like God and forgive them all the debt Else if nothing will serve your turns but their bodies to make Dice of their bones then read that Parable in St. Mathew the 18. and you shall finde the mercilesse Creditor hath little hope of mercy with God Nor is this any way advantagious to you who are Debtors to find out shifts and breake and conveigh your wares into your neighbours Store-houses thereby to make your Creditor beleeve you have nothing to pay and therefore to forgive you no you that are debtors must pay all that you owe if you have wherewith if not all yet so farre as you have to pay withall This you must doe you must doe this as you hope to be saved and find the mercy of God Luk. 19.8.9 Zacheus never heard of salvation till he had first made restitution nor may you hope for it if you have wherewith to restore But if you have nothing to pay nothing indeed why then your Creditors must be like God and forgive you all the debt His mercy endures for ever and so must ours Yet one more for one more worke of mercy And this to you all all in generall and together rich and poore if you would have Gods mercy endure for ever to you your mercy must endure for ever to God But can a man be mercifull to God Yes he may and no Popery in it upon my life God complaines and complaines of you and complaines to you That you presse him with sins Am. 2.13 as a Cart 〈◊〉 pressed with sheaves And this pressing him is a meere oppressing of him and therefore you must bee more mercifull unto him and lay no more load upon him thou 〈…〉 the single eares 〈◊〉 Infirmities yet you must take head of the double sheaves of Impreâ—â—es 〈◊〉 presse 〈◊〉 and God forbid that man should presse his God These your Impieties have pressed and squeezed a Plague out of the Cup of his Wrath and it hath beene drunke amongst us If you would not drinke the dregges of it your selves bee more mercifull to God presse him no more with sinnes if you would have this Plague quite and cleane removed and then you shall live and live to give Thankes to the God of Heaven because his mercy endures for ever Else if you presse him still His Judgements will endure for ever And David you see makes choyse of mercy rather than Judgement to perswade our thankfulnesse Oh give thankes unto the God of Heaven because not his Iudgement but his mercy endureth for ever For ever and Everlasting are the mercies of God indeed Everlasting and for ever in number so many that no Arithmetician can number them Divide them if you will you may into Temporall Spirituall Eternall Temporall to our bodies Spirituall to our soules Eternall to both soules and bodies but number them you cannot for they are a multitude an infinite multitude Psa 51.1 Doe away mine offences according to the multitude of thy mercies saith David A multitude they are not onely in the Genus but the Species and in the particular of the Species too A multitude of Temporall Bread to feede us Cloth to cover us Fire to warme us Wine to refresh us Oyle to cheare us the whole World is not able to recount them all A multitude of Spirituall his word to teach us to beleeve to worke to pray his Spirit to helpe us to pray His sonne to pray for us His Sacraments to preserve our soules and bodies unto Everlasting life and who can name them all A multitude of Eternals Beauty to the Body Joy to the Soule Glory to both Everlastingnesse in all Everlasting thus in the number and Everlasting in the extension too they compasse us round before us in his preventing mercy behind us in his forbearing mercy over us in his forgiving mercy under us in his supporting mercy on our right hand is his embracing mercy As the Hills stand round about Hierusalem Psa 125.2 even so stand the mercies of God round about them that feare him your selves I trust in God His everlasting mercies are about you Everlasting thus in the Number and extention and Everlasting thus in the Succession too His iealousie visites the Iniquities of the Fathers upon the Children Ex. 20.5.6 unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate him but he shewes mercy unto thousands in them that love him and keepe his Commandoments To us ô God we beseech thee to our children and to our childrens children so long as the Sunne and Moone endures and for ever and for ever Everlasting thus in number in extension in succession and everlasting thus too in duration Si dixerit totâ die dixerit nihil sed in saecula saeculorum non dixisset amplius Had he sayd his Mercy endures for a Day hee had sayd as much as nothing but saying for ever his Mercy endures for ever what could hee say more And that is a sufficient Reason to resolve my fourth Enquiry why David repeats it so often Twenty sixe times in this Psalme his mercy endures for ever So sweet a Theame it was that the good man was ravished with it he thought hee could never speake enough of it And indeed who can There are onely two men that think they speake too much of it the Papist and the Schismaticke If the Papist did not thinke hee spake too much of it hee would never come in with his merit would Andradius the Jesuite stand up with his Debitum ut donum and tell us that eternall life is not so much of Gods mercy as of mans merit would Bellarmine lay downe his Paradisum ex merito and tell us We may purchase Paradise by merit would Vega more desperately say Gratis non accipiam I will none of Heaven unlesse I may merit some part of it if they did not thinke too much were spoke of mercy You shall amongst them finde Merit twenty sixe times in one Chapter and Mercy not above once whereas in one of Davids Psalmes you shall finde Mercy twenty sixe times together and Merit not so much as once David and the Iesuites surely were not of one opinion in this point And so the Schismaticke too if hee did not thinke hee spake too much of Mercy would hee ever come in with his absolute Reprobation that God made some men purposely to damne them A likely thing that God should be more cruel then man Did ever any of you nay did ever any man get or beget a child purposely to breake his necke when hee was borne Why if there could be a man so cruell to his Childe that came from his owne loynes why yet God would be more cruell if he should make any man on purpose for to damne him for Damnation is a thing farre and infinite worse than Death for by Death a Child is delivered from the miseries of this World but by Damnation a man is taken from the pleasures of this world and hurled into unspeakeable torments Good God that any man should thinke that God who exhorts all men to give him thankes because his mercy endures for ever should make any man amongst them all on purpose for to Damne him Reprobation is a word that came from Fury not from Mercy let him beleeve it that never meanes to give God thanks and despaire I will beleeve that I the greatest of all sinners that thou that any man may bee saved if thou or I or any man doe beleeve that Gods mercy does endure for ever so that thou and I and any man doe live answerable to that Mercy and repent and beleeve and pray and give thankes unto the God of Heaven because his mercy endures for ever His Mercy This this is the onely thing we live by this is the onely thing wee hope to be saved by such a thing This his Mercy so sweete as in the Contemplation thereof I could even Live and Die or rather could live and not Die for whosoever lives and beleives in Gods mercies and in Iesus Christ shall not die eternally The Mercy of God it is Davids Amabaeum and the burthen of this Song Praise the Lord for his Mercy endures for ever And so twenty sixe times in this Psalme Praise the Lord for his Mercy endures for ever His Majesty may astonish us his Glory may beate us downe his Greatnesse may strike us dead his Omnipotencie wee adore his Wisedome we admire his Iustice wee stand in awe of his Uengeance wee flie from but his Mercy his Mercy this is that strong out of which came this sweete and the full unfolding of Sampsons Riddle this is that Lyon out of which came this Hony-combe I will not feare what Man or Divell what Plague or Pestilence can doe unto me so long as I can give thankes unto the God of Heaven because His Mercy endures for ever Amen That was my beginning and it is my ending it was the beginning of us all for of his mercy wee all are and are what we are and I pray God it may be the ending of us all and all of us Die in the Mercy of God while we live God give us grace to make such use of his Mercy his Mercy temporall and his Mercy spiritual that then when we die we may enioy his Mercy which is Eternall Eternally through the merits of his eternall Sonne Iesus Christ To whom with the holy Ghost three persons and one God bee given everlasting thanksgiving for his mercy which endures for ever Amen FINIS
〈◊〉 more heartily if you looke upoâ— it comparatiuely and if you loâ—â— upon it consequently what it is 〈◊〉 respect of other Diseases and whâ—â— it doth which no other Diseaseâ— can which all other Diseases cannâ—â— do Compare it first with the Aguâ— the Ague onely weakens a Man 〈◊〉 seldome kills a Man but the Plague that weakens and kils both seldoâ—â— any Man dies of the Ague anâ— therefore is the Proueâ—be becomeâ— truth An Ague is Physicke if in the Spring for the King seldome anâ— Man recovers of the Plague somâ— do but they are but some and pray God deliver us from that hazard Compare it secondly with the Feaver the Feaver distracts some times and sometimes destroies but it is but sometimes but the Plague often distracts and oftner destroies few it leaves undistracted few it leaves undestroyed few it does and they are but few I pray God we may never trie it Compare it thirdly with the Plurisie That is but Membranae inflamatio intrinsecus latera costas succingentis a paine in the side an â—nflaÌ„mation of the Liver and bloodâ—etting lets it out But the Plague that is Totius inflamatio inferius pedes superius caput interius Cor Exterius corpus succingentis an inflammation of the whole and a paine all over a paine in the head above and a paine below in the Feete a paine within in the heart and a paine without all the body over and bleeding and purging and Sweating will all hardly helpe us I pray God helpe us so that we need no such helpe Compare it fourthly with the Epilepsie the Falling-sicknesse they that are troubled with those Convulsions fall downe and rise againâ— but they that fal down of the plague seldome rise againe that wee may not fall or if we do fall that wee may rise again God deliver us from the Plague Compare it lastly with the Leprosie and of all Diseases it is most like that and yet the Leprosie was never so as this