raise up the prostrate and dejected soule Be of good cheere ye that have received the sentence of death in your selves There is no malady of the soule so deadly against which the death of Christ is not a soveraigne remedy there is no sore so great nor so festering which a plaster of Christs bloud will not cleanse and heale if it be thereto applyed by a lively faith Thus as you see I have made of the bruised reed a staffe of comfort for a drouping conscience to stay it selfe upon extend but your patience to the length of the houre and I will make of it a strait rule for your actions and affections Though all the actions of our Saviour are beyond example yet ought they to be examples to us for our imitation and though we can never overtake him yet we ought to follow after him His life is a perfect samplar of all vertues out of which if we ought to take any flower especially this of meeknesse which himselfe hath pricked out for us saying Learne of me that I am meeke and lowly in heart Matth. 11.29 and you shall finde rest to your soules which also hee richly setteth forth with a title of blessednesse over it Matth. 5.5 and a large promise of great possessions by it Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth Matth. 5.7 Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercy Neither is this vertue more acceptable in the sight of God than agreeable to the nature of man Witnesse our sleek and soft skin without scales or roughnesse witnesse our harmlesse members without hornes clawes or stings the offensive weapons of other creatures witnesse our tender and relenting heart apt to receive the least impression of griefe witnesse our moist eyes ready to shed teares upon any sad accident mollissima corda Humano generi dare se natura fatetur Quae lachrymas dedit haec nostri pars optima sensus Shall not grace imprint that vertue in our soules which nature hath expressed in the chiefe members of our bodies and exemplified in the best creatures almost in every kind Even among beasts the tamest and gentlest are the best the master Bee either hath no sting at all or as Aristotle testifieth never useth it The upper region of the ayre is alwaies calme and quiet inferiora fulminant saith Seneca men of baser and inferiour natures are boysterous and tempestuous The superiour spheres move regularly and uniformly and the first mover of them all is slow in his proceedings against rebellious sinners hee was longer in destroying Jericho than in creating the whole world And when Adam and Eve had sinned with a high hand reaching the forbidden fruit and eating it it was the coole of the evening before the voice of the Lord was heard in the garden and the voice that was heard was of God walking not running to verifie those many attributes of God Mercifull gracious long-suffering Exod. 34.6 7. and aboundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sinne Is God mercifull and shall man be cruell is the master meek and milde and shall the servant be fierce and furious shall hee give the Lambe in his Scutchion and they the Lion If hee who ruleth the Nations with a rod of iron and breaketh them in pieces like a potters vessell will not breake the bruised reed shall reeds breake reeds Martial Epigr. The Heathen Poet giving charge to his woodden god to looke to his garden useth this commination See thou looke well to my trees Alioqui ipse lignum es Otherwaies know that thou art wood thy selfe that is fit fuell for the fire Suffer I beseech you the word of exhortation Looke to it that you breake not Christs bruised reeds Alioqui ipsi estis arundines Otherwaies know that you your selves are but reeds and what measure you mete unto others shall be measured unto you againe Stand not too much upon your owne a Sen. de clem l. 1. Nec est quisquam cui tam valde innocentia sua placeat ut non stare in conspectu clementiam paratam humanis erroribus gaudeat innocency and integrity For b August confes l. 13. Vae laudabili vitae hominum si remot â misericordiâ discutias cam Wo be to the commendable life of men if it bee searcht into without mercy and scann'd exactly The Cherubins themselves continually looke towards the Mercy-seat and if we expect mercy at the hands of God or man we must show mercy for there shall be judgement without mercy to him that will shew no mercy which menacing to the unmercifull though it point to the last judgement and then take it's full effect yet to deterre men from this unnaturall sinne against their owne bowels it pleaseth God sometimes in this life to make even reckonings with hard hearted men and void of all compassion As he did with Appius Livius dec 1. of whom Livie reporteth that he was a great oppressor of the liberties of the commons and particularly that hee tooke away all appeales to the people in case of life and death But see how Justice revenged Mercies quarrell upon this unmercifull man soone after this his decree hee being called in question for forcing the wife of Virginius he found all the Bench of Judges against him and was constrained for saving his life to preferre an appeale to the people which was denied him with great shouts and out-cries of all saying Ecce provocat qui provocationem sustulit who sees not the hand of divine Justice herein He is forced to appeale who by barring all appeales in case of life and death was the death of many a man Let his owne measure be returned upon him And as Appius was denied the benefit of appeales whereof he deprived others and immediatly felt the stroke of justice so Eutropius who gave the Emperour counsell to shut up all Sanctuaries against capitall offenders afterwards being pursued himselfe for his life and flying to a Sanctuary for refuge was from thence drawne out by the command of S. Chrysostome and delivered to the ministers of justice who made him feele the smart of his owne pernicious counsell I need the lesse speake for mercy by how much the more wee all need it and therefore I passe from the act to the proper subject of mercy The bruised reed If * Sen. de cle l. 1. Tam omnibus ignoscere crudelitas est quam nulli Jude ver 22. mercy should be shewed unto all men no place would be left for justice therefore St. Jude restraineth mercy to some Of some have compassion making a difference The difference we are to make is of 1. Sinne. 2. Sinners For there are sinnes of ignorance and sinnes against conscience sinnes of infirmity and sinnes of presumption sudden passions and deliberate evill actions light staines and fowle spots some sinnes are secret and private others publike and scandalous some
Jonas in like manner cries I am cast out of thy sight Jonah 2.4 there is smoak in the flaxe yet was not the flaxe quenched for he addeth immediatly yet I will looke againe to thy holy Temple If thou wilt thou canst Matth. 8.2 said one poore man in the Gospel Lord if thou canst said another Marke 9.22 both these were as the smoaking flaxe in my Text. For the former doubted of Gods power the latter of his will yet neither of both were quenched O miserable man that I am saith S. Paul in the person of a Christian travelling in his new birth who shall deliver me from this body of death here is a cloud of smoak Rom. 7.24.25 yet it is blown away in an instant and the flame breaketh out and blazeth into Gods praises Thankes be unto God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ Man for a little smoake will quench the light but Christ every where cherisheth the least sparke of grace and bloweth it gently by his spirit till it breake forth into a flame To encourage us the more hee accepteth the will for the deed and a good assay for the performance If thou canst but shed a teare for thy sins he hath a bottle to put it in if thou steale a sigh in secret he hath an eare for it if thy faith be but as a graine of mustard seed it shall grow to a great tree Nathanael at the first had but a small ground to beleeve that Christ should bee the Messias but afterwards Christ made good his words unto him hee saw greater things to build his faith upon Because I said unto thee John 1.50 I saw thee under the fig-tree beleevest thou thou shalt see greater things than these Apollos at the first was but catechized in Johns Baptisme Act. 18.27.28 but afterwards Aquila and Priscilla expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly and hee helped them much which had beleeved through grace for hee mightily convicted the Jewes and that publikely shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ Joseph of Arimathea richer in grace than wealth and a great dispreader of the Gospel and as many ancient Writers report the first planter of Christian Religion in this Island yet till Christs death had small courage to professe him but when the evening was come Mar. 15.42.43 which was the preparation that is the day before the Sabbath hee went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the body of Jesus Saint Augustine at the first was drawne to the Church by the lustre of Saint Ambrose his eloquence as himselfe a Aug. confess l. 5. c. 4. confesseth but afterwards he was much more taken with the strength of his proofe than the ornaments of his speech and God by his Spirit so blowed the sparke of divine knowledge in this smoaking flaxe that the Church of God never saw a cleerer lamp burning in it since it had him If we consider the smoaking flaxe in the second condition to wit after the lampe is blowne out the spirituall meaning is That those in whom there was ever any spark of saving grace shall never be quenched or that after the most fearfull blast of temptation there remaines yet some divine fire in the heart of every true beleever which Christ will never quench Christ will not quench the smoaking flaxe if there bee any sparke of divine fire in it yet if this sparke bee not blowne and the weeke enlightened againe it will dye in like manner if wee doe not according to the Apostles precept 2 Tim. 1.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stirre up the grace of God in us and use the utmost of our religious endeavours to kindle againe the lampe of faith in our soules that sparke of divine faith and saving grace which wee conceive that wee have will dye As it is not presumption but faith to bee confident in Gods promises when wee walke in his Ordinances so it is not faith but presumption to assure our selves of the end when wee neglect the meanes of our salvation Wee may no otherwise apprehend or apply unto our selves the gracious promises made to all true beleevers in the Gospel than they are propounded unto us which is not absolutely but upon conditions by us to bee performed through the helpe of divine grace namely to wash our selves Esa 1.16 17. to make us cleane to put away the evill of our doings from before Gods eyes to cease to doe evill to learne to doe well to seeke judgement to relieve the oppressed to judge the fatherlesse Dan. 4.27 Job 41. ◠Apoc. 3.19 Mat. 3.8 and to pleade for the widow to breake off our sinnes by righteousnesse and our iniquity by shewing mercy to the poore to abhorre our selves and repent in dust and ashes to remember from whence wee are fallen and doe our first workes to bee zealous and amend and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance To argue from a strong perswasion of our election and from thence to inferre immediately assurance of salvation is as Tertullian speaketh in another case aedificare in ruinam The safe way to build our selves in our most holy faith and surely fasten the anchor of our hope is to conclude from amendment of life repentance unto life from our hatred of sinne Gods love unto us from hunger and thirst after righteousnesse some measure of grace from godly sorrow and sonne-like feare and imitation of our heavenly Father the adoption of sonnes from continuall growth in grace perseverance to the end from the fruits of charity the life of our faith and from all a modest assurance of our election unto eternall life Not curiously to dispute the Scholasticall question concerning the absolute impossibilitie of the apostacy of any Saint and the amissibility of justifying faith which many learned Doctours of the Reformed Churches hold fitter to bee extermined than determined or at least confined to the Schooles than defined in the Pulpit that wherein all parties agree is sufficient to comfort the fainting spirits and strengthen the feeble knees of any relapsed Christian That God will never bee wanting to raise him if hee bee not wanting to himselfe But if when hee is returned with the Sow to his wallowing in the mire hee taketh delight therein and never striveth to plucke his feet out of it nor rise up out of the dirt if hee never cry for helpe nor so much as put forth the hand of his faith that Christ may take hold of it and by effectuall grace draw him out of the mudde hee will certainly putrifie in his sinnes Hee that heareth the Word of God preached and assenteth thereunto and is most firmly perswaded of Gods love to him for the present if through the rebellion of the flesh against the spirit or the suggestions of Sathan or by the wicked counsels and examples of others hee chargeth himselfe with any foule sinne either of impiety against God or iniquity against men or impurity
