embassages to be your Lieger with God If ye had seene him take his heeles and runne away from you into the wildernesse what could ye haue said or done more Behold our better Moses was with vs a while vpon earth he is now ascended into the Mount of Heauen to mediate for vs shall we now thinke of another Sauiour Shall we not hold it our happinesse that he is for our sakes aboue And what if your Moses had been gone for euer Must yee therefore haue gods made If ye had said Choose vs another Gouernour it had beene a wicked and vnthankfull motion ye were too vnworthy of a Moses that could so soone forget him but to say Make vs Gods was absurdly impious Moses was not your God but your Gouernour Neither was the presence of God tyed to Moses You saw God still when he was gone in his pillar and in his Manna and yet ye say Make vs Gods Euery word is full of senselesse wickednesse How many gods would you haue Or what gods are those that can be made Or what euer the Idolatrous Aegyptians did with what face can ye after so many miraculous obligations speake of another God Had the voice of God scarce done thundring in your eares Did you so lately heare and see him to be an infinite God Did ye quake to heare him say out of the midst of the flames I am Iehouah thy God Thou shalt haue no Gods but mee Did yee acknowledge God your Maker and doe ye now speake of making of gods If yee had said Make vs another man to goe before vs it had been an impossible suit Aaron might helpe to marre you and himselfe He could not make one haire of a man and doe ye say Make vs Gods And what should those gods doe Goe before you How could they go before you that cannot stand alone your helpe makes them to stand and yet they must conduct you Oh the impatient ingratitude of carnall minds Oh the sottishnesse of Idolatry Who would not haue said Moses is not with vs but he is with God for vs He stayes long He that called him withholds him His delay is for our sakes as well as his ascent Though we see him not we will hope for him his fauours to vs haue deserued not to be reiected Or if God will keepe him from vs hee that withholds him can supply him He that sent him can lead vs without him His fire and Cloud is all-sufficient God hath said and done enough for vs to make vs trust him We will we can haue no other God we care not for any other guide But behold here none of this Moses stayes but some fiue and thirty dayes and now hee is forgotten and is become but this Moses Yea God is forgotten with him and as if God and Moses had beene lost at once they say Make vs Gods Naturall men must haue God at their bent and if hee come not at a call he is cast off and they take themselues to their owne shifts like as the Chinois whip their gods when they answer them not Whereas his holy ones wait long and seeke him and not onely in their sinking but from the bottome of the deepes call vpon him and though he kill them will trust in him Superstition besots the minds of men and blinds the eye of reason and first makes them not men ere it makes them idolaters How else could hee that is the Image of God fall downe to the Images of creatures How could our forefathers haue so doted vpon stockes and stones if they had beene themselues As the Syrians were first blinded and then led into the midst of Samaria so are the Idolaters first bereaued of their wits and common sense and afterwards are caried brutishly into all palpable impiety Who would not haue been ashamed to heare this answer from the brother of Moses Plucke off your Earings He should haue said Plucke this Idolatrous thought out of your hearts and now in stead of chiding he soothes them And as if he had been no kin to Moses he helpes to lead them backe againe from God to Aegypt The people importuned him perhaps with threats Hee that had waded thorow all the menaces of Pharaoh doth he now shrinke at the threats of his owne Moses is not afraid of the terrors of God His faith that caried him thorow the water led him vp to the fire of Gods presence whiles his brother Aaron feares the faces of those men which he lately saw pale with the feare of their glorious Law-giuer As if hee that forbade other gods could not haue maintained his owne act and agent against men Sudden feares when they haue possessed weake minds lead them to shamefull errours Importunitie or violence may lessen but they cannot excuse a fault Wherefore was he a Gouernor but to depresse their disordered motions Facility of yeelding to a sinne or wooing it with our voluntarie suit is an higher staire of euill but euen at last to be won to sinne is damnable It is good to resist any onset of sinne but one condescent loses all the thankes of our opposition What will it auaile a man that others are plagued for solliciting him whiles he smarteth for yeelding If both be in hell what ease is it to him that another is deeper in the pit What now did Aaron Behold he that alone was allowed to climbe vp the trembling and fiery Hill of Sinai with Moses and heard God say Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen Image for I am a iealous God as if hee meant particularly to preuent this act within one moneth cals for their earings makes the grauen Image of a Calfe erects an Altar consecrates a day to it cals it their God and weepes not to see them dance before it It is a miserable thing when Gouernours humour the people in their sinnes and in stead of making vp the breach enlarge it Sinne will take heart by the approbation of the meanest looker on but if authoritie once second it it growes impudent As contrarily where the publike gouernment opposes euill though it be vnder-hand practised not without feare there is life in that state Aaron might haue learned better counsell of his brothers example When they came to him with stones in their hands and said Giue vs water he ranne as roundly to God with prayers in his mouth So should Aaron haue done when they said Giue vs gods but he weakely runnes to their earings that which should be made their god not to the True God which they had and forsooke Who can promise to himselfe freedome from grosse infirmities when he that went vp into the Mount comes down and doth that in the valley which he heard forbidden in the Hill I see yet and wonder at the mercy of that God which had iustly called himselfe iealous This very Aaron whose infirmity had yeelded to so foule an idolatry is after chosen by God to be a Priest to himselfe Hee that
is maruellous in our eyes You haue now parallel'd vs Out of both our feares God hath fetched securitie Oh that out of our securitie wee could as easily fetch feare not so much of euill as of the Author of good and yet trust him in our feare and in both magnifie him Yea you haue by this act gained some conuerts against the hope of the agents neither can I without many ioyfull congratulations thinke of the estate of your Church which euery day honours with the accesse of new clients whose teares and sad confessions make the Angels to reioyce in heauen and the Saints on earth We should giue you example if our peace were as plentifull of goodnesse as of pleasure But how seldome hath the Church gained by ease or lost by restraint Blesse you God for our prosperitie and we shall praise him for your progresse To M. THOMAS SVTTON EP. VII Exciting him and in him all others to early and cheerfull beneficence shewing the necessitie and benefit of good workes SIR I trouble you not with reasons of my writing or with excuses if I doe ill no plea can warrant me if well I cannot be discouraged with any censures I craue not your pardon but your acceptation It is no presumption to giue good counsell and presents of loue feare not to be ill taken of strangers My pen and your substance are both giuen vs for one end to doe good These are our talents how happy are we if we can improue them well suffer me to doe you good with the one that with the other you may doe good to many and most to your selfe You cannot but know that your ful hand and worthy purposes haue possessed the world with much expectation what speake I of the world whose honest and reasonable claimes yet cannot bee contemned with honour nor disappointed with dishonour The God of heauen which hath lent you this abundance and giuen you these gracious thoughts of charity of piety lookes long for the issue of both and