Like it it is for as the Leprosie might not bee pronounced till the white Scab or some other Symptome appeared So till the Soare arises or the Spots appeare in the Body no Body can say any Man is infected with the Plague Like it it is for as the Leper was so the Man infected with the Plague is shut up and shut ouâ— from the Congregation Cyrill lib. 2. De Adv. Like it iâ— is for as Lepra est morbus adeo gravis ut medicorum vim superet Scientiaem The Leprosie is such a Disease that no Doctor can meete it either by his Extractions or his Instructions Gravior sayth the Father quà m ut a Medicis ei succurri possit aut illorum peritia expugnari Such a strange Disease that it withstands the Physitians Science and his Ingredients So I wonder what Galen what Doctor can cure the Plague let him that can do it Dic bone Damaetas eris mihi magnue Apollo Hee that can shall win the golden Fleece Like it though it be yet it is a great deale worse for the Priest might go to the Leper Might nay he was bound to it but no Priest is bound to goe to a Man sicke of the Plague not bound by any Law of Man or God So fearefull a thing is the Plague comparatively but it is a more fearefull thing effectually For it brings with it the two greatest punishments this World can inflict It brings with it an Outlawrieâ— and it brings with it an excommunication An outlawrie is the greateâ—â— punishment in the common Law and an excommunication is the greatest punishment in the civil law and the plague does both Iâ— excommunicates us and it out-law â—ries us too It out-lawes us from all workes of civilitie in the Common-wealth and we cannot goe about our lawfull callings and it excommunicates us from all worke of pietie in the Church and weâ— may not goe to publicke prayers No body will goe to visite them not or very hardly the Physitianâ— They may not goe to visite any body not the Divine Their dooreâ— are shut up the red Crosse upon their doores to bid us stand farther off and over their doores Lord have mercy upon us And I pray God have mercy upon them that are infected and howsoever hee deale with their bodies save their â—oules and I pray God have merâ—ie upon us that we may not be inâ—ected not in our bodies with the plague nor in our soules with sinne but deliver us through Iesus Christ Amen You see the Quid est what it is Applic. 2. what the plague is I must propose upon this Quaere another Quomodo for the application of it for being a thing so fearfull I make no question but they that are infected would willingly bee restored and they that are not yet infected would willingly bee so preserved How then first may they that are infected be restored The Physicians prescribe Bleeding Purging Sweating so I entreate you to Bleed to Purge to Sweat to bleed by Confession to Purge by Contrition to Sweat by Restitution Zacheus heard of no Salvation vntilâ— hee had made Restitution If there bee any accursed thing in your hands as the Babylonish garment oâ— Wedge of Gold in the hands of Aâ—chan restore it that the plague may be stayed that God my have glory and your selves health King David heard of no Transtulit peccata Deus 2 Sam. 12.13 the Lord hath taken away thy sinne till he had confessed and sayd Peccavi I have sinned If there bee any sinne lies heavie upon your soule if any sinne that in your conscience hath provoked God to this displeasure If any rich man amongst you all have taken away the poore mans lambe iâ— any Vsurer or Broâ—er hath taken the poore mans bed to pawne upon which he should lye and for want of which he lyes in straw or upon the hard boords or the poore mans cloathes which hee should weare or for want of which hee goes naked or in such ragges that he is ashamed to come to Church confesse it for peccatum est it is a sinne and restore too for Non remittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum no hope of remission without restitution never thinke to be forgiven by God till thou hast restored to man No hope to bee delivered from the pestilence till this accomplishment of repentance Make confession of your enormous sinnes to the Priest that he may ease you and make restitution of your ill gotten goods to the true owner that he may pray for you and then and not till then it is to be feared will God have mercy upon you and deliver you from the plague Nor did the Publican heare of any Iustification until he had purged by Contrition No Abiit justifiaetus dones venit mortificatus Hee went away justified but first he came mortâ—â—â—ed He smote his breast and begged for mercy and cryed aloud Lord be mercifull to me a sinner Luke 18. before God in mercie did
then if God looke upon you any way though with frownes in his brow rod in his hand menaces in his mouth plague-sores upon your bodies submit unto him and repent and turne from your evill wayes and God shall not onely turne from the evill which hee hath brought upon you but your trembling soule also shall no sooner cry out Why am I thus visited with the plagueÌ„ but your faith shall make a sweet reply from this Text Therefore hath God sent a pestilence to assure us wee are his people if wee will humble our selves That 's the ad quod 5ª 1 ae Ad quod The end the end why we are plagued To put an end to our sinnes But this end of the sicknesse is the beginning of the cure and therefore I say no more of it but Blessed be the name of God for calamitous dayes praised be the Name of God even for the plague since by this bee calles us to repentance and writes upon our doores Lord have mercie upon us And do thou O God in mercie looke upon us and send such a blessing with this punishmeÌ„t of plague as that we may humble our selves and pray and seeke thy face and turne from our wicked wayes that thou also mayest heare us and forgive us and heale our land through Iesus Christ Amen The Cure 1636. The second Sermon 2. Chron. 7.14 If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and turne from their wicked wayes and seeke my face I will heare in Heaven and forgive their sinne and heale their Land THE words are as I told you Pars. 2 a. the Cure of the Disease In the composition there are foure simples and seuerall ingredients and they are foure dosses of Pills The first is a preparing Pill It preprepares us to receive of God and prepares God to giue us Exaltation If we humble our selves hee will heare in Heauen and it is a great Exaltation that God in heaven should heare us vpon earth The second is an opening Pill it opens our lippes to pray and opens Gods eares to heare our prayers If my people pray I will heare The third is a purging Pill it purges us of sinne and God of wrath If my people turne from their wicked wayes I will forgive their sinne The fourth is an healing Pill 1 a 2 ae if my people seeke my face I will heale their Land I begin first with the 1. the preparing Pill Humility and in this I shall with Gods leave shâ—w you first Quid est and secondly Quid efficit First what Humility is and secondly what Humility does And first Quid est What is it Humility is the first Ingredienâ— that cures the plague for pr de is the first sinne that brought the plague and all other Judgements into the world Gen. 3. Eritis sicut Dij To be like God Oh it tickled Adam to the heart and therefore he made himselfe unlike a man hee made himselfe like to the beasts that perish In forma servi Philip. 2.7 To be like a servant this rejoyced Christ at the heart and for this cause hath God exalted him with a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow There is a Ladder of seven steps by which wee goe downe to Hell and the first of those steps is pride pride hath got the first place of the seven deadly sinnes and there is a Ladder of eight steps by which we goe up to Heaven And marke that seven to goe downe and eight to goe up for facilis descensus Averâ—i sed revocare c. We easier and with lesse paines goe to Hell downe-wards than to Heaven upwards but seven steps downe to Hell eight up to Heaven and the first of those eight is Humility Humility hath the first place of all Gods graces so Cromatius The eight Beatitudes are like Iacobs Ladder that reach from Earth to Heaven and the very first step as the foundation of the rest is Humility so Christ begins the Sermon of his Blessings Blessed are the poore in spirit blessed are the humble Matth. 5. for humility is a poverty in spirit that 's the Quid est and Definition of it 1ª 1 ae 3 ae What is Humility If any one askes you what humility is you answer him truely if you say It is a poverty in spirit and as poore men are in their attire ragged in their dyet course and hungry in their speech lowly and reverent so Humility hath a leanâ— body it keeps the body under anâ— many times empty a freeze coateâ— a coate of sackcloth and covering of ashes and a submisse language 〈◊〉 ever speaking in a low stile and phrase Looke else upon the Centurion for the speech of humility he hath an high conceit of God and a low conceit of himselfe lookeâ— else upon King David for the dieâ— of humility hee will neither eate nor drinke looke else upon the King of Niniveh for the dresse and garments of humility he will have no gay clothes in a time of destruction upon his grey heart The Centurion speaks the voyce of humility King David cookes the diet of humility the King of Nineveh cloths the back of humility and they all act the gesture of humility upon their knees 1. And first what sayes the Centurion for the voice of Humility Humilities voyce Math. 8.8 what but this Lord I am not worthy thou shouldst come under the roofe â—f mine house Non sum dignus I am not worthy is evermore Humilities â—anguage Non sum dignus I am not worthy saies Iacob not worthy of what de maximis of Gods Regaâ—ioes Gen. 32 10. it may bee so very likely no de minimis I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies Non sum dignus saies St. Iohn Baptist I am not worthy no not to carry Christ upon his shoulders as it is reported of St. Christopher not so but Non sum dignus calceamenta portare Mat. 3.11 I am not worthy to unty his shooe-strings a poore office wee would thinke Non sum dignus saies Daniel Dan. 9.7 We are not worthy of any thing but confusion Quis ego saies Gideon that mighty man of valour Who am I that I should save Israel Jud. 6.15 behold my family is poore in Manasseh and I am the least in my fathers honse I am not worthy to doe it I Quiâ— ego ut alloquar saies Abraham the Father of the Faithfull Who am I Gen. 18.17 that I should speake unto the Lord I am not worthy I. So low a value does the humble man ever set upon himselfe that no man lower proud men take it well if wee humble our selves lower than is cause so Iacob the Patriarch pleased his proud brother Esau with saying Thy servant and does not God take such submisse extenuations of our selves very well I am a worme and no man saies David and God made David