and hee layeth all the blame either upon bad servants or theevish neighbours or racking Land-lords or hard times or some losses by sea or land but never looketh into his owne heart where the true cause lyes be it covetousnesse or distrust of Gods providence or a quarrelling disposition or pride or idlenesse or luxurie or sacriledge Another is still whining that hee cannot get or keepe his health and he imputeth this either to his crazie constitution by nature or ill ayre or over much labour and study whereas indeed the cause is his ill diet his sitting up all night at Revels his powring in strong wines and spending the greatest part of the day in Tavernes his intemperancy or incontinency All other sinnes are without the body but hee that g 1 Cor. 6.18 committeth fornication sinneth against his owne body First against the honour of his body for thereby he maketh the members of Christ the members of an harlot next the strength health and life of the body which nothing more enfeebleth empaireth and endangereth than greedily drinking stolne waters and coveting after strange flesh A third is troubled in minde and hee feeleth no comfort in his conscience the good spirit hath left him and the evill spirit haunteth him and scorcheth his soule with the flashes of Hell fire and hee ascribeth this to some melancholy bloud or worldly discontent or the indiscretion of some Boanerges sonnes of thunder who preach nothing but damnation to their hearers whereas the true cause is in himselfe hee grieveth the spirit of grace hee turneth it into wantonnesse and quencheth the light of it in himselfe and therefore God withdraweth this holy Comforter from him for a time When h Just hist l. 1. Zopyrus qui sibi labia nares praecidi curasset queritur crudelitatem Regis Zopyrus had cut his owne lips and nose he gave it out that the Babylonians had so barbarously used him such is the condition of most men they disfigure their soules dismember their bodies by monstrous sinnes and yet lay the whole blame upon others i Mat. 10.36 The enemies of a man saith our Saviour are those of his owne house So it is so it is saith S. k Bern med c. 13. Accusat me conscientia testis est memoria ratio judex voluptas carcer timor tortor oblectamentum tormentum inde enim punimur unde oblectamur Bernard in mine owne house in my proper family nay within my selfe I have my accuser my judge my witnesse my tormentor My conscience is the accuser my memory the witnesse my reason the judge my feare the torturer my sinfull delights my torments l Camerar med hist cent 1. c. 20. Plancus Plautius hiding himselfe in the time of the proscription was found out onely by the smell of his sweet oyles wherewith hee used luxuriously to anoint himselfe m Eras adag Sorex ut dicitur suo indicio Sylla hearing some displeasing newes was so enflamed with anger that streining himselfe to utter his passion he brake a veine and spitting bloud died Remember the words of dying Caesar when hee felt their daggers at his heart whom he had saved from the sword Mene servare ut sint qui me perdant O that I should save men to doe mee such a mischiefe O that wee should harbour those snakes in our bosomes which if wee long keepe them there will sting us to death A strange thing it is and much to bee lamented that the soule should prescribe remedies against the maladies of the bodie and yet procure nourishment for her owne diseases What are the vitious affections we feed and cherish within us but so many pernitious infections of the minde What is anger but a fit of a frenzie feare but a shâ—king feaver ambition but a winde collicke malice but an apostem faction but a convulsion envie but a consumption security but a dead palsie lust but an impure itch immoderate joy but a pleasing trance of the soule These are the greatest causes of our woe not onely because they disturbe the peace of our conscience and set us upon scandalous and dangerous actions but also because they draw upon us heavie and manifold judgements From which if we desire to be freed that they prove not our utter destruction let us First confesse our sinnes with David to be the fuell of Gods wrath and the fountaine of all our miseries n Psal 51.4 Against thee thee onely have wee sinned and done this and that and the third and many more evils in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and cleere when thou art judged and with o Salv. l. 4. de provid Sive miseâ—ae nostrae sint sive infirmitates sive eversiones c. testimoniâ— sunt mali servi boni domini quomodo mali servi quia patimur ex parte quod meremur quomodo boni domini quia ostendit quid mereamur sed non irrogat quae meremur Salvianus Whatsoever our miseries are or afflictions or persecutions or overthrowes or losses or diseases they are testimonies of an evil servant and a good master How of an evill servant Because in them we suffer in part what wee deserve How testimonies of a good master Because by them he sheweth us what wee deserve and yet layeth not upon us so much as we deserve Secondly let us compose our selves to endure that with patience which we have brought upon our selves Tute in hoc tristi tibi omne exedendum est Thirdly let us forsake our beloved sinnes and then God will take away his plagues from us let us be better our selves and all things shall goe better with us let repentance be our practise and a speedy reformation our instruction so Gods judgements shall not bee our destruction Now O Father of mercy and tender compassion in the bowels of Jesus Christ who hast shewed us what wee deserve by our sinnes and yet hast not rewarded us according to our iniquities take away our stony hearts from us and give us hearts of flesh that thy threats may make a deepe impression in us and that wee may speedily remove the evill of our sinnes out of thy sight that thou maist remove the evill of punishment from us so our sinne shall not be our destruction but thy mercy our salvation through Jesus Christ To whom c. THE CHARACTERS OF HEAVENLY WISEDOME A Sermon preached before his Grace and divers other Lords and Judges spirituall and temporall in Lambeth THE EIGHTH SERMON PSAL. 2.10 Be wise now therefore O yee Kings be instructed yee Judges of the earth Most Reverend Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. THe mirrour of humane eloquence apologizing for his undertaking the defence of Murena against Cato the elder pertinently demandeth a Cic. pro Muren A quo tandem Marce Cato aequius est defendi Consulem quam a Consule who so fit a patron of a Consull as a consull himselfe The like may be said in
love Nay how canst thou not be perswaded sith hee himselfe hath said it I chasten as many as I love which words that thou maist take more hold of he hath often repeated them in holy Scripture Desirest thou greater assurance than his words which is all that heaven and earth have to shew for their continuance yet if thou desire more rather helpes of thine infirmity than confirmations of this truth observe who are oftenest longest under Gods afflicting hand who are fullest of his markes if they are deepest in sorrow who are highest in his favour if they mourne in Sion who sing Halelujah in the heavenly Jerusalem if they goe in blacke and sables here who are arrayed in long white robes there if they lay their heart a soake in teares who are men after Gods owne heart if Benjamins portion be greatest in afflictions assuredly manifold tribulations and Gods favour may stand together In the truth of which assertion all those Texts of Scripture may establish us which set before us the sweet fruits that are gathered from the crosse as 1. Knowledge It is good for mee that I have been k Psa 119.71 afflicted that I may learne thy statutes 2. Zeale I will l Hosea 5.15 goe and returne to my place till they acknowledge their offences and seeke my face in their affliction they will seeke mee diligently 3. Repentance I truly am m Psal 38.17 18. set in the plague and my heavinesse is ever in my sight I will confesse my wickednesse and be sorry for my sinnes When the people were stung with fiery serpents they came to Moses and said We have n Num. 21.7 sinned for wee have spoken against the Lord and against thee And againe In their o 2 Chro. 15.4 trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel and sought him and he was found of them When the Prodigall was pinched with famine he came to himselfe and said How many hired p Luke 15.16 17 18. servants in my fathers house have meat enough and I perish with hunger I will arise therefore and goe to my father c. 4. Patience Tribulation worketh q Rom. 5.3 4. patience and patience experience and experience hope 5. Joy in the Holy Ghost Receiving the Word with much affliction with r 1 Thes 1.6 joy in the Holy Ghost 6. Triall of our faith which like Å¿ 1 Pet. 1.7 gold is purged by the fire of afflictions Though he t Job 13.15 slay mee yet will I trust in him Our u Psal 44.18 19 20. heart is not turned backe nor our steps gone out of the way no not when thou hast smitten us into the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death 7. Righteousnesse No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but * Heb. 12.11 grievous neverthelesse yet afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse to them that are exercised thereby 8. Holinesse It x Heb. 2.10 became him for whom were all things in bringing many sonnes unto glory to consecrate the Captaine of our salvation through afflictions The y Heb. 12.10 fathers of our flesh for a few dayes chastened us after their owne pleasure but hee for our profit that wee may bee partakers of his holinesse 9. Estranging our affections from the world and earthly desires Eliah requested that he might dye It is z 1 Kin. 19.4 enough Lord take away my life I am no better than my fathers We that are in this tabernacle doe * 2 Cor. 5.4 groane being burdened not for that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life 11. Humility The a 2 Cor. 12.7 messenger of Sathan was sent to buffet mee and that I should not be exalted above measure there was given mee a thorne in my flesh 11. Renovation and ghostly strength Therefore I b 2 Cor. 12.10 take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for when I am weake then am I strong and though our outward man decay yet our inward man is renewed day by day 12. Freedome from everlasting torments When c 1 Cor. 11.32 wee are judged wee are chastened of the Lord that wee should not bee condemned with the world 13. Encrease of celestiall glory For our d 2 Cor. 4.17 light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory The Heathen that never tasted the least part of these fruits yet feeling by experience that the mind cloyed with continuall felicity grew a burden to it selfe was deprived hereby of matter and occasion of excellent vertues and not so onely but infatuated and wholly corrupt thereby maintained this memorable Paradoxe e Demet. apud Sen. Nihil eo infelicius cui nihil intelix contigit That none was so unhappy as bee who knew no mishap nor adversity at any time Nay they went farther in that their conceit and thereby came nearer to my text affirming that store of wealth large possessions high places and great honours were not alwaies signes and tokens of the love of God God saith the wise Poet and the best Philosopher taketh it out of him f Aristot Rhet. l. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sendeth many men great prosperity not out of love and good will but to the end that they may bee capable of greater misery and that the calamities which they are after to endure may bee more g â—uven sit Numerosa parabat excelsae turris tabulata unde altior esset casus impulsae praeceps immane rumae eminent and signall Tolluntur in altum Ut lapsu graviore ruant Misery is alwayes querulous and even weake objections often ruine them who are already cast downe with griefe such as are these Doth not God threaten to powre out his plagues upon the wicked Doe wee not read in Saint h Rom. 2.9 Paul Tribulation and anguish upon every soule that sinneth of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Are not losses infamy captivity banishment tortures and torments judgements of wrath how then can they bee arguments of love I answer that originally all the evils of this life came in with sinne and were punishments of it and they retaine their nature still in the wicked but in the godly by the mercy of God and merits of Christ they are changed from judgements of wrath into chastisements of love from stings of sinne to remedies against sinne from executions of vengeance to exercises of excellent vertues and the inflicting of them so little prejudiceth Gods love to his chosen that hee no way more sheweth it to them than by thus awaking them out of their sleepe and by this meanes pulling them out of hell fire And therefore the Prophets threaten it after all other judgements as the greatest of all that for their obstinacy and impenitency God would punish them no more
sonne when it is ripe which he permitted to grow in the father without applying any such remedy outwardly unto it yet this is most certaine that he never visiteth the sinne of the father upon the children if the children tread not in the wicked steps of their father Thus much the words that follow in the second Commandement imply unto the n Exod. 20.5 third and fourth generation of them that hate mee He often sheweth mercy to the sonne for the fathers sake but never executeth justice upon any but for their owne sinnes The sinne of the sonne growes the more unpardonable because he would not take example by his father but abused the long-suffering of God which should have called him to repentance The Latine Proverb Aemilius fecit plectitur Rutilius Aemilius committeth the trespasse and Rutilius was merced for it hath no place in Gods proceedings neither is there any ground of the Poets commination o Hor. l. 3. od 6. lib. 1. od 28. Negligis immeritis nocituram postmodo te natis fraudem committer◠fo rs debita jura vicesque superbae te maneant ipsum Delicta majorum immeritus lues Romane For God is so far from inflicting punishment upon one for the sins of another that he inflicteth no punishment upon any for his own sinne or sins be they never so many and grievous if he turne from his wicked wayes and cry for mercy in time for God desireth not the death of a sinner but of sinne he would not that we should dye in our sinnes but our sinnes in us If we spare not our sinnes but slay them with the sword of the Spirit God will spare us This is the effect of the Prophets answer the summe of this chapter and the contents of this verse in which more particularly we are to observe 1. The person I. 2. The action or affection desire 3. The object death 4. The subject the wicked 1. The person soveraigne God 2. The action or affection amiable delight 3. The object dreadfull deprivation of life 4. The subject guilty the wicked The words are uttered by a figurative interrogation in which there is more evidence and efficacy more life and convincing force For it is as if he had said Know ye not that I have no such desire or thinke ye that I have any desire or dare it enter into your thoughts that I take any pleasure at all in the death of a sinner When the interrogation is figurative the rule is that if the question be affirmative the answer to it must be negative but if the question be negative the answer must be affirmative For example Who is like unto the Lord the meaning is none is like unto the Lord. Whom have I in heaven but thee that is I have none in heaven but thee On the other side when the question is negative the answer must be affirmative as Are not the Angels ministring spirits that is the Angels are ministring spirits and Shall the Son of man find faith that is the Son of man shall not find faith Here then apply the rule and shape a negative answer to the first member being affirmative thus I have no desire that a sinner should dye and an affirmative answer to the negative member thus I have a desire that the wicked should returne and live and ye have the true meaning and naturall exposition of this verse Have I any desire that the wicked should dye 1. God is not said properly to have any thing 2. if he may be said to have any thing yet not desires 3. if he may be said to have a desire of any thing yet not of death 4. if he desire the death of any yet not of the wicked in his sinne Have I As the habits of the body are not the body so neither the habits of the soule are the soule it selfe Now whatsoever is in God is God for he is a simple act and his qualities or attributes are not re ipsâ distinct from his essence and therefore he cannot be said properly to have any thing but to be all things Any desire Desires as Plato defineth them are vela animi the sailes of the mind which move it no other wayes than the saile doth a ship Desire of honour is the saile which moveth the ambitious of pleasure is the saile which moveth the voluptuous of gaine is the saile which moveth the covetous Others define them spurres of the soule to prick us on forwards to such things as are most agreeable to our naturall inclination and deliberate purposes Hence it appeares that properly there can be no desires in God because desire is of something we want but God wanteth nothing Desires are meanes to stirre us up but God is immoveable as he is immutable If then he be said to desire any thing the speech is borrowed and to be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in such sort as may agree with the nature of God and it importeth no more than God liketh or approveth such things That the wicked should dye A sinner may be said to dye two manner of wayes either as a sinner or as a man as a sinner he dyeth when his sinne dyeth in him and he liveth as a man he dyeth either when his body is severed from his soule which is the first death or when both body and soule are for ever severed from God which is the second death God desireth the death of a sinner in the first sense but no way in the latter he desireth that sinne should dye in us but neither that we should dye the first death in sin nor dye the second death for sinne He is the author of life p Job 7.20 preserver of mankind He is the q 1 Tim. 4.10 Saviour of all especially them that beleeve Hee would not that any should r 2 Pet. 3.9 perish but all should come to repentance If he should desire the death of a sinner as he should gain-say his owne word so he should desire against his owne nature For beeing is the nature of God Sum qui sum I am that I am but death is the not beeing of the creature No more than light can be the cause of darknesse can God who is life be the cause of death If he should desire the death of a sinner he should destroy his principall attributes of wisedome goodnesse and mercy Of wisdome for what wisedome can it be to marre his chiefest worke Of goodnesse for how can it stand with goodnesse to desire that which is in it selfe evill Of mercy for how can it stand with mercy to desire or take pleasure in the misery of his creature Doth he desire the death of man who gave man warning of it at the first and meanes to escape it if he would and after that by his voluntary transgression he was liable to the censure of death provided him a Redeemer to ransome him from death calleth all men by the Gospel to