will easily complaine either of too little or too late Your wealth and your will are both good but the first is onely made good by the second For if your hand were full and your heart empty we who now applaud you should iustly pity you you might haue riches not goods not blessings your burthen should be greater then your estate and you should be richer in sorrowes then in meals For if we looke to no other world what gaine is it to be the keeper of the best earth That which is the common cofer of all the rich mynes we do but tread vpon and account it vile because it doth but hold and hide those treasures Whereas the skilfull metallist that findeth and refineth those precious veines for publike vse is rewarded is honoured The very basest Element yeelds gold the sauage Indian gets it the seruile prentise workes it the very Midianitish Camell may weare it the miserable worldling admires it the couetous Iew swallowes it the vnthrifty Ruffian spends it what are all these the better for it Onely good vse giues praise to earthly possessions Herein therefore you owe more to God that he hath giuen you an heart to doe good a will to be as rich in good workes as great in riches To be a friend to this Mammon is to be an enemy to God but to make friends with it is royall and Christian His enemies may be wealthy none but his friends can either be good or do good Da accipe saith the Wise-man The Christian which must imitate the high patterne of his Creator knowes his best riches to be bounty God that hath all giues all reserues nothing And for himselfe he well considers that God hath not made him an owner but a seruant and of seruants a seruant not of his goods but of the Giuer not a Treasurer but a Steward whose praise is more To lay out well then to haue receiued much The greatest gaine therefore that he affects is an eauen reckoning a cleare discharge which since it is obtained by disposing not by keeping he counts reseruation losse iust expence his trade and ioy he knowes that Wel done faithfull seruant is a thousand times more sweet a note then Soule take thine ease for that is the voice of the matter recompencing this of the carnall heart presuming and what followes to the one but his masters ioy what to the other but the losse of his soule Blessed be that God which hath giuen you an heart to fore-thinke this and in this dry and dead Age a will to honour him with his owne and to credit his Gospell with your beneficence Lo we are vpbraided with barrennesse your name hath beene publikely opposed to these challenges as in whom it shall be seene that the truth hath friends that can giue I neither distrust nor perswade you whose resolutions are happily fixed on purposes of good onely giue me leaue to hasten your pase a little and to excite your Christian forwardnesse to begin speedily what you haue long and constantly vowed You would not but doe good why not now I speake boldly The more speed the more comfort Neither the times are in our disposing nor our selues if God had set vs a day and made our wealth inseparable there were no danger in delaying now our vncertainty either must quicken vs or may deceiue vs. How many haue meant well and done nothing and lost their crowne with lingring whose destinies haue preuented their desires and haue made their good motions the wards of their executors not without miserable successe to whom that they would haue done good is not so great a praise as it is dishonour that they might haue done it their wracks are our warnings we are equally mortall equally fickle Why haue you this respite of liuing but to preuent the imperious necessity of death it is a wofull and remedilesse complaint that the end of our dayes hath ouer-run the beginning of our good works Early beneficence hath no danger many ioyes for the conscience of good done the prayers and blessings of the releeued the gratulations of the Saints are as so many perpetuall comforters which can make our life pleasant and our death happy our euill dayes good and our good better All these are lost with delay few and cold are the prayers for him that may giue and in lieu our good purposes fore-slowed are become our tormentors vpon our death-bed Little difference is betwixt good deferred and euill done Good was meant who hindred it will our conscience say there was time enough meanes enough need enough what hindred Did feare of enuy distrust of want Alas what bugs are these to fright men from heauen As if the enuy of keeping were lesse then of bestowing As if God were not as good a debtor as a giuer he that giues to the poore lends to God saith wise Salomon If he freely giue vs what we may lend grace to giue wil he not much more
the ancient Minoei of whom Ierome speaketh while they vrged Circumcision by consequent according to Pauls rule reiected Christ So the Pelagians while they defended a full perfection of our righteousnes in our selues ouerthrew Christs iustification and in effect said I beleeue in Christ and in my selfe So some Vbiquitaries while they hold the possibilitie of conuersion and saluation of reprobates ouerthrow the doctrine of Gods eternall Decree and immutabilitie Poperie comes in this latter ranke and may iustly bee tearmed Heresie by direct consequent though not in their grant yet in necessarie proofe and inference Thus it ouerthrowes the truth of Christs humanitie while it holds his whole humane body locally circumscribed in heauen and at once the same instant wholly present in ten thousand places on earth without circumscription That whole Christ is in the formes of bread with all his dimensions euery part hauing his owne place and figure and yet so as that hee is wholly in euery part of the bread Our iustification while it ascribes it to our owne workes The all-sufficiencie of Christs owne sacrifice whiles they reiterate it dayly by the hands of a Priest Of his satisfaction while they hold a paiment of our vtmost farthings in a deuised Purgatory Of his mediation while they implore others to aide them not onely by their intercession but their merits suing not onely for their prayers but their gifts The value of the Scriptures whiles they hold them insufficient obscure in points essentiall to saluation and binde them to an vncertaine dependance vpon the Church Besides hundreds of this kinde there are Heresies in actions contrary to those fundamentall practices which God requires of his as prohibitions of Scriptures to the Laitie Prescriptions of deuotion in vnknowne tongues Tying the effect of Sacraments and Prayers to the externall worke Adoration of Angels Saints Bread Reliques Crosses Images All vvhich are so many recall vnderminings of the sacred foundation which is no lesse actiue then vocall By this the simplest may see what wee must hold of Papists neither as no Hereticks nor yet so palpable as the worst If any man aske for their conuiction In the simpler sort I grant this excuse faire and tolerable poore soules they cannot be any otherwise informed much lesse perswaded Whiles in truth of heart they hold the maine principles which they know doubtlesse the mercy of God may passe ouer their ignorant weaknesse in what they cannot know For the other I feare not to say that many of their errors are wilfull The light of truth hath shined out of heauen to them and they loue darknesse more then light In this state of the Church he shall speake and hope idly that shall call for a publique and vniuersall euiction How can that be when they pretend to be Iudges in their owne cause Vnlesse they will not be aduersaries to themselues or judge of vs this course is but impossible As the Diuell so Antichrist will not yeeld both shall bee subdued neither will treat of peace what remaines but that the Lord shall consume that wicked man which is now clearely reuealed with the breath of his mouth and abolish him vvith the brightnesse of his comming Euen so Lord Iesus come quickly This briefely is my conceit of Popery which I willingly referre to your cleare and deepe iudgement being not more desirous to teach the ignorant vvhat I know then to learne of you what I should teach and know not The Lord direct all our thoughts to his glory and the behoofe of his Church Written long since to Mr J. W. EP. V. Disswading from separation and shortly oppugning the grounds of that error IN my former Epistle I