Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	fish_n	great_a	sea_n	3,519	5	6.8793	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43607	Syntagma theologicum, or, A treatise wherein is concisely comprehended, the body of divinity, and the fundamentals of religion orderly discussed whereunto are added certain divine discourses, wherein are handled these following heads, viz. 1. The express character of Christ our redeemer, 2. Gloria in altissimis, or the angelical anthem, 3. The necessity of Christ's passion and resurrection, 4. The blessed ambassador, or, The best sent into the basest, 5. S. Paul's apology, 6. Holy fear, the fence of the soul, 7. Ordini quisque suo, or, The excellent order, 8. The royal remembrancer, or, Promises put in suit, 9. The watchman's watch-word, 10. Scala Jacobi, or, S. James his ladder, 11. Decus sanctorum, or, The saints dignity, 12. Warrantable separation, without breach of union / by Henry Hibbert ...	Hibbert, Henry, 1601 or 2-1678.; Hibbert, Henry, 1601 or 2-1678. Exercitationes theologiae.	1662 (1662)	Wing H1793; ESTC R2845	709,920	522

which the former was a dark shadow is the third Heaven which for the fulness of pleasure and joy is so called Hierom comforting a young Hermite bade him look up to Heaven Paradisum mente deambulare to take a few turns in Paradise by his meditations assuring him that so long as he had Paradise in his mind and Heaven in his thought Tamdiu in eremo non eris He should not be sensible of his solitariness To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life Rev. 2.7 which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Of the Sea Sea THE Sea is the seat and source of waters Mare quast amarum because the Sea-water is bitter and salt There are three things in it specially considerable viz. 1. The turbulency of it so stormy and turbulent that it threatneth to overwhelm all To overwhelm the ships sailing upon it to overwhelm the dry land encompassing of it and it would do both if God did not bound it saying Hitherto shalt thou come but no further here shall thy proud waves be stayed Did not God put an everlasting Law upon it it would be lawless 2. There is a wonderful capaciousness in the Sea the water they say is ten times bigger than the earth the Air ten times greater than the water and the fire than the Air. It is so big and broad so extensive and vast that it takes in all the waters that come off the land into its bosome and yet feels no access 3. The Sea is of mighty strength Though we say Weak as water water is a weak element in one sense yet in another water is a strong element so strong that it bears down all before it and bears all the storms that rage upon it Canutus confuted his flacterers who told him that all things in his Dominions were at his beck and check by laying his command on the sea to come up no higher into his Land but it obeyed him not Illi rebor as triplex Circa pectus erat Horat. Od. 1.1 3 Virgil. qui fragilem truci Commisit pelago ratem Primus nec timuit praecipitem Africum c. Tollimur in Caelum curvato gurgite Gen. 1.10 iidem Subduct â ad manes imos descendimus undâ Hence some have doubted whether Mariners were to be reckoned amongst the living or the dead But wisely said he Qui nescit orare discat navigare He that cannot pray let him go to Sea and there he will learn And the gathering together of the Waters Gen. 1.21 called he Seas Fish The power of God is great in forming the fishes of the Sea Especially if we consider three things about them 1. Their number Inter omaes bestias nibil est faecundius piscibus igitur tran●fertur ad multiplication● immensum as tous they are infinite Therefore how emphatically is their encrease exprest When God created them it is said The Waters brought forth abundantly No sort of creatures that multiply so fast as fishes Who is able to report the number of these Sea-inhabitants 2. If we consider their various kinds Naturalists observe that there is no creature upon the earth but hath as I may say its representative in the Sea besides those that have nothing like them on the earth 3. Many of these inhabitants of the waters are wonderful for the vastness and greatness of their bodies The greatest of all living creatures are in the Sea We will only instance in the Leviathan unto whom the Elephant is little Pliny tells of one taken that was 600. foot in length and 360. in breadth Plin. lib. 32. cap. 1. when they swim and shew themselves above water Annare insulas putes saith the same Author you would think them to be so many Islands so many Mountains saith another who also addeth that when they grow old they grow to that bigness and fatness that they keep long in a place Insomuch as ex collectis condensatis pulveribus frutices erumpere cernantur the dust and filth gathered upon their backs seems to be an Island which while shipmen mistake and think to land at they incurre a great deal of danger The great and Wide Sea wherein are things creeping innumerable Ps 104.25 26. both small and great beasts There is that Leviathan made to play therein Ships The use of ships was first shewed by God in Noah's Ark whence afterwards No art which helps more to enrich a Nation Audax Japeti genus Japhets off-spring sailed and replenished the Islands Of the Low-Countrey-men it is said Peterent Coelum navibus Belgae si navibus peti posset A ship is a fabrick for the Sea a house upon the Sea a moveable house and as it moveth variably so it moveth swiftly the inconstancy of the winds makes the motion of the ship unconstant and the strength of the winds makes the motion of the ship swift Whatsoever they do who are within the ship the ship moves on if they prepare it for motion Labitur uncta vadis abies Virgil. The ship seems willing to be at the Haven as soon as may be Let our souls be like a ship that is made little and narrow downward but more wide and broad upward Let them be ships of desire hasting heaven-ward and then let our days pass away as they can we shall be but the sooner at home Mortality shall appear to be no small mercy There go the ships They that go down to the Sea in ships Psa 14.26.107.23 24. that do business in great waters These see the Works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep c. Homo NVllum animal morosius est nullum majore arte tractandum Senec. quàm homo Nay which is worse Homo homini lupus homo homini Daemon Therefore saith David Let me not fall into the hands of men as though they were like Cadmus souldiers ad internecionem nati Yet man is magnum miraculum mundi Epitome imaginis image Imago mundi in corpore Dei in animâ In mans composition there is a shadow of the Trinity for to make up one man Ea fere bominum natura 〈◊〉 omnes sua mirentur aliena despiciant Julian there is an elementary body a divine soul and a firmamental spirit Here is the difference in God there are three Persons in one essence in us three essences in one person So in the soul there is a Trinity of powers vegetable sensitive and rational The former would only be the second be and be well the third be well and be for ever O excellent Nature in which Cabinet ten thousand forms may sit at once Vocabulum Homo est duorum substantiarum fibula Man is a heavenly thing for his soul though earthly in regard of his body Man being Lord of these graces should sit no longer in the vale of tears but ascend the Mountain of glory he should fly to the Trumpet calling to

wickedness shall leave them in the lurch as the Devil leaves Witches when they come to prison And above all Trade for that Pearl of price that Gold tried in the fire For Godliness is profitable to all things and one grain of Grace is far beyond all the Gold of Ophir What is Gold and Silver but the guts and garbage of the Barth And what is all the pomp and glory of the world but dung and dogs-meat Paul esteemed them no better that he might win Christ The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant-man Mat 13.45 46. seeking goodly pearle● Who when he had found one pearl of great price he went and sold all that he had and bought it Souldier Creatures of an inferior nature to Man Malo miserandum quàm crubescentlum Pulchrior est miles in pugna praelio amissus quàm in fuga salvus Tertul. will be couragious in the presence of their masters Xerxes was wont to pitch his Tent on high and stand looking on his Army when in sight to encourage them The Prince of Orange said to his Souldiers at the Battel of Newport when they had the Sea on the one side and the Spaniards on the other If you will live you must either eat up these Spaniards or drink up this Sea King Ferdinand's Ambassadors being conducted into the Camp of the Turks wondred at the perpetual and dumb silence of so great a multitude Neque enim idoncus potest esse miles ad bellum qui uon exercitatus in campo prius fuit Cypr. The Souldiers being so ready and attentive that they were no otherwise commanded than by the beckning of the hand or nod of the Commanders Tamerlane that warlike Scythian took such order with his Souldiers that none were injured by them If any Souldier of his had taken an Apple or the like from any man he died for it One of his Souldiers having taken a little Milk from a Country-woman and she thereof complaining he caused the said Souldier to be presently killed Turk Hist fol. 216. and his stomack to be ript where the Milk that he had late drunk being found he contented the woman and so sent her away who had otherwise undoubtedly died for her false accusation had it not so appeared Severe discipline Yea he had his men at so great command that no danger was to them more dreadul than his displeasure Do violence to no man Luk. 3.14 neither accuse any falsly and be content with your Wages Prosperitas FElix scelus virtus vocatur Tully de divin 1.2 saith the