to hang loose pieces of houshold-stuff upon as garments vessels instruments of musick and other utensils which otherwise would lye scattered on the ground or be to seek or else be utterly lost So Magistrates they are appointed of God and established for the sustentation and bearing up of things All the affairs of Church and Common-wealth all publique businesses the safety and happiness of the people depend and hang upon them and without them all would fall and miscarry They are made to bear Vnto us a child is born saith our Prophet and the burden of government shal lye upon his shoulder Also of Eliakim it is said in the verse immediatly before my text and the key of the house of David that is the highest authority in Court and Kingdom wil I lay upon his shoulder Hence it is that Kings are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The props and foundations of the people The burden of the Church hangs upon this nail the care of defending and cherishing the Church and people of God of advancing true Religion and the pure worship of God lyeth upon the Magistrate They saith the Lord shal bring thy sons in their arms and thy daughters shal be carried upon their shoulders 23. And Kings shal be thy nursing fathers and Queens thy nursing mothers Thus shal Princes bear the Church in their arms The Magistrate is Custos utriusque tabulae both tables of the Law or if you please the Law and Gospel both hang upon this nail Upon him hangs the care of the Scriptures He must see it published in a known tongue that the Vulgar may be able to read and reach it He must appoint learning and fit Ministers to open interpret and apply it He is to compel those Ministers to do their duty to protect and encourage them doing wel to correct and depose them being unfaithful and scandalous He is to looke after Ecclesiastical Government to settle Church discipline by good decrees to provide for the peace order and decency of the Church and worship of God He is to call Counsails when necessity requires to compel people to attend the publique Ordinances and to remove whatsoever may be an obstacle to sound doctrine pure Religion and the power of godliness Also the burden of the Common-wealth depends on the Magistrate the peace welfare and prosperity of all the people hangs upon this nail Saul seeing the people lament bitterly said unto them What ayleth this people that they weep That 's the office of a good Magistrate Videre ne quid sit populo quod sleat to wipe away tears from the subjects eyes And therefore it is his duty to make good laws and then to see them put in execution To preserve the Kingdom and people in peace by defending them against the violent assaults and invasions of forraign enemies and suppressing domestick rebellions and insurrections He is to preserve the persons rights goods libertys propertys of the subject to see that none dowrong to another He is to discountenance vice and promote vertue he is for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do wel Thus was Eliakim a nail upon which did hang as the next verse wil tel you all the glory of his fathers house the ofspring and the issue all vessels of smal quantity great flagons and little cups with all instruments of musique That is all persons of what rank and quality soever Summi medij infimi high and low great and smal the whole Church and Common-wealth The fouls bodys estates religion liberty peace welfare of all depends on the good Magistrate He is fixed as a nail to note out this his end use and office Thus you have the general proposition made out but before I leave it you must give me liberty to make some general application of the point And it may serve for 1. Instruction 2. Reprehension 3. Exhortation And here for Instruction Observe the weight of Magistracy Government is a great burden It 's a honour indeed so sayes the Text He shal be for a throne of glory but note the word there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies glory or honour it is derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies weight Moses sate to judge the people and the people stood about Moses from morning unto even a heavy task so sayes Jethro unto him Thou weariest out thy selfe greatly and the people that is with thee too for the thing is too heavy for thee Jotham intimates this in his Parable says the Olive If I be advanced above the trees I shal lose my fatnesse I shall wast my estate consume my treasure Magistracy is expensive Says the Fig-tree If I be preferred above the trees I shall forsake my sweetnesse and my good fruit I must bid adieu to ease and pleasures Magistracy is laborious Says the Vine If I be exalted above the trees I shal leave my wine I must be debarred the free use of the creatures I must be cut short in my meat drink and other creature-comforts Magistrates as wel as Ministers are like the lamps of the Sanctuary that burn continually and wast themselves for the common good Their heads are full of cares their hearts of grief their eys sleeplesse and their bodies restlesse Hear and consider this all you that ambitiously aspire to high places of dignity and authority you that underhand give bribes make friends engage the whole Stock and Kinred to compasse an Office or some great place of Magistracy Know you what you pursue Alas alas you look at nothing but the honour You see the Nayl is fastned aloft but you consider not the burden that hangs on it if you did you would not purchase so much care and losse at so dear a rate Some have thought the imperiall Robes scarce worth the taking up because of the eares that are wrapped up in them Trajan repented him of taking the Empire and in that mind writing to the Senate he used these words The Sea and the Empire are two pleasant things to look upon but perilous to taste Think then I beseech you before-hand not only of the height of the place but poise also the weight of the burden Of reprehension And here our work must be to look round about our wals the wals of the Church City and Commonwealth and to take notice of the Nails There are Nayls of three ranks Highest Nayl's Middlh Nayl's Lowest Nayl's Let 's look them all over and take notice how they are fixed and what hangs on them 1. The highest Nayls they are the Magistrates and Rulers Ther 's a goodly row of them but let 's see what service they do in their places What hangs on then what burden do they bear Ther 's some of the greater sort of Nayls look what hangs on them Truly scarce any thing unlesse it be a scarlet gown or the ensignes of authority or a rich