confesse I touched the late separation with a light hand onely setting down the iniury of it at the best not discussing the grounds in common now your danger drawes me on to this discourse it is not much lesse thanke-worthy to preuent a disease then to cure it you confesse that you doubt I mislike it not doubting is not more the way to error then to satisfaction lay downe first all pride and preiudice and I cannot feare you I neuer yet knew any man of this vvay which hath not bewraide himselfe far gone with ouer-weening and therefore it hath been iust with God to punish their selfe-loue with error an humble spirit is a fit subiect for truth prepare you your heart and let me then answer or rather God for me you doubt whether the notorious sinne of one vnreformed vncensured defile not the whole Congregation so as we may not without sinne communicate therewith and why not the whole Church woe were vs if wee should thus liue in the danger of all men haue we not sinnes enow of our owne but wee must borrow of others Each man shall beare his owne burden is ours so light that we call for more weight and vndertake what God neuer imposed It was enough for him that is God and Man to beare others iniquities it is no taske for vs which shrinke vnder the least of our owne But it is made ours you say though anothers by our toleration and conniuence indeed if we consent to them incourage them imitate or accompany them in the same excesse of ryot yet more the publique person that forbeares a knowne sinne sinneth but if each mans knowne sinne be euery mans what difference is betwixt the root and the branches Adams sinne spred it selfe to vs because we were in him stood or fell in him our case is not such Doe but see how God scorneth that vniust Prouerbe of the Iewes That the fathers haue eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge How much lesse are strangers Is any bond so neere as this of blood Shall not the child smart for the Parent and shall we euen spiritually for others You obiect Achans stealth and Israels punishment an vnlike case and extraordinary for see how direct Gods charge is Be ye ware of the execrable thing lest ye make your selues execrable and in taking of the execrable thing make also the Hoast of Israel execrable and trouble it Now euery man is made a partie by a peculiar iniunction and not onely all Israel is as one man but euery Israelite is a publike person in this act you cannot show the like in euery one no not in any it was a law for the present not intended for perpetuity you may as well challenge the Trumpets of Rams-hornes and seuen dayes walke vnto euery siege Looke else-where the Church of Thyatira suffers the woman Iezabel to teach and deceiue A great sinne Yet to you saith the Spirit the rest of Thyatira as many as haue not this learning I will put vpon you none other burden but that which you haue hold fast He saith not Leaue your Church but Hold fast your owne Looke into the practice of the Prophets ransacke their burdens and see if you find this there yea behold our best patterne the Sonne of God The Iewish
that may challenge and command our eares and hearts this is it for behold the sweetest word that euer Christ spake and the most meritorious act that euer he did are met together in this his last breath In the one yee shall see him triumphing yeelding in the other yet so as he ouercomes Imagine therefore that you saw Christ Iesus in this day of his passion who is euery day here crucified before your eyes aduanced vpon the Chariot of his Crosse and now after a weary conflict cheerefully ouer-looking the despight and shame of men the wrath of his Father the Law sinne death hell which all he gasping at his foot and then you shall conceiue with what spirit he saith Consummatum est It is finished What is finished Shortly All the prophesies that were of him All legall obseruations that prefigured him his owne sufferings our saluation The prophesies are accomplisht the ceremonies abolisht his sufferings ended our saluation wrought these foure heads shall limit this first part of my speech onely let them finde and leaue you attentiue Euen this very word is prophesied of All things that are written of mee haue an end saith Christ What end This it is finished This very end hath his end here What therefore is finished Not this prediction onely of his last draught as Augustine that were too particular Let our Sauiour himselfe say All things that are written of mee by the Prophets It is a sure and conuertible rule Nothing was done by Christ which was not foretold Nothing was euer foretold by the Prophets of Christ which was not done It would take vp a life to compare the Prophets and Euangelists ☜ ☞ Esay 7.14 Matth. 1.23 Michah 5.2 Matth. 2.6 Esay 11.1 Matth. 2.15 Ieremie 31.15 Matth. 2.18 Iudg. 13.5 Matth. 2. vlt. Esay 40.3 Matth. 3.2 Esay 9.1 Matth. 4.15 Leuit. 14.4 Matth. 8.4 Esay 53.4 Matth. 8.17 Esay 61.1 Matth. 11.4 Esay 42.1 Matth. 12.17 Ionah 1.17 Matth. 12.40 Esay 6.9 Matth. 13.14 Psalm 78.2 Matth. 13.35 Esay 35.5 6. Matth. 15.30 Esay 62.11 Matth. 21.5 Zach. 9.9 Matth. Ibidem Ieremie 7.11 Matth. 21.13 Psalm 8.2 Matth. 21.16 Esay 5.8 Matth. 21.33 Psal 118.22 Matth. 21.44 Psal 110.1 Matth. 22.44 Esay 3.14 Matth. 21.44 Psal 41.9 Matth. 26.31 Esay 53.10 Matth. 26.54 Zach. 13.7 Matth. 26.31 Lam. 4.20 Matth. 26.56 Esay 50.6 Matth. 26.67 Zach. 11.13 Matth. 27.9 Psalm 22.18 Matth. 27.35 Psalm 22.2 Matth. 27.46 Psalm 69.22 Matth. 27.48 the predictions and the history and largely to discourse how the one foretels and the other answers let it suffice to looke at them running Of all the Euangelists Saint Matthew hath beene most studious in making these references and correspondences with whom the burden or vndersong of euery euent is still vt impleretur That it might bee fulfilled Thus hath he noted if I haue reckoned them aright two and thirtie seuerall prophesies concerning Christ fulfilled in his birth life death To which S. Iohn adds many more Our speech must bee directed to his Passion Omitting the rest let vs insist in those He must be apprehended it was fore-prophesied The Anointed of the Lord was taken in their nets saith Ieremie but how he must be sold for what thirty siluer peeces and what must those doe buy a field all foretold And they tooke thirty siluer peeces the price of him that was valued and gaue them for the Potters field saith Zacharie miswritten Ieremie by one letter mistaken in the abbreuiation By whom That childe of perdition that the Scripture might bee fulfilled Which was hee It is foretold He that eateth bread with me saith the Psalmist And what shall his Disciples doe Runne away so saith the prophesie I will smite the shepherd and the sheepe shall bee scattered saith Zacharie What shall bee done to him Hee must be scourged and spet vpon behold not those filthy excrements could haue light vpon his sacred face without a prophesie I hid not my face from shame and spetting saith Esay What shall bee the issue In short he shall be led to death it is the prophesie The Messias shall bee slaine saith Daniel what death He must be lift vp Like as Moses lift vp the Serpent in the wildernesse so shall the Sonne of man bee lift vp Chrysostome saith well that some actions are parables so may I say some actions are prophesies such are all types of Christ and this with the formost Lift vp whither to the Crosse it is the prophesie hanging vpon a tree saith Moses how lift vp nailed to it so is the prophesie Foderunt manus They haue pierced my hands and my feet saith the Psalmist With what companie Two theeues With the wicked was hee numbred saith Esay Where Without the gates saith the prophesie What becomes of his garments They cannot so much as cast the dice for his coat but it is prophesied They diuided my garments and on my vestures cast lots saith the Psalmist Hee must die then on the Crosse but how voluntarily Not a bone of him shall be broken what hinders it loe there he hangs as it were neglected and at mercy yet all the raging Iewes no all the Deuils in hell cannot stir one bone in his blessed bodie It was prophesied in the Easter-Lamb and it must bee fulfilled in him that is the true Passeouer in spight of fiends and men how then hee must be thrust in the side behold not the very speare could touch his precious side being dead but it must