is temperance and righteousness Cicero calleth this righteousness the Lady and Mistress of all vertues Pindarus saith That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a golden eye and a golden countenance are alwayes to be seen in the face of Justice And Theoguis saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Even as the Latine Poet saith Justitia in sese virtutes continet omnes Justice is that vertue which comprehends all vertues in
vengeance in his anger so when the Jews were grown incorrigible he saith Jer. 21.7 He will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their life and they shall smite them with the edge of the sword and shall not spare them nor have pity nor have mercy upon them and such a sin is murder and the shedding of innocent bloud whereof the Lord saith Deut. 19.13 21 Et vide Ezek. 8.17 18. Thine eye shall not pity him but life shall go for life And such a sin is the sin of Rebellion which is as the sin of Witchcraft and spreadeth it self like a Gangrene and infecteth many millions of men and therefore the resisting of authority deserveth more severity and less clemency than any sin as you may see it in the punishment of Corah Dathan and Abiram who in the judgement of God himself deserved no less than to be consumed with fire from Heaven Rebellion how horrible a sin or to be sent down quick to Hell which in the judgment of Optatus is so fearful and unparallel'd a vengeance shewing the transcendent odiousness of rebellion that the like cannot be found since the creation of the world because rebelling against lawful Authority is no less than fighting against the divine Majesty and therefore the most holy Saints of the Primitive Church that were most innocent in all their lives would notwithstanding suffer the most cruel death rather than they would resist this ordinance of God or otherwise if they had so impudently reviled their Heathen Judges and so rebelliously resisted their persecuting Kings as you see many have done of late against the most gracious Princes the Church had never canonized them for godly Martyrs but had registred them among the most wicked Malefactors 3. Contempt of the Priest was the last The third sin of the Israelites Ver. 10. but not the least sin whereby the Israelites lost the Lord when they hated him that rebuked in the gate and abhorred him that spake uprightly that is the Prophet or Preacher saith Cornelius à Lapide because the Jews had their Tribunals and Judgements in the gates of their Cities as Moses sheweth and therefore Jeremy Amos Deut. 21.10 and the rest of Gods servants sate also in the Gates as you may see * Jer. 17 19. Esdras l. 2. c. 8. to rebuke the wrong Judgements as St. Hierom and Lyra note and to speak uprightly that is Perfectum sanctum sermonem a perfect and a just Judgement as the Septuagint and Symmachus render it and this the people hated and abhorred which is the height of all iniquity to reject the Prophet and to exclude his counsel from our judgements Sinners that reject their Teachers and Pastors are incurable for as the Gout is the shame of the Physitian because he cannot cure it so this is the plague of the soul and a sin that is incurable for though a man commits many and great sins and leads a very dissolute life yet if he will dutifully hearken unto counsel and patiently bear with his rebukes there is great hope of his amendment but as the diseased that is deadly sick and yet like Harpaste that would not be perswaded that she was blind though she could see no more than a milstone will not believe that he is sick and cannot indure the sight of his Physitian runs on a pace to death without any hope of life so the Judges that hate the Prophets company and abhor the assistance of the Priests in their judgements as the Israelites now did and that sinner who doth hate his Teacher and shuns the society of him that seeks to save his soul have little sign of grace and as little hope of eternal life and therefore the Scripture describing the deadly estate of the most desperate sinners such as with Ahab had sold themselves to work wickedness saith they are like those that contend with their Priests Hos 4.4 of whom there is little hope and less good to be expected any waies for is it possible that a blind man should find his way when he beats away his Leader Or that a child should thrive when he bites and beats away his nurse that gives him suck So it is impossible that they should do well which hate the light or that they should ever learn any good which abhor the Teachers of all godliness Gem. de coelo l. 1 c. 22. Job 9 9. The Preachers like the Hyades Geminianus tells us thâ—t the Ministers of Gods word are like the Hyades whereof Job speaketh 1. Because the Hyades or Pleiades as we translate them are watry stars so called from their effects the word Hyades of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying nothing else but rain So the Preâ—chers pour Respect 1 out the showers of heavenly doctrine upon the barren ground of our souls to make them fruitful even as Moses saith My doctrine shall drop as the rain Deut. 32 2. and my speech shall distill as the dew Respect 2 2. Because that as when the Pleiades do arise the daies lengthen the Sun is hotter and the Earth produceth more plentiful fruits so by the preaching of Gods word the light of truth is increased the heat of Christian love and charity is kindled and the holy fruit of all good works is increased