preiudiciall and hurtfull vnto vs and that is sin the Colloquintida in our pottage the poysoned bullet in our flesh the consumption in our marrow the poyson of our graces the destruction of our natures the reproach of our names and the damnation of our soules sinne the fuell that kindleth the fire of Gods wrath against vs which vnlesse quenched with the teares of true repentance burns to the very bottome of hell sinne so abhorring to the nature of God whose pure eyes cannot endure impurity that he hates nothing more sinne betwixt which and God there is a greater contrariety and repugnancie then betwixt light and darknesse good and euill the Wolfe and Lambe or any other the greatest Antipathies in nature SECT 2. The folly of sinners in fearing the creature more then the wrath of the Creator ANd here I cannot but expostulate with the follies or rather frenzies of wicked and impenitent sinners as indeed I haue still with the scriptures thought greatest sinners greatest fooles h Psal 14.1 Pro. 7.7 Chap. 8.5 Chap. 9.4 Luke 12.20 Gal. 3.1 Vide etiam Peraldum in summis de stultitia auari Tom. 2. p. 49. Prodigi p. 123. otiosi p. 130. superbi p. 186. 196. See also the French Academy and Adam his world of mad men bad man mad men i wicked men vnwise men who by a naturall well-wishing to their bodies seeking the preseruation conseruation of theÌ„selues cautelously avoyd the force or fraud might or malignitie that is in any of the creatures as the burning of the fire the choking of the water the infection of the plague the sword of the enemy the famine of dearth the sacking of our cities the racking of our ioynts yea that seeke the auoydance of the venome of the Toad the poyson of the spider the biting of the Aspe the sting of the Serpents the sight of the Bassiliske the tooth of the dogge tuske of the Bore hornes of the Bull horne of the Vnicorne paw of the Beare fury of the Tyger with the malignity which is in any other creature when it is incensed against vs and armed with fury force or fraud to doe vs a mischiefe and yet neuerthelesse haue no care no circumspection to serue and please the Lord but negligently inconsiderately yea oft-times wittingly willingly presumptuously if not maliciously displease that Maiestie incense that wrath anger that great God that Lord of hosts who indeed as a Generall his souldiers hath all these enumerated creatures sublunary the worst in the natures of beasts birds hearbs plants together with the malignity of the worst planets the influence of the heauens yea euen all the legions of his Angells and euen the deuill and the damned spirits at his becke and command as the instruments of his wrath to bee reuenged on the rebellious and presumptuous euen in a trice in the twinckling of an eye Oh what a pittious thing it is what a dotage what a delusion to feare the creature to feare a mortall man whose breath is in his nostrils who can but at furthest torture or torment the body this out-cask this carrion flesh and not to feare by a continuated course of sinning the anger and displeasure of the Almighty Creator who besides his iudgements here the prologues of the future is able to cast both body and soule into hell fire Oh how euery creature obserues that on which it hath an immediate dependance and is able being offended to doe it a displeasure as the horse his rider the oxe his driuer the dog his master yea wee see how all that are honest out of conscience or that are wise out of feare reuerence and respect those to whom they haue that relation that being obserued and pleased they may doe them a pleasure or being neglected in dutie or prouoked by misdemeanour they may doe them a displeasure as all the respect the seruants pages or prentises giue their masters retainers and followers their Lords schollers their teachers maides their mistresses and wiues their husbands yea wee see how seruilie and slauishly men will crouch and kneele and make friends to those in whose dainger they are as the Sidonians made Blastus the Chamberlane i Act. 12.20 to Herod whose wrathfull displeasures they feare and yet alas the Lord God in whom we liue moue and haue our being k Act. 17.28 to whom we are daily Tenants at will for our life health liberty goods good name callings functions wiues children bodies and soules to be turned out at pleasure euen out of all vpon our great landlords displeasure and to bee with that wicked vnprofitable seruant l Mat 25.28 casheird as a thriftlesse child disinherited as a whorish woman diuorced c. and as reprobates cast into hell this God that in an instant can poure on vs all the violls of his wrath and vessels of his vengeance turne his fauours into frownes his blessings into curses as we turne his graces into wantonnesse euen this