did God command it saying by his Prophet 〈◊〉 2.15 Proclaime a fast This Fast is either corporall in abstaining from meat or spirituall in restraining the affections from sinne The corporall is not alwayes commanded by the State nor doe I meddle with it the spiritnall is evermore commanded by God especially in time of Plague and Famine and Warre And this from God I beseech you to observe Let your wanton eyes fast this time of weeping from the sight of vanity Let your curious eares fast this time of mourning from idle rumours and unsavourie talk Let your glibbe tongues fast this time of feare from evil speaking But what need I presse you to this The time presses you enough for let but your eyes imagine they see their eyes who are shut up by the plague watering and washing their bed bedewing their cheekes and then your eyes will have little list to roave upon forbidden flesh Againe by as strong a phansie let your eares imagine they heare their dolefull complaints O Lord thou hast justly restrained me of my liberty for I have abused my liberty I am worthily deprived of health These soares are deservedly upon my body for I have infected my soule more than once and often And then your cares will have little desire after newes and vanitie And with your tongues speake what they speake How long Lord how long shall thy iealousie burne like fire for ever O when shall I come into thy house O forgive my sinnes that brought this plague O remove this plague the iust scourge of my sinnes and I believe your tongues will not easily lye and sweare or talke idly In a word let your polluted soules fast and deny their owne wills to doe Gods so diet your bodies that you may fat your soules so feed your bodies so fat your soules that your Humility may have her perfect worke and that brings me to my second consideration Quid efficit What it doth what doth humility Exaltat it exalts 2a1 ae 2 ae what doez Humility Humilitas est Schola scala coeli He that desires to build high and seeke those things which are above must lay his foundation low for humblenesse of mind is the Schoole teaching and the Scale reaching Heaven so he and so the Poet Quo minor est quisquis maximus c. He that is least in his owne conceit Prov. 18.12 is highest in Gods so the Prophet Before honour is humility and so the Apostle Iam. 46. God giveth grace to the humble Pride is the beginning of sinne and Humility is the A B C of our Christian Ethicks and therefore sayes the Apostle againe Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may lift you up Iam. 4.10 Humility mounts the soule that uses it to Heaven Pride keeps us downe for it is a plague The plague is Tumor in corpore and so pride is Tumor in mente That a swelling in the body this in the soule 〈◊〉 the plague be exalted and become Macula in corpore Tokens in the body then the body dyes so if prid◠be exalted and become Macula in anima Spots in the soule then the soule dyes And yet it is observed by some that though the Tokens doe appeare yet lying upon the earth and breathing into the earth may possibly cure it And so humility the lowest and lowlyest of all Gods graces will cure the plague of the soule pride O quantum crimen superbiae sayes St. Ambrose ut ei etiam adulteria praeferantur Oh how great a sinne is the sinne of Pride that even Adulteries are preferred and saved before it Noverca virtutum mater vitiorum The stepmother of vertue and the mother of vice The stepmother of Vertue because it hates them as many women doe those children their husbands had by former wives and the mother of Vice because there is not one vice in the world but therein is found the contempt of God and that is Pride Humilitati autem nihil aequale Tom. 5. p. 171. De Humilit sayes St. Chrysostome haec est bonorum mater radix altrix occasio simul vinculum What is comparable to humility Humility is the mother of all Graces the root the nurse the occasion and the bond of all Graces The mother of all Graces shee is for she conceives them God had respect unto the lowlinesse of his Hand-maiden Luke 1. The lowlinesse conceived a respect in God towards her The roote shee is for they grow upon her if they be not upon the stocke of humility they turne into vices Nothing more wicked than to cleanse the Leper than to heale the lame than to raise the dead sayes St. Chrysostome How nothing more wicked why these are good workes how then are they wicked Why the Father tells you Ibid. Si sit cum insolentia If it be done in arrogance and selfe-conceite if it be done without humility No fire of Charity if it be not raked up in the cindars of humility and the Nurse she is for the Graces of God if they suck not upon the Breasts of humility they waxe leane and starve He hath filled the hungry Humble with good things but the rich he hath sent empty away And the occasion of other Graces she is when Saul sought his Fathers Asses humbly hee found a Kingdome gloriously when hee sought himselfe vainely hee lost himselfe and his Kingdome foolishly And the Bond shee is for when the other Graces of God sever themselves from humility they become sinnes Luk. 1.51 God puts downe the mighty from their seate but exalts the humble and meeke You see what Humility does It exalts I could tell you much more that it doth for all that I could and would tell you I tell you it secures Socrates secured himselfe from death when the Tyrant threatned him with death saying volo mortem I would dye Nay but then sayes the Tyrant thou shalt live why saies he volo sive mortem sive vitam I will either dye or live as you please and so was safe And so is the Humble man as the Reed answered the Oake The Oake wonders why the strongest of all Trees should bee sometimes Eradicated rooted up by the Roots and sometimes blowne downe by the winde when the Reede the weakest of all things should never be hurt by the wind Why saies the Reede thou need est not wonder at this for thou art a proud and inflexible piece of wood and will not yeeld and therefore the winde that is stronger than thy selfe breakes thee whereas I yeeld to every winde and so no winde hurts mee but I am secure so saies the Humble man Now God hath sent a Plague I am willing to dye and if it please him to take it away againe I am willing to live If I live saies he I will live to thy glory in newnesse of life and ascribe it to thy mercy if this destroying Angel passe over my house
and if I dye I will dye to be glorified with thee through Iesus Christ my Saviour if I dye in Heaven I will praise thee and if I live in Earth I will pray unto thee And that is my second part I am to speake of 2 a 2 ae The second ingredient for the cure of the Plague Prayer It is an opening Pill it opens out hearts to conceive our lips to utter a Prayer and it opens Gods eares to heare our Prayer If my people shall pray I will heare In this I shall if God will shew you 1. Quid est what Prayer is 2. Cui to whom we must pray 3. Quid efficiat what Prayer doth And 1. Quid est What is Prayer Some have defined Prayer Comparatè 1 a. 2 ae 2 a. Prayer what and some Absolutè They that define it by Comparison tell us That Prayer is the sacrifice of a Dove that is a Peace offering and they that define it thus direct us to first Electio the choice of a cleane one by preparation they meane as the Psalmist saith That our hearts indite a good matter Psal 45. and secoÌ„dly Corpus a Body verba pura viz. good words not to speak to God as too many speake in this place to you Non sence by speaking Quicquid in bucc am vener it whatsoever comes next to hand but so to speake as God hearing may accept and man hearing may not pitty if not laugh not to complement with God in uncoth language nor yet to slight God with slovenly words nor yet to weary God with tedious bablings but with words well compos'd that it be neither a leane body nor a lame body And thirdly AnimaÌ„ A Soule viz. IntentioneÌ„ fixam a fix'd intention not to suffer our heart to roave wander while our lippes moove and speake but to observe what we pray for as we desire God to observe and grant our prayers Wee pray often and God heares us not and the reason is plaine because wee heare not our selves And fourthly Alas Wings viz. Fidem spem faith Hope Faith to deliver the message in Heaven and Hope to returne the answer upon earth beleeving hee doth heare them and hoping hee will grant them And grant them God will if fiftly this Dove have plumas and be not bare of feathers viz. Gemitum lachrymas sighes teares But last of all you must be sure they have pedes feete too opera Charitatis Workes of Charity And then when GOD sees your prayers so compleate he will questionlesse hee will accept it for a peace offering They that define Prayer absolutely tell us it is Expressio mentis ad Deum in Nomine Iesu Christi an expression of our desires in the Name of Iesus Christ to God An expression of our desires not that words are ever necessary for sometimes the heart may bee so overcharged with griefe as that the tongue cannot speake So we read of Hannah and so of Moses but that wee would make our tongues the Ambassadors of our hearts when there is not a greater occasion to keepe them at home For God made our Tongues so well as our Hearts and wee desire to have our Tongues in Heaven with our Hearts and therefore must glorifie the God of Heaven equally with our Tongues and Hearts So the Psalmist Psal 45. My heart is enditing of a good matter and my tongue is the pen of a ready writer I will speak of the things which I have made unto the King And so we we must utter utter with our Tongues what we desire with our Hearts But both our desire and expression must bee in the Name of Iesus Christ no promise but in him no purchase but by him Whatsoever you shall aske in my name God will give it you In nomine ejus it must be for without him we are like to have as course entertainment with God as Ioseph promised his brethren if they brought not Benjamin By the Princes favourite the subject obtaines the Princes favour and by Jesus Christ in whom and in whom onely God is well pleased Math. 3. we obtaine whatsoever we obtaine and therefore as the Apostle so I to you Let your prayers be made knowne by him viz. by Iesus Christ to God And being made known by him our prayers are sure of acceptance for he hath purchased Gods favour for us and that by a bloody rate Hebr. 5. By his owne blood By that hee entred into the holy