Orator Prosperous wickedness is accounted Vertue Leah because fruitful and successful rejoyced in that whereof she had greater reason to repent So did Ephraim Hos 12.8 Dionysius after the spoil of an Idol-temple sinding the winds favorable in his navigation Lo said he how the Gods approve of Sacriledge So divers because they are prosperous and the world comes tumbling in upon them therefore think their ways are good before God This is an ordinary Paralogism whereby wicked worldlings deceive their own souls hardening and heartning themselves in their own practices because they outwardly prosper But a painted face is no signe of a good complexion Seneca could say that it is the greatest unhappiness to prosper in evil Ambrose reports of the Oister lib. 5. Hexam c. 8. whilst she is tossed by the Crab she so claspeth her shell that then she is in least danger of devouring But when without fear she layeth open herself to the Sun on the shore then comes her enemy and puting a stone between the lips of her shell thrusts in safely his claws and picks out the fish Even so whilst Gods children are tossed to and fro in the brinish waters of the Sea of this World by crabbed men and regredient backsliders they shut the door of their lips whereas in the sun-shine of Prosperity they lay open themselves and by that are many times undone Bernard interprets that place Psal 91.7 thus A thousand fall in Adversity which is as the left hand but ten thousand in Prosperity which is the right hand In Adversity we are humble 〈◊〉 seek God In Prosperity we are proud play forget God David in persecution and wars was a chaste man When he came to take his ease he was caught in the snare of adultery Who did swim in such a sea of riches and honour as Solomon and who did sink so egregiously as he Solus in divitiis suit solus egregiè corruit Hier. Such stand upon slippery places and slide ere they be aware Yet if Prosperity hurt the fault is not in it nor in God that sent it but in our selves that abuse it As if a friend should give a man a brave and excellent sword and he should kill himself Vbi uber ibi tuber It is the property of Prosperity to swell the heart Pro. 30. This Agur knew well and therefore prayed for a mediocrity Solomon's wealth did him more hurt than his wisdome did him good Vespaslanus unus accepto imperio me●lor factus David's first ways were his best ways neither ever was he so good and tender as when he was hunted like a Partridge on the mountains Indeed of Vespasian it is storied that he was made the better man by being made Emperor But he was a rare bird and had scarce his fellow again Luxuriant animi rebus plerunque secundis Pride compasseth prosperous persons as a chain their hearts are lifted up with the same as a Boat that riseth with the water God tries man three wayes By 1. Examination Psal 17.3 2. Affliction Jam. 1.12 3. Prosperity A full estate discovers a man as well as a low and empty estate doth To know how to abound is as high a part of grace as how to want God tries in a right hand way as well as in a left hand way Poverty endangers grace much but Riches more To be great in the world is a great temptation Many when they grow rich in temporals grow poor in spirituals As their outward man increaseth so their inward man decayeth And as they flourish in the flesh so they wither in spirit Glass or other metals cast into the fire shine most when ready to melt Aphor. H●ppocrates saith The uttermost degree of bodily health is next unto sickness A Carpenter cometh to a wood and with his axe marketh out the fairest trees for selling What can be more fair and flourishing than a Corn-field or Vineyard a little afore the harvest Even so the Sun-shine of Prosperity doth but ripen the sin of wicked men for Divine vengeance The prosperity of fools shall destroy them Pro. 1.32 Health It is mainly applied to the Body Mind Vivere est bene valere Health is the Prince of Earthly blessings Yet a timus sanitatis gradus est morbo proximus say Physicians He lives miserably that lives by Medicines who to uphold Nature is in the

consolat Abite mal● cupiditates ego vos mergam ne ipse mergar à vobis But it was indeed for a name as Hierom rightly judgeth calling him therefore Gloria animal popular is aurae vile mancipium a vain-glorious fool However let us make God our chief treasure A friend of Cyrus being asked Where his treasure was Answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where Cyrus is my friend Let us answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where God is my friend Whoever hath the Lord for his portion the lines are fallen unto him in pleasant places he hath a goodly heritage He will be all that heart can wish or need require Surely there is a vein for the silver and a place for the gold Job 28.1 2. Psa 17.14 Job 22.25 where they find it Iron is taken out of the earth and brass is molten out of the stone Whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure The Almighty shall be thy gold Fountains and Rivers Aristotle assigns this as the cause of the perennity of them ● of their Beginning and Original viz. That the Air thickned in the earth by reason of cold doth resolve and turn into water c. But a greater than Aristotle notwithstanding Averroes his excessive commendation of him Solom viz. That there was no errour in his Writings c. gives us his opinion as it was likewise the opinion of the Ancient Philosophers viz. That they come from the Sea through the Pores and passages of the earth where they leave their saliness behind them Thus God doth by certain issues or vents send forth the waters of the Sea which here and there break out in springs that men and other earthly creatures might have that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Pindarus stileth it for the satisfying of their thirst Rona à tergo formosissima and for other necessary uses A great mercy the want would more shew the worth All the Rivers run into the Sea Eccl. 1.7 yet the Sea is not full unto the place from whence the Rivers come thither they return again Ad locum unde excunt flumina Psa 104.10 11 revertuntur ut iterum fluant Vulg. He sendeth the springs into the Valleys Which run among the hills They give drink to every Beast of the Field the Wild Asses quench their thirst Fruits Alma Parens tell us Quaelibet herba D●●m affords all things necessary for man and beast Ad esum ad usum both for food and Physick and both these before either man or beast was created Sing we Hoc mihi pro certo quod vitam qui dedit idem Et velit possit suppeditare cibum Green herbs was a great dish with the Ancients Aristippus told his Fellowphilosopher who fed upon them If you can please Dionysius you need not eat green herbs He presently replied If you can eat green herbs you need not please Dionysius These are called precious fruits Deut. 33.14 and Jam. 5.7 both because they cost hard labour to the husbandman for that is required as well as rain and dew promised And because they are choyce blessings of God for the sustentation of life Diogenes justly taxed the folly of his Countreymen quòd res pretiosas minimo emerent venderentque vilissimas plurimo because they bought precious things as Corn very cheap but sold the basest things as pictures statues c. extream dear for the life of man had no need of the one but could not subsist without the other Let us take heed of undervaluing the food of life and spending money for that which is not bread Isa 55.2 And God said Gen. 1.11 12. Let the earth bring forth grass the herb yielding seed and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind Whose seed is in it self upon the earth Cap. 1.29 30. and it was so And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in it self after his kind and God saw that it was good And God said Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you it shall be given for meat And to every beast of the earth and to every fowl of the air and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life I have given every green herb for meat and it was so He causeth the grass to grow for the cattel Psa 104.14 and herb for the service of man that he may bring forth food out of the earth Worms In the earth are worms housed A worm is one of the meanest creatures and therefore to shew what a poor thing man is he is twice in one place compared to a worm Job 25.6 Thus Christ also bespeaks himself when he took our nature Psal 22.6 Man may be said to be a worm in several respects Look upon him 1. In his original and constitution he is from the earth as the worm is 2. In his natural state and condition he liveth upon the earth and earthly things as worms do 3. Because subject to danger every foot may crush him 4. Because unable to resist or make defence unless the Lord be his shield and a defence to him round about 5. Because he must shortly return into the earth and when he comes to the grave it will be worm to worm Mihi experto credite saith Aug. Believe me who have made trial of it Open a grave and upon the dead mans head you shall find toads leaping begotten of his brains upon his loins serpents crawling begotten of his raynes in his belly worms abounding arising out of his entrails Behold what we now are and what we shortly shall be Behold the Original and filthiness of sin The best are but worms-meat the worms shall cover them who haply were once covered with costliest cloathing Mark 9.44 But take heed of that Worm which never dieth for as out of the corruption of our bodies worms breed which consume the flesh so out of the corruption of our souls this never-dying worm This worm say Divines is a continual remorse and furious reflection of the soul upon its own wilful folly and now woful misery Oh consider this before thy friends be scrambling for thy goods worms for thy body and Devils for thy soul Go not Dancing to Hell in thy Bolts rejoyce not in thy Bondage as many do to whom the preaching of Hell is but as the painting of a toad which men can look on and handle without affrightment I have said to corruption Thou art my father to the worm Thou art my mother Job 17.14 and my sister Mandrakes Before I had passed plants I should have mentioned one strange one in Scripture called Mandrake of which here a word It is a kind of herb whose root hath the likeness of a man The fruit of the root called Mandrake Apples have