God wee care not how wee anger how we displease yea plainly prouoke by sinne as wee doe a Bull by blood an Vnicorne by â—ed m Gesner de quadrupedibus and a spirited man by disgracefull words and euen dare him as the Crow the Eagle in the Fable to our irrecouerable destruction Yea it is strange sometimes how partly out of sordid and seruile desire of gaining this filthy lucre partly out of a base Gnatonicall humour to flatter but out of a more seruile feare to anger and displease those who haue it in their power to displease them we shall see in euery place in City and Country what a rout and rabble of Parasites Sycophants Ieasters Iuglers Rimers Bardes Buffons Fidlers artificiall fooles idle and vaine persons obserue and humor great men tell them tales breake ieasts claw them in their sinnes sing them filthy songs to make their worships laugh tickle their itching curiositie with all the newes stirring in the Country for want of old inuenting forging new raile vpon Preachers reuile professors make sport with precisians as they tearme them rhime on Puritans and like apes performe many other trickes all to humour and please those whom they dare not anger and displease and yet the most of these yea the most men of all rankes and sorts vnlesse onely those into whose hearts made of better mould n Ex meliori luto sinxit praecordia Titan c. the Lord hath put his feare that Ioseph like they dare not sin o Gen. 39.9 make as much conscience and haue as small care by following diuerse lusts of displeasing God though hee haue power in vitam necem to saue or destroy them as an ape makes conscience as they say to cracke nuts a dog to tror or the Fox to eate desired Grapes Pilot himselfe herein being a President to all naturall men speaking their thoughts desires dispositions and practice who for the pleasing of the importunate Iewes but chiefly for preuenting the feared anger and displeasure
briefly the difference betwixt prosperity and aduersity or the different carriage and condition of men yea sometimes of the best men in these two different estates Ezekiah in his sicknesse hauing by no lesse then a Prophet as the mouth and vnerring Oracle of God receiued the dismall sentence of death sets his house in order and no doubt of it sets his heart in order turnes himselfe in his bed o 2 King 20.1 2 3. remembers his sinnes in the bitternesse of his soule mournes like a Doue chatters like a Craine p Esay 38.14 turnes himselfe to the wall and weepes q vers 2. turns himselfe from man and from humane meanes now vnauailable vnto the might and mercy of God as the Needle toucht with the Loadstone * Apud Albertum lib. 2. metal tract 3. cap. 6. Plin. lib. 36. c. 16.26 turnes to the Pole and so rests reposed in the soliloquies of his soule hee poures out his heart and his spirit before the Lord vnloades his burthened soule in the Lords bosome vnfolds his griefes cryes for redresse with such zealous feruency and importunity that his prayers and â—iaculations darted from faith and feeling surmount the Clouds ascend as fiery meteors * Arist lib. 1. 2. meteor Mizaldus lib. 1. Cometog c. 4. the highest Regions penetrate and pierce the Heauens as importunate sutors and vrgent Ambassadors haue audience acceptance and a comfortable answer from the God of Heauen euen to the reuoking and recalling of that conditionall sentence r vers 4 5 6. and verdict as after with the Å¿ Ion. 3.10 See D. Abbot B. King in loc Niniuites which God himselfe had passed vpon him And the like demeanor we haue of him in another strait and exigent when Senacharib brings such an Army against Ierusalem as his railing Rabsakah in the pride and presumption of his heart christned and called as once that Armado which threatned this sinning Iland Inuincible t 2 King 18.22 23 24. then hauing as u 2 Chro. 2.12 Iehosaphat said and did in the like case no power nor strength in and from himselfe his people being but as a little flocke of Kids to the troopes of the Assyrians that were spred as Grashoppers he betakes himselfe to the Lord as an indangered child by the ramping of a Lyon and a Beare cryes to his father * 2 King 19.15 16 17. makes speedy recourse to the God of Hostes as the Tempest-driuen Ship puts for the shore in the day of his trouble cals vpon the Lord makes him as euery Christian ought to doe in the like extremities his rocke x Psal 18.1 his refuge his Asylum and Sanctuary spreads the Letter of reuiling Rabsakah before the Lord intreats the prayers of the Prophet Esay y 2 King 19.2 for himselfe and his distressed people hath a comfortable answer according to his faith z vers 6 7. vers 20 21. A promised hooke a vers 28. put in the nostrils of Senacharib an Angell employed in his behalfe as the organ of Gods wrath to make