that any one Divell should get possession of our hearts yet seven nay a legion may be cast out by fasting and prayer God forbid that any of us should be long sicke of any spirituall disease yet those that have been sicke unto death have been restored yea those that have been long dead have been raised God forbid that wee should forsake our heavenly Fathers house and in a strange countrey waste his goods and consume our portion yet after we have run riot and spent all the gifts of nature and goods of this life and lavished out our time the most precious treasure of all yet in the end if we come to our selves and looke homewards our heavenly Father will meet us and kill the fat calfe for uâ— Therefore if wee have grievously provoked Gods justice by presumption let us not more wrong his mercy by despaire but hope even above hope in him whose mercy is over all his workes Against the number and weight of all our sinnes let us lay the infinitenesse of Gods mercy and Christ his merits and the certainty of his promise confirmed by oath As I live I desire not the death of a sinner if hee returne he shall live Oh saith Saint a Bern. in Cant. Quis dabit capiti meo aquam oculis meis fontem lachrymarum ut praeveniam fletibus fletum stridorem dentium Bernard that mine eyes were springs of teares that by my weeping here I might prevent everlasting weeping and gnashing of teeth in hell What pitie is it that we should fret and grieve and disquiet our selves and others for the losse of a Jewell from our eare or a ring from our finger and should take no thought at all for the losse of the Jewels of Gods grace out of our soules We are overwhelmed as it were in a deluge of teares at the death of our friends who yet are alive to God though dead to this world but have we not a thousand times greater reason to open those floodgates of salt waters which nature hath set in our eyes for our selves who are dead to God though alive to the world St. b De laps Si quem de tuis chatis mortalitatis exitu perdidisses ingemisceres dolenter fleres facie incultâ veste mutatâ neglecto capillo vultu nubilo ore dejecto indicia moeroris ostenderes animam tuam miser perdidisti spiritualitèr mortuus es supervivere hic tibi ipse ambulans funus tuum portare caepisti non acritèr plangis non â—ugitèr ingemiscis Cyprian hath a sweet touch on this string If any of thy deare friends were taken away from thee by death thou wouldst sigh thou wouldst sob thou wouldst put on blacks thou wouldst hang doâ—ne thy head thou wouldst dis-figure thy face thou wouldst let thy haire hang carelesly about thine eares thou wouldst wring thy hands thou wouldst knock thy breast thou wouldst throw thy selfe downe upon the ground thou wouldst expresse sorrow in all her gestures and postures O wretched man that thou art thou hast lost thy soule thou art spiritually dead thou survivest thy selfe and carriest a dead corps about thee and dost thou not take on dost thou not fetch a deepe sigh hast thou not a compassionate teare for thy selfe wilt thou not be thy owne mourner especially considering that all thy weeping and howling for thy friend cannot fetch him backe againe or restore him to life whereas thy weeping for thy selfe in this vale of tears and seriously bewailing thy sinnes may and by Gods grace shall revive thy soule and recover all thy spirituall losses and that with advantage Experience teacheth us that the presentest remedie for a man that is stung in any part of his body by a Scorpion is to take the oile of Scorpions and therewith oft to annoint the place sinne is the Scorpion that stingeth our soules even to death if we apply nothing to it yet out of this Scorpion sinne it selfe and the sorrow for it an oile or water may be drawne of penitent teares wherewith if we annoint or wash our soules we shall kill the venome of sinne and allay the swelling of our conscience c Pind. od 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a most soveraigne water which will fetch a sinner againe to the life of grace though never so farre gone It is not Well water springing out of the bowels of the earth nor raine powred out of the clouds of passion but rather like a d Cyp de card Chris op De interioribus fontibus egrediuntur torrentes super omnes delicias lachrymis nectareis anima delectatuâ— non illos imbres procellosae tempestates deponunt ros matutinus est de coelestibus stillans quasi unctio spiritus mentem deliniens post affectio se abluit lachrymis baptizat dew falling from heaven which softeneth and moisteneth the heart and is dried up by the beames of the Sun of righteousnesse Have not I a desire that the wicked should turne from his wayes and live When a subject hath rebelled against his naturall Soveraigne or a servant grievously provoked his master or a sonne behaved himselfe ungraciously towards his father will the Prince sue to his subject or a master to his servant or a father to his sonne for a reconciliation Will not an equall that hath a quarrell with his equall hold it a great disgrace and disparagement to make any meanes that the quarrell may be taken up will he not keepe out at full distance and looke that the partie who as he conceiveth hath wronged him should make first towards him and seeke to him Yet such an affection God beareth to us that though we silly wormes of the earth swell and rise against him yet he seeketh to us he sendeth Embassadours to e 2 Cor. 5.19 20. treat of peace and intreate and beseech us to be reconciled unto God For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himselfe not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation Now then we are Embassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be reconciled unto God Stand not out my deare brethren resigne the strong holds of your carnall imaginations and affections deliver up your members that they may serve as weapons of righteousnesse and yeeld your selves to his mercy and yee shall live Turne and live Should a prisoner led to execution heare the Judge or Sheriffe call to him and say Turne backe put in sureties for thy good behaviour hereafter and live would he not suddenly leap out of his fetters embrace the condition and thanke the Judge or Sheriffe upon his knees And what think ye if God should send a Prophet to preach a Sermon of repentance to the divels and damned ghosts in hell and say Knock off your bolts shake off your fetters and turne to the Lord and live would not hell be emptied and rid before
hand and giveth them a stay in the next clause onely use not liberty for an occasion unto the flesh Lest any presumptuous sinner should lay hold on the hornes of the Altar and claspe about that gracious promise i Tit. 2.11 The grace of God that bringeth salvation unto all men hath appeared he beateth off their fingers in the next verse teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts wee should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world In like manner lest any should * 2 Pet. 3.16 wrest the former verse of this Prophet as they doe the other Scriptures to the building forts of presumption but to the apparent ruine of their owne soules the Prophet forcibly withstandeth them in the words of my text But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousnesse c. The life of a Christian is not unfitly compared to a long and dangerous sea voyage the sea is this present world the barkes are our bodies the sailers our soules the pylot our faith the card Gods Word the rudder constancie the anker hope the maine mast the crosse of Christ the strong cables our violent affections the sailes our desires and the holy Spirit the good winde which filleth the sailes and driveth the barke and marriners to the faire k Act. 27.8 haven which is heaven Now in our way which lyeth through many temptations and tribulations there are two dangerous rockes the one on the right hand the other on the left the rock on the right hand to be avoided is presumption the rock on the left threatning shipwracke is despaire betweene which we are to steere our ship by feare on the one side and hope on the other To hold us in a solicitous feare that we touch not upon presumption let us have alwayes in the eye of our minde 1 The glorious and most omnipotent majesty of God 2 His all-seeing providence 3 His impartiall justice 4 His severe threatnings against sinne 5 The dreadfull punishments hee inflicteth upon sinners 6 The heinousnesse of the sin of presumption which turneth Gods grace into wantonnesse 7 The difficulty of recovery after relapses 8 The uncertainty of Gods offer of grace after the frequent refusall thereof To keepe us in hope that wee dash not upon the rocke of despaire on the contrary side let us set before our troubled and affrighted consciences these grounds of comfort 1 The infinitenesse of Gods mercy 2 The price and value of Christs blood 3 The efficacy of his intercession 4 The vertue of the Sacraments 5 The universality and certainty of Gods promises to the penitent 6 The joy of God and Angels for the conversion of a sinner 7 The communion of Saints who all pray for the comfort of afflicted consciences and the ease of all that are heavie laden with their sinnes 8 The examples of mercy shewed to most grievous sinners Upon these grounds the contrite penitent may build strong forts of comfort after this manner My sins though they be more in number than the heires of my head yet they are finite whereas Gods mercy is every way infinite if my debt bee as a thousand my Saviours merits are as infinite millions And not onely Gods mercy but his justice also pleads for my pardon for it is against justice that the same debt should be twice paid to require a full ransome from my Redeemer and expect it from my selfe I l â— Joh. 1.9 confesse my sinnes and therefore I know he is faithfull and just to forgive mee my sinnes and cleanse mee from all my unrighteousnesse One drop of the blood of the Sonne of God was a sufficient price for the ransome of many worlds and shall not such store of it spinning from his temples dropping from his hands gushing out of his side and trickling from all parts of his body both in the garden and in the High Priests Hall satisfie for one poore soule that preferreth his love even before heaven it selfe All my sinnes are either originall or actuall the guilt of originall is taken away in baptisme and as often as I have received the blessed Sacrament a generall pardon was tendred unto mee for all my other sinnes and the seale delivered into my hands What though God will not heare the prayers of such a sinner as I am yet he will heare the prayers of Jesus Christ the righteous who is the propitiation for my sinnes I acknowledge to my hearts griefe and sorrow that neither faith nor hope nor any other divine vertue beareth any sensible fruit in mee for the present yet the seed of my regeneration remaineth in mee And as the blind man knew that his sight began to be restored to him even by the defect he found in it when he thought he m Mark 8.24 saw men walke like trees so even by this I know that I am not utterly destitute of grace because I feele and unfainedly bewaile the want of it If there were no heavenly treasure in mee Satan would not so often and so furiously assault mee for theeves besiege not much lesse breake open those houses where they are perswaded nothing is to be found The greater my sorrow is for my sinne and my spirituall desertion the greater is my hope for the spirit maketh intercession for the sonnes of God n Rom. 8.26 with groaning which cannot be expressed None were cured by the brazen Serpent which before had not beene stung by the fiery neither doth Christ promise ease unto any but to those that feele themselves heavie burdened But to confine my meditations to the letter of my text Before ye heard Repent you of your sinnes and you shall surely live God pawneth his life for it therefore despaire not how grievous soever your sinnes be But now I am to tell you plainly if you repent you of your repentance and turne from righteousnesse to sinne and end your dayes in that state you shall surely die eternally therefore presume not how compleate soever your former righteousnesse seeme to have beene In these two verses are implyed a double conversion 1 From evill to good 2 From good to evill To turne from evill is good from good is evill the former is repentance upon which I spent my last discourse the later is relapse or apostacie against which I am now to bend all my forces But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousnesse and committeth iniquity c. in the transgression which he hath transgressed and in the sinne which he hath sinned in them hee shall surely die The contents of this verse are like the Prophet Jeremies figges of which wee read that the bad were exceeding bad for in the antecedent or fore-part we have apostacie that totall and in the hinder part or consequent death and that finall The words divide themselves into first a supposition When or if the righteous forsake secondly an inference his former righteousnesse shall not be remembred c. The supposition is dangerous the