of this Kingdom at this time devided amongst themselves How are they scattered and scattered One here another there one of this mind another of another Oh ye Rulers of the people Use your pains and skil to bring them together again into one mind and one judgment that they may hang upon you as grapes upon the stalk in one cluster Endeavor with all your might the peace of the Church and Common-wealth 2. Be ready at hand to do justice at all times We knock up nails and pegs in our houses that we may hang things upon them of common use things that we would have always at hand as for things of lesser use we lock them up in chests and cabbinets and it matters not though they see the Sun but seldom Magistrates must be ready at hand at all times to hear the grievances of the oppressed to punish vice to encourage vertue to relieve the wronged and oppressed to help the fatherlesse and the widow to their right shortly to do justice readily and freely upon all occasions The nayl easily receives at all times what ever is put upon it Some Magistrates I doubt we have that in this are like unto nayls they will not in without greasing and knocking you shal not get them to do their duty except they be greased with a bribe or beaten to it by fear Otherwise with Foelix they are not at leasure to do justice I pray remember a womans answer She petitioned the King for justice it was I take it Philip King of Macedon he told her he was not now at leasure Not at leasure saith shee to do justice Why then art thou at leasure to be a King If a nayl be not at leasure to bear vessels knock it out why doth it trouble the wall Judgement saith the Prophet must run down like waters and righteousnesse as a mighty stream The Magistrate therefore must not be as a fountain sealed up but like a river which runs continually and the people may resort to it at all times Absalom I confesse had base ends but yet his practise singular and his example to be followed by all good and faithful Magistrates they should be ready to hear Israel at all times 3. As you must be ready always to minister justice so to all persons at all times and to all commers The nayl bears not only the rich vessels and ornaments the golden candlesticks the pictures and musâ—cal instruments in the galleries and banqueting houses but it also sustains bottels and knives and gâ—idirons plain instruments and vessels of wood and iron in the Kitchin yea the homeliest utensils in the scullery So the good Magistrate he must equally do justice to all to the poor and to the rich â—oth alike They shall hang upon Eliakim the 24. verse tels you not only the glory of his fathers house the off-spring and the issue that is those of the blood-royal but they shal hang upon him also all the smal vessels the little cups and siddles that is the poorest and most contemptible persons shal depend upon the Magistrate for justice and protection You shall do no unrighteousnesse in judgement saith the Lord Thou shalt not respect the person of the poâ—r nor honour the person of the mighty But in righteousnesse shalt thou judge thy neighbour that is every one for every one is thy neighbour Do right to the poor and fatherlesse do justice to the poore and needy deliver the oppressed from him that is too strong for him favour not one above another The use of a nail peg or pin is to hang such things upon quae infirmiora which are most weak and cannot stand by their own strength Tables and Trunks and Chairs and Stools such great and strong houshold-stuff can stand on their own feet they need not any nail to hang upon the rich and mighty can stand alone They are the little smal vessels and instruments of musick that must be supported with a nail The poor are ready at every turn to be trampled upon and to be made a prey and therefore you must have a special care of them Uphold them that they may not fall 4. Let every Magistrate be a nail not only in the Capitol or Senat but also in the Sanctuary The care of the Church and Religion lyeth on the Magistrate Use therefore all your power to purge the Church of Idolatry Popery Superstition and all false worship and gross errors to advance the pure and sincere worship of God and the power of godliness Bear up able faithful and Orthodox Ministers by giving them your countenance and affording them comfortable maintenance You have going before you in this care of Religion many godly Kings and Emperors David Jehoshaphat Hezekiah Josiah Constantine Theodosius c. Follow their good example be faithful nails to bear up pure Religion always remembring what the Lord hath said Those that honor me I wil honor and they that despise me shal be lightly esteemed The 2. Exhortation is to the people And we have to deal with divers sorts and accordingly I am to press sundry kinds of duties in the prosecution Whereof I shal direct Electors Subjects All. And 1. You that are Electors To whom at any time shal belong