place to make intercession for us this makes our Evangelicall sacrifices acceptable to God To God I say For as our prayers must bee offered By 2ª 2 ae 2 ae and in the name of Iesus Christ so they must be offered to God and to God onely for God onely is the Cui the object To whom we must pray Not to Patriarch or Prophet for no precept for that Not to Angel or Archangell for no promise to that Not to the Virgine Marie or any shee Saint for no example of this let Rome say what Rome can to the contrary But this is a matter of dispute and so disputed it hath been that it needs no dispute here for they are not able to reply And besides their owne Doctrine and Example choakes them for their doctrine never taught to offer their example never did offer any thanksgiving to any Saint or Angel whatsoever And yet thankesgiving is a part and a chiefe part of prayer and therefore where no thanksgiving is due there no prayer is due Nor the one nor the other hath any object but God I shall therefore conclude this with a prayer to God God grant wee may never betake our selves to any other shelter than Vmbra altissimi that of God for blessed be the people that bee in such a case yea blessed are the people which have the Lord for their God God make us Saints in Heaven and give us grace never to pray to any Saint and to pray to him so that when wee pray he may heare It is my third consideration in Quid efficit what does prayer 3 a 2 ae 2 ae And did I propose it so low What does prayer I should rather have proposed it thus What does it not It opens Heaven and it shuts Heaven 1 Reg. 18. Raine or no Raine are at the command of prayer It defeates our Enemies So David overthrew the counsell of Achitophel by Prayer 2 Sam. â— 31. It obtaines favour with Kings Neh 2.4 So Nehemiah wonne grace with Artaxerxes the King by Prayer It opens Gods hands and it shuts Gods hands Numb 11.2 So Moses when God was angry shut his hands by Prayer and when the people were hungry by prayer Moser opened Gods hands to give them Manna In a word Prayer is as Luther speakes though Hyperbolically yet Divinely Res omnipotentissima an Almighty power By this 2 Sam. 24 Psal 106. â—â— prayer David in his time and Phineas in his time stayed
so We have erred and strayed from thy wayes like lost sheepe and therefore all of us must participate in Repentance and say There is no health in us but thou oh Lord have mercy upon us miserable offenders For the Church is Corpus Homogeneum and therefore Eadem est ratio partis totius All men are one Body and every man is a member of that one body and therefore the same remedy serveth both what every man must doe in particular all men must doe in generall All men are but one Body and thus the Members are placed The King is the Head the Divine is the Heart the Physitian is the Liver the Lawyer is the Tongue the Souldier is the Armes the Merchant is the Lungs the Commons are the Feete The King rules the Priest prayes the Physitian feeds the Lawyer pleads the Souldier fights the Merchant breaths the Commons travaile None of these can be spared for then the Body will be imperfect and therefore all of these all Gods people must Turne The King though a King and therefore the best of men yet he is but a man and therefore a sinner and a Carbuncle may come upon the Head but I pray God preserve our Head King Charles from plague and pestilence The Priest though a Bishop and the holiest of then yet hee is but a man and therefore a sinner and the poyson of the plague may possesse the Religion of the Heart but I pray God preserve the Heart of our Religion and Devotion the Clergy from plague and pestilence The Physitian though the liveliest of men yet he is but a man and therefore a sinner and the plague may by his venome stop the Fountaine of Blood but I pray God preserve the Liver of our Body the Physitian from plague and pestilence The Lawyer though the nimblest of men yet he is but a man and therefore a sinner and the Sore may rise in the throat close by the Tongue but I pray God preserve the Tongue of our State the Lawyer from plague and pestilence The Souldier though the strongest of men yet hee is but a man and therefore a sinner and the Plague stronger than himselfe may breake the Armes but I pray God preserve the Armes of our Kingdome the Souldier from plague and pestilence The Merchant though the richest of men yet he is but a man and therefore a sinner and the plague may suffocate the Lungs but I pray God preserve the Lungs of oâ—â— Kingdome the Merchant from the plague The Common people is a man and but a man and therefore a sinner and the plague may weaken the Feet a Sore may rise in the Groine but I pray God preserve the Feete of this Kingdome the Common people from the plague No way to perswade God to this but for the Head and the Heart and the Liver and the Tongue and the Armes and the Lungs and the Feet and all all Gods people to turne from their wicked wayes Some there be that think themselves too good to humble themselves and turne and some that thinke themselves too unworthy to pray and turne but here is a checke for the one and a comfort for the other all my people must turne The good man hath need and the bad man hath leave Bee thou as good as King David a man after Gods owne heart yet K. David may fall into an adulterie and a selfe confidence and therefore not hee so good but hee must turne And indeed how often did hee turne Sometimes himselfe to God and sometimes God to him God to him by prayer Turne not away thy face from thine annointed And sometimes himselfe to God by repentance Turne me O God and I shal be turned And this is to teach good men that when God is turned from them or they from God then that they by prayer should turne God to them and they by repentance turne themselves to God by turning from their wicked wayes Nor none so bad neither but hee may turne not the Publican and therefore Saint Matthew was called and Zacheus saved Not the Thiefe and therefore the Thiefe from the Crosse went into Paradise Not the Harlot and therefore Mary Magdalene had many sins forgiven her Not the Persecutor and therefore Saint Paul was converted Not the Denyer and therefore Saint Peter wept bitterly And I pray God give us all grace to weepe so bitterly and to turne so truely that God may remove the plague speedily and send health into our houses perpetually and grace into our soules eternally through Jesus Christ Amen This is not onely our Ministerie perswading for you may thinke and too many of you doe too often think too lightly of that but it is also Gods Majestie commanding and which of you dares thinke but highly of that God commands all men every where to repent Acts 17.30 viz. To turne All men deepe Polititians rich Citizens great Sinners holy Saints all his people to turne But what is it to turne 2ª 3 ae 2 ae To turne what That 's my second consideration must tell you and I must tell it you from the examples of Turners And for these examples I looke upon Nehemiah he met with an uneven peece of Timber and he turned it round I looke upon King David hee met with a knotty peece of Timber and hee turned it smooth I looke upon King Nebuchadnezzar he met with a loftie peece of Timber and hee turned it thin and low I look upon Israel she met with a rotten peece of Timber and shee turned it into the fire I look upon S. Peter he met with a foule peece of Timber and he turned it cleane and faire 1. Nehemiah at his returne from the Captivity Nehem. 13.3.23 found in Ierusalem an uneven peece of Timber a mixed multitude Jewes that had married wives of Ashdod Ammon and Moab people that spake halfe the language of the Jewes and halfe of Ashdod and hee rounded them he put away all their strange wives Sie vos so doe you If you have in your house a mixed multitude goods gotten honestly by your labour and goods gotten dishonestly by Rapine or Theft or Vsurie or Lying away with them returne them to the true owners that Ierusalem may be repaired that the plague may be stayed that your bodies may bee healed that your soules may he saved If the affections of your soules have married strange wives the World or the Flesh if you come to Church and speake halfe the language of Canaan and yet serve the World or lust after the flesh take out a divorce that you may serve God onely that God who onely can may repaire the breach of the people King David met with a knottie peece of Timber 2 Sam. 11.4 â— 8.13 he commits adulterie with Bathsheba when Ioab is besieging Rabbah and sends for Vriah her husband to cover it and when he would not goe home neither drunk nor sober he dispatches him with letters to dispaeth him of his life
And when his subtelty was found out by Nathan hee smoothes it 2 Sam. 12.13.30.31 and sayes plainly and sorrowfully Peccavi I have sinned Et transtulit Dominus And the Lord tooke away his sinne Sic vos so doe you If any of you while your tongue hath been besieging Hell by prayers as Ioab Rabbah by weapons and in the meane time your heart hath committed adulterie by roaving and wandring imaginations upon your gold at home your businesse abroad or your neighbour in the Church either by lust or talke as David with Bathsheba and you have sent for your eye the husband of your heart to cover this wickednesse by lifting up the white of it to Heaven why then dispatch it pull it out and now that Nathan your Minister hath told you on 't be sorry for it and confesse it and say I have sinned that God may forgive your sins that your tongue may conquer Hell that the Crown of the King thereof Lucifer that Crowne which hee ware when hee was in Heaven may bee put upon your head and all his people his tentations and sinnes and plagues may goe under the Harrowes and Axes and Sawes of your repentance and so shall the plague bee stayed and you saved 3. Dan. 4.30.31.32.37 King Nebuchadnezzar met with a loftie and proud peece of Timber Is not this great Babel that I have built for the house of the kingdome by the might of my power and for the honour of my majestie And by and by his kingdome was taken from him and hee was driven from men to eate grasse as Oxen and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his haires were growne like Eagles feathers and his nailes like birds clawes and he confessed that Gods workes are truth and those that walke in pride he is able to debase Sic vos so doe you If any of you rich Citizens that came hither with a staffe like Iacob over Iordan and are now become great and have built you faire houses Citie houses for profite and Countrey houses for pleasure yet walke not in the pride of your heart say not you have got this by