be guided by a prophesie They shall see him whom they haue thrust thorow saith Zacharie what shall he say the while not his very words but are fore-spoken his complaint Eli Eli lammasabactani as the Chalde or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Hebrew Psalm 22.2 his resignation In manus tuas Into thy hands I commend my spirit Psal 31.5 his request Father forgiue them Hee prayed for the transgressors saith Esay And now when hee saw all these prophesies were fulfilled knowing that one remained he said I thirst Domine quid sitis saith one O Lord what thirstest thou for A strange hearing that a man yea that GOD and MAN dying should complaine of thirst Could hee endure the scorching flames of the wrath of his Father the curse of our sinnes those tortures of bodie those horrours of soule and doth he shrinke at his thirst No no he could haue borne his drought he could not beare the Scripture not fulfilled It was not necessitie of nature but the necessitie of his Fathers decree that drew forth this word I thirst They offered it before he refused it Whether it were an ordinarie potion for the condemned to hasten death as in the storie of M. Anthonie which is the most receiued construction or whether it were that Iewish potion whereof the Rabbines speake whose tradition was that the malefactor to be executed Sit mors mea in remissionâ—m omnium miquitatuÌ„ mearum Vt vsus rationis tollatur should after some good counsell from two
station where God hath set vs. I see the Leuites not long since drawing their swords for God and Moses against the rest of Israel and that fact wins them both praise and blessing Now they are the forwardest in the rebellion against Moses and Aaron men of their owne Tribe There is no assurance of a man for one act whom one sinne cannot fasten vpon another may Yea the same sinne may finde a repulse one while from the same hand which another time giues it entertainment and that yeeldance loses the thanke of all the former resistance It is no praise to haue done once well vnlesse we continue Outward priuiledges of blood can auaile nothing against a particular calling of God These Reubenites had the right of the natural primogeniture yet do they vainly challenge preeminence where God hath subiected them If all ciuill honour flow from the King how much more from the God of Kings His hand exalts the poore and casts downe the mighty from their throne The man that will be lifting vp himselfe in the pride of his heart from vnder the foot of God is iustly troden in the dust Moses is the Prince of Israel Aaron the Priest Moses was milde Aaron popular yet both are conspired against Their places are no lesse brothers then their persons Both are opposed at once He that is a traytor to the Church is a traytor to the King Any superioritie is a marke of Enuy. Had Moses and Aaron beene but fellowes with the Israelites none had beene better beloued their dispositions were such as must needs haue forced fauour from the indifferent now they were aduanced their malice is not inferiour to their honour High towers must looke for lightnings we offer not to vndermine but those wals which we cannot scale Nature in euery man is both enuious and disdainfull and neuer loues to honour another but where it may be an honour to it selfe There cannot be conceiued an honour lesse worth emulation then this principality of Israel a people that could giue nothing a people that had nothing but in hope a people whom their leader was faine to feed with bread and water which paid him no tribute but of ill words whose command was nothing but a burden and yet this dignitie was an eye-sore to these Leuites and these Reubenites Ye take too much vpon you ye sonnes of Leui. And this challenge though thus vnseasonable hath drawne in two hundred and fifty Captaines of Israel What wonder is it that the ten Rulers preuailed so much with the multitude to disswade them from Canaan when three traitors preuailed thus with 250 Rulers famous in the Congregation and men of renowne One man may kindle such a fire as all the world cannot quench One plague-sore may infect a whole Kingdome The infection of euill is much worse then the act It is not like these Leaders of Israel could erre without followers Hee is a meane man that drawes not some Clients after him It hath been euer a dangerous policy of Satan to assault the best he knowes that the multitude as wee say of Bees will follow their master Nothing can be more pleasing to the vulgar sort then to heare their Gouernours taxed and themselues flattered All the Congregation is holy Euery one of them Wherefore lift ye vp your selues Euery word is a falshood For Moses deiected himselfe Who am I God lifted him vp ouer Israel And so was Israel holy as Moses was ambitious What holinesse was there in so much infidelitie feare Idolatry mutiny disobedience What could make them vncleane if this were holinesse They had scarce wip't their mouths or washt their hands since their last obstinacie and yet these pick-thankes say All Israel is holy I would neuer desire a better proofe of a false teacher then flatterie True meaning need not vphold it selfe by soothing There is nothing easier then to perswade men well of themselues when a mans selfe-loue meetes with anothers flattery it is an high praise that will not be beleeued It was more out of opposition then beliefe that these men plead the holinesse of Israel Violent aduersaries to vphold a side will maintaine those things they beleeue not Moses argues not for himselfe but appeales to God neither speakes for his owne right but his brother Aarons He knew that Gods immediate seruice was worthy to be more precious then his gouernment That his Princedome serued but to the glory of his Master Good Magistrates are more tender ouer Gods honour then their owne and more sensible of the wrongs offred to Religion then to themselues It is safest to trust God with his owne causes If Aaron had been chosen by Israel Moses would haue sheltred him vnder their authority Now that God did immediately appoint him his patronage is sought whose the election was Wee may easily fault in the managing of diuine affaires and so our want of successe cannot want sinne He knowes how to vse how to blesse his owne meanes As there was a difference betwixt the people and Leuites so betwixt the Leuites and Priests The God of order loues to haue our degrees kept Whiles the Leuites would be looking vp to the Priests Moses sends downe their eyes to the people The way not to repine at those aboue vs is to looke at those below vs. There is no better remedy for ambition then to cast vp our former receits and to compare them with our deseruings and to conferre our owne estate with inferiours So shall wee finde cause to be thankfull that wee are aboue any rather then of enuy that any is aboue vs. Moses hath chid the sonnes of Leui for mutining against Aaron and so much the more because they were of his owne Tribe now hee sends for the Reubenites which rose against himselfe They come not and their message is worse then their absence Moses is accused of iniustice cruelty falshood treacherie vsurpation and Egypt it self must be commended rather then Moses shall want reproch Innocency is no shelter from ill tongues Malice neuer regards how true any accusation is but how spightfull Now it was time for Moses to be angry They durst not haue been thus bold if they had not seene his mildnesse Lenity is ill bestowed vpon stubborne natures It is an iniurious senslesnesse not to feele the wounds of our reputation It well appeares hee is angry when he prayes against them He was displeased before but when he was most bitter against them he still prayed for them but now hee bends his very prayers against them Looke not to their offering There can be no greater reuenge then the imprecation of the righteous There can be no greater iudgement then Gods reiection of our seruices With vs men what more argues dislike of the person then the turning backe of his present What will God accept from vs if not prayers The innocence of Moses cals for reuenge on his Aduersaries If hee had wronged them in his gouernment in vaine should he haue