safe in any place without Gods protection In 1. Field Witnesse Abosolom and Saul In 2. House Witnesse Pharaoh In 3. Bed Witnesse Ishbosheth In 4. Chamber Witnesse Jezabel In 5. Church Witnesse Senacherib Joab God snatcht Lot out of Sodom David out of many waters Tutus sub umbrâ leonis Paul out of the mouth of the lyon Jonah out of the belly of hell c. Cur timeat hominem homo in sinu dei positus He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee Job 5.19 Affliction Water properly is that element cold and moist contrary to fire Psal 42.7 Fluctus fluctum trudit But frequently signifies amongst many other things afflictions and troubles which threaten dangers as waters threaten drowning Often in the Psalms and elsewhere it is so used And I conceive that ever after Noah's flood that dismall destruction great and grievous afflictions were set forth by the rushing in of waters and overwhelming therewith Afflictions are that Sea that all the true Israelites in their journey to the everlasting Canaan must go through But yet these rivers of Marah are sweetned they are to the godly pleasant and they going through the vale of misery use it for a Well whereout they draw living water Psal 84.6 There are light crosses which will take an easy repulse Others yet stronger that shake the house sides but break not in upon us Others veliement which by force make way to the heart Others violent that lift the mind off the hinges or rend the barres of it in peices Others furious that tear up the very foundations from the bottome leaving no monument behind them but ruine Anton. Pius The wisest and most resolute moralist that ever was looked pale when he should taste of his hemlocke Christ went to Jerusalem the vision of peace by Bethany the house of grief so must we to heaven God useth to lay the foundation low when he will build high afflict much when he will destinate to some excellent end As in the creation first there was darknesse then light Or as Jacob first God makes him halt and then the place becomes a Peniel Therefore take knowledge of the low deeps into which Gods Children are brought That soul that feels it self hand-fasted to Christ though it meet with a prosperous estate in this world it easily swells not and if it meet with the adverse things of the world it easily quails not for it hath the word of Christ and Spirit of Christ residing in it Whereby you shall behold their faith victorious their hope lively their peace passing all understanding their joy unspeakable and glorious their speech alwayes gracious their prayer full of fervour their lives full of beauty and their end full of honour Apollonius writes of certain people that could see nothing in the day but all in the night In mirabil Histor Many Christians are so blinded with the sun-shine of prosperity that they see nothing belonging to their good but in the winter night of adversity they can discern all things Christians are never more exposed to sins and snares than in prosperity Though winter have fewer flowers yet also fewer weeds And fishes are sooner taken in a glistering pool than in a troubled Fen. Besides while the wind is down we cannot discern the wheat from the chaffe but when it blows then the chaffe flies away only the wheat remains Witnesse that masculine resolution of him Ful gentius who in the midst of his sufferings used to say Plura pro Christo tolleranda Here we live in the valley of Achor from Achan that was troubled that day wherein he was stoned Lorin Cap. 2. Prolcgom in Eccles Josh 7. Petrus Tenorius Archbishop of Toledo having a long time considered the weighty reasons on each side whether King Solomon were damned or saved and not knowing how to resolve the houbt in the end caused him to be painted on the walls of his Chappel as one that was half in heaven and half in hell The darker the foil the lighter the Diamonds Fealty A child of God in respect of his manifold afflictions he meets with here seems many times to himself and others to be in hell But having also tasted the first-fruits of the Spirit and the consolations that accrue unto him thereby he seems to be half in heaven Our light affliction 2 Cor. 4.17 which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Hurt It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt saith Laban to Jacob Gen. 31. though indeed it never was farther than given him from above Rideo dicebat Caligula consulibus quòd uno nutu meo jugulare vos possim Vxori tam bona cervix simul ac jussero demctur And Caesar told Metellus that he could as easily take away his life as bid it be done But these were but bravado's for that 's a royalty which belongs to God only to whom belong the issues of death Wicked men do not only pull manifold miseries upon themselves but are many wayes mischievous to others and have much to answer for their other mens sins How many are undone by their murders adulteries robberies false testimonies blasphemies and other rotten speeches to the corrupting of good manners What hurt is done daily by the Divels factors to mens souls bodies lives estates Besides that they betray the land wherein they live into the hand of divine justice whiles they do wickedly with both hands greedily When Christ gave his Disciples a commission to preach the Gospel he promised that they should take up Serpents and if they drank any deadly thing it should not hurt them No more shall the deadly poyson of sin hurt those that have drunk it if they belong to God Provided that they cast it up again quickly by confession and meddle no more with such a mischief Foolish and hurtful lusts drown men in destruction and perdition 1 Tim. 6.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ita demorgunt ut in aqua summitate rursus non ebulliant Loss What tell you me of goods in heaven say many let me have my goods on earth A bird in the hand is better than two in a bush The Grecians comprehend both life and goods in one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew perhaps men had as lief lose their lives as their goods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fronte nubila Mat. 19.22 He came hastily but went away heavily This is an hard thing it made the young man go sorrowful away that Christ should require that which he was unwilling to perform If heaven be to be had upon no other terms Christ may keep it to himself Many now adayes must have Religion to be another Diana to the Crafts-masters however are resolved to suffer nothing Jeroboamo gravior jactura regionis quàm religionis The King of Navarre told Beza that in the cause of Religion

of the earth it causeth an inward warmth to it and so maketh it very fruitful In which respects the Rabbines say That one day of snow doth more good than five of rain Gregory allegorizing those words Gregor Job 38.22 sheweth that earthly treasures are treasures of snow We see little children what pains they take to rake and scrape together snow to make a snow-ball Right so they that scrape together the treasure of this world have but a snow-ball of it so soon as the Sun shineth and God breatheth upon it and so entreth into it by and by it cometh to nothing He saith to the snow Be thou on the earth Hast thou entred into the treasures of the snow Job 37.6 Cap. 38.22 Psa 147.16 He giveth snow like Wooll Frost It is the excess of cold by the blowing of the coldest winds which are sometime called the breath of God These congeal the waters and turn them into ice contracting them into a narrower room Hence it is that as any Countrey is more Northerly so it is colder the Sea also is frozen and unpassable The hoar-frost heateth and drieth the cold and moist earth nipping the buds of trees Vnde pruina dicitur à perurenda Hence also perhaps is that Psal 147.16 He scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes Cinis monet ignem subesse quem foveat By the breath of God frost is given Job 37.10 and the breadth of the Waters is straitued Dew Est vapor subtilior tenuior qui levi miti frigore in terrae aut herbarum superficie adeo compactus est tum adea● fovendum recreandumque à flacciditate aestu contract â tum ad juvandum terrae foecunditatem tum etiam ad aërem ipsum in quo versamur refrigerandum These round orient pearls that come from heaven in a clear night do sweetly refresh whatsoever groweth in fields and meadows The dew 1. It comes when the air is clear 2. It refresheth and cherisheth the dry and fady fields plants and herbs thereby recover life and beauty 3. It allayeth great heats and moisteneth and mollifieth the earth that it may fructifie Who hath begotten the drops of dew Job 38.28 Isa 26.19 Thy dew is as the dew of herbs I will be as the dew unto Israel As the dew of Hermon Hos 14.5 Psal 133.3 Prov. 3.20 and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion By his knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew Of all these Meteors watery windy fiery whether pure or mixed c. I say with Brentius Fides non in ordinem operis sed in Authorem oculos suos dirigit All these are of the Lord and faith seeth God in all Fowls of Heaven It is very observable that birds though they have more of the earth than of the other three elements for out of the earth was every fowl of the air formed as