the policie of your brain or the strength of your hand or if you have said so as too many of you have sayd so why then goe eate grasse with the Oxen feed hardly wet your body with the dew of heaven with thowres of neâ—venly grace with teares of true repentance let your haires grow like Eagles like Estridge feathers to break off the Iron chaines oâ— your sinnes and your nailes like birds clawes to picke out the eyes of these proud tentations Breake off your sinnes by righteousnesse and your iniquitie by shewing mercie to the poore that there may bee an healing of your errour and a lengthning of your dayes and a staying of the plague through Iesus Christ Amen 4. Israel met with a rotten peece of Timber coverings of graven Images and ornaments of molten Images and shee cast them away as a menstruous cloath Sic vos so do you Isai 30.22.23.26 If you have pâ—â— your crust in the graven Images of silver or mâ—lâ—ea Images or gold If you have worshipped your wealth before you have your God if you have taken more delight and paines in getting this trash then the favour of God why then throw away these be angry with these selfe-confidences that God may send you seasonable weather and give you bread and binde up the breach of the people and heale the stroake of your wound Fiftly and lastly Saint Peter met with a foule piece of Timber a Damosell meets him and charges him to be Christs servant and hee denies him Another charges him and hee denies him againe and so the third time Then Iesus lookes backe the Cocke crowes and hee goes out and weeps bitterly Sic vos so doe you If when you have met with a Maide with a Woman you have denyed Christ and defiled your selfe his members If a second time you have polluted his Temple and lay with your neighbours wife if a third time you have defacced his Image and denyed him and belyed him by selling his Wares at high rates and put them off by Oaths and lyes Why see Iesus lookes backe lookes backe with pitty and anger both The Cocke crowes his Ministers call to you doe you goe out and turne from such wicked company and weepe bitterly that your Faith may not saile that your bodies may not dye that your Soules may not be damned that you may live to praise God here joyfully and in Heaven eternally For by turning here God meanes a motion opposite to going on you are in a way of sinne that hath made away for the plague if you goe on you goe a wrong way still and still the plague continues If you would have the plague away why then turne from that way turne from it with indignation and hate your sinnes as the Israelites did turne from it by contrition as Nebuchadnezzar did and be sorry for your sinnes Turne from it by confession as King David did and acknowledge your sinnes Turne from it by Resolution as Nehemiah did and divorce your sins Turne from it by compunction as St. Peter did and weepe for your sinnes send up St. Peters teares to Heaven that God may send some showers from Heaven send up King Davids groanes to Heaven that God may send health upon the Earth Turne you from that God may turne you to They that will not turne shall be turned The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the people that forget God If you would have a turne to Heaven when you goe from hence Then while you are here turne from your wicked wayes That 's the A quo and my third consideration 3 a 3 ae 2 ae FroÌ„ what wee must turne From what must wee turne From our wicked wayes And And here by the way I looke upon the Metaphor Wayes and by wayes here is meant Manners Courses Conversations 1. FroÌ„ our wicked wayes and the meaning is Turn from your wicked manners your wicked courses your wicked conversations And againe by Way is meant not onely a course but a setled course not a starting or a fit but a constancie Good men may start aside as David into an adulterie Peter into a denyall but Non est via eorum It is not their way This and so the wicked may sometimes try the right way Cain may stumble upon a sacrifice and Saul upon an offering and Caiaphas upon a prophesie but it is not via eorum they quickly take their former roade againe and so the whole meaning is You that are good turn you from your wicked startings you that are bad turn you from your wicked courses 2. From al our wicked waies from all your wicked wayes For not a sin but must be repented of Israel was guilty of other sinnes yet Israel could not get the victory till Achans sinne was done away Other sinnes there were but
money in their journey And little lesse than mad is hee that will deferre seeking of God till his Death-bed hoping to finde him then because one Thiefe upon the Crosse did so there is no certainty this way no wisedome to trust to this To seeke I told you before is an act of diligence we must stirre ourselves and turne our selves this way and that way and every way and enquire of every one we meete if we intend to finde what we seeke But then upon our Death-beds alas God knows wee cannot stirre our selves much lesse turne our selves nor hardly enquire what we have to doe for paine All that we can doe then is to lye still in our beds and let the Minister speake a few words in our eares and if he wil be so kinde as to administer a little comfortable Divinity to our soules and so send them away God knows whither I speake not this that any old man should despaire no despaire not though you never sought God till your Death-beds for one there was and a Thiefe hee was that never sought till then and then did finde But he was but one and therefore doe you young men take â—eed how you presume till then For there were five Virgins and this makes the Wager five to one that were shut out for not seeking sooner and received for answer when they knock'd for entrance Nescio vos Math. 25.12 Away I know you not that wee may not receive the like answer I pray God give us grace to seeke sooner There is more hope to prevent the fire when it is upon our Neighbours house than to quench the fire when it is upon our owne house and it is more possible to finde God if wee seeke his face when the plague is amongst us then if wee deferre it till the plague be upon us If I send a pestilence amongst my people is the Text not upon them while it is In aelios amongst others let us seeke and not put off till it be In nos Vpon us and so happily we may finde him so as to preserve us still from the plague and to heale them of the plague And God grant wee may so seeke and seeke so successefully through Iesus Christ Amen Secondly there is a time that though we seeke yet we shall not finde so sayes the Prophet Hose 5.6 They shall goe with their flocks and with their heards to seeke the Lord but they shall not finde him he hath withdrawne himselfe from them And Isaiahs Limitation sayes as much Seeke him while he may be found Isa 55.6 And this shews plainely that a time there is though men seeke him yet they shall not finde him And so St. Bernard comments the words Erit procul dubio cum inveniri non poterit In Cantic Serm. 75. and that is when this life is ended Now is the acceptable time now is the day of Salvation you may put it off if you please Et expectare salutem in medio Gehennae quae facta fuer at in medio terrae And seeke for salvation in the middest of Hell which was purchased in the midst of the Earth But when this life is ended our seeking too is ended if we finde not heere wee are sure to misse hereafter no hope to finde either in the Grave or in Purgatorie or in Hell Here if wee misse Chrysost Com. de Lazaro we misse for ever Non est postea situm in nobis poemtere aut commissa diluere No power to repent after this life sayes St. St. Chrysostome and St. Cyprian Hic vita amittitur aut tenetur Here we loose or gaine eternity The next life is a time of rewarding this onely a time of seeking And thirdly in this life there is a time we shall be sure to finde if wee seeke and this is referred to primum and that primum is againe enlarged to semper Mat. 6.33 First seek the kingdome of God sayes Christ And sayes David Psa 105.4 Qaerite faciem ejus semper Seek his face evermore Remember thy creator in the dayes of thy youth Eccles 12.1 was Salomons direction They sought Christ early in the morning Mark 16.1 was the womens commendation So doe you and you shall be sure to finde if so bee your early bee stretched to perpetually that is If you seeke him first and last and alwayes why then you shall finde God in grace to your soules against sinne in health to your bodies against the plague and hereafter in glory to your soules and bodies against hell That is the first Tempus opportunum 2 a 1 ae 4 ae 2 ae Seek God Where Cant. 3.1 the second is Locus requisitus or ubi decet that a fit time and this a fit place Non in lectulo not in your bed lazily In lectulo quaesivi sayes the Church I sought him in my bed I sought him but I found him noâ— Non in tumulo Nor yet in the grave The women sought him there and were reproved with a Quid quaeritis Why seek you the living amongst the dead Non est hìc He is not here whereupon Saint Austen reproves Mary Magdalen thus Quid quaeris in tumulo De temp Serm. 133. quem adorare debes in coelo Why doest thou seeke him in the grave whom thou oughtest to worship in heaven Non inter cognatos Nor yet amongst our kinsfolke neither there amongst them Ioseph and Mary sought they sought but found him not Whereupon St. Bernard thus Quomodo ô bone Iesu inter cognatos meos te inveniam qui inter tuos minimè es inventus O sweet Iesus what hope to finde thee amongst my kindred when thou wouldst not amongst thine owne But where if not here nor there where then must wee seek for him Why in sinu matris Ecclesiae sayes Saint Gregorie Moral lib. 18. in the bosome of our holy mother the Church But where is that bosome In Scripturis in Ecclesia expositis In the Scriptures expounded in the Church There onely you shall finde both Christ and the Scriptures Et ubi Christus ibi facies Dei And where Christis there is the face of God The Scriptures are in the Church Rom. 3.2 For to her are committed the Oracles of God and the Church is in the Scripture and God in both So S. Austen In sanctis libris ubi manifestatur Dominus Iesus Ad Bonif. Ep. 50. ibi eius Ecclesia declaratur In the holy books of God there is both the Lord Iesus and his Church So Ioseph and Mary found Christ in the Temple after three dayes search There is his seat and there hee is still Luk. 2.46 In medio Doctorum In the middle of his Ministers to aid them in preaching In medio discipulorum in the middle of you to heare you in praying Sic amat medium mediator Dei hominum Such love beares hee to the midst that is the mediator betwixt God and Man In