one man slue all those thousands at a blow It was enough for the puissant King of Israel to follow the chase and to kill them whom Dauid had put to flight yet he that could lend his clothes and his armour to this exploit cannot abide to part with the honour of it to him that hath earned it so dearly The holy Songs of Dauid had not more quieted his spirits before then now the thankfull Song of the Israelitish women vexed him One little Dittie of Saul hath slaine his thousand and Dauid his ten thousand sung vnto the Timbrels of Israel fetcht againe that euill spirit which Dauids Musicke had expelled Saul needed not the torment of a worse spirit then Enuie Oh the vnreasonablenesse of this wicked passion The women gaue Saul more and Dauid lesse then he deserued For Saul alone could not kill a thousand and Dauid in that one act of killing Goliah slue in effect all the Philistims that were slaine that day and yet because they giue more to Dauid then to himselfe he that should haue endited begun that Song of thankfulnesse repines and growes now as mad with enuy as he was before with griefe Truth and Iustice are no protection against Malice Enuie is blind to all obiects saue other mens happinesse If the eyes of men could bee contained within their owne bounds and not roue forth into comparisons there could be no place for this vicious affection but when they haue once taken this lawlesse scope to themselues they lose the knowledge of home and care onely to be employed abroad in their owne torment Neuer was Sauls brest so fit a lodging for the euill spirit as now that it is drest vp with enuy It is as impossible that Hell should bee free from Deuils as a malicious heart Now doth the franticke King of Israel renew his old fits and walkes and talkes distractedly He was mad with Dauid and who but Dauid must be called to allay his madnesse Such as Dauids wisedome was he could not but know the termes wherein he stood with Saul yet in lieu of the harsh and discordous notes of his masters enuy he returnes pleasing Musicke vnto him He can neuer bee good Courtier nor good man that hath not learned to repay if not iniuries with thankes yet euill with good Whiles there was a Harpe in Dauids hand there was a Speare in Sauls wherewith he threatens death as the recompence of that sweet melodie He said I will smite Dauid through to the wall It is well for the innocent that wicked men cannot keep their owne counsell God fetcheth their thoughts out of their mouthes or their countenance for a seasonable preuention which else might proceed to secret execution It was time for Dauid to withdraw himselfe his obedience did not tye him to bee the marke of a furious master hee might ease Saul with his musicke with his blood hee might not Twice therefore doth he auoid the Presence not the Court not the Seruice of Saul One would haue thought rather that Dauid should haue beene affraid of Saul because the Deuill was so strong with him then that Saul should be affraid of Dauid because the Lord was with him yet we find all the feare in Saul of Dauid none in Dauid of Saul Hatred and feare are ordinary companions Dauid had wisedome and faith to dispell his feares Saul had nothing but infidelity and deiected selfe-condemned distempred thoughts which must needs nourish them yet Saul could not feare any hurt from Dauid whom he found so loyall and seruiceable Hee feares onely too much good vnto Dauid and the enuious feare is much more then the distrustfull now Dauids presence begins to be more displeasing then his Musicke was sweet Despight it selfe had rather preferre him to a remote dignity then endure him a neerer attendant This promotion encreaseth Dauids honour and loue and this loue and honour aggrauates Sauls hatred and feare Sauls madnesse hath not bereaued him of his craft For perceiuing how great Dauid was growne in the reputation of Israel he dares not offer any personall or direct violence to him but hires him into the iawes of a supposed death by no lesse price then his eldest Daughter Behold mine eldest daughter Merab her will I giue thee to wife onely be a valiant Sonne to me and fight the Lords Battels Could euer man speak more graciously more holily What could bee more graciously offered by a King then his eldest Daughter What care could be more holy then of the Lords battels yet neuer did Saul intend so much mischiefe to Dauid or so much vnfaithfulnesse to God as when he spake thus There is neuer so much danger of the false-hearted as when they make the fairest weather Sauls Speare bad Dauid be gone but his plausible words inuite him to danger This honour was due to Dauid before vpon the compact of his victory yet he that twice inquired into the reward of that enterprize before he vndertooke it neuer demanded it after that atchieuement neither had Saul the iustice to offer it as a recompence of so noble an exploit but as a snare to an enuied victory Charitie suspects not Dauid construes that as an effect and argument of his Masters loue which was no other but a child of Enuy but a plot of mischiefe and though he knew his owne desert and the Iustice of his claime to Merab yet hee in a sincere humilitie disparageth himselfe and his Parentage with a who am I As it was not the purpose of this modestie in Dauid to reiect but to sollicit the proffered fauour of Saul so was it not in the power of this bashfull humiliation to turne backe the edge of so keene an enuy It helpes not that Dauid makes himselfe meane whiles others magnifie his worth Whatsoeuer the colour was Saul meant nothing to Dauid but danger and death and since all those Battels will not effect that which he desired himselfe will not effect that which hee promised If hee cannot kill Dauid he will disgrace him Dauids honour was Sauls disease It was not likely therefore that Saul would adde vnto that honour whereof he was so sicke already Merab is giuen vnto another neither doe I heare Dauid complaine of so manifest an iniustice He knew that the God whose battels he fought had prouided a due reward of his patience If Merab faile God hath a Michal in store for him she is in loue with Dauid his comelinesse and valour haue so wonne her heart that she now emulates the affection of her Brother Ionathan If she be the yonger Sister yet she is more affectionate Saul is glad of the newes his Daughter could neuer liue to doe him better seruice then to be a new snare to his Aduersarie Shee shall bee therefore sacrificed to his enuie and her honest and sincere loue shall bee made a bait for her worthy and innocent Husband I will giue him her that shee may be a snare vnto him that the hand of the
the goods Wise and holy Dauid whose prayse was no lesse to ouercome his owne in time of peace than his enemies in warre cals his contending followers from Law to equitie and so orders the matter that since the Plaintifes were detained not by will but by necessity and since their forced stay was vse-full in garding the stuffe they should partake equally of the prey with there fellowes A sentence wel-beseeming the Iustice of Gods Annoynted Those that represent God vpon earth should resemble him in their proceeding It is the iust mercie of our God to measure vs by our wils not by our abilities to recompence vs graciously according to the truth of our desires and endeauours and to account that performed by vs which hee only letteth vs from performing It were wide with vs if sometimes purpose did not supply actions Whiles our heart faulteth not wee that through spirituall sicknesse are faine to abide by the stuffe shall share both in grace and glorie with the Victors The death of SAVL THe Witch of Endor had halfe slaine Saul before the Battell it is just that they who consult with Deuils should goe away with discomfort Hee hath eaten his last bread at the hand of a Sorceresse and now necessitie drawes him into that field where hee sees nothing but despaire Had not Saul beleeued the ill newes of the counterfeite Samuel hee had not beene strooke downe on the ground with words Now his beliefe made him desperate Those actions which are not sustayned by hope must needes languish and are only promoted by outward compulsion Whiles the mind is vncertaine of successe it relieues it selfe with the possibilities of good in doubts there is a comfortable mixture but when it is assured of the worst euent it is vtterly discouraged and deiected It hath therefore pleased the wisdome of God to hide from wicked men his determination of their