well as every beast of the field Gen. 2.19 yet are light which is a wonder delighting in high-flying which is innate to them Of Birds mentioned in Scripture these are some The Eagle Called the Queen of fowls She is famous 1. For her loftiness Aquila non captat musc●● she minds great things flies and petty things she looks not after 2. Swiftness of flight and motion 3. Strength herein they are the chief of all have wings 4. Sagacity looking intently upon the Sun without being dazled and by that property makes proof of her young ones A 〈◊〉 ●nectus Prov. 5. Vivacity renewing her youth and health till she come to be very old Aug. observeth that when her bill is over-grown that she cannot take in her meat she beateth it against a Rock Exc●tit onus rostri striking off the cumbersome part and thereby recovereth her eating Thy youth is renewed like the Eagles Psal 103 5. Peacock Priding himself in his feathers and is all in changeable colours like friends now adays as often changed as moved Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the Peacocks Job 39.13 Pelican Reported to open her breast with her bill and feed her young ones with the blood distilling from her Therefore an Hiereglyphick of piety and pity among the Egyptians However a melancholy bird living in lonely places and crying out dolefully I am like a Pelican of the Wilderness Psal 102.6 Ostrich Called by reason of his bigness Elian● Cum●interim tot â co●poris mole promi●eat Plin. Peremptores potius quam Parentes Struthio-Camelus He is very swift of foot but so foolish that being pursued if he can hide his head only so as to see no body he thinks himself safe and that no body seeth him though his great bulk be all in sight Her leaving her eggs makes her the Hieroglyphick of unnatural and careless therefore cruel Parents The Ostrich Job 39.13 which leaveth her eggs in the earth c. Raven Their young ones are fed of God when forsaken of their dams and lest bare and destitute For out of their dung and carrion saith Aristotle brought before to the nest ariseth a worm which creepeth to their mouth and feedeth them Who feedeth the young Ravens which cry Psal 147.9 I forbear to mention any more Only much of Gods wisdom power and goodness may be seen in these inhabitants of the air in the admirable variety of their colours tunes tastes c. Also to these creatures God sends us to learn setting before us as in a picture the lively resemblance of many excellent vertues which we ought to pursue and practice The fowls of the air they shall tell thee Job 12.7 Jer. 8.7 Mat. 6.26 The stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them Are ye not much better than they Of the Earth BY earth I understand not that great material mass made up of the two heaviest elements earth and water whereof all terrestrial and celestial bodies were made Gen. 1.2 But the earth as distinctly severed from the other parts of the world which was not made untill the third day vers 10. Elementum siccae frigidaeque naturae densum in medio mundi collocatum r●undum in proprio loco immobile The earth is round as an apple is notwithstanding some knots and bunches in it and therefore naturally apt for motion as the heavens are that yet therefore it should stand firm and unmoveable is admirable It is upheld by the infinite and Almighty power of God The air will scarce bear a feather because it will descend unless kept up by a breath of wind Ponderibus librata sais and yet this vast globe of earth and water hangs as a Ball in the air Terra pilae similis nullo fulcimine nixa Ovid. Aere sublato

eo complacentiam ad redimendum reconciliandum genus humanum As the salt waters of the Sea when they are straitned thorow the earth they are sweet in the rivers so saith one the waters of Majesty and justice in God though terrible yet being strained and derived through Christ they are sweet and delightful In many things we offend all who then can be saved Our sins for number exceed the sands of the sea and the least sin is sufficient to throw us into hell without Christ But by Christ we are reconciled to the father and have peace with him Hence we may have a blessed calme lodged in our consciences as when Jonah was cast over board there followed a tranquility Let the meditation of this Eph. 4.32 cause a reconciliation amongst Christians forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake forgave you Consider 1. God himself offers reconciliation to us Jer. 3.1 and shall we be so hard-hearted as not to be reconciled one to another Let us be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful 2. All we do is abominable in the sight of God without it Mat. 5.23 24. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother Thou shouldst have done it before yet better late than never First seek the Kingdome of God God should be first served yet he will have his own service to stay till thou beest reconciled to thy brother If I speake with the tongues of men and Augels if I come to Church and heare never so many sermons talk never so gloriously of Religion c. and dwel in hatred be not reconciled I am but a tinkling cymbal 1 Cor. 13.1 3. We can have no assurance of our reconciliation to God without it Mat. 18.35 As the King dealt with his servant so God will cast such into the Prison of hell for ever This should make us all to quake 4 We have no certainty of our lives This night may our souls be taken from us Jovinian the Emperour supped plentifully went to bed merrily yet was taken up dead in the morning And if death take us before we take one another by the hand as a token of hearty reconciliation what shall become of us We should not suffer the sun to go down upon our wrath Johannes Eleemosynarius Arch-Bishop of Alexandria Eph. 4.26 Soc est in occasu vir maximè honorande being angry in the day with Nicetus a Senator towards night sends this message to him My honourable brother the Sun is in setting let there be a setting of our anger too If we do it not within the compass of a day yet let us do it within the compass of our lives Aculeus apis not Ataleus serpentis Let not our anger be like the fire of the Temple that went not out day nor night Let us not say with Jonah I do well to be angry even unto death Cap. 3.9 Let our anger be the sting of a Bee that is soon gone not the sting of a Serpent that tarries long and it may be proves lethall Christ is a merciful and faithful High-Priest Hebr. 2.17 in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people He hath made peace through the blood of his Cross Colos 1.20 God hath reconciled us to himself by Jefus Christ 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. and hath given to us the ministery of reconciliation viz. that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation We pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God If when we were enemies Rom. 5.10 we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Glorie to God in the Highest Luke 2.14 and on earth peace good will towards men General Calling It is the estate and condition of Christianity For herein we are called to the service of God in all parts of holiness with promise of eternal reward through the merits of Christ So it is termed because the means by which God worketh upon us ordinarily is his Word or the voice of his servants calling upon us for amendment And because through the mighty working of the Spirit of Christ the voice of Gods servants speaking out of the Word is directed unto us in particular with such power and life and our dead hearts are so revived that the doctrine is as if God did speak to us in particular we receiving the word of the Minister as the very voice or word of Christ Thus the dead hear the voice of the Son of God and live As also because God would hereby note unto us the easiness of the work he can do it with a word As he made the world and calleth up the generations of men as the Prophet sheaketh so can he in an instant with a word convert a sinner He said Let there be light and there was light So if he say Let there be 〈◊〉 grace there is presently true grace There is a twofold calling 1. External that general invitation which by the preaching of the Gospel is made unto men to invite them to come in unto Jesus Christ most in the world are thus called both good and bad 2. Internal when the Spirit of God accompanies the outward administration of the Word to call a man from ignorance to knowledge and from a state of nature to a state of grace So that the first is alone by the outward sound of the Word But the other not by the trumpet of the Word alone ringing in the ear but by the voice of the Spirit also perswading the heart and moving us to go to Christ Of this calling spake our Saviour Christ No man cometh to me Inanis est serm● docentis nisi intus sit qui docet except the Father draw him namely by his Spirit as well as by his Word Judas was called He was not a Professor alone but a Preacher of the Gospel Simon Magus was called he believed and was baptized Herod w●s called He heard John Baptist sweetly and did many things that he willed him Sundry at this day come to Church hear Sermons talk of Religion that do not answer Gods call Therefore let us intreat the Lord to call us effectually by his blessed Spirit out of our sins to holiness and newness of life If we be thus called we shall receive the eternal inheritance which Christ hath purchased for us Let us be suiters to God that he would make us partakers of this calling that makes an alteration of us 1 Cor. 6.9 11. If we were Idolaters as Manasseh to call us out of our superstition and idolatry If persecutors as Paul to call us out of our persecuting If we are Adulterers as David to call us out of our uncleanness If Drunkards out of our d●unkenness If