against his owne body doth not his conscience tell him that God is highly displeased with him doth hee not feele the effects of his wrath in his soule and oftentimes in his body and estate also and if the hand of God upon him bring him not to a sight and a sense and an acknowledgement and a detestation also of his sinne dare any man secure his salvation On the contrary if after his relapse his heart smite him and hee feeles the pricke of conscience if there bee any sparke in the weeke any bitter fume drawing teares from his eyes any fervour of zeale any heate of love in him any vehement desire of saving grace though hee receive the sentence of death in himselfe and breathe out his last gaspe in a disconsolate sigh and with a lamentable groane yet none doubteth but that he may passe even by the gates of Hell into Heaven There is nothing so easie or frequent as for a man to slip or fall who walketh upon the ice and what is this world compared by Saint John to a sea of glasse Apoc. 15.2 but slippery ice in which though they who goe most warily slide often and receive grievous falls yet they may take such hold on the one side upon the promises of God Jer. 31.40 I will not turne away from them to doe them good but I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from mee and on the other side upon Christs praier I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not that they fall not irrecoverably or so dangerously as that they dye of their fall Luke 22.31 For whose comfort in their fearfullest conflicts with dispaire I will lay such grounds of confidence as will amount to a hope that maketh not ashamed and at least to a morall assurance of the recovery of their former estate In the ninth of Proverbs and the first wee have a description of a house built by Wisedome b Prov. 9.1 Wisedome saith hee hath built her an house shee hath hewen out her seven pillars By this house albeit some of the Ancients understand the incarnation of the Sonne of God who is the Wisedome of his Father and might bee said then to build him an house when hee framed a body to himselfe yet may it bee applyed to the spirituall house which every Christian buildeth by faith upon the rocke Christ Jesus for as that so this standeth upon seven pillars 1. The constancy of Gods love in Christ 2. The certainty of his decrees 3. The truth of his promises 4. The power of regenerating grace 5. The efficacy of Christs prayer and intercession for all Beleevers 6. The safegard of the Almighties protection 7. The testimony of the true ancient Church which the Apostle himselfe graceth with the title of the pillar and ground of truth The first pillar to support this building is the constancy of Gods love to all that are in Christ which may be thus hewen to our purpose They upon whom God setteth such an especiall affection in Christ that hee maketh a covenant of peace and entreth into a contract of marriage with them can never bee cast utterly out of favour much lesse grow into eternall hatred and detestation in such sort that they become the objects of endlesse misery and subjects of everlasting malediction For this kindnesse whereby the Lord our Redeemer hath mercy on us Esa 1.54.8 With everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer Ver. 10. The mountains shal depart and the â—â—ls be removed but my kindnesse shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed is everlasting The covenant of this peace is immoveable this contract is indissoluble * Hos 2.19 20. I will betroth thee unto mee for ever I will betroth thee unto mee in righteousnesse and in judgement and in loving kindnesse and in mercies I will betroth thee unto mee in faithfulnesse and thou shalt know the Lord. But all true beleevers are embraced with this love comprised within this covenant parties in this contract What then can steale their hearts from Christ or alienate his love from them z Rom. 8 35.38 What shal separate them from this love of God in Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill No neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That fire which generateth and produceth its owne fuell can never goe out and what is the fuell which nourisheth this heavenly flame but grace and vertue in us which it selfe continually worketh in all them that are new creatures in Christ Men affect others because of worth but contrariwise Gods affection causeth worth in all who are indeared unto him All the spirituall beauty they have wherewith he is enamoured is no other than the reflection and glisening of the beames of his grace which a Heb. 12.2 Looking unto Jesus the beginner and finisher of our faith beginneth and consummateth all good in us b Phil. 2.13 For it is God that worketh in us both to will and to doe of his good pleasure working in us both the wil the deed Philosophy teacheth that the celestiall and superiour bodies work upon the terrestriall and inferiour but not on the contrary The stormes or calmes in the aire change not the motions or influence of the starres but contrariwise the motions conjunctions and influences of the Starres cause such variety in the ayre and earth The rayes of the visible Sunne are not moved at all by the motion of the object but immoveably flow from the body of that Planet and though blustering windes tyrannize in the ayre and remove it a thousand times out of its place in an houre yet they stirre not therewith in like manner though our affections are transported with every gale of prosperity and storme of adversity and our wills somewhat yeeld to every wind of temptation yet Gods affections like the beames of the Sunne remaine immoveable where they are once fixed Wee play fast and loose even with those oftentimes to whom wee are bound in the strongest bonds of duty and love wee praise and dispraise with a breath frowne and smile with a looke Esay 55.8 love and hate with a conceit but Gods affections are not like ours John 13.1 nor are his thoughts our thoughts For having loved his owne which were in the world 2 Tim. 2.13 hee loveth them unto the end and though we beleeve not yet hee abideth faithfull he cannot deny himselfe The second pillar is the certainty of Gods decree for the salvation of the Elect 2 Tim. 2 19. and thus I reare it up The foundation of God standeth sure having this seale The Lord knoweth them that
him Apoc. 1.7 even they that nailed him to the Crosse and pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall mourne before him Yea and Amen then he shall bring or send forth judgement unto victory He brought forth judgement in his life by preaching the Gospel in his owne person and he sent it forth after his death by the ministery of his Apostles and doth still by propagating the Church but hee bringeth not forth judgement unto victory in the Evangelists phrase because this his judgement is much oppressed the light of his truth smoothered the pure doctrine of the Gospel suppressed the greater part of the Kings of the earth and Potentates of this world refusing to submit their scepter to his Crosse and saying as it is in St. Lukes Gospel Luke 17.14 Wee will not have this man to reigne over us but when the sonne of man shall display his banner in the clouds and the winds shall have breathed out their last gaspes and the sea and the waters shall roare when heaven and earth shall make one great bonefire when the stage of this world shall be removed and all the actors in it shall put off their feigned persons and guises and appeare in their owne likenesse when the man of sinne 2 Thes 2.3 8. that exalteth himselfe above all that is called God shall be fully revealed and after consumed with the spirit of Christs mouth and be destroyed by the brightnesse of his comming then he shall suddenly confound the rest of his enemies Atheists Hypocrites Jewes Turkes Idolatrous Gentiles and Heretikes and breake the neckes of all that stubbornly resist him and then the truth shall universally prevaile and victoriously triumph All this variety of descant which you heare is but upon two notes a higher and a lower the humility and the majesty the infirmity and the power the obscurity and the glory the mildnesse and the severity of our Lord and Saviour his humility upon earth his majesty in heaven his infirmities in the dayes of his flesh and his power since hee sitteth at the right hand of his Father the obscurity and privacy of his first comming and solemnity of his second his mildnesse and clemency during the time of grace and mercy and his wrath and severity at the day of Judgement and Vengeance Ecce tibiâ cecinimus vobis Behold out of this Scripture I have piped unto you recording the pleasing notes of our Redeemers mildnesse and mercy who never brake the bruised reed nor quenched the smoaking flaxe now I am to mourne unto you sounding out the dolefull notes of his justice and severity which shall one day bring forth judgement unto victory But before I set to the sad tune pricked before mee in the rules of my Text I am to entreat you to listen a while till I shall have declared unto you the harmony of the Prophet Esay and the Evangelist S. Matthew the rather because there seemeth some dissonancy and jarre between them For in Esay we reade Esay 42.3 Hee shall bring forth judgement unto truth that is give sentence according to truth but in St. Matthew He shall send forth judgement unto victory which importeth somewhat more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. that the judgement he shall send forth viam inveniet aut faciet shall either finde way or force it take place or make place no man or divell being able to withstand it Besides this discord in their notes there is a sweet straine in the Prophet he shall not faile Verse 4. nor bee discouraged till hee have set judgement on the earth left out in the Evangelist To the first exception the Jesuit Maldonat saith that the Syriack word signifieth both truth and victory and that Saint Matthew wrote not in pure Hebrew but in the Hebrew then currant which was somewhat alloyed and embased with other languages which if it were granted unto him as it is not by those who defend that the Greeke in the New Testament is the originall yet the breach is not fully made up For still the originall Hebrew in Esay and the Greeke in Saint Matthew which hath been ever held authenticall are at odds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew signifying truth and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greeke signifying victory and not truth I grant the truth of Christ is most victorious and hath subdued all the false gods of the Heathen as the Arke laid Dagon on his face and the rod of Aaron devoured all the rods of the Magicians yet truth and victory are not all one A weake Judge may bring forth judgement unto truth yet not unto victory as on the contrary a potent and corrupt Judge may bring forth judgement unto victory yet not unto truth Tully in a bad cause prevailed against Oppianicus by casting dust in the Judges eyes And Aeschines prevailed not against Ctesiphon in a good cause Right is often overcome by might and sometimes by the sleight of a cunning Advocate for the false part To the second objection Beza answereth that these words that hee will not faile nor be discouraged till he hath set judgement on the earth were anciently in St. Matthew but of late through the carelesnesse of some transcriber from whose copy ours were drawne are left out But sith this Verse is wanting in all the copies of Saint Matthew now extant neither can Beza bring good proofe of any one in which this Verse was ever found it is not safe to lay any such imputation upon the first transcribers of St. Matthewes Gospel whereby a gap may be opened to Infidels and Heretickes to cavell at the impeachable authority of the holy Scriptures in the originall languages A safe and easie way to winde out of these perplexed difficulties is to acknowledge that the Evangelist who wrote by the same spirit wherewith the Prophet Esay was inspired tyed nor himselfe precisely to the Prophets words but fitteth the Prophets sense to his owne purpose and what the Prophet delivered in two Verses he contracteth into one For what is hee shall bring forth judgement unto truth and he shall not faint nor be discouraged till hee hath done it but that he shall doe it effectually and powerfully and what is that but he shall send forth judgement unto victory Hee shall send forth Cal. in Mat. 1. Hoc verbum educere quo utitur Propheta significat officium Christi esse Regnum Dei quod tum inclusum erat in angulo Judeae propagare in totum orbem This phrase reacheth forth unto us a twofold observation the first touching the extent the second touching the freedome of this judgement here spoken of By judgement is here meant the Kingdome of Christ which must not bee confined to Jury nor bounded within the pale of Palaestine but hee sent forth that is propagated and spread over the whole world according to the prophecy of the Psalmist a Psal 110.2 The Lord shall send a rod of thy strength out
accessary to the death of the Lord of life And not only those that committed high treason against the sacred person of the Lords Annointed and imbrued their hands and stained their consciences with that bloud which cleanseth us from all sinne 1 John 1.7 but also Nero and Domitian and Trajan and Antoninus and Severus and Maximinus and Decius and Valerianus and Dioclesianus and Maxentius and all other Emperours that employed their swords and Simon Magus and Cerinthus and Arrius and Nestorius and Manes and all other obstinate arch-Heretickes who employed their pens against him none have hitherto escaped the heavie judgement of God who have bid battell to the Christian Faith and have wilfully and of set malice given the Spouse of Christ the least wound or skarre either by a gash with their sword or a scratch with their pen. Bee wise now therefore O yee Kings Psal 2.10 11 12. bee instructed yee Judges of the earth Serve the Lord with feare and rejoyce with trembling Kisse the Sonne lest hee bee angry and yee perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him Some Interpreters by Judgement understand the spirituall government of Christ which is managed in his Church with excellent wisedome and judgement and by Victory the prevalent power of grace in the faithfull wherby they are victorious in all temptations in such sort that though Sathan labour with all his might to blow out a poore sparke yet hee shall not be able to quench it and that the smallest degree of faith like a grain of mustard seed is stronger than the gates of hell and is able to remove mountaines of doubts and oppositions cast up by Sathan and our rebellious hearts between God and us And from hence they inforce the Apostles exhortation to all the souldiers of Christ to be strong in the Lord Ephes 6.10 and in the power of his might not to looke who are their enemies but who is our Captaine not what they threaten but what hee promiseth who hath taken upon him as to conquer for us so to conquer in us These are sweet and comfortable notes but as I conceive without the rule of this Text for questionlesse the Donec or Untill is not superfluous or to no purpose but hath reference to some future time when Christs mild proceedings shall be at a period and he shall take another course with his enemies such as I have before described in the particular judgement of the Jewish Nation and the generall judgement of the whole World But if Judgement and Victory bee taken in their sense there needed no untill to bee added For Christ even from the beginning of his preaching when he strived not nor cryed nor brake the bruised reed nor quenched the smoaking flaxe sent forth judgment unto victory according unto their interpretation that is wisely governed his Church and gave victory to the faithfull in their conflicts with sinne and Sathan That therefore the members of this sentence bee not co-incident and that the donec or untill may have his full force I conceive agreeably to the exposition of the ancient and the prime of the later Interpreters that in this clause Till hee bring forth judgement unto victory the Prophet determineth the limits of the time of grace Whosoever commeth In between the first and second comming of Christ shall be received into favour but after the gates of mercy shall bee locked up Yet our gracious Ahasuerus reacheth out his golden Scepter to all that have a hand of faith to lay hold on it but then he shall take his Iron mace or rod in his hand to bruise his enemies and breake them in pieces like a potters vessell I must sing therefore with holy David of Mercy and Judgement mercy in this life and judgement in the life to come mercy during the day of grace but judgement at the day of the Worlds doom For although sometimes God meets with the Reprobate in this life yet that judgement which they feele here may bee accounted mercy in comparison of that which shall be executed upon them hereafter without all mitigation of favour release of torments or limitation of time Now the vials drop on them but then they shall bee poured all out upon them Wherefore let us all like the bruised reed fall downe to the earth and humble our selves under the mighty hand of God Let us like smoaking flaxe send forth bitter fumes of sighes for our sinnes assuring our selves that now whilst the day of grace lasteth hee will not breake the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flaxe but if we neglect this time of grace and deferre our repentance till he send forth judgement unto victory we shall smoake for it Cogitemus fratres de tempore in tempore ne pereamus cum tempore Let us thinke of time in time lest we perish with time Let us imagine that we now saw the Angel standing upon the sea Apoc. 10 5 6. and upon the earth and lifting up his hand to heaven and swearing by him that liveth for ever who created heaven and the earth and the sea and the things that are therein that there should be time no longer Jonas 2.8 O let us not forsake our owne mercy but to day if wee will heare his voice harden not our hearts but mollifie them by laying them asoake in teares Let us breake off our sinnes suddenly by repentance and our iniquities by almes-deeds Now is the seed-time let us now therefore sow the seeds of faith hope mercy meeknesse temperance patience and all other divine Vertues and we shall reape a plentifull harvest in heaven Cypr. ad Dom. Hic vita aut amittitur aut tenetur hic saluti aeternae cultu Dei fructu fidei providetur Galat. 