the choice of Magistrates or any kind of officers in Church or Common-wealth Be careful and circumspect in your choice You are to look about for nails on which to hang the weighty affairs of the Church Common-wealth and City see that you chuse such as may be serviceable in their places wel-qualified nails Take your charge and directions from Jethro he wil advice you what kind of men to chuse into publique offices Thou shalt provide saith he to Moses 1. Able men 2. Such as fear God 3. Men of truth 4. Hating Covetousness Suffer me a little to illustrate Jethro's Counsel 1. You must chuse able and strong nails They must have abilities of mind You must pick out such nails as have good heads and sharp points such as have good understanding wisdom and solidity and also some acuteness of wit and pleasantness amiableness of conversation Be wise ye Kings be learned you Judges saith David if they ought to be so then it 's your duty to chuse none but such as appear so There are a sort of nails spikins I think they call them they want heads and so whatsoever is hang'd upon them slips of Take heed of chusing Spikin Magistrates for if you hang the great affairs of the Common-wealth upon them they wil certainly let them fall and miscarry because they want heads to hold them They must also have abilities of body and of estate without competent bodily strength they wil never be able to endure watching and travailing and long sitting on the bench and beleeve me wealth is needful Magistrates had need be able rich men They must carry out things with some pomp and state else they wil be contemn'd and their authority
dis-regarded Ad populum phaleras Magistracy is expensive and if you offer to hang these heavy costs and charges on weak nails they wil quickly break and then you must take them down and keep them in the City purse Yet further to their strength and ability it 's requisite that they be fixed wel driven and fastned Magistrates must be resolved immoveable and couragious not sickle and inconstant turned about with every wind they must be wel setled in Religion inflexible resolute in a good cause I have seen some nails and pegs screwed into the wall and so long as they are not stirred you may hang what you wil on them but if any man come with a strong hand he may easily wind and unscrue them and then they soon grow loose and off slips all the burden they were entrusted withall and so I have seen many in authority carry things very fair in Church and Common-wealth very right they are as long as they are suffer'd to stand quietly but alas if the hand of greatness do but touch them with the violence of a threatning or the strength of fair promises of reward honor and preferment it wil easily turn and serue them any way and make them to betray Church and Common-wealth Religion and Liberty and whatever is precious Be sure therefore to chuse nails steeled with Christian resolution such as wil stand against all assaults fixed steady and immoveable like to that Rom. in Fabritius of whom it was said that one might as wel stay the motion of the sun in the firmament as to put him out of his way Have your thoughts ever upon such make choice of strong nails stout and able for understanding wisdom wit strength estate courage and resolution Able men 2. You must provide bright and shining nails not of base iron or wood but of pure gold wel burnished Such and only such would Solomon make use of in the Sanctuary Ever chuse such as shine and glister with piety and holiness men fearing God Be wise ye Kings saith David be learned ye Judges of the earth there 's strength and abilities required but that 's not all you must also serve the Lord with fear There is nothing more destructive and dangerous to Church Commonwealth then eminent abilitys unsanctified You shal oft observe great stout rusty rugged-iron nails to rent and tear and fret and change the colour of whatsoever is hanged upon them just so wicked men of eminent parts and great power do bear up a deal of mischief and by their countenance and example do taint and stain and corrupt all the inferior people As therefore David chose smooth stones to encounter the Philistin withall So do you chuse smooth nails to strike through the temples of Sisera nails of pure gold filed from their rust and ruggedness shining bright with piety and holiness provide such for the punishment of evil doers and faithfully to bear the affairs of the Church City and Common-wealth 3. You must provide right straight and sound nails Men of truth that is just men so the Septuagint Truth and justice are so neer allyed that ordinarily one is put for the other seek out for such as follow after justice such as hate all violence and wrong and flee from all kind of injustice Such as cover themselves with justice and put on judgment as a robe and diadem Job 29. 14. Provide men of truth Clear from all hypocrisy There are a company of guilded nails fairly guilded over but within rusty and rotten they are too-too many who are glorious in outward profession in outward appearance lovers of justice truth and godliness but within they are ful of guile and deceipt very hypocrites Look wel about you or else you may be couzen'd by the outward appearance Pick out right straight and sound nails true Nathaniels Israelites indeed such as in whom is no guile 4. You must look at nails elevated The nails which ly scattered on the ground are not in a fit posture to bear burdens No No but only such as are fastned aloft in the top of the wal or pillar Neither are such men fit for Magistracy whose thoughts lye groveling on the base earth who mind the world and therefore must you chuse men hating Covetousness The covetous man for a gift wil wrest judgment respect