him renounce God and Salvation upon which that wretched malicious enemy killeth him with this boast Now he had satisfied his revenge for he had not onely killed his body but damned his soul It is a great depravity in our natures and surely an affection that savoureth of hell to comfort our selves in the sufferings of others But to procure the miseries of others in those extremities wherein we hold an hope to have no society ourselves is methinks a strain above Lucifer and a project beyond the primary seduction of hell Revenge Indignus Casaris ir● 1. It is an effeminate passion the generous mind disdaineth it as not daining to debase himself These are the worst spirits that are possest with thoughts of revenge Quippe minuti Semper infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas Vltio Hail Vero magni est animi quasdam injurias negligere nec ad quorundam convicia habere vel aures vel linluam Erasm thunder lightning hurt not superiour bodies but inferiour so childish quarrels hurt not great and high minds 2. It is a biting passion like a worm it gnaweth the heart of him that is infected with it 3. It is full of injustice it tormenteth the innocent 4. The execution is not onely painful but dangerous he doth that he wisheth to be undone the fear of justice tormenteth him and the care to hide him those that love him 5. To kill his enemy is not revenge for he feeleth not the power of his wrath which is the end of revenge In true revenge the revenger takes some pleasure and he upon whom he is revenged must feel the weight of his displeasure and repent which he that is killed cannot do Besides to kill is cowardly for though it makes an end of the quarrel yet it wounds the reputation It is a trick of precaution not of courage the way to proceed safely not honourably A wise man will neglect injuries Momus in Lucian tels Jupiter It is in thy power whether any one shall vex or wrong thee One having made a long and idle discourse before Aristotle concluded it thus I doubt I have been too tedious unto you Sr. Philosopher with my many words In good sooth said Aristotle you have not been tedious to me for I gave no heed to any thing you said The manlier any man is the milder and more merciful as David 2 Sam. 1.12 And Julius Caesar who when he had Pompey's head presented to him wept and said Non mihi placet vindicta sed victoria I seek not revenge but victory True it is that private revenge is utterly unlawful unlesse it be in a mans own necessary defence where the case is so sudden that a man cannot call in the help of the Magistrate but must either kill or be killed Otherwise that of Lactantius holdeth true Non minus mali est injuriam referre quàm inferre And that of Seneca Immane verbum est ultio revenge is a cruel word I will conclude this in the words of Ambrose O domine Comment in Luk. l. 10. in illa verba lucae cur emere me jubes gladium qui ferire me prohibes Cur haberi precipis quem vetas promi nisi forte ut sit parata defensio non ultio ut videar potuisse vindicare sed noluisse Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath Rom. 12.19 for it is written Vengeance is mine and I will repay saith the Lord. Murder It is reported of the Bees that aegrotante unâ lamentantur emnes when one is sick Homicidium est injustâ homin is occisio Ames they all mourn And of sheep that if one be faint the rest will stand betwixt it and the sun till it be revived Onely man to man is most pernicious We know that a bird yea a bird of prey once fed a man in the wildernesse that a beast Homo solus sibi inimicus yea a beast of fierce cruelty spared a man in his den Whereupon saith a learned Father Ferae parcunt aves pasount homines saeviunt hence also we may conclude with Solomon Pro. 17.12 Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man Cypr. serm 6. rather than a fool in his folly Surely if others sins have a woe hanging at their heeles according to that of Job Cap. 10.15 bloody men shall have a woe with a witnesse Nahum 3.1 as those that walk in the way of Cain ●ude 11. The blood of one Abel had so wany tongues as drops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mr. Caryl and every drop a voice to cry for vengeance True neither did the blood nor the earth speak formally the blood had no voice and the ground was silent blood hath no more voice of its own than water hath or than a fish that lives in the water hath but the Lord speakes thus to shew that he will certainly bring bloody sins chiefly the sin of blood to light The justice of God in all ages hath sent out his writ of enquiry after bloody men and for the blood of the innocent Yea God will as it were give a tongue to the earth he will make speechless creatures speak rather than blood shall be concealed Blood may be concealed a long time but blood shall not alwayes be concealed Murder is a crying sin for which God makes inquisition and strangely brings it to light Wonderful are the instances how murderers have met with the hand of revenge some immediately from God others from the civil sword of the Magistrate some from the hand of murderers like themselves and many have done violence to their own lives being haunted and hunted by the furies of their own consciences It was a saying of K. James that if God did leave him to kill a man he would think God did not love him The blood of man violently spilt doth not bring sorth hony-bees to sting hands and face but the monstrous beast called revenge which hath destroyed whole kingdomes The blood of a wicked man Mr. Needlars Expos Not. if innocently shed cryes If Abel had murdered Cain Cains blood would have cryed and called upon God for justice against Abel But Abels blood cryes according to the worth of the person for Abel was a Saint c. Psal 72.14 Psal 116.15 Blood-guiltiness made not onely Cain restlesse Clamitat in coelum vox sanguinis Sodomorum vox oppressorum merces retenta laborum but how terrible also was the voice of it in Judas conscience It did need no tongue no voice no witnesse to accuse it but his own No man accused Judas but in case of blood Judas must accuse himself Mat. 27.3 The burden of it lyes so heavy on the conscience and how strangely doth the Lord bring forth blood by the persons themselves The busy brood of Romes factors are called Jesuites but they may more fitly be called Jehuites Jesus was as meek as a Lamb but Jehu was a man of blood so be they

to the lustre or brightness in gold Godliness to the weightiness or that propension in it which in the motion of it carries it toward the center Holiness respects the nature and quality of the action and engageth to a serious and zealous rectitude in these Godliness respects the end of the action and carries the agent in his intentions herein upon God Besides they are different in their nature in that Holiness is ascribed to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but never Godliness He is often said to be holy never godly And the holy Apostle exhorts to these as to two several graces 2 Pet. 3.11 Yet they are never divided in their subject For the holy man is stirred up of God to make God and his glory the soveraign end of all his ways which is Godliness To promote Holiness in the world God useth various engines viz. Precepts or commands Lev. 11.44 45. Motives and arguments 1. God himself is holy and he would have men communicate with him in his darling attribute 2. Men and women are brought into a capacity of being holy by the death of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.17 3. God hath made many great and precious promises unto it wherein he stands engaged to the sons and daughters of men 2 Cor. 7.1 4. God is unable to bear the world in an aversness from holiness Heb. 1.14 5. The beauty and glory of it hence often called by that name 2 Cor. 3.18 Eph. 5.27 6. The peace it brings 7. And joy it begets Examples The Scripture in the memory of those that were holy seems to embalm them with honour to posterity on purpose that being preserv'd the world by them might learn and follow holiness in all succeeding generations It hath the superscription express and image of the glorious God upon it What manner of persons ought we to be 2 Pet. 3.11 in all holy conversation and godliness Civility As there are some things that glister but are not true Gold so some things shining which are not true Grace Civility and Morality are far from true Sanctity Yet herein it is not only possible but easie to mistake Learn therefore to difference them Civility and Morality hath respect only to the outward carriage and comportment but true Sanctity hath respect chiefly to the heart searching into the secret corners the very spirit of the mind So did good David when he prayed Cleanse thou me from secret faults That teacheth a man to avoid gross vices notorious offences scandalous enormities But it is only Holiness which causeth a man to make conscience of the least sins as well as the greatest Serm. 1. de Sp. ● To which Bernard saith excellently Hanc sollicitudinem non facit nisi Spiritus Sanctus qui ne minimam paleam intra cordis quod possidet habitaculum patiatur residere Holiness inlightens a man to look on the same sins which Morality and Civility discovereth with another and a cleerer aspect since whilst the Civil person only abhors them as enemies to his good name and the Moralist as repugnant to reason the Holy man loaths them as breaches of Gods law and offences to his Majesty Thus repenting David and the returning Prodigal looked upon their sins as against and before God Psal 51.4 Luk. 15.21 Civility restraineth sin but Holiness conquereth it Civility lesseneth the actings yet taketh not away the power whereas Holiness though not all at once yet by degrees subdueth the power of corruption Lastly This is the peculiar efficacy of true Holiness that it doth