6.8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption but hee that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reape life everlasting Which God of his infinite mercy grant that we may all do in heaven through the merits of his Sonne by the grace of the holy Spirit to whom c. THE TRAITORS GUERDON A Sermon preached on the Gowries conspiracy before his Grace and divers Lords and persons of eminent quality at Croydon August 5. Anno Dom. 1618. THE FIFTH SERMON PSAL. 63. VER 9 10 11. 9. But those that seeke my soule to destroy it shall goe into the lower parts of the earth 10. They shall make him run out like water by the hands of the sword they shall be a portion for Foxes 11. But the King shall rejoyce in God every one that sweareth by him shall glory but the mouth of them that speake lyes shall be stopped Most REVEREND Right Honr. Right Wor sh c. WEe are at this present assembled with religious Rites and sacred Ceremonies to celebrate the unfortunately fortunate Nones of August which are noted in red letters in the Romane Calendar as
the justification of King Davids lesson read in my text to Princes and Judges a quo tandem aequius est doceri Reges quam a Rege erudiri Judices quam a Judice Who so proper to tutour Kings as a King who might better give Judges their charge than the chiefe Judge and Soveraigne Justice in his Kingdome Not onely nature and bloud but arts also and professions make a kinde of brotherhood and an admonition that commeth from a man in place to another in like place and office that is spoken by authority to authority carrieth a double authority and cannot but be entertained with due respect and carefull regard Therefore God in his wisedome instructed the Prophet David by b 2. Sam. 7.3.5 Nathan a Prophet reproved the Apostle Saint c Gal. 2.14 Peter by Paul an Apostle informed John the d Apoc. 7.14 Elder by an Elder and here adviseth Kings by a King Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be learned yee Judges of the earth In this verse we have 1. A lesson applied Of wisedome to Kings Of instruction to Judges 2. A reason implied in the words of the earth that is Either Kings and Judges made of earth Or made Kings and Judges of earth Kings and Judges are but men of earth earthly and therefore in subjection to the God of heaven and they are made Kings and Judges onely of the earth that is earthly and humane affaires and therefore in subordination to divine and heavenly Lawes For the order first King David commendeth wisedome to Kings and then instruction or learning viz. in the Lawes to Judges Kings are above Judges and wisedome the glorie of a Prince above learning the honour of a Judge Kings make Judges and wisdome makes learned as the power of Kings is the source of the authoritie of Judges so wisedome is the fountaine of all lawes and consequently of all instruction and learning in them First therefore be wise O ye Kings to make good Lawes and then be learned O ye Judges in these Lawes and found Yee your wisedome Yee your learning in humility for it is earth not onely upon which your consistory stands but also of which you your selves consist As the tongue is moved partly by a muscle in it selfe partly by an artery from the heart so besides the motive to these vertues in this verse it selfe there is a reason drawne by the spirit to enforce these duties from the heart of this Psalme ver 6. which is like an artery conveying spirit and life to this admonition here Yet have I set my King c. as if the Prophet had said Behold O Kings a throne above yours set in the starres behold O Judges of the earth a tribunall or judgement seat above yours established in the clouds There is a King of heaven by whom all earthly Kings reigne and a Judge of quicke and dead to whom all Judges of the earth are accountable e Horat. od car l. 3. od 1. Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis Kings are dreadfull to their subjects God to Kings Judges call other men to the barre but Christ Jesus shall summon all Judges one day to his tribunall f Cyp. de mortal justissimè judicaturus a quibus est injustissimè judicatus most justly to judge Judges by whom both in himselfe and in his members he hath beene most unjustly judged O Kings The more excellent the office the more eminent the qualitie ought to be no vertue so befits a Prince as religious wisedome the Queen of all vertues be wise therefore O yee Kings excell in the grace which excelleth all others crowne your royall dignitie with all Princely vertues and chaine them all together in prudence with the linkes following Serve the Lord with feare feare him with joy rejoyce in him with love and love him with confidence First serve him not carelesly but sollicitously fearing to displease him Secondly feare him not servilely but filially with joy Thirdly rejoyce in him not presumptuously but awfully with trembling Fourthly Tremble before him not desperately but hopefully so feare him in his judgements that ye embrace him in his mercies and kisse him in the face of Jesus Christ Though he frowne on you in his anger yet still seeke to please him yea though he smite you in his wrath and kill you all the day long yet put your trust in him and you shall be happie Be wise Wisedome is the mindes g Arist Eth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eye by which she pryeth into all the secrets of nature and mysteries of State and discerneth betweene good and evill and prudently guideth all the affaires of life as the helme doth a ship No good can be done without her direction nor evill bee avoyded but by her forecast She is the chiefe of the foure cardinall vertues and may rightly be stiled Cardinalium cardo the hinge that turnes them all about They advance not till she strikes an alarum nor retire till she sound a retreat What the Apostle speakes of the three heavenly graces now there h 1 Cor. 13.13 remaine these three faith hope and charity but the greatest of these is charitie may be in like manner affirmed concerning the preheminence of wisedome in respect of the other cardinall vertues now there remaine these foure 1. Wisedome to direct 2. Justice to correct 3. Temperance to abstaine 4. Fortitude to sustaine but the greatest of these is wisedome For wisedome informeth justice moderateth temperance and leadeth fortitude Wisedome giveth rules to justice setteth bounds to temperance putteth reines on fortitude Without wisedome justice hurteth others temperance our selves i Horat. od car l. fortitude both our selves and others k Isoc ad Demon. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vis consili expers mole ruit sua Saint l Bernard ser 85. in cant Sapientia a sapore dicta est quia virtuti velut condimentum accedens sapidam reddit Bernard deriveth sapientia a sapore sapience from sapour because wisedome giveth a good rellish to vertue Discretion is the salt of all our actions without which nothing that is done or spoken is savourie What doth pregnancie of wit or maturitie of judgement or felicitie of memorie or varietie of reading or multiplicitie of observation or gracefulnesse of deliverie steed a man that wanteth wisedome and discretion to use them In these respects and many more Solomon the wisest King that ever wore corruptible Crowne in his prayer to God preferreth wisedome to all other gifts whatsoever And indeed so admirable a vertue so rare a perfection so inestimable a treasure it is that the heathen who had but a glimpse of it discover it to be a beame of that light which no man can approach unto m Cic. Tus quaest haec est una hominis sapientia non arbitrarite scire quod nescias this is the chiefest point of mans wisedome saith Tully out of Socrates his mouth to
cause in favour of the defendant and being taxed for it by his friends in private shewing them the coyn he received demanded of them quis possit tot armatis resistere who were able to stand against so many in complete armour Steele armour is bullet or musket proofe but nothing except the feare of God is gold or silver proofe Nothing can keepe a Judge from receiving a reward in private in a colourable cause but the eye of the Almighty who seeth the corrupt Judge in secret and will reward him openly if not in his lower Courts on earth yet in his high Court of Star-chamber in heaven 5 All corruption is not in bribes hee who for hope of advancement or for favour or for any by-respect whatsoever perverteth judgement is not cleere from corruption though his hands be cleane The Judges who absolved the beautifull strumpet Phryne had their hands cleane but their eyes foule The Judges who absolved Murena that by indirect meanes purchased the Consulship of Rome are not taxed for taking any bribe from him yet was their judgment corrupt because that which swayed them in judgment was not the innocency of Murena but his modest carriage together with his sickness then upon him moving them unto compassion An upright Judge must in a morall sense be like Melchisedek without Father or Mother kiffe or kin I meane in justice hee must take no notice of any affinity or consanguinity friendship or favour or any thing else save the merits of the cause to which 6 Hee must give a full hearing for otherwise the Poet will tell him that g Sen. in med Qui aliquid statuit parte inauditá alterá aequum licet statuerit baud aequus est though the sentence he gives may be just yet he cannot be just The eare is not only the sense of discipline or learning as the Philosopher speaketh but of faith also as the Apostle teacheth yea and of truth also and justice Though a Judge need not with Philip stop one of his eares while the accuser is speaking yet ought he alwayes to reserve an eare for the defendant and according to the ancient decree of the Areopagites h Demost orat de coron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heare both parties with like attention and indifferency their full time Albeit our Lord and Saviour knew the hearts of men which no earthly Judge can yet to prescribe a rule to all Judges hee professeth sicut audio sic judico i Joh. 5.30 as I heare so I judge Never any Romane Emperour was so much censured with injustice and folly as k Sueton. in Claud. Claudius Caesar and the reason why hee so oft mistooke was because hee often sentenced causes upon the hearing of one side only and somtimes upon the full hearing of neither But of hearing you heare every day not onely the Preachers at the Assizes but the Counsell on both parts call upon you for it I would you heard as oft of that which I am to touch in the next place without which hearing is to no purpose 7 Expedition If the time had not prevented me I would have long insisted upon the prolonging of suits in all Courts of justice For a man can come into none of them but hee shall heare many crying with him in the Poet Quem das finem Rex magne laborum When shall we leave turning Ixions wheele and rowling Sisyphus stone O that we had an end either way long delayed justice often more wrongeth both parties than injustice either I am not ignorant of the colourable pretence wherewith many excuse these delayes affirming that questions in law are like the heads of Hydra when you cut off one there arise up two in the place of it which if it were so as it argueth a great imperfection in our laws which they who are best able make no more haste to supply than beggars to heale the raw flesh because these gaine by such defects as they by shewing their sores so it no way excuseth the protraction of the ordinary suits disputes and demurres in which there is no more true controversie in point of law than head in a sea-crab 8 Of courage and resolution I shall need to adde nothing to what hath beene spoken because the edge of your sword of justice hath a strong backe the authority of a most religious and righteous Prince under whom you need not feare to doe justice but rather not to execute justice upon the most potent delinquent 9 There remaines nothing but Equity to crowne all your other vertues which differeth but little from moderation above enforced for moderation is equity in the minde as equity is moderation in the sentence Bee not over just saith l Eccl. 7.16 Solomon but moderate thy justice with equity and mitigate it with mercy for summum jus est summa injuria justice without mercy is extreme cruelty and mercy without justice is foolish pity both together make Christian equity Therfore these two vertues resemble Castor and Pollux which if either alone appeare on the mast is ominous but both together promise a prosperous voyage or like the metals which are so termed quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the veynes succeed one the other after the veyne of one metall you fall upon the veyne of another so in scripture you shall finde a sequence of these vertues as in the Prophet Micah m Micah 6.8 Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to doe justly and love mercy and in Zechary n Zech. 7.9 Execute true judgement and shew mercy and compassion every man to his brother and in Solomon o Pro. 21.21 Hee that followeth after righteousnesse and mercy findeth life righteousnesse and honour To gather then up at length the scattered links of my discourse to make a golden chaine for your neckes Be instructed O ye Judges of the earth either Judges made of earth earthly men or made Judges of the earth that is controversies about lands tenures and other earthly and temporall causes serve the Lord of heaven in feare and rejoice unto him with trembling bee religious in your devotion moderate in your passions learned in the lawes incorrupt in your courts impartiall in your affections patient in hearing expedite in proceeding resolute in your sentence and righteous in judgement and execution So when the righteous Judge shall set his tribunall in the clouds and the unrighteous Judge as being most contrary to him shall receive the heaviest doome ye that are righteous Judges as being likest to him shall receive a correspondent reward and bee taken from sitting upon benches on earth to be his Assessours on his throne in heaven To whom c. THE APOSTOLICK BISHOP A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the L. B. of Bristow before his Grace and the Lord Keeper of the Great Seale and divers other Lords Spirituall and Temporall and other persons of eminent quality