Therefore if the Preachers be as the rain to make us fruitful as the light to direct our waies as our Fathers to instruct us and as the Angels of God to bring us into heaven as the Scripture testifieth that they are then I beseech you tell me what holy fruiâ— what heavenly light or what Christian good can be in them that despise their Teachers and expell their fathers from their societies Yet this was the sin of the Israelites and I fear we cannot free our selves from it for how have they been used since the beginning of this Parliament Was not he most cried up that cried most against the Church and Church-men And men of no note became famous in the House by making invective speeches against the Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 4.13 Heb. 11.38 and 37. and he was deemed most eloquent that was most bitter against them and how hâ—ve they been handled ever since Voted out of all their means and not any thing left them to buy them bread graviora morte and being thus made as the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things unto this day as the Apostle speaketh they are either cast with Joseph into the dungeon or driven to wander in desarts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth being destitute afflicted tormented And I may say of some of them with Jeremy Jer. 5.9 they that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets they that were clad in scarlet embrace dunghils they sigh and seek bread and have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve their souls Lam. 4 5. 1.11 And shall I not
amiss either too proudly or too remissly Our outwarâ— seeking consisteth chiefly 〈◊〉 three pointâ— or some way else otherwise than they ought to seek and therefore that you may not miss to find I beseech you mark how you may seek aright as other godly men have done and that is briefly 1 Humbling our selves 1. Humiliando corpus by humbling our bodies 2. Confitendo peccata confessing our sins 3. Orando Deum praying to God For 1. Look upon the Saints of the former times and see how they humbled themselves when they sought the Lord 2 Reg. 22.11 19 Psal 51.17 2 Chron. 12.7 Judges 20.26 2 Chron. 7.14 for when Sennacherib sent Rabshecah against Hierusalem Hezechiah rent his cloaths and covered himself with Sackcloath and went into the House of the Lord. When Josias heard the Curses of the Law against the transgressours thereof his heart was tender saith the Text and he humbled himself and rent his cloaths and wept before the Lord and so did Ahab though but an Hypocrite and the King of Ninevâ—h though but an Heathen and all that fought the Lord aright humbled themselves before the Lord and to testifie the truenesse of their humiliation they rent their cloaths they put on Sackcloath they besprinkled themselves with ashes they went barefoot and they fasted from all meat a licitis abstinuerunt quia concupierunt illicita For though a beggar may be proud in his rags and another may be humbled in scarlet yet quia per exteriora cognoscuntur interiora and our habits and actions should suit with the times and occasions as we put on wedding garments and our mourning weeds when the times do call for such so it is not fit to come with proud hearts vain habits wanton looks and patched faces when we come fasting and to be humbled for our sins Psal 35.13 for this is not to humble our selves with fasting as the Prophet speaketh 2 Confessing our sins Lam. 3 42. Bar. 1.15 16. c. 2 12. Dan 6.5 8. Ezra 6.6 2. We must confess our sins and acknowledge our own unrighteousness We have transgressed and Rebelled saith the Prophet Jeremy and Baruch setteth down the form of the confession that we should make saying to the Lord our God belongeth righteousness but to us the confusion of faces to our Kings and to our Princes and to our Priests and to our Prophets and to our Fathers for we have sinned before the Lord we have done ungodly we have dealt unrighteously in all thine Ordinances and the Prophet Daniel maketh the very same confession and so David when God sent the Plague among his people confessed his own sins 2 Sam. 24.17 saying I have sinned and I have done wickedly and the reason of this is rendred by Solomon Prov. 28.13 He that hideth his sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh the same shall find mercy And therefore I do confess the sins of the Clergy we have not discharged our duties as we ought to do and I would say a great deal more of the highest order of our Calling but that a great deal more than is true is said by others Gen. 3.12 1 Sam. 15.21 for we will not excuse our selves but as the Poet saith of Women Parcite paucarum diffundere crimen in omnes Blame not all because some are lewd so I say of the Bishops and Clergy let every horse bear his own burthen let them that transgress if you know any such be severely punished and as their lives should be more holy so let the punishment of the offenders be the more exemplary and let that Judas that wil betray his Master have the reward of Judas but as Christ cashiered not all the Apostles because Judas was a Traytor and Peter a denier of his Master so should not we destroy the Calling or as Abraham saith destroy the righteous with the wicked because some of them in your opinion may be unworthy of that calling for this would be culpam flagitio fugare to drive away sin by a greater sin vertere domum in stead of verrere domum to destroy the house when they should but sweep