riddance of his enemies b vers 35. euen 1085 at one clap but now here is an alteration in Ezekiah Noua rerum facies a metamorphosis a strange change Mutatus ab illo Totnam as the phrase is turnd French Ezekiah in his prosperity hath got a cooler his hot zeale hath caught cold It is luke-warme or rather key-cold or frozen for want of stirring and agitation as a standing poole in a winters freeze the next newes wee heare of Ezekiah he is vnmindfull of that God who was so mindfull of him and mercifull to him he forgets God he renders not according to the benefit receiued Oh thus it was with him thus it is with vs Application thus with most of vs with best of vs yea euen generally with all of vs so farre as corruption and our carnall vnregenerate part preuailes as it preuailes in many too farre in our aduersity we seeke the Lord in the pressures of pouerty penury vpon our estates sicknesse aches paines diseases vpon our bodies Infamy scandall reproach vpon our names horror vpon our soules terror vpon our consciences we perhaps presse hard to the Lord by prayer petition supplication wee wrastle with him as c Ose 12.4 Iacob to blesse vs wee cry to him as the Disciples in the tossed d Luke 8.24 ship as Peter walking on the waters ready to e Mat. 14.29 30 sincke or inuironed with our enemies by sea or land beset with horse and foot as Dauid once by f 1 Sam. 23.26 Saul hunted and pursued by our enemies as the Partridge by the Hawke in perill by the fury and force of any of the creatures animate or inanimate Fire Water Wolues Dogges Beares Lyons wee cry out as Iehosaphat did in the battell when the Archers shot at him g 2 King 22.32 and put him in perill yea in sicknesse chiefly and the summons of death wee turne our selues to the wall and weepe we wash our beds with teares as Dauid h Psal 6.6 wee make perhaps many faire hights and vowes and promises to God of reformation of much amisse mortification of many lusts stricter life and conuersation vpon our restitution to health which we indent with God we confesse any thing as men on the Racke in the tortures of conscience wee will suffer any launcing for the healing of sinnes wounds for the asswaging of their rage wee will couenant and promise any thing as Schoole-boyes vnder their Masters Ferula when alas when the Lord easeth our shoulders from our burthens which we cast vpon him when the God of Iacob deliuers vs out of troubles when he pluckes vs out of the stockes and sets vs at liberty puls the strait shooe off our foot takes vs off the Rackes leaues smiting and scourging vs seemes to burne our rods as it were before our faces turns our stormes into calmes Alas then wee forget him as some man doth his friend that hath done him most good in his need perhaps saued him from the Gallowes wee remember the Lords kindnesses as fooles and children remember good turnes or as the Oestrich remembers her egges buried in the sand Our promises wee keepe with God as the perfidious Carthaginians and lying Cretians i Titus 1.12 with men as the banquerout his word Bill or Bond with his creditor our vowes in sicknesse proue still languishing and sicke vowes vnperformed euen in our best health our deuotions are as hot as some sea mens who pray aloud and cry out as Ionas Marriners k Ionas 1.5 in the storme and are Reuben-like l Gen. 4â— 4 as light as water in excesse of riot vpon the land when the Lord turnes our sicknesse into health our paine into ease our perturbations into pleasures our pouerty into plenty our daingers into delights c. we then turne praying into playing fasting into feasting mourning into musicke sorrow
not Paradise k Gen. 3. not the wildernes l Matth. 4. To all these is Sathan oft alluded by Berchorius in Reductorio Morali and by Geminianus in summa exemplorum virtutū et vitiorum not the Chamber not the Temple no time free day nor night no truce with this Tempter no weapons vnweilded by him to be victorious in his warfare for he hath as a skilfull Archer arrowes for euery mark as a Nimrodian hunter Gins for euery beast as a deceiuing fowler lures whistles glasses and nets for euery Bird as a skilfull fisher baites for euery fish Temptations different for euery man accordingly suted to his Nature Nurture Inclination desires disposition calling education yea accommodated by this best obseruing Physiognomist that the world hath beside according to euery mans humor complexion constitution Ioyning his suggestions euer so as hee by fiue thousand yeares obseruance together with his still retained created knowledge coniectures our inclinations vexing Sauls Melancholly m 1 Sam. 16.14 and deiected sadnesse to force his desperation Inflaming Dauids Sanguine n 1 Sam. 16.12 to luxurious prouocations o 2 Sam. 11. and so of the rest Insomuch