persons sel justice bear up all vice and punish innocence it self The nail that 's sit to bear burdens must be elevated the head and body slanting upwards a man fit to bear office must have a mind above earth a heart not greedy of filthy lucre if the head of the nail bend downward the scales of justice wil never hang sure upon it but slip off immediatly Now therefore my beloved brethren You that vote in elections be nice curious circumspect in the choice of nails let them be strong and able let them have heads and points let them be bright and shining let them be right and straight and let them be such as have their heads and hearts to heavenward Amongst the Romans there was superstitious observation of the Nail When the Common-wealth was in danger or opprest with great evils and calamities then did the Dictator fasten a great nail of iron or brass in the wall of the Capitol with marvailous solemnity And the fastning of such a nail was esteemed a present remedy against all mischiefs and a charm against the plague And so conceited they were of this way that oftentime a Dictator was created Solius figendi clavi causa only to knock in a nail thereby to save the City What reasons the ancient Romans had for this their custom or what experience of the success thereof I cannot give an account but I cannot miss of application You see how many evils are upon us how great our dangers would you remove all these Would you have the Church and Kingdom and City flourish again Then fasten good nails within your walls chuse and establish able and godly Magistrates that 's a good and ready way to free us of all our plagues I have done with Electors 2 I am next to speak a word of exhortation to Subjects such as live under Authority And here I am to admonish them of some duties which they owe to good Magistrates These 1. They must honor them Fear God saith St. Peter and Honor the King They are nails and God hath placed them aloft in the highest place of the wall he hath embossed them with honor and Authority he hath put his own name upon them I have said you are Gods and all of you are Children of the most high Psal 82. 6. They bear a great burden for your sakes on Eliakim hangs the weight and welfare of Israel Give therefore to all their due Honor to whom honor belongs Look upwards to those nails with admiration and reverence 2. They must preserve and cherish them Hath God fastened in the Church and Common-wealth good profitable and serviceable
what hath made England so rich What but this The Lord hath given England rest and the inhabitants have been as fixed nayls in a sure place To apply this shortly Is a fixed and setled condition such a sweet blessing And is it so grievous to be driven from our habitations Then Let us sympathize with our brethren the poor servants of God that in Germany Ireland and in the North and West of England are plucked out of their pleasant places and now are tossed as a ball from place to place and with Noahs Dove cannot find rest for the sole of their foot Alas Alas for our poore brethren the deare servants of God! What miseries do they endure They wander up and down in the desert out of the way and they find no dwelling place hungry and thirsty and their soul faints within them Or as Job They flee into the wildernesse desolate and waste they cut up mallows by the bushes and juniper roots for their meat the springs and fountains if at least they can meet with any are to quench their thirst Oh let our bowels be troubled for them Let 's relieve them to our power and let us pray for them earnestly and incessantly that the Lord would bring home his banished again and restore them to their country and to their habitation and settle them as a naile in a sure place And for our selves learn we to esteem and prize our own happinesse in these associated Counties We sit every man under his Vine and under his Fig-tree and none makes us afraid We enjoy peace and plentie and libertie and proprietie and friends and all in our own Land where we were born And above all we have the adoption and the glory and the Covenants and the Gospell and the Service of God and the promises and the Communion of the faithfull Oh let us praise the Lord for his goodnesse Let us walk answerable to so great mercies let us make use of our standing and improve all our advantages to the glory of our bountifull God and let us pray unto the Lord incessantly to fasten us still as a nayl in a sure place The fourth and last particular now presents it self to your view viz. The end and use of this nayl Erit in solium gloriae He shal be for a glorious throne to his Fathers house And concerning this many things might be spoken but because I have held you too long already I shall only commend unto you in a word this Observation To what end we are fastened in our places Let Magistrates Ministers and every one here present duly consider wherefore they serve namely to bear burdens for the honour of God and for the glory of their Countrie and Citie and fathers house Joseph made his fathers house glorious he enriched it with the wealth with the treasures of Aegypt and made it famous and renowned through all the world as it is to this day Our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ who is the Nayl spoken of Zach. 10. 