departure Buried out of the said Hospitall this yeere 200 Remaining under cure at this present 304 There hath beene brought into the Hospitall of Bridewell for this yeere past of wandring souldiers and vagrant persons to the number of 1578 Of which number many have beene chargeable for the time of their being there which cannot be avoided by reason of their misery nor passed away without charge There is maintained and kept in the said Hospitall in arts and occupations and other workes and labours Apprentices taken up out of divers parishes and streets of this City to the number of 200 I have made an end of the Catalogue but you must not make an end of your good workes I have set before you a faire copy you must write after it or else this schedule will prove a hand-writing against you at the day of judgement who have had not onely many most forcible exhortations to good workes in this place but such noble and royall presidents as you see and yet have not been bettered by them You cannot want pitifull objects of mercy your pious charity hath daily Oratours the teares of orphans the sighes of widowes the groanes of the sicke and the lamentable cryes of prisoners and captives Neither is it sufficient for you now and then to drop upon the dry and thirsty ground you must stillare pluviam liberalissimam you must powre downe golden showres to refresh Gods inheritance To whom much is given much shall bee required of him In other seizements you give as you are in the Kings books but contrariwise you are in Gods bookes and hee valueth you as you give to pious and charitable uses And let mee intreat you for the love of your Redeemer from everlasting thraldome to open your hands towards the redemption of many hundreds of our countrey-men whose bodies are in captivity under Turks and Infidels their wives and children in misery at home and it is to be feared their soules in worse case Next to the redemption of these spirituall Temples of the holy Ghost I commend unto you the reparation and beautifying of his materiall Temple you have most decently and beautifully adorned and trimmed the daughters of Zion the lesser and later built Churches in this City let not your piety bee lesse to the Mother-Church dedicated to the most publike and solemne worship of God where you are fed with the finest flower of wheat and drinke of the purest juice of the grape and in the fullest manner partake of the communion of Saints which was the second inference I made from the attribute of Christ in my text whereby hee is stiled Primitiae dormientium The first fruits of them that slept 2 The second inference from the attribute here mentioned the first fruits of c. is the communion of the faithfull with Christ both in sanctification and glorification for the further manifestation whereof it will bee requisite to specifie whereof Christ is the first fruits viz. 1 Coeli for he is the first begotten of his Father 2 Uteri for he was the Virgins first borne 3 Sepulchri for hee is the first fruits of them that slept In all three the faithfull partake with him after a sort 1 In that hee is Primitiae coeli the first fruits of heaven For as hee is the naturall sonne of God so are wee the adopted sonnes of God and by his spirit made l 2 Pet. 1.4 partakers of the divine nature as hee is the first borne of heaven m Heb. 12.23 so wee are also of the generall assembly and Church of the first borne which are written in heaven 2 In that he is Primitiae uteri virginei the first fruits of a virgins womb For as Christ was borne of a virgin Mother so the Christian Church our Mother is continually in child-bearing and yet remaineth still a virgin 3 Most properly doe wee partake with him in that hee is Primitiae sepulchri for hee is n Joh. 12.24 that corne of wheat Saint John speaketh of which was sowne at his death digged deepe into the earth at his buriall sprang up againe at his resurrection and now is become the first fruits of them that slept in like manner wee are sowne at our death digged deep into the earth at our buriall and shall spring up againe at the last resurrection and bee offered as o Apoc. 14.4 first fruits unto God and the Lambe Where the first fruits are taken out there must needs bee a lumpe or heape out of which they are taken p Calvin in hunc locum In primitiis totius anni proventus consecrabatur in the first fruits the whole crop of the yeere was hallowed so in Christ who is our first fruits all true believers are sanctified as those words of our Saviour in that most divine prayer to his Father recorded import q Joh. 17.19 for their sakes I sanctifie my selfe that they also might bee sanctified through the truth If Christ sanctified himselfe for us shall not wee endeavour as hee enableth us by his grace to sanctifie our selves also for him If hee impart this his dignity to us and maketh us r Jam. 1.18 the first fruits of his creatures let us dedicate our selves unto him let us bee given to him as Å¿ 1 Sam. 1.28 Samuel was all the dayes of our lives Hee hath chosen us to bee marke I beseech you what fruits not blossomes not leaves fruits I say not stalkes not empty eares like those who make a bare profession of the truth and all their religion is in their eares bearing no fruit at all or in no degree answerable to their holiest profession If God hath made us fruits let us not make our selves ranke weeds by heresie or filthy dung by a corrupt life After the first fruits are carried away out of the field the rest of the shockes or sheafes follow of course t Theod. in hunc locum primitias universa massa sequitur Christ the first fruits is carried away long since out of the field of this world into the celestiall barne A barne farre more stately beautifull and glorious than any Princes pallace upon earth and when the harvest shall come which is u Mat. 13.39 the end of the world wee shall bee carried thither also every one in his owne order the first fruits is Christ after they that are Christs at his comming ver 23. Before I can proceed according to my desire and your expectation to the period of my discourse and end of all mens course viz. death called here sleepe I must remove sixe rubbes that lye in my way For wee read of three dead men raised in the Old Testament and as many in the New before Christ himselfe rose how then is hee the first fruits of them that slept 1 I will offer to your consideration many solutions of this doubt that you may take your choice Saint Jerome gives but a touch at it yet because it is upon the
caveret si caveret evaderet Cyprian pricking the right veine telleth us it is a thing to be bewailed with teares of bloud that none almost mindeth everlasting torments For did they minde them and beleeve them they could not but feare them and if they feared them â—â—â—y would beware of them and if they would beware of them they might escape them O that men therefore were wise to thinke upon hell before they rushed on the brinke of it and enter into a serious consideration of Gods fearfull judgements upon obstinate and impenitent sinners before they were overtaken by them This is the scope and effect of these words and I pray God they may worke this effect in us that laying before our eyes the fearfull ends of the wicked and their damnation wee may learne from henceforth to be wise unto salvation The unum necessarium and chiefe point of all to be thought upon in this life is what shall become of us after wee goe from hence for here God knowes we have but a short time to stay We reade in King l Eccles 3.1.2 Solomons distribution of time according to the severall occasions of mans life to every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven a time to be borne and a time to dye but wee reade of no time to live as if our death bordered upon our birth and our cradle stood in our grave yet upon this moment rather than time of our life dependeth eternity Division The greatest perfection attainable by man in this life is wisedome and the most proper act of wisedome is consideration and the chiefest point of consideration is our later end First therefore the Spirit of God in this Text commendeth wisedome to their desires Secondly consideration to their wisedome Thirdly their later end to their consideration and the more to stirre up their affections and expresse his he delivereth this his advice in a wish and accompanieth it with a deep sigh saying O that they were wise they would understand this that it is not for their sakes that they might bragge but for their enemies sake that they might not bragge that I have thus long spared them For I had long ere this scattered them abroad and made their remembrance cease from amongst men but that I knew their adversaries would take advantage thereat and waxe proud upon it Verse 27. and say our high hand and not the Lord hath done it For they are a Nation void of councell neither is there any understanding in them Which words beare a light before the words of my Text Coherence and thus bring them in O that they were wise then they would understand this viz. that nothing standeth between them and my wrath my wrath and their destruction but the pride of their enemies they are indebted to the fury malice and insolency of the Heathen who seeke utterly to destroy them and by proudly treading upon their neckes to trample true religion under feet that hell raines not downe upon them from heaven and they not burnt like Sodome and consumed like Gomorrah Were they wise they would understand it and understanding consider how neere they are to their end and considering it meet the Lord upon their knees to prevent their utter overthrow Observ 1. O that they were so wise If those words wherewith Moses beginneth his Swan-like song immediately before his death Verse 2. My doctrine shall drop as the raine and my speech shall distill as the dew as the small raine upon the tender herbe and as the showers upon the grasse were verified of any of his words they are certainly of these in my Text which drop like raine or rather like hoâ—y from his mouth whereby wee may taste how sweet the Lord is in his speeches how milde in his proceedings how passionate in his perswasions what force of art eloquence he useth to draw us unto him without force violence Are not sighes the very breath of love are not sobs the accents of grief are not groanes fetched deep the long periods of sorrowes ravishing eloquence which Almighty God breathes out of the boyling heat of his affection both here and elsewhere O m Hos 6.4 Ephraim what shall I do unto thee O Judah how shall I intreat thee for your righteousnesse is as a morning cloud your goodnes as an earthly dew vanisheth away O that n Psal 81.13 14 15 16. my people had hearkened unto mee and Israel had walked in my wayes I should soone have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him but their time should have endured for ever Hee should have fed them with the finest of the wheat and with honey out of the rocke would I have satisfied thee And O o Mat. 23.37 Jerusalem Jerusalem which killest the Prophets and stonest those that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings but yee would not How can the affection more outwardly enlarge or the heart open it selfe than by opening the bosome and stretching out the armes to imbrace Behold the p Esay 65.2 armes of Almighty God stretched all the day long to a rebellious people which walketh in a way that was not good after their owne thoughts What truer Embassadours of a bleeding heart than weeping eyes behold the teares of our Saviour over Jerusalem and reach your hand and thrust it into the hole of his side and you shall feele drops from his heart bleeding afresh for your ungratefull refusall of his love and despite of his grace If drops of raine pierce the stones and drops of warme Goats bloud crumble the Adamant into pieces shall not Christs teares sinke into our affections and the drops of his heart bloud breake our hearts with godly sorrow and make them so thorougly contrite by unfained repentance that they may be an acceptable sacrifice unto him according to the words of the Psalmist q Psal 51.17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou shalt not despise Were not that City very unwise that would refuse any tolerable conditions of peace offered by a potent enemy against whâ—m shee could not make her party good in warre Beloved are wee able to hold out warre with Almighty God to maintaine a fight against his plagues and judgements what are we but dead men if hee lay hold on his glittering sword why then doe wee not come in whilest hee holdeth out his golden Scepter of mercy why sue wee not to him for a treatie of peace It can be no disparagement to us to seeke to him first yet we need not he seeketh to us first he maketh an overture of his desire for peace he draweth conditions with his owne hand and offereth them to us as wee heard before out