that considering Sathans nimblenesse in motion and our sensuality and sluggishnesse he a spirit and we flesh he euer watching as a waking Dragon we for the most part sleepy as were the Disciples p Luk. 22.46 euen in the greatest perils of his plottings and practises considering his aduantage he in the ayre as inuisible * How the spirits were dispersed in the fall some in the aire some in the earth whether they be any way corporeall or no how they worke on our bodies minds fantasies read Aug. l. 9. c 8. l. 10. c. 6. de civit et l. 5. c. 9. l. 8. c. 22. Amb. epist l. 10. epist 8. et 84. Chrys hom 53 in 12. Gen. Bartho de propriet l. 2. c. 20. Zanch. l. 4. c. 10 11. de malis Angelis to whom yet wee are visible in the workes wee doe and audible in what wee vtter or mutter and we on the earth the enemies Cannonry planted on the hill and wee exposed in the vaile below considering his wiles and our weaknesse his might and our imbecility his courage as long flesht with victories our cowardize all these paralleld and laid together wee shall not so much maruell when we see euen strong oakes fall strong pillars in the Church or Common wealth shaken with the violent blasts of his temptations but wee shall much more admire that any one stands be his graces neuer so eminent or is kept from euen scandalous falling we shall not so much bee offended at those which sinne through frailty but we shall blesse God that the violent streames and torrents of his temptations driue not euen all downe along before him SECT 4. Gods permission of the falls of the Elect. THirdly the Lord himselfe permits the fals and sinnes of the Saints he permits Sathan to tempt them as a master that lets loose his chained mastiffe vpon a beast to try the courage and valour of the beast hee leaues his children in the tryall sometimes to themselues as he did presumptuous Peter as a mother sometimes leaues a daring aduenturous child to goe without hold till it fall and breake the nose and cry and bleed that it should make more of the mother afterwards and take heed of being so foole hardy the next time or as the Nurse suffers the child to singe and burne the finger in the candles flame a little that it may euer after dread burning in this sense it is said that the Lord was angry with Israel and he stirred vp Dauid to number Israel 2 Sam. 24.1 not that God tempted Dauid or prouokes or stirres vp any to sinne for the Lord tempts no man saith S. Iames but euery man when he is inescate as the fish by the bait or intised is led away by his owne lusts q Iames 1.13 Hinc Augustinus allegans hunc locum in respons ad artic sibi falso impos art 10. art 13. Detestanda inquit est opinio quae Deū malae voluntatis aut actionis facit authorem As well may wee say that darknesse comes from the Sunne cold from the fire as euill from God it is false which Bellarmine obiects to Caluin and Melancton that they make God the author of sinne * Caluin and Luther are cleared by D. Feild De Ecclesia and by D. White in his Way to the true Church c. no the iust God is neither author nor fautor of any iniquity which his soule abhorres and hates what then how doth God stirre vp Dauid He leaues him to the temptations of Satan and the corruptions of his owne heart and therefore it is said 1 Chron. 21.1 that Sathan stirred vp Dauid to number Israel how can that be that God and Sathan concurre in one action of sinne Yes very well for in sinne Sathan Man and God all concurre 1. Sathan temptingly as in Dauids adultery Peters winnowing 2. Mans will yeelding consentingly though sometimes with reluctance and resistance Sathans feed of temptation being as the father mans yeelding heart as the mother by which this monstrous issue this deformed spurious brat of sinne is produced 3. God concurs two wayes 1. Permissiuely 2. Disposingly 1. Permissiuely not operatiuely for God that is liberrimum agens a free agent not obliged or tyed to giue grace to any further or longer then he will in the temptation as he did Adam and Eue and his Saints euer since permits their fals Why will he doe so were it nor better for him to keepe and vphold them euer in the fiery tryall then suffer them to be conquered No. Why so and thus comes in the second that as Oedipus dissolues the knot and resolues all because he knowes wisely how to dispose of sinne which he permits when it is perpetrated and committed to his owne glory and his childrens good To his owne glory how is that either to the glory of his mercy in pardoning sinne as he did the sinnes of Dauid Peter Sampson Salomon vpon their true and vnfained repentance and satisfaction of the scandalized Church or to the glory of his Iustice in punishing sinne first here in outward plagues vpon the body as hee did the Sodomites r Gen. 19.24 the Aegyptians ſ Exod. 7.8 9 10. chap. the Philistims t 1 Sam. 5.7 Herod secondly in inward plagues vpon the soule as he did on Cain Iudas Saul thirdly and in eternall hereafter And so God that doth none euill actually operatiuely workes yet in the euill wisely prouidently dispositiuely u Non agit molum nec male sed agit in mal CHAP. IV. SECT 1. God glorified in his mercy in the sinnes of his Saints ANd indeed as worthy our discussing mee thinkes the Lord in permitting the faults and falls of his seruants or their failings in good duties as here in Ezekiah hath