4. He is the glory of his fathers house even of the people Israel I speak first to the chief Magistrate and then to every one in his place Know that you ought not to be for your base private ends for your own honour and wealth but you must be men of publique spirits you must be for the good and for the glory of your Citie and your Countrie of the Church and Common-wealth You must endevour the publique good before your own You must be content to bear any load of pains or charge to procure the wealth and prosperity of the Kingdom that the reformation may be perfected true Religion established Popery superstition and the proud tyrannicall Hierarchy may be utterly extirpated the rights and priviledges of Parliement and the liberties of the Kingdom preserved That the Kings person and authority in the preservation of true Religion may be defended that the peace of the Kingdoms may be continued that delinquents may be brought to condigne punishment that England may be made a sure place a happie Nation a famous Kingdom Know that you are set for a throne of glory Be all of you for the honour of your Citie for the glory of Norwich Make it famous and happie this year Mind not your own things but the publique benefit The devise of Alphonsus King of Arragon was this A Pellican pecking her brest and drawing out blood wherewith to feed her young the word Pro lege pro grege So should every good Magistrate not count his blood dear for the welfare of the people The Motto of Aelius Adrianus the Emperour was Non mihi sed populo A man set in authority should not be for himself for his own profit or ease but all for advancing the common good Abate of your excesse make lesse and fewer feasts and do more good for the publique Lay lesse upon your backs and do more for the publique I know what people are ready to say for themselves That if Mayors and Sheriffes shall not make as great feasts at Sessions and other times as others before them they should be disgraceed and talked on all the Town over they should be counted covetous and miserable and people would say they knew not what doth belong to their office and it would be a dishonour to the Citie Alas alas my beloved Is it for the honour of your Citie to have Sodoms Character That pride fulnesse of bread and abundance of idlenesse is in her Gentlemen if any shall jeer you for not feasting as your predecessours as if you knew not what belongs to your places Answer them as once Themistocles did who being at a sumptuons feast and not singing with the rest of the jovial company and meeting with some checks for his silence he said unto them I confess I have not learned to sing to the pipe at feasts but I have learned rempublicam ex parva magnam facere to raise a Common-wealth from a poor estate to a flourishing condition So do you answer all the world You have not learned to squander away vast sums of money in rich clothing sumptuous and excessive feasts but you have learned to lay out your money better and to part with your estate freely even to the utmost farthing for the publick safety and good I beseech you be for a throne of glory be all for the honor of your City and Country Usually you shal hear men boast much of their Country City Progenitors and they brag that they were born in such a famous place or that they are descended of such illustrious ancestors as if that were such egregious and singular nobility which consists in the vertues and noble acts of their forefathers Such cracks as these the Poet rightly reprehendeth and jerks Stemmata quid faciunt c. What is it to thee if thy progenitors were Noble Heroicall Vertuous If thou in the mean time be un-deserving unworthy and base Let me therefore tel you
He hath the best nobility and deserves the greatest praise that first makes his fathers house glorious that first begins a noble family Be it your care to make your City your Country your familys and your fathers houses noble and glorious I have observed it to be an ancient custom in this City upon the day of your solemnity to present the new elect with some speeches and withall with escouchions or shields and in them some divises which hang all the year in his parlour to hint and remember him of his duty I have prepared you one out of my Text against to morrow and with my speech I present it to you out of the pulpit It 's a very plain one as you see and not much charged You see here the pillar in the middle hath many nails fastned in it and every nail beareth somewhat upon some hanggarments upon others the ensigns of your Authority upon others vessels of gold and silver and iron and brass and earth and wood and all instruments of musick This is your monitor You must bear up all honest persons and all just causes You must bear even til you break again and lay out all your power and strength for the glory of God the honor and safety of the City and Kingdom the good of the Church the advancement of Religion and the pure worship of God And thus going on the Lord wil establish you as a nail in a sure place And hereafter you shal be set higher Ere long every nail shal be plucked out and laid before the great Master of the assemblies at the great and dreadful day of judgment Then wil the Judg of all the world take a strict view of all the nails that ever he fastned in any place And the great question at that severe day of examination shal be what service have you done What burdens have you born in the Church and Common-wealth Then shal the empty rusty and unprofitable nails be put into the bag and thrown down int◠the pit of hell But such as have been useful and have born the burden and heat of the day and done good and acceptable service in their places they shal be advanced and set up higher they shal be fastned in the wall of the new-Jerusalem the holy City be overlaid with pure gold and set with precious pearls and shine in glory for evermore Now the Lord God the great Master of the assemblies make every one of us more profitable and serviceable in our places and stations Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 PSAL. 84. 4. Blessed are they that dwel in thy house they wil be stil praising thee Selah REVEL 2. 