medio jumentorum natu when he was borne in the middest of cattell In medio Doctorum anno duodeâ—â—mo when he was twelve yeares old in the middest of Doctors In medio discipulorum doctrina when he was preaching in the middest of his disciples And now where is he now but in medio nostrûm in the middest of us Matth. 18.20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the middest of them So then that you may finde doe you seeke the face of God in the Church in the Scriptures but seek him there in the middle part of your selves too your hearts That is the Modus 3 a 1 ae 4 ae 2 ae Seek God How the manner how we must seek the Face of God and the last consideration of the first part I am to speak of Si quaeritis Isa 21.12 quaerite saith the Prophet If you will enquire enquire If you will seeke seeke Seek not loosly slightly slenderly but if you will seeke to finde seeke him with all your heart so holy Bonaventure distinguishes these words Petite quaerite In Luke 11.9 pulsate Aske seeke knock Distinguish these woâ—â—s sayes hee as they are meanes to come to glorie Then you must aske by prayer seek by living well and knock by perseverance and holding out but the sincerity of our heart is the greatest matter in living well Or distinguish them as meanes to come to wisedome and so St. Austen does distinguish them saying Ad sapientiam non venitur nisi quemadmodum Dominus docet We cannot attaine to wisedome but by that way the Lord Iesus hath directed us viz. by asking seeking knocking that is by praying reading and repenting but wee doe not onely reade with our eyes no' but with our hearts too if wee will understand what we reade or else by believing hoping and working but hope is placed in the heart if hope were not there the heart would breake Or distinguish them Ex parte petiti in respect of the thing sought so it is petite veniaÌ„ Quaerite gratiaÌ„ pulsate ad gloriam Aske forgiuenesse seeke for grace knocke to enter into glorie But grace is no grace unlesse it bee as sought with the heart so put into the heart In a word so he concludes it To aske is the labour of the mouth to knocke is the labour of the hand and to seek that is the labour of the heart So that there is no hope to see the Face of God if wee seeke it not with our hearts And so I conclude this part too by contracting all that I have sayd into these three conclusions 1. Seeke him by the light of his Word all other lights are but false and like so many ignes fatui as you walk up and down to seek God let his word bee a Lanthorne to your steppes 2. Seeke him by the conformity of your life Oculus enim cordis perturbatus sayes S. Austen avertit se a luce justitiae for if your life be bad you dare not looke upon the Sunne of Righteousnesse By living ill you may bee seen of God but shall never see God whereas by a well ordered life you shall both see and be seen of God see him with comfort and be seene of him with delight 3. Seeke him by a heart established in grace Oculus circumactus non videt etiam quae ante se sunt sayes the same Father a rolling or a squint eye cannot see the things that are iust before it Nor the heart that is in and out in grace to day and out of grace to morrow to day in a state of Repentance and to morrow in a state of Sinne can ever seeke to see the Face of God Look therefore for God in the Word of God seeke God by conforming your lives to that Word and see God you shall if you hold out accordingly to the end But 3 a 4 ae 2 ae What good by seeking Cui bono what good oâ— all this Why all this paines Why seeke the Face of God Why now Why early Why alwayes Why at Church Why with all ouâ— hearts Why doe you askeâ— why it heales our land It is the last parâ— of this Text and high time I had made an end of it I onely proveâ— it for the explication and for the application I pray God wee may finde the truth of it Looke upon Iacob Gen. 32.30 Vidi Dâ— minum à facie ad faciem salva facta est anima mea I have seene God face to face and my iiâ—e is preserved He sought the face of God and God healed his life Looke upon Moses Exo. 4.12 hee sought and saw the face of God and his tongue that stammered and was slow before was healed Looke upon Gideon Iudg. 6.16 he saw the face of God and his hand that was weake before was healed and strengthened to save Israel Looke upon the Leper Mat. 8.3 hee saw the face of God to wit Iesus Christ and was made whole Looke upon the Hemorisse Mat. 9.20 she sought the face of God and touched the hemme of his garment and was healed Now I pray GOD give us grace so to seeke his face in the face of his love in the love of his countenance in the countenance of his well-beloved Sonne IESUS CHRIST that our land may be healed this plague stayed our bodies preserved and our soules saved and all this and all things else for JESUS CHRIST his sake To whom with the holy Ghost three persons one God be ascribed all honor and glory now and for ever Amen Meditations upon the Plague What is the Plague whence is the Plague why is the Plague three good questions to propose they want three good Answers well proposed and well answered They make a fit Meditation for the time the Plague is the subject of the Time the Time seekes the Cause of the Plague the Cause desires the End for which the Plague is sent First then what is the Plague THis Quid hath many an Id and Hoc it is this What is the plague or it is that If I looke upon it under the Genus of Sicknesse why then it is an ill disposition of the body 1. Mala dispositio so Secundum Definitionem It is defined so Sicknesse is or it is a want a defect a privation a privation of health 2. Privatio It is not a thing in Nature but a thing against Nature a violation of Nature for therefore is Sicknesse called Disease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is Sine Sanitate Without Health So Secundum Rem it is thinged so Sicknesse is 3. Macula Oâ— it is Macula a spot Quia corporis for mam deformat because it disfigures the beauty of the body 4 Debitum And it is Debitum â— Debt Quia ad mortem obligat Because it binds us over to death It arrests us at Deaths Suite so it is Secundum nomen
infection I bessech thee to qualifie it with the moisture of wisedome that my wisedome prove not dangerous subtilty nor my zeale rash and saucie presumption give me grace to tender them both unto thee in the Censor of an humble devotion upō the Altar of the Crosse and doe thou so accept of both that thy mercie may purge the aire through the merits of Jesus Christ Amen I dare not say God hath infected my house But I doe and dare say I have infected my house My sins of anger of rash and unadvised anger to my servants have made thee my God angry with mee the unworthiest of all thy servants My sinnes of ill example to my children have provoked thee my God to make me the undutifullest of all thy children an example to all thy children My sinnes of unkindnesse to my wife have incited thee my God to deale as unkindly with me as with any the disloyallest peece of thy Spouse And therefore in the lowest humility of a servant in the submissivest dutie of a childe and in the truest loyalty of a wife I desire to make an attonement with thee my God now while the plague is but yet begun O God receive it from him who desires to receive from thee a blessing in those garments which he hath put on by the hand of Faith of thy Sonne Jesus Christ I believe hee dyed for my sinnes and rose againe for my Justification and in him I trust as thou canst so thou wilt preserve me and mine this day and ever from Plague and pestilence But whatsoever befalls my body by the hand of man or by thy hand ô God deale well with my Soule which I beseech thee never to behold but as it is dipped all over and dyed cleane thorow with the blood of Iesus Christ In whose garments streng then my Faith that I may not bee affraid for the terrour by night nor for the Arrow that flies by day Psal 91. nor for the Pestilence that walkes in darknesse nor for the destruction that wastes at noone-day Oh let not a Thousand fall at my side nor ten Thousand on my right hand let no evill befall them nor any Plague come nigh my dwelling But deliver me from the snare of the Fowler and from the noysome pestilence from the Tentations of Satan and from the consequents of sin for his sake who overcame the Tempter and suffered for sinne Iesus Christ Amen The Sicke mans Recovery or his Duty after his Recovery John 5.14 After that Jesus found him in the Temple and sayd unto him Behold thou art made whole sinne no more lest a worse thing come upon thee WHat a fit Meditation i◠this Text for me I◠may be called The Sick◠mans Recovery or the sicke mans Duty upon his Recovery And have not I beene sick and an◠◠not recovered Blessed bee the Name of God I was sicke and am well and what is it fit I should doe but what this Man that was sicke did doe after he was well and what that was St. Iohn tells me He went to the Temple and thither he went as I beleeve to give thanks and after Prayers he heard a Sermon a Sermon of three parts 1. Of Commemoration 2. Of Admonition 3. Of Perswasion Was this Sermon preached onely to him surely it was penned also for me For whatsoever is written is written for our instruction And the Instruction of this is to tell me whither I should goe when I am recovered of a Sicknesse from this mans Example To the Temple and what I should doe from Christs Sermon Even first to remember this benefit That I am made whole Secondly to obey this Precept Sinne no more And thirdly the rather for the perswasions sake Lest a worse thing fall upon me This is the Theory and these are the parts of thy Medication may my execution and practice of it bee answerable that in the Temple of the Church Militant Iesus may finde me and I in the Temple of the Church Tryumphant may find Iesus Amen In hope I shall have grace to performe thy Desire I beginne and in my beginning I desire thee to accept my Duty it is my Duty for Moses did it by way of Duty Hee sung praises to the Highest after that God had delivered Israel and so did Deborah she gave thankes to the Almighty after that God had given her victory over Siserah And did King David after that God had blessed him he blessed GOD againe with a Quid dabo What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benesits that hee hath done unto me This is the very end why GOD heares us in the day of trouble to glorifie him Thus did Christs Patient and woe bee to me if I doe not so too If I am unthankfull for what I have I am unworthy of what I would have whereas a thankfull acknowledgment of what I have received