the house And as the Priests so must the People confess their sins if they would find the Lord for it will not serve our turn to recriminate to do as Adam did lay the fault upon the woman or as Saul did to post over his fault unto the People it is not the way to find the Lord to lay all the blame upon the Parliament and to make the Rebels the sole causes of our miseries for though they cannot be excused for their wickedness yet you may be assured we suffer all this that is come upon us for our own sins though not for the sin of Bebellion yet for other odious sins that have provoked God to stir up these Rebels to punish us and as the Prophet saith erravimus cum patribus so it may be we might if we would confess the truth say erravimus cum fratribus we have in some sort committed the same sins with them for sins may be committed divers waies Sins may be committed divers waies as 1. By acting it 2. By commanding it as David did Joab to kill Urias 3. By Counselling how to do it as Balaam did Balaâ— to intangle Israel 4. By consenting to it as David speaketh Psal 50.8 When thou sawest a thief thou consentest unto him and hast been partaker with the adulterer 5. By delighting to see it done Rom. 1.32 as St. Paul saith to have pleasure in them that sin 6. By our silence conniving and not hindering sin to be committed when it lyeth in our power and it is our duty so to do for qui non vetat peccare cum possit jubet and if any of you that are here have or had your hearts at London in any of these waies the Holy Ghost will tell you Rev 2.14 or a few things though thou hast not denied my faith when thou dwellest even where Satans seat is yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have somewhat against thee because thou shouldst have nothing to do Psal 94.20 For in all this I speak not of Popish and auricular confession to the Priest no compliance at all with the stool of wickedness which frameth mischief by a Law and therefore repent and be not ashamed to confess your sins to God if you would find the Lord. And 3. We must make our humble and our fervent Prayers to God that he would forgive us our sins and be intreated for us and reconciled unto us for his mercies sake and for his son Jesus Christ his sake Lord have mercy upon us and forgive us our sins 3 Fervent prayers that we have sinned against thee for this was the practice of all the Saints of God in all their calamities as you may see when the Israelites murmured against Moses and God would have utterly destroyed them
Church For as I told you even now that the Government of the Common-wealth was a matter of great moment and to be borne upon the shoulders which are the best able to bear it so the Arke of God wherein all the Government of the Church was included 1 Chron. 15.15 was to he carried upon the shoulders of the Levites 1 Chron. 15.15 To shew that this Government of the Church is no wayes of less moment 1 Chron. 13 10. then the Government of the civil State Therefore when this Arke was put not upon the shoulders of the Priests Numbers 4.15 according to the first institution but to be carried upon a new cart the Lord made a breach upon his people and smote Vzza that he died and so they may well fear the anger of the Lord will be kindled against those that take this Arke of God from the shoulders of the Priestâ— and put it as it was of late into the hands of those that had nothing to do with it Secondly As the Cherubims and these Beasts did cover their faces with two of their wings 2. Why they covered their feet to check our curiosity because we are not able and therefore ought not to prie into secret mysteries so they covered their feet with two of their wings to shew our misery because we have defiled our selves and fouled our feet by our walking in the wicked wayes and the dirty pathes of sin and iniquity And so we are no wayes able to stand and to justifie our selves in the sight of God for we are all become abominable and there is none that doth good no not one But in all men there is corruption in the best men there is defection What the best of all our actions are and in the Angels unfaithfulness hath been found And therefore God hath shut up all in unbelief that every mouth should be stopped and all the world culpable before God for if you looke into the best of all our actions and the choicest wayes that we walk in you shall find that the righteousness which we have by nature is but justitia Gentilium splendida peccata as Saint Augustine calls them or the wisedome of the flesh not sanctified by faith as Saint Paul calls it The righteousness that we have by the Law is but justitia Pharisaeorum which as Saint Chrysostome saith was in ostentatione non in rectitudine intentionis in locutione non in opere in corporis afflictione non in mandatorum observatione and so it was but sceria obducta sin guilded and unprofitable because never perfectly performed no not by the strictest Pharisee And the righteousness which we have by grace is but justicia viatorum inchoated and imperfect and at the best but as menstruous cloaths full of staines but Jehova justitia nostra the Lord is that righteousness which must save us And therefore we should never exalt our selves with high conceits of our own worth like the proud Pharisee but rather fall down upon our knees with the humble Publican and say Lord be merciful unto me a sinner and to cry out with the Prodigal Child we have sinned against Heaven and