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
answers of young Mrs. Philip Hobarte and the rest I could not but think thus with my self This day is that Prophesy fulfilled in mine eares I wil powre out of my spirit uppon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shal Prophesy and your young men shal see Visions and on my servants and on my hand-maids wil I pour out of my spirit and they shal Prophesy Madam Wil not your honor be offended if I show my folly and boast a little to the world You are my glory my Crown and my rejoycing the comfortable Harvest and precious Seal of my Ministry And this is discerned by others as wel as by my self Your paralel is not to be found or at the least scarcely was ever any Christian seen who did thrive and grow so fast in Grace as your Honor hath done especially of late years Now if either your Honor or any others that shal cast their eye on these my free expressions and think me indiscreet in writing thus to your Honor I Apologize for my self in the words of Christ when he prayed vocally and loud at Lazarus his grave Not for your sake Madam but because of the people which stand by I said it I propound a pattern to other Christians and other families and my sole aim is the glory of God and the provoking of many to a holy emulation The God of heaven and earth the God of my father bless your Honor and your noble and hopeful daughter I beg for you the upper and the nether springs The God of all Grace perfect all Grace in you be filled with the Spirit with inward peace and joy of the Holy Ghost Be the Lords darling Beleeve me Gracious Lady The tongue shal cleave to the roof of my mouth and my right hand shal forgets its skil before I shal cease to bear your Honors name at my heart and to present it unto the Lord as often as I appear at the throne of Grace Be sure Madam I am Your Honors most humbly Devoted servant for ever Thankful for your Superlative favour bounty and care And As under God your Honor raised me from the grave So if I can beleeve mine own heart I am your Honors faithful Pastor who if God should call him to it would willingly lay down his life to establish your Ladiship in the truth and grace of Jesus Christ and to further your eternal Salvation IOHN CARTER To The whole World O WORLD THou seest what Contradiction these poor weak Sermons have met withall how they have been and are accused of falshood envy malice peevishness that the Magistrates are slandered in them and very lies uttered in the face of City and Country I am necessitated to appeal to God and the World O World I hold forth unto thy view faithfully all that was spoken nothing omitted I call unto thee to be my true and impartial witness and let the God of Truth be Judg THE Nail hit on the head AND Driven into the City and Cathedral Wall of NORWICH By JOHN CARTER Pastor of Great St. PETERS in that City At the Greenyard June 17. 1644. Being a preparative to the Guyle-Solemnity the day following EZRA 9. 8. Grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in his holy place THE NAIL ESA. 22. 23. And I wil fasten him a nail in a sure place and he shal be for a glorious throne to his fathers house THe business of this Text is nothing else but the driving and fastning of a nail Wherein 1. The Master-worker who it is that fastens the nail I. 2. The nail that 's fasten'd what or who is that Him 3. Vbi Where is this nail fasten'd in loco fideli in a sure place 4. The end use and benefit of this nail so fastned He shal be for a glorious throne to his fathers house These are the parts and particulars of the Text. But I wil not tye my self strictly and punctually to these or at least I wil not fall upon them presently but according to my plain and usual way I shal concerning this Text dispatch these things 1. I wil speak something of the sense and meaning of the words 2. I wil give you the sum and substance of the whole verse in one general proposition of doctrine to which also I shal make some general applycation 3. And then in the third place I wil look over the particulars I wil search and examine them for such observations and instructions as may be for our profit and use besides the main and general doctrine Of these in their order And the Lord be with us Amen 1. The Exposition And I and who is that it is as Solomon calls him the Master of the Assemblies that fastens the nail in the 15. verse of this Chapter he is called the Lord of Hosts Wil fasten HIM Him this is the nail to be fastned a living nayl You have his name and also his Character shortly v. 20. Eliakim so was his name the servant of the Lord that 's his Character He was a Courtier a great man a holy man a good Patriot faithful to his King to his Country to Religion and Reformation all which appears plainly by the current of this place and also by other passages of sacred Scripture And I wil fasten him as a Nail a nail is a pin or peg For the matter some are made of brass some of iron some of wood A nail is fastned when it 's knocked beaten and driven into a wall beam post or pillar The use of such a nail orpeg or spirkit is to hang thingsout of hand and such things especially as we would have ready for our use as garments vessels pots instruments of musick and the like Such things as otherwise would ly scattered about the house and be subject to miscarry Metaphorically to fasten a man as a nail is to confirm and establish him in some place or office in the Church or Common-wealth and to make him useful and profitable for the Publique good Here the Kingdom of Juda is compared to a wall or post Eliakim to a nail and the Lord fastens him in the Kingdom that is puts him in place and office and confirms him in it Q. But what place what office was he settled in that must be known A. I answer There was another nail pul'd out and he was put in in the room The other nail viz. his predecessor was Shebna he was deprived and Eliakim substituted in his room therefore let 's enquire what place Shebna was in and then all wil be clear Some of the Hebrew Doctors and learned Hierom with them conceive that Shebna was the high-priest Lyra Sanchez Lapide Pintus Tirinus and most of the Popish-writers are of the same opinion Their arguments are principally †First the authority of the old-Vulgar-latine translation of the 15. verse which with them is authentick Vade ad Sobnam praepositum
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
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