and see beames where man cannot nor will not spy moates the Lords strict iustice condemnes those sinnes as mortall which blinded man holds lesse then veniall Fourthly as a man by one stone may hit two birds or by one bullet kill or wound two men so God in and by one castigation may effect two ends both the humiliation of Ezekiah and of his people euen as the Lord by permitting Sathan to blow downe the house vpon Iobs feasting sonnes h Iob 1.18 both punished the childrens intemperate ryot and exercised the fathers patience and so with one pencil as the phrase is whited two wals Lastly if all these answers satisfie not as they may yet let vs most safely and satisfactorily conclude that this wrath here mentioned that came vpon Iudah was but some temporarie castigation externall and exercised vpon the outward man nothing preiudiciall to the saluation of the Elect on whom it seized it pierced but the outward caske i Tunde Anaxarchi vasculum Anaxarchum non laedis of the body it hurt not the pure wine the precious soule within it might exercise and afflict the flesh for this life but extended not to the life to come and we know that for these temporary things whether good or euill they come all alike to the good and the bad to him that feares an oath and to him that sweares they seize vpon the Doues for triall as well as on the Kites for trouble they are but as fierce blustring windes Similitudo Philippi de Diez in Postillis that beat on the outside of the house the wall of this flesh they cannot disturbe the calme of the house within they cannot hurt nor hinder the tranquility and the felicity of the blessed inmate the sanctified soule SECT 3. Vsefull application of the point BVt as the best part of profitable preaching to bring that home as vsefull for our selues which we obserue either helpfull or hurtfull to others this lets vs see the vile venome contagion pest and pollution that is in sinne what a deadly aconite it is that poysons all that touch it a deadly Basilisk a deuouring Crocodile that kills whomsoeuer it fixeth on a Serpent that stings who euer embrace it Pitch that pollutes who euer but finger it a plague that infects who euer comes within sight or sent of it a Leauen and Leprosie that spreads farre and neare euen from Dan to Beershebah from the crowne of the head to the sole of the foot ouer the whole body Oeconomicall Ecclesiasticall Politicall k Sepe propter vnum malum ciuem tota luit ciuitas propter paucerum petulantiam tota gentes delenter c. Instant Peucerus de diuinatione p. 31. Lutherus Tom. 1. p. 176. Philippus in locis pag 412 Pezâ—lius in Gen. cap. 20 p. 359. spreading as poyson from veine to veine till it come to close with the heart the strongest castle of life we see here the venome of ingratitude and pride of heart fastens vpon Ezekiah and runnes like Ill-report from man to man as wilde fire in a traine of powder from bag to bag from barrell to barrell euen throrowout Ezekiahs Kingdome and as a bloody enemy vpon a conquered country brings wrath vpon all some temporary iudgement though here not specially expressed vpon Iudah and Ierusalem Oh that all of vs could be warned from hauing any intermedling with sinne from courting this Curtizan from attending the songs of this Syren lest we be turned into beasts yea the worst of beasts Hogs and Swine l Huc tendunt fictiones in Metam Ouidii in Grillo Plutarch Asino Aureo Apulei that we could foresee the hooke of euery sinnes bait espy the net of destruction spred vnder the chaffe of temptation that Ezekiah and his subiects scorcht with this fire of wrath might inlighten vs by their flame that their example might be to all as stakes stucke in a quagmire as sea marks neare some sands or rockes to forewarne and preuent the perill of trauelling or sayling passengers chiefly that to all Gods seruants professed proselites it might be as the corrupt Iudges skin caused to be hung vp ouer the iudgement seat by Cambyses m Ex Herodito Strigellius in orat de Iosophat Gorlicius in axiom politicis pag. 773. as a terror to all successors or as fellons hung in chaines reading a dead lecture of caution to all robbers and murtherers an admonition to