Temporizers who with Peter stand aloofe and dare not come neere lest by continuall conversation with him they might perhaps so alter their licentious lives that in the high Priests Hall their speech might bewray them to bee Galileans A second sort come but in their comming wander out of the way and these are mis-led Papists who in a sottish modesty dare not presume to touch the hemme of Christ his garments but must have Saints to promote their suites A third sort come but a cleane contrary way and these are meale-mouthed hypocrites whose words seeme to bee sweetened with our Saviours breath they are so savoury but compare wee the forwardnesse of their lives in practice to the forwardnesse of their tongues in profession and if yee were as blinde as old Isaac yee may discerne the voice of Jacob but the hands of Esau The fourth sort come but they over-shoot the way and these are Humorists who with Saint Peter in unadvised zeale over-runne themselves and step before Christ but bee not like unto these for they want Saint Pauls ita currite for the levell of their way and Christ his venite for the period of their race Come unto mee not to the Law not to mans traditions they will rather burthen you than ease you Ambulare vis ego sum via falli non vis ego sum veritas mori non vis ego sum vita Accedit qui credit Come unto mee in faith and feare not in hope and doubt not in confidence and despaire not in patience and faint not Use 1 Here then yee see if yee will bee advised by the wonderfull Counseller that in the way of salvation yee are to seeke to no other guide to lead you than himselfe in whom all the promises of GOD are Yea and Amen for under heaven there is no other name given whereby yee may bee saved but the name of Jesus Christ There is one God one Mediatour betwixt God and man the man Christ Jesus Bee it knowne unto you therefore men and brethren that through his name is preached unto you forgivenesse of sinnes and from all things from which by the Law of Moses yee could not bee justified by him every one that commeth unto him is justified for so himselfe promiseth Come unto mee Doctr. 3 All. There was a time when the mercies of God were confined within the narrow precincts of Judea but when the fulnesse of time was come the Sonne of God and heire of all things brake downe the partition wall and dispread his saving health among all Nations teaching and admonishing every man to deny ungodlinesse and embrace the Gospel For the righteousnesse of God is made manifest by faith to all There is no difference but as all sinned in the first Adam and deprived themselves of the glory of God so redemption is freely offered to all in the second Adam that sinners should give all the glory to God Ideo omnibus opem sanitatis obtulit ut quicunque perierit mortis suae causam sibi ascribat qui curari noluit cùm remedium haberet quò posset evadere saith Sain Ambrose Say not then in thine heart I am not the cause of my destruction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 injurious blasphemy against so good a God who so willingly holdeth out his golden Scepter of grace unto us and so graciously inviteth all that are wearie to rest under the shadow of his mercie Funeris haud tibi causa fui per sidera juro As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner thy destruction is from thy selfe O Israel but in mee is thy helpe But if all are invited why doe not all come Some like the Israelites filled with the garlike of Egypt rellish not heavenly manna others like the Laodiceans thinke they are rich enough when indeed they are wretched miserable and poore Whence it commeth to passe that as of many multitudes in Sauls army onely a few bankrupt beggars came to David in the cave of Adullam so none come to Christ but a few sinne-feeling Publicans troubled Hannaes weeping Maries bed-rid Aeneases leprous Naamans in a word none but such as are poore in spirit and vexed in mind with enduring the heavie burden of sinne All that are weary and heavie laden How heavie a burden sinne is if any mans wounded conscience have not felt hee may perceive it in the Angels whom it pressed downe to hell in Cain whom it drove to despaire in David whom it so bruised that he cryed out it is a burden too heavie for me to beare in our Saviour from whom it wrung drops of bloud only for taking our sinne upon him Why then doe wee take so great paines to doe wickedly why doe wee mumble Satans morsels which will one day prove more bitter than the gall of Aspes and more tormenting than the Vipers tongue Are wee now speechlesse can wee not now answer these demands how then shall wee doe when not onely our consciences shall accuse us but God also who is greater than our conscience shall condemne us Issachars legacy was that hee should bee an Asse couching between two burdens Surely if hee were hee might have been like Balaams Asse to rebuke our forwardnesse who load our selves with sinne till with the woman in the Gospel we are so crooked that we are not able to looke up to the hills from whence commeth our salvation Saint Paul chose rather with his hands to cast out the tackling of the ship than that being over-laden it should sinke and shall not wee unlade our barkes of sinne for feare that with Hymineus and Philetus wee make shipwracke of a good conscience Aristippus commanded his servants to cast away his gold in the street quia tardius irent segnes propter pondus and shall not wee be content with Eliah to leave our mantles behinde us that we may with more expedition be carried to heaven in triumph Virtutis via non capit magna onera portantes But why doe wee teach that sinne is a burden sith so many goe bolt upright under it and make it a passe-time Onus non est quod cum voluprate feras saith the Oratour I answer sinne is a burden not to every one at all times but to a conscience feeling sinnes evill Multa mala sunt intus foras nemo tamen ea sentit nisi qui graditur viam mandatorum Dei saith Saint Austine so long as the strong man ruleth the house he possesseth all things in peace grave in suo loco non gravitat they who are dead in sinne feele no weight how great soever it be Use 1 Here then let us view our naturall disposition wee have as Epiphanius saith a wild figge-tree rooted in our hearts which sprouteth out in our words and sheweth the fruit thereof in our workes if the fruit thereof seeme sweet unto us if the grapes of Sodome delight our eyes if the burden of sinne seeme not onely supportable to us but also as
the unquenchable fire in such sort that it hath no power upon any of the members of his mysticall body and by his temporall death hath delivered all that are his from eternall Shall wee not then eternally sing his praises who hath saved us from everlasting weeping and mourning in the valley of Hinnom Shall any waters of affliction quench in us the love of him who for us quenched unquenchable fire Shall not the benefit of our delivery from everlasting death ever live in our memory Shall any thing sever us from him who for our sakes after a sort was severed from his Father when he cryed k Mat. 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or the sword No I am perswaded I may goe on with the Apostle and say l Rom. 8 38 39. Neither life nor death nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. To whom c. FERULA PATERNA THE XLVI SERMON REV. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Right Honourable c. HOw unwilling the author of life and Saviour of all men especially beleevers is to pronounce and execute the sentence of death and destruction against any if the teares which hee shed over Jerusalem and groanes and lamentations which hee powreth out when he powreth forth the vials of his vengeance testifie not abundantly yet his soft pace and orderly proceeding by degrees in the course hee taketh against obstinate and impenitent sinners is enough to silence all murmuring complaints wrongfully charging his justice and raise up all dejected spirits dolefully imploring his mercy For hee ever first sitteth upon his throne of grace and reacheth out his golden Scepter to all that cast themselves downe before him and if they have a hand of faith to lay hold on it hee raiseth them up before hee taketh hold of his iron rod and hee shaketh it too before hee striketh with it and hee striketh lightly before hee breaketh in pieces and shivers the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction So true is that which hee speaketh of himselfe by the Prophet Hosea a Hos 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe but in mee is thy helpe and the Prophet of him b Psal 25.10 All the pathes of the Lord are mercy and truth in which he walketh thus step by step First when wee begin to stray from him hee calleth us backe and reclaymeth us from our soule and dangerous wayes by friendly counsels and passionate perswasions by increase of temporall and promise of eternall blessings as we may read in the tenour of all the Prophets commissions 2 If these kinde offers be refused with contempt and greater benefits repayed with greater unthankfulnesse he changeth his note but not his affections he exprobrates to us our unthankfulnesse that it might not prove a barre of his bounty c Hos 11 3 4. I taught Ephraim to goe taking them by their armes and they knew not that I healed them I drew them with the cords of a man with bands of love and I was to them as they that take off the yoake from their jawes and d Isa 5.2 My Beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitfull hill and hee fenced it and hee gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choicest Vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a wine-presse therein and hee looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes 3 If exprobrations and sharpe reproofes will not serve the turne he falls to threatning and menacing fearefull punishments but to this end onely that hee may not inflict what hee threateneth as wee see in Niniveh's case e Jonah 3.4 Yet forty dayes saith the Prophet and Niniveh shall bee overthrowne yet Niniveh was not overthrown f Vers 10. because the Ninivites repented of their workes and turned from their evill wayes God repented of the evill he had said that hee would doe unto them and he did it not 4 If neither promises of mercies nor threats of judgements neither kind entreaties nor sharpe rebukes can worke upon the hard heartednesse of obstinate sinners hee useth yet another meanes to bring them home hee taketh away their goods that they may come to him for them hee pincheth them with famine that hee may starve their wanton lusts he striketh their flesh with a smart rod that it may awake their soules out of a dead sleepe of security and this for the most part is the last knocke at their hearts at which if they open not and receive Christ by unfained repentance and a lively faith the gates of mercy are for ever locked up against them According to this method Christ here proceedeth with the Angel of Laodicea First g V. 15. hee friendly saluteth him next h V. 16. Ver. 17. Ver. 18. hee sharply reproveth him then hee fearfully threatneth him lastly he severely chastiseth him and all in love as you heare in this verse As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Which hath this coherence with the former wherein Christ taxed two vices in this Angel luke warmnesse and spirituall pride against these hee prescribeth two remedies zeale vers 19. and spirituall providence I counsell thee to buy of mee gold tryed in the fire that thou maist bee rich and white rayment that thou maist bee clothed and that the shame of thy nakednesse doe not appeare and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou maist see But here because the Angel of Laodicea might reply Alas to what end is all this what prescribe you unto memedicinal potions who am to be spewed out of Gods mouth what can your counsell doe me good my doome is already past and my heart within mee is like melted waxe Christ opportunely in the words of my text solveth this objection and giveth him a cordial to keep him from fainting Be not too much discouraged at my sharp rebukes nor faint under my fatherly chastisements for I use no other discipline towards thee than towards my dearest children whom I love most entirely yet rebuke most sharply to break them of their ill qualities I chasten those and those onely and all those whom I love and I chasten oftenest whom I love best wherefore faint not but be zealous neither despaire but amend and thou shalt finde my affection as much enlarged and the treasurie of my bounty as open unto thee as ever heretofore Behold then in the words of this Scripture 1 A rule of direction to those that are set in high places of authority 2 A staffe of comfort to those who are fallen into the depth of griefe and misery To the former the Spirit speaketh in the words of my text on this wise Ye Masters of servants Tutors of Scholars
k Isa 1.5 Why should yee bee stricken any more saith the Lord which is as if a Physician should say concerning his desperate Patient I will minister no more physicke to him give him what hee hath a minde unto because there is no hope of life in him As it is a loving part in a Tutour to correct his Scholar privately for a misdemeanour to save him from the heavier stroak of the Magistrate or the Jaile so it is a singular favour of God to chasten his children here that they may not bee condemned with the world hereafter I end the solution of this doubt with the peremptory resolution of Saint Bernard l In Cant. Si Deus non est recum per gratiam adetit pre◠vindictam sed vae tibi si ita recum adest imo vae ibi si ita tecum non dist If God be not with thee O Christian by grace he will be with thee by vengeance or judgement here and woe bee to thee if hee bee so with thee nay woe bee unto thee if hee bee not so with thee or not so even with thee for if thou art preserved from temporall chastisements thou art reserved to eternall punishments The last doubt that riseth in the minde of the broken hearted Christian to bee assoyled at this time is drawne from the words of the wise man m Eccl. 9.2 All things fall alike unto all men the same net taketh cleane and uncleane fowles and enwrappeth them in a like danger In famine what difference betweene the Elect and Reprobate both pine away In pestilence what distinction of the righteous and the sinner both are alike strucke by the Angel In captivity what priviledge hath hee that feareth God more than hee that feareth him not both beare the same yoake In hostile invasion how can wee discerne who is the childe of God and who is not when all are slaughtered like sheep and their blood like water spilt upon the ground Sol. 1 Here not to referre all to Gods secret judgement who onely knoweth who are his intruth and sincerity Sol. 2 nor to rely wholly upon his extraordinary providence whereby hee miraculously saveth his servants and preserveth them in common calamities even above hope as hee did Noah from the deluge of water which drowned the old world as hee did Lot from the deluge of fire which overwhelmed and burnt Sodome and Gomorrah as hee did the children of Israel in Goshen from the plagues of Egypt as hee did Moses from the massacre of the infants by Pharaoh as hee did Elias from the sword of Jezebel drunke with the blood of the Prophets as hee did all those Christians among the Romans that fled to the Sepulchres of the Martyres when the city was sacked by the n Aug. l. 1. de civ Dei c. 1. Gothes as hee did those pious children who carried their fathers and mothers upon their backes through the midst of the fire in the Townes neare Aetna whereof o C 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle religiously discourseth in his Booke De mundo When saith hee from the hill Aetna there ranne downe a torrent of fire that consumed all the houses thereabout in the midst of those fearefull flames Gods speciall care of the godly shined most brightly for the river of fire parted it selfe on this side and that side and made a kinde of lane for those who ventured to rescue their aged parents and plucke them out of the jawes of death To make an evident distinction betweene the godly and the wicked wee see here the fire divided it selfe as the waters before had done in the p Exod. 14.22 passage of the children of Israel through the red Sea Howbeit these exemptions and speciall protections in common calamities are neither necessary nor ordinary Sol. 3 I answer therefore farther that two things are to be considered in the good or evill casualties as they are called of this life the nature and substance of them which is in it selfe indifferent and the accidentary quality which maketh them good or bad Now so it is ordered by divine providence that the wicked possesse oft times the substance of these things I meane houses lands treasure and wealth but they have not them with that quality which maketh them good I