against thee and we are no more worthy to be called thy Sons For if God should enter into judgement and be extream to mark what we do amiss O Lord who could abide it For no flesh living could be justified That we ought not to hide and cover our sins And therefore we should not stand to justifie our selves and our wayes before God but rather with these Beasts and those holy Cherubims to cover our feet with two of their wings But by this covâ—ring of our feet we must not understand the hiding and covering of our sins as most of us use to do for Solomon tells you plainly that he which hideth his sins shall not prosper Prov. 28.13 but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy and Saint John saith if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 Iohn 1.8 but if we confesse our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to clense us from all unrighteousness And therefore though we ought to cover our feet that is not to justifie our wayes before God yet we must not cover our sins but confess them with an humble lowly penitent and obedient heart if ever we look to obtain forgiveness of the same 3. Why they did flie 3. As they covered their feet with two of their wings so with the other two wings they did flie and that was to shew the readiness of their obedience to do the service of God and to teach all others to be industrious and diligent to do their duties for here you see the Cherubims and these holy Evangelists do not onely go or run but flie very swiftly to do the work of God and to execute his will and therefore the Prophet saith How ready and diligent we should be to do the works of God he rode upon Cherub and did flie he came flying upon the wings of the winde that is his Messengers that he sent to perform his commands were as ready and as swift as the winde He needed no more but say to this man go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and saith in me mora non erit ulla Lucan Phars lib. 1. as Curio said unto Caesar So we should all be swift to hear and diligent to do our duties not lazily to go about them like the Snaile of whom the Poets fain that when Jupiter invited his Creatures unto his Feast the Snail came last of all which admonisheth us saith Alciat Sectanda gradu convivia tardo To come slowly to revellings and pleasures but to the Lords Table and to other holy exercises we should not be like the Snail or the sluggard that crieth yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep but we should go nimbly like those that have wings to flie to do their business because as Saint Chrysostome saith sicut in unoquoque mater est diligentia ita universae doctrinae disciplinae noverca est negligentia diligence is the mother of every good act and sloth or negligence is the step-mother or fetters that entangle and choak all learning and discipline And as we ought to use diligence in all that we take in hand Sloth and negligence the hinderance of all good things Cantic 8.14 so we ought more specially to use it in the service of God and to go to our Saviour Christ that bids his Church and every member of his Church to make hast or to flie away as the original word imports and to be like to a Roe or to a young Hart upon the mountaines of spices where she runneth and skippeth for very haste to get away so Abraham made haste to make provision for the Angels that came unto him and so David
2.4 The bloud-thirsty how detestable Which sheweth how detestable beyond my ability of expression are those bloud-thirsty men that so maliciously and wickedly do hunt after the life of man and do shed the bloud of so many Innocents no waies like that good God which made not Death nor desireth the Death of any sinner much lesse the destruction of the Righteous nor yet like Alexander that knew not God yet knew this that when his Mother Olympias that was a bloudy woman lay hard upon him to kill a certain innocent person and to that end said often to him that she carried him Nine Moneths in her Womb therefore he had no reason to deny her answered her most wisely Good Mother ask for that some other reward and recompence because the life of man is so dear Am. Marcellin l. 14. c. 10. that no benefit can countervail it and the unjust taking of it away is so hainous that it is impossible for any mortal man to make satisfaction for so great an offence Matth. 3.7 What shall we say then to those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that when their own most gracious King doth so often sollicite for peace do still make them ready for battel and have taken away the lives of so many thousands of men 2 Thes 2.3 truly if they are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet certainly they are the sons of Apollyon the children of the Destroyer Death how terrible that without speedy repentance can receive no better reward then damnation But as life is the sweetest and the most excellent of all things that are in this world Aristot. Ethic. l. 3. c. 6. so death saith the Philosopher est omnium terribilium terribilissimum because this bringeth our years to an end finisheth our daies and puts a period to all our joyes and though there is but one way of life for all men and that one alike to all to come naked out of their Mothers womb yet Job 1.21 as the Poet saith Mille modis lethi miseros mors una fatigat Statius Thebaid l. 9. There are a thousand waies to bring any one of us unto his death And here the Prophet threatneth death unto