all that are eminent in gifts or place to take heed of ingratitude to the doner and of pride of heart the deuillish dam of this ingratefull Viper lest this Viper sting the brest that bred it the dam that fed it as here wee see in Ezekiah I giue as strict caution against these sinnes as Salomon against the traps of the Harlot * Prou. 2.16 Chap. 5 6 7. per totum Harbour not these Serpents in thy bosome lest they sting thee let not these fires kindle within thee as Iob said of lust they will burne to n Iob 31.12 destruction Oh come not nye them lest thou perish by them o Ne sedeas sed eas ne pereas sed per eas c. Sphinx Philosophica c. they haue beene the perdition of many A father by sinning may plague all his seed and posterity chiefly if they succeed him in his sinnes p Propter parentum scaelera grassari paenas in totas familias multis interdum seculis instant in posteris Achabi Senacharib Saulis Pekeiae Paridis Tarquinii Oedipi Dionysiâ— Artaxerxis Craesi aliorum Melanct. lib 4. Cron. pag. 475 456 lib. 2. pag. 53. In locis Manlii p. 320. Strigellius in 2 Sam. 9. in 2 Reg. 15. in orat de Iacobo orat de Ionatha Lastly men of eminence of place in the Ministery or Magistracy chiefly great Princes and Potentates need looke well to their wayes and walke strictly with God and keepe their peace with their Creator for alas much detriment and dammage besides the sinnes of their owne soules they bring vpon their subiects their sins trouble Israel as we see in Dauid and Ezekiah the fals and sins of great persons like the fall of some great Oake or Cedar breakes downe many vnderlings many lesser boughs Oh the head cannot be broke but the heart akes the Shepheard cannot be smit but the sheepe will be scattered the Pastor falls not but the poore people will bee scandalized and discouraged the hearers are oft punished in the sinnes and for the sinnes of a Preacher and so on the contrary the Preacher for the sinnes of a people so the subiects sympathize in the sinnes and punishments of Princes The Heathen saw it how in the fatall warres of Troy both Troians and Grecians smarted for the lusts of their Princes Quicquid delirant Reges plectuntur achiui Intra Ilaicos peccatur muros extra What Paris q Horatius Dyctin Cretens lib. 5. Priamus and Menelaus doe Greekes Troians pay for all their lusts
of God for beleeuers o Hebr. 11. per totum see Mr. Perkins his Commentating Sermons in locuÌ„ approued as iust and righteous men commended for their effectuall iustifying faith this mother Faith being euer fruitfull p Gal. 5.6 Iam. 2.26 could not want her eldest daughter Repentance But it is otherwayes with the reprobate and the whole cloud of vnbeleeuers they daily fall but like the Elephant ouerthrowne w th the Rinoceros q De pugna ruina amborum lege Aelian l. 17. c. 40. Surium Comment anno 15.5 Nicolaum de comitibus they with their lusts lie still neuer rise their ioynts are so stiffe they cannot bow their hearts so hard they cannot relent but going on from sinne to sinne from thirst to drunkennesse c they treasure vp wrath against the day of wrath r Rom. 2.5 6. as the thiefe addes fellonies to fellonies against the great day of Assize in the iust declaration of the iudgements of God Their falls are as if a man fall precipitate from a Rocke or promontory euen to the necke breake of their soules they cast themselues downe headlong to hell as willingly as that Curtius Å¿ De quo Liuius lib. 17. Propertius l. 3. ex Ovid. in Ibyn cast himselfe into that deuouring gulph or lake that swallowed him inuisibly they like a man that is vnweildy and stumbles once tripping neuer leaue till they came downe for altogether and once downe like these heauie birds called bustards or some fat swans neuer get wing neuer rise againe to any height till that fowler of hell ceize vpon them for the Lord neither puts vnder his hand to keepe them from falling neither lends them any helpe of Grace to raise them vp but lets them lie wallowing as once that Amasa t 2 Sâ—â— 20.12 wounded by sinne that treacherous Ioab euen in their owne blood these wander continually like blinded men or as a man in a darke night gone wrong euer the longer the further off their reduction and returne is per impossibile it is impossible they should returne u Heb. 6.4 conuert but like that Cain * Gen. 4.10 fly still from God vnlesse the Lord himselfe conuert them and turne them into the right straight and narrow way that leads vnto life I conclude this with one of the Fathers Dauid sinned which Kings great men are wont to doe x Peccauit Dauid quod solent reges peccauit penituit quod non solent reges Ambrose Dauid sinned and repented which great men are not wont to doe so the righteous sinne as the reprobates doe but the righteous sinne and repent