finall estate that their remainders of hope may harten them to good In all likelihood one selfe-same day saw Dauid a victor ouer the Amalekites and Saul discomfited by the Philistims How should it bee otherwise Dauid consulted with God and preuailed Saul with the Witch of Endor and perisheth The end is commonly answerable to the way It is an idle iniustice when wee doe ill to looke to speede well The slaughter of Saul and his sonnes was not in the first Scene of this Tragicall field that was rather reserued by God for the last act that Sauls measure might bee full God is long ere hee strikes but when hee doth it is to purpose First Israel flees and fals downe wounded in Mount Gilboa They had their part in Sauls sinne they were actors in Dauids persecution Iustly therefore doe they suffer with him whom they had seconded in offence As it is hard to bee good vnder an euill Prince so it is as rare not to bee enwrapped in his iudgments It was no small addition to the anguish of Sauls death to see his sonnes dead to see his people fleeing and slaine before him They had sinned in their King and in them is their King punished The rest were not so worthy of pittie but whose heart would it not touch to see Ionathan the good sonne of a wicked father inuolued in the common destruction Death is not partiall All dispositions all merits are alike to it if valour if holinesse if sinceritie of heart could haue beene any defence against mortalitie Ionathan had suruiued Now by their wounds and death no man can descerne which is Ionathan The soule onely findes the difference which the body admitteth not Death is the common gate both to Heauen and Hell wee all passe that ere our turning to either hand The sword of the Philistims fetcheth Ionathan through it with his fellowes no sooner is his foot ouer that threshold than God conducteth him to glory The best cannot bee happy but through their dissolution Now therefore hath Ionathan no cause of complaint hee is by the rude and cruell hand of a Philistim but remoued to a better Kingdome then hee leaues to his brother and at once is his death both a temporall affliction to the sonne of Saul and an entrance of glorie to the friend of Dauid The Philistim-archers shot at randome God directs their arrowes into the bodie of Saul Lest the discomfiture of his people and the slaughter of his sonnes should not bee griefe enough to him hee feeles himselfe wounded and sees nothing before him but horror and death and now as a man forsaken of all hopes he begs of his Armour-bearer that deaths-blow which else hee must to the doubling of his indignation receiue from a Philistim Hee begges this bloudie fauour of his seruant and is denyed Such an awefulnesse hath God placed in souereigntie that no intreatie no extreamitie can moue the hand against it What metall are those men made of that can suggest or resolue and attempt the violation of Maiestie Wicked men care more for the sâ—â—â—e of the World than the danger of their soule Despâ—â—â—â— Saul will now supply his Armor-bearer and as a man that 〈◊〉 armes against himselfe he falls vpon his owâ—â— Sword What if he had died by the 〈◊〉 of a Philistin So did his sinne Ionathan and lost no glory These conceits of disreputation preuaile with carnall hearts aboue all spirituall respects There is no greater murderer 〈◊〉 glory Nothing more argues an heart voide of grace than to bee transporte onâ— idle popularity into actions preiudiciaâ—â—â— to the Soule Euill examples especially of the great neuer escaped imitation the Aâ—â—â—or-beateâ— of Saul followes his Master and came doe that to himselfe which to his King hee durst not as if their owne Swords had beeing more familiar executions 〈◊〉 they yeelded vnto them what they grudged to their pursuers From the beginning was Sauls euer his owne enemy neither did any hands hurt him but his owne to and now his death is sutable 〈◊〉 his life his owne hand paies his â—â—â—ard of all his wickednesse The end of Hypocrites and enuious men is commonly fearefull Now is the bloud of Gods Priests which Saul shed and of Dauid which hee would haue shed required and requited The euill spirit had said the euening before To â—â—rrow thou shalt bee with mee and now Saul hasteth to make the Deuill no Liemâ—â—â—â—â—er than faile he giues himselfe his owne Mittimus Oh the wofull extremities of a despairing soule plunging him euer into a greater mischiefe to auoide the lesse He might haâ—â— beene a patient in anothers violence and faultinesse now whiles hee will needs act the Philistins part vpon himselfe he liued and died a Murderer The case is deadly when the Prisoner breakes the Iayle and will not stay for his deliuery and though we may not passe sentence vpon such a soule yet vpon the fact we may the soule may possibly repent in the parting the act is hainous and such as without repentance kils the soule It was the next day ere the Philistims knew
to a liking to a forbearance of his misdeuotion Yea so much the more doth the heart of Asa rise against these puppets for that they were the sinne the shame of his father Did there want thinke we some Courtier of his Fathers retinue to say Sir fauour the memorie of him that begot you you cannot demolish these statues without the dishonour of their Erector Hide your dislike at the least It will bee your glory to lay your finger vpon this blot of your fathers reputation If you list not to allow his act yet winke at it The godly zeale of Asa turnes the deafe eare to these monitors and lets them see that hee doth not more honor a father then hate an Idol No dearenesse of person should take off the edge of our detestation of the sinne Nature is worthy of forgetfulnesse and contempt in opposition to the God of Nature Vpon the same ground as hee remoued the Idols of his father Abijam so for Idols he remoued his Grand-mother Maachah shee would not be remoued from her obscene Idols shee is therefore remoued from the station of her honor That Princesse had aged both in her regency and superstition Vnder her rod was Asa bruought vp and schooled in the rudiments of her Idolatry whom she could not infect she hoped to ouer-awe so as if Asa will not follow her gods yet she presumes that shee may retaine her owne Doubtlesse no meanes were neglected for her reclamation none would preuaile Religious Asa gathers vp himselfe and begins to remember that he is a King though a sonne that she though a mother yet is a subiect that her eminence could not but countenance Idolatry that her greatnesse suppressed religion which hee should in vaine hope to reforme whiles her superstition swayed forgetting therefore the challenges of nature the awe of infancy the custome of reuerence hee strips her of that command which hee saw preiudiciall to his Maker All respects of flesh and blood must be trampled on for God Could that long-setled Idolatry want abettors Questionlesse some or other would say This was the religion of your father Abijam this of your Grand-father Rehoboam this of the latter daies of your wise and great Grand-father Salomon this of your Grand-mother Maachah this of your great Grand-mother Naamah why should it not be yours Why should you suspect either the wisdome or piety or saluation of so many Predecessors Good Asa had learned to contemne prescription against a direct law He had the grace to know it was no measuring truth by so modeme antiquity his eyes scorning to looke so low raise vp themselues to the vncorrupt times of Salomon to Dauid to Samuel to the Iudges to Ioshua to Moses to the Patriarks to Noah to the religious founders of the first world to the first father of mankinde to Paradise to heauen In comparison of these Maachahs God cannot ouerlooke yesterday the ancientest error is but a nouice to Truth And if neuer any example could be pleaded for puritie of religion it is enough that the precept is expresse He knew what God said in Sinai and wrote in the Tables Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen image nor any similitude Thou shalt not bow downe to them nor worship them If all the world had beene an Idolater euer since that word was giuen hee knew how little that precedent could auaile for disobedience Practice must bee corrected by law and not the law yeeld to practice Maachah therefoe goes downe from her seat her Idols from their groue