not only irradiate the understanding but inflame the will and affections with a love to God and zeal for his glory In which respect it is that they whom Christ purifieth to himself a peculiar people are said to be zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 The soul hath her senses as well as the body and these must be exercised Heb. 5.14 A Bristol-Stone looks like a Diamond We had need to try the things that differ that we be not cheated and so undone as many a man is by purchasing a counterfeit commodity at an unreasonable rate This I pray Phil. 1.9 10. that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment That ye may approve things that are excellent Honesty By it generally all kind of duties are signified which men are mutually to practise one towards another without doing any uncomely or wicked thing An honest man had rather complain than offend and hates sin more for the indignity of it than the danger He hath but one heart and that lies always open All his dealings are square and above board he bewrays the fault of what he sells and restores the owner gain of a false reckoning He esteems a Bribe venemous and only to be gilded over with the colour of a Gratuity When his name is called in question his Innocency bears him out with courage His Conscience over-ruleth his Providence Finally he hates falshood worse than death He is a faithful client of Truth No mans enemy and it is a question whether more anothers friend or his own But contrariwise too many are like the Dragons of Armenia that have cold bodies and yet cast fire out of their mouths Like the sea-Sea-fish which gapes as if she would swallow up the Ocean but being ript up and her entrails opened there is no water found in her belly Christians in shew Devils indeed In all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 Liberty Deus operatur omnia in omnibus necessitate infallibilitatis non coactionis Zanar Metaph. Deus efficaciter in homine libero operatur sed tantùm abest quòd hac efficatia tollat libertatem quòd magis eam ponit voluntas non potest cogi servata sua natura Quia e●si Deus potest cogere voluntatem meam ut lucrem poenas meorum delictorum tamen hoc non esset ex vi meae voluntatis nec ex coactione intrinsica libera sed ex violentia intrinsic● impellentis Deus autem agere solet per concursum influxum naturam agentem modificantem ideo ei non infert violentiam Liberè operari dicitur dupliciter 1. Quoad electionem sic est libera quia potest eligere non eligere 2. Quoad executionem sic potest impedire ab extrinsico per multa impedimenta Quod probatur locis multis Scripturae Cor hominis disponat viam suam sed Domini est dirigere gressus ejus In homine reperitur triplex libertas 1. Prima dicitur libertas à culpa quia in libertate natura est non peccare 2. A poena quia possumus evadere angustias mala quibus premimur 3. A coactione in electione quia possumus liberè eligere Duas priores libertates per peccatum primi parentis amisimus si stemus in puris naturalibus solùm tertia libertas remanet Bern. de grat lib. arbitr Liberty though but bodily is such an inestimable good thing

I wish he may never be very rational because the stronger his reason is being corrupt the worse will his will and affections be Insanire cum ratione Many of the vulgar are mad without reason they will hate a thing upon hear-say but when men are mad with reason that is with wicked reason they are mad to purpose Labour to get up our hearts to be swayed by spiritual reason and let Gods people be careful to perform such service unto God as wherof they can render a sound and intelligible reason out of his Word Rom. 12.1 Cannot my tast discern perverse things Job 6.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 32.8 1 Cor. 2.11 But there is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding What man knoweth the things of man save the spirit of man which is in him Affections They do often saucily insult over sound reason as Hagar did over his Mistress They are exitus animae the out-going of the soul Like a watery humor comming between the eye and the object and hindring the sight Like the mud which arising in the water troubleth and confoundeth the seeing spirits They are oftimes ponderous bolts and clogs causing us to cleave to the center of misery And whereas they should be the whetstones of vertue Gratia non tollit sed att●●lit naturam Lactant. Luk. 14.9 10. they frequently prove the fire-brands of vice The remedy is not to turn them out of doores for then a tribe would be wanting in the soules mystical Microcosm But to correct their exorbitancy and reduce them into right order using our Saviours language to them Friends come down lower and to sound judgment sit up higher Respect of Persons The word properly signifieth accepting of ones face or outside 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so noteth a respect to others out of a consideration of some external glory that we find in them So that respect of persons is had when in the same cause we give more or lesse to any one than is meet because of something in his person which hath no relation to that cause Respect of persons is 1. Warrantable or 2. Vicious It is lawful to prefer others out of a due cause as their age callings gifts graces yea we ought to put a respect upon them because of that excellency wherewith God hath furnished them But when the judgment is blinded by some external glory and appearance and a cause is over-ballanced with such circumstances as have no affinity with it it is unlawful and a sin In religious matters we may be guilty of it many wayes I mention one When the same works have a different acceptation because of the different esteem and value of the persons engaged in them Omnia dicta tanti existimantur quantus est ipse qui dixerit Avarit● 1. nec tam dictionis vim a●que virtutem quàm dictatoris cogitant dignitatem saith Salvian A constant hearer of Calvin at Geneva Ego relicto Paulo audirem Calvinum Zanch. Miscel praefat Nolo tame●● amplec●i Evangelium quod Lutherus 〈◊〉 Epist. ad Card. Mogu●t being sollicited by Zanchy to hear Viret an excellent Preacher who preached at the same time answered If Saint Paul himself should preach hear at the same hour I would not leave Calvin to hear Paul Although I am not Ignorant said Gregory Duke of Saxony that there are divers errors and abuses crept into the Church yet I will none of that Gospel-reformation that Luther preacheth And Erasmus observed That what was accounted Orthodox in the Fathers was condemned as Heretical in Luther Compertum est damnata ut Haeretica in libris Lutheri quae in Bernardi Augustinique libris ut Orthodoxa imò pia leguntur Thus too many look upon the cup rathar than the liquor regarding the man more than the matter not considering what but who bringeth it in which they do prefer the earthen vessel before the golden treasure And many times are apt to despise excellent things because of the despicablenesse of the instrument My brethren James 2.1 have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons Opinion Opinio est ascensus pendulus scientia immobilis Als●ed There are saith one as many internal forms of the mind as external figures of men That was a strange spirit of Bacon the Carmelite who would endure no guessing or doubting And was therefore called Doctor Resolutissimus as requiring that every one should think as he thought This as a worthy Divine saith was too Magisteriall Job 32.10 I also will shew mine opinion Controversie Optimus ille censendus saith an Ancient qui in Religionis controvers●is retulerit magis quàm attulerit neque id cogat videri tenendum quod presumserit intelligendum But there are many now a dayes that fain what they please and conceit what they like and at last think themselves bound to justifie their wild conceivings Let us therefore as many as be perfect Phil. 3.15 be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Strife A quarrelsome person is like a cock of the kind ever bloody with the blood of others and himself He loves to live Salamander-like in the fire of contention We read of Francis the first King of France that consulting with his Captains how to lead his Army over the Alpes into Italy whither this way or that way Amaril his fool sprang out of a corner where he sate unsean and bade them rather take care which way they should bring their Army out of Italy again Even so it is easy for one to interest himself in quarells but hard to be disingaged from them when once in There are that make it their work to cast the Apple of contention amongst others such are the Pests of societies and must therefore be carefully cast out with scoffing Ishmael Such kindle-coals are Sathans seeds-men who is an unquiet spirit and strives to make others so Loves to fish in troubled waters doth all he can to set one man against another that he may prey upon them both Greg. As the Master of the Pit suppeth upon the bodyes of those cocks whom he hath set to kill one another The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water Prov. 17.14 therefore leave off contention before it be medled with Read Pro. 22.10 Rom. 13.13 1 Cor. 11.16 Phil. 2.3 Jam. 3.14 16 c. Schisme Schisme in the Church is the same that faction is in the Common-wealth viz. such dissentions in which men seperate one from another Or It is a dissertion or seperation when one or more seperate and rent themselves from the outward fellowship of the faithful cutting asunder the unity and peace of the Church upon some misgrounded mislike There can be no greater sin committed saith Chrysostom Hom. 11. ad Ephes Inexpiab●is discordiae m●●ula