already is a successefull invitation to receive more hereafter To thee therefore ô God I give thanks for what I have received I have received Health the Health of my Body I blesse thee for it with my Soule Oh that thou wouldst with that give me this the health of my Soule with the health of my Body and then would I blesse thee with my Soule and body with my Soule I would give the Soule of Thankes and with my Body the thankes of my Body The Heart of my body shall blesse thee with thankfull thoughts the Tongue of my body with thankfull words and the Hands of my body with the workes of Thankfulnesse My Soule shall be thy Temple continually and I will dayly visite thy Temple with my body my Soule shall be a Temple of Thankfulnesse no Inscription shall bee there but Sanctitas Iehovae but Deo gratiae Holinesse to the Lord Thankes be given to Almighty God And the Thankfulnesse of my body I will offer in thy Temple and testifie it to thy Temples to thy ruinated and decayed Temples thy poore and needy servants I will give the Oblations and offerings of Thanks I will cloath them I will feede them and I will offer thee a thankes offering in thy Temple Fit it should bee offered there so that I am fit to offer it there A fitnesse is required in me to come thither and if I am fitted then no place so fit to offer thankfulnesse in as there I must be fitted to come there for Iesus is there and that is the fittest place for there thou requirest it Iesus wil finde me there there thou acceptest it for I shall finde Iesus there 1. And Iesus is an extraordinarie person as the Temple is an extraordinarie Place and therefore my comming thither and carriage there must be more than ordinarie The place requires Zeale and Reverence Reverence in my behaviour and zeale in my affections The person requires Zeale and Reverence Obedience and Confidence Zeale Obedience and Confidence inwardly and Reverence outwardly indeed all these in the inside of my soule and
outside of my body My soule must stoope and my body must bow For at the Name of Iesus every knee must bow Every knee not onely that of the soule but this of the body also My affections must be servent and my actions must fly Sursum corda corpora not onely the thoughts of my heart but the hands of my body also must ascend and be lifted up My heart must believe and my tongue must confesse for both desire to bee saved and both are required to salvation and with both I must obey My heart by enditing a good matter my tongue by being the pen of a readie writer The cold of Winter must not quench my zeale nor the heate of Summer thrust out my obedience The Summers drought must not suffocate my confidence not the Winters frost cover my reverence I may not take that libertie in Gods house which I take in mine owne house Nor may I bee so arbitrary in my Saviours precepts as I am in my friends intreaties and leave them as I please done or undone The place is holy and the person is heavenly and therefore I must wash my hands before I compasse that Altar and so present my selfe before that person as if I were entring into heaven And see O Iesus so I doe In heaven there is no worldlinesse no fleshlinesse no divellishnesse and to thy Temple I goe without covetousnesse in my head without wantonnesse in mine eye without maliciousnesse in mine heart O suffer not the Divell to divert mine attention by any carnall object left I minde not my dutie suffer him not to lull my devotion â—nto a slumber by heavinesse lest my drowsie prayers pierce not heaven Suffer him not to kindle the coles or blow the fire of malice in mine heart by an enemy lest my thankfulnesse prove fectlesse And what is wanting in me doe thou for thine owne sake supply sweetâ— Iesus that thou may est finde mee in the Temple 2. Nor doe I this and goe thither to prejudice thy Vbiquitie in giving thee a vbi and a certaine place of residence no more then I diminish thy Eternity in giving thee a Quando and a certaine time of obedience When I pray Our Father which art in Heaven I doe not do it to deny thee to be here where I kneele when I say that prayer But it is that I acknowledge thee to bee there where thou canst grant and accomplish that prayer that I may look for thee in the best places looke for thee as thou grantest my petitions in the best place of the next world at the right hand and in the bosome of the Father and looke for thee as thou hearest my petitions here in the best places of this world in thine owne house in the Church in the Temple For so thou hast Christened thy house saying Domus mea Domus orationis vocabitur My house shall bee called the house of prayer and my thankfulnesse which I am going there to offer is a part and a chiefe part of prayer 3. Nor yet doe I goe thither to thy house to give thee thankes to barre my selfe from giving thankes at home in mine owne house or abroad in the fields for every where I am commanded to pray because I am commanded to pray alwayes and by the same rule to give thanks every where because for all things For thy blessings in the field I must give thankes in the field else why hath the Church appoynted perambulations and for thy private blessings at home I must give thankes at home for thy bounty at my boord and safetie in my bed I must give thee thankes at my meales when I eate and in my chamber when I rise and so for my present health as it is a private blessing I give thee private thankes at home and as it is a publicke blessing by continuing a member in thy Church I cannot doe lesse and would I could doe more than give thee hearty thankes in thine owne house where the publicke Congregation may take notice of it in thy Temple 4. Thither I goe because I am not yet so strong but that I need helpe because I am not yet so holy but that I need holinesse In heaven there is no Temple but the Lord God Almighty and the Lambe Apoc. 21.22 they are the Temple of it There is no danger of falling therefore no need of assistance there But here upon the earth we need both and to supply us with both thy Temple is called Auxilium an Helper 2 Chron. 4.9 not onely to tell us that none is so well but that he needs the helpe of the Church but also that when we are not well we shall have the helpe of the Church to make us better if we goe to Church to the Temple In Heaven too they are perfectly holy but upon the earth we are holy but imperfectly and thy Temple is called Sanctificium Psal 78.69 not onely because it is made holy by coÌ„secration but because it makes us more holy by Iesus being in it I am in some measure holy here where I am now at home but I make no question but I shall bee more holy there not onely because Iesus will finde me there but also because I shall finde Iesus there Else why diddest thou O blessed Iesus resort to the Temple Not that thou needest a subsidie of locall holinesse in thy selfe but that thy example might bring others who need it and amongst them my selfe who need it more than all others into thy Temple so necessarie is my thankfulnesse in the Temple that I feare me I shall bee no more holy not longer healthy unlesse I offer it there 5 Nor yet doe I goe thither with this offering to deferre my thankfulnesse till I come thither for God is no dilatorie God he refuses not my thankfulnesse in my bed nor aâ— my boord not in my house nor iâ— the fields Hee commands them everie where he expects them everie where but hee accepts them there in the Temple for there is the place of reconciliation there is the word of reconciliation and there is the authour of reconciliation Iesus Christ And thither I goe not onely for that necessitie but also for this utilitie not onely because Iesus will finde mee there but because I may finde Iesus there And there O blessed Iesus doe I desire to finde thee As the Tables of the Law were found in the Arke as the Arke was covered as the cover of it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Propitiatorie or Mercie-seate because it covered and hid the Law 1 Reg. 8 9. that the Law might not appeare before God to plead against man This was thy type O blessed Iesus and bee thou the accomplishment of it to me let me finde thee as thou art called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3. 1 Ioh. 2.2 my Propitiatorie and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Propitiation Doe thou cover the imperfections of my best
of the Gospell and deny it not this day of thy grace and refuse it not this day of peace and thy blessing with it Vers 2. Whē thou dost thine almes Vers 5. Whē thou dost pray give us bread to nourish our booies to feed our soules even all things necessarie for our being and well-being But let it hee as thy gift so our bread gotten by labour honestly obtained by prayer fervently sanctified by than sgiving holily and let it be our daily bread as is eaily fie for us and may make us daily depend on thee without murmure or distrust That thy hand may not be shortned to give I desire and pray thee to forgive and drowne in the sea of thy mercie to forgive and blot out of the book of our accounts to forgive us poore rich great small old young all Our dehts both originall wherein wee were borne and actuall wherein wee have liued whether omitted by ignorance neglect or disobedience or committed against thee thy creatures others or our selves unreservedly without future revenge Vers 16. Whē thou doest fast Vers 33. Seek first the kingdome c. unconditionally without present exception as wee doe with our hearts sincerely all debts wholly to all men generally for Christs sake lovingly in whose name and for whose sake I pray by deprecation Lead us not into tentation but deliver us from evill For if thou joyne not perseverance to my repentance I shall run upon a new score of debts and make my end worse than my beginning give us therefore either freedome from tentation and lead us not into it or assistance in tentation and deliver us from the evil of it either exempt us from the fight or assure us of the crowne Our estate is weake and we desire therefore to be led the way is dangerous and wee desire therefore not to be led into tentation or if by the leading hand of thy justice we take some falles in the way Vers 2. Whē thou dost thine almes Vers 5. Whē thou dost pray yet by the guiding hand of thy mercie lead us out that we feele no harme in the end We desire not to bee encountred by the Divels furie or the worlds subtilty or the fleshes treacherie not with the force of that Lion or the fraud of this enemie or the falshood of the other friend or if thou doest lead us into these encounters of tentation yet baile us againe and deliver us from