shee to retirednesse they to the fire and from thence to the water Wofull deities that could both burne and drowne Neither did the zeale of Asa more magnifie it selfe in these priuatiue acts of weeding out the corruptions of Religion then in the positiue acts of an holy plantation In the falling of those Idolatrous shrines the Temple of God flourishes That doth he furnish with those sacred treasures which were dedicated by himselfe by the Progenitors Like the true sonne of Dauid hee would not serue God cost-free Rehoboam turned Salomons gold into brasse Asa turnes Rehoboams brasse into gold Some of these vessels it seemes Abijam Asaes father had dedicated to God but after his vow inquired yea with held them Asa like a good sonne payes his fathers debts and his owne It is a good signe of a well-meant deuotion when wee can abide it chargeable as contrarily in the affaires of God a niggardly hand argues a cold and hollow heart All these were noble and excellent acts the extirpation of Sodomie the demolition of Idols the remouall of Maachah the bountious contribution to the Temple but that which giues true life vnto all these is a sound root Asaes heart was perfect with the Lord all his dayes No lesse laudable workes then these haue proceeded from Hypocrisie which whiles they haue caried away applause from men haue lost their thankes with God All Asaes gold was but drosse to his pure intentions But oh what great and many infirmities may consist with vprightnesse What allayes of imperfection will there be found in the most refined soule Foure no small faults are found in true-hearted Asa First the high-places stood still vnremoued What high places There were some dedicated to the worship of false gods these Asa tooke away There were some misdeuoted to the worship of the true God these hee lets stand There was grosse Idolatry in the former there was a weake will-worship in the latter whiles hee opposes impietie hee winkes at mistakings yet euen the varietie of altars was forbidden by an expresse charge from God who had confined his seruice to the Temple With one breath doth God report both these The high-places were not remoued yet neuerthelesse Asaes heart was perfit God will not see weakenesses where he sees truth How pleasing a thing is sinceritie that in fauour thereof the mercy of our iust God digests many an errour Oh God let our hearts goe vpright though our feet slide the fall cannot through thy grace be deadly howeuer it may shame or paine vs. Besides to confront his riuall of Israel Baasha this religious King of Iudah fetches in Benhadad the King of Syria into Gods inheritance vpon too deare a rate the breach of his league the expilation of the Temple All the wealth wherewith Asa had endowed the House of the Lord was little enough to 〈◊〉 an Edomite to betray his fidelitie and to inuade Israel Leagues may bee made with Infidels not at such a price vpon such tearmes There can bee no warrant for a wilfull subornation of perfidiousnesse In these cases of outward things the mercy of God dispenceth with our true necessities not with the affected O Asa where was thy piety whiles thou robbest God to corrupt an Infidell for the daughter of Israelites O Princes where is your pietie whiles yee hire Turkes to the slaughter of Christians to the spoile of Gods Church Yet which was worse Asa doth not onely imploy the
Prophets yeeldance as for his owne life This was the way to offer violence to the Prophet of God to the God of that Prophet euen humble supplications Wee must deprecate that euill which wee would auoid if we would force blessings we must intreat them There is nothing to be gotten from God by strong hand any thing by suit The life of the Captaine is preserued Elijah is by the Angell commanded to goe downe with him speedily fearelesly The Prophet casts not with himselfe What safety can there be in this iourney I shall put my selfe into the hands of rude Souldiers and by them into the hands of an inraged King if he did not eagerly thirst after my blood hee had neuer sought it with so much losse But so soone as hee had a charge from the Angell hee walkes downe resolutely and as it were dares the dangers of so great an hostilitie Hee knew that the same God who had fought for him vpon the hill would not leaue him in the Valley hee knew that the Angell which bade him goe was guard enough against a world of enemies Faith knowes not how to feare and can as easily contemne the suggestion of perils as infidelitie can raise them The Prophet lookes boldly vpon the Court which doubtlesse was not a little disaffected to him and comes confidently into the bed-chamber of Ahaziah and sticks not to speake ouer the same words to his head which hee had sent him not long since by his first messengers Not one syllable will the Prophet abate of his errand It is not for an Herald of Heauen to be out of countenance or to mince ought of the most killing messages of his God Whether the inexpected confidence both of the man and of the speech amazed the sicke King of Israel or whether the feare of some present iudgement wherewith hee might suspect Elijah to come armed vpon any act of violence that should bee offered ouer-awed him or whether now at the last vpon the sight and hearing of this man of God the Kings heart began to relent and checke it selfe for that sinne for which hee was iustly reproued I know not but sure I am the Prophet goes away vntouched neither the furious purposes of Ahaziah nor the exasperations of a Iezebel can hurt that Prophet whom God hath intended to a fiery Chariot The hearts of Kings are not their owne Subiects are not so much in their hands as they are in their Makers How easily can God tame the fiercenesse of any creature and in the midst of their most heady careere stop them on the sudden and fetcht them vpon the knees of their humble submission It is good trusting God with the euents of his owne commands who can at pleasure either auert euils or improue them to good According to the word of the Prophet Ahaziah dies not two whole yeares doth hee sit in the Throne of Israel which hee now must yeeld in the want of children to his brother Wickednesse shortens his reigne he had too much of Ahab and Iezebel to expect the blessing either of length or prosperitie of gouernment As alwaies in the other so oft-times in this world doth God testifie his anger to wicked men Some liue long that they may aggrauate their iudgement others die soon that they may hasten it The Rapture of ELIJAH LOng and happily hath Elijah fought the wars of his God and now after his noble and glorious victories God will send him a Chariot of Triumph Not suddenly would God snatch away his Prophet without warning without expectation but acquaints him before-hand with the determination of his glory How full of heauenly ioy was the soule of Elijah whiles he foreknew and lookt for this instant happinesse With what contempt did he cast his eyes vpon that earth which he was now presently to leaue with what rauishment of an inward pleasure did hee looke vpon that heauen which he was to enioy For a meet fare-well to the earth Elijah will goe visit the schooles of the Prophets before his departure These were in his way Of any part of the earth they were nearest vnto Heauen In an holy progresse therefore hee walkes his last round from Gilgal neere Iordan to Bethel from Bethel to Iericho from Iericho to Iordan againe In all these sacred Colledges of Diuines he meant to leaue the legacie of his loue counsell confirmation blessing How happy a thing it is whiles we are vpon earth to improue our time gifts to the best behoofe of Gods Church And after the assurance of our owne blessednesse to helpe others to the same heauen But O God who can but wonder at the course of thy wise and powerfull administrations Euen in the midst of the degeneration and Idolatries of Israel hast thou reserued to thy selfe whole societies of holy Prophets and out of those sinfull and reuolted Tribes hast raised the two great miracles of Prophets Elijah and Elisha in an immediate succession Iudah it selfe vnder a religious Iehoshaphat yeelded not so eminent and cleerely illuminated spirits The mercy of our prouident God will neither be confined nor excluded neither confined to the places of publike profession nor excluded from the depraued Congregations