therefore famous in Bethlehem But yet many things were left unrectified which either they did not see or could not help All which may shew us that it is a praise proper to Christ only to be Alpha and Omega Author and Finisher of that he sets about Behold Rev. 21.5 I make all thinks new Read Isa 65.17 18.2 Cor. 5.17 Mutability Princes are like the Sun and great Subjects are like the Dials if the Sun shine not on the Dial no man will look on it Wicked purposes are easily checked not easily broken off Sauls sword is scarce dry from the blood of the Philistines when it thirsts anew for the blood of David Saul rent Samuels garment now David Sauls both were significant the rending of the one signified the Kingdome torne out of those unworthy hands the cutting of the other that the life of Saul might have been as easily cut off Both signes and symptoms of mutability The greatest changes are incident to the greatest persons Rulers of times become captives and they who sate on Thrones live in Prisons Nebuchadnezzars goodly image did degenerate and gradually abase from a head of gold to a breast and armes of silver thence to belly and thighes of brasse to legges of iron and feet of iron and clay All these represented some Kings and Kingdoms falling and others rising upon their ruines till a Kingdom do arise which should never fall The most durable creatures are changeable the heavens are an emblem of continuance yet in a perishing condition and shall be if not totally annihilated yet much altered from what they are as will amount to this They are no more The mountains and rocks change ordinarily by the power of time every mixt body hath the seed of corruption in it and therefore must corrupt naturally though God should not destroy it providentially or judiciarily Man is a very mutable creature In his body suffering every day an alteration perfective or corruptive yea while he is growing stronger hasting not only to weaknesse but to dissolution Farther consider him in reference to his mind we use to say of several men so many men so many minds And for his civil state Quot homines tot sentcutiae of honour power riches and relations day unto day makes report that it is of little continuance Man hath three great changes 1. In his outward condition a change from weaknesse to strength from poverty to riches from sorrow to joy 2. Death is the great change of mankind The Saints change for the better wicked men for the worse 3. At the Resurrection for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality Only mortality is the stage of mutability for beyond this world there are no changes Heaven and Hell a state of eternal blessednesse or wretchednesse have no changes in them nor anything that is Heterogeneal or of another kind Heaven which hath light and joy in it hath no darknesse no sorrow at all in it Hell which hath darknesse and sorrow in it hath no light nor joy at all in it Mixtures and changes are made here on earth when our last change is fully come we shall go beyond all changes All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait Job 14.14 till my change come Help Aid or Assistance Many mens helps are like that of Hananiab to Jeremiah cap. 28.13 They break some yokes of wood that they may have the better occasion to make for them yokes of iron There is a two fold help God giveth 1. Common And this Gods people have with the rest of all the world 2. Special Carrying them forth to do gracious acts and to perform good compleatly Without me ye can do nothing John 15. Far were the Romans from helping the oppressed Britains Dan. Chron. when they sent for aid they complained that betwixt the barbarous enemy and the Sea as two kind of deaths they were either murthered or drowned but their implorations prevailed not But the Saints comfort is that where humane help faileth divine beginneth Give us help in trouble for vain is the help of man Psal 60.11 Desolation I will utterly consume all things from off the land saith the Lord I will consume man and beast I will consume the fowles of the heaven and the fishes of the sea This is a threatning against Juda by the Prophet Zephaniah Cap. 1 2 3. the strangest devastation and destruction that ever was for in the plague of Egypt there was the death of the first-born the death of beasts and of the fishes by water turned into blood but I find not that the fowles of heaven were destroyed In the drowning of the world although the beasts of the field and fowles of the air perished yet cannot I collect the destruction of the fishes But in this man and beast and fish and fowle all things are threatned to be destroyed Hierom affirmeth the like of his native Countrey wasted so with warre Vt prater calum et canum et crescentes vipres et condensa si●varum cuncta perierint In meâ patriâ deus venter est et in diem vivitur sanctior est ill● qui ditior that besides air and earth and briars and forrests all was destroyed And that we may not wonder at this severity of God here what he elsewhere saith In my Countrey their belly is their god their glory is in their shame and they minde earthly things And so their end hath been destruction and utter desolation True it is that desolation is the fruit of sin witnesse Sodom which was once as Egypt yea as Eden but is now a place of Nettles and Salt-pits Judea that once Lumen totius Orbis now laid desolate And Babylon a place if we may believe Strabo of incredible fertility and increase yet suffering destruction by thy Medes It were easie to instance in the seven Churches of Asia the Palatinate and other parts of Germany c. Yea such is the hatred God beareth to sin that his hand is upon the insensible creatures for mans sake A fruitful land turneth he into burrennesse for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein Psal 197.34 Arts and Sciences commendable and cursed Ars. NEmo est quin aliquâ arte praeclarus est Art is twofold of 1 Body 2. Soul Either 1. Cosmetick Amongst other History is much to be conunended as Antedating time and bringing experience without gray hairs Art of Decoration 2. Medicinal Art or Cure 3. Athletick Art or Activity 4. Voluptuary eruditus luxus as Tacitus calls it It is storied that about Astreds time King of England before his instauration there was not a Grammarian sound in his Kingdom to teach him Nulla ars doceri praesumitur nisi intentâ priùs meditatione discatur Artisicium est judicare de arte is a maxime of infallible truth and yet ignorance begets confidence He that teacheth man knowledge Psal 94.10 shall not he know Ingenuity

the Ghost in Jeronimo cry for revenge they shall haunt you and set no colour before you but red and crimson yea and throw bowles of blood upon your faces never leaving you till they have brought you from a dying life to a violent and cursed death like the poor fish that feeling the heat of the water thinks to mend her self and leaps into the fire Would not our hearts bleed within us to see an army of men marching against the mouth of a Canon to be wounded discomfited some groaning and crying out some slain out-right and cut off by the middle some crawling on the ground with their lungs peeping out through their sides some stooping with their bowels in their hands some sliced down their legs some cloven down the chin some their brains dasht out and besprinkled on the drumme All these and thousands such are but as fleebitings to that horrid slaughter and horrible blood-shed of the damned in hell fire And when all is done we must dye A grave onely remaines to receive us Three cubits are allotted to us None telluris tres tantum cabiti te expectant A little quantity of ground hath nature proportioned though sometime thou didst possesse as much as ever the tempter shewed Christ The remainder of mighty Hercules will scarce fill a little pitcher When certain Philosophers intentively beheld the tom be of Alexander Heri fecit ex aurò thesaurum hodie aurum ex eo facit thesaurum yesterday the world did not content him to day three cubits contain him Alcibiades bragging of his lands Socrates carried him to the Map of the world and bid him demonstrate them but he could not find them for alas Athens it self was not discernable This earth would serve the wicked still had they not better lye in rottennesse than combustion were not a cold grave more welcome than a hot furnace Now they beg not a city though a little one a Zoar nor a house though poor and bleak as Codrus nor an open aire though sharp and irksome scortched with the Indian sun or frozen with a Russian cold for of such favours there is now no hope Give them but a mountain to fall on them or rock to hide them and they are pleased Here is a strange alteration for the wicked when they shall go from a glorious mansion to a loathsom dungeon from a table of surfeit to a table of vengeance from fawning observants to afflicting spirits from a bed of down to a bed of fire they that commanded all the earth cannot now command a piece of earth to do them service God will wound the hairy scalp of him that goeth still in his wickednesse there remaineth for impenitent sinners a worme that knaweth the conscience and there is prepared for the wicked a fire which never goeth out where is horrour terrour weeping wailing wringing of hands gnashing of teeth continual death yet those that are there never dye Tantalus his Apples Sisyphus his stone and those ravening Harpies whereof the Poets do speak are nothing in respect of those torments whereof the wicked shall tast unlesse in this world they do repent and cast their accounts a fresh The pains of Hell as a reverend father of the Church observes make a four-fold impression in the soules of men 1. A carefull fear that declineth them 2. A doubtfull fear that conflicteth them 3. A desperate fear that shrinketh them 4. A damned fear that suffereth them Then the will shall be a hell in it self the memory shall be continually troubled with a fixed recordation of things