the people of Israel many waies The Israelites how threatned Quocunque aspiciunt nihil est nisi pontus aether Ovid de Trist. For the City that went out by a thousand shall leave a hundred and that which went out by an hundred shall leave ten to the house of Israel that is as Remigius and Hugo say Vers 3. the Israelites shall be so plagued by the Assyrians 2 Reg. 18.10 as well in the three years siege of Samaria as also before and after the same by the Sword Famine and the Pestilence which Sicut unda sequitur undam do ever follow like Jobs Messengers one in the heel of another the sword alwaies bringing famine and the famine producing pestilence so that almost all shall be consumed and scarce ten of an hundred shall be left And as the Spirit of God saith unto Esayas Go tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not Esay 6.10 Then said the Prophet Lord how long and he answered until the Cities be wasted without Inhabitant and the houses without man and the Land be utterly desolate So now this distressed England how threatned and how miserable we are though formerly most happy Kingdom is threatned to be scourged in like manner with the worst of wars famines and pestilences Praesentémque viris intendunt o nonia mortem And as the Poet saith all that we do see say we are appointed to be destroyed and destined unto death when as S. Bernard saith Quos fugere scimus ad quos nescimus we know whom we would shun but we scarce know where or to whom we may flee to be safe and secured of our Lives for as Jeremie saith Servants have ruled over us Lam. 5.8 9. and there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand We get our bread with the peril of our lives because of the Sword of the Wilderness And therefore as our Prophet saith Wailing is in all streets they say in all high-waies Amos 5.16 alas alas and they call the husbandman to mourning and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing Esay 34.5 6. 2 Reg. 8.1 Amos 4.10 Yet seeing the sword is the sword of the Lord and it is the Lord that calleth for Famine and the Pestilence is the scourge of God which he sendeth amongst us as our Prophet saith and that God never draweth his sword How God dealeth with his people and throweth away the Scabberd as if he never meant to put it up again never sends a famine but in that famine he can feed the young Ravens that call upon him and satisfie the hungry with good things and never powreth out any plague but that in the greatest infection he can preserve his servants that although a thousand should fall besides them and ten thousand at their right hand Psal 91 7. yet it shall not come nigh them and never sendeth any temptation but if the fault be not our own 1 Cor. 10.13 he doth with the temptation make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it because he being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father of mercies 2 Cor. 1.3 and the God of all comfort to them that fear him as well as the God of Justice to render vengeance to them that offend him hath the suppling Oyl of Mercy as well as the sharp Wine of Justice to powre into the wounds of every penitent sinner therefore our Prophet here joyneth to the Lamentation for Israel an Exhortation to repentance and though he threatneth Death for our sins yet he setteth down an Antidote whereby we might if we would preserve our life and though I confess the Physitians are very useful Physitians how useful and to be honoured as the Scripture speaketh to be sought after especially in the times of sickness and Mortality yet I am sure that neither Hippocrates nor Galen nor all the School of Salerne the whole Colledge of Physitians shall ever be able to prescribe a Potion so precious and so powerful to pâ—eserve your Life as I shall declare unto you for God which is truth it self hath said it Seek the Lord and you shall live wherein I desire you to observe Two parts of the Text. 1. A Precept the best work that you can do Seek the Lord. 2. A Promise the best reward that you can desire And you shall live 1. The Precept twofold 1. In the Precept you may see there are two words and so two parts 1. Seek which is the Act that all men do 2. The Lord which is the Object of our seeking wherein most men fail 1. The word seek doth presuppose that we have lost or be without the Lord and so we have indeed we lost Paradise
for his service they should be snatched out of his hands and transferred to Lay and prophane uses but that like those Censers they should ever continue for the service of his Altar and so St. Augustine sheweth as much in his 154 Epistle to Publicola And thus you see how God is robbed his Service neglected and his Servants deprived of their means and maintenance so that they can neither discharge their duties to God nor feed the flock of Chrâ—st and instruct the people committed to their charge as they ought to do and would no doubt do the same if they were enabled to do it which is a lamentable thing and yet I can shew you a greater abomination Ezek. 8.6 even in the Visitations of these poor and pillaged Clergy-men I remember God hath a twofold visitation the one in mercy to relieve the oppressed to deliver the Captives out of their Captivity as he visited the Israelites in Egypt and the like the other in justice to punish the malefactors and the transgressors of his Laws as he visiteth the sins of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him but whether the Visitations