of his owne people where hee hath loued he cannot easily be estranged Rather where sinne abounds his grace aboundeth much more and raiseth so much stronger helps as he sees the dangers greater Happy was Elisha in the attendance of so gracious a Master and the more happy that he knows it Faine would Elijah shake him off at Gilgal if not there at Bethel if not yet there at Iericho A priuate message on which Elijah must goe alone is pretended from the Lord Whether shall we say the Prophet did this for the tryall of the constant affection of his carefull and diligent seruant or that it was concealed from Elijah that his departure was reuealed to Elisha Perhaps hee that knew of his owne reception into heauen did not know what witnesses would bee allowed to that miraculous act and now his humble modesty affected a silent and vn-noted passage Euen Elisha knew something that was hid from his Master now vpon the threshold of heauen No meere creature was euer made of the whole counsell of the Highest Some things haue been disclosed to babes and nouices that haue been closed vp to the most wise and iudicious In naturall speculations the greater wit and deeper iudgement stil caries it but in the reuelations of God the fauour of his choice swayes all not the power of our apprehension The master may both command and intreat his seruants stay in vaine Elisha must bee pardoned this holy and zealous disobedience As the Lord liueth and as thy soule liueth I will not leaue thee His master may be withdrawne from him he will not be withdrawne from his Master He knew that the blessing was at the parting and if he had diligently attended all his life and now slacked in the last act he had lost the reward
of his seruice The euening praises the day and the chiefe grace of the theater is in the last Scene Be faithfull to the death and I will giue thee a Crowne of life That Elijah should be translated and what day he should be translated God would haue no secret The sonnes of the Prophets at Bethel at Iericho both know it and aske Elisha if he knew it not Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy Master from thy head this day and hee answered Yea I know it hold yee your peace How familiarly do these Prophets inter-know one another How kindly do they communicate their visions Seldome euer was any knowledge giuen to keep but to impart The grace of this rich Iewell is lost in concealement The remouall of an Elijah is so important a businesse that it is not fit to be done without noise Many shall haue their share in his losse he must be missed on the sudden it was meet therefore that the world should know his rapture should be diuine and glorious I doe not finde where the day of any naturall death is notified to so many by how much more wonder there was in this Assumption by so much more shall it bee fore-reuealed It is enough for ordinarie occurrents to bee knowne in their euent supernaturall things haue need of premonition that mens hearts may bee both prepared for their receit and confirmed in their certainty Thrice was Elisha intreated thrice hath hee denied to stay behinde his now-departing Master on whom both his eyes and his thoughts are so fixed that hee cannot giue allowance so much as to the interpellation of a question of his fellow-Prophets Together therefore are this wonderfull paire comne to the last stage of their separation the bankes of Iordan Those that were not admitted to bee attendants of the iourney yet will not bee debarred from being spectators of so maruellous an issue Fifty men of the sonnes of the Prophets went and stood to view afarre off I maruell there were no more How could any sonne of the Prophets stay within the Colledge walls that day when hee knew what was meant to Elijah Perhaps though they knew that to bee the Prophets last day yet they might thinke his disparition should bee sudden and insensible besides they found how much hee affected secrecie in this intended departure yet the fifty Prophets of Iericho will make proofe of their eyes and with much intention assay who shall haue the last sight of Elijah Miracles are not purposed to silence and obscuritie God will not worke wonders without witnesses since hee doth them on purpose to winne glory to his name his end were frustrate without their notice Euen so O Sauiour when thou hadst raised thy selfe from the dead thou wouldest bee seene of more then fiue hundred brethren at once and when thou wouldest raise vp thy glorified bodie from earth into Heauen thou didst not ascend from some close valley but from the Mount of Oliues not in the night not alone but in the cleare day in the view of many eyes which were so fixed vpon that point of thine heauen that they could scarce bee remoued by the checke of Angels Iordan must be crossed by Elijah in his way to heauen There must be a meet parallel betwixt the two great Prophets that shal meet Christ vpon Tabor Moses and Elias Both receiued visions on Horeb to both God appeared there in fire and other formes of terrour both were sent to Kings one to Pharaoh the other to Ahab Both prepared miraculous Tables the one of Quailes and Manna in the Desert the other of Meale and Oyle in Sarepta Both opened heauen the one for that nourishing dew the other for those refreshing showres Both reuenged Idolatries with the sword the one vpon the worshippers of the golden Calfe the other vpon the foure hundred Baalites Both quenched the drought of Israel the one out of the Rocke the other out of the Cloud Both diuided the waters the one of the Red Sea the other of Iordan Both of them are forewarned of their departure Both must be fetcht away beyond Iordan The body of Elijah is translated the body of Moses is hid What Moses doth by his Rod Elijah doth by his Mantle with that hee smites the Waters and they as fearing the diuine power which wrought with the Prophet runne away from him and stand on heapes leauing their dry channell for the passage of those awfull feet It is not long since he mulcted them with a generall exsiccation now he onely bids them stand aside and giue way to his last walke that he might with dry feet mount vp into the celestiall chariot The waters doe not now first obey him they know that Mantle of old which hath oft giuen lawes to their falling rising standing they are past ouer and now when Elijah finds himselfe treading on his last earth hee profers a munificent boone to his faithfull seruant Aske what I shall doe for thee before I am taken from thee I doe not heare him say Aske of me when I am gone In my glorified condition I shall bee more able to bestead thee but aske before I goe Wee haue a communion with the Saints departed not a commerce when they are inabled to doe more for vs they are lesse apt to be sollicited by vs It is safe suing where we are sure that we are heard Had not Elijah receiued a peculiar instinct for this profer he had not been thus liberall It were presumption to be bountifull on anothers cost without leaue of the owner The mercy of our good God allowes his fauourites not onely to receiue but to giue not onely to receiue for themselues but to conuey blessings to others What can that man want that is befriended of the faithfull Elisha needs not goe farre to seeke for a suit It was in his heart in his mouth Let a double portion of thy spirit be vpon me Euery Prophet must be a sonne to Elijah but Elisha would be his heire and craues the happy right of his primogeniture the double share to his brethren It was not wealth nor safety nor ease nor honour that Elisha cares for the world lies open before him hee may take his choice the rest he contemneth nothing will serue him but a large measure of his masters spirit No carnall thought was guilty of this sacred ambition Affectation of eminence was too base a conceit to fall into that man of God He saw that the times needed strong conuictions he saw that hee could not otherwise weild the succession to such a Master therefore he sues for a double portion of spirit the spirit of prophesie to foreknow the spirit of power to worke We cannot bee too couetous too ambitious of spirituall gifts such especially as may inable vs to win most aduantage to God in our vocations Our wishes are the true touch-stone of our estate such as we wish to be we are worldly hearts affect earthly things spirituall