passed which it once possessed the understanding shall be darkned with innumerable waves of imaginations the light shall be affirighted with ugly Devils and darknesse the hearing with odious and hideous out-cries the smelling with noisome stinkes the tast with raging thirst and ravishing hunger the feeling afflicted in every part with intollerable paines in comparison whereof our earthly fires are no more but painted flames Depart from me is a cursed condemnation viz. from my Quire of glorious Angels from the communion of blessed Saints Apostles Martyrs and Confessors from me from my holy hill Well may the wretched soul Esau like weep and howle To be secluded from the presence of God is of all miseries the greatest in so much that a father on Matthew saith Many do abhorre hell but I esteem the fall from that glory to be a greater punishment than hell it self Better to endure ten thousand thunderclaps than be deptived of the beatifical vision O the madnesse of most that will rather lose God and Christ and heaven and all than lose a lust Lysimachus King of Lacedemonia being forced to surrender himself his Army and his Kingdome into his enemies hands for a draught of water they being all ready to die for thirst when he had drunk his water he breaks out O how short a pleasure is this that for one draught of water I have lost a glorious Kingdome Truly infinite greater cause will the damned have to complain of their losse Something 's do perfect a good feast viz. Good company good chear good place and good time But all those good things are awanting Varro apud Gelljum at the black banquet in the nethermost hell At other feasts the more the merrier but that 's a sorry supper where the more the more miserable Oh! do not do not run the hazard of these eternal torments for enjoying the pleasure of sin for a season He that playes the thief is a very fool it may be he may not be an hour in stealing the commodity and yet he may lye a whole year in the Goal for it and have hanging when all is done But oh how many greater fools are there than these that will haply for an hours pleasure or at the most for a lifes-time lye in the Goal and prison of hell not for a year but to all eternity Suppose that by your unjust gain you increase your estate and get large revenews if you lose God what get you if you lose a soul what gain you if you lose Christ what advantageth it you We read of a certain salt in Sicilia Aug. de civit the which if it be put into the fire swims as water and being put into water crackles as fire Among the Garamantes a people dwellidg in the middle of Lybia we read of a fountain the which in a cold night is hot and in the hot day so cold that none can endure to drink it And we read of a stone in Archadia the which being once made hot can never be cooled Certainly the fire into which the damned souls are cast Cupient mori et mors fugit ab illis and tormented is without all intermission of time or punishment They shall desire to dy and death shall she from them Rev. 9.6 Propound to thy self a bottomlesse gulfe hideous to behold in darknesse dungeon-like in torments horrible to the smell most odious breathing out

of such difficulty that if he withdraw the supporting assistance of his active Spirit from us we cannot hold out Do we preach 't is as the Spirits gives us utterance do we pray the Spirit helpeth our infirmities do we beleeve he increaseth our faith and helps our unbelief do we live the life of grace Christ liveth in us by his Spirit Are we constant in our profession and holy exercises of Religion that constancy cometh from above by the effectual working of the divine power In all these his grace is sufficient for us and in doing them his Spirit worketh with us Thus much concerning Gods good will towards men expressed in spiritual matters As for his good will in temporal it is as clear as the sun we need no demonstration But because the extraordinary favours of God may not slip out of our memories think upon our deliverance from that intended invasion in eighty eight how that part of the invaders became as weak as water and part were over whelmed in the depths of the sea alive like Pharaoh and his host Think upon that horrid work of darkness the Gunpowder plot how vain the conspiratours were in their imaginations The Lords stretched out arme overcame the one his all-seeing eye discovered the other See thy Regína Dierum and by his Providence were both brought to nothing Think upon the Stupendious works of Divine Providence in the wonderful safegarding and happy restoring of our gracious King to which I have abundantly spoken upon occasion Without doubt all these and infinite more are sensible tokens of Gods good will in Christ toward us Wherefore 1. We may with comfort confidently approach to the throne of grace where we may receive of the Father whatsoever we ask in his Sons name for for his sake he will deny us no good thing seeing that in him he beares good will toward us Thus much the occasion of this text may assure us of which is the incarnation and birth of our Saviour It being the foundation of all our joyes and all good things we enjoy By it God comforts Adam the seed of the woman shall break the serpents head Jacob is comforted by the vision of a ladder reaching from heaven to earth and the Angels ascending and descending by it the mystery whereof may be this The ladder is Christ the foot of it on earth noteth his humanity man of the substance of his mother born in the world the top reaching to heaven noteth his divinity Job 19.25 God of the substance of his Father begotten before all worlds perfect God and perfect man by which union of natures he hath joined earth and heaven together that is God and man The going up and down of Angels by the ladder sheweth how by Christ the service of Angels is purchased unto us all which accordeth with that in Joh. 1.51 Verily verily I say unto you faith our Saviour hereafter ye shall see the heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man Job again comforts himself in this that his Redeemer of his own flesh as the word signifieth liveth In the Old Testament they which sought to God came to the Ark or Propitiatory and there were they heard and received Gods blessing Now Christ God and man is instead thereof his Godhead being the fountain of all good things and his flesh or Manhood a pipe or conduit to conveigh the fame unto us Wherefore let us rejoyce in God our Saviour and comfort our selves in his good will towards men Moreover 2. We may the better bear temptations and afflictions and slight the assaults of the world That which in Spaniards deserveth the greatest commendations is an unmoved patience in suffering adversity accompanied with a settled resolution of overcoming them This if we attain unto in Christianity will shield us from despair and distrust for we may be well assured that God to his distressed servants is the neerest when he seemeth furthest then sweetest when he seemeth sowrest and then up in wrath to revenge our wrongs when the world doth think he hath forgot us For still he beares goad will towards us Lastly we must acknowledge Gods good will through Christ to be the sole cause of all our happiness It is a true Maxime in Divinity Publisht in Austins time Vniversa salus nostra Aug. Ned. Cap. 34. magna miserecordia tua Our safety on earth our salvation in heaven proceed from thy abundant mercies O Lord. Thus the Father the Son and the holy Ghost do all join together in one immutable resolution to prove their good will towards men The issue whereof cannot be but exceeding good For as Astronomers do well observe that when three of the superiour lights do meet in conjunction it bringeth forth some admirable effects So now seeing that these three infinite lights of the world three persons of the Deity are met together in one good-will towards men this benevolous aspect produceth this admirable effect that all true beleevers shall be hereby exalted into glory For which with thankful hearts we ought ever to pay the tribute of obedience And in assurance whereof to rest in Gods promises which can never faile In his name I end as I did begin To whom as the Angels did before us and duty ever binds us be rendred all honour and glory both now and for ever Amen The Necessity of CHRISTS PASSION AND Resurrection ACTS 17.3 Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead I Am induced by these words to relate the greatest wonder of the world wherein is comprehended the profoundest Mystery of our salvation That the Son of God should become the Son of man that the Lord of glory should come in the forme of an humble and dejected servant that the Sun of righteousnesse should be deprived of light and then that the sole Author of our life should be put to death Weigh but the reason and the wonder is the greater It was for our redemption all this was effected and can there be a greater wonder then that he that knew no sin would putting on mortality suffer unutterable tortures both in soul and body and be content to die to save those that knew nothing but sin certainly there cannot be a greater wonder The most professed enemy to sinners herein did become to sinners the most professed friend He is ready to save who might be more ready to destroy But mercy binds the hands of justice and justice is overcome of mercy The eternal wisdome beholding from above with the gracious eye of pay the forlorne estate of mankind after their apostasy and treacherous violation of the sacred Covenant contrived a project not to be contrived by the Art of man whereby our Redemption should be wrought and liberty obtained Gods love to us did exceed our sins Our sins are not so great are not so many but his love can cover them and his mercy pardon them And where men come