10. Be thou faithful unto the death and I wil give thee a Crown of life The VVheel turned by a voice from the throne of GLORY Described in a SERMON At the Green-yard in NORWICH upon the Guild-day Iune 22. 1647. By JOHN CARTER Pastor of St. Peters of MANCROFT LONDON Printed by J. Macock for M. Spark and are to be sold at the sign of the blue Bible in Green-Arbour 1647 TO THE Right VVorshipfull Mr. John Vtting Maior of the City of Norwich IOHN CARTER Humbly Dedicates this poore and unworthy piece and as he preached the Sermon at his request so now he presents it to him for his use with apprecation of all Grace honour happinesse and good successe in his Government 1 SAM 2. 30. Them that honour mee I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed To those Magistrates in the City of Norwich who were so highly offended and exasperated at this Sermon Galath 4. 16. Am J therefore become your enemy because J tell you the truth THE WHEEL EZEK 10. 13. As for the wheels it was cryed unto them in my hearing O Wheel THis is a voice your ears can tel you so much yea and that a mighty voice a great cry Concerning it here are three things remarkable the parts of the text 1. They word which was cryed O Wheel 2. To whom the word was cryed to the wheels as for the wheels it was cryed to them 3. The witness in whose presence the word was cryed in my hearing These are the parts and particulars of the text I wil not fall upon them presently I shal lay them aside a while and according to my plain and usual way I wil dispatch 3. things 1. I wil speak something of the sence and meaning of the text 2. I wil give you the sum and substance of all in one general proposition of Doctrine to which I shal make some general application 3. And then in the third place I wil return to the parts of the text and handle them I wil search the particulars more narrowly for such observations and instructions as may be of further use and then I wil conclude all with special application to the time place persons and present occasion I am to speak you see of Wheels and of a wheel my discourse is like to run all the way upon wheels Now the good spirit of God be upon us all that we may drive prosperously and all our motions may turn to the glory of God the edification and comfort of all our poor souls Amen 1. And first I am to expound and open the text As for the Wheels When Ezekiel was among the Captives in the Land of the Caldeans by the River Chebar walking up and down by the waters of Babylon he saw broad-waking a glorious vision wherein the Lord shewed to him the things which were shortly after to come to pass And as Pharaohs dreams when he was asleep so Ezekiels Visions when he was awake were doubled because the thing was established and God hasted to perform it He first sees the Vision by the River Chebar Chap. 1. He sees it again with some considerable alterations additions and amplifications in this 10. Chapter To represent and set before your eyes the whole Vision and exactly to describe every part every apparition every wonderful and dreadful sight which our Prophet beheld would take up more time and require more skil then falls to my share I shal therefore only point to a few of the most general and most remarkable things which may serve to give some light to the text and to let in the Doctrine To our purpose He saw in the firmament which was clear as the terrible chrystal viz. above the starry heavens he saw a glorious throne as it were a Saphire-stone and upon the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man the son of God sate above it Chap. 1. v. 26. Under his feet there were four living creatures so they were called in his first vision Chap. 1. 5. here in this 10. is an interpretation they are called Cherubins they had faces wings hands and feet Below by the feet of these Cherubins were wheels four wheels in all according to the number of the living creatures These wheels were dreadful to behold by reason of their
in this tenth chapter sure God sees some disorder in the motion of Jerusalems wheels for which he gave them a check in the Prophets hearing O Wheel And what disorderly motions are there in all our wheels great and smal high and low Magistrates Ministers and Commons they have not moved in an uniform and constant way Truly the greatest part of our people have turned like weathercocks to and again this way and that way and every way they go forth one way and presently return another way As the times turn they turn when Popish Innovations and Prelatical Tyranny brake in upon us as a â—â—ood then all turned Eastward wheeled about in the house of God now they were at the desk by and by in the middle alley anon bowing and cringing at the altar How did the Priest and Clark take their turns and answer one another in Psalms and prayers running out of one thing into another and all the people sometimes sitting sometimes standing sometimes kneeling sometimes making courtsie and ever changing their postures and this way was cryed up by Baals Prieste for the beauty of holiness it was countenanced by the scarlet robes and magnified by the luke warm Protestants thus moved the wheels a great while But now the times are turned and they are turned yea turned the quite contrary way Separation is now grown into great request and they that but the other day were driving on towards Rome as fast as they could have now altered their course and are hurrying towards Amsterdam they are gotten out of the Church of England already and the superstitious Malignant hath given the right hand of fellowship to the Separatist O wheel thou movest irregularly According to the change of place and companies they turn and Proteus-like are any thing amongst Papists they are Catholiques amongst Brownists