meane the right use of them and contentation of minde in them On the contrary the godly often lacke the substance of these things yet not that for which they are to bee desired and which maketh them good contentment of minde with supply of all things needfull in which regard the indigencie of the godly is to bee preferred before the plenty and abundance of the wicked according to that of the Psalmist q Psal 37.16 A small thing that the righteous hath is better than great riches of the ungodly And doubtlesse that large promise of our Saviour r Mar. 10.29 There is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or lands for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred fold in this time is to bee understood according to the former distinction thus Hee shall receive an hundred fold either in the kinde or in the value either in the substance of the things themselves or in the inward contentation and the heavenly wealth I now spake of In like manner death and all calamities which are as it were sundry kindes of death or steppes unto it have a sting and venomous quality which putteth the soule to most unsufferable paine and rankles as it were about the heart I meane Gods curse the sense of his wrath the worme of conscience discontent impatience despaire and the like ſ 1 Cor. 15.55 O death saith Saint Paul where is thy sting In like manner wee may insult upon all other evils O poverty O banishment O imprisonment O losses O crosses O persecutions Where is your sting it is plucked out of the afflictions of the godly but a worse left in the prosperity of the wicked In which regard the seeming misery of the godly is happy but the seeming prosperity of the wicked is miserable Albeit God sometim s giveth them both a drinke of deadly Wine yet hee tempereth the sharpe Ingredients of judgement with corrective Spices of mercy and sweetneth it with comforts in the Cup of the godly t 2 Cor. 1.5 As their sufferings for Christ abound so their consolations also abound by Christ And this evidently appeareth by the different working of the Cup of trembling in both the wicked presently after their draught rave and grow franticke but the godly are then in their best temper the wicked u Apoc. 16.10 gnaw their tongues for sorrow but the godly employ them in prayer and praises the wicked bite Gods iron rod and thereby breake their owne teeth but the godly kisse it the wicked are most impatient in afflictions the godly learne patience even by afflictions In a word the one in extremity of paine are
swallowed up with desparation the other are ravished with * Jam. 1.2 exceeding joy they are x Rom. 8.37 more than conquerors in all these things through him that loveth them and therefore they more than rejoice y Rom. 5 3 4 5 For they glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the holy Ghost which is given unto them Upon this answer after much agitation Saint Austine settled his judgement when hee saw much Christian bloud mingled with the heathen in divers parts of Italy spilt by the Gothes z L. 1. c. 8. de Civ D i. Manâ— dissimilitudo pâ—siotum in similitudine pâ—ssionum licet sub tormento non est idem virtus vitium Nam sicut sub uno ignâ— aurum rutilâ—t pâ—lâ—a tumat sub eadem tribulà stipulae comminuuntur frumenta purganâ—ur nec idâ—o oleum cum amnicâ consunditur quia eodem 〈◊〉 pondere â—xprimitur c. Tantum interâ—st non quâ—liâ— sed quâ—lis quoque patiatur Notwithstanding the likenesse of the sufferings of both there remaines yet a great dissimilitude in the sufferers and even in the same torments vertue and vice may bee distinguished in the same fire the gold shineth the chaffe smoaketh under the same flaâ—le the corne is purged the stubble bruised under the same presse the oyle is powred into vessels the foame spilt By all which we see that perpetuall felicity with security is a most fearfull judgement of God and that seasonable afflictions with comforts to sweeten them grace to beare them strength to overcome them wisdome to make use of them are speciall favours of Gods chosen Now the Lord of his infinite mercy who scourgeth every sonne whom he receiveth receive us whom he scourgeth he who chasteneth whom he loveth love us whom he chasteneth he who correcteth us for our profit teach us to profit by his corrections sanctifie all crosses and afflictions unto us uphold us in them carry us through them purge us by them and crowne us after them Cui c. THE SWEET SPRING OF THE WATERS OF MARAH THE L. SERMON Apoc. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Right Honourable c. SAint a Cyp. de bon patient De patientiâ loquuturus fratres dilectissimi utilitates ejus commoda praedicaturus unde potiùs incipiam quam quod nunc quoque ad audientiam vestram video patientiam esse necessariam ut nec hoc ipsum quod auditis discitis sine patientiâ sacere possitis Ciprian having proposed to his auditory bonum patientiae the good of bearing for his theame reckoneth if I may so speak upon the stocke and maketh his advantage of the very duty and service they were at that time to performe to God in affording to the Minister of his word their religious attention and Christian patience Being to treat of patience saith hee dearly beloved and to recount the sundry commodities that by it accrew to the sanctified soule whence shall I rather take my beginning than from the necessity of this vertue to the holy exercise wee are now at which cannot bee performed as it ought without the concurrence of your patience with the divine assistance and my labour I cannot speake profitably to you in commendation of patience except you heare me with patience Mutato nomine de me Fabula narratur This godly fathers case hath bin yet is mine who am to entreat your patience to treat yet once more of patience in your hearing if the handling often the same argument and pressing the like motives to patience hath seemed wearisom tedious unto you I may hence gather with that father an argument for patience without which ye cannot endure the least affliction no not of the eare But if the repeating and inculcating the like doctrine and arguments were not burdensome unto you I may safely presume upon your patience to seale up my text and perfect my meditations upon so necessary profitable a subject b Sen. ep Nunquam satis dicitur quod nunquam satis discitur We cannot hear too much of that which we can never learne enough Sorrowes and disturbances are very many and worke strongly upon our fraile nature but spirituall medicines of the soules maladies and comforts worke but weakely therefore it is wisedome to take as many of them as we can If they who are subject to swouning and generally all that are carefull of their bodily health will have cordiall waters in readinesse at hand that they may not be to seeke in time of need how much more ought all Christians who are still either in feare or in danger of conflicts with troubles and vexations be provided of store of spirituall comforts the rather because they serve as well to moderate their prosperity as to mitigate their afflictions For the same meditations which some way sweeten the brine of affliction that it be not too salt and quicke sauce the pleasures of prosperity that they be not too sweet and luscious What stronger levers to raise up a drouping soule than these in my Text that afflictions proceed from God in love and fall upon all his dearest children for their good Againe what stronger clubs to beate downe pride and insolencie in all such as abound in earthly comforts and know no end of their wealth and keepe under the minde that it be not too much lifted up with temporall blessings than these inferences from this Scripture that God chasteneth with afflictions and pampers not up with pleasures all such as he beareth a speciall affection unto Therefore may they thus well reason with themselves For all our honour and wealth we are in no better nay perhaps we are in far worse estate than the poorest and miserablest creature upon earth that hath run thorough or is in the midst of all calamities God chasteneth him in love for his amendment but he hath no care of us he lets us run riot in sin that poore wretch hath now his paiment ours is to come we know not how soone he hath his paine here with Lazarus but we take out our pleasures with Dives therefore may it be just with God to change his paine into pleasures but our pleasures into everlasting paines Better weep in Christs schoole than sport at the Divels games better to want all things and to have Gods love than to have all things else and want it If it had not beene better Moses would never have chosen to suffer afflictions with the servants of God c Heb. 11.15 rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season These uses alone if there were no more to be made of this soveraigne parcell of Scripture sufficiently recompence our labour in decocting the spirits and drawing this oyle of comfort out of it but the more we trie and apply
teacheth quia minister huic populo in salutem datus as a minister of salvation to this people Here then I cannot but reflect upon mine owne calling and preach to Preachers and all Ministers of the Gospel that by the example of our Lord and Master the high Priest and Bishop of our soules we take chiefly and in a speciall manner to heart the calamities of Gods people and ruine of his Church The eyes of our Saviour here as likewise of q Esay 22.4 I will weep bitterly labour not to comfort mee because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people Esay r Jerem. 4.8 9.1 Jeremy and Å¿ Ezra 10.1 Ezra glazed with teares are looking-glasses wherein wee may see the duty enjoyned to us by the Prophet Joel t Joel 2.17 Let the Priests the Ministers of God weep between the porch and the altar For in the spoiling of the country and demolishing the Churches and the houses of Prophets and Prophets children Gods honour suffereth whereof we ought to be most jealous the soules of men are in no lesse danger than their bodies and estates whereof we are to render an account and as we are Gods mouth to the people to declare his will to them so we are their mouth to God to present their supplications to him All the measures of the Sanctuary were double to the common As the measure of our knowledge is greater so the measure of our gâ—iefe and sorrow in the affliction of Gods people ought to be corresponding The same proportion holds in sorrow and joy And therefore as in the common joy Saint u Cypr. ep 1. Exprimi satis non potest quanta ista exultatio fuit quantâ— laetitia cum de vobis prospera fortia comperissemus ducem te illic confâ—ssionis fratâ—ibâ—s extitisse sed confessionem ducis de consensione fratrum crevissâ— c. Et Ep. 5. In comâ—uni gâ—udio Ecclesiae Episcopi portio mâ—jor est Ecclesiae enim gloria Praepositi gloria est Cyprian allotteth the Bishop a greater portion so also in the common griefe our portion must needs bee the greatest Wee stand upon the watch-towers of Sion and the people take notice of dangers from the fiering of our beacons we are as the praecentores chori to give them the tune we are as Trumpeters in Gods army and if the Trumpet bee cracked or give an uncertaine sound how shall the souldiers prepare themselves to fight the Lords battels If we like Epaminondas ought to fast that the people may feast the more securely watch that they may sleep with more safety weep that they may rejoyce more freely how much more ought we being the Asaphs in this sad quire accord with you in your groanes and cries when we are strucke with the same griefes and feares when the enemy aimeth not so much at the Common-wealth as at the Church and not so much at the body as at the soule of the Church the Religion wee professe and our most holy faith O ubi estis fontes lachrymarum O where are you fountaines of tears where are gales of such sighes such as love and devotion and sympathy breathes out in my Text If thou knewest And so I passe to the last step 5. Oravit he prayed saying O that thou knewest or If thou knewest In this prayer of our Saviour our thoughts may find themselves holy imployment in seriously considering 1. The manner or forme of speech which is 1. Figurative 2. Abrupt 3. Passionate 2. The matter which presenteth to our spirituall view 1. The intimation of a desire O that or If. 2. The exprobration of Ignorance Thou knewest 3. The aggravation upon the person Thou even thou 4. The designation of a time In this thy day The sentence riseth by degrees and Christ in every word groweth more and more upon Jerusalem It is sinne and shame to be ignorant most of all for Jerusalem and that in the day of her visitation especially of those things that belong to her peace If other Cities might plead ignorance yet not thou if thou mightst plead ignorance at another time yet not in this thy day if in this thy day thou mightst plead ignorance of other things yet not of those things that belong to thy peace To begin with the forme and manner which the more imperfect it is the more perfectly it expresseth the passion or rather compassion of the speaker As a cracked pipe or bell giveth a harsh or uncertaine sound so a broken heart for the most part uttereth broken speeches interrupted with sighes Constantine kissed the empty holes where Paphnutius eyes were plucked out and we cannot but reverence the seeming emptinesse and vacuity in Scripture sentences where the omission of something is more significant than the supply if the speech had been filled up would have been Those which have bin transported with passion utter halfe x Calv. in harm Scimus in quibus ardent vehementes affectus non nisi dimidiatâ ex parte sensus suos effari sentences and faulter in the midst of a period as the father in the Poet who lost his only sonne beginning to vent his griefe and saying Filius meus pollens ingenio My sonne of rare parts my sonne of great hope there stops and before he could say mortuus est is dead became himselfe speechlesse Christ was here seized on by a double passion 1. Of Commiseration 2. Of Indignation Commiseration out of the apprehension of the overthrow of Jerusalem the Queen of all Cities and the Sanctuary of the whole earth Indignation at the obstinacy ingratitude and bloud-thirsty cruelty and desperate madnesse of the present inhabitants who wilfully refusing the meanes of their salvation runne headlong to their owne perdition I have been the briefer in handling the forme that I might enlarge my selfe in the matter Thou knewest Ignorance of Gods judgements draweth them upon a state for the Lord hath a controversie with the land saith y Hos 4.1.6 Hosea because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land My people perish for lack of knowledge The Schooles rightly distinguish of a double ignorance 1. Facti of the fact 2. Juris of the Law Ignorance of the fact in some case excuseth but not of the law which all are bound to take notice of for Lex datur vigilantibus non dormientibus The law is given to men that are awake and may and ought to heare it not to men when they are asleep The law for the violation whereof the greatest part are condemned is written in the tables of their hearts to exclude all plea of ignorance and certainly of all the errours of Popery one of the grossest is their entitling ignorance the mother of devotion for so farre is ignorance from being the mother of any vertue that it is both 1. Peccatum 2. Mater peccati 3. Poena peccati It is sinne and the punishment of sinne and the parent of sinne