which the reprobates are not wont to doe The wicked imitate the godly as it were by warrant in the sinnes which Sathan workes but not in their repentance which God workes SECT 4. The improbabilitie yea impossibilitie of a sinners repentance till God giue the grace THerefore as a further Vse in inlarging the application of this point let it be as exhortatory so comminatory to deter al wicked and vngodly persons from presumptuous sins that are most preiudiciall to their soules these presumptuous sins I cal such as are wrought with a hye hand in hope of immunity and freedome either from the eye of God y Iob 22.13 that he cannot know them or from the power and iustice of God that he cannot or will not punish them or froÌ„ the long suffering of God that he wil tolerate forbear them or from the clemency and mercy of God that he wil pass by them pardon theÌ„ not to insist in any of the former branches but onely in the last that God will pardon any sinne without repentance is an Atheisticall lye dissonant from the Scriptures z Esay 5.11 12 13. Esay 30.33 Psal 6.11 Ps 9.17 Reu. 21.8 chap. 12.15 c from all examples and testimonies in the Booke of God God neuer did this neuer will doe it nay I say cannot doe it vnlesse he deny himselfe a 2 Tim. 2.13 and his reuealed truth which were blasphemy once to speake or thinke Now then see on what tickle ground a wicked man stands on what sandy foundations hee builds which is wholly giuen ouer to wicked and sinfull courses for repentance is proper and peculiar onely to the elect euen as faith is which is the fountaine and the mother of it proper to an Ezekiah as here and to others such as he whereas a wicked man that is sold to sinne as was said of Ahab b 1 King 21.20 hath an euill heart of incredulity c Heb. 3.12 and an obdurate heart in impenitency there is a stone in his heart saith the Prophet d Ezek. 36.26 till the Lord take it out yea as we reade of some fellons stearne men that were opened after hanging e Goulart in his admirable Histories translated to this purpose Muret. lib. 12. de diuersis lect cap. 10. Columbus lib. 15. anatom Beneuenius de abditis causis cap. 83. Amatus in cent 6. Cornelius Gemma lib. 2. Cyclognomiae pag. 75. alledge diuerse examples c. there were bones growing through their heart or haire Oh such as he are Deucalions off-spring a stony generation flinty adamantine hard hearted that cannot repent saith the Apostle it is no more in their owne power to repent then to create a new world to turne the course of the Sea as once Iordan backward yea when they would fainest repent in terrors of Conscience vnder the hand of wrath in the time of sicknesse in the fearfull summons of death and the more fearfull apprehension of iudgement as experience speakes to the obseruing eye of those that are wise to marke the passages in the liues and deaths of the wicked they can no more repent then they can remoue mountaines or mill-stones their hearts are as dry as once Gideons fleece f Iudg 6.40 without any dew of grace they are as the bulrush in Summer without any mire g Iob 8.11 or moisture as it was said of drunken dying Nabal h 1 Sam. 25.37 their hearts are as a stone within them as heauy as Lead as impenetrable as Steele as vnyeelding to any exhortations comminations as the Adamant i Apud Theophrastum lib. de lapidibus to the stroke of the Iron as vncapable of any comforts excepting carnall as mad men are of reason sometimes grinning like Dogs howling as hungry Wolues roring as Lyons k To these beasts they are compared Zephan 3.3 Mat. 7.6 and so God shewes himself to them Hos 5.14 chap. 13. vers 7 8. they lye and cry and dye distracted yea desperate in the anxiety of their soules l Examples are in Bomelius Latomus Gerlach D. Krans the Germane with many moe recorded by Sleidan Belonius Lonicer and our Booke of Martyrs or else which is as ill with cauterized consciences insensible of any guilt of sin as dead flesh is of pricking as they
propounded that all of all sorts ought to be humbled we haue instanced in the Magistracy the Ministery the Commonalty all in generall and might goe thorow all persons and professions in particular Statists Lawyers Physitians Students Practitioners in euery facultie but this course would be too laborious too speciall too punctuall perhaps subiect to exception construction c. I would auoid offence Yet because the whole world lyes in iniquity l Totus mundus in maligno positus slumbring in a lethargicall security drowned in sensuality frozen in their dregs like Moab carelesse and at ease like the people of Laish m Iudg. 18.10.27 least suspitious of danger like Sodom and the old worldlings euen when they are nearest to destruction n Luke 17.26 27 28 29. singing to the Violl and the Harp neuer