they are Independents In the Congregation they are seeming Saints in the tavern with lewd company they change their behavior as if they were mad their speech faulters and their spittle runs down by their beards to all these turning-temporizing Wheels it is cryed in my hearing O Wheel the Lord abhorrs thee But do we not see other irregulat motions oh how confusedly do wheels move before mine eyes How many gathered Churches or Congregations are there So many wheels they are and every wheel must move his own way and no hand must touch them to turn them all the same way Luther was of another mind he determins that these wheels did signifie particular Churches And the similitude of the wheels they were all alike in colour bigness height motion they turned all the same way did represent the Uniformity of Churches that all the churches of Christ in the whole world have and must have fimilem incessum the same goings in the sanctuary namely Uniformity in Religion confession of faith form of Church government Worship and Catechizing But on the confusion of our newgathered Churches not two scarce of those wheels move in the same way To these I cannot say O wheel for they will not be all one Catholike Church made up of many particular congregations but I must cry to them Oh Wheels your motions are various different contrary confused irregular the Lord approves them not Do you not see abundance of false prophets run up and down like wheels Seducers that compasse sea and land to make one of their own profession and when he is made they make him two-fold more the child of hell then they themselves these wheel about irregularly the spirit of Satan is in these wheels and here 's a check for them O seducers come back why do you turn the people of Christ out of the right way There are a generation of Seekers so they call themselves Saint Paul gives them their true charcter Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth These are wheels that turn strangely and preposlerously out of one thing into another they are ever finding and ever losing they fasten upon no certain way but ever seeking for something and they know not what The Poets fain that Ixion for his slander of Juno was in hell fastened to a wheel and perpetually turned about upon it described thus by Ovid Volvitur Ixion se sequitur que fugitque In English you may take it thus Ixion's turn'd upon a wheel anâ—â—â—ee Follows himself and from himself doth flee And are not these Seekers just so upon Ixion's wheel ever following the truth and ever slying from the truth and never catch it or if they do they let it go again these move irregularity and here they have a check Oh wheel thy motion is tormenting and the end of it will be the losse of truth of Christ of heaven There are abundance of other wheels that move disorderly the drunkard reels and turns round in the streets the proud Phantastick gallant is ever turning out of one fashion into another but the most prodigious sight your eyes have yet seen is a deformed monster called Liberty of Conscience it is a spirit of confusion which moves every wheel to turn according to the dictate of its private spirit as it lists These Libertines must be left wholly to the freedom of their own consciences Oh conscience say they is a tender thing and therefore to impose a rule to regulate their motion is no lesse then tyranny Church-government and a coercive power to restrain and check their motion is no lesse then persecution Every man must hold what opinion he will joyne to what Church he will worship God as he will and do what seems good in his own eyes Oh prodigious O woful spectacle so many wheels and scarce two of them have the same motion but they move like scattered feathers in a wind or as Pharaohs Chariot-wheels in the red sea smitten one from another one this way another that way These wheels move irregularly a good rule would guide them all the same way they wil at last clash one against another and break in pieces in the mean time it is cryed unto them in my hearing from the God of Unity peace and order O Wheel thy motion and turning is as of the children of Belial that shake off the yoke 4. A fourth and last thing which seems to be amiss in the wheels is this They stop sometimes A while they move prettily wel and on the sudden they stand stock-stil Oh what stoppings are there amongst our great Wheels Just this day twelve moneth my reverend brother performed the work which I do at this time in his Sermon he did exhort the people to do something to the utmost of their power which might conduce to the publick good and setlement of truth peace this was interpreted that the City would strike in with some petition tending to the Kingdoms peace and wel-fare To this purpose a Petition was drawn or a Remonstrance if you please to call it so to back Londons Remonstrance then newly come forth which
And here it wil be seasonable to give you the sum and parts of the Chapter and to shew you more clearly the coherence of the text The Vision doth most neerly concern Jerusalem in the 3. Vers you shal see the Cherubins standing on the right side of the house that is of the Temple of Jerusalem The proper end of the Vision was to shew the certainty and the neer approach of the destruction of the Jews the living creatures Gods Angels were armed with power from God to take vengeance on them they were winged swift for execution and Jerusalems wo came running upon wheels There 's a tow-fold judgment threatned to Jerusalem which cuts the Chapter into two parts 1. The Lord first shews to the Prophet that he wlll burn the City with fire in the 7 first Verses The Lord spake to the man clothed with linnen and said go in between the wheels and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the Cherubims and scatter them over the City and he went in in my sight Ezekiel and took the fire accordingly ver 7. and went out to do execution 2. Then secondly the Lord sheweth to the Prophet and testifieth by his appearing in the Temple that he is about to depart from the Temple City and Nation from the 8. Ver. to the end most plainly in the 18. Ver. Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house Now before the Lord goeth quite away his voyce eries to the City O Wheel O Jerusalem repent or else O Jerusalem I will have no more to do with thee I will depart and suddain and fearful destruction shal come upon thee The sum of all is An O! of Commination ever follows an O! of Reprehension if the Lord call to a people and they be not humbled and reformed then the Lord will cry against them in his wrath even with the cry of a travailing woman and quite forsake them and utterly destroy them Hear what the Lord saith concerning the Jews Jer. 44. 4. I sent unto you all my servants the Prophets rising early and sending saying Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate There 's an O! of Admonition and Reprehension 5. But they hearkened not nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness to burn no incense unto other gods 6. Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth and was kindled in the Cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem and they are wasted and desolate as at this day The Application will come close to Norwich to England to our selves hear and tremble As for the sins of Jerusalem and Judah I am sure we are as deep as they Had I time to gather a catalogue of sins out of Ezekiel you would verily think that he had received his visions in our City the very same sins are as rife with us as with the Jews You shall find them accused if you read the Prophesie of abominable Idolatry gross Superstition Corruption in the worship and service of God horrible contempt of the Word despising mocking persecuting Gods Messengers scorning at all goodness perfidiousness breaking their Covenants with God and man Fearful prophanation of Gods holy Sabbaths barbarous oppression pride luxury fulness of bread abundance of idleness hardness of heart and unmercyfulness to the poor there was then a strong Malignant party that with all their wit and strength opposed the Reformation endeavored by Jeremiah Ezekiel and others and now what think you mutato nomine change but the name for Ierusalem read Norwich for Iuda and Israel read England and doth it not hold right are not those sins and many more ours When the Lord saw that their iniquity was great and their sin very grievous he cryed unto them with a mighty voyce for it was in the Prophets hearing the voyce came from the Throne over the Temple in Ierusalem and Ezekiel was by the river Chebar in Babylon a voyce indeed that could reach so far So loud the Lord cryed O Wheel an O of Reprehension and admonition O do not these abominations which my soul hateth but they refnsed to hearken I know you cannot miss applying of it hath not the Lord cryed in our ears by his sons of thunder have not the faithful messengers of the Lord shewed the people their transgressions and rebuked them sharply Have they not discovered their dangers and called them to repentance saying O do not these abominable things which the Lord hateth Mark how God proceeds with them when he sees they continue thorns and briers and scorpions and rebellious and an obstinate people then with a stretched out hand from heaven he reacheth forth to Ezekiel a roll of a book and when it was spread before the Prophet he saw that it was written within and without and there was written therin lamentations and mourning and wo he threatens dreadful destruction he cries out Chapter the 7. An end the end is come upon the four corners of the Land an evil an only evil shal suddainly come and in this 10. Chap. The Execution is begun the Angel scatters coals of fire about the City I would to God the Application were not so manifest as that none can miss it We have continued a stiff-necked people we have walked stubbornly kicked at reprehension and we have hated to be reformed and now the Lord hath scattered coals of fire about our Cities and Country even the hot fire of war and contention the coals of juniper blown up by the spirit of division O the fire burns the fire burns poor England is consuming apace and is like to be turned into ashes shortly And here I cannot but set a hand to point at two remarkable Circumstances by the way One is the Circumstance of the place whence the coals were taken namely from between the Cherubims in the Temple to admonish that they were Temple-sins that kindled the fire of Gods wrath contempt of the Word and Ministers false Doctrine Corruption in Gods Worship Prophanation of the Sabbath Sacriledg and Idolatry nothing doth so much incense the Lord and provoke him to fury as Temple-sins Corruption in Religion and Doctrine The other Circumstance remarkable is the person that takes and scatters the coals about Jerusalem it 's the man clothed with linnen who is described in the 9. Cap. ver 2. 4. to have a writers inkhorn by his side whose office there was to set a mark upon the foreheads of them that mourn which sure is none other but the Lord Jesus Christ in the former Chapter you see him a protector a Saviour here in this Chapter he is a consumer a destroyer Christ first comes to seek and to save to call sinners to repentance but if they hearken not then he changeth his work and he comes armed with flaming fire to execute vengeance upon all impenitent persons O sad condition when Christs comes in anger against a people then is ruine dreadful and