evill We desire thee to keepe thy hand over us that we be not foiled at least to keep thy hand under us that wee be not foundred we desire such a triall that wee bee not cast or if so yet that we bee not condemned We are fearfull not of thee for thou temptest no man but of them and our selves and therefore we deprecate Lead us not into tentation and we are faithfull not in our selves but in thee and therefore wee obsecrate Deliver us from evill Lead us not Vers 16. Whē thou dost Fast Vers 33. Seeke first the kingdome c. beyond our abilitie to beare above our strength to resist without thy grace to quench the fierie Dorts of Sathan Lead us not into tentation of the Flesh within us by delight of wanton imaginations or presumption in vaine opinions lead us not into tentation of the World without us by the suggestion of wicked motions or motions to wicked suggestions Lead us not into tentation of the Devill against us by the injection of wicked desires or the illusion of desperate attempts but deliver us by thy preventing Grace before the infection by thy present Grace in the assault by thy redeeming Grace after the fall from evill from the cause of evill which is the Divell from wicked companions which are the instruments of evill from worldly vanities which are the enticements to evill Vers 2. Whē thou dost thine Almes Vers 5. Whē thou dost pray from sinne which is the guilt of evill and from damnation which is the curse of evill Heare us ô our Faether in our desire of Holinesse that thy Name bee hallowed in our desire of Hope that thy Kingdome come in our desire of Obedience that thy will be done Heare us ô our Father in our desire of thy providence to give us our dayly bread in our desire of Repentance to forgive us our sinnes in the desire of our Charity as we forgive others in our desire of perseverance to preserve us from Tentation and deliver us from evill and none of this for our sakes but thine owne For thine is the Kingdome wherein keepe us in the desires of our Holinesse Repentance Charity and Obedience For thine is the Power whereby establish our desires in thy providence and our perseverance and thine is the Glory wherewith crowne our desires in the longing Amen of us the wishers Vers 16. Whē thou dost Fast Vers 33. Seeke first the kingdome c. in the needfull Amen of us the suitors in the confident Amen of us the beleevers in the faithfull Amen of thy selfe the promiser in the certaine Amen of Iesus Christ the teacher of us from thee who to thee and him and the Holy Ghost ascribe the glory and power of thy Kingdome of the Kingdome of this Kingdome and of all Kingdomes so be it Amen And that these prayers may ascend and pierce thy Eares and not returne empty I send them up empty for I fast and I fast not coactively or by constraint for I blesse thy Name I am in health and have meate for my stomacke and stomacke to my meate But I fast willingly I doe it chearefully not politically to exchange a meale of Flesh into another of Fish not Hypocritically to macre my face Verse 2. Whē thou dost thine Almes Verse 5. Whē thou dost pray and make it looke leane but I doe in religiously For why doe I withhold suftenance from my body but to cheare up my Soule Why doe I barre my Soule of her delights but to keepe downe my body why doe I keepe them both hungry but to observe that Law thou gavest in Paradise Eate not this Fruite but to imitate the promulgation the restauration and the consummation of the Law Thou diddest not pronounce it by Moses thou diddest not restore it by Elias thou did dest not consummate it by thy Sonne without fasting why doe I thus diet them both but that I may enjoy the promise of the Gospell and be filled be filled with grace to doe thy Will upon Earth as it is in Heaven Never am I so like an Angell as when I fast For in this Act Nature and Grace conourre by Nature his memory is strongest Ver. 16. Whē thou dost fast Ver. 33. Seeke first the Kingdome c. his minde clearest his understanding brightest his affections most moderate that eates but little And by Grace his flesh most mortified his Chastity best preserved from evils loonest delivered and with blessings
longest beautified who fasts oftenest Why doe I deny my selfe all manner of foode but to recover Paradise by fasting which Adam lost by eating Why doe I not touch so much as Bread or Water but that God may pardon my glutton and drunken sinnes why doe I abstaine from all meate but to prevent those sinnes which if my belly were full my flesh would lust after why doe I restraine my hungry stomacke from that Dish it would but that my Soule may obtaine that blessing it wants why doe I forbeare those dainties my throat desires but to avert those Judgements my Soule feares Ver. â— WheÌ„ thou dost thine Almes Ver. 5. WheÌ„ thou dost pray and in some measure feeles already And yet I doe not fast to merit any of these blessings at attâ—y hand oh God But I fast from worldly labour that my devotion may be quickned and without distraction and I fast from bodily foode because I am unworthy of the least of all thy mercies because I deserve the greatest of all thy judgments I have abused my selfe in the use of thy Creatures and I take this godly revenge upon my selfe for that abuse in the want of thy Creatures my soule knower not how to hunger for Heavenly Graces and to teach it my body shall hunger from earthly creatures my soule hath surfeted in times unlawfull and therefore my body fastâ— from meate that is lawfull My sences have beene gluttons in the dishes of pleasure and therefore my body shall bee her Physitian Ver. 16. WheÌ„ thou dost fast Ver. 33. Seeke first the Kingdome c. and prescribe her a more sparing dyet by example O God I fast because I have sinned and my sinnes are of those kindes of Divels that will not out but by fasting and prayer I have sinned against the mercy of a rather who hath provided for me I have sinned against the mightinesse of a Master who hath preserved mee from evill Nay I have sinned against the Majesty of God a God so righteous that he hath threatned my sinnes with curses upon curses and hath at last sent a Plague round about me and a God so gratious that though nothing else could keepe me from eternall damnation yet rather than I should be damned gave his sonne Iesus Christ to die â—or me a God that will upon these considerations and my rebellions are long send some grievous Affliction upon me Ver. 2. WheÌ„ thou dost thine Almes Ver. 5. WheÌ„ thou dost pray or deny me those blessings that I want unlesse I prevent the one and obtaine the other by repentance But can my heart bleede with sorrow can my heart melt with remorse can my heart dissolve it selfe into teares and repent without fasting Therefore I fast that I may remember my sins and confesse them therefore I fast that confessing my sins I may bewaile them therefore I Fast that bewailing my sins I may forsake them therefore I Fast that forsaking my sinnes thou maist forgive them forgiving them thou maist divert those judgments my sins cry for and send those blessings my sinnes kept from me Heare me oh my God I doe confesse I confesse all my sinnes my originall that I brought into the World and my actuall sinnes that I have brought up in the World but especially amongst them all that and that other and those which I committed yesterday Ver. 16. WheÌ„ thou doest fast Ver. 33. Seek first the Kingdome c. which I committed then then and there in thy presence with a great deale of delight I did commit them with pleasure and doe confesse them with sorrow For see oh my God I bewaile them I groane inwardly and cry outwardly and cry out upon my selfe What a foole was I What a Beast was Oh wretch that I am that I should ever be so unthankfull to God so unkinde to my selfe lesse I dare not doe than thus bewaile those sinnes in punishing my selfe I would I could doe more and I would more than Fast and bewaile them if forsaking bee more I vow never againe to meddle with them O God doe thou forgive them and 〈◊〉 possesse mee of these Divels by the vertue of thy promise made to my charitable Fasting Prayers that I may never againe bee troubled with them Ver. 2. WheÌ„ thou dost thine Almes Ver. 5. WheÌ„ thou dost pray and preserve me from the Plague I have â—eserved and thy other punishments which I feare blesse mee with obedience which I have robbed my selfe of and al other thy graces which I love No other end oh God have I in this Fast but to subdue my flesh and humble my selfe but to dechne thy punishments and enioy thy blessings unlesse happily it bee to seeke thy Kingdome Not that I thinke by the merit of this or any thing else that I have done or can doe to finde it but that by these meanes and in this way I shall the sooner and more easily finde it Indeed I finde it in these and so seeke it first because I doe these For though the kingdome of God consists not in meate and drinke in the belly full or emptie in fasting or not fasting yet it consists in righte ousnesse peace and joy in the holy Ghost Ver. 16. WheÌ„ thou doest fast Ver. 33. Seek first â—he â—ngdome c. And my charâ—â—e gets mee righteousnesse righteousnesse before man my prayers get mee peace peace with God my fasting gâ—â— me joy joy in the holy Ghost 〈◊〉 faith all and all these I have â—â—ne faithfully faithfully for the manner for I have done them secretly and sincerely no body knowes of them but my selfe and faithfully for the end for the glory of God for I care not to be seene of men I care not for the praise of men and faithfully in the foundation for I do believe these workes of mine are accepted and I know no workes are accepted but by Iesus Christ And faithfully I enjoy â—ll these Righteousnesse and Peace and Ioy for none of these are without Christ but in Christ all these are and in Christ I am righteous God hath justified me and being justified I have peace Ver. 2. WheÌ„ thou dost th nâ— Almes Ver. 5. WheÌ„ thou dost pray for being justified by faith we have peace with God through Iesus Christ our Lord. And the peace of God passeth all understanding and therefore must bring with it that joy which never entred into the heart of man to understand the joy of the holy Ghost Thus O God I have sought thy kingdome and thus I have found thy kingdome thus I desire to seek it continually and continually principally and these I desire to finde in it till I be taken from the seeking of thy kingdome in grace to the the seeing of thy kingdome in glory through Iesus Christ Amen Now followes the Sermon of Our thankfulnesse and Gods Mercy which was Preached in St. Pauls Church the three and twentieth of october 1636. Our