considering the calamities to which their poore soules are obnoxious few knowing the doctrine fewer practising the duties of true repentance and vnfained humiliation which is the onely physicke of the sicke soule the medicine to sinnes malady the freer from sins slauery the awakener out of sinnes lethargy the port and hauen to the endaingered soule in the greatest shipwracke o Secunda tabula post naufragium I might further dilate and inlarge this profitable point and from the grounds of Ezekiahs blessed and pious practice I might labour to build vp a perfect penitent a humbled Publican euery way squared for the spirituall building as a liuing stone for Sion in which perswasion I would bring him as I ayme to that true Ierusalem the vision of perfect peace c. And in the forming and framing of this my true Humiliate which I would haue not an Vtopian and imaginary Penitent like Tullies Orator or Aristotles happy man but a true express and liuely Idaea of a thorowly humbled heart lest I lose my selfe in this maine Champian and large field of matter I might keepe my selfe within the hedges and inclosures of these propounded particulars 1. First I might shew wherein this humiliation consists with the parts and adiuncts of it 2. Secondly examine our owne practice according to these parts 3. Thirdly presse the performance wherein wee are deficient 4. Fourthly examine the sincerity of all to shed from hypocrisie 5. Fiftly by motiues perswade all in the generall and speciall 6. Sixtly prescribe the meanes by which it is attained 7. Seuenthly remoue the obstacles and letts by which it is hindred 8. Eightly expresse the signes by which it is showne and knowne 9. Ninthly set downe the times in which it is to bee practised To make onely for this time an entrance into these because I haue beene already too tedious For the first 〈◊〉 true humiliation as both the body and the soule haue sinned so both should be humbled as both are subiects oâ— sinne so both should be subiects of this humiliation I may therefore be distinguished into Externall and Internall Some parts of it must be performed in the outward some in the inward man the outward being but as thâ— expression of the inward the inward as wee say of the prayer of the heart without the voice being alwayes effectuall and auaileable with God without the outward but the outward without the inward as was that of Ahabs being euer counterfeit and hypocriticall as the body without a soule euen the very out-shell the out-barke the out-rinde and slough of Repentance without any inward sap or marrow or kernell of sincerity yet as the body and the soule make a perfect man so the casting downe both of the body and soule before the Lord make an humbled man Or as we may distinguish it in a further diuision in humiliation something is to be performed in respect of 1. God 2. Our selues 3. Our Neighbours 4. The Creatures 5. Our demeanour in the outward man Againe concerning man something is to bee performed respecting 1. All in generall 2. Those with whom we haue sinned 3. Those against whom we haue sinned 4. Those whom we haue in speciall wronged 5. Our Enemies 6. Our Equals 7. The Poore Thus haue I laid downe the particulars of Humiliation both the substantiall and circumstantiall requisites of this excellent Grace as the chiefe and choice ingredients to this best physicke of the soule if I had not incroached too much vpon the houre and borrowed some quarter now and more in the forenoone which I must repay againe when I can in a more resolued breuity if your attentions were not as wel tired as my strength and spirits exhausted this day to the body of these meerely proposed points I should adde as it were the very soule by doctrinall explication and further vsefull application but God is the God of order and not of confusion Oft times both in hearing and speaking as Christ said of his Disciples watching the spirit is willing the flesh is weake and I haue oft thought that as too much raine rather drownes then fructifies the earth and as too much meat rather exonerates the stomacke as ouer-weight ouer-ballanceth the ship then turnes into good nutriment when more is receiued then the naturall heat doth concoct so too long and tedious Sermons rather dull and dead the attention then turne to Christian edification therefore though I hope you haue found Honey from Ezekiahs bitter affliction and castigation as Sampson once out of the Lyons belly yet according to Salomons caueat lest eating too much at once you surfet lest out of preposterous prolixitie I rather â—edifie then edifie I referre the further prosecution of these points till God giue againe desired opportunity to bring to a full period and consummation what now hath onely an inchoation FINIS