of our Clergy-men be in mercy or in justice or whether it be pro correctione morum or collectione pecuniarum and refectione corporum or both I will not determine I believe their first institution aimed at our good for the praise of them that do well and the punishment of the refractory and evil-doers but time and craft corrupteth the best things and as the wicked turn the graces of God into wantonness so covetous men and corrupt minds do abuse all the good institutions of our Ancestors so the service of the true God was in time translated to become the service of the Idols of the Gentiles and so I fear me these Visitations of the Clergy that at first aimed at their good and for their reliefe are now become in many places an oppression and a heavy yoak upon their necks and a burden scarce portable upon their shoulders As 1. In the multiplicity of them 1. The multiplicity of Visitations three or four that may be in one year as first the Archdeacon he visits and gathers up his Procurations perhaps all the money that the poor Clergy can procure then comes the Bishop and he visits and the Clergy must now double their file his Procurations being twice as much as the Archdeacons then every third year the Archbishop comes about in his triennial visitation and if in either the Bishop or the Archbishops visitation the Clergy fail either in the payment of their Procurations or making such refections as shall be to the satisfaction of their Visitors their Livings may be sequestred and let them live as they list and after all this the Lord Primate if he please may come in the same year to make a regal Visitation and he being so good a man and coming from so good and so gracious a King deserves no less than the best and the best entertainment that can be made for his Grace is fit to be made for him And can these many visits think you be for the profit of the poor Clergy But 2. 2. The Refections The refections seem to be more burthensome than the Procurations especially because the Procurations are certain what every man must pay but the Refections contrary to the mind of our Saviour that saith unto his Disciples Into what house soever ye enter eat what shall be set before you Luk. 10.7 must be to the satisfaction of the delicate and delicious company of the visitors and not according to the power of the poor Clergy when they remember not the old Proverb That the full dog knoweth not how or what the empty dog doth bark and if they be discontented with their entertainment their Censures must be as they please and none dares say that it is unjust or how can it be so from the men of God Yet as all powerful great men can easily find a staffe to beat a dog so the superiour Bishop or Archbishop can if they please soon find a fault in a poor inferiour Clergy man Now I will set down for I fear no man living what information I have by Letters from the last Visitation of the Archbishop of Dublin that was held in my Diocess of Ossory by his Surrogate Mr. Archdeacon Bulkley and these be the very words of the Letters that the World may thereby see and the Judge of all the World may judge in what case the poor Clergy do stand My Lord IT pleased God a little after your journey to Dublin to take out of this life your Grandchild Mrs. Cull who discovered much Religion on her death bed and as she wanted not attendance in her sickness so neither decency nor solemnity at her Funeral Since your Lordships departure your Maid did unknown to me marry Mr. Barry the Smiths man whom she brought to lye in your Lordships house whereupon there arose some quarrels between Thomas and her insomuch that Thomas sate up a whole night with Candle-light for fear of the men as he complained unto me whereupon I charged the man not to lye at night time in your Lordships house till your Lordship did return which hath prevented the like inconvenience since As to the triennial Visitation I shall give your Lordship this brief account The Lord Archbishop did not come in person but sent Mr. Bulkley whom we waited on three miles to bring him into Town he told us what noble refections he met with in the Diocess of Kildare Leighlin but that here he was resolved to lodge at his Daughters house he asked what Provision we had made for his Register we told him Mr. Connels house when his Register came to Town though his men some of them and his Portmantle were in Mr. Connels house he did not like his lodging and complained to the Vicar General On Monday after the Commission was read he told us that in regard the refection for the Archbishop was neglected he suspended the Jurisdiction for six months and whereas he thought to behave himself as a loving brother he would prove a severe Judge and that we should expect nothing but utmost justice we invited him that day to dine at Whitles where we bespoke a Dinner for his refection which cost six or seven pounds but he refused and every day we invited him but could not prevail on Tuesday and Wednesday he seemed very mild and respective and earnestly desired to be an happy Instrument in the reconciliation of Mr. Dean and my self Mr. Cull and Mr. Drisdale upon which importunity that we might not discover our selves to be litigious I was willing to be reconciled to him whom I had no visible quarrell with so was Mr. Drisdale but Mr. Bulkleys awe upon Mr. Cull made him condescend to